Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Injury Update

Posted January 24th, 2025 | 2 Comments »

Injuries could be a huge X-factor in Sunday’s NFC championship game. The Eagles seemed to get some good news on Friday, but we truly won’t know anything for sure until kickoff.

Jalen Hurts practiced and supposedly looked pretty good. He said that he will wear a knee brace on Sunday. Hurts has worn a brace in previous games and still played well and led the team to victory. While that’s encouraging, we don’t know how those knee issues compare to what he’s going through right now.

Cam Jurgens did practice on Friday after missing Thursday. It seems like Jurgens will play this week. That’s important because you don’t want to be down a starting OL, but it also affects the brotherly shove. Landon Dickerson is the key blocker on that play. He’s able to get good movement off the snap. Think about how Hurts always goes to his left. If Dickerson has to play center and Tyler Steen is at LG, that play isn’t going to be nearly as automatic.

Dallas Goedert practiced and will be playing. He’s crucial as a blocker in the run game and a receiver in the passing game. Quinyon Mitchell has been practicing and will be good to go.

It’s great to have everyone on the field. You just have to hope they are able to play well.

The Commanders are being coy with their info. DT Daron Payne didn’t practice, but he’s listed as questionable for Sunday. Here is their full report.

*****

I think the Eagles have the right approach to this game. Nick Sirianni keeps preaching “business as usual”. I wonder if the pressure of the moment got to some of the old Andy Reid teams. Sirianni doesn’t want his guys getting overly emotional. His players certainly seem to be buying the message.

The Commanders seem to be embracing the emotion of the moment. Maybe that works for them. They didn’t expect to be a final four team a few months back. It will be interesting to see which approach works on Sunday.

*****

We all knew the Eagles were getting an incredibly talented player when they drafted Jalen Carter. He’s been even better than expected. Good story here on his development.

Older fans will remember the Eagles passing on Warren Sapp due to some character issues. It feels like history gave the Eagles another shot to get that decision right and they sure did this time around.

Carter has embraced the challenges of pro football. He’s in the best shape of his life. He’s playing a ton of snaps and is still making plays at the end of games. Carter is handling his business. There was never a question about his talent, only whether he would live up to his potential.

*****

Kellen Moore won’t be going to Dallas.

No matter what happens on Sunday, both teams will feel much better off than Dallas. Schottenheimer could turn out to be a good coach, but the process wasn’t good and it isn’t a good look for the franchise. Just bizarre.

Moore could still get the Saints job. We’ll have to see how that situation plays out.

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The Fangio Factor

Posted January 23rd, 2025 | 1 Comment »

The Commanders scored 45 points last week in Detroit, in a playoff game. With a rookie QB. That tells you that injuries finally caught up to the Lions, but also that Jayden Daniels is special and Washington’s offense can be a dynamic unit.

How do you stop a team like that?

You need good players and a great coach. Someone like Vic Fangio. Offense is about timing. Defense is about disrupting that timing. You need a coach who can design a gameplan that is complicated enough it will affect the offense, but simple enough that it can be executed at a high level consistently. Fangio is masterful at striking that balance.

Fangio is also a demanding coach, as explained in this great piece by Tim McManus. Here is what Fangio told his players on the first day of OTAs last spring.

“It’s not your fault you don’t work hard,” he said.

“Work hard?” defensive lineman Milton Williams said quizzically last week, mimicking the reaction of a group of men who toiled for years to get to their positions.

“It’s not your fault, you just don’t know how,” Fangio went on. “But that’s going to change now that I’m here.”

Nick Sirianni loves to talk about connecting as a core value for the Eagles. There are different ways to connect. Fangio didn’t come in to be their best friend. He wants to push them to be the best players they can and the best defense they can. Howie Roseman and his staff assembled a talented group of defenders, but also a group that is willing to work hard and be pushed.

Fangio has pushed and his players have responded by being the best defense in the league. There are stars at every level. Some are young, some are old. They were all hungry to succeed and Fangio has pushed the right buttons to get the most out of them.

Getting guys to work hard and buy in is only half the battle. The coach needs the right system and must know how to use it. Fangio does a great job of mixing things up so that QBs need an extra bit of time to read the defense and make a decision.

“When the ball is snapped, the guys just don’t run to a spot and show the ID to the quarterback,” Donatell explained. “It’s kind of mushy. It’s not clear, so sometimes [the QBs] are into their first or second step and they still don’t know. It’s a delayed identification for the quarterback if done properly. He works very hard to not give any tells from any position on his defense to the offense.”

That moment of hesitation by the QB can make all the different in the world. We’ve seen game after game where QBs looked a bit slow or seemed indecisive. That’s not luck. That’s not an accident. That’s Fangio working his magic.

Great ideas don’t mean much if the players can’t execute them. This is where keeping the scheme simple comes in.

Players are given clear job descriptions to avoid overreaching and promote playing with “certainty and aggression,” as defensive lineman Thomas Booker put it.

And

Players also need to play hard. Relentless effort is a key part of great defense.

Fangio is a great schemer, motivator and teacher. That’s how you build a top defense.

*****

Sunday will be Fangio’s toughest test of the year. Daniels will be facing the Eagles for the third time this year. That means Fangio has seen a lot of what they want to do, but it also means Daniels should have a good feel for what the Eagles want to do.

Fangio was more aggressive in the December rematch. He blitzed more. That had mixed results. Washington used more empty sets and that proved to be very effective. Daniels also ran more and that was probably the difference in the game.

What will Fangio do this time around? He probably won’t blitz as much. He could throw another wrinkle or two at Daniels.

You hire a guy like Fangio for games like this. Jonathan Gannon could shut down crappy QBs when he was here. Fangio is the kind of smart, veteran coach who can slow down a good offense and affect a good QB.

Sunday will be one heck of a chess game between Fangio and Kliff Kingsbury.

*****

Injuries could be a factor for both teams. Cam Jurgens didn’t practice on Thursday. Nor did Dallas Goedert.

Landon Dickerson slid into center for the day and Tyler Steen took over at LG. We’ll see if the extra rest helped Jurgens or if he’s going to miss the game due to his back issue.

Goedert missed with an ankle injury. The Eagles need him for sure. Goedert has been the best pass catcher so far in the playoffs.

LB Bobby Wagner and DT Daron Payne didn’t practice for WAS. Wagner played last week despite not practicing.

You hate to see injuries at this time of the year, but that’s part of the game.

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