Defensive Game Review – PHI 30, WAS 17 –
Posted: September 12th, 2017 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 215 Comments »Kirk Cousins and the Skins owned the Eagles in recent years. Cousins played some of his best football against Gang Green and the Skins averaged 28 points per game in their 5-game winning streak.
Jim Schwartz put together an aggressive gameplan. As in the second meeting from last season, he blitzed more than he does against most teams. This wasn’t BuddyBall, with multiple guys coming on the majority of snaps, but Schwartz turned his guys loose regularly.
Eagles blitzed on 13 of 44 pass plays (29.5%) v. WAS. That's higher than their 2016 ave. (21.1). Blitzed 4 times on 1D, 6 on 2D, 3 on 3D
— Paul Domowitch (@pdomo) September 12, 2017
The results were good.
Good. Cousins was just 5-for-12 for 69 yards w/INT and sack when Eagles blitzed. https://t.co/kuGRLUCecd
— Paul Domowitch (@pdomo) September 12, 2017
There was actually another sack in there as well, but it was wiped out by a holding penalty.
The Eagles played good defense for most of the game. There were mistakes here and there, but WAS ended up with 264 yards and 10 offensive points. You don’t do that by accident. The Eagles had 4 sacks, 3 takeaways, 4 TFLs and kept constant pressure on Cousins. One of the hidden keys to the game is how the Eagles played the run. Skins RBs were 13-34 for the game, with a long run of just six yards. That is pretty stifling run D.
That had a trickle-down effect, putting WAS into 2nd and long and 3rd and long situations for most of the game. That let the pass rushers go into attack mode and allowed Schwartz to blitz when and how he wanted. Cousins really struggled on 3rd downs.
3rd down passing tells the story…
Wentz: 9/11, 148yds 2 TDs 0 INTs. 158.3 Rating
Cousins: 4/9, 1 INT, 1 Sack. 18.1 rating#PHIvsWAS
— Ben Fennell (@BenFennell_NFL) September 11, 2017
If you’ll notice in a Domo tweet up above, the Eagles blitzed more on 2nd down than 3rd. Schwartz is a big believer in playing the sticks on 3rd down. There were a couple of plays in the game where receivers caught the ball and got near the sticks, but were just tackled short. Giving up nine yards on 3rd and 10 is okay. You’d rather break up the pass or get a sack, but the ultimate goal is to get off the field. The Eagles did a great job of that, limiting WAS to just three 3rd down conversions
Schwartz used a special DL package on 3rd downs. From left to right, Chris Long – Brandon Graham – Fletcher Cox – Derek Barnett. Schwartz was trying to get his best combination of pass rushers on the field at the same time. I did find it interesting to not have Vinny Curry in there. I’d like to see Graham stay at LDE and put Curry in his spot.
There were different coverage combinations. Schwartz has a deeper, more talented set of DBs this year and he can be more creative. Malcolm Jenkins played in the slot when the Eagles wanted him there, not when they were desperate. Corey Graham played in certain sets. Jaylen Watkins took the place of Ronald Darby in some sets when Darby got hurt. This isn’t like Seattle where you have great players. The Eagles have to mix and match DBs to get the most out of the group.
This game was another example of how coverage and pass rush go hand-in-hand. The Eagles got regular pressure on Cousins and that caused him to speed up his reads, get sloppy with his mechanics and make some poor choices. His accuracy was a problem all game long. The Eagles covered well most of the game. There were some breakdowns, but the Skins couldn’t capitalize on those plays because pressure affected Cousins.
Another 3rd down, another Jim Schwartz blitz. Kirk Cousins under pressure. Cousins overthrows target. A common theme on Sunday pic.twitter.com/M7XYCA3O1P
— Gayle Saunders (@EagleSessions) September 12, 2017
One of my favorite aspects of this game was the energy and emotion the Eagles played with. They flew to the ball. They gang-tackled on runs and passes. There wee usually multiple defenders there at the ball. For the most part, the Eagles tackled well. There were some exceptions, but the Skins didn’t get many yards after contact.
It was also good to see the Eagles play smart football. There weren’t many blown coverages. They limited penalties. For the most part, you didn’t see players taking bad angles to the ball or getting in the wrong gaps. Schwartz and the coaches have issues to address, but they can be very happy with the way the defense played on Sunday.
PLAYERS
DL
Brandon Graham – Great game. Played LDE and LDT. Came up with a couple of TFLs on early run plays. Had 2 sacks and a FF. Actually had a 2nd FF, but the officials didn’t call it a fumble. WAS recovered the ball so it wasn’t of significance. Graham also drew a holding call when Jordan Reed tried to “block” him on a deep pass play. Graham’s combination of speed and power was impressive as he overwhelmed RT Morgan Moses on a regular basis. Even on plays where Graham didn’t hit Cousins, he forced him to get rid of the ball quicker. Dropped back into coverage on at least one zone blitz. Great motor. His final sack came when he was knocked to the ground, kept going and got to Cousins.
Vinny Curry – Good game. Played the run well. Was only in on one tackle, but set the edge consistently. Used a bull rush a lot when rushing the passer. Got a couple of hits on the QB. Didn’t stand out as a pass rusher, but was going against Trent Williams, one of the best LTs in the league. One hit came on 3rd down in the Red Zone and helped to force FG as Cousins didn’t have time to find the receiver he wanted.
Fletcher Cox – Great showing. Had a strip sack. Recovered a fumble late in the game and ran it in for a TD to seal the win. Got regular pressure. RG Brandon Scherff has played well against Cox at times, but that wasn’t the case on Sunday. On the late play where Graham caused the controversial fumble, Cox was also running free right at Cousins. His sack came on a blitz and Cox beat the RT to the edge, then knocked the ball from Cousins’ hand.
Tim Jernigan – Best game as an Eagle. Had a somewhat quiet summer, but came alive in his first real game. Had a sack and a TFL. The sack was a thing of beauty. Used a good swim move to blow by the LG and absolutely floor Cousins. That was a clean, but violent hit. Got penetration on multiple plays. Used multiple moves to win, showing strength and athleticism. Has violent hands. Stout vs the run. Helped to clog inside running lanes.
Chris Long – Played both DE spots. Overall solid, but had one big lowlight. Lined up at RDE and was unblocked. Ran to Cousins, but hesitated and let him escape. Long will hear about that in the film room. Every pass rusher’s nightmare. Got some pressure, but no standout plays.
Derek Barnett – Strong debut. Very good against the run, which surprised me. Played with discipline. Engaged blockers and moved them backward on multiple plays. Had a TFL. Played with a great motor, as he did this summer. Got one hit on the QB.
Beau Allen – Played with a ton of energy. Flew around the field. Love backups who come in and give max effort. Solid against the run. Didn’t do much as a pass rusher.
Destiny Vaeao – Got in on a couple of tackles. Got his hand on a pass, but the ball still got to the RB.
LB
Jordan Hicks – Was in on 7 tackles and recovered a fumble. Had a chance for an early INT and leapt for the ball, but couldn’t get his hands on it. Good vision to see that and to try to make the play. Blitzed several times. Very smart. Got pressure, but didn’t go out of control and draw penalties for roughing the passer. Should have had a sack, but was wiped out by a penalty on Bradham.
Nigel Bradham – Solid overall, but a couple of frustrating moments. Had a chance for an INT and possible pick-six early on. Read the play perfectly and jumped the route. The ball hit him in the hands and Bradham dropped it. Ugh. Negated a sack by Hicks on 3rd down play when he held the TE. The Eagles should have been off the field, but that mistake kept the drive alive. Ugh. Was in on 4 tackles. Good vs the run and showed excellent range. Had a strong coverage moment late in the game when WAS tried to use pick vs him to get speedy RB Thompson free. Bradham stayed close and had good coverage. Pass was incomplete and they threw OPI flag on the Skins.
Mychal Kendricks – Didn’t play as much as the other LBs, but was on the field more than last year. Was in on 3 tackles and had the highlight tackle of the game. Rob Kelley got loose to the outside, Kendricks worked through the trash, got low and made a beautiful form tackle. He planed Fat Rob on his fat butt. Very encouraging to see Kendricks making the most out of his role.
S
Malcolm Jenkins – Great game. Played all over the field and hit everything that came near him. Had 4 solo tackles and broke up a pass, but that doesn’t come close to showing his impact. Played in the slot, in the box and back deep. Broke up a pass down the field when he hit the receiver in the back as the ball got there. Did a good job as a blitzer. Ran over the blocking back several times. No pussy-footing with Jenkins. He means business. Cousins kept the ball on an option play and got loose outside. Jenkins got there and slammed him to the ground. Wasn’t dirty, but let Kirky boy know that he’d be paying for that real estate in flesh. Those kinds of hits take their toll and affect a QB. Did a good job when covering Jordan Reed. Gave up at least one catch over the middle, but MJ was all over him and didn’t give any RAC yards on the play.
Rodney McLeod – The one starter that was up and down. One of my complaints is that he didn’t seem to be deep enough on some pass plays. I don’t know what McLeod was supposed to do for sure. I can only offer my opinion. Took poor angles to the ball on a couple of plays. One was a pass where Pryor got loose over the deep middle. Not sure McLeod realized just how fast Pryor is. McLeod missed the tackle on the Christian Thompson play that turned into a 29-yd TD. Highlight moment came vs the run. Curry went hard inside and spilled a run to the outside. McLeod flew down to the LOS and floored the runner. Was in on 3 total tackles.
Corey Graham – Played S in some packages. Got in on a couple of tackles. Was on the field for the Thompson TD and wasn’t able to make the tackle.
CB
Jalen Mills – Played the best game of his young career, but that statement needs context. Led the team with 9 tackles (8 solo), but part of that is because WAS kept throwing the ball his way. Mills generally kept things in front of him and he did tackle well. Broke up a pass in the end zone. Got away with a bit of contact, but was playing the ball. Went up high for that and knocked it away. Got his first NFL pick when a pass came right to him. Easy catch. Love the fact he was aware on the play and made the grab. The return was awful. I’ve seen punters look more instinctive with the ball in their hands. Heck, Fletcher Cox needs to teach Mills how to run with the ball. Had a highlight moment vs the run when he took on a pulling OL, got off the block and still made the stop. Love that kind of effort and toughness. Lack of deep speed was an issue on a couple of plays, but didn’t hurt him in this game.
Ronald Darby – Solid showing before he got hurt. Gave up one completion to Pryor that turned into a long catch and run. Didn’t have many passes come his way. Had one tackle.
Patrick Robinson – Played in the slot and outside. Good game. Had tight coverage on a deep ball that was thrown to his side. Was in perfect position and the ball was overthrown. Did a good job vs Crowder in the slot. Had 4 solo tackles, with one of them being an impressive, physical stop on a run play. So much more confident and comfortable than he was a month ago. One lowlight. Got confused on Red Zone play and left a receiver wide open. Cousins never saw the guy so Robinson got lucky. Can’t let that happen again.
Jaylen Watkins – Took over for Darby when he got hurt in certain packages. Gave up a catch and run to Pryor. Was playing off and just didn’t have the speed to run with him over the middle. Generally seemed to cover okay. Had 3 solo tackles. Highlight moment came with WAS backed up very deep. They threw short pass to Crowder, hoping for RAC yards. Watkins flew up and planted him. Gave up 2 yards. Key possession.
*****
Make sure to read Fran Duffy’s great All-22 breakdown.
*****
STs
All the worries about the sloppy STs play from the preseason proved to be meaningless. Dave Fipp’s group had a strong performance.
KOR – No deep returns. Brent Celek got squib kick and ran it back 8 yards.
PR – No returns.
Donnie Jones – Solid game. Averaged 42.5 yards per punt. Had one downed at the 1-yard line and that helped set up a scoring drive. Had one punt just got 37 yards.
Caleb Sturgis – Missed an extra point, but 3 for 3 on FGs. Nailed a 50-yarder late in the half that was huge. Put Eagles back on top. Got hurt late in the game. Solid on KOs.
MISC – Rick Lovato got through the game without any bad snaps. You know he had to be nervous. Corey Clement made the tackle on the opening KO and added another tackle after that. Joe Walker had a stupid late hit penalty while covering a punt. Trey Burton recovered a muffed punt. Jaylen Watkins downed the punt at the 1.
_
The good outweighed the bad.
Amen. I don’t think a single thing I didn’t like from the game is unfixable.
Repost because of course new thread as soon as I finished:
I finally got to watch the game today. Wasteam looks like
shit. Eagles got lucky on some of those deep balls, but then again
that’s the gambit with bringing more pressure, even if you don’t get
there you hope you can force it off just enough. Was surprised with the
amount of blitzing. Tackling was pretty darn good with the exception of
the TD. Robinson in particular was excellent.
The offensive line looked better than I was expecting given some of the griping. They held up pretty well in pass pro. Vaitai had some ups and downs and there was one blitz where they just got the protection call wrong, but overall pretty solid. i’m guessing people are lumping in some of the bad RB
pickups and the play naturally breaking down (Carson ran himself into
some trouble a few times where he didn’t need to).
The run game was pretty blah, but I’m optomistic. They were pretty close on a half dozen of the runs to busting bigger ones open. Typically just one guy
needing to sustain a block a half count longer, that’ll come with time,
and a few where the backs couldn’t beat their one man.
WR’s were solid. Alshon had a couple of “THATS WHAT THE MONEY IS FOR” missed opportunities.
I didn’t have too many problems with the play calling. The runs were
occasionally obvious. From what I gather the two main complaints were
lack of running ball and the bubbles.
On the lack of running I think the coaches know we aren’t great and have decided that some of theplays where you pound it to stay with the sticks they’ll sacrifice for those low % big plays. It’s nice to run the ball and get 3rd and 2 when you’re sitting 2nd and 7 but I think they are saying fuck it, we’ll takethe 20% chance of a big play and improve our odds of scoring over
having to run 6 or 7 plays succesfully to accomplish the same thing. And
if not it’s 3rd and 7 and we’re not too much worse for wear.
The bubbles are mainly built in RPOs to try to take advantage of teams loading the box. Two that I’m pretty sure were
1. The fumble to Ags, It may have just been a dummy but it looked like
they had a draw to Sproles out the backside with Kelce and Sem leading a
convoy had Wentz just handed it off.
2. Another bubble to Ags in the second half, they had it set up perfectly for Ags to hit the edge and pick up a decent chunk of yards but Jeffery looked back to the inside like he wasn’t sure it was going to be a pass and didn’t want to expend the effort if it wasn’t, causing him to miss the block.
I think teams know that Wentz is making these decisions pre snap and trying to bait him. I think he’ll get better at reading them as time goes on
(still has to learn how to throw a catchable bubble) and will learn that
sometimes just give the ball to the RB, take your two yards and live to
fight another down.
Sheil on theathletic had a really nice breakdown of the Ags fumble, which has been causing so much drama on sports talk this week. Basically it was a triple failure, horrible throw by Wentz, horrible route by Agholor, and an awful block by Smith. Triple individual failures means bad things are going to happen on a play like this, if any one of the 3 had done their job the play was probably going to be safe.
All the more reason not to call it.
Hindsight
Nah, there aren’t many plays in the book that can survive triple screw ups.
Interesting point from Bert’s Bells:
“In his post-game Doug said the fumble screen was a called run. They check into the outside pass when the box is loaded.”
add in a terrible job by Smith to recover that fumble, too. it was painful to see him just stand there and not dive on the ball
I have to imagine he assumed it was an incomplete pass l (which is a huge mistake but forgivable), otherwise he should be cut if he was aware the ball was live and gave that kind of effort (literally 0 effort no attempt was made).
maybe don’t run it then, if it requires such expertise?
“The offensive line looked better than I was expecting given some of the griping. They held up pretty well in pass pro. Vaitai had some ups and downs and there was one blitz where they just got the protection call wrong,”
Yeah, in fairness to the group you’re correct. That blown blitz coverage where Kelce is totally ignoring the delayed guy coming through the spot he vacated and ignored was nauseating. Lanes guy causing that tip drill pick 6 was also scream inducing.
Good stuff.
In his post-game Doug said the fumble screen was a called run. They check into the outside pass when the box is loaded.
Good stuff. Agreed that a lot of the run plays were just one guy’s execution from being solid. And Fuller looked good coming up to make tackles, but Jeffery definitely cost Ags a nice play. He needs to realize just how much money he’s playing for this season.
“Jaylen Watkins – Took over for Darby when he got hurt in certain packages. Gave up a catch and run to Pryor. Was playing off and just didn’t have the speed to run with him over the middle.”
That’s why I cringe every time this guy is on the field. I really rather would have seen McDougle or Douglas active instead.
Put slower CBs on Pryor
McLeod takes another shitty angle
???
Pryor easily scores
I don’t agree with Tommy’s assessment, yea Watkins got beat but he bit on Pryor going vertical instead of making a possible cut to cross to the middle of the field. He couldn’t recover in the end without the help of traffic cone McLeod.
Same, was actually surprised Watkins had plenty of speed to catch Pryor when everyone else looked like they were in quicksand
That’s wrong though, Watkins and Pryor have nearly identical 40 times. Watkins is extremely fast.
“Joe Walker had a stupid late hit penalty while covering a punt.”
No, the referee threw a stupid flag when Walker was finishing a play. Much like the refs work for most of that game, that call sucked.
I bef to differ. It was a late hit.
Washington announcers diffreed as to whether or not it was a good call.
Yeah, when your target is the guy’s helmet a foot off the ground between two of your teammates, it is probably a bad idea.
No, that was football. Runner still had momentum. Fine line between safety and the fact that football is a contact sport. Looked bad in slow mo, but at full speed it was a no-call. At least up until the last couple of years, there would have been no chance of a flag on that hit.
I think the big issue was he was leading with his helmet. If he had slid into him or something to stop momentum that would have been fine, but the NFL is really trying to discourage leading with your helmet.
he might have gotten away with it if he wasn’t blatantly looking for a free shot. If he showed any effort to abort the hit. He could have “tripped” or “rolled” into it. You see players block forward progress of a falling player all the time. But he went in head-first targeting a player’s head already on the ground like an idiot. Will get called every time. The quickness of it may save him from a fine.
Up until a few years ago, a flag would have been less likely than the 10 times out of 10 that it will get flagged today. The offender is essentially a rookie, so that excuse doesn’t help him.
A few years ago, the guy that smacked Went in the face on the interception wouldn’t have gotten flagged for it either, but today it…wait, never mind that last part.
that will get called everytime in today’s NFL
“One of my complaints is that he didn’t seem to be deep enough on some pass plays. I don’t know what McLeod was supposed to do for sure.”
This happened last year too so I think Schwartz knows about this and has to scheme around it. McLeod isn’t a true center fielder type of safety so it’s safe to say that he’s probably not going to get better this deep into his career.
The angles he takes is literally hit or miss, it’s actually frustrating to watch because he’s either a speed bump or a battering ram. I should say a selective battering ram since he let guys walk into the RZ when he could have stopped them at the 1 yard line if he gave actual attempts to stop them last year.
When he makes the right decisions then he’s great. When he doesn’t, well we’ve had worse before. Just wish he could
We need to send McLeod to a geometry class and decision making class if he wants to retire as an Eagle. If not then we’re going to be looking for both his and Jenkins heirs soon.
Nooby question on the first big play by the skins, a screen that goes for more than 20 yards, trent williams is destroying mills but at the end of the block he pushes him on the back, isn’t that supposed to be a penalty?
IIRC, Mills turned around on his own, so that wouldn’t be a penalty.
It’s called sometimes, yeah. But they were engaged when Mills turned. If the defender goes down it’s almost always a flag. If the block keeps the block and gets hands around him, it’s usually called a hold.
I thought it was a good no call. You’re right, sometimes a flag goes down for something like that. That’s because the NFL doesn’t have a good system for refs.
Yeah, this.
Blocking a guy in the back is a penalty. Blocking a guy who then turns around a puts his back towards you is not be a penalty. Sometimes refs miss the first part though and don’t notice until the person is flying through the air.
As others have said if you are engaged with a defender and he turns to run it’s not a block in the back.
Otherwise the Patriots would just have their DL face away from the ball and put mirrors on their helmets or some shit.
ha, well played
i haven’t been high on Robinson at CB this offseason, but there was one play that he played to perfection.
it was a deep pass along the sideline, don’t remember the WR. Robinson turned to face the ball, but also used his body to press into the WR while he’s tracking the ball. just enough to slow everyone down and the ball is overthrown.
I remember that play and I am also pretty sure it was Pryor.
Thought Bradham’s penalty was ticky tack. Stuff happens inside 5 all the time, can’t really fault him.
Not sure why Barnett’s run D was surprising, he was stout in college.
I agree. It looked to me like Bradham tried to jam Reed (I think) off the line and then took his hands away when Reed got past him. It didn’t look like he grabbed the jersey or turned Reed of anything.
He did grab him. Holding call was ok.
The initial hit was ok but he hooked the arm and was holding
When Mills got that interception he looked like a man who knew he was supposed to run the other way with the ball, but hadn’t really ever thought about how you go about doing that.
Love/Hate from me on that play. I hate that he didn’t seem to have a clue how to make a play with the ball, but I love that he was so focused on securing the pick rather than starting to make “his move” beforehand and dropping the ball.
I come down on the love side. Second year guy on opening day with his first career pick. He did what he needed to do. I’m sure he took some ribbing when watching film. Next time he’ll get us some yards.
Dude has neon green hair, and isn’t 100% chomping at the bit to try to score with the ball in his hands?!
I predict: He’s saving his Pick 6 for Eli.
Yeah, just don’t fumble it right back to them there. He got us out to about the 20 and away from the end zone. That was fine.
Smith and Alshon need to start blocking on run plays.
If they can get open and catch passes I’ll be OK with that. I remember Riley Cooper being lauded for his blocking.
Did you see Smith’s ‘attempt’ at recovering the fumble? That was pretty painful to watch.
THAT CHRIS LONG MISSED SACK WAS DREADFUL
Apparently the responsible (MRI) doctor has yet to look at Darby’s results. Wonder what the hold up is!! It’s not like Darby is just a practice squad guy…
I thought there were reports that it was nothing major, 4-6 weeks, Or are we just waiting for confirmation?
Pederson has declined to confirm this a second time in a row now..
oh wow. Wonder what’s going on there
My understanding from different tweets, is they have had an MRI and a Philly specialist has reviewed the case and they have him in a walking boot.
However the top sports ankle doctor is a guy in N.C, and the Eagles are going to get him to review the case and manage the recovery, which is what they are waiting for at the moment and the reason why they haven’t given updates. Apparently the injury is really rare – the last guy to do it was RG3 in the NFL.
Thanks for the heads up. How much time did RG3 miss with the same injury?
8 weeks IIRC
And then essentially the rest of his career, for unrelated reasons.
Hold up? Whats the urgency? Darby has to rest in the short term no matter what. Chances are the MD has more urgent cases
I kinda think it’s funny how washington football team fans are harping on the BG strip at the end of the game. Nothing conclusively overturned it, and it kinda looked like Cousins’ arm was hit prior to coming forward, and he threw forward with an empty hand.
But NO ONE is talking about the Kerrigan pick six where Wentz’s face was mauled. Instead of 7 pts for washington football team, that shoulda been +15 yards for the Eagles. And that one was definitively conclusive.
Well, I’m talking about it…
second time i’ve heard of this. i didn’t get a chance to see a good view of it live, do you have a link to a video/gif you can share?
50 seconds
https://twitter.com/Redskins/status/906942177091117056/video/1
my man! nice one!
yea, thats a blow to the head. no other way of looking at it.
my understanding is that should be a penalty. always.
but maybe the fact that the ball was tipped first changes that? i know it changes the rules for illegal contact downfield and stuff, i wouldn’t think it would change the protections for defenseless passers…
Nah, the rule is the same whether it is a completed pass or the ball isn’t thrown at all. You can’t hit a QB in the head unless he is a runner (and then only if you ask nicely first).
yea, thats what i figured. Thats a real shame, too.
Makes the uncertainty around the Cox TD at the end of the game feel a lot like a make up call from the refs now.
(though if you cancel out each of those plays, i still kinda feel like the refs were against us, but i would guess every NFL fan feels that way each sunday)
http://www.espn.com/nfl/matchup?gameId=400951592
8-76 vs. 2-15; the refs SUCKED. That’s a vile disparity in penalties.
Nah, the rule is which QB gets hit.
pithy (and true)
Wow they edited out the part where the ref got in Wentz’s face when he complained about the hit!!
Thanks Lane
Good times.
Elliott is #4. McDougle is #33 now.
https://twitter.com/JimmyKempski/status/908008457810399232
Practice. We talking ’bout practice!
Surges can’t feel great about a drafted rookie coming in and having success. I am sure he was hoping for a washed up juuuuust good enough veteran.
Especially since he’s in the last year of his deal.
Sounds like he can put the ball between the uproghts.
https://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2017/9/12/16296302/jake-elliott-eagles-new-kicker-caleb-sturgis-philadelphia-bengals-cincinnati-memphis
Know that is a typo, but what a strange looking word.
It is so weird looking that I’m not shanging it.
Talk show fodder:
“There were rumors emanating from Philadelphia that perhaps coach Peterson was on thin ice,” Polian said Tuesday on Sirius XM’s NFL Radio. “It was told to me by people within the business. That would lead me to believe, that that’s emanating not from the building, but from the agent community. By the way, of all the people that you mentioned, that talk, it’s the agent community that does 95 percent of it.”
I don’t buy this crap yet and I’m not much of a Pederson fan tbh. I don’t dislike him or have anything against him at this time though.
The reason I don’t believe it is they really wanted a coach like him and I don’t think the honeymoons is over for Lurie.
http://www.nj.com/eagles/index.ssf/2017/09/is_eagles_coach_doug_pederson_on_thin_ice_bill_pol.html
If that nj.com links to whom I think it links, no thanks…
ha! i had the same thought. better to not click it to be on the safe side…
That is not ESP or Eckel, it’s a small step above Lombardo ha. No need to click though, there’s not much more to it lol.
The whole fiasco pisses me off. I can’t stand palace intrigue bullshit in the NFL. A Coup!?!? Really? That’s not how it works you know. You don’t get to have an uprising and take someone’s job. That gets you fired.
Pisses me off whether it’s real or fake, wish the coverage stuck to football in the regular season.
Yeah, McLane is a special kind of schmuck.
Did not get Roseman fired….just sayin’
I am totally in your camp, Ark87, and as pissed off as you are at this non-story and ridiculous conspiratorial nexus with Schwartz purportedly waiting in the shadows. It is soap opera at its best/worst. Lombardi had no basis at all for starting this firestorm. I’ll take Pederson’s body of work so far over the failed career of Lombardi. Play the damn games and see where things are at the end of the season.
Pederson wasn’t the guy they wanted or likely even in the Top 3. I do think there was some real concern about the stability of the Eagles’ FO among coaching candidates after the last 2 years of the Kelly regime.
Lurie’s comments last week wasn’t a ringing endorsement either. At best, they were lukewarm.
There is always going to be rumors flying around but obviously the players are feeling it a bit too. They wouldn’t have dumped Gatorade on Pederson after the game otherwise.
Dead story though until after the season is over. If this team goes 6-10 or 7-9 again and Wentz doesn’t show much additional development, yeah I could see there being a change made this offseason even if it unlikely.
You would need something to come where the players are having difficulty with Pederson/questioning his play calling. Ditto if Pederson making a couple of really bad decisions that cost them a few games.
Yeah that’s why I said they wanted a coach like him…If they wanted someone else, I think they wanted a player’s coach like him. Schwartz isn’t a player’s coach as much.
I still don’t think the honeymoon is over at this time despite Lurie’s comments and state of the union. My read was he’s trying to motivate everyone.
They heard the rumors so they put an exclamation point on the win. That doesn’t mean he’s on thin ice at the moment.
If the team has a bad year, he will be on thin ice but that’s almost always true.
This warrants a rumor as season winds down not in week two to me .
I love Polian pretty much said its pure agent fabrication for a pissed of player.
Check this out, Football Outsiders’ stats have these as the top 3 performances of the week:
1. Sam Bradford
2. Alex Smith
3. Jared Goff
A few thoughts. First, when defensive adjustments are factored in (that happens after several games), these performances will most likely fall precipitously. For example, for seemingly a decade, teams can put up points at will on the Saints and then fall back to earth against a normal defense the next week. Second, these are all short pass meisters. Third, W.T.F.?
http://www.footballoutsiders.com/quick-reads/2017/week-1-quick-reads
All 3 of them had very good games…what is so confusing? Smith and Bradford are established vets. Yea, Goff had his first good game, I understand that.
You can probably count the number of times Smith and Bradford have put up the best performances in a given week on one finger.
Bradford was amazing. Saints got no pressure so Bradford was dropping dimes, that’s what he does. If there’s a game where he gets a lot of pressure he goes back to two pick Bradford / drink and dunk Bradford
Saints got some pressure but Bradford stood in there and dropped dimes
https://twitter.com/DrewMahowald/status/907677153092923393
Did you say Jernigan’s best game as an Eagle?
It was his first game (but you knew that)
I wouldn’t mind if Timmy follows this trend having always his best game as an Eagle going forward.
Just so the trend isn’t that his first game as an Eagle was always his best.
My cell OS died so i lost your #.. trying to find it
Yes, it was also his worst game as an Eagle. Just kidding, I think Tommy was including preseason performances.
I figured it was a joke.
Excellent, lets hope his recovery goes well obviously!
Longtime Philadelphia Eagles long-snapper Jon Dorenbos underwent heart surgery on Tuesday to repair an aortic aneurysm that was discovered after he was traded to the New Orleans Saints on August 28.
The surgery went well, according to Eagles coach Doug Pederson, who opened his Wednesday news conference by saying, “I would like to just send a shoutout to Jon Dorenbos. Everything went well yesterday with surgery and he’s resting comfortably. Just wish him and his family well, our prayers are with him and hope for a speedy recovery.”
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/20691768/jon-dorenbos-surgery-went-well-philadelphia-eagles-coach-doug-pederson-says
Eagles left (tackle) Jason Peters is “fine” and will practice Wednesday, Eagles coach Doug Pederson said.
per his PC via McLane
To Doug’s credit, he has gotten much better at doing pressers. Unfortunately, that means a lot more talking without saying anything. How many times can he answer a question with the observation that Andy puts in the effort?
https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2017/9/13/16299646/bad-offenses-trend
Decent article with some video replays from Week 1 but this paragraph is what caught my attention. Also talked about how many starting QBs are over 30 and the challenge of fitting most college QBs into a pro-style offense.
“Teams are more able than ever to field effective pass rushers at every spot on the defensive line. And, as these defensive pass-rush units have lined up more frequently against inferior offensive lineman, they’ve become more and more effective at getting pressure with just four rushers. Last year, teams blitzed (defined as sending five pass rushers or more) just 27.4 percent of the time—a 5.8 percent drop from the 2010 season, per the Football Outsiders Almanac. And despite the fact that offensive lines faced a decade-low 4.24 pass rushers per dropback, quarterbacks faced pressure on a decade-high 20.3 percent of their dropbacks. We could see those numbers diverge even further in 2017.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRBMvXk7egk
Better step it up this week Lane and Brooks, it’s not going to be fun going against Houston especially when you can’t count on your RBs to pass block too.
I am confused, is this good news or bad news?
https://twitter.com/eaglesinsider/status/908049967691988993
Honestly, “going off” might mean “going by”. We’d need to hear the intonation and context -both things which are completely irrelevant in Twitter 2017.
Right.
Is that he is shooting for 4-6 weeks because that is what the timeline says, or is that he is shooting for 4-6 weeks even though the timeline said longer?
Tighten it up, Spuds.
I think everyone is making too much of it to be honest. He dislocated his ankle. From the X-rays and MRI (primarily MRI), we know that none of the tearing in ligaments or tendons required surgery.
Therefore, it’s a simple matter of waiting for the tears to heal. Just like when someone gets an MCL sprain. You gotta wait for the tear to heal up.
Regardless, won’t he come back out of shape?
Hopefully he is a good swimmer.
I get it. Thanks.
No, it is what it is. Knowing quickly won’t heal him faster. But if you are going to release a nugget like that, don’t make it ambiguous.
Parsing the words of a poet or even a politician might have some utility. Weighing the meaning of an athlete’s off-the-cuff remarks… not so much.
really just trying to understand what he means. A poet would be clear, a politician would be intentionally opaque.
Oh, poetry:
Roses are red
Darby is hurt,
I wish he’d clarify
For me and for Bert.
Darby’s on the mend.
The injury prognosis
Needs a lil rehab.
That is a haiku.
Here’s a line for you from me:
Always, Dallas sucks.
The waterboy’s great
Mama, my, my mama said
FUCK DALLAS. Thank you.
That’s so damn funny
I just about pissed my pants.
Well done, H Eagle.
good one!
Hm. What does this mean?
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
The fellow who wrote that spent the latter years of his life just a couple miles from me. I never heard if he was an Eagles fan.
The reason I brought that up is that it’s often misinterpreted by the kind of people who have corporate inspirational posters on their walls. It’s ironic, and doesn’t mean what it appears to on the surface. Therefore, poets are not always clear. 😉
I’m with you. Anyone who would put that poster up in order to support their own conformity or status aspirations doesn’t understand that phrase at all, or takes it completely out of context. At least in my not-so-humble opinion.
Get a better poetry book?
I think that’s it. The rumored timeline was 4-6 weeks, he is aiming for 4-6 weeks. Going by the book, not going to TO this thing, as fun as that would be.
To me, “going off” == “going from” == “going by”. So, apparently that is the timeline the doctors are guessing, and so that is what he is hoping for too.
The fact they didn’t IR him means the team thinks he’ll be back well before 8 weeks as well.
Thats good news. Had a few of the boys dislocate their elbow while playing footy. Just no ligament damage lil swelling but they were back in that time frame. 3 weeks was the earliest ive seen.
I have disclocated my below when playing American football ten years ago.
I don’t think I had ligament tears but the Physio took me 8-10 weeks to get back to normal movement.
Of course – and unfortunately – I wasn’t lucky enough to get the Eagles staff treatment.
Is “dislocating my below” a German euphemism?
Lol. Elbow. Bloody autocorrect. Maybe I should get the iPhone X after all. With face Id!
No, no. Dislocated below is much better. Don’t touch it.
“You’ll go blind”
I call BS. The injury is true but the real cause was reaching over the bar awkwardly to self pour from a hand pump tap of primo beer
I wish.
However in fact I was the kicker kicking off after we scored a TD, when my own teammate – the gunner – put his helmet right on my left elbow when I was wrapping up the returner of the other team. No joke…
Ugh. Sorry to hear that brother
Thanks mate. No worries though. I came back stronger than ever. Let’s hope Darby will get healthy soon!
Please be more careful. I wouldn’t wish “dislocating my below” on anybody.
Very dangerous injury. I’ve strained “my below” a few times, the recovery time takes longer than I would prefer.
I say its good news. For one it means his foot isn’t broken nor is there ligament damage that would require season ending surgery.
Imagine he’ll be back then for the Cowboys game on 11/19 after the bye.
Should hopefully give him a chance to get some reps in practice before the game that week too.
When I first heard that Jim Schwartz was an iOS to undermine Pederson in order to get his job I dismissed it as the kind or crap so many reporters lean towards as a way to get attention. But if there is one thing that makes it seem like it might be true it was Jim Schwartz’ story of how he threw a player out of the lunch room for wearing a tank top in violation of Coach Pederson’s rule. Would this be proof that he isn’t up to something. And what if Pederson didn’t like Schwartz’ in your face style, would he really change?
Not very inspiring.
Other games: Fournette looks like the real deal. Doing that against Houston is impressive. Flipside, the Jags D looked impressive against the worst offense in the league. They have a lot of talent though, and a team/confidence builder like that can set the tone for a season.
Titans lost to Oakland for the second season in a row on some very bad refereeing. If they were a bigger market team, there’d be a national stink.
“Tim Jernigan – Best game as an Eagle.”
Lol I’ll let it go
Intentional I’m sure. . Very dry humor
Rewatching the game. I counted 4-5 Wentz passes that could have been picked off, in the first half alone. And then several plays on defense in which Washington simply failed to convert big plays.
Having said that, this offense has the potential to score at any moment and put up lots of points. And the defense has the ability to create turnovers.
That will make this team very exciting and terrifying to watch. This Sunday will be interesting. We’ll need to score several tuddies and create a few turnovers. A special teams score would be helpful too!
4-5, no bueno.
没事就来转一转，每天多吃两碗饭！
So this Tarik Cohen guy is actually less athletic than Pump!? https://3sigmaathlete.com/rankings/rb/
I feel like pump’s brain is issue right now. Not to say he is dumb. He is a rookie in the NFL.
You might be right, but it seems like out of all the positions (other than special teams) RB is the easiest for rookies to come in and play immediately. Maybe if he bulks up some he can play with more confidence.
I think the Eagles plan to use him as more of a gadget player -so he gets blocking assignments, motions, route trees and on and on in addition to just following his blocks.
If he’s going to be compared to Sproles, Darren hardly did anything in his first couple years for the Chargers before breaking out as a returner in his 3rd season. He was a fourth round pick.
I’m not smart enough to have an opinion on Pumphery (or even know how to spell his name), but I do think he deserves the benefit of time to see if he can become half the player as #43.
Agreed. Slot WR, Rb, punt returner, nfl game and nfl speed. That’s a lot for anyone to learn; once the game slows down, he will make some plays.
Half of 43 would be a really small dude…
I’m less worried about his size than his decisiveness when hitting a hole or turning the ball up field. Sure some rookie backs come into the league and are amazing right away. Not always the case. I remember a guy nick named Shady or something, that didn’t look amazing his rookie year. Think he turned out ok.
Westbrook also did nothing his rookie year.
Frank Gore was basically invisible his first year in Philly.
Learning a number of different positions. He’s got some time to figure things out.
I find it funny that people claim Cohen was far more athletic than Pump despite him testing worse.
As Tumtum said, it seems Pump is overthinking right now
Great another over thinker (Agholor)….. Pump should be fine 3 years from now lol!
Sproles was less than JAG for the first 3 years of his career.
If Nelson can produce like last week every week, it was worth the wait! Personally still not sold 100% on him though!
See above. They clearly miscalculated something.
Do you agree Pump is hesitating when getting to the hole, or after catching the ball, or do you think he just can’t get there?
Pump even admitted he was overthinking stuff. You dont do what Pump did in college without talent.
I think he had highways to run through in college, and isn’t special.
Still, people claim Tarik is some kind of super freak compared to Pump when they are pretty close to each other (in testing, I be honest I never watched Cohen pre draft).
HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH
NO, the Sigma guys crossed something up.
Per them the 5 inputs are: weight, 40, shuttle, bench, vert.
Weight:
TC179>DP176
40:
TC 4.42 > DP 4.48
Bench:
TC 11 reps > DP 5 reps
Vert:
DP 33.5 > TC 31.5
(Should be noted that TC slightly edge him on broad, so not sure the explosive argument holds up)
Shuttle
Neither has a recorded shuttle time
There’s no way.
Pretty close across the board. It seems like it would be hard to conclude that one is more athletic than the other based on these numbers.
Logan is rated way above Pump on the chart. Fournette, on the other hand, is lower. Quick, someone show the Jags and we can do a straight up trade.
Already sick of the ‘Was Andy Reid a good coach here’ pointless debate this week. Tired and stale as talking about McNabb as a QB.
Stupid to say he wasn’t a good coach. He had his flaws, yeah, but he was great at many things. He’s a heckuva play designer too. Just watch some of those concepts against the Pats last week.
not much to debate 🙂
Are you listening to talk radio? If so, your loss.
The only coach debate about Big Red in Philly, is whether he is the best coach in franchise history or not.
Yes, he is. Vermeil, given how many playoff games he choked to inferior teams/fan bases, is massively overrated.
Dear Andy you’re the greatest coach in our franchise history. Hope you you enjoy the 65 Million you made off Jeffy. We applaud your 1 super bowl appearance, if you could do it over again what would you do differently, yes we ALL were yelling at our TVs. . Thanks for DMac, thank s for Westbrook, thanks for Jevon Kearse, Derek Burgess, some badass O Linemen. .. thanks for TO but considering how you let him get under your skin damn i can’t get over it. .. oh and no thanks for any of those other reciurvers you stood by for so oooo long yuck. And the game is better with badass Linebackers if you didn’t figure that out yet. Too bad you and Joe nickles had to pay yourselves and not Trotter.we were an MLB shy of the Super Bowl win that year. . How’d you enjoy saving 500 grand ?
TNF is getting off on the right foot, 2 teams who shit the bed the hardest in week 1, minus the Colts. TNF is such a joke. I hope Andy Dalton throws 6 picks tonight and the Texans still manage to give up 35 points.
TNF is ruining football for me. I remember when it started I was so excited. Then they really expanded it and I was happy, but worried it might be to much. It was, and I really lost my zeal for football the last couple of years. So now it seems to have grown again…
I have my love for ole foosball again, and I am gonna avoid TN as much as I can so I keep it.
Another downside to this week is the college game on ESPN is Boise State playing on their unwatchable blue football field.
https://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2017/9/14/16306818/philadelphia-eagles-best-quirk-games-history
Fun statistical anomaly page. I think my favorite was Keith Byars against San Diego in a 23-7 win in 1986. On the day he ran 10 times for 0 yards and a TD.
That’s my favorite Eagle.
Who keith byars ? Nah, can’t be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61Ou9rM971Q
Damn that is was is insane. . Loved it thanks. That’s what my wife does to me at times in the kitchen
I was jumping off of the sofa screaming and yelling when I saw that live. It was amazing.
Ouch.
It’s usually the games the other networks (the ones that pay the NFL lots of money) want the least.
They should go back to just having them the second half of the season. Baseball is done by then, and it didn’t feel like quite the overload for some reason when it was only half the season than it does now.
I would be just as happy if they got rid of it. I am just starting to want football again today. Make we wait until Sunday.
Thought this was funny:
https://twitter.com/shamus_clancy/status/908369081979604992
Downvoted for using quotation marks as a way to heap scorn upon something you don’t like. (just joking, but I would downvote him)
Looking at the numbers, it is very strange that it would somehow add up to Wentz having a lower rating. His short passes seem to be worse and he had a bit more time to throw, but everything else was better.
I don’t even see how all the numbers add up to him being better. Time to throw makes that big a difference? Clearly the pocket isn’t taken into any sort of account.
Is it wrong that I think Agholor will be our leading WR this week? The Alshon and Marcus Peters match up is going to be a good one but I don’t think Wentz will test it that much out of respect for Peters ballhawking skills. Torrey Smith could have a field day against the slower Steven Nelson but his production will depend on if Wentz can hit him in stride.
No, it isn’t at all. Agholor is playing slot again, Wentz loves throwing to the slot, and (in spite of a few ugly double clutches) Agholor didn’t have any drops last week.
Got we get an Ahhhhhh-MEN !
If he can get the dogs out of his psyche and become the big fast strong atheletic kid he is it will be a very exciting and rewarding and standing ovationing thing to witness
I don’t know if I like this comment more due to the fact that I agree with it or simply just the 2nd half of the sentence amazes me.
TY. The bus sort of did that but i kind of liked the feel so i kept it.
Im routing for him. . He’s big and could be such an asset. .i don’t want him to be a bust if he can be great!
We All do.
Where does Terrance Mitchell play? Slot? He was covering pretty well for the most part against the Pats. Not perfect, but definitely had some good plays against Hogan and Cooks, two of the faster WRs.
Marcus Peters doesn’t shadow WRs. So I don’t see why Alshon would be downgraded
Wentz doesn’t seem the type to consistently shybaway from a target due to the DBs reputation in previous games against other teams. If he does shy away from him it will be due to what MP is doing that game, lack of chemistry with AJ, and where the S is. If it is a cover 1 look with the S on Smith’s side due to the latter’s speed I would think Wentz is aggressive enough to throw MPs way.
With that said I fully expect some bunch looks to try and get MP off AG a bit so he can catch underneath without too much contest and gain YAC.
God I wanted MP in that draft and I didn’t think he would be this good this quick.
I do think our leading receiver will either be NA or Ertz. A big reason for that is simply chemistry. It is not there yet with AJ or Smith due to understandable reasons.
Smith is my dark horse for leading receiver just because he could haul in a big throw or two to give him that distinction. Very close to happening last week. If Wentz connected on 1 or 2 of those throws people would be saying he had an amazing game, and all of a sudden DPs coach rating for that game would go from so-so to good.
Nelson is on IR but their slot guy is a long leg DB who can’t redirect
From TNF (sorry) while being interviewed, three kids came up to Mixon the get him to sign their jerseys. As a parent, why would you buy your kid that jersey?
I would imagine ignorance is the only answer.
That was the exact thing I thought when I heard Collingsworth say that.
It is very possible that the parents are unaware of his past transgressions. Sometimes I get frustrated with people regarding the sport, and I have to remind myself that a very large chunk of football fans are just very casual fans without ANY knowledge of the player.
Cannot question their parenting morales without knowing the full situation.
fair enough
Good point.
It’s bullshit. Football wasn’t meant to be played on three days rest. I refuse to watch unless it’s the Eagles.
How special would it be for the team to pull out a W for Doug this Sunday. Another good test for us. There’s plenty to be improved on and we still put up 30. I’m ready for Sunday!