Barf
Posted: December 15th, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 261 Comments »The Eagles came up small in a big game, losing to Dallas 38-27. Frustrating game. It was great to see the team battle back from being down 21-0 and actually take the lead. Unfortunately they had no answer for Dez Bryant and the Eagles turnover problem once again proved very costly.
In a word, ugh.
This doesn’t mean the season is over. This does mean the Eagles need help if they want to win the division or get a wild card berth. The key for now is to win the final 2 games and finish 11-5. That guarantees nothing, but puts them in position to take advantage of whatever breaks may come their way.
The bottom line with this team is that it is good, but not good enough to overcome the mistakes they’ve been making all year. Turnovers and coverage breakdowns are game-changing types of plays. You have to be exceptionally good to make those mistakes and beat good teams. The Eagles didn’t do that vs SF, ARZ, GB, SEA and DAL.
Let’s hope Nick Foles gets healthy in a hurry. I know he’s had his issues this year, but Mark Sanchez has really shown his limitations.
This is going to be a long, crappy week. The media will be blowing sunshine up Dallas’s skirt like nobody’s business. And there’s nothing we can say about it. They won. Barf.
_
I honestly thought Sanchez could somehow make a case for himself with this team. Clearly I was wrong. Never again will I put faith in a backup QB, especially when he once played for the Jets. What a terrible game. It’s an uphil climb from here boys.
Why woud you ever have thought that?
Exactly, the lesson is never to put your faith in Mark Sanchez, who compiled one of the worst starting careers in league history! He may be a good guy, but he has shown zero ability.
We gotta root for the Colts next week, and hope Fletcher can cover Jaccson and Odell Beckham Jr! Ugh.
Completely and totally gutless effort. The Eagles had a chance to put a boot on Dallas’s neck tonight by simply playing as well as they did on Thanksgiving.
Instead of exerting the effort to win this game, this bunch of gutless pukes simply allowed Dallas to beat them.
I WANT HEADS ON PLATTERS!
We need a RECKONING.
Atrocious. Probably pissed away the playoffs tonight, but this team doesn’t deserve it. When you come out that flat and uninspired against your division rival and completely embarrass yourself with the season on the line, you don’t deserve it. When you lead the league in turnovers, you don’t deserve it.
Just a really gutless performance.
Josh Huff is dead to me. He’s Freddie Mitchell.
Definitely lost some faith in Chip tonight. Watching the Eagles come up small in most of the big games they have played and watching the Cowboys thoroughly out prepare Chip for this game, can’t help but start to wonder if he is more gimmick than substance. Can’t have your team mentally unprepared to play in such a big game.
I think that opening kickoff problem is on Brad Smith, not Huff. And Huff came back and made a huge play with that big catch and run. He’s still young and mistake-prone, but he has talent.
Agreed. The irrational mob picks on Huff just because he’s from Oregon and they use it as an extension of hating on Chip. Smith was closer to the ball so it was his fault.
that and he rookie-ness-isms
Its Huff’s job to come up and make a play on the kickoff. That was almost entirely on him. Too many brain dead plays from Huff this year and that one probably cost us the playoffs. I don’t really care where he went to college. I just care that he screwed up the season.
The up man has to field a short kickoff in some situations, or at least signal more clearly to the guy behind him. Blaming the guy who at appears at first sight to have screwed up is easy, but not necessarily correct. Smith is a 9 year veteran, he has to be headier in that situation.
And has I said, Huff also made a huge 44 yard catch and run to help them get back in the game. There are several other players who did as much or more to cost us this game as Huff did (Sanchez, Celek, Fletcher, Cary Williams, etc.) so I don’t understand why you’re singling him out for a turnover that wasn’t even clearly his fault.
His turnover, which was 95% his fault (he even took the blame for it), completely set the tone for the game.
He can’t field the kick if it’s 30 yards away from him. Huff deserves a lot of heat for mistakes, but that play was not his fault.
They didnt have a good game but the whole Team was not gutless just some really bad eggs. Bradley Fletcher single handly cost us this game. I dont care how big he is he cant play. Boykin is a much more talented CB but because he is 5’9 a whole 2 inches shorter than Fletcher Kelly and Davis wont start him. I know he also has not played great this year but i think its because he hasn’t played much this year. Along with Josh Huff. I dont remember hating a player as much as i hate Josh Huff. Chip Kelly and Billy Davis get paid millions of dollars to do a job and for them to fail to see that every team’s gameplan is to attack Bradley Fletcher is astounding to me. Dline played well, OlB’s played well, Inside LB’s Casey Matthews sucks but we are missing 3 MLB’s. The QB situation is scary. How in the world are we going to find a franchise QB??? Maybe if we trade McCoy along with 4 1st round picks we could find one lol.
I put the last 2 games squarely on mark sanchez. Listen our defense has holes but honest to god we need to stop with the 3 and outs. It’s two weeks now where sanchez hasn’t been able to convert any 3rd downs it seems like. Don’t get me wrong Foles wasn’t a god this year or anything but IO always felt like at some point in the game he could turn it around and if it was close he could drive it late in the game he’s actually done it before with the game on the line.
Sanchez is just overmatched. I’m pretty sure defenses have figured out he simply won’t GO DEEP. EVER. and even if he does oh well it’s not going to anyone.
Fletcher and Allen are good people out there trying their hardest. But they shouldn’t be out there. (broken record department)
One of the most infuriating losses I have ever seen. Completely summarizes the frustration of being an eagles fan. And cut Fletcher now..
OJ needs to come cut Fletcher.
I now see why Billy Davis has been fired this many times; he’s got no clue on how to make adjustments. How embarrassing that Dallas was able to improve that much using inferior players to totally steal the division lead tonight simply because our coaches weren’t up to the task of gameplaning, motivating, and adjusting.
He held the leagues leading rusher to 2.6 yard a carry.
The fact that Dez >>>>> our corners is not a game plan issue.
Double him. Chop his knees. Or just do what was done to beat Dallas so cleanly on Thanksgiving.
This loss is a complete and total unacceptable choke loss. I want scalps.
Where is that other DB coming from? Is it a rotated safety? That opens up the seams for Witten and Beasley. Is it playing nickel? Thats going to open up the run game.
Commit penalites? Yea that’s not a defensive gameplan.
He was open on Thanksgiving, Romo just couldn’t get the ball to him.
It was a frustrating loss, but overreacting and demanding people be fired or cut is irrational, and tantamount to a child throwing a hissy fit.
BS. This is a choke and and excusing it as anything other than such is an embarrassing apologist mindset.
so then what do you think to make the team better? Is fletch going to get better? You give him a deal? Realistically season’s over i’d fire him tomorrow just because.
Better personnel. Corner will be addressed in the off season. It’s probably not going to be the magic super shiny addition since the FA class is pretty bad and the top corners in this draft are pretty big dickheads, but Fletcher is a UFA and won’t be back, we’ll likely bring in another Nolan Carrol type and add somebody on day three. Let Carrol, Watkins, FA, rookie all compete.
Thoughts on Trae Waynes and his possible draft position? It is crazy how many of this years corner are assholes! Peters, Williams, Shaw, Darby…… The list goes on. Then you have several corners who are less than 180 lbs like the kid from TCU. Does not look like a good corner market.
Only one cutup of him. I haven’t watched him live. Don’t have any kind of feel for him.
Ditto.
I have fallen head over heels in love with one prospect though (not gonna help the DB’s but whatever)
http://draftbreakdown.com/video/paul-dawson-vs-minnesota-2014/
We need to get better in many places still. I haven’t watched his vids but I’m assuming ILB, which is one of the places we need to get better. In summation, pull the trigger.
watch it when you get a chance, he’s really intriguing.
Check out Stephen Murphy from S. Carolina Sta. He’s only got one vid but I like him.
Trae Waynes doesn’t tackle or play the run well.
is that good enough against dez, djax/garcon, odb/cruz 6 times a year.
It’s gonna have to be. We really don’t have many options in the way of corner out there.
I want to drive a Buggati and date Karlie Kloss, but there’s nothing I can do to make that happen in the near future either.
you can make a lot happen with $20m in the bank
Richard Sherman is the biggest dickhead of all. Let’s bring some dickheads to Philly and get rid of Sconces and Toast Fletcher.
Let us not forget that Sconces is a bit of a dickhead as well. I’d rather have a jerk that contributes something than one who can’t play.
Agreed
I’m talking one got kicked out of Washington for not being able to get along with the coaches and literally fighting with coaches and teammates.
The other had a hit and run covered up by the Tallahasse PD.
Sherman’s a prickly character. Big difference.
I actually think that Fletcher would make a decent to good Safety.
If I’m going to devote extra defensive help to stopping someone, it’s going to be Bryant, not Witten or Beasley, thanks. That goes double after Bryant has already torched the overmatched scrub I’ve got covering him for two TDs.
Yeah… Romo was much more banged up and less rested in that game and in this game he was able to do more. I will say this, though… the Eagles did come out flat.
The corners executed significantly better on Thanksgiving. It wasn’t simply a matter of different coaching strategies.
Then we’re looking at effort. In either case, this game is a horrific choke.
romo wasn’t romo on thanksgiving.
He was doubled on the long plays, but Nate Allen decided he should read Romo’s eyes and not shade over to Bryant.
Leaving Fletcher on an island to cover Dez, on the other hand, is a game plan issue.
Rush one less person? Pull someone out of the box? Open the seams by putting a safety over the top? At some point you have to just put your guys out there and let them play. Scheme only takes you so far.
Yeah. But if you’re going to single cover somebody, it’s Cole Beasley. NOT DEZ FREAKING BRYANT.
we would have gotten eaten up one way or another — our secondary has been terrible for years. i’d almost rather we just had an off year so we could draft high. too bad we didn’t have any qbs the year we draft no. 4.
If Buddy Ryan was the coach, his defense would be gashed with Cary Williams and Bradley Fletcher as his cornerbacks too. Front Office has been procrastinating on getting a good secondary for six years. Davis has done wonders with the run defense the past two years and the pass rush this year. I’m not eager to replace him.
we knew this team wasn’t good enough. forget making the playoffs. we’ve seen the difference between picking #26 and #18/19 in the draft is big. we have a tremendous coach, great young talent on offense and defense and we are close but obviously not there. this sucks but i’m ready to think long term and sanchez is not the answer, bradley fletcher is not the answer, gardner is not the answer. we need to get better
That was fine for losing to Green Bay and Seattle. Losing a choke loss today to a collection of stiff we just destroyed two weeks ago is vile and requires a significant level of flogging of the team’s dog effort.
the effort was there but the preparation, the intensity, the game plan itself wasnt.
‘team guys’ only go so far. we need game breakers + solid/good players at every position, we have neither. we need to reduce weak links so they can’t easily attack particular players and add game breaking talent. but we have some already so we aren’t nowhere
would help if we had a qb that could complete an 8+ yard pass. maybe get a first down here and there
Tremendous coaches don’t get so badly outcoached with the season on the line against their biggest rivals.
Cary Williams is a big game Corner back!!! He will give us hope! Nick FOless is the truth. He will show us all that he is an elite qb!!! Hollah!!
Geagle can be a broken record, but your trolling is becoming worse than anything he posts.
It already is worse.
No it isn’t because that would be impossible. GEAGLE is a cowardly worthless piece of shit. He is a blind homer (which is fine) but thinks that he is a genius and everyone who isn’t as retarded as he is is stupid.
He is the worth person to ever exist and doesn’t deserve to live. Notice that his cowardly ass is absent from this thread? Don’t worry, after a 24 hour cooling off period he will be back to spin the game as some type of moral victory and proclaiming how great he is again.
The division and wild card scenarios are not great, especially considering the teams we need to get ahead of and who they play.
Winning the division is the easiest scenario. Dallas plays the Colts and if they lose that game and we win out, we can take back the division. Unfortunately, Dallas plays the Redskins on week 17, which I doubt they will lose, even though they lost to them earlier this year. That makes the Colts game that much more important.
As for the wild card, while there are a few scenarios that we can make the playoffsame that way, we lose the tie breaker in most cases, making it very difficult.
And the team knew this, but yet still felt the need to choke tonight.
Yep, they all collectively decided, you know what, let’s not win, nahhhhhh, winning would be bad. Let’s intentionally all play like crap to make people mad.
Seemed more like the expected Dallas to lay down, but failed to put forth the effort to make it happen. There is no possible way this loss can be viewed as anything other than a complete organizational failure on all levels. The lack of effort to win the game is a major portion of that failure.
Lack of effort? Guys weren’t out there running half speed.
They were playing half rear ended. All night. That is a lack of effort, focus, desire, and/or anything else you’d like to call it.
Celeks fumble was a lack of effort? Sanchez throwing two picks is a lack of effort? Dez Bryant simply being a million times better than our corners is effort?
All that sounds like a lazy beat writer who doesn’t actually understand the game.
Celek not running back to the LOS scrimmage to get the ball snapped before Dallas could challenge was a lack of effort. Or fumbling the ball in the first place was a lack of focus. Huff not being ready for the opening kickoff was a lack of focus or his failure to hurry to get the ball was a lack of effort. The infrequent pressure on Romo was a lack of effort. The lack of time in being ready with answers to Dallas’s adjustments was a lack of effort. The O-line not winning enough one on one matchups all night was a lack of effort.
yeah could have just spiked it.
But Celek just laid there on the ground for several seconds.
yeah he was hurt think he was hurt on that first big play. wouldn’t be surprised if he’s starting to break down a little bit.
Easy contract to cut this off-season.
nah CK loves him. James Casey gone. Fletch Gone.
Huff did nothing wrong on that opening kickoff. The upbacks should have caught it. The ball bounced at the 18 he was standing the thirteen. IT took a weird bounce. If he runs up on it gang busters and it bounces up over his head, or off at a 90 degree you would be pissed too. He was in a proper fielding position.
Brian Westbrook just stated Huff needed to go get that ball.
That’s great but BWest is paid to comment on the game. Incindiary shit and blame drives ratings, especially in this town, rational explanations dont.
You can take your “doesn’t actually understand that game” and stick it in the garbage. To lose to a team at home that you just blew out on the road is a pure choke. There are no excuses for it.
Over and over and over same negadelphian rambling, we lost get over it.
There is no acceptable scenario where a loss to Dallas at home after beating them in Dallas two weeks ago with the division on the line is acceptable.
All game no way but through the early part of the 2nd qtr. Absolutely and it buried them down 21-0.
Kelly said in his press game conference they couldn’t afford to get down to a team this good.
It wasn’t a lack of effort. The opening kickoff was a boneheaded mistake by the upback and a terrible bounce. The 16 play drive was some untimely ticky tacky penalties. The offense didn’t get started not due to bad “playcalling” (seriously playcalling is becoming some great umbrella of blame) but due to falling behind the sticks from bad execution. It happens.
Early on you could question effort, although lack of execution had as much or more to do with it. Effort was there from the 2nd quarter on. Fletcher talked about being in Bryant’s head before the game and he got owned. That was the single biggest difference in game one to game two.
also i think it’s clear it’s time to think twice about billy davis. as you’ve been saying all year tommy, he’s smart and had the defense improve but what’s the worse then watching the offense do EXACTLY what you thought they would do, at will, effortlessly. i mean seeing dez wide open at the end of the game and was shameful and so i think it’s time to wonder if billy davis may not be part of our long term plan.
Davis was totally outclassed from an X and O standpoint tonight. Dallas adjusted and Davis had no answers.
agreed.
Every game against a decent OC he’s out-witted.
yeah that’s it
Rex Ryan.
Few thoughts:
– Eagles’ mentally came out in a fog tonight and played that way on both sides of the ball well into the 2nd qtr. Coaching staff deserves some blame there. Ditto on not making the adjustment from Williams on Bryant sooner.
– Kelly had the chance to defend Sanchez 3 times tonight in the post-game press conference and just said ‘we needed a better throw.’ Spoke volumes to me about what Kelly thought of Sanchez’ performance tonight even if the one deflected pick wasn’t his fault.
– McCoy really frustrated me tonight. 3 or 4 plays he missed turning in real positive yardage instead he danced around. Doesn’t lean ahead forward and get the extra yard either. Cost him 7 or 8 yards at least tonight. Murray does that and the Boys have done that since Emmitt Smith (master of it) was there. Not a huge thing over the course of a game it can add up a bit.
When they wanted a TD though tonight inside the 5, they went with Polk. Not somebody dancing and slicing looking for the hole or the cutback.
– Boys schemed well tonight. I really like their adjustment of going 4 WR/5 WR early on to get the Eagles’ LB pass-rushers off the field or in coverage. Also did a nice job of max-protecting and leaving in Murray to block a lot tonight along with Witten too in the 2nd half.
– Hat tip to Romo. His Dec. splits are actually quite good and the Boys letdowns have usually been other issues related to his performance especially the past few years.
“Eagles’ mentally came out in a fog tonight and played that way on both sides of the ball well into the 2nd qtr. Coaching staff deserves some blame there. Ditto on not making the adjustment from Williams on Bryant sooner.”
Agreed on this! And that is completely unacceptable for a week 15 game to decide the division lead.
Yeah how you come out like that after got getting spanked last week.
Arguably they came out flat due to the hangover of getting their asses handed to them by Seattle.
A team with any level of professionalism and/or heart would have used that beat down by Seattle as motivation.
I don’t let Sanchez off the hook for the deflected pick. It was a bad throw, way out in front, and if it’s on the money Ertz catches it easily rather than deflecting it up into the air.
Fair point and Ertz was open on the play. If it was a really good through maybe he even has a chance to keep going for another 5-10 yards.
Re-posting a possible solution from the previous thread:
If Don Smolenski’s not doing anything maybe he can submit whatever paperwork is necessary to get us switched into the NFC South. Make it happen, Smoke!
Hard thing is that this team was in the driver’s seat and just bumbled it away.
This team has made progress this year though and is a better team overall especially given where they are at on special teams. Even the defense is a bit better.
Turnovers have been brutal this year and every week it seems like Chip says they need to do a better job of holding on to the ball. Ditto the big plays in the secondary. Those two things have been an issue since Week 1 and haven’t been corrected.
I don’t see Davis as the problem here… when you have the corners we have and Nate Allen and Casey Matthews, the ability to do different things is limited. We have some good players but too many not-so-good ones to exploit.
Furthermore, the offense is a bigger problem. The quarterback stinks and one of our starting receivers is mediocre.
Davis had no counter move for how Dallas adjusted after Thanksgiving. I see that as a major problem.
Any counter you make exposes something else. It’s the personnel that you can only do so much with.
We did tons with our personnel in a win two weeks ago. The failure to win tonight with the division on the line is inexcusable.
Agreed. The Boys made some really nice adjustments tonight and just kept giving what the Eagles were willing to give them – Fletcher one on one with Byrant in the red zone.
Cowboys played how they always played. Romo was basically in a wheelchair last game, we’re stupid not to know that.
They made some nice adjustments. Went empty a lot more to attack secondary more than on thanksgiving
And our coaching staff had no answers. What a total abdication of personal responsibility.
What answer? What play call makes Fletcher suddenly able to cover Dez?! Seriously.
Um, the play where his uniform inflates like one of those wacky, air-dance figures you see in front of a car wash? Come on, D3FB… THINK!
You’re right I forgot the gamma radiation treatment and rocket shoes, clearly Billy is fucking up.
Yes seriously. Unless you missed Thanksgiving.
Romo couldn’t put anything behind his throws on Thanksgiving.. That was the difference.
There is one adjustment that occurred to me. Instead of letting him stroll in for a TD, grab him. Is Dez so good Fletcher can’t even manage to foul him? Maybe he is, I don’t know, but “if you ain’t cheatin’ you ain’t tryin’ hard enough”.
all on the offense and mostly on mark sanchez
you seem to see anything you want. Google confirmation bias.
Cute, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Thanksgiving game set the standard for expecting an Eagles win over Dallas.
Beating a dead horse:
Not having Jackson and having to scheme for him as Sherman said last week really hurts. Teams have no respect for Cooper and teams have been rolling a safety over to Maclin’s side almost every week since the bye.
It’s true. Not having Jackson has allowed defenses to adjust to our offense.
you forgot the/sarcasm tag
You continue to flog this dead horse wrongly.
Cooper’s mediocre. No argument there. But having Jackson would change the fact that Mark Sanchez is a bad quarterback.
It wouldn’t but it having a guy like that opens up things for you that you don’t have without him.
The problem isn’t that guys aren’t open. As pointed out above, the Seahawks couldn’t cover Ertz last week and he was open all game. The problem is that Sanchez can’t drive the ball down the field. The defense is not going to have to respect the fact that you have a guy who can get open deep if the quarterback can’t get him the ball when it happens.
God this all the time just because one guy said the words “open things up” all these G’s come on here and act like it’s true. It’s about as true as protection in a baseball lineup. AKA is a thing fans think is real.
Sanchez is a marginal starter but yeah it matters. Boys weren’t afraid to bring a lot of pressure and play 7/8 guys in the box when necessary. just have to rotate a safety over to maclin.
Let them keep Jackson in one-on-one coverage all night tonight vs carr. you don’t think he makes a few plays unlike cooper?
normally i think Eagles’ fans get over reactive and hypercritical of a player but they are right on about Cooper.
He hasn’t been a complete F this year but he has been bad enough the Eagles have to consider releasing him in order to rework his contract given how bad a year he had.
Maybe not the worst 2nd WR in the league but certainly in the conversation.
The problem I have with this analysis is that Cooper hasn’t failed to get open. He’s not as good as Jackson is, clearly. But there have been multiple occasions this year when he beat his man and got open deep and first Foles and now Sanchez has been unable to get him the ball.
The point I’m making is that it doesn’t matter how good your receiver is or how open he gets if you don’t have a quarterback who can accurately deliver the ball to him. Deep speed is just as easily neutralized by the offense having a rag-armed quarterback as it is by the defense keeping a safety deep. Defenses know this, and they wouldn’t respect the speed of someone like Jackson even if he were still with the team, because Sanchez can’t get the ball down the field now matter who’s running the routes.
Still even take Jackson in space in intermediate routes especially on a slate or drag route and see if he could run wild on a play or two. Hell even on a bubble or WR screen to see if he can break or tackle or two. Dallas doesn’t have the greatest tackling secondary.
Cooper isn’t a screen option nor is he a guy who is going to break tackles and rack up YAC.
Matthews had zero ability to get separation last week or it closed quickly. The Boys did a really nice job of jamming him heavily too and kept a LB near him when they could.
I think Jackson could’ve been useful in some of the roles you mention but I don’t think he’s a difference maker. The offense has been pretty much the same this year as last – great against bad defenses, shut down against really good ones.
Dallas shutdown Jackson last year so did the saints, 1 on 1. You are exaggerating, period. You are overstating his importance in the offense.
They did but who were the Eagles other WRs – Cooper and a washed up Avant who couldn’t do anything after he caught the ball.
The comparison is between Cooper and Jackson. Not Maclin vs Jackson or even this year to last year. If Jackson had been a pain in the a$$ again this year or they weren’t happy with his production, they could have done the exact same thing they did this offseason – try to trade him and if they didn’t get anything in return release him outright.
Eagles have the 2nd most money under the cap right now and they would up doing nothing with the savings anything in FA. Nor did they extend any of their younger players with the savings either.
Eagles clearly have a talent deficiency this year which has gotten exposed when they play against better teams. Tonight it was really one matchup (Bryant vs Fletcher) that killed the Eagles.
I don’t know if Jackson is enough of a difference-maker tonight or even this year but when you try to argue that there is no real difference between what he can offer/do vs what Cooper does you lose pretty much most of your credibility.
Jackson is a better receiver than Cooper by a long way but he’s useless as a blocker, whereas Cooper is very good at that, and has sprung teammates for big plays several times this year with downfield blocks. Replacing Cooper with Jackson is going to result in worse outcomes on some plays, too.
Couple of things. The cap rolls over. The money we don’t spend this year we can spend next year. Also name one young player you wanted extended this offseason that didn’t? That’s because it was the draft of 2011 that was up for extensions. Kelce got paid. Matthews is the only other player from that draft. Spending money for the sake of spending money doesn’t win you games. Name a big name free agent that fits what Kelly wants, and would be a dramatic difference.
Saints didn’t shut down Jackson. Foles shut down Jackson. He was open aaginst Lewis A LOT. But Foles doesn’t like to make (potentially) contested throws like that so he didn’t.
Also in that stinker of a Vikings game, it was Jackson the only one who had any effort making any type of plays. Keep drinking that Kool-aid…but Mac/Jax is INFINITELY better than Mac/Cooper. It’s not even close actually.
nope
I think we all miss Jackson right now and his ability to make big plays. What hurts the worst is that we cut him and got nothing in return
Who would have thrown it deep to Jackson last night? The Cowboys didn’t fear any throws over 10 yards, and it had nothing to with who was catching it.
I don’t think they’ve “missed” DJax any this year, but last night is an especially poor example to make the case with. Sanchez can’t make those throws, and Foles was inaccurate early in the season when he had time, and then the OL became a MASH unit and Kelly had to accept that they often couldn’t block for 2 seconds, let alone the 4 necessary to run the flies.
Sproles and Maclin were plenty productive enough on RAC patterns this year that I don’t think DJax would have offered much there.
@D3FB:disqus
What did you see in terms of the trench battle (on defense)? It felt like Romo had all day. Were we primarily rushing three or did the Dallas O-Line step up their play and handle our scheme pressures?
Obviously a nuanced answer like “a little bit of both” is totally unacceptable…
The pressure was generally pretty decent. A few of the three man rushes didn’t work, and we got burnt a little bit, but the Curry fumble and a couple of good stops came from three man pressures. Most of the time we were getting there just a couple ticks late, we hit and forced Romo to move around. Romo just was able to move a bit in the pocket. Overall the front 7 had a good game. Holding the leading rusher to 2.6 ypa is a great day. It’s not there fault that the DB’s didn’t play well, and we had a couple of penalties that extended drives.
The scheme is not the problem… you just can’t turn shit into gold
Yep. This so many times. Yep. Yep. Yep.
Just for a second, imagine if you could turn shit into gold. I would build a Scrooge-like money bin, load up on Mexican, grab a few issues of The Atlantic and try to knock out my fortune in a day.
Oh Alchemy…
Unfortunately, You are right, again.
Oddly, the Curry fumble (and possibly another sack) came on a three man rush where it seemed Romo was scrambling around… possibly because of good coverage. Seems like we were “hot and cold” in the secondary… and when we were cold, we were ice cold. Like “Welcome to Planet Hoth” cold.
Everybody harps on Sanchez lack of arm strenght but the thing that really stands out to me is how badly things fall apart if he can’t go to his first read or two and how limited his field of vision is.
Maybe the field of vision is related to his lack of arm strength & his confidence but man there are guys wide open at times that he doesn’t apparently see especially when he rolls back to one side.
Sanchez isn’t a terrible QB. Just a marginal starter at best and isn’t good enough to lead a team back from a large deficit because his defenses become magnified when he has to drop back too much.
Did like my friend’s nickname for him – ‘Sexual Milk Chocolate’ because that boy is good . . . good and terrible.
agree, but he’s Mark Sanchez. Run game needs to be established and he can make good throws. I think not having Matthews probably f-ed him up tonight.
His inability to throw the deep post, fly, flag or out has severely limited what Chip can call. Ertz was open so often against Seattle he should have had 140 yards by himself, but Sanchez simply couldn’t get him the ball.
Is tonight the 3rd game of the season where other teams have just taken Fletcher to the woodshed?
Worst game might arguably have been the Skins game where they kept throwing at him throw after throw after throw.
If Fletcher isn’t the worst-rated CB in the NFL after this game, I’m certain he is bottom 5. Not like he is has been inconsistent like Williams this year. Just been pretty bad all year with some horrendous games like tonight.
But no reason to try Boykin or Carroll out there.
Boykin hasn’t played well this season either from a coverage standpoint. He’s had a couple of timely PBU’s and forced fumbles where he was beaten and got lucky.
yeah he got beat a couple of times today. Not sure why his play has deteriorated.
Not sure if it’s a nagging injury or simple lack of playing time that’s led to his poorer play. Regardless, he’s been a part of the secondary frustration this year.
hahaha i’m excited to see ODB on Fletch in the giants game. We may lose.
It’s possible…
Fourth game that I can think of. Skins, Green Bay, Seattle, and now Dallas.
Best post title ever Tommy.
“I approve of this title.”
Eagles vaunted OL
– They lost the battle with the opposing DL in 3 of their 4 games at the end of the last year including the Saints’ playoff game.
Eagles’ OL tonight wasn’t terrible but they didn’t play either. Struggled to pick up the blitz most of the night, Garnder got exploited again badly this week, and didn’t do a good job of opening holes tonight especially early on.
This OL has proven themselves to be overrated this year. Even with the injury issues.
Gonna have to draft a lot of lineman next couple of years. Peters and Mathis are 32 and 33. Herremans might not even be back next year.
Huff is going to be buried tonight but that was B. Smith’s ball.
Brad Smith and Josh Huff were probably in a race to the sideline to explain their side of the story to this man:
If Huff disappears with Jimmy Hoffa, I won’t complain.
Only thing I diagree on is that we are a good team. We are a middling team. Beat the teams that play bad. Lose to the teams that play well. Proof is in the pudding. Can we please stop acting like its a coincidence that we just happen to not play well when playing better teams.
I’m with Tommy. Eagles are a good team. I’m actually questioning the coaching this year a bit primarily due to the huge amount of turnovers.
The turnovers are more just poor execution.
In a single game? Sure. For a whole season? ? ?
Two struggling QB’s a handful of freakish fumbles and yea, poor execution.
The picks are mostly on the QBs. Those fans clamoring for us to pull a Julio Jones type of trade for Marriota (don’t see it happening, but wouldn’t complain if it did) would say we’re just not good enough there. The fumbles are a coaching issue, cause I’m sorry they aren’t all ‘freak’ fumbles.
Shady’s had a few, he’s run that way forever, never really had a fumbling issue. You can’t just retool his running style overnight. Sproles had the one where he extended and it squirted out cuz it hit a helmet or something. Celeks tonight was freak fumble. The QB’s have been strip sacked 4 or 5 times.
You can’t run the way Shady does and not expect to put the ball on the carpet. He’s been luckier than good in this regard and despite not having a rep for fumbling, he’s made me nervous for years. The strip sacks are a combination of playcalling and poor security by the QB. I’m not saying that none of the turnovers have been flukes, but you don’t rack up 30 plus without some core issues behind the scenes.
Shady has 6 years of runing that way and still only fumbles like 2-3 times per year. Mccoy has a ton of touches so he will get more fumbles that way
As far as Mariotta, that’s never going to happen. We would have to give away three full drafts (which would kill our ability to fix other holes OL, LB, DB) a couple players, the Walt Whitman, Deleware, at least a time share at the jersey shore, Bucks county, the first born child of the entire tri-state.
I tend to agree with you, but weirder things have happened. A trade where we give away only what Atlanta did for Jones would be worth it as Mariotta is a rare perfect fit for CK’s offense. If they have to do a RG3 type deal, its too much and they should just hang up the phone.
If we miss play offs (great chance right now), moving from 19th to 1st will require something close to the RG3 trade.
Mariotta is as perfect fit for this offense as you will ever see getting out of college
They would have to give up more than Wash did for RG3 to get Mariota.
The thing is, a great QB might mask the holes and right now we really only have a short term hole at DB
Certainly would – we need look no farther than GB to see that. Problem is, even with the #1 pick, what are the odds you get 4th year Rodgers as a rookie, or anytime before their 4th year? Luck was a consensus generational pick. Any of those on the horizon?
FA usually means flawed QBs or guys that have a very short window at the end of their career. The two FA that have even a remote chance of being available this year are Brees and Cutler. I love Brees, but he looks like he’s in decline right now, and really, the chances of him shaking loose are slightly lower than me winning powerball. I’ll pass on Cutler.
I’d rather go the route of SEA and build a solid team top to bottom and keep working on developing and acquiring young QBs until you hit on one that works. Gambling everything on alleged franchise QBs is a game for the Potatoes and Raiders. And the results speak for themselves.
Or we become the Bengals or Texans and will be 1 and done forever until the wheels fall off.
The thing is Russell Wilson would have been a top 10 QB had he been 2 inches higher, so betting on finding the next Romo, Rodgers or Wilson is foolish as well.
I rather go all in on the QB and do well in FA to fill holes and then have slightly fewer draft picks.
Also lets compare the roster of the Redskins versus us when they went all in:
We have 2 young studs on the OL, we have good skill position players (and all of them are young except for Celek). We also have some defensive players worth building around and for all the flaws of Davis, Allen and Fletcher, our secondary is still miles better than Redskins and Im not sure Redskins has a DL that are close to ours.
The OL has two young good players, and two very old (in NFL terms) studs, and one gaping hole (Herremans stunk before getting hurt, and everyone else they’ve thrown into that position has performed at an arena-league level). Receivers, they have one good-to-great player, who will receive a massive offer from someone this off-season, and he knows it, and a successful rookie slot receiver, and a whole lot of ??? after that (and I like Huff, but he’s still a project that could wash out). RB is a question mark in my opinion right now. One young TE who looks good, but has been very silent lately. One TE who runs like molasses right now and whose body is breaking down.
Defense has been beaten to death, so I’ll just assume we all know the holes on that side of the ball.
This team could easily look like the Potatoes or Raiders for 3 years if they swing for the fences on Mariotta and he ends up being a bust, or even just becomes a RO version of Mark Sanchez.
I’d rather be a fan of the Texans or Bengals while gambling to find the diamond in the rough than be a WAS or OAK fan and be drafting top 5 year after year for over a decade.
When you go all in on a franchise QB and are wrong, you set the franchise back half a decade. I like Mariota as a prospect, but no thanks to that level of risk.
So would you rather go 10-6 for 5 years in a row and then be the current Texans or go all in?
Also compare the Eagles roster versus Redskins. We have far better coach, better FA pick ups and far better players all over the roster. We are currently 10-6 and looks to go 11-5 with bad QB play.
I honestly think they are the main root of this seasons problems. You can’t have 30+ turnovers and expect to compete with the best teams.
Coaches job is to get them to execute right? In seriousness though, this team as constituted will not beat good teams.
I think I agree with you. While still good this year, I think even Kelly would admit that he’ll be better prepared next season. It happens. The other guys get paid, too.
All in all, though, everyone should have known that the limiting factor this year was going to be talent. The lineup just isn’t there yet with the elite teams. People had irrational expectations for the team. They’re a good team headed in the right direction, even if the progress isn’t linear, but they’re not there yet.
If they finish 11-5, they aren’t a middling team even if they miss the playoffs.
I would also argue they have improved as a team too even after tonight. They did a lot of stuff with smoke and mirrors last year including a below average special teams unit by the end of the year and defense too.
you’re middling if you can’t beat a playoff team.
I think this is just semantics.
Green Bay and Seattle are the clear class of the conference. The Eagles are a second tier team behind them, alongside Dallas, Arizona, and Detroit.
Yeah, pretty much.
Disagree. To be a notch below the top you have to beat good teams occasionally. We don’t. Therefore we are middling.
We beat Dallas in the first game and Indy earlier in the year. So occasionally, we do.
2/8 isn’t occasionally. Dallas are as much of frauds as we are.
You’re saying we’ve played 8 good teams this year?
I’m including NO from last year since its within the last 16 games
Since when is 1/4 of the time not “now or then”?
When it keeps you out if the playoffs
And it isn’t like we’re that close to the best teams. Green Bay and Seattle are a couple of notches above anyone else in the conference.
Green Bay lost to buffalo. They are only that good when playing at home
The Eagles beat Indy and Dallas and lost to Dallas, Arizona (close game) and San Francisco (close game). That’s 2-3 against other second tier teams (if SF counts, 2-2 otherwise). They got beaten soundly by Green Bay and Seattle, the two teams that are clearly ahead of them. I’d say that’s about expected performance from a second tier team – about .500 against other second tier teams, below it against the elite ones.
Without a QB you aren’t at that level. We don’t have one. We aren’t at that level.
If you mean not at the level of Green Bay or Seattle, I agree. If you mean not at the level of those other teams, I disagree. Foles and Sanchez are both better than Drew Stanton, and I don’t think it’s clear that Tony Romo or Matt Stafford are markedly superior to Foles.
They both are.
If Arizona didn’t have the QB problems, I’d probably rank them over us this season as well.
The point is, they do have QB problems. Just like we’ve had OL and QB problems. Injuries are part of the equation, you can’t just take them out for one team and not for others.
They are still in much better position than us. I just don’t consider them a threat to win it all.
Sanchez
7 games
10 TDs, 9 INTs
61.9% completion pct
3-3 as the starter
Mediocrity
What’d you really expect. Only place nicky sticks is better is WL and that’s b/c he was getting a lot of DST help.
Statistically your right although I would still give Foles a slight edge over Sanchez even if Foles number from ’12 & ’14 are probably much closer to what he is as an NFL QB.
me too
Foles opens up more of the offense. He can throw to the entire field and actually runs the RO despite being slower than fossilization. Foles will never be a top talent, but he makes use of all the talent he has.
And when things aren’t going well, foles doesn’t get rattled. That is a huge and underrated trait that good qbs possess.
Those numbers are fine for a backup QB.
You have to love Philly – know people are clamoring for Foles. Foles good $hit every week this season except after the ‘Skins game.
JRoll’s ‘What have you done for me lately’ describes this city to a T whether in business, sports, or politics.
I’m not worried about the media fawning all over Dallas. That will just make it sweeter when they either 1.)choke and don’t make the playoffs, 2.)make the playoffs, then choke, or 3.)make the playoffs, win a game, then get stomped by a team like Green Bay or Seattle. That is not a Super Bowl caliber team, and I’m pretty sure the haters will have the last laugh.
What I am worried about is the Eagles’ ability to win the two games they need to put themselves in position to take advantage of the break that I think is still likely to come their way. As you have said, Mark Sanchez’s limitations are very clear at this point. We need Nick Foles back. He had an up-and-down season for sure, but his ups are much better than Sanchez’s. He can make throws that Sanchez simply can’t make. And while the Redskins and Giants are both terrible teams, they both have receivers capable of torching our sh*tty cornerbacks. Both games are quite losable.
Can they please stop mentioning Christie sitting in the Boys box next to Jones in the post game? If a voter is dumb enough to base their vote on something as frivolous as that, I hope they don’t vote.
I wouldn’t vote for him anyway, but as far as I’m concerned being a Cowboys fan in New Jersey is grounds for impeachment.
clear he’s making deals w/ the devil!
“This doesn’t mean the season is over.”
I respectfully disagree
It’s not. Crazy as that may seem. Colts beating the Cowboys while we win out isn’t beyond the realm of possibility. Question is whether it will matter as we clearly appear to be the 3rd or 4th best team in the conference.
Btw, congratulations to geagle for calling the Buffalo over GB. I really didn’t see that one coming despite how good Buffalo’s been on D.
On the bright side , it looks less and less likely that anyone is going to steal the Eagles’ backup QB with guarantees of a starting position.
We are basically screwed at corner with one of the only options making a far out trade, unfortunately.
yeah that’s what happens when you sit on your hands if fa last year. maybe they thought carroll would be better.
Who else was there? I feel like corner market is always shitty
There was Revis, DRC (lol) and Talib.
Verner signed for peanuts too plus there was Shields. Grimes,Davis
Wasnt Grimes already signed?
Also Verner and Grimes is midgets in Kelly’s world
Nope he hit fa again I think before Miami signed him. Really wanted him but think he’s too small.
Remember — They are not “Chip” people…
DRC obviously not, Talib has major character issues and we didn’t want to get in a bidding war for Revis.
So our DBs and QB was the major problems once again. Who would have thought of that?
Also, was Matthews hurt? Zero receptions.
Looking on the bright side… we can get a better draft pick. We r not gonna get far in the playoffs n picking so high severely impacts the long term success of any team.
picking mid-range doesn’t do anything either…
My short takeaway: At the NFL level, the shallow style of offensive playcalling (denoted as “spread offense”) does not work without a serious rushing threat from the QB. Point. Blank. At the NFL level, “pro style” for the grouped families of offensive strategies, are all about creating depth of options, from the more nit-picky WCO style that’s long since become obsolete to the ridiculously hard mad bomber Kevin Gilbride brand of offense. We create that depth because it allows in-play robustness for whatever that is called. This matters against good teams and good defenses. The shallow style creates a lot of brittleness, because when something doesn’t work, you’re up shit creek without a paddle, and I do mean without a paddle. This happens in deep offenses too, but as a matter of specific, occasional playcalls, like a deep bomb that gets thrown or thrown away, and no other options are available. However, when in an offense, say like Kelly, where it’s a numbers game with lots of package plays–packages that are inspected by every DC and tendencies analyzed to the microsecond, packages are going to fail, and the QB has to make something out of nothing, when *all* passing options bust from the failure. Moreover, the easy reads and open receivers are created from the necessity of spys. The necessity of mush rush allows the OL to create lanes for RBs with less difficulty.
But you know…watching games like this has made me realize just how inexorable the game theoretic drives that press the NFL towards “running QBs” are. Making passing easier has not preserved the centrality of passing offense, but diminish it. By that, I mean that the rule changes and the favorable interpretations used by refs has served to make the *average pass* less important. Any old Nick Foles can throw up bombs or whatever. You saw that recently with Ryan Fitzpatrick getting six TDs a week or two ago. However, Nick Foles is throwing them up against the Raiders or Fitzpatrick murdering the Titans. Stuff like that isn’t happening to teams like the Detroit Lions or the Buffalo Bills, and both have rather impotent passing offenses themselves. You see? Good defenses becomes ever more important and dominating. Good rushing attacks have become ever more important in the Age of Passing–rushing essentially has become part of what props up a defense (always had, but even more nowadays–slows down game and prevent blowouts, gets field position aspect involved, keeps special play powder dry). People were not asleep at the wheel. They were picking Christine Michael, Eddie Lacey and La’veon Bell with forethought. Busts like David Wilson were bust because of injury, not because it’s a bad idea to get electric talent. Trent Richardson, bad vision…
QBs are inevitably going to be asked to assist the run game, and there is going to be pressure–if you’re among the teams serious about winning as well as having butts in seats–to put in QBs that allows that request to be reasonable, regardless of how certain set of fans feels or reacts to that. Eventually the contradictions are going to be too severe and transparent on the telly–people will have more and more years of being able to fundamentally appreciate what separates Flacco from Ryan, and have more and more appreciation of just how much of a dead end the likes of old statues like Peyton are in the Playoffs. There will be more Harlem Globetrotters vs the Washington Generals games like the last Super Bowl. Sure people will talk about my enthusiasm for Joe Webb, but I do have my considered reasons. Guys like him (and Mariota) are the future, not the likes of Brad Kaaya, Christian Hackenberg, or Jared Goff–at least not without these guys becoming brilliant passers. And when we’re talking brilliant passers, we’re talking Winston, not Jason White or Geno Smith. And there is nothing that can stop the process, unless the NFL is willing to countenance gradual loss of sporting credibility.
Speaking in more than just loose terms, how is the WCO more robust to a shitty QB than the spread system?
This is your “short” takeaway from watching a team with a hobbled QB, who never even pretended to run with the ball, win the game? Interesting.
Brevity being the soul of wit and as you can see, saves the reader from torturous sentence construction.
But what you’ve never bothered to tell us is, even if you’re right, where exactly are you going to find these mobile QB’s who are also good enough passers? Russell Wilson’s and even Michael Vick’s are rarer than Peyton Manning’s and Tom Brady’s by orders of magnitude.
Huzzah, another shah post I stopped reading after the second sentence.
At least someone from Philly won tonight…Philly’s own Kobe Bryant passed Jordan’s scoring record.
ewww… Kobe is to the NBA as the Cowboys are to the NFL.
Sanchez bandwagon is as empty as the Church of Latter Day Saints informational tent at Burning Man.
For most us it emptied after the GB game
[…] Barf – Iggles BlitzThe Eagles came up small in a big game, losing to Dallas 38-27. Frustrating game. It was great to see the team battle back from being down 21-0 and actually take the lead. Unfortunately they had no answer for Dez Bryant and the Eagles turnover problem once again proved very costly. […]
Man, that was painful to watch… Right after I was thoroughly mad and disgusted, but as of now some calming rationality is finally sinking in. Lets face it, did we really think we had a realistic shot at the trophy this year? We’re good but we’re not great. And honestly, I’d rather miss the playoffs than coming up short in it. We still need some more talent, so the earlier draft picks might be a blessing. Besides, the Cowgirls are overperforming as heck this year. I hate them with a vengeance, but watching them hurt their draft stock in a year they won’t win it all could be good for the long haul. Lets just calm down and trust Jerry to do the wrong thing and Chip to do the right thing.
“Let’s hope Nick Foles gets healthy in a hurry. ” — bet you thought you’d ever write that! LMFAO!!!
Uuum yeah I would have because anyome who thought Sanchez was the answer was sadly mistaken
some people aren’t Foles fans — now they’re begging for Foles .. that’s the funny part….
this site was taking on comments in blocks!
way to stay active and very robust!
The sad thing is. I don’t even think the Eagles will win out.
Rex Ryan’s bandwagon ready to take off. Choo choo.
Honest to God I’m really just thinking about draft position now
Too late now. Even if the Eagles lose out and finish at 9-7 they probably won’t be picking higher than 18-20.
One thing I don’t understand — The Dallas TE leads the nfl in 3rd down catches. Yet we still had to watch him catch 3rd down after 3rd down. Wasn’t here any prep for this?
*rantingmodestillon
billy Davis is NOT a good DC play caller. I am actually flabbergasted by the stubborn ignorance of in game adjustments. What does a player need to do in order to get benched?! And why the hell did it take billy to put Cary on Dez until is by far the biggest game of the Chip Kelly era coming up. Win and establish division dominance. Lose and progress is questioned.till the last quarter?! Davis may be a nice guy and an eloquent teacher, but he is what his defenses showed over the last years. A mediocre DC with mediocre defenses. And please don’t start talking about personnel. Look up all his defenses in the past. Not once he had a top 10 D. #notenough
I don’t understand why they didn’t double Bryant. Maybe they did and the safety was slow to react? So damn frustrating when they showed Romo looking right at Bryant, then signaled to him, then threw the ball to him – and Fletcher and our safeties never adjusted for it!
See my rant below.
Theres such a huge difference between Seattle’s corners and ours. Seattle’s corners always seem to be watching the quarterback and never allow receivers to get behind them. Meanwhile, our receivers always have their backs to the QB and are always trying to chase receivers down from behind.
Is it time to check in on Rex Ryan if hes available for DC next year? BD has done A job but its time to get someone who can make in game changes, hes like Reid of the defense..
There’s another issue that needs to be addressed here that hasn’t – turnovers. We are leading the league in turnovers and it is absolutely killing us. Every single loss this season, there was at least one (and in many cases two or more) crucial turnover that contributed to the defeat. This is a distinct problem from the up-and-down quarterbacking – the Ertz fumble against SF, Shady’s fumble against Seattle, and the botched kickoff return and Celek fumbles last night were all game-changing plays that were not on the quarterback.
The high play volume of this offense is a threat to defenses, but also even more vulnerable to bad ball security than a typical NFL offense. Kelly has to get this problem cleaned up.
If any coach deserves to be fired, it’s Bill Musgrave. Quarterbacks have regressed horribly since Bill Lazor left. Can we fire Shurmur and pay Lazor extra to quit the Dolphins and reunite with the Birds?
Ugh.