Over
Posted: December 27th, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 317 Comments »The season is over. The Eagles still have one game to play, but it is meaningless for both teams, beyond hoping to lose to get better draft position.
The Skins were clearly the better team tonight and won 38-24. They are NFC East champs. Congrats to them on having a good season and earning the title. The division is down and they’re no juggernaut, but that team is talented and on the rise.
For the Eagles it was more of the same: dropped passes, dumb penalties, blown coverages, turnovers, etc. The game was 23-17 and the Eagles had the ball and some momentum. The Skins scooped up a fumble and ran it back for a score, making the game 30-17 and taking control of the game.
The Eagles were good enough to be right there, but then made the fatal mistake that changed the game for good. Mistakes have killed this team all year. Simply put, the Eagles looked like a 6-9 team.
There are a lot of big picture questions to get to. We’ve got a long offseason ahead of us so don’t expect definitive answers on everything in the next week. The Eagles have a lot of complex issues to work through and I think they deserve real examination, not knee-jerk responses.
For now, watch a lot of bowl week on ESPN to start looking at some draft prospects. The 2015 season is over. We’re all about the future from this point on.
_
2 years in a row. Ungodly amounts of drops, penalties, turnovers, miscues, bad calls, etc. Players have changed in waves. Coach is still the same.
This is his fault. He needs to be held accountable.
If Kelly stays I want to see some staff changes. Billy D has to go. Bicknell has to go. We need replacements for Peters, Tobin, and (IMO) Kelce.
I could be wrong about Kelce, but the oline played not well all year.
OL was disgraceful in this game. I don’t care who’s in there. This is how you respond to a playoff challenge?
The whole team really. Sproles fumbling a punt, Bradford missing ertz wide open, or even agholor missing an easy TD.
Bradford got Annihilated on that pass. How about Ertz and Murray fumbling… Thats really all this game came down to even with all the other issues
I can safely say they would have lost to anybody tonight
Yup. You cannot win games when you screw yourself this badly for this long. And this coach has proven he is completely incapable of fixing it.
he can’t play the game for them. but he also won’t bench people that play terrible.
Kelce will replace Demarco at RB
I made that comment at party I was at.
Holding him accountable does not necessarily equal firing him this year
What would you propose?
He won’t be… Contract too big, too much invested in him
WR coach needs to go
DC needs to go
O-line needs more talent.
I just said the same thing.
Cut your losses now. The (bad) trend has already been set into motion. Just sayin’.
Yep. Yep. And yep. Next year is the time to really evaluate Chip. Year 4, 2nd year in his mini rebuild. If these same kind of issues aren’t getting better we will be looking for a new coach.
At least the misery is over.
The misery is never over when you’re an Eagles fan.
Those who voted for Obama know that feeling well
Really? You need to make this a political discussion?
What a f’n loser you are.
I won’t waste the board’s time arguing your Faux News watching, fact-denying drivel about Obama. Take that shit to a board wher it is more appropriate, OK? This is not the place or time for that kind of crap.
Stay on topic, please. The board thanks you.
What is the future?
Seems pretty bleak…we are peering over into a dark abyss
You could argue we are as far away from a Lombardi now as when Kelly took over…with fewer draft assets to boot.
if chip stays, then bicknell, cooper, davis, ILB coach, and maybe undlin need to go. oline needs to be overhauled as does secondary, and the other ilb spot oppisite hicks needs to be addressed
Your comment reminded me of those insufferable pharmaceutical TV ads. ” ___ is for patients suffering from___. Don’t take ___ if you are sensitive to____. _____ may cause rectal bleeding, severe cramping, nausea, dry mouth, constipation, diarrhea, hives and death.” Seriously, though, I think the secondary is definitely improved.
wanting to gouge your eyes out is for patients suffering from eagles fandom. Don’t take chip kelly if you are sensitive to poorly coached teams. eagles fandom may cause rectal bleeding, severe cramping, nausea, dry mouth, constipation, diarrhea, hives and death.
back to the old mad libs days
For the first time with Chip, I’m truly scared about this team going into an offseason. Bradford might not stay. We’re stuck with Murray. The WR group has been a huge investment and the Eagles still need a true deep threat. Celek is old and the Eagles need a new TE. The OL needs to be completely rebuilt. We could lose both Thornton and Curry. Cox needs a huge contract extension that pays him handsomely. Alonso and Kendricks both forgot how to play LB this year. Thurmond might not come back. Holy crap. That is a lot of anxiety to deal with.
Not a pessimist, but this upcoming off season could really destroy this team. It is going to be interesting to see how it is handled.
They are already destroyed….. its looking like a 6 win season….
There’s worse.
1-4 Win territory? At least you get a top 5 pick
As in we could get worse?
Unfortunately yes.
I literally think they have nothing to build around besides Cox
Rowe and Hicks. Maybe Kendricks doesn’t suck next year
Ill give you Rowe and hicks. Future is bleak
With everything looking bad… I hope Rowe’s play doesn’t get lost in the fire. Kid showed up today and you barely heared his name.
Is that Undlin’s doing?
Garcon was beating him easily. Djax cramped up. Watkins looked better than Rowe in coverage.
He allowed some completions… but I don’t think he was getting beat handedly…. and we did ask our DBs to cover for a long time because we only rushed 4.
I thought Rowe wore down towards the end
Rookie wall and they were making him RUN all night. Either Go route or across formation EVERY time
All that said I think he played decent not great
Its hard to cover a guy running across the field + QB having all day to throw
Not on him at all. We should all be high on Rowe
Agree. And good question.
Then Cox must be the next one to let go.
Jenkins?
Somebody please give me a serious, well-thought out answer to the following question:
What reason do we have to believe that Chip Kelly is a better NFL coach than Rich Kotite or Ray Rhodes?
I’m dead serious. His resume over his first three seasons is less impressive than those compiled by both.
There is no proof, and imagine if either of those other guys had threatened their way into the GM position also.
I think Rhodes basically did, and the result was the drafting of Jon Harris.
I’m disappointed in Lurie. After saying he had learned his lesson about the dangers of allowing a coach to accumulate too much unfettered power, he went out and did it again.
Done they with every single coach he has hired though and it didn’t surprise me he gave Kelly the reigns last offseason.
I would take Kelly over either, because he’s design-oriented and not an emotional roller-coaster. I am looking forward to seeing how an X’s and O’s guy responds to a failed season. Maybe you feel taking a 4-12 team to 10-6 was beginner’s luck, or not all that impressive, but his dissatisfaction with mediocrity is something I appreciate. His first season as an NFL GM has been abysmal, but I don’t think he’ll say otherwise, and he may not have landed a franchise QB, but Bradford is good enough, in my opinion, if the team is good enough, which it isn’t. Kotite and Rhodes were done when their motivational tools failed them, but Kelly is not panicking, from what I observe.
We’ll see. While I don’t doubt Kelly will acknowledge the deep-seated problems with the team (he’d have to be delusional not to), I have no confidence in his ability to build a program/roster with NFL players at this point. There were numerous flaws with this team that were obvious to a lot of us fans heading into the season (too many unproven players in key roles, bad OL depth, injury risks, etc.). That Kelly evidently could not see problems that were obvious to comparative dummies like us is very disturbing to me.
GM Chip is training on the job
That’s the optimistic view. The pessimistic view is that what we see here is the Peter Principle at work, and that Chip is completely out of his depth as an NFL personnel guy. We won’t know which view is correct until he’s been given a chance to fix this mess and either succeeded or failed. What worries me is that most of the time when a guy fails as an NFL poobah, it’s because he’s not competent to do the job.
That’s what I was alluding too. GM chip has no idea
You are basing your assertion on incomplete information. You only know what the media gives you. I’m not saying mistakes weren’t made but no one is perfect and don’t expect a rebuild in one season. Not to say that I’m not disappointed or that your opinion isn’t valid…
I am basing my assertion on the stinking pile of burning garbage we saw on the field last night, and have seen all season.
This “we’re in year one of a rebuild” line is nothing less than Chip Kelly apologism. It is revisionist history. You don’t rebuild a decently talented but not-quite-good-enough young team by tearing it apart. That is what Kelly has done. The 2015 Eagles are older, more expensive, and less talented than the 2013 Eagles. That is completely inexcusable. Don’t try to tell me that going 7-9 or 6-10 this season was a necessary part of some grand master plan, because there is no way on earth I’m buying that. And if you do buy it, I honestly think you are being very foolish to do so.
Look at what Rhodes did here or in GB or Kotite did with the Jets. Still take him over either one.
To me, this is the beginning of the end tonight of Kelly’s tenure here. Their are simply too many holes to fill in one offseason and not enough cap room or picks to do so.
I am discounting anything beyond the first three seasons in evaluating Rhodes and Kotite, because that’s the only way we can fairly compare Kelly to them. And it’s not a comparison that’s favorable to Kelly. He might well be Steve Spurrier 2.0.
You forgot bone-headed coaching, Tommy… Speaking of which, why is the pitch-out even in the play book?
The play has been successful in short yardage situations when they put it in midseason, but always seemed like a short term bandaid to OL problems and inability to go right up the middle in short yardage. The distance and angle of the pitch seemed destined to be muffed sooner or later, just happened on the biggest drive of the (pitiful) season.
Calling that play on a rainy night when both teams have had trouble holding onto the football is tempting fate. To me it’s a perfect representation of Kelly’s biggest blind spot – he’s great at coming up with ideas that work in theory, but fail due to foreseeable flaws when the rubber meets the road. Thinking a rookie like Agholor could step into the NFL and replace the production of a veteran star like Maclin, thinking that a solid journeyman backup like Barbre could play as well full-time as he did as a fill-in, thinking that Alonso could return from injury and be the player he was before, thinking that you can run a hurry-up offense all the time without wearing down your defense – it’s all of a piece.
it has an * next to it in the play book
..
* DO NOT USE ON MISTY RAINY DAYS WHEN YOUR TEAM CANT HOLD THE BALL ALREADY
I’m guessing that line was smudged and blurry last night
O line was porous. They couldnt even give Sam enough time to hit a wide open Ertz. Little pressure on Cousins. Seemed like he sat back there for ever with only cox getting pressure. WR dropped passes but had some good moments. Oline needs to ne priority after firing Davis. That guy, out of 3 damn seasons, maybe put together 1 good season of defense…… Terrible.
amazing how they fixed that o-line in the offseason. it’s really amazing what their gm / coaching has accomplished
and need 2 LB’s to replace Kiko and DeMeco
You need to give Kiko next year and see if he gets healthy. I agree that DeMeco is too old to make plays anymore.
makes sense but the redskins literally just ran down the field on him. twice. he wasn’t in the right position once.
I think that Hicks was always the replacement for Ryans – as long as he comes back healthy, I think we are OK inside with Hicks and Kendricks.
MANY more holes to address in the offseason than ILB….
OL
WR
OL
S
OL
OL
DE/OLB
OL
OL
OL
and don’t forget OL
Also CB, QB, maybe TE. This team has lots of needs.
who’s ready to win another meaningless game against the giants that hurts our draft position!?
why you think that first round pick is going to matter at all?
because we’re hoping that it does.
yes! and we’re also hoping it’s an O lineman.
come on, marcus smith isn’t that ba…(breaks down crying)
Jordan Matthews on Sam Bradford returning to the Eagles next season: “I wholeheartedly believe he has to be the guy moving forward.”
Meaningless. Guys said the same sorts of things about Foles last year, and were obviously wrong.
Yea. I didn’t see him say this, but I assume that’s a quote after a direct question about if Bradford will be back. If so, this is what every single player should say, regardless of if they KNOW he isn’t back, KNOW he is back, or simply have no idea. The one thing that is clear is that it is absolutely a possibility that Bradford starts next season. Saying anything other than something supporting your starting QB would only create problems.
Taking the player/coach fluff for the press as earnest sincerity should merit a special credulity award.
Malcolm: “When I look at the roster, we have guys who can play. But for whatever reason, as a unit, we’re not that good.”
Nope. The talent just isn’t there either and the injuries to Logan, Maxwell, and Hicks compounded it. Since the bye they have been bad and since the Tampa Bay borderline horrible.
Calling Billy Davis…Calling Billy Davis…
Jordan Matthews: “We’re going to be the offense that this city needs. I’m telling you. We just got to get better and keep working.”
So is that the offense we deserved today?
we did boo santa
I wasn’t alive for that… but you guys do have a bad rep as fans. I live in Nor Cal and Raider/SF fans never get as negative as Eagle fans
they’re too busy wondering if they’ll have a team next year
They will sill be Raider fans…. Raider fans are in a league of their own from LA to the Bay
They don’t have to wonder if this team will ever win a Superbowl in their lifetime.
good on him for keeping positive and always working to get better. and for the record, he’s not the problem.
If he’s slotted in as the #2 receiver, he’s not the problem. But if they’re counting on him to put up carry-the-load type receiving numbers, he’s clearly not up to it.
Jmatt is one of the players I actually think will be ok. He struggled early but caught on after the bye
Anybody else imagine a love song playing in the background as he said this?
‘Oh Billy. Billy don’t you lose my number because your not anywhere I can’t find you.’
Bradford had an issue at OU and in St Louis with receivers dropping balls and if the problem has followed here him I would guess it has to have something to do with the way he throws it.
Maybe he should try deflating the ball some.
I think he is also the reason the running game is bad. Sam is probably the reason the Offensive Line had so many penalties too. Heck, I think Sam may be the cause of global warming.
Congrats fine sir. You win the prize for the dumbest comment of the day!
I was thinking something similar at the beginning of the season. Seemed like he was throwing too hard. The past six games, or so, seems like he’s putting a good touch into his throws. The drops are on the receivers, not the qb.
Peters Pro Bowl nomination this year is as unworthy as Kelce’s last year. Neither hasn’t business there even as an injury alternate.
Jason is getting in on rep. Unfair, it happens.
I know this was a tough loss, but I dont think the future is as bleak you many of you.
Our defense was the heart of the team last year. Did losing Nate Allen really have that big of an impact? I think the injuries to Logan and Thorton throughout the year and the loss of Hick really hurt this defense. The offense’s slow start also seem to wear them down. I’m not a big Billy Davis guy and would like to see him replaced with a guy like Ed Donatell who is a DB guru. If he can sure up this secondary this can be a good defense without many additions.
Offensively it come down to what you think of Sam. I personally think he is a guy you can build around. Look at the obstacle he had to overcome or paly with:
New team
New system
New teammates and coaches
Coming off 2 ACL injuries
Horrible OL
Weak group of skilled players who drop a ton of balls
Poor running game to help support the offense
If chip can improve the talent related obstacles I expect Sam to take a step forward next year. I think the focus on this offseason will be improving that OL. That improves the running game and keeps Sam upright. I believe a lot of our issues are a result of our poor line play.
One move I would love to see is trading for Josh Gordon. This team needs talent on the cheap. I would love to see Chip take a shot on a guy who he normally wouldnt to increase our talent level.
Overall I think we can compete for the division title next year and maybe more depending on how much Sam progresses. All of this is contingent on Chip learning from his mistake this year.
we heed a pass rusher bad
Yes – we need a guy to compliment Brandon Graham and his 30 sacks.
But we don’t need a bad pass rusher. We have that.
If everything goes right for Sam, he’s Alex Smith. A guy who can be competent and get you to 10-6, but will never carry you to a title.
You can’t build around somebody like that. The only way I bring him back is on a one year deal, and they HAVE to draft a QB high this year. This team is nowhere until they get a franchise QB, and right now they don’t have one.
sam’s deep ball is way better. he’s at least andy dalton.
Andy Dalton isn’t good enough either. So that’s not an endorsement as far as I’m concerned.
You are really underselling Bradford. Once Bradford got comfortable he was better than Alex Smith over the last 8 games without The benefit of Maclin and Travis Kelce.
Sam has the upside of a Matt Ryan, Eli Manning, Joe Flacco. He’s a guy that you build around. Give Bradford a running game, decent OL, and a legit WR and he’s a guy you can win a SB with.
Granting your point for the sake of argument, you’re saying that Bradford’s upside is being somewhere in the neighborhood of the 12th-15th best QB in the league. You can’t win a Super Bowl with a guy like that unless you get lucky or have an elite defense. No thank you. Let him walk and take a shot on somebody in the draft unless you can get him on a short-term, cheap deal.
Of the 3 QBs I named they have 3 superbowl victories combined. We are closer to having a great defense and/running game than we are to finding a Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers
It is really hard to win a Super Bowl going that route. You need to get really lucky. Baltimore got that Hail Mary against the Broncos. NYG got the helmet catch. Etc. Most of their careers, Manning’s and Flacco’s teams have been mediocre, not Super Bowl contenders. Yes, it’s really hard to get a Brady or a Rodgers. But if you do find one, you are basically a contender every year. I still think that’s an easier way at to go, hard as it is.
i don’t necessarily disagree, but you almost have to be equally as lucky to land a Brady or Rodgers
No question about it. But I’d rather keep rolling the dice until we hit than go with a relatively low risk but but mediocre option like Bradford.
yup i totally get it. I’m in the pro-resign Bradford camp, but i’m not in favor of giving him a huge contract. My plan for the draft would be trading back and gathering more picks and taking Carson Wentz in the first round, fill out the needs throughout the rest of the draft. I know it won’t be that cut and dry come draft time, but that would be the guy i target and general approach. I like Sam and think he can win games, but he certainly isn’t an “elite” guy. Even Belichick drafts guys to groom behind Brady (Mallett 3rd round, Garrapolo 2nd round).
Demarco Murray’s effort after that fumble said it all.
After a brief look and extrapolation for the draft, looking at about #12 – 17 pick. Seems like yesterday we were in training camp. what a crappy season… on a different note, how was Cooper’s catch not a catch ??
2 weeks catcher has a big play non-catch
Tallest midget, redskins. Not a team on the rise, but a tean that has enough components to float to the top of the bowl.
Just a mess with kelly though. Again, no answers.
I think we would have done just as well with paraplegic receivers. These clowns need to donate 90% of their checks to some great causes.
Obviously in hindsight, Chip messed up by not aggressively pursuing Maclin… but who knows if he would have signed. Maybe he just wanted out of Philly.
The dude is a moron. Gets probably the 2 least game breaking receivers in the best receiver draft in history. Probably gets the 2 least game breaking recievers in the best reciever draft class in history. Doesn’t address o-line out of stubbornness or laziness. Let’s talent walk over 1 mill I’m talking about maclin. Will prob trade Cox to the Cowboys for a 5th rd pick. Chip the gm sucka. We have a huge whole in every aspect of the team not enough picks to fix them. I wonder what 3rd round talent we will get with our first pick this year.
Paul Richardson, Davante Adams, Cody Lattimer, Shaq Evans, Jalen Saunders, Kevin Norwood, Bruce Ellington would all like a word.
Kelvin Benjamin is wondering why he was passed up as well…..
He probably would have just as many drops as our recievers combined and would have been a first rounder to boot. Put him with Cam and you will get numbers.
Hindsight my ass. Plenty of us thought it was a huge mistake at the time.
i thought uit was interesting to note what the announcers were saying. There isn’t anything this team does particularly well. Feel like Foles and Peters and a few other vets (Cole/Jackson/Celek).. a few of Andy’s late pickups. were carrying along this shell, not a rebuilt deep team like we had under Reid/Banner and friends. Then we had all that draft department movement.
This team reminds me of pulling off a bandaid. Felt like the right time to rip it off was a couple years ago.
Bradford is meh… like any of the kind of OK QBs that muddle around. A couple good players here and there. Mostly, looking for the smug to be worn off chip. Not jazzed about firing him. Need to build for 2-3 years.
On a bright note…
Lane johnson
Kelce
Fletcher Cox
If Johnson slides left then you just need two guards and a ORT.
Defense… find that furious OLB and another DE… depth… drops…
Qb though. Go OLine and go hard on that. Set you up for 6 years. Considering the QB position in the draft.
[…] Over – Iggles BlitzFor the Eagles it was more of the same: dropped passes, dumb penalties, blown coverages, turnovers, etc. The game was 23-17 and the Eagles had the ball and some momentum. The Skins scooped up a fumble and ran it back for a score, making the game 30-17 and taking control of the game. The Eagles were good enough to be right there, but then made the fatal mistake that changed the game for good. Mistakes have killed this team all year. Simply put, the Eagles looked like a 6-9 team. […]
Football is stupid.
If there ever was a game that showed the value of a good OL, it was last night. Washington was in our backfield and Sam’s face all night. Our DL barely touched Cousins who was having tea and crumpets back there waiting for his receivers to get open.
Kelly must be a hermaphrodite, cuz he keeps screwing himself…
Good one.
The Eagles should saturation draft O-lineman like they did with CBs last year. If they don’t, they can expect a similar record, or worse next season.
OL is also one of the places free agents can fit in relatively well in a smallish space of time, but who knows if there will be any good ones available by that time.
There is going to be a lot of work for this team to get done going into 2016. To have a flat out gutless effort with the division on the line for two straight seasons really is hard to understand.
Kelly has a log of tough decisions to make. Do the WRs have sucky production due to sucky hands, sucky talent, or sucky coaching from that position coach?
Where do the instant talent upgrades come from on the O-line?
Does the D continue to fail in
– pass rush
– open field tackling
– coverage assignments
– red zone TD %
– coverage by LBs
because they’re haven’t added enough resources on that side of the ball, or could a better DC improve that issue?
Havent added enough resources on D: Fletcher Cox and Bennie Logan are both above average at the position with Cox a borderline super star. Kept Ryans, resigned Kendricks, traded for Kiko and drafted Hicks. Malcolm Jenkins and Thurmond are/were arguably one of the best safety tandems in the league. The OLBs arent super starts but I thought the scheme would get them more sacks/pressures, unlike last night. The corners were ok but muxh better than last year. Rowe seems to have a bright future. In summation, I think they put plenty into the defense and yet it still fell woefully short in the categories you listed above and its clear to me scheme is the problem. If the Eagles want more pressure and a better D I think they need to find a gamebreaking OLB which is hard to do or use the Under to utilize the talent they have more effectively.
And a new D-Coordinator. I feel like I’m beating a dead horse here, but plenty of coordinators have been fired/demoted for much less than Billy Davis. His track record speaks for itself. There is no point keeping him around. I don’t care how nice he is, the guy has not been able to maximize the talent here (regardless how deficient we think it is) and the results are deplorable.
For the record on QB;
– I’d like Bradford back on a modest short term deal or the transition tag
– I’d like a developmental pocket guy taken in the 3rd or 4th round if Goff isn’t there for us in round 1
After the past 3-4 games its becoming morw clear that Bradford wasnt the problem. Relatively little running game and recievers not making easy plays were more troublesome. If there is a qb in the first, snag him, otherwise those 3rds would indeed be a great place to get another qb.
Yup. And o-line otherwise.
I agree that Bradford is not the (biggest) problem. But he’s not the answer either. If there’s a good prospect there in round one, they have to take him.
So why not………………………………..
AFC:
New England
Denver
Cincy
Houston
KC
Pittsburgh
NFC:
Carolina
Arizona
Green Bay
Washington
Seattle
Minnesota
Cincy over Pittsburgh in Cincy with return of the Red Rocket – Pittsburgh fans all kill themselves
KC over Houston – Houston immediately trades for Drew Brees
Seattle over Washington – no explanation needed
Green Bay over Minnesota – 3 times in a year is hard, but Green Bay wins here
New England over KC – Pats get it rolling again
Denver over Cincy – same result that I’m expecting tonight
Seattle over Carolina – you all knew I would
Arizona over Green Bay – might be their year
Seattle over Arizona – might be the playoff game of the century
New England over Denver – bold, I know
Seattle over New England – a bit of an “upset”, but if Seattle doesn’t lose Avril and a CB mid game last year they would have won that title.
I like those predictions Mike but to me Pittsburgh is a team that no one wants to play against in the AFC. They have the best offense in the conference and the defense has played surprisingly well enough to let the monster offense win games for them. I have a feeling this could be a year they make a run at the whole thing. Until I see Cincinnati actually win a playoff game I have no hope for them in the postseason.
That’s exactly why I’m predicting a loss by the Steelers.
On the bright side….it is clear that the hardest thing to find has been found: the Eagles have a legitimate franchise QB. Bradford was fabulous last night, as he’s been for a while now. Our crack Philly reporters never figured out the obvious (that he’s been nursing the knee) until very recently. Once healed, he’s been great. And if they can re-sign him to a decent deal then history will look back on this as a worth it. Oh, and back in week 3 or 4 Eric Rowe looked like a complete bust at CB – he looked like the Demarco Murray of CB’s – too slow and as agile as a 2×4. But Rowe figured it out and thank goodness for him or we’d really be screwed. When we look at this past draft, we have to say that Rowe, Hicks were great picks, and the jury is still out on Sheperd (injured so still unknown). Agholor was a bust this year. Still, out of 6 picks, hitting on 2 legit starters (and trending upward to even better), with one or two others still TBD, along with trading a bad QB + a 2nd rounder for a franchise QB with legitimate skills is pretty impressive. The R Matthews signing was very good. Chip will cut (if he can’t trade, which is highly unlikely) Murray and take the hit. $13m in a year when the cap is going to go up substantially. Not that big a deal. Now fire away.
I’m glad someone else realized how well Bradford played last night. I honestly could not believe that with as well as he played while getting zero help from anyone else, all the talk after the game was how terrible it was that he overthrew Ertz by about 6 inches on one play where he got absolutely demolished as he threw it.
Yes, Bradford looked solid.
But hitting Ertz while under duress is exactly what a great QB has to do.
But As I said, Bradford was solid … And hardly why this team is bad.
It’s also a play that I’ve seen great QBs miss all the time. He played a near flawless game and people harped on the one miss like that defined his QB play.
Last week, Bradford completed exactly those kind of passes against buffalo.
Didn’t get it done last night.
WRs killed him. To be sure. Just saying I don’t think Bradford is in the class of the top 10
I like Bradford and am okay with him as our ‘franchise QB,’ however, he’s not close to being an elite or even top 8 QB. His body of work is clearly lacking. Heck, Kurt Cousins has vastly outperformed him this year.
No one in their right mind is taking Sam Bradford over the following QBs:
Tom Brady
Carson Palmer
Drew Brees
Russell Wilson
Cam Newton
Aaron Rodgers
Ben Roethlisberger
Phillip Rivers
And some other QBs who arguably offer more upside or are more productive:
Derek Carr
Blake Bortles
Kurt Cousins
Marcus Mariota
Eli Manning
Andy Dalton
Matt Ryanm
Matt Stafford
Joe Flacco
I’d take almost all those guys over Bradford. Romo, Winston, Luck, and maybe Alex Smith too. Bradford is maybe a top-20 QB.
Thats great, but how many of those guys has Chip had a shot at? Carr and Foles just came off of his 27-2 season. Bottom line is Bradford is our best option moving forward.
Not sure what your point is. Nowhere did I say Chip had a shot at those guys or that Bradford wasn’t our most safe option moving forward. I was simply backing up ACVikings statement that Bradford is not a top 10 QB.
Yea my bad. I was skimming through and dint see you were replying to someone
The bar has been lowered a lot here. Bradford was okay last night. Not great, not fabulous, not near flawless. He made some throws, but also missed some huge ones, and continued his career long pattern of dinking and dunking, throwing short of the sticks on 3rd down, and taking sacks when he should throw the ball away. He was okay, and okay is not nearly good enough.
Bradford? A “legitimate franchise QB”? “Fabulous last night”, when he overthrew two open receivers on what would have been easy touchdowns when the game was still competitive, and piled up more than half his stats in garbage time? What are you smoking?
I’m usually never one to hope my team loses, but I honestly will be very pissed off if we win a meaningless game next week. There’s a huge difference between drafting 12th and drafting 20th. It’s the difference between Odell Beckham Jr and Marcus Smith in some cases. And, this team needs some elite talent more than anything else. More than a win over the Giants next week. And, if Bradford is coming back next year, sit him on the bench next week. He’s getting killed behind this pathetic offensive line.
Anyone else see the comments at Jason Peters took himself out of the game because he ‘didn’t want to get hurt for this.” That’s alarming to me, and if I was chip kelly I would be doing everything I could to tip the scale to become more of a players coach. He doesn’t have to go all the way but comments like that tell me the players are really impartial to Kelly being the coach. That will get him fired faster than anything if players aren’t playing their hardeat for him.
where did you see that?
Howard Eskin, so take it with a grain of salt.
If that is true, JP has to go.
Agreed. You can’t have a respected star on your team and supposed leader pulling himself from essentially a playoff game because “he’s not going to get hurt for THIS”. That’s absolutely unacceptable. And, if Peters has gotten to the point where he thinks he’s above the team and he’s not going to put his all into this then he should be cut today. I wouldn’t even wait until the off season. I’d make an example out of him immediately.
If this is true.
When your vets give up, things are bad. JP has been a warrior, could this be one of the straws that breaks Kellys back?
Just so we are on the same page here….There is NO remote possibility of Billy Davis returning next year? In no way shape or form am I scape-goating him for the shit show this year, but he’s gotta go. This defense is absolutely dreadful. I don’t want to hear the injury excuse either. This is the NFL. If you’re relying on a rookie LB to spearhead your entire defense, then well….you’ve got some serious issues.
Davis has never been a successful D Coordinator. His resume is loaded with failure.
It’s well past time for Lurie to admit he can’t get it done and sell the team for a nice profit. Oh wait, all our other team’s owners suck at hiring the right management too……
So…are we just expecting to sign & draft some OL and *pffff* the OLine issues are magically solved? I keep seeing people post/suggest this like it’s some easy feat to accomplish. We have serious, serious issues on the OLine. Beyond the difficult task of plugging in 2 new starters at G this season, we also saw the precipitous decline of Jason Peters. We really need 3 quality OL to add to this team. Are we simply going to find them in the draft? Eh….And exactly how much $$$ will we have leftover once we sign Bradford?
Right now we have one slightly above average lineman…Johnson.
The rest were pretty terrible this year, Kelce and Peters included. Peters looks shot. I was interested in bringing him back and giving him a shot at LG at a decreased salary, but I think that’s just wishful thinking. It’s clear his body isn’t holding up to even the pounding on the outside. It’s not gonna get any better moving him inside against bigger guys while he’s another year older. I think it’s time to cut Peters and use that $6mil plus in cap savings on some younger pieces to build around.
That means we need two guards and a RT. That’s definitely not an easy fix.
Re: Tempo All the Time
The NFL is the ultimate copy-cat league.
What does it say that no other team runs their offense the way Kelly does? With the thin playbook and constant pace?
Maybe Chip it’s hoping the NFL expands it’s roster size to 90 players in hopes to keep the defense fresh? Jokes aside though AC you’re entirely correct about the league being a copy cat league but in no way does a coach want yo copy Kelly purely based off the fact that no team wants their respective defenses to be on the field as much as the Eagles’ defense is.
I know you’re joking about the 90 player roster size, but I think it points to a problem with Chip. He ran his offense on the college level, with a shorter season, an enormous roster, and a squad of guys a lot younger and less banged up than he’s getting in the NFL. His offenisve philosophy, his poor drafting, and his over emphasis on “culture” are the kinds of things that are not transferring to the NFL.
both pats and broncos played tempo a couple of years ago. no one is willing to rebuild a whole program around tempo. once ck shows it works.
A couple of quick things I thought of.
…
1 – Bradford can and hopefully will be this team’s starting QB next year. He’s gotten more comfortable as the season went on and has not been to blame for the offensive struggles like he was earlier in the session.
2 – Peters is done. The degenerative issue he has is just one of the reasons that he shouldn’t be back on top of his miserable play and salary. Great player for a long time but it is time to cut the cord.
3 – I notice many people worried about how much money the Eagles will have to spend next year. If I’m not mistaken the Eagles can shed a few salaries to help, Ryans, Celek, Peters, Cooper. Those will help with cap management.
4 – My immediate draft needs are in this order O-line (no mate what position on the oline, preferrbly a tackle that can also play guard), Defensive line, OLB, Cornerback, developmental QB, ILB.
5 – Chip will have to put his arrogance and confidence aside and finally make some changes to the offense.
6 – Defensive coordinator, WRs coach, and ILB coach meat go.
excellent post…couldn’t agree more.
As for the salary cap. We will go into 2016 with $130.4mil in active contracts, and $1.9mil in dead money, for a total cap hit of $132.3mil. The expected cap is supposed to be around $150mil…possible more. We have $9.5mil to roll forward from this year. That means we will go into 2016 with approx. $27mil in cap space.
That’s before resigning Bradford, extending Cox, extending Jenkins, resigning Thurmond and before any cuts.
Cutting Peters would save $6.3mil in cap space
Cutting Cooper saves $2.9mil
Cutting Sanchez saves $3.5mil
Cutting Celek saves $5mil
Cutting Demeco Ryans saves $3.5mil
So we have plenty of ways to increase our cap space.
I’d prefer a reduction of Peters and a year of trying him at guard.
I’d prefer a reduction of Celek and a year of continued reduced usage.
I’d look REALLY hard at Kecle’s deal and a trade of him to another team if another center becomes available in the draft or Alex Mack opts out.
i’d look really hard at my ol coach
I hear you, but the overall lack of talent given to him is staggering if you look at Barbre Doll, Turnstile Tobin, and Fell off a Kliff Kelce. Peters is banged up. Lane has been beat up and position shifted too often as well.
I’m good with Stoutland.
I agree. Peters at half his salary and an audition at LG would help us try to bridge the gap in replacing 3/5ths of the oline in one offseason. I’d be open to that, just not sure his body (or mind if the report of him quiting last night is true) will cooperate. He looks like he’s starting to break down pretty badly.
I’d love to bring Celek back on a reworked deal like we did with Demeco. Take the $5mil left on his deal and basically offer him a reworked deal where he makes $2.5mil each of the next two years. Either he takes that salary reduction or he gets cut. He’d be able to retire as an Eagle, and he most likely would not get any more on the open market anyways.
Exactly.
Perfect, thanks for the details friend. Hopefully most people see this post and know the Eagles can still be players in free agency.
Here’s a great salary/cap website:
http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/cap/2016/
If you click on the 2015 Eagles you’ll immediately see the problem with the way the money is allocated.
Do you know what our biggest cap expenditure was this year? The answer is Dead Cap. We had $18.5mil in dead cap money from all our cuts and trades. Trading McCoy saved us some cap space over keeping him, but he still counted $3.5mil against our cap this year. That dead cap hit alone was the 12th highest salary on our team. Higher than Fletcher Cox. Add that in to the expenditures on RBs and you essentially have $15mil in cap space allocated to the RB position. That’s insane.
Our top 10 salaried players really show you how devoid of top talent this team is. In fact out of our top 13 salaries, only about 3 actually earned that level of salary with their production.
Here’s our top 13 cap hits in 2015:
Bradford
Peters
Maxwell
Barwin
Graham
Jenkins
Johnson
Murray
Celek
Cooper
Kelce
Sproles
Sanchez
That’s supposed to be the top players on this team, the one’s we’ve committed the most amount of financial resources to. Does that excite anyone?
that kendricks deal must be cap friendly this year, isn’t he making 8 per year?
http://overthecap.com/player/mychal-kendricks/770/
sad thing this year’s stats are right in line w/ every other year’s stats, but i thought he was terrible this year.
I’ve generally been anti-Kendricks since the Gates debacle of 2013. I see too many missed tackles, blown coverages, and poor guessing for gap control on run plays.
We’re able to be rid of him after next season if need be.
Yea its starting to look like 2013 was a bit of an outlier for Kendricks.
He’s the 16th highest salary this year and set to be the 13th highest next year before signing or resigning anyone. His contract is actually pretty cap friendly in the first few years. 2017-2019 it jumps up pretty good. But, 2015-2016 is very cap friendly.
i don’t know if chip has the political capital left to cut peters. hopefully he’s ok w/ that move to guard. additionally, i don’t know if we can fill 3 holes at OL AND find a pass rusher.
Well there is also free agency on top of the draft to fill the needs. With Gardner returning next year they may only need 2 olineman immediately with the rest for depth and future. As for Peters, chip just needs to nut up and make the move, I love Peters but at some point you gave to let go.
so you want chip to cut another black pro bowler? /sarcasm
Lol I like what you did there.
It sure would be great if Peters can play guard. Losing him at tackle is bad enough but the guy is clearly wearing down.
I like our DLine depth. But it’s hard to generate pressure with 3 guys rushing. Redskins would have 6 to block and we’d rush 4. I don’t think that’s necessarily a lack of talent at the DL, but at the DC level.
Oline (3), OLB, S are the top 3 draft needs I see.
D-line having depth is a mirage AG. You have Cox who is a stud, Logan who is a decent NT, Hart who hasn’t shown anything in my opinion, Allen who is a decent backup NT, and Bair who is mediocre. Curry will likely test free agency, Thornton will as well purely based on the Eagles not being able to pay him. This dline having depth is an overrated statement, this dline needs help.
There was a series last night that I thought was really emblematic of our offenses issues this year.
We start deep in our own end. On first down, DeMarco Murray runs for zero yards. On second and 10, there is immediate pressure right up the middle by multiple pass rushers, Bradford side steps two potential sacks, steps up in the pocket, keeps his eyes downfield and fires a strike 43 yards down the field to a tightly covered receiver. Despite being well covered, Bradford places the ball in the perfect spot and hits the WR right in the chest in a spot where the defender couldn’t get to it. His crappy WR (in this case Coopers), drops a perfect pass that would have been a huge play. On 3rd and 10, Bradford drops back and throws another perfect pass to convert a 3rd and long with a 12 yard strike in between a few defenders. However, the play is called back for holding. On 3rd and 20 the Skins drop everyone deep into coverage, no one is open and Bradford is forced to drop off to Sproles to get as much yards as we can before we punt. Sproles jukes his way for about 10 yards and we punt on 4th and 10. The few Eagles fans sitting next to me at the bar go, “pffft that’s what you get with Bradford … check down Charlie.”
Really? How many times do you want the guy to convert the first down? It’s hard to convert first downs in the NFL. When you have to convert the same first down multiple times on each drive it becomes impossible to do so with any consistency.
And, I’d like someone to explain to me what it means when they say, good QBs elevate the play of their teammates. When I watch Bradford with zero running game whatsoever (our leading rusher last night had 15 yards total), zero playmakers in the passing game, and an offensive line that gives up pressure on every single drop back, drive his team 80 yards into scoring position with a series of perfectly placed throws only to have the drive end with a perfectly thrown 3rd down pass into the end zone that hits Agholor in the chest and is dropped, I’m completely caught off guard when people go, “Bradford just didn’t get it done there. Great QBs elevate the play of those around them.” What more can a QB do to “elevate other players game” besides throw footballs that hit them in the chest? Does Agholor catch that potential TD if Tom Brady hit him in the chest with the ball because Tom Brady has this vague etherial quality to elevate those around them? Does Ertz not fumble the ball? Does DeMarco not fumble the ball?
I’m not saying Bradford is Tom Brady or even elite at this time, but he clearly has the skills to be a top 10 QB if he got just a little help from ANYONE else on the team. He gets no help from his line in pass protection and his getting destroyed every play. He has no running game whatsoever. He has no skill players on offense that defenses have to account for that would open up other areas of the field. He has no one that’s all that dynamic on offense that can make plays on their own. NO ONE can catch on this team. And, the defense does him no favors either. He’s so far down the list of things that I think would need to change for us to be successful.
Can’t say I disagree with you.. I hate when sports commentators throw out meaningless tropes like, “…great QBs elevate the play of those around them.” Those kinds of phrases sound good but are absolutely meaningless and direct attention to what real issues are going on with a team.
Bradford’s play is somewhere around 27th on my list of things that need to get better with this team.
That series sums up perfectly why I’m ok with Bradford being the starter here next year.
yup. Though i don’t know how you get talented enough at every other position.
That is the $64,000 question.
I posted this on Kempski’s site but I want to say it again in agreement with your points about Bradford. I think Bradford’s a good qb playing behind a crappy O-line, with no running game, throwing to receivers who can’t hold onto the ball, and a Coach who calls the most vanilla, predictable plays in the NFL. If I’m Sam — or his agent, wife, mother, surgeon — I’m encouraging him to consider playing elsewhere.
But as Bradford said in his presser last night, a reboot into another system (again) isn’t in his best interest.
To the extent he sincerely meant all he said, I think bringing him back is the right move. I also think the Eagles better be prepared to pay big $ because that’s what the market is going to demand. My point is really that the poor guy is facing a lot of crap playing for this team, and his life couls be more pleasant somewhere else.
But probably not in cities where he will have better results. IF (yes, IF) Chip somehow decides to bring in two NFL-quality OL, and fires Billy, definitely not. If I’m Condon, that’s what I want to know.
Too bad the franchise tag comes into play in that kind of situation.
Agreed. I am really impressed with how tough Sam has been in staying in the pocket and throwing with defenders poised to nail him.
This may be the right time to use the tag. As Didinger said on WIP this morning (and other observers have also said) there are probably no QB’s with a 1st round grade this year. Take the best OL with that 1st round pick…get at least one OLman in FA, pray that Peters will agree to move to LG (I don’t see anyone giving him close to the money he will get here to play LT), and see if you can get this running game going again – heaven knows you have enough $$$ tied up there.
And if you tell Bradford that you are going to tag him, perhaps he agrees to a 2-3 year extension.
I agree. Hence my 3 years / $54 million deal.
I could live with that. You could take a mid-round guy this year…and if we blow up next season and Kelly is gone, the new guy takes his QB with that top-10 pick and you have Bradford (and that rebuilt OL) here to help with the regime change.
People have called me stupid here because I said I like Bradford. I think his last 3-4 games people have seen that it really isn’t his fault.
Besides Cooper sucking, how about Agholor dropping a sure TD, or fumbles from Ertz and Murray.
Though that Murray fumble I blame on coaching. That toss run play I think is run too much, and IMO increases the chances of a fumble.
You’re ignoring the plays on which Bradford overthrew a wide open Ertz, overthrew an open Agholor in the end zone, failed to sense pressure and took bad sacks/fumbled, threw short of the sticks on third down. He has his moments for sure, but on the whole he is what his statistics say he is – an inconsistent, mediocre quarterback. He’s also injury prone. There’s no way you can justify giving a guy like that a franchise QB contract.
Preach, brother, preach.
If I have to choose between franchising Bradford and re-booting with Kap or RG3, I think I give Bradford the $22 mil. It sounds crazy, but I think that next year is Chip’s final stand, and I would rather see if he can fix the OL (which the new coach would appreciate more when Kelly is gone than being stuck with another year or two of Kap or RG3) than try to salvage one of those guys.
Whether it is Kelly or someone else, this is a multi-year rebuild, still. Better to focus on the OL and overall depth and see if Bradford and his WR’s can take another step next season. You can still take a Day 2 quarterback if one makes sense…although I am not sure if I want the Chippah taking that guy – since he may not be around to develop him after next season.
You know where I stand. People dont oik Sam for a variaty of reasons.
1) he’s not mobile and they are convinced we need a running QB
2) Sam started slow as he got acclimated to the system/playing again
3) they feel he is what he was at st louis, yet ignoring the drops, bad OL paly, and lack of runing game
4) they have unrealistic expectations of our QB. McNabb was the best QB this franchise had and he wasnt good enough for most fans.
5) they hate white/ native american mixed people
#1 over and over and over and over and over and over.
And Im not saying your are wrong. I runnjng threat would help open up the running game and play action game. I just dont see a good running QB option…unless you want to bring Keapernick in Mike
I’d rather contract gonorrhea
Bad comparison. Gonorrhea’s curable… Keapernick’s flaws are forever.
problem is staying healthy.
Carson Wentz…..i want him
Problem with Wentz is he’s going to need at least a year to sit. So you need to get him sit, him and do well enough to not have a new regime come in because they will want to get their own guy to be QB.
That is true and why i would want Bradford back, but draft Wentz to groom behind him. I know it’s early but do you have any thoughts on him or where you see him being drafted?
1) We need someone more mobile in this “system.”
2) Agree
3) And they’re right. Something about him and drops. Same thing in StL, Same thing at USC. Just something about the ball he throws.
4) McNabb was a top tier QB who most Eagle fans regarded as such, except for his constant desire to kill worms on swing passes.
5) Maybe in your mind, but otherwise, BS.
Again Im not saying anyone is wrong about these except maybe #5. I do think that some of these things prevent people from judging Bradford in an unbiased way. “He’s not mobile so I dont like him.” “He’s not elite so he’s useless.” “He doesnt move the offense well. The dropped balls must be his fault.”
I just think people havent given him a fair shake. I think a lot of people’s frustrations with Kelly and the team unfairly get dumped on Bradford, who was probably the best offensive player since week 7 or 8.
Given Bradford’s rep and injury history, I hope we can get him back here on some type of deal that pays him well enough to stay, but protects the team if we need to.
I’d love to see him sign
3 years / $54 million. AAV would be $18 mil. Possibly put him down for a $30 million signing bonus in the deal if we really need to pump up that part of the deal to reduce the years in the deal.
Year one (2016) – $6 mil salary $10 prorated – $16 mil cap charge – Bradford has $36 mil earned
Year two (2017) – $ 8 mil salary $ 10 mil prorated – $18 mil cap charge – Bradford has a total of $44 mil earned – net of negative $2 mil if cut / traded
Year three (2018) – $10 mil salary $10 mil prorated – $20 mil cap charge – net of positive $10 mil if cut/traded.
He’d be 30 going into the last year of that deal and 31 (in November) as that season (2018) ended. That would put him in line for HUGE payday if he works out with Kelly long term or $36 million dollars richer for the year of 2016 if Kelly gets fired after next year and a new coach goes a different way at QB.
3 yr/30 million with performance bonuses or gtfo.
Mr. McMahon has a theme song for you on that
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ajwABjV5bsw/maxresdefault.jpg
There’s no way we’re signing an average QB to that big of a deal.
We’ll have to call it a gentlemen’s bet on what $ level Bradford gets.
Have you looked at the comparables? 18 QBs make more than Bradford now, and the cap is going up a lot. He’s below NFL average now.
Yes, he IS below NFL average.
His level of play is also below NFL average, so that sounds about right.
Success and stats = bigger contract
Bradford has neither of those.
Andy Dalton, Collin Keapernick, Ryan Tannehill, Matthew Stafford, Joe Flacco, Matt Ryan. It happpens all the time.
And ALL of those guys have had better years and more success than Bradford.
Bradford is such a unique situation. None of those guys were spending the year before a contract on a new team, with a new system and all new coaches and teammates?
And I get where you’re coming from, but he’s not working off of some measly 2nd rounder’s salary going from year 4 to year 5 of his career.
$18 mil / year is more or less where you have to go for guys coming off of first round deals who you want to keep. Look at what Miami just gave Tannehill.
And Miami fucked their selves over with having to pray every night that Tannehill might become better than average.
You’re right, they did. But I think that’s the market.
If they sign Bradford to a 3 year, $54 million contract, Kelly should be immediately fired.
I’m okay with bringing him back on a one year deal to see if he really can improve with another year in the system and better talent around hi
. But giving him a cap crippling contract would be stupid beyond belief.
If you look at the structure of the deal I have for Bradford with cap hits of $16/$18/$20 on salary cap years that will be $155 / $170 / $185-$190 for 16/17/18; I don’t see that as a problem.
We all get that you dont like Bradford (and seem to be in the minority) but why would Sam sign a 1 year deal? Other teams will pay him big money. i think MM is pretty close to what a deal would look like.
I don’t think he will want to sign a one year deal (though we can take that decision out of his hands by franchising him). But if the choice is between signing him to a big money, long term deal and letting him walk, I let him walk 100 times out of 100.
The best case scenario with him is that he gives you stable mediocrity at the QB position. And stable mediocrity is not good enough.
Not to make a direct one-to-one comparison, but I saw a great comp this past week…Bradford’s numbers are eerily similar to Palmer’s first year in Arizona. You think Palmer has improved from 2013 to now with the Cardinals?
Relative to all of the potenial options, I think hitting Bradford with the tag is the least-shitty of the available options. Fix the OL…see if the receivers can grow a little…draft a developmental QB in the middle rounds…and see if this offense – with a DRAMATICALLY improved offensive line – can take the next step. If they flame out again, they can clean house – let Kelly and Bradford go, resign Sanchez to be a one-year caretaker, use your 2017 number 1 pick (which will probably be in the top 10) as your QB of the future, and hope your 2016 developmental QB can take Sanchez’s place as the #2 guy in 2017.
I wouldn’t be opposed to tagging him. Just don’t want to hitch the wagon to him for more than one season, and think we should be looking hard at other options: either drafting a QB #1, or acquiring a reclamation project (I’d like to see RG3 personally).
who was that dude that was assistant coaching the last two years who chip basically fired — worked with olb (2014) and ol (2013), might be time to call him back. those units were good when he was around.
LT Jason Peters pulled himself out of #eagles game in 4th. I’m Told his comment. “I’m not going to get hurt for this”@FOX29philly
hadn’t seen that before, man.
Too soon for me to re-launch my Mostert over Barner public service announcement?
nope maybe you get get a journalist to ask him about that.
Why was Barner in there late game? I think if anything that sent a message of defeat.
he called it halfway in the 4th when he was about to take that punt
Hey, MM, he didn’t have one of the 7 fumbles. Pretty OK, no?
I’m told #eagles will make roster moves this week. CB Byron Maxwell, DT Bennie Logan to be placed on IR. Will sign 2 players.
We’re finally cutting Cooper!!! CHRISTMAS CAME LATE THIS YEAR…god I wish that happened.
Saw that on Twitter.
I’d also like to thank Vinny Curry for showing us last night why I’m not paying him the Everson Griffin level contract from Minnesota.
oh, did he play?
It still shocks me how badly this team fell apart down the stretch again and how this retooled team built around culture showed so little of it at times. Kelly either badly misjudged on who he was bringing in, just overhyped it to much, or Kelly really is that difficult to form meaningful ties with his players. I’d say it is all 3 but the last factor is the biggest one.
rex is a players coach but his team also gave up on him. no one likes losing. i think kelly not benching poor performances actually does a disservice.
I don’t even know where to start building this roster.
O line
this
This roster is a total mess. We’re stuck with Demarco Murray. He’s slated to be the third highest paid player on the team next year. Will most likely by the 4th highest paid player if we resign Bradford. Either way…what a waste. Our highest paid player is Maxwell. He’s almost as good a CB as Nolan Carroll who makes about 20% of his salary. What a waste. We’re stuck with him for another year at least. Our Oline is a dumpster fire. Brandon Graham and Connor Barwin are nice players, but they make way too much money to not be play makers. DeMeco is shot, Kendricks is terrible and Alonso looks like a shell of his former self. We have no WRs that are worthy of starting in the NFL.
i think dmarco could be good if ol gets better. it’s not like mathews has been doing any better since he came back
DeMarco just looks slow to me. Theres no quick twitch and acceleration. Mathews has not done much of anything after missing a bunch of time with his concussion because the line has completely stopped opening up holes all together. But, when both were healthy and the line was semi functional Mathews was clearly the superior back.
he just needs to get on that peyton manning diet in the offspring.
Offensive Line.
A question or two for Chip: A noteworthy degree of coaching success in small-time college, then your elevation of Oregon University football into big-time college contention, inevitably led you to draw some conclusions about football, about football players, about the business of coaching and your own abilities. What is it about the game, the player, the business at the pro level that has not panned out as you have expected? Is it possible that the consistent lack of execution on the part of your players is a failure not in the week’s practice, but in the continuous treatment of your players by you as collegial professionals and not subordinate independent contractors? Is your attention to coaching impacted at all by your role as GM? If Jeff Lurie suggests that you have too much on your plate, would you be amenable to the establishment of a hierarchical front office where your role is reduced?
“but in the continuous treatment of your players by you as collegial professionals and not subordinate independent contractor” i thought it’d be the opposite.
I base that on Chip’s previous statements where he stated he would not be an enforcer of rules or an in-house overseer. He said he wants men who are self-starters and “finishers”. I’m totally speculating, but that team looks to me like it lacks a unifying principle. I see encouraging improvement in pass coverage and deep-ball awareness, but I don’t see (previously promising) pass pressure, stout run defense, and OL selling out on run plays. The players are mostly the same, but Kelce, Ryans, , Peters, Alonso and Kendricks have all looked less than focused. Compare that group to NE. Do you ever see any of their starters floundering like rookies? Dour Bill has them all playing like their careers depended on it.
I guess I should have watche the game?!
Not unless you wanted to ruin your liver.
you didn’t watch? now i know who to blame.
Then you’re probably the only one on this blog without a Chip Kelly hangover.
NOT upgrades over Bradford:
Paxton Lynch, Connor Cook, Dak Prescott, Treyvone Boykin, Brissett
Also NOT upgrades over Bradford:
Johnny Streetball, Kaepertrash, RGKnee
So if we really want to unload Bradford; who would you like to get.
I would rather draft a guy who has a 10% chance of developing into a franchise QB than continuing to roll with a guy who has a 0% chance of being one.
Ok. Then draft Goff, Wentz, and/or Hack.
The list of guys I put up on my list are COMPLETE AND TOTAL no-go type players.
I would make Goff a target and be okay with Wentz. No thanks to Hackenberg anywhere above the 4th round. He doesn’t look like an NFL QB to me.
I really like Goff but he wil go early. If I knew I could get him I would let Sam walk, but there is no way to know and its unlikely we land him.
The other big concern is Kelly is on the hot seat. If he drafts a QB will we struggle through his growing pains and kelly will likely be gone. Two problems come up.
1) kelly wants to keep his job so he will roll a veteran QB
2) if we draft a guy and kelly gets fired, what happens if the new coach doesnt like that QB? We are out a minimum 1st and 2nd round pick spent on Bradford and the drafted QB and still have no solution at QB.
Signing Bradford gives Kelly the best chance to succeed. If Kelly fails it give the next coach the best oppurtunity to go get his guy.
i don’t think he gets fired before contract is up
Here’s where we run into the problem that what is in Kelly’s personal best interest is not necessarily in the long-term best interest of the team.
I’d be fine bringing Bradford back on a one year deal. I just (1) don’t want to commit long-term money to him, and (2) don’t want his presence to prevent us from drafting a QB high, as Foles’ did in the draft with Carr and Bridgewater.
I think this issue comes in that there are no Derek Carr’s that will be available. I’m fine with the 3 year deal. If you can get Goff draft him anyway. You can alway trade Bradford at some point to a desperate team.
There is no Luck, Newton, or Mariota in this draft. But Carr and Bridgewater were 2nd round picks. Prospects of that caliber can be found in every draft. You just have to pick the right one.
Agree on all counts. And add Hackenburg to the list.
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I try and sign Bradford to a “Joe Banner type” contract and, if he walks, I make do for a year and spend much time rebuilding OL. Draft a project in 16 and expect to be bad enough to trade up as necessary in 17. With a different HC and GM.
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Man this sucks. I think the only two games I actually enjoyed this year were NE and the Pack in pre-season.
Hack is a “sit down and shut up” for one full year player who I wouldn’t take before the 3rd. He needs to re-learn how to stand tall and make throws behind a good line before I could let him on the field.
But if I get the Bill O’Brien year of Hack player, I think I could win with that. But that guy will take a while to build back up.
He’s definitely regressed. Dunno if he’s willing to STFU and re-learn. He’s looked fairly immature to me.
I agree, but he won’t have a choice on an NFL roster. And if he goes into full Mallett mode; you don’t have a lot tied up in him.
True, other than another wasted draft pick.
so you want chip to tank last two years so he can get fired?
The hardest part is rooting for NY and Dal to win & win to improve our draft picks and lower theirs.
Tough medicine
I was thinking about Eskin’s report on Peters and, I don’t know, something ain’t quite right. Even if Jason did pull himself out of the game because he was hurt, and even if he was immensely frustrated with the game, and even if the report captures his true feelings, I still have a hard time believing it. First, because the report comes from Eskin, it’s suspect in my book. Second, Peters is a consumate veteran professional. I’m inclined to believe he’s smart enough to not say something like that. Certainly not around any sports writers or teammates stupid enough to repeat it. Maybe in the heat of battle, he said something like, “This sucks.” That’s understandable. I know this is all speculation on my part. I hope Jason speaks out on this.
The report immediately loses credibility when i see it comes from Eskin
Bowen verified it.
I’m ok with an aging player recognizing his limitations and saying, “Coach, I’m tired and hurt, not sure I can do my job.” Even, Coach saying, “You’re an older guy, no sense getting hurt in a meaningless game. That’s why we pull starters when the game gets out of hand.” If something like this happened, I’m good.
What I’m not ok with is a player ‘dissing the effort of his teammates or a journalist enflaming a comment through exxageration and/or taking it out of context. If either of these scenarios happened, someone needs to apologize.
It would brighten my day if Peters declares Eskin a liar and promises to RKO him.
On the other hand, even a broken clock is right twice a day…
not the first game he didn’t finish.
The bad news is already starting for next year. The NFL can force the Eagles to do Hard Knocks next year.
http://www.phillyvoice.com/nfl-can-force-eagles-participate-hbos-hard-knocks-if-chip-kelly-remains-head-coach/
oh you know it’s coming…with all the turmoil this past offseason and all the strong opinions about him nationally, the race stuff……this is Gold to HBO
bad news or good news
I’m leaning toward the former
It hasn’t yet come down to a team being forced to do it. You’ll always have small market teams like the Rams and the Titans who want the national exposure.
sad these guys couldn’t get it up for a divisional game. not many home grown guys left that appreciate the rivalry i guess.
Okay this thing has legs and I’m really concerned about what’s happening in the locker room now.
https://twitter.com/LesBowen/status/681168237166477312
If he goes on IR list this week, I think we’ll know
especially since chip says peters is one of the guys he’s closest to.
i will also say, peters was getting beat quite a bit too, maybe he should be more worried about that.
I would cut Peters this offseason, but i would have done it even before this. The guy is just beat down and even if he moved to Guard, would he stay healthy? I love and appreciate him as a player but i think he has got to go. Move Lane over to LT……it’s not like Peters was anything great this year
I guess Jason got sick of buying into Chips rah-rah BS.
Aftter all his injuries this year, maybe he had enough
Maybe if he got sick of it, he should have retired honorably.
More reason to get rid of Billy D.
https://twitter.com/RoobCSN/status/681158561683079169
marcus peters is a straight baller. 8 picks.
#culture
he was easily the best CB in the draft, but was a noted nutcase……the definition of “boom or bust”…..glad he is doing well though, but could have easily been another Justin Gilbert so i don’t blame teams for passing on him
andy has good history of dealing w/ head cases
frank gore. beasting.