Hidden Rivals

Posted: October 8th, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 63 Comments »

Eagles-Cowboys. Eagles-Giants. Those are the two big rivalries we think of for this organization. The Cardinals were a division rival for a long time, but that changed in 2002 when they moved to the NFC West.

The Eagles and Cardinals don’t play every year, but when they do play, the games are interesting. Big plays. Weird touchdowns. Injuries. Strange matchups. Comebacks. We’ve seen it all.

I wrote a game preview for PE.com and talked about how this game has proven to be meaningful to whether the Eagles make it to the playoffs. That doesn’t mean a win today puts them in or a loss puts them out, but the recent trend is that the outcome of this game can be important.

This is a different Eagles team so we’ll see what that means.

In recent years, the Cardinals seemed to bring out the worst in the Eagles. There were times when Arizona was flat out the better team, but then there were times like 2011 when the Cardinals had no business winning, but still did.

As I talked about in the preview, the Eagles have had some good tests so far this season. Playing against the Cardinals today will be another one. Can the Eagles find a way to play a good game vs those guys? Can they continue winning and get to 4-1? How will this secondary deal with speedy receivers? Can the Eagles pass rush, without Fletcher Cox, take over a game against a poor OL?

This should be an interesting game.

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63 Comments on “Hidden Rivals”

  1. 1 Guy Media said at 8:26 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    I have to give Bruce Arians a lot of credit for the following:

    http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-eagles/Bruce-Arians-Read-option-a-great-college-offense.html

    Seriously; take your read-option, scrambling, BS running QB systems and leave them out of the NFL.

  2. 2 mtn_green said at 11:26 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    Arians was right.

  3. 3 Guy Media said at 11:35 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    Yup

  4. 4 Tumtum said at 11:48 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    Was he though? If the Chiefs don’t use those plays we might be the only undefeated team right now..

  5. 5 Guy Media said at 8:30 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    This is a great article topic as well. I f-ing hate losing to Arizona. There was a BS loss to them with Boomer as QB back in the day and the 2008 season NFC title game is one of the all time choke losses in franchise history. How the F you go from being +28 to -7 vs. the same team in less than 2 months is a travesty. I still can’t believe that the 2008 wasn’t a title team. We SMASHED Pittsburgh earlier in the year and would have ended them again in the Super Bowl. The sheer number of knocked out and hospitalized Steeler fans from Penn State bar fights would have been epic.

    Oh well.

  6. 6 phillychuck said at 8:55 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    If I were Arians, given my line, I’d be doing a lot of max-protect with the backs and a tight end and having my speedy wide-outs make double moves each time. I think we’d really struggle to cover that, and to generate pressure.

  7. 7 Guy Media said at 8:56 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    That’s not a bad way to go, but I’m not sure if Arians is into having a fewer number of guys running routes.

  8. 8 Insomniac said at 9:00 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    I have the amount of missed holding calls at Over/Under – 5

  9. 9 Guy Media said at 9:01 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    Chris Long got restrained like a mental hospital patient towards the end of the game last week and they missed it. It’s f-ing vile how often our guys get held and it isn’t called.

  10. 10 P_P_K said at 11:17 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    “restrained like a mental hospital patient”
    I’m stealing that line.

  11. 11 Guy Media said at 11:19 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    Thank you. The grip up on him was professional class.

  12. 12 Tumtum said at 11:46 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    I actually thought for a split second he was breaking some bad news about Long.

  13. 13 Dragon_Eagle said at 9:23 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    Over

  14. 14 Howie Littlefinger said at 12:11 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    He doesn’t really seem to do that. A lot of all out passing today, for both teams I’m thinking.

    Over 90 passing attempts between both teams today lol

  15. 15 Will Ft. The Roots said at 12:22 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    He does come out 12 personnel quite a bit vs quarters coverage. SD did that to us to get deep so I wont be surprised if AZ tries it.

  16. 16 Howie Littlefinger said at 12:28 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    I want a blowout win but it’s looking like a shootout to me

  17. 17 ChoTime said at 12:31 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    When has this offense ever put up shootout-like numbers?

  18. 18 Will Ft. The Roots said at 12:37 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    We might end up setting the most FGs in a game record instead.

  19. 19 ChoTime said at 12:38 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    Ha ha. When Jake starts missing, it’s going to get ugly around here.

  20. 20 Will Ft. The Roots said at 12:43 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    He’s going to go 5/5 on 40+ yard FGs today.

  21. 21 Howie Littlefinger said at 12:51 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    For once get hyped.

    I showed my 5 year old daughter a Dawkins hype video. She started crying saying she wished he was still on the team:)

    To be clear I meant shootout as far as passing attempts. I think we score 30 tho

  22. 22 Insomniac said at 9:11 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    Larry “Eagles Killer” Fitzgerald is still a great WR. We know that they have two of the fastest WRs but lets not beat a dead horse any further. Fortunately for us David Johnson isn’t playing, our tackling can be atrocious at times with those awful angles. We’ll see how the DL does against their OL, the lack of sacks against poor OL has been disappointing recently.

    They have a lot of speed on the defense. Honey Badger, PP, and Haason Reddick will make it hard for us to beat them across the middle and deep. They are on the lighter side so if the Blount gets going then he’s going to keep trucking. Alshon plays against another great CB this week. I don’t expect good numbers again. Mack Hollins needs to get some of Torrey Smith’s snaps this week. Agholor has to step up tto help move the chains.

    I expect us to win but it’s going to be a game that’s decided in the last 8 minutes. Eagles win 27-17.

    On a random note, I wonder if Markelle Fultz is as disappointed as I am when I drive by Chick Fil A on a Sunday morning.

  23. 23 Bert's Bells said at 10:55 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    There have been maybe 3 or 4 plays in 4 games with “atrocious” tackling. The Eagles’ tackling, by and large, has been the best surprise of this season. I haven’t seen a lot of other games this season, but the Eagles unit is looking like one the better ones at flowing to the ball, wrapping up and gang tackling.

  24. 24 Guy Media said at 10:58 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    The Hicks / Kendricks / McLeod debacle from last week, a few whiffs on the long TD run in the KC game, and Long straight up missing Cousins week 1 are about all I can think of for the year. Maybe a miss or two by Bradham. You’re 100% correct that they’ve cut down a lot on the missed tackles. Kendricks especially.

  25. 25 Tumtum said at 11:42 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    “Eagles unit is looking like one the better ones at flowing to the ball, wrapping up and gang tackling.”

    They really have and its a thing of beauty.

  26. 26 Insomniac said at 11:53 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    With the way we’ve been winning, those one or two plays that give up major yardage isn’t good. Tackling has been the best it’s been in a long time but some guys just look undisciplined at times.

  27. 27 ChoTime said at 12:25 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    Well, you give up 3 or 4 sacks but otherwise play great, you’re a bad OL.

  28. 28 Tumtum said at 11:40 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    *3 of the fastest receivers*

  29. 29 Insomniac said at 11:53 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    Yo’re making it worse!!

  30. 30 GermanEagle said at 10:40 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    As some other Eagles poster already pointed out on here: don’t be surprised if the Eagles come up with Zero sacks against another bad OL..

  31. 31 Guy Media said at 10:43 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    I don’t worry about that today. Palmer took a ton of sacks vs. a vastly inferior Dallas D. Dallas got him 6 times, has way worse DL and poor DBs.

  32. 32 Tumtum said at 11:10 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    Teams aren’t scheming the quick passes vs Dallas. Their pass rush can be poo, but get more sacks if they are given opportunity and our’s is not.

    Missing Fletch hurts too…

  33. 33 Guy Media said at 11:17 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    They should be.

  34. 34 Tumtum said at 11:09 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    2nd week in a row I’ll be busy when game starts. Hope I can avoid knowing the score before I get to watch it.

  35. 35 P_P_K said at 11:16 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    Just about every week my friends and I dvr the game and watch it early evening. Beginning kickoff time, we go on a media blackout.

  36. 36 Guy Media said at 11:17 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    why? time zone issues?

  37. 37 P_P_K said at 11:20 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    Nope. Watching later makes it possible for those with families to spend time with them during the day (messed up priorities, I know). Even better, we watch at one guy’s house and his wife is a gourmet Italian cook. She makes us a 7 or 8 course meal every week. She’s amazing,

  38. 38 Guy Media said at 11:22 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    I’d totally reroute that around the game time, but that’s the miracle of modern technology.

  39. 39 P_P_K said at 11:24 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    Her cooking is so good I’d watch the game at midnight if that’s when she was serving.

  40. 40 Guy Media said at 11:35 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    ha

  41. 41 Tumtum said at 11:39 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    I’m so envious right now…

  42. 42 ColorSgt said at 11:55 AM on October 8th, 2017:

    Always DVR it and purposely do other stuff at the beginning of the game. When I finish what I’m doing then I start watching. Being able to fast forward through commercials is the greatest thing ever.

  43. 43 Dragon_Eagle said at 12:00 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    Who is the most surprising team in the NFL so far this season?

  44. 44 ColorSgt said at 12:01 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    Giants but I think that is the reverse of what you were getting at.

  45. 45 Dragon_Eagle said at 12:01 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    Either good or bad, but yeah they fell off a cliff.

  46. 46 ColorSgt said at 12:04 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    Skins always exceed my expectations each year. They should be hot garbage under that front office. When will I learn? At least the eagles won that first game this year.

  47. 47 Howie Littlefinger said at 12:14 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    I’m not surprised by this at all. They were the FLUKIEST team last year. Honestly they had no business winning at least 6 of the games last year. I live in NY and am subjected to them on a regular basis

    Honestly it wasn’t that long ago they were Owen Six lol

  48. 48 ColorSgt said at 12:18 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    I wouldn’t say its surprising that they aren’t good, but I think its surprising they have yet to win a game.

  49. 49 Howie Littlefinger said at 12:27 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    They did NOTHING to address the line. They severely over achieved last season.

    If anything I’m surprised the most by Andy Reid learning to run the football in the second half

  50. 50 Will Ft. The Roots said at 12:21 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    Id throw the Rams in there.

  51. 51 Dragon_Eagle said at 12:25 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    Big game for them today against the Seahawks.

  52. 52 Will Ft. The Roots said at 12:37 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    I hope they do it. I cant stand the Sea chickens or their fans

  53. 53 ChoTime said at 12:30 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    Interestingly, Football Outsiders had them projected at #14. Currently they’re at #3!

  54. 54 Dave said at 12:16 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    After seeing Byron Maxwell a healthy inactive today, I like all of these 1 year deals, mainly Jernigan and Alshon. Sometimes before giving out a monster contract, it’s nice to see the person behind the player. If either or both get resigned to a long-term deal, I would feel pretty good about it vs signing another high-priced free agent from another team.

  55. 55 Howie Littlefinger said at 12:29 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    And if we let them walk we can pile up comp picks which we can trade up with

    Howie is doing work to stack the deck one way or the other

  56. 56 ColorSgt said at 12:36 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    Eagles never end up with comp picks.

  57. 57 Howie Littlefinger said at 12:48 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    This is a new strategy. If they workout we win. If they don’t and they get a good contract we will get comp picks. Its smart and I believe it is deliberate

  58. 58 ColorSgt said at 3:37 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    I really think Howie doesn’t care about getting comp picks. I’ll be very surprised of it works out that way.

  59. 59 Howie Littlefinger said at 3:42 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    He likes to be aggressive in the draft and can use them as ammo to trade up. This is a newer thing. Comp picks could not be traded before.

    I’m speculating but it really could be an advantage.

  60. 60 Dave said at 1:00 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    Do you really see How staying put in free agency just to acquire comp picks?

  61. 61 Howie Littlefinger said at 1:18 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    Who do u see them trying to go after in F/A

    I think we are drafting from here on out. Our core is built pretty well.

  62. 62 Dave said at 2:13 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    No idea. Howie has never sat still in FA and I’m not sure that’s going to change.

  63. 63 kajomo said at 1:07 PM on October 8th, 2017:

    But…but…Jalen Mills sucks