Another Painful Day
Posted: November 6th, 2016 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 396 Comments »Giants 28, Eagles 23.
The Eagles fall to 4-4 and 0-3 in the division. What a tough, frustrating loss. Just like the one in Dallas. And the one in Washington. And the one in Detroit. All close games where the Eagles did some good things, but made too many mistakes and lost. You cannot make crucial mistakes in close games or you will pay the price in the loss column.
This is a really frustrating Eagles team right now. They are too good and too talented to be considered a bad team. Go watch the Jags or the Jets. Go watch the Bears or the Bucs. Those are bad teams. The Eagles are beyond that.
Unfortunately this team is not good or talented enough to be considered a good team right now. They are in no man’s land…mediocrity.
Here is the situation as simple as you can make it. The Eagles could be a winning team with the talent already in place. The problem is that the team needs to play smart, efficient football. We’ve all seen a group that overachieves. They do all the little things right. If the Eagles played like that with this roster, they would likely be 6-2 or better.
The Eagles could be a winning team with the current erratic playing style if they had more dynamic playmakers. Dynamic players can overcome mistakes by making big plays. Look at Seattle. They always have a lot of penalties. They struggle to protect Russell Wilson. But that team makes huge plays and overcomes the kind of mistakes that are killing the Eagles right now.
Instead we have a solid group of players that makes costly mistakes and just isn’t good enough to overcome them.
The talent level isn’t going to change this season. For this team to start winning games again, the Eagles must eliminate mistakes and play smart football. Can they do it? Sure. Will they do it? I have no idea. I don’t have a good feel for this team right now. There are so many new faces and young players that it is hard to know what to make of this group.
I know a lot of you will be furious and on the “Fire him!” and “Cut him!” bandwagon. I get the anger, but once you move past the immediate emotions and look at the big picture you’ll see that drastic action would be dumb.
The Eagles led Dallas 20-13 at the end of the 3rd quarter last week. Take out the 1st quarter today and the Eagles outscored the Giants 20-14. For 3 quarters in each of the last 2 games, the Eagles were good enough to have the lead and somewhat control the game. The problem is that in each of those games the opposing team had a big quarter that was enough to give them the win.
I’m not trying to tell you to love this team. I’m frustrated as heck. But some people will overreact and talk about the Eagles as if this is an awful team that is devoid of talent and has no hope. That’s just not the case. This team is good enough to be close, but they are not making the clutch plays that it takes to win games.
The Eagles are 4-4.
Mediocre.
_
What a terribly disappointing season this has turned out to be after starting 3-0.
I don’t think this game is on Doug. Yes the 4th down calls were bad but Carson also missed opportunities to score. Those two ints in the beginning was what doomed us. The team as it is right now cannot afford to play from behind. This is a team that has to fire on all cylinders to win.
The 2 ints were a direct result of Klece getting blown up and Wentz having a rush in his face. His mechanics are suffering because of it.
Those interceptions were a result of bad throwing mechanics by Carson. That needs to be fixed this off season.
It was probably both. If Kelce doesn’t suck shit, or if Carson doesn’t throw like shit, both interceptions probably don’t happen.
And the bad mechanics were caused by the rush in his face.
Agreed. He was unable to step up into his throw, thus sailing them on the high side
Doug has blown 2 games in a row.
Don’t even need to fire on all cylinders. Just can’t keep burying themselves by 13-14 pts early on and almost every single week this season this team isn’t playing well on offense/defense early on.
Instead they get down and really come on in the 2nd half. They did that again today.
I have to think part of that is on the coaching staff and their preparation.
If the defense doesn’t show up then the odds are we’re going to lose.
I think the most important thing we can all take away from this day is that Bryce Treggs should be our #1 receiver and should be on the field for 100% of the snaps from now on.
This will be an unpopular opinion but I’m ok with going for it on 4th down in the first half. I like the aggression and I think there’s a lot of merit to it, but I hated the play calls, particularly the first one. Wentz has shown he has some athleticism, but he’s not goddamn Cam Newton. That was an embarrassing play call. The other 4th down call wasn’t terrible but wasn’t ideal either. Sproles is a lot of good things but a pocket pusher he is not, I’d rather we ran with Mathews and banged it up in there.
Agree – when it’s 4th and 1 or 2, you run hard between the tackles!
4th and 2 could have been a run or a pass, we’ve shown in the past that Wentz can be money on little short slants and things. No reason we couldn’t have spread them out and picked our poison. Instead we tried that ridiculous QB run and 4 Giants were there waiting. Jerome Bettis couldn’t have turned that into a first down.
I’m not ok with doing something other than running behind Peters.
I’m OK as well, just not the play call. If you want to roll-out Wentz at least give him a run/pass option with a receiver in the flat (you know, the kind of calls we use to hate when reid was running those with McNabb and Avant in the Red Zone?)
Yup. Can’t praise Doug for being 5/5 on 4th and them kill him when it doesn’t work. That’s the risk of being aggressive.
Most would attest our weaknesses before the season were CB, WR, and OL. They still are, but with the exception of benching Kelce, they will continue to be a weakness through the remainder of the season. As long as Wentz doesn’t get injured, I consider this season a great learning experience for him and Pederson.
I cannot wait to get Kelce out of here. Very first play he gets planted on his ass with barely a push from the DL. I have no idea what happened to him but he’s clearly not even close to the same player he was 3-4 years ago.
Not a happy 29th b-day for him.
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myartz04
12 minutes ago
Imagine if it was the other way around. GIants get the INT and the Eagles proceeded to all out blitz 4 straight times. Would it be 1st or 2nd down before Beckham would have the game winning TD? WE need a player that can defy x’s and o’s. And i know, you all know this already.
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Sb2bowl
23 minutes ago
I noted this below, but it is worth expanding.
Chip Kelly drafted for “culture”- but those guys all play without an edge (Ertz, Marcus Smith, and Ags specifically). Easier to tackle, under performing draft picks that looked promising coming out of school but really haven’t panned out in the NFL.
Let’s look at the picks this year, specifically Mills and to a lesser extent Smallwood. Guys with questionable “character” coming out, but so far they look like they belong in the NFL.
Would Ertz still be here (with a massive contract extension to boot) if he wasn’t a 2nd round pick? Compare him with Burton. Who would you pick?
Final thought- does culture compute to a lack of toughness, perhaps that “it” factor so often discussed but seldom explained?
If we were just talking about the player and not factoring in the contracts, I would still take Burton over Ertz.
I would also. Ertz is the ultimate Chip Kelly anomaly. All glitz, no glamour
Colin Cowherd said (probably half-joking) that the way he figures out what college team is going to have a good defense is how many arrests they have that offseason. There is a connection between aggression and criminality and athletic effectiveness!
Still… I wouldn’t be on board building an argument about that in regards to the Eagles’ problems.
Well, lets look at Mills as an example. Coaches love his confidence, arrogance and insane belief in self on the field. That has to carry over into every day life.
Look at the “mistakes” he made in the past. Correlation? I would believe so
I always got the sense that Chips definition of “culture” meant guys who would passively buy into his system. That’s more of a college mentality.
I have as well. There are many types of leaders and personalities- from watching the players he let leave Philadelphia, the guys who played with an edge are gone.
I thought he was going to be a revolutionary in the NFL. I was wrong
This team is a bad first crush we just can’t get over.
Maybe a less controversial opinion: Fletcher Cox was a beast the the first 3 weeks, the following 5 he’s barely been registering an impact in most games. He’s just not playing like a 100 million dollar DL right now, and I don’t know whether he has a lingering injury or if he’s just playing bad, but he’s not been the wrecking ball he was. Brandon Graham has clearly been outplaying him this year.
I guess the concept of them double-teaming the defensive star doesn’t ring a bell to you
He’s not getting double teamed all the time though. Sometimes he is, but he’s not taking advantage of his opportunities when he’s not.
He wasn’t double teamed last year? Lol
[…] Tommy Lawlor Giants 28, Eagles 23. The Eagles fall to 4-4 and 0-3 in the division. What a tough, frustrating […]
Doug Pederson is not a good football coach. His playcalling is poor and his team is undisciplined and unprepared to play. I’m starting to think that fixing the talent issues won’t matter.
Yeah, those fumbles in the 4th quarter of the previous three games were all entirely the coach’s fault. Go back and look at Reid’s first season. Giver Pederson a chance to get his team together – it’s been 8 games into his career!
Not talking about fumbles. Talking about the awful playcalling at the end of the cowboys game costing them 3 points and the awful playcalls on 4th down today costing them at least 6 points. They lost by 5 today and went to overtime in the dallas game. Had Pederson not blown it they win both. But sure, lets keep running the wentz read option run for -5. Its also pretty sad when in the game chat I can call the eagles 1st, 2nd and 3rd down plays before the drive starts and be correct. If I know whats coming you can be damn sure that the defense does.
Beyond that the team often comes out in a funk to start the game and is undisciplined. All signs of a poorly coached team.
I’d expect a guy 8 games into his playcalling career to have some games like that. I don’t dispute Pederson was putrid, but I believe he’ll smarten up.
I hope so. I like Doug well enough. As long as he learns, that’s the key thing. It’s only when someone starts making the same mistakes over and over (see Reid, Andy) that I start getting frustrated.
And our bye week coming WAY too early hasn’t helped. He might not get a chance to really self-scout for his stupidity until the season is over.
i’d expect a guy 8 games into his playcalling career to be an oc
Well what makes you a good playcaller and what makes you a good head coach are two different things. None of which can be mastered 8 games into doing it. I won’t sugarcoat how dumb some of his moves have been, but I’m willing to let him grow and improve in the role over a few years. If you’re not, that’s fine.
Plenty of people were uncomfortable when it was announced that Pederson would be calling the plays as an HC. And their worries have come to fruition. It’s actually costing us games.
You say medicore, I say our 1-4 record in the last 5 games makes us a bad team. We have mediocre talent that makes a lot of costly mistakes. At this point, I’m more worried about Wentz’s progression than anything. I’m hoping having this crappy of a team around him doesn’t stunt his growth as a player.
“The Eagles led Dallas 20-13 at the end of the 3rd quarter last week. Take out the 1st quarter today and the Eagles outscored the Giants 20-14. For 3 quarters in each of the last 2 games, the Eagles were good enough to have the lead and somewhat control the game.” And??? Is this a zero sum game? Are they going to be the exact same team(s) next season while only we get better or do you think they try to add more talent and get better as well?
I think the point is, this team isn’t getting consistently dominated, they are just losing because of sloppy/ineffective stretches that could plausibly be corrected.
This day started off with me breaking my wrist in a cycling accident and then the Eagles breaking my heart with another gut-wrenching loss. What a crappy Sunday
Hope your wrist gets better man. Just out of curiosity, which one hurts worse?
Thanks. The Eagles’ loss is worse. At least the wrist will heal in a few weeks. This team seems a few years away still. And seeing the Cowboys doing so well with two good rookies ballin’ makes me sick to my stomach
Damn.
Our red zone offense was terrible today. Bright side, Treggs looked great and adds a dimension to this offense that we’ve been desperately lacking. Anyone else find it painful that Smallwood is seemingly in the doghouse for his fumble but Doug stood by Vaitai after he got Wentz killed for an entire game?
This is a team where we need to be figuring out who is here for the long haul. Can Wendell be the guy moving forward? He sure has flashed a lot. Play the rookie as the primary back, not the 33-year old. This complaint is more about moving forward. When it looked like we might compete I understood going with vets. Now we need to see what we have in some of these young guys.
Seriously, you can keep running Sproles on 3rd/4th and short. That has to stop and the read option (without a run/pass option) needs to stop as well.
Not sure why we went away from Treggs or Burton/Ertz
Andy Reid disciple.
I was really disappointed every time I checked who was on the field at WR and didn’t see Treggs. At first I was frustrated that Wentz missed him a couple of times but it makes a ton of sense that his rhythm with Treggs is off. He’s used to throwing at slow dripping molasses. It’ll take a couple more reps but once he gets the timing down w/ him it’ll be fun to see him unleash dragons.
Yeah… not used to guys actually getting by there man.
The read option shit does have to stop, Wentz isn’t Vick, or even Kapernick, he’s big, he’s medium speed, but he’s not athletic enough to make it part of the gameplan.
As far as running, he isn’t even Alex Smith.
I’m actually more optimistic about the future of this team than ever. Good young QB. Good defense. Some key personnel like Lane Johnson who should be an anchor a LT going forward. A decent WR in Matthews. A good TE. A lot of talent in key positions for the next few years.
If we can get a high quality WR and a top CB, we can contend for a long time. Maybe this is a rebuilding year as we first supposed, but I like what I’m seeing even in losses. We’re playing good football every week, the clutch will come with experience. Wentz is for real and looks like a future star. Good time to be excited about the Eagles.
I agree
All that is true, but we still have Doug. If he doesn’t improve, it won’t matter who the players are.
I mean, maybe he gets better, but as Jimmy K. pointed out, Doug’s been in the NFL a long time… He should have learned some of the stuff that we as fans know about time management and playcalling (how many failed QB runs did we try on 4th down??).
Now that we have a QB, the succes of this team will come down to the rebuilding of the O-line. After having watched the last five years of struggles, this is the theme that I am stuck with. Its the O-line. It has been since forever. At this point I dont care anymore about slow WR’s or depth at linebacker or missed tackles by the safeties or athletes that are bad human beings in their spare time. I just want Wentz and a monster O-line with good backups. I’d spend the entire 2017 draft on OL if there was good players in every round, and just let the rest be as it may. I’d rather have wr drop passes than seeing out RB get tackled for a loss 10 times a game.
Another way to look at it:
Going into the season, expectations were in the 7-9 to 9-7 range – and that was before Bradford was traded. Thus, 4-4 is about where we all expected them to be at this point.
Also, the rest of the NFC East has turned out to be a lot better than expected this year.
I’ll take 8-8 in Year 1 of Wentzylvania.
Also another viewpoint: what if Bradford hadn’t been traded, but instead had torn his ACLs in pre-season game 3. Would we still be this unhappy with 4-4 at halfway?
Or even–what if we just started 0-1 and alternated wins and losses?
We’d have a division win that way at least.
But honestly, I did really enjoy the hype of the first three games. It would suck to have been resigned to bitter mediocrity from the very first game (after ruining the Browns’ perfect season…).
For all that we’ve kept making some awful mistakes, we’re .500 at the halfway point of the season. Having the hardest schedule in the league, with a rookie QB who barely played in pre-season, and a rookie HC, and now missing two starters on the OL. Could be a lot, lot worse.
1-3 in last 4, 0-3 in division – hard to see it getting better
And the Vikings are collapsing. 🙂
Yay for middle of the pack! That’s something to cheer about since Dallas went 4-12 last year and are 7 and fucking 1 so far this year.
Somebody had one too many PBRs me thinks
Can’t fire or cut anybody right now, but there needs to be some upgrades this offseason:
CB, C, RB, LB, WR, WR, WR, WR should all be areas of focus.
Hopefully Pederson can learn a lot from his playcalling mistakes as well.
Id keep Treggs. He showed up today and would have had two long TDs if the ball was thrown out in front of him.
Yeah, if he works hard on tackling / blocking on special teams, he could be a valuable 5th WR.
Id keep him in the starting 3 as of now.
He’s certainly a guy I’d keep active every week no matter what number you call him. I’m just thinking with a good corps, he’s a 5.
Question is, could he be more? Dude just started his first game as a pro… I wonder what he could develop into. Return specialist maybe?
Its really hard to say, but Like Steve said he blew by DRC. Not many WRs are doing that.
Yeah on that first one he flew past DRC, kid is FAST.
Maybe I’m being overly bullish because I’m super excited about having someone who can beat a DB deep but I think he could earn a serious role on this team. His speed is legit. He beat DRC deep and that’s a fast DB.
I like him playing every week for sure.
Yeah, that 2nd long one looked like it came out of Wentz’ hands funny or something, it was a little wobbly, but he definitely had DRC beat which is saying something since DRC is fast.
no ol?
C is O line.
Big V looks like he’s projecting a tackle you can start. Sem can take over for Barbre Doll. Brooks is solid for a while. Gordon needs to be seen as to how much he can continue to develop.
It is an outside physical WR who can make plays in the red zone. Beckham made a great play in the 1st half on that end zone catch even if he was held in check today for the most part with a lot of double teaming.
CB is #2 because it is hard to run this defensive scheme with the corners they have now and real lack of depth there.
You all-in on Alshon I guess?
And WR. . Our WRs suck unfortunately
Can we fire our WR coach? Mainly, I want someone who calls them out for not fighting for the ball, playing to their size, or catching the ball.
And if route-running is a problem (which it allegedly is), then how about a coach who shows them film of the league’s great route runners, and points out exactly what it is our receivers aren’t doing… It’s not like these guys aren’t athletic enough.
Skins’ game wasn’t nearly as close as the score and they kicked the Eagles’ butts on both sides of the ball.
Skins game was the only game I really felt like we were outplayed. Detroit, should have won. Dallas, should have won. Think about how many mistakes we made today that allowed the Giants to win. The Skins game though, that just felt like they were the better team that day. Maybe not next time, but that day they were.
Thats what happens with poorly coached football teams.
We get it, you think Doug sucks.
He keeps proving me correct.
Yep, that was a demoralizing ass whooping. That was a thorough beatdown. We had a very legit chance to win every other game we lost though.
Gonna get a Treggs jersey, just to confuse people.
Will my Lawlor jersey mess anyone up ?
Wizniewski seemed to play pretty well. Since we’re so crap along the OL right now I wonder if he could return next year on more than a 1 year prove it deal. Peters is reaching retirement, Kelce is going to be a goner, so we might need 2 new starters next year. Could be something to think about.
Wis should be starting at C and Barbre should go back to LG when he’s healthy again. Kelce needs to take a seat.
There’s something about DGB… He’s big, and supposedly very fast, but it’s like everything he does out on the field seems slow for some reason. He seems like he runs slow, it seems like he moves slow, it’s just all slow.
8 games in I’m wondering if he’s going to be a failed experiment. He seems like a monster when he gets the ball in his hands and runs with it, running people over and shit, but he’s not showing that he can be that big target in the red zone that we need. For a guy his size, he doesn’t seem to play up to it.
I still have high hopes for him. He has flashed serious YAC ability. He’s rough around the edges but there is more to work with there than there is with Aggy (even though Aggy did actually look good after the catch today).
Aggy still managed to fumble today though, so there’s that.
I have high hopes for him too, but it seems like he needs to A. play faster, and B. play up to his size.
He is a lazy piece of human excrement. I don’t care to employ the dude beyond next pre-season if he doesn’t put in more effort.
Harsh man, harsh.
I’m really livid over the loss today, but I’m drawing a line between what is worth flaming right away vs. what we need time with.
DGB being a useless human being isn’t likely to improve with time. He’s not playing hard.
He is absolutely not deserving of the hype that surrounds him. WE have all wanted that Plaxico Burress type WR for a long time, and DGB was way overhyped as that guy. AT the same time, he isn’t a bad WR either. I think we clearly won that trade in that we have a WR who is productive, but he is probably a 3 or 4 on most teams.
we got him for dennis kelly. you thought we were getting paxico for dennis kelly?
No, absolutely not. But every time we are in the red zone I see people yell for DGB on a fade route, a la Burress. My point is that expecting that from DGB is silly and he has not shown that he is a big physical WR before the catch so far. Still fans want hI’m to be based on his measureable so he got waaaay overhyped.
well the run the same exact play for him, and that’s the only time they went to him this game. and it’s a play that it doesn’t seem like wentz is great at making.
We definitely dont have anyone to teach him how to use his size
Yeah. 6’5″ guys aren’t terribly rare, but guys that size who can run like the wind, catch, and make acrobatic adjustments to a long pass in the air _are_ rare–and DBG isn’t that guy.
Exactly. The problem is we see any 6’5″ guy and immediately get excited…. I mean there were fans that we’re obsessed with Ifeanyi Momah.
DGB is certainly not a failed experiment as he clearly can make some plays and we got him for very cheap, but as of right now he is a JAG.
Maybe he is overwhelmed trying to learn the offense, maybe it is something else, but he seems completely unaware of what is going on on the field. Adjusting on the fly, improvisation, scramble drills, all of that stuff that special receivers do, he does not. How many balks have sailed past without him ever looking?
Yeah I agree, he doesn’t seem to be “up to speed” so to speak… I wonder if the rumors about his intelligence were true. Someone with his physical gifts should theoretically be doing much better than he is.
Even if he fails, we gave up Dennis Kelly for him, so no harm no foul.
Honestly, with the way he’s playing he should have plays that only involve fade passes, slants, and shallow crossers. He doesn’t seem to be able to handle much else.
Hell, if he’s good for 2 shallow crossers where he catches it and then goes beast on the secondary for 15 yards I’m good with that.
“Just run to the corner of the endzone and jump” plays ..practice it 20 times a day
Shocked the Titans gave him away for nothing. Shocked.
Seems like the Eagles have cut down on penalties, so theres that.
The refs were really holding the flags today, that missed leg whip on Sturgis was egregious though. Otherwise it seemed like a pretty fairly called game. Refs made up for it with the great call on Carroll’s interception.
I thought the guy giving Sproles a hug on the punt should have received fair catch interference.
Also apparently it’s fine to knock a kicker off his feet, as long as you do some form of commando roll first.
Yeah that was weird, but Sproles wasn’t complaining so… IDK what exactly that was.
Everyone in Giants stadium was holding its collective during that also … “hes just sharing the love”:was best answer i heard
I thought they should have called that hand to the face of the QB on the last drive.
Probably, but it wasn’t flagrant. I honestly think that kind of thing should never be called, but if they’re going to do it sometimes they should do it all of the time. It looked to me like Vinnivich or however you spell his name was telling Wentz he got hit on the shoulders, not the helmet, which was obviously incorrect.
cant give him that and give cam no calls.
And give Brady every call.
I’m extremely frustrated right now. No, I didn’t expect us to win the division or make a deep playoff run, but I do expect better. The excuse of having a young coach and young QB only goes so far. As you stated, there is more than enough talent on this team now where they could easily be sitting at 6-2 or 7-1.
It would be one thing if we were simply outmatched. We’re not though. We are in position each week to win and yet find incredibly dumb ways to lose. The only game where you could say we definitely weren’t competitive and had very real chance of winning was the Washington game.
It’s just inconceivable to me how we could lose today’s game the way we did. We out-gained NYG 450-300. They had 2 turnovers to match our two turnovers. We even had a 66 yard punt return. They punted the ball 7 times to our 3 times.
We even almost swapped failed 4th down conversions. The blocked punt was a huge play in the game too.
Rookie head coach. Rookie QB.
I’d like to see a little more diversity with our touches at RB. Sproles is awesome I know, but Barner had a nice GL run today, Smallwood has lots of potential and played pretty well when he got the call, and Ryan Mathews doesn’t need to be banished to Siberia forever, he does provide our most bruising running.
If we don’t keep Mathews around which I don’t think we will, I like the idea of Sproles, Smallwood, Barner, and a late pick next (bigger guy) as our backs moving forward.
Why don’t we just run Mathews until he dies from exhaustion if we plan on cutting him anyway? Just get our money’s worth.
Not a bad idea lol.
Agree!!! Literally a grest wtf question!!! Running Wentz didn’t fool anyone, didn’t scare anyone and didnt work
Ignoring prioritizing other needs, that group of four would be a below average group to me and I’d want to either sign a quality RB FA or draft a RB much higher. Smallwood is still a mystery. He looks good when he is given a chance to run the ball, but the coaches clearly don’t trust him yet. Barner is a serviceable 3rd option at best imho. I love Sproles, but he isn’t going to be good forever and it seems this season, we are going to be leaning on hom a lot, and may overuse him. Ideally, he is your change of pace back, not your #1. SO to me, that group still lacks a legit #1 guy.
The called Wentz run plays and Sproles split wide were truly idiotic.
We are way over invested at that position
Holy shit look at the SF/NO game. Kaep has 330 yards passing barely into the 3rd quarter. Battle of the shit ass defenses for sure.
If the game ends with SF in the victory formation and Kaep taking a knee people are going to lose their minds.
Green Bay getting whooped on by IND right now. No clue how Rodgers isn’t carving that D into a turkey.
yeah at least we aren’t GB fans, DET could go to playoffs this year
Don’t worry, Rodgers will get his mojo back in three weeks.
Carolina/LA looks like a snoozefest. All of 7 points through 3 quarters.
It’s amazing how competitive LA has been with Case Keenum at QB. Guess it’s that Jeff Fischer 8-8 with any team magic.
Where the heck is Jared Goff, though? His situation at the moment does not justify some playing time over Case Keenum??
I can’t even imagine how bad Goff must be in practice to not have taken over for Keenum yet.
Obviously Goff is nothing without Bryce Treggs.
Wentz’s accuracy was atrocious, but Agholor needs to be cut, ASAP.
Agholor’s contract status as a former #1 means he’s not going anywhere, but he’s 100% a candidate for being cut in next training camp.
I assume a trade rather than a cut. Something similar to the DGB trade.
Think we could trade him to the titans for Dennis Kelly?
Tommy (and other can chime in too): What does it say about our scouting department ( and coaching staff) and state of the WR position when we can literally bring a guy off the street and said guy immediately makes a bigger impact than Ags and other WRs??? I have no doubt in my mind that Turner would be more productive on this team than Ags.
how much time in giants practice do you spend on a guy elevated from ps 3 days ago?
Lol, c’mon. No opposing teams are studying and game planning around our WRs. Maybe Ertz and Matthews, but no one else.
They didn’t just bring him in off the street. They acquired him after roster cut downs before the season started, so if it says anything about the scouting department it’s that they did a good job in finding someone who could make an impact.
A better question might be: “Why did it take this coaching staff so long to play him when the guys playing in front of him had been horrible for 7 games?”
I’m going to bite my tongue here. No crap he didn’t come right off the streets. The point is, he wasn’t part of our active roster until this past week and he was able to outperform nearly all our WRs. Maybe it’s a complete anamoly that he had a more productive day than Ags ever had. Maybe not.
It doesn’t surprise me that Treggs would outperform our WRs bc the bar has been set so low for them. It makes me feel like certain players aren’t being held accountable for their lack of productivity. That or the coaching staff is doing a terrible job of identifying and developing talent at WR. Obviously Doug and his staff can’t be blamed for Chips mistakes, but he is the one calling the shots now.
With the Eagles having some wins earlier in the year, people got over excited and started to think they could have a long run. Actually, they are just like their record shows, a 8-8 / 9-7 / 7-9 team, like all of us expected at the beginning of the year. We need more offensive weapons as (again) we knew at the beginning of the year, and need time for Wentz to develop. Nothing has happend to change that.
You are correct, mediocre. But part of the big frustration today is Wentz’ inaccuracy and the coaches decisions and play calling. I wonder if these things will be corrected.
I’d like to see Wentz’s accuracy once we rid ourselves of the turnstile at center. Kelce needs to be sat in favor of Wis.
I thought Wiz was the bigger problem. The first pick where Kelce got run over looked like Wiz possibly missed his assignment and almost definitely tripped Kelce.
Personally, I think Wiz is the living embodiment of the “grass is always greener” fallacy. Kelce is disappointing, but Wiz was buried on the bench for a reason.
Kelce is playing terrible and Wiz playing well. You’d have to try pretty hard not to notice that during the games.
The pressure was in front of Wentz and he could have thrown the ball away. Instead on both occasions he overthrew the receiver, tried to fit the ball in tight windows, and didn’t see the baiting safety. Missed blocking assignments happen from time to time. Those interceptions are 100% on Wentz.
I don’t think Wentz has adjusted yet to the NFL pass rush. He’s a long way from North Dakota. I do want to give him credit for being gutsy and willing to take a hit.
most qbs are accurate playing 7 on 7. whole point is to be accurate when facing pressure.
Keep seeing replays of the last play. Just awful by Jordan Matthews. How the hell do you not adjust to the ball?
According to a lot of folks on twitter who have talked to the players/coaches, that play was supposed to go to the inside.
BUT, when the DB started playing with inside leverage, it sure would have been nice if Matthews would have realized that the play was to the outside and got himself turned in the right direction.
I’m beginning to question the football IQ of a lot of our young players.
Right. I dont question that it might have supposed to go to the inside, just seemed like a reasonably easy ball to adjust to. And you’re right…no one has any football savy to them.
Hicks does.
Sad but true.
Maybe we don’t fire DP, but they need somebody in that building to tell him he’s doing a terrible job.
What is the situation with this RB rotation and why is Sproles getting the ball 6 straight times? Absurd. Treggs goes deep and he gets like one look the rest of the game. Why did it take you until the 4th drive to go deep? Why are you running Sproles on 4th and 2? Twice. What is up with that same quick-out play to the receivers.
Doug’s gameplan is stale and in this league you can’t keep doing the same thing. I’m so frustrated with this coaching staff these last two weeks. The offense was not prepared to come out and play this game.
Doug gets some latitude this year because he’s a first year head coach. If we see this nonsense next year – Tommy, I’m sorry but it’ll be time to show him the door.
when mathews is the lead back, it’s we want sproles. When sproles is the lead it’s why is sproles getting the ball all game.
Feel like Doug is letting the media determine who he’s going to call the game and that’s no bueno.
I’m not saying he shouldn’t be playing sproles. I’m saying he shouldn’t be getting the ball 6 times in a row. Doug is mismanaging his backs. We have too many. With four backs that should be getting time, he doesn’t have enough carries for all of them. Some of those Sproles carries could have been divvied up.
Sproles is a good blocker and is consistent. Smallwood and Matthews aren’t.
Can u explain Sproles split outside ??
I agree. They should mix it up.
People complained about Mathews because he’s been mediocre and a fumbler. Sproles has been killing it the last three games. He’s earned his time, and I’m glad Doug has given it to him.
Bout sums it up. Completely agree
glad I didnt wasle my day watching this bad team let me down again
If I ever sit down to add up the number of days and nights the Eagles let me down it will have to be in front of a lot of liquor.
tommy is definetly a glass half full guy
Can we talk about the awful clock management? Both halves, the game plan should have been to run down the clock to ensure that the Giants would not be able to get the ball back. Both halves, we stopped running the ball entirely and gave them plenty of time. All passes on that last drive? For fucking serious? Had we scored there, we would have been up by 2, giving them 1:30 and 3 time outs to simply get a field goal. That is not good coaching or play calling.
Not to mention the classic mistake of not using your time outs before the 2 min warning.
We’re probably not talking about it because it didn’t end up having any impact on the game, at least at the end I don’t remember the first half.
I’m more frustrated that we got blitzed 3 times in a row and seemed unprepared for it on the last 4 and out. Basically 1st 2nd and 3rd down were wastes because the Giants had free runners at the QB.
Free runners on 3rd because they called ANOTHER screen.
At least Chip’s screens worked.
Even on screens you’re supposed to hold the rushers for a moment and then let them go. I think they just had too many rushers. It’s a great playcall if you can beat the blitz with the throw to the RB but JPP was all over it. I didn’t like the call personally.
We got the last blitz blocked up properly and that’s why Wentz had the time to get a decent throw off… It’s just a shame it either didn’t go to the right place or Mathews just didn’t looked the right way.
If I was a reporter I’d ask them about that. I don’t know if Wentz and Mathews are on the same page yet so far as anticipating what each other are going to do based on the coverage, but that’s what really good QBs and WRs do I think. If that was Marvin Harrison and Peyton Manning that would have been a no brainer for Harrison to look over the outside shoulder (extreme example I know.)
Any way you slice it, lots to learn all around for everyone involved.
how did the wr’s perform overall
Depends on the receiver. Agholor dropped one and fumbled one, but also caught a couple so for him overall it was an outstanding performance. But that’s just for him.
Mathews was alright, questionable what happened on the last pass.
DGB got absolutely no separation on any attempted passes his way, bad game.
Treggs caught a bomb, was open on another bomb and also had a first down catch early in the game. He probably did the best of the WRs.
what happened with mathews, didnt watch the game
Well, he didn’t have any awful drops, and he did catch a bunch and got some yards, but on the last play him and Wentz didn’t seem to be on the same page. Mathews looked over left shoulder for a pass on his right shoulder, and subsequently couldn’t make the catch. Whether Wentz threw it to the wrong spot or Mathews just didn’t anticipate the throw correctly is open to debate I suppose.
On the bright side, we are finishing up a tough 3 game stretch with 2 games away and all 3 coming off byes. ALL of the team we have lost to have a positive record and ALL of the losses have been away. Yes there have been mistakes but this is a rookie QB and HC. Yes there are deficiencies and yes there are things to work on. Maybe the Eagles don’t make the playoffs but maybe they will. This is the toughest schedule and it may only take one week for something to click. Not saying it will but I an at least hope. Also, we can keep rooting for the Vikings to lose which I think they will. Those tackles are just too crappy and Sam will eventually get hurt. I can see them finishing 6/10 or 7/9 which is great for us!
Yeah I’m totally on board with this Vikings losing thing. They seem to be in free-fall. The only gimme left on their schedule is the Jags, everyone else is competitive enough.
The one thing you can do is play younger guys wherever possible/sensible. That seems like common sense to me.
As for Doug and his shortcomings – especially as a play caller – I’m not sure there’s much that can be done at this moment. I just hope that Howie/Jeffrey hold him accountable at the appropriate time (and that is certainly not 3 years from now when it’s time to reevaluate the HC position). It is certainly concerning that he doesn’t seem to know when he’s wrong, and also is not quick to assume responsibility.
Remember that fingertip breakup on the pass to Jordan Mathews in the first quarter? Imagine the safety was .01 seconds later to break on the ball, it would have been a TD.
Or if the blocking held up and Wentz wasn’t falling away from the pass to avoid the rush, therefore getting little juice on it. If he had been able to stand tall and fire it in, would have been an easy TD. There were so many almost moments in this game…
There always is. They gotta find ways to win. Maybe it will come this year, maybe not. The WR are just bad man, really need help there. I think Smallwood needs more touches. Offseason plan: 1. Sign UlSHWUan JIffreezE. 2. Invest in OL
Will be interesting to see what the bidding is like for Jeffries, but he does make a lot of sense for us. Still relatively young, would allow Mathews to thrive as a #2 where he belongs, gives Wentz his first threat at receiver… Would also free up draft picks to invest elsewhere.
Agree, but on the flip side he’s gonna cost a fortune, and he isn’t exactly reliable from a health standpoint.
Yeah, that’s why I’m wondering what the bidding is going to be like. He’s a nice receiver, but he’s not Julio Jones. I wouldn’t break the bank for him.
Someone is going to have too though, It’s just the way it is. I trust Howard to get a team friendly deal though.
I trust Howie not to do something stupid like breaking the bank for him. He showed that he’s committed to building long term here which I love. No reason to sacrifice too much now when we have the most important piece in place at 23 years old.
Yeah… And my bet is someone will
If the ball hadn’t been tipped, chances are that Matthews would have dropped it anyway.
I’d like to think he would bring it in, but oddly he wasn’t adjusting to it at all, it was going to be a little low and a little away, but he wasn’t slowing down or moving towards the ball… Mathews works hard, but he doesn’t have elite body control. In fact I think it’s very average at best.
Imagine if Pederson wasn’t a moron… We’d be 6-2.
Another interesting close moment: Sproles just barely stepped out of bounds on his long punt return. We got 0 points on the ensuing drive after failing on 4th down. If Sproles manages to keep his feet inbounds there we get 7 instead of 0.
Just so many almost moments. It’s a killer.
Yep, it the game thread, I mentioned, “that shoestring tackle just might have saved the game for the Giants.”
I felt like Sproles could have hurdled that tackle attempt personally, but its hard to criticize a guy who broke one for such a long return in the first place lol.
That crossed my mind, too, but he’s not Brian Westbrook, he’s just Darren Sproles. 🙂
haha yeah, “just” Darren Sproles. I wish we could put him in a time machine get him back to 27, then sign him to a 6 year team friendly deal. He just does so much for the team in so many facets of the game.
I tried to type that during the game .. we had endzone seats and could see that seam he ran thru …i didnt however see him step OB
Interestingly enough even with today’s loss we’re just 1 game out of the wildcard spot.
If we can go 2-1 over the next 3 we’ll be sitting in good position to make a push for the playoffs.
That being said, after today, 2-1 against Atlanta, Seattle, and GB seems like stretch… But every loss we’ve had has been 7 points or less, so I think it’s possible, if we can stop shooting ourselves in the foot.
oh, we’ll beat Atlanta and probably Seattle. Then lose the remaining division games and miss the playoffs. That’s how I see the season finishing anyway.
“oh, we’ll beat Atlanta and probably Seattle” interesting
I’d just like to take a moment to appreciate Brandon Graham, who game after game has been a beast off the edge for us. Unappreciated for so many years, he’s finally getting his moment in the sun.
I’m posting so much because I’m procrastinating for a school assignment, and also because this is cheaper than therapy.
If you are a Psych major, you can write a paper on the value of Iggles Blitz as a therapeutic modality. Remember to properly footnote your quotes of Dr. T. Lawlor.
Sadly no, journalism major. Psych is interesting, I debated becoming a psych major for a semester or so, but ultimately went a different direction.
Journalism? They still have that? You are being robbed by studying for a dead profession.
Haha, yeah that’s the opinion of some people. Truthfully traditional print journalism is absolutely dying, but online journalism is thriving. There’s a lot of opportunity there for people who are multimedia savvy. Social media skills, photography and video, etc. Are highly prized right now.
The profession isn’t dying, it’s just evolving.
Well said. I agree.
You need a degree for that? How much they cost nowadays?
You don’t need a degree, but my ambitions are larger than going to write for some aggregation site… I’m actually taking a course in entrepreneurial journalism next semester, and I want to go on to graduate school in a year or two.
The kind of longform journalism that I like is a rarer breed, but people do do it and make a living with it.
Good luck bringing some truth to the masses. 🙂
The masses don’t want truth. It’s cute to see some of the younger students who are so convinced they’re going to change the world with their work.
Ever check out John Pilger or Chris Hedges?
I had not, but I checked them out and their work seems to be in a similar vein to what I want to do.
One of my mentors at school is Gerald Williams who is a photographer. He’s not as famous as those two but he’s won a boatload of awards for his work and was an embedded photographer in the Contra/Sandanista conflict. Inspirational stuff, it’s why I’m trying so hard to become a good photographer as well as a good writer, I want to be very versatile in what I do.
I actually am taking one graduate level course right now and the professor is Mayra Hornbacher, who is an incredible writer and is very bold in her exploration of the human spirit, so she’s also a great inspiration for me.
Interesting that a brutal loss to the Giants could lead to a post like this, but here we are.
As a journalist through nearly ten years now, let me tell you a lot has changed in that time. Traditional print journalism is certainly not the job it once was. But journalism have become a qualifier for a lot more different kinds of jobs, especially in political world and private enterprise. Todays world, more than ever before, is running on information and the ability to collect, understand and disseminate it. As long as you are not fixated on wanting to write features for the Washington Post, you will have plenty of very different opportunities. And now excuse me, I have a meeting with a production company who are producing a documentary about a patient at one of the institutions in my city. 🙂 Good luck.
That explains why your posts are so articulate… except when I disagree with you!
Oh… my… god…
https://twitter.com/IgglesCoverage/status/795340026787889153
I was shocked when I saw this. It really puts some perspective on Agholor and why he pretty much sucks.
I am beginning to think Tennessee got the better part of the bargain in the Dennis Kelly for DGB trade and Kelly isn’t even starting.
I have to admit, I’m not thrilled with what I’ve seen from DGB. He’s a slouch and is nothing more than a big body. Tennessee knew what they were doing.
Hey, me and Seth Joyner agree!
https://twitter.com/CSNPhilly/status/795378760392450049
Check the Cleveland Browns schedule, they have a legitimate shot at going 0-16. None of the teams left on their schedule are bad.
很不错的样子⊙０⊙
Pederson is a training wheels coach, here to “love on” the guys until Howie finds someone competent.
Hey… Give him a chance to grow. He might turn out better than you think.
That being said, if after say year 2 it’s not looking good with him… Time to find the real HC for our future. The question is, will that guy be available?
I think having Pederson gives you a placeholder so you can wait for that real HC to become available. They won’t be forced into a move, but at the same time if a really good HC candidate becomes available they shouldn’t lose any sleep over firing Pederson.
I wouldn’t go as far as saying Doug Pederson needs to be replaced. There are holes on this team in key spots that need to be filled and the offense still needs time to grow, especially the WRs. I’m not making any excuses for Doug, but give him credit for being aggressive and learning on the go, as is his rookie QB that he just so happens to be quite fortunate to be paired with, because that rarely happens in this league.
I won’t hold mistakes against Pederson as long as he corrects them.
The offensive line isn’t that good, the WRs are pedestrian, and he’s playing a rookie QB from North Dakota State. The line can’t give the team enough time for deep throws or a good push off on runs. The WRs can’t make plays one on one, and Wentz still needs some work on his release and decision making.
Pederson’s playbook is limited.
If the playbook is so limited that running Carson Wentz on an end around is the best play for 4th down, then it’s time to throw it away and get a new one.
I think they were trying to catch the Giants off guard. It failed amazingly. Honestly the play design seemed terrible, why would the Giants bite so hard on the fake to one side that there would be no one waiting on the other side for the QB. See Seth Joyner’s video about the play, Wentz is not a QB sweep guy.
? 7 pass plays of 20yds are more.
Maybe this is Doug’s playbook:
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0b143fed0b19bd5717566362ff283e3a2f241109dec4179f8efaeceac86e5329.png
Doug decided to pick to running play on the upper right for QB Eagles. Unfortunately, the Giants picked to same play and blew it up in the backfield.
There’s too many routes downfield for this to be Doug’s playbook.
As a long time Eagles fan I have lived through some dreary Eagles seasons and have noticed some tendencies about what bad teams do. I have found that wile some bad teams regularly get trounced most bad teams regularly lose games they should seemingly win. Thus I fear the Eagles more and more are looking like a bad team.
So we drafted Marcus Smith ahead of Derek Carr huh
27-2 came at the worst year….
But I don’t think wither Carr or Bridgewater were Chip Kelly QBs.
It all ended up ok, we got our guy in the end. Marcus Smith was definitely not worth it. Every team can go back and look at who they missed in the draft every year. It’s inevitable.
We have Agholar also
We also could have had Johnny Manziel that year. You lose some, you win some…
Apparently Celek was hurt at the end of the game…
https://twitter.com/roobcsn/status/795470347055329281
Yikes. I like Celek but he seems to not be a huge part of the gameplan. Honestly he should be, he can still catch and bulldoze.
Yeah, important blocker still. The context of the tweet was that he got onto a cart and headed for x-rays at the end of the game.
Yeah, gotta hope for the best… Ertz is such a disappointment this year. It’s so weird to have a big TE who is so poor in YAC.
Watching Oakland and Denver… I’m jealous. They both have super talented wideouts. Crazy to see so much talent there when we are so devoid of it.
demarious thomas is a bit overrated to meno physicality.
Jesus, so much talent on these teams… look at the pass rush, just monstrous. Creates so many turnovers. I think the AFC is going to whoop the NFC, both Denver and Oakland look so superior to anything in the NFC East.
I think that was a bad call. He turned to look for the ball. Not sure why he got flagged.
Another questionable call… Technically correct but really close.
Hmmmm, stats list Graham as having only 5 stuffs on the year, but that number seems low.
It looks like someone mistakenly thought that the adderall would help him get his schoolwork done.
Close but no cigar.
Today Big Balls Doug showed why Chip Kelly put Big Balls Chip to rest.
Doug makes Chip look like Belichik.
Not even close. Doug has been far greater in terms of having big balls.
I was talking about coaching, not ball size.
So glad I have other plans next sunday.
So we’re just going to ignore the disappearance of Fletcher Cox? The Eagles need to prioritize extending Logan, because Cox can’t seem to function without him.
Can’t expect Cox to blow through linemen double or triple teaming him on every snap
But that should only open things up for the rest of the D-Line, right? The only player I see benefitting from that is Brandom Graham. Which leads me to question the other players on DLine.
Another ray of light, we still have the Fippster.
Yeah man, Fipp is a beast with special teams. I was worried there would be a dropoff because STs aren’t emphasized as much as they were under Chip but we’re still a top flight unit. Love it.
Getting a FG blocked is ST.
https://youtu.be/9OrS5Ym6vzU
I love that Doug is going so aggressive for it on 4th down. In the long run it should lead to more wins because it leads to more expected points.
I think your joking.. right
What do you mean? Read the link ChoTime linked, it tells you when a coach should go for it on 4th down.
But think we had 3 missed 4th downs costing potentially 9 points. . . Carson Wentz sweep right & quick out to Sproles 3yds behind LOS ste the lamest 4th down calls ever snd wud rather try the FG
If the 4th downs had worked, we could have scored 14 points versus 6. You can lose a game that way just as easily (actually easier, if you look at the #s).
Like the idea of going for it except gor those play calls
Yeah, the Wentz run was miserable.
Think there were 3 or 4 .. no one in the stadium was fooled
https://mic.com/articles/75949/should-football-teams-go-for-it-on-4th-down-this-chart-tells-you#.GSRQUqpL6
Perfect find
So 4th&4 from the 10 or 14 you kick, but on the 12 you go for it? That’s a computer chart, without reference to time remaining. Minimally useful at best. Going for it did not cost the team the game.
Sure, it would be best if it were cross-referenced to score and time remaining, but that would require an app, not a simple 2-factor chart.
I think it gives a general idea of the %s. Generally, taking the field goals is playing not to lose. Coaches are generally too conservative and lose games because of it. They coach to not be blamed, not to win. And by the way, field goals can be missed, too.
I agree that it’s too easy to criticize the results, going for it on 4th didn’t cost them the game. Heck, if they just don’t have a FG blocked, they could have kicked one at the end to go up. But this chart is too simplistic to be of much use.
Definitely. Just a shame he didn’t have better plays drawn up. The QB run twice? Ugh…
Sadly because of Kelce, any QB sneak is almost 100% going to fail.
“Skates” is pretty much toast. Hopefully Seumalo is ready to take over next year.
Especially when it hadn’t worked all day.
I pin the last two weeks on Pederson. He was too conservative in Dallas and then overcompensated this week by being too aggressive. It’s not like they were blowing the Giants off the line with the running game either.
Not a fan of the decisions at the time and especially not in hindsight. When the team is 3/15 on third down and 1/4 on 4th – you are not being aggressive, you are being stubborn (or maybe another word that starts with “stu”)
Frustrating – yes. Still Wentz, a rookie. Don’t get fooled by early success. This team hasn’t hit rock bottom yet. That’s not being negative(IMHO). That’s just saying, it’s a loooooong season with a rookie QB and (despite a weekly article telling us how talented this team is) no talent at rb or wr and little talent on defense. Clearly holes on defense, but that can be fixed next year.
…..
My concern since the signing hasn’t changed. I do not like Pederson. When I stated that the day after he was announced – someone asked why I don’t like him. I couldn’t put my finger on it then but it’s starting to come to light now. I still hope he proves me wrong.
…..
Hard to judge a team so inexperienced. Frustration will come and go but I try to keep my eye on the prize in the future. Still no expectations this year except growth…best I’ve enjoyed this team in a couple of years…at least now there’s hope….
Can you name a coach that isn’t Belichick that would make this team better than Doug can right now?
Sean Payton, Jack Del Rio, Gary Kubiak, John Harbaugh, Mike Tomlin, and (and I hate admitting this) Bruce Arians.
Payton, Del Rio, Tomlin, and Arians have good QBs and WRs.
Kubiak inherits a dominant defense and good WRs.
None of those guys are franchise changers without the tools already in place.
Not sure what that has to do with anything. Finding a coach isn’t my job. Knowing I don’t like one is preference.
…..
I’m not a mechanic – but I can tell you my engine isn’t right….mechanic needs to fix it, not me….
I agree with this tweet.
https://twitter.com/JasonLaCanfora/status/795622965941506049
Wentz deserves the criticism, but I think he accepts it and will ultimately be better for it. I also think it’ll be at least year three before we are consistently good. Chip left the cupboard bare and the salary cap FUBAR.
The salary cap is fine as long as they are willing to cut expensive veterans.
We 100% lost some talent along the skill position and we havnt had good CB since Samuel and Brown left
Pederson was questionable last week but this game really made my scratch my head including him doubling-down today on his decisions today.
Pederson simply was too aggressive yesterday after taking criticism for it last week & overcompensated too much including taking too many ill-advised risks. JJ said it in the post-game on Fox as did a few others in the Eagles post-game.
Question now is whether Pederson makes some adjustments down the stretch along with Wentz.
Pendulum swing; one week not aggressive enough, the next week too aggressive. If he is a good coach, he will self scout and learn from these mistakes.
Listen– WE WILL NEVER HAVE A PERFECT COACH.
The goal is to learn and grow, every day. If he can take even the smallest step forward each day, the franchise will be in good hands.
On a side note- I firmly believe Pederson is here for 2 years as the Head Coach. Schwartz will be promoted eventually to HC with either Reich taking over OC duties or another outsider will come in to continue the building process with Wentz.
I think that pendulum lacks context though. No one will generally be mad about him being aggressive. They are mad at how he was aggressive.
4th and long and he’s running Wentz like he’s Michael Vick. Or running Sproles on 4th and 2 or 4th and 3. Running an east-west play on 4th down when you need to get yards. There was no rhyme or reason to his play calls, and frankly it looked like a high school offense at times.
This is the big boy league and DP is doing stupid things. What’s scary is Malcolm Jenkins said that they weren’t winning games by being overly aggressive. If DP is losing this team 8 games in his tenure, the 2nd half of this season doesn’t look promising.
zero issues with being aggressive and going for it on 4th. You cant complain about those when they dont work and celebrate them when they do, esp in hindsight. Plenty of other bad coaching that is potentially a future problem. He hasnt adjusted at all since the opposing coaches have seen the first bunch of games. Far too conservative in how he calls the plays, too many screens that the D reads easily. Not mixing it up enough in the downfield game with the short game and fooling nobody when he passes on first down and runs on 2nd in the red zone, always ending up in 3rd n longs. I know some of that is nit picky but most of it isnt, its getting hard to watch. Stubborness in trying other players at WR, RB is also just annoying as a fan but I kind of get it per still early enough in the season and wanting stability or consistency. DGB is looking flat, seems like he should push players by getting others more reps instead of beating a dead horse but hes very loyal and it may be to a fault.
I might be as frustrated and as angry as you, Tommy, however what makes me feel positive not only in the short but also the long run:
Despite playing sloppy football in all 4 losses the Eagles were within one score in each of them.
So far even the most brutal starts have not led to a blowout by any opponent.
If Wentz takes more care of the football again we will see the Eagles back on the winning side.
Go birds. The future is bright.
Well said
With a year of experience under his belt, next year Carson wins the last two games.
Present tense, future tense, past tense, all in the same sentence.
So (in)tense.
the NFL screwed the Eagles this year. The last 3 opponents had a bye week before facing Philly. Two of the three played at home after the bye. Giving your opponent an extra week preparation advantage is unfair. Having it done 3 weeks in a row is fixing the outcomes of games.
Yes I am aware of that. However when looking at the overall schedule the Eagles do get some breaks as well.
But I agree, very ‘unfortunate’ to have Dallas AND New York playing at home after their bye.
Goodell has ruined football
I’m not down on the team. But…
Consider the last time the team lost several close games in the first half of the season. They lost by 1, 2, and 3 points.
We heard many of the same excuses–sloppiness, getting on the same page, bad play calls, _execution_. But rarely the simplest explanation, that the team wasn’t talented enough.
Yes, this was last year. The floodgates opened in the 2nd half of the season.
Carson MF Wentz though…
Main reason for optimism. 🙂
more worried about my fantasy team’s record more than the Eagles this year lol…….
Honestly after I saw the drop in play after Lane’s suspension I just kinda mailed it in mentally for the Bird’s this year. We are not a Championship team currently, but I do have high hopes with our current young core of talent and young coach. Howie has obviously bought himself a few more years with Wentz and I have full faith in him also, seems like the important pieces are in place for the future (GM/Coach/QB).
That DGB pickup is looking awesome.
….considering we gave up Dennis Kelly vs. 1st Rd pick on Marcus Smith, makes the DGB trade look like a stroke of genius lol.
Bucs signed former Eagles WR Josh Huff to the practice squad.
Huff was waived by the Eagles last week after being arrested for DUI among other violations. He went through waivers unclaimed, but the Bucs will give him a shot on the practice squad. A better special teamer than offensive player, Huff is unlikely to solve Tampa’s receiver woes
does tampa have receiver woes?
haha yeah, he didn’t solve ours
Amazing that he has eligibility left. Perhaps the veteran exceptions?
“Bucs will give him a shot.” Nicely played.
Huff should fire one up in celebration
A hollow point or a joint? Aww fukkit! LETS DO BOTH!!!
Dak Prescott is the first rookie QB in NFL history to have 6 starts with a 100+ passer rating in his team’s first 8 games.
Still think he’s overrated.
Like, how much does everyone here hate the Cowboys? Is it quantifiable? Palpable? Perceptable even?
On a scale of 1-10, my hate rates at a 6775437898753268001764476448.3
5 Facts You Didn’t Know About the Dallas Cowboys:
1) Cowboys fans cause cancer, every kind of cancer, but primarily rectal.
2) Adolf Hitler, was a Cowboys fan, as is Kim Jong Un and Chris Christie (I know 1 doesn’t belong but it’s funny).
3) Emperor Palpatine was loosely based off of Jerry Jones.
4) The term “cowboy” has Spanish origins, and they play soccer, so f*ck them and the Cowboys.
5) The Dallas Cowboys killed JFK.
He didn’t produce against the Eagles, but I liked how he moved in the pocket. I think he should have been hit or sacked several times that game.
Wentz would have 8 out of 8 games with 100+ rating with that supporting cast
Don’t know that and Prescott has played well. I’ll give him props for what he has accomplished.
Check that…12 out of 8
Satan smiles from his domain.
I am fine with the Dak hype. The cowboys are good right now, but not because of him. He is doing well inside of that system, but they are careful to not ask very much of him in terms of progressions, protections and downfield throws. He does not handle pressure or tight coverage well, we have seen this. He does not have a great arm. So really, the best thing that could possibly happen for us, is for them to come to the inevitable cowboy-mind-conclusion that he is the next Aaron Rodgers, give him a massive contract a la Romo a few years from now and go nuts in free agency signing overpriced ageing win-now stars. They will be a nice team for the foreseeable future, but Dak wont be a difference maker. He is a product of that O-line, he does not seem to have the ability to put the team on his back or overcome pressure. Lets hope they bet their future on him and we could see them float around 7-10 win mediocrity depending on injuries for the foreseeable future – too bad to win in the big spot, too good to draft in the first third. And lets not forget the DUI Dak came with along with the other character stuff that was mentioned. Lets see how he handles the hype train in the off season, lets see if he has the work ethic and team-first mentality that we see from Wentz. When he talks he seems immature and quite frankly not very thoughtful. I see this whole situation with Dak come right down to earth in the future. Im happy with Wentz and the NFC East to come.
Few items from Doug Pederson’s presser today:
– Sproles is your lead back. (No kidding Doug). He still sees it as a running back by committee approach but figure it’s Sproles getting the majority of the touches.
– Wentz was really down about the last series against the Giants. Throw he missed to Matthews that sealed the game is one he makes 99 out of 100 times. (Guess this was the 100th time then).
– Bryce Tregg’s will likely have a larger role in the offense.
– Celek has a cracked rib, but is expected to play Sunday.
Thumbs up on the Bryce Treggs news.
Seemed like on that throw he needed to put a little more air on it, with a touch less velocity. Matthews won the route and had given Wentz enough room to the outside to lay it out there, but he couldn’t adjust quick enough. Credit the NYG blitz in forcing him to rush his throw.
and Doug could help his young QB by calling better plays and not ending up in 3rd and long in the red zone…..every time. Heck with 4 downs they still ended up in 4th and long. Maybe they need a few plays that actually go forward for 5 yards and not sideways when they need them.
I get the anger. I get the frustration. The past few weeks have been painful to watch, as the Eagles can’t seem to get out of their own way. As Eagles fans, we should be used to this by now.
With that being said, it’s important for us to maintain the appropriate perspective. To start, Wentz is a very talented rookie, one that the Eagles are lucky to have for the next 10+ years. We can build around him. I think everyone is in agreement that he has far outpaced all expectations we had for him at the beginning of this season, regardless of how the last few weeks have panned out.
With that being said, it still takes time for young QBs to figure out how to win in this league, especially on the road and in close games. Wentz is now 1-4 on the road and 0-4 in one-score games. How easily we forget that A. Rodgers’ first year as a starter, he was 2-6 on the road and 1-7 in one-score games. Personally, I couldn’t be happier with Wentz’s development. Part of me was nervous after all the early success that he would be a flash in the pan, but these painful losses are part of his (and our) growing processes with a young, franchise QB. I can fairly assume that the lessons Wentz (and Doug Pederson, for that matter) has taken from these games have been invaluable.
Yes, such perspective is difficult when the other guys’ rookie is 7-1… but the situations each QB are in are totally different. Dak couldn’t have found himself in a better situation. HOF O-line, HOF TE, all-pro WR.
The Eagles will get there, assuming they draft somewhat reasonably for the next few years.
Hopefully we can all maintain this perspective moving forward and embrace these struggles, because really, Wentz won’t get to where we want him to get to without going through stretches like this. It is all apart of his maturation process in the NFL; one that we’re lucky enough to sit back and watch.
I with you 100%. The thing about Dak is…if you have watched him, and especially yesterday, his receivers are ALWAYS wide open. That offensive line is making everything look so easy. Easy to fall in love with Dak when you just check out the box score but nothing he does is super impressive. He definitely belongs in this league but the hype train is full stream ahead, im just not buying it.
Could not have said it better nor more true.
Been playing around at OTC, and quite a bit of cap room can be made by some seemingly no-brainer cuts:
1. We currently have 9.7M in space– which would carry over to 2017
2. Move on from Peters, Barwin, R Mathews, Kelce (please god), Chase Daniel
— This is a lot of change, but these players cap figures are way too high. I wouldn’t be opposed to several on a restructure, but their figures would have to come down a lot.
This creates 35.7M in space + the carryover (9.4M–start of year)
Other marginal impacts could be Kendricks (1.8M saved; 3.8M dead), Sproles (4M saved but I dont see it happening), Celek (3M saved IF TRADED– again don’t see it happening)
So again we really could have some cap flexibility this off-season if the front office chooses to make some tough decisions. This team needs to get younger on OL. There are several cut-able players that are not living up to their contracts (Daniel, Barwin, Ryan Mathews, Peters (don’t see his pride restructuring))
Really wish we extended Bennie. He could cost us quite a bit if he hits Free Agency. Is his loss really what has had such an effect on the Defense?
Bottom line: With 40M+ in space–if said decisions are made– we can address OL, CB, and WR in Free Agency, and go into the draft looking to upgrade at all positions as well. I don’t want to go crazy spending or anything like that. But think we do need to capitalize with Wentz being on rookie wages for the next four years (five with option). Get younger on the OL, find a young playmaker WR to grow with Carson, maybe find a corner who can rotate their head and catch underthrown balls need to be our main priorities. And yes, depth along the lines, still need a linebacker, backup QB will be addressed as well.
I don’t get everyone wanting to cut Peters. He’s not as great as he was 5 years ago but he’s still in the top half of OTs in the league. $10 million isn’t a lot for his level of play. At most the Eagles will just rework his deal to reduce the cap hit. Peters ain’t going anywhere.
Of the 100s of problems on the team, Peters ranks very low.
The other problem is the free agency is thin. Not many good WRs this year unless you want to max Alshon.
I’d be open to Peters on a reduction. But I don’t think it’s happening. I also said before the season started that I didn’t see Peters making in thru the entire year, and that is still in the back of my head. My post was really about how we can create flexibility if we need it. I doubt there is that much turnover, but we can make room as we need to.
OL is fragile, but agree at some point you have to stop kicking can down the road.
You don’t solve the issue but cutting your best player at the position and then trying to find someone to replace him.
Roseman made some decent moves last offseason but trading Murray and keeping Mathews has a nothing short of a disaster.
It’s nuts that Sproles has been their feature back for the past 2 weeks and going ahead forward.
Not saying this offense would be dynamic or that their red zone woes would be cured but I absolutely believe they would be 5-3 or even 6-2 with Murray right now including winning the Boys game.
Hindsight is a bitch. We were glad that Murray was gone but then we realized he wasn’t the problem. It was our OL and Chip, however I don’t know if Doug would’ve used him properly. Look at all these stretch plays he’s running, those aren’t the runs Murray excels at.
True or the myriad of screen passes Pederson likes to run. I wouldn’t say Murray was blame-free last year either but in retrospect it was more on Kelly.
Still think Murray played hurt all last year and never truly was healthy either which played an important role in his limited production.
Strech plays? Maybe he found one of chips old playbooks…
No, some of it was definitely on him. From his first run that season he just didn’t physically look the same from the year prior.
True I should have said he wasn’t the entire problem but he was probably 75% of the problem.
Murray never wanted to be here; he left Dallas butthurt and for the money. Tennessee is much more his life speed- laid back/mid-west feel. Philly was never his town, and he wasn’t ready or willing to embrace the changes needed to make the fans love him.
Good riddance/ though it is painful to see him play the way he is currently. He’s going to hit a wall
That is something on the GM and to a lesser degree the new head coach.
Convince him that he is going to be a focal point of the offense and give him a real chance to shove it to the Boys this year.
Roseman was pretty clear that he wanted to remove ‘all things Kelly’ and did so. Made a mistake with Murray.
The GM of that deal was Kelly, who was pushed out (obviously, you know this). The deal for Murray was never a contract that the Eagles would typically prefer- hell, he was a signing that we wouldn’t typically touch in the off season.
At the end of the day, Murray made it clear that he didn’t want to be in Philadelphia. No matter what the coach says, he wanted out. We acquiesced to his demands by trading him. Last year gave him a chance to recharge his body, and its paying dividends this year- he looks refreshed.
I really don’t see it as a mistake by Roseman- he wasn’t worth the distraction as a person and as a football player. “Emotional intelligence” as The Gold Standard so wisely put it this year- Murray the football player looked done last year, but at the end of the day- Murray the human didn’t want to play for Philly.
I don’t know how you could watch the Eagles in 2015 and blame Howie for making that move! Hindsight is 20/20. Howie got rid of the RB with the bigger contract and the worst production out of the 2. Easy to sit here now and say that though I guess.
It’s mysterious, but Murray wasn’t good last year (most said he loodked to be done) and bitched too; Mathews produced at one of the highest rates in the whole league, I mean like top 3. This is one move that I can’t see how anyone could criticize.
Plus getting rid of that contract versus Mathews.
C’mon man.
How could any Eagles fan want someone on the team who showed no heart of whatsoever, who cried on the plane and who rather slid out of bonds than running through a 5’11 CB.
But then again I remind myself you’re actually a Cowboys fan…
Have to agree. DM had no desire to be here. I am convinced he hated the Eagles so much he tanked a year of his career just to screw us.
I understand and was glad Murray was traded. It just has turned out be to a move that has really backfired in their face.
Not sure how that makes me a Cowboys fan though.
It could have also really backfired if he stayed.
Might be too soon, literally no one wanted to even talk about demarco murray after last offseason. Could have been that Murray needed a year to recoup (Peterson looked terrible too after being a beast last year). Mathews did average 5+ypc. Would like to see some wheel routes.
It takes 2 to tango. There is no way that Murray was going to stay here. He would have attempted to force a trade.
l will pass on dealing with his contract.
Boy, does losing suck or what?
I still like this team, but doesn’t change the fact that they need to stop losing winnable games. Those two picks to start off the game were back-breakers. That really hurt. I also can’t stand watching ODB score on us, watching him celebrate (and last week watching Elliott with his stupid spoon thing and goofy looking face). Makes me sick.
You could not have said it better, friend. Was just telling someone at work how I hated Elliott and we have only played him once.
Guess every movie needs a villain.
Every time he did that stupid spoon thing I wanted to punch him so bad. Something about his goofy looking face and that gesture just pisses me off
Zeke does look like one of those goofy Troll dolls with the long colored hair that kids used to play with back in the day,.. That’s one ugly dude
its not the end of the world.
teams are supposed to win at home and they did. great.
if we beat them, ehem, when we beat them in Philly order will be restored to the universe.
Wentz will get better, we know this.
doug will too.
the wide receivers will be dropped at the bottom of the ocean to form a habitat for marine life.
hopefully we draft an octopus in next years draft.
he is camouflaged, has great hands, and is smarter then most human players.
At the risk of sounding too detached to be a fan, I am more disappointed than pissed, and less concerned about our record or this season than I am about the lack of improvement and development from DP, CW and the offense. Our defense laid an egg against Washington, but their play has been better since that game, and they are playing pretty close to their potential, I think. The offense cannot seem to get out of its own way. Pederson needs to take a breath and appreciate his players limitations as well as their strengths. It feels like DP’s inexperience at HC and at play-calling is an added burden for the QB to endure. His familiarity with the QB positional demands may not prevent him from retarding the development of Wentz, and that is hard to witness.
I think we see a noticeable drop in performance from the loss of Lane Johnson.
Ertz needs to get better YAC.
We need a reliable running back, and probably need to reconsider short yardage situational plays.
It would also help if WRs would catch the ball.
I feel like the drop rate of this team is a statistical anomaly, but it was the same last year. It has to improve.
I hate seeing star WRs run wild against the D, especially that shit eating grin of ODB.
Bennie Logan being out hurts the DL depth significantly, and I think Beau and Cox are getting too many snaps.
Not sure his development has been slowed down by any play calling. Bad balls are on Wentz. Wentz isn’t a good enough runner to try and use that in the NFL. He tries to go wide and he doesn’t have that ability. Making him think running it is ever an option for him is the only thing I can see. Sure he is faster than 90% of QBs. He just doesn’t have it upstairs for that.
Mostly he is making good throws that are being dropped over and over. He knows that. It isn’t hurting hus growth.
Sure DP isn’t perfect, but he has been ok. He can’t catch the ball or run the route though. What he needa to do ia feature all 3 TE more and everyone else leas in the passing game (including Sproles whos hands get qorse as he gets older).
He is responding to their limitations. Hence the dink and dunk offense.
What I was thinking of when I wrote that was calling a pass when a huge NT is going to back up and run over Kelce, and not leaving Burton or somebody to help out. Wentz has seen too many drop backs with literally no time to read ANY thing. That is not a confidence builder. I know DP is a rookie too, but his learning curve is impacting his QB’s learning curve.
You have to look at it with a wider view.
Kelce is part of the talent surrounding Wentz. Kelce obviously did not help Wentz Went in the situation you are speaking of.
So you keep a RB in the backfield to help protect Wentz. Suddenly you have 1 less receiving threat on the field with WR’ s that cannot get open.
It’s a trickle down effect.
As I opined previously, I am not as interested in focusing on score or wins as protecting and developing the rookie QB. If he gets enough time to make a read and does that correctly, that’s one thing. If he makes the right read and completes a pass that is two things. If he makes a good read and throws a bad pass, that can be a learning event. If he makes a good read and the WR drops a good throw, that is two things. If he cannot step up because there’s no space, and he flees the pocket, that is a positive. If he gets no help and is immediately swallowed by a rush, and that happens often, that is how you retard a rookie QB’s development.
We keep losing games that seem winnable.. tommy summed it up well… but him working these late hours and no therapy is tougher than rough
yall are saying the same thing now ,week after week, to sum it up, the eagles are a bad team, quit talking about what if’s and we have talent, wons and losses pal, thats all that matters, unless you’re a TATE loser
Sorry. Snarky.
It’s a little hurtful watching Shady do shady things in another uniform.
Yup it is..we could use him now
That lil story about the rookie seahawks olineman tells you all you need to know about the seahawks oline. The kid hasnt started in a football game since grade 8!
I see what Jimmy Graham is doing – I think Ertz could do that.
Graham: 2 TDs in a half
Ertz – 9 TDs in his career
Both 1 handed also
These refs are a complete joke – no different than the replacement refs of a few years ago
Bring ’em back!
yeah squaky wheel gets the grease. We got some good calls yesterday but couldn’t make them worth it
We had a number of bad calls as well – roughing the kicker, contact with the helmet of the QB come to mind. It’s just that the Eagles were just as incompetent, so our fanbase hasn’t focused in on it
So today Pederson was unable to admit that a QB end around run was a bad play for 4th down. He’d call it again.
Maybe he’ll turn things around, but I’m pretty much looking at him as an interim coach at this point. I’ve got no faith he’s going to make it in Philly long term.
Wow! It actually took you longer than 6 games!
mindless ramblings before work.
Matthews – cybernetic hand implants can’t come soon enough.
DGB – you were jammed and shut down by Janoris Jenkins. dude is like 3/5 of your size and he rode you to the sideline like a pony. come on man.
Agholor – did well this week, well for everyone’s standard that were set for you.
Treggs – we need more of you..NOW.
Celek – it’s going to be a sad day when you retire and then we’re stuck with Ertz/whoever.
Ertz – had his biggest game of the year, still feeling disappointed about him. can’t put my finger on why..
Ertz was open a bunch more times also
You’re disappointed in Ertz because he plays like he’s Bryce Tregg’s size and goes down on minimal contact.
In fairness to Janoris Jenkins, he is probably the best corner in the NFC East who would be a significant upgrade from nolan and Leodis… But I sure would like to see DGB start throwing corners around when they try to press him
..
Ertz had a nice game taking advantage of the opportunities that came his way. I haven’t seen a Single all 22 all year so I have no idea to what degree he was getting open the first 6 games, but it’s not like he was being targeted 10 times per game but only making a catch or two… This was the first game when we made an effort to make Ertz a big part of the Offense and he delivered… Hopefully it leads to a steady dose of Ertz going forward and he steps up and delivers. It was nice to see Burton make a few plays too..
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think we can all agree that we need to get more out of Wentz and his pass catchers, and that getting the run game going would probably be a big help
..
We are a good team, but not good enough to be overcoming significant mistakes whether it’s coaching mistakes, turnovers, blown assignments, penalties… Think Malcolm Jenkins has the right idea, tone down the aggression on offense, prioritize NOT MAKING Mistakes over trying to score 30 points. maybe lean on the Run a little more to try and open up play action. Not putting our defense in bad positions is probably our best bet to succeed. Respect the field position battle instead of feeling like punting or kicking a FG is the end of the world Think Malcolm nailed our blueprint to success:
Patient on Offense
Stingy on Defense
Aggressive on Special Teams
..
After we missed those two Field goals, and we were driving again for a 3rd time, I knew we weren’t going to score a TD, so I literally started rooting for Wentz to incomplete passes because I figured if it was 3rd and 8 Pederson might actually kick a FG, and I was scored that he would have gone for it again on like 4th and 3 so I started rooting for incomplete passes and I was so happy to see Caleb Sturgis run on the field, and of course the Giants end up blocking the FG LOL
Did you see Graham on MNF? While we can’t expect a one-handed catch or hurdling over defenders by a TE, we should be able to expect an occasional CATCH THE BALL AND TAKE SOME STEPS toward the goal line!!!
I don’t ever want to be that fan that raves about a coach 3 wins into a season and then write the coach off at the first hint of a losing streak. But I don’t how I could Possibly rip anyone for being concerned about Doug after what we saw these last two games. It’s pretty alarming
..
You can only go for it on 4th down if you can live with the consequences if you don’t get it. But down 14 on the road, coming away with no points in that situation is a Gamble we can’t take. After that disaster start, the offense drove right down field, the worst thing that could have happened is the offense not being rewarded with any points…it’s like doug wanted to get those 14 points back immediately, instead of taking the 3 points and chipping away to try and swing The momentum.
..
Im Also getting tired of Doug refusing to treat Wentz like a rookie. Especially on the road we should start games trying to establish the run first and Formost and then ease Wentz into the game.. Just one time I want to see doug open a game calling 3 run plays in a row… If we have to punt, so be it, it’s not the end of the world. We can live with a punt or a FG, but turnovers will Kill us
..
Defense/ST is the strength of this Eagle team, the offense should be playing complimentary football, staying out of the defenses way instead of putting more pressure on the defense… Being 5 of 5 on 4th down is not an acceptable excuse because that’s probably not a predictive stat…
..
My biggest concern is doug having to look his veterans in the face at halftime after coaching the first half as if he was playing a video game, you can ONLY Gamble when you can live with the consequence, and coming away with no points in that situation SHOULDNT have been a risk we were willing to take
..
Hopefully doug gets his head out of his ass this week and puts a stop to this negative momentum finding a way to beat the Falcons…
Its not just the decisions to go for it twice on 4th down, its the play calls. A Wentz read option sweep and pounding it up the middle with the smallest back? No word for that but dumb.
Yup.. Plenty examples of bad play calls like:
Sending Agholar on a Double move even tho the defense is going zero blitz against us making it unlikely we would have enough time to let the double move unfold
.
Running zone Reads against the Giants who have a freak super athlete (JPP) on the edge,,, we should have been running those plays against the Cowboys DE’s, not JPP/vernon
..
But we also have to be honest about Wentz rookie mistake, he didn’t see a lot of open pass catchers opting to Take lessor percentage throws but I can live with that from a developing rookie QB. I assume Wentz was seeing the field better when he had more trust in the protection before we lost Lane,,, fortunately we have a special young talent at QB who we can count on learning from his mistakes from one year to the next
Getting really annoyed with Dougs shotgun run game,,, that should have left philly with Chip… Stop running out of Shotgun PLEASE!!!!
4.8 yards per carry out of the shotgun.