WHIRLWIND of a week! We lost forty percent of our Week One starting Offensive Line when RT Lane Johnson and his family, needed him to retire immediately. Followed by C/G Cam Jurgens being traded to the Ravens.
This has led to some national pundits, and hot take specialists speculating that the Eagles season is over. That Our team, is tanking for a rebuild. That is never how this team works. Owner Jeffrey Lurie expects his team to be competitive every year. So locals know that we don’t rebuild. We merely re-tool to stay in the hunt.
“I swear to you, we’re not finished yet.”
This week QB Jalen Hurts and his weapons, skip across The Pond, to hunt down the Jacksonville Jaguars. Like last week, we’ll still be without several key starters. So, we’ll be short-handed, but given the overall talent levels on both teams when healthy, our injury situation will be sauce for the goose.
The Eagles are seen as the underdog in this one, but as the Buccaneers proved this week, odds makers don’t run routes or make tackles. Games are not won on paper. They have to actually be fought out! That is how glory is won. Cry havoc!!! And let slip the dogs of war.
A win completely changes the narrative about us “tanking”. It would also improve our record to 3 – 2, and have us in no worse than second place in the division.
A loss drops us to 2 – 3, making us a sub .500 team. At which point, any talk about who, what, or where we are in the division, has to be tabled until we’re above board again. (As the Eagles are in London this weekend, allow me to clarify that my use of the term “tabled” is used in the American, and not the British sense.)
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The point of Four Things isn’t to predict a winner, it’s to discuss which tactics would give our Eagles the best chance to win this game. Often I list fundamentals, as some of the four things. BUT NO MORE! Unless something specific is needed, fundamentals like Running the ball; playing lots of Man Press; and Tackling instead of going for the strip, will be automatically included. (Like the five consonants and a vowel that Wheel Of Fortune automatically spots you.) So here are the Four Things that we need to focus on this week versus: the JAGUARS
RB Will Shipley this preseason, running behind C/G Willie Lampkin
1) Possess the Ball: Work the clock and give our Defense time to rest. That way they have the energy to be more impactful when it’s their turn to play. This of course means a commitment to running the ball, mostly with RB Will Shipley, while RB Saquon Barkley is out with a hammy, and RB Tank Bigsby is on Injured Reserve.
Sounds nuts at first, I know. However, with a re-formulated Offensive Line, that is sixty percent comprised of guys who were on the bench for Week One; maybe leaning heavily on the pass is a recipe for disaster. The object of this game is still to win it.
2) Involve the TE More: Part of the reason that our passing game is stalling, is because every route seems to be intermediate and deep. Give Hurts a security blanket, or an off-schedule option, when things don’t go as planned. Throw a few passes in the short and intermediate range, by which I do not mean, to TE Johnny Mundt.
All signs point to TE Dallas Goedert being back in action, which would be huge. If not, TE Zach Ertz may not be able to run away from coverage, but he’s a savvy vet with reliable hands, who can find a seam and settle into it. Getting eight or so pass attempts to the TE, would make everything run smoother.
3) Win On the Ends: Without a bunch of traps and games, we need our OLB’s (DE’s) to beat blocks and sack QB “Magical” Trevor Lawrence. If we’re not playing contain, then we need to actually get to the QB. We need to hit him, so that we get in his head, and force him to make mistakes. We don’t want him getting hot.
All signs point to DE Jonathan Greenard not being available, so even if he is, he’ll be far from optimal. That makes this an opportunity for OLB Jalyx Hunt to step up, in the way that OLB Nolan Smith has.
4) Challenge Routes: All season so far, we’ve been playing too lose in coverage. It’s allowing opposing QB’s to get the ball out, well before the rush gets home. This has to stop! Our Secondary has to make their QB hesitate before throwing a pass. So far they haven’t been, and it’s been ruining our pass rush.
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If the Eagles do these Four Things, then we’ll be virtually impossible to beat. That being said…
DT Jordan Davis putting in work, back in 2022
I’d also like to see DT Jordan Davis get more snaps. So far he’s seen 128 snaps to DT Moro Ojomo’s 190. That’s 45% to 68% of the snaps. Meanwhile DT Jalen Carter has seen 228 (81%), despite having a broken wrist. Can we get Davis on the field more!? This snap share has been a decision. And a stupid one. Fix it!
Some of what’s happened this year has been bad luck, but most of our wounds have been self-inflicted. That means with a little more smart, and a little less stupid, we still have it within our own power to change the course of our season.
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WARNING: I don’t have the faintest clue as to what a point spread is, and I know even less about how it works. I know FOOTBALL and that’s it. If you use Four Things as a gambling tool, then you are a fool trying to lose your money, and will deserve it when you do.
Check back in a couple of days for Four Things Reviewed, and we’ll discuss how this game went.
[yeah bitch eagle pic]