Packages
Posted: September 6th, 2017 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 118 Comments »
Jim Schwartz made an interesting comment in his press conference on Tuesday. He said that the defense will have six packages they can use in the opener against the Skins. That’s hardly a huge deal, but it is interesting for a coach like Schwartz who has been so focused on keeping things simple for most of his career.
I think there are a couple of reasons for the packages. First, the opponent. Washington runs a multiple offense. They have five WRs on the roster and four TEs. They have a pair of RBs that are more than 230 pounds. The primary backup is 191 pounds and lightning fast. They can go big. They can go little. They can spread you out. They can go base. You have to be prepared for a lot of looks.
The other key reason for the packages is that the Eagles have some talented backups that the coaches want to mix in to the gameplan. This is Year 2 in the scheme and that has the coaches more familiar with what everyone can do. There were also personnel changes that brought talent and depth to the defense.
Let’s talk about the possible packages. There are four we know of.
Base – This is the Eagles base defense, a 4-3-4 look that they will use when the opponent has two RBs or two TEs on the field.
Nickel – This is the package that the team plays the most. 4-2-5. LB Mychal Kendricks is replaced by CB Patrick Robinson, who lines up in the slot.
Goal line – This is when the defense loads up on DL/LBs and goes down to only a couple of DBs.
Big Nickel – Schwartz has talked about this a bit. Malcolm Jenkins moves into the slot and Corey Graham takes over his S spot. They use this when teams put a TE or big WR in the slot.
As for the final two, we are less certain.
Dime – This would be a 4-1-6 look. You could go with three CBs and three Safeties or four corners and stick with just two safeties. Either way you’re flooding the field with DBs to play the pass.
95 Nickel – There was a special version of the Nickel defense last year that had Mychal Kendricks on the field at LB. The Eagles didn’t use it much at all. He’s had such a good preseason that the coaches may want to mix this in. I assume he would play alongside Jordan Hicks in the middle, but we’ll have to wait for Sunday to see what they do. Another possibility for Kendricks is running a 3-3-5. That would be three DL and then all three LBs stay on the field. This would be a good look for blitzing.
NASCAR – This is where you would have only pass rushers on the DL. Most likely it would be Graham – Cox – Curry – Barnett on the field together. Chris Long could obviously work in there as well. Since this is just a front, I don’t know if Schwartz would consider this a package. The back seven would be a standard Nickel look.
I’m curious to see how Schwartz uses his players this year. With better depth on the DL and in the secondary, and with the emergence of Kendricks, Schwartz has a lot of interesting options.
*****
We know the Eagles offense will use packages. They did that last year. There are much better options this season.
The big focus on offense is how the coaches will use the RBs. The coaches get a ton of questions on this and generally give bland answers. I think they are keeping an open mind and going to let the players dictate what happens.
Chip Kelly used to say that players set the depth chart. I think that will be the case here. The coaches have an idea of what they want to do, but LeGarrette Blount is new to the offense. They need to see how he fits in during regular season games. Wendell Smallwood looked terrific this summer. When he was healthy, that is. If he hits the field on Sunday and looks great, why would you play someone else over him? If Blount is running all over the Skins, you leave him in.
Darren Sproles is the one known commodity. He will play a lot on third downs, but will also get touches with the base offense. He is healthy and fresh after a summer of light work.
I am curious to see if the Eagles have a fourth RB active. With the top three healthy, the coaches may look to go heavy at some other position. If someone does play, it will likely be Corey Clement.
_
Packages notwithstanding, if Tim Jernigan does not get penetration on a consistent basis, I expect our DL will be more bark than bite. Cox will draw double-team blocks frequently, so I believe Jernigan is a key to our defense getting off the field. Cousins has displayed accuracy versus the Eagles D, and if he gets time, he’ll move the chains. He needs to get chased and frustrated early.
Given Jernigan’s track record of getting up field when asked to so in Baltimore, I’m really not worried about him getting pressure.
Really want to see them playing NASCAR front 4 more this year. One of Curry’s best situations historically was when he was able to slide inside and take on OG’s and beat them like a drum. Last year they hardly ever asked him to slide into DT on 3rd and long and i think that wasted one of his greatest strengths.
With so much quality depth at DE this year i really hope the Eagles bring that out, maybe even pairing Kendricks with Hicks to have pass rushing potential from the LB’s (although i always think Schwartz if he is bringing extra men prefers slot and safety blitzes to bringing an extra linebacker).
I also think we will see a lot of match up big nickle. They brought in Corey Graham for a reason, and if a team has a bigger slot WR or a purely move TE then i think we will see a lot big nickle. Also think it might be a good look against hurry up offenses, since it should be solid enough against the run while be flexible enough to play the pass if they line up TE’s and RB’s out wide.
Totally agree. I feel like he is a little mis-cast in the wide 9. His strength is the initial move, not long speed. Let him make one of his sick moves and be in the QBs face when he takes the snap.
Good stuff, Tommy, thanks.
I would love some 3-3-5 in obvious passing situations. Kendricks is again looking like the play-maker he was under *gasp* Billy Davis. Even some 95 nickle (cool name), if he is going to blitz or have an assignment the coaches feel good about. Bradham isn’t as sexy right now but the dude is a beast. If Kendricks is playing at his potential though, don’t think he can hold a candle.
I hear what you’re saying, but I’d rather have a ‘four aces’ kind of thing with the DL. Those guys are the best unit and the best individual players on the team. Four pass rushers on 3rd and long, maybe some packages with a blitzing-or-not Kendricks and Hicks and 5 DBs.
I think, in general, the more the Eagles rely on their front 4 the better the results will be.
EDIT: I see Fufina said a similar thing but better below.
I don’t think doing one means you can’t do the other.
I was very interested in this until I saw “Kendricks” and then started imagining missed tackles and blown coverages.
We haven’t really seen any of that in the Jim Schwartz era. I wouldn’t mind giving him a few more opportunities and seeing what he can do with it.
Not sure why the Eagles’ LBs are getting so much criticism this preseason.
If Kendricks and Hicks can stay healthy (big if), I actually like this group more than any other on the defense including the DL.
Depth is an issue but it is for most NFL teams.
I can’t say I take to much exception with that at all. The D-line could certainly be the best unit too. It is just a good looking front 7 on paper.
http://www.espn.com/blog/nfceast/post/_/id/77689/brandon-graham-the-sci-fi-making-of-the-worlds-strongest-eagle
Great article about B.Grizzle.
Saw some field-level close up high lights of his, his speed, power, and violence really pop from that view. He’s like a tasmanian devil out there.
I never heard alligator arms used as a compliment before…but FC makes sense.
Wasn’t a compliment, ha. He was making fun of him for having short arms. I do the same to my short friends who lift significantly more than me, because it’s the only win I can get out of that situation, lol.
Less pork more torque.
I’m a tall lanky guy that can’t gain wait. In my case, it’s more pork more torque.
Man, I would love to see the peer reviewed evidence behind some of those machines…
Yeah, that all sounds… suspect. The one sounds borderline dangerous. I can’t imagine it’s good to artificially raise your BP while resting after a workout.
The placebo effect might be strong with those, it’s true.
So I need help Blitzers. What is the best PFT alternative, that is more like PFT was before Florio became a political activist?
I don’t believe that exists.
Bleacher Report?
his football talk was dumb enough to keep me away, It’s terrifying to think of him getting political.
Tbh I would usually stick to the Rosenthal blurbs, msd was ok when he had Gregg to model himself after. The place has been a garbage can since Rosenthal left.
Rosenthal is on my list due to being a frequent Cam fluffer.
lol, not sure I recall any Cam stuff of his personally. He may have left before Cam was really a thing honestly. I can’t keep track of what happens and when anymore.
And legalistic. Enough of that eisewhere w/o bringing it into sports, where a refuge is sought.
I’m probably more tolerant of that sort of stuff than most, I don’t see football as a sacred space. We’ve gotten to the point we are so offended by other points of view, we have 0 shared space or commonality. I can sort of appreciate us all being on the same page and talking about stuff we all saw. But if you are going to get into it, you better be thoughtful. That’s the difference between kaepernick and Malcolm Jenkins.
That said, Florio was a thoughtless blow-hard in his sports writing. I sure as hell don’t give a damn about his political opinion. And I don’t even know what he believes. Don’t care.
The difference between Kaepernick and Jenkins is the relative media and social clusterfuck behind them. Kaep wasn’t even the first to sit for the national anthem, and had done it a week before anyone had noticed. I don’t think he ever imagined it being the shit storm it turned into when he started this. Somehow, somewhere, this whole thing became so much more than the man involved or what he did, that at this point you can’t make a comment about Kaepernick that has nothing to do with this protest. Like if you were to make a statement like “Man, Colin sure parks his car like a dickhead”, get ready to be called a tone-deaf racist. And hey, maybe those responses have a point, and maybe they don’t, but the gulf between that response and the response to Jenkins is worlds different for all sorts of reasons beyond their ability to explain themselves, because this is so far beyond what either of those two men have done or are doing.
My advice is: don’t mention Kaepernick unless you’re talking about his ability to throw or run a football, and/or don’t mention Kaepernick if you intend to have a conversation about police violence.
At least Kaep actually does it on the field. I can’t remember who, but there was one player that just stayed on the bench.
I think the Kaep situation sparked a larger conversation on a topic we only discussed within our ideological cliques. And I think that was a good thing overall. I give Kaep no credit for it though, dude was just mad at cops and America (took a lot of smart people defending him to convince me to be okay with it, that he had a right to be mad and express himself), and had no real intentions of doing anything but sit there pouting (imo). The story erupted around him because he was a household name. Recently played in a Super bowl. Compare that to Jenkins who can speak to the nuance and challenge of the situation. Use his platform to try to understand the job that cops do by going on ride-alongs, meeting community leaders, meeting politicians to talk policy. Then try to bridge that to meaningful change. It’s night and day imo.
I think the only thing I’m publicly willing to say about Kaepernick, the man, at this point, is that he isn’t a saint, but he doesn’t need to be to be a movement leader.
Jenkins is obviously a much better spoken guy, but had the media and internet decided to focus on him, he’d have equally been demonized in the public eye.
The worst part of him being legalistic is that he was DEAD wrong on Brady and now is DEAD wrong on Elliot. Maybe Goodell did his wife.
I wouldn’t be suprised if they’ve got a 3-4 look that functions more like a 5-2 for WASTETEAM to match against heavy personnel packages
What would the front 7 look like?
https://almanacnews.com/news/photos/2011/july/25/6968_main.jpg
I need LB’s too………….
…
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6d459388c539655346dcf37bc228cb90d58b429187c5a9ecc80b4e2259c51443.png
So, Hicks and Kendricks. Got it.
Who is wearing the dress?
You know.
You misspelled “Bradham” as “Kendricks.”
I can’t spel
Long(Barnett)-Curry(Vaeao)-Cox-Jernigan-Graham
Nasty line!!
Amazing as neither of your “2” are going to be Kendicks!!
I expect Jason Peters might have a response to this in their next game:
https://twitter.com/BleedingGreen/status/905480741265563648
I missed football more than I knew. This is the stufd rivalries are made of!
yeah it’s great, it sucks feeling like the players really don’t care about these rivalries near as much as the fans (and possibly about football in general). These juicy situations we get to sit back Palpatine the situation on.
I was all ready to flip out because it was going to be an article about a planned head or knee shot, but I can’t get worked up over a guy looking to rib hunt.
i am feeling exactly the same – was outraged by the headline (which is clearly my mistake!) and read his quote… its not quite the same.
it comes across more like “hey i know that guys got sore ribs, i should try to hit him there to remind him how sore he is.”.
the ribs/chest area is the place you are *supposed* to tackle guys. on one hand, it sounds like he had intent to injure, but on the other hand, it sounds like he had intent to make clean hits/tackles.
My guess is that the BLACK players will protest perceived issues during the season and further turn off the NFL from whites.
Hey, you guys want to head over to some Nazi websites and post about football?
No sir. I have productive hobbies.
Even if I didn’t, I could name like 4-5 different unproductive ones that would rank above screaming into a vacuum. Can we get this young man a browser with an incognito mode and a link to a free porn website?
Ha!
I was mostly thinking of how sad and pathetic it is to fail at trolling an Eagles board.
glad to see everyone here is just ignoring the crap, rather than engaging & encouraging it.
Very true. The block feature is a gift. I can’t even see the comment, so there is no temptation to respond.
It took a while tho, last year we had some real issues with people responding to the troll.
It also seemed like it was one particular guy doing it, too.
I can see you on a bad day in your office; son, what you really need is more porn and a weed habit. Here’s a number you can call…
You say this like half the people in your office *aren’t* going home to some mix of beer, weed, porn, and video games.
Got block features?
Meh, blocking ain’t for me.
Suit yourself.
Zach is that you?
Didn’t know they liked football.
Everyone does. It’s the 1 thing repubs & dems argue about nicely
Was it the guy below you? He’s showing as blocked for me. I can’t even unblock him to see what he said.
Yeah. Same moron as always with same moronic garbage.
Why do you keep responding to him? Just block and ignore him.
I don’t respond. Just want to know who’s up for talking football on over at stormfront?
Having not really followed along this week, what the hell is going on with Sua Cravens down in WASTEAM?
My guess is somewhere between Ricky Williams, Walter Thurmond, and many of those who retired early to avoid lifelong deteriorating quality of life/CTE etc….
Yeah, weird situation. And a lot of conflicting reports coming from the situation.
Always fun telling friends and co-workers about this site. Just me, a bunch of dudes, passionately talkin’ bout packages.
Good analysis, Tommy. One question, though: they had a Dime Package last season, didn’t they? As soon as there are 4 WRs out there, you have to counter that. And since 4 WRs is very often obvious passing downs, what does a second LB do to you? Have to have DBs on the field to cover these WR.
That being said, Hicks and Bradham regulary played 100 or 99 percent of the snaps last year. You don’t see 4 WR often, but I think a little more than those numbers would indicate. Would be crazy to me if they didn’t have a Dime package last season. That’s basic stuff, especially in todays game, imo. Almost as basic as Base and Nickel.
There were multiple different versions of the Dime last year depending on injuries. I think it was a 3-3 dime down the stretch, with Watkins as the extra safety and Carroll, Mills, and McKelvin as the CBs. I think the the early version was four CBs with Brooks replacing Watkins in that grouping. But I’m sure it was all over the place while they figured out what worked best.
You mean 3-2 Dime, don’t you? You’d have 12 man on the field otherwise. 😉
But good point. That’s how Hicks and Bradham played as much as they did while still being able to play against 4 WR looks.
I just meant the breakdown of the 6 DBs. 3 CBs and 3 safeties. Didn’t even occur to me you said that that’s not at all how they label those things. My bad.
One would imagine the injuries in the secondary made the dime package increasingly less attractive as the year wore on.
Packages from Colorado
I have a big and fat package. Fortunately, I will be relieving myself on a nice babe Sat night, that way my package can take a rest on Sun for all the games.
your family worked for mine on a plantation, I whipped your granny because she talked back to me,
Don’t be jealous, maybe one day you will get to experience what I will Sat night with a fina babe. But, Sunday I will rest because I’ll need it and watch the Eagles.
Crybaby!
这里来不够，看不够，玩不够！
Has Schwartz said anything about Barnett and how he might be used early on?
Is he primarily going to be in on 3rd down/pass rushing situations with Long on 1st/2nd down?
Schwartz has implied he will be in the 2nd wave of DE’s to come in, so i imagine he will play mainly with Long when they are giving Graham/Curry a breather. That normally converts to being about 35-40% of the defensive snaps.
He may get spot started on 3rd on long over Curry, or if they run a fair bit of NASCAR type packages, but Schwartz hasn’t given any indication on that front. I would guess he plays ~40% of snaps total mainly as part of the 2nd DL but with a few 3rd and longs with the starters.
Interesting piece by Bill Barnwell looking at the NFL teams chances of making the Super Bowl this year.
Barnwell has the Eagles with the 1992 Cowboys as a young team that makes a linear jump in the standings. Also includes the Titans (who I really like to win the AFC South this year), Vikings (overrated), Bucs (I see them either having a breakout year at 11-5/12-4 or crashing to 5-11/6-10), and Raiders in the same group.
Bad comp because this isn’t a young team and the 1991 Cowboys were already a really good team that finished the year on fire.
Just ran into a buzz saw and a QB (Erik Kramer) who had the game of his life in the 38-6 win Divisional round blowout. If the Boys win vs Lions, I would have liked their chances to beat a very good Redskins’ team the following week in the NFC Championship game.
1991 Lions playoff win is the last time they have won a playoff game too.
“Philadelphia Eagles
Super Bowl odds: 1.9 percent (tied for 16th)
The obvious path for the Eagles goes through their quarterback, where the hope is that a second-year leap from Carson Wentz will push them forward in a crowded NFC East. The truth is that they might already be there without Wentz playing at a high level, given that they produced 9.0 Pythagorean wins in 2016 despite an uneven season from their high-profile rookie.
The 7-9 Eagles were just 1-6 in one-score games, so with a bit of luck, they might have made it to the postseason as a wild card last season. Given that underlying level of performance, if Wentz and his new group of receivers take off, the Eagles could be a bona fide Super Bowl contender without requiring much luck at all”
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/20591865/bill-barnwell-2017-nfl-preview-case-all-32-teams-play-super-bowl-lii
I don’t see us making the jump to the top tier this year, but anything else is on the table IMO.
Always fun to see the other perspective and even though the MASN guys are down on the Skins this year (nobody has them making the playoffs and most have them at 7 or 8 wins), they are pretty confident they are going to beat the Eagles this week.
Seem to think that Skins will be able to outscore the Eagles and Cousins will have another decent game vs Eagles.
Cousins was decent but certainly not spectacular vs Eagles last year. Managed to put up 27 points in both games vs Eagles last year.
If the Skins put up 27 points again, they’ll win on Sunday. If the Eagles can hold them to 20-23 points, I like the Eagles.
I just don’t see that the Skins’ offense is that dynamic although it is a decent overall unit with an underrated OL and skill personnel group even without Jackson/Garcon.
I bet Pryor has a big day (100+ yards) vs Darby on Sunday including a long TD (20+ yards) too.
I certainly wouldn’t under estimate that team. Still think we win.
I don’t think we will let them score 27 this year. . Better D for us by a bit and no DJax for them .. think they don’t break 20 pts
..just how many can we score. .think we win 24,20
If our D takes the next step, we might be a tough out this year.
Wow. I am so upset. This is the most excited I have been for a season and i am alwas jacked up for this. The problem? Fuckin Erma. I currently reside smack dab right above Miami about a half mile from the beach. Not onlu may I miss week 1, by they ae saying the power may be out for 2 months. Lol, iguess you know you are a true Birds fan when the most powerful store ever recorded in the ATL ever recorded is about to land in your back yard and the Eagle games are one of your top concerns.
All jokes aside though, please keep you fingers crossed for me.
all jokes aside, you should evacuate so you can see the game
this is good life advice, which also happens to be good eagles fan advice too.
It’s to late. Like a typical northeastener I downplayed the storm until I realized how bad it is.
Keep safe.
Damn dude, sorry. Be safe. We’ve all been waiting all summer, and then this crap comes up. “Man proposes, God disposes.”
Electric out since 4 am. I hope I can stream game on phone. Issue was good phone was stolen and idk if this phone has the computing power to handle it. More then likely you guys are going to be my lifeline for a few days.
Off topic no. 1. Hurricane Irma. Please encourage anybody in its path to get out.
Off topic no. 2. I wonder how many players will be kneeling before games this weekend. I hope all of them.
Anyway enjoy the games.
The cop was clearly wrong in the Bennett situation and his actions underline a serious issue going on in this country. There is absolutely no excuse for it.That said, why is Bennett running? Again, no excuse, but the entire situation escalated due to Bennett acting like he was guilty.
It’s like a woman going back to a dude’s house acting like she wants to spend the night. Just because she is giving mixed signals doesn’t mean she deserves to be raped. However she probably could have done a lot more to not put herself in that situation.
I think in regards to the relationship between police and African American BOTH parties need to do a better job and work every single day at improving the relationship together. Pointing a finger and hoping for change simply doesn’t work. Both sides need to be part of the solution.
“That said, why is Bennett running?”
because gunshots?
Not the way I understood it. He ran after the cops showed up and told everyone not to move.
I also acknowledge I can be totally incorrect on that as I haven’t been able to follow it all that closely. Trying to get out of FL
There’s an element to this that doesn’t get talked about a whole lot, and that’s that with how quickly news is pushed out and how extreme the knee jerk reactions are, it’s very common for people to adopt a stance on a situation before all the facts are revealed (people like to take new information and fit it into an existing narrative).
I don’t know what’s going on with the Bennett situation because I haven’t really been following it, but I have observed this happening in other high profile situations.
As a journalism student though I have to say that our industry definitely contributes to the problem. Our behavior is so profit motivated that ethics go flying right out the window.
Well stated.
Good luck. Be safe.
IMO black people run because cops are dangerous to them. (disclaimer: I’m not black, and I wouldn’t run, but I am a minority and have long hair in Arizona, and I don’t think all cops are my friend).
Just talked to my uncle last night who lives near Ft. Myers, he’s planning on staying, but I think that’s mostly because he doesn’t feel like he has anyplace to go. He does have a raft and supplies ready, and I told him I’d take the boat down to pick him up if need be.
Be interesting to see if we combine Tommy’s 95 nickle with the big nickle, similar to TCU’s 3-3-5 to combat spread teams.
I guess Fletcher would be the nose in a 3-3-5? Traditionally I would vote against that package because it would put Kendricks in a coverage package, but maybe he’s turned over a new leaf.
I mean, anything is possible right?
It would most likely be Graham-Jernigan-Cox
Quite a roster-building job the Eagles front office has done this off season. Still can’t figure out where the cap space came from. But now there’s a lot of new key veteran and rookie pieces on offense and defense to work with. This team could go far. But first up is Washington. I think the Eagles have all the edges including the multiple year revenge motivation, and the talent to back it up on the field. Looking for a 28-23 win.
Anyone else finding this site running real slow lately? I whitelisted the site, I wonder if it’s ads.
It might be slow now that it is whitelisted, but it is fundamentally sound.