Bye Week

Posted: October 2nd, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 21 Comments »

No Eagles football today. Bye weeks are relaxing, but the Eagles have been so much fun this year that I really wanted to see them in action. Only a week away.

Reuben Frank wrote one of his 25 Random Points pieces and said something simple, but still very important.

Pederson has been unreal. He’s the only coach in NFL history to go 3-0 in his first year with a rookie quarterback and win all three games by at least 15 points.

It really is mind-blowing to see Pederson doing such a great job. The Eagles were the only team that had interest in him. Some people preferred Sean McDermott or Ben McAdoo. I wanted Adam Gase. There was good support for Hue Jackson. No one was all that enthused by the pursuit of Pederson. So far, he has done a great job, both in terms of restoring the right atmosphere in the building and winning games on the field.

Roob points out that things haven’t been easy.

What Pederson has done on the field is almost as remarkable as what he’s done off the field, navigating the franchise through some rough waters — Sam Bradford’s holdout and trade a week before the opener, a third-string quarterback with very little training camp being promoted into the starting lineup, two players getting into legal trouble just before training camp, Lane Johnson’s likely suspension, player pregame protests and so on. Pederson has handled it all beautifully and he’s won over the locker room in the process — something that is very tough for a rookie head coach to do. Especially one with so little experience.

Pederson really is pushing all the right buttons.

The challenge for him now is getting the team to stay focused and handle success. John Madden always said the time to be toughest on your team is when they’re winning. Everyone around the players will praise them and stroke those egos. It is up to the coaching staff to be demanding and let them know they have to keep getting better. Complacency is a dangerous thing.

*****

There is a lot of truth in this.

CLE got out to a big lead against the Ravens and almost won. The Browns had a lead on the Skins in the 2nd half today and some turnovers cost them the game.

CHI beat the Lions.

PIT is destroying the Chiefs. It is 36-0 right now. Amazing what a difference a week makes, huh?

The bottom line is that the Eagles beat these teams soundly and these teams have looked much better when playing other opponents. That should tell you this isn’t luck or a fluke. The Eagles are legitimately good.

*****

Les Bowen spoke to Andy Reid for his thoughts on the Eagles and Carson Wentz.

If there was anybody in the entire wild and woolly NFL who might be willing to preach caution about the 3-0 Eagles and their wheels-on-fire Wentz Wagon, you’d think it would be Mr. Caution himself, the ever-understated Andy Reid.

 Through 14 seasons here, the franchise’s winningest coach (140-102-1) could be counted upon to opine after pretty much any spectacular performance that the player in question had done “a nice job.” Week in and week out, he preached the virtues of not getting too high or too low.

So it was a bit of an eye-opener Sunday morning to get a call back from Reid, as he awaited his Kansas City Chiefs’ Sunday Night Football encounter with the Steelers in Pittsburgh, and hear him advocate for fans getting just as excited as they want to be about the Eagles and rookie quarterback Carson Wentz, who are scheduled to come back from their bye week with a Monday practice.

 “I think they have a right to be,” Reid said, when told that fans here were getting pretty fired up, in their own unique, fervent way. “This is a young kid. He’s fundamentally sound. Is there going to be a bad day somewhere? Yeah, but that’s with every player, that’s how it works. But I can’t tell you the future isn’t bright when you have a good young quarterback. He’ll do nothing but get better. He’s got a great (QB) room he’s in, between (backup Chase Daniel, formerly of the Chiefs) and the coaching staff. That’s a place to learn, and he’s a guy that wants to do that. I think that’s a healthy situation for him. It looks like he spends the time to learn.”

Good stuff from Les and Big Red. Go read the whole piece. More thoughts on the team and Doug Pederson.

Some people think Big Red should hold a grudge with the Eagles because they fired him, but that’s just not the case. He loved his time in Philly and has plenty of friends in the organization.

I’m pretty sure that Chip Kelly feels differently.

Speaking of Kelly…Pederson already has 3 wins on the season. Feels like that might be all Chip and his Niners get for the year. That team has some serious talent deficiencies and looks like stud LB NaVorro Bowman might be out for the year. Yikes.

To be fair though, the officials in today’s game did give Dallas help on some key plays. The Niners aren’t going to win games when key calls are going against them. They just don’t have the players to pull that off.

_

21 Comments on “Bye Week”

  1. 1 SteveH said at 10:58 PM on October 2nd, 2016:

    Glad you mentioned the officiating in the boys game Tommy, one more bogus call or non-call going Dallas’ way and someone was going to have to contact the FBI about collusion.

    Also the Chiefs just had the most Chiefsy and Andy Reidsy drive of all time. 18 plays, 17 passes, and 0 points.

  2. 2 Greg said at 11:15 PM on October 2nd, 2016:

    That unnecessary roughness call for a push on Dak while he was still up was insane. Niners had them stopped and the refs basically gave Dallas a touchdown. There were other bad calls but this over officiating is ruining the game.

  3. 3 SteveH said at 1:43 AM on October 3rd, 2016:

    My favorite was the OPI on the touchdown throw to the corner of the end zone. Aikman was like “Well the receiver fully extended his arms into the defensive back but I don’t know if he really shoved him or not…” Aikman’s such a goddamn homer.

  4. 4 PacificPurl said at 4:15 AM on October 3rd, 2016:

    Actually it was Aikman who mentioned all the repeated Dallas false starts that were not called.

  5. 5 Bert's Bells said at 8:13 AM on October 3rd, 2016:

    I don’t know if you are talking about Troy Aikman, but he’s typically harder on Dallas than other teams.

  6. 6 Mitchell said at 11:07 PM on October 2nd, 2016:

    “To be fair though, the officials in today’s game did give Dallas help on some key plays.” This happens too frequently. I didnt watch the game but I bet Dean Blandino had a good time watching it for Jurry’s party bus…. what a joke.

  7. 7 Bye Week - said at 11:10 PM on October 2nd, 2016:

    […] Tommy Lawlor No Eagles football today. Bye weeks are relaxing, but the Eagles have been so much fun this year […]

  8. 8 Cafone said at 11:16 PM on October 2nd, 2016:

    It’s odd that Reuben Frank seems so into music and the local music scene. He seem more like the kind of guy you would expect to rank bakeries or pork sandwiches.

  9. 9 Cafone said at 11:18 PM on October 2nd, 2016:

    (I’m just mad that fat old guy sounds cooler than me)

  10. 10 Call Me Carlos the Dwarf said at 11:27 PM on October 2nd, 2016:

    The Niners’ season high for offensive yards is 320, from week 1.

    Chip Kelly and his system can choke on a fat one.

  11. 11 BlindChow said at 1:16 AM on October 3rd, 2016:

    Blaine Gabbert wouldn’t suck in any system.

  12. 12 Call Me Carlos the Dwarf said at 1:33 AM on October 3rd, 2016:

    He’s averaging 5 fewer yards per drive, and .3 fewer per play, than they did under Tomsula, haha.

  13. 13 Cafone said at 1:45 AM on October 3rd, 2016:

    I wonder how much the Eagles’ success will influence the amount of patience they have with Kelly in San Francisco. I’m sure they are aware their team sucks with or without Kelly. But it must be harder to trust him with a rebuild when his former team is undefeated without him.

  14. 14 daveH said at 11:32 PM on October 2nd, 2016:

    Glad we missed leVon Bell.. how much wud he have helped them?
    ..
    Id rather face Romo thsn Dak

  15. 15 HawaiianEagle said at 1:21 AM on October 3rd, 2016:

    As long as they leave their refs out of it.

  16. 16 Anders said at 5:34 AM on October 3rd, 2016:

    I rather face Romo because there is zero ways that he is fully healthy by week 8

  17. 17 Insomniac said at 6:00 AM on October 3rd, 2016:

    maybe like 34-17 unless Bell was going to play defense for them too.

  18. 18 D3FB said at 11:42 AM on October 3rd, 2016:

    DeAngelo Williams was the leading rusher through the first 2 weeks.

  19. 19 Cafone said at 1:49 AM on October 3rd, 2016:

    Anyone see the pass interference call on Jordan Poyer against DeSean Jackson today? If so, can you explain it to me? It seemed like Poyer turned completely around and made a play on the ball. But the commentators seemed to think it was fine so maybe I’m missing a new interpretation of the rules or something?

  20. 20 EJ said at 7:00 AM on October 3rd, 2016:

    There are certain players and coaches who’s opinions I take with a grain of salt. Andy Reid is one of them, and so is Brent Celek. I’ve never heard either of these guys speak badly about anyone.

  21. 21 Buge Halls said at 7:20 AM on October 3rd, 2016:

    “To be fair though, the officials in today’s game did give Dallas help on some key plays.” Preaching the truth there. I remember at least two, if not three, blatant PI calls that should have gone against Dallas that weren’t called (as well as ticky-tack calls that were called in their favor on the other side of the ball). When you have Troy saying that penalties should have been called against Dallas and they weren’t, something is wrong! I guess the check from Jerrah to the Benevolent Retired Refs Home cleared before the game.