Offensive Game Review – PHI 30, WAS 17
Posted: September 15th, 2017 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 198 Comments »The Eagles spent the offseason talking about wanting to add weapons for Carson Wentz. They wanted more speed so the offense could attack down the field and be more aggressive. On the first play of the game, Torrey Smith got behind the Skins defense. Wentz threw deep, but the pass was off target. The result was 2nd and 10. Nothing new about that. Speed and aggression? That was new.
Wentz and Co. went deep on a regular basis. Those throws didn’t work out as hoped, but it was good to see the team stay aggressive. You can’t have the philosophy that you try once and it if doesn’t work, focus on shorter stuff. You have to be willing to take chances. The Eagles did just that. Wentz tried to hit Agholor, Jeffery and Smith with deep balls. There were at least five passes thrown 25 or more yards down the field.
I’m not even counting the broken play that resulted in a 58-yard TD to open the scoring. That was a scramble drill where Agholor found a huge void in the secondary and went there. Wentz saw him and got Agholor the ball for the long score. The long completion to a WR in all of 2016 went for 58 yards. The Eagles matched that on the opening drive. They had 3 pass plays of 50 or more yards in all of 2016. Something tells me they’ll top that by midseason.
The great thing about going deep is that the players showed the speed and arm strength to make those plays work. The ability is there. They must start connecting on some of the throws. They didn’t connect on any designed deep balls and didn’t even draw a pass interference penalty. You need those plays to work. You can talk about lack of reps in the preseason, but I’m not sure that would have made a significant difference. Keep in mind that Wentz is just in Year 2 and he’s trying to learn how to throw deep to two brand new players and the one guy from last year, Agholor, is now playing on the inside, which means different angles.
This is very different from Pro Bowl QB Donovan McNabb getting in sync with Terrell Owens. The deep passing game isn’t going to be smooth or efficient for a while, but Wentz is going to keep slinging the rock downfield. The coaches want that. He wants that. And you know the receivers want that.
After re-watching the game, I came away disappointed in the offense. They only scored six points in the 2nd half. They had multiple chances to put the game away and couldn’t do it. The run game was a struggle for the entire afternoon. The blocking was inconsistent and the runners didn’t help matters. The Eagles left yards and points on the field. The defense played so well that didn’t hurt them, but they need to clean that up.
On the flip side, this was the first extensive action for the starting offense. We knew there would be some issues. The talent is there. This group needs to play better, but they don’t need better players. That was last year. This group has the talent. They just need to execute better.
I have to talk about the “plays”. There was the RPO where Wentz decided to throw to Agholor. That resulted in a fumble. Agholor didn’t run the route correctly and was too deep. Wentz made a terrible throw. He thought Agholor was Yao Ming. And the people blocking didn’t do a good job. This play killed a drive in scoring territory. Doug Pederson can talk about poor execution on this and he’d be right. But you have to wonder if this play works well in practice. No one did their job right. Was that play looking smooth in practice? We’re not talking about part of it being off. The whole darn play was off. What looks good on paper isn’t important. It must look good in reality. That didn’t and it hurt the team.
Pederson called a fake off that in the Red Zone. That play should have been a TD, but Wentz made another poor throw. Pederson then called another fake off the play and that was a screen pass that WAS sniffed out and stuffed in a hurry. I hope Pederson shelves this play. It just didn’t look good.
There were other quick screens and most of them didn’t go well. One to Sproles in the slot worked well, but the others got minimal yards at best. The WRs didn’t block well and the timing of the plays wasn’t good. You do have to give the Skins DBs credit. They flew up the field when they saw these plays and they fought through block attempts and made good tackles. They didn’t cover very well, but they did tackle.
PLAYERS
Carson Wentz – Good game. 26-39-307. 2 TDs. One INT that was a pick-six. Made some spectacular plays. Three times he escaped pressure and then got off impressive passes. The TD to Agholor came first. The other two were passes to Ertz. One came on the right sideline. The other play came when Ertz moved to his left and pointed for Ertz to go downfield. Wentz then lofted the ball over the defender. That covered 23 yards. You can see how special Wentz is when he has to improvise. He has great instincts in those situations and his ability to throw on the move is special. The best throw he made all day was an incompletion. He got pressure and moved to his left. While on the move, the turned his body and threw downfield for Jeffery. That ball had arc on it and was right on the money. Jeffery was tightly defended and wasn’t able to make the grab, but that throw was something else.
There were some bad moments as well. The pick-six was dumb. I know the ball was deflected, but there were two defenders on Sproles. Just throw that ball away. The Eagles were up 13-0. If you have to punt, that’s okay. That was a game-changing play. There were times when Wentz’s mechanics got sloppy. He put the ball too high to Agholor on a crosser. Wentz didn’t move his feet at all. Terrible stance on that throw. Deep accuracy was a problem. He had Torrey Smith behind the defense twice. Wentz had a clean pocket on both plays and was off target. The first time his plant foot slipped and the ball came up short. The next time he just put the ball a yard or two too far out in front. The deep ball to Agholor should have been more to the middle of the field, away from the DBs. Instead he threw it on a straight line and the DBs were able to affect the play.
Wentz was outstanding on 3rd downs. The Eagles scored a TD on their only Red Zone trip of the day. He led the team on a scoring drive at the end of the half to help the Eagles re-take the lead. That was important. It took the momentum away from WAS. Wentz is incredibly talented and he’s going to make some spectacular plays this year, but he’s got a long way to go before he becomes a top-flight QB. He must be more efficient and more consistent. It will be fun to see him and the receivers start to click on the deep throws.
There were two subtle plays that impressed me. One was a pass to the right, the other a pass to the left. Both were throwaways to avoid sacks. Keep your team out of bad situations. Not every play has to gain yardage to be good. There are times when things break down and just getting to the next play without losing yards is a success. On the flip side, Wentz did lose 16 yards on a grounding penalty. Pressure was all over him, but he needs to get rid of that ball in a timely fashion. That huge loss killed the drive.
#Eagles young QB has a chance to be legit pic.twitter.com/7q2sFfVUOP
— John Middlekauff (@JohnMiddlekauff) September 13, 2017
RB
LeGarrette Blount – Awkward start. 14-46 on the ground. Looked slow. Had some good holes, but didn’t show much burst getting to or through the holes. Had bad luck in short yardage. LBs attacked upfield and got him in the backfield. Had one awful pass block. Caught a short TD pass, just as we all expected. Go get Blount to be your Red Zone receiver. This was the most Blount played since the Super Bowl. I am curious to see how he does next week. The rust should be gone. Did run hard. No lack of effort or toughness.
Darren Sproles – Only 2-2 on the ground, but was 5-43 as a pass catcher. Caught a quick screen and got a good gain on that. Long play went for 15 yards. Most of that was after the catch. Still very dangerous with the ball in traffic. Had one incredible catch. Grabbed short pass over the middle. Ball was millimeters off the ground, if that move. Didn’t amount to much, but great hands and concentration. Moved the chains with a couple of his catches.
Wendell Smallwood – Much quieter than I expected. Only 4-4 on the ground. Had no room to run. Took a helmet to the leg on an early play and I wondered if that affected him, but never saw evidence of it. Blount had room, but looked slow. Smallwood didn’t have room. Give some of Blount’s plays to Smallwood and let’s see what he does. Caught a pass on 3rd/short to move the chains. I thought it was Sproles beating a LB, but it was Smallwood. That’s a heckuva compliment for a young RB. Lowlight came when he was called for chop block. Just can’t make that mistake. Did make a good cut block of blitzing LB on scoring drive in the 1st Qtr. 0
WR
Alshon Jeffery – Didn’t post gaudy numbers, but made some important grabs. Finished 3-38. One catch moved the Eagles from their own 6-yard line out to the 20. That gave some breathing room to the offense. Jeffery caught a pass and went 24 yards to move the Eagles into FG range late in the game. That could have been one of the huge plays of the game. Doesn’t seem as big after strip-sack TD after that. Jeffery also caught the 2-pt conversion. Basically ran into end zone, turned around and said “I’m bigger than them.” Wentz got him the ball. Was fun to see Josh Norman knock the ball out after that.
Jeffery was targeted seven times. Wentz tried to get him the ball downfield a few times. I like the fact Wentz was giving his guy a chance to make plays. When you have a stud receiver, give him chances. Don’t wait for him to be wide open.
Torrey Smith – Caught one pass for 30 yards. Other two balls thrown his way were deep shots. All or nothing. His speed is legit. Was able to run by CBs. I thought he had some solid run blocks, but wasn’t good on pass plays where he was asked to block for quick screen.
Nelson Agholor – This is the guy the Eagles hoped for when they drafted him. 6-86 with 58-yard TD. Caught the ball well and looked like legit slot receiver and playmaker. Didn’t have any drops. Had deep ball underthrown to him and DB had tight coverage. Was wide open on drag route and Wentz sailed the ball. Could have gained 10 or 15 yards on that. Was wide open late in the half, but Wentz was locked onto Jeffery.
Mack Hollins – Didn’t play much on offense. No passes thrown his way.
TE
Zach Ertz – Terrific game. 8-86 as a receiver. He and Wentz have great chemistry and that showed all day long. Ertz caught every pass thrown his way. Caught balls to the left, the right and over the middle. Beat CB Josh Norman on one play. Later had a gain of 24 on a broken play. Had some good pass blocks and chip blocks. That was encouraging. Had a good open-field block for Celek on pass play to open the 2nd half. His run blocking is still awful.
Brent Celek – Only played 25 snaps. Didn’t stand out as a blocker. Caught a short pass to open the 3rd Qtr and turned that into a gain of 11.
Trey Burton – Quiet game. 14 snaps. No targets.
OL
The Eagles did a poor job of blocking on the 2nd level. There were more than a few plays when the play was blocked well at the LOS, but LBs were running free and got the RBs for short gains. There looked to be some confusion on who to block. The Eagles now have a game tape to study. They’ll have an idea what the Chiefs want to do. They need to be better prepared and to play more in sync.
Shot 13 – The #Eagles best run play was the 'Trap' play vs WAS. Quick-hitting play inside. Wasn't perfect but can be very effective pic.twitter.com/JXvnCtq1OA
— Fran Duffy (@fduffy3) September 11, 2017
Jason Peters – Sloppy performance before a groin injury took him out of the game late in the 1st half. Called for block in the back on early pass play to the outside. Trent Williams did the same thing, but wasn’t penalized. Wasn’t getting much push in the run game. Pass pro was up and down.
Isaac Seumalo – Showed good promise at LG, but still up and down. Most impressed with awareness. Had one 3rd down play where his rusher faked and fell back, then Kerrigan looped to the inside. Seumalo helped to block him. Smart and Eagles were able to move the chains. Good athlete. Really fired off the ball on some snaps. Moves really well for guy with solid size. Still must get stronger and do a better job on run blocks.
Jason Kelce – Good game. Normally there are a few plays every game where the opposing NT or DT really eats him up. I didn’t see those plays. Snaps were good. Eagles didn’t get much of a screen game or outside run game going so there were no real highlights.
Brandon Brooks – Solid game. Highlight was when he pancaked a DT on a run play to his size. As big and strong as Brooks is, he’s a better pass blocker than run blocker. Just doesn’t get the kind of push you’d expect on a consistent basis.
Lane Johnson – Eagles best OL and I’m not sure it’s even close. Mostly played a strong game. Had one costly mistake. Let rusher beat him to the inside on pass play. That pressure affected Wentz and the DL tipped the pass, which was picked off and run back for a TD. Johnson kept Ryan Kerrigan under control for most of the game.
Halapoulivaati Vaitai – Played some TE in heavy sets early on. Up and down showing. Needs to do a better job in that role. Was on both left and right side. Took over at LT after Peters injury. Up and down there as well. This was his first significant action at LT in the NFL and it showed at times. Gave up the inside more than he should. Gave up sack, but it was wiped out by penalty. Did look comfortable at LT and got better as the game went on. Showed potential there. Better pass blocker than run blocker right now. Eagles helped him out with TE to his side on some plays. Had chip blocks as well.
*****
_
A weak OL for the running game will force Wentz into passing more often. Teams will start blitzing more, forcing riskier plays. I hope the Eagles have practiced picking up the blitz.
The rest of the team improved over last year, but upgrading the OL seems to always be a low priority.
The OL was weak. I imagined with Lane back that things would start to click. Fortunately, there’s still plenty of time for them to get it together. Otherwise, the debate becomes: is the problem talent, coaching, and/or production?
The problem with Lane this year will be he isn’t taking any PEDs, therefore his production will go downhill since he’s proven that he needs them since he has been suspended twice, and the third time will get him 2 years out of the league.
The Eagles have spent high draft picks, free agent dollars, and trade resources to build/upgrade this OL. I don’t think not making it a high priority is the issue.
I think chemistry is the bigger problem. OL play was terrible in general in week 1; it’s one of the positions where teamwork is most important and I think the lack of offseason/preseason practice time under the current CBA really hurts it early in the season. I’m going to wait a few more games before declaring our OL a disaster.
More teams than not would kill to have our OL.
Hmmm. Must be a pretty bad league then. Our OL is average at best. Nobody seems to penetrate against the Dallas IL. Makes me sick to say it but how can those 5 guys be that much better than any other team’s 5 guys. Can’t mention our OL and their’s in the same breath. What was that publication looking at when they called our IL the best in the league! We can’t get 3 yards a run.
Sorry OL
True.
When I read the title of your post, I thought you were going to discuss the giants game in dallas.
For those unhappy with the offensive line.
This from a writer at Dailynorseman doing game predictions.
Seattle’s offensive line consists of a traffic cone, an old boot, a discarded refrigerator box, a half-eaten footlong chicken teriyaki sandwich from Subway, and a Slip-N-Slide. But their defense is still really, really good and San Francisco’s offense is still really, really bad.
I know of at least one reader interested in trading Kielce for the refrigerator box, straight up.
Guilty
Kelce also missed a delayed blitz pickup that resulted in Wentz getting blasted after Kelce vacated his spot to double Sem’s guy allowing a blitzer to slide through.
Looks like EMB is switching to that Facebook format. Please dont do the same T-Law.
There might have technically been a winner in the game last night, but we’re all losers. That game was an abortion, and everyone involved should feel bad. Marvin Lewis should never be allowed to coach another pro team. Someone needs to tell O’Brien that there are two sides of the ball. The NFL needs to mandate that both Nuke Hopkins and AJ Green need to be traded to teams that matter. And whoever decided that “color rush” means a team wears their home pants with their away jersey and called it a marketing scheme also needs to be summarily shot with Lewis’s coaching staff.
I’ve never understood how Lewis has retained that job for so long
I completely object to the idea of summarily shooting the color rush designers. 32 years of Chinese water torture must come first.
Used tie dye water.
I’m not even against the color rush idea. I think a couple games a year would be unique enough to be interesting. It’s stupid to do it every week, but if you’re going to do it, fucking do it. Our’s is just our alternate black uni. Houston’s and Cinnci’s very just their home pants with away jerseys (and opposite). They’re really reaching hard there. How unique. A black jersey. I’m so impressed.
I have disagreed with most of the eagles fan base on Ertz and this game is a perfect example why. People say he isn’t physical and he can’t block. They are correct, but I don’t care. Ertz is the reliable, chain moving, high volume target that makes this offense go. He has great chemistry with our young franchise QB. I get he’s not a complete player and that’s ok. He is a weapon in the passing game and that’s what matters in today’s NFL.
He had a great game. It seemed like Wentz would go to him when we needed to convert on 3rd down.
The bonus is that Zach Ertz trying to block you and Zach Ertz pretending to block you so that he can run a route uncovered look reeaally similar.
This is going to be in the back of everyone’s mind when they blow by Zach Ertz
https://streamable.com/83l4s
Ha. BRILLIANT!
Yep, the guy is one of the best TEs at getting open and catching. He is indeed a top 10 TE and a valuable contributor. He may be getting paid a slight premium for his performance, but nothing remarkable and certainly not worth complaining about. In any case, unless you can get a better player, it doesn’t matter.
I’m one of the leading penny pinchers with Ertz and his deal, but currently he’s only $ 1.25 mil over the 10th place AAV, so it isn’t as drastic as it was last year at all. If he settles into an 80-800-8 type guy for the balance of the contract with a bunch of 16 game seasons, I can be content with the deal.
this is kind of O/T here, but still…
there has been a lot in the news lately about Lurie’s responses to questions about Kaepernick and protesting the anthem and such.
it really seems that some reporters are cherry picking parts of his speech to fit some sort of larger “the league is blacklisting Kaepernick!” narrative.
Even the team’s official twitter felt the need to set the record straight.
reading the full quote below, i don’t see anything at all controversial here. If you want to protest? fine! find a respectful way to do it, and be sure to back up your protest with actual action/work in the community/whatever so that you can show you are not just protesting for nothing.
i see it that Lurie feels that protesting the anthem just to protest the anthem is disrespectful. But if you want to use it to make a statement and raise awareness of something larger, he seems on board with it.
honestly…. i feel that all of this is Lurie’s political way of saying that he doesn’t want Kaepernick on the team because he thinks he isn’t very good anymore. But you can’t say that, and here we are.
they should be asking the owners of the texans, or jags, or other teams with shitty QB situations how they feel. you know that they don’t have the ‘we already have our QBs in place’ excuse to fall back on.
Media is after clicks. Its just irresponsible journalism. King and Marcus took things Lurie said and ran with them.
Journalism or content to drive ad dollars
I don’t care how many clicks you give me!
Check out bleedinggreennation’s response post. They tore it all to pieces surgically.
It’s totally BS. Egregious.
good call, posting the link here for others.
https://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2017/9/14/16309178/eagles-jeffrey-lurie-philadelphia-racist-colin-kaepernick-comments-state-daily-news-article-hayes
it seems some Marcus Hayes (never heard of him, sounds like i’m rather fortunate of that) wrote a shit article and now its all over.
Yeah Hayes is known for being a terrible writer with terrible ideas. Whatever you are thinking about right now in terms of severity of craptitude is severely too weak in terms of accurately describing him and his writing.
However, this piece is worse than his usual garbage.
Indeed you are lucky. Heed my warning – just don’t read the guy. Your life will be better.
that bad, huh? geez…. i don’t get out much with my eagles coverage, stick to a few regular places ( BGN, phillyvoice, and here pretty much).
Yep
Lurie says “I don’t think anyone protesting the national anthem, in and of itself, is being respectful.”
This is a BS strawman that he puts up to obfuscate the situation which also, in context, casts shade on Kaepernick.
Lurie should have just clammed up. It does make him look bad -his position was implied previously and there he has to put it outright.
“Super rich white dude doesn’t like protests” isn’t news. Obviously that’s the case.
He should have just stuck with the football reasons and not taken the bait.
“This is a BS strawman that he puts up to obfuscate the situation which also, in context, casts shade on Kaepernick.”
not sure i understand what you are getting at here.
No one (at least not Kaep) is protesting the National Anthem, per se. That’s how JL frames it there. Kaep has been very clear about his politics, he’s not saying “The National Anthem itself is problematic” (there ARE people who take that position, but none are NFL players -to my knowledge).
That’s the strawman. Lurie is stating a position which the protesting players are not taking.
That muddies the waters. I think it makes Lurie look bad in this light, though I don’t think he’s a Klansman or anything. Just a rich dude who has a degree of social consciousness but ultimately cares more about making money. There are way worse types in this world.
i thought Lurie was responding to the question “…is kneeling for the national anthem respectful to you, and how do you react to that?”
he’s saying “I don’t think anyone protesting the national anthem, in and of itself, is being respectful.”
If that’s the case, you can see why people would take it as a direct attack on Kaepernick.
Should Lurie have consulted me first (and he should have) I would have suggested answering the question like this -“We’re all free to express our opinions in any lawful manner. You guys know this better than anyone, in your business. I respect the rule of law and our freedom of expression. For our football team, we want players who contribute as much to the community as we do on the football field.”
Put me on staff, Jeff!
well i don’t see it as a strawman that Lurie made up. he’s not “stating a position which the protesting players are not taking” as you said. He’s answering a question about people kneeling for the anthem.
i do agree that he tried to give a non-answer, and ended up muddying the waters because of it.
but i don’t think he attacked Kaepernick directly or indirectly.
Edit: getting some weird Disqus errors, hope this doesnt show up a hundred times
I see your point. I think we both agree Lurie didn’t put himself in the best position to succeed on this one.
oh god no. haha
i really wish he would have the balls to say “stop asking me about players that are not on my team”.
he seems more than willing to talk about Jenkins, and he clearly talks to him about this stuff. He should be able to speak freely and honestly about that and not come across as a total tool.
I think you’re on the right track with this, but to me it reads more as Lurie playing semantics to dodge the question of whether he himself finds it disrespectful. Is it disrespectful to protest pretty much anything? Yeah. I mean, that’s usually the point. But that’s not what the reporter was asking, and it’s not the definition the authors of the hate articles are basing their articles on. Then he retreats from that, saying, basically, that it would be easier for him to justify it if the protester were doing outreach stuff along with it, like his main bro pilot Jenkins, who he is totally best friends with. Which is also a point that makes him look out of touch, but that’s a totally different conversation.
Yeah, I think he muffed the answer. If he gets heat, so be it.
I don’t anyone needs to defend Lurie on this.
yea, 100% agree, Lurie was trying his best to not answer the question. don’t think he really did himself any favors on that…
You’re focusing on the least significant sentence of what Lurie said. And pretending it’s the most important.
It only makes him look bad if taken entirely out of context and misinterpreted. That’s not on him.
You’re falling into the trap. That’s NOT what Lurie said.
You think that Kapernick or Jenkins, – anyone – is protesting the anthem itself?
If so, you’re a fool.
If not, then don’t warp Lurie’s words in that sentence.
Not really falling into a “trap”. The BGN piece is typical blather to defend Lurie over something shouldn’t have said.
The context of his statement is exactly what makes it creepy. It you take that sentence out-of-context it doesn’t mean anything. In context, it’s shading Kaepernick.
The fact that NFL players AREN’T protesting the anthem itself is why the context matters.
You’re free to defend Lurie if you want on this.
I just think he “fell into a trap” by responding to these questions. He deserves any heat he gets for stepping in it.
I don’t care about “heat’ nor do I think he does.
Heat is one thing. He’s a big boy.
Calling him a racist is another.
But your characterization that he has a problem with NFL players on his team protesting is inaccurate. He specifically doesn’t not have a problem with Jenkins et al and there’s ample evidence including his own words to prove it.
So suggesting he has a problem with it when he clearly doesn’t, proves that his comments are being misunderstood.
Your interpretation of what I’m saying is fair -though I’ve never said Lurie was especially racist.
I do think that Lurie, like all owners, would prefer his employees shut up and play ball.
There’s no evidence for this beyond general economics. I do think he cares a little about getting heat, because he’d rather not be the story. He’s probably not crying himself to sleep or anything.
Are you forgetting that Lurie called this press conference on his own volition, decided to speak with the media, is known to be the most liberal and proactive social justice guy of all owners, AND he supports Jenkins on the regular?
My point is that he said something which can easily be seen as casting aspersions on Kaepernick.
He did this after deflecting a few previous questions.
It’s a bit of “gotcha!” journalism, yes, but it’s there.
Once again, I’m not saying Lurie is a particularly horrible person.
Was the PC about Kaepernick? I don’t know the backstory behind it. Would be odd for him to have Q&A about that.
He had the opportunity to say “We’re happy with our quarterback situation” and move on.
No one’s making up a story. He said what he said. In the context of the press conference it looks like he’s anti-Kaep.
Personally, I’d give him the benefit of the doubt because -as you’ve said -he’s a pretty socially concerned guy. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t step in it with that last statement.
I’ll also add that I think the Eagles played the rebuttal smartly. They just put out a transcript and said, essentially, “no comment.”
They want the story to go away. That’s the way to do it.
No arguments against that.
ARGUE DAMMIT!
NO YOU PUNK. I REFUSE to argue! I agree with you. Why can’t you get that though your thick head!?
He DOES like protests – just with action like Jenkins does off the field.
You’re 100% misinterpreting Jeff.
Did you read the BGN piece?
It’s not as if Kaep isn’t also walking the walk.
https://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2017/6/3/15735060/colin-kaepernick-700k-1-million-dollar-pledge-charity-latest-donations
That said, this logic gets dangerously close to the old tired of logic of “There are black people, and then there are…” Maybe our blocked friend can finish the sentence for you.
They are both active in the communities. People don’t like Kaepernick because he did it much more abrasively. The argument he’s raising isn’t any less valid if you don’t like the one saying it, and neither is his method of protest.
Yup. I think it’s a mistake for Lurie (or anyone really) to start saying “this type of protest is OK, but THAT isn’t”.
Exactly. Even if he’s 100% correct, it will never not be bad optics for an old, rich, white dude to tell a young black guy how he should protest. He can only lose that conversation. And as you see, today he lost. Without knowing a thing about the guy, I’ve always at least perceived Lurie as being one of the more progressive owners in the league (tough competition out there. He could literally own a slave and rank out pretty well on that list considering the others), but I guarantee he gets tared and feathered for this one the rest of his ownership. I’d be calling the best image consultants I can find right now if I were him.
Fair enough. And Jeff did directly mention what Kap does for charity etc… Again, i believe that if you do read Jeffrey’s comments in their entirety, you will see that he’s not saying that at all.
I guess since Lurie’s a “super rich WHITE dude” he has no right to express his opinions on protesting during the national anthem.
Good guess!
But like most your guesses, I’m guessing, completely wrong.
Try that again in English.
Good guess!
But like most of your guesses, I’m guessing, completely wrong.
Cool that on top of your other noteworthy traits, you’re a prig to boot!
Still working on passing the GED or did you finally give up?
Cool!
Why is that? Kapernick does a ton outside of just protesting be kneeling. Lurie even highlights jenkins.
Lurie is also one of the few levers owner’s that donates to the dem party
Shaun King is a white guy who pretends to be a black guy. He is called Talcum X by many.
saw a version of the “hello fellow kids” Steve Buscemi meme on BGN that had (what i assume is) this guys face over it saying “hello fellow black people” hahahaha
Who gives a F? His skin color doesn’t affect the validity of his opinions. In this case, his biggest mistake was to use a Marcus Hayes article for anything other than TP.
Kaep’s eyes are too close together
I think it comes down to the fact that Kaepernick would have to be an outstanding QB to even be considered with the circus that would accompany him and make no mistake it would be a circus.
Also, my problem still is how people believe they have the right to determine how someone else should feel. In other words, if a veteran is offended by using the anthem as a platform for protesting, no one has the right to determine the veteran shouldn’t be offended.
Even if Lurie claims he accepts the platform for these protests with certain conditions, it appears he’s doing so reluctantly.
“I think it comes down to the fact that Kaepernick would have to be an outstanding QB to even be considered with the circus that would accompany him and make no mistake it would be a circus.”
That’s still the most important thing here; he’s not a very good QB.
Jeffrey was released for a reason by CHI, he’s no longer any good. Blount is old, fat and slow, and Torrey Smith was originally drafted by BALT and they let him go, then he was released by SF. When you go these routes means you didn’t draft well at those positions.
seriously?
Yes! I’m right on all counts and proven too since the Eagles would not have made these moves had they drafted well in the past.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJwbyHAHJjk
You probably got to him, but all I can see is “This user is blocked.”
On the pick-six — how do we know Wentz wasn’t throwing it away, or at least throwing it to somewhere the defenders couldn’t get to? It’s always hard to tell on a tipped ball — it slowed the pass down and deflected it more inside, so no idea if the intended pass was dumb or not. Minimal gain at best, for sure, but a small gain is still something. Maybe he needs to be darn sure he has a clean throwing lane for a throw like that, but … not sure how much further I could blame that decision and throw. We got very unlucky with just where that tip redirected the ball to.
Looked like it was headed towards a receiver. I’d have to look again, but there was an Eagle about two yards from the where the defender cut in on the pass.
Seems like a classic “tipped at the line” pick on a short pass.
Good play by the Washington defense. Getting beat by a Kerrigan highlight reel play isn’t the worst thing.
The windows are so small in the NFL that even a slight tip that slows a throw by a tenth of a second can make a difference between a completion and a godawful-looking pick six. That wasn’t a great decision or throw by Wentz, but I don’t think it was as bad as the result implied.
Totally agree. It was going to be a difficult throw into a tight window for not a whole lot. So he can make better decisions in the future, but the tipped ball turned it into a disaster.
Tipped balls are not a force of nature. He allowed it to get tipped, so it’s 100% on him.
I disagree vehemently. Blocker should have kept the DL’s arms down.
While he’s at it, blocker should have kept pressure off Wentz entirely. How’s the guy expected to play without a clean pocket on every snap?
Nah, they are not all the same. That was a tough one, lane was open, guy got his arm up quick.
Yeah, it was a throw intended for a tight window. People think of throwing into a tight window as hitting a bullseye, but it’s more like the movie scenes where the giant door is closing and the plane or space ship has to get through before it closes. If the plane or ship slows down just a little bit, the door closes and disaster strikes.
In this case it slowed down his pass down enough that by the time it reached its destination, the intended receiver was gone and the defender was comfortably in his place.
This is a classic gun slinger issue. He won’t shy away from tight windows. He’ll throw into the face of a pass rush where arms go up randomly. Not much you can do but take the bad outcomes with the good.
Good analogy.
So now I’m stuck thinking about the movie Independence Day every time I see a pass. I don’t know whether to thank you or not.
At least it’s the first one…….
I’m sure the game plan was to force any throw where Kerrigan was covering Sproles. Those are the ones that give Sproles a chance to make the highlight reel.
Looks like Pomphrey will land on IR eventually…
He tore his hammy in practice. Doesn’t make sense to carry him on the 53 roster for the rest of the season.
Luckily, with Pumphrey it is most likely a small tear…
Just shed a small tear myself
I think that we’ll be in for another tough go this weekend with the Chiefs. The truth is that we never play well against the 3-4. Last week we just didn’t get to the second level because we couldn’t man up against the Skins. The preseason elite tag was certainly a myth when that came out last summer. Kelce, who excels against even fronts gets overpowered a lot with a man straight up on him. He wasn’t the only one though. The only success that we had came off trap plays. I know KC will be expecting them this week. At least Johnson might be able to neutralize Houston for us, that’s a plus. We’ll be throwing the ball 50 times again.
At KC is a really row to hoe even when they’re not one of the elite teams in the NFL as they appear to be this season. I don’t expect a win this week, just hoping for a strong performance.
That said, a road loss to a highly regarded non-conference opponent is not likely to be very damaging in the grand scheme of things. If they’re going to be 2-1 after three weeks, I’d much rather the L be to KC than to the Giants or the Washington football team.
Yup. Losing to a really good AFC team on the road is the kind that goes down easy.
And when Reid was a coach, a fait accompli.
Yeah, but we’re gonna win. Join the homer club. Feels nice over here.
likewise, getting a win over an AFC opponent doesn’t help us much if we can’t take care of business against our own division. like last year with the Steelers
Yeah, we already saved our season with last week’s must-win.
AFC foe too.
I fully expect us to play well in this game and will both surprised and disappointed if we don’t. KC played great against a suspect NE defense. Those 2 long TDs KC had were against busted coverages. We have a chance here.
In my mind Johnson better shut Houston out.
For sure T!
Pumph finally did the right thing, albeit a couple weeks later than would have been ideal.
Would it really have made much a difference?
Pumph will be IRed and they can bring back Dallas Thomas or Alex McAlister or whoever else it was that fans were upset they didn’t keep over him. Fans always make a bigger deal than is warranted over these bottom-of-the-roster decisions.
For the record I’m still most upset they kept Watkins.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports the Vikings have “guarded optimism but concern” about Sam Bradford’s left knee injury.
It sounds more serious than what’s been led on in the media. Beat writers have expressed little to no concern, but Schefter reports Bradford required an MRI earlier in the week. He’s obviously had a history of knee issues dating back to his Rams days. Still, Bradford is fully expected to start Week 2 against the Steelers, but it may be safer to drop him down a peg or two in rankings.
Trade them Foles for another first round pick!
I was gonna make this exact comment, but you beat me to it. So I’ll add that we should re-sign Matt McGloin, and after Foles goes down next week trade him to the Vikings for yet another first round pick.
I was think Kapernick as the backup. The Lurie can show he is not racist and when Kapernick plays well in the pre-season next year, then trade him to Minnesota for another first round pick.
Only if they can outbid the Bengals!
Oh geez…
Donnell Pumphrey tears hamstring in practice, out indefinitely — PFT reporting
good morning.
Either this is horse manure and they don’t want to carry 4 RBs OR he has been dealing with this in silence, right? Who tears their hammy in the NFL before pulling it?
IIRC Pumphrey was dealing with a pulled hamstring in the preseason.
True. They wanted to stick him IR all along.
Reminds of the last time I shoveled out the stables…
Bill Lazor was just promoted to Bengals OC…
So Foles to Cinnci for a 1st then?
Only if they can outbid the Vikings!
I thought you wanted to ship him to the Vikes?
That was the other guy. But I am also for this plan.
The new “axe man.”
and maybe HC after the season….
I’d more look for them to do a complete blow up and cleanout. They also might consider tanking for one of the big 3.
Dude, either Lazor is the cause of every coaching collapse or he’s the unluckiest dude ever.
Prost
shout
So, the Red Sox got fined for cheating. Hmmm….
http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/20716110/boston-red-sox-new-york-yankees-fined-separately-part-mlb-investigation-sign-stealing
Dirty water
After rewatching the game, i m glad our dl isour best unit by farrrrr idk this is the way it should be.. Also hope we draft Ol early next year and S as jenkins forever. How many more years do yall think he has? Also noticed this about CW. The velocity on some throws is crazy, he left about 4 tds out there tho on deep shots
If you wrote a blog just like that i would’ always be a loyal reader. . I might be the only one, but I’d always be there with you man !!
Thanks man im counting on you
https://twitter.com/Tim_McManus/status/908770931929223168
Might as well give him a shot. Blount and Smallwood didn’t exactly set the world on fire last week.
Eagles placed RB Donnel Pumphrey (hamstring) on injured reserve
With the RB situation right now, I think we’re overreacting especially since it’s just week 2. The OL didn’t play all that well and I’m willing to say it’s about 70% of the problem. The rest is the rotation. You have 2 north south runners in Blount and Clements. Two change of pace RBs in Sproles and Smallwood. Blount/Sproles is better than Clements/Smallwood so stop getting cute and just rotate those two. We don’t run nearly the ball nearly enough to tire both guys out so let the backups be backups.
BGN commenters are calling for a trade for Adrian Peterson already. I just… don’t have words.
I bet they’re the same people who make philly sports radio so insufferable,
I’m not sure I’ve ever once listened to it. Maybe in someone else’s car briefly.
I would argue Smallwood/Sproles is better than Blount/Sproles. I say don’t be cute and start Smallwood over Blount.
Blount just looks slow to me. As much as his fumbles and injuries were annoying Blount is a solid downgrade from R Matthews.
I mean, Blount *is* slow, but speed isn’t his game. He’s gonna beat guys with power and not with speed/agility.
Blount isn’t “slow”, he’s a power runner that needs a full head of steam to build up speed. Smallwood hasn’t done anything to even warrant a start.
I don’t mean long speed. I mean speed through the LOS. He takes too long to get through the line.
I remember Shady’s rookie year he said the biggest change for him was how quickly holes close in the NFL. Blount takes longer to hit those holes resulting in fewer opportunities to get a full head of steam going. I View him as more of a back up/situational back than a starter.
All reports were that Smallwood was the best back in camp. In the 3rd preseason game (the only one he played) it was clear he was a better fit for this offense than Blount. I don’t know what more he has to show. Blount has been pretty lackluster his entire career. At this point samllwood clearly has more upside.
He has to show he can block.
“We don’t run nearly the ball nearly enough”
True; especially vs. defenses without any particularly impressive members.
I think you found the crux of it. You signed Blount, you said the offense was going to run through him… do it. The guy isn’t a bust out of the gate runner. He is a wear the defense down runner. He ended with 14 carries, but it sure didn’t feel like it watching the game. It must of been when the game was winding down that he got the majority of the carries. If he got more than 5 in the first half I would be shocked.
I think the problem all year is going to be unwillingness to take advantage of what the running game should be. It will never be a 5ypc offense, which means they won’t stick with it.
You can’t wear em down if you don’t keep running at em.
Exactly. You knew what you were getting when you signed him.
Exactly, we knew what we were getting in Blount but somehow we’re not using him effectively. It seems like Doug is trying to use Blount like Mathews and that’ll never work. Just keep feeding him the ball if it works, if it doesn’t then you can change it up with a 3 RB rotation. The proposed 4 RB rotation with Clements seems very unneeded but I’m assuming Duce is letting Doug know what might be best. We’ll see what happens this week, maybe Doug could learn a thing or two about RB rotations from Andy.
Great post. Tumtum for Offensive Coordinator.
Blount ran the ball 8 times in the first half (32 yards), six in the second (14 yards). Six runs in the first quarter.
Wherr did you find that break down? Looked a little
Season splits make it easy after one game 🙂
http://www.espn.com/nfl/player/splits/_/id/13213/legarrette-blount
Hofbråuhaus!!! I couldn’t come up with the umlaut. Squeeze a mådchen for me. Don’t forget where the men’s room is. Long lines just like the 700 level. Are the sinks out of bounds? Have a great time.
Strong work!
So I’ve settled into the fact that this game could certainly go either way and neither a win nor a loss would shock me, but I’m not going to accept any of the individual failures that would lead to a loss. Guilty parties will be indicted!
It’s a win. Book it.
I dig it!
Hill is going to make the secondary look worse than it actually is. I won’t hold it against them to much. Not looking forward to watching him streak across my screen with the ball.
Any yards Hill gets will clearly be the fault of a combination of Watkins and Kendricks.
You sure you didn’t want to find a way to blame those RAC yards on Kelce too?
How can I do that when any blown protection and/or contact of our RB in the backfield is already his fault.
I have faith in you.
Not even my enemies of Philadelphia list can transcend sides of the football.
haha
Why don’t you pre-vent about Kelce a little bit and let off some steam for your own health?
That’s not a bad approach. I’d imagine Bennie Logan is getting excited right now.
So far I see our OL as a bottom 10 for the run game, and middle of the pack for the passing game. Their first game was a mirror reflection of the preseason where we sucked. And this was against a Washington team whose defense are really not world beaters. But the defense picked them up and we finally beat our nemesis, the Redskins, on the road. Hoping that our OL gels, because if we can run the ball, we become a playoff team. However I believe our OL talent has been overrated since we can’t drive anyone off the ball and there is constant penetration in our backfield. We always talk about “cleaning it up”, but I think we need to use a stronger bleach!! I fear this is as clean as it’s going to get.
I watched quite a few games this week. Not many OL looked good. They need to get better, but I can’t call them bottom half.
Me too. The playoff teams OL look good (except Seattle). Right now, I see them as bottom half with upside potential. Way too much penetration in our backfield. You can count the number of 10 yard+ runs during preseason and our first game, on one hand…and have fingers left over. Peterson is starting to look his age, and Brooks isn’t nearly the mauler I thought we signed. And Kelce will never drive anyone off the line, so we are what we are…..average at best.
Oops. Peters
Which playoff teams had good looking OL? Not GB, Rodgers got hit a ton. Not the Steelers. Ravens were meh. Oakland was decent, but most of what they got came off Beast mode breaking tackles, and Carr. Even the Cowboys didn’t look nearly as good as they have in the past. And the hot pick to win our division looked like hot shit.
Rodgers got hit by a top 3 defense in the league. KC OL and the NE OL looked pretty good. I thought Dallas looked dominating despite the Giants’ formidable defense…..you never see penetration against Dallas or Elliott getting hit for a loss. And they lost 2 of their starting linemen. I watched the Oakland game….they looked pretty good to me, and I agree about the Giants….I never thought they were legit, and horrible without Beckham. My contention is if we can’t run the ball effectively, than I don’t think we’re a playoff team. I came into this season very excited about the OL, but so far it seems to be our biggest weakness. We did very poorly with our draft for running backs (Pumphrey is not NFL material…he so reminds me of Lorenzo Booker…..looks good in shorts and real bad in pads), but I think we have 3 running backs that can be effective with some help. So far, no help.
Skins had a very solid run D, and they added talent in the draft. Giving GB a pass because they faced a top D is kind of just moving the bar for the home team. I understand that, but I do think you are not being objective, in a reverse homerism kind of way. It definitely is true that in order to make any noise in the playoffs, the Eagles need to develop a better run game than they’ve shown so fast.
Despite all the injuries in the secondary, (Darby, McLeod, Watkins), our pass defense only got torched by the tight end. Our OL, with its pro bowl players, is weak and unreliable. Our guards are inconsistent and, I believe, below average in talent level, while our pro bowl guys (Peters, Johnson and Kelce), consistently allow untimely penetration both in the run and the pass game. Seomalo is very inconsistent while Brooks seems to be quite an underachiever…..I never see him knock anyone off the ball. I’m just frustrated I guess, because we could be a good team in a conference that doesn’t seem to have a dominant team. Defensive lines seem to be well ahead of OLs right now. But right now, our run game is bottom 5, and that must improve.
I think that’s a very fair assessment. Because we’re basing it on what is still a small sample, I’m trying to be hopeful the line can improve. I’d hate to see an injury, or something, that causes them to regress.
Luckily our QB seems to play better under pressure than he does with a clean pocket.
Sure looked solid in pass pro to me. They were inconsistent in the run game, but they hardly were asked to do it enough to get into any sort of groove.
In fairness to the Bengals, the Bucs and Dolphins haven’t scored a touchdown this year either #analysis
This is the kind of top tier analysis that makes me think you have a future in sports blogging.
In non Eagles news….. GGG – Alvarez should be a hell of a fight tonight.
I’m betting that it won’t be. Canelo showed his stripes when he decided to make a business decision vs. Mayweather and not throw any punches because he figured to save any embarrassment and just lose quietly. I’d imagine he puts forth a similar punk type “effort” tonight vs. GGG.
I hope not. I don’t want anyone to have anymore excuses about GGG, the competition he’s faced, etc.
Dude has been a monster for years now but still doesn’t get the level of respect he should. I want to see Canelo put in max effort tonight.
Heads up out there. SEPTA derailed another train near Spring Garden station. These assholes are getting worse than DC Metro.
I’m glad I don’t have to ever use SEPTA despite living near Philly. That might change in my near future but at least for the time being.
Long term RB idea; want to throw a conditional 7th to Baltimore if they’d give us Dixon coming off of an injury, 1st time PED, and 2nd time drug of abuse?
He’ll just steal a spot from your next UDFA crush.
Not possible as he was a crush of mine is last year’s draft.
WR Anthony Miller out of Memphis looking like a stud.
Please do. And an Erdinger or two.
Random story. I worked as a bell hop in a hotel in Munich back in 1992. Met David Hasselhof on Fourth of July that year while he was staying at the hotel.
Is it blind homerism that I am considering starting Wentz vs KC over Newton vs BUF?