Practice vs Practice
Posted: June 14th, 2016 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 179 Comments »Chip Kelly ran football practice unlike any other football coach. He wanted reps. Coaching and teaching were to be done in the classroom. The field was all about reps, good, bad or indifferent.
This isn’t a dumb idea. Kelly likes to keep things basic and then wants his players to perfect their performance by getting rep after rep after rep. It makes sense that the more you do something, the better you should get at it. That may not be true of every endeavor in life, but understand that NFL players are the best in the world at what they do and they have excellent supervision.
While there is logic to Kelly’s thinking, that doesn’t make it the best way of doing things. With Kelly gone, some players are speaking up. Check out this piece by Robert Klemko of MMQB.
I think I enjoyed my day-trip to Philadelphia last week to watch the burgeoning QB competition between Sam Bradford and Carson Wentz and to get a feel for what practices will be like under Doug Pederson, whose coaching style appears to lean closer to Andy Reid than Chip Kelly. No more deafening techno at the NovaCare facility; just modern hip-hop, at a moderate volume. And rather than players going nonstop in five or six groups at once, there’s a lot more standing around and listening. It seems to be a welcome change for the vets. Here’s cornerback Nolan Carroll: “Things are a lot more slowed down this year compared to last year. They don’t want to give us a bunch of information and throw you on the field; that’s like a wasted day. I understand his mindset from last year. He wanted us to not think and just react, but guys need the mental reps first.” I wonder if Chip can hear that 2,500 miles away in San Francisco…
It is especially interesting that these comments come from Carroll. He was a player signed under Kelly. He and Kelly seemed to have a great relationship and Kelly constantly praised Carroll last offseason. Carroll started 11 games and played well for Kelly. These comments aren’t coming from someone with an agenda against Kelly. That gives them more weight.
I think one thing that hurts Kelly is that coaches and players are used to standard football practice. When introduced to his system, there is a bit of a shock factor. Players and coaches have spent all their lives doing something a certain way and now must adapt to an unorthodox system. There is no doubt that not all of them buy in.
You also wonder if coaches who aren’t used to that style can be effective teachers when working like that. It is much easier to do that at the collegiate level, where you don’t have the same expectation levels and other factors. Teaching a college player to beat the man across from him is different than doing that in the NFL. You can teach a DE to beat the Cal LT easier than you can teach a DE to beat Tyron Smith. Covering Kenny Lawler is easier than covering Odell Beckham. And so on. Details mean more in the NFL. Trying to teach details might be tougher in a split field-classroom system than in the standard style of practice.
Or it might not.
It is possible Kelly’s methods felt less effective to some people because there were so unorthodox when in reality, the results were about the same. Kelly went 10-6, 10-6 and 7-9 as coach. It isn’t as if his tenure was some huge failure. It just didn’t turn out as hoped.
I don’t know if there will be any way to truly know which style of practice is better. It will be interesting to see how the players perform this season. That won’t necessarily give us an answer, but it could offer a hint.
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I do have a theory that just occurred to me. I need to do a bit of research before sharing it.
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Need a good laugh? Here you go.
10 reasons the Cowboys will be a dumpster fire this season https://t.co/LtWDrh2AsZ
— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) June 13, 2016
Enjoy.
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[…] Tommy Lawlor Chip Kelly ran football practice unlike any other football coach. He wanted reps. Coaching and […]
I wonder if Fletcher Cox got a few additional million because Lurie/Roseman were anxious to go out on something other than “Nelson Agholor might have raped a stripper”
No. Cox arrived at camp before that which was a very strong indication that a contract was very close. Furthermore Roseman DOES NOT seem the type of GM to just throw money out there because of a completely unrelated PR situation as Agholor’s.
I actually wondered about the timing of that actually from the Cox camp. Even though he had nothing to do with it, being in the vicinity of a potentially raped stripper could have motivated them to maybe to close whatever gap was remaining.
It’s not fair, but it could be true that his name might be slightly besmirched simply by vicinity alone.
Nice Hot Take… But reality is that the Eagles gave Cox that contract because if you think that contract is expensive, it’s nothing compared to what we would have had to give him next summer
…
Realistically we saved money by giving Cox this deal
I love those dumpster fire articles. They lead to some upset comments. The Giants one is up now too.
Jimmy knows how to rile the masses.
It’s crazy how many Cowboys, Giants, and Redskins fans comment on these (typically his articles don’t have too much happening in the comment section), maybe from his old blogging the beast days? Either way, you got to love the emotions Jimmy gets out of people.
His style of writing is very refreshing at times. You can’t help but chuckle to yourself with some of the things he says. Especially the stick figures. Even when it is something highly negative about the Eagles you have to laugh at times.
The JPP stick figure today was pretty amazing.
That was amazing, I laughed out loud literally.
The Giants absolutely suck. Jimmy hit the nail on the head.
The team’s play also got sloppier each season under Kelly, even as he whined that he was failing due to the players’ “execution,” rather than his own playcalls.
They had 17 drops in 508 passing attempts in 2013.
They had 25 drops in 621 passing attempts in 2014.
They had 37 drops in 623 passing attempts in 2015.
Bad reps are worse than no reps.
He was trying to teach correct execution but going about it in an unorthodox and seemingly counterproductive manner.
So…he was trying to teach correct execution by prioritizing speed over execution?
Yup.
OL play got sloppier although you can very well attribute that to Peter’s increase in age and the drop off of talent at some positions.
I do wonder if Kelce suffered some from Kelly’s practice methods or if his struggles can strictly be attributed to decrease in talent next to him and injuries. Very possibly a combination of both. I think 2014 we can attribute to injuries.
While LJ has been very good for us, has he been kept from being truly dominate due to practice methods? He has the natural abilities to be consistently dominant in this league. Seems as though he has the work ethic, nastiness you like in an OL, and just general mental fortitude to do so.
Kendricks is another one. Although you can also attribute his struggles to injuries.
How about Kiko, Maxwell, and Murray? There were many other contributing factors to their at times horrendous play last year, but these are players that really excelled with their previous teams.
I guess we will find out this up coming season. Can’t wait. TC isn’t to far off.
In theory the more reps per player should pay off, but if the players are getting bad reps with zero teaching, they will learn bad habbits instead of good habbits.
The problem with zero teaching is that player might think he do the route right every time, but his footwork might need a tweak, so instead of getting the tweak after 1 wrong rep, he gets it after maybe 20 wrong reps, so in theory it is tougher to correct afterwards.
Exactly. NFL players learn technique on the field, not the classroom.
Kelly’s method might make sense when the roster is 100+ players and there is a timelimit
Yup. Which, of course, applies to a ton of his methods.
The NFL is a different game than the NCAA. Just ask Spurrier.
One of the funny things about Chip is that he had a great saying to cover just about everything. So we point out that possible flaw, and he would always preach “practice does not make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect.” So we would then say, oh he’s aware of that pitfall, so I’m sure he’s got it covered. Another example is his emphasis on growth mindset, yet had a personal reluctance to adapt.
Ironically the man may have had perfect principles, but failed to execute.
Repetition only betters you if you are doing the reps the correct way. 3 correct reps is better then 100 incorrect reps. I get what Kelly was trying to do, but I don’t think every player can benefit that way. Some players are slower learners then others and need to be corrected numerous times while doing the action. That isn’t saying the player is a bad player, just that they need a more orthodox method of teaching to truly benefit them. To me it just seems like the most many players got out of that method of practice was good cardio work. That is important, but that is not the focus of practice regardless of the scheme you run.
I am curious to see how some players that weren’t to good for us under Kelly perform with their respective teams that they went to.
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My first block lol
Wasn’t aware that could be done. Thanks.
These sre annoying
I think they just needed a way to not do 100 incorrect repetitions. You’re absolutely correct that 3 correct reps is better than 100 incorrect, but if there’s no correction during practice, then there’s no way to ever get anything other than a bunch of incorrect reps. Especially after fatigue sets in.
Perhaps Chip will evolve and find a way for that to work. He’ll have to, especially working with older guys who don’t have the stamina (or lack of injuries) that college kids have. Maybe some kind of a slow ramp up to higher reps, after a burn in period of slower reps but with correction.
It’s a case of being too clever but not as clever as you think, in my opinion.
Lol, Walter Thurmond playing under the alias Dick Mahoney in a softball league in Philly. Good for him. Seems like a good guy doing the right things, and living life how he wants to live it.
Yeah, but I doubt he needed the wig to keep people from recognizing him.
One factor for Chip’s practices is that, as Kempski noted, the Eagles were one of the oldest teams in the NFL during his three years. It was the older guys (such as Cary Williams) who complained the most.
Now he has one of the league’s youngest teams in SF, so his style might work better. Then again, the reason they are younger is that they had a refugee problem worse than Syria’s last summer, so maybe they’ll continue to suck.
I think you’re second point is correct. The Niners have little to no talent and will continue to suck.
Gabbert rising. He’s here to prove the haters wrong and that his hair actually isn’t pretentious.
If chip doeant change anything, he is going to get slaughtered with that roster lol
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Of course when talk out of San Fran is that they are considering using their rookie QB(Driskell) on Special teams, doesmt sound like he is changing much
I can’t wait until the players complain about Peterson’s physical training camps.
Players don’t mind physical training camps. Hitting, and getting hit, is important preparation for the season.
I feel like it’s hitting a bucket of balls…spraying them everywhere, and then the golf pro says “Hey man, you need a more upright swing plane” as you are walking out. You say “hey thanks a lot,” but you are really thinking ‘what the fuck is a swing plane ?’ I feel the more traditional way of doing it would be having a swing coach with you as you hit every ball. Sure you don’t blow through them as fast but you are getting instruction and better quality reps.
My pro always tells me, you’re not here to hit a hundred balls in 10 minutes. Take you time and make each hit count. Repeatedly doing something wrong makes it harder to correct the problem in the future.
There is 0% chance the Eagles were run anything like this. They got feedback, just not in the same manner. I also think the extra reps were almost certainly beneficial to the players. “Repetition is the mother of skill.” These are not no-talent amateurs just starting out.
Saying the O sucked because of Kelly’ unconventional practices is just as tenuous as saying they had (some) good injury luck because of smoothies. The data is just not there to say with anything like certitude. They sucked because of lack of talent and a broken scheme, and maybe a broken organization.
There is something to be said for instant and consistent feedback, of course–that’s why they say there is no better teacher than gravity.
Actually, we know that they were run exactly like this. Maybe they did an in-depth film session after the 100 bad swings, but they didn’t then correct it out on the field.
“It
was this strictness of musical atmosphere which was the foundation of
my success later on. I never was permitted to let the slightest mistakes
pass uncorrected when practicing, but was taught to correct and conquer
even the most simple one immediately, while still but a child, I was
instructed in carefulness; carefulness in holding the violin properly,
in drawing the bow straight across the strings in order to produce a
pure tone, and in placing the fingers correctly and firmly on the
strings. It is astounding how many beginners on musical instruments are
allowed to become careless, they themselves not realizing what it means
or how much work will have to be undone and done over later on in life,
To me this negligence in the case of a beginner in music is the same as
that of a child who when beginning the study of the multiplication table
is permitted to guess of results, such as two times two equals six, or
seven times six equals sixteen, and so on.
The
very first “guess” should be corrected and reasons explained; the child
should be made to understand why twice two equals four. I classify all
uncorrected errors as “microbes” which, although invisible to the naked
eye, are deadly – even more deadly than an animal as big as an elephant.
One
can run away or hide from or dodge an elephant, but not so with a
microbe. These minute organisms multiply rapidly and in large number if
not immediately driven out of the system.”
– Herbert L. Clarke
That’s a great quote.
I’m a huge fan(not in weight) in reps vs. standing around. Hate watching people standing around – at any level, in any sport(or any job really) besides taking a break. I also believe that you need to stop a “drill” to correct people. It’s not really a stop, it’s a pause lol. If someone’s feet work is wrong, blow the whistle, have the linemen watch someone demonstrate what is expected. Blow the whistle, start up again.
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I also believe that some people need to be trained(helped) differently. That’s part coach/part player. Coach needs to see it or player needs to approach a coach and say ‘hey, I need help with blah blah(technical term)’ and get help on the side.
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The best example I can think to explain why I’m a fan of CK’s practices(for the most part) is with little league practice: Old way = 1 coach hit a ground ball to 3rd, everybody else, including other coaches stand and watch this 1 play. Player picks up the ball and throws to first. If an error happens – repeat. Then you always have that 1 coach yell to the CF’r(even though there’s no play to him) — Lawlor! stop staring into space! you need to back up that play(even though it was to 3rd). and repeat that process with the 14(or so) other little leaguers at practice. Now hitting practice — bring in 1 kid(who can never throw a strike) to practice pitching and 1 kid hitting. Now you have 2 kids doing something and 12 others doing nothing.
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New way: All players are at infield positions. 1 coach on the 1st base side of home plate hitting ground balls. 1 coach on the 3rd base side hitting ground balls. 1 coach feeding each coach balls to hit. Buckets at 1st, 2nd and 3rd. 2 ground balls at a time, and each throwing to a specific base. Players drop the ball in the bucket. There’s a rapid fire pattern and rotation here that’s longer to explain. I can do an infield practice in 15 minutes and have a ton(have a big scale) more reps completed than a team doing an hours worth the old way.
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New way of hitting: kids don’t pitch for batting practice. Ever. Screen and light tossing by a coach from a shorter distance than the mound. Lots of benefits here with this approach. Anyway — you have 3 other hitting stations set up prior to an at bat(this is where the teaching happens, not at the plate). Hitting off a tee, soft toss into a net, hitting off a stick(just some examples). 4 kids at a time are always doing something. The rest field and puts the balls in a bucket. Obviously there are outfield n pitching drills but the picture is painted. My baseball practice never exceed an hour 10 minutes(each drilled is timed). Long gone on the days of the kids practicing 2.5 hours watching 1 or 2 kids move on a 1 play. CK’s approach has merit – but needs tweaks…
I would think that standing around doing nothing would be good training for baseball players to get a feel for game like conditions.
from the previous thread, someone wrote that the cap hits for ‘ Cox at $6M, $9M, $18M, $22M, $20M.” — I’m not saying the Eagles will — but if the Eagles cut ties with Cox after year 3 — do they get hit with the 22 and 20 cap numbers?
http://overthecap.com/player/fletcher-cox/1824/
And the first year you’d really have to worry about Cox’s cap hit is 2020 ………if you have to pay Wentz the year 5 option year and haven’t done an extension for Wentz yet.
But if we assume caps of
$170 mil – 2017
$185 – 2018
$200 – 2019
$215 – 2020
we can easily afford the Cox deal.
After year 3, that contract will be ripped up and Cox will sign a new deal
No, since it’s not guaranteed money. There will be a cap consequence since there will still be some of the prorated signing bonus left to account for, but it would be an overall cap savings in 2019 if we cut him. It will be very difficult to cut him before then, so he’s likely to see his non-guaranteed 2018 salary, so he’d get about 48 million over the first three years if we cut him in 2019.
But really, that 22 million number is pretty much a forced-renegotiate season — he won’t want to continue playing with non-guaranteed salaries and the Eagles will probably want to reduce the cap number. If the cap keeps skyrocketing it may not be as bad, but that will still be high.
Thanks.
I agree that Chip was let go more for off the field or non-football reasons i.e. his demeanor/attitude with players and media, his relentless avoidance of any accountability and his feuds with Roseman et al. in the organization.
The main football reason that makes sense to me is the personnel decisions that led to losing DJax, McCoy, Mathis, Maclin and brought in Murray, Maxwell, Kiko. I think his lack of adjustments with the scheme played a part too, but the drop in personnel quality made that harder IMO.
It will be interesting to see how Pederson does and how he is perceived by the fans, media and organization. It is normal to be compared to the last guy for a period of time, but once you have your own track record that vanishes. How this season goes will define Pederson for many; fair or unfair. How he handles either the praise or criticism will also be very illuminating.
Pederson has to do one thing more than any other: avoid screwing up clock management at the end of game. If he can’t do that, people will start remembering why they were glad to see Andy Reid get canned and the good will will run out quickly.
Ah great point. He will face a lot of scrutiny being perceived as a Reid clone, so people will be watching for Reid’s short comings to manifest in him.
Yeah, even the talent he lost seemed to be rooted to his off-field quirks. Because sthings were great on Sundays. Felt like he lost them because of Mondays through Saturdays
The one trade he made that I am willing to defend was Shady for Kiko. Alonso was defensive ROY, a stud under Kelly at Oregon, and not fully recovered from a lingering knee injury. Shady’s contract was fat and not getting more manageable. Then we learned what a classless human being he is. I’m not crazy about the personnel decisions that Kelly made overall, but that was a bold move that freed up cap, acquired a defensive starter with star potential, and shook the NFL. Trifecta.
Random thought : chip was good at clock management but awful AWFUL at challenge flags
I have bad memory – did Maclin leave for less money?
Love that Goff thinks the speed of the NFL is slowing down for him after mini camp, woah there Cowboy! Get to the regular season and get through your “welcome to the NFL” moments, then talk about the game slowing down.
yep. a lotta times when something seems way too easy it means you’re doing it wrong.
Let us all be thankful that Goff is not, in fact, a Cowboy.
Unless he acts like one, then he would be such a bust that we’d wish Jerry mortgaged the franchise to get him
I don’t fear Goeff in the least bit,,,, wouldnt care if he was a Cowboy, but im sure going to enjoy Dak Prescott being a cowboy, aka Quincy Carter Jr
Everyone who buys into a new system will compare it favorably to their past one, unless they’re unusually mature.
That being said, by the time you get to the NFL you need far less reps than you did as a freshman in college to know how to do your job. Kelly’s system was developed to help kids get better at running basic principles better than other kids. In the NFL it made less difference due to the experience of the players, so his competitive advantage using this was less.
The mega reps was also to achieve more tempo and pace during the game. It sounds rational, but how it affects the mental side is not a lock. It seems to me that the more you repeat an action, the less thought you give it, and our OL often appeared unfocused.
Agreed. One of the reasons Belichick is able to run so many different types of schemes, seemingly changing them up every week, is that pro-players are capable of handling a lot more than we sometimes give them credit for. Football has a lot of repeating themes throughout all different types of schemes. If you’re running basic plays from any scheme, chances are a pro player has executed that concept at some point before in his playing career. Chips insistence that you had to run a play a million times in practice against every kind of defense before you could expect it to be executed in a game, sounded like it made sense, but in reality wasn’t really true.
Boys will go as far as a healthy Romo takes them. Been the same the last several years and no different this year.
I would still take Romo in a heartbeat this season over Bradford too.
He may be injury prone, but he’s played more games than Bradford over the last 5 years.
According to nfl.com he only really missed lots of time last year out of the last 5 years. That seems odd considering the going narrative these days…
Wouldnt shock me if they were the worst team in the division again. Not only do I not believe that Romo will ever get thru another season healthy, but the Cowboys OL was extremely fortunate to stay healthy ALL SEASON… Unlikely that they enjoy another season of 5 starting OL staying healthy for 16 games… dallas OL is dominant in the run game, average in pass protection..
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The Cowboys defense is TERRIBLE! They only created like 11 turnovers last year. Some teams had 11 turnovers by week 3… Shows a clear lack of playmaking on defense.. That defense sucked at forcing turnovers, that defense was horrible against the run, and they not probably literally have the worst pass rush in the NFL, with average at best DB’s behind them.
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They won 4 games last year and had 5 OLineman stay Healthy all year, and a year of healthy Sean Lee, what are the odds Lee and the entire OL stay healthy AGAIN?
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Whoever says Dallas has more talemt then the Eagles is a fucking idiot. To call us the least talemted team in the NFC couldn’t be farther from the truth
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I’ll be surprised if Dallas gets to 7 wins…..
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Even the Giants crappy roster is probably better than the Cowboys … Dallas has some high end talent, but they have too many glaring weaknesses to respect as an elite team like media and delusional cowboy fans seem to thinkl.. That team is NOTHING without Dez, and his foot injuries were alarming
Romo already has Schwartz’s attention, and I am anxious to see our DL against that hyped OL in front of Tony. Bryant is a true star, without whom Romo is very ordinary.
I think you can say that just about any team losing their starting qb…..
Kelly went 6-9 in 2015. I refuse to give him that 7th win, because he probably would have lost that game.
Win officially belongs to Shurmer
It raised his career record to 10-23
not to the giants
We nearly lost to the Giants, with Bradford being allowed to audible at the line when they recognized our plays.
i don’t know what you are talking about. the giants didn’t almost do nuthin
If Jimmy really wants to get some hits over on PhillyVoice, he should right a dumpster fire article on what the Eagles’ offense likely will be this year.
People have got accustomed to a high scoring, big play offense here the last several years and I see the Eagles’ mob turning on what I see being a very pedestrian and unproductive offense. I see Bradford and Pederson being hit targets early and often as the season goes progresses.
The only area I think they might be a bit better this year is red zone efficiency but there is no one on this offense (including Ertz who I still waiting to really put together a dominant stretch) who is someone who is going to make plays consistently. I don’t think this will be the worst offense in the NFL but I do see a bottom 10 and possible bottom 5 unit.
He will get to the Eagles, and I’d bet his list will lean heavily towards the offensive side of the ball.
Yeah. I just see Pederson being a lightning rod for criticism early on especially since he’ll be the offensive coordinator too.
I’m so pumped about this 53….
The defense has a lot to be excited about! Especially up the middle!
Can’t be a worse offense than 2015 was.
Yeah I think the frustration of the last year has mostly prepared us for “normal offense”. Its actually been a while since we were explosive
Yeah, I don’t feel accustomed to a high scoring, big play offense at all. I feel accustomed to an offense that goes 3 and out faster than most teams get to 2nd down.
Shady, djax, and Vick have been gone for a while. That was real explosiveness (not necessarily ideal, but definitely explosive)
It has been a year really where this offense sputtered and they still had some games where they put up decent point totals.
This offense shouldn’t have to finally be counted to score 27-28+ pts to have a legit shot to win as they have almost every year for the past several but I don’t see many games at all where this team puts up this point total either.
If the defense and special teams can hold teams most weaks to 17-23 points, then the Eagles will have a puncher’s chance then in most of their games.
Ranked 26th by DVOA. There is room to fall.
http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/teamoff
Not sure there is a visual difference from 26 to 32. They looked like the 32nd ranked offense for a bunch of games last year. How can it get any worse than 1st down, IZR for -2 yards, 2nd down, screen pass for -3 yards, 3rd down, shotgun run for 2 yards. 4 and out.
Most likely, we won’t see the raw and startling incompetence on OL and WR we had last year, but the numerical results may be no better. We did score 39, 33, 35, and 35 points in games.
Including the 35 vs. New England is very misleading.
I feel like the D and special teams helped a bunch when we had high scores last year. Am I wrong?
No, you and Bob are correct. That Patriots game, for example, was a stinker. Maybe I am just blanking it out. Still, the point remains that they ranked 26th in DVOA, not 32nd! There is a fairly gradual slope from 20th to 32nd. I think the same would hold true with pretty much any statistical indicator. It’s not like they were just one play away from being the worst or the 15th best offense.
Our defense and special teams did score points last year.
i wonder how much of the DVOA is based on quality of opponents? plenty of games we got shit results vs mediocre defenses. i’d guess we would have been just as bad against even worse defenses, which probably would have looked worse for the sake of DVOA
No; defense-adjusted value over average. Accounting for opponent quality is built into the formula. Of course, it’s only one perspective, even if I find it to be quite good.
It won’t be worse, how can it be worse when we didn’t lose any talent, and it’s safe to say that opponents won’t be as prepared for our offense as DC’s were prepared for chips offense last year.
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I think he does one for the Eagles too.
generally agree but I see or hope they use Sproles better than Chip did. I also still wont buy that hes losing a step, think hes got another season in him and why I kind of didnt like fans wanting to trade him. Give Doug something to work with at least. Hes the guy I expect to make plays on this team but otherwise a plodding, boring offense. I can definitely envision it being a rough go and just hoping the D can keep them in games. Hope they use some of the speed to go over the top at times and still have a decent ST unit. More thank likely gonna be ugly at times.
It would be hard to use Sproles worse than chip did..
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We don’t have established BIGTIME WRs, well doug comes from a team that did a great job of using Travis Kelce(Ertz) and Jamal Charles(sproles) to carry the passing attack and compensate for a lack of elite WRs…
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Expecting SPROLES to be a HUGE part of the passing offense this year, I got SPROLES catching like 70 passes this year and being an under rated fantasy football weapon
He does this every year and doesn’t exclude The Eagles.
I’m braced for a plodding, unspectacular offensive show, so, hopefully, I can only be pleasantly surprised. One specific thing that has me interested is the new members to the OL. AR had 4th qtr running which almost balanced out his pass happy tendency, but in KC he showed a definite interest in running early and often. If DP can get some muscle from Brooks and Wiz or whoever he starts at RG, our running could be respectable. I do expect though that the pace of play will be an adjustment for me.
Celek, Ertz, Mathews, Randle, Sproles, and Mathews have proven to consistently make plays in the red zone.
I think they are also going to run the ball much more effectively, and by reading into how Pederson has targeted deep threats at the WR position you have to assume that he is going to at least try and establish a good vertical game as well.
I think the offense will be better by virtue of being more diverse. I don’t think Pederson will be as predictable as Kelly.
2013 and, to a lesser extent, 2014 yes…we had a big play offense. Last years offense was atrocious and we had no big plays. Will it be as good as 2013, probably not, but I assume it will be better than the garbage we saw last year.
barwin gave his thoughts on Practice vs practice, Chip style vs Teach me how to Dougie style
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Barwin told Cataldi that because playërs are getting less reps under Dougs practice style, he feels that he is getting more out of the reps this summer, more detailed reps and it’s important tone slow down and really make each rep count… He also claims that he feels faster, more explosive now that they aren’t running non stop all summer.
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He also had some other interesting tidbits: “The media tends to exaggerate the change of going from a 3-4 to a 4-3, the differnce is now I get to do less of what I don’t like to do(drop into coverage), and he gets to do more of what he loves to do(ATTACK and rush the passer)
..
Also claims that you can already start ti see the effects of Schwartz passionate, attacking style begin to trickle down to all the players and that “100% we will see a more attack style defense than we saw the last few years. schwartz explain it that if you can throw a 95 mile an hour fastball, no point in dicking around with other pitches, throw that fastball all day”..
Unfortunately that takes away 66.6% of what he does well. He can cover, and stop the run, and rush the passer. He does all of them equally well; he does none of them at an elite level. Hopefully JS figures out how to use him.
Think he can figure It out without your pointers
Dallas Cowboys DONT have a single player on the roster that has 10 career sacks. LOL
not even CED Thorton?
He has 4, haha.
Ced Thornton provides virtually no pass rush. Good run stopper. I think he was the one player on the Eagles team Chip inherited from Reid that was truly meant for Chips 3-4 2 gap.
Jimmy definitely digs up some good stuff in this series every year, but I thought you swore never to read him again after he predicted we would cut DJ?
persnickety facts
I read it on PhillyMag, thanks for your constant concern.. Lol as if the same exact shit ismt posted on every eagle site?
Ah, I see. Since you didn’t give credit, I assumed it was from the article linked above, where Jimmy said “But the worst part is that the Cowboys don’t have a single player on their roster with at least 10 career regular season sacks. Not one.”
Can you link to the Philly Mag article? I am curious how it compares.
I saw that popped up in his argument with David Murphy. I usually like Murphy’s work, but he was being a massive wanker the other day on Twitter and in his subsequent article.
GOOD NEWS EVERYONE.
If you haven’t noticed it yet, Disqus now allows you to block users. Enjoy this new feature the next time whats-his-face comes around trolling.
How? Sorry for being so computer illiterate.
When you’re hovering over a comment, a minus sign (-) and a down arrow appear on the top right of the comment. Hit the down arrow, and then click block this user. Don’t block me though 🙂
Got it. Thanks.
https://blog.disqus.com/user-blocking-is-now-available-on-disqus?UTM_SOURCE=motd_home&UTM_MEDIUM=web
Thanks.
Fantastic news.
Sweet! $98/hr? Sounds too good to be true! Do you need my social and CC info? I bet I can do this from home! I’m in! You have Chip Kelley’d me.
I wonder if he/she purposely did that. Below.
This glorious!!
We can block ppl in disqus now! https://blog.disqus.com/user-blocking-is-now-available-on-disqus?UTM_SOURCE=motd_home&UTM_MEDIUM=web
Holy GEAGLE!
That kid is going to block 90% of the board. Every time he logs on he’ll see the original post and 20 pages of his own ramblings.
I’ve clamored for that feature 90% because of him, but I just can’t do it. He’s been on pretty decent behavior lately…
At some point it became comical. It’ll probably become annoying again when we get some good discussions going as the season approaches.
But seriously, what took so long to get thia feature? They got rid of downvotes before the ban feature…
Not sure why I’m thinking about him, but is Riley Cooper out of the league?
He is still a FA.
Yeah, he seems pretty untouchable to me. Nowhere near talented enough to justify the locker room/media/fan reaction.
He may be signed during TC when injuries take place. Keep in mind he was a good ST player when he got his snaps there. If/when he does sign it will be for the vet minimum. Will not surprise me if he does find his way onto a roster. He does make a good 4th WR/ST player.
And I bet he sucks at softball.
correct. Makes you wonder why they gave him that foolish contract extension. He should have been gone long ago.
surprised Chip hasn’t picked him up in SF yet
I am too. It seemed he was so adamant on him playing, that he actually thought he was good, that it’s perplexing he didn’t follow Chip to SF.
Cooper vs. Boykin, who gets a job first?
My money would be Cooper. And by money I mean a dollar.
Random but I had no idea Juan Castillo was Ravens OL coach. Felt bad for him with what happened in Philadelphia. He never should have been allowed to coach that D. It was a text book example of a setup for failure. Good OL coach though. Makes sense Harbough would have him with the Philly connection.
Yeah, I believe he was brought over as an adviser immediately after he was let go by mid-season by the Eagles in 2012, and I also believe he was given a Super Bowl ring by the Ravens.
He was.
Yeah, Juan was a good dude, but nobody wanted to work with Wasburn……….so Juan got suck in that role.
Yeah. Would have been good to put Castillo as a position coach of defense first.
Even though he got canned, he’s pretty much the best DC the Eagles have had since JJ.
I imagine he might look back and regret accepting the DC position.
100%. He had a nice career before that and was really loved in Philly for a positional coach.
Reid was really at fault for letting that happen, but considering what was going on in Reid’s life at that point and time I don’t really blame him. After what happened he just didn’t seem to really be all too focused. Going to KC was the best thing for Reid. He needed a new start, and I’m happy to see that he turned that team around from perennial losers to a consistent playoff team.
What was his Wonderlic score again?
https://twitter.com/SportsRadioWIP/status/743248509659295744
I think this is a good sign. How many times have you seen Tom Brady lighting up an opponent and thought to yourself, “Wow, he is locked in!” Wentz is developing that ability.
Especially when dropping a deuce.
They’ve found us, Tommy.
It is a great opportunity to try out the new block feature.
There’s a block feature now!!!?? Our prayers have been answered!
Hello… hello… is there anybody out there?
“You can’t have an accurate grade on a guy unless you’re on the sideline, in the QB room, understanding what was discussed about particular plays,” said one AFC offensive coordinator. “I’ve been sitting in the lunch room and matched up my grades with PFF grades, and they’re fairly accurate, but less so when you’re talking about quarterbacks.”
Mmqb on pff
This exchange between former Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch and L. Jon Wertheim, executive editor of Sports Illustrated:
Wertheim: “Everybody I’ve spoken to about you has referenced your financial savvy. What’s the source of that?”
Lynch: “You ate cereal before?”
Wertheim: “I’ve eaten cereal.”
Lynch: “Alright. Have you ever had a roach in your cereal before?”
Wertheim: “No.”
Lynch: “You haven’t, right?”
Wertheim: “I have not.”
Lynch: “If you came from eatin’ cereal with roaches in it before, Dawg . . . Feel what I’m sayin’? You wouldn’t want to do that again, right? Once you’ve seen the lowest of the low, you don’t want to go back.”
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I feel like we fought the good fight and we really tried to do the best we could so we can keep more players around here, but at the end of the day we need Fletcher Cox going forward, we need that player in the middle of our defense. We believe in getting pressure on the quarterback and preventing pressure on the quarterback, and he can do that for us.”
This helps the Brandon Brooks signing make more sense (not that it didn’t make sense). He’s the anti-Cox: big mean pass protecting machine designed to stop players like Cox from doing what players like Cox do. Getting pressure and preventing pressure ftw , folks
Hopefully Wentz And Cox give us two big time building blocks to build something legit around
Im going to be pissed if John Harbagh Bails out the Giants with Eugene Monroe. Hopefully someone like the Chargers or seahawks can outbid for Monroe now that he is on the open market.
.
Our DL DOMINATING the right side of the Giants OL is one of the main reasons for our recent domination over The Giants… Monroe is nothing special, but he is a clear upgrade to the slop they currently have that guys like Barwin and Curry have been abusing for years.
..
Apparently BARWIN sounds excited about Vinny currys 2016 season:
“VINNY is an interesting guy because IMO, you have to know how to coach him. He is so explosive you have to more or less just let him go. When you try to give VInny a bunch of assignments, places to be, it can slow him down, but when you really cut him loose, that’s when you see him have a lot of success”
..
Think Howie could end up looking really good getting guys like Cox and Curry under contract Longterm before letting them play under schwartz,, lucky a guy like Curry DIDNT insist on a short, prove it extension so he could renegotiate in a year or two. Probably a safe Gamble to overpay for him a bit now, showing faith that he is going to really explode in the new defense. I’d be very surprised if his stats dont look much different than it did when he was playing 30% Of the snaos in a 3-4
Vinny and Fletch have both come such a long way, It’s exciting to see them get to do what they were drafted to do now that they’ve already established themselves (Fletch at an all-pro level) making an impact in a 3-4. I’m thrilled that Vinny survived those years to make it to this point. There were points when he just really didn’t fit and Chip was being a bit thick-headed on how to use Vinny. Will be good to see what Schwartz can do with him. As for Cox, at his age, with this scheme, and this DC, I’d be disappointed if he isn’t Canton-bound when he hangs up his cleats (which I feel crazy to say, but Fletch is just special).
The Ravens fans couldn’t wait to get rid of Monroe.
Just musing here, but I really like what we did this offseason in terms of who we signed and who we extended. It feels like we kept the guys who could be core players going forward and brought in solid value FA’s, the kind that have worked out for us (Malcom Jenkins, etc.) No Byron Maxwells or Demarco Murrays.
I don’t think we’re going to be great this year, but I think we’ve given ourselves a shot at building something good. Obviously Pederson and Wentz are big X factors, but I think we’re putting pieces in place.
If we can pick up a good receiver so that Mathews can be the #2, and get a couple capable running backs, our offense could be in good shape next year.
I think Randle can provide enough WR assistance. He is in a prove it deal. I expect him to try and dispel the negative notions about him.
Lets hope.
Even if you are skeptical in which I understand you have to at the very least admit he is a big upgrade on the outside over last year.
Agholor can’t be any worse, and if he does stay the same then Givens would be an upgrade over how Agholor played last year.
I mean I don’t know, I don’t really have an opinion. I just hope we find guys who can contribute.
I understand. Not being a homer but I just strongly feel as though Randle may very well be our biggest steal in FA if not one of the top steals in FA league wide. How many times do you get to sign a WR that is in their mid 20’s and has amassed between 800 and 1000 yards apiece for the past two seasons with I believe no less then 7 TDs for a million bucks? That is pretty damn rare. Hell, we paid Miles Austin more or the same last year!
Knock him, but the kid has put up good numbers the past two seasons. If he has any kind of sense he will try and dispel the negative notions regarding him. This is a year that will very much impact the rest of his career, and he has the talent to set himself up pretty damn well.
This NBA finals game is crazy. Cavs were crushing, now Warriors rolling, but Curry making terrible fouls and Harrison Barnes can’t hit shit. Klay Thompson is terrible driving to the hoop too, he needs to limit that.
The officiating in the finals has been absolutely atrocious. If the announcers had more balls they’d be talking about it. Terrible calls going both ways.
I hate the fact that they are calling things completely different now. And that lower your shoulder and shove your way into the paint was boring when Mason used to do it.
The calls are so sporadic too, the last 2 fouls on Curry were ridiculous considering what people have been getting away with.
I’d love to say that one team was benefiting more than the other but Jesus I think it’s terrible going both ways.
Klay Thompson just awful. When Harrison Barnes is cold its bad for the Warriors because he’s the most likely person to be left open for the 3 ball, and he can’t hit shit tonight.
Bizarre to see Curry so hot and everyone else ice cold. Still feels like if the Warriors can rain some 3’s they could be in it.