More on the Front Office
Posted: February 5th, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 345 Comments »A few of you have asked questions or expressed concern about the front office. Can Chip Kelly and Ed Marynowitz really handle free agency and the draft? Can they do a good job of fixing problems and adding talent? Aren’t they just too young/inexperienced? They know college, but this is the NFL. Right?
I was a strong advocate of the Eagles going after Chip Kelly when it became clear Andy Reid was headed out the door. I looked long and hard at coaches around the NFL and in college football. I felt the Eagles needed to take a chance on greatness if possible. Kelly jumped out at me the more I studied him. He reminded me a bit of a modern day version of Jimmy Johnson.
Some of you don’t remember Jimmy. He was the head coach at Oklahoma State and then Miami. He built the Canes into a powerhouse and then took over the Dallas Cowboys in 1989. Jimmy didn’t know squat about the NFL. Jerry Jones hired him because they had been teammates at Arkansas in the early 1960s and had a bit of a friendship. Β And Jones saw how successful Jimmy was at Miami.
Jimmy took over the Cowboys and brought a lot of his college assistants with him. He hired some NFL guys, but wasn’t concerned about perception. Jimmy was going to do things the way he wanted. He had total control over the staff and the team. He studied the way the NFL did things. Some ideas Jimmy adapted, but he ended up doing a lot of his own things.
He created the draft value chart that we all use to this day. It’s been tweaked, but the thinking is largely the same. Jimmy wanted to do some trading and needed that chart to help him. Jimmy believed in volume drafting since he was trying to rebuild a team. Trade down, add picks and have a big class.
From 1989-1991, the Eagles had 28 picks. They added starters William Thomas, Andy Harmon, Antone Davis, Fred Barnett, and Calvin Williams. RB Heath Sherman started some games, but injuries ruined his career.
From 1989-1991, the Cowboys had 39 picks. They added starters Troy Aikman, Steve Wisnewski, Darryl Johnson, Mark Stepnoski, Tony Tolbert, Emmitt Smith, Jimmie Jones, Russell Maryland, Alvin Harper, Kelvin Pritchett, Dixon Edwards, Erik Williams, Leon Lett and Larry Brown. LB Godfrey Myles started 11 games one year due to injuries.
The Eagles were run by NFL guys. They did things in a conventional way. Jimmy was a college coach who took a college approach. He couldn’t go sign 25 recruits every year, but he could load up on draft picks. He loved rounds 2-4. He wasn’t afraid to be wrong on a pick. Jimmy wanted speed, youth and competition.
Jimmy changed the game of football. His emphasis on speed was seen as different from the NFL norm of wanting size and strength. He rotated DL in a way that was very uncommon.
A lot of people, including me, laughed at Jimmy and some of his ideas. “Go back to Miami, Mr. College. This is the NFL.” I was wrong. Dead wrong.
When you have someone who is a truly great coach and who has a specific vision for a team, you need to let that man do his thing. Steve Spurrier is a great play-caller, but he’s never been a guy with a vision for his teams.
Chip Kelly, like Jimmy Johnson, is a man with a vision. He has very specific ideas on the players he wants, the systems he wants to run, how to practice, how to train and just about anything else you can think of. Chip is trying to make his vision come to life. It does that here and there, but not with any consistency.
The whole point in hiring Chip Kelly is for him to be Chip Kelly. Don’t ask him to be a conventional coach with a conventional GM doing conventional things. Let Chip be Chip. Let him hire who he wants and build the Eagles according to his vision.
Can he fail? Yes, absolutely yes. But he can also succeed. And if his ideas work, he could build the Eagles into something special. There is no such thing as a safe hire. Matt Millen had a great NFL background and was a complete failure as a GM. Scott Pioli was a proven GM when the Chiefs hired him and the results were absolutely awful. Phil Emery was an NFL scout/executive for 14 years when the Bears hired him in 2012. He was there for 3 seasons and delivered pedestrian results. He just got fired at the end of the 2014 season.
I understand the desire to see someone with a proven NFL background in one of the top 2 spots, but that is about being comfortable with the guys being hired and not whether they will succeed. Every year we see guys with a great track record do something dumb or get fired.
The key was to give Kelly the power and then find someone that could work well with him. Marynowitz is that guy. Kelly looked around the league and tried to talk to some very good people, but he was denied permission by several teams and had some candidates pass on the offer. Those guys were over-qualified for the job and knew it. When Kelly wasn’t going to someone he really liked from outside the team, he went with someone he really liked who was already on staff.
Kelly could have hired Chris Polian or Chris Grier. He could have taken a run at Alonzo Highsmith or someone like that. Those guys have NFL backgrounds, but they weren’t compelling candidates. Marynowitz might be young, but he’s very accomplished and he has some traits that Kelly can admire (because Chip has them as well).
Think about what Chip is looking for.
* driven person
* someone who isn’t afraid to take chances
* someone who can work with a strong-willed head coach
* someone who can identify talent
* someone who is willing to buy in to Kelly’s vision of total football (tempo, smoothies, practice, etc.)
Marynowitz is all those things.
I know some of you wonder about Marynowitz as a talent evaluator. He did a great job of helping to build Alabama into a championship power. And he has worked as a scout for the Eagles for the past 3 years. He has evaluated free agent targets and draft prospects. Marynowitz has gone to colleges, the Senior Bowl, the Combine and done all the grunt work that it takes to evaluate players and write detailed reports.
He has yet to be a key decision-maker in the NFL, but that would have been true of just about anyone the Eagles hired. You need to be a coach or GM to be a decision-maker. Kelly was looking at pro and college scouting directors.
The Eagles front office isn’t just Kelly and Marynowitz. Jake Rosenberg is very good with the salary cap and contracts. He will be a big help when it comes to the financial side of things. Anthony Patch runs the college scouts. He has done this for a few years and knows his stuff. Rick Mueller runs the Pro Personnel Dept. He’s a longtime NFL executive who can offer advice. Tom Donahoe is still listed as a senior advisor. He’s seen just about every situation you could ever want.
I’m excited to see what Kelly and Marynowitz do. There will be some bumps in the road, but I think they can do great things. Both guys started off in small college football in the northeast and made their way to major college football powers before ending up in the NFL. They got their jobs through accomplishment and hard work. They weren’t star jocks and didn’t have famous dads.
Conventional guys are available every single year. This is a shot at greatness. Let’s see what happens.
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Jimmy Johnson benefited greatly from the Walker trade — allowed him to quickly build a team with a slew of 1st and second round draft picks those first couple of years. It also allowed him to multiple picks to get Emmit Smith, something these days we’d say was crazy to do for any player.
Chip should be allowed,should be given all of the amo, to succeed or fail based on his vision. Whether that means dumping djax, moving up for Mariota or whatever he wants, if you don’t go all the way what’s the point of getting a guy like that anyway. At the very least the games are generally fun to watch.
There a good 30 for 30 on that trade called “The Great Trade Robbery”.
The short version is that Johnson didn’t receive all those picks in the trade. He mostly traded for players, with compensation picks if those players didn’t work out. Johnson knew from the beginning that he only wanted the picks and he wasn’t going to let those players reach their conditions. Minnesota only figured that out after the trade was complete.
only one correction lol
That was a trade rape at the pro level π
“This is a shot at greatness.”
The one thing I have really liked about the Eagles under Lurie has been their willingness to take that shot, no matter the consequences (see “Team, Dream, 2011” for instance).
So it is with the Chip Kelly hire. Now it is time to let Chip take total control and see what happens. I’m betting that that Broad Street Parade we’ve been all waiting for will finally happen under his leadership.
well said. I prefer the boom or bust to a decade of mediocrity and bearish hedges. I feel for the MIA/BUF/TEN/MIN/STL fans out there
I agree. Look at Eli’s Giants. 2 rings in the past decade. I’ll trade 10 10-6 / second round exits for 2 rings and 8 sub-500 seasons.
at this point we’d all trade a lot for a SB.
I cede you’re point, but 10-6/Divisional Round playoffs should be considered a couple notches above “mediocrity”.
Most people (I think) agree that those 2 Giants teams were actually pretty mediocre, cards fell their way and they took advantage.
It just goes to show that it’s more fun to win and suck, than to be really good and lose.
Yes, but you have to consider this team was falling apart at the hinges before these past two 10-6 seasons.
Yeah, not sure I agree. I’m also a SA Spurs fan. Maybe after 5 championships, you get spoiled, but I ‘m not sure a couple of them would make up for a decade of bad.
Coming in 15 hours later with: “bearish hedges”
Without a lot of design change they could have Phillie Phanatic hedges.
Buf/Min at least have had their decade in the sun.Although going to the championship game FOUR times without winning is kind of deflating.
Really hoping that Kelly can pull all the pieces together. And really hoping that history doesn’t repeat itself. Reid had success and then his blind spots caught up with him after he gained full control. Kelly needs to guard against his own blind spots now that he has full control.
nice work tommy
How difficult it is for new GMs to find willing partners for trades. Do they need to develop a relationship of trust with the other team’s GM first or will Chip (or whoever handles this aspect) be able to just give the Cardinals a ring and see if they want to make a trade? I thought Howie was pretty good at orchestrating trades and I wonder if that ability will be missed. Or maybe that’s something Howie will still be involved in?
No, not anymore, that was before his promotion. He is leaving those responsibilities to the more junior roles of the organisation now, he has no time for that anymore.
In his new role, he is mainly working strategic topics such as maintaining the Excel spreadsheet that calculates the team salary cap, ensuring that formulas are up to date (ie changing 2014 to 2015 in each cell), adding new lines for new players, etc. Senior Vice President-type stuff you know?
I dunno, Im disappointed Chip didn’t hire Gamble lol
Awesome Tommy. Its going to be an interesting offseason.
Steve Winewski.. Is he related to the Raiders guy? Just popped up in my head when saw his name i think he is a FA this year too.. Pretty good player for the Silver n Black.. Can play C/G as well
Stefen is the son of Steve. He was drafted out of Penn State to Oakland when his dad was assistant OL coach. Has been a good starter for all 4 years. Oakland has money, and the loyalty ties go both ways. I don’t think he’s going to make it to the market.
Rotoworld says they are going to let him go. Do you have any thoughts on him? He’s apparently looking for like $3m a year. I guess we wouldn’t do it unless he could play guard as well
He played guard his rookie year. I can’t say I’ve watched him at all in the league. Even if he’s an average starter it seems weird for Oakland to let him walk for 3mil a year. If he fits the scheme he would be a great guy to bring in as the primary backup for the interior positions, and use him as a hedge against Todds health and the ability to get someone in the draft.
Wis is the Raiders guy. Got traded out there.
I’m less concerned about the draft than free agency, but I guess we won’t have too long to wait to see if the new team can handle it.
Tommy do you have any thoughts on Marcus Smith II? Obviously we’d all like to see him become a contributor in the future and if he can become a starter than that could potentially plug a Cole or Ryans sized hole.
From the little I’ve read, he still has no idea what position he is going to be playing next year. Wouldn’t he have a better chance of success if they told him whether he was going to be an OLB or an ILB and he could prepare for one role? I’d rather see him become at least competent in one role rather than continue to be crappy in both. Maybe they will tell him after free agency and the draft?
Marcus is an OLB and he is going to play OLB… people need to cut the ILB crap. Tre Thomas just yesterday confirmed that Marcus moving to ILB was seriously, just a numbers game situation when Meco got hurt, at a time when all 3 OLB in front of marcus were playing really well
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this fairytale narrative needs to stop. he is an OLB and he will be an OLB, and no one who spends any time talking about at ILB has seen him flash the sideline to sideline ability needed to slide inside, so people are just blindly speculating.,
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this isnt even a question… Marcus is an outside Linebacker and he will be an outside linebacker, and no one shouold even want him moving inside because Outside LB is more valuable and important than the ILB..
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i cant fucking believe that 3 weeks practicing at ILB in the middle of the season has started months of this fairytale speculation…as if Eagles fans dont have to sift thru enough fake, wrong Intel by our media
That seems very logical (the part where you say Smith is an OLB, not the part where you sperged out about it for four paragraphs).
But, as I said, the few articles I’ve read indicate that nobody from the Eagles organization has yet communicated this to Marcus Smith II.
Sexy Maxy will hit the open market. Get your popcorn ready…
http://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2015/2/6/7988263/eagles-news-seahawks-seattle-byron-maxwell-free-agent-reporter
this article doesn’t say anything we don’t know. There are other guys they need to pay. But they could make it work with Maxwell, it just depends on what Seattle wants to do.
Tbh I didn’t read the whole article because I fancied popcorn too much.
not going to be an eagle…
We will see, Nostradamus…
One thing that keeps getting brought up is the lack of experience Marynowitz has at trades, an draft board setting. These are seen as things Howie was genuinely good at.
But we keep hearing about how Marynowitz has spent time with Parcells, Ireland, Sabin etc. If he’s as smart as everyone seems to think he is surely he will have learnt from Howie as well.
I’m optimistic at the moment about this Front Office.
howie doesnt set draft boards or trades on his own…much of the work howie used to set those draft boards was done by his underlings like Marynowitz… im sure underlings also discussed trades, and called Howie in at the last minute when the trade started to become real, and howie would step in like a “Closer” and complete the trade..
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you can bet howie used plenty of info that Marynowitz was responsible for collecting to set his draft board…GM like howie is only as good as his scouting and personnel department, if you like the job howie did these past 3 years, Marynowitz had a hand in gathering the intel howie and chip used to ultimately make the decision….
[…] More on the Front Office – Iggles BlitzA few of you have asked questions or expressed concern about the front office. Can Chip Kelly and Ed Marynowitz really handle free agency and the draft? Can they do a good job of fixing problems and adding talent? Aren’t they just too young/inexperienced? They know college, but this is the NFL. Right? I was a strong advocate of the Eagles going after Chip Kelly when it became clear Andy Reid was headed out the door. I looked long and hard at coaches around the NFL and in college football. I felt the Eagles needed to take a chance on greatness if possible. Kelly jumped out at me the more I studied him. He reminded me a bit of a modern day version of Jimmy Johnson. […]
[…] More on the Front Office – Iggles BlitzA few of you have asked questions or expressed concern about the front office. Can Chip Kelly and Ed Marynowitz really handle free agency and the draft? Can they do a good job of fixing problems and adding talent? Arenβt they just too young/inexperienced? They know college, but this is the NFL. Right? I was a strong advocate of the Eagles going after Chip Kelly when it became clear Andy Reid was headed out the door. I looked long and hard at coaches around the NFL and in college football. I felt the Eagles needed to take a chance on greatness if possible. Kelly jumped out at me the more I studied him. He reminded me a bit of a modern day version of Jimmy Johnson. […]
Asked about the Marcus Mariota possibility, Thomas said: “Coach Kelly really likes to have as many Oregon players on the team as possible just because I think they understand his system.”
Asked later about the scheme, [Tra] Thomas added: “You’re gonna need a running quarterback if you’re gonna run this type of offense.”
Interesting. Tra’s not on the staff any more so he’s free to publicly discuss these things.
And then we had the case of Josh Huff. Huff found out, the hard way, that the system is very different. Perhaps Thomas’s tenure ran out because he couldn’t grasp details like that?
Even though a lot of fans deny this is true — it’s absolutely true that Chip likes Oregon players. It’s the only reason to explain the Huff pick. Which confuses me — if Chip didn’t already have draft power, how did Howie agree to this pick? Something else was going on internally I guess.
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This isn’t to say Huff is a terrible player. He’s a nice player. The pick though — if he was BPA, according to the Eagles, they need to re-evaluate how the grade players. With so many WR’s still on the table, this wasn’t a need pick. This pick just screams Chip wanted him…
Is this wrong though? who knows. He wants players who will buy into his program. These guys at Oregon already have, or he knows which ones have. If two players are in the same tier, and he knows positive things about the mental make up of the Oregon player then it seems like a rational decision to take that player.
Agreed — but Huff(or same quality player) could have been had 3 to 4 rounds later. I don’t think it was a decision between two players in this round that were close in ability. This was a reach pick.
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is it wrong? No..I would rather Chip get the player he wants, even if it means reaching. I just don’t view Huff as a “omg, we must have him now” pick. That’s what this pick seems like. He’s from Oregon, so let’s get him now…
Huff would have been available in the 6th or 7th round?
if not him — equal talent for sure…
Maybe they pulled the trigger a round early, but Huff is not 5-7 round talent. I like the pick and how he approaches the game. Yeah he might be a bit arrogant, but he does work hard and he’s shown flashes of what he could become. He’s got what Kelly is looking for in that position.
I don’t hate that pick, but none of us can judge these picks for another couple of years anyway, but to suggest he’s 5-7 talent is just being unnecessarily pessimistic.
You know you can still google “josh huff nfl draft”. Try to find one draft profile that has Huff projected to go before the 5th round.
That may not mean he’s a 5th round talent, and he may very well live up to that 3rd round pick. But I think we’d all like to say “Kelly’s inside knowledge of the Duck program scored us a 3rd round talent in the 5th round” not “Kelly found decent value for that 3rd round pick, but he probably could have waited and picked the guy 2 rounds later”
Everyone can say what they want, but MS2 wasn’t “projected” to go high in the 2nd round, then we learned there were other teams high on him and he wouldn’t have been there if we waited for the 2nd.
The point is to follow your board, and if their board is different than people’s who don’t actually do any drafting – I’m okay with that.
The point is that he does live up to the 3rd round pick. We don’t know that he would have been there, and like MS2, if you are high on someone and you don’t think they’ll be there, take them and worry about it later. The point is to get the players you want around the round you had them slated for.
great point…
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FACT is, the EAGLES TURNED DOWN a second offer to trade back again from 26 so the vikings could move up. We turned down that extra 3rd round pick because We KNEW that if we traded back a second time, we would LOSE MARCUS SMITH, the player we thought we could turn into a beast 3 years from now…we had to turn down an EXTRA 3rd round pick, because we would lose Marcus Smith if we moved down any further, so what friggin good does Mel Kiper mocking him in round 3 do for us?
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heck Mel Kiper isnt even evaluating 3rd round OLBs. he is gathering all the info he can and guessing where marcus would end up drafted. problem is half the info he hears is counter info, and no one wants to let anyone in on their true intentions so who the hell cares that mel kiper thought no one would draft him til round 3, when there were clearly NFL FRONT OFFICE people who do this for a living and INFINITELY know these prospects better than Mel Kiper.. Mel Kiper was wrong, if the Eagles, Cardinals and Redskins were all after Marcus smith in the end of round 1/early round 2… Mel Kiper was played. his sources didnt tell him just how much they liked Marcus Smith, so fans and Media give Marcus Smith and the Eagles crap about it all year? like how stupid are people?
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i can even understand the irrational fans that complain after he doesnt play this year, but the way this fanbase and media treated Marcus smith was Disgusting. The Kid deserved better than to be instantly crapped on by the city that drafted him all because mel kiper didnt do his job good enough and gave fans false ideas and expectations of this kid…
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If we traded downb again from 26 we would have lost Marcus, and its a friggin year later and fans and media still think the eagles reached… like how dumb do you have to be?
I’ve learned that people have a narrative and stick to it regardless of facts.
i mean but our own media continues with this crap. why wouldnt you want to provide your readers accurate info, i just dont get it… you dont even need negativity to sell eagle story, eagles fans are drug addicts that will read anything, positive or negative… you are fortunate enough to have a product that is like crack cocain to the entire tri state area, you should take advantage of the rare opportunity to be a real journalist and not have to worry about putting out click bait to get readers
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its so crazy, and marcus smith deserved better, and im embarressed by the actions of fellow fans and how they treated this kid because the media wound them up and pointed them in marcus direction…
you can find plenty that had him in the 4th round…not a big difference from where he was drafted… its also not uncommon for there to be a significant difference between how the mock community sees a player and how NFL front office people view a prospect
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half of the mocks you see arent even evaluations of players, they are just educated guesses of where they think each player will end up drafted. they reach the conclusion from gathering all types of info from front office sources around the league, these sources are mostly handing out counter intelligence anyway. no one wants to reveal their true intentions… so when you see someone rate Huff as a 5th round prospect, most of the time thats not even there evaluation of him as a player, just their best guess using all the info and mis info they gathered… so its really ridiculuos to rip a head coach because mel kiper thinks the player can still be had 30 spots later.
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Personally, I was not high on Huff pre draft. I didnt hate him, just so many WRs i prefered instead of him. But I have to admit I think he is much better than I thought pre draft. Kid has alot of potential and ability to work with… I like him in that “Queen Chess Piece” role where we line him up all over the place, which should especially come in handy when we no longer have Sproles. Like Desean, we will see Huff line up in the backfield at times, flanked out wide other times, and everywhere else in between.
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explosive, tough, physical player. Think he can grow into a fan favorite in this city. Probably the most Physical WR with attitude this franchise has even had since TO…Cooper has a physical game, but he doesnt really play ANGRY the way Huff does. Think this city will like him to the point where we drafted him doesnt even matter… say we waited to round 4, then we wouldnt have Jaylen Watkins who i think so highly of…if I wait to take him in round 5, i wouldnt have Taylor Hart, who i wanted predraft….
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I would rather have Moncrief, Martevis, Jarvis Landry, but i dont at all have a problem with Huff, and could see him growing into a player this city loves
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that last point really sums it up what I was trying to say. I’m not crying Huff is here and I route for the kid. I just wonder about the pick is all. Like — if Huff went to USC, would Chip have drafted him?
Name the equal talent.
Not hypothetical.
Actual names of WR taken in the 6th or 7th round or UDFA better than HUFF.
I agree.
Like in most of our lives -personal relationships play a large role in getting jobs. If someone knows you, knows how you work, and doesn’t need to train you in the basics you have a leg up on everybody else.
yes, in every day lives — yes. Football, I’d rather take someone with better talent over someone I know…
Send your resume into Laurie, they may still be hiring.
I don’t need to be a mechanic to know my car is broke…just saying…
What you have said about the JJ parallel made sense 2 years ago, but the results have not measured up. There has been no sign of any outperformance in the draft that can be attributed to Chip.
Jimmy Johnson’s 4-3 used a lot of guys who at the time were considered tweeners. There were a lot of guys available like that at the time who were good talents but most coaches didn’t know what to do with them.
Yeah, low demand for your type of talent is critical. Innovative scheme and programmatic approach are great. It’s even better when the program needs players no one else wants as much.
Look at the Pats. Their WR’s other than Moss have been just ok, their RB’s are just ok. They would never pay Shady $10M and Maclin $10M. I’m not saying the Eagles are wrong, and it’s not my money but the team is built differently. (starting with Brady, of course).
I just wonder if Shady is really part of the long-term future.
The Patriots are an unreproducable situation. Their success is built on talent, not systems. Brady’s talent, and Belichick’s talent.
Compare them to 49ers, or Cowboys which both had success running the same program after Walsh and Johnson left you can see the distinction. Of course, both of those teams fell off too but they were system driven successes (subsequent coaches couldn’t run it as well, changed it, or didn’t change it when it was no longer effective).
The Patriots could always continue their run after BB leaves or Brady retires and I’ll be proven wrong in my theory. But it’s my opinion they’re a “perfect storm” and not a situation from which other teams can steal much in the way of approach.
What about the year when Brady went down in the first game of the season? Matt Cassel came in went 11-5, I think. Belichick is just on another level.
Yeah, A LOT of it is Belichick.
It would be interesting to see if they could continue winning without Brady over time. The AFC East was dreadful that year (didn’t the Jets win it?) so they had a pretty soft schedule too.
That is the only recent example we’ve had to see what Belichick looks like without Brady, so far.
I had to look it up, because I didn’t remember, but Miami won the division and the NE didn’t make the playoffs with that 11-5 record due to tie-breakers.
I actually think Belicheck is more irreplaceable then Brady. Look what his assistants who have moved on have done.
Won’t argue with that. I do think Brady pushes them over the top. With a pedestrian QB, NE is still a top flight franchise with BB. With Brady they’re a juggernaut.
how close was that season to the spygate season/? just curious. because they cheated, people will always question all their best accomplishments…and for me, that Matt Cassel season was one of his most impressive coaching jobs. thats an important feather in Bellicheks hat, a big positive on his resume
How many SB wins does NE get minus Brady OR NE minus Bellichick? Bellichick was not even mediocre in Cleveland, but had 2 SB rings as Giants DC. Brady has been consistently proficient, but most NE playoff and SB wins have featured great defensive game plans, preparation and execution. Who has added more to the marriage?
I vote Belicheck
That’ll be the bar room debate for generations.
You can’t hold Belichick’s tenure in Cleveland too much against him. That organization has been consistently terrible and it stems from the ownership.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of years when Brady starts to decline.
That’s also why I think the comparison with Bill Walsh (and to a lesser extant Jimmy Johnson) is fun. Walsh had one of the all time greats under center and won. Then plugged in another guy and won. Then he retired and they still had success -even into the Jeff Garcia era the system took them into the playoffs.
The thing about Shady is to weather the storm this year. His cap hit the following two years is like $8mill and $7mill, which is a nice cap figure after this coming year.
yea plus he’s still only going to be 27 y/o this next season. This is usually the time when RBs start to decline. Start being the operative word. Most RBs don’t fall off a cliff until they hit 30. Unless we’re planning on spending that money somewhere else I see no reason to substantially weaken our offense, especially when there’s no clear cut successor on the roster.
You can bank on the fact that we’re going to draft a RB at some point in the first 5 rounds next year for sure though.
I tend to think Shady isn’t part of the long term future. He’s logged a lot of miles, and his game works best when the O-line opens big holes. (Yeah, every RB’s game does, but Shady tries to do too much when not much is there, but is unstoppable when he gets to the second level with some regularity.) We saw Polk and Sproles, who are more N-S runners, clearly play better in some stretches. I don’t think it’s just chance.
All of this is to say we might indeed find more value elsewhere. I’m probably one of the few around these boards who thinks that it may be worth it to go after Mariota, but I think we could also get a lot of value in our system from investing hard in O-line. This is especially true with Stoutland and Kelce around. But these guys have a multiplicative effect on O-line play. Teams also feel like they can get/develop decent O-line with later picks, so the demand isn’t as high. In other words, given (a) our current assets, (b) the system we have, and (c) the existing demand, O-line might be a pretty high leverage investment for us.
Investment in either line is always a good thing. You can never improve either line enough.
They draft a lot of RBs and Blount is really good and cheap.
That’s what Reid tried to do. Got lots of criticism for it. Then Kelly comes in here declaring he’s going to draft big people (in football, imagine that), and people loved it!
The Miami Dolphins in the 70’s and especially the the 49ers in the 80’s would probably laugh at the notion that Jimmy Johnson “changed the game”. Those were two teams that really valued quick, sudden OL’s. That wall of an offensive line that Johnson’s Cowboys featured 6’6 Erik Williams, 350lb Nate Newton and a mauler named Larry Allen tipping the scales at 325lbs. That was a great, but fairly conventional OL. And as far as rotating DL, in 1985 when the 49ers routed the Dolphins, they were rotating 9 DLinemen. I think Jimmy Johnson will be remembered for his effectiveness and his hair more than for anything he changed up. And Kelly has also said there are only two ways for an offense into the endzone: carry the ball or throw it, and both methods have been tried. There is nothing new under the sun.
The 4-3 over with smaller Dl is contributed to him
You’re right. I almost forgot what he did at Miami U. And he was improvising out of necessity, which makes it more admirable to me. He was a winner.
NE sports radio thinks the Pats can/will just franchise McCourtey if they can’t work something out.
Read something similar yesterday. McCourty seems kind of similar to Mayo, a player Belichick just loves to death. Leader, intelligent, great on the field.
As long as NE keeps Revis OR McCourty, I’m happy. If they keep both – that really, epical sucks. Maxwell will see tons of money. And he’s the only true difference maker (as far as I know, I hope Chip knows more than I do ;)) besides those two in the secondary who will be available in FA.
I simply can’t life with this sucking secondary anymore. Drafting helps long term, but we need at least one, at best two short term fixes, too, imho. Revis and McCourty would be one. They would make the others around them look better, too.
doubt Maxwell is going anywhere. He has way too much leverage and seattle can not afford to lose him, not when the rest of the Legion of Boom is going under the knife for serious surgeries… if they were OK with losing Maxwell before, i doubt they are now.
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Kam Chancellor tore his MCL two days before the superbowl….surgery!
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Earl Thomas completely tore his Labrum, surgery, and he will be on the shelf for months
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Sherm, tore ligaments in his elbow, could be having Tommy Johns surgery,,,
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Lane broken arm
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Tharold Simon, “pigeon that got picked on” is the only healthy CB they have…
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maybe they were planning on losing Maxwell before, but i doubt they allow that to happen now, even if they have to franchise him
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Holy hell I didn’t know about Chancellor too…
that friggin Monster tore his MCL two days before the superbowl and still played… and was laying dudes out. what an animal
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but yeah, the entire secondary is in shambles, i dont even know how they could consider losing Maxwell at this point.. they might have to franchise him and then lose him next year… I will be so PUMPED if they lose him. he doesnt even have to sign with us neccessarily, just the seahawks losing the only healthy member of the LOB would make me happy
right but all you read about his how Brady is the best ever (ok maybe he is) and look what he did against the best defense evah!!!!! (oh but look they were all hurt. Did you notice that, Bill Simmons?)
yeah man, seattle was up 10 in the 4th.. if they would have went on to beat the Pats with their secondary in shambles that would have looed really bad for the golden boy
I doubt Schneider/Carroll have the freedom to be short-sighted. They have to pay Wilson and Wagner. There is no alternative, imho. I can’t imagine how they could be able to give Maxwell the big $$$ he wants AND pay those two superstars.
they plan on giving JR sweezy a big extension.. I assume they can wait a year and franchise Maxwell…i wouldnt call trying to keep the only healthy member of your elite secondary short sited, then again the franchise Tag, is partially, a short term manuever and I dont see any other candidates they need to use their franchise Tag on…if they cant keep him, i assume that means he is in straight up “show me the money” mode and looking for the most lucrative offer available and if thats his intention, he wont be an eagle… no shot that the Eagles outbid 8 franchises throwing big money at this kid. its not our style to get into some insane bidding war, trying to get a player at all costs…. for Maxwell to sign with the Eagles he would probably have to be willing to accept a our offer thats in the same ball park, but we would ask Maxwell to leave some money on the table.
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i just dont see a scenario where the eagles negotiate with the most coveted defensive back on the market, and outbid atleast 8 teams willing to throw crazy money at him. There is nothing the past 3 years that we can point to as a precedent for the eagles being willing to do something like that…
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i can see the eagles outbid 5 teams for a good but not great free agent. but i can not see the eagles piss all over their salary cap and go after one of the most expensive free agents and offer him the most lucrative contract… i just dont understand how anyone can have confidence in the eagles being willing to do something like that,,,
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but Id Love to be wrong! heck, you can raise my taxes 3% to help pay for him if it means adding a stud young corner, i just struggle to see how it can realistically end up happening
If I’m Belicheck and I finally, finally fixed my DB situation and what happened – oh a SB win – then I’m trying my best to bring back Revis too. I doubt he leaves. They have the room.
id lose Brandon Browner before i let revis and McCourty get away
If they do, they really know how to manipulate the numbers (honestly, there wasn’t even a pun intended before second reading).
Wilfork will be let go, but I don’t think that’ll be enough. But sadly, we have to wait and see. Like I said, it would really suck for the Eagles of none of those guys becomes available. Because even if they want f.e. Maxwell, it justs hurts the price for him if Revis isn’t there.
i cant imagine them letting Wilfork go… you are probably right, its just so hard for me to picture. That dude has been so awesome for so long, and its been killing me since college,. I desperately wanted the Eagles to draft that monster, but we took shawn Andrews instead… I BARELY even remember Shawn Andrews he has been out of the League so long, yet a week ago im still seeing Wilfork help the Pats win a superbowl… its sickening. like the stomach pain you get from a kick in the nuts…
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Going to be weird to see them waive him, but hopefully when we do play the Pats, Kelce wont have to block him.
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is it definite that we are playing the patriots next year?
If they let Wilfork go i’d throw money at him. But they won’t. He and TB are the only constants on that team.
yes we are on their schedule.
no they won’t let Wilfork go.
so we are playing that entire division? Pats? Rex and the bills talking shit about chips offensive genius? the jets? dion or vinny curry and the dolphins?
Eagles have Bills and Dolphins at home and Jets and Pats away.
thanks… good, bills defense is tough at home..Rex vs, Chip should be a fun week. wish we could steal jerry Hughes from them, no way Rex lets him become a free agent
I bet Wilfork comes back. They will reduce his pay if needed. I keep thinking oh the run is over, the pissed off Wilfork (who is really instrumental to their D), but then they work it out. This was a year ago, maybe 2.
Every time I think they are done, they are not. At this point I will never say oh they have to move on from so and so.
yup, kiss him good bye, he wont be changing teams. 9mil franchise tag for a great safety to try and take another run at winning a lombardi with brady is a no brainer…. McCourty isnt going to change teams, and no matter how dysfunctional the browns are they will match whatever offer to retain RFA Tashuan Gipson…
stop comparing mr smoothie to jimmy johnson….mr smoothie better have a great offseason and stop barking he is 10-6 …..classic end of season choke and inability to manage his defense and beat above average teams….nfl=not for long sometimes
dry those eyes pumpkin
Did Chip steal your lunch money? He was 10-6 in his 1st two seasons, which he overachieved because he had a 4-12 team he took over.
lol dont you know that chip sucks now because he has been here two whole years and still no superbowl? we should just cut our losses and fire him now, so intelligent fans like jaketheGnat can be happy
Sadly this is what a fair number of morons in our fanbase actually think.
it really is…. alot of it comes from our dumb media brainwashing them
fanboys r us……sorry if I put your panties in a bunch cause you don’t like it when mr smoothie gets criticized….hope he has a better year 3 cause year 2 was bad not good fanboy
don’t care about 10 and 6 when he can’t beat good teams…can’t sit bad d-backs and cant draft……..lets see if his smoothies can help him next year
2014 – 7 picks
Matthews & Allen saw significant time Huff, Watkins, Smith got ST and some playing time
that’s 5 of 7 picks that contributed as rookies
2013 – 8 picks
Johnson, Ertz, Logan all saw significant time
Barkley is a backup
Wolff got hurt
Kruger and Poyer got picked up by a different team
that’s 7 of 8 picks that are in the league and seeing time
Saying he can’t draft based on these two drafts shows that you really don’t seem to understand the draft process. How many other teams really get this much each draft?
I understand you don’t like Chip. That’s fine, but your hatred has made you blind to facts. How many other teams had better records on the road against good teams this season except Dallas? Matter of fact, all of them pretty much had losing records on the road. The Eagles schedule played most of the good teams on the road save Seattle. So does that mean the rest of these coaches like Carroll, Belichik, McCarthy, or Harbaugh all can’t draft and beat good teams?
Seattle? 1-2 against good teams on the road
GB? 1-4 against good teams on the road
Denver? 2-3 against good teams on the road
Patriots? 2-3 against good teams on the road
Ravens? 0-3 against good teams on the road
nice!
You’re drunk, go home.
throw cyber tomatos at him
good one….I’ll bet you were a star on the debating team.
No dissent allowed.
Didn’t you read the sign on the way in?
This site is only for people who think only good thoughts about the Eagles and Kelly.
I tend to let the mouthbreathers spew for a few days.
Helps weed out the trolls who are just bored, will get ADD and move on from the jackasses who need to be told off.
fanboys are so sweet …never let realty interfere with with their happy thoughts
My whole thing with Chip is not that he is unconventional or wants to have control of the personnel or the hiring of EM etc.
My whole thing with Chip is when his way does not work, can and will he adapt?
If he does so effectively, I think we’ll be fine and will have a chance to be great. If not, I think we’ll see more of the same, good results, but never great and eventually bad results that cause him to leave/be fired.
he has already adapted plenty since joining the eagles, not sure why this would still be a concern
I concur. The inability to learn from his mistakes was one of the things that doomed Andy Reid.
I think we saw a really good example of this when the Eagles hired the ex-NFL official as a replay assistant. I’m not sure how that eventually worked out, but it was an area in which Kelly was able to admit he needed help and he went out and hired someone.
he has already adapted his offense to fit pocket passer Foles
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year 1 he was big balls chip trying all kinds of trick plays, going for two point conversion, he adapted and we didnt see any of that in year two
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as shown the ability that when we go into halftime losing the game he has a good grasp on whether we have to adapt and make halftime adjustments or if we just need to keep doing what we are doing, chipping away and eventually we would blow the game open
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heck we saw him listen to a jackass defender like cary williams during the Lions game, adapt, and blow them out in the second half of the blizzard game..
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some games chip runs the ball a ton, other games he has thrown the ball 40 times..
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for someone fans and media have always tried to pigeon toe into one particular scheme or label, he sure as adapted and shown the willingness to switch things up when we need to…. he is still stubborn on a few things, but he has shown willingness to adapt, so maybe he eventually changes some things he is stubborn about now once he knows for sure its not going to work.
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he has been stubborn about a few things, but he has shown plenty of willingness to adapt, much more then the stuborn, pigeon toe, “system guy” the media tries to paint him as… heck we arent running the same offense as oregon with foles… alot of similar principles, formations, routes, but its not the same offense. He has adapted plenty since coming to the NFL, and as he gets more and more familiar with the League, what it takes, what works, what doesnt, im sure we will see him continue to adapt… doesnt seem like stubborn andy banging his head against the wall 20 times and refusing to change…
Great article Tommy
good article…
agreed. this was a pleasure to read.
I agree 100%. We are taking a shot at Chip so why not let it be his best shot. I know all the hoopla with Mariota is ridiculous, but if that’s what ends up happening so be it. I want Chip to have taken every shot possible that he deems necessary to turn us into Champions and not just playoff contenders. I’m sick of the “good season”, but not “great” or limping into the playoffs. If we are going down in flames, then let it be in spectacular fashion.
Tommy – you mention that Chip “has very specific ideas on the players he wants.” How do you think that affects the RB position? This is a run first program, so you’d better believe he has specifics in mind for RB. I think there’s a chance that the Eagles move on from Shady and I’d like your take on it.
There’s no question Shady is top level talent, but he’s never been able to outrun people to turn that 20 yard run into a 40 yard TD and he does dance behind the line a lot. Sometimes he can have boom or bust games. He’s either running for 8-12 yards or getting tackled for 1-2 yards or a loss. That doesn’t help the offense avoid 3 ‘n outs. Now, some of that is because of OL injuries and holes just not being there, but I think Sproles running fit the scheme better. He’s more likely to take the hand off and explode through the line. I don’t think Chip’s offense needs a lot of vision and decision making from their running backs and Shady is always looking for something extra outside the box. He’s also more likely to go down with contact when he can’t avoid it – despite being the best ankle breaker in the game. Obviously Sproles isn’t the answer, but it’s an example that shows how a different style of running may be more what Kelly is looking for.
Shady got his current contract extension before Kelly got here, so Kelly has been effectively stuck with him for 2 years. This would be his first chance to pick a RB to fit his offense. Could he see a RB in the draft he thinks is picture perfect for his offense and cut ties with Shady? It would mean cap savings of $7-8 mil for the next three seasons. It would also be good trade ammo for the draft.
(Sorry to all the Birds 24/7 readers that have to see me repeat myself here, but Tommy’s the man and I’d love to see him write an article about this.)
i think it would be way more likely to move away from shady if he hadnt cut desean just last year… we call him Big Balls Chip, but I dont know if he HAS THE BIG BALLS required to come into a major city and piss away two of this cities best players for nothing in return in back to back years… Maybe if he cut desean and then had a bigtime season he could have earned enough Cache to pull that off… but i dont think it will happen. if chip cuts shady (cant get much for him in a trade) he has the biggest balls i will have ever seen… thats just crazy
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this week or next week chip and shady were supposed to be having dinner together. I dont know if it happened already this week or if it happens next week, but atleast there is still dialog…
Good points. McCoy can work magic in space, but miss on a 3rd and 2 by being greedy. Charlie Garner would have thrived in this offense. The Jaguars desperately need a running back. Shady for a 3rd round pick next year, and a conditional 2nd round in 2017?
people need to understand that a GM is only as good as his scouting department.
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i think Howie has done a solid job these last 3 years righting the ship andy had on course to crash into an iceberg at the end of his era..but lets not pretend howie did everything by himself. Often Howie is praised for being able to set a draft board, and thats true, but to set that draft board howie is using the information that his underlings like Marynowitz uncovered, so while howie gets credit for setting the draft board, im sure Marynowitz had a hand in it as well..
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im sure Marynowitz had a hand in scouting some of the free agents and draft picks we added these past 3 years..
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heck as soon as we hired Marynowitz, we traded for Demeco Ryan, Alabama guy, coincidence? maybe…
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howie is gone, but alot of the scouts and marynowitz who had a hand in gathering the intel howie used to do a solid job are still in place, and ultimately no player will be added to this franchise that chip kelly hasnt scouted extensively and then signs off on..there is no such thing as marynowitz adding a player chip doesnt want.. NFL, High school, College, its still football, and im pretty sure chip knows what a great football player looks like on every level, so im personally more at ease knowing Chip kellys expertise has the final say on what players will become eagles instead of howie, who whether we liked him or hated him hasnt grown up in this game and just recently started to evaluate talent… football players are chips life and have been long before Howie got that itch and im comfortable with Chip having the final say on all players more than i was comfortable with Howie, and im actually a fan of rosemans..
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also I would much rather give a college coach GM control instead of giving it to a guy that grew up in the NFL ranks and worked his way up the assistant coach ladder up to headcoach.. that might sound crazy, but a college coach also has a simiular role to GMs. Chip had to scout highschool players, project which ones he can turn into great players at the NEXT LEVEL.. What a college headcoach does probably much better prepares you for NFL GM duties,, then being an NFL:assistant coach who never has any personnel power or decision making power..
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Chip scouted high school players and knew which he could get to successfully make the transition to the next level, and now that chip has seen the NFL up close for two years, im confident he can do the same thing, look at college coaches and figure out which ones he can mold into guys who successfully make the transition to the NFL… a headcoach at a bigtime college is way more prepared for NFL GM duty than a headcoach who climbed the assistant coaches ladder in the NFL
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I would be more worried if Chip revamped the entire personnel department, but many of howies underlings who helped howie have success as a GM are still here, only difference is howie went from the big office with the beautiful view, to the janitor closet in the basement, but he ngot rich doing it lol…
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I have full confidence in this new structure. Chip and howie were dysfunctional, chip and Marynowitz should be a more healthy situation and Chip still has all the guys that gathered the info that howie used to become successful, I trust Chip more with the Info the scouts gather, than i trust howie, so as long as our salary Cap doesnt get screwed up with Howie losing power, Im very confident in the new power structure
Bellichek is a cheating scumbag, but dude can coach…
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You want to know how bad Pete Carrol/Darrel Bevels play call was to throw that pass and botch the game? that play call was so horrible the patriots were completely prepared for it, they had been practicing for it a few days earlier. The Malcolm Butler kid admitted that he got burned defending that exact play in practice… Bellichek is just an awesome coach, he had the stones to replace Kyle Arrington who was getting destroyed with this malcolm butler kid no one even really knew… not only did he have the balls to play that no name kid in crunch time, but he is such a great coach that he had the no name player completely prepared to defend the exact play call that Pete Carrol thought he was outsmarting Bellichek by calling…
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Thats Impressive coaching! Did Bellichek spy on the seahawks to be able to have practiced defending that exact crucial play? questions like this will always be in the back of peoples minds and thats the price they have to pay for spygate… but even if they cheated, for bill bllicheks staff to have that no name kid, prepared to defend that pass and pull off the biggest play in SB history, is just amazing coaching, whether they cheated or not…
Interesting argument- Belichick is such a master coach he was prepared for the dumbest, worst, most idiotic play call in football history.
Absolutely! Dude is a freak of a coach! Most my hatred of him comes solely from a place of pure jealousy, because I wish the Eagles had him on their sideline. I just love the way he coaches, calls plays and makes immediate in game adjustments to whats going on in front of him. So many coaches just blindly stick to failing plans, but not Belichick. I really hope though that he’s not gaining these advantages by cheating. It’s truly special if he’s always one step ahead of the situation and prepared for anything at all times. It’s just sad if he’s gaining that advantage by cheating, because anyone can do that. Ultimately, despite my jealousy and hatred of the Pats and Belichick, I think that would be sad for football and the nfl in general.
As for that indefensible playcall, I’m still in total shock that the Seahawks ran that play. I read an excellent grantland article that tried to defend the rationale (even if the author himself wouldn’t admit that he totally bought his own defense of the call). The article does a good job of defending the rationale for calling a pass play on second down. The reasons were things I though about immediately after and I even said to the other shocked people watching with me that I could see or imagine what Carroll was thinking in that situation and wanting to pass on 2nd down against a loaded front, which would allow them to run twice to end the game. However, while passing the ball MIGHT be defensible in that situation, the pass play they called was borderline absurd. If you want to call a pass play at that time, why not go play action and roll Wilson out of the pocket? There he’d have three options: walk in for the easy score, throw it towards the sideline to a wide open WR or chuck that thing 20 rows deep into the stands. There is literally no defense whatsoever for throwing a quick slant into the middle of the field where there’s a ton of bodies and traffic and the pass could easily be picked off. In that situation, if you’re going to forego a potentially easy TD against a team that has a bottom 5 defense against short yardage runs, with BeastMode in your backfield, you really need to pick a pass play that has a near zero percent chance of interception. Instead they chose a really high risk play which makes no sense at all. Calling it to go to a player that had something like 17 catches over the course of his career is insanity. They gave the game away when it was right there for the taking. Completely indefensible.
Burning that timeout when the play clock was running down turned out to be huge. With two timeouts instead of just one, I doubt Pete Carroll even considers throwing the ball down there. No way you’re stopping Marshawn Lynch three times in a row from the half yard line.
Greg Cosell wrote an insightful piece (as he usually does) on yahoo about the play. It worked to perfection in an early season game against Denver where Lynch was the receiver. The Seahawks formation made it pretty clear what they were up to, but it still would have worked if Jermaine Kearse had been able to slow Butler down just a tad.
Yea if Kearse had a little more outside leverage on the guy he was picking, Butler might have had to take one extra step to get around him and the play would have worked. However, still no reason to risk a pass over the middle in that situation. Bad play calls put players in suboptimal positions and that’s exactly what happened here.
good stuff… totally agree.. While a slant from the 1 yard line is hard to defend, too much can go wrong. someone could tip it, just too much could go wrong for my taste when you have safer options like pounding it with your monster back or like you said, atleast go play action roll out, heck you can probably go play action, QB draw and walk in..any problem throw it out the back of the endzone… if you really were intent on throwing in that situation and not running against the goal line front, dont throw it in the middle of the field where all the traffic is going to be/ Too much can go wrong, you have other options easily just as effective, but MUCH SAFER… you are absolutely right!
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as for Bellichek, I despise him, but I would sacrafice Chip Kelly to a Volcano as if he was a virgin in ancient Myan Civilization if it would bring us bill bellichek, it would be glorious, he would slap our media around and they wouldnt be able to say anything about it lol…. i would want that satly dirty scumbag genius concocting the next crazy way to cheat for us… it would be glorious. but yeah, i hate the guy as lon as he is in boston
I read somewhere that it was a lot about execution. Kearse needs to get to the inside of the CB (Browner?) to chip Butler; the pass needs to be thrown better and absolutely not high and outside, and likely earlier, the WR needs to fight for the ball.
I still hate the call to pass, and hate this play.
Execution of dumb play doesn’t make it less dumb.
If it worked, I am certain we’d all be saying “That was idiotic, but at least they scored.”
all true… but none of that happens without that kid making the play of his life, looking like he shot out of a cannon to jump that slant route.,
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its a dumb play call when you have beastmodes but slants from the 1, are really really hard to defend especially with a pick,let alone to intercept one…… to Intercept a slant from the 1 takes the perfect anticipation like vinny curry perfectly flying off a snap and complete commitment to stoping that slant. if that wasnt a slant, the defender was so screwed because he anticipated and commited to jumping that slant he would have never been able to adjust to defend a different route…. such a boneheaed play by one team, yet such a brilliant play by the other team
i love Jimmys Philosophy of stocking up on picks in rounds 2-4..
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Ideally I would get to add a player in the #5-13 range, because i would expect to get atleast a fletcher cox caliber young player… But if I cant have one of the top tier/top 15 guys, I would so much rather trade out of round 1 making our first pick in the top 5 of round 2. if you start at #20, you would have to trade back atleast twice to not make your first pick til the beginning of round 2, which means at the very least you will be compensated with two extra 3rd round picks, which for me are like Gold.. … In MOST DRAFTS, I just dont see much of a difference between the players I can draft at #20 and the players I can draft at like #37(early round 2)… if you are still ending up with a similar caliber player, might as well take the two extra 3rd round picks trading back, instead of staying at #20 and making the pick…. The ONLY way I would stay at 20 and make a pick is if we see a crazy run at a certain position causing a top tier player at another position to fall much further then we ever expected.
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The Only way we should pick anyone at #20, is if we are shocked to see a player we really liked on the board and never imagined having a shot at drafting him… if im not amazed by the fact that someone i loved fell to 20, take the best compensation available and trade back. you might as well, because you can trade back to anywhere between #25 and middle of round 2, and you will be able to land a player you really like at one of the positions you really want to address like OG, CB, S, WR, ILB….to draft someone at #20 it has to be something we cant get in round 2… no point giving a round 2 talent a 1st round contract… rather give him a second round contract and get an extra 3rd round pick or two from the trade..
While I like the idea of stockpiling draft picks in the middle rounds, it always takes two 2 tango.
In a draft with lack of top tier talent at spot #20 it’s not a given that you will find a trade partner.
There are always stupid teams. Cleveland might be a trade partner again. Titans, Raiders, Skins, Jets, even the Bills might be willing to trade out of the 2nd round.
Behind us are the Colts, Cowboys, Panthers, and Broncos that might want someone bad enough to trade up.
I look at the GMs of the Colts, Panthers, Broncos, and Browns and think there’s a distinct possibility that they’d try to trade up for a prospect. Or, I should rather say I’m not impressed the GM of any of these teams in particular that would lead me to believe they wouldn’t do something stupid in the draft. If they do, why can’t we be the benefactor of that decision?
once we pull off the first trade back and go from like 20 – 26, there will ALWAYS be a team with like the 5th pick in round 2, thats planning on drafting its QB like Brett Hundley at the beginning of round two, but they are scared that one of the teams with the first 4 picks in round two will steal him, so to secure Hundley or whatever QB teams are covetting at the beginning of round 2, there will always be a team at the beginning of round two that wants to jump the few teams ahead of them in round two and trade back into the end of round 1 to secure their QB, ESPECIALLY when there is the added bonus of getting a 5th year option on the QBs rookie contract if you move into round 1 to draft him, instead of drafting him in round 2 when he will be a free agent after 4 years…
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so once the Eagles can hit the first trade back and go from #20 to #25-27and pick up an extra 3rd round pick, from there, we will always find an opportunity to trade back again and get out of round 1 all together ending up with atleast two extra 3rd round picks and end up making our first pick at the begin of round 2
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heck if we could pull that all offf, i wouldnt mind trading away our first round pick in 2016 for a top 15 pick in round 2 of this draft, and if we are able to aquire that extra second round pick, i would be trying to trade back from that pick too and try to get more pics lol
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i want eagles training camp to be a dog fight where its extremely difficult to make the roster because of the abudance of talent at each position…
so there isnt plenty of trade activity in every single draft?
Yes. But it is not guaranteed that you will always end up with the better deal, especially in years that lacks top talent across the board.
Bill Belichick certainly agrees:
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/bill-belichick-nfl-draft-new-england-patriots/
For ACV – don’t know if you saw this, but it made me think of your comment from the other day:
http://www.si.com/nfl/2015/02/05/aaron-hernandez-trial-day-5
The final topic of the article.
bill:
Thx for the link.
A nice, calculated bit of lawyering, it seems.
What I’d really like to have read is the jury’s reaction to the question.
Seeing as how the prosecution’s case has shaped up as a purely circumstantial one, you can almost hear the defense lawyer echoing Pats’ owner Robert Kraft’s challenge to the NFL and Goodell . . .
hard proof or cut us loose.
keep looking at the list of free agent corners thinking there has to be some young up and comer we can go after that im missing, but it always ends with me being depressed at whats available..im stumped. i have no clue WTF we are going to do about this corner mess. I know people dont want to hear this, but dont be surprised If Cary and Nolan Carrol start at outside corner for us in september.. No matter what we do in free agency, the Eagles will draft a CB because we dont have any young outside cornerbacks in the pipeline being developed for the future, so one will undoubtedly be drafted, but we wont be able to count on him to start in september.
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maybe we sign someone like Ladarius Webb who ends up getting cut but he isnt much of an upgrade.. More likely going to be a long shot like Davon House who has been on the bench behind two veteran corners like Sheilds and Tramon.. House has been getting better every year, he is a spiritual guy, money isnt everything to him, our college environment and the fact that we are a contender should appeal to him. Maybe we sign him hoping he takes the next step and beats out Cary or Nolan in camp for the starting position, but he isnt somneone we can sign to play corner and assume our problems are solved… dont even know what other corners we would even consider. its a dry market, horrible year to need a corner
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i know we would love to have Byron Maxwell, but he isnt going to be an eagle. if he leaves seattle it will most likely be for the highest bidder which means it will probably end up being some dumb franchise like the Raiders or browns, something ridiculous.
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Cromartie wont be considered and he is going back to Jets
Buster skrine and Brandon Flowers are tiny slot corners in our system
Tramon Williams is old
Kareem Jackson if he even leaves the texans will probably cost more than we want to pay for someone who doesnt have the size we ;look for
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dont know who else to even consider, culliver and Perish Cox are idiots chip wont consider
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saints 2010 1st rd bust, left cornerback Patrick Robinson? hoping he can stay healthy or a change of scenery helps? its THAT depressing…getting Davon House is probably the best we can realistically hope for and im not even sure the packers let him get away…
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hopefully the pass rush and Safeties can help Cary and Nolan carrol,…
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if we can get a corner upgrade, you better get a safety and a pass rush to help our average corners, SIGN PERNELL McPHEE and Da’NORIS SEARCY!!!
Two questions
One, is Seattle gonna find a way to keep Maxwell?
GEagles’s remarked on the injuries to the LOB and the effect they may have on what Seattle does.
Also, while Wilson and Wagner are both eligible for extensions, no one says Seattle has to cut those deals before the draft.
Two, besides CB Jalen Collins from LSU . . . who’s a big-sized CB coming out of college who’d be around in Rds 2-4 for the Birds?
CB:
your boy Q rollins will be available in round 2
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Alex Carter 6ft 200lb corner out of stanford rd 2/3
.
marcus peters i doubt he will go in round 1.. rd 2
.
kevin johnson wafe forrest, not that big, but good prospect
injured oregon corner ifo ekpre Olomu wont go in round 1, but he isnt tall. he is 5’10. hopefully he is really 5/10-5’11 and not 5’8 when he gets to combine. If we dont expect to play rookies, we can redshirt him and let him get healthy of he falls far enough to be good value pick even tho he lacks size.
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florida STATE knucklehead corners
“florida STATE knucklehead corners”
Early draft pearl
tweedle dee and tweedle dumb, one of those FSU dopes will fail a combine drug test
LMAO!!!
What the heck goes on down there at FSU?
Q-Roll . . .
Get that man.
Could also see us drafting the stanford safety in the mid rounds.. We seem to love those cardinals, athough fans will be pissed since that semester crap means they probably won’t be able to help much as rookies since they ater forced to miss some of our offseason
Richard Sherman turned out to be pretty good. I think those guys typical are smart and if they are getting drafted they are probably hard workers / not heavily recruited from college so might have intangibles that CK likes.
I tend to think this is a win win. They don’t keep him, good. They pay $$$ to keep him, and maybe he isn’t worth it and that outlay hurts them somewhere else or down the line. The man will likely be overpaid.
they want to get Wilson, Sweezy, and Bobby under contract longterm but you are right they can wait for all 3… they are also working on the Marshawn Deal…. obviously they will lose free agents Malcolm Smith and his superbowl MVP and James Carpenter the Guard…
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i dont know how they can afford to let Maxwell get away, but hopeflly it happens because it could really weaken that defense especially early in the season when guys coming back from injury. they should atleast try and franchise him
Seattle has so much front-office work to do.
Players may get more insight into Carroll than they really want — ‘specially after the SB disappointment.
good point…. some guys will feel appreciated others like Malcolm smith probably will resent them, a superbowl MVP a year ago, and they probably wont even try to extend him… seattle will have to break up “the family” and make some tough decisions, how will people whos contracts expire next year start to feel when they see guys like Malcolm smith not be valued when his contract expires… 49ers was my team last summer that was poised to regress. seattle better proceed with caution, they have really important decisions to make and they dont want to have it blow up in their face…
it seems like they’ve been pretty successful drafting guys (except for WRs) and the guys who leave get paid.
Good stuff, yeah doesn’t look like we’re going to find any obvious solutions, but if we get a good fit, and the coaches can actually manage to get someone to over-achieve, we might be able to take a positive step towards competence in the secondary at least.
Thanks…Yeah it looks like we will have to get lucky and identify someone who has been ok, but is ready to break out during the duration of his next contract Given a chance. Someone like Dabvon House who is young and has been sitting behind two solid veterans… But most likely it will be hard to sign a corner this city is excited about and can count on as a sure shot immediate upgrade… Which is why we can’t go cutting Cary Williams. But this will be his last year here,, he is only here so that we don’t have to stick the rookie CB we draft into the starting lineup immediately
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Can’t upgrade the cornerback posituon, then you bettered upgrade safety and pass rush to make life easier for our corners
…and they lived happily ever after. Get real. A close look at the draft and free agency over the last two seasons shows that Chip has had nearly total control while having Mannowitz and Gamble to advise him, and he still brought in mostly below average talent heavily weighted toward guys he knows from college. Howie said the same thing that Mannovitz is now saying about getting the players Chip wants. Sproles was the best player he brought in, but only lasted 2/3rds of a season, pretty much like the rest of the team. As for Chip’s vision: it has yielded one Rose Bowl, no national titles, and a mediocre record against good teams like Packers, Seattle, Dallas, OSU, etc.
vafanculo a te e la Juve…lol π
yep his college career is a failure. Wonder how Lurie even heard of him before hiring him.
Why do u think he had total control? Tell me one thing that proves that. The demotion of Howie clearly states that Howie had alot of control. Howie had one good draft, you.and others make it sound like he was a deaft guru. Again tell me one thing that implies Kelly had total control over the draft in the past 2 years.
The re-arrangment may mean Roseman was not so much exercising control as being an obstacle to what Kelly wants to do.
At a minimum, it’s fair to say — knowing nothing more than what the team said in the press releases — Roseman and Kelly were not on the same page
Roseman didnt have total control. What you said about Roseman getting in the way implies he had some control which reiterates my point of what i was saying that Kelly did not have total control the past 2 seasons. He does now. Furthermore there are articles stating Kelly realy wanted ODM, Mathews and Hart. 2 of the 3 he got. We all just assume Kelly wanted Smith, but isnt it possible Roseman may have wanted him more? I s it possible that Howie wanted Smith and that pick is part of the reason Kelly was successful in getting him out of the way. We all just assume Kelly was responsible whenit is very plausible that Howie was.
Everyone they brought in was below average? Not any average or above average in the last 2 years?
Need 1 player from each group
BEST OLBs:
1) Justin Houston
2) Jerry Hughes
3) Pernell McPhee
4) Jabaal Sheard
5) Worlids
6) Brandon Graham
7) Derick Morgan
8) Brooks Reed
9) Sam Acho
No Interest in: JPP, Orakpo, Greg Hardy, Adrian Clayborn, Akeem Ayers
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Safety:
1) McCourty (probably remaining a Patriot)
2) Tashuan Gipson (Restricted Free Agent, Browns wont let him get away)
3) Da’Norris Searcy
4) Rahim Moore
5) Antrel Roll (too old)
6) Stevie Brown
(Basically Searcy and Rahim is our only hope
…
CB
1)Maxwell (doubt it)
2) Kareem Jackson
3) Davon House
4) Patrick Robinson
…..
Guess my somewhat realistic Dream Scenario is McPhee, Searcy and Davon House…
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OTHER PLAYERS I LIKE AT random Positions:
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1) Mason Foster ILB
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2) Virgil Greene I would LOVE to replace Brent Celek or James Casey with this kid, but I doubt either are going to be replaced..
..
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Reconfirm the entire TE position lol:
1) Zack Ertz
2) Virgil Green
3) Maxx Williams or Jesse James..
Like that you got Virgil Green on the radar.
Young stud. Bruising blocking Tight end who is developing nicely as a pass catcher.. thinking he will break out soon and be a stud during the duration of his next contract,,, Young TE who brings the blocking we would need if we want to let go of Celek..
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Virgil, Ertz, Maxx Williams or Jesse James and Burton would be bad ass young Tight ends..
What’s Green’s H/W/S roughly?
6’5 255lbs, 26years old, free agent of the Broncos. I assume they would rather sigΕ Julius Thomas, Jacob Tamme, and wjll have to give up on Virgil
There was an article that rushing increased by 20ypg once he came in for an injured julius thomas. Also started as a WR (205) and bulked up to (250) really loves being a physical blocking TE. Calls himself the hulk. Couldn’t be more of a CK guy.
Yup yup… Perfect chip kelly player.. Everyone is worried about the big name free agents…a lot of young up and coming talent that doesn’t have the biggest names but could help dearly.. For example if the Eagles had a free agent haul similar to
pernell McPhee
Da’Norris Searcy
Virgil Greene
Davon House
.,
Those names won’t mean much to many eagles fans, but that would be an awesome free agent Haul
..
Or we can draft a safety and try to steal George ILoka from the Bengals next year, but I’m sure they would extend him , the best free safety in coverage people haven’t heard of
Nfl.com’s top 25 free agents:
1. Ndamukong Suh, Detroit Lions defensive tackle
2. Justin Houston, Kansas City Chiefs pass rusher
3. Dez Bryant, Dallas Cowboys wide receiver
4. Demaryius Thomas, Denver Broncos wide receiver
5. Jason Pierre-Paul, New York Giantsdefensive end
6. Julius Thomas, Denver Broncos tight end
7. Mike Iupati, San Francisco 49ers guard
8. Randall Cobb, Green Bay Packers wide receiver
9. Devin McCourty, New England Patriotssafety
10. DeMarco Murray, Dallas Cowboys running back
11. Jerry Hughes, Buffalo Bills pass rusher
12. Jason Worilds, Pittsburgh Steelers pass rusher
13. Jared Odrick, Miami Dolphins defensive tackle
14. Pernell McPhee, Baltimore Ravens pass rusher
15. Terrance Knighton, Denver Broncos defensive tackle
16. Jeremy Maclin, Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver
17. Brandon Graham, Philadelphia Eagles pass rusher
18. Torrey Smith, Baltimore Ravens wide receiver
19. Greg Hardy, Carolina Panthers pass rusher*
20. Byron Maxwell, Seattle Seahawkscornerback
21. C.J. Spiller, Buffalo Bills running back
22. Nick Fairley, Detroit Lions defensive tackle
23. Brandon Flowers, San Diego Chargerscornerback
24. Brian Orakpo, Washington Redskinspass rusher
25. Jordan Cameron, Cleveland Brownstight end
My numbers: 12, 16, 20.
Vikings likely need to do something, Peterson’s cap hit is something like $15M. He could be on this list.
Now there’s a guy who had a good case against Goodell for abuse of his power . . . which “independent” arbitrator, and former Goodell subordinate Harold Henderson, completely screwed up.
No way should Worlids be ranked higher tan McPhee…. Just saying..
It’s not far-fetched at all, though.
Both same age, same amount of sacks (7.5) while Worilds has had more total tackles.
Personnaly I’d prefer him to McPhee.
,Let the steelers and the Titans bicker over Worlids.. McPhee better suited for our multiple fronts we line Up in, plus I need some more Ravens playoff toughness in my life..
Don’t get me wrong, I’d be happy with McPhee as well. I guess it’s just a matter of personal taste.
Btw his name is spelled Worilds.
Probably would be here already if the Steelers didn’t transition-tag him last year.
EXACTLY. This is something I have been having in mind as well. Don’t think the Steelers will tag him again..
steelers really dont want to lose him, and dick lebau is going to want to let derick morgan and Kamarian Wembly walk and throw a ton of money at worlids, something jimmy kempski forgot to tell his readers
I’d go 14(12), 16, 17, 21 — my DBag picks aren’t on this list.
No way the Eagles will sign two high-priced OLBs this off-season…
Yeah i was thinking Worlids or McPhee and then BG if that can be done reasonably. I think rotation at that position is great — i guess we’ll see if MSII can do that this year — maybe trial by fire.
While we can all dream about the McCourtys and Maxwells becoming an Eagle, the probable most likely scenario is that we will end up with two of this year’s Top 25 Free Agents.
the two we already have?
I strongly believe that Maclin will remain an Eagle while BG won’t. That leaves us with one big signing. If I had to bet, my most likely targets (from the aforementioned list) are as follows:
1. Worilds
2. Maxwell
3. McPhee
4. Hughes
5. McCourty
I think McPhee is the most likely of that group. McCourty won’t make it to FA and i think Maxwell will be too expensive. Worlids may go to Tenn.
The list doesn’t represent the least likely odds for the Eagles to sign those players, it relates more to the likelihood of going after/target them.
agreed completely..
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McPhee, Searcy, Davon House and the Hulk… Eagles free agent Haul… Mason Foster and a Guard as honorable mention lol
I think Houston should sign with Houston. Just because.
so she should get philly brown from carolina?
We should definitely get Philly Brown.
Either us or the Browns.
Re: JJohnson’s Picks
T-Law:
Slight correction suggested.
Johnson did draft starters G Steve Wisnewski (2d Rd – ’89) and DE Kelvin Pritchett (1st – ’91).
But both were immediately traded for more picks.
Wisnewski went to the Raiders for a low 2nd, 3rd, and 5th.
The 2nd rounder turned into D-Johnston. The other two washed out (Rhondy Weston, Willis Crockett).
Pritchett was dealt to the Lions for a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th — which turned into Dixon Edward, G James Richards and DE Tony Hill. (Richards and Hill washed out).
Anyway, these trades prove your thesis that Johnson wanted volume in Rds 2-4.
Yes, it might work out, but this is also potentially disruptive to the organization and an extremely risky move.
Patch, who worked closely with Howie, got cut out of the draft loop last year and bypassed this year, how long do you think he’ll be around? Rick Mueller got bypassed and is a former GM, do you think he wants to stick around? Rosenberg is a Howie protege, do you think he feels secure? Howie hired Eddie, Mueller and Donohue, Eddie praised Howie a year ago then sided with Gamble. Think Howie’s other hires are comfortable with him? One of the problem with wanting “your” people is those who were
associated with Howie are probably mailing their resumes as I type, and
Howie was a good judge of football people (basic rule of management,
hire people smarter than you and keep them happy).
Ed is completely unproved, Saban was a top recruiter before Eddie (#10 in 2007 despite arrivingd in January, #1 in 2008 when Ed came abroad just before signing day, #1 after Ed left, so it was the Saban show, Ed had a good learning experience, but he wasn’t a key cog). Ed was an assistant for two years here, he’s never been a director of college or pro personnel. He may be smart and organized, but he’s also extremely green. Which would be fine if Chip wasn’t a novice HC – AR was a 12 year HC who had gone to five NFCCG games and a SB when he took control, and he failed miserably. Chip’s track record so far is one playoff loss.
Chip is not a genius, YET. Eagles offense was 12th in yards and points per drive last year, the up tempo obscured a mediocre performance by an “offensive genius.” Maybe that was just growing pains, maybe the league figured him out. We’ll have a much better idea in 2015. But I’d have felt more comfortable if he had mastered the NFL before taking on a lot more responsibility. And the fact that he thought Gamble was a top football guy makes me question his judgment, look at Gamble’s performance in SF and you don’t see anything special compared to Mueller (who helped build the NO SB team) and Donohue (the Steelers), who have far superior track records.
Again, not saying it won’t work, but this ain’t Jimmy Johnson (and we don’t have a Herschel Walker deal) in 1992, the league is far more sophisticated, notice Jimmy wasn’t as smart in Miami a decade later and decided it was less competitive in the broadcast booth. So downplaying the risks involved is patently “homerism.”
Maybe the OL was in shambles too.
AF:
A rare, and welcomed, appearance.
I have to admit, I’ve missed your comments on here.
Great comment and I was thinking the same thing about Jimmy Johnson via his tenure with the Dolphins.
Ditto that Johnson always delegated a heck of a lot of his coaching responsibilities too to his assistants too. It was evidently clear if you watch ‘The U’ and ‘The U Part 2’ from Johnson’s tenure at the Univ. of Miami.
Great comment / insight.
Regarding Ed at Bama, Ed was the guy brought in to make Bama more NFL like in its approach, so yes he had a big hand in what Bama did and is currently doing regarding recruits.
not to mention im sure howie made decisions off of info Ed has gathered these first 3 years, and even if we take everything in his past out of the equation, im sure 3 years under Howie, chip and Andy has taught this kid a thing or two
..
howie based alot of decisions of info that people working underneath him gathered. Heck Howie sets the draft board off of the intel guys like Ed gathered.. Not only did Ed im sure have some hand in some of the free agent signings, draft picks scouting, draft board setting in the past, and alot of the guys that were working under howie, and provided howie with alot of the info howie used to make decisions are still here, working in our personnel department, only difference now is Ed has to manage all these guys instead of Howie, and Ed has to gather all their info and make sense of it to come up with Draft Boards and prospect/free agent grades so chip can use to make his decisions..
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wonder what role Ed Marynowitz played in us trading for Demeco Ryan, beloved Alabama Alumni?
You’re grossly exaggerating Ed’s role with the Eagles.
Marynowitz spent the 2012 season as the teamβs assistant director of pro scouting. I.e., he was working as Patch’s assistant, who reports to Howie. His second season he was assistant director of player personnel.
So he had limited influence on the 2012 and 2013 drafts, maybe more as Tom Gamble’s crony in the 2014 draft where Howie and Patch got cut out of the loop.
Let Bartlett be Bartlett worked out on the West Wing in that one episode, so maybe this will too.
This is typically like the most boring week of the offseason especially if your team has coaching stability….leave it up to the Browns to have an eventful week in early Febuary.. Over the past week:
1) Josh Gordon has been banned for another season
2) First round pick Manziel is in rehab
3) top 10 pick Justin Gilbert is already considered a bust and a headache
4) teams GM gets caught breaking rules texting coaches during games..
Am I missing any more Browns drama?
5) jordan Cameron says he won’t re sigΕ with Cleveland lol
6) next Jabaal Sheard will say bye byre
….
How the hell can the Browns sign a free agent? How can any player sigΕ on to go play for a team with Johnny Jackass as the QB in place? It’s really a shame they have one of the best young safeties in the game Tashuan Gipson, restricted free agent, they should just award that kid regular free agent status because his brown team is such a joke lol…
it’s also amazing that briah hoyer is so bad. That’d be a team that could give a first for a RB.
They are so pathetic, they should just give us TaShaun Gipson and Christian Kirksey for our 1st round pick this year and a 3rd pick next year lol. Those two shouldnt have to suffer in Cleveland hell
http://www.sportsfanatomy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/incompetence.jpg
https://peteygsports.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/cleveland.png
Howie sez:
http://images.sodahead.com/profiles/0/0/2/4/3/8/5/9/7/creativedifferences-53435265388.png
Thought of the day:
I can’t get over that super bowl ending. And I keep thinking back to what Tommy always says: when the game is on the line: think players not plays.
That said, when the game is on the line, who does Chip Kelly think of? Do we have a guy? Because when the Eagles get to the Redzone, I’m thinking plays. I think we had the best offenses in the league if not for making Cody Parkey break records.
So yes, this defense needs to be improved and could use some investment across the board, but I do think the offense could use one marquee guy, specifically in the red zone. Maclin was that guy early in the season with Foles between the 20’s. I’ve always liked Maclin, but he definitely surprised me with how clutch he was early in the season. But I’d love to have that one guy, right now I think it’s Jason Peters. You run it behind Jason Peters with Celek on his left and Mathis on his right.
Good point. Not sure we have “that guy”. The Eagles haven’t been using Shady in those situations. And no one else stands out to be as that player.
I hear you both on this, but the Pats don’t have that guy either. OK Gronk, but they don’t go to him that much. It’s Gronk, Edelman, etc. I think Chip is following this pattern, lots of playmakers. We all like watching Dez etc. especially b/c that’s who beats us, but I don’t think having “the guy” is what Chip is pursuing. He wants lots of guys. Edelman style, yes (Huff one day hopefully). Dez – I doubt it.
I don’t want to revisit the DJax situation again. I really don’t. I do think we need to do better than the duo of Maclin/Cooper as starting WRs. That, and solidifying the offensive line, would be at least as valuable to the team as all these expensive corners and safeties out there.
Absolutely. Find a big receiver who can challenge Maclin for #1 status, take whatever anybody offers for Cooper. or let him walk, and get one offensive lineman in this draft who will eventually start. If that means A.J. Cann in round 1, I won’t squawk.
I actually really like what Polk did in short yardage situations and like him a lot more than McCoy in those spot (1 yard or inches). Drives me crazy that McCoy just doesn’t immediately takes a straight line and trust his OL or that he doesn’t try to extend himself before getting tackled. I bet he leaves somewhere between 50-100 yards over the course of a season that way on the field.
McCoy never did answer how that sat with him thought late last year but I can’t imagine he would be pleased about losing his job in those spots.
Question is whether Polk can stay healthy. Given his track record, I doubt it and I would like the see the Eagles draft a RB in the 2nd or 3rd round with an eye to replacing McCoy ultimately.
could you really expect shady to trust the OL this past year?
you run Shady? or you sub for your $10M RB?
I think we spread out and make the D cover the whole field. Then we let Foles decide what to do. We certainly don’t lose the 2nd timeout because we can’t get the play called quickly enough.
In red zone situations this year, they weren’t using Shady much. They were at least as likely to use Sproles or even Polk.
I agree, I’m just down on Shady and pointing out examples why.
yeah Shady is great between the 20s but he is what he is. He also lost weight to be shifty (implies running through holes) but really we needed a bulk guy so we were sort of set up for failure. Wonder if he watches Lynch eat skittles all day and wonder what the sports science is really all about.
Just Polk it in brother.
Still don’t see how Marynowitz is comparable to Kelly’s hire or that it was a ‘smart hire’ either.
Struck me an organization that had a massive power struggle between guys with big egos (Kelly/Roseman) in which Kelly decisively won. Normally in that kind of corp struggle, a guy like Roseman would be sent packing shortly afterwards even if he was the heir apparent and groomed golden boy. Still don’t think that the Eagles current FO situation is very settled or that the current structure will last much more than a year.
Kelly ‘won’ and Lurie decided to put all his eggs in his basket. Now just see how it plays out over the next year or so.
the fact that he’s getting 1.7 as an administrator is crazy — donate that extra $1m and clean up N. Philly.
id bet howie lays low, and whenever the chip kelly era ends, howie will be hired as the next GM and he will lead the coaching search to find chips replacement… hopefully this time Howie wont hire someone who ends up getting him fired in two years lol
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LOL the Big crowning achievement of the Roseman era was getting chip kelly to leave Oregon lol.. Howies proudest accomplishment, landing the Head coach that ends up getting him stripped of all his power lol… thats just wrong smh
yeah it’s almost Shakespearean.
….and got himself a FAT pay day in the process. I seem to like Roseman more than most, but his is hardly a tale of woe. More money, more long-term job security(he could still get fired but his current contract sets him up for a sweet severance package), less responsibility, and less acccountability. Yeah, it must suck to be him.
i like howie too… you can tell lurie really doesnt want to lose Howie, but that Howie misplayed his hand, put Lurie in a horrible position so howie was going to have to take one for the team, but he was compensated for it, and will end up with more long term security for it… but it will hurt howie that he cant play billion dollar fantasy football anymore. Howie is definitely hurting inside, while his wife is happier than a pig in shit…
well put
$1.7M will buy a whole hell of a lot of shoes.
howie must hate his wife lol.. shes all happy, celebrating, kissing him, while he feels miserable, and is depressed feeling like he lost his entire career lol… they have been back from vacation for like two weeks now, right about now the realizations of his new role at novacare are starting to kick in and he is starting to resent his wifes happiness at the raise, celebrating what to him feels like his demise…..
..
let me stop, i like howie….
…
and people better be nice to that vindictive little shit, when chip is gone, he will rise to power again, and he will be more pissed off and ornery as ever, and im sure he will remember everyone who is laughing at him and ripping him during this “set back”.. if people thought Howie was a power hungry monster before, wait til they see him when he finally gets his power back, its going to be like Godzilla hits novacare LOL. poor old lady secretaries better hide under their desks, howie is coming..
I agree with your prognostication. Lurie has every right to like who he likes, and HR came with a law degree, learned cap economics from Banner and appeared to have learned some personnel evaluation lessons from Andy Reid’s failures and successes. I know he isn’t very popular on this blog and amongst a lot of Eagle fans, but the big dog likes him, and the animus directed toward him seems a bit over the top.
I want to mention one guy that I think should be on our(fans) radar: Marcus Gilchrist of the Chargers. He seems to fit the mold of what the Eagles like from their safeties. He can drop down and cover the slot and has experience at free and strong safety with the Chargers. I’d put him 4th amongst the free agent safeties after McCourty(if available), Moore, and Searcy.
yeah i thought about him and gave him a hard look, nothing special but probably fair to put him 4th
..
id seriously try to offer our 1st round pick to Browns for Gipson, or to the Bengals for Iloka.. i would love to spend our first round pic on fixing the safety problem and those two are better safeties than anything we can find in this draft and game ready…
Our 1st? No way. I don’t think Iloka fits our scheme and Gipson has had injury issues.
Iloka is a free safety and the number 1 rated safety in coverage this year…
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Gipson IMO will soon be one of the top safeties in the NFL, CB?Safety from Wyoming if im not mistaken, perfect mirror compliment to Jenkins..
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I would MUCH RATHER just sign Searcy and keep our 1st round pick, but if for some reason we strike out on safeties in free agency and the CBs suck, i would start to definitely get desperate for a instant DB upgrade and start looking for young studs to trade for before i accept having to draft a kid and immediately pencil him in to start
5th round pick
Dude, a second rounder for Gipson would be fine. But not our first. Don’t. Get. Desperate.
desperate for one of the top young safeties in the NFL? lol the 20th pick in the draft is practically a 2nd round pick smh…and if we dont sign a free agent safety, we becomne the definition of desperate!
Any news what tender the Browns will offer him, ie what draft pick we’d have to part with in case Browns won’t match our offer?
And he’s used to playing next to a free-lancer who is constantly out of position, but deludes people into thinking he’s a good player. Gilchrist would fit well in our more controlled safety system.
id be tempted to try and sign Sam Acho just so we can finally say we got the right brother for a change
We got Mychal, and we just might get Eric. We’d get both of the right brothers for once.
BTW – I could see Casey as a coach (as well as DeMeco) when all is said and done.
We had the right Andrews brother and we 100% had the right Westbrook brother
The Andrews Sisters?
http://www.cmgww.com/music/andrews/
its a running joke around here if you have been living under a rock. not that serious
Sam Acho would be a solid addition. Especially if they get a sense Marcus Smith is going to be able to improve. It would fit better money wise than swinging a huge deal for a bigger name.
Take the shot!
take these hacks with a grain of salt:
..
NJ.com’s Mark Eckel passes along a rumor that the Eagles have interest in free agent Jake Locker.
Eckel’s source is an agent who doesn’t rep Locker, so take this with a grain of salt. Locker would be a cheap option in Chip Kelly’s offense, which has lacked true dual-threat quarterbacking through two years at the NFL level. Locker could also be viewed as a short-term stopgap starter in the event Philly moves on from Nick Foles and brings along a rookie QB slowly.
Heard before, not surprising, i think it’ll be cheap QB roulette behind foles.
no doubt sanchez is our #1 target.,. if we lose him, i guess i wouldnt be shocked if they liked Lock more than Barkley..
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but i really dont know what chip thinks of barkley, i dont believe the media when they think they know something but have no actual proof or reason as to why they would assume this… not for nothing but i dont think there is anything that strange about a 4th rd QB sitting on the bench for two year especially when Foles and sanchez are on the roster ahead of him,. if i dont think thats strange, then there is no reason to be convinced that chip is down on Barkley which the media basically passes off as fact but has no real reason to even believe we are down on chip
..
because barkley hasnt provided the media any instant gratification, barkley automatically is a worthless bust who chip already wants to replace… sorry, i dont believe les bowan, or Jeff McLane…show me a smidget of evidence that points to chip being done with Barkley, and not playing a 4th round QB the first two years doesnt mean a damn thing. more media lies, assumptions that show their stuypidity, lies that end up making a fanbase view something as truth smh
Open competition. Hard to tell if Sanchez played well enough to go to texans, buffallo, titans, browns.
I think we need to Qbs that are ready to play. I think we bring in a guy and if Matty B isn’t ready that guy will play ahead of him.
If Sanchez stays it will definitely be because we are offering him an open competition… but no matter who they are realistiocally able to land, i doubt he can beat out Nick Foles in year 4, 3rd year in this offense coming off a rough year… Nicky will be jacked up to shut people up, and historically when that has happened we end up with situations like the dallas debacle followed by the hall of fame flooding off the black hole, when it rained 7 TDs in 3 quarters lol
..
i want there to be competition for Foles, because i have complete confidence it will bring out the best in him.. nick is a gamer, 4th quarter is nick foles time, i like him better when he has to fight for respect, so i really hope they bring in some camp competition for Nicky to wipe the floor with..
you think we get a nick foles extension before the season starts?
no, probably like october i guess
Sanchize has already ‘sexy’ tattooed written all over.
Nobody is suggesting that Locker is a replacement for Foles. Locker is as you said replacement for Sanchez.
Sadly if we sign Locker, we are almost 100% guaranteed to see Barkley start at least 1 game
” Locker could also be viewed as a short-term stopgap starter in the event Philly moves on from Nick Foles and brings along a rookie QB slowly.”-rotoworld
they must have a really hard time selling papers.
For me that means the rookie is the replacement for Foles because only way Locker ever starts is if either Foles is injured or he is traded after we pick up a 1st round QB.
For the record I’d like Matt Moore signed as the backup. If Foles has to miss games again, Moore is a guy who can actually win a few in limited duty and has done so in multiple cities. Futher-Moore, he actually plays the game the right way from the pocket.
rather have sanchez back. im not going to debate matt moore vs. Sanchez because i really dont care enough and expect to be screwed if either has to play more than 3 games… but even if Matt Moore is better than sanchez, id rather have sanchez in year two of this offense, than Moore in year 1 of this offense, but i probably would prefer Moore to Locker, although he probably has more upside…. foles cant get hurt, stack the OL to withstand any crazy injury bad luck. we need to keep Nick upright. tough kid can with stand some hits, but no one would have survived last year… had barkley or sanchez started the season behind our mess OL, they would have NEVER, NEVER, NEVER lasted to the Texans game like Nick did, doubt they would have survived the first month behind our OL….gotta protect Nick, if a backup plays more than 3 games, we are screwed
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2356743-how-do-nfl-teams-really-cheat
For people with blinders on.
Yeah, the whole deflate gate thing is more gamesmanship than it is outright cheating.
The Pats still deserve a money slap and maybe a lost draft pick, but the tar and feather Brady / Belacheck stuff is a bit much.
100% true. One thing he didnt mention but is also widespread is the use of PEDs etc among players even if some people wont believe their beloved hero would do such a thing
That’ll be coming to a faster end soon with some increased HGH testing. Nick Hartwig dropping darn near 100lbs as soon as he stopped playing was unreal. Same with Jordan Gross.
This picture is of Alan Faneca
https://usatthebiglead.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/alan-faneca-marathon.jpg?w=600
anyone know where this rumor about Donkeykong Suh wanting to sign with seattle originated? did Suh actually say this?
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How Did Ladarius Webb play this year?… they like the other CB Jimmy, and Ravens are in Cap hell so webb could end up being Waived, has he been any good recently or nothing special?
Jason Cole of BR (he was on Yahoo sports before) has reported it.
That would be terrifying…
suh would have to give up a lot of $$ to make that work. But it’d be almos a guaranteed ring. The competition committee would have to break that up.
I do think he’d fit personality-wise with the rest of those guys.
I agree. He’s an ass just like a lot of the guys on that defense.
Webb was absolutely horrible this year
Joe Webb? He just didn’t get a chance. He can make alll the throws.
We’re talking ledarius webb the CB from Baltimore
figured that…. cant think of any other corners who will get waived/… if we took jimmy smith instead of watlkins, we probably wouldnt be in this position right now
Hello there, shah.
Umm no man we are actually talking about to cornerback from the Ravens Ledarius Webb
It’s a blog exclusive joke. The comment should always get upvoted.
Ohhh gotcha I just got the joke now. Well played sir.
Suh on Seattle would be quite entertaining. Especially if he body slams that POS Kaepernick head-first into the turf.
We don’t think they can afford maxwell but now they can sign Suh?
https://twitter.com/NFL_Memes/status/563880443209347073/photo/1
Conventional guys are available every single year. This is a shot at greatness. Letβs see what happens.
Lynn Swann on brainyquote,com. “Very often we see coaches who have not been successful being recycled, instead of looking to a new face or a new name who has demonstrated the ability to handle the job.”
Why would a place called “brainyquote” use a quote form a guy who made it quite obvious he had no brain via his platform when he ran for governor? That web site needs some better editors working there.
She needs a steelers reference for everything.
Then pick some Steelers with a better academic background like Franco Harris or Jack Ham.
Surprised there still has been no Joe Pannunzio announcement.
Maybe his car is stuck in the Alabama mud?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYJEyToSRtE
It is strange. It almost seems like he’d be higher on the chart than Mayo-naise(move reference) with his credentials.
Tommy, please stop with the, ” This is a shot at greatness ” stuff. What, a team can only achieve greatness, if they take a ” gamble ” with a coach, like Kelly ? I guess greatness can’t happen, if a team goes the ” conventional ” route, when hiring a coach …. or GM ? Let’s face it, that Jimmy Johnson stuff, is a little outrageous. When Johnson was hired as the Cowboys head coach, they already had a HOF ( Hall of Fame ) WR on the roster ( Michael Irvin. ) The first year with the team, Johnson had the # 1 overall pick in the draft, and picked – another HOF, QB – Troy Aikman. There wasn’t another QB picked in that draft until 28 picks later. Aikman was a ” no brainer. ” The Jimmy Johnson thing, is a anomaly ….. a outlier. It’s a very rare occurrence. The norm, or conventional method, is the – Bill Polian / Marv Levy, Joe Gibbs / Bobby Beathard, Parcells / Young, Ron Wolf / Holmgren, Pioli / Belichick, Kolbert / Tomlin, etc. My point is, that there is nothing wrong with the ” conventional ” method. Would it be ” greater ” for some reason if the Eagles won a Super Bowl, with Chip Kelly as their head coach ? NO, it wouldn’t. Would it be ” GREAT ” if the Eagles won a Super Bowl ….. period ? YES ! Why is it a ” shot at greatness ” with Kelly ? My real point was that, I hope ” IF ” Kelly doesn’t win a Super Bowl here, Mr. Lurie will stop trying to, re – invent the wheel, and by the BIG ” innovator ” of the NFL, and find a washed up, recycled veteran coach ( like Vermeil was ) and win us a Super Bowl. The ” old ” conventional way.
In all seriousness, what do you gain by continuing to read and comment here?
There are forums where people agree with you and think that everything the Eagles do is shit, and fuck Lurie, and fuck Kelly, and fuck Howie, and fuck Andy Reid, and fuck “soft offenses”, and Buddy Ryan was a god. (except fuck him too because he didn’t win a bunch of super bowls for us either)
If all you do is come here to spew vitriol at the author, and other commenters, seriously, what do you get out of it?
All I’m saying is that perhaps, TATE, ESPN, BGN, PHILLYDOTCOM, CSNPHILLY, are going to have content and discussions more to your liking.
When did this become the Agreeers Blog?
I tend to agree with you. I haven’t seen philliesfan123 being offensive or rude on here. And if Eagles fans who always see pink ponies only at the Eagles farm are still welcomed here despite being utterly disrespectful to fellow posters sometimes (using the c**** word for example), I don’t see nothing wrong with philliesfan123 bringing his critical side to this blog.
There is a difference between disagreeing and just been flat out annoying.
Philliesfan123 posts are horrible to read from a formatting stand point and so far I have yet to see him write anything other than trashing Lurie and Kelly
[insert name here] posts are horrible to read from a formatting stand point and so far I have yet to see him write anything other than raving about Lurie and Kelly [and Folezzzz].
I honestly think you guys are too harsh with pf123.
LOL what a bitch hahahahaha
Excuse me???
your excused, im used to it
Feel free to elaborate, darling.
He trashes Roseman too. Honestly though, while I agree with the formatting thing(I’m guilty there too), he does a good job of supporting his opinions even if his tone is sometimes a little combative. It’s a message board. Let people write what they want to write.
when does anyone have the right to tell someone how and what he should be posting about?
,,
then again this is typically the time of year around here when the eagles can do no wrong, and everyone wp” just agree with every opinioln tom makes which is typically pro eagle opinion this time of year, but whatever. people need to worry about them selves and stop acting like they have any right to tell anyone else how they should enjoy their iggleblitz experience.. tom is a big boy, if he has a problem with it he will shoot you a respectful email like a man, no reason to act like a bunch of blank and attack someone because you dont like their post
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unhinged obviously this isnt aimed at you, just sayin
I think a few us has quite a few different views on certain players
just wait til march/april, you all become zombies for two months…,
One of my favorite all-time quotes: “Variety is the spice of life.”
when does anyone have the right to tell someone how and what he should be posting about?
never. Provided things don’t get personal, offensive and/or disrespectful, no matter how much you might disagree with someone’s opinion.
It isn’t, nor does it have to be. I think there is a great deal of dissent about the team. There are just more constructive ways to be critical than every post being:
Dear Tommy,
Everything you wrote is wrong, because (insert Howie and Lurie money money money something or the other), Chip is terrible, we can’t draft any defensive talent, college system blah blah.
When holes in his arguments are exposed, he immediately calls you an internet tough guy, claims you don’t care about the team as much as he does, and goes into strawman and red herring overload.
I have no problem with people disagreeing, but bitching for the sake of bitching, is different. That’s what make Iggles Blitz special. Commenters hold other commenters to a higher standard than drivel that sounds like Angelo Cataldi ghostwrote it.
Now lets go to the tape to see particularly why Phillies123 is posting nothing constructive:
“Don’t even try to call me a negadelphian. I’m a passionate fan …. and
i’m pissed off, that the team I love, is not going to the Super Bowl
…. again. Maybe YOU don’t care enough. I didn’t insult your daddy
….. I posed a different, opposed opinion. What’s wrong with that ? man
up, boy.”
That was in context to me refuting his cherrypicked examples of the Seahawks getting a better player than the Eagles, so therefore there was no element of luck whatsoever in their team assembly. I simply cited the trade for the Cox pick and he lost his mind.
Another fun one of his complaints is “we haven’t drafted a pro bowler, on defense since Trent Cole” and when faced with the fact that we have two extremely young blue chip defenders in Cox and Kendricks, simply prattles on about needing pro bowlers (which is a strange and ridiculous metric to measure quality of a team by) and how everything is terrible.
I think think it’s fair to say for a team he claims to love soooooooo much you would have to waterboard him to get him to say 10 nice things about the team. I have no problem with people disagreeing, but if it’s going to be blah blah rage blah blah screw everybody blah blah i’m the only real fan, then I’m going to give them shit. If you can find 10 comments of him being genuine about the team and not just WIPcallering it in, I’ll back off.
As the old adage goes “if you can’t say anything nice”….
That is EXACTLY what I am talking about. What a hypocrite. I criticized / responded to somebody on here several times, and used ( kiss my a$$ or f#%k off, and you BLASTED me for using profanities on this hallowed website. I didn’t even use the full spellings, trying to be politically correct, for the younger or more profanity sensitive readers. I now, even refrain from that. How many times did you use the F word, in your comments ? And you are criticizing me, for bringing down the enjoyment of the readers ? Wow. That’s the great thing about the internet, people can’t make statements, without being ( open ) to some criticism, or other opinions. Sometimes, they are very harsh ( see yours ) and other times, people ( respectfully ) disagree, and offer ” their ” opinion. I’m sorry that MY sometimes ( opposing ) opinion, causes you such a traumatic experience. Is this a Eagles fans website ….. or a Tommy Lawlor fans website ? I respect Tommy. I have said that several times in my posts. Opinions, that are opposed to yours, should be acknowledged, not totally rejected ( just because they differ from yours ) outright. They offer us a opportunity to either see something from another perspective ……. or they solidify our own opinion. Either way, they offer everyone a great opportunity to reflect and open our minds to the VAST other perspectives that exist – outside of our own heads. If in the future, if I have a opposed view, about something I read, in either the comments section or the above article, I will refrain from directing my OPINION towards, the person who writes the article, or the person posting below. I will just offer a open opinion, in hopes of not offending anyone. If I did offend anyone, my bad. Regrets.
You didn’t answer the question. Let me reprhase it. If all you do is constantly disagree why bother? I think Angelo Cataldi is an idiot. So rather than call him every day and go “hey angelo, you’re an idiot” I just don’t listen to his show. Why don’t you just not read the blog?
Being a contrarion for it’s own sake is not a virtue.
If you can point to me to your string of comments where you don’t come here and go “boooo Tommy you’re wrong, here’s three cherrypicked facts as to why you’re wrong, and if anyone disagrees I’m going to call them a tough guy and insist their feelings are hurt”.
or
“No pro bowlers on defense, oh whats that, no I don’t care about offensive pro bowlers, and I don’t care about Cox and Kendricks being great young players, I prefer to make my arguements on the basis of an arbitrary popularity contest”.
As far as the vulgarity, the difference is I didn’t swear at you. I swore to provide context and accentuate my point. I do this in a small percentage of my comments. You however were getting pissy with people disagreeing with you and cursing directly at them. Also let’s be perfectly honest with each other, anyone reading the comment section is at least 10-12 years old. You’re not tricking them by “censoring” your profanities. They can spell, they know F$%*$ means FUCK and @$$ means ASS.
I agree with you, about Cataldi. Can’t stomach him, never could. I would contend that you came AT ME pretty hard ….. therefore, the ” tough guy ” remark. Question – If you were a writer, and your editor came to you every day and said, ” Here, check this out a little more, needs more research. ” , what would you tell him, ” Stop cherry picking my articles ? ” Anyway, I have chosen to avoid mentioning anyone or referencing any above article, and decided to just ADD my humble opinion, without any referencing. Yes 12 year olds can read, but I still think using blatant profanities in posts is inappropriate. I consider my previous type of %#$@& usage akin to the difference between, looking at a Victoria Secrets catalog, vs looking at a Hustler magazine. One is ” in your face ” and the other let’s you use your imagination. In this instance, I prefer the latter. But, I’m not recommending either. I’m calling a truce, for the sanity of the other readers. God knows, they can not be enjoying this display, of sword fighting.
As an apparent “Phillies fan”, I’m sure there are plenty of Phillies blogs that are desperate for your insights on how to fix that true and actual trainwreck of a franchise. For everyone’s sake, you should allocate nearly all of your online time and resources to that endeavor.
ha ha ha ha ha ha. There are only so many times people can post;
– Fire Ruben
– Don’t get back drug addicts and/or uncoachable stiffs for your ace when you trade him
– Fire Ruben
– Hire better scouts
So I guess we’ve got a better variety of comments to put out on the Eagles!
Ummm, how many championships do the EAGLES have, icecube ? Last time I checked, the Phillies have, TWO ( 2 ) trophies in their case. Your argument doesn’t hold water. See what I did ……. iceberg … water ? Consider my ” abundant ” resources ….. allocated ( albeit – wasted ), on you. PS – How’s that ….. for a LITTLE insight ?
Well, I’m not going to sink to name-calling because I’m not in junior high, but to answer your question, the Eagles have three championships in 82 years, the Phillies have two in 132 years. PS – You are not as clever as you think you are.
How ironic it is, that 90 % of a iceberg, is SUNKEN below the water. I thought that we were talking about events that happened, in OUR lifetimes ? PS – Their are NO TROPHIES in the Eagles ” trophy ” case, at Novacare.
I think we have to see how this free agency period goes vs. the guys I want signed, how this draft goes vs. the guys I want to draft, and how close the Eagles get to equaling and/or exceeding the 12 wins and a top 2 seed that I’d like to see this season before I can heap any new scorn on the situation.
I agree with you, totally. I think that would be the most intelligent way to look at the Eagles going forward. As a, die hard Eagles fan, I hope i’m calling Chip Kelly the next Jimmy Johnson, in a few years.
Vermeil was at ucla no? How is he a veteran he barely had any nfl experience?
Good point, but Vermeil is on my list of people the Philadelphia fan base idolize for less than stellar accomplishments. Being born in 1977 I really only remember when Vermiel was fired, but his legacy of bad playoff chokes is brutal. Loss to a junk Atlanta team in 78. A disappointing loss to a disorganized Tampa team in 1979, the choke in the Super Bowl to the Raiders team in 80, and a choke against the Giants in 81 isn’t exactly a steller record of success. But I guess it was an improvement over Jerry Williams, Mike McCormack, etc.
Oh the buddy Ryan club?
My guess is he’s talking about when Rams hired him and he took over the NFL with the “Greatest Show on Turf”. If he’s talking about when he was hired here…he’s misinformed considering he was a hot shot coach from UCLA and “the next big thing”.
Hiring a guy out of coaching for 15 or so years was not a safe bet
Didn’t say he was. He fits the “old, washed up, recycled veteran coach” status though. Forget the fact that Vermeil taking the Rams to the Super Bowl was probably more of AN anomaly and AN outlier after being out of coaching as you suggested. Lol…
another one that bought in the “greatness” of Parcells. Puke. I guess he’s a BIG “innovator”…lmao. How come nobody ever mentions Coughlin? He has 2 rings with the Giants AND did it without Beli-cheater as a DC. Kudos to Coughlin….
Reggie Bush strongly denied allegations he spiked drinks and handed out ecstasy while hanging out with accused rapist Darren Sharper in Las Vegas.
The claims were made by Sharper’s co-defendant, former St. Bernard Parish deputy Brandon Licciardi. Licciardi claims he saw Bush “handing out Molly on the dance floor to girls” and that Bush told Licciardi he had spiked some Champagne. Molly is a common name for MDMA. Bush’s lawyer Shawn Holley strongly denied these allegations, saying “I can say to you on the record that Reggie adamantly, vehemently and unequivocally denies all of the statements in that article. We are demanding a retraction from The Advocate and Reggie is considering taking legal action.”-roto
everybody in jail has “strongly denied” any wrong doing…lol
really hope this isnt true… cant take much more NFL scumbaggery (new word)
Agreed. I hope it’s not true as well. The AP’s/Rice’s etc. it’s never ending lately…
this is the first week of the offseason,:
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Daqwell Jackson assulted a pizzsa boy over a parking spot
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letroy Guilon arrested with over 300 grams of pot, gun, 190k in cash
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Randle RB cowboys, arrested for pot and abusing his baby mama
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manziel in rehab
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Josh Gordon banned for a year
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the friggin offseason started a week ago, and these jackasses cant stay out of trouble for 1 week? its starting to be really disgusting, and we break chips balls over his love for choir boys, but i admit I feel so much better about our “culture” when I dont have to worry about our boys getting arrested during the offseason and suspended as if injuries arent enough of a hurdle..
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something needs to be done, people are starting to walk all over Goodell because they view him as weak now. Time to really start dropping the hammer and clean up this league, its becoming way too trashy.. we just had a superbowl and the cameras had to cut away from endzone celebrations because classless seahawks are grabbing their crotch after touchdowns, the other jackass is pretending to pull his pants down, as if every kid in america isnt watching.
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on top of ALL the scumbag players, we got a bunch of franchises getting caught for cheating…
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this cant go on much longer. drop the hammer, make it so teams think twice before they spend a draft pick on Aaon Hernandez(extreme example)
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Marcus Peters is a piece of crap(as draft prospects go), yet he is the most talented corner in the draft and will still end up picked in the top 100 because of his talent… yet years later when he gets in trouble, are we going to be surprised? dude pulled a sprewell on an assistant coach… if this continues, need to start penalizing franchises every time one of their players gets in trouble for being scum, that will make teams think twice about who they employe…
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this cant go on much longer…. thankfully we shouldnt have these problems under the chip regime… last time we had to worry about one of our players off the field was Jason Peters drag racing a few years ago, and Lane pissing hot last year, thats NOTHING compared to other franchises..
I think the real reason for all this drama is the N(o) F(un) L(eague) forbidding cell phones for TD celebrations in the endzone.
Unless they find other witnesses that have seen Bush hand out Molly, it wont matter as nobody will believe Licciardi alone
whats up with the Darren sharper case anyway? disgusting, dude is acting like a young bill cosby smh
from the interview I was talking about on Thurs:
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Former Eagles assistant coach Tra Thomas said some of OLB Marcus Smith’s rookie struggles came down to his lack of strength.
“He’s definitely going to have to get a little stronger out there because when you look at even his body type, he has the build of like a high school athlete still β a young college athlete,” Thomas said. “He needs to put on probably about a good 15 to 20 more pounds so he can really execute and be effective out there.” The No. 26 overall pick in last year’s draft, Smith registered zero tackles and played only 74 snaps his rookie season despite several injuries to the Eagles’ linebacking corps.
….
need to gain wait is pretty common among rookie edge rushers. This is why you should always draft a OLB a year before you need him on the field, many need to add strength during their first NFL season. it was important to draft Marcus last year so he could have a chance to be ready this year in case we lost cole and BG… strength/power, not a problem that cant be fixed
Rex Ryan is about to sign Ritchie Incognito… lol we play the bils next year
While we usually go crazy for draft time, im way more nervous about Free agency. Thinking free agency is way more important than the draft this year…like Toms article yesterday, we have to stop looking at the draft as a tool for next season. anything you get from a rookie is a bonus, cant count on drafting a rookie to solve a major problem next year… when Free agency ends, thats really what you have to count on for next year… need to get the expectation of rookie production out of our heads and stop bashing players over rookie seasons. especially since its clear our coach doesnt care when we drafted you, you wont play until you earn in….
…
when we discuss all our holes, we mistakenly often include the draft as a tool to fix those holes and thats a big mistake. Next years team needs to be in place by the end of free agency, if you still have holes after free agency, you are screwed, and thinking we can just take care of it in the draft is so foolish, our coaches and front office dont view things that way, so we cant have realistic expectations until we stop looking at rookies as immediate saviors..there will be times we get lucky and guys like Bennie and Lane can handle being a solution as a rookie, but its so foolish to go into a draft counting on that… its hard enough to find a rookie that will grow into a quality NFL player 3 years from now, you will go nuts trying to identify prospects that not only will prove to be great nfl players, but they will prove it instantly..
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we know we wont have a crazy dream team free agency, but this is a crucial free agency period. we have some serious issues that CANT WAIT ANY LONGER TO ADDRESS… when Free agency ends, and the only corner we signed is a guy like Davon House who has improved every year since he was drafted but was on the bench behind two good corners so hasnt yet really proven to be a quality starting solution at corner, we cant look at it as we will just find a better corner in the draft… no matter if we sign a corner or not, we will definitely draft one because we dont have any young outside corners on the bench being developed and you need youth at every position being groomed on your bench..
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THE HONEY MOON PHASE IS OVER, its year 3 and no matter how much we like and trust chip its only fair that we hold him to fair standards and that means, he has to start producing in year 3. I think he did an amazing job this year considering the injury circumstances, but now that he has experienced the worst luck possible, i expect him to be prepared to withstand bad injury luck next year and Produce in year 3… cant miss the playoffs, and should probably win atleast 1 playoff game….Next year is crucial which makes this free agency maybe the most important offseason phase since chip was hired.
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IMMEDIATE HOLES:
Safety
ILB (possibly depending on Meco status and losing Mathews in Free agency)
RG Possibly depending on what we think Herremans has left in the tank
OLB, even if Marcus has a big jump you need more than 2 good OLBs
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We NEED to IMPROVE CORNER the problem is we literally might not be able to in this years market. we wont be able to get a sure shot corner upgrade, so I suspect that we will have to Keep Cary and Nolan outside, and bring in an unproven starter to compete with them like Davon House, while also drafting a rookie…. with that said, realistically our corners might not be drastically improved next year, and if thats the Case, we better IMPROVE SAFETY and PASS RUSH to help the corner… which means you cant afford to not pay for a safety upgrade in Free agency(Searcy) and you probably have to pay for an OLB.. we have a few holes to fill, which means we cant expect 2 big money signings.. we need like 3-5 solid signings…free agency is crucial this year, and i hope we can handle it without howie… tho chip did want Jenkins last year instead of two expensive bigger named oregon safeties, he understood they werent the money, and got jenkins that was the perfect fit for much cheaper, so i have some confidence in chip with Barwin, Jenkins signings… this is an important free agency period for us. cruvcial
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Something Like:
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1)Da’NORRIS SEARCY, Safety (SEARCY) has to happen. we could go with Gilchrist, Rahim Moore, but if you arent going to sign a quality cornerback upgrade im going to need a serious safety like Searcy, not settling for someone like Gilchrist. get me Maxwell and id be willing to accept a lessor safety like Gilchrist. Costly move but nothing too expensive like McCourty
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2)PERNELL McPHEE…Going to need an OLB, might just be a good idea to cut ties with cole and BG now, and get our future OLBs in Place, and a backup BISEXUAL LB(goes both ways OLB and ILB).:
OLB pass rusher is probably our most expensive addittion
1)Pernell McPhee is probably the best we can do
2)Jabaal Sheard
3) Sam Acho
4) Worlids but Titans are going to steal him from steelers
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3) BROOKS REED(Bisexual Backer, goes both ways OLB/ILB: Might be a good idea to sign Brooks Reed, he can play some OLB for us(rotation) but also be ILB insurance in case Meco cant come back from injury). But I would want Brooks in addition to someone like sheard, McPhee… This Might be too expensive to add Brooks and a stud pass rusher. I dont think Brooks will cost as much as Barwin, but he wont be that much cheaper either.. But we would have a quality backup to rotate in at both LB positions..
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4) VIRGIL GREEN: I am a big celek and Casey fan, but id let go of either if we could steal him from he broncos who are busy paying julius Thomas and trying to keep Tamme. Virgil is their 3rd TD, he will be on a new team next year, we should take advantage of the perfect compliment to Ertz and have him replace Casey or Celek. Id give him James Caseys deal which should be enough to land him
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5) Davon House: Cheaper signing similar to Bradley Fletchers contract…hasnt proven he can start because he was behind tramon williamns and Sam Sheilds but he has proven to improve each of his 4 years, he is a team guy, not all about the money, should be attracted to our college environment and family atmosphere which he appreciates about GB. Pakcers have 16 free agents, i assume he will have to look for a new team. we would be signing him to compete with Cary and Nolan for the outside spots
.
Depending on what we think Herremans has left in the Tank we could need to sign a RG
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we cant count on any rookies, anything we get is a bonus, but Im sure a few rookies will be able to help out next year.. say 2 or 3 rookies help us, I think these 5 signings could be enough to really help us take the next step next year, along with all our young players being a year older, more experienced, another year in the weight room..
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McPhee OLB
Brooks Reed OLB and ILB
Greene TE
Davon House CB
Searcy starting Safety
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that isnt going to be cheap, but its not crazy either and we would be cutting contracts like James Casey, Cole, possibly Demeco, losing Bradley fletcher and Casey mathews contract in free agency
We have our young DL front
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OLBs would be: Barwin, McPhee, Marcus Smith, Brooks Reed
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ILBs: Mykal Kendricks, Erik Kendricks(or another rook), Brooks Reed, Meco
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Safety: Searcy, Jenkins, Maragos, Wolff, Reynolds
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CB: Cary, Nolan, Davon House, Rookie(Q rollins)
Nickel: Boykin
Dime: Jaylen Watkins
….
thats not a bad defense to go to war with… hopefully the year after you get another quality corner when you get rid of Cary)
..
TE: Ertz, Celek, Virgil Green, Burton.. love to cut Celek for Max Williams or Jesse James..
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WR: Maclin,Coop,Pope,Huff… devin smith? jalen strong? phillip Dorsett? Sammie Coates? some type of rookie or a possible trade for someone like Cordarrel Patterson who isnt working out for his current team