Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Time for Concern?

Posted June 30th, 2020 | Comments Off on Time for Concern?

We will have NFL football. We will have NFL football. We will have NFL football.

I hope.

I’m starting to wonder, though.

Mike only talks about a limited preseason in that clip, but you have to wonder if that will change as the pandemic continues to roll along. We are seeing the impact in other sports.

These are pro athletes choosing to sit out rather than play.

We are seeing college and pro athletes test positive as they gather for spring/summer training. Clemson’s football team has had 37 players test positive.

Then we hear stories like this.

https://twitter.com/ADavidHaleJoint/status/1276311388085014528

What about players who are vulnerable? What if they have family members who are vulnerable?

College football is tougher to control. You have 90 players, a big support staff and everyone is on a crowded college campus. Some of that will change, but getting 90 kids that are 18-22 to be smart and safe is a significant uphill battle. I don’t say this with any kind of judgment. My knucklehead friends and I would have been the same way if this happened while we were that age. “Forget Covid, we need more beer.”

Professional football players are a different story. There are still some knuckleheads involved, but most of these guys are going to handle their business the right way. Millions of dollars are on the line and we all know money talks.

The NFL is lucky that they still have another month to see what happens with the virus. Maybe cases will start to decline. Maybe testing will continue to improve.

We do have to understand that cases could continue piling up. If that happens, how does the NFL handle the situation?

What happens if a team has 10 positive tests a few days before a game in the middle of the season? You could see a team lose multiple starting players from the same position group. The entire OL has to be replaced. Or the entire secondary.

This stuff isn’t likely to happen, but we’re not talking about some insane idea like Sharknado. All it takes is one player getting Covid and he could infect those around him.

The NFL has to figure out how to keep players safe, fans happy and lawyers away. That is a nearly impossible task and I don’t envy them having to come up with plans that handle all of that.

It appears the NFL is considering just about anything.

I hope there is NFL season. I can’t imagine a fall without football. That w0uld be insanely weird.

But I think we’d be naive not to at least discuss the fact it might happen.

Keep your fingers crossed. As we’ve learned recently, there is no sure thing in 2020.

*****

Need something to cheer you up? This is one of my all time favorite NFL games.

Just glorious.

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Now or Never

Posted June 29th, 2020 | Comments Off on Now or Never

Sidney Jones and Rasul Douglas have been disappointing since coming to the NFL. Each player has shown flashes of real potential and looked good, but the overall level of play hasn’t been there. They are just good enough to keep you hoping next year will be the breakout year.

That better happen in 2020.

Douglas picked off two passes as a rookie in 2017. He showed really good ball skills. Douglas played well down the stretch in 2018. He finished the year with three picks and seemed to be heading in the right direction. 2019 did not go as planned.

https://twitter.com/EaglesPMC/status/1186095330296770560

Jones story is more complicated. He got hurt at his Pro Day and then fell in the 2017 draft. The Eagles thought they got a steal in the second round. Jones played a few snaps in the season finale, just enough to get a feel for the speed of the NFL.

Jones was the slot corner heading into 2018. He played well early on, but then got hurt. He missed several games. Jones came back and really struggled. He had a strong summer in 2019 and expectations were high. Jones played the first four games before getting hurt. Davante Adams was torching him in that fourth game. It was ugly. Jones returned for the final month as a backup. Due to injuries he got on the field and had some good moments.

I think people overrate some of that play. Jones had five pass break-ups in that final month. A couple of those were really good plays. A couple came when the ball hit him in the back due to a poor throw. Is the glass half full or half empty?

Both Jones and Douglas have worked with DB gurus this offseason since they can’t do normal training at the NovaCare facility. That is a good sign that both players understand the critical nature of this season. We don’t know that both guys will even make the team.

Darius Slay
Avonte Maddox
Nickell Robey-Coleman

Sidney Jones
Rasul Douglas
Cre’Von LeBlanc

That’s six corners fighting for five spots. Maybe the Eagles keep six, but you sure can’t count on that.

Neither player is projected to start right now. The way injuries have hit the Eagles in recent years, both players should count on being needed. They need to prepare as if they are ready to start.

Jones is the more interesting player because of his versatility (slot or outside) and ceiling. He was a star in college. Jones shutdown receivers and made plays. He was a player that teams coveted. The injury really changed him. We haven’t seen the Jones from college so far in his NFL career.

Staying healthy is the biggest issue for Jones. He’s been hurt in each of his NFL seasons. That obviously affects him physically, but it also affects him mentally. He plays hesitant, not wanting to get beat. There was a great moment in All or Nothing when Malcolm Jenkins told him “If you’re not confident, we can’t use you.”

If Jones can manage to stay healthy, he should be able to play with more confidence and more aggression. That matters at CB. Jim Schwartz loves Jalen Mills in part because Mills is completely confident. He’s delusionally confident. But that’s okay at CB. Heck, it’s a good thing. If we could just transplant some of that confidence into Jones we might have a good corner.

Maybe the pressure of having to earn a roster spot will bring out the best in Jones. He knew he was going to make the team in previous years. This is different. He is guaranteed nothing.

Douglas has played in 46 of 48 games since coming to the league so durability is not an issue for him. His fatal flaw is simply speed. Douglas is a 4.6 corner. Some teams won’t even bother when a corner is that slow.

You can make it in the league at 4.6, but you must be smart and you must be tough. You have to read routes well and use angles to your advantage. You must tackle really well. Douglas does too much guessing and he’s inconsistent as a hitter/tackler. It is fair to wonder if he might play better in a different system. There were rumors that the Eagles shopped him. If that happened, there weren’t any takers. Douglas even took a small pay cut. He knows this is a make or break year for him.

I do wonder about Douglas as a safety. He is at his best facing the QB, reading the play and going for the ball. That sure sounds like a safety to me. Again, his hitting and tackling would have to improve. Douglas does have some plays where he is impressive, but others where you want to hide your eyes. CBs can be sloppy tacklers. Safeties can’t (if they want to keep their jobs).

The Eagles love Darius Slay and are excited to have a stud CB. They love Avonte Maddox and think he can be a solid #2 CB. The 1-2 punch of Robey-Coleman and LeBlanc gives them terrific depth in the slot. The team needs Jones or Douglas to step up and win a job. Both players know the pressure is on. Let’s hope that brings out the best in them.

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