Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Eagles Give Siposs the Boot

Posted September 18th, 2023 | 2 Comments »

Arryn Siposs is a good enough NFL punter that he’s been in the league for three seasons now. He wasn’t good enough to keep his job with the Eagles.

Nick Sirianni admitted the team wanted a better option. They liked what they saw from Braden Mann in a recent workout and decided to give him a chance. Mann can be elevated from the PS three times before he must be added to the roster. That gives him three games to show he deserves the full-time job. If not, back to the drawing board. The Eagles could always bring back Siposs since he’s got one more PS elevation left.

Punter isn’t a critical position for a team with a high-powered offense. But not every game will be a shootout and getting good punts can be important in key situations. That could mean a few more yards, better location or more hang time. Let’s hope we’re blinded by the light of Mann’s punting.

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Brian Johnson has gotten some criticism for the Eagles slow start on offense this year. He’s a new OC so it is easy to make a correlation between that and the struggles. I think there are other factors that are more important, but Johnson could be part of the problem.

That said, let’s make sure we give him credit for embracing the run game on Thursday night. A lot of young OCs want to show how smart they are by slinging the ball around and being creative. Johnson was content to run the ball over and over. The Vikings played a soft front and dared the Eagles to run. Johnson took them up on the dare. It isn’t just young coaches who can struggle with that. Bill Belichick dared Mike Martz to run the ball back in Super Bowl XXXVI. The Rams threw 44 passes and only ran 22 times. They lost 20-17. Kudos to Johnson for being smart.

The Eagles didn’t run the ball as much vs NE because the Pats have a much better front seven and played the run better. The coaches and players have to fix the passing game because they won’t always be able to do what they did vs the Vikings.

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We’re too early into 2023 to know anything definitively. The injuries this year have been odd. Rib injuries to multiple players? There isn’t any protection for that. A concussion for Bradberry? No protection for that.

I think Sirianni’s style is more about limiting hamstrings, calf injuries and other things that involve wear and tear. The Eagles still seem to be good in those areas.

The fact the Eagles reached the Super Bowl with their entire starting lineup last year means I’m going to trust Sirianni until I have concrete evidence to the contrary. And I sure hope we don’t get that this year.

There is no disputing the fact that there are more injuries to this point.

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Bonehead move by Nick not to do this. Glad he was asked about it and admitted the mistake. I love the fact his brother was giving him a hard time for the blunder. That was such an obvious decision. Shocked me when he didn’t do it.

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The NFC East is off to an interesting start. The Giants looked like the worst team in the league for the first six quarters. They came alive in the second half in Arizona and won 31-28. I know you’re shocked that a Jonathan Gannon defense would disappear in the second half. In Arizona, no less. Could be costly for the Giants. Saquon Barkley sprained his ankle and will miss this week. They think he will miss 3 games.

Washington is 2-0. They needed to come from behind to beat the hapless Cardinals and a mediocre Broncos team. Still, this is their first time to go 2-0 since 2011.

Dallas is the best team in the league right now. Some of you won’t like me making that statement, but it is a fair assessment after two weeks. Dallas is one of those teams that is amazing when things click, but can crashing back to reality very quickly.

Micah Parsons is the best player in the league this year. The offense started to click on Sunday vs the Jets. Their STs can make plays. I still don’t trust that team or Mike McCarthy so I’m not bothered by a strong start for them. January has been their kryptonite for a long time.

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A lot of people want the Eagles to make a move. I certainly get that. Let’s see what they do. The first choice is almost always to look at your own roster. Those guys know the scheme and have been in place. You want to try them first.

Howie Roseman isn’t shy. If he thinks there is a better option elsewhere that makes sense, he will go get that guy, be it via signing or trade.

Bradberry is still in concussion protocol so Mario Goodrich may get a chance for his first NFL start. Or maybe the Eagles will try one of the safeties in there. You know Sirianni loves to keep this stuff secret as long as possible.

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More of this please.

https://twitter.com/PhillyTruthr/status/1702713510650626292

Sweat has developed into an absolute monster.

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More on Hurts

Posted September 16th, 2023 | 1 Comment »

Jalen Hurts final game in 2022 was a spectacular performance. He was near perfect in the Super Bowl and probably should have won MVP. That set sky high expectations for 2023.

Hurts is off to an erratic start in 2023. Not bad, but not what we expected. This is fine. Defenses adjust to good QBs. It is then up to the coaches and the QB to adjust to the defenses. Patrick Mahomes had some struggles when defenses started playing a lot of 2-high looks. He adjusted and was great last year.

Give Hurts and the coaches time to figure things out.

Let’s also keep some perspective. Hurts has looked good at times. His TD to DeVonta in the opener was a perfect pass on the move. That was a great throw. Hurts was good against the blitz on Thursday.

Against the blitz on Thursday, Eagles QB Jalen Hurts completed 8 of 11 passes for 153 yards and a touchdown (145.1 passer rating). When the Vikings didn’t blitz, Hurts completed 10 of 12 passes for 40 yards and one INT (45.8 passer rating).

Hurts has struggled with decision-making more than anything. Defenses have given him a lot to look at and Hurts has had a tough time making good reads and decisions. That will get sorted out. I was highly frustrated on Thursday when he took a pair of sacks with the Eagles in FG range. Just throw the ball away and kick the FG. That mistake put the game in danger. Nick Sirianni preaches the importance of situational football. Hurts should have known that the one thing he couldn’t do was take sacks.

Sirianni and his staff built a scheme that maximized Hurts and his abilities. Defenses spent all offseason studying that and coming up with ways to handle the Eagles. That’s a huge compliment. Nobody is spending an offseason figuring out how to shut down Daniel Jones. Defenses were genuinely worried about Hurts. He seemed to have an answer for everything. Coaches figured out they had to come up with new and creative ideas.

The Eagles have smart coaches. Hurts is a smart QB. They will figure some things out. The Eagles adjusted in the opener and threw the ball more effectively in the second half. On Thursday the coaches leaned on the run game. They have figured out ways to win even with the offense not playing as expected.

This isn’t like the Wildcat that Miami unleashed in 2008 and it was largely solved in 2009. That was a gimmick that caught people off guard. The Eagles offense last year had huge games running and throwing. They could be explosive and efficient. I’m curious and excited to see how things play out after this.

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Fun nugget for the day…the Eagles have more wins than the Giants have points.

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Jalen Carter got the hype in the offseason, but Jordan Davis is reminding people just how good he can be.

Davis leads the team with 1.5 sacks. He’s 6th in tackles and also has a couple of TFLs. He’s clogged running lanes in both games and been really disruptive.

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Let’s not forget how critical this guy has been.

https://twitter.com/JClarkNBCS/status/1702690422496096472

Elliott has a chance to be the best kicker in Eagles history. David Akers has longevity over him now, but Elliott is a good long distance kicker and a weapon for the team.

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This is the anti-Miles Sanders. I don’t want to slander him too much, but he was frustrating because he wasn’t patient enough and left a lot of yards on the field. Swift went 28-175-1 in his first real action as an Eagle. Sanders had a career high of 144 yards last year. Swift showed you in one game how a RB with patience and vision can thrive in this scheme and behind this OL.

I know a lot of people are excited to see Kenny Gainwell this year. I think Swift showed on Thursday that he’s the guy with the highest upside and should be the feature back.

On the flip side, Rashaad Penny only had 3 carries for 9 yards. There is no question at this point that the coaches are down on him. Penny might be needed this year so let’s not write him off just quite yet, but he better start working his butt off in practice and find little ways to impress the coaches.

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https://twitter.com/JClarkNBCS/status/1703051244334407805

Ugh. Hate that for Avonte. He seems like such a good dude, but just can’t stay healthy. This could be the end of his time with the Eagles.

Mario Goodrich is adequate as a backup, but the team might need to look around to see if there is a good nickel corner on the market.

James Bradberry practiced in the slot at times and could move in there. That would open an outside spot for Josh Jobe. The Eagles have a few days to figure out what they want to do.

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