Image courtesy of the Daily News
WHAT if Cary Williams was right?
Last week after a third straight comeback win over the Redskins, EAGLES CB Cary Williams said the players were tired. Burnt out. Overworked. He said the slow starts were a result of having no legs after virtually playing a game the day before in practice.
Since Williams is already a mouthy guy, and is “only” a player, and wasn’t backed up by fellow players that felt the same way according to 2 sources; what he had to say was dismissed out of hand.
He even said his mea culpas.
FLIP SIDE!
QB Nick Foles and RB LeSean McCoy have been off their games since Week One. They’ve been off so much in fact that there is now a question of whether or not they’re hiding injuries. Basically that says that both of these men are needlessly holding the team back and humiliating themselves in the process, just to make sure their back-ups don’t get to play.
Often players will gut through an injury because they “Don’t want to let the team down.” Well in this case their play has already done that much. To say even after that, that Foles and McCoy would be unwilling to sit and let a healthy man help out, quietly insults their character by making them seem selfish, questions their commitment to the team’s success, and indicates that they lack a sense of professional pride in what they produce.
I also find it odd that in regards to running the ball, our Offensive line can’t open simple holes up the gut or off-Guard. They can’t generate a push on either side? I’m to believe they can’t win ONE battle up front, just because they’re back-ups?
Riley Cooper has never been what you’d call a sure-handed WR, but his drops this year have been nothing short of alarming. If he’d been this bad as a rookie he wouldn’t still be here today. It can’t be that Foles throws it too hard, because he doesn’t. Those drops show a clear lack of focus.
How about our lackluster pass rush?
You can go on for hours coming up with all the little reasons we’re performing how we are out there. Or, I can offer you 4 words that would explain ALL of it.
The ROOT of it.
Tired. Burnt out. Overworked.
We can keep on ignoring what is becoming painfully obvious, or we can maybe listen a little closer to Cary Williams.
Even if he is “only” a player.
EAGLEMANIACAL.com 
I really don’t think its a tired thing. Our defense made a stop at the end of the game and the niners had to punt to our offense. A phantom call on Fletcher and a holding on Peters backed us up to make a difficult situation even harder. People are really downplaying the horrible play from the offensive line too. How is Mccoy supposed to run the ball when he has pressure before he even receives the hand off? Sproles is a great change of pace back but not an every down runner. Polk is third on the depth chart for a reason. Mccoy will get his groove back when the O line begins to get any kind of push. We also know that Foles is better when he has time… which he obviously doesn’t have now, and that shrinks the playbook because longer routes take more time to develop. Through all that Foles was leading in total yardage coming into last weeks game and now all of a sudden people are saying he needs to sit??? Our Eagles are 3-1 right now (and leading the division) and everyone is worried… I don’t really get it. Sure there are things that need to be fixed and players that need to play better, but overall I think we are in good shape. Good teams lose football games….. great teams fix there problems and get better.
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To be fair I was on record here as being worried about a few things since our win over the Jags. In fact those things were mentioned in my EAGLES/49ers Preview.
My concern is that these things are not being addressed and are carrying over from game to game. The idea that professional Offensive Linemen can’t generate at least a straight ahead push SOMETIMES says a great deal about the core of our team and how it’s built. It’s crazy that we came into the game as the second leading passing team and STILL there was no room to run is a screaming red flag.
At least we found our pass rush this week 🙂
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If these guys are hurt it would be thanks to the beatings they took in Washington, because their line was in shambles. I wonder why Kelly has totally walked away from Sproles also? He’s gone from a key component of the offense to a bystander. I do believe that if players are injured it would be better to rest them than play them. If Foles and McCoy are hurt they aren’t telling anyone about it. With that being the case the Offensive line was terrible against the 49ers. Untimely holding penalties, poor run/pas blocking, and timing on screens was just off. Thankfully Kendricks and Lane are back, but I am concerned with how in shape Johnson will be.
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I don’t get some of this either. So much of how we’re built and how we play, seems more engineered to be different than to win.
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This seems to be an issue. Nobody wants to say it or admit to it, but Desean Jackson’s loss has been a factor. Teams are selling out against the run and shutting McCoy down. Isn’t funny how a guy like Foles (who all of his detractors say can’t throw the deep ball) is now suddenly overthrowing his receivers? These guys just can’t seem to get to the football when it’s in the air. Say what you want about Jackson, but he was a legit deep threat teams had to account for. Teams can keep a safety in the box with one over the top and be more than effective against Cooper and Maclin. I don’t care what Jackson is doing statistically in Washington. The bottom line is the Eagles miss him offensively. They need to realize they are no longer the big play offense. They need to focus on getting first downs.
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Couldn’t agree more.
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If you noticed on the overthrown balls Jackson would have ran them down. Unfortunately, Foles doesnt have that luxury and will be forced to make more accurate passes. The fact is Foles is slow. He needs to have a reliable compliment of players around him. Without that he is sunk. He cant carry a team on his back like some Qbs. Thats the makeup of the eagles. Hes a manager not a top five QB. I wouldnt even call him a top ten QB. But I like the way he manages when given the right tools. Ive made my opinion of McCoy known. You dont have slumps like this unless you are injured or off drugs. He had holes and opportunities to turn the corner. He didnt get there. Lineman ran him down. Now Im not in panick mode and i expect a better showing vs Rams but Im nowhere near convinced this team is any better than some of our division rivals.
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I’m still holding out judgement of Foles. He had to grow on the job last year; and while his NUMBERS were great his leadership was sorely lacking.
He’s in a GREAT position right now to rally the guys. I don’t mean that quiet “lead by example” crap, I mean actually LEAD. I mean step up and show that he is more than a ball thrower. ANYONE can be a ball thrower, but Quarterbacks are leaders of men.
I’m surprised that McCoy has fallen of THIS much, but I told everyone in the spring his fall would steep.
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I totally agree about Foles opportunity here. This is his chance to show the fans and the team that he can lead them through adversity. I like his chances to have a good game son Sunday against the Rams…..
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Everyone is beating around the bush with McCoy. He looks different. His arms arent busting out of his jersey, his thighs arent thick, hes not exploding through holes, hes not showing any breakway speed. Ahh only one logical explanation. The oline isnt that bad.
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The Oline has been putrid. There are no holes to hit. Like I mentioned earlier the Eagles miss Jackson and his demand for a double team. McCoy is trying to make something out of nothing, but I will state there have been times he abandoned the play and started to dance around way too soon. With that being the case the coach isn’t giving the ball to Sporles or even Polk either. With Herremans back inside and Lane on the outside the line should be a little better. You don’t lose a pro bowl guard, and a center who was playing like a pro bowler and not show some kind of setback.
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I agree its a setback but it was not putrid. Foles was not getting bum rushed on every play. In fact I thought he had good time under the circumstances and I didnt see the Eagles committing more resources to blocking. Now I realize the pass blocking appeared better and there wasnt a push forward but it didnt appear the line was getting manhandled or pushed backwards. It was a depleted 49er defense.
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The line play was putrid especially on the run plays. Foles did have a horrible game, but there was no run game to help. On top of that the 49ers played zone and rushed 4. Foles had guys open and he missed them, but this game wasn’t just on Foles. Chip Kelly made some terrible play called. It seemed like every time we would get a positive play a penalty would push us back. How many times was The offense at 2nd and 3rd and long? Seemed like nearly every drive in the game. Between Shady losing yards on first down, holding penalties by the line or receivers, drops, and fumbles the offense just looked totally out of sync. With that being the case the Eagles were literally one yard from winning that game. Maybe a chance to those Red Zone play calls and the outcome is different.
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maybe. but foles missed a minimum of 5 big plays . He is heaving the ball on long passes hoping someone can find it. Jackson could run down the overthrown ballls. Thats his specialty. Im not sure cooper , erts and Maclin have that same skill. The field is shorter which happens to be to Foles benefit because I dont think he is that accurate a deep passer. i dont think he has a powerful arm. he puts alot of air under the ball. I know from experience. Throwing far and hard are two entirely different things. Foles is playing with a couple of feet instead of a couple of yards.
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Make no mistake about it. Foles was worse than the line. Shady was too, but these types of games happen. If they beat the Rams at home all is forgotten, but if they struggle things could get worse.
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Yeah if we end up 3-2 people will be setting fire to the bandwagon.
I’m worried that people are putting WAY too much stock in the return of Lane Johnson.
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I think people are being realistic. No one really knows what Lane brings, but they feel it has to be better than what we had. This line is still void of two pro bowl caliber players. We can’t forget that.
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I get that, and you get that, but some of the Facebook groups I belong to…The expectations are just too high. It’s why I wrote “Lane Johnson To The Rescue”.
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At this point I don’t believe they are injured. I think they’re missing three pro bowl caliber players in Klce, Mathis, and Jackson. They are going to have to learn to adjust without them.
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Let the church say amen.
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While they’re going through their growing pains there is at least the fact they’re one of only three teams with at least 4 wins so they are doing something right.
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