Playoff Perspective
Posted: January 7th, 2018 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 243 Comments »Wild Card Weekend is in the books.
ATL 26
LAR 13
NO 31
CAR 26
Do you feel better or worse about the Eagles now?
I came away feeling better.
If any of the teams had played at a high level, it would have been disconcerting. That just wasn’t the case. The Falcons pulled off the upset, but had plenty of help from the Rams. LA was very sloppy, turning the ball over twice and making more mistakes than they normally do.
Atlanta ran the ball pretty well and played good defense. Still, the Rams helped them out by having some playoff jitters. Todd Gurley was a weapon in the passing game all year. He was targeted 10 times on Saturday and only produced 10 yards. That’s not good. Give LB Deion Jones some credit for sure, but part of that was on Gurley, Goff and the Rams.
The Saints are the team that everyone wants to proclaim as the team to beat. They have a pair of outstanding RBs. They play solid defense. And they have Drew Brees. But something still feels off with this team and you could see that on Sunday.
New Orleans got out to a 21-6 lead. They still couldn’t put the game away. Carolina had a chance to win at the end.
The Panthers took away the Saints dominant run game and forced Brees to beat them. The future Hall of Fame QB was 23-33-376 and played really well. As good as he was, Carolina had that game right there for the taking. They just couldn’t make the key plays on that final drive.
And it wasn’t like Carolina played great. They dropped a TD on the opening series. That was followed by a missed FG (25-yarder!!!). Cam Newton was late on a throw to Greg Olsen that could have been a TD. The Panthers dropped a potential INT and later picked off a pass they should have dropped.
The Saints won a tough game and should certainly be happy about that, but they hardly looked like a juggernaut.
The Eagles can win on Saturday, when they host the Falcons. You can’t assume that will happen just because the Eagles are the higher seed and beat the Falcons a year ago. The playoffs are a whole other season. Just because something happened in October or November doesn’t mean it will hold true in January.
One of the issues for the Rams was a lack of playoff experience. They had six players with playoff experience and none amongst the stars (Goff, Gurley, Kupp, Woods, Donald, Quinn, Johnson). By comparison, the Eagles have four players who have been Super Bowl champions.
As I see it, the NFC is wide open. There is no clear favorite.
That’s a good thing with Nick Foles at the helm. He’s not going to beat any juggernaut teams. It also is frustrating to not have Wentz playing because the Eagles might be serious favorites with him against this group.
*****
Eagles have been home underdogs three times in the playoffs and are 3-0, winning by an average of 17 points:
1980 NFC Championship Game +1 vs. Cowboys [won 20-7]
1995 wild-card game +3 vs. Lions [won 58-37]
2000 wild-card game +3 vs. Bucs [won 21-3]@pfref database— Reuben Frank (@RoobNBCS) January 7, 2018
The Eagles played great defense in 1980 and 2000.
The game in 1995 was one of those Perfect Night scenarios. Detroit just kept turning the ball over and the Eagles just kept making plays. The score was 58-37 and the game wasn’t even that close. If Ray Rhodes didn’t call off the dogs, might have scored 70. One of my all-time favorite games. Absolute madness.
*****
Cool piece here from PE.com. Another segment of the Unscripted series, a behind the scenes look at the final four regular season games. Love pieces like this.
_
First, you guys gotta come here more often!
You need a life
I’m actually at the point where I’could be first but it just means so damn much to Sean E, can’t we just let him have this (So long as we win when he does this shit)?
The real competition should be: Who can manage to be last?
Hopefully who ever says “new thread” first.
You would hope so, but…
To quote the great philosopher Ricky Bobby, if you ain’t first, you’re last.
Still playing this stupid game mucking up the thread. Just stop already son. I’ll say it again, nobody cares who’s first – we aren’t on the Spuds page. All those stupid little games the children play over there just takes away form the point – the Eagles!
Uh-oh, you didn’t make a football comment within the time limit, so it actually doesn’t count. Isn’t that how it works? Idiots!
The weird thing is we’ll know within 5 minutes of watching Foles whether the Eagles will win or lose. Here’s hoping he starts well.
Perhaps.. if the offense comes out and looks ineffective because Foles is spraying the ball all over the place and looks lost, we’re in trouble. But if he comes out and makes the right reads/throws but we sputter at first because of drops, penalties, blown assignments, etc. it’s possible they get it together.
One of the things that concerns me about Saturday is exactly what was mentioned and that was the nervousness of Rams. It’s imperative that the Eagles don’t repeat what the Rams did because it will be almost impossible to overcome any mistakes including those caused by nerves.
Oddly enough, I believe the fact the Eagles will be playing with a chip on their shoulder will go a long way toward overcoming their nerves.
Also, it doesn’t hurt that Foles has some playoff experience.
I think the HFA helps there too. They dominate at home. They are rested. I expect the defense especially to come out ballin. We’ll see what happens with Foles and the offense.
I think it will help if they win the toss and decide to kickoff.
Im with you on this. I feel like a quick 3 & out by our offense will suck the life out of that stadium. I want to D to set the tone.
Yeah if the O-line and entire D come out and play angry, they’ve got a very strong chance to win that game.
Weirdly I’d actually worry more about playoff nerves with Wentz than Foles. We saw him come out jittery in big games this season (Dallas, LA Rams) and while he recovered to play well in both games, in the playoffs an early turnover or missed TD throw is often the difference between victory and defeat. I don’t expect nerves will be an issue for Foles, who’s played and played well in a playoff game before – it’s more a question of whether he’ll be asked to do things his talent isn’t upto.
Good point, because Goff definitely wasn’t himself.
As far as Foles being nervous about the playoffs you are probably right, but the pressure is still on him because of the last two games.
It will all comes down to who will capitalize on the other team’s mistakes and who makes the most key plays
Yup.
Agreed, so we need zero of the following
– missed tackles
– dropped INTS (“drop” = anything I see a finger tip touch)
– dumb penalties
Insider tip from a bookie friend of mine – teams that score more points than the opponent win 100% of the time.
Should you be just giving that info away on the Internet, where anyone can see it?
Yeah, but do they cover the spread? Asking for a bookie.
Hard hitting late Madden analysis level.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0d880c4e7b92f88a29247ac30f1161b911f5790d6f5b8c3301e7fe739dd30899.png
Shame Carson went down. With him at the helm and with our defense and the home field advantage, the Eagles would have a clear path to a Super Bowl bid against an inconsistent AFC field.
That being said, it’s one game at a time now. The Eagles have a chance to win this upcoming game against the Falcons.
I’m in tune with Tommy’s statement. Wild Card weekend made me feel like it’s not such an uphill climb. And you know it’s going to be a great atmosphere at the Linc on Saturday afternoon.
The fans will be going nuts! Bring on the Falcons! Go Eagles!
This game is weird. I don’t feel nervous (yet) like before most playoff games. I think I still haven’t gotten over Wentz being out and how un-Carson like Foles is.
But, I know when the game starts Saturday, I’m going to expect the Eagles to score more points than the Falcons. Then we’ll be one game closer to the Super Bowl.
Yeah, I don’t feel anything here. I wouldn’t be surprised by a loss. I wouldn’t be surprised by a win. It feels like I’m on antidepressants about it.
My attitude is pretty fatalistic. A win would be nice, but a loss wouldn’t be surprising as you say. Either way, I’m happy about the season and very bullish on the team’s future. And the sun will come up on Jan. 14th regardless.
Ha, ha yes the sun will rise on the 14th. I’ve enjoyed this season too. However, the way the NFL works being the number one seed in the conference doesn’t come around every year (unless you’re the Patriots).
It would’ve been cool to see Carson lead this team with this opportunity.
It is much, much more likely to come around when you have an elite, top 5 type quarterback, which is what I think Carson is going to be. The Patriots, Colts, Steelers, and Packers have all fairly regularly secured top two seeds over the past decade with that kind of QB on the roster.
With Carson we have an opportunity to have another golden age like we had under Reid. After the championship game run in ’01 I really felt we had a chance every year.
I know the teams you mentioned have a chance each year because of their QBs, but there was something about the balance of this team this year before Carson went down that felt like this could be the year.
Anyway, I hope the team rises to the occasion Saturday. Looking forward to a playoff game at home again.
I tell ya that sun has been coming up every single morning all throughout 2017. Credit where credit is due.
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/21997828/jacksonville-jaguars-yannick-ngakoue-accuses-buffalo-bills-richie-incognito-using-racial-slurs
Why am I like 99.999% sure that I believe Ngakoue here?
If they had NFL player base superlatives, Richie Incognito would 100% be voted “most likely to use a racial slur”. Didn’t he have a similar incident a few years ago when he played for the Dolphins?
He was one of the major players involved with the Jonathan Martin thing.
Once an a**hole, always an a**hole.
interesting that the players keep voting him to the Pro Bowl. One might think they wouldn’t, setting aside whether he is playing well or not.
We get the Falcons then. For what it is worth, I would have preferred the Rams, as I mentioned in an earlier thread. We saw how the Falcons were able to run it on LA and with our scheme, we could have negated Aaron Donalds impact as an interior force. We also saw how Geoff is limited when Gurley is not dominating, and we still have the best run defense in the league. I just feel like we matched up so well with the Rams who also didnt have great cover guys in the second level. The Falcons on the other hand are making me seriously nervous. I can’t stop envisioning Julio Jones and sanu scoring 60-yard TDs on every slant’n go route. And their defense have the talent to limit Ertz, Jeffery and Burton in the passing game with man coverage matchups as well as the stretch and outside zone run plays that we tend to rely on with Kelce. Which is what we saw them do to LA. The Falcons are flawed, sure. But they don’t match up well for this team at all, especially without Wentz to take full advantage of our O-line to make second reaction plays and throw deep to Hollins, Agholar and Smith on the move.
Jones is scary, but Atlanta frequently stinks on the road and stinks even more when their run game is shut down.
This is true. I could see them coming in here and having a sub-par performance on the road. I could also see our D-line getting the better of their O-line and hitting Ryan consistently. Cox on Mack is a pretty awesome matchup to watch for this game and one that might have tremendous impact. If we win it, this is how we get it done, I believe.
Yeah, our D line should be capable of really turning this game into what we need.
The ,rams weren’t a choice this round. We would have played the Saints.
Yea, I know. I guess the question is weather we’d rather play the saints at this point. I think I would. This is not the concensus, but that team was a dropped TD and a missed FG away from losing to a seriously flawed Carolina-team who didnt play that well in most of that game. And almost lost anyway. Drew Brees is a lot less scary on the road, outside, in the winter than at home. I fear the Falcons more than the Saints right now and I think the Vikes have to be pretty clear favourites next weekend.
no we wouldn’t. Whoever we are set to play, will be definition look the scariest.
We throttled the Falcons pretty effectively last year when they were better and we were starting two CBs who aren’t even in the league anymore. Conversely the Rams hung a season high on us this season. I’m not sure why you think the Falcons are a bad matchup but the Rams aren’t.
The Rams scored 7 points in the first half of that game against our D. I think that tells us that we have the personnel to stop them. Which we did again in the 4th quarter when the game was being decided. Then we manufactored two scoring drives with Nicky Freakin’ Foles to retake the lead. And we ran it up their gut to sustain a number of drives. When you think about it, the Rams got beat by Atlanta in much the same way as they faltered against us. And I think Atlanta had been watching a lot of tape of their game against us.
The Falcons are a bad matchup against us because they have great man-beaters on the outside and a veteran QB who can make reads after the snap and exploit option routes (double moves anyone?) And they have a lot of speed in the front 7, which complicates a lot of what the Eagles like to do up front in the run game. They are going to force Foles to beat them with throws to the outside, and I don’t really see that happening with much consistency.
I think our D-line needs to take over this game if we are to win it. For what it’s worth, I think they can.
I very much agree. Atlanta is a dangerous team. They played strong the second half of the season and have a lot of momentum. I also agree this is a winnable game for the Eagles based on the play of the D-line, as well as an effective Offensive game plan.
There are no easy matchups in the playoffs, but when we played an Atlanta team with much the same personnel and a superior playcaller last year, we shut them down, with inferior players on our defense.
Julio is a great WR, but he’s a speed/power guy and I think we actually match up better against him than we do against somebody like Odell Beckham who combines downfield speed with elite quickness, route running, and change of direction ability. I think we can limit the damage he does and keep him out of the end zone. Sanu is a good player but not elite. The Falcons also run a lot of screens and misdirection in the short passing game which we’ve done a good job shutting down this year. They’re not a team I’ve seen run tons of slants. I also think we can shut down their running game, and they’re not that great in the red zone.
On the other side of the ball, their defense is fast, but vulnerable to power and misdirection, both things we do well. I think we can run the ball on them. And their pass rush doesn’t scare me nearly as much as the Rams’ does. Any team is going to try to beat us by forcing Foles to throw, but I think the Falcons are less well-equipped to do this than most opponents we might face.
I just really don’t see anything to be scared of in this team. Doesn’t mean we’ll win the game, but I think they’re the ideal matchup among the NFC playoff teams for us.
I think our D line needs to take over every game for us to win every game from here on out. And the run game needs to be really good. And Foles has to be good enough to back defenses out of the box at least a little. Without all of these, we’re most likely done.
I think one of the things we’ll be able to get a closer look at with Wentz gone for this game is who exactly wants to demonstrate they’re worth keeping here long term and who is in need of an upgrade. Wentz’s injury will have been over a month ago, so any shock needs to have worn off. If the Eagles lose on Sunday, I expect Howie and Doug to target the guilty parties for elimination and upgrade on this roster. Wentz isn’t there to hide anybody’s BS, so guys need to be playing with some urgency.
But whether or not they play well with Foles has little to do with how they play with Wentz.
Here’s the playoff perspective…
In the NFC, there are 8 units of offense/ defense remaining. The Nick Foles led Eagles offense is the worst of the 8. You can make a solid case it’s the worst unit of the AFC and NFC teams remaining.
I’d take NO defense over this offense. The only one I’m wavering on is Jacksonville’s offense, but at least Bortles can run.
Come on now. The Eagles offense with Nick Foles is clearly better than what Bortles just did. They would have scored more than 10 points against the Bills.
No, that’s not a solid case at all. I’d definitely take the Eagles’ offense over Jacksonville’s and Tennessee’s offenses. Maybe over the Patriots’ defense as well.
The Blake I-threw-for-86-yds Bortles led offense is better than ours? No. Worst I’d put us is 6th.
recency bias
“As I see it, the NFC is wide open. There is no clear favorite.” – but no mention of the Vikings?
….
Eagles don’t have an elite rusher — Eagles dominated the run game with multiple backs.
Eagles don’t have an elite WR. Eagles have a stable of capable wr’s to get the job done.
Eagles don’t have Wentz. Eagles do have Ertz.
….
Home game!!!!
…
I’m certainly not one of those sitting here hoping for a win. I expect a win. I expect the defense to be smothering(they are more than capable). I expect the Eagles to dominate the run game(more than capable). I expect Pederson to put Foles in good situations. I expect Cox to play out of his mind. I expect Jenkins to step up. No excuses IMHO. Team will step up!
Either we win ugly close game or lose by a mile!
Giants won a SB because Norwood couldn’t hit a FG at the end of the game. I don’t care if we win 3-2. There are no ugly wins in the playoffs…just wins…
Agree. I really dont mind an ugly close win.
This season has really been a lot of fun and has been really easy on my stress levels and blood pressure as for some reason, this team has this strange feeling they will find a way to win.
Or win a pretty close game. Or win a pretty dominant game. Or win an ugly dominant game. Or lose a close ugly game. Or lose a dominant game. Etc….
or just lose
It probably will be one of those.
Thanks Stat guru
Interesting article about tracked “game speed”. Lane is the fastest OL in the NFL, Byron Jones fastest overall player.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/04/sports/football/nfl-speed-leonard-fournette.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fsports&action=click&contentCollection=sports®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=6&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0
It’ll be interesting to see where John Ross ranks next year. Also Fournette is a freak.
Ross will be tied for last with zero games played
quick vs fast. Someone like Mills is quick, but not fast. Someone like Lane Johnson is fast but not quick.
It’s measuring straight line speed though. I get what you’re saying. Lane is both quick and fast. OL need quickness more than speed.
Watching Kelce go out for blocks, I have a hard time believing he isn’t almost as fast as Lane.
See my previous comment.
Can’t argue science!
The article mainly talks about maximum speed. So when it says that Lane is the fastest OL, it means that he had the highest recorded in game maximum speed of any OL this season. So, on that one play Lane went faster than Kelce did on any play this season.
Lane ran a 40 time faster than most linebackers and tight ends (4.72). Hell, it was faster than some receivers, including good ones like Jarvis Landry.
The dude is an insanely good athlete period, never mind for a 320 pound man.
so if I am Falcon’s OC, I would look for our weaknesses and Mills seems to be the weakest link on our D lately and I would try to attack him with Jones and Sanu. If Mills really struggle and the game is on the line, do we want to pull him out and put in Sydney Jones or hope that Mills will hold his own?
I’d be targeting McLeod and Mills on almost every play if I were the Falcons.
I doubt Sydney Jones is even active. More likely you’d see Rasul Douglas.
That said, I think you play the guys that got you there.
I hear your premise but I disagree. I hardly think they would have had him play a bit against Dallas if not for a reason. You don’t prep for next year in regards to playing time for rookies during a #1 seed playoff run.
I am very confident he will get some playing time. I am hoping it’s a lot.
They didn’t play him during a playoff run. They did it after the #1 seed was wrapped up. It was a game played mostly by back ups. I wouldn’t read into his playing time as a sign they plan on playing him in the playoffs. I think they got his feet wet, he’ll continue to practice, but I think it unlikely he’s active.
Fair enough. I just think that doesn’t make sense.
Have good player + in the playoffs = don’t play him?
Your approach makes sense in terms of everything except for one realm – trying to win a playoff game because, you know, you want to….
I think he’s a significantly better CB than anyone not named Prob (slot) and Ronald Darby. So you play him. Maybe not 100% of the time or in 100% of match-ups. But still
If he was some veteran coming back from the PUP I would agree. He’s a rookie. The vast majority of rookie CBs struggle their first year, never mind guys that missed all of the offseason activities and 16 of 17 regular season games. I loved him at UW, but I’m not ready to say that he is the best option right now. Next year he probably is.
I also think it’s bad from a chemistry stand point. Mills isn’t great, but he is well liked by his teammates. while Mills has struggled the last 3-4 games he played well most of the season. He has earned the right to play. He helped get them there.
All good points. We’ll see. Do you think he should be active roster?
Active roster as in the 53 or active on game day?
If game day I don’t think he should be active. We don’t activate 5 CBs and Jones hasn’t played ST.
If you mean on the 53 man roster I think all the practice reps he can get this season the better. He should be competing for a starting role next year.
Oh I definitely think he should be active for the game. But suit yourself.
If Mills has to cover Jones and Sanu on the same play, we are definitely in a lot of trouble. 🙂
But imagine that finger wag dance if he still breaks up the pass. I say go for it.
He’d have to use BOTH fingers!
He doesn’t even need to break it up. If Matt Ryan misses and overthrows either one of them, then Mills can break out the finger wag. In fact, this coverage could double his chances of being able to finger wag on any given play!
Better yet – if he’s covering both of them, Ryan is guaranteed to miss at least one of them. Mills will be able to finger wag on every play.
This is genius. Someone get Jim Schwartz on the phone.
Our players are well rested and have to be feeling disrespected being home underdogs to the sixth seed. I think the D-line and O-line are going to come out fired up and physically dominate the Falcons’ lines.
atlanta will be able to air it out and take chances knowing we wont be scoring hardly
Eagles got the best case scenario. Falcons are a good team, but Eagles match up well with them and have beaten them recently.They need to run the ball, control the clock, dominate field position and play excellent defense. Foles and the offense must protect the ball. Pederson and Schwartz both cannot coach scared; they must be aggressive and attack. Dictate to the opponent instead of letting them dictate to you.
I’m getting on the Eagles win by more than 10 bandwagon right now. Plenty of room people. Let’s do this.
I on it with you. I think the Eagles are going to surprise a lot of people this week.
if folks like my post but don’t join, are they with us or just like look at those fools?
Good question. 🙂
This bandwagon of yours, where and how can I short it?
I saw that movie, but this is for realz. So don’t come at me all Margot Robbie.
Flip didn’t get the Bears job.
Good news!
Now just hoping the Cardinals hire somebody else, and that Houston hires another GM and leaves Joe Douglas alone
I still think someone will offer him an OC job. He’s not under contractor next year so he’s a free agent
Yeah he is at the very least likely to be named an OC somewhere. He’s as good as gone.
The Eagles blocked a Texans interview with Joe Douglas. Good news.
I think what that really means is, instead of Joe saying NO personally and rejecting the Texans publicly, the team blocks it.
I don’t believe the team would block it if Joe really wanted to interview. But that’s good news.
The Texans can interview Douglas after the playoffs are over. The team can only block it now because they’re still in contention.
I think our biggest hope is they fill the position in the meantime.
Another benefit of winning and staying in the playoffs longer (besides trying to win the SB) is that hopefully teams get tired of waiting and hire people from other teams instead of the Eagles’ guys.
OT- but Andy Reid not calling run plays wasn’t what cost them the game. Tennessee was controlling the LOS and KC receivers dropped a lot of paases. His ganeplan was correct. I really hate it when fans yell “RUN THE BALL” every time the team loses.
So throw to Hunt….
Only 5 runs with the NFL’s leading rusher when you have an 18-point lead? Sometimes you can’t just let the other team dictate your offensive game plan for you…
Yeah, I usually agree with Donald that critcisms about not running the ball more are off base, but in this case they’re warranted. When you have an 18 point lead in the second half and the best weapon in your passing game is out with a concussion, and you also happen to have a Pro Bowl RB, your objective shouldn’t be to maximize how many more points you score, it should be to make sure you take time off the clock every time you possess the ball. Reid has never really gotten this – his focus is always on maximizing yardage/points which is not always the best strategy.
Odds to Win Super Bowl 52
1) Patriots 2/1
2) Vikings 15/4
3) Steelers 5/1
4) Saints 11/2
5) Falcons 7/1
6) Eagles 14/1
7) Jaguars 18/1
8) Titans 50/1
Falcons are twice as likely as Eagles to win the SB? wtf people. The disrespect is insane.
Also, next time the Pats lose one of their first 4 games by a fair amount, and the D looks horrible, can we stop from dancing on their grave.
Atlanta has an underrated defense and Matt Ryan is a top 10 QB in the NFL. They beat the Packers and Seahawks last year by double digits and had a 25 point lead against the Patriots in the Super Bowl.
The offenss has looked terrible the last two weeks and the secondary has come down to earth. Twice as likely is legit. I take Vegas seriously when it comes to their numbers.
They won those games last year at home, and they were a better team than they are this year.
They might well beat the Eagles on Sunday, but to make it to the SB they’d have to then beat the Vikings or Saints on the road, and then beat either New England or Pittsburgh in the SB. That is an insanely difficult gauntlet to run and I don’t think they’re up to it.
Think about it in terms of win probabilities. If we give them a 60% chance to beat the Eagles (I’d say generous, but okay), followed by 40% chance to beat NO or Minny (again generous I think), followed by a 40% chance to win the SB, it’d leave them with only a 9.6% chance to win the SB. If we drop the chances to 55%, 35%, 40% (more realistic IMO), it gives them only a 7.7% chance of winning. Even if you peg their chances at 60% against the Eagles and 50% in both the NFC title game and the SB, that’s still only a 15% chance. 7-1 odds are insane. This smells like Vegas anticipating the public overestimating their chances after an impressive WC round showing and cleaning up on sucker bets to me.
Keep in mind that Vegas is not necessarily saying what they think the real odds are here, but rather trying to maximize their take – if they think the Eagles are actually only 10/1, but they anticipate the public overestimating how much of an impact on their chances missing Wentz will have and betting heavily against them, they will set the odds accordingly to entice action on them.
7/1 does seem like crazy high odds for the Falcons to me though. To win the SB they’d have to win three straight road games, which is an insanely difficult thing to do notwithstanding the fact that the remaining two would be at Philly and at either New Orleans or Minnesota, all very tough places to play. And they’re a very flawed team.
yes sure, but still fun to argue about
So if Nagy was the OC calling plays for KC, and he was the one who “wouldn’t run Hunt even though he was rushing champ and it would have prevented them from losing which they did” – a. why are people blaming Andy? and b – Why did he get hired as Bears HC?
Something isn’t adding up
Lots of pics of Andy on the sideline during that game, looking at the playsheet and talking into his headset.
Fair enough.
He needs to implement a play sheet with only runs for 1st and 2nd down while up by 3 scores.
He is like a passing addict or something. This phenomenon will be studied in the future with great interest.
F In so funny that is true !! Brilliant. .he really really should have a separate if not 8 Dennys menus for every scenario per QTR! !! And one spey dedicated for 2 minutes warning with no timeouts
..2 triple plays with strawberries and extra bacon please
Good interview.
Doug was one the calling plays last time the Chiefs blew a giant lead
Good point
Which would you rather have, Bortles, Tyron, or Foles?
Bortles and Tyron looked just like Foles yesterday. It’s probably a toss-up.
You mean Tyrod?
They looked like Raiders/Cowboys Foles. NYG Foles was significantly better than both.
They’ve both looked like NYG Foles at times during the year, too.
Foles looked okay in his last playoff game, so hopefully “Playoff Foles” becomes a thing.
Agreed, but I thought you were only referring to Bortles’ and Taylor’s play yesterday.
On the whole I think Foles is about on their level as a QB, which is kind of sad given that they’re both starters and he’s a backup.
When Romo started calling out the cover 4 coverage and indicating which receiver would be open was masterful. It was very clear that Tyrod does not know how to read a defense.
Romo’s analysis each game show what separates strong-armed quarterbacks from franchise-the players.
If you mean Tyron Smith, I’ll take him at left tackle over Bortles or Foles at QB. If Dallas wants to give us Smith for Foles in a trade in the offseason, sign me up.
If its tyrone biggum him
Otherwise Foles is not this lost cause he is being made out to be. At the minimum he is capable.
Tyrod
Quarterbacks that are possibly, maybe worth worrying about by conference:
NFC:
-Eli Manning*
-Drew Brees*
-Carson Wentz
-Matt Stafford
-Aaron Rodgers
-Cam Newton
-Matt Ryan
-Russell Wilson
-Jared Goff
NFC Maybes:
Dak, Cousins, Winston, Jimmy G, Keenum/Bradford/Bridgewater
————–
AFC:
-Tom Brady*
-Ben Rothlisburger*
-Phillip Rivers*
-Luck (RIP throwing shoulder)
AFC Maybes:
Mariota, Carr, Watson, …Tannehill? … …Flacco?
*indicates that they should be retiring within the next few years.
So, uh… Tom Brady probably *could* play until his 50s and do pretty well in the AFC.
no my friend, time is a cruel b*tch and when it happens, it happens.
Time is cruel, and crueler to nobody more than those hubristic enough to believe they can defy it. I would be on the end for Brady, when it comes, being ugly rather than graceful.
I’m thinking of the Phillies pitcher who pitched into his 40’s….oh can’t think of his name. Jamie Moyer? I was going to say there are none in football playing QB. Manning fell off a cliff. I think one more good year (and they should have franchised Jimmy), then so so 2nd year and then not a threat.
Moyer was throwing 85 MPH at the end of his career and got by on pure guile, since he was incredibly studious about the tendencies of opposing hitters and changed speeds as well as any pitcher in the league. You don’t necessarily *have* to throw hard in baseball to get guys out, but if you can’t drive the ball when necessary in football, it significantly limits how effective you can be because some throws can’t be made based on pure skill and smarts.. there’s no way to fool a cornerback with off-speed stuff to complete a deep out. Moreover I think it’s significantly harder to play at a high level in a collision sport like football than it is as a pitcher.
If I had to bet, I’d say Brady has one more year left at most, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he suffers a Manning-like fall off a cliff next year.
Brady can survive on pure guile, too, when he’s facing the menacing Blake fucking Bortles in the AFC championship game every year.
He’s not facing Blake Bortles though – he’s facing Jalen Ramsey and AJ Bouye. We’ve already seen an elite defense with a terrible quarterback beat him (Broncos with broken-down Manning two years ago) – that’s only going to get more common.
Jim Kaat !!
I thought of this very idea watching Golden Globes .. yeah i did. .(my spell check was trying to force Golden Gloves. . But nope it was the Globes) .. but man i do NOT want to live as long as Kirk Douglas ..101 way too long damn. .he was a stud up to like 90
This was good work. Nice job. Your my Patriot of the week.
No fair! I never win Patriot of the week. 🙁
Drown your sorrows with avocado ice cream that prevents sunburns and concussions. Only $400 a pint
I changing into my special healing powered pajamas and going to bed.
At this point I wouldn’t put Eli in the “worth worrying about” category any more. Yeah, he carved us up, but if you look at his entire season, he appears to be over the hill. Stafford has never belonged in that category to me.
I think what this tells us is that we’re likely entering an era in which the NFC dominates the SB.
It’s not meant to be a definitive list. Take each list +/- 2 and you’d more or less agree with it, yeah? It’s just showing how threadbare the AFC is right now.
Yep, definitely agree with your larger point.
I disagree, Cousins is a top shelf QB.
Said to xeynon below: “It’s not meant to be a definitive list. Take each list +/- 2 and you’d
more or less agree with it, yeah? It’s just showing how threadbare the
AFC is right now.”
Brady will cheat old father time and play another 7-10 years.
Edit: I missed the while conversation below.
I really like our matchup for our DLine against their OL. Aaron Donald showed that the interior of their line is where to attack. Everything else I may favor slightly towards the Falcons. Their D gave the Rams fits and made Goff improvise allot which is exactly what Foles can’t do. Hopefully we can give him time to make a few plays but that is really all we can hope for with Foles currently.
Their D gave Goff fits because they played press man coverage…something Schwartz doesn’t do.
“First of all, I thought the Falcons secondary looked energized to come up and play tight. Atlanta typically plays zone and makes teams work the ball down the field, maybe 10 or 12 plays. It looked like they enjoyed that, in this game, they were going to come up and be in guys’ faces all night long. It started from the opening snap. They got the young quarterback off his game because I think he anticipated short, easy throws to start the game. He didn’t get those. Atlanta was up playing tight, man coverage.
And the Falcons secondary did a tremendous job of plastering Rams receivers because there were a number of times where Atlanta didn’t get any pressure on Goff, and Atlanta was able to stay with the receivers.”
http://www.atlantafalcons.com/archers-take/article-1/Archers-Take-Falcons-coverage-and-running-game-caught-Rams-off-guard/6611ebd6-95d8-41dc-a402-6e69c7e5ee6b
I cannot wait until Saturday!! #gameday
I know. How many times can I refresh Iggles Blitz?
you love torture
I remember an elated Jeff Lurie giving Ray Rhodes a huge bear hug before the time expired, that Rhodes didn’t seem into. Things were looking up and then…
That team was pretty clearly smoke and mirrors, even at the time – they had Rodney Peete as their QB and no franchise-level players on either side of the ball (Dawkins didn’t arrive until the next season’s draft).
Warren Sapp should have been on that roster, but we got Mike Mamula instead…………and lost an extra pick in the process.
Im still OK with missing on Sapp .. hof talent and All-World HOF Jacksass
..
But if the only thing that Ray did was draft Dawk. .id argue is almost worth it .. come to think of it, did Chip draft Cox , damn memory, have to Google it. ..??
It wasn’t just Sapp. We used two second round picks to trade up, and Tampa traded up with those two picks and picked Derrick Brooks.
Dawk was great, but he really only became Dawk when Jim Johnson arrived. Under Rhodes he was decent but not a game changer. He did have a number of picks, but just 1 forced fumble in three full years as a starter under Rhodes (and six in his first year under Johnson).
Rhodes drafted one good player each year — Taylor, Dawk, and Staley — but whiffed on the top picks, badly, and didn’t get a whole lot of good depth. He did acquire some good veterans and coached them, but by the end the motivational stuff wore thin (and the roster aged quickly).
Wel i guess i can like AR just for getting JJ
Far be it from me to defend Ray Rhodes, but you’re being a bit unfair to him. He drafted more than three good players. Tra Thomas, Jeremiah Trotter, and Jermane Mayberry were Rhodes picks as well.
Control of the draft was taken away from Rhodes in 1998. That was Bryan Broaddus. Who was quickly replaced by Tom Modrak, which may not have been a great move.
http://igglesblitz.com/2013/02/eagles-notebook-30/
MUCH better draft. They finally found the LT they had been searching for for a decade. Yes, Mayberry was also a good player, though Rhodes drafted him to be LT, where he failed, but turned into a good long-term guard.
Rhodes was better than Kotite though, for sure.
They were picks under the Rhodes coaching regime, then. I’m sure he had input in 1998 even if he didn’t have final say.
Even taking those guys out of the equation, Rhodes still still did a little better than you’re giving him credit for. Chris T. Jones’ career was off to a very promising start before he tore up his knee, and Barrett Brooks, N.D. Kalu, Greg Jefferson, Koy Detmer, and Jason Dunn were all guys who had productive if unspectacular NFL careers. No great or even good drafts in the bunch (the best grade I’d give any of them was maybe a C) but no complete abortions like the Eagles 2011 draft either.
Yeah, as I said, he was much better than Kotite. Below-average drafts, but not complete zeroes.
Even 2011 produced Jason Kelce though, a seven year (and counting) starter for this team, and a three-time Pro-Bowl and/or All-Pro player. Dion Lewis has also probably had a better career than say Jason Dunn. So by that measure, even 2011 was close to Rhodes’ three drafts.
If you want complete abortions, go look at 1992/1993. 1994 was awful too, though we did get Charlie Garner and Joe Panos. 1991 had a couple hits in later rounds, but also whiffed the top three picks. Kotite was the real disaster and the roster he left didn’t give Rhodes much of a chance, but to me Ray’s drafts really weren’t all that much better than 2011. 1998 was huge, and gave Reid a big push. Reid thereafter tended to hit the high picks better, but you can argue that 2003 (and maybe 2007 and 2001) were worse. 2001 got some good role players though. Though looking back, Reid really had very few great drafts.
I had forgotten about Dion Lewis being a 2011 pick. I knew Kelce was that year, and he was a great pick, but the rest of that draft was so terrible with blown high picks on reaches for need (Fireman Danny, Jarrett, etc.) that it outweighed the one good player we got out of it in my mind.. you’re right though, those ’92-’94 drafts were abysmal. They drafted OL after OL with first round picks and couldn’t turn even one of them into a serviceable starter. Leonard Renfro.. Bruce Walker… Barf.
I agree with you that Big Red wasn’t a great drafter. He wasn’t terrible, and he did nail a few of the most critical picks (such as selecting Donovan over Culpepper/Smith/McNown in his first draft), but for the most part… yeah, not great. If he had taken Reggie Wayne instead of Fred-Ex in 2001 we quite possibly win a SB. Sigh, missed opportunities.
Andy.
Chip picked Lane Johnson and Ertz in his first year.
Ray Rhodes was just a guy who struck me as being in ‘over his head’ as a head coach.
Defense was never really that good here during any of Rhodes’ 4 years as a head coach despite some really good players (Fuller, Harmon, W. Thomas) mixed in with its share of veteran mediocrity.
Always seemed that it was more on Gruden and relying on Watters to carry the offense. When they both left after 1997, the team just fell apart with the worst offense in the league in 1998.
According to PFT, Josh McDaniels wants to not only be head coach, he wants final say over the roster. If true, who in their right mind would hire him? This is the idiot that selected Tim Tebow in the first round because “he just knows how to win.”
I’m at the top of the list of ‘JM Sucks’. He learned once already that life without Brady/Gronk life is tough. Agreed – who would give him a HC job. I hope the Giants do 🙂
In general I feel it’s a very weak set of candidates this year.
Josh McDaniels to the Giants would be wonderful. Make it so.
I thought he made a bunch of good moves when he first got to Denver, like bailing on Cutler, but… then the Tebow thing happened. And he got worse from there. Not sure that is someone you want to have personnel control — it could get Chip Kellyan.
Yes, and had you said that about his selection of DeShaun Watson it wouldn’t sound as crazy.
Huh? McDaniels didn’t select Watson, BOB did.
give it a year
Some people are humbled by their failures and accept second chances with a renewed sense of perspective and a new understanding of their own weaknesses and how to overcome them.
Josh McDaniels is apparently not one of those people.
What
a
dope
53 or 90 man?
How baby Belicheck of him…its cute knowing how much he’s gonna flame out.
If Eagles win a single playoff game, Doug gets coach of the year, right?
I could have seen it being McVay, but not after their one-and-done playoff appearance, at home, with the healthiest roster in the league.
If Eagles win this game and play at least a competitive championship game, it has to be Doug.
BLINDCHOW
where are u. T^his is your job to abolish the ignorance of WHEN the voting actually takes place…. Step it up bro, no more misses!
??
Voting has already taken place for this award.
And yeas we all forgot about Zim. He is a hell of a coach and I would rather him have it if Douggie gets jobbed.
I was wondering if it already took place, but figured maybe it didn’t. Forget coach of the year, as long as they are dumping Gatorade on Doug in February.
Finish the season how they started…
Yeah that would be sweet
Voting for those awards takes place before any playoff games. It’s just announced later. So playoff performance cannot affect them.
thx
Holy bulldog!
Jake Fromm got some gun of an arm. His passes also seem to be effortless. He could become a high draft pick three years down the line..
Let’s see how he develops – too many hotshot freshman QBs don’t hold up after not starts.
Alex Smith completed just five passes for 33 yards.
Kareem Hunt got 5 carries in the second half
How does this happen. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the feasibility of this cataclysmic even.
Andy. Reid. Happened.
This needs to be studied at oxford
Other than Taco Tuesday ,researchers are trying to figure out just what causes “Andy Reid” to happen during clutch football games.
I’m starting to believe him when he says it’s his fault.
Again.
They lost Travis Kelce. He has the same impact on that offense as Gronk has in NE, except Smith is not Brady
Sony Michel would compliment Ajayi really nicely.
Yup. Love Michel.
I really enjoy watching Alabama lose.
Don’t jinx this for me.
Good luck! Bama is always a big threat to come back.
oops
Hey, they were in the process of losing when I posted the comment. 😉
Saban rubs me the wrong so I kinda root against Alabama, but I’m really not that bothered as I don’t care much about college FB. Was much more annoyed by the Patriots’ comeback last year.
Gotta give Saban and the Tide credit. That was a hell of a comeback, and benching Hurts at halftime was a gutsy move. I do like to see aggressive, team-oriented coaching like that rewarded.
People are really disrespecting the Eagles. It’s starting to piss me off. There are 53 other people on this team besides Foles who’re getting paid to play a game, you know.
Not only that, I feel like people are underestimating Foles himself. No, he’s not Wentz and he’s not a star. But he really only played one bad game this season in which there was any effort made to game plan, in very bad weather, and he’s played like a very capable quarterback in the past. People are talking about him like he’s a high school quarterback and not a guy who actually holds multiple NFL records.
If the Eagles come out and stomp the Falcons on Saturday it will make it sweeter to know so many people have lost money betting against them.
Sure, but only one of those people is expected to actually score by throwing it to other guys. Guess who that is? Yep, the one guy who had a lot of problems doing just that in the last two games…
It’s completely understandable, given those last two games, that people think the Eagles are going to have a hard time winning this one.
It’s understandable. It’s also pretty dumb to assume that the last 1.25 games indicate what we’re going to get in the playoffs given that that’s the very definition of a small sample size.
This is true. The smart thing would be to assume the exact opposite will happen.
You’d have a valid point if anyone was doing that. There may be some people assuming the opposite will happen and we’ll see the 27 TD/2 INT guy. I have yet to encounter any such people. In my observation irrational pessimism is far more widespread than irrational optimism.
The Eagles are underdogs for a reason. That reason is Foles’ uneven play. It has nothing to do with “optimism” or “pessimism.”
I’m not sure why this is such a problem for you.
Actually, the reason the Eagles are underdogs is that the betting public perceives they should be underdogs because of (1) the Falcons’ win in the WC round and (2) Foles’ play. This is a vital distinction. The betting public’s perceptions are prone to recency bias and are often erroneous. They’re not a good predictor of the actual outcomes of games.
In a technical sense Foles’ play has been uneven, sure. But the fact is he hasn’t played enough this year for it to be safe to draw conclusions about how he’ll play in the playoffs, and people who do so are begging to be parted from their money. I don’t gamble on individual games, but if I did, I’d stay away from this one, because I honestly have no idea what to expect from Foles. If he comes out and plays like he did against the Giants, the Eagles most likely win the game. If he plays like he did against Oakland, they most likely lose. He’s a high variance player and you don’t know what you’re going to get. Therefore it strikes me as foolish to be too confident in any particular outcome. Lots of Eagles fans are confident in their pessimism however, far more than seem to be confident in optimism.
My god, who are you even responding to? No one mentioned “confidence in outcome”!
*deep existential sigh*
Let me make this simple: If Wentz was playing instead of Foles, would we still be underdogs?
https://media.giphy.com/media/3o6Mbbj0GGZGVSHuM0/giphy.gif
Did I argue otherwise? Seems like you’re the one refuting points nobody has brought up or alluded to. You brought up the betting line as if it were relevant to predicting the outcome of the game. Confidence in the outcome is kind of understood as relevant to the conversation here as that is the whole premise of a bet. That doesn’t seem like it should need to be explained.
Vegas sets lines to draw equal action on both sides of the wager, not to state what they think the outcome will be. A line that favors the Falcons indicates that the oddsmakers think the public is confident the Falcons will win and will bet accordingly, not that they themselves think the Falcons will win. There is often a correlation between these things but not always. Every year there is at least one team that looks good in the first round and is subsequently overvalued in the second round by short-sighted people who habitually lose money betting on football. Last year it was the Seahawks. This year I think it’s the Falcons. Just last week oddsmakers were predicting an Eagles-Falcons game as a pick ‘em – that only moves to Falcons -2.5 because they think the public is going to overvalue the Falcons after the round 1 results. And the Super Bowl odds I’ve seen for them (between 6.5/7 to 1) are an insanely bad bet. You have to give them a better than 50-50 shot of winning two more road games and the SB for that to be a good bet. I think the Vegas odds represent the house taking advantage of an opportunity to bring in bad bets from suckers, and the Eagles-Falcons line is likely the same thing. Therefore you bringing it up does not refute my argument that Eagles fans are being unwarrentedly pessimistic. Does that make sense?
Yes, I understand how Vegas works.
No, I didn’t bring up betting points. “Underdog” simply refers to the competitor considered least likely to win.
(Which I assumed was the whole point of Cho’s original comment; you know, the thing I was responding to in the first place.)
And no, you don’t have to be “confident” to place a bet. You just have to think one team is likelier to win than another.
This is semantics. I mean “confident” in a statistical sense. If you place a bet on a team to cover a point spread, that implies you think the probability of them covering the point spread is >50%, assuming you’re a rational actor. I.e., you have 50%+ confidence that they’re going to cover. I’m not referring to emotional confidence at all.
“Underdog” simply refers to the competitor considered least likely to win.
And the only way to identify that competitor is by looking at pre-match odds/spreads, so it’s impossible to reference the term without bringing betting points into the discussion.
Incidentally, you’re wrong in your depiction of Vegas.
Oddsmakers don’t set the odds based on “who the public thinks will win.” (nice try throwing “confident” in your description lol) They set the odds based on what will most likely get even money on both sides of the bet. They want to “win” no matter the actual outcome of the game.
Incidentally, you’re wrong in your depiction of Vegas.
Oddsmakers don’t set the odds based on “who the public thinks will win.” (nice try throwing “confident” in your description lol) They set the odds based on what will most likely get even money on both sides of the bet.
No, I’m not.
From my own previous comment, which it seems you didn’t read:
“Vegas sets lines to draw equal action on both sides of the wager”
Basically the exact same thing you said. But guess what? Determining what line will most likely get even money on both sides of the bet requires determining which team the public thinks is more likely to bet on in the absence of a point spread, and in what proportions. So yes, oddsmakers do (indirectly) set odds based partially on who they think the public believes will win the game.
Why not use Foles full sample size outside of his fluke 2013 season?
Sure we can do that. But we also have to exclude his wretched 2015 season with the Rams if we want to do that. You can’t just look at a mess of data, decide one part of it is a fluke, and exclude it – you have to truncate evenhandedly if you’re going to truncate.
If you remove the 2013 and 2015 seasons from Foles’ career stats, what you get is basically Andy Dalton. Is Andy Dalton good enough to win a SB with? I dunno. Maybe with a supporting cast that plays extremely well. Otherwise no. That’s how I feel about Foles.
Incidentally you also get a guy whose career rate stats (completion %, QB rating, INT%, etc.) are very close to Eli Manning’s. Manning is a streaky QB who got hot and won two SBs. Perhaps Foles can be as well.
I’m certainly not predicting this will happen, and I wouldn’t guess the probability is extremely high. But I’m definitely not as willing to rule it out on the basis of one game played in bad weather on Christmas night as a lot of Eagles fans seem to be.
Yup; and each and every one of them is going to be held to account if they lose.
Tank for Tua!
Tank for Fromm!
Don’t tank for Tua!
Don’t tank for Fromm!
Bomb for Fromm?
Roquan Smith is tremendous. I know he’ll be a high first round pick and LB isn’t the highest priority anyway but I can’t help but think he’d look terrific in the middle of our defense.
Huge missed FG, OT! Snap was terrible which announcers don’t mention and getting it down looked shaky though I don’t know if the hold was good or bad…
Think they noticed he slipped though
I thought the hold was good and the ball was in place for the kick. Not sure about the snap.
Wow, how do you take that sack?
Speaking of that…
So how many years until there’s a massive scandal uncovered and Alabama is forced to vacate these championships? I’m putting the over/under at 6.
I wonder why the #2 seeds get the extra day of rest and get to play on Sunday
1. The #1 seeds will get 8 days of rest going in to the Conference round as opposed to the #2’s getting 7
2. If there is a team that is only getting 6 days of rest coming in to this game, that team will face the #1 seed. (Didn’t happen this year. if the Rams won, we would have faced CAR/NO coming off 6 days rest)
It’s Eagles playoff week. I can only come here so many times and not see a new article. I’ll give it another hour or so. No new article = new Yankee posts…
Take it easy on Tommy
Hey now! No need to go that far. Leave those smelly Yankee posts for BGN.
That piece by PE.com was great. This team has won games every way imaginable this season. I know most were with Wentz, but let’s go into this thing Saturday with our heads UP and no matter what happens, lets enjoy the ride and back these boys!