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Posted: November 29th, 2016 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 195 Comments »Anything missing from that?
The Eagles defense came into the game ranked 5th in points allowed and 7th in yards allowed. I knew the Packers would be tough. Aaron Rodgers has gotten hot recently and they averaged 26 points a game the last 5 weeks.
But I didn’t expect the Eagles to look so helpless. The Packers punted once all night. The Eagles weren’t torched in the sense of giving up a ton of points or yards, but they could not get off the field. Green Bay held the ball for more than 35 minutes. Before people start going nuts, this doesn’t mean the Eagles are terrible and Jim Schwartz is suddenly clueless. Rodgers made some spectacular throws where you just aren’t going to stop him. And the Packers were desperate tonight. They had to win. They responded by playing their best game of the year.
The Eagles weren’t in “must win” mode, but were pretty darn close. Unfortunately this is a team with too many new or young faces and the tough situation didn’t bring out the best in them. There were some good moments, but the Eagles couldn’t sustain good play. The Packers did and had control of the game basically all night long.
The Eagles now find themselves at 5-6 with tough games still left to play. They are not out of the playoff hunt, but have virtually no room for error. The most important thing right now is for some key players to get healthy. The offense moved the ball with Jordan Matthews on the field, but really struggled once he went off. Paul Turner’s debut was more than a little disappointing. Bryce Treggs played more than other games and wasn’t overly impressive.
More you watch Bryce Treggs and Paul Turner, more clear it is that Nelson Agholor is one of 3 best WRs on the roster.
— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) November 29, 2016
Yikes. And true.
The biggest issue for me right now is the mental mistakes. Brandon Graham looked like he played his worst game of the year. There were multiple times when he failed to contain Rodgers and let him get wide to buy more time. Graham jumped offside in the 4th Qtr and kept a drive alive. That’s just dumb. Fletcher Cox hit Rodgers up high and negated a 3rd down stop. The Eagles drew a 12-men on the field penalty that shortened a 4th down to just 5 yards, which the Packers then converted. DGB drew a penalty for blocking on a screen pass, which he also did last week. That wiped out a good gain by Darren Sproles.
Doug Pederson did not have his best game. He had the worst challenge in recent memory, even though he won it. He had some offensive play-calls that were less than ideal.
It also didn’t help that the Eagles came up on the short end of every close call. There was one play that clearly went their way, when Jalen Mills got away with holding Jordy Nelson’s arm. But there were several other close situations where things went the other way and hurt the Eagles. The Eagles are not playing good football right now and only have themselves to blame for that, but there are times when it feels like the officiating is less than even-handed.
This team is not good enough to overcome mistakes right now and they keep making too many of them, especially in critical moments.
Let’s end on a positive note.
Caleb Sturgis had a good game. And…
_
Nice title, Tommy.
Just 1-2 more years until they fire Pederson.
And what to do about Schwartz? Defense has been trending DOWN, and lately the effort has not been there. That’s a HUGE red flag.
I assume when Lurie fires Pederson Schwartz goes too.
Give it up dude. We know how you feel. You don’t have to post this same comment on every single thread.
I’ll give it up when he’s fired or proves me wrong. Neither has happened yet.
They say to never draft solely on need, but…
Your Picks:
Round 1 Pick 22: John Ross, WR, Washington (A)
Round 2 Pick 19: Jourdan Lewis, CB, Michigan (A-)
Round 3 Pick 19: Artavis Scott, WR, Clemson (A-)
Round 4 Pick 19: Malachi Dupre, WR, LSU (A-)
Round 5 Pick 19: Rasul Douglas, CB, West Virginia (A-)
Round 6 Pick 19: Chidobe Awuzie, CB, Colorado (A-)
Round 7 Pick 19: Travin Dural, WR, LSU (A-)
We can draft all the talent in the world, but without coaching it makes little difference…
Can you throw in a pass rusher?
Yes.
Your Picks:
Round 1 Pick 22: John Ross, WR, Washington (A)
Round 2 Pick 19: DeMarcus Walker, DE, Florida State (A-)
Round 3 Pick 19: Marquez White, CB, Florida State (A)
Round 4 Pick 19: Malachi Dupre, WR, LSU (A-)
Round 5 Pick 19: Rasul Douglas, CB, West Virginia (A-)
Round 6 Pick 19: Chidobe Awuzie, CB, Colorado (A-)
Round 7 Pick 19: Amba Etta-Tawo, WR, Syracuse (A)
How are all my rose-colored glasses friends doing? Everybody still think our man Doug is all that as a play caller and game manager? How bout that overall effort tonight?!!!!
Ive been down on his play calling since the bye. This guy is turning Wentz into Alex Smith. Cant go through another season of dink and dunk
Part of this might be OL injuries (and suspension) though. But even dink and dunk isn’t working.
Yup. Can’t get the franchise QB killed (or develop David Carr syndrome). Might just have to tough it out the rest of this season until Lane comes back.
The offensive line is a mess and they don’t have a single receiver who can make a play downfield to save his life. Calling tons of 7 step drops and deep throws down the field are a good recipe for getting your young QB killed under those circumstances.
Hard to find fault with Turner or Treggs. Turner wasnt targeted and Treggs played fine. He was mugged by the CB on one play and another Wentz badly threw the pass behind him.
We went away from our WRs after the first two drives in the one the game they actually came prepared to play
Why wasn’t he targeted? Can he not get open? Sure it’s hard to find fault when we as fans have no clue what’s happening
Well, you have Sproles, Ertz, DGB on the field, the rook’s pretty far down the progression. And to be honest, I’m not sure Wentz does progressions.
An “F in ” is necessary
Can’t believe Tommy is talking about “mistakes”… This game was not about mistakes. Focusing on mistakes, if you’re Howie and Jeffrey, causes you to miss the big picture and be too slow to act. This team is in trouble right now, and if I’m top management I need to start seeing some effort from the guys in uniform.
This team does not have any play makers on either side of the ball. Wentz is the closest thing to one but he came up small in some key situations tonight. Additionally, this team is stupid. They make the same mistakes over and over and at the most inopportune times. Finally, Fletcher Cox is overrated and overpaid. He was handled by a rookie OG tonight. We have been hoping for the next coming of Jerome Brown for 25 years now. Cox is not even close. He is more like a poor man’s version of Andy Harmon but not quite as bright.
These highly paid defensive lineman rarely work out these days. They don’t win you games. They look amazing when they play garbage teams twice a year like JJ Watt has against the Jags, Titans and Colts…
So you think LB and Secondary is the way to go? Does Shorts have a track record for tying up a lot of money in DL? Seems to me CB is more important.
Yeah, I dunno. Some decent CB’s would be nice, but Schwartz definitely seems to have a problem scheming against mobile QB’s, judging from this week and last.
The coverage wasn’t even bad on half of GB’s catches. Rodgers was just able to get out of the pocket and make the throws
Maybe he’ll watch the Seattle-Tampa game and get learn some things about mush-rushing and mirroring. Just having all your guys try their damnedest to run to the QB doesn’t work against some of these guys.
Can Tommy or anyone discuss what in the world is going on with the lack of pass rush? First 3 games, I felt like we lived in the backfield, now it looks like they’re just barely motoring towards the QB.
I can: the players appear to have given up on Schwartz. Why, I do not know…
Nonsense.
This blog consists of the most rose-colored, optimistic fans the city has… Blind to what they see, unable to spot trends, always attracted to the easy fix, etc. Sure glad they are not running the team.
Of course there is always the opposite in the other direction seeing the team through poopy brown colored glasses and Im glad they arent running the team either. There will always be optimist and pessimist.
So you’re throwing out lazy tropes about the players not wanting it bad enough to fulfill some sort of negativity quota? And all just to bring us poor optimists down a few pegs?
I don’t think the word, ‘hero’, is too strong on this one.
Dude, put the crack away. You can’t apply any objective analysis on this board that doesn’t fit the “it’s a rebuilding year” meme without the eternal optimists (probably better described as the head-in-the-sand crowd) throwing a wet blanket on any kind of discussion. Of course the talent needs upgrading, we all know that, but what are we gonna do, spend the whole season talking about next year’s draft?
Opposing offenses have switched to a quick hitting scheme that makes sure the ball is out before the DL ever gets a chance to get home.
Let’s add a little more to that positive note, Tommy:
Caleb Sturgis had a good game…and is having an All-Pro year.
And the stage hands were terrific the night Lincoln was shot…
Great line, I’m definitely stealing it.
Can’t fu**ing wait until the offseason to improve this roster. Meanwhile we can all root for the Vikings to lose to improve our draft position and to maybe F up the Redskins or Giants season in some way. We got our QB. That is literally half the battle. Got to give HR another offseason to improve team around him.
I want Doug gone. Dude is a simpleton
Got to give Doug a chance with another offseason to get roster to his liking. He was dealt this hand with limited weapons for Wentz. He has a lot of room to grow for sure, but he deserves more time. I have faith that Howie will improve the roster and team will be better next year.
His playcalling is bad, his decision making is poor, and the team has already appeared to give up on him. Not sure how having a roster more to his liking fixes any of that.
His play calling has been excellent at times. He is a rookie head coach learning on the job just like our rookie QB. It is not his fault the team turned the ball over late to lose 2 games. it’s not his fault when WR’s drop easy passes that would have extended drives and possibly changed the outcomes of games and its not his fault when the team commits stupid penalties. There is absolutely no way he deserves to be fired 11 games into his rookie season. That sort of talk is just not fair or realistic. He will absolutely benefit with increased talent and depth at key positions going into next season. Lastly, was Andy Reid fired after a dismal year one after we drafted Donovan? of course not. That turned out pretty well. Doug deserves the time to get this right. If he screws up then we will all run him out of town just like we did with Chip.
His playcalling has directly cost the team 2 games. Discipline is a reflection of the head coach, and all of the penalties shows a complete lack of it. His game prep is also poor.
Turnovers and umpteen drops weren’t Chip’s fault either. And Chip also inherited a team with questionable talent after 2 meh drafts in 2011 and 2012. Amazing short memories. And “we” had nothing to do with running anybody out of town. Lurie does not read this stuff.
So you want to be the Browns, basically?
Sky is falling blah blah blah, Dug SUCKS, schwartz Sucks, BG sucks, our OL sucks, the cbs Suck the WR Suck. I’ve heard all this garbage before and for the paat 3 years. Getting tired of it honestly, sometimes I dont understand how people can be a fan so damn long. Jeepers. Get John Ross Howard
I dunno, it seems like the frustration is justified when the team keeps making the SAME MISTAKES YEAR AFTER YEAR.
But this is just how it is when you’re not a good team. Lots of whatifs and letting em off the hook and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Living here in Cardinals country, I remember the refrain. Heck, I remember the Eagles post Randall.
Ok Mitch… Good to see you have it all in the proper perspective.
Seriously though, it feels like Groundhog day every season lately.
i’m about done with this team but then again, i’m probably not. we might just have THE worst receiving corp in the league. Even jacksonvile and the factory of sadness are better…and its not even close. AlsoWentz had literally 1.5 sec. to throw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub3RoLufFoM&spfreload=10
nothing against treggs just funny youtube recomended me this video afther the game
”there is nothing like this group”
He’s not wrong….
What’s he going to do? Say “yeah, we’re definitely the worst WR corps in the league. We suck!”?
Some things to remember. I’m typing this as an exercise in remaining calm so that my young daughter doesn’t have to watch what pre-child-laeagle does when games like this happen.
1. Our O-line has been in flux all year. I think we’re in our 4th or 5th iteration. I’m actually surprised our rookie FCS QB didn’t die tonight.
2. We cut Josh Huff and sat Agholor. I don’t disagree with either decision, but both were better than what we fielded out there tonight. And that’s not a compliment to anyone.
3. We still run 3 TE sets but I think that’s mainly so we have 8 blockers at this point, given the state of the OL.
4. Our defense gets shredded every time they have a bad game, but when they have a good game, it’s ALWAYS because the offense was able to sustain drives. Call it the reverse Kelly effect.
When 1, 2, and 3 are the case, then 4 is bound to happen. We don’t score and our defense gets shredded. So, it’s entirely logical and predictable why we’re where we are.
We know our problems, and some were based on injury and PEDs. We have our QB. Let’s just finally admit it that this is a rebuilding year but we’ve still got some good players. We just need less of the bad.
That’s about as optimistic as I can get.
Yeah – toward the end of the game I was sitting thinking “how could I think this team was going to win with this offensive lineup?” The WR’s were a 2nd round pick TN dumped after 1 year, a guy who couldn’t make SF’s roster, and Turner, who was so good in preseason that 31 other teams didn’t want him for the active roster either. On defense the best CB is the 7th round rookie who gets beat regularly but at least is still competing on every play.
The worst part is that by Thursday I’ll be finding a bright side again for the rest of the year.
Ugh.
Profiles in gutless play last night. What a complete failure from top to bottom. I cannot believe they were so bad in all facets of the game last night. They just rolled over and died vs. a 4-6 team. Truly gutless. This team needs the off-season badly.
Tommy I read your stuff everyday, and I haven’t posted much here or anywhere else as of late. But last night was the last straw, If the eagles want to be a good team and don’t have much talent at least the players must not have these stupid penalties at the most critical times!! The refs did have some play but not all. I can’t remember ever watching a Patriots game where they are jumping offside or roughing the passer on 3rd downs at the most critical times never mind consecutive games. The Eagles need to clean up the mental mistakes,Eagles can’t afford to be stupid when they are lacking talent.
Signed frustrated Eagles/Flyers fan for over 30 years
Well said .
Noah pretty much summed it up for me:
https://twitter.com/noah_becker/status/803457840816017408
I understand the grieving process includes a fire everyone phase for some people, but I hope we can move past that and talk about the future soon.
Once I burn down the NovaCare center we can talk about building for the future.
I totally get this sentiment, but it doesn’t make me feel any better about the current state of the team and our future prospects.
Thankfully we solved our biggest concern with Carson Wentz. However, we have lots of question marks surrounding him and lots of guys underperforming.
Do we have the RB position set? Have we seen growth there? How about WR? Has JMatthews took the next step? Ags? Huff (ooops)? How about TE? Has Ertz finally taken that step into top tier level? No? How come? How about the OL? Can we really feel safe with Lane moving forward? Are we good at C? Do we have ideal depth at OL given Peters’ age and Lane’s situation? Moving to the D. Have we made much progress at the CB position? We’re def good at safety. How about the front 7? We’ve seen flashes of greatness early on, but they’ve markedly regressed over the past 5 games. Given the vast number of needs we have, are we getting a good return on investment?
My intent isn’t to be overly critical. I’m optimistic with a healthy Wentz in our future. He’s one of the few bright spots though. There’s a lot to be frustrated with right now.
I am not demanding optimism. We are not a good team right now. Firing Howie, firing Doug and his staff, and cutting most of the players is not the answer, though. Yet, that has been an often repeated course of action.
I’ve spent most of the night vomiting (not from alcohol) AND I had the pleasure of watching that travesty of a game.
The worst moment was Cox’s roughing the passer penalty. That’s when it felt like the game really turned on us.
I don’t know what the fuck happened between the start of the year when Cox looked like his studly self and now, but he’s been terrible.
Hell the whole pass rush has been terrible lately. We’re playing MASH unit OL’s and getting nothing done. Vinny Curry is the biggest disappointment of them all. I was really confident he was going to break out in a 1 gap scheme at DE, but somehow he manages way more sacks as a 2 gap DT??? Someone riddle me that.
In the end, what can you expect once Jordan went out? We were lining up DGB, Paul Turner and Bryce Treggs at wideout for most of the game.
Gotta hand it to Rodgers though, dude was showing why he’s a hall of famer. Some of those passes were ridiculous.
Cox can’t get a sack when the ball is out in 2-3 seconds. When Rodgers held on to it longer, Cox got pressure.
I kind of disagree. If you’re an elite pass rusher, you should be able to get home at least some of the time in 2-3 seconds. The closest Cox really got to a sack was the play where he decided to clothesline Rodgers. He had one other play late in the game where he flushed Rodgers out and forced an incompletion, but otherwise he was really held in check.
Well said
The book is clearly out on how to beat us. Best way to beat us is by throwing the ball quick to erase any advantage our DL gives us. The secondary just isn’t good enough to stop that kind of attack.
the best way is just show up, you’ll get a W
I come here to have a discussion about the sport beyond YAY WE WON or EVERYONE IS BAD. Sorry about your feelings, man.
?…………..maybe wash behind you ears sonny
Is it legal to walk up and grab a woman’s pussy now?
Don’t ask me, but this is a men’s shirt:
https://www.teeshirtpalace.com/products/trump-can-grab-my-pussy-arrow-2016-election-t-shirt?gclid=Cj0KEQiA6_TBBRDInaPjhcelt5oBEiQApPeTF4UQPY6VlRVtd7x-nxODCSXMb58b8x4Li7gP-2n8d4AaAvTC8P8HAQ
did someone grab yours again
Don’t lie, you’re not sorry. :p
you’re the one dropping f bombs on here, failure
Who grabbed your pussy?
your mom is proud, you doppleganger
Um, rogers had all day to throw, and when he didn’t (very rare) he easily avoided our undisciplined pass rush.
some of you were just saying yesterday, “run the table”, playoffs, who we play, HaHa, dreamers I guess, Ha ha
This loss hurts because 10-6 wont be enough for a Wild Card this year. I dont blame the defense as much for this loss because the way to beat the Packers is to have a shoot out. Our offense was limited today with injuries and when Jordan Matthews left the game the Packers Defense starting blitzing, forcing Wentz to resort to the Sproles dink and dunk show.
Reality is not a pleasant place … im sure i feel worse than Ags does
3-0 was a lifetime ago…we will be luck to go 8-8…while there are 5 games left…3 of which are home…I don’t see us making the playoffs and the best we can do is play spoiler to our NFC East foes…
Last night I saw the lights on the Goodyear blimp and it said we suck
Sproles played well all things considered although giving him those carries was a bit puzzling. Ditto Smallwood even if the return game missed Huff last night first time.
The O should be missing as well…
MIA
Probably should have removed the “O” also.
see 2 posts down…
I think we need a reality check here. This is not a playoff team. Never was. They got off to a hot start which fooled everybody but they just don’t have the talent. The WR corps is bottom 5. The RB corps is bottom 10. The OL sans Lane Johnson is bottom 5, and that’s without all the injuries they’ve had there. The CBs are bottom 5. They have a rookie coach and rookie QB and have literally the toughest schedule in the NFL this year. A playoff berth (which would be followed by a quick one-and-done) would be vastly overachieving given all this. Nobody expected playoffs going into the season and it was unrealistic to ratchet up realistic, 8-8 type expectations to that level based on a few strong games.
If you look at this as what it is – a rebuilding year akin to Andy’s first year in 1999 – you shouldn’t be as upset. If they play well over the last month of the season and hand a damaging loss to the Giants, Redskins, or Cowboys I’ll be content with the season.
Agreed. The Eagles don’t have a bunch of depth right now and the positions where they don’t have much talent are very glaring & tough to overcome in the pass-happy NFL today.
Preach! Bottom 5 wr is lofty though 🙂 (I’ll take the under)
I don’t see it as a rebuilding year. They signed vets at plenty of positions and in no way set this up to be a losing season. And they’ll end up with an average draft position and have no advantage in building going forward.
Those vets were either young guys whose best years are still ahead of them (Brandon Brooks, McLeod) or guys who were brought in on short-term deals because they are familiar with the new staff’s systems and could help ease the transition (Ron Brooks, McKelvin, Bradham, Daniel). This was not a Dan Snyder-style splurge on old guys, and there’s nothing about it that’s inconsistent with a rebuild (Andy Reid did the same thing his first year). In addition, they traded their veteran starting QB on the eve of the season for a draft pick and replaced him with a rookie. If that doesn’t scream “we are rebuilding!” I don’t know what does.
Rebuilding doesn’t necessarily mean keeping tons of UDFAs and tanking the season the way the Browns are. Given that they don’t have their own 1st round pick this year as part of the price they paid for going after the franchise QB taking that approach rather than trying to compete and build a winning culture with short term veterans would have been dumb.
Yeah, I said before the season that if Wentz started for a significant portion of the year, 6 wins was a ceiling, and there would be a lot of ugly games. He’s better than I expected, but he’s still a rookie with some things to work on in the off-season. And he’s still playing behind the OL that I figured would be a bottom five unit, and with a RB corps that was bottom 5. I’ll admit I thought the WRs would be better than they have been, but they have to be bottom 2 at this point. I’m back to my hope that Wentz survives the season physically and mentally as my only hope for the season. This team might lose out (probably not, but it’s definitely a possibility) – I thought the Browns played a better game on Sunday than the Eagles played last night. They need to hit in the 1st and 2nd this draft, and get really lucky with some late round picks, too, to upgrade some of the role players.
Well, isn’t this semantics, then? Isn’t everyone except a returning Superbowl contender rebuilding by this definition?
Getting rid of Sam Bradford wasn’t part of the plan–that fell into their lap. Once they elected to start a rookie, I agree that expectations should have been dropped.
I suppose it’s fair to call it a semantic distinction. I define a “rebuilding year” as one that’s clearly more oriented toward establishing a foundation to win down the line than toward maximizing the number of wins now. By that definition this season definitely qualifies.
I agree with everything but the CBs. Not that they’re good, but they stink across the league. I don’t think they’re bottom five, but they’re clearly not top half. And in this scheme, I don’t think you pay premium talent at that position. They just need to be a little better, and the DL, especially the highly paid guy in the middle, needs to make plays. That’s why they have so many resources in that position. Schwartz’s scheme is going to look bad when the DL doesn’t do its job, even if you have Revis back there. And it looks good even with the CBs they have when the DL makes plays.
Team wins — TALENT everywhere!!!! — Team loses — “Unfortunately this is a team with too many new or young faces and the tough situation didn’t bring out the best in them.” …. Sooner or later people will have to realize there isn’t enough talent on this team.
…..
No secret I’m not a fan of Pederson but come on, it’s his first year. What I don’t understand is the frustration. Was is because they started out 3-0 and people wanted a SB win? It’s still a rookie QB. Rookie coach. Throw in an ignorant tackle who got suspended. I know most hate the word — rebuild — but that’s what this has been since CK got fired. True – frustrating to watch. Give it time. Better days ahead…
I think for sure the good start is part of the issue. I had really low expectations going into the year, but bought into the fact that this team could compete for a playoff spot after the first 5 or 6 games.
The really frustrating part is the defense. You can look at the personnel on the field for the offense and figure out this team is not going to scare anybody. But this is the same defense that shut down Pitt and Atlanta – no real injuries to speak of, so how do you look so helpless in other games? I think the inconsistency is what drives me crazy.
It seemingly has been popular to rip on Cox for some reason because of the penalty. Didn’t see him making that poor of a mistake and that was a call that if it wasn’t Rodgers I’m not sure gets called.
Graham’s play is what has fallen off the last 2 weeks after playing so well to start the year. DL is also doing a good job vs run yet. They just aren’t doing a good job of containing the QB in the pocket nor generating any pressure.
The real zero has been Curry/Barwin and the bigger issue with Cox is that the Eagles put premium money into a DT position. A lot of other teams haven’t done that and it generated some real criticism when the Eagles did.
That is the real issue with Cox – opportunity cost and resource allocation vs production. He hasn’t been terrible (or even that bad) but it is really tough for a DT to generate the kind of counting stats you expect out of a premium paid DL player.
Cox has committed several costly, boneheaded penalties this year. It hasn’t been a strong season for him overall.
He has had 2 others that directly lead to a TD but his play overall hasn’t been that poor. Just isn’t playing like a top 5 DT in the league overall.
Cox does seem to get doubled or generate help an awful lot. The huge whiff was on the Curry deal. He never gets more than a single blocker & is a one-trick pony (getting to the QB) who isn’t doing it nearly enough.
Given how he’s being paid that qualifies as “not a strong season”. Especially given the killer penalties.
Still think it is more of an issue of whether or not it is smart to invest max contract dollars for almost any DT player.
That was the issue others made at the time of the contract and to me still a very valid one.
That’s what bugs me the most about this team. Penalties. WR causing the same penalty in back to back weeks. DT’s hitting a QB too high(I guess). OL penalties. When a team consistently gets penalized — isn’t that more of a reflection on the coaches?
Combo of both. Some of it is on the coaches to clean up but certain players are boneheads who can’t get their shit together no matter how well you coach them. Ags would appear to fall into this category. Others are guys who are undertalented and push the envelope as much as they can to get an edge and get caught sometimes – our crappy OL and CBs fall into this second category.
The D was missing in your title. Not sure if it was intentional or not, but if it was well played sir.
First line: “Anything missing from that?”
They couldnt and wouldnt dare carry Eagles games in Heavan
One good thing came out of last night’s game…
https://i.redd.it/ws69tci5nh0y.jpg
Tough game to watch. The Pack did not do anything special or new.
They beat us just like many other teams have over the years: Quick outs and slants that negate our pass rush, use our scheme against us and expose our over matched LB and CB in coverage.
The frustrating part is the game plan by Schwartz and the total lack of adjustments during the game. How did he expect GB to attack us? They have little to no effective run game and their OL was down two starters. Rodgers and their deep pool of WR are their strength.
Plus anyone who has watched GB over the years knows this is a very common approach they use and will stick with it until the defense stops it. We never stopped it, I saw very few if any adjustments and the Pack punted once all night.
I saw CB playing way off and giving first downs chunks up with regularity. I get Schwartz fears being beat deep, but isn’t that why we have S like Jenkins and McLeod? Isn’t that why we’ve invested so much in our DL and pass rush?
I saw more loss of contain which has been a huge problem for a while, but especially this season. Anyone who has watched any tape of Rodgers or studied his game for more than an hour would know contain is critical and that his improvisation skills on the run/outside the pocket are deadly to a defense.
I saw horrible 3rd down performance – GB was 10-14 on 3rd down!! That is beyond pathetic and do not tell me this is one game blah blah blah. 3rd down performance has been a huge problem for the Eagles for years on end with little improvement.
The offense has its issues, but mostly they are personnel-based and at times play calling and poor discipline. To score only 13 pts against this awful GB defense was pathetic, but they at least showed signs they had a game plan that could work. The defense did not and it is beyond shocking that Schwartz did not have them prepared and never adjusted to stop their attack. I’m hoping he has a rational explanation, but I cannot think of one right now.
The rational explanation is we don’t have the talent to stop Aaron Rodgers. The D prevented him from going long (at first), which kept the game close. It was a good plan, although I could have used a little bit more change-ups. Unfortunately, the O couldn’t keep pace, even against one of the worst defenses in the league (because the O is one of the worst offenses in the league). When they slipped up or started upping the risk level, they gave up bombs. It doesn’t help that Rodgers’ accuracy was ridiculous and his receivers don’t know how to drop anything.
Who in their right mind would ever expect this offense to keep pace with GB?
If that was their expectation, we are worse off than even I thought.
The best defense against Rodgers is constant pressure, especially up the middle in his face.
You cannot allow him to get into a rhythm. You cannot let him sit back and relax. You need to jam his WR and compel him to either throw it away or force something that can lead to a turnover. You cannot allow him outside of the pocket. You need to play strong contain and blitz if necessary to knock him down.
If you get beat deep, so be it. At least you gave yourself a chance. They let him do whatever he wanted with ease; very few defenses have ever beaten Rodgers by sitting back and letting him surgically cut them to pieces. It was insanity.
The previous opponents scored 42, 47, 31, and 33–all Packers losses.
Given that the D is the strength of the Eagles, you’d expect more help, but the O needed to beat up on an awful defense, and they didn’t.
The Eagles have never scored over 40 this season and only once over 30 vs a bad Steelers defense. We were healthy and playing confidently in that game.
Coming into this game we had an OL missing 3 starters, no legit lead RB and 2 legit WR in Matthews & DGB. Wentz and the offense’s confidence is shot as they have struggled consistently during this 2-6 free fall.
The other factor is we play much better with a lead than trying to catch up – not rocket science as most teams do, but the Eagles seem even more vulnerable to this trend.
When the D shows up and allows the offense to build a lead, we have a better chance at victory. When the D puts the offense in a hole as they have too many times during this 2-6 span, the offense is not good enough to dig out of it.
Pederson and Schwartz had to know they could not allow GB to take a lead, control the clock and surgically cut us to pieces. They had to know that would likely be a death knell for our team and that everything possible had to be done to stop that from happening. If they did not know that, again we are even worse shape than I thought.
These are good arguments. I think the risk of trying to aggressively pitch a shutout is that Rodgers is shifty, deadly against the blitz, and likely to go over the top against poor CBs. We in fact saw that happen.
So they chose to force him to dink/dunk. It didn’t work. Yet–it almost did. They got him in 3rd/4th down situations over and over. Usually that’s a win for the D. Unfortunately, he went 10/14 on 3rd down, 1/1 on 4th. The refs also helped the Pack out on balance.
Add in Wentz’s interception and other misses, and you get a loss.
Good debate and you’re right the offense deserves blame as well. One of the main reasons they went 10-14 on 3rd down is we continued to sit back and play prevent. That is not ok on 3rd down – we needed to attack much more aggressively and pound Rodgers after working so hard to get him in 3rd and 4th down situations.
I understand giving up yardage on 1st and 2nd downs, but once they are in a 3rd or 4th down, we must attack. Like JJ used to do, unleash the hounds and, if you get beat deep, tip your cap to the opponent. At least you went out fighting instead of walking off the field with boxes of bullets unused.
But regardless, like you said, we need a major talent infusion into this roster and jettison the passengers.
LT Peters… is solid
LG Wiz… is less solid
C Kelce… is not good
RG Seumalo… starting his first game as a rookie who was injured a lot of the time since coming to the team
RT Barbre… is not good at RT
The fact that Wentz –> Matthews/DGB was able to make that oline look serviceable in the first part of the game is pretty amazing. Once the Matthews injury happened, the oline was totally exposed.
could also be adjustments by GB
True, but to me it mostly looked like olinemen getting destroyed 1 on 1.
“The Pack did not do anything special or new.”
Maybe not new, but those two passes to Adams… Wasn’t even mad.
I think, now that we are 11 games into the season, we can confirm what many of us suspected and wrote about on here: this was always a rebuilding year and all the talk by Roseman et al. we would “compete” was window dressing to limit the backlash of such an approach.
I think most of us agree it is the right choice as it is obvious we do not have the talent to compete now and are breaking in a rookie HC and QB as well.
This coming off-season is huge; we have almost zero elite talent and a lot of mediocrity on the roster. A lot of work to do.
Have to agree although it doesnt make it any less frustrating.
I think it makes it more frustrating. After Bradford was traded, I was even more convinced we were rebuilding, but then we started 3-0 and expectations got out of control. We forgot what this team really was and started to dream again. Once the schedule toughened and opponents adjusted to our schemes, reality settled in. We are 2-6 since the fast start.
It was a rebuilding year even if Roseman and Lurie refused to use that word the entire offseason even before the Bradford trade.
I’m still on board with the larger picture including making the Wentz trade & trading Bradford. Need to stop the QB carousel and did that. Maybe it doesn’t work out but there was a sound strategic rationale and framework behind it.
Still think it was Roseman’s best set of moves by far as a GM here. A team might be able to make the playoffs and even win a game with Bradford. He still isn’t good enough to get hot and even pull an Eli Manning to win 3-4 playoff games though. Bradford is basically Joey Knish and you can grind out an NFL season with him but he is taking down KGB let alone the World Series of Poker (Super Bowl).
I was indifferent to the Pederson hiring before and largely still am. Only thing I thought was a mistake was to also have him have play calling responsibility as a rookie head coach. An awful lot to ask of any individual let alone an experienced head coach.
Quick Reads:
Wentz played well enough for one half, but really struggled in the third and fourth quarters, going 11-of-19 for 107 yards with an interception and three sacks.
Barkley [wow! he’s playing in the L!] somehow threw 15 passes in the red zone in this game. That’s as many as Jay Cutler has thrown in the red zone all season. Mind you, Barkley wasn’t any good in the red zone, going 5-of-15 for 34 yards with two interceptions. He did have three red zone touchdowns, but in plays, that’s a touchdown rate of just 20 percent. The league-wide rate this season has been 21 percent.
Bradford lost 58 DYAR due to opponent adjustments, most of any quarterback this week. For starters, he took dink-and-dunking to an extreme degree. He threw just one deep pass, and his average pass traveled only 3.3 yards downfield. That wasn’t just the lowest this week, it was the lowest of any quarterback with at least 20 passes in a game this season. This is why his 84 percent completion rate was mostly useless. It’s also partly why he became the first quarterback this season who failed to throw for a touchdown against Detroit. [Sam being Sam]
Goff threw three touchdowns in the first half against New Orleans, the first three touchdowns of his career, and the first time a Rams quarterback had thrown three first-half touchdowns since Sam Bradford did it against the Broncos in his rookie season of 2010. In the second half, though, he went 8-of-12 for 47 yards with an interception and two sacks.
http://www.footballoutsiders.com/quick-reads/2016/week-12-quick-reads
Barkley also had three red zone TD drops yesterday. It was insane. I think the Bears’ receivers dropped 10 passes overall.
eagles drop curse follows you
Quarantine!
This doom and gloom is getting me down (and is irrational to boot) so I’m going to throw out some reasons for long-term optimism:
1.)Carson Wentz is the real deal. People are saying he’s been mediocre this year and that’s true – if you’re judging him by the standard of a 10 year veteran. But he’s a rookie coming into the league with only 23 college starts, and those at the FCS level. Compare his first year to those of guys who came into the league with similar (Roethlisberger, Flacco) or better (Luck, Newton, Mariota, Winston) pedigrees, some of whom went on to become MVP-caliber QBs and others who appear well on their way, and he stacks up just fine. He passes the eye test and has said and done all the right things, not letting the adversity they’ve faced phase him. I remain incredibly excited about him.
2.)Trader Howie is back in the saddle. Lost in the shuffle here is that it appears Roseman had another really good draft. In addition to appearing to nail the Wentz pick, he drafted multiple contributors despite a severe lack of resources. Mills has started all year as a 7th rounder and not looked overmatched. Smallwood has shown a lot of promise. Big V, after a disastrous start, has improved, and looks like he could develop into a long-term starting RT. Seumalo was set back by injury but is now getting on the field – let’s see how he does. In addition, Roseman got DGB, a guy who could possibly develop into a good starting WR, for a backup lineman who wasn’t going to be re-signed anyway. There’s reason for optimism that the guy making the personnel moves this team needs is the right one.
3.)Coaches – Pederson’s had his ups and downs, but on the whole I’m encouraged by what I’ve seen. He’s a creative play designer, manages the game well, and has fielded a functional NFL offense despite a severe lack of talent and injuries and suspensions crippling continuity on the OL. Schwartz has turned what was one of the NFL’s worst defenses last year into a top 15 unit despite nothing that could be called a major infusion of talent at any spot. Again, I think there’s reason for optimism with this staff.
Squad goals for the rest of the year:
1.)Play the young guys more. Want to see Smallwood get more carries, DGB given most of Agholor’s snaps, Marcus Smith and Destiny Vaeao worked in more on the DL, etc.
2.)Strong finish for Wentz – tighten up a few of his inexperience-based weaknesses. Get the ball out faster and make fewer risky throws.
3.)Beat the Giants, Redskins, and Cowboys and knock them out of the playoffs/ruin their playoff seeding. Be the team nobody wants to play down the stretch. Going into the offseason on a strong note will set us up to take the leap to playoff contender status next year.
Look at Wentz’s stats you really can’t put them near the guys on your recent rookies list. I think that’s ok – he can still be good lok at Kirk Cousins.
Team needs to rebuild the OL and i don’t mean w/ value picks. Except for 2013 the OL has been horrible. Personally i think WRs are ok when combined w/ our TEs – no burton yesterday was a little frustrating.
Doug hasn’t shown much. He’s a player’s coach and i can appreciate that but in games where the defense doesn’t show up we got nothing. In games where we do show up we win running the ball and making a lot of short passes.
Not sure what’s happened to Schwartz’s defense. Is it that we need to blitz more but our secondary is worse than we think.
Wentz’s stats aren’t great, but given that he’s playing with a terrible supporting cast they stack up just fine against the guys on that list. The usual expected performance level for a rookie QB surrounded by such poor quality skill players is significantly lower (see e.g. Blake Bortles who looks like he may be something despite a terrible rookie season).
Agree the OL needs rebuilding but I’d only spend a first rounder on it if there is a no doubt stud who’s head and shoulders above everyone at other positions of need on the board. Lane can play LT and watching Vaitai I have seen a guy who has the physical ability to be a starting RT but whose technique is still unrefined as a result of coming out of a spread offense in which he was always blocking from a two point stance in college. If Stoutland can coach him up we might not need to spend another first rounder on a tackle. Need to see what Seumalo can do and Brooks is fine. Need to at least look into replacing Kelce.
Re: Doug, he’s doing what he can with the talent they have. The team doesn’t have a single legit downfield weapon and has been playing with a patchwork OL most of the season. Running the ball and short passing is how you minimize those weaknesses. Want to see him given the chance to coach better talent. He’s taken an offense with bottom 10 talent – maybe bottom 5 talent – and squeezes middle-of-the-pack performance out of them.
You’re about a year behind on Bortles. He was considered The Guy after last year. He’s been awful this year. Jags fans and media alike have given up on him.
Still think he can be something. Haven’t watched a ton of the Jags this year but my sense is that guys around him regressing has been as much of a problem as his performance has.
seems like a chicken/egg problem
So, I’m with you on #1. I think for sure Wentz looks like an NFL QB. Whether he turns out to be Alex Smith, Aaron Rodgers, or somewhere in the middle remains to be seen, but yeah – you have to feel good about that position.
2 – I’m not so sure. The Eagles don’t have a recent track record of finding/developing young talent. Maybe it’s the multiple regime changes over the past 5 years (Reid/Kelly/Peterson), but they haven’t really had a bunch of young players that you could feel good about since the beginning of the 2000’s.
3 – ugh. I want to like Peterson, I really do, if only just because I don’t want to go through another regime change and set the team back again (I’m getting too old and I want to see what it feels like when my team wins a SB!), but I honestly haven’t seen anything to really hang my hat on. I agree he designs some nice plays now and then, but his play-calling over the course of the game leaves me underwhelmed (or maybe just whelmed?), his decision-making is questionable (why use your last challenge to turn 2nd and 8 into 2nd and 10 in a 1 score game in the 3rd quarter?), and I get that the players seem to “like” him, but you can’t tell from the effort they seem to be putting out. Schwartz – I think he will be here again next year – wasn’t so sure of that earlier in the year when the defense was playing a lot better.
I agree with the goals for the rest of the season. Like to see what they have in Smallwood, DGB (and Ags), Smith, etc.
The stupid part is that I think that the other teams on the remaining schedule aren’t any better than the Eagles, with the exception of maybe Washington. So I still will get my hopes up and then (probably) crushed a few more times this year!
they are all better than the eagles. this game wasn’t competitive outside the first half
Re: #2 – multiple regime changes is precisely the problem in my view. I think Roseman has done okay finding young talent in drafts in which he’s had final say, including at the bottom of the draft/in UDFA.
Pederson definitely still has room to grow but I don’t see a guy who’s a flat out bad coach (Mike Mularkey, Joe Philbin, Mike Smith, etc.). Has made a few questionable decisions but most coaches do. When he’s explained his thought process on things I’ve generally agreed with it.
I thought Doug had a fairly bad game last night. The top 3 things that stick out to me are:
1. You’re going to challenge a 2 yard reception? Why?
2. Wide receiver screens, stop it. Wentz struggles with them and doesn’t throw them well at all. Also, a fake reverse? With THAT line last night?
3. Run the ball, Andy. The Packers secondary is bad, but so are our wide receivers. We were down, OK, but it was only by 1 possession until late. Pederson seems to abandon the run game the second we get down, regardless of situation.
I don’t think he should be fired or anything but someone should have slapped that red flag out of his hand and maybe tried to slap some sense into him.
He got screen happy in the 2nd half especially and went away from Swallwood. It was like having a bad Reid flashback.
screen is his response when the line can’t stop pressure. fact that wentz cant throw them is bad b/c he’s had a lot of practice.
If Wentz can’t throw screens he’d better learn. That is a must-have tool for any effective any NFL QB.
He can throw some screens but that quick snap-pop-throw type play is a clear problem. The ball is high, behind, anywhere but where it should be.
run behind that line ?
Probably better than continually passing behind that line.
Wentz had 36 pass attempts, plus 4 sacks, plus 4 scrambles.
44 called passing plays vs 14 runs. In a game where you would like to keep the other team’s offense on the bench.
After the game:
Pederson: You pass to win the game.
Lurie: No, the quote is “You play to win the game.”
Pederson: Oh, now I’ve got it… “You pass to win the game.”
Lurie: (facepalm)
3rd downs were vegging for runs
One thing I liked: the return of the hard count. Seems like we moved away from them for a bit (partly because of the away games), but that was something I really enjoyed seeing at the beginning of the year.
Our DL always jumps offsides when the other team does it to us, but it’s been years since we had a QB of our own who could do it to them.
It’s one small aspect of Wentz’s game that I really appreciate. 5 free yards? Yes please.
GE’s quick hits:
– I am feeling bad for Carson MF Wentz. Last night it became crystal clear again that the Eagles FO have surrounded Wentz with the worst supporting cast at WR in the NFL.
– I am starting to wonder if handing out $100m to Fletcher Cox was actually a mistake. The Eagles could have used some of his money to invest in WR / CB next off-season.
– Besides OL (and how big was this bad luck with Brooks hospital visit?!), WR AND CB should be priority No. 1a, 1b and 1c.
– At least Jim Schwartz won’t interview for any HC offerings anytime soon.
– LolRefs.
– DGB looks like to be a keeper. With a full off-season and TC under his belt he might transform into a solid #2 WR.
– Zach Ertz has yet to break a tackle..and we’re heading into week 13. Lol.
– Speaking of breaking tackles. I know that Celek is mostly here to block, but it would be nice to target him at least a couple of times in a game. Because HE defo CAN break some tackles.
– At least Barbre’s crushing block on Matthews will make the highlight reels this season.
The WRs weren’t even bad last night. The played like NFL WRs for once. DGB was ripping the Packers, we just went away from him. We stopped attacking their secondary.
We stopped going to DGB when Matthews went out. I wonder if they rotated coverages towards DGB knowing Treggs and Turner weren’t going to beat them.
Treggs was open but Wentz missed him. I just mostly think Doug is content to dink and dunk for 6 minutes drives to kick FGs.
GB went into a Cover 2 shell. There were opening between the CB and Safety
Treggs was open once….out of how many routes? Also keep in mind Wentz was getting pressured quite frequnetly so I’m not sure how much time he would have to go through progressions.
One other observation from last night: does it seem like we always get the other team’s A game? I mean I get that a lack of talent on our side makes the other team look great, but Aaron Rodgers played a damn near perfect game.
yeah, except for 2 deep throws to Jordy (he still throws to him like he is that vintage deep threat, but he clearly is missing a step) Rodgers couldn’t miss. And his WR’s just could not drop a ball. Before the game everyone was making every excuse in the world for Rodgers. I’m watching like, I’d love for Wentz to have the “not getting any help” that Rodgers has
This is what we’ve heard about Nolan Carroll since he signed here. But it’s wrong. Nolan Carroll had great position on Davante Adams, which is not the same as good coverage. That’s like praising a wide receiver for being open but not catching the ball. Good coverage is not allowing a touchdown.
https://twitter.com/Mfranknfl/status/803637102365831168
IMO Carroll is currently our best CB (not that that is a complement), but you’re right, that should have been a pick if he located the ball. He had inside leverage on what was quite frankly an under thrown ball (not the perfect throw that Gruden says it was), if he finds that ball and cuts in a little bit and it hits him in the numbers. Granted they were lucky, because it Carroll did have a hand in there, it’s a miracle the football squeezed through to the receiver untouched.
CBs/WRs, should be valued more for their ball skills rather than their coverage position/route running. You could say Nolan Carroll is the Nelson Agholor of cornerbacks.
especially for big guys, no point in being big if you don’t have ball skills
You are right it isnt saying much. And Leonids is our worst. Guess which one is signed for 2017?
This teams is in pretty dire need of a good corner. The fact that we didn’t roll the dice on Byron Jones still has me confused. As much as I’d love to see a day one oline pick, I might be even more excited about a CB.
Simple, Chip cut DeSean and then let Maclin walk. WR was much more a position of need at that pick.
I realize he emptied the cupboards, but Jones had all the measurables you could ever want… and supposedly that was what Chip was looking for in the draft. The only thing I learned from this is that Chip was more snake oil salesman than football coach.
needed a wr, got a cb in fa
But CBs take time to develop… it was supposed to be an ideal situation (in my head).
The same can be said of Mills. They both seem to be in good position but are terrible at playing the ball. Mills is far better than Noland. The safeties and watkins on the other hand are good at it.
Jordan Matthews has an ankle sprain and should be ok for Sunday.
Pederson is noncommittal about Agholor. “We’ll see where his head is at this week.”
Hopefully on his shoulders because its a problem otherwise.
http://deadspin.com/what-the-hell-was-aaron-rodgers-doing-in-this-weird-ten-1789453108
About the strange tent Rodgers went in but this comment is Internet comedy gold:
“Steve Harvey Oswald Patrick Redford11/29/16 12:14am
Eli Manning is now demanding a sideline fort of his own.”
The play that pissed me off the most was the GB rushing TD late in the game.
I dont know who the defender was that jumped over the RB instead of trying to plug the hole. I find that unacceptable when they were getting bitch slapped.
yeah, the jump to save his legs was flagrant, but I don’t blame him for that part since the guy had already scored. As you said, the part that was unforgivable was not being in the play, your only job is to protect that goal line, what are you doing 3 yards deep in the end zone when the play is over.
It was some DB. He had no shot.
DB vs fullback?
You’re getting your ass kicked at home. Toughen up
WWDD? (What Would Dawk Do)
I know the play you are talking about… wasnt the Watkins already 3 yards in the endzone?
Watching replay on NFL now.
At time I thought the jump was right near the goal line
Well the defense sucks… and the team looked like they quit out there.
I just replayed that play.
Watkins had 1 foot on the goal line and the RB was not in yet.
He didnt want any part of it, I get it.
I feel like it is important to also note when describing just how much this game was out of our favor, to include all of the insane tightly contested catches. There were 3 in particular that felt like way more luck than anything. When the ball is popped out and goes right back into the rwceivers hands….wow.
There were at least 3 catches by GB last night that would top any in spectacularity that our WR have caught all year.
And then the penalties…
Ugg
I don’t know if Schwartz’s defense scheme and this team have been ‘exposed’ playing against 2 QBs who played at an extremely high level.
They are giving up a ton of passing yards including big plays (20+ yards) and don’t have a single reliable CB they put in 1-on-1 coverage. Mills got almost constant help last night when he came into the game, McKelvin got beat like a drum, and Carroll had a poor 2nd half.
Seems like the days of Sheppard/Brown were a long, long time ago.
5 and 11?
thats my prediction
Fletcher Cox’s roughing penalty may have been the worst moment of the night for me, but the most comical by far was us lining up with 12 men on the late punt formation. There was still the teeeeeniest tiniest chance we could eek out a comeback at that point, but instead it moved the ball to the 35, so the Packers decide to go for it, convert, game. *fart noise*
that was the epitome. How do you fuck that up?
especially because it looked like Packers were going to get a delay of game penalty, but instead the Eagles get flagged for 12 men on the field. Sort of the whole game in a microcosm
There’s plenty of times I feel bad for players getting hit (especially when they’re blindsided). I didn’t see anything wrong with Fletcher’s hit on Rodgers… no head shot, no knees, just a nice hard thump to the chest… and he even cushioned the blow by pulling Rodgers down onto himself. What is this, powder puff football?
He grabbed his facemask.
I didn’t see that angle, that would make it worse than what I saw.
Yeah, it’s only visible from the one angle on one replay but it was clear day and a good call.
From the glass half full department:
Last year, we had a embarrassingly overpaid, embarrassingly under-motivated corner who was too slow to keep up with guys on the outside. He was expected to do so anyway, without help, and with predictable results.
This year, we have a cheap, motivated corner who appears too slow to keep up with guys on the outside. He gets frequent help and has not been the glaring Achilles heel of our defense.
While there is still plenty of work to be done, that represents a successful upgrade by the GM, HC, and player.
what would wentz have to look like to not be the future? i think he passes the eye test but the numbers test is less complimentary.