Going For It
Posted: November 21st, 2017 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 326 Comments »
The final score was 37-9, but the game was tight for the whole first half. The Eagles have made good halftime adjustments and I thought that would happen again. As much as anything, I thought Doug Pederson would settle his guys down and get them to execute better.
Jay Ajayi ran for 8 yards on the first play and I thought “There we go!” The next play went for a single yard. That set up 3rd and 1. Ugh. I offered my advice to Pederson and Wentz through the TV. “QB sneak it.” Don’t risk a run where Dallas could have shot gaps and made a stop in the backfield.
Pederson was a lot greedier than me.
He called a play-action pass where Wentz would throw back to the left side for Brent Celek. There is nothing fancy about the play design. Defenses sell out to go for the QB or the run. The TE can fake blocking and drift into space to be wide open. The question is whether the QB has enough time to get the ball to his target. Wentz did have enough time and he hit Celek for a gain of 28.
That play seemed to open everything up. The Eagles scored a TD five plays later and never looked back.
Think about the 2-point conversions. The Eagles went 3 for 4 on those and should have converted on all four. Pederson didn’t just call plays. He had good plays ready and seemed to embrace the situation. Not all coaches do.
Pederson has been aggressive all year and the team feeds off that. They don’t play scared, they play to win.
Part of getting players to excel is pushing them. Let them take chances. Dare them to be great.
Whatever Pederson is saying behind closed doors is working. The Eagles lead the NFL in scoring. They are 3rd in yards. The defense is 7th in yards allowed and 8th in points allowed.
Aggression can help to breed confidence. Halapoulivaati Vaitai isn’t scared to be out there at LT. Jalen Mills doesn’t care that he was a 7th round pick. He’s convinced that he’s better than Deion Sanders, Rod Woodson and Darelle Revis combined. Corey Clement sure doesn’t look like a UDFA. Think about Kamu Grugier-Hill kicking off on Sunday night. No fear. No hesitation. He just boomed the ball into the end zone.
Howie Roseman and Joe Douglas built this roster.
Doug Pederson has built this group of players into a confident, aggressive team. A 9-1 team that sits atop the NFL right now.
*****
League Leaders
O-Line Pass Blocking Efficiency:
Eagles
Defensive pressure percentage:
Eagles
— Steve Palazzolo (@PFF_Steve) November 20, 2017
I still have mixed feelings about PFF, but that is pretty interesting. This team is dominating at the LOS. That’s the sign of a great team.
*****
The Eagles have scored 33 or more points in four straight games. The explosive 2010 team with Michael Vick never did that. The dynamic 2004 Super Bowl team never did that. Chip Kelly’s teams never did that.
I was surprised to see that the 2002 team came close, scoring 37, 44 and 35 points in consecutive games early in the season. There are some ways that the current Eagles remind me of the 2002 team. Both have great chemistry and that “it” vibe. Both were really good at the LOS.
There is one slight difference. Carson Wentz is a tad better than the QB trio of Donovan McNabb, Koy Detmer and A.J. Feeley. They threw for 27 TDs that year. Wentz has 25 with six games left to go.
_
Eagles playing like this is weird and disturbing and I don’t know how to handle it. The team is likable, possibly the most likable in decades.
I still get nervous watching games, but I also have confidence. Even as negative as I am, when the refs decided the ball didn’t cross the goal line, I believed they’d score a TD. This season has been awesome.
It is scary, I am not used to having nice things as a Philly sports fan.
I don’t think I’ve actually fully accepted it yet. I’m just waiting for the other foot to drop, but it hasn’t yet. I’m willing to concede at this point that we’re probably going to the playoffs but beyond that, nada.
I know right? I keep waiting for the sky to fall and I have to keep reminding myself to enjoy this ride while it lasts because it’s been a while.
What a great game!
First half started slow and was a little tense,..but this team really has “it”. In years past we fell into trap games, or had the annual “WTF”loss against an inferior team. This team really has so much fight in them, I don’t think I had this much confidence in the 04′ team when the game is tight. The 9’ers game, the second Skins game, and the 1st half of the Boys game this year..I’ve been confident we’d find a way to win each game. This has been a really fun run and I can’t wait to see how far we’re able to go!
Another note, it’s incredible to see how popular the Eagles are across the country. I’m an Eagles fan living in Northern California, been a fan since 90′.
All my time as a fan here in Cali I’ve met just a handful of Eagles fans here. It’s was awesome to see Eagles fans turn out in LA for the Chargers game earlier this year. A couple years ago I went to a game in Arizona when the Eagles faced the Cards. It felt like HALF the fans at that game were Eagles fans. Crazy.
So this past weekend I was on vacation with my wife and daughter in San Diego for the week I told my wife we can do whatever you want this week as long as we find a cool bar to watch the Eagles/Cowboys game Sunday night.
She agreed and I searched the net for a place to watch he game and believe it or not, there’s an Eagles fan bar in downtown San Diego!
I had the best time and one of the most fun times I’ve ever watched an Eagles game. (Shout out to Quad Alehouse in SD) There were tons of Eagles fans there for the game. A DJ playing music during the commercials. They raffeles off drinks and prizes all night..including a Wentz salute to service jersey (won by a woman who was there with friends while her husband was on a deployment with the Navy! AWESOME). After every score the whole place went ape shit screaming and cheering and all started into a round of the Eagles fight song after every score. My voice is still horse from screaming and yelling so much last night.
What a great time to be an Eagles fan! My wife (who by default now has to be an Eagles fan) has been so supportive and a good sport about my insane Eagles fandom. We got married 3 months ago after dating for 9 months. When we first started dating she’d give me shit saying “why don’t you root for a good team?”. Since we’re on the west coast we’ve been planning on going to a game. I thought we’d go to the Seattle game, and a couple months ago she said “why do you want to go to Seattle just to see your team loose?”. So now, after watching every game with me this year, I asked her this morning “you still think the Eagles are loosing in Seattle?”. Hahahaha
Sorry about the long post, but I’m sooo excited riding on this Eagles journey since 1990. From Randall, to McNabb, to now Wentz. I’m happy to be an OG Eagles fan. When I was initially answering my wife’s question about why I’m an Eagles fan, I told her, that’s my team, good or bad..forever. That I’m not a bandwagon fan, and that ONE DAY, the Eagles will win a Super Bowl and I’ll probably cry like I did when my daughter was born.
Fly Eagles Fly! Let’s enjoy this season, we’re due
Congrats brother. Very cool story. Enjoy
I think someone accidentally flagged Stacks’ comment because I get an awaiting moderation message and can’t reply.
Anyway, great story Stacks. We have a couple games coming up out your way, maybe you should suggest to your wife that you attend both, just in case they lose one like she fears.
Igglesblitz convention at The STACKHOUSE! !
A thoroughly unhappy Dallas denizen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7h3gYOcu5Q&feature=youtu.be
I could listen to Shea in Irving after a Cowboys loss anytime.
His misery is like a cool sip of lemonade on a hot August day.
Man, that moves me to poetry. Hahaha.
There’s no way Shea isn’t an actor
Objection, Your Honor: Argumentative!
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2017/11/nfl-tom-brady-mvp-race-candidates-carson-wentz-eagles-drew-brees-saints
Yeah, Brady is boring. Go Carson!
(PS… The argument that another QB would have this team at 9-1 is specious at best! Carson brain makes this offense work more than his arm.)
Just look at his and McNabb’s wonderlic scores…lol
I could have done without the Wentz bashing to make Brady’s case, but it is hard to argue against Brady.
P.S. – the author of that article is a jerkoff for using Jordan, instead of Wilt, for the MVPs just don’t always go to the best player argument. If you’re not down with Wilt as the true G.O.A.T of all sports; FUCK YOU!
I’m mixed on the subject. Brady gets credit whether he’s surrounded by a great cast or not, so I think the criteria is specious. Wentz has definitely got his offensive teammates believing, and playing better than they have shown pre-Wentz. So I’ll tip my hat to TB for bringing out the best in his offense. Patriot fans and Philly haters can vote for TB, and the rest of the world can go with CW.
As for GOAT, you will ignite a firestorm with that assertive expletive. I don’t know who I would argue for, but it would definitely not be your choice. Did he ever get the best of Russell? And he was almost as bad at the foul line as Shaq.
I don’t really care who wins MVP. It’s a popularity contest. But in the not Wentz category, his 59.7% completion rate is good for 30th out of 35.
Also, scoreboard, motherfuckers.
Also, that Romo clip in there is proof that he’s the broadcaster MVP. Pay that man and give him Collinsworth’s job.
Brady is a snake oil salesmen on top of being a 2-time cheater. Does anyone outside of the New England area even like him?
I’m so tired of hearing how the Pats are nothing without Brady. Not true, and greatest coach of all time. This is just clickbait, I’m going to stop talking about it.
I know it was a while ago, but didn’t anyone learn anything from the Matt Cassell season? Both Brady and Belichick are amazing. Either one can find a way to win. But of course, pricks have to disparage Wentz to prove they’re a Brady fanboy.
Hey Tommy!
You know, this team is so easy to enjoy. Doug and Carson did the post game press conferences. They were like almost apologetic that they didn’t crush the Cowboys for all 4 quarters.
They seemed very reflective since they only went toe to toe with the Boys in Dallas for two quarters before crushing them for the final two quarters. Anybody else see it that way?
I knew that Dallas would be ready for a fight. I thought the Birds could be somewhat sluggish coming off the bye week. I sort of sensed a blowout score eventually. It didn’t happen exactly like I imagined it would, but that’s basically how it worked out. And it all worked out.
The Eagles gave up no TDs all day. But they scored two TDs passing, two rushing and one on defense. No sacks given up on Carson. No picks or fumbles committed by the offense. Over 200 yards rushing and almost 400 yards of offense on the day. All that was on the road in Dallas with the home team’s back against the wall!
And Doug and Carson were very measured and very tempered after the game as if their performance should have been more perfect. Isn’t that amazing?
I really like this team. Go Eagles!
Someone please tell me why this spoiled man child has a job remotely connected to sports. Or anything adult for that matter.
This is a shameless display. What a fucking sore loser. It’s a damn shame Sharpe isn’t a bit, well, sharper, to really skewer the weak points Bayless makes here.
I seriously remember having arguments like this. When I was in 3rd grade. That’s the level of discourse. Sigh. Thank goodness there’s a better level of sports journalism available these days. Fox Sports can go burn in hell for paying this worthless waste of skin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAKofBsj5WY
I’m starting to like Shannon Sharpe again after that….! Hahaha.
you should stop posting on the internet, I believe that you could better your life in prison, maybe drop the soap in the shower and bend over to grab it
A comment like yours can best be responded to face to face sweet pea. Internet tough guy that you are and all.
But since that will never happen the best response I can offer is to tell you to “FUGGOFF!” Thoughtful commenter that I am and all.
You’re talking about him
Very simply put, Bayless should be heckled off of the air if he does any public broadcasting during Super Bowl week if the Eagles make the game. A lot of these characters broadcast live at outdoor venues, so a proper Philly booing should be in Skippy Boy’s future.
Living in the UK I haven’t had the pleasure of Skip Baylis previously.
OMFG is he a moron.
He used to be partnered with Stephen A. Smith on ESPN doing all of that with Smith before starting out on his own at Fox Sports in the exact debate format as before.
Two blowhards. (I mean Smith & Bayless, not you and me).
For the most part, mainstream sports “journalists” have taken this approach. It’s horrible, and a big reason why ESPN and fox sports now (or whatever they call themselves) are struggling.
He’s an unabashed Cowboys fan from Oklahoma. I would expect that nearly all analysts are a fan of SOME team, but they try to not allow it to color their opinions. Not for Skip! He’s allowed to be as unprofessional as he wants. ESPN was smart to fire him. Fox Sports… not so much.
After Bayless rant about how bad their line was missing Tyron Smith
Sharpe: “If you don’t mind me asking: Carson’s Wentz’ Left Tackle–Is he injured?”
Bayless: “…Yeah, but they had one ready to step right in. You know what? The offensive line for the Eagles last night, with Big V in at left tackle, he might be even better than Peters was! I’m serious!”
Sharpe: *eye roll*
IMO, ESPN and Foxsports should only be used to watch the actual games.
I refuse to give that guy ratings, views, or clicks. He is a tv troll who sold his sole for some notoriety and a pay check. He has zero respect in the industry and amongst fans. Save yourself some frustration and ignore all things skip bayless.
I can’t stand Steve A or Sharpe simply for partnering with him on his shows.
Wow! Does Skip Brainless even listen to himself? I call Cowboy fans Cowbabies because of all the crying they do, but Bayless is in a class by himself. Does anyone believe that Lee, Smith, and Zeke would make a 28 point difference? So the Cowboys’ defense gives up in the 2nd half because Lee is out, and their vaunted Oline stinks without Smith, and the Cowboys have no depth behind their starters, and Dak throws 3 interceptions, no tds, and makes bad decisions, but he’s better than Wentz who had 2 tds and 0 interceptions. I hope Wentz wins the MVP so I can watch this idiot commit suicide on TV.
Don’t listen to him, don’t watch him. He’s there to make you mad and watch his schtick. If nobody watches, he will go away eventually.
Well, you know, the Eagles still haven’t beaten a good team yet.
‘cuz the Cowboys are definitely not a good team.
He has a job connected to sports specifically to do what he’s doing here. Annoy enough people that the station gets viewers to see what annoying thing he’ll say next. The stuff he says is stupid, but that’s the whole point.
Just listen to that. If, if if. Okay let’s play that game a second. If the Eagles had all of their starters that are out, against Dallas with everyone healthy, Eagles still win.
I think I’ve seen enough of the NFC to be ready to invest in the Eagles as the team to beat. Teams of the scary variety (Green Bay, Seattle, Atlanta) aren’t that good. The teams jockeying with the Eagles for home field have massive flaws. I can see this team going 4-1 over the next 5 to be 13-2 going into the final game vs. Dallas. We’ll see if that one counts or not depending on what happens with the Vikings, Saints, and our game vs. the Rams down the stretch. Week after week this team is overcoming adversity that would have sent prior iterations of the Eagles to losses and turning those into 10+ wins.
This has been the most surprising season since 2000 and the most enjoyable since 2004.
Saints “almost” scare me
These other teams can score like us. But none of them also play defense like us.
Like us? No. But Min, NO, LAR all have good defenses. Great? No. But their D’s aren’t necessarily a weakness.
what are the ‘massive’ flaws for the Saints/Atlanta/Vikings/Seattle? For homefield – Atlanta/Seattle not in the mix but still very good/dangerous experienced teams…
Seattle has lost Sherman and Chancellor. Also, their OL is suspect and they do not run the ball well. They will not be able to run it all against the Eagles, and Wilson won’t have much time to throw so it will be dink and dunk, giving our underrated secondary and linebackers opportunities to make a play. Wentz will find plenty of holes with 2 of their 3 best players out in the secondary.
QB is still more dangerous than any weapon the Eagles have…WR’s are more than capable. TE is top notch. Seattle lost shut down corner and talent is less…kind of like the Eagles losing their MLB and LT. Every team has issues…Eagles ST’s vs. Dallas was not inspiring…ALL teams mentioned above are very good teams…
Byron Maxwell got burned late in that game by Matt Ryan too. Will be great to see B-Max on the field and toast him with our passing game.
Saints – the line matchups on both sides of the ball massively favor the Eagles.
Atlanta – they’re generally not playing as well as they did last year. Coaching staff turnover really knocked that team down a peg from both a scheme and execution standpoint.
Vikings – I don’t see how they score against us at all and we’d do enough to beat them when we have the ball.
Seattle – They’re really beat up and not likely to even make the playoffs at this point. Wilson scares the F out me however.
I think you are underratign the Vikes. Thielen and Diggs are both going to be the best receiver we have faced all year. And their defense is as good as ours. Keenum is what makes me believe we should be favoured in that matchup, but in no way can you feel confident about it.
The Saints appear to have the best runnign game and what might be the best O-line in football right now. They also have Drew Brees who is still playing at an extremely high level and their defense no longer sucks balls. I think losing Lattimore is huge for them, and so is home field advantage. Assuming those both fall in our favor we’d be favoured in that game as well, but not by much.
Generally, one bad first half like the one we had last sunday would be a sure loss against any of those two teams.
Minnesota then New Orleans are the two teams that could beat the Eagles.
Minnesota has a journeyman QB enjoying a Foles-esque charmed season.
Not scared of them, at all.
New Orleans on the other hand could be tough.
I don’t think the Saints have anybody on D who can slow us down and their O-line ain’t blocking our D-line.
I don’t see anybody that much better on the Vikings than the team our improved team beat last year. And they’re not going to be able to move the ball on us. I would worry about keeping their D line blocked all game however.
Oh, god, how is this going to be painfully taken from us.
lol. Yah, I know. Don’t dwell on it. Gotta believe, gotta believe. Remember, Doug is Goud spelled backwards.
Dug > < Gud
Meh, just enjoy it. Nobody gets better than even odds of winning a SB. Enjoy the ride, if lightning strikes, commence au festival.
Tom Brady
When does his deal with the Devil expire?
I pray against the Steelers in the AFC Championship game. But I’m guessing 2 more seasons from now.
I hope it expires after every play…
still waiting.
Brady is a great QB, arguably the greatest ever. But he’s mortal.
He lost two Super Bowls to Eli frickin’ Manning, for God’s sake.
don’t be a masshole…
The game moment that I think got this train rolling was the bomb to Hollins. From that point on, it seems like the offense has responded to every challenge. They have confidence that if they do their job, the real Dakota will close the deal.
Ride Wentz and this DL as far as they can take them. Hopefully it doesn’t stop until they are down Broad St.
This team has been really easy to at least my nerves and stress level as I feel very much at East that this team has superior talent and can beat the other team in multiple ways! Even for 2004 team, i wasn’t at ease watching those games.
Past Eagles’ teams and even last year might have panicked at half.
Instead as Johnson said they knew they had to come out committed to running in the second half and just did it.
That is the biggest difference with this team this year. Yeah the personnel is better at the offensive skill positions but it is a confident and calm team who has an identity, knows what they need to do, and does it.
Feels a but unfair to judge QBs from 15 years ago by passing TD totals, with that number so inflated in today’s game.
Certainly, Wentz looks like more of a world beater at times than Donovan ever was. But spare a thought for poor Donovan McNabb, who was so much better than we ever gave him credit for.
I think we’d view McNabb very differently if he hadn’t imploded after turning 30.
McNabb played in a different era in terms of passing offense (the fact that fullbacks were still a regular part of NFL offenses and 5-wide sets were extremely rare tells you all you need to know) and lost big chunks of his prime to injury. Definitely not fair to judge him by today’s numbers. Peak McNabb (2004) was every bit as good as Wentz has been this year.
I want to be careful how I say this because I don’t want to take anything away from what 5 did…Wentz is breaking records. If Wentz is breaking records — wouldn’t that mean — 5 was not every bit as good? 🙂
Wentz is phenomenal, and the fact that he’s only in his second means he very well might surpass McNabb as the best Eagles QB ever (McNabb himself thinks he will). But 2004 Donovan was comparable by pretty much every metric and superior by a few:
Comp. %: McNabb 64.1 Wentz 59.1%
YPA: McNabb 8.3 Wentz 7.6
Yards/Game: McNabb 258.3 Wentz 243.0
QB rating: McNabb 104.7 Wentz 103.4
TD%: Wentz 7.9% McNabb 6.6%
INT%: Wentz 1.6% McNabb 1.7%
TDs/game: Wentz 2.5 McNabb 2.2
McNabb’s deep ball, ability after a play broke down, and screen were better than what Wentz has shown so far. But McNabb never developed the ability to “throw a receiver open” – whether that was through being too cautious (fear of throwing INTs) or lack of preparation (as was the grumbling when he got to WAS), it was a continual weakness in his passing game. Wentz is already light years better there.
Wentz will never be as good as McNabb was after the play breaks down, but that’s just because McNabb was SO good. Wentz can be quite good at it. What will determine, IMO, which will be seen ultimately as the better QB will be how Wentz progresses on his deep ball consistency and his screen game. He’s gotten better as this season goes on in both, but I’d still argue 5 was better in both aspects.
We should all hope Wentz has a longer productive career than McNabb did, but that’s in the hands of fate.
Was it really lack of preperation in Washington?
I seem to remember it being his mechanics that they wanted to breakdown and rebuiild.
Might’ve been the fact that McNabb was physically declining and Washington was a mediocre team with a coach on his way out and a meddlesome owner at the time as well.
I’m not inclined to believe it when a team makes a high profile acquisition, it doesn’t pan out, and you start reading anonymous stories about how the player “didn’t buy in” or “didn’t work hard enough” once he arrived – people in the front office have an incentive to spin things so they’re not the ones the owner blames for the failure. Plus the Redskins have a long track record of smearing people on their way out the door (see Scot McCloughan).
Donovan was clearly not a 64% thrower in his career. Who were you watching? Where’d you get that from? One year? 2004 when he was 28 right? You really
I don’t like the career comparison either. It’s not a fair comparison.
When Don was 25, his completion % was 57.8% and he had 25 passing TDs , 2 rushing TDs and 12 interceptions on the year.
I’m not making a career-to-career comparison. I’m making a season-to-season comparison. Somebody said that the season Wentz is having is better than any McNabb ever had and I am demonstrating that that assertion is not backed up by the statistics.
I thought he was talking about records like his rookie record and most completions by # of games in NFL history. Stuff like that …
I don’t know. The bigger issue to me was his receivers were Thrash, Pinky, and Fredex.The fullback wasn’t much of an issue. Josh Parry was targeted a little over once a game . They didn’t use the fullback that much. They passed more in 2002. We have the #2 rushing offense in the NFL.
In 2002, Donovan had a 4.7 TD%. Carson has a 7.9 TD% which spoke to T-Law’s point.
Donovan averaged 36.1 pass attempts per game in ’02 and CW averages 31.8 pass attempts per game. In 10 games in ’02 McNabb had 17 passing TDs. Carson has 25 TDs.
However Donovan had 6 rushing TDs in 10 games and CW has 0. So I don’t think there’s a big difference between them comparing to that one year 2002 when you compare the receiving corps too.
I think Carson could be better though when all is said and done. It’s just too early to really compare them fairly.
I think you’re making my point for me. Back then offenses were likely to use one of their skill position spots on a type of player (blocking back) who was rarely used in the passing game. Nowadays that guy is likely to be replaced by a slot receiver or a second tight end in base offensive formations, with misdirection, motion, or read action concepts used in the run game to make up for the loss of the blocking he provided. That is naturally going to lead to passing games that are more efficient because there are more weapons on the field on any given play. Hence it’s problematic to compare QB stats today to QB stats then.
This article lays it out well – by almost every metric the benchmarks that define average QB play have risen drastically over the last 30 years:
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/14609505/an-average-nfl-quarterback-now-stats-great-quarterbacks-years-achieve-nfl
Never forget Koy ‘The Whip’ Detmer
Seattles entire offense appears to be Wilson scrambling around and picking up 1st downs at a clip of 15 yards per run along with deep shots to Ginn on extremely slow developing bootlegs and roll-outs. At the goal line they throw it to Graham on the post/cross-route or Wilson audibles to a RPO that he always keeps himself and take into the end zone on the outside of the tackle.
Wilson is good, like, real good. He is amazing. But at the same time, it’s ridiculous that opposing defenses doesnt scheme to take these particular plays out of the game entirely. Why on earth is there not a LB spying him at the LOS in 3rd and long? Why is there not constantly a safely playing shade underneath on every roll-out or bootleg? It blows my mind that defenses appear to be surprised by these plays play after play, week after week and I don’t get it.
Would a good D-coordinator with some talent not be able to force Seattle into a game-script that they clearly don’t have the personnel to execute (like, pocket passing and running the ball.)
Basically because those plays aren’t scripted. You scheme to take something away and do, but 7 seconds later he finds a hole in the scramble drill. I’m hoping to see a lot of spies assigned to him as well.
Why can’t D Coordinators figure it out? You should ask the Patriots about that, ha.
I think this is the key. If he has long enough to look around the field, eventually he’ll find someone open. Even the best DBs can’t blanket their guy forever.
So the question becomes whether your DL can get him on the ground before that happens. Most teams don’t have the talent and athleticism up front to stop him squirming away and making something happen. I think we do (especially with how bad their OL is right now) so we should be fine when we play them.
I think rushing under control is the key. I remember last year we really came at him kind of all out, and he burned us a lot because of it. If you can corral him and prevent those big long scramble drill plays I think that will limit what they can do.
They aren’t scripted, naturally. But even so they all look and end up exactly the same way. Like, its uncanny how similar those scramble plays develop. He backpedals away from pressure, breaks contain to either side of the pocket, then he does that backwards spin-move to the off-hand side that for some reason is an enormous surprise to every DE he has ever faced, then he runs what looks like a sweep towards the LoS, pump fakes another DE and throws a 15 yards completion across his body to a receiver that is running directly at the sideline opposite sideline. He seemingly does this exact thing five times every game. Near the goal line he cuts up field and runs it in. Somehow, knowing this is a frequent occurence, seeing it happen over and over again, you’d think D-coordinators would come up with some way of coaching their players to not be surprised by it.
lol @ the backwards spin move. Cox read it perfectly a year or two ago, but Wilson was still faster than him.
Yes, it drives me insane. As in, it literally makes me angry even when it happens to other teams that I don’t give a shit about.
..And thus we discovered that I have a fundamental dislike for Russel Wilson.
Seattle is not a team that scares me at all in a playoff scenario. We would almost certainly be playing them here, and while Wilson is a terrific QB, they can’t run the ball, their offensive line is poor, and with Chancellor and Sherman out their defense is nothing special. Way too many flaws to be considered a serious SB contender.
They don’t scare me either this year, not with that defense being on the down swing. I think we will see this team put up 30+ on them in a few weeks and win the ToP with a decent margin.
Eh, teams do end up taking that stuff away from Wilson in the playoffs. Happens every year – check the record – he’s had historically bad playoff performances. In the past, the defense and Beast Mode would bail Wilson out. I still haven’t seen anything that says he can win from the pocket, but never say never.
I see him as similar to Randall (though he’s clearly a better all around passer than Randall was). He’s a great improviser, but hasn’t really shown that he can simply go out and execute a game plan from the pocket. Which makes sense, given his height. He probably will never be an above average pocket QB. If things break right, he can win a Super Bowl. But I don’t put him the conversation with Brees, Rodgers, Big Ben, or Brady. More at the level of Eli (though obviously different stylistically).
Isn’t Ginn on the Saints?
Oh..
The one worry I had about Darby was whether or not he would continue to tackle as well as the other corners did in his absence. And that’s apparently not an issue at all. Just keep the kid away from Jameis, please.
He was pissed that he had missed all that on field success and is determined to keep this freight train Rollin !!
1. Philadelphia Eagles
2017 record: 9-1
Week 11 ranking: No. 1
Triumph: The Eagles have had an OK season. They have the best record, have scored the most points, thrown the most passing touchdowns, have the best red zone efficiency, forced the third-most turnovers, allowed the second-lowest third-down conversion percentage … you get the point.
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/page/NFLpowerrankingsx171121/nfl-2017-week-12-power-rankings-train-wrecks-triumphs-toss-ups-philadelphia-eagles-new-england-patriots-pittsburgh-steelers-top-board
I’d love to see a 2004 SB rematch too between the Pats and Eagles.
I’d rather not face NE. After 2014 and 2016 I’m convinced that the only team that can defeat Bill in the Super Bowl is the Giants.
Wentz can read defenses, make pre-snap adjustments on the fly, and go through his progressions…he’s way ahead of McNabb in just his second year…Go Birds!!
Wentz doesn’t seem to panic either. He stands in there – takes a hit – and delivers….good combination…
Jesus Christ.. McNabb did all that stuff too.
You don’t become a perennial Pro Bowl QB without being able to do those things.
I love Wentz, he’s great, and he looks to be on pace to become the best QB in franchise history if he stays healthy, but let’s stop with this idiotic McNabb bashing. McNabb was really good.
Yeah I never understood why McNabb got bashed here especially after he left.
Just compare what McNabb had to work with in his 2nd year vs Wentz
RB – Autry, Staley (hurt after 5 games), Pritchett
WR – Johnson, Small, Pinkston, Brown
TE – Lewis, Thomason
Wentz
RB – Blount, Ajayi, Clement
WR – Jeffrey, Smith, Agholor, Hollins
TE – Ertz, Burton, Celek
Wentz has considerably more and better elite talent at the skill positions. Fans forget that McNabb basically was the offense in 2000. He was by far the leading rusher (629 yards) and he carried that offense to the NFC Championship Game.
You put Wentz on the 2000 Eagles and I bet he wasn’t able to do what McNabb did that year.
I think people look back at McNabb’s career with the benefit of knowing how it eventually played out, which is to say, an outstanding career, but not one that took us to the promised land and which had a few high profile disappointments and ultimately unfulfilled potential. When McNabb was in his second year, I remember people being every bit as excited about him as they are about Wentz now, because he was still a blank slate and it seemed like the sky was the still the limit as it does with Carson now.
Fortunately the Roseman/Pederson regime seems intent on not repeating the mistakes of Reid and has made it a point to acquire top-shelf talent to put around Wentz and help him develop his talent from the very start of his career.
Well said.
Let’s hope Wentz doesn’t have to put up with the adversity that McNabb had to.
As Eagles’ fans we have been blessed to root for QBs like Cunningham, McNabb and Wentz. When we give props to one there is no need to belittle another.
Yeah we haven’t been as lucky as the Packers, Colts, or 49ers in making immediate transitions from one HoF QB to another over the last 30 years, but we haven’t been as unlucky as teams like the Browns and Jets who have been perennially unable to acquire a franchise QB either.
You guys are reminding me of why 5 was my favorite player and I once turned down a high-paying gig to watch a playoff game.
A lot of people in Philly hate McNabb. 50% of it is because they never won a ring, 50% of it is racial.
When you hear bogus comments about his supposed inability to read defenses, that is usually a tip off as to which one of those motivations we are dealing with.
And what’s funny is that it isn’t even true. McNabb’s only major flaw was occasional inaccurately low passes due to poor footwork; he almost never misread the D. His INT numbers were really really low. That ain’t misreading a D.
Thank you.
https://twitter.com/BaldyNFL/status/932747796100378624
Baldy’s twitter breakdown is a love letter to Derek Barnett. This one is my favourite.
https://twitter.com/BaldyNFL/status/932741338315059200
Barnett’s hand use and ability to bend the edge are elite. The guy broke Reggie White’s sack record playing for a bad team in the SEC. He’s got to be pretty good.
He’s the perfect example of why you can’t just look at workout numbers. He didn’t test as well as, say, Mike Mamula, but what physical gifts he does have translate much better to production on the football field.
His ability to bend on the edge is really on display when lines up in the wide 9. Watching this video really shows how difficult he can be to block from that position.
I was a left tackle when I played and I hated blocking guys like that. Guys who just have a quick first step/run fast can be ridden up the field past the QB and guys who do nothing but try to bull rush can be stonewalled as long as you can anchor. But guys who don’t let you get your hands locked onto them are really hard to block. I can’t wait to see if Barnett develops an inside counter move he can go to when tackles start lunging to the outside to try to grab him – he’ll be a perennial double digit sack guy if he does that.
That is some Nijinsky balance and bend going on there. Incredible.
I totally agree on not getting hung up on measurables, but the knock on him that he was guessing on a lot of snap counts scared me a lot.
It’s absurd that people were on here disliking the Barnett pick. Yeah, I get that the majority of that was sadness over not drafting the “specific guy” that so-and-so wanted… but the talent is real, and was apparent with his college production.
I liked the pick but I liked Malik Hooker and Jonathan Allen (as a player overall but not for us). I was torn between Barnett and Hooker but figured they’d go Barnett. Even though he wouldn’t help our CB situation, I was so nervous about our secondary at that time and Malcolm is getting older.
I was not on the Lattimore bandwagon (because I’m soft tissue/hamstring intolerant). Honestly, Barnett wasn’t on my radar because I didn’t think he would be available where we were drafting and I was a big fan of Marlon Humphrey. Assets at DE are always welcome in my book, especially with that bend.
if I remember the issue was the perceived lack of enough upside potential. Everyone thought his floor was decent, just that his ceiling wasn’t high enough to be excited.
I don’t watch much college so have no opinions, but this is what I remember.
That was 100% my beef. I though his ceiling was Trent Cole and I didn’t like that for pick 14.
What Rob said; my concern was lack of upside, but not a worry that he would be a bust.
He had every appearance of being a serviceable player without much upside. Going for production vs going for upside is a matter of taste and risk tolerance, and there’s nothing absurd about either choice.
Goff vs Wentz had a similar theme.
Baldy loves to write a lot of love letters…
So looking at some of the videos of the OL, it would appear the Vaitai might legit be an NFL tackle. My question is, do you leave him at LT in the future? It seems like most teams are putting their best rushers against the RT these days anyway, and Brooks/Johnson are killing it over there.
If he’s more comfortable playing LT, I don’t see a reason to move him. Lane Johnson is an absolutely dominant RT so there’s no reason to mess with a good thing.
Unless Johnson wants that LT money and creates a fuss.
He’s already getting LT money is he not?
Yes actually. Good point. He’s the highest paid RT, and the average on his contract puts him around 10th for LTs.
Corey Clement five years ago:
https://twitter.com/CoreyClement_6/status/202787027236823040
https://www.sbnation.com/2017/11/21/16684652/corey-clement-eagles-prediction-tweet
CBS has been removed from Dish Network. Hopefully, the NFL Network will carry the the Cowboys game on Thanksgiving.
It’s really not a good Thanksgiving when I don’t have the ability to watch the Cowboys lose.
These things usually only last a day or so. Too much money lost by both parties to sustain it for long. For broadcast networks government can get involved (even though Dish is a private carrier) making it all the messier.
Chances are it’ll be back by Thursday.
Let’s go Lions!!
When in doubt, reddit.com/r/nflstreams
I’m literally at the point now where I can find a better stream than the piss-poor quality that Sunday Ticket, WatchESPN, and NBCSports are putting out there. CBS doesn’t stream games for free (which IMO should be illegal for an OTA broadcasting station). FoxSportsGO is the only platform that puts out a quality product.
ESPN always has to buffer, NBCSports likes to lag and gets choppy, and SundayTicket I can’t fullscreen without stuttering. I’m cancelling SundayTicket after this year.
I know that CW should be the MVP if the season ended today but if i had to rank all current QBs my list would look as follows:
1. Brady
2. Rodgers
3. Wilson
4. Wentz
5. Ryan
As always your feedback is appreciated in all ways.
Thank me later
GE
Cant argue. I’d rather have Wentz longterm than Wilson but reasonable. I might actually have Watson/Goff #5…
Longterm is a different sorry. That why I used the term ‘current’.
If you want to be really current you need to replace Rodgers with Hundley.
Joe Webb, anyone?!
Not sure why he didn’t get the call off the bench in Buffalo. All he does is win. Is he still in Buffalo?
Ryan meh
Wilson is Mr overrated. Guy is so inconsistent it’s crazy.
I think his stats paint him that way, but when you watch him play, it’s hard to say he isn’t carrying that entire offense. He has to scramble on like 25% of their plays.
Dude
he IS awesome.
I agree. He’s my favorite non-Eagle QB.
Not a bad list, I don’t see too much to quibble with there other than that I might rank Roethlisberger, Newton, and Luck (if healthy) ahead of Ryan.
Also, you forgot:
32.)Foles
49.)Sudfeld
50.)Dak
😉
Nice
Don’t kill me but I think I would take Brees over Wentz right now. Brees has been putting up crazy numbers consistently the past 10 years and doesn’t get enough credit because the rest of his team has been so bad.
If I had to rely on a QB in a shootout or on a game winning drive it would be Brees.
Mea culpa.
Fixed.
That’s a compliment to Wentz. Wilson in 6th year, Rodgers in 10th playing season and 13th season and Brady is in his 45th season.
Replace Ryan with Brees.
list of what, one game right now? or like you get the player today given his age, b/c then Wentz is above Brady. Brady has like 5 more throws tops till his arm falls off from drinking too much water.
Clement already has 7 tds which is crazy considering he’s been our rb3 for most of the season. Dude could easily end up with 10+ tds. Who saw that coming
I think Clements success is partly due to his pass blocking and receiving prowess. He seems to have some big holes when he runs the ball.
On the flip side, when Blount is in near the goal line, teams don’t worry about him as a receiver and are waiting for a running play.
I think Clement is a JAG as a runner, but what I didn’t know was that his hands and body control as a receiver were that good. I doubt Ags could have caught that TD Wentz threw to Clement while stepping into a pass rusher and getting hit a few weeks ago. Clement not only contorted his body to secure the catch, his ability to get both feet in bounds separates him from other players.
was that Clement or Barner down the sideline (short of a TD), that was a nice catch getting both feet in
Barner made the catch against the Cowboys. Clement’s catch was against the Skins.
I cannot entertain thoughts that this doesn’t end in anything less than a SB victory and a convincing one at that. I have been a fan since I was a little boy. My first real football memory is watching the birds lose SB XV and all I knew is that they were my team and they were getting beat and it was scary and sad. I am losing my shit this year. My heart would break if this dream ends too soon. But it won’t and I will not believe for a minute otherwise until that final whistle. FLY EAGLES FLY!!!!!!!!!
It’s a shame those 2 pointers don’t count towards Wentz’s TD count.
They need to address the stat counting on 2 point plays. They should be catches/completions in addition to 2 points.
You haven’t felt satisfaction until your Cowboys friend storms out the back and slams the door to have a cigarette when the Eagles score their 3rd strait TD of the half.
As much as I wanted a full blowout game I’m kinda glad allas put up a fight. Keep this team hungry
This is really off topic/sad but I’m afraid some regulars here might not be regulars anymore if Ajit Pai finally gets rid of net neutrality. The internet might be entering some grim times so lets enjoy it while it lasts.
Ajit Pai is a doofus
I think he’s the only guy in the current administration who can actually speak cogently and intelligently about his job.
I think he’s wrong and a corrupt mouthpiece, but he’s not an idiot.
No, I mean he is actually a doofus.
http://www.multichannel.com/sites/default/files/public/styles/blog_content/public/blog-images/Paireeses.png
https://i.imgur.com/1py7aLIr.png
I don’t understand this but it’s funny.
“Reeses Cups Much there Ajit?”
Hey Bert!
Do you know if the president is behind this effort or supporting it or not?
Is it correct that Pai is a holdover from the previous administration?
Quick google search says Pai is Trump’s choice. Previous FCC head was Tom Wheeler from Obama’s era.
So… Business loves net neutrality rollback to make money and the mass of internet users hate it?
It’s not business that loves it, it’s just the ISPs.
They’re already making fistfuls of money aren’t they?
More is more
Haha. Out of whose pockets though?
They say there are three ways to make money – Labor, creation, and economic rent. When you’re not actually creating anything new, or working hard to produce more output, you can game the system if you have enough lobbyists. When someone does labor, or when a company invents a new product, wealth is created and we all benefit. When a business seeks to simply cut the same pie in a different way to benefit them, there are necessarily losers. That’s whose pockets.
1) I can offer you more value in exchange for more money.
2) Or I can command more for the existing value I offer, and give you less value if you refuse my terms.
If by business you mean internet providers like Comcast, AT&T, Time Warner, RCN, Service Electric, etc., then the answer is yes.
As Sean says, most businesses are against it. All of the major internet related companies are very strongly against it. Apple, Google, etc.
Pai was in the FCC during Obama’s second term administration. He even voted against Net Neutrality stuff during that tenure. But he’s now the head.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajit_V._Pai
He was appointed during the Obama administration (another example of Obama follow bi-partisan norms which have been jettisoned this year) to the Commission.
Trump named him Chairman.
It is a five year term.
He’s a holdover. FCC chair is like the Fed Reserve, I think. It’s a 5 year term.
It’s supposed to be a politically independent agency, like the Fed or the FBI.
The FCC setup allows 3 members of the President’s party and 2 members of the other one. So Pai being a holdover doesn’t exactly equate to Pai being a guy the last President would have named to the FCC if it functioned the same as other parts of the executive branch.
He’s worse than a doofus, he’s a corrupt, greedy, economic parasite.
Yeah, thinking these people are dumb only helps them push their agenda.
It’s fucking bullshit and completely absurd that this is happening.
Thought the days of this might be over but then Pai got reelected as the head of the FCC again. It’s pretty clear that the government doesn’t want us to have internet freedom anymore
I literally do not know a single person that is for this except the politicians voting for it and the companies paying for the reelection campaigns. I know awful, awful people of all political stripes that believe some really extreme shit. I know a lot of people straight down the middle. And I do not know one that thinks this is a good idea. Government is no longer working.
I think they are trying to sell it as “less regulations” and hoping that convinces some GOP people. In reality, none of this holds up. If the ISPs laid down all of the cable and infrastructure on their own I might agree they can do with it as they please, but these ISPs have monopolies virtually everywhere they operate, the internet has been subsidized for them, and so has the infrastructure.
All that being said, shouldn’t this have all been ideally resolved as legislation? I hate allowing these unelected officials heading agencies to make decisions that voters never decided on. It’s not as though Trump had an anti- or pro- net neutrality position when he was elected (i.e. there was no mandate). I think Trump had a sentence where he talked about it once, but was clearly thinking of something different (censorship).
Trump clearly stated that he was against net neutrality prior to the election, and then he appointed Pai, who is basically an industry shill, and who was also publicly against net neutrality.
Trump: “Obama’s attack on the internet is another top down power grab. Net neutrality is the Fairness Doctrine. Will target conservative media.” The problem is that he assumed that this had to do with censorship, and so he was against it. And because of that, he appointed an anti-net-neutrality chair of the FCC. So net neutrality is now threatened because Trump didn’t know what it was. Maybe he’s not concretely against the notion, but his ignorance makes the point moot. Result is the same.
Though we do agree (shocker!) on the notion that ISPs are in any way operating in a truly competitive environment. They do often, as you say, maintain monopolies over given regions. I don’t know if the answer is to have the government roll out the internet access, as happens elsewhere in the world, but I do know the answer isn’t to grant monopolies. A tricky subject.
Oh, and let’s not forget all of the government subsidies, tax breaks, and other handouts from our tax dollars that allowed the ISPs to build those monopolies in the first place.
Trump, who doesn’t use a computer, has never used a computer, is against net neutrality.
But he has them on his desk for photo ops
The quote that laeagle mentioned is the exact one I was thinking of. It’s clear that he was conflating net neutrality with censorship, so it’s unfair to say he was anti-net neutrality based off of that one quote.
But “The problem is that he assumed that this had to do with censorship, and so he was against it. And because of that, he appointed an anti-net-neutrality chair of the FCC” is playing the game where you think you know what’s going on in other people’s heads, so I’ll disagree with that analysis.
Well, not sure how else to take it if he said he didn’t like net neutrality, whether he was clear on what it was or not, then appointed a vocally anti-net-neutrality industry shill as chair of the FCC. It’s playing the game of judging people based on the actions they take in conjunction with the words they say.
I go back and forth on whether I think he is an evil genius playing at being stupid or is actually that stupid, though the result seems to be the same.
The one issue with government control that I’d be curious about is how they charge for access. Would it be billed as a utility? If they actually charged you per downloaded/uploaded MBs, that could get very expensive for some users who currently enjoy a subsidized price.
all the appointments are people on the industry side who want to allow big corporations or big donors to make a lot more money. EPA head doesn’t believe in science; DeVos doesn’t believe in public schools, Interior cabinet member wants to sell off public parks, Tillerson dismantling the state dept. There’s a theme here and it’s not to help the little guy. He won and he thinks he and his friends get the spoils.
Don’t know much about this but I heard the ISPs took $200 billion in 1998 to lay down infrastructure but that turned out “great” for the consumers.
Trump is 100% absolutely too stupid, ignorant, and technologically inept to understand what net neutrality is.
This is the industry using him as a sock puppet/useful idiot, basically.
Even if they did manage to convince some people with the old “less regulation” mantra, that would change in a fucking hurry once people figured out how they plan on gating off their internet access.
The brazenness of the tactics that they’ve used to try and get it through is breathtaking as well.
The problem is that not many people know what it is.
Today’s WSJ headline:
“FCC Plan to Roll Back Net Neutrality Rules-
Sets Up Win for Cable, Wireless Firms”
“Chairman Ajit Pai outlines plan to dismantle rules on equal access, clearing way for media alliances, creative pricing”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/fcc-outlines-plan-to-roll-back-internet-rules-1511282167
“creative pricing”
Gating content that isn’t yours and charging you + the content creator for it.
“Creative pricing” aka gouging customers.
Politicians will absolutely lose their jobs if our internet providers get to charge us a la cart fees for website access/streaming services. This affects every person in the US, regardless of political affiliation.
Here is an example of what your internet bill will look
https://theamericangenius.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/net-neutrality.jpg
It’s crazy because this is exactly what everyone is trying to move away from with TV, and now it’s going to get worse and apply to websites as well. It’s just such a crazy sack of shit money grab by ISPs, who built their monopolies on the tax dollars of Americans. As I heard someone say elsewhere, it’s socialized risk, but privatized profit. In other words, socialism is great when it means the risk is shared by EVERYONE EVERYWHERE (via government handouts to business), but when it comes time to profit, only the businesses get a piece of the pie.
“As I heard someone say elsewhere, it’s socialized risk, but privatized profit.”
That’s what they did with the big bank bailouts too.
One thing it’s likely to do – hasten the rise of better satellite-based internet. Someone willing to offer geographically unrestricted, content-unfiltered internet access should be able to put landline-based ISPs out of business very quickly if they start gating content.
In an ideal world it will also probably lead to internet being declared a utility and a right, as it has been in other countries. Not here, though.
There’s a segment of America that’s so hung up on confining rights to about half of the first 20% of the Bill of Rights that they won’t even admit clean air and water are human rights.
Just wait until they come for your third amendment!
Then again, on a football website, stating that I don’t want to quarter soldiers against my will probably be considered unpatriotic! Support the troops!
The President and head of the EPA don’t believe clean air and water are human rights.
It’s the information age. Internet access should be considered a vital commodity for any functioning and informed modern society, and protected as such.
AMEN
the problem is that Satellite-based internet is subject to a ~2 second delay. Perfectly suitable for browsing and streaming. But any kind of real-time interactivity, satellite goes anywhere from inconvenient to just plain not functional. Example being telecommunication gets that news anchor to field correspondent effect. Online games of any kind that are not turn-based are right out.
Satellite stays dead for a reason. It is never going to be as good as wired. We just don’t have the technology and probably won’t in this lifetime.
It’s not perfect, as there are technological limitations.
But if I have to choose between somewhat spotty, capacity-bottlenecked unlimited internet access, and $200 internet that doesn’t even given me access to all the sites I want from Verizon or Comcast or whoever, it will still be an easy choice for me at least.
This is probably going to be reality since some people won’t care until it happens.
Once it happens it will cause an uproar however.
People may not be that knowledgeable about net neutrality as an abstract concept, but they’ll immediately notice when their internet service goes from “relatively inexpensive and all-you-can-eat” to “really expensive and paid for a la carte”.
Something major would have to change their decision. They sunk a bunch of money into trying to get rid of net neutrality and I’m willing to bet that they’re going to spend more to keep it gone.
Oh, I have no doubt that the ISP lobbyists will still be working hard at that. But popular outrage can still overcome lobbyist pressure, even in the US, and a sudden deterioration in and price increase for internet access will generate a backlash across the political spectrum. Getting rid of NN is a policy for which there is literally no constituency outside of the companies which would be able to gouge the public as a result of it.
I’m surprised there isn’t a larger corporate battle over this. So far it’s the people vs internet providers. And government doesn’t serve the people anymore so…
And it isn’t so much them outright telling you what you can and can’t access so much as throttling your bandwidth to certain services. Any streaming company should be losing their shit: Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, etc. Basically they will have to pay extortion money to ISP’s to allow consumers to access their product with stream-functional bandwidth. And likely will have access to a fraction of the ISP market. Band together and get some lobbyists out there, idiots!
In my area there was Charter and Time Warner, and they are now Spectrum, the only broadband internet option in my region. They are not subject to market pressure anymore. They have a monopoly. The government used to bust these things up back when everyone believed in a competitive free market being a key ingredient to healthy capitalism.
It sounds like the bill is being sent to a different address, with the same effect.
From what I understood previously, the big media outlets like Netflix and Hulu were thought to be okay with it because they can afford to insure their users get higher speeds, while the next Netflix or YouTube or whatever will never be able to get off the ground because they can’t afford access to the preferred group that gets higher bandwidth.
If they are now planning to put those costs on the consumer as well, they should have all the big moneymakers on the same side now. On the other side is innovation, consumers, and voters. And too many of those voters are easily swayed by voting for their “team” regardless of merit.
The problem is that they’ve been incrementally been chipping away at both parties. Besides the generous donations and lobbyists, to conservatives they say “don’t you think a government body like the FCC putting their boot on the private ISP market is bad? Regulation is never good”. When the democrats had control they were saying “should the internet truly be this lawless anarchy? Shouldn’t we have the power to tamp down on bad actors from say North Korea and Russia and websites that promote theft through pirating?”
Truth be told the leadership is so woefully out of touch with technology, They generally aren’t informed enough or care enough to be skeptical of what these special interest groups are telling them. I highly doubt many of them understand the stakes.
Well said. I wasn’t assigning blame to either party. I believe the politicians on both sides are confident enough in a large block of voters that will never cross party lines as to open their pockets without fear of consequences.
VOTE early and often. Too much money to not have it come up over and over again.
Somehow, I managed to live before the internet. I’m pretty sure I can live without it again in the future.
Agreed. If folks care about this they need to be on the phone to their members of Congress as well as hitting up the public comment page at the FCC.
The reddit community and several other online communities banded together to melt the FCC’s servers 3 or so times now as attacks on net neutrality of cropped up several times now, and the wrote off the mass outcry as bot-generated and completely ignored the whole thing. Generally it isn’t a partisan issue, it’s a special interest issue. Enough people call their representative and let them know you are paying attention and care enough to hold it against them and they will listen.
Exactly.
Most of them are being bought off sadly.
True, but most also want to be reelected.
Not when they have enough funds to retire afterwards.
literally the only thing the cowards care about, almost all the money they get and go fishing for is in service of getting re elected. They spend most of their time making phone calls to those ends.
That game in LA is going to be a big one…
https://twitter.com/BenFennell_NFL/status/933050554602967040
Glad I’ll be there!
how are you at live blogging?
Terrible. Baloophi will be there as well, so maybe you can convince him to try.
By there are you refering to the the Eagles vs. Rams? I’m going to my first Eagles game and first pro football game period.
We are all counting on you. Yell loud, get in Goff’s head.
If I could pick a game the Eagles should be losing before the playoffs it would be the Raiders game.
Finishing the season with 14-2 and a perfect NFC record shall be enough to secure HFA.
the Raiders are an underachieving mess of a team. Realistically the Rams Seahawks tandem of games would be the most likely place for a loss
According to the free net, Broncos are making Paxton Lynch their starter on Sunday.
Hahaha. Here we go. Use the rest of the season to experiment!
Man am I glad to be out of that franchise QB-less hellhole they’re stuck in.
we can have fond memories of #5 and still be super excited about Wentz. There’s enough room in our hearts.
We’re overdue for some optimism as Philly fans, aren’t we?
we sure are but I may not have much until we are defending our first SB title.
Do 2 point conversions count in Fantasy Football? The completions, the throw?
I know they don’t in normal stats which is stupid.
I think just the 2 points. Not the yards, attempts, completions, receptions, etc.
That’s what our league does, two points each.
Patriots cut Marsh. I always took him as a fast athletic edge rusher. Not saying it will happen since we have somewhat of a surplus of quality DEs, and don’t forget Means who is on roster but always inactive.
I’m just curious if anyone with knowledge of him views him as someone that would fit what we run. Anybody?
Saints signed Dexter McDougle. Lattimore has an ankle injury.
http://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2017/11/saints_sign_cornerback_dexter.html
Well, it wasn’t a hamstring…
Anyway, now that Atlanta beat Seattle at home, we need to crush them-NO NO NO NO~~~~must not forget the trap game!
BEARS!! Ya going down schmucks! Y’all should know it’ll be risky to play Trubisky against this D-line!
Bears week everyone! Revenge for the fog bowl!
冬天虽已来临，祝您四季如春！
Greengoblin ARMBAR was my favorite play Sunday night. Tone setter Dawkins must be coaching or something
Hated that Collinsworth used that to fluff Dez’s physicality, what!? You thought Mills got the worst of that or that he would be discouraged in any way by that play. Have you met him? Dez will want to keep his hands to himself if people are wrenching him to the ground nearly wrecking every joint in his arm.
I usually like Collinsworth more than most but that was…questionably.
I thought the same thing. He starting a storyline before the replay, then refused to correct it.
I’m sure it was a planned talking point. It was just great that it backfired.
that’s probably dead on.
So give Mills the credit for doing that to someone he was stroking for being physical.
People like that get no credit when they start talking.
Used to hate him. He always seemed to be rooting against the Eagles. Plus he would say incredibly idiotic things, but he’s been a lot better recently. Seems to be much more fair in his comments.
I ran into Collingsworth crossing the street by Rockefeller Center the summer of the Dream Team.
I said something like, “Hey man, the Eagles are going all the way this year.” He laughed and says, “They got a chance. They got a chance.”
Shows what either of us know.
I can’t hate on him anymore. He aint scared
Ewwww you like Collinsworth?? I have always sort of thought he was pretty darn bad.
I like any announcer that sounds like they want to be there. Almost every announcer sounds like they’re tired of football and/or are in mental decline.
1) every announcer seems biased. A centrist seems liberal to a conservative and conservative to a liberal. Generally announcers do a better job at being unbiased than we give them credit for, we are the fanatically biased ones. Throw that complaint out.
2) Are they knowledgeable? Not regarding our team relative to the mass quantities of quality Eagles-focused coverage we consume. The lone exception is Romo, who is so freshly out of the league. He can tell you more about modern football than anyone on TV right now. But otherwise I don’t expect color commentators to tell me anything I don’t know.
So it comes down to preference. I like Gruden (in non-Redskins games, thought he’s on a major downswing in my book) and Collinsworth, because they’re the only ones who actually seem to like football, and excited to watch and talk about it. I actually like Charles Davis a bit as well.
Edit: I hate to say it but Romo is probably the best on TV right now. And he’s agonizingly likable…god dammit.
But Romo has such a high squeaky voice!!!!
Yep, Romo is my fav atm. I don’t mind Charles Davis either. Honestly, not that many guys I don’t like. I hate Buck and Aikman for obvious reasons (and honestly the only duo I can think of that doesn’t seem to want to be there as you put it). Fouts is kinda meh but likeable.
OT but wow this is unprecedented for this type of thing…
The Braves lost 13 prospects and former general manager John Coppolella was banned for life by Major League Baseball on Tuesday for circumventing international signing rules from 2015-17.
http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/21506598/ex-atlanta-braves-gm-john-coppolella-placed-mlb-banned-list-team-loses-prospects
Wow and good!
Mr. Goodell should have done this with Jerry Jones and Daniel Snyder following their circumvention of league salary guidelines in the uncapped year.
I so want the league to exercise the nuclear option and take Jerruh’s team from him. I’ve never been so in favor of team Goodell, I feel sick…and giddy at the thought!
So who is the biggest surprise this season: Kendricks, Kelce, Robinson, Hollins, Clement, Wentz, Mills or Ags?
Kelce. Flat out Kelce. I though he was physically shot, but he’s totally manned up this year and is playing better than he’s ever played before. I’m totally shocked and flabbergasted that he’s doing it.
Can’t be Clement. He didn’t have enough of a disappointing history to match the others as surprises. He was an unknown, but others were “known” negatives. Hollins, same boat as Clement.
Ags I was still holding out hope, Mills I always liked, Wentz was just a surprise in timing. Robinson I had little expectation, but again zero is higher than negatives.
Kendricks and Kelce. I think for me, Kendricks. Maybe I watch LBers closer than I do the OL, but I cursed Kendrick’s name much more often than Kelce in years past.
I think Schwartz going right at Kelce’s neck over why he wasn’t playing more often finally got through. The mental mistakes are WAY down.
Kendricks, but yeah. I think the direct and honest media answers got some guys, particularly Kendricks to respond better than Chip’s passive aggressive BS. I imagine the conversation in meetings follows simiar scripts with both regimes.
I’ll edit. Thank you.
For me Hollins is about what we hoped he would be. I argued on here that I didn’t think Clement would make the team. Crow is being eaten. Flip side of that I said that the stars were aligning for Ags this year, but I still didn’t expect him to take advantage. Kendricks and Kelce are two id go with, but again Robinson didn’t look like he was going to make the team.
! Yes.
Mills for me because last year I was really negative toward him. Robinson was drafted high for a reason but still shocked. Chelsea has done good work before so comeback player to me. Gas has not really done much lately
Yeah, I didn’t pick Mills because I always liked how he competed.
That is either brutal autocorrect or nicknames I have not seen before.
Brutal auto correct of Kelce and Ags.
I nearly died laughing and could see those names sticking if they regress.
I was trying to convince myself I remembered the Chelsea thing, and can’t believe it never came up last year. That seems like it should have been a thing.
Chelsea & Gas. . Great tv gfrom the 70s
Yeah, sounds like a sitcom!
Wentz. Didn’t expect him to make that huge of a leap in year 2.
Good point, I think we all saw the potential there, but he is maxing it out.
I’d say he’s half way there. He’ll be Rodgers someday if he gets that spotty accuracy fixed.
I have to say Clement by far. Right?
He’s what I thought Smallwood was supposed to be this year.
He is better than I ever envisioned Smallwood would be. Looks faster, catches great, runs harder, able to do more with the ball.
Clement’s acceleration through the hole is so awesome. Sometimes it’s not about top speed but the quickness!
He hits a hole quick, accelerates through it, lowers his shoulders, good things happen for the team. Surprising…
Yes, not that it’s a speed thing but a pure recognition of knowing wher to go and the best place to run at all times. .he understands the angles and the space
He is 20x more than I ever envisioned of that bum.
Patrick Robinson was about to be a preseason cut.
Yes.
Would add Jake Elliot to the list
And Seumalo to have the one unpleasant surprise.
And that is pretty much my biggest surprise, Take every concern or question mark on this roster from the offseason: and almost every on of them far exceeded what we thought was the best possible version of those players. It’s really like a 10-1 split for pleasant vs unpleasant surprises.
Almost all preseason hope and hype is built on the assumption of almost everything breaking the way you hope, as opposed to 50-50. Things really have turned out amazing for us so far.
Ahhh I had him on my original list. It got refreshed and I lost it. Swap him in for Hollins.
Honorable mention, Kamu on kickoff duties. Honestly my biggest wtf moment of the season.
Write-in for Vaitai.
Ags. Looks like a really quality receiver. Wish they’d target him more.
Excellent question and discussion sparked.
I’m going to go with Doug Pederson. The large number of players on this list and mentioned below all points to excellent coaching. Guys left for dead, 3rd stringers, trade bait we hope to get a 7th rounder or bag of funions for, are all playing and often at a high level. That only, ***only***, comes with good teaching/instruction/coaching. That plus Doug plays balls out. AND he was like, what, the 3rd or 4th choice of the organization? Coaching equivalent of a UDFA. He’s showing all the signs of being a great leader.
Doug Pederson. Da man. Keep it up.
I was going to add Pederson, but he is easy to default to and conclude to be a huge surprise. So I absolutely agree with you, but felt that throwing him in the mix isn’t exactly apples to apples when the rest are players.
Fair point, but we get to make up the rules as we go on the blog. 🙂
But if forced to pick a player, I’m torn between Vaitai and P. Robinson. Last year the OL collapsed without LJ. I think most of us were terrified of how things would go when JP when down, but Vaitai has played much better than expected at such a crucial position. Robinson on the other hand is having a pro bowl caliber year. Thought he wouldn’t make the team. Given the importance of LT and OL in general, I’ll go with Vaitai.
EVERYONE! ! ROOKIE PLAYERS MAKING MAJOR contributions HOW BOUT DAT!
turnaround players kendrix, AGs and kelce.
Wentz major steps.
Mgt making key additions
Coaches running theball and making half time adjustments !
Kicker.
No kicker !!
Going for it on 4th.
Wish Eagle great JP was on the field for all this. ..and Hicks..but we dare not and cannot undervalue the importence of succeeding in the face of their loss because every other team will try to cry injury in front of us yet we have felt the pain as much as anyone.
Unrelated matter, but need to vent.
ALL PITTSBURGH FANS CAN GO FUCK THEMSELVES WITH A LIVE HAND GRENADE AND PULL THE PIN IN THE PROCESS.
Dumb fucking Bettis supporters on Twitter are the worst.
Also; Evernson fucking Walls was NOT ON ANY DAY OF HIS FUCKING STUPID NEW YORK AND DALLAS EXISTENCE a better player than Eric Allen. Yet walls is on the HOF semifinalist list. Putrid.
Can anyone remember the last RB to drop the rock? I cannot. That’s another reason why this team is successful.
RB drop rock, RB not play.
Smallwood…wasn’t it? Remember Blount had one some time ago and was on the bench for quite some time.
Why did you have to bring it up? Now we’re going to fumble!!
No he didn’t specify team. .he is helping our D create a turnover
Jordan Howard loses one next week. you heard it here first.
Everything is going right this year. They’re just on an ungodly roll.
Clement and Wentz had some early season struggles with securing handoffs.
Last year, we were losing games due to RB fumbles.
So there’s been a lot of talk about Wentz as MVP or not… Honestly I don’t care whether he wins it or not. It would be nice but I don’t think he needs that validation, and as a fan I care much more about the postseason than awards season. Matt Ryan got the MVP last year and I bet you him and all the Falcons fans in existence would prefer the super bowl trophy.
I think he’s going to have a great statistical season but Brady will end up winning it, mostly because he’s Brady. Plus the Pats throw the ball more so he’ll end up with more stats in the end, I think.
STATS! The Return of the King:
http://www.footballoutsiders.com/dvoa-ratings/2017/week-11-dvoa-ratings
I have been a huge fan of Doug’s aggressiveness while he has coached the Eagles. I love that he coaches to win rather than not to lose. With that said, I think the Celek play is an important one for fans to remember. Had that play failed, lots if people would question a play like that. It came with risk, especially with Wentz throwing across his body. It worked incredibly well, but there will ve times that play would fail. I think it is important to recognize that Doug is taking calculated risks, and is clearly aware that sometimes they will fail, but it is still the right decision (4th ans 8 to ne is a good example).
Good point. That is exactly the kind of play that would lead to a week of rants about how dumb Doug is if it didn’t work. And it ended up giving us a big boost.
Just saw this post:
https://twitter.com/NBCSPhilly/status/933190888657788928
This play was definitwly not a simple one to pull off. Clearly a high risk high reward play. And it gave the team a huge boost.