While any idiot can say “Hey let’s sign every high-priced Free Agent on the market”. THE 12 focuses on what we can do with what we already have, to fix or improve our team.
SPORTS is great source for mixed metaphors. Yelling that a team should “work the body” (run more); or that they should “go to the upstairs” (throw it deep down the sideline); are two examples of football borrowing expressions from boxing. Well I’m borrowing yet another: We need to throw more uppercuts.
By this I mean, deep throws down the middle of the field. I’m comparing this kind of pass to an uppercut, because while it’s going to the upstairs, it’s taking a different route. Like an uppercut, it’s thrown behind the defense. If the defense can recover, the fight just goes on. However, if the uppercut lands, (if that deep pass connects), it can be a devastating blow.
A deep pass down the sideline often involves a CB and/or a FS with an angle, helping to run down the WR. A deep pass in the middle is usually against a FS. Look, usually a FS is a S, because he can’t run like a CB. If he also has no angle on the completed pass, then it’s just a footrace to the goal post. This is utterly devastating.
The Eagles have a couple of players who can make this into a real problem. First is WR Quez Watkins. The Eagles have used him like this on occasion, but I have no idea why they don’t abuse this as an option. He has blazing speed and and good enough hands to make uncontested catches. Throwing him open on a deep route needs to happen few times per game.
Second is WR Devon Allen. He’s an Olympic sprinter with 4..5 speed, who had a strong preseason last year, and spent 2022 on our Practice Squad. While WR Olamide Zacchaeus isn’t the burner the other two are, he has a talent for finding soft spots in the coverage, and making yards after the catch. Though at 5’8 he could be a difficult target to hit deep.
So we have the firepower to throw more uppercuts. The only question there is, will we?
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