Monday Night Misc
Posted: December 16th, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 244 Comments »Chip Kelly had a bit of a testy press conference today. You can watch the full thing over on PE.com. I try to watch all of his PCs. A lot of times, Chip says insightful things. Other times he’s just interesting. Today was, well, testy.
That is what happens when you lose to Dallas in a big game. The fans want answers and the media goes looking for them. Is Bradley Fletcher getting benched? Why not? How is Nick Foles? What happened on on Sunday night? And so on.
Fletcher stays at LCB. I don’t fully understand this. I get that Kelly and the staff are loyal to Fletcher. He isn’t an underachiever. Fletcher is a guy maxing out his ability. He’s just not that good. He competes every play and never gets down on himself. You love the intangibles, but I don’t understand how Nolan Carroll isn’t given a shot to win the job. Kelly says they view Carroll as a starter because of his role as a Dime LB and the fact he’s on the field a lot. Carroll could easily play some LCB and then come inside for LB in the Dime. The Eagles trust their LBs and DL to play all types of different roles, but really prefer their DBs to be specialists.
Foles is still hurt. He won’t be practicing this week. In my mind, that means he’s done. He could possibly practice next week, but I don’t think they’d let him play in the season finale after being out so long. And I find it hard to believe they’d put him out there in a playoff game for his first start in months, assuming the Eagles even make the playoffs.
The Mark Sanchez theme now becomes this.
Trent Cole suffered a hand injury and may be done for the year. That would be wild. He hasn’t missed a game since 2011. You don’t know a lot when it comes to the Eagles defense except that #58 will be out there busting his hump on every single snap. It would be interesting to see how Brandon Graham would respond to getting more playing time. Would he get even more productive or would the extra snaps wear him down and limit his effectiveness?
I’m also curious how this would affect Marcus Smith. Would them leave him inside, where the team lacks ideal depth? Bryan Braman can play OLB and would be the #3 guy if that happens. Or the coaches could decide to slide Smith outside and hope that Kendricks/Matthews/Acho is good enough inside. Stay tuned to see if the report on Cole is accurate and what happens if it is true.
Kelly tried to explain some of the defensive breakdowns. A lot of the problems boiled down to the Eagles having to pick their poison and Dallas then finding the player that gave them the biggest advantage. My only complaint with this is that the Eagles could have moved the FS over to help on Dez inside the 40. Or they could have flopped Williams and Fletcher, which is what they did eventually. Those are hardly foolproof strategies, but they would have been better than what the coaches chose instead.
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This keeping Fletcher on the field is ridiculous at least from a fans standpoint. Fletcher is terrible out there, I mean, really bad, wouldn’t it be worth it to the coaching staff to at least try Carroll out on the outside. If he fails, so what, Fletcher failed as well, no net gain or loss there. If he plays better, well, that’s great and you have helped one of the major problems with the defense.
The problem is, we won’t have a better corner next year. The corner you describe ISNT waking tnru that Novacare door as a free agent this year. It’s an anorexic free agent CB market. To get the type of CB, you describe, he needs to be drafted, he needs to play ST and sit on the bench for ATleast half of a rookie season, since there is nothing I hate more than rookie CBs…so if we draft the right kid, develop him, get him to realize his full potential, in a year and a half, two years, maybe we will have that CB…
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Short of Howie putting a gun to a GMs head and demanding that they give us a stud veteran corner, this secondary problem is not going to be a quick fix…
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Very frustrating
Revis could be walking in NE. Two year deal, but essentially a one year deal, it’s two for cap reasons. They won’t put him in the books with a 25m cap hit, lol.
Now, we also need RG, MLB, Safety. And that’s without the question marks at OLB (Graham/Cole), QB (I know you’re a Foles guy, but as a whole, the position is a question mark) and WR (Coop, Maclin).
Let’s leave the question marks out of it. RG and MLB should be solved via draft. Safety, too. Maybe 2nd round, if Eric Kendricks is available in the first (or vice versa).
To be honest, I’d go all in on Revis if this is possible. We won’t extend Foles this offseason, so there is money available short-term which wasn’t anticipated. I really believe we could contend with this Offense and this Defense + Revis. We have a great run D who would even be better if we don’t have to sell out to stop the pass sometimes as we have to do this year.
Revis is taking away one side of the field. Safety help for Cary on the other side. Resign Cary to a reasonable price tag (he can’t command as much as the last time, he’s not a SB champ anymore, he’s part of a bad secondary) and let him battle with Carroll for RCB.
Kelly said in his presser that teams are playing a lot more deep coverage not letting the Eagles get behind them. Why then don’t we just keep throwing underneath stuff and utilize the screen game to move the ball. Is it simply the shitty qb play? Is it really that hard to go through your progression and hit some damn throws? Why does Sanchez throw so many shitty balls? There are constantly play left out on the field, crazy stuff.
for sanchez, yes. he’s not good. matty b must be worse but who knows. how good is your backup eve going to be?
it’s sanchez. one that that i noticed along with the post-game conference yesterday was that kelly didn’t defend sanchez at one point.
kelly’s scheme can still move the ball and score points with sanchez at QB but it has limits too which we have seen with better teams or adjustments.
I mean, I expect them to hit wide open receivers at least half the time, more than 10 yards down the field.
One more gripe, for now. WTH is with this, “we teach them not to turn their heads?” I mean why would you not? Isn’t it easier to see the ball coming, you know, if you actually look for the damn thing? I don’t understand the technique they teach the corners AT ALL.
I agree with this so much… especially when u consider the PI would probably become a pick or atleast a clean deflection
its because you lose contact with the WR and inevitably you slow down. the technique they teach is watching the WRs hands so you can just sway the ball when you see the hands come up.
doesn’t really jibe with the rules which is why we consistently eat PI calls.
rules are rules. Find some way to get them onto a checklist so they eventually can decide to TURN THEIR HEADS. I understand the speed thing, but that effectively means that you don’t have the talent at CB to do the job properly.
Don’t care *how* smart these guys are. This is basic. You know in the playoffs, should we be so lucky to be there, we’re going to get a huge dose of deliberate underthrows to catch some PIs. Gotta get fixed, somehow.
I would like to think that when Kelly said they teach the CBs not to turn around and to focus on the hands he was giving us the oversimplified, speaking point version. The CBs are more likely taught that as a technique when the WR gets past them and they need to catch up. It doesn’t seem possible that we teach the CBs to wait with their back turned if they are right with the WR.
Unfortunately, Fletcher seems to need the technique for when you are beat a little too often.
I really don’t get why they don’t hold them once they’re beat. Take the penalty rather than let the guy prance into the endzone like a preening gazelle.
Perhaps this is why nobody has been knocking Billy D’s door down with head coaching offers up to this point.
If Kelly refuses to replace Davis this offseason, I’d like to at least see them hire a new DB coach.
Hopefully he’ll be holding sexy rexys clipboard next year on the sideline not likely but hopefully.
Another reason why teams need fast corners so they can turn their heads while being able to keep a hand on the receiver to know where they are. I would guess instincts are imperative because you actually need to know WHEN to turn your head. If you turn it too soon you are cooked but that’s why a corner should be able to maintain hand contact with his receiver.
Not to mention this is how the NFL refs call those penalties! If the CB does NOT turn his head, they see it as pass interference or face guarding. So, like you said, why the heck would coaches teach their CB to do the exact opposite and thus invite penalty calls??
I think they do this because our corners are slow as crap. If they turn around the WR starts to separate then they’re going to get burned, they don’t have the speed to catch up. Obviously they still get burned because they just aren’t very good but it could happen even more often.
This was the only explanation I could think of.
This has absolutely baffled me from the very moment I heard it. I always understood it to be that turning your head not only gave you a better chance to play the ball, but also grants you immunity from the vast majority of illegal contact calls. At the very least I’m certainly relieved to know I’m not the only one scratching their head on this one.
The two main themes about this year are turnovers which are due to sloppy and constantly changing qb play and while almost all of our guys are back from injury we still have had A TON this year (at least this is my perspective IDK if we have had more than the average injuries). I could see improvement next year simply by cleaning up the TO’s and not being hit with the injury bug so hard. Fair?
The turnovers speak to focus, effort, and care. If you’re player hard and with proper focus, you don’t carelessly give the ball away that frequently.
def. fair. especially the last two games with the TOs. we had a chance in the seattle game if not for TOs and that bs 44 yard PI call. had a chance last game until celek’s fumble basically ended the game for us.
injuries can not be overstated. they have ruined our continuity on the o line, forced us to start the sanchize, and have given casey matthews a starting job.
that’s a lot to overcome for any team.
Not totally fair IMO…the turnovers are based on poor execution in a alot of cases (Sanchez’s bad pass to Ertz vs Dallas for example) and, like you said, many of them have come from our QB and both had plenty of practice/video work time with their teammates to get these execution issues fixed. I do not buy the injury issue since all teams have them and still win due to better depth, coaching, talent etc. In many cases, Sproles, Ertz, Polk etc. these guys are barely being used and they are healthy!
We,are on pace for a 120 penalties this season….it’s as big of a problem as the turnovers
Improvement is cool, but there needs to be some roster changes on both sides of the ball for us to contend for the big one. Next year is going to come down to whether or not Nick can establish himself as a top tier young QB, and whether or not our defense can learn to defend against decent QBs. Eliminating those mistakes you talked about will help, but the secondary and QB position were questions going into this season, and they remain questions at the end of it.
Turnovers don’t just come from being unprofessional. The OL injuries, bad QB play, and just bad luck play at least as much of a part. One would think the frenetic pace would cause more turnovers, in sum if not proportionally.
Mentioned the same thing about being loyal to Fletch.. I would say a lil stubborn too.. Why not give Carrol a go on the outside? Fletch to me sounds like those guys who train hard, good in the film room but come to the field you’re an overachiever.. Putting Fletcher on an island against Bryant man thats just putting too much faith in the guy.. Would rather bleed slowly n leave Witten with 1 on1 coverage rather than dagger through my heart 1 on 1 with Bryant
you know he’ll be on odb next week. odb might be even more talented than dez.
Maybe slightly more talented, but Dez has the physical characteristics to make him more special than ODB will ever be.
Only in height, Odell is ridiculous.
Size and body control. ODB has phenomenal route running and hands, but watching Dez make some of the catches he’s made…man. Kelvin Benjamin, Mike Evans, those guys are going to be fun to watch.
we have nothing to lose putting Boykin or Carrol out there. I don’t wanna hear about Boykins height, how many jump balls do our current starters cleanly contest?
boykins getting abused. none of our cbs are that good. glad we didn’t go get anyone last year.
NOBODY is getting abused like Fletcher, eventually Boykin will make a play. Rihanna reached out to Fletcher after that beating he took
Cool domestic violence jokes, dude. Be better than that.
If we don’t replace 2/3 sconces, allen,fletcher I will not be watching football next year. We should seriously offer Dawk a 2 year 4 million contract, and bring Mikell back too
1. Bullshit
2. No
yea , very reactionary but will def feel like that in may if that doesn’t happen
If Foles isn’t going to make it back this year, we’re cooked. It doesn’t matter if we make the playoffs or not, we’re one-and-done with Sanchez.
I hear u but at the same time having a play off game could help our younger guys get experience and u never know we could steal a game from somebody
Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather make the playoffs than not. But there is virtually no chance of a deep playoff run with Sanchez at QB, so I am adjusting my expectations accordingly.
Im sure Jets fans said the same thing when he took them to AFC championships and beat the Pats (once I think) to get there. We don’t need him to be great or even god, just not play so shitty and give the team the ball. We could prob win 12 games with Orton at QB
Those Jets teams had elite defenses in all phases. This Eagles team… Does not.
but for the record I loathe Sanchez
/me eyes narrow
We were one and done last year with Foles, for clearly foreseeable reasons–we were too dependent on opportunistic passing. Foles had a bad year this year pretty much *because* Kelly wasn’t really going to let Foles be Foles this year–he had to grow as a passer, and didn’t really grow fast enough over the offseason and into the season.
this again? We lost on D, as usual. Please remember Foles LEFT with the lead. Who lost that Cards game?
the nate allen play was the last nail in the coffin during the AZ game but the play that completely turned the game around was huff fumbling in the redzone.
Foles had plenty of missed opportunities in that game, but it wasn’t all on him (huge 3rd-down Riley Cooper drop, for example). Foles actually got us the lead on his last possession. It was our defense that couldn’t stop the Saints from getting a field goal.
but that game was very much like the San Fran game this year. Other parts of the team kept the Eagles in it when the Eagle could have and should have been put away. That Foles had a last minute chance is immaterial.
What? The Eagles didn’t score on offense at all against San Fran. They had 3 offensive TD’s against the Saints. San Fran was all ST/D touchdowns. The two games are NOTHING alike.
Look, I know you don’t like Foles so you’ll blame him whenever the team loses, but it’s bogus claims like this that have really hurt your credibility here.
Does it look like I have ever worried about credibility, from the likes of this crowd?
Besides, the issue I’m contesting was clearly the “Foles made the throws in the end!”, and I’m saying that Foles has to consistently lead drives throughout the game, if only for field position purposes at least. For that purpose, then yes, they were at least a little alike. Defense, special teams made plays, offense did not, for the most part, until the game was really too late.
I’m not going around blaming the Vikings loss on the kicker who missed one makeable field goal, had one blocked, and missed a 68-yarder at the end. Bridgewater was the one that lost the game with two back to back ints.
Elaborate on what you mean by opportunistic passing
I don’t even care about the playoff success, this year was supposed to be about grooming our young QB, giving him the game time he needs to have any chance at growing into a successful franchise QB..l the fact that this was such a wide open year,and we were good enough to contend, was just a bonus…. Contending, making a playoff run with Nick missing very valuable game time, In hard fought DECEMBER games, and playoff football, is the worst possible outcome of this season
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Just read snap counts and Carrol only played 26% of the snaps, CK saying they consider him a starter is a fucking insult to our intelligence.
him and boykin.
My gripe is that Sproles needs more touches. He’s the closest thing we have to an explosive player and he should be getting 10-15 touches.
Sproles? How about more Polk
polk is our mike alstott. just give it to him near the goal line and bam, td. well at least last game he was.
CK needs to reward players playing well.
It has to be one of the most maddening aspects of this season
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Sproles practically friggin carried us thru our early season struggles, he got hurt, sat out a game or two, and since he returned, we,have barely used him…. Used to think we were saving certain things. For the important home stretch, but we just went thru our toughest streak of games, and still barely used him
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I don’t understand it either…
sproles gets pretty well covered, i was watching him in the dallas game. that said they aren’t very inventive with him, the only thing they do are zone runs and wheel routes it seems like.
I think the fact that Sanchez is 0 threat deep hurts those wheel routes and other “Sproles in space” plays. Foles had his issues deep, especially when the line came undone, but he still made enough plays deep (and TBH, early in the season, was still benefitting from his play last year) that the clear outs were effective and Sproles was getting space. That’s pretty much disappeared since teams have figured out Sanchez won’t throw over 15 yards downfield, especially outside.
I don’t get this complaint. He’s not a workhorse player. He’s aging, and we have him under contract for two more years. Sure we could feed him 15 times a game, but when halfway through next season he breaks down from the workload, everybody will bitch that they should have rotated him out more.
If you’re talking all year I agree but there are two games left in the regular season and he’s plenty well rested now.
This talk of the corners reminds me of the year the Flyers were in the Stanley Cup Finals against Detroit, I think it was 96-97, and lost in a 4 game sweep, with both goalies, Hextall and Snow, alternating.
The coach, Terry Murray, was heavily criticized for not going with one goalie and staying with it, but in reality, the problem wasn’t that he didn’t stick with Hextall or that he didn’t stick with Snow. The problem is that his goalies were Hextall and Snow.
87 hextall; excellent.
97 hextall; not so much
but hey, the legion of doom was fun to watch.
ive never liked hextall .. when he let in that last minute goal from the blue line …ick ,, painful just to think of him
That team quit in the finals after the first two games of awful goaltending. There was other stuff going on behind the scenes, too, but you could see the difference in their style of play once they realized that they couldn’t just outscore the Wings and make the soft goals irrelevant.
The speed difference in those two teams was ridiculous.
I can’t even hate fletcher. He drives me crazy but he plays hard and is respectful. He just isn’t very talented.
It sucks we didn’t do anything about it this offseason. Sitting on $20mil in cap is pretty worthless right about now.
Hopefully we do something about it THIS offseason
What are we going to do? Overpay for inferior corners just for the sake of change, in a putrid CB market?
“inferior corners”? there were a number of good corners around this year. yes they were expensive but it’s hard to say they wouldn’t made a difference, especially the way fletch was consistently abused this year.
that said i think last year they wanted continuity assuming we would build on last year’s playoff run. i think we’re farther away now, so hopefully they’ll be open to doing more
We picked up Carroll, who by all accounts looked great on the outside in camp. Considering how consistently Fletcher is getting beaten this year, it’s hard for me to give the coaches the benefit of the doubt on this one. How much worse could he be?
I’m glad the reporters made Chip have a difficult press conference; the team just choked to Dallas.
Sielski his the nail on the head yesterday when he pointed out that Chip failed to properly motivate this team with the gravity of this game.
What a shame that the Eagles threw away their control of this season with such an ill-timed choke vs. a team they just whipped two weeks ago.
Man, that is BS. No one except the players know how hard they are trying.
From the opening kickoff it was obvious the team was not mentally prepared to play in the biggest game of their season.
why should ck have to motivate professional football players?
I do have to wonder how long Chip Kelly really wants to stay in Philly should times get really hard. God forbid if this is the start of a proper losing streak, continuing against Washington.
Lol first two game losing streak since last October….but the sky is already falling huh?
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Smh. wtf is wrong with this soft, pussy fanbase. It’s bad enough that local philly fans are morons…we don’t need you imported fans, also acting ridiculous..l smh lol
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First two game losing streak, little bit of adversity, and we start wondering when Chip will leave? Lol this shit has to only happen in philly, smh
I think we find out a lot about Chip these next few weeks. Can he get his guys (especially the defense) to step up with the season officially on the line?
We know he can coach when his offense is humming.
We all know personnel changes are coming. The defensive guys that were signed after 2012 were meant to be temporary fixes (Fletch, Cary, Sop).
Only Barwin was a high quality FA.
back end isn’t going to get better, fletch is bad.
It’s crazy that the wind on a KO effectively murdered our season.
No mate, our turnovers in general.
My understanding was that those short kicks were planned, and kicked short on purpose….something about seeing something in the seattle tape that showed we were susceptible to that type of short kickoff. During the game, I thought Baily was having a bad game, but since the game, my understanding is that they were purposely kicking short like that
Re ‘spending money wisely’:
I honestly believe that the Eagles shall spend big bucks on a couple of free agents next off season. We all know that you don’t actually should overspend for free agents, however you also have to ask you this:
Do you prefer giving guys like Bradley Fletcher or Cary Williams ‘fair money’ to spending above the fair market value for guys like Byron Maxwell or Devin McCourty.
We have learned that the Eagles are probably two playmakers in their secondary away from serious contenders next year. That’s why signing one or two high profile FA’s will be crucial since we cannot expect immediate impact from any defense rookie in year one.
A good example might be the Broncos who already had a potent Offense but lacked playmakers in their Defense. Bring in Talib and Ware.
Look at the Patriots and Revis.
If the Eagles were in rebuilding mode like the Bucs, Titans or the Jets, then I’d stay away from the big spending tree next off season. But this Eagles team is primed for post season success when adding the right pieces, even though it might mean to ‘overPay’ for some players.
The Eagles do not necessarily need to spend big bucks, but they do need to bring in as many players (at certain positions) as possible and have roster competition. I know it was a long time ago, but Jimmy Johnson when he was Dallas scoured free agency to find players and completely overhaul the roster (his name escapes me but one of the starting safeties on the Dallas SB teams was a FA signee). He had draft picks but he aggressively used free agency. I saw the highlights of the Bills-Packers game and was impressed with the ints by right-off-the-street safety Bacarri Rambo (signed by the Biills in Nov. after McKlelvin’s injury) and read how he worked with BDawk after getting cut by the Skins in Sept
(http://blogs.buffalobills.com/2014/12/15/brian-dawkins-helped-bacarri-rambo/) so I’m thinking BDawk is working with a young saftey who displayed talent in college, why couldn’t the Eagle’s FO sign him? Yes they need a CB but safety is also a priority. The Eagles should be looking everywhere to get some talent in the defensive backfield.
The Dallas safety I’m thinking of was James Washington, Johnson signed him as “Plan B” free agent (unprotected off the Rams).
I am afraid I totally disagree with ‘bringing in as many players as possible’ in order to ‘overhaul’ our roster.
The Eagles do lack QUALITY, and not quantity…
I’m not saying the Eagles need to overhaul the roster, I used Dallas as an example of using quantity to get QUALITY. It would be great if the Eagles could spend top dollar on 1 or 2 pro bowl caliber CBs but realistically the Eagles secondary going forward will not be composed of 2-3 high priced FAs + Jenkins.
that’s what they’ve been doing.
If that’s what they’ve been doing I missed it, I can’t think of the number of FA CBs and S that they brought in to compete against Allen, Fletcher and Williams.
We brought in Carroll, who everyone said looked like he could replace one of our starters. Roster competition only works if you reward the better player, which the Eagles seem unwilling to do (even if Carroll hasn’t won a spot, certainly Fletcher has shown enough to lose one?).
I’m with you on Carroll, my point is I think the Eagles need to kick the tires on lot more FA and practice squad DBs. They need to get some Bacarri Rambo and Perrish Cox types.
Not going to happen Buddy. I’d love to be wrong, but kiss that pipe dream goodbye. We have a team full of quality young players who are licking their lips to sign their second NFL deal in the near future and get paid. No way we let guys like Cox, BG, Ced, Boykin, Kenxrick see us give monster pay days for some other teams free agent, And then our young puppies to sign team friendly deals in the near future…
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Fughetabout it….. If the Eagles ever break the bank open for a premier free agent, it will be down the line, after our young core is locked up Longterm, during a quiet pffseason where we don’t have too many of our own players to throw money at.
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Don’t be that fan that sees how our young players performed this year and think, that’s the level that they are destined to perform at for the rest of their career….no matter how well a young player played, or how much he struggled, these ARENT maxed out players. With continuity they will continue to improve,
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We could do nothing, and a good amount Of our players should elevate their games again next season, like they did from last year to this year.
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For us to go out and give 50 million to anotner teams stud like Justin Houston, I think that would only happen, if we go with a rookie QB, who will earn rookie money for the next 4 years so we can stack our roster the way seattle did, when they were paying wilson in peanuts…. But I view that as even more unlikely…. Expect Nick to QB this next era of eagle football
I could not disagree with you more. They absolutely have to address the secondary due to their years of terrible secondary drafting.
Despite the slander Cary has been fine, but they have to address Nate and He-who-shall-not-be-named at CB.
The players on this team can see the film, and they know there is no next level for this team’s Defense to get to without upgrades in the secondary.
They have to address the secondary? No shit! How did you come up with hat genius observation?
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Just because we absolutely have to adress the secondary, it doesn’t mean Howie can put a gun to GMs heads and demand that they give him a good Corner…. Have you taken a peak at this years free agent market?
It’s pathetic in terms of defensive backs…
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Who are all these great DBs who will hit the market that we can go out and sign? The market this year is horrendous in terms of DBs.. Change for the sake of change is dumb. I’d prefer continuity then lateral moves just for the sake of making a move
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So while A 5yr old could see that we need to upgrade the secondary, where are these upgrades coming from?
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Rookie DBs suck, btw.. Penciling in a rookie DB to start in September before he even earns the job in camp, is what bad pathetic teams do…
I’ll take byron maxwell, thanks. Seattle has to pay Wilson this year and they’ll have less money for CBs. Which ultimately won’t matter b/c nobody drafts DBs like they do so he’ll walk.
I agree, I think Maxwell should be no. 1 target in FA next year
Lol problem he may nt even reach free agent, and when teams see the putrid corners available, Maxwell will be the #1 target of 10 other teams… What precedent leads you to believe that this regime would get into a bidding war with a handful of teamsk and over pay for a player!
The thing, Maxwell fits the Eagles perfectly, neither did former high value FA.
Remember this is the team with a GM who was trained by Banner who often got us high FA like Runyan, Kearse and Samuel.
That was actually the point I was trying to make with my above intro post.
I rather spend big bucks on one Maxwell than the same amount for two players of the quality like Fletcher and Williams.
Certan positions get upgraded with veterans. Put from a team building stand point, certain positions Gms decide they have to get younge at, either because current players are getting old, or because you need to fill that position with a cheap rookie contract.
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look at our Roster… It’s pretty damn obvious that outside CB is a position we have to get younger at, especially when we will need our outside Cb to be n cheap rookie deals for the next 4 years so that we can pay Boykin to stay in the slot
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Not realistic, unfortunately…
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cary and Byron would give me 2 of the most recent 6 starting Super Bowl champion CB, plus Recent SB champion Malcolm Jenkns….you think I LIKE Arguining with you about not getting Byron?
Why are you guys convinced Byron Maxwell is actually good? He plays in a secondary opposite the best CB in football, with two pro bowl safeties, behind a front seven that’s also excellent. Brandon Browner and Walter Thurmond were both good under those circumstances and haven’t exactly excelled since leaving. Maxwell is the classic JAG whose teammates make him look better than he is, and I suspect he’s going to be a wildly overpaid free agent disappointment like a long line of similar DBs before him (Dashon Goldson, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Cortland Finnegan, Larry Brown, etc.)
NO THANKS.
Maxwell as JAG is better than Either of our starters.Even though i don’t think he’s JAG. We can’t even draft JAGs. Who are we to be disparaging him
Actually, playing against the best CB in football would be an endorsement, wouldn’t it? Presumably QB’s will throw to his side more than the other, right?
Unless it’s like how playing against one of the worst CB’s in football has made Cary Williams look better than he is…maybe the CB’s opposite Sherman have just been really really awful?
He plays in a secondary opposite the best CB in football,
This. No. Sense. Makes.
You need to thank BC for the good explanation below.
I fixed it for you…
http://i.imgur.com/ntgUsSm.jpg
Thanks, bud. I knew i got something wrong. 😉
We might disagree on Cam Newton, but seems we have the exact same thoughts on Maxwell
I’m a defensive Fanatic,,,think I dont want a starting cornerback from the frighin Legion of Boom?
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Tom Gamble and the Eagles also thought Dashon Goldson would have been a great fit two years ago, so they called his agent, heard the price tag, and were no longer interested in Goldson, and settled on stop gap Chung…. Dashon Goldson was in the same exact shoes as Maxwell. Best player at his position in an anorexic safety free agent market, so bad teams like the Bucs would spend Obscene money overpaying to land the top player on the market at his position..Eagles ARENT OVERPAYING for anyone. We will pay fair big money for quality players, but we won’t overpay. And Goldson ATleast had decent competition like Grover Quinn on the market…. Maxwell has NO competition on this market, some dumb owner like Dan Snyder is going to outbid good teams and thrown obscene money to maje a big splash and land a corner back from the famous LOB
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Often when we made free agent splashes, they were finishing touches that were supposed to get us over the top. We damn sure never gave other teams players ridiculous money, right before we had to get our entire young core of this team under Longterm contracts… I mean Come on man..
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Barwin was GOLD to us, but he wasn’t the highest paid edge rusher that year.
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jenkins is a godsend for us, he wasn’t close to the highest paid safety
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We don’t care, about traditional stars, we care about the perfect chi kelly Eagles fit……
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I see no Chamce in hell that Howie is going to give some 30-50 million dollar deal to another teams player, rigjt before we have to get our entire young core under Longterm contract: Cox, CED, Curry, BG, Boykin,FOles, Kendrick, a year later we start having to think about Ertz, logan, Lane,…
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It’s more likely, we look for anotner good value that eliminates an immediate need from us before the draft, like a young Guard who ends up being the 3rd or 4th highest player at hs position in this years market, a kid who won’t be the sexy name, but will be our perfect Connar Barwin type fit… Try to eliminate a few needs before the draft with quality. Signings…but NOT the Big splash where you land the consensus top player at his position.. I don’t at all view that as realistic,
,,,
But I’m a defensive maniac who barely cares about offense. I would love to win every single game 10-3.. THINK I wouldn’t LOVE to be wrong and replace Bradley with a starter from the superbowl champions Legion of Boom?
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Leaving me with Cary and Byron starting outside CB tandem, we would have 2 of the last 6 Super Bowl Champion outside corners, and recent SUPERBOWL winning safety in malcolm Jenkins as 3 of the 4 players of our secondary? Think I wouldn’t LOVE to be WRONG?
Goldson was not a perfect fit the way Maxwell will be. Goldson got way overpaid. I pay Maxwell Carr or Sam Shields type money and not think twice.
see safeties last year.
Smh.. Let me explain something to you.
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You think I wouldmt give my left nut to bring Maxwell to philly?… Right now, we project that it’s possible that 1 quality CB (Maxwell), and 1 quality safety (McCourty) hit free agency….. That is a possibility
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The problem is, it’s also very possible that seattle and the Patriots extend them and keep them from HITTING the open market. Somehow I doubt Bellicek would be happy to lose McCourty and be stuck wifh chung,
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So there is a very real chances they never even become free agents, BUt If they do hit free agency, Maxwell will BE head and shouldsrs better than every other available CB… Supply is really low in terms of good CB on the market, and demand Will be really high…
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When there is only one Good CB, the kid is going to command a ridiculuos Kings ransom. The Eagles ARENT going to even try to win a bidding war against 10 other teams… You will see bad teams, and dumb owners throwing situpid money at the top CB.. If Maxwell changes teams, he will have been grossly overpaid… And someone will have to outbid a handful of teams for his services…. What have you seen from this regime that leads you to believe we will engage in a bidding war, and grossly overpay for q player? When have you seen ANYTHNG that could lead you to believe THATS a possibility… Barwins Cary, Mqlcolm Jenkins… These weren’t the top plays at their position on the open market
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I would LOVE to see Maxwell across from Cary next year, McCourty next to Jenkins…. That’s not very realistic. Bud, but I would.love to be wrong
I would take one of them. Maxwell won’t get that kind of deal b/c of Sherman((who he is only slightly worse than). He’s young, talented, and a scheme fit. He is actually EXACTLY the kind of FA they will spend top $$ on.
You’re 100% correct. Roseman, from Feburary:
“”I’d say if there was a player who was kind of in the right age group as a free agent, played an important position who we thought could be around for a long time, we would certainly be open to [a lucrative, long-term deal],” Roseman said.”
http://www.csnphilly.com/football-philadelphia-eagles/roseman-eagles-be-careful-free-agency
Check, check, and check. There will be money for him plus, resigning our younger guys. We have some great, young talent on this team that will need to be resigned, but they aren’t at flashy positions. ILB, nickel DB, and 3-4 DE aren’t the same contracts as DB, skill players, and pass rushers. With the way that contracts for young players are going these days anyways, they could probably pull out an incentive heavy deal that protects the team’s cap number from a huge hit if it doesn’t work out. And if it does, I have no problems paying the money.
Agree with you, but Cox is not getting paid as a normal 3-4 DE – if they try that, he’ll be elsewhere.
I was talking Ced. My bad, I should have clarified. Cox’s deal is going to be much bigger, and rightfully so.
Cox and Kendricks are both going to get 8-10 million a year each. All that money we supposedly have disappears in a hurry.
Of course, that’s if they regard his ability the same way most people do. Which idk, but he’s exactly what they look for from a measurable standpoint.
only reason cary looks fine is because fletch looks so bad. neither are very good. cary was going to get exposed playing dez too.
Williams had, what, three PI penalties against Dallas?
That’s just because the refs were blinded by Cary’s brilliance. I have said it many times, CARY WILLIAMS IS A BIG GAME CoRNERBACK!!
BUT CARY WILLIAMZ IS A BIG GAME CORNERBACK!!!
Cary has NOT been fine. He’s good for at least one terrible penalty per game (he gave up more than one in the Dallas game, including a long DPI), and he gets burned by top receivers just as often as Fletcher. The play right after Davis switched him onto Bryant, Bryant beat him badly, Romo was just off target with the throw.
This team needs two new CBs, not just one.
Don’t be that fan that sees how our young players performed this year and think, that’s the level that they are destined to perform at for the rest of their career
Where did I say that?
I was referring to our terrible defense backfield who is currently spotted with below average CBs and one non-starting quality S in Nate Allen.
So while I agree to spend money extending our young “in-house” studs like Kendricks, Cox and Thornton, the Eagles can NOT only rely on the draft to fill these holes in our secondary. Not if the Super Bowl should be the goal for 2015.
People are not going to like when IND beats Dallas and we beat Washington, only to get knocked out by the Giants in week 17 BC of 24 vs OBJ.
Boykin will be on him I would think, No?
He plays outside and in.
you better hope not — might ruin boykins ability to get paid.
Boykin was worse vs. Dal than Fletcher.
Beasley had a nice night.. but i think Boykin would have been able to keep up with Dez… speed wise.. Dez is a special talent though so who knows…
Boykin would have been abused by Dez. I think only 2 CBs in the NFL who can match well with Dez is Revis and Sherman
someone shut him down on Turkey day but i think the front 7 had a huge hand in that…
Romo’s back injury had something to do with that
in addition to the front 7
one game at a time, nobody is thinking Giants right now…
Get real,.. It’s eli
if you think NYG will have OBJ running hooks vs 24 all game like last time you are crazy. OBJ is going to literally set him on fire
Yes, and we are all still waiting for Romo to choke in December…You seem to never learn.
Never learn? They haven’t made the playoffs in a decade pal, and they still haven’t… Are you hallucinating
I wish.
Even if ODB is really good, he is not Dez Bryant. Bryant is the best WR in the NFL right now.
The reason Caroll is not being used on the outside as a CB is because of his role as the pass down LB and that is because we are down in LB with the injuries and no one else has been able to handle that role. Watkins is also not ready and Boykin has struggled in the slot and is deemed not good/big enough to play on the outside…in essence its both talent and depth issues driving decisions.
Not sure how to interpret these next two weeks of the season. I agree with Toms assumption of how we will handle the QB position the rest of the year, but the only thing that threw me off was chip saying Nick would increase his throwing this week, but it’s just a case of him not being able to take hits… But if I had to bet on the handling of Nick the rest of the year, I’d probably go with Toms interpretation
If you think Fletcher is your guy — and Carroll must be HORRIBLE in practices to think so — then maybe he sees making the switch as admitting the eagles are done for the year and you’re trying to see if new guys can play for next year.
Carroll was at the least very solid on a much better defense than ours last year. So if he became terrible, its on our coaching staff
kelly said fletch got “entrenched” when carroll was hurt.
People can cry about Fletcher all they want. The Eagles dominated this very same team on Turkey day. Nobody was calling for Fletchers head then. So, what was different between that game and this game? If the coaches did a great job on Turkey day(prepping team, putting players in right position etc etc) they completely, 100% failed this time.
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People are arguing the talent isn’t there. I get that, but again, isn’t this the same talent that dominated Dallas a few weeks ago?
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So — what was different this time? The longer layoff between games for Dallas?
Tony got his back injection.
Tony spin moved out of an unblocked cox sack then shoveled it to TE.
They went to Dez way more often.
Are you kidding? Did you see tony romo on the casey matthews’ sack in the first game? and then look at us try to sack him in game two? throws in game one vs game two?
ok – so you’re saying the Eagles get no credit for the win the last time because Romo wasn’t 100%. If he was, the Eagles would have lost?
The secondary is going to be a tough fix, we all know that. We also know it will be hard to find upgrades in free agency and if their was a rookie cb to draft in the first there is NO guarantee that he would play any better than Fletch as a rookie. The solution? Perhaps its making our front seven that much better to cover the blemishes behind them.
The front 3 are set and hopefully will be even better next year.
One OLB is set with Barwin who has been at the very least, consistent. The other OLB will either be Graham or MSII (hoping that he makes the leap). IDK what we have with Cole, could be here, could not. I would like to see more Graham honestly.
Finally ILB: Kendricks is developing into an obviously very good ILB and has solved his inconsistency and now he just has to stay away from the injury bug. The final ILB spot is to be determined. Is it Goode? (no pun intended) Is it Long? I would hope to snag a rookie relatively high because I am a fan of building the defense from the line up. Of course, if there is a corner sitting there in round 2, that you really like, you gotta take him.
barwin has a stupid number of sacks this year but 75% come in wins. my issue is that against good teams, he’s pretty quiet.
Dude,….there is nothing to be complaining about with Barwin
That makes sense though, usually you aren’t going to have as many sacks against good teams because they are good for a reason. We never expected Barwin to net us more than 10 sacks so this year is great for him and us.
when we are losing they aren’t gonna pass as much
When a team has needs, teams look to see if they need veteran talent at that positions or if they need to get younger at the position… With Mykal entering his 4th yr, I assume that ILB is a position we want to add young Talent, it’s no secret that I expect to see mykal Kendricks and his brother Erik holding down our ILB spots next year
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As for the secondary, you are right that teams start in the trenches and build their way backwards,,.add a young ILB talent, and the next order of business,becomes building the secondary… Problem is this is a really bad year for free agent DBs, it’s also a position i suspect they want to get younge at, because,we already have stop gap veterans in place to be placeholders until they young DBs are groomed and ready to take over from the veterans… Panther reason I suspect we want to get young at outside Corners is so we can pay our outside corners, cheap rookie deals for the next 4 years, which will allow us to pay Boykin to stay in the slot for another 4 years…
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People talk about Byron Maxwell but that’s not very realistic, if seattle doesn’t extend him, he will be in really high demand, since CB supply is putrid on this years free agent market..to get Maxwell, you will have to grossly over pay and win a bidding war against stupid owners and GM’s of bad team that go out and try to buy the top rated player each year…paying for Maxwell, would make it harder to pay boykin to stay in the slot for another 4 years…
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Fans will be dissapointed, but I assume that Cary And Nolan will start outside next September, and we will have drafted outside CB to groom on the bench. Rookie Cbs suck!!! I hate them… The soonest I would expect to see young corners start outside would be after the bye week next year, but there is a good chance we stay with Nolan andmCary all year and the young outside corners DONT get to start Til year two,.
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We also need a safety, but ATleast we have a few young safeties who still have a chance to grow into a good starter, but we can’t count on reynolds, wolff, Prosinski, or the new kid to be able to start next year, they will need to compete, but we need contingency plan in case non of them are ready to take over the starting spot
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Bad year for free agent defensive backs… Plus we need to get younger at those positions, so I assume we use free agency to address a few other needs, maybe Ol, another offensive weapon… And use the draft to get our ILB and DBs…
so you’re saying it’s going to be another ugly year in the secondary? hopefully nolan takes the step, but i’m afraid he’s not going to be that good either.
seems to me that ck really values the team continuity — hard to break into starting role once the season gets going.
You know I’m a defensive maniac who barely cares about offense…Just keeping it real… I could sugar coat it you would prefer, or I can give you some crap, bogus, unrealistic prediction like our media consistently does
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Definitely not going to be a quick fix. It’s a bad year to need defensive backs… The one thing that could save us, is that there was a very real chance Nolan could have overthrown Bradley Fletcher in the preseason for the outside Cb job….Nolan was on fire during camp, and he was looking good, competing with Fletcher for that outside spot.(cary is entrenched as our starter). Nolan got hurt at the worst possible time. Had he not gotten hurt, it could have been Cary and Nolan outside this year, ESPECIAlly WHEN Bradley happens to have previous experience playing both outside and slot corner….so it wouldn’t be much of a problem, switching Nolan and Brads Roles, or just slide Nolan inside when we go to Dime..
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If I had to bet on what we will see next year, right now, I would have to say Cary/Nolan outside, talented 6ft-6’3 long athletic rookie corners developing on our bench. I assume 1 CB will be drafted in the first 4’rounds.. Possibly draft anothe one in a later round, or at the very least bring in a few,Undrafted talents to compete in camp…. It’s possible we get lucky and the corner we drafted proves to be a stud, and when the bye week rolls around, we decide that he has been playing too good to justify keeping him on the bench, and maybe we get lucky and the rookie is ready to take over next year after the bye week..or, injuries could force him onto the field sooner than expected..
But, unfortunately I think the greatest odds would go to not seeing new young outside corners starting Til the 2016 season…
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I’d love to be wrong tho
The problem with grooming cb’s through the draft is, you have to draft them. Watkins may turn out to be great but I would feel more comfortable spending some resources high on a db. When was the last corner we draft in the first 3 rounds? Same with safety. I guess we learning learned our lesson with Jarrett lol.
nah draft what you’re good at i think. if we can get dbs in the draft then buy them.
You ARENT wrong, but from a team building stand points the secondary is the last part of the defense you worry about, and we are just not almost set in the front 7 after years of a Swiss cheese defense, so as bad as I need DBs, I can’t really fault them were getting right up front these past years before dumping serious assets into the secondary.
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We rip cary and Brad, and we all can’t wait to have two better corners, but when you look at what we paid for them, and you look at what else was available that year, they were solid signings.we tried to get the Lewis kid who shut down Desean from the saints, who would have been a nice pairing with Cary instead of Brad, but we can’t force the kid to sign with us. He said he didn’t want to come here, so we poved on to Bradley… It wasn’t a terrible signing, it is what it is, a,stop gap
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So chosing Cary and Brad out of that corner market isn’t a bad job of evaluating DBs. They were solid signings, all things considered. I also feel better Knowing that the scouts who thought it was a good idea to take Curtis Marsh in round 3, Jarrett in round two, are no longer working for us..
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The people evaluating talent these days, went with Nolan Carrol, Cary, Bradley, Jaylen Watkins, Ed Reynolds, Earl Wolff….nothing special…but when you factor in everything, the value of the draft pick we invested or how much we are paying for them, who else was available that we could have had instead of them….I don’t really have a problem with those decisions. A few of them, I’m waiting,to see more of before I judge…. But you aren’t supposed to get Kam Chancellor in round 5. I can’t say, Eagles scouts, or coaches or Howie are idiots for spending a 5th on Wolff and Ed Reynolds… Both have a certain level of “potential”, but of course they are long shots.. But i can’t say they were bad 5th round picks at this point.
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Considering what else was available, how much we are spending, what type of draft pick we invested, I can’t really say I have a problem with the decisions we made in the secondary, and I can’t say that I have a problem with DB evaluation at this point…
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Before this regime, we had Jaquan Jarret, Curtis Marsh, Colt Anderson, Kurt Coleman, NNamdi…I’d say we are doing much better evaluatong DBs during this regime, we just haven’t gotten to the point yet where we make serious investments in that position, other then Malcolm Jenkins, which I don’t think eagkes fans even realize just how well he has played for the majority of this season,,…. Hopefully as we make bigger investments in the DB’s, we get our investments worth, so far I feel like we have accomplished that.. We haven’t managed to hit a home run yet with our small investments on DBs. No Kam chancellor in the 5th yet, but I don’t see any problem with our DB player evaluation…we got decent value for the modest investments we made on that position..
I don’t have a problem with the evaluation either which is why it would be nice to grab someone higher than the 4th.
Sure Hope so brother..
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Figure we need:
Guard
Safety
CB
Sammie Coates 😉
Erik Kendricks 😉
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5 pressing needs to fill. Hopefully we can find one or two opportunities in free agency to find great value like BARWIN and Jenkins who weren’t the most expensive guys at their positions, but happened to be perfect for us…
.if we can eliminate two of those needs in free agency, we would have 3 big needs left in the draft.we also may have an extra pick this year from San fran in like the #100-#150 range(not sure exact parameters of the deal)
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With only 3 big needs to fill, you can either fill those three and build depth with the rest of your picks, or when you only have a few needs, you have the option of packaging a few of your picks, maybe packaging 1 pick the following year, to fill one of your needs with a premier player, sort of how the Bills went and traded for Sammy Watkins… Obviously we aren’t moving into the top 10, but we do have a pretty deep roster at this point. We have big needs THAT hurt us, but not a ton of open roster spots to fill… I wouldn’t mind if we went for Quality instead of qUantity n this draft, and see us do something like fill the 3 needs, packaging our first 5 picks and a second or third rounder in2016, to move up and grab guys at positions or need who are currently out of our reach, but we expect to grow into special players worth spending a few picks on moving up to get
.
For example, get a guard in free agency..
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Draft Erik Kendricks in round 1, then package picks to trade up to the begginning of round 2 to get sammie Coates,.. Amd spend a few more picks, moving into round 3 for a corner or someitjing…
What’s up with all the love for Coates?! The college games I have seen this year tell me that he is more of a one trick (speed) pony rather than a polished route runner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_NVKIu0PyA
that would have been an awesome nick name and theme song for McNabb (Kidding, I liked the guy back then inspite of all his flaws)
That was an impressive throw by Sammie though huh?
football at its best! Very awesome share
http://draftbreakdown.com/video/sammie-coates-vs-lsu-2014/
Plus he is a high character guy Chip would like. He spends a lot of time with a young girl who has cancer.
Cheers, mate.
Coates is pretty much Desean Jackson in a bigger body and can block in terms of what skills he brings to an offense.
Way better character too.
Yea, I was just describing what type of player Coates would be in the NFL to start his career. Coates has that legit deep speed like Desean (not just fake combine speed, but actually game speed), but he is also very strong and a great blocker and comes from a run first offense
It’s mitchells boy, I was speaking to mitchell, so I threw him a bone.
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To early for me to know how to rank WR prospects
I really want Kendricks, but as said early, not sure a 1st round pick is needed for him and same with Coates, with at least 6-7 guys in front him, not sure an early 2nd is needed.
The most frustrating part of this season is the Dallas Cowboys with such inferior personnel on D sitting atop of the NFCE at 10-4 (!!!) and most likely winning the division.
This season has turned out to be a total nightmare compared to only 2 weeks ago…
They will enjoy their glory for a week, this time next week they will be back to being a nervous wreck in December
I am afraid this won’t happen – as much as you keep rolling this drum.
Dallas will win out and reach the playoffs. Colts are bad, Andrew Luck loves throwing picks these days and the Redskins will come off an emotional win/loss against the Eagles.
Fortunately for me, I have emotionally checked out, with our young QB not getting to play a single game in this important year two, behind anything that remotely resembled a functioning offensive line, run game or anything… Not a complete waste of a developmental year because forcing him to win ugly and overcome all that adversity after last year when everything came easy for him, was Probabky really good for his growth and development…but win or lose, I’m furious he isn’t getting competitive DECEMBER, and hard fought jAnuary playoff experience
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Your pessimism is both overblown and annoying.
Andrew Luck is an excellent QB and is likely to feast on Dallas’ D. That game is a toss up. And @Washington is historically a game the Cowboys have always had trouble winning.
Chances are <<50% that the Cowboys win out IMO.
I’d rather call it realism, my Eagles fella. Here’s hoping that your findings will turn out to be true though.
Now off to the Eagles remaining schedule…
If Murray’s out it becomes a much harder game.
Thats why QB play is so important in the NFL. Even with Romo as a shell of his former self, the fact that he is far more productive than Foles/Sanchez combo has helped them.
Oh and they have 2 guys who can win games for them alone in Murray and Bryant.
But wait we have a $10m running back too, a line where 4 of 5 players are pro-bowl cailbur, and Jaremy “money” maclin and “cool hands” cooper. Why can’t they carry us? There’s almost $45m right there.
Maclin is not the best WR in the NFL like Bryant could claim he is.
Photographic proof of what we all long suspected:
So Romo is actually from Austria?!
Italy, actually. That’s an Italian uniform!
well this is awkward. I’m sure BC didn’t mean to associate the Cowboys with Germany in any way. No one deserves that!
BC, You’re a good poster and I know your intention was to be funny, but I think this is over the line. I heard someone say it’s an insult to an anus to call Jerry Jones an “ass.” That would probably make a funny Photoshoped pic. But Nazi stuff? I wouldn’t laugh if it was a Taliban pic either, especially after they just murdered all those kids. Maybe I’m in the minority but I can’t get behind this. Nothing personal against you, but the pic hits me wrong.
too soon?
Yea, that’s part of it. Thanks.
Poor nazis being associated with the Cowboys now? terrible.
This stubbornness with Bill Davis is infuriating. Still Fletcher.
It’s very weird how the entire team is flexible and versatile, except for the secondary which is very rigid. At the end of the day that needs to be one of the most versatile units with all of the looks offenses are going to throw at you. If you get exposed, you have to be versatile enough to adjust on the fly, or just keep doing what we’ve been doing, I’m sure it won’t bite us in the butt again…
As selfish as it may sound, the only reason I want our boys to enter the playoffs is that if we do, Dallas likely DOES NOT. Don’t have any unrealistic expectations about a deep Po run with MS at the helm – no Nick – so sad. Agree 100% with the G, he could really have used this time for growth as he is the future of the team at QB.
Everyone, I wanted to announce that I am starting my own message board. It is a place where I can go and rant in caps and belittle people. I can pontificate about football x’s and o’s when I really have no idea wtf I am talking about. It is truly unfair that phillymag 24/7 banned me for calling out suckas! I know my days are numbered here as well, despite my insane and crazy knowledge. Please support me at http://www.GEAGLESIDIOTICRANTS.COM.
Website is not up yet.
It’s just another mock account. Someone really spends silly amount of time deriding a poster in the comment section of an Eagles Blog.
This takes a lot of work. I don’t understand where people get the time.
At the same time, that whole second sentence applies to GEAGLE himself.
haven’t seen him single anyone out. If he doesn’t like someone he ignores them. He never interacted with his polar opposites like (going back to B247 days) Token and Charliegarner shah etc. Or ever responded to his trolls or people who openly single him out in “I used to like igglesblitz but GEAGLE ruined it” posts.
It’s fair to criticize, but even GEAGLE knows to ignore people he doesn’t like for his own sanity. If you hate him, just ignore him.
You clearly haven’t been paying attention.
Really? I’ve seen him throw childish insults around and resort to threats of violence for simple disagreements. But to be fair, I generally skip 90% of what he writes (and therefore 90% of the comments).
boring
Apparently my computer is broken. Clearly I’ve stumbled onto some website for the Bears, Buccaneers, Jets or some other fanbase who have legitimate gripes to call for wholesale change, insult their coaching staffs intelligence, and demand players be cut.
That or somebody pissed in the board’s collective wheaties.
The Cowboys did. Get’s us everytime.
Point remains the overall “sky is falling”, “fire everbody”, “im smarter than the coaching staff who does this for a living” sentiments are stupid, shortsighted, and childish.
The sky isn’t falling and I don’t wanna fire anybody. Some people’s hopes really got dashed with the past 2 losses, which is understandable. Not everyone has your perspective on football matters. I see this situation as a team still building and trust we will be better next year.
EDIT: I’d fire the shit out of Riley Pooper though.
I have to agree. Changing over a roster in 2 years isn’t feasible. I see only 2 main issues for me: Foles got hurt (out of anyone’s control) and Fletcher continues to start (I’d like to see a change, can’t be worse). Outside of that, they can fix sloppy play. It’s Year 2 of a project. Next year is where we should see a jump in performance.
Im only really annoyed we still have no answer to the QB situation.
only like 10 teams do. QB is too important. You are rewarded far too much for having a good QB.
I couldn’t agree more with that statement. I don’t know how to fix it without changing the game drastically, but its just way too powerful. People love to talk about the parity of the NFL, and there is some to a degree on any given Sunday. But aggregated, you HAVE to have one of those guys or it just won’t work.
I be happy with even average QB play next year,
As I’m sure you’re aware each win / loss helps a team evaluate where they are in comparison to other teams. Earlier in the ear i thought we could be contenders- now I think we have a lot of work to do. If everything went well last year then things went equally wrong this year. No doubt we are somewhere in the middle. No doubt people (staff included) thought we were closer after last season that we really were and perhaps that colored some of the offseason decisions.
I think most of the issues go to quality of the players and less scheme. But given what we try to do in certain schemes I think we need different (better) players.
Also frankly it wouldn’t be an Eagles blog if we weren’t calling for everyone’s head after a loss (or a win). Just the nature of a fan base that hasn’t won anything – despite being good for a long time.
I mean I just feel like Denny Green. We are who we thought we were. Most people had this team at 10 or 11 wins this year. Some thought we would win 12 or 13, but an equal amount thought the schedule would knock us back to 8 or 9.
We knew going into the year that the DB’s weren’t great. They were the obvious weak spot of the team. We’ve been plagued with injuries. We have turned the ball over far too much. And yet we we’re still going to have 10 or 11 wins.
I thought the run game would be better and didnt think Foles would regress that much, but at the same time, the front seven has really surprised me (I really love Cox has taken the next step towards using his god given ability and that we have at least 3 good to great DLs along with Kendricks, Jenkins and Barwin to build around)
It’ll pass. They aren’t hurting anyone, now if they get the torches and pitch forks and march on Novacare, then we’ll have a problem. By the end of week 17 if we don’t make the playoffs, the winner of the NFC South will have my full and undivided ire. It won’t come back to the Eagles until their off season doesn’t meet my arbitrary standards.
Man, I am with you. 9-10 wins is a pretty good season. Lot of things didn’t go our way, either. I feel so lucky to be a fan of the Birds.
http://www.footballoutsiders.com/any-given-sunday/2014/any-given-sunday-bills-over-packers
Pretty interesting. Now the question is just how you get to have a top passing defense.
Find people that actually can evaluate DBs. So not something we will have without a huge amount of luck
Bills pass defense is more about the front seven than the back 4.
I think you’re right, but that link you posted provides evidence to the contrary.
DVOA does not care if its great coverage or great pass rush, its counted as pass defense.
No, but if you read the article, the author states that pass rush was not how the Bills shut down Rodgers, and provides some numbers, examples and pictures of great coverage.
True, but it has in general been the pass rush. Bills has some above average DBs and mastered the art of mind control on Jordy Nelson (he dropped 2 TDs for around 120+ yards alone).
Not last week it wasn’t. Go watch the tape. Their secondary was great. Front four got handled by GBs OL on pass plays.
delete
Could Sunday be RGIII’s audition for Chip Kelly and the Eagles?
Not many guys get to audition for as back-up QB. God luck RG, you can hold the clipboard for F0les next year.
I’ve been traveling and missed being here for a day or two.
I follow the Pats pretty closely. They have had bad DB’s for years (until last year), and I can’t recall any one of them getting torched to the extent Bradley Fletcher did on Sunday. Is this because of scheme?
It seems like Chip and/or Billy are hell bent on scheme. They moved right to a 3-4 even though some thought a transition year might be better. Maybe this helped some players transition faster. Then they seem to leave their CB’s on an island, even though they don’t have the personnel for that yet.
The DL seems to have transitioned faster than expected, so maybe Chip/Billy knew to do that right away. On the DB’s….doesn’t seem to be working.
I am not sky is falling or anything, but I don’t recall a CB getting beaten so badly.
The coaches are fucking stubborn point blank period.
For most of the game that I saw, Romo was not getting touched or moved. It seems our only pressure was up the middle, but even that was less than I expected to see. In that context, I don’t know that there are too many corners who could have denied 2 of the 3 Bryant TD’s. Fletcher was beaten for a score by Bryant once on thanksgiving, and the difference wasn’t his play – it was pressure on Romo, and Romo’s injury. We have the makings of a great line, but we have no game changer rushing from the edge. Regardless of how MSIII develops, that position still needs shoring up. And I don’t expect TC to be on next season’s roster.
Cowboys spread the Eagles out with 4-5 receiver sets.. Then Davis chose to play 3 man rush.. Gave Romo all the time in the world to pick Eagles D apart
Those 3-man rushes worked twice, both on 3rd and long (17+). Wasn’t a good strategy when the sticks were much closer.
As good as these two teams are, the Eagles did not lose to the Cowboys. They beat themselves. If the Cowboys go to the playoffs, or if we do, one and done.