Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Unwritten

Posted December 8th, 2023 | 8 Comments »

The Eagles can be the #1 seed in the NFC. They can win the NFC East. They can make another trip to the Super Bowl. Or they could be a wild card team and might struggle to have success in the postseason. The future is unwritten.

This has been an odd season. The Eagles have the best record in the league. They’ve had some key wins and beaten some star QBs. This team has passed some tough tests. At the same time, they got dominated last week. That was a bad performance.

We don’t know how the team will respond to the SF beatdown. Sometimes hitting rock bottom is the best thing that can happen to a team. Excuses melt away and players really listen to what their coaches have to say. Winning is a great deodorant, covering up a multitude of sins. Losing shines light on every little issue. Eagles players and coaches had to answer a lot of tough questions this week, publicly and behind closed doors.

If the players and coaches embrace the misery and use it as fuel, this team can come out and show everyone just how good they can be.

Right now everyone has an opinion on the Eagles. Some are harsh. Some are over the top and ridiculous (you probably know the one I’m talking about). Some are pointless and more grasping at straws than true problem-solving. There are some good opinions out there as well, but they seem to be few and far between.

All of that talk goes away with a win in Dallas.

It gets pumped up to insane levels with a loss.

The Eagles control how things go from here. As bad as the Niners loss was, the Eagles made mistakes that led to that outcome. If they had played well, they still might have lost, but it could have been a tight game. The Eagles still have a ton of talent. They have the tools to win on Sunday and get things back on track. They don’t need help. The Eagles control their destiny (apologies for the tired cliche).

This would be very different if there was a major injury and there were real questions about whether the Eagles could win games. This team doesn’t need a player to do something crazy. Jalen Hurts and the offense are fourth in the league in scoring. They have been erratic in recent games, but still have the firepower to put up big numbers. The defense has been porous this year, but usually makes enough plays for the team to win. They don’t have to turn into Gang Green and shut people down. They just need to get back to making key plays. There is enough talent to do that.

It would be different if the Eagles were behind in the standings and needed other teams to lose. I still remember the final day of the 2008 season. The Eagles had to beat Dallas to make the postseason, but they also needed the Raiders to upset the Bucs and the Texans to upset the Bears. All three things happened, but that was a roller coaster day as the games went back and forth. Controlling your fate makes a world of difference.

I don’t know how things will turn out. Last week has me questioning this team, as a lot of others are. At the same time, never doubt Jalen Hurts. The last time he lost consecutive games was October 2021. That was a very different team.

I’m curious to see what happens in Dallas and over the remainder of the season. This team still has the firepower to do big things, but they have some serious vulnerabilities as well. My instinct tells me not to bet against Hurts and Nick Sirianni.

*****

This is pretty cool.

*****

One of the best games in Eagles history.

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Cowboys Week

Posted December 7th, 2023 | 6 Comments »

The Cowboys are the hottest team in football. The Eagles are coming off a major beatdown. As crazy as it sounds, I think these circumstances favor the guys in green.

You want Dallas hearing how great they are. Their offense is unstoppable. Dak Prescott should win MVP. CeeDee Lamb is a combination of Jerry Rice, Randy Moss and Calvin Johnson. The Dallas defense is making big play after big play. Having Micah Parson and Daron Bland is like seeing LT and Deion playing together.

The Eagles are probably the worst 10-2 team in sports history. The offense stinks. Jalen Hurts is a mess. The defense is awful. The CFP committee would probably choose Florida State over the Eagles.

The sky high Cowboys are taking on the poor old Eagles. What is the line for this game, 20 points? 25 points? Why even bother playing?

The Eagles aren’t trash-talking. They aren’t thinking about last year. They’re quiet and focused. That’s exactly what you want. Maybe having Deebo Samuel feed them multiple helpings of humble pie will turn out to be a good thing.

You know Nick Sirianni and Hurts are as focused and driven as they possibly can be. Losing is bad, but getting absolutely dominated is a whole other level of bad.

*****

10 tackles. 2 sacks. 2 INTs. In the first half.

Maybe a bit of an exaggeration. We don’t know how much Shaq will play. They are force feeding him the playbook. I’m guessing Shaq will be used in certain looks/packages.

It sounds like Zach Cunningham will play. That would be great news. He is the team’s best LB.

*****

In order to add Leonard, the Eagles cut LB Christian Elliss.

You hate to lose a good STer. The Eagles obviously felt they could replace him on STs and that he was expendable on defense. Elliss had a terrific Training Camp and showed a lot of promise, but that potential hadn’t shown in game action. The team could have cut one of the four TEs on the roster. They could have released Julio Jones. He’s been quiet for weeks. Instead they chose to release Elliss.

Several teams put a claim in on Elliss so he was sought after as a STer and backup LB.

Time will tell if this move hurts the Eagles or if there isn’t much impact.

*****

One of the major differences between last year and this year is takeaways. The defense did a terrific job last year of making plays and coming up with the ball. That has not been the case this season. The Eagles only have 14 takeaways all year.

This would be an ideal week for that to change. The Cowboys do a good job of protecting the ball, but you never know when that one wild game is going to happen. Passes get tipped. Runners/receivers don’t carry the ball as tight as usual. Maybe there is a strip sack. Sean Desai’s defense is desperate to come up with some turnovers.

*****

The defense is awful at situational football. They are dead last in 3rd down defense and 29th in red zone defense. Yikes.

That is on the back seven. They have had issues all year. Injuries have been a major factor. A lack of continuity has kept them from developing good chemistry. The tackling has also been erratic at times.

I’m curious to see how this group responds to last week. They can’t undo that mess, but they can show some pride and come out and play with an edge. That would be great to see.

*****

Great draft story here from Daniel Jeremiah. Not Eagles related, but really good.

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