Game Preview – PHI at CHI
Posted: September 19th, 2016 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 338 Comments »It seems like forever since we saw Carson Wentz win his debut game and set off Wentzmania. Believe it or not, it has only been a week. Now we get to see Wentz handle the challenge of playing on the road on Monday night. It should be fun to see how the rookie responds.
One of the big selling points with Wentz is his character and mentality. He is a football guy. Mike Mayock would label him as a “gym rat”. Some players love everything that comes with playing football. Wentz is a guy that just loves football. Cade McNown and Tim Couch both dated playmates as NFL rookies. Michael Vick had a whole secret life we didn’t know about. Matt Leinart was busy having fun in Arizona. Brett Favre partied in the Buckhead section of Atlanta.
Wentz won his debut. He won the Rookie of the Week award. He celebrated by getting right back in the film room and grinding away. Success is temporary if you stop working. Wentz is very driven and he isn’t going to settle for one good game. Remember that in college the bar was set incredibly high for him. He redshirted for a year and then sat for two others. His team won national titles in each of those seasons. Wentz got the starting job and was expected to win a title himself. He did that in 2014 and 2015. The pressure brought out the best in him.
There are going to be some down days for Wentz. It happens to everyone. Aaron Rodgers is the best or second best QB in the game today and he just played poorly on SNF in a loss to Sam Bradford and the Vikings. Wentz isn’t going to have a bad game because he’s unprepared or unfocused. Those are things he can control and he will be ready when he takes the field in Chicago on Monday night.
I think Wentz will have another good performance. I wrote a preview for PE.com.
*****
What I’ll be watching tonight:
Favorable circumstances – The Eagles had good field position last week. They had the lead all game long. Weather wasn’t an issue. Things like that made Wentz’s job easier, but not all games go that smoothly. We need to see how Wentz responds when things get more difficult. That could happen tonight or next week or after that. But it will happen.
Crowd noise – The Eagles believe in making pre-snap adjustments at the line of scrimmage. That works great in home games. It can be more difficult on the road. Soldier Field isn’t known for overwhelming crowd noise, but this will likely be the toughest road game Wentz has ever played. I don’t think he will have experienced noise like he’ll hear tonight. Will that lead to any confusion, delays or penalties?
Eagles CBs – Cleveland has solid WRs, but Chicago has a very talented trio. The weakest part of the Eagles defense is the CBs. How will they deal with Jeffrey, White and Royal? The Eagles need to cover tightly and then make tackles when they do give up catches.
The blitz – Wentz was terrific against the blitz last week. The Bears studied those plays and have a better idea of how to attack him and the offense. I don’t anticipate Wentz going 11-12 vs the blitz tonight, but he needs to make his share of plays. When they blitz, you need to burn ’em.
Josh Huff – The Bears don’t have a secondary made of great athletes. I think the Eagles will try to focus on getting more RAC yards this week. Huff is the WR who has the best RAC ability. I expect him to get the ball a few times on short, quick throws so the Eagles can see what he does with the ball in his hands.
Jason Kelce – Kelce remains as athletic as any C in the league, but he can struggle when dealing with big NTs. Last week 340-lb Danny Shelton got the best of him too many times. The Bears don’t have anyone that heavy, but Eddie Goldman is 6-4, 320 so he’s no walk in the park. Kelce needs to play better, to help the run game and to keep Wentz clean.
RBs – Speaking of the run game, neither Ryan Mathews nor Darren Sproles could get going last week. There were plenty of good short runs, but nothing that went over 7 yards. Offenses need chunk plays. In the run game, this is anything that goes over 15 yards. You don’t expect a bunch of them, but mixing in one or two can make a big difference when trying to move the ball down the field.
*****
INACTIVES
WR Bryce Treggs
TE Zach Ertz
OL Josh Andrews
OL H. Vaitai
OL Dillon Gordon
OL Isaac Seumalo
CB Leodis McKelvin
We were hoping to get a look at Treggs tonight, but his Eagles debut will have to wait.
*****
This is awesome. Make sure to watch it.
Doug Pederson wired for sound last week vs #Browns. Some great stuff here from coach
WATCH: https://t.co/gFgtqG1VLs pic.twitter.com/vnu5yujm6O
— Fran Duffy (@fduffy3) September 19, 2016
_
Super stoked for tonight. Go Eagles!
[…] Tommy Lawlor It seems like forever since we saw Carson Wentz win his debut game and set off Wentzmania. Believe […]
Love Honey Beau Beau…great nickname
I also liked, “When in doubt, run it behind Peters.”
WOW. I feel really dumb right now. I thought there was a player on the Browns named Peters who wasn’t playing well, and he was saying to target that guy. Wow.
Just blame it on work. That’s what I do.
So psyched im worrying that im a jinx… er that i am THE jinx.
..
German you find a cheap flight to Chi town by chance ??
The only hope is the ol’ traditional Internet jinx cure:
Find some particular rowdy Bears blog, SBNation is a good place to start, and pick a few arguments until you *just* start to feel doubt creeping in about our chances.
Then, wish them luck (but don’t mean it) and you are good.
The bar downstairs is actually a Bears bar
Well, the pre-Internet version increases the odds of a bloody nose, but it works as well.
Grudens new play by play guy kind of sucks. Also, Chris Berman somehow has a job.
Yea I think I’ll have to agree with you. I actually really really liked the play by play guy for us last week, I think it was Gumbel
I liked Mike tirico
Chtis Berman learned his play by play in his under wear in his dorm .. hebis a legend. . Do u think he sucks? Whoa, surprises me .. I think bryany gumbel sucks snd also unwstchsble is that perfectly overdressed little white doughboy chattetbox who quite possibly has never ever plsyed a sport.. excrpt a dapper game of fancy golf
I’m looking to see the CBs keep the completions short. You can’t stop their WRs, so don’t try. Just limit them. Have to get the pass rush going early and strong. It’s a good thing we have an edge rush because it’s going to be difficult to bring the heat with our excellent 3-tech 😀
That’s going to be a HUGE key to this game. Jeffrey will get a big play or 2. It’s just going to happen. We just can’t let it kill us.
I wonder who is having more anxiety, me or Wentz and Pederson.
Just turned on ESPN, did the Eagles trade for Dak?
Let’s see how long we can go without hearing about the “best oline in football”
???? ????
I dont get it. .. but i is worried
Talking heads slobbering over Wentz like he was a Cowboy.
I’ve always had a gutt feeling about E Games. Not now. Excited and scared, kinda like first time back in HS… Story for another time though. GO BIRDS!!
So excited for football!!!!! By the time i’m done Tommy’s article and making some insightful comments, it’ll be go time.
Nervous and excited for the game! I’m hoping the kid continues to play well, but I won’t be surprised if he takes a step back. Last week’s performance may be hard to repeat.
Not liking all the hype leading up to the game. Prefer underdog mentality
Game on boys!
(and girls?)
Gotta frazzle the pretty boy.
BOOM
Well that’s a good way to start the night.
hoooo boy thats a start.
Yeah, I’d rush the throw too if I saw Curry coming after me.
Nice start
Sprolsey FTW
I revise my earlier assessment, I think the bears might be the worst team in the league.
Little early
Those first 3 plays were that ugly.
The Wentzise.
Intercepting that third down screen wouldn’t have allowed Wentz to feel the pressure of MNF 0-0 score. Smart to let it fall to the turf.
Empty all game ?
It’s like I’m not watching a rookie.
Seriously, this is unreal.
Chip Kelly lives on in Philly
damn, sproles should have been able to get that first.
too much dancing
Should kick
Forgot our QB was the greatest ever
Wrong. GOAT.
beautiful.
MNF, second game, first drive… put the rookie in a empty backfield making constant pre-snap reads. A lot of rookies could do that, right?
I was pretty awesome the first time I played Madden.
looool did you guys see that big ol DL push sproles’ face into our OLs back? Like haha bitch now you can’t see lol.
had him, great play by db
Little more air
REally Wentz? Bust.
oh man he tipped that with the very tippy tip of his finger.
He’s even got the quick count to avoid the challenge
i like the common sense by Pederson, rush the play before they challenge.
Ryan wait for your blocker
quick slant ftw?
Dougie Fresh’s script for going no huddle on the opening drive for a slow methodical drive is a really good way to take the crowd out of it.
fade.
good job not forcing it.
yeah, but throw it away.
Yeah no need to take that hit there.
Or give up 4 yards for the FG. Turning a 21 into a 25 doesn’t really matter, but a 39 into a 43 might.
well fuck not getting the TD but I’ll be damned if that wasn’t impressive.
i missed it :(. What happened? We just looked competent on the opening drive?
nothing just wentz looking bradyesque
I prefer looking Wentzy.
WE opened on D, the Bears went -10 yards. Got the ball in good field position, Wentz no huddle and drove us down the field. WE stalled just outside the 10. 3 points.
Its the little things that used to frustrate the hell out of me that they’re getting this year. Rush the play to avoid the challenge. Running hte ball. Its a breath of fresh air.
Where’s Mathews?
Ark want fade 🙁
Me too. He had it there if he wanted it. DGB was single covered on the short side.
That’s the route DGB ran and was clearly his first read. It was covered.
can’t cover a good throw against a bigger WR
No his first read was to the right.
Yeah and DGB was in front of the DB not running to the corner, not a typical fade route
Looked like he had his eyes on the other side of the EZ. When he looked back DGB curled the route.
Wonder if Lurie instructed Doug to try to break the time of possession record just to shove it up Chips arse. Sure seems like he is trying after a game and one drive.
Somehow, the months of talk about how this season doesn’t lead to the SB and is more about the development process than wins and losses all goes out the window when the team lines up on the LOS.
I’m so captivated by Wentzmania that I almost forget to enjoy the defense.
then that happens.
Jaws predicted Royal would have a good game, and I can see that.
So no matter what we do the defense is going to suck?
That was the same 3rd and long they tried last time.
wow, that obvious hold holy shit.
Holding?
So it’s cool to just tackle our dlinemen? Gotcha.
Cutler does do that crazy stupid romo escaping shit
Nice tackle by mills
Good tackle Rook.
TACKLING!!!!
alshon on mills again
GET THAT FUCKING BALLL
Catch the damn ball brioks
Was I seeing things or did we line up 5 linemen?
Man I hate Brooks
Alright, if they hadn’t tackled Cox on one play they probably wouldn’t even get the fie… wait nevermind.
Shankapotomus
Lol. Robbie Gould laughing somewhere
would have been a huge pick
Not really now I guess
we just got better field position by not getting hte INT.
true, my feed is behind lol
Heady play by Brooks.
DOINK!!!!!
How is cutting a quality kicker the decision as ways to save money?
aghhhh Peters!!!!
Oh so they see holding in that pile
Welp, since they can tackle our guys, I’m assuming Peters went with the german suplex, followed by a flying elbow off the top rope.
Damnit Peters.
That was a drive killer.
Not Donnies best there, but no return
So Wentz isn’t magical? Fucking bust.
If you are very quiet, you can hear scouts in Cleveland pointing at their TVs and yelling “SEE!? SEE!?”
What happeend? Quick 3 and out.
Peters holding penalty killed a drive early.
Peters with a hold put them behind the sticks and they couldn’t get back on schedule.
Cox penetratin like a mfker
Makes me glad my mother is not in Chicago.
How does that keep happening?
Not good
“so long x plays”
Where is malcolm
yikes
don’t even try to run on us.
Because you can still apparently throw for days on us.
Watching alshon Jeffery highlights makes it painfully clear how unathletic I am.
Makes me wish we had a corner who was like 6’2″ or something like that.
Can he use his stomach as a beer table while standing though? I think not.
It’s only the first half, def thought bears would be sucking more.
Carroll and Mills may be all world practice players, but they’re complete liabilities in real games.
Carroll is the best option we have. Mills I have hopes will grow into the role.
Or they could have kept Rowe, a guy who was faster and a sure tackler.
Thats a little harsh. Couple bad plays for sure though.
Carroll was horrible last year in his last 2 games before getting hurt.
Though had some good ones before. I agree he isnt great but good corners are so hard to find.
Mills thought he had a safety over top it seemed as well.
It’s gonna be a long season for the secondary.
Mills is young and may be good eventually but Schwartz is gonna have to earn his money tonight with some adjustments or Jeffrey is gonna break records
That IceT commercial gets me every time.
getting that sick feeling, going to have to start planting Cutler in the dirt a bunch or this will get out of hand.
They’ve hit him quite a bit already…will just have to keep it coming
yep, tough SoB, but he is one of those guys who can get rattled and start making bad decisions
You need guys within 10 feet of receivers when those bad decisions happen though
also true!
Just catch the gift picks and we be good. Keep dropping them and we wont be.
Lavery Farmhouse Ale in the 22 oz. bottles is just a fantastic balanced and flavorful beer, by the way. From Erie, PA.
wow what a fucking throw
Oh goddamnit Kelce
Great throw. And F U Kelce!
2 holding calls destroying drives.
ROughing the passer?
Wentz is getting the Cam treatment :S
Gross
f u refs
Those were easy calls. Kelce is sucking up the joint.
Kelce having a terrible series.
Wth is Kelxe thinking???!! That was blatant.
Kelce has been a liability.
thanks for nothing there kelce.
Jesus christ… OL is killing us tonight.
Now a shit punt. What the fuck guys.
The problem aint Wentz…the penatlies are pretty back breaking though for 2 drives now.
That was an awful punt. WTH guys? You’re supposed to step it up for the rookie QB not this shit.
But that throw by Wentz tho……..
Seriously, shame the team is letting the rook down. It’s supposed to be the other way around.
getting ugly
Doug wouldn’t even let Wisnewski compete against Kelce in training camp. He has been a liability for too long to keep getting a free pass on his job security.
Need to reverse this momentum. It’s all going to hell.
Well this is complete shyte.
Defense needs to rebound right now or *shudder*
Same as last year; penalties; no OL; no corners
Corners bigger concern imho. Bad sequence by the OL there though.
and Peters sunk the drive before as well
I am thinking “same as last year” is a mischaracterization.
I hope so!
there we go.
OK, now do that 2 more times BG.
Surprised by the number of blitzes early. Good 3 and out there w/the short field.
Aren’t we glad the Eagles stayed patient with B Graham? He’s been a force tonight.
he’s finally in a system that plays to his strengths and has a coordinator who won’t inexplicably not play him.
Empty back on 3rd and short in our zone. Kinda disrespectful.
Accurate reflection of the lack of corners for Philly. Any more disrespectful than Philly coming out empty backfield on 5 or 6 plays to start the game?? 🙂
Who’s optimistic on this drive?
me
No penalties and we are rolling.
Gruden said they have had Wentz’s number. I guess if getting his line to hold makes him bad…
Turn it up!!
If the OL plays smarter we should be okay. I mean, the Bears def is not that talented. We should be attacking more downfield.
Gotta give Wentz time to go down the field.
Soo i think the bears watched the tape from last weak.
ATTABOY
TREY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There we go now downfield
there u go
ask for a td now plz.
Burton sighting. Hoping for a big game from him.
Thank you!
What the hell is with Soldier Field that makes our guys constantly fall down.
Also, not a good sign for Chicago.
Their turf is notorious.
Having had a knee injury i hate seeing knee injuries.
That play action x-corner is the only play I know in Madden. Except I usually feed the tight end.
I predict that it is going to get increasingly difficult to be patient with the run game as Wentz develops.
Personally, I already feel like any play where he doesn’t drop back is a wasted play.
Haven’t hit that pt yet, but I get the feeling 😛
Too much Sproles this game . . . . Stick Matthews and Barner in, Pederson.
WENTZZZZZZZ
Nice throw
this guy is fucking precise
Oooh and he gets the roughing the passer calls! Makes you not want to have a black Qb.
Racist, but there’s some truth there 😛
White QBs matter?
Punch it in
C’mon, 7 points. Let’s go.
go down rook.
Be smarter, rook.
Go down brah.
How was that not a PI? Out of bounds and led with helmet.
He was still in. Just barely but that was a legal hit.
Probably right. Definitely close.
So uh, that run game no beuno?
Is their D line this good…or?
Eagles’ OL is that bad. Especially at C, but the LT is looking his age, as well.
or.
Just realized Fangio is the man in Chicago, so can’t be surprised that defense is ballin
Chicago’s bringing pressure just about every play. Wentz has made them pay a couple times, but he’s taking punishment too. He’s gotta be smarter about not taking unnecessary hits.
More meant the run game. He holds the ball a little long but isnt like guys are open while he holds it. The sack he took was on 3rd down. All in all pretty outstanding game from Wentz so far.
Just dont take the big hit for 2 more yards on the side line.
Agree. Wentz has taken some hits in the pocket and they’re hard to avoid. Don’t take the hits running please. Don’t hold the ball if there’s nothing there. Throw it away.
damn… we gotta get that thing in the endzone.
Sammy would have dumped it to the checkdown.
Which in this case would have been good haha.
I don’t mind it. Placement was good if there was no dback there. Lead him more next time.
He just wasn’t open
This is where Cutler gets greedy.
Dear Carson,
Chase Daniels sucks and Eagles football will be dull without you. Go out of bounds.
Signed,
Eagle fans everywhere.
Recognize a dead play and throw it away
Welp, we’ll get a good idea if Doug can change things up at half-time. The Bears have this plan figured out.
Really? All i saw were a couple big plays and penalties.
Agree. Jason Kelce is killing us
The offensive gameplan. Defensively, the Eagles are doing ok. If the refs will call the obvious holding penalties, things will really to start to heat up on that side.
It’s the offensive gameplan that isn’t fooling them at all. The run game is non-existent.
Meh. I dont credit the other team when penatlies kill drives.
There are two edges to that sword, though. Maybe the big plays don’t happen if the OL doesn’t commit the penalty. Really, they’re just picking on Kelce and he’s being overpowered (again).
The big plays i referred to were theirs.
Chicago’s ‘plan’ is to chuck it deep every time their putrid OL let’s Cutler manage to stay on his feet for more than 3 seconds 😛
Too bad our CB’s don’t look good enough to deal with that :S
We are going to pick him at least once. Its gonna happen.
Niiiice!
Two RZ trips, two FG’s. Gotta punch it in, Eagles.
Our run fits seem to be very average tonight, Kelce is terrible and stealing pay checks, our run game is terrible probably becuase our OL is not playing well…
Only because our line.
John Fox always looks like he’s meeting his daughter’s new boyfriend.
Don’t like that timeout. Stop em on third and call TO. 2 Tos and 115 left. Now if they make this you helped em
Worked. Risky, but it worked. Don’t complain 🙂
I like it more now, but iffy clock mgmt for sure
I loved that TO.
Nice stops here.
Mills sucks blocking gunners. Way to easy to get in Sproles face there.
damn, good punt.
Chance for the ole patriots score before and after the half routine
did agholor just do that…
I though Ags was about to gets straight Massacred.
Man, that was close. Nose just caught the turf.
Flat footed double pump
and he still got it there. Impressive but not a good habit.
Time for a shot
DGB
need to get DGB back in there.
Not a bad job getting up the field here.
Wentz knows how to spike unlike some other QBs.
that throw to ags was either extremely skilled or extremely lucky. i choose the first.
Maybe both !
Not a good choice. Good outcome though. I’ll take it, but I hope we see less of those as the season progresses.
AGHHHH!!! MATHEWS!!!!!!
HE FUCKING HAD IT
Fuckkkkkk
That was 6, FEATHERSTONE! HOLD ONTO THE DAMN BALL! THE BALL IS YOUR FRIEND!!!
Typical
Unreal
Beautiful pass. Catch that !@#$ Matthews.
Perfect call and pass. Jordan Matthews.
Goddamnit Mathews… just goddamnit….
Damn. Sturgis will miss this. Matthews owes me 7
even gruden knows sturgis will miss this.
That sucks, I startd Jmatt this week too over coleman – he owes me.
de ja vu all over again
At least he missed the practice kick
Fox just did Sturgis a favor 😛
Power Sturge.
Ok that is awesome
thanks fox.
Wow!
Okay Matthews owes me 4
Thanks John Fox!
Thank you BS freeze the kicker. Just cost Chicago 3pts 🙂
Wow, I have wentz Matthews and the eagles d in one of my leagues, that okay would have gotten me into stroking range
So if anyone was worried about Pederson in the 2 minute. Rest easy. Played that awesome with 1 TO.
Good point, no sign of Andy Reiditis there.
Pederson has quietly really impressed me these 1st two games. Solid game planning and getting the most out of a rookie QB.
Im equal parts pissed at Mathews and impressed with Wentz. This kids a baller.
Agreed
He ‘s got smarts & the arm …puts ball where defense can’t get it for most part.
Matthews eyesight needs to be checked.
Thar drop though…
that throw tho…
True, he;s for real
man wentz is really impressive. if only the rest of the team could step up.
Pretty sure Sturge half-heartedly kicked that kick wide just to troll Fox
Its a shame our best receiver has stone boulders for hands.
Carson Wentz looks like a veteran on a team of rookies.
Matthews is really a good receiver, but he has bad hands. Just have to get used to it
I don’t know about anyone else, but I would always kickoff to start the game, given the choice. I love the ability to get back to back drives at halftime.
Edit needed stat
Announcers somewhere – maybe Merrill? – was saying that Belichek poineered it, but the team that gets the ball in the second half wins 52% of the time, so most teams are now deferring if they win.
I used to do it all the time in Madden 95. Maybe Belicheat was spying on me.
I think Madden is just his secret way to fish for ideas.
And he messed it up big tme once
Seems to be by far the most popular choice. Chip always takes the ball though.
Announcer said that Matthews has average number of drops for WR. Seems surprising but ok.
I think it has become a narrative, and so each drop fits that narrative and becomes more than it is.
:commercial voice:
Drops for an Eagles receiver. Surprising.
The most accurate stat is drops/target or if it could be measured, drops/catchable pass.
Maybe matthews could switch to corner and fix some problems over there.
Too stiff and OMG we’d have NOTHING at WR then. Ags is having another solid game, but I don’t wanna depend on him as the primary. DGB isn’t ready and may never be. Just deal w/the fact that Matthews doesn’t have great hands. Neither did T.O.
At least TO caught the TD passes.
He dropped his share, but made so many big plays, it’s easy to forget the drops.
Whatever this is, is the ONLY thing Chris Berman does well. Even then, I would prefer to never hear him again.
Got to be pretty excited about Wentz… I know it’s early but these throws are big boy QB throws.
Yep. To think, this is the baseline he is going to build on. Wow.
Been listening to John Barchard just gush on BGN Radio. Called him ‘unbustable.’ Really hope he hasn’t jinxed him.
Yeah the stat sheets are hiding the type of half he had so far. Great plays getting gobbled by drops and penalties
I was fairly critical of the pick. Definitely wanted him to get the redshirt year. Was talking about pumping the brakes after last week, but was impressed with some of the throws.
I’m cooking crow right now. The only real fear is that he gets hurt. He’ll have some bad games, and may even have an overall bad season, but based on what he’s done so far, it’s hard not to be excited about his potential.
The receivers have generally been catching the ball today, even some tough catches, but that drop is rough, ugh.
New thread
Ther is?
-or we need one….
Is
TYVM
So by my count Wentz has thrown the ball to 7 receivers already, if you count the celek penalty catch.
Risky!