Coaching

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED – WK 11 – PATRIOTS

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/11/18
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, Front Office (F.O.), NFC East, Offense, Players, Reviews, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

WINNING this game would have been a huge emotional boost to the roster. That said, let’s not pretend that this 7 point loss to the Patriots, is somehow a mark of shame.

Our #1 RB and #1 WR were both on the shelf this week. Our #2 WR is on IR. We signed two former Eagles off of their couches this week. And still we had a shot on the final drive.

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Eagles 10 – Patriots 17

First and foremost, we need to tip our caps to DC Jim Schwartz for calling a hell of game. There were actual downs when we played some man press. I almost cried. The result was holding a well oiled offense to 17 points. Here’s hoping that this weeks lessons are remembered next week.

Our WR’s caught 6 of 17 targets, although most of the incompletions to WR Jordan Matthews (1 – 6 – 6.0 – 0) were the result of QB Carson Wentz (20/40 – 214 – 50.0 – 1 – 0) sailing the ball too tall towards the sideline. Seems like someone was missing their Alshon. Speaking of Alshon, Wentz threw TE Zach Ertz (9 – 94 – 10.4 – 0) 11 passes. Over a quarter of his attempts, for nearly half of his completions. 

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Wentz did hit TE Dallas Goedert (3 – 36 – 12.0 – 1) with an absolute laser, for a 5 yard score to cap a 95 yard 1st quarter drive. Other than that drive, we spent the day dead in the water on Offense. Rookie RB Miles Sanders (11 – 38 – 3.4 – 0 – 0), teamed with reserve RB Boston Scott (7 – 26 – 3.7 – 0 – 0) to produce all of 64 yards on 18 handoffs (3.5ypc). RB Jay Ajayi never sniffed the field.

Wentz was sacked either five or five hundred times. It seemed when the protection wasn’t breaking down on him, he held the ball like a WR was supposed to walk up and ask him for it. (Maybe that would have worked better than them running routes.)

I hear you asking, “What about all the stuff that stats don’t reveal?” Well, that’s the reason for these “Four Things” articles. We introduce an idea of what needs addressing BEFORE the game, so that fans have to honestly answer questions about those things, AFTER the game. This helps to get us, and keep us, all on the same page.

So, of the Four Things we were looking for in this last game, what exactly did we see?

1) Use play-action bootlegs: Yeah, there was no attempt at this one. Head Coach Doug Pederson seemed to leave a lot of meat on the bone coaching this week, and this is one such aspect. Especially after LT Jason Peters had to exit the game. The scheme seemed to call for Carson to hang in the pocket like a side of beef. Here in Philly there’s an image that goes with that.

rocky punching beef.jpg

(NOT DONE)

2) Get Brady to moonwalk: We did a brilliant job of this in the first half, and for most of the third quarter. Brady pretty much couldn’t step into his throws, and it forced them into resorting to a trick play for their only touchdown. (DONE)

3) Pry that clam open: We attacked the FS on the opening play of the game and attacked that area on the Goedert score. Otherwise we mostly threw Crossers, Outs and Curls. There wasn’t much challenging the Patriots downfield on the inside. Weird because that’s where you’d expect to see Jordan Matthews and the TE’s making their money this week. (NOT DONE)

4) Take care of the ball: Wentz lost the ball on a sack-fumble, but given the number of hits on him, especially after losing both OT’s, we did a decent job of protecting the ball. (DONE)

This week’s Four Things score is 2 of 4, bringing the season total to 19 of 40. We’ll need to be sharper than that vs a Seattle team that has had our number since Russell Wilson was drafted there.

On The Whole:

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Wentz at the presser, somehow not pleading for help.

Offensively we were a nightmare. When I put Four Things out last Wednesday, WR Alshon Jeffery and RB Jordan Howard had not yet been ruled out. While that list was compiled with them in mind, it wasn’t dependent on them. That said, I have no doubt that if one one or both of those players had played, it would have changed the end result.

While you may see me as the eternal optimist, I can’t help but point out three obvious and irrefutable truths here:

1) This may be a bad team from a personnel standpoint, but they are still a good team as far as sticking together. (i.e. not throwing each other under the bus.)

2) The Front Office is pushing for results, and thus setting a tone downstream.

3) The Eagles are still in the hunt for the division crown.

grabz

 

EAGLES ARE AFRAID TO SAY…

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/11/16
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Front Office (F.O.), Players, Rants, Rivals, Special Teams, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

INJURIES are now the norm. This is an issue that the Eagles have avoided discussing. Initially as a fan, I gave them the benefit of the doubt on this. However, now their lack of mentioning it, now feels too deliberate to ignore.

Pat Croce.jpg

Eagles players spend far too much time being unable to show up and do their jobs. If you missed time at work like Eagles players do, your job would be looking to replace you. One of the axioms of the NFL is “The greatest ability, is availability.” Well fellow fans, our team stacks up poorly in that department.

Understand, this is no way an indictment of our players. Nobody wants a torn this, ruptured that, or any of their muscles tearing away from a bone. Yet that’s what we have on this roster. Throughout this roster. Regardless of position or age. And it’s been going on for years now.

I understand Head Coach Doug Pederson’s loyalty to the coaches on his staff. He deserves the chance and reserves the right, to go to bat for his guys. However, not taking a hard look at a couple of coaches, may negatively affect the entire staff, when everyone gets shit-canned, due to annual and systemic under-delivery. It could also undercut young and promising careers, for coaches as well as players.

There could be an argument made that perhaps our Strength and Conditioning department is less than competent at keeping our players strong and in good condition. Then again what does a guy like me know about football conditioning? Especially vs a group of top experts.

Hey! Speaking of experts at the top of their field, did anyone notice that our Strength and Conditioning Coach is essentially a dietitian? Also his Assistant S&C Coach, is a big, fat, round guy? No really. That’s going on. Right now.

DT Timmy Jernigan and LB Nigel Bradham. WR DeSean Jackson and RB Darren Sproles. These are the guys in charge of making sure that those players are ready to go every week: 

S&C Coach Josh Hingst, and AS&C Coach Keith Gray:

The S&C coach for the Eagles, was the S&C assistant for a year in Jacksonville, before we brought him here. For four years before that, he essentially made smoothies and planned menus (2009-11 college, 2008 Atlanta Falcons.). There are literally more pictures on-line of his wedding, than there are of him coaching.

The assistant (not just strength, but conditioning) would probably die of a heart attack if he attempted to jog a lap with the players.

Our roster is now a reflection of a department that doesn’t pass the eye test, and then proceeds to fail every relevant test that follows that. It’s gotten so bad that it may now affect our playoff chances.

Something needs to be done. Is Pat Croce doing anything?

FOUR THINGS – WK 11 – EAGLES – PATRIOTS

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/11/13
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, playoffs, Preview, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

WK11-NE

WHILE many Eagles fans are talking like the season is already over, I will be here until it actually is. For good or ill. Anybody looking for doom and gloom from these articles, will always come away disappointed. Generally my articles are written to cover subjects that the Eagles website won’t touch. Four Things however, is about discussing ways that we can win the upcoming game.

This is Philadelphia. We are the reason the name “Patriot” even has it’s American definition. We don’t quit. We don’t run. So chin up Eagles fans! Shoulders back and eyes front. There is much more rough road ahead us, but there are none better at making it smooth, than we.

Word around the campfire has it that the Patriots were embarrassed at being mushroom stamped on national television last week. Awww. They think, (get this) they think they’re just gonna waltz into the Linc, sign some autographs, and stroll out with our “W”. Problem is, we need that “W” to reclaim our division lead. Which means, we can’t let them have it. Translation: They’re shit out of luck.

Though New England has played almost exclusively bottom-feeders, they still boast a Top Three defense that’s 11th vs the run, and has 32 sacks so far. That means their players will come out playing with pride. With energy! With urgency!! All of which sets them up as the perfect, tailor-made mark, for this week’s caper.

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Here are the Four Things we need to focus on this week versus New England:

1) Use play-action bootlegs: We can turn their pass rushing strength into a liability, by having QB Carson Wentz fake a few bootlegs after a handoff, and then sprinkling in some real play-action bootlegs. (Every real bootleg we run, should be drawn-up as an Option play.) What we want, is for an opposing player to cheap shot Carson once, get flagged, and cause the defense to no longer trust their eyes for that first split-second of a play.

If we can cause New England to slow down a tick, in effect it speeds the Eagles up a tick. After which point, we let the pace of the game drown them. No need to do anything fancy. Just fuck them in the brain with some old timey bootleggin’. Right Joe? (That’s a Kennedy joke for us old folk.)

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2) Get Brady to moonwalk: QB Tom Brady never had the strongest arm, and today you can clearly see he’s lost something on his fastball. We can make that worse by making it hard for him to step into his throws. That’s were DT Fletcher Cox comes in.

New England’s RG Shaq Mason is coming off of an ankle injury. I’d lay money on his ankle not being up to a full day, of bull-rushing by Cox. Driving Mason backwards, drives Brady backwards, and doesn’t let him get as much on his throws. That increases our chances of getting to one or more of Brady’s passes. Or forcing him to run with the ball.

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3) Pry that clam open: To do that, we need to show that the left side of our passing attack has re-opened for business. Nothing crazy. Just a couple of early completions near the numbers. A Slant to WR Jordan Matthews (hopefully lined-up outside), and an Out route to whoever plays the Slot. Perhaps WR J.J. Arcega-Whiteside? Maybe? Please?!

Once we staple their CB’s to the outsides, we can attack the Cover One/ Cover Three that NE likes to run. On the surface FS Devin McCourty is a guy to avoid. He has 5 picks in 9 games, but all against weak competition. (Including 1 in each game vs the Jets.)

New England has yet to face a TE anywhere near the talent level of TE’s Zach Ertz or Dallas Goedert. That’s a match-up we need to exploit. Work the play-action, freeze the SS underneath, and get balls 8 and 12 yards in the air to our TE’s down the middle. Isolate our 6’5 250 pound TE’s, one-on-one with their 5’10 195 pound FS, and see if they can break a couple of his tackles during the game.

Zach Ertz Dallas Goedert

4) Take care of the ball: This is common sense, but it’s also key to stopping this opponent. They come into Week 11 sporting a plus 17 turnover mark. Then again their dance card has included two games against the Jets, and games against the giants, Miami, Cleveland, Buffalo, Washington and Pittsburgh (when they were spiraling out of control during Week 1).

Given that their offense is neither explosive, nor powerful, we’ll be able to make them work for points. We just need to not give them any extra possessions with good field position.

If we do all these things, we’re just about guaranteed to win. Now that we’ve covered what should happen, let’s get into what likely will happen:

Jordan Matthews wasn’t brought here to be a decoy. How could he? He doesn’t have the resume for that. The reason he’s here, is to give Carson a comfort zone and let him feel confidence in using the the entire field again. That’s it. Nobody has ever doubted Matthews hands, nor his ability to get open, or find the end zone. The entire issue with Matthews has been his back. (Remember all the shots he took to his back, playing in the Slot for Chip Kelly?)

In order to create passes to the left, the Eagles have been moving WR Alshon Jeffery around more than ever. As a result, Carson’s attempts, AND EYES have been following Alshon. However, Carson’s comfort level with Matthews erases all of that immediately.

2019 Jordan Howard Khalil Mack

With the field stretching horizontally again, RB Jordan Howard will see more room inside. Howard has just one 20 yard run this year, but don’t be surprised to see one or two of those this week. While not having upgraded the “talent” around the QB, the QB has been vastly upgraded, because now he’ll be more relaxed.

Defensively is a harder read. Our Secondary hasn’t been good this year (or last year, or the year before that), but NE’s receivers are hardly worth losing sleep over. Given their QB’s diminished arm strength, and the constant harassment he should be under, we might be able to box this one up by the fourth quarter.

Be prepared for some tragic news though. An Eagles win will have people trampling each other, just to get on that bandwagon over there. Meanwhile we Eagles Phaithful will keep sipping our Wawa beverages, because we never stopped believing.

Seriously, when you get past all the “But they’re the Patriots” BS, it’s hard to imagine how they’d be able to win this game. The weapons just aren’t there, and this isn’t the AFC East, against whom they’ve already played 4 times for 4 of their 8 wins. Great QB or not, Tom Brady doesn’t cover receivers, and he damned sure doesn’t catch passes.

Tom Brady SB drop miss.jpg

PREDICTION: EAGLES 25 – Patriots 17

yeah-bitch.jpg

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED – WK 9 – BEARS

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/11/04
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, Reviews, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

FRUSTRATION. That word kept being applied to the Bears defensive players today, whenever they committed a bone-head penalty. However, the word just as easily could have been used to describe what it was like to see drive after Eagles drive, stall due to spotty play selection in the red zone.

To be honest, this game wasn’t nearly as close as the score, and should have been a blowout before half-time. While it’s impossible to ignore the issues that will be magnified over the next month, or the time being we have a couple days to appreciate being over .500 for at least a week.

Let’s enjoy it for a bit.

2019 Special Teams Bears muff

EAGLES 22 – Bears 14

The one-two punch of RB Jordan Howard (19 – 82 – 4.3 – 1 – 0) and RB Miles Sanders (10 – 42 – 4.2 – 0 – 0 / 3 – 31 – 10.3 – 0) was once again the engine that drove this team. While QB Carson Wentz (26/39 – 66.6% – 239 – 1 – 0) did have a nice day playing catch with TE Zach Ertz (9 – 103 – 11.4 – 1), he’s going to remain handcuffed until we get genuine #1 WR on this team.

New addition DE Genard Avery (1 – 0.5 – 0 – 0) came in and made his presence known. The coming Bye week gives him a chance to study, and get a better grasp of the scheme, before anyone gets much tape of him in it. Could be interesting. DE Brandon Graham (2 – 1 – 0 – 0) continues to find his way to the QB. He was aided today by a lot of early press coverage on the edges. The entire rush was aided by it actually.

2019 Eagles Bear trap.jpeg

Seemed like this would be a game that we could get a couple of turnovers in, but we didn’t force one all game. You know the word “comforting”? Yeah, this the opposite of that.

I hear you asking, “What about all the stuff that stats don’t reveal?” Well, that’s the reason for these “Four Things” articles. We introduce an idea of what needs addressing BEFORE the game, so that fans have to honestly answer questions about those things, AFTER the game. This helps to get us, and keep us, all on the same page.

So, of the Four Things we were looking for in this last game, what exactly did we see?

1) Make OLB Mack a liability: We didn’t really do this. They flip-flopped DE Khalil Mack (4 – 0 – 0 – 0) to try and get him some good looks, but he spent this game largely being negated. That in itself is a great thing since most of his match-ups were one-on-one. What sucks is that we didn’t punish him for being good at something. We didn’t capitalize on him. While what we did was still great, we didn’t do the thing written, so… (NOT DONE)

2) Steal their crutches: We spent an entire game doing this successfully. It wasn’t until we gave them another option, that they gained the slightest bit of life. (DONE)

2019 wentz sacked goldman.jpg

NT Eddie Goldman sacks QB Carson Wentz on opening drive. C Jason Kelce strolls over as the play unfolds.

3) Mix it up: We did a really good job of this in the first half. The second half, not so much. That first drive was awesome, until our interior Offensive line caved, and allowed Wentz to be sacked by NT Eddie Goldman (2 – 1 – 0 – 0). Later we would also give up one to DT Nick Williams (2 – 1 – 0 – 0). Then again, I just said in this year’s second Quarterly Review, that our interior has issues with pass pro. No one else is talking about that though. (DONE)

4) Toss them an anchor: Instead of tossing the Bears an anchor, we gave them a Zero Coverage look, which allowed even their QB, to hit a receiver for a 53 yard gain, which set up a very short TD. Prior to that, it was 19 – 0 and the Bears were reeling. Had they turned the ball over or allowed another score of any kind, the team would have folded like origami. We have got to find a player to inspire some form of emotional killer instinct. (NOT DONE)

So for this week, heading into our Bye, we break even at 2 of 4 things in Four Things. That brings us to a mark of 17 of 36 (.472) for the year.

I don’t set these tasks at higher than basic, and I tailor them to each opponent. So these grades are fair. They are by their very design, timely, unbiased, and stark. Despite having a 5- 4 record, a sub .500 Four Thing score, indicates that we aren’t doing basic things, and thus are a fundamentally bad team.

As things stand today, we do not deserve a playoff appearance. Here’s hoping that we get this turned around.

On The Whole:

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For a second week in a row, we leaned on Jordan Howard and walked off with the ‘W’. We played some press coverage, and saw our Defensive Line cash in for 2.5 sacks.

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Carson Wentz ignored the voice of Guy Fawkes, and targeted Zach Ertz 11 times. Ertz made plays when his number was called. No WR came close to his production.

Speaking of which, the WR issue has gotten terrifying. Alshon hasn’t looked right since he came back from injury. Frankly, given how much attention he sees, with no other WR threat to cover, I’m amazed that he’s produced much at all. But that’s a discussion for another day. Like tomorrow. The article is already written.

FOUR THINGS – WK 9 – EAGLES – BEARS

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/11/01
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, Preview, Uncategorized, X's and O's. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

WK9-CHI

THIS week is all about establishing some momentum going into our Week 10 Bye. We aren’t trying to make a statement. After all, this is only the Bears. Pushing a car already in Neutral, isn’t impressive. And this is pretty much that. The idea here is not to lose our grip, and get backed over by that same car.

With the Packers leading the NFC North at 7 – 1, and the Vikings right on their heels at 6 – 2, the 3 – 4 fourth place Bears, have to know that 2019 is already a wrap for them. Bears fans can whip out their calculators and do some magic math, but the rest of us can hear the Fat Lady clearing her throat.

While it’s highly unlikely that the giants will beat the Cowboys this week, such an outcome would put the Eagles alone atop the NFC East. So long as we also win this week. This means that we have extreme motivation, while the Bears are practically waiting for a mercy killing. Those are the stakes. So let’s get to choppin’!

So let’s talk about the Four Things we need to focus on this week versus the Bears :

1) Make OLB Mack a liability: The Bears play a 3 – 4, with Khalil Mack as a dedicated rusher at RDE/OLB. His dance partner this week will either be LT Jason Peters, fresh off an injury, or rookie LT Andre Dillard. That sounds like a problem for us, but it doesn’t have to be. Our game plan should include constant inside chipping by the RB, followed by his release into the Flat.

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The Offensive Line positions in the yellow, denotes who is responsible for blocking which defensive player.

That would allow our LT to speed up his kick slide, and get set-up quickly on the outside, without fear of being beaten quickly inside. If Mack speed rushes outside, the LT is already there. If Mack dips inside, he gets blown up by the RB, long enough for the LT to step up, latch on, and rag-doll him.

That RB in the Flat, is a quick way to punish the Bears for rushing Mack in the first place. I like the idea of using RB Jordan Howard on this.

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He’s a good pass protector, and given the bad rap that Chicago gave him as a receiver, it would be nice to see him grab 5 or 6 passes, in open space, vs a single DB.

2) Steal their crutches: The Bears awful QB throws a lot of short passes to his RB’s. This would be a great week to see one of our players jump one of those routes and take the ball back to the house. I’m looking at you OLB Nate Gerry! It would be nice to see you make a big play, OLB Kamu Grugier-Hill! Hey Malcolm! Get in the middle of one of these upcoming passes.

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This is Nelson Muntz vs Tim Cratchit. We should be able to easily take away the short game, and force a bad QB, into making some pretty dumb throws.

3) Mix it up: While their offense is a punchline, their defense is no joke. Part of that is talent, but most of it is just plain old preparation. They see what teams rely on, and they prep to take away those strengths. While we shouldn’t abandon our strengths, we should throw them a few things they haven’t seen much from us.

Seeing some 11 Personnel with rookie WR J.J. Arcega-Whiteside in the Slot, inside of WR Alshon Jeffery, would be a look that inspires the coverage to roll that way. The aforementioned 5 or 6 passes to Howard in that alignment, could be devastating.

Maybe we could run a FB trap with TE Dallas Geodert? Or maybe a play-action, TE Quick Screen out of 12 Personnel (Heavy right, motion to Twins left)? Like this:Fig3

Surely Eagles coaches are as creative as I am, right? Right?! We’ll see.

4) Toss them an anchor: Usually I like to suggest two ways to attack an opposing defense and two ways to attack their offense. However, the Bears offense is so bad, that taking way their defensive strength, should be enough to cause QB Mitch Trubisky to try and stage a rescue.

He’s like a lifeguard who can’t swim. He’s like a squeamish surgeon. He’s like a tampon made of raw, ground beef. He just makes things worse. So we’ll just take away the run, and when their team needs saving, we will present them the option of Trubisky, more Trubiskly, and only Trubisky.

If we do all these things, we’re just about guaranteed to win. Now that we’ve covered what should happen, let’s get into what likely will happen:

Defensively, the Eagles are going to make a point of taking away the run. That should get the Bears coaching staff to do some of that cute, gimmicky shit, that they love failing at so much. Rest assured, Trubisky will give us opportunities. We just have to capitalize on them, when he does.

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Offensively, HC Doug Pederson understands that we have to dictate the action to a defense as good as the Bears have. It shouldn’t shock you if he dials up a shot down the field on the opening drive. Not on the first three downs, but soon after we pick up our first first down. Expect to see the Eagles being the aggressor early in this one.

The Bears are catching us at the wrong time. I almost feel bad for them.

PREDICTION: EAGLES 27 – Bears 14

yeah-bitch

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED – WK8 – BILLS

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/10/27
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, playoffs, Reviews, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

2019 Eagles Trunk

FOR anybody who thinks less of Head Coach Doug Pederson’s ability to call a game, since the departure of Frank Reich, I present for you, Doug’s hairy ass to kiss. It may take a couple of days before you see this said elsewhere, but Doug just put on one hell of a coaching exhibition.

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It’s one thing to be 3 – 4, and put together a game plan to beat a 5 – 1 home team. It’s quite another to have to totally adjust on the fly, due to weather conditions that favored that 5 – 1 home team, and still beat the hell out of them.

EAGLES 31 – Bills 13

Rookie RB Miles Sanders (3 – 74 – 24.6 – 1 – 0 / 3 – 44 – 14.6 – 0) ripped off a 65 yard touchdown run for his first ever rushing score. He also caught all three balls thrown to him. RB Jordan Howard (23 – 96 – 4.1 – 1 – 0) spent the game battering a stout defensive interior. This should leave little question around the NFL of how much damage we could do if we committed to the run, more often.

How you see the passing game will be determined by if you’re a “glass half-full” or “glass half-empty” type. While not posting awesome stats, QB Carson Wentz (12/24 – 70.8% – 172 – 1 – 0 / 8 – 35 – 4.3 – 0 – 0) was brutally effective this week. He was a stone-cold killer out there today.

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Defensively, DT Fletcher Cox (4 – 1.5 – 0 – 1) put the interior on his shoulders, and looked to terrorize early on. LB Nate Gerry (5 – 1 – 0 – 0) was moved outside where he was able to make an immediate impact on our defensive speed. The stat sheet won’t show the plays made by SS Malcolm Jenkins (5 – 0 – 0 – 0). Given how much heat he was under this week for comments (largely true) made by a former team mate, he needed a game like this.

I hear you asking, “What about all the stuff that stats don’t reveal?” Well, that’s the reason for these “Four Things” articles. We introduce an idea of what needs addressing BEFORE the game, so that fans have to honestly answer questions about those things, AFTER the game. This helps to get us, and keep us, all on the same page.

So, of the Four Things we were looking for in this last game, what exactly did we see?

1) Play sound Defense: With the exception of a couple of hits that should have been wrap ups by FS Rod McLeod (4 – 0 – 0 – 0) the Eagles played very solid football. Gone were the million swipes at a ball, instead of getting the man on the ground. Plays on the football in the air, were crisp. Edge containment in a four man rush remains an issue, but that would solve easily by bringing five more often.

We did give WR Cole Beasley (3 – 41 – 13.6 – 1) a 14 yard scoring catch, while in Single-high, but we seemed to get it together after that, playing what looked mostly like a loose Zone. We got burned on a blitz using that. It has definite red zone potential, but were weeks away from it being playoff game ready. All in all, we did what we needed to here. (DONE)

2019Eagles 31-13.jpg

2) Force a #2 WR: Once again WR Alshon Jeffery (4 – 64 – 16.0 – 0) led the position in catches. Our #2 WR was (drum roll please…) Nelson Agholor (4 – 7 – 1.7 – 0). Combined, our WR’s caught 8 passes for 71 yards (8.8ypc), on 10 targets. We will not make the playoff this way. Something has to change, and change soon. (NOT DONE)

3) Move Gerry outside: This happened. I was surprised when I saw the starting line-up had LB Nate Gerry at OLB instead of MLB. Rookie LB T.J. Edwards (1 – 0 – 0 – 0) instead got the start inside. This is exactly what I said we needed to do, and it yielded the results that I suspected that it would.

Edwards didn’t look very good, but he’s a rookie who is more familiar with being a traditional 4-3 MLB. The Wide Nine concept we play moves the MLB around much more, and pulls him out of the middle of the box. This is largely why the Bills QB was able to motor-motor putt-putt for 44 yards on 8 carries.

No matter. Gerry made play after play on the perimeter and that was the point. Move him from being a glaring liability to a decisive advantage. (DONE)

2016 Mack Truck

4) Let’s be assholes: The idea was to tire out their big guys in the middle, and then hit them with the power run game later. What did we do? Well, shit. You’d think I wrote the Eagles game plan this week.

We came out with a no-huddle. We ran Agholor on a jet-sweep. Hit Sanders with a neat little Screen pass. All in the first quarter! By the time we started hammering them with Howard, he was Optimus Prime mowing down defenders as the reflected off his grill. We not only did this, we did the hell out of this. (DONE)

This weeks Four Things score is 3 of 4. That brings our annual tally to 15 of 32. That’s still a sub .500 mark, which explains how we’re sitting at 4 – 4 halfway through the year. Next weeks game against the Bears gives us a chance to get over .500 in both regards. We’ll see how it goes.

On The Whole:

The 31 – 13 score looks way more dominant than it actually was. We nearly went into the half down 3 – 7, until a stupid mistake by Buffalo, led to our first touchdown of the game. We were up to our standard of play for the third quarter, and by the time the smoke cleared, Buffalo’s lack of offensive talent was looking at an insurmountable 13 – 24 deficit.

Looking at the game honestly, there were a number of things to be concerned about if you’re an Eagles fan.

For instance, how is Nelson Agholor the second best WR on this team? Doesn’t that have to mean that everyone beyond him is absolute trash? If we have better than, or equal to Agholor, then we need to start seeing that motherfucker get 4 or 5 targets in a game.

What about OLB Kamu Grugier-Hill (2 – 0 – 0 – 0)? What exactly is his ‘thing’? Is he a pass rusher, a ball-hawk? What is the thing we’re expecting out of him, besides two tackles per game? As a starter.

This isn’t to say that I’m unhappy with this win. It IS to say that with 8 games in the books, the playoff push is officially underway. It’s a subject now. Not so much seeding, not home-field advantage. But division leaders and wild cards, are definitely up for discussion now.

If we’re to get into that discussion, we need to tighten up some of these issues, tout suite.

FOUR THINGS – WK 8 – EAGLES – BILLS

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/10/24
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, Preview. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

WK8-BUF

THIS isn’t a “bounce back” game. It’s not a “must win” game. This is a “must play” game. Our Eagles need to show up. All the way up. We’ve seen what happens when they don’t.

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Our team got shit-canned two weeks in a row. It’s not glamorous, but it’s been known to happen in sports. There is nothing wrong, or undignified in us falling down. The mark of character, is in what happens when we get back up.

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We are 3 – 4, one game behind in the division, and attempting to right the ship. The Eagles have made a few roster moves to alter the chemistry of what we have on the field. It’s less of an overhaul, and more of a tinkering.

The Bills come in boasting a 5 – 1 record that’s little more than a propped up scheme, made to deceive, odds takers and gamble fiends, who don’t do homework. But that’s not the church you worship at. So, let’s get to choppin’ this fable.

6 – 27. That, is the combined record of the five teams that Buffalo has beaten. Not one of the teams they’ve beaten is .500. Two of them have no wins at all (Miami 0 – 6, Cincy 0 – 7). Oh, and most of them have been close. Buffalo’s billed as a defensive powerhouse, but really, their opponents would have had trouble scoring in a whorehouse.

So let’s talk about the Four Things we need to focus on this week versus the Bills:

1) Play sound Defense: The Bills don’t have any players that make defensive coaches lose sleep. The receivers are quick, but not fast. The RB is strong, but he’s 80. The line is big, but allows sacks. The QB is mobile, but he shares the football. We just need to play tighter coverage, and wrap up when we tackle. That’s it. Even with our “meh” LB’s, we have enough defensive talent to defuse their offense.

2) Force a #2 WR: Part of what’s killing us isn’t just the lack of a deep threat, but being able to stretch the field horizontally, to create wider lanes for the run game and space for the TE’s inside. In addition to WR Alshon Jeffery, QB Carson Wentz is going to have to “manufacture” a #2 WR. Pick a WR and get him a few passes near the sideline.

3) Move Gerry outside:

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MLB (LOL!) Nate Gerry has two straight starts at MLB, and in both games we gave up at least 37 points, and got shelled vs the run. Hey remember who was in the middle for Redskin RB Adrian Peterson’s 90yard TD run against us? Wow! Your memory is excellent! Nate can’t play MLB. As in, period. As in, at all. He just isn’t man enough. Great WS/NLB, but he’s a doormat inside. Put T.J. Edwards there, and move Gerry outside where his ‘tweenerness, is less of a liability.

4) Let’s be assholes: Buffalo has a huge defensive interior. Big, strong, powerful, bulky guys. Guys who can anchor against a running attack, and bull-rush their way to pressure. Let’s get those porky fuckers running laterally. RB Screens, backside TE Screens, play-action… Let’s tire these fat bastards out early, get them sucking wind, and then beat them with a power run-game in the second half. Let the world watch us win by picking on some fat guys. You know, essentially body-shaming full-grown men, in front of a stadium full of children. And their kids.

If we do all these things, we’re just about guaranteed to win. Now that we’ve covered what should happen, let’s get into what likely will happen:

More loose coverage. Bills QB Josh Allen throws for a season-high 280 yards. WR Nelson Agholor gets to watch WR J.J. Arcega-Whiteside eat into some of his snaps, and see a few targets from Wentz. RB Jordan Howard will see few than 15 carries, but finally break one for 20 yards. The 6’5 237 pound QB who turns the ball over the most, will lose.

We had a stumble, but we are not done. Not by a damned sight.

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PREDICTION: EAGLES 28 – Bills 23

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