Catching On
Posted: September 13th, 2016 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 173 Comments »Eagles WRs had a rough spring. We thought Chris Givens or Reuben Randle had a chance to start for the team, but both failed to impress. Nelson Agholor had issues on and off the field. Dorial Green-Beckham was still a Titan. Jordan Matthews played well, but was more steady than flashy. And Josh Huff…he was all over the place. He seemed to be the king of the drops.
Summer wasn’t much better. Givens and Randle eventually got the boot. Paul Turner won the hearts of Eagles fans, but his size/speed just wasn’t enough for the coaches to want him on the final roster. Huff made some plays in the preseason and made you understand why the coaches were so patient with him. Agholor started making news on the field, although drops were still an issue.
DGB came in late, but immediately became a fan favorite. He’s just so different than any receiver the Eagles have had in recent years. TO was thick, but not overly tall or long. Hank Baskett had some size, but never seemed to use it. DGB is 6-5, 237, can catch and is a gifted athlete. He has a rare combination of skills. He seemed to feel comfortable immediately and has been a different person than he was in Tennessee. On some level, you have to be wondering if he’ll turn out to be a star and this will be the Football Gods version of payback for Cris Carter.
On cutdown weekend, the Eagles added some guy named Bryce Treggs. Who? He ran 4.39 at Cal’s Pro Day, which the Eagles attended. They talked to Treggs on the visit so this is a player the team has had some interest in for a while. When the Niners cut him, the Eagles jumped at the chance to claim the speedster. As much as the Eagles liked the potential of their WRs, the one thing missing was someone with dynamic speed. Treggs has that.
I was curious how the WRs would play in the opener. I was thrilled when Matthews caught his TD early in the game. That wasn’t a special play, but you had to love the timing between Carson Wentz and him. Matthews isn’t a speedster. What he can do is run a good route and make a tough catch, as he did on that play. A WR doesn’t have to run by the CB to be a threat. He just has to be in a spot where the QB can get him the ball and the DB can’t get to it.
Matthews was 7-114-1 in the opener. I was surprised at how many times the ball came his way. I don’t think Wentz was forcing him the ball. I just think Matthews was open and Wentz trusted him. There were a couple of drops and a couple of plays where the timing was off, but that was an impressive start for two players who hadn’t been in a game together.
Matthews continues to step up, great catch on 3rd down! 7 receptions for 114 and a score for Jordan so far pic.twitter.com/gkDtZQGQqW
— Philly Influencer (@PHL_Influencer) September 11, 2016
Agholor caught a 35-yard TD, beating Joe Haden down the right sideline. Agholor showed speed on the play, but also skill. He ran a good route and then made a smooth catch. Agholor didn’t get 3 yards behind the DB, but was open and Wentz put the ball right where it needed to be.
Huff had some passes thrown his way, but he and Wentz could not connect. He did draw a holding call on a 3rd down that extended a drive. DGB had 2 passes thrown his way. He caught both for 14 total yards. Neither was anything special, but I did like the physicality he showed. DGB is big and plays big. It used to drive me crazy to see Baskett try to pretend he Kevin Curtis or whatever small, speedy you choose from that era. Play to your size.
We didn’t get to see Treggs in action. He is practicing this week and might get on the field. It will be fun to see just how fast he is and what he can do for the offense. Wentz has a strong arm and likes to throw deep.
The WRs were 13-185-2 in the opener and I’m sure that is better than anyone realistically expected. No one is going to think this is the 1998 Vikings (Carter-Reed-Moss) or the 1999 Rams (Bruce-Holt-Hakim-Proehl), but the Eagles WR corps now looks a lot better than it did a couple of months ago. The WRs are all young so their best football is in front of them.
And if any of them don’t pan out, the Eagles will just unleash Paul Turner on the world.
_
[…] Tommy Lawlor Eagles WRs had a rough spring. We thought Chris Givens or Reuben Randle had a chance to start for […]
Jon Dorenbos is such a class act. Proud that he’s an Eagle.
Certainly we want to vote for him and help him out, but does that shorten his Eagles career?
Also, voting is absolutely asinine on these kind of things. There is a 10 vote limit, per device, per performer. So, in our house we could cast 90 votes for every act and completely waste our time?
I don’t think it will shorten his Eagles career.
The overall talent in these finals was simply amazing and although I wish him all the best of luck I don’t think he will win this.
It’s probably coming down to one of the young girls singers (Classic vs rock).
You have to factor in that none of the other performers have a major sports organization making a full fledged media campaign to gather votes on their behalf.
NBCs relationship to tue NFL probably didnt hurt Doronbos advancing to the finals.
As much as I really like him as a person and performer, I’d rather see someone who isn’t already famous with a multimillion dollar bank account win. Surely, Jon’s life would probably change the least if he won out of all the contestants. For others, it would be truly life changing winning a million bucks.
Totally agree with you. My favorite was the 14 year old opera singer. Truly stunning voice.
In the immortal words of The Krugan, “it’s better to burn out than to fade away”
I don’t see anyway that him winning America’s Got Talent will shorten his career. As the long snapper he’s perfectly capable of not only having a time consuming hobby, but he could probably have a part time job during the season without affecting his play. He’s getting up there in age and certainly won’t play forever, but I’m sure he’ll play and collect a substantial pay check for as long as his body allows before taking up the magic thing full time.
And the magic 8-ball says, “The Eagles made trades to get Wentz and put him on the field with 2 teams (Cleveland & Minnesota) more cursed than they are. Ergo, Wentz is a sure fire hall of famer.”
I was hoping the clip was going to be the deep route over the middle where Wentz put the ball on Matthews in a window smaller than those on my old matchbox cars.
That throw was either (a) brilliant and one that will be remembered as a glimpse of what was to come or (b) incredibly dumb and risky. Thoughts?
I thought it was incredibly Farvish* meaning it looks amazing when it works but it will probably be the cause of some pics at some point.
Not so sure. Throwing a crossing route with a corner low and a safety over the top is not nearly as risky is throwing a seam or post into double coverage. Wentz did not have to drop the ball over the head of one defender and short if the other. He merely had to lead his receiver.
Exactly right. It wasn’t like he made a stupid decision and got bailed out by luck or some throw that could never be replicated. Jordan had a half step on his defender and there was another defender bee-lining from the other side to cut off the throw. It required a perfect throw (just out in front of Matthews and with enough heat on it to beat the bee-lining defender to its mark), and he put the pass exactly where it had to be with ample speed to get there. If the throws behind the receiver or doesn’t have enough velocity it probably gets knocked down or intercepted. But, that’s true for a lot of passes. Star NFL QBs attempt that pass and complete it. I think we’ve just lived so long without a true elite passer (Randall, McNabb, Vick…they were all supremely talented, but they didn’t complete passes like that with any regularity) that we’re actually unsure of how to react to someone that might be able to do that.
I don’t want him making that throw on 1st and ten when we’re in FG range in a tight game when he has a dump off open, but third down outside FG range when we need a play like that…let er rip!
My NE neighbor thought it was lucky.
Manningham and Tyree were luck, that throw and catch were a glimpse of what lies ahead.
I know. Pats fans can’t be happy for anyone else.
That’s fine I root against all their teams no matter who they are playing.
Everyone from NE (except you, of course, Rob) are a bunch of chodes.
That being said, it’s not luck when you need to do something a very certain way, you set out to do it that way and then you do it that way. That’s called skill. That doesn’t mean he’ll complete that pass and put every single tight space throw he attempts right on the money 100% of the time. But, he’s a talented passer that displayed pin point accuracy on a dozen other throws in that game. If Caleb Strugis made that throw on a fake FG, that’d be luck. When a professional QB with all the skill in the world who made more than a few passes with just as much accuracy and skill on the same day makes that throw, it’s skill.
Now, drafting Brady in the 6th round, and sitting back and counting your Super Bowl trophies despite not being able to draft worth a damn because he turns out to be that freaking amazing…that’s luck.
Oh…and cheating…lots of cheating ************
He’s been doing that in college. I’m expecting as there is more tape, there will be more punishment for forcing throws. Then again Aaron Rodgers is the king of doing that and he’s the best QB in the league soooooooo…
It was a great throw. The safety got over late. What a gun he has.
That is one of those throws that he may have gotten away with, but may not be able to complete consistently. If the pass was picked, we’d hope that would be an instructive lesson for Wentz, but hopefully the three amigos are letting him know that that could easily have had a very different outcome.
It is encouraging to consider the possibility that a rookie in his first game considered that situation – 3rd down, near midfield, with the lead – and factored that into his risk evaluation.
It is also possible that things just worked out well and he got lucky.
That’s the biggest point. 3rd down, midfield, with a lead. That’s when you throw that pass. If he threw that pass in the redzone during a tie game on 1st down, I’d say that was a dumb rookie decision and he’s lucky it didn’t get picked. But, that was the exact moment in a game when a star QB needs to step up and make that play.
Hard to say. I do know it is a throw ole sleeves McGee won’t attempt.
Nor would have 27-2, which would have been the correct decision for him. Nor would have McNabb.
Who else would have thrown that from the Eagles? Vick maybe, with a 5% success rate? But I think Vick would have ran on that play.
To me, that looked like a throw that Aaron Rodgers, Jeff George, and Brett Favre attempt. That is exhilarating, and terrifying.
McNabb occasionally would make throws like that. Remember his TD pass to Westbrook in the Super Bowl. That was the type of play that made you sit up and say, WOW, McNabb can be a great passer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHmTla67dBg
His TD to LJ Smith was a pretty nice thread of the needle too. Unfortunately, he followed those up with a ridiculously bad throw on second down in the redzone that was jumped by Harrison and tipped into Samuel’s hands for an interception, got a second chance after it was called back for a penalty and then tried the same ill advised throw on the very next play to the other side of the field which was again intercepted by Harrison. Two redzone interceptions on consecutive plays in a tight game where he threw wobbly off balance ducks into double coverage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovB-B6E_tx4&t=4m4s
Hopefully, Wentz isn’t as dense as McNabb and knows when to pick his spots.
You’re certainly not going to complete that pass every time and I’m sure that at some point in his career that pass will get picked off. However, the play showed two things to me,
one: he has the ability to make an amazing pin point throw under pressure (no QB, not Brady, not Manning, not Joe Montana, can complete that pass 100% of the time, but all the great ones have the ability to do it and that’s what sets them apart)
and two: he has the confidence in his abilities to let things rip (this can be a double edged sword. It’s great because there’s nothing worse than a guy like Bradford who has the ability to make that throw, but will never pull the trigger and will allows check down short of the sticks or eat the sack and punt. You basically concede defeat at that point. great players need to make great throws like that in clutch moments when the games on the line. The great ones are able to complete those passes when it matters, either by luck or by some etherial poorly defined “clutchness”. However, you have to make sure you’re smart enough to pull that trigger when it makes sense. Sometimes it is better to check down, punt, play field position and live to fight another day. Sometimes you need to let it rip and make an astounding play. Favre had the confidence to make those throws and made more than he missed throughout his career, but he also was too confident and actually downright stupid with his confidence too at times. I’ll always remember that across the body, opposite end of the field, over the middle interception he threw to end his playoff run in Minnesota. It was 3rd down, they were tied and they were on the Saints 33 yard line with like 20 seconds left, if I remember correctly. They were on the edge of field goal range and needed a few more yards to give themselves a chance at the game winning FG. He had two guys open right in front of him that could have picked up an easy 10-15 yards, or he could have even ran the ball himself and picked up almost 10 yards. Instead he did the worst thing possible and tried to throw across his body to the left while running to the right and complete an impossible pass to Sidney Rice in coverage between two defenders. Interception. Saints win the toss in overtime and kick the game winning FG to go to the Super Bowl. In that moment, you need to forget how much confidence you have in your arm and play smart, not heroic, for the win, because heroics weren’t needed, 5-10 yards were needed.)
As long as Wentz is smart enough to play situational football with his heroics and save those impossible passes for when they not only make sense, but are needed in the context of the game, and is actually talented enough (and let’s be honest, lucky enough) to complete them in the clutch moments that demand them, he’ll avoid being the Favre-esque gunslinger that ends his teams playoff runs more often than he wins the game for them.
Great insights. That Favre example is exactly the other side of the coin that raised my concern. I guess I will trust that he threw that ball because the situation call and hope we are proven correct. Certainly there are no counter examples yet.
Happy to see the WR group isn’t the worst to ever grace the NFL.
More than anything Im happy to Matthews playing both outside and inside; and i hope we can retire the notion that hes a plodder. Guy runs smooth and 4.46 is more than enough speed to get open.
Very impressed by Pederson moving him around all game. He was a problem for the Browns no matter where he has lined up or whoever was covering him.
Great to see Agholor looked dialed in. I hope Treggs can help stretched the field when he finally plays. The guy is really good at tracking the ball in the air.
Necessity can be a beautiful thing. (Referring to Pedersen moving Jordan around)
Matthews has plenty straight line speed and more than enough size. I always wondered why people said he couldn’t play outside. I figured it must be issues with getting off the line and/or having the quick twitch acceleration in and out of breaks to beat outside CBs when they could use the sideline. Because, for as fast as he is, he’s not overly quick. But, his route running looks a lot better this year. Chip used to just run him on crossing patterns, hooks and corner routes where he’d just run straight from the slot to the corner on the opposite end of the field. Maybe he just seemed to be a sub par route runner because he was never asked to run any normal NFL style routes. He sure seemed to do just fine last week.
I remember not being able to listen to a Doug Pederson presser without cringing from the awkwardness when he was hired – but he is really interesting and easy to listen to now. I guess it takes a few months to get comfortable in a job in the football world too. Seems like a silly thing for people to have been critical about looking back, guess it shows how football starved we are during the offseason.
Yeah I feel like an asshole.
haha, me too
Well at least we got over that no touchdowns to a WR that Andy had going in KC. And how about JMatt on the outside.
It’s interesting to think of this group of skill position players we have on this team. Any one of them isn’t top ten at their position, but like the great Liam Niessen, they have a unique set of skills.
It got me to wondering. Mostly, teams have starters that they rely on doing a multiple of things well. You have your number 1 & 2 receivers, your slot receiver, the receiving TE, blocking TE, running back and 3rd down back. They all have somewhat of a special role, but are relyed on down after down to do multiple different things.
What if we (the coaches are) deciding to craft an offensive plan with specific role players for specific roles? For instance, obviously DGB can’t do what Huff does or vice versa. They both have different strengths and weaknesses. Same goes for Mathews vs Sproles, or Celek vs Ertz vs Burton.
I can envision an offense where the coaches look at what each player does well. Say, what 4 plays does this player run REALLY well (and plays to their strengths) in a game, and focus on refining those handful of plays? DGB has 4 (almost unstoppable) plays. Sproles has 4. Burton has 4. Etc… And you keep J-Matt as an offensive staple and mix in others depending on formation and unstoppable play vs down and distance situation. It could be similar to how the Pats run their offense.
Looking at it in those terms, if the coaches were to be able to draw up game plans that focus on just a couple of plays each player does really well, our team of offensive players seems much batter. Sproles comes in and does what he’s great at. DGB does the couple plays he’s great at. Huff, Treggs, Burton all spell one another and our offense becomes very dangerous all of the sudden. Each one of those guys are able to make big plays within the confines of their “unique” skill set.
Taking a big step back, we have possession guys, ground and pound guys, speed guys, drag/end around/screen guys. Plenty of options. We don’t have that one guy who could do everything, so let each guy do what he does best and work to keep the defense off balance with a varied assortment of skill sets.
This is probably what great coaches do. The problem with any specialized approach is that it limits flexibility and increases predictability. What makes great players great is that being able to do a variety of things on an elite level makes your opponent having to cover for multiple scenarios, not focussing on any one. A nice example is Desean Jackson, clearly the best at his unique skillset (speed/going deep). He is a very good receiver, but because he lacks size the opponent knows how to counter his presence in the end zone, where he becomes a non factor. With Josh Huff, DGB and Treggs in there, something similar would happen once the tape builds up. So far they are limited. A good defensive coordinator (like Belichik) would be able to tell his players exactly what routes to sit on with those guys across from them. They would not be off balance.
Yea, the one caveat with trying to emulate the Patriots’ approach is Tom Brady. Without him at QB their approach would undoubtedly be a whole lot less successful.
The thing with DeSean is, you’re absolutely right. He’s very limited in what he can do, even if he’s incredibly elite at that one thing. The trick with having someone like DeSean is that you have to have guys that can complement him. Maclin was not the right kind of receiver to put opposite Jackson. Someone like Anquan Boldin or Demaryius Thomas, a big possession receiver that’s great in the redzone is the type of guy you need on the other side. If you pair Jackson with Randy Moss and TY Hilton, you’d think you’d have a great WR corps, but you’d end up with three guys that all do the same thing.
DeSean needs to be a piece that’s used situationally and he has to be surrounded by players that can succeed at the things he’s not gifted at. He also needs to not be on the field every single play. He needs to come off the field entirely in the redzone and be replaced by other players skilled in that area. The problem with DeSean is that he doesn’t see himself as a cog in a greater machine, he sees himself as the guy and he expects to be paid as such. You can’t pay DeSean $9M per year to be a situational player and have enough money to get all the other guys that have other skills you need. Finally, of all the situational, specific skill sets an offensive player can have, blowing the top off the defense is surprisingly, probably, the least important. God, it’s nice to have that in your arsenal, but there’s very few times in a game where you absolutely need to score a TD from 60 yards out. You need to convert 3rd downs to win, you need to convert in the redzone to win, you don’t NEED to complete 70 yard bombs to win.
As far as sitting on whatever a player does well, it really depends on what that skill is. Everyone in the stadium knows Edelman or, in previous years, Welker, is going to run a button hook just past the marker and Brady is gonna hit him in stride. And, you can try to sit on it all day, but more times than not, he’s just going to be quicker than your NB, he’s gonna cross him up, make his cut and be just open enough to convert the down. You can sit on Gronk all you want in the redzone, but he’s huge, fast, athletic and has great hands. He can run a slant, fade, crossing pattern, out pattern, you don’t know what’s coming, but chances are he’s a matchup nightmare for your defense and he’ll win more times than he loses down there. 3rd and 1 and Blounts in the game, you know he’s getting the ball, he’s also probably getting the first down if Brady doesn’t keep it himself on a sneak and get it.
But, Jackson’s skill, going deep, is something that’s a little easier to take away if you decide to sit on it. It’s a lower percentage play no matter how good he is at it and while you’ll open up some underneath stuff by sitting way back and shading to his side with a safety, if you don’t have the elite underneath, slot and seam players to take advantage (and as good as Avant and Celek were, they were never that elite and unstoppable in that area) and you don’t have the QB with the accuracy and anticipation to take advantage of that underneath space (McNabb and Vick never were), you’ll shut down the offense.
That didn’t happen in the Chip era but is a pretty typical tactic of NFL coaches.
I think you said it, what you just described is what the Pats have done every year, save 2007 when they had Moss and Welker. They’ve been a juggernaut for 15 years despite rarely having a bunch of truly elite skill position players. With the exception of Moss for a few years and Gronk now, none of their guys are truly all around great players. They’re role players that can do one specific thing really well and the scheme brilliantly to utilize those skills rather than trying to pigeon hole their players into the scheme.
If you need a first down you have insanely quick slot WRs like Welker or Edelman who can make one cut on a simple button hook and a deadly accurate QB who’s content playing easy pitch and catch up and down the field. If you need to pound the rock you have Blount or Dillon in the past. When you want a jitterbug to catch the ball in space you have Lewis, Vereen or any of the other handful of purely pass catching backs they’ve had over the years. When you want to stretch the field you have your one burner that can get over the top. And, in the redzone you have your one huge guy who’s a match up problem down there.
Football games are so situational. 3rd and 1, redzone, 3rd and long, 2min offense, beating zone coverage, beating man coverage, beating the blitz, up by a lot of points and needing to run the clock out, down by a lot of points and needing to air it out. All these situations require specific skills to convert. Get one guy, who might not be able to do it all, but can do one of those things well and fill out the roster with other guys that can do a different necessary skill and deploy them as needed during those situations in the game. Certainly a lot easier than finding those rare studs that can do it all.
I researched the game last night and I came away with the conclusion that Wentz was better than I even thought during the game,and that the eagles “left a lot of meat on the bone.”
While the 2nd quarter was by far Wentz’s worst with a couple of poor misplaces throws and holding the ball to long a couple of times, I was shocked how many drives were stalled by penalties, drops or missed assignments. Lots of tape to work off for the offence to clear up and they should be the better for it in a few weeks.
Defensively during the game I was somewhat disappointed in the DL performance in the 1st half, but I was wrong. The DL were being very disciplined early, shutting down the run and focusing keeping contain and trusting RG3 couldn’t beat them throwing. Later once they were less concerned by his running threat they started to get more aggressive and pressure started to come almost every pass attempt.
Secondary was better than I thought as well outside the 2 chunk plays which were more poor execution than poor coverage, they really locked down the Browns consistently.
Good stuff man!
The sign of a good team is not leaving meat on the bone. The theme song of last year was missed opportunities. It’s early yet though.
And turnovers but they won the battle last week.
I thought the theme song last year was the Benny Hill intro?
Nice. Hopefully, DL is full-bore early on against Bears. Cutler is not mobile, and he can dissect secondary if he gets time.
The Bears won’t go max protect like the Browns did. They have 3 good WRs that they want out there running pass patterns and a decent receiving threat at TE in Zach Miller if he ever stays healthy. They don’t have much of a running game so they know they need to throw to win and Cutler isn’t a max protect two pattern type of QB. He’ll end up forcing the ball and throwing a million interceptions if they go that route.
I haven’t seen a tape of that game, but they were shut down in the 2nd half. I heard John Fox say that 3rd down conversions were the big problem for his guys, so I get the impression that they could change what they were doing (slightly). Of course, with his arm and those receivers, where mucho dinero has been spent, they can’t reinvent the wheel a whole lot. Bears are 3 point favorites, but Eagles know what they need to do. Run the ball, hit the QB and cause more turnovers than they make. Sounds simple, eh?
“I was shocked how many drives were stalled by penalties, drops or missed assignments.” pretty used to this by now.
That’s exactly what I saw when I rewatched the game on Monday. I was even more impressed with Wentz and noticed like you did how many times we shot ourself in the foot offensively.
I was concerned about the D-line too. One thing I also noticed was that the Browns went max protect a bunch. On most plays we were rushing our 4 d-lineman and dropping 7 in coverage (hence how we had 3 guys covering Coleman on that one long pass patter – it was literally a 2 route pass play) and they were keeping 6-7 guys in to block. They basically double teamed Cox, Graham/Curry and Barwin and left Logan singled up on most passes and we played disciplined defense and contained RG3s rushing aside from that one run he had where Kendricks got juked out of his jock.
We didn’t really start getting pressure until they started sending more guys out in pass patterns later in the game trying to catch up.
http://www.phillymag.com/birds247/2016/09/13/eagles-aaron-murray-practice-squad-chiefs-sign-roster-georgia/
I like this. Very strong PS signing. Murray doesn’t has the arm to the a starter in the NFL, but with good coaching, he could become a much cheaper version of Chase Daniel. He could become the back-up in 2018, when we’ll cut Daniel. He showed nothing as a QB in the Preseason and in 2018, his mentor role won’t be as important as it is right now for Wentz. And clearly it won’t be worth 7m savings, 1m dead.
It is a SLIGHTLY curious practice squad signing for the reasons you lay out (not exactly a developmental prospect with a big ceiling). I think you’re right, he’s your new back-up next year.
Why would the Eagles want a developmental project as a 3rd stringer? Makes no sense.
They need a guy who can take practice reps.
I think it’s probably the ole Reid idea of developing guys and then stealing a draft pick in a year or two from a desperate team. If they can polish that turd enough, they may be able steal a 3rd from a team like LA.
That didn’t happen until Donny was already established.
When Feeley was drafted, McNabb was a proven starter with a veteran back up behind him.
Philly Voice’s Jimmy Kempski expects the Bears to scheme ways to get Alshon Jeffery lined up against Eagles seventh-round CB Jalen Mills in Week 2.
The Eagles are expected to be without No. 1 CB Leodis McKelvin (hamstring) on Monday night, leaving veteran Nolan Carroll (5’11/205) on one side and Mills (6’/191) on the other. Jeffery is one of the better deep threats in the league, and the Eagles surrendered long passes of 58 and 44 yards Week 1 against the Browns. Jeffery went 4-106 against the Texans and is an elite WR1 play.
Yup, this game might come down to our pass rush disrupting Cutler and taking away the deep ball.
At the same time, this is quite the opportunity for Mills to play with that chip on his shoulder and make an impression with a solid game.
With Josh Sitton and Kyle Long, the Bears have excellent Guards, but they still have problems at OT which sucks when you have to face Vinny, BG and Bawin all game..
..
Kyle long is a stud, but he is playing thru a bum shoûlder, which must suck when facing Cox!
..
Our edge rushers should be a big part of our win on Monday night.. Also helps that the Bears run game isn’t scaring anyone either
Those two long plays were poor execution as Fufina pointed out. On one, Carroll had position, but missed the ball. The other, it seemed like 3 guys watched the receiver catch the ball instead of playing it.
I’m hoping that’s something that can be cleaned up (hoping). Generally speaking, first week of the season is sloppy for most teams. It’ll be interesting to see how it improves moving forward.
One of those long passes was bullshit illegal offensive pass interference which the Refs gifted to The Browns…. And the other deep pass was about as bad as we can play a deep ball all year
I sure would like to have Eric Rowe to match up on Jeffery next week.
Rowe would be a good matchup because he has better size than Mills… At least in theory. Lets see what happens.
chiefs just released 3rd rd CB KeiVarae Russell….would LOVE it if we could pick him up. was one of my favourite DB targets in the draft this year
There must be some issue that they released a 3rd round pick already.
NFL comment was “a ST crunch”. He’ll be gone by the time I finish writing this.
Then lets hope he lasts until our waiver claim…
What is the deal with LJ’s suspension? Is this odd that he hasn’t been suspended yet?
Is this becoming a “no news is good news” situation?
Except it might become a “still dealing with this at the start of next year” situation. That would be bad.
Extremely unlikely, but THATS certainly the worst case scenario
but then the preseason games will count against the 10, so that’s nice!
I wish.
No, this is Normal
No, nothing odd about this, this was expected, I been posting that we were misrepresenting the time frame since day one of his suspension.
..
We are still waiting for the results of his B sample, then Lane will presumably appeal The suspension, and He will get to play a few more weeks until they rule on his appeal
..
Once again, the Lane suspension was always going to start closer to October, than the beginning of September,
,,
Nothing odd about this at all…chalk it up to the slow wheels of NFL Justice and the testing proceedure takes time
So, we are conceding that he WILL be suspended? No chance the B sample does not contain PED(s) that will result in a suspension?
Well of course their is some chance that the B sample will come up in our Favor… WADA Is the toughest sports testing in the world, and the UFC is the toughest PED testing in all sports’ and if the respected WADA testing can make a huge mistake suspending one of the biggest MMA stars, pulling him off of the historic UFC 200 card only to find out that they made a mistake and Jon Jones really didn’t take PEDs, costing Jon Jones about 3million dollars. If the greatly respected WADA testing can make a mistake of that Magnitude than you can bet that NFL testing can also produce mistakes,..
.
So their is certainly some chance a mistake was made and the B sample comes up clean, but the time frame we are dealing with is Normal even if some of our media doesn’t realize it, so nothing about this normal time frame Lane is dealing with points to a mistake, this is normal proceedure/Time Frame,, so I don’t at all view this as a sign that the test will come up clean, but it’s still certainly a possibility. But even if the B sample comes up dirty, and Lane DOESNT get the suspension thrown out on appeal, there is still a chance the suspension gets reduced, and that certainly is worth the appeal
..
But this time line doesn’t poïnt to the sample being clean or dirty, it’s standard proceedure (Time frame)
Yea, the timeline doesn’t point in either direction. If it was clean, we’d have the results by now, if it was dirty we’d have the results by now, clearly the lab is still doing tests and has not revealed whether it’s one way or the other.
I know certain tests take a long time to complete, but it is still strange that it has taken this long to get a repeat sample results. I think the issue with this is the fact that it’s so hard to test for peptides. Peptides are simply small chains of amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins that make up our entire body. Link a couple amino acids together and they are considered a peptide, 50 or more amino acids linked together and it’s a protein. When you eat protein (any meat, vegetable, ect) it’s broken down in your gut into peptide length chains of amino acids so they can be absorbed. People take amino acid supplements all the time to help with muscle growth which is entirely legal. Therefore peptides are naturally in your body at all times. Some peptides have a specific structure that can bind receptors and cause them to release hormones (like growth hormone or testosterone). These have been synthesized and used as natural steroids basically. These are illegal to use in most sports.
The problem is that almost all of them occur naturally within the human body, but at low levels and they break down quickly into amino acids used to build proteins. So the issue becomes trying to prove that Lane had an abnormally high level or a naturally occurring building block of protein that could not have been part of his normal body’s cycle or due to something he innocently ate. Furthermore, the structures are similar enough that a quick test on the first sample could falsely yield a positive because it couldn’t differentiate between more than one of his normal body peptides and the supplements which are made to mimic the normal body peptides.
The first test is very sensitive, so if something is there it will show up positive. It’s used as a screening test, because of it’s sensitivity, but it has a high likelihood of false positives. The second test is more specific and less sensitive and it will tell you more specifically why the first test showed up positive. The downside of the second test, and why it’s not used initially, is that it’s usually a more time consuming, more expensive and more thorough test of the sample.
That being said, take what I said with a grain of salt. I don’t know exactly how the labs test for peptides or what tests are used, I’m just assuming that that is the case because that’s how most tests (everything from an HIV test to whatever else you can think of that’s tested for in the medical field) are conducted.
Things working in Lane’s favor:
1) 15% of urine screens give false positive results
2) peptide concentrations in the urine are extremely small even if he was taking a lot of them
3) even though some synthetic peptides are structurally different from endogenous peptides, false positives can be found due to a unique sequence of peptide bonds in endogenous peptides
4) peptides are highly unstable both in the body and out. In the body they break down within 12-48 hours and are rarely detectable after 24 hours. Peptides will continue to break down outside the body if not continuously stored in freezing tempertures (let’s hope the lab left his urine sample out in the summer heat for a few hours)
Things working against Lane:
1) if the double test on his B sample comes back positive that means theres a 99.99% chance that it was a true positive and not a false positive. Meaning the banned substance was in his urine and he’ll have little recourse with an appeal
2) The NFL seems to have no rhyme or reason to their decisions in these matters and they seem to take a long time to suddenly decide not to change their decision meaning an appeal will likely just put off his suspension
3) If he really was taking peptides on purpose, he’s an idiot. Most studies show they don’t do anything all that substantial and like I said above, they’re out of your system within 12 hours most times so that means he literally would have had to ingest them on the way to the piss test.
Well said
I think NFL is trying to deal w/ the issue of an “approved” product having banned substances in it.
Yea, it’s a tough call. Chances are Lanes telling the truth. Otherwise he’s incredibly stupid to get caught a second time for a substance that doesn’t offer much benefit and is rarely detectable after 24 hours. I sure hope he still has some left of whatever supplements he was taking so he can prove that, though. Otherwise it really puts the NFL in a tough spot to open the door to players saying they just took an approved supplement that just happened to be tainted.
It sounds as though he is pretty confident that it will indeed contain some form of PED.
I was under the impression that Lane was going to take this one on the chin and not appeal it, since an appeal would possibly drag over into next year when we’re more likely to be in a position to seriously compete. I heard a lot of talk and quotes from him and others in the organization that he would “do what was best for the team even if he didn’t like it” which I took to mean, take the suspension, get it out of the way and make sure he’s here all year next season.
Yeah lane did say that he will do what the Eagles want, but we don’t have any info about whether the Eagles want him to appeal it or not…
..
As of today, im still reasonably confident that this will work out so that we can appeal it in time to get the 10 game or less(reduced sentence) out of the way this year since we don’t want the suspension carrying over to next year. 10 games is a lot to take on the chin, and because Its not that rare to get a suspension reduced on appeal it would really suck if we eat the 10 games without even trying to get it reduced,,, but I still think the time frame will work out so that we can appeal and fullfill whatever suspension is handed down this year without it spilling into next season.
..
But if we get to the bye week and we are still waiting on the B Sample results, then they will have to seriously consider not appealing it… But we aren’t there yet.
..
Although a case could be made that we would be more prepared to handle the suspension next year if Lane still has to sit out a game or two at the beginning of the next season to fullfill the suspension.
..
i still think it’s more likely that it will work out so that we will have time to appeal it and still fullfill the entire suspension this season, but we are starting to cut it close, and this could become a problem if we are still waiting for the results come the bye week. Hopefully it doesn’t come down to that, because 10 games is a lot to be taking on the chin without appealing it
While I mostly agree with what you say, a reduction is possible, but I doubt it will happen.
As if you have any idea what the details are to have any opinion whatsoever what the chances are of getting it reduced or not, but it’s more fun to talk out our ass, I get it…
Its called reason. I don’t have proof so I will side with history. History in these cases suggests it wont be reduced, and he will be suspended 10 games.
Yo, while we are on it can you tell me your details as to why you are “reasonably confident” it will get reduced? Did you speak to the NFLPA? Maybe the Comish? No…. that is probably because you are speculating just like me. Just like everyone else. Just like you do all the time you are on this site.
Hypocrite. Screw your opinions because they are constantly made up of the same substance as ours.
You at times are like the black cop in Boyz In The Hood that hates blacks and pretends he is white. That is how you are in relation to this site at times.
Very good points!
Actually the impression his camp has left is that they will not appeal if it isn’t beneficial for the organization.
ACV had a post a couple of weeks back citing language from the CBA indicating that the B sample would have already been tested before any of this would have gotten out of the front office. So, IIRC, the conclusion was that someone was lying, and that most likely the appeal is already in progress.
Maybe ACV can jump in and clarify.
That’s interesting. Hopefully he weighs in then. Because if that’s true, the next announcement will be for how long he’s going to be gone. I know there’s a hefty fine for those who leak privileged medical information (both HIPAA and League) and it also could mean loss of employment. Haven’t heard anything about that, so not sure how his stuff got leaked.
I can promise you the B sample results are not in… A lawyer should understand that word of the law, and application of law are at times not the same thing. Doesnt matter what the rule says, the Eagles are waiting on the results of the B sample still…. Arguing against this is sheer stupidity. The situation is well understood by now
Not surprised by the targeting of Jordan Mathews. get used to it, that’s how a pro offense works, where as College boy Chip would run the same plays with whatever. Personnel was in the game, and chip DIDNT care who got the ball… Well in a Pro Offense, you design different packages for different personnel and you can Feature certain weapons, like a jordan Mathews or a Zack Ertz in your game plan. This is partly why I expect a Monster breakout season from Jordan Mathews this year, the kid puts in the work to realistically expect him to Improve and now he has the NFL experience to put it all together and really have a big break out year.
..
Then again, Jordan has been a stud who for some reason we seem to underrate for whatever reason..
..
Recieving TDs since 2014:
jordan Mathews: 17 TDs
MIKE Evans 16 TDs
Allen Robinson 16 TDs
Sammy Watkins 15 TDs
Brandin Cooks 14 TDs
Jarvis Landry 9 TDs
..
Yet jordan is THE ONLY QB on that list who doesn’t get to build continuity with a QB, changing QBs in each year of his young career. While all those other WRs get scheme, coaching and QB continuity that Jordan hasn’t gotten to enjoy
..
Think the kid is really ready to take that next step and reach new heights as a WR. Hopefully Wentz stays healthy, and Jordan can finally enjoy some continuity with the same QB
Monday night is going to be important for Nelson Agholar. We need him to have a good game and build on his week one performamce against Joe Haden. The Bears secondary and pass rush won’t scare anyone… Their strongest position on defense is probably their LB’ers with Danny Travathan and what’s his name? Freeman?
..
Hopefully the coaches scheme up a few more big play opportunities for Nelson, because if we can build him up and get it going, he will make a big difference in our offense… Also like to see them get DGB going a bit, because we will need all our WR to contribute in week 3 against the steelers
For a team that is the reigning NFC east champs, it’s not so bad that they lost to the steelers, it’s how they lost that was really DAMNING.
..
For starters, skins were very sloppy with their penalties, where as I have been really impressed by our coaching staff producing an offense that hasn’t committed many penalties since the beginning of the preseason. Our Discapline and lack of Penalties is a tell tale sigń of a well coached team, and the lack of penalties has really been impressive and promising, most of our penalties sunday came from the OL not being used to Wentz cadence and Presnap audible, which will get better with esperience blocking for Wentz
..
Steelers defense isn’t really scaring anyone, yet missing a couple starting corners and Kirk Cousins was still playing as if he was scared to death, that was one of the most meaningless 300 yard passing games we will see from a QB. Cousins was “Check down charlie” to the fullest on Monday which I don’t understand when you have weapons like Desean, Reed, Garcon, and the rook… Not to mention, the steelers were damn near playing a prevent style defense all game, yet Cousins was still playing scared to death,.
..
I went into this season convinced that dallas and the Giants were frauds, while the skins would be the team to beat if we want to win the division, assuming kIrk Cousins Wasnt a fluke last year, but the skins ARENT world beaters either, I just viewed them as the least flawed team out of 3 flawed rivals… Deangelo Hall is one of the most over rated DBs in the NFL, play him at corner, safety, doesn’t matter he is still a pigeon… Breeland got Embarressed but I give him the benefit of the doubt because he was solid last year… The skins pass rush ismt scaring anyone Outside of Kerrigan (props to jason Peters for protecting Wentz flawlessly on sunday)., the skins LB are better than what the Cowboys and Giants have, but they aren’t anything special either….
..
We aren’t legit contenders, but neither is anyone in our division… I don’t know how we will measure up compared to the rest of the league, but there is no reason why we should feel like we have no chance in our division even with a rookie QB…. Wentz may not be the best QB in the division this year, but our DL is the most terrorizing in our division, and we can make thngs more difficult for our Rival QBs, than what their pass rushes can do against our solid OL…. Forget the flashy WRs and the great RB’s… Win the trenches. Beat up the opposing QB more than they beat up our QB, and we will have a chance to win some games this year
What got me was that they rushed a minimal amount all game and didn’t pressure Cousins, yet he kept making mistakes. If anything, I think that game should put to rest that the Redskins are a force in the NFC. They didn’t beat a team with a winning record all last season, and all of the sudden Cousins is legit and this is the team to beat in the East.
Regardless of the Eagles flaws, they can win this division.
You are right. For him to be that bad even tho he wasn’t under a ton of pass rush pressure, might be the most DAMNING part of what was really an Embarressing performance and certainly didn’t do anything to counter the factual narrative that Cousins has never beaten a good team
if they hadn’t beaten us we’d have had a winning record…. almost
The Eagles had more penalties than the Browns. And Johnson and Peters were lucky they didn’t get 4 or 5 more for jumping the snap.
Is Mills playing above his head so far, or why was he available in round 7? It’s not like one camp is long enough to develop into a better player. Was there something keeping his stock down some?
Yes, injuries and character concerns is why he fell. He was rated as a 2-3 round pick by a lot of places.
He ran a slow 4.61 at the combine. NFL.com had a 6th to 7th round grade on him.
For every Patrick Peterson there’s a Chris Harris. Or a Sherman for a Revis. Lot’s of pro-bowl level CBs fall or go undrafted. As much as anything it seems like their success has a lot to do with system and the overall quality of the defense.
Let’s see how 5 round pick Josh Norman looks this year in the backfield with top ten pick DeAngelo Hall. Probably not as good as last year.
Charechter concerns, especially putting his hands on a woman if im not mistaken. Domestic violence is a sure fire way of getting yourself to fall down the draft board into later rounds. Unless the disgusting, despicable jerry Jones drafts you
Shitty 40 time, underwhelming tape as a senior, domestic violence wrap sheet.
better tape now? Or we are just so thin he has risen up the depth chart?
Didn’t blow me away in preseason, and Sunday was too small a sample size.
I think the hopeful upside would be Bashaud Breeland. They’re similar players.
That doesn’t seem like a high ceiling. Is that because Breeland is not that good, or that they don’t generate enough of a pass rush?
Breeland’s a solid starting CB, he just got his lunch ate by Brown this week.
Here’s Breeland’s scouting report predraft:
Analysis
Strengths Fluid athlete. Quick-footed and loose-hipped.
Can shadow, mirror and stay in phase. Plays with a sense of urgency and
is aggressive supporting the run. Gives effort to pursue from the back
side.
Weaknesses Needs to bulk up and get functionally
stronger. Gets wired on blocks. Lacks ideal speed. Average explosion and
leaping ability. Plays into the boundary. Tends to play out of control
and his tackling technique needs work — misses too many. Exposed vs.
Florida State’s Rashad Greene.
He did take out RG3…
what a steal! haha
Antonio Brown was a 7th rounder I think. He’s not very tall or hugely muscular so was bypassed.
What’s especially impressive about Wentz performance is,when you compare it to ANNOINTED media Darling Dak Prescotts performance. Seriously, it Wasnt even remotely close. Wentz completely Dwarfed and outclassed Dak in just about every area:
-Reading Defense and presnap command. Good luck finding more than a handful of QBs who looked THAT advanced in their rookie debut, and Dak is no where close to that level
.
Poise and patience from the pocket
.
Ability to diagnose and dissect exotic blitzes and make the defense pay for blitzing him
..
Accuracy, especially throwing in NFL windows, you can’t make a better pass in a tighter window then that pass to Jordan Mathews on a crossing route. Dak not being even close to as advanced in this area is exactly why you saw Dak throw so much to RB’s and TE’s and lacking the confidemce to throw to WR even tho you have a dominant weapon like DEz… Where as Wentz has the confidence in his accuracy to take a struggling much maligned WR as Nelson Agholar, and not shy away from going after a stud like Joe Haden
..
It was only 1 game against the Browns and 1 game against the Giants, but the difference in ability was absolutely staggering. It wasn’t even close
Wentz had an additional advantage as there wasn’t much film out on him. That will change each week as teams figure out his tendencies.
True, but he will also grow and improve over the course of the season, so hopefully he can stay one step ahead of the defensive adjustments..when a young player improves, yesterday’s tendancies may not still be applicable a few weeks later
Listened to a little talk radio this morning. Jared Goff/Fisher are getting hammered. This has really become a thing. I guess it’s nice to be on the plus side of these discussions. It’s been a while.
It’s made me want to go watch Hard Knocks to see the vibes. Seems like Jeff Fisher really botched this thing
Hard Knocks made me hate that team. But one thing you did see was the coaches are concerned about Goff and his viability as a future starter in this league.
Tommy teased doing a post on the Rams and Fisher after watching the show.
Having seen it, I just saw how beaten down and tired Fisher seems. Things seemed out of control.
Fisher has to be done with the Rams
only one game. He has 15 more changes to lose.
I doubt one game vs the Browns means this WR corps is suddenly good. Long way to go before we know for sure, we’ll see what adjustments are made by our opponents especially if Ertz is out.
That is my one issue with Ertz, just cannot stay healthy.
Let’s hope. Maybe one or two good games can get the ball rolling downhill.
Agreed, my fingers and toes are crossed. I think it will be up/down this year as Wentz gets familiar with the WR and they with him. We play some pretty good D and so I expect struggles along the way.
I wonder how much is Wentz elevating their game. When he shows he’s willing to make those tough throws, perhaps it inspires them to repay him in kind…
They definitely have responded better.
Agree that we can’t take too much away from one game, although the WRs performed worse in preseason against even lesser competition.
One nit though:
“That is my one issue with Ertz, just cannot stay healthy.”
He played 16 games his first year, 16 games his second year, and 15 games his third year. This may be his first significant injury. If you have an issue with his durability… then that’s an issue with *every* player, if they have an injury history or not.
40% of the league misses time
60% of the time, it works every time.
That seems low. Seems like the majority of starters miss time at some point in a season. I suppose if you include back ups, they tend to keep pretty fresh
I only had it handy because The Ringer had an article yesterday citing a 2015 Football Outiisders Report.
http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2015/nfl-injuries-part-i-overall-view
Ok yeah, all NFL players was the population studied.
83% of people make up statistics 69% of the time.
You’re 50% wrong.
Wrong. I am 50% right (I’m an optimist)!
Only half the time though
Other way around
“These figures represent 40% of the population, these figures represent 50% of the population, and these figures represent 10% of the population!”
“Telling figures indeed!”
And thats only 50% of the time at best !
And what % plays more than 15 plays a game?
You’re right that he has been able to battle through them and play in games, but he has been banged up fairly regularly over the last year in particular. He had a MCL injury in college and shoulder issues in 2013, but was mostly ok until last year when he missed the entire preseason with a groin tear that required surgery and also had a concussion mid-season after landing on his neck which caused him to miss a game. Hopefully, he is out only a short time.
Barely played the first two years
and dude cant break a tackle to save his life
This is a completely subjective, uninvestigated, immediate, uncalculated, response to looking at some teams’ color rush jerseys where I wrote down what team it reminded me of before looking. I took Texans to be Falcons, Lions to be Panthers, Cardinals to be Falcons, Bucs to be Cardinals, Dolphins to be Broncos, Broncos to be Old Cleveland Browns orange, Browns to be Tampa, Panthers to be Dolphins, Bills to be 49ers. The Raiders, Jets, Vikings, Titans, Cowboys, Packers, Redskins and Eagles all looked unmistakable to me. On the whole this is a stupid excuse to spend money. A game between totally lime green Seahawks and totally orange Broncos might be worth 5 minutes of fun to view in HD, Other than harmless distraction, it’s just more $$$ for billionaires.
the Giants rush uniforms look like the Bills every week uniforms
Don’t forget some teams, like Washington, aren’t even going to play a game wearing the uniforms. They are only for $$$.
Alot to digest. .. rereading that sequence now…
..
I agree with the Buffalo Bulls to be the Chicago Bills
This is the first Ive heard of these. Ours are black. We lose in black. Im sad.
Last year the Panthers pretty baby blue made them look like ballet dancers.
Great players make other players around him better. Carson Wentz comes in and suddenly the WR’s look decent. Funny how that works.
Another way to look at it is that Sammy’s WRs had problems with drops all the time. I suspect there is something off about his timing that doesn’t do them any favors, although I often don’t see anything wrong.
Lots of drops last game too.
Yeah, this team seems to have a lot of trouble with the routine catches. There were some impressive catches yesterday, but it seems like if the degree of difficulty isn’t high enough there is a tendency to have a lapse of focus. Not sure if the coaches spend too much time drilling them about what to do after the catch when they get a clean ball coming to them or what.
They did an interview with Doug Baldwin and he said the most important aspect of catching passes in the middle of the field is spacial awareness, knowing where to go once you get the ball, where is the seam to run down, or if you have to protect yourself, etc. So it makes me wonder how much emphasis coaches are placing on that aspect of the receiving game, and if that might be drawing some critical focus off of the fundamentals.
One week vs Browns. I have been the biggest aplogist for all our WR, but lets punp the breaks.
Fantasy question: 2QB league. TDs worth 8pts (i know it’s crazy) I have Carson Palmer and Derrick Carr. Someone dropped russ wilson, should I pick him up?”
Yes. I would put up a significant amount of FAB if you use that. If not just hope u are 1 on waiver .
Pick up Wentz obviously.
Yep. You need more than 2 QBs anyway with the byes.
Yes
Who brought the popcorn?
“There’s discord between 49ers general manager Trent Baalke and head coach Chip Kelly regarding the future of quarterback Colin Kaepernick, according to Jason of Bleacher Report (video link). Baalke wants to get rid of Kaepernick, while Kelly would like to keep the 28-year-old and help him develop into a quality option again.”
https://twitter.com/pfrumors/status/776182126433546240
http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/gallery/popcorn-gifs/tumblr_ljh0puClWT1qfkt17.gif
Bleacher Report? Bleacher Report? Seriously? Besides Baalke has some kind of ego issues with more than one player. I’m on the West Coast so we get more bits of news about teams near here.
Rewatching game vs Browns, seems like Ryan Mathews body language says ” frustration”. Just me?
Which coach is most likely to be the first one canned this year?
A) Rex Ryan, Entertaining but lousy coach
B) Chuck Pagano, Has one of best QBs in NFL, still can’t win diddly-poo.
C) Gus Bradley, The wheels on the bus come off, come off.
D) John Fox, Seriously, he’s still coaching?
E) Jeff Fisher, Now in 21st year of failing to develop a QB. Has learned nothing.
F) Mike McCoy, who?
G) Jay Gruden, Its still a Dan Snyder team. Hope he hires Chip Kelly next.
H) Other – who then?
At this point, gotta go with Fisher.
I think Bradley and McCoy are the only ones in danger if there’s no significant improvement this year. The rest would require an epic collapse of some sort.
Also, Pagano just got a four-year extension. He’s safe.
I think part of the reason why Fisher was hired was to help the team transition from St. Louis to LA. Now that they’ve moved, and he’s an awful coach, I see him getting fired after this year.
I think that was a really stupid way to try building a fan base in a new city.
At least with a new coach and QB they could have said “We’re rebuilding!” and generated excitement even if they looked bad, because there’d be hope for the future. Now they just look incompetent.
I don’t think Gruden will just yet but all I ever think of when I see his team is how sloppy they play.
How did the run game look? I saw the box score but I’m talking more about the OL’s performance.
Average at best.
Who wants some french fry emojis?