Atlanta It Is
Posted: January 6th, 2018 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 393 Comments »The Falcons went to LA and beat the Rams. Their reward, a trip to Philly next Saturday.
NFL Divisional Playoffs
Saturday, January 13, 2018
Falcons -2.5
Eagles 44.5— Jeff Sherman (@golfodds) January 7, 2018
Atlanta is the favorite according to the oddsmakers. That’s just fine. The Eagles will use that as motivation.
This is the best possible situation. The Falcons are a good, but flawed team. The Eagles beat them a year ago and really stifled that offense. Doesn’t guarantee it will happen again, but this is better than facing the Panthers or Saints.
I don’t know about you, but I’m already excited. Playoff football is a whole other level of intensity.
*****
Big Red lost an ugly one in the early game.
Andy Reid has now blown 2 18-point halftime leads in the playoffs, as many as every other coach in the modern history of the NFL (since 1933). pic.twitter.com/ILnS7N5mMe
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) January 7, 2018
Ten 22, KC 21:
In the last 48 minutes, the NFL rushing champion had five carries.
Reid and Nagy have some explaining to do. Lots of explaining.— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) January 7, 2018
What’s the point in having Kareem Hunt if you don’t feed him the ball?
Ugh.
_
First
Lowest
Lower still
Sort by oldest, and you’re just another post in the stack.
Congrats. You should add this to your resume.
Who else knew that KC would blow their lead as soon as Kelce went down? Andy Reid STILL … STILL
I said it years ago. .but i didn’t think it was possible for him to actually lose today. ..his Chiefs team is sofa king good now that i think most high school coaches would’ve won this game. .. the Andy Reid worshipers party is going to need a much smaller venue
Yea that was painful. I knew it, and my father in law was like ‘what?’. I just said ‘Andy Reid, you’ll see’.
“sofa king good”
-Not sure if this was on purpose, but it made me laugh.
So far its going right for us! Now we just need Carolina to beat the Saints.
What we need next week from team (in no particular order):
1. Limit stupid penalties and no bad snaps
2. Run the darn ball
3. Establish some rhythm with Foles early in the game with some short and high percentage completion passes
4. Our pass rush needs to get home early and often to reduce the impact of Julio and Sanu. Would be nice if our D can take either of them out of the game early 🙂
5. No Torrey Smith please
6. Play fearless
If they start with 2 passes to Torrey Smith it will be predictable but that shud be it
5 yard outs….please no
Do you think Carolina will have a better chance against the Vikings than the Saints?
No, but I was assuming we beat Falcons next week and would rather like to face Panthers than Vikings.
If I’m getting the Eagles +2.5 points, I’m happy as a bettor. That seems like value to me.
Andy Reid does not have killer mentality! and that will prevent him from winning the SB!
He’d rather lose with his original gameplan than change it and win.
100% correct. Is he stubborn, stupid, or what?
Win a SB ????? He’d be successful just winning a playoff game .. hes lost like 11 in a row
Matt Ryan just does not have the pocket presence or zip on the ball that he had last year imo. When he gets pressured or happy feet he looks very shaky (remind you of anyone?) Seriously though Goff looked bad and/or the Atlanta secondary looked good. Trufant and D. Jones are a lot to deal with. I think the long road trip will have an impact though. I say we come out and take our shots early- don’t put Foles in a bunker mentality too early let him air it out. If that doesn’t work we have the rest of the game to pound the rock. Hashtag blistering hot takes
I’d like to see Doug come out and dial up a bomb off of play action on one of their first offensive plays next week. You know the Atlanta defense is going to be thinking we’ll be one dimensional and they can attack aggressively vs. the run – if we can stagger them and make them pay for that early it could pay off throughout the game.
Yep, steal the 1st play from the Andy Reid circa 2009-2011 playbook. But who will be our Desean Jackson for this play?
Torrey Smith 🙁
(BTW, I initially mistyped his name as Torry Smith and my computer autocorrected it to “Sorry Smith”. I found that rather humorous and appropriate.)
That was Andy’s first play in the game yesterday (dropped by Tyreek Hill).
foles can throw the pass but even he doesn’t know where it will land…probably short and to the left (whose left)
We should be able to run on them. I expect Doug to call a few counters and mis direction plays. Take advantage of the speed and aggressiveness of the Falcons defense.
I would be shocked if we don’t run the ball 35+ times on these dirty birds
Don’t forget that we will not have traveled in 4 weeks and rested our starter for 1.5 weeks. We should be fresh where they have had 2 tough games in a row and are coming off that WC trip.
The Rams rested their starters too. I saw some people wondering if that was why they came out looking so flat.
Rams STs has a big hand in losing the game which I think we have an edge on.
– Rams looked and played tentatively all game. Got conservative play-calling too from McVay. I hope Pederson doesn’t make the same mistake.
– Reid press conference was brutal. You get the sense that the KC media is getting to the same point of frustration with Reid as the Philly media was circa say 2006.
Yeah, some Rams fans were saying McVay coached scared, and they blamed it on it being his first time in the playoffs. That got me a little worried about Pederson…
The Rams last night reminded me of how the Eagles looked in the first half vs. Seattle.
I like that there is an extra day to prepare for this game.
I’m not sure what you mean. Isn’t the game still being played on Saturday?
If the rams won, the Eagles wouldn’t know who they are facing until today. But since the falcons won, they were able to start game planning already.
Good point. Short week for the Falcons with all the travel.
Reid is this generation’s Schottenheimer:
Reid regular season: 183-120-1 (.604)
Reid playoffs: 11-14 (.440)
Schottenheimer regular season: 200-126-1 (.613)
Schottenheimer playoffs: 5-13 (.278)
At least with the Eagles he won a few playoff games and never blew a big lead.
If Patrick Mahomes turns out to be the real deal, Reid will have more opportunities.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
his defense is starting to age and he doesn’t have many draft picks this year.
I was thinking the same thing and the final irony:
they are at opposite ends of the philosophical spectrum.
Marty runs when he should pass
Andy passes when he should run
Reid didn’t go one-and-done in the playoffs with the Eagles until 2009 (and 2010). We won at least one playoff game every year with him until then — we were a very good playoff team, but we had the problem in the NFC championship game. Part of the reason that Reid has so many defenders — he earned that here.
But starting 2009, he has just one playoff win, and six losses. Of late, he has been like Schottenheimer, but nothing like him early. Schottenheimer was basically too conservative in the playoffs — predictable play calls, usually runs. Reid… is oddly different. You wonder how much is Reid, and how much is Alex Smith, but it has not been good.
That also probably sentenced Mariota with another year of Mularkey.
All of the rumors where Belichick might end up next year but if the Pats win the Super Bowl this year I bet he retires.
Belichick be 66 this year, is the 2nd oldest coach after Carroll by just a few months, and seems worn out/frustrated this season, and will have won 6 rings as a head coach (8 total including 2 as the Giants’ defensive coordinator). He’ll be the best NFL coach and no you can’t compare Walsh, Lombardi, or Knoll. Nothing left to prove.
Never been one for the spotlight and money certainly isn’t a primary motivation as he has hardly done any endorsement deals during his tenure in New England.
Only think he might stick around due to trying to get his sons a bit more established in the NFL. One thing I see being a draw to keep him motivated to coach for another 2-3 years.
My thought is that he wants to have success once Brady retires to show the reason they won was due to coaching, not the QB.
I would love to see him come to the NFC East. Not a chance in hell he wins 4.5+ games per year in this division, regardless of whether his QB is Brady or not.
Why would you want the best HC in the history of the nfl in our division? Are you nuts. 🙂
What better way to establish our dynasty…. Not gonna be impressed beating the red clapper and the husk Snyder employs as his coach
/logic
bill belicheat is the best “CHEATER” in the NFL.
Read the book “Spygate the Untold Story” for all the evidence you could ask for.
I think we are about to find out that the Foles we saw against the Cowboys was made to intentionally look bad. Not that Foles intentionally made bad passes, but he was asked to execute a game plan entirely different than what we will see against the Falcons.
Foles looked bad and it can’t all be blamed on lack of game plan. But I am hopeful that the game plan against the falcons can help him play better.
Agreed. I see QB not suck in the preseason all the time. Foles played bad. DP just didn’t help him. Our hope is that with an good game plan Foles can look adequate. It won’t change the fact that Foles is who he is. It will just mean DP did a good job.
I can’t forget how many times we heard Andy say, “We thought we saw something downfield.”
He just can’t seem to make himself run the ball in important games.
This. 100 percent this.
Nothing in the NFL is more typical than Andy Reid having the regular seasons leading runner, go up 18 points in a playoff game and then proceed to call, what, 5 runs in the entire second half only to loose out in the end. I mean…
But this is who the man is. He is a terrific coach, good at almost everything and consistently succesful at fielding competitive teams. He just seem to have this massive blindspot.
It’s really quite incredible how he continues to lose playoff games with the same mistakes. Like some Greek tragedy.
THIS!!! It’s his tragic flaw.
In the classic greek tragedy, the protagonist meets his inevitable destruction because he refuses to accept his natural fate. He attempts to fight his destiny, which is futile. Reid handing off play calling duties only to see his team fail in exactly the same ways as usual is sort of like the perfect fit for that.
My wife was an English major so you’d think I’d have a better understanding of greek tragedy. Andy is more like the hero who has one great flaw that he can’t see, so it can’t be overcome. Is this more Shakespeare? Marvel Comics?
Reid handed off the play calling to Nagy 5 games ago, but he could have as HC ordered Nagy to run moire.
He was not calling the plays, handed it off to Nagy 5 games ago, but he could certainly have over-ruled Nagy.
I’m curious how Schwartz uses Mills and Darby. As evidenced yesterday, the refs allow much more physical play in the playoffs.
If Schwartz has Mills and Darby playing 7 yards off the WRs allowing easy throws in the playoffs, I don’t see the Eagles winning the game.
I think it’s situational. There will be times when that is the right thing to do. Which partially makes your last point not necessarily the case.
Oh yeah, and I hope to see more Sid the kid anyway. Him and Darby
You’re taking my post too literal.
Fair enough
We don’t use that nickname in Philly.
Yeah yeah, hockey isn’t something I care enough about
Those receivers are big too and can break tackles. I agree playing off is not going to pay off, but Mills scares me with all his holding.
Refs were also letting a lot of O line holds go unpenalized.
The Falcons exposed the Rams run defense, something they won’t be able to do against the Eagles. Goff’s inexperience showed up, and the Rams special teams were anything but. If the Eagles get pressure on Matt Ryan and the offensive line gives Foles a clean pocket, the Eagles can win.
Definitely an extremely winnable game. Falcons are the team I feel best about playing (and imo we should be favored at home). They are incredibly inconsistent. Can Julio just go absolutely nuts and beat us? Sure. But anybody who gets him in fantasy knows he can completely disappear too.
I know everyone was rooting for Atlanta but I think they are a very dangerous, playoff-experienced team. They were inconsistent the first half of the year but are 7-2 of late, and have been playing tough football. They are beatable, for sure, but it will take a very strong game by the Eagles. If Wentz was around, we’d probably be favored at home by a td.
I’ll predict: the D rises to the challenge, Foles connects consistently with Ertz and Jeffery, the run game grinds down the Falcons D, and the Kicking Wonder nails two long fgs. Eagles 20-17.
They are running head first into a well rested buzzsaw that will relentlessly get after him all game.
The Rams D line and RB were both completely shot by the end of the game. It will be fun being favorites again after we wreck them. We are due to blowout a team, at home.
Rams have had bad run D all year. They are right upfront. The Falcons did not impress me at all.
This is a very winnable game.
So, if Doug beats the Falcons as underdogs with a backup QB, does he leap ahead of McVay for Coach of the Year?
The voting takes place before the playoffs.
In all honesty, there are at least 4 guys deserving of the award this year – Pederson, Marrone, McVay and Zimmer. You can make a case for any of them. I’d probably go Zimmer or Marrone, but if any of those 4 win I’d be fine with it.
if zimmer makes it it’s mostly bc of shurmur
Do we care? Win the SB
Give me the Eagles and the under. Something like 13-3. Foles will do just enough to win as long as they protect the football.
Love this team!
https://www.facebook.com/philadelphiaeagles/videos/1622923151078785/
Awesome, thanks for posting…i’m kinda mad that this is the first episode i’ve seen. Had no idea there was a regular series chronicling the eagles season
this was honesty really depressing to watch. stil cant get over carsons injury
I’m cautiously optimistic about this game. Nick is not as bad as he’s been the last two games. I think the D will come to play.
Bold prediction: eagles are gonna dress up a lot of plays with jet sweep action, like the chiefs, he didn’t want to show it during regular season.
Go Bills.
What? Why did the ref blow the whistle?
That Cheifs game was a microcosm of their whole season. Sucks but Andy teams haven been known to choke…regrettably.
That one was on Andy, not the team. Hunt gets 5 carries in something like 48mins. Pathetic.
Again, Reid was NOT calling the plays, Nagy was. Reid could have over-ruled him as HC obviously and maybe should have, but let’s keep the criticism fair
OK, the blame is on Matt & Andy, not the team.
This is ugly to watch. Both offenses look worse than Foles
lol
Bortles sucks and the Jags D is better than the Bills Offense.
Seriously, how do you take a sack in that situation? I knew Bortles wasn’t good but I haven’t watched enough of the Jags to appreciate just how bad he is.
My God Blake Bortles is so bad.
Imagine having Raiders-level Foles as your franchise QB.
Which Raiders game?
The one from this season, obviously.
There really is a Joe Webb!
It’s hard to believe Bortles is a real quarterback and not a figment of my imagination. Buffalo should trade Nathan Peterman to the Jags at halftime and start him for the second half.
Either of these teams will get destroyed next week. Can we just fast forward to the New England/Pittsburgh AFC Championship game?
Yeah the AFC playoff field is a joke. The Chiefs were the only half decent team besides the Pats and Steelers and they blew it in epic fashion.
The Ravens and Chargers have to be kicking themselves. Either of those teams could’ve made some noise in an AFC field this week.
Absolutely. Really though they’re not THAT much better than the teams out there. The whole AFC was weak this year its the NFC that’s the power conference.
They at least have veteran, playoff-tested QBs and in the case of the Ravens a good coach. Obviously both teams are flawed or they wouldn’t have lost late season must win games to cost themselves playoff berths (can you imagine if the Eagles missed the playoffs because they gave up a 4th and 12 TD to Andy freaking Dalton?), but I have more faith that they’d be able to elevate their play and make the divisional round worth watching than I do that Tennessee and Buffalo can.
Bortles was probably really happy when people were still comparing him to Wentz.
So starting Fournette might have been a mistake. Bortles is so miserably bad that the Bills are stacking the box and through 6 drives the Jags haven’t been able to make them pay for it. Some of the throws that Bortles have missed are humiliating, their defense must be fucking epic to have won 10 games with this guy at QB.
No wonder NFL ratings are down, unless you are a true fan how could you watch some of these crap teams.
NFL ratings are in line with ratings decline across broadcast media.
It’s widely held that fictional TV is at a creative highpoint, and yet the rating are down.
Quality has nothing to do with how media is viewed.
Don’t you know, it’s Colin Kaepernick’s fault.
Let me ask some of you smart guys or girls out there, is it time to buy some GE (not the one who posts on here) or no?
Bortles is so bad he just almost threw a game-changing interception to Colt freaking Anderson.
I bet he wouldn’t trow 4 TDs against the Giants… just saying
Im reminded why i never watch AFC football
If u do its the 1 seed or 2 seed
Parity my ass
But when they play they are usually beating up on the AFC equivalent of the Bears every week
It’s only going to get worse when Brady, Rivers, and Big Ben retire. There are no young franchise QBs in the AFC while the NFC is potentially loaded.
Texans?
Was just gonna mention Deshaun Watson
I didn’t see Watson play this year but I heard the hype. I hope he’s the real deal but as Dak showed everyone, playing good during your rookie year means little.
completely different level of QB play. Texans didnt have to hide Watson, they jumped on his shoulders
Watson had 80% as many TDs in half as much playing time, handing off to Alfred Blue. Pretty different from Dak playing second fiddle to Zeke and the running game.
The ESPN stats and info Adam Caplan retweets indicates he is poor in some very important QB metrics…third down, red zone, & on non-play action passes.
I’m excited to see he he returns from injury. He could turn Houston into a special team with the defense they already have in place.
Employ a gimmick player coming off of an injury.
Gimmick player still threw 19 TDs in 7 games. That was not a team that had a dominant rushing attack or anything to help him. I have to admit I didn’t see him play much on TV, and maybe defenses will adjust, but those numbers sound different than the running QBs who have early success. RGIII had 20 TDs his entire first season.
O’Brien essentially caught people off guard with a bunch of stuff they hadn’t seen before. The league will catch up.
Heres a thought:
The media should interview the refs after games. They have as much an affect on the game as the players and coaches…..
The refs, just like Howie, should be held accountable;-)
Well, they might have to hire professionals if they do that.
That’s a great idea.
I would be happy facing either of these teams in SB
“What’s the point in having Kareem Hunt if you don’t feed him the ball?”
Classic Andy Reid!
I can just imagine his smug mumble jumble andhis “I’m smarter than you” attitude in the presser. .. if i was a reporter i think I’d want to ask him that same simple and dumb question about 80 times
I guess he just needed to put him in a better position…
Ha! Made me creak up. . He actually didn’t say that in the clip i read but he must’ve
The Bills could really use Sammy Watkins and Jordan Mathews right now.
Is Shady playing?
Serious?
Yes, but injured.
I watched the last 3 minutes of 1 st half … torture .. didn’t see him on the field … searched the www and Google just gave me ‘maybes’
..
The flu has me in its death grip
That sucks, but not as bad as this game.
Bottom line, Tyrod is a bad QB who has no idea how to read defenses. Crazy, but Romo is calling out coverages and saying what route will be open pre-snap. Taylor is clueless.
Shady has been good but Jax is stacking the box because Taylor is so bad.
Yes Romo is so quick, decisive and correct .. tyrod kept the fake himself and ..well just tough to watch
Looking around the media, it seems a lot of people are appreciating we Eagles fans were right about Reid and his boneheaded refusal to run the ball.
I’m happy for the bills and McDermott that they made the playoffs
That was the worst playoff game I’ve ever seen. Seriously, that looked more like a late season “loser gets a better draft pick” matchup between two basement dwellers than a battle between contenders.
I can’t believe the Patriots get to play a Divisional round game against the freaking Titans. They have benefited from that kind of luck throughout their run and it continues.
That was the worst “quarterback duel” in the history of the playoffs, it has to be. I’ve never seen a quarterback throw a worse deep ball than Tyrod Taylor. He overthrows guys by 5 yards regularly. If someone gets a fingertip on a deep ball it’s almost cause for celebration.
Blake Bortles ran for more yards than he threw for.
This game was so bad on so many levels, what a poopshow.
“Blake Bortles ran for more yards than he threw for.”
So did Vick. Bortles actually had more passing yards than Vick.
Agreed. AFC had two ugly games in the wild card round. Like you said. Some of the worst playoff round games ever.
Hey X…
Maybe it’s the state of modern NFL defense. I don’t believe these pro QB and all out here today are just bad.
What do you say?
I don’t understand this sentiment. Apparently people really hate watching good defense! Amazing
Where does the expression, “Jump on the bandwagon,” come from?
http://bfy.tw/FvFi
Old political campaigns used to hire a band and ride through town on a horse-driven wagon. The band would play to “drum up votes.”
People who liked the candidate a lot would run outside and jump up on band wagon and ride along. But if people started disliking a candidate for any reason – like if their campaign speech was not cool – they could be seen jumping off the bandwagon.
It’s a literal expression from old politics…
I gotta check out Gangs of New York again. Bill the Butcher.
God a Fournette touchdown would have helped my fanduel team. I’d be in really good shape going into the last game if that had happened. I almost threw my remote at the TV when they passed on 4th down.
Karma dictates when you have the best running game in the NFL and you throw to the backup tight end on 4th and goal from the 2 inch line that the tight end drops the ball.
Time for New Orleans to get a big win and shut some people up.
I’d prefer the Panthers win, honestly. New Orleans is the toughest matchup remaining in the NFC field for us I think.
I’d prefer New Orleans lose next week. Cam, and anybody who plays “QB” like that, needs to be in the dustbin with wildcat.
I don’t hate Cam as much as you do, and a Panthers/Vikings divisional game sets us up with an easier NFC title game regardless of who wins it. I think we want the dangerous teams out as quickly as possible.
That’s absolutely valid. I think the Vikings own either team in their building, but I totally get wanting to avoid Brees. I’m just not sure the outcome for us is any different and I’m damn sure the outcome for my viewing pleasure is much worse if Cam wins.
I’d rather the Eagles knock Cam out of the playoffs.
Did Brees change his name to Drew Bortles? Not an impressive start.
Yeah, pretty raggedy.
… but then he can still hit the bomb on a moment’s notice. Not much fear of Bortles making that pass.
Tony McDaniel is going to want that one back.
A little late to the party, but did anybody else notice Bennie Logan not even remotely trying to run down Derrick Henry yesterday?
Can’t be any worse than Revis loafing on that last run.
Revis had a chance to cash one last NFL paycheck and the money was already in the bank. Do you think he’s gonna rush to TACKLE someone, especially a guy like Derrick Henry?
That was embarrassing as well, but they totally ignored a chance to rip Logan as well.
Stadium DJ should be playing “Push It”
Jesus Ted Ginn is fast.
I was led to believe Torrey Smith had similar deep speed;-(
Bam. That has got to be demoralizing if your Carolina. Missed TD on a bad drop. Missed FG. Answered by a bomb from Brees to your former teammate, Ted Ginn.
cant believe it took that long to throw a flag.
Wish we could play Carolina. Panthers can’t cover. Brees TDs, Nick could make.
I think they would find a way to cover us though
Carolina is a team I think we match up well against. Our secondary can cover their receivers and our offense was able to move the ball on them.
Somebody wins that game 15-9
I think we’d win something like 23- 24 to 17…
I dont have faith in Foles to score that many points
He doesn’t have to score that many points but he’s capable of it with a balanced game call and plenty of time to prepare. . We have RBs, special teams, a good kicker and a n excellent defense.
We have plenty of weapons. Just need good play calling and balance on o.
I think he throw at least one pick to Luke
carolina was my top choice to play
Carolina needs a TD on this drive if they’re going to make a game of it.
Christian McCaffrey is a poor man’s Brian Westbrook…who was selected with a high first round pick.
alvin kamara is who they hoped mccaffrey would be
They should move him to slot WR.
Didnt they draft his clone to play there?
CM’s useless as a back. Maybe they could try to groom Samuel to be a deep guy like when they had Ginn or Philly Brown.
He has speed for weeks
“In college, Curtis Samuel was a poor man’s Christian McCaffrey.”
http://pantherswire.usatoday.com/2017/07/11/reviewing-the-panthers-2017-wide-receiver-competition/
I never understood why they doubled up on those two. Its they try to really hard to not draft any pure Wrs for Cam
So much of that draft was a head scratcher. Giving up so much to trade up one spot for Mitchell Trrubiski and drafting Mike Williams, John Ross, and Christian McCaffrey, Corey Davis over Lattimore.
I thought Latt was going to be an Eagle when I saw that happening.
I would have killed to get Lattimore. A lot of Eagles fans are buying into Cosell’s hot take of Jones being better. Can’t buy that shit after watching tape on both guys.
I can. Fuck Ohio State. Jones is better.
You better hope a paperweight CB that wasn’t that fast and now has to recover from achilles would be better.
No doubt in my mind .
Or why they traded Kelvin Benjamin
meh, Westie would have gone top 3 if it was know what he would turn out to be.
Or if he went to Stanford and his dad played for the Giants and Broncos.
Man what I’d give to have Westie back. Can you imagine?
Could we settle for prime Sproles if the asking price is too high?
Why would we want Westie back when we have Donnell Pumphrey?
You heard it hear first.
Or Shady
Great college player, mediocre NFL talent. Have to say that I love rubbing it in for the people who said we would be lucky to have McCaffery.
Who?
Looks like this game is over.. Carolina’s not coming back from this deficit in the Superdome with the passing game they have, and Payton isn’t going to choke the way Reid did.
Brees is putting on a clinic. They’ve hardly used Kamara.
I suspect we’ll see a heavy dose of him in the second half.
Think I’d rather watch the “Fake news awards”.
Honestly, sometimes I sit back and wonder to myself “Is this real life?”
Game isnt as lopsided it the score suggest. If CAR doesnt drop that TD it looks a whole lot better
The Philadelphia Eagles are poised to do something no other No. 1 seed ever has — begin the playoffs as an underdog.
The Atlanta Falcons opened as 2.5-point favorites over the Eagles in Saturday’s divisional round game in Philadelphia.
espn.com
Also poised to beat Atlanta and Minnesota twice each in two years.
I don’t want to wait that long!
Brees has had all day.
how is that not IG
I guess they listened to you.
The QB is not named Manning, so it is IG.
57 yarders being hit like its nothing nowadays
I know. Ideal conditions factor into in this particular game but kickers have definitely gotten better in the last 10-20 years.
I’d love to know how much coaching of technique and some better strength & conditioning have done to improve kicking.
My guess is that part of it is that, part of it is soccer becoming a more popular sport in the U.S. and more kids growing up learning how to properly kick a ball before switching to football.
I smell a pick 6 coming up for the Saints as Carolina is forced to press as time counts down.
It looks like you’re gonna get your wish with the Panthers being knocked out, but if we lose the NFC Championship Game to the Saints I’m blaming you. 😛
How can you blame me when the whole loss is the fault of:
– Pederson’s play calling
– Vinny Curry
– Kendricks
– Gerry
– Jaylin Watkins
– Duce’s RB rotation
– Too many coaches prepping for job interviews and not prepping game plans.
DUH!
Let us thank the Falcons for us not having to play the Saints next week
Agreed.. if I’m handicapping the NFC right now, I think I’m making the Saints the favorite.
I don’t think the Vikings are just going to roll over in their own building.
They won’t roll over, and I expect that to be a very hard fought game. But the Saints have a better QB and a defense that I think can force Keenum into mistakes.
It’s weird, I think the Vikings can stifle the saints, but I think we are a better match up against the Vikings. I think we would really struggle with the balance of that saints offense.
agreed on all points
We’re not going to outsmart Brees – I think he’d find the weaknesses in Schwartz’s scheme and would be able to expose them (he could get us with the Eli all quick slant offense for example). I don’t think Keenum can do that.
Well Brees did turn the ball over against us the last time we played them and our D is better. thogh he’s usually tough for us. They’re better at home and he’s had all day a lot today.
Yeah, I agree with that – I think HFA + possibly inclement weather would level the playing field somewhat.
And #1 in DVOA.
Vikings are better to me. They have a better D and a very good offense with Shurmur. Shurmur may not be in elite class but he’s good.
I think there’s an argument. I think Keenum is a bit fugazi as a QB though. I’m not sure how he’ll hold up in high pressure situations.
Agreed. Saints D is inconsistent and a lot worse if the o is slowed down.
Joe Buck is handing out the kibosh left and right.
Best comment I heard after somebody pointed out that Gruden getting the Raiders job means we don’t have to put up with him on MNF anymore: “Can we get Joe Buck a coaching job?”
That is amazing. I wish I thought of that.
LOL. I like listening to Gruden more than most of these guys and Tirico was easily the best pbp announcer for me when those two were together. He can be grating but who isn’t these days?
I love Romo. I like Collinsworth and Michaels. There are actually some B-team announcers who are pretty good.
i hope they give gruden’s gig to romo. i hate how theyve stifled him a bit since the beginning of the season
different networks
ah true.
I wish Romo switched it up some…the micro analysis is too much at times. Take a breath and shut the hell up sometimes….It was getting on my nerves today for the first time. I have eyes and I can see.
That is fantastic!
Did you hear his last call? “Throw. Interception. Saints win.” No tone or inflection change, just that diaphragm-voice he does. He’s just the worst.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Is it wrong if I want the Panthers to come back?
I want them to come back. I want no part of the Saints.
For the Eagles; no.
Morally; yes.
Game on
finally td.
I really don’t understand what Carolina’s front office is thinking not bringing Ginn back and trading Benjamin. Why strip your QB of weapons when he’s in the prime of his career?
shrug.
Can you imagine the reaction in Philly if the Eagles e.g. didn’t re-sign Agholor or traded Alshon in the middle of the season without a replacement on the roster?
or cut DeSean Jackson and traded LeSean McCoy for a gimpy dumb as bricks LB?
Or building Cam a better OL.
That throw away didn’t get back to the line of scrimmage.
When you realize Manti Te’o is a starter but it still doesn’t really click in your head.
theres game
Sucks for Cam. He’s been getting killed since he reached the NFL.
Learn how to throw it away
Yeah Nick!
That play is emblematic of how scrambling QBs don’t get the same calls that pocket passers do – that was a blow to the head if ever I saw one.
So don’t be a scrambling QB
Sure, but if preventing guys from taking vicious blows to the head is a point of emphasis it shouldn’t matter what their style of play is. If Carson took a hit like that on one of his Houdini escapes you’d be complaining I suspect.
No,the style matters. If you’re a massive risk to run if I don’t light you up, then I need to be allowed to light you up. If you want to do all of the fake nonsense with pulling the ball in and out with read options, then you’re a runner and subjected to none of the protections carved out for real QBs.
Which is why the rules distinguish between a QB in the pocket and a QB who declares himself a runner. But on that play Cam was in the pocket, he got away from a pass rusher, then got totally blindsided by another.
I really think Rodgers, Brady, etc. get that call.
That’s a fair bit of difference, but I’ve seen a ton of non-star pocket QBs not get that call as well.
Yeah, fair enough – I do think “star treatment” from officials is also an issue.
You’re following the wrong team lol- Randall, McNabb, VIck, Wentz….
Wentz and McNabb are controlled in their running. Cunningham’s best season was with the Vikings when he learned how to be the great pocket QB he was always destined to be. Vick was here for 8 seconds.
They both scramble or scrambled a ton lol.
Wentz does it some, but McNabb never devolved into the gimmicky BS that Cam does. He’s absolutely fair game for hits.
Wentz has scrambled a lot. He’s not a QB that throws it away a lot yet…he does here and there but he’s a big competitor going back to NDSU. His mentality is Favre like, that’s one of his idols too.
McNabb made faster decisions than Cam and ran less. Your comment was about scrambling , you didn’t say how much so that’s different. I guess I misinterpreted. You like scrambling, just not too much of it. That I can be down with.
Yeah, I just don’t like when a QB chooses to run the ball on purpose and then wants to act like he should be hit like a runner.
As a follow up, if you’re running outside of the Steve Young style I don’t care for it. So Wilson, McNabb, etc. are doing the right things.
*cough* black QB
I love it when they screw up and start to send it to commercial, then realize there’s something going on they have to call.
It is pretty funny.
Brees still so dangerous.
KURT COLEMAN YOU ARE A FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT NOBODY! WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU SHOVING AFTER THE TD IS OVER? FUCK YOU!
So this is pretty much a sealed deal. Back to Falcons talk.
Isn’t it nice to see a CB who doesn’t bite on a double move?
YOU SOFT MOTHER FUCKERS
Christian McCaffrey is not a great RB but he’s a hell of a weapon in the passing game.
Game on
I kinda feel like Brees’ accuracy does show up on the stat sheet, Troy. Not only is completion % an official stat, an accurate throw that hits a runner in stride and allows him to gain yards after the catch will show up in higher passing yardage and a better YPA number.
Wow, that’s kind of a chickenshit call from Payton. If the Saints somehow blow this game that will loom large.
Go Panthers!
NO! The Saints need to knock that Scam motherfucker into oblivion.
Cam is playing a hell of a game today.
He can play his ass into the CFL
Nah I’m for the Saints really because I think they can knock out Vikings who are the team that scares me the most personally .
I get that, I just hate that fucker.
Big balls Dougie would have gone for it already
what an asshole, hope they dont get this
would be stupid to pick it
Don’t catch that you dummy.
did not have control of the ball, incomplete.
review that.
Seriously. If that was a TD catch, that would have been overturned I bet.
amazing catch and throw
o shit
beat those saints!
YOU CANNOT DROP THAT INT
This has unexpectedly turned into a hell of a finish. I thought it was over when Kamara scored that TD.
same
out of pocket… past LOS… how is it IG?
Yeah, he didn’t look like he was in the pocket to me.
SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH CAM! THAT IS 100% GROUNDING AND YOU’RE NOT FUCKING PERMITTED TO SPEAK WITH THE ADULTS YOU FUCKING SCUMBAG!
Do we need to get you a brown paper bag to breathe into?
No, we need to get Cam’s style of play a body bag.
This entire drive he’s been making throws from the pocket.
eh, his whole deal is tainted.
Cam Newton/ Human Taint
The same one that comes with whatever his type of alcohol is in?
I don’t drink during games for that very reason.
well this is 1000x better than JAX/BUF
he should have caught hat..
Heh Funchess has always been a body catcher
The anti-Christ is out of the playoffs; YES!
No go Vikings!!!!
fuck NO
That was the worst pass protection I’ve ever seen.
Looked like they were expecting the Saints to rush 3 and they rushed 5 instead. One guy was untouched on the inside.
Maybe they don’t like Cam either!?!
Well ok now we can get back to Falcons talk.
Ron Rivera needs to learn the rules. That 100% was grounding.
The exception for having a receiver within 50yds apparently only applies to Eli Manning, thankfully.
AMEN
Or anyone playing the Eagles
Amen again.
And Russel Wilson
I know you hate Cam, but I thought he was out of the pocket on that one.
I’m of the opinion that damn near everything is grounding and it isn’t called enough as is, so I can’t agree with you.
All the refs know the Cam rules: For getting illegally hit late, Cam is always considered outside of the pocket and therefore a runner so it is not roughing the QB. For throwing the ball away, Cam is considered inside the pocket so it is intentional grounding.
704 area code logic.
I know you don’t like Cam, but he deals with a lot of the same shit McNabb did where refs won’t call roughing no matter how late a hit is on him.
McNabb wasn’t known for recklessly throwing his body all over the place on called runs on scrambles that left passing yards on the board. I agree that McNabb was totally under-protected by the refs, but Cam wants to run around and say shit like there isn’t any other QB like him…….so he can get his stuff called like no other QB in that case.
That tyrod Taylor his was brutal
I had to look that up. Very witty.
What Eli Manning does 5 times a game is grounding
Agreed; call that too!
This playoff weekend was great. 100x better than last year.
The NFC games were great
Most of these teams still aren’t that good though imo.
I disagree. These games are more competitive. Last year you had a lot of weak teams like Miami, Oakland, Houston, NYG, and Detroit.
The Jaguars has the makings of a historic defense, the Rams and the Vikings are complete teams with great defenses and elite defenses, the Falcons and Saints are lead by veteran QBs and solid defenses.
Obviously somebody didn’t watch the Buffalo-Jacksonville game.
I caught the last 10 minutes. But I don’t really mind low scoring games. But even if you disregard that game, last year all of the games from the first week were double digits wins and none of them were even close to being challenging.
It wasn’t just low scoring, it was atrociously played football by two teams that really didn’t look like they had any business being in the playoffs. Both quarterbacks were awful, continually missing open receivers and making poor decisions, and both coaching staffs made questionable decisions. It was not remotely enjoyable, and in fact I’d say it was legitimately one of the worst playoff games I’ve ever watched. I want my three hours back.
I dont like cam but I absolutely hate the saints. Would have preferred they were out.
Me too, but I can’t abide by a Carolina win. The Vikings will handle business just fine vs. the Saints.
Hate Payton he thinks he’s God’s gift. I like Rivera, Luke but I had to watch Carolina beat us to go to the Super Bowl so screw them.
Sean Payton seems like such as smug little prick.
No doubt there.
Panthers fans in the level above my seats with their light blue thingys around their necks at the Linc made me sick!
So is ready to beat down Atlanta and Minnesota back to back to get to the Superbowl?
I think the Saints win next week and then stumble into Philly exhausted and hurting.
No way the Saints are beating the Vikings bro.
The Saints margin of victory today isn’t inspiring me to see them as a team that can go up against a team with better pass rushers, better dbacks, and an overall better D on the road and win.
Definitely a tough, hard fought game today. Playoff intensity. Division opponent.
They hit the road next week and try to stay alive. The Vikes defense will present another tough challenge for them.
The Vikings may very well beat them down anyway.
There is certainly no guarantee the Eagles even win a playoff game this year, but after watching both NFC playoff games, you’d have to be crazy to think the Eagles don’t have a chance to make the Super Bowl.
We do if Foles plays well.
And the coach calls plays properly.
I think we should beat the Falcons as long as he’s not bad. I agree he probably needs to be good for us to beat MIN or NO.
It’s the d-line.
Can Jernigan and Cox generate enough consistent pressure?
Can the ends contain well and keep the Atlanta power run game especially off tackle under wraps?
Can the d-line force Ryan to throw at least one INT?
Where the Eagles have invested the lion’s share of their dollars and it needs to pay some real dividends starting next week.
It’s 60% Foles and 40% defense.
I just don’t see Foles being the total turd he was the last 2 weeks nor as good as he was at times in 2013.
If the defense causes at least 2 turnovers and holds them to <20 points, they’ll win.
All NFC teams left besides us are roofed stadium indoor teams…Atlanta’s is retractable but they only played 1 game with it open I think. That may or may not help but we need what we can get.
Not the focus right now, but…
https://twitter.com/bwalkernfl/status/950048013992407040
I’m excited. I want to see when the game is and put out some feelers on airfare. I probably won’t wind up going, but it’ll be nice to watch the Eagles kick either Tennessee’s or Jacksonville’s ass on a world stage while eating pork roll sandwiches at 9:30 AM.
too much travel and too disruptive for the team
no thanks
Don’t all teams which play the London game get their bye the next week?
I’m honestly not too worried. Flying to London is not all that different from flying to Seattle as far as distance, only you play a team with less of a homefield advantage.
I would rather have the bye before this game but that would be nice. Either way we get a playoff team in UK, should be cool
I think they are all offered to have their bye the following week. I remember hearing this year that one of the teams turned it down.
Falcons matchup is the best matchup for the Eagles.
Really glad they won because the Saints would have come in here and covered even if they were 4 or 4.5 favorites.
Panthers WRs missed 2 TDs .. lame on their part
Didn’t see Foles being the key factor when Wentz went down. Still don’t.
I see this offense scoring between 17-23 points on the board next week. Question is how well can the defense play.
– If they don’t force at least one INT, this team loses.
– If the LBs and secondary continue to tackle poorly, this team loses.
– If Mills or one it their CBs bite on a double move for a long TD, they lose.
– If Jones gets into the end zone, this team loses.
Good news is each of these isn’t that hard to prevent nor for the Eagles to win next week.
If they don’t run the f-ing ball in a dominant fashion………….
I don’t even see them needing to do that. Just a steady commitment even if they get behind 7 or 10 early on and some decent runs with the 2-4 chunks.
If Pederson panics and they start going heavy on the pass, they’ll get whupped.
If they run slants on us, we already lost.
If Schwartz can’t freaking stop slants with this much time, he should go home.
Still think he is overrated and any team that would hire him as a head coach would make a real mistake.
Big coaching loss would be Fipp or DeFilippo or losing Douglas as a GM with him taking a few scouts with him.
As Dirty Harry says, “A man has got to know his limitations.”
Schwartz is a guy I see as a solid coordinator but somebody who hasn’t realkyimpressed me with his in-game adjustments or as the season progresses.
He’s playing without Hicks and promoted a guy off the street to be his starting LB, Kendricks has always been weak in everything that’s not blitzing, and you have seen what happens to Mills when he attempts to play tight coverage.
Missing just one starter on defense and Mills hadn’t played tight coverage all year.
They won’t start next week. See more of last year where they have to blanket Jones after the catch and limit YAC. Don’t see Sanu being a matchup problem either.
Biggest matchup problem receiving is Coleman out of the backfield is he is on Ellerbe or Kendricks out of a 4-3 set which I think we’ll see a fair amount of this week.
j. mills is a stud in terms of value, for a 7th rd pick to play as well as he does.
I meant Mills plays well off the line and hadn’t pressed all year.
He has done a pretty good job with this defense. I wouldn’t take that for granted.
Exactly. Look at Buffalo’s defense before he got there and after he left. He made a difference.
We trading Gym Shorts for Baldy McDermott? I didn’t have that crystal ball…sign me up then!
umm have you watched this defense this season? maybe you already forgot how this defense has looked the last 10 years
I’m so happy Dallas took Zeke over Ramsay and drafted Dak. Dak isn’t a good enough to be a “star” QB but not bad enough to be replaced.
No excuse whatsoever to not feed Kareem Hunt the ball when you’re up 21-3 at halftime.