Just What They Needed
Posted: December 21st, 2017 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 117 Comments »The last two weeks were long, awkward games. There were moments when the Eagles were on the verge of taking complete control of the games and playing to their dominant potential. But then something would happen and they found themselves trailing or holding on for dear life.
That made the games less about fun and more about relief when the Eagles came away with tight wins.
I wrote my column for PE.com on how the tough games will actually help the Eagles out. Playoff football is usually more about close, tough wins that blowouts or comfortable victories. Those games helped prepare the Eagles for January.
- On the road
- Facing a loaded team that is having a breakout season one week
- Facing a desperate team with a talented, veteran QB the next week
- Huge momentum shifts in the games
- Blew a lead and then traded TDs as the lead changed hands in LA
- Got behind early, came back and then had to fight to keep the lead in NY
- Big lesson in blown opportunities each week (mostly dropped INTs and missed tackles)
The goal here is for the Eagles to go win the Super Bowl, not play perfectly in the regular season. The Eagles were sloppy in both games and had to really fight to come away with wins. They felt real game pressure (I know I did).
It would have been fun to see the Eagles blow the Rams away. It would have been fun to see them stomp on the Giants, with Sad Eli Face showing up over and over. But neither of those outcomes would have really helped prepare the team for the postseason, when things are going to be tough.
The Eagles have two weeks left. They need to play much better football in these games. If the Raiders and/or Cowboys play great and give the Eagles a tough game or even beat them, so be it. We need the Eagles to get away from the sloppy play.
The one down side the last two weeks is that the Eagles made so many mistakes. You love the fact they overcame them and still won, but it would be a bad sign for the team if that kind of sloppy play happened in the final four games of the season. The Eagles don’t need to be perfect, but there have just been too many mistakes. That has to stop or this will be a short postseason trip.
*****
This is pretty cool. You love it when the competition supports you. That really means something.
Giants DT Damon Harrison offers his take on Jason Kelce not going to the Pro Bowl…
1000% deserves to be a starter in the Pro Bowl…this is robbery this is why I question the format https://t.co/dStSDVhk0N
— Damon Harrison (@snacks) December 21, 2017
_
No need to conclude that the defense will be a problem for weeks to come. It’s a big strength of the team and has been all season.
A tough road trip is a tough road trip. Two out of three wins the last three weeks is about the best anybody expected. Many predicted a couple of losses there.
We got the two wins we needed the most against the Rams and the division rival Giants. Other contenders have been losing games like that down the stretch, haven’t they?
Home cooking the next two weeks. And in the playoffs. Our team and our coaches can make it happen. And the big news is that Nicky Foles can keep us on track at QB.
Home field advantage throughout the playoffs is our next goal. We control our own destiny. No need to listen to naysayers from NY, DC and TX.
We gonna crush the Raiders on Christmas Day! Get ready for the playoffs! Go Eagles!
Definitely cool that an opponent you face twice a season complains when you do not make the PB. Nice move by Harrison.
Bottom line is the team needs to play better and more consistently vs the Raiders. There is still a lot to play for to get HFA and #1 seed. I especially want the defense to shut down an opponent and get their confidence back.
I thought Snacks was going to be an Eagle actually, after Bennie left. I figured we’d replace one run stuffer with another, but then we got Jernigan and I can’t say I’m unhappy with that decision.
I agree, Jernigan has been quite good even though his production has dropped off a bit from earlier in the season. Did not know much about Harrison, but seems like a quality person.
The old Eagles would have lost the past two games. The new Eagles find ways to win.
1000% huh? That seems…Giant.
Why the lack of love for Reich but tons of praise for DeFilippo to be a head coach?
It seems DeFilippo gets the bulk of the credit for Wentz, but since when did being a good QB coach automatically translate into running an NFL franchise?
Andy Reid?
When Andy was hired, I was under the impression that the Packers OC, Sherm Lewis, did not interview well in previous head coaching searches. Maybe Reich’s interview with the Bills did not go so well last year and the league took notice.
I don’t think automatically translate is anything that anyone is saying.
But sometimes there’s a general understanding of – whoa this guy is a clear stud. It seems like for those in the know, it’s like seeing a pickup game and being like “that Michael Jordan kid just has a gift”. There might have been some very good players in the game other than him, but….
That’s the sense I’m getting. That’s all.
Yeah, I can see that. I should have rephrased my question to be, what’s wrong with Reich? Evidently the same thing that has Twitter clamoring over DeFilippo is the exact thing Reich doesn’t posses.
I don’t agree with the correlation. “Whoa that one is gifted, therefore there’s something with the guy next to him”.
Huh?
If (Lawlor default) Megan Fox is in a room with other women, where is the logic that says all the other women are butt ugly?
Huh? Your analogy makes no sense.
Ok put it this way (sans analogy).
Why does saying something about Flip have to imply something about Reich. You’re automatically making an implied connection between the two when people talk about one.
It’s like if I say “Brandon Graham deserved to be in the pro-bowl”, and you’re like “What’s wrong with the other DE’s”? Making a statement about one isn’t necessarily related at all to the other.
An offensive coordinator has much more responsibility than a QB coach.
Reich by most accounts did a good job in San Diego as an offensive coordinator but seems to have been fired as a scapegoat for Mike McCoy (who is not exactly tearing it up as OC for the Broncos).
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000617243/article/chargers-fire-offensive-coordinator-frank-reich
Fipp was the OC for the Brown 3-13 season in 2015. Otherwise, he has never been anything other than an QB coach at the NFL level.
Reich has more experience and more success. Reich is also Fipp’s boss.
If Reich’s assistant coach is considered a better head coaching prospect than he is, there is no other way to interpret that than Reich is missing some sort of head coaching quality that others think Fipp has
Ok. You’ll see it your way no matter what. That’s fine.
They’re both pretty good candidates and one or both could get offers to and/or go. A lot of people are building buzz about one of them. That’s that.
“Ok. You’ll see it your way no matter what. That’s fine.”
Ditto
Well for starters… he can’t be considered by any team who has already hired two Reich’s.
Brutal.
since 1999
Think the whole way most teams hire Head coaches is idiotic. Being a head coach is about managing people, emotions and situation, not X’s and O’s particularly. If a head coach builds and recruits a strong staff and is good at motivating and getting players to play for them that is all that really matters.
Being a genius coordinator does not really require those skills, especially if you have a charismatic head coach who is good at motivating players. I think teams are attracted to the ‘hot’ coordinators as they feel it is the only way to add them too their team, but the reality is there are plenty of smart people out there who can analyse what the great offenses/defenses do and add elements to their own scheme if they are flexible and willing.
Think that is why Doug has been such as success, his players love him, has built a quality staff, manages the relationships well with the front office, and offensively he is willing to take anything and add it to the scheme if it works. I love the fact while our offense is west coast based, it has plays from almost every scheme in the last 20 years of the NFL.
I agree 100%.
If I remember correctly, Andy was interviewed based on a recommendation from Holmgren. Nobody had him remotely in contention for the Eagles job.
However, when he presented his big binder and full-blown game plan on how he would run the team, he blew the other candidates out of the water.
I remember Harbs couldn’t sniff an interview either, evidently due to his lack of specialty on one side of the ball. That’s when Andy made him the DB coach. All Harbs needed was an interview to show he had a great plan on how to run a team and Baltimore hired him.
The whole thing about coaches and managers being ex-players is weird to me. Like Herm Edwards at ASU being the extreme example. No, Matt Millen.
Playing is a different skillset than being the CEO or general of a football team.
Because he also developed Derek Carr. Reich has less of a proven track record of developing young QBs. If you plan on drafting a QB or already have one in the building DeFillipo has real appeal.
Did he develop Carr? He was his QB coach for only his rookie season.
Yes he certainly had a hand in it. Then coached Wentz for 2 seasons. People value his experience helping develop 2 of the best young QBs in the league. I don’t get you objection to it.
I think you’re giving him way too much credit for the success of Wentz and Carr.
How did he do with Johnny Football?
My point is, in hindsight, it was pretty apparent Wentz was going to be successful and Manziel was going to be a disaster, regardless of who their QB coach was at the time.
Peyton, Brady, Brees, Roethlisberger, and all the other top franchise QBs were not developed by their QB coaches.
Why do you assume that any young QBs success is based upon their QB coach? I would argue Pederson is due much more credit for developing Carson than Fipp.
I never said I believed he was qualified. I personally think he should be an OC first, but we don’t know him personally. Some Guys are just ready to be a HC.
You asked why “people” like him so much. I was just telling you why.
He was an OC already…for the 3-13 Browns in 2015.
I meant again. Prove himself as an OC outside of that tribwreck of a franchise
Could you imagine that QB room with Manziel?
And they’ve gone 1-29 without him! He’s gotta be a genius to triple their win total.
From the few stories we have heard, DeFiippo have been instrumental in designing the concepts, reads and designs in a way that is tailor fit to Carsons needs and talents, and he has been the key in getting him to correct some of the mistakes he made last year. Reich runs the whole offense and Pederson runs a whole team. If you are a bad team looking to draft a young but talented QB in next years draft, you might be more interested in the coach whose resumé includes tailoring an NFL offense to fit a college QB.
I thought it was Pederson who did exactly what your saying Fipp did. I’ve not read anything that says Fipp designed the QB concepts in the offense.
It’s also my understanding that Pederson is very hands off with Schwartz and the defense.
Yea, I think Pederson designed the offense too, along with Reich. My point is, DeFilippo appear to be the one who has figured out how to maximise the young QB within that design. We read about the drills he makes up for them to practice certain skills, the quizzes and tests he puts out every week, the way he runs the QB meetings, etc. If you are a team about to draft a talented but raw QB very early, maybe this is the quality in a coach that is the MOST important to you – having a real sure hand and a solid plan for how to go about that part of the coaching. And maybe the rest, you imagine, will be ‘fine’ as long as the QB is progressing.
For what it is worth, I don’t think this is the right approach. Being a QB coach is very different from being a Head Coach. HCs have to deal with so much more stuff like administration, logistics, the media, game plans, clock management and even personnel decisions. It doesn’t seem to me very likely that a person who is a great QB coach nessecarily have the skillset to also be good at those things. But then again sometimes the good QB coaches are just good coaches and it all translates (See: Red, Big.)
I can’t help but wonder what might have been had Bradham hung onto that pick in the Rams game. Being tested is all well and good, but there’s one obvious, very major benefit to slamming the door on the Rams and pulling away at the point in the game.
There was actually a lot that had gone wrong in that game before Wentz got hurt that didn’t have to, starting with Agholor clanging that first pass off his hands.
Dropped interception, blocked punt, Agholor’s hands… We could have been up 3 scores easy at the point when Wentz got hurt if we hadn’t been so sloppy.
Maybe he doesn’t put his body on the line for a score there then, maybe he does, who knows.
Maybe Foles is already on the field in a blowout…
as long as Foles throws one more TD than last time against the Raiders we will be ok
Step it up, Nick.
now the number of up votes are correct!
LOL That would be epic.
Unfortunately, we’d probably see Nate Sudfeld before Foles could even throw #6.
They needed someone to bleed
Two things here in this Forbes article:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/demetriusbell/2017/12/15/the-washington-redhawks-hoax-is-actually-a-well-executed-concept-design/#78f9ee69121b
Short, but interesting take on the Washington Redhawks hoax, and, second, didn’t that writer play tackle for us? Am I wrong?
They really need to change their name. I’m adamantly opposed to FORCING them into changing it, but I think at this point it needs to be fucking changed.
why, u pig
Pigs would be a good name! Covers past, present, and future congressional sexual scandals.
Join us. We shall refer to them as the Washington Redhawks from here on out. That’s not forcing, just making the hint really fucking huge.
pathetic
I prefer the Washington Foreskins.
What do you have against potatoes?
Demetress Bell was the tackle that played for us.
Poor guy didn’t even know how to spell his own name. Talk about a parenting fail.
Ugh. Now I almost have to respect a Giants player.
Yea that was a classy comment.
I TOOK A SHITTY SHIT THAT WAS MORE ENTERTAINMENT THAN THIS ARTICLE.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal believes Amari Cooper (ankle) is “on track” to return for Week 16.
“We hope to get him back to practice and have a good week of practice and be ready to go Monday night,” coach Jack Del Rio said Thursday. Cooper has missed two of the Raiders’ past three games. If he returns, it will be as a high-risk WR3 against the Eagles.
Looks like Papa is the first to fall in the Pizza Wars. My condolences to Julescat.
http://www.businessinsider.com/papa-johns-founder-steps-down-as-ceo-2017-12
Strange. I heard lots of people talking about their white pizza.
(Hate to get political…) He was once quoted as saying he’d have to raise the cost of his pies by a nickel if he was forced to provide health care for employees.
Jerry Jones just keeps on winning. The commish got his contract extension, Papa John had to step down after stupidly carrying Jerruh’s water, Zeke got suspended… Any minute now the sexual harassment allegations are going to start rolling in.
a lot of empty seats around the league too
goodell might just be the worst sports league commissioner of all time
The empty seats are like 90%+ a result of:
1) the TV/at home experience being so great. The NFL is the most watched sport on television. Why go to the game when the product is often better from your own couch.
2) the increasing prices of tickets, parking, etc.
Considering how much money comes in from TV deals I don’t see this as an ultimate failing. When teams are good (and not moved to LA) their fans come out. When they stink fans don’t bother. That is the same in all sports.
Yep, keeping the stands full has been a major concern of owners well before the protests. It’s the driving force behind making these stadiums a mix of opera house luxury and theme park spectacle.
Filling seats is important to owners because I believe that is the revenue they get the purest cut of. Really hard to compete with the price and comfort of your home watching an HD television. If you are in the upper stands, unless you love the coaches film view with no rewind or pause, it’s a really tough things to sell (for the price!). Don’t get me wrong, the electricity of being in the crowd at a big game is incredible, but that is becoming more and more niche.
I’ve said for a long time that baseball is more enjoyable at the ballpark but football is better in front of a tv.
Agree, that being said, recommend everyone attend at least 1 big football game. There is something about being in the crowd in a close and important game. Too much hassle to do it very often though.
I agree about the thrill, also about the hassle, and cost. In a similar vein, I’d encourage everyone to attend a small college Saturday football game. I attend games at a school that averages about 2500 people at a game. It’s amateur sports at it’s best.
ticket prices for some teams are now below $5 online
For bad or new teams. It still costs $40+ to park and concessions are insane. I’ll take watchingbthe game from home over a $5 ticket any day.
Wow… he has to step down for that, but Trump continues to bluff through despite doing much worse.
BTW, sorry, when Papa John’s came out, it was a nice break from Domino’s, but I now despise it. It tastes so nasty the second day. Quality ingredients, I don’t think so.
enjoy the tax dollars Trump just put in your pocket
kkklinton would never have done that
“kkklinton”?
Where are you even going with this? Is this just throw shit against the wall time?
you never heard of her mentor in the senate James “Sheets” Byrd – grand wizard of the KKK?
I’m not a Hilary Clinton fan, and I wouldn’t be surprised at any person in politics for 50 fucking years with some or a lot of dirt on them. But nobody mentioned Hilary. In fact, she holds no elected office right now, if you weren’t clear on that. She stopped being relevant over a year ago. Yet, she is brought up on conservative media every single day.
You don’t get pizza at a local shop? WTH are you thinking?!
Ha, well for birthday parties and such when we get 10 or more pizzas, I’d rather pay mass market prices. I do have a favorite place around here, it’s a thin crust quattro stagnioni.
Ultimately I don’t think the ‘what’ in what he was blaming it on matters. Sales were dropping, and instead of addressing it, he decided to blame it on NFL protests. The icing on the cake is that he got himself caught up in an unnecessary political situation. That’s just poor leadership. If Dug got up there at the podium and blamed Brexit for the loss against the Seahawks, you fire him before he gets off the mic.
I will not permit any conversation about the Pro Bowl being a bullshit popularity contest. You complainers will NOT take this away from Kurt Coleman!
Wait. Are you saying Kurt Coleman is popular? What parallel universe is this?
Coleman is my Joe Webb.
Mychal Kendricks was my Joe Webb for a long time. Then i gave up on him and he had the gall to get good all of a sudden.
It’s never the same after your first Joe Webb.
No matter what they take from me, they can’t take away my dignity……..
Well, in this case they did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2aB0aGLKJo
His helmet was already coming off before Richardson delivered an illegal hit with the crown of his head.
But that’s okay.
At least Coleman was there to make the stop. As was commonplace at the time, Kendricks was out of position when he should have been the one to close that gap.
If Trent Richardson makes a fool of you, you’re a fool for sure.
Well, Richardson got 3 or 4 yards past the point where he ran into Coleman if that counts as making a “stop.”
Great catch on Kendricks!
Ha; no Coleman apologists allowed!
History is coming around to Coleman, bro. We are the silent majority!
This is how this strategy works, right?
Sure, why not?
Said this the last time you brought out this video:
Dude got off his block, keeping gap responsibility, and then flatfooted, made the tackle on a guy running full speed with 50 lbs on him.
Yeah, he got trucked. It looks awful. But it was a good play. (Which is a pretty good summary of Coleman’s career)
The Sixers need Embiid in the worst way. Simmons isn’t ready to carry the load, but it is nice to see him working on getting more shots. IMO Simmons should use this as a growth year, they aren’t winning the championship so go nuts, work on your jumper, shoot some threes, work on the things that will make you a superstar in the future.
They need Fultz to be a stud.
It would help a lot to have another stud of course, but I think if Simmons can develop a threatening offensive game to go with his floor management and rangy defense he’ll be the perfect compliment for Embiid who is just going to be destroying people on the inside whenever he plays.
If Fultz becomes a stud that just means they won’t have to turn to FA to find that third superstar to mesh in with the 2 they’ll have.
The Sixers have been a very weird team for a stretch now, they’ve lost to lots of bad teams, yet they’ve very nearly beaten a bunch of good teams.
It’s funny how checked out everyone is. Once Wentz got hurt, I think most people assumed the season was over. Are they right?
Not everyone is checked out, but you can’t reasonably expect everyone to have the same expectations for this team. Carson is a game-changer that elevates the play of everyone around him. Foles can be good, but he needs everyone around him to play at an elevated level to succeed. Just my opinion. Season isn’t over, but the road got alot tougher.
Carson can carry a team; in the playoffs, QB’s rise to the top. Foles doesn’t have the same ability, but can still take us to the Super Bowl. As you stated, everyone around him has to raise his game to the next level.
I think part of it is just that there isn’t a lot of drama left in the regular season. We’ve had a playoff spot locked up for a while, we’ve got a first round bye on lock, we’ll probably lock up home field on X-mas… All that’s left is what will likely be a meaningless finale against the Cowboys, which we probably won’t even get to play spoiler for.
With Aaron Rogers on IR we can’t even root for the Vikings the lose. It all comes down to a XMas game against a bad Raiders team and then the playoffs.
People are also busy with holiday stuff. Not much to get excited about until the playoffs start
Won’t that game probably decide HFA? Minnesota has Packers and Bears, so they should finish 13-3. If Eagles lose one more game they’re tied with Vikings who win the tie-breaker by strength of schedule.
no when we win Monday night, HFA is wrapped up. We win strength of schedule. That tie breaker flipped back to us recently.
Thanks.
Vikings win strength of schedule tiebreaker, but Eagles win common opponents tiebreaker, which comes first. The common opponents tiebreaker flipped when the Eagles beat the Rams, and the Vikings lost to the Panthers (it previously was a tie).
Not much to complain about right now. The usual whipping boys are overperforming, can’t complain about nearly anything Foles is doing because it’s basically bonus at this point, and we’re winning. The defense isn’t winning by enough boo hoo.
RIP Dick Enberg. 1935-2017.
Great broadcaster.
more important — home field during all playoffs or resting players? My opinion is easy — Eli said Eagles fans made a difference. I liked them to secure home field first – then rest players…thoughts?
Nobody is going to be resting until home field is locked up.
How is this even a question?
The only question at this point is whether we have to actively earn HFA on Sunday or whether it is gifted to us on Saturday.
We wentz from an audience of one to an audience of none. Are they right?
If we just keep winning until there are no more games left, we will be fine.
Kempski added in a nugget in a recent article:
“Oakland Raiders get the ball out faster than any other team in the NFL this season (2.44 seconds on average)…”
How will Schwartz and the players handle if the Raiders continue to get the ball out quickly for short passes ala the Giants game plan?
10-yard cushions on every snap, with no effort to take away the quick slants that keep getting them yards, if Schwartz’s game plan against the Giants is any indication…
… giving every opponent an Offensive gameplan against the Eagles.
The plan has always been that the quick passes are what we want, they don’t go far, close in fast and tackle and you’ll be fine. Field is condensed so if they screw up the ball is bouncing to someone for a big turnover.
Worked great back when we were the best tackling team in the league. Lately we’ve been getting eaten alive by pick routes and terrible tackling
Agreed that is Schwartz’s default plan, but the question is when does he realize that is being exposed in recent games and adjust accordingly.
It could be just better execution like you say (tackling etc.), but it also negates our main strength, our pass rush, and one would think Schwartz would like to find a way to bring the rush back into the equation.
I’m not sure if that is blitzing more or playing more man coverage or what, but hopefully he has options in case the execution is bad again this week and we have to dig out of another deficit.
I think the other point is the defense is built on protecting leads and creating turnovers. We’ve been behind or close in score the last 3 games and thus the opposing offenses have been able to stay patient, run their full offense and continue to harp on our weakness in coverage. Our LB and secondary have also dropped some gimme INT recently. Hopefully, this week we get the lead and our defense can play down hill again.
i know injuries are a factor but I want no part of resting any starters against dallas even if it is a meaningless game. especially with a first round bye. having a three week break could be very bad for this team in the playoffs. remember how flat we came out after our bye week? I want this team to want to crush dallas no matter what the outcome of the game actually means. I honestly wish we were still playing for home field after this week
We scored on our opening drive. That’s not coming out flat.
That game was merely the beginning of what would be a very sloppy second half of the season. Ever since the bye we have not been the same dominant team we were early on. We can look like it for stretches as we did against the Cowboys, Bears, Rams, and Giants, but we have yet to play a complete game since then.
I am not worried about resting starters. I am worried about cleaning up the sloppy play.
Trent Cole to Retire as an Eagle on Monday Night, serve as honorary captain.
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/21849046/trent-cole-retire-philadelphia-eagles-christmas-day
A great Eagle.