Coaching

FIXING THE DJAX PROBLEM

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/10/07
Posted in: Coaching, Offense, Players, Rants. Tagged: , , , , , . 7 Comments

New York Jets v Philadelphia Eagles

 

IN my last article I showed you the hidden culprit behind why our Offense isn’t nearly as lethal or as machine-like as it was last year. Most fans want to chalk it up to injuries on the Offensive Line and look no further than that. That is a mistake.

It’s true that the Offensive Line being beat-up affects what kind of holes RB LeSean McCoy gets to run through, and the time that QB Nick Foles gets in the pocket. However when McCoy breaks the line of scrimmage and STILL can’t get himself free like he could last year, that’s not the O-line. When Foles steps into a pass that sails too high, or too long, that’s not the O-line. In fact who do you “blame” for Foles holding the ball too long? And the O-line has nothing to do with WR Riley Cooper going off a cliff.

What all these things have in common is the absence of DeSean Jackson. He was shown the door and no one bothered to replace him. By replacing him I don’t just mean getting a fast WR. We don’t need to replace what he could do, we needed to replace what he caused to happen.

Teams didn’t line up their FS 15-20 yards deep just because of his 4.4 speed. He also could change direction in a flash, has fairly reliable hands, and unlike a lot of 4.4 guys, can run the NFL route tree. As a result, teams warped their defenses to try to compensate and not make scoring TD’s too easy for Jackson

While we don’t have anyone on the roster with Jackson’s individual abilities, we do have a guy who can warp a defense: RB Darren Sproles. He’s every bit as dangerous in space a Jackson was, break tackles better, and can run most NFL routes from the WR position.

Put in motion to the slot, you can bet your ass a Safety would follow him out there. It’s not like you can cover Sproles with a Linebacker. Instead of a Safety playing extra deep, you have one playing extra shallow. And it’s still a warped defense isn’t it? And you know…when that Safety comes down, someone on the outside has a 1-on-1. That leaves a lot of options for Foles to place a ball.

You could do this in multiple formations, with multiple packages…It doesn’t have to be a restrictive number of plays at all.

So that’s it. You motion Sproles out like he used to do in New Orleans. (Man do they miss HIM!) That’s how you create space for McCoy and Cooper. That’s how you give Foles wider windows to throw to. That’s how you solve the DeSean Jackson problem.

Tomorrow I’ll talk about problem #2.

 

THE OFFENSE’S UNSPOKEN PROBLEM

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/10/06
Posted in: Coaching, Offense, Rants. Tagged: , , , . 9 Comments

players-foles+mccoy550px eagledelphia

IT’S easy to blame the Offensive Line for the mess that our Offense has become, and while they shoulder part of the responsibility, the Offensive Line isn’t overthrowing WR’s, or dropping passes. The Offensive Line isn’t holding onto the ball too long, or dancing around before it hits the hole. We have other problems.

Of course, the first step to fixing any problem is correctly identifying it.

The first problem (nope, no foreplay), is that we’re missing DeSean Jackson. Or more accurately, Nick Foles is missing DeSean Jackson. And Riley Cooper is missing DeSean Jackson. And so is LeSean McCoy.

Last year in 10 starts Nick Foles got to just lay the ball out there, knowing Jackson has the speed to get under it. In case after case this year, we’ve seen that Foles no longer has a WR who can do that. That’s where all those rainbow shots are coming from, as Foles tries to put enough air under the ball to allow who he has left, to run under the ball. The result has been more than twice the interceptions in half the starts, compared to last year. You may say you don’t miss Jackson, but the numbers don’t lie. Nick Foles misses DeSean Jackson.

Let’s take drops out of the equation. Last year Riley Cooper averaged 17.8 yards per catch, and generally caught balls with lots of space around him. This year the coverage is tighter and he’s averaging a meager 8.3 yard per catch. I had a laugh when Chip Kelly said that aside from Calvin Johnson, no WR in the NFL sees double coverage. I’ll give Kelly the benefit of the doubt and say that instead of lying to make the loss of Jackson more palatable for fans, he merely doesn’t recognize bracket coverage when he sees it. Regardless of which one it is, Cooper is no longer the beneficiary of loose coverage. At this rate by season’s end, his new, over-inflated, NON-GUARANTEED contract won’t be commensurate with his play and will be expendable. I promise you, right about now DeSean Jackson is one n***** Cooper misses.

When the Free Safeties of most defenses you face, line up almost in the parking lot on most downs, it makes turning short runs into long runs much easier. On runs when LeSean McCoy can make it out of the backfield, he has plenty of those short runs to his credit. Problem is, there isn’t much space for him to create now. Now all the dancing around people loved about him last year, is getting him hemmed in most of the time this year. LeSean McCoy misses DeSean Jackson.

Getting rid of Jackson was one thing, but assuming that you didn’t have to replace his effect as a catalyst was outright foolish. But again, this is just to identify the problem. We don’t have a player on the roster who can do what Jackson did (try as Jeremy Maclin might). But there are things we can do to get us back on track, and what’s more, we can do it with guys we already have under contract.

And I’ll get into that, starting tomorrow.

EAGLES FAN WEIGHS IN

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/09/25
Posted in: Coaching, Conspiracy Corner, Fans, NFL. Tagged: , , , . 14 Comments

the big bird

 

EAGLES TO FINISH 7-9???

 

MONEY in my pocket, my team is 3-0, free time and I’m out of the house. Sound good right?

After running some errands today I decided to show my face at the bar and have a screwdriver. Of course Rhodie was there holding court over why they will never get around to doing the part of the Broad Street Line that’s supposed to go from Broad and Erie, up the Boulevard and out to Grant. (Really. That’s actually a thing.)

Upon seeing me, discussions about city planning were shelved, and people started acting like I was Paul Domowich or somebody. Except I still had to pay for my booze.

People almost never get to stick it to Rhodie, because he’s usually right about sports, but I had to rib him on that whole “7-9 if we’re lucky” prediction. I started right in with “We’re 3-0, you flea covered coot!” Out of respect I didn’t take out my tape recorder because sticking it to him is one thing, but recording it would be too much like trying to embarrass him. Then he says: “Get your recorder out.”

I don’t even get a question in and he starts. “So you think 3-0 seals the deal? We’re 3-0 so everything is perfect? I seen what you wrote on your site about us playin’ shit teams, and the problems we got. I saw what you wrote about the practices and how the players feel like they’re being worked too damned hard. What do you think happens when they get a decent team, and they fall back by 20 early?”

He had me there. I’m glad for the 3-0 record, but I’m under no illusions about it and how we came by it. But 7-9? C’mon man. I offered him the chance to adjust his prediction.

“Adjust my prediction? What, are you doing me a favor? 7-9 like I said. I rooted for this team even before the coach was born, before the Linc, before the Vet, before any of the candy asses who read newspapers on a computer. I know a train wreck coming when I see one. Chip Kelly didn’t re-invent football, it just that fewer and fewer people know anything about it.”

I happen to TOTALLY agree with that by the way. Leave it to Rhodie to say in a sentence what most of us writers can’t say in a page. But a train wreck? I asked him about that.

“The players feel overworked. As long as they’re winning, everyone’s gonna talk about how good Kelly practice style is. Other teams are gonna try to duplicate it…You see where it goes? The players have to make Kelly see what he’s doing don’t work.”

He was suggesting that players would throw games to force Kelly to change. I told him he was nuts to think that.

“It don’t all have to be quit. That’s the thing. If he’s running them down, it’ll show up anyway, both in guys who bought in and guys who didn’t. Throw in just a few downs where some of ‘em give less than 100%, and people over his head are gonna ask him some tough questions, and tell him to make some changes. Something you left out in your other article there. These guys are multimillion dollar investments. Those bodies are investments. This ain’t college.”

I’d like to dismiss it, but I remember Rich Kotite’s last year here, when the team quit on him to finish (ironically) 7-9, primarily because they didn’t like how he was running things. Sometimes perspective is a gift. Other times it’s a curse. Especially when others lack it. Once again Rhodie had schooled the ‘young buck’. And this time he used my own words and convictions to do it.

I’ll be watching for signs of quit now. Funny, just a day ago it wasn’t even on my mind.

EAGLES NEWS 9/23/14

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/09/23
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Players. Tagged: , . 9 Comments

Cheer: Philadelphia-Eagles-Logo

 

CARY WILLIAMS VS CHIP KELLY

 

“I believe we’re the freshest team in the fourth quarter,” Kelly said. “I think if you look at what we’re doing in the fourth quarter of games I thought our defense came up huge. Malcolm Jenkins (two) weeks in a row with interceptions in the fourth quarter was big for us. To force them after that short punt to go four straight downs and out at the end of the game and they were close to being in field goal range. I thought the way our whole team played in the fourth quarter obviously shows what type of conditioning we have.”

 +++++

When Williams was asked this, “We do things differently here, we play a game before the game,” Williams said. “You have to be politically correct all of the time, at all times. You take those words with a grain of salt from last year. My legs hurt. My legs were done in the fourth quarter, in the third quarter, before the game started. I sat out a couple of days and that still didn’t work, because they’re so taxing on us during the week.”

A few other players agreed with Williams, just nodding in agreement, but refusing to comment further. “Let’s just say I’m spent when Sundays come, because it feels as if you’re playing two games in a week,” one player said, nodding his head ‘yes’ when asked if Williams was on to something.

  +++++

BEFORE Chip Kelly was hired there was a lot made of his conditioning program. At that point Eaglemaniacal.com didn’t exist, and I was still posting articles on another site. In one of those articles (back in early 2013), I voiced a concern for this very situation.

I made the point of saying that I was concerned about the long term effects of Kelly’s training program on professional players, because there are factors that make things so much different at this level than college. For instance in college:

  • Rosters are double the size of an NFL roster. Kelly’s 2012 roster had 105 players on it. 
  • Players cycle through for stays of no more than 4 years
  • Players are almost always between the ages of 18 and 23
  • Players face sliding scales of talent week to week

Like a used car just off the lot, NFL rookies already have quite a bit of wear and tear on them. They may be new to their NFL team, but they carry with them all the scars from all the battles and surgeries that came before their first pro game.

If a rookie isn’t pristine, imagine what condition veterans of different ages could be in. And now you want to run a 29 year old NFL veteran the way you would a 20 year old college sophomore? It has to be understood that there’s a price to be paid for that.

CB Cary Williams is speaking up about that price, since it’s his body that’s paying for it. According to the previously cited report and LaDanian Tomlinson on NFL Network last night, other players feel the same, but aren’t quite ready to say so yet. Then again maybe they don’t need to.

Last year many players attributed their good health to the training program, while many attributed it to luck. This year with the same program, the EAGLES are seeing an awful lot of injuries, awfully early. That’s not to say or imply that the training program is causing the injuries, just to point out that it’s not preventing them. So that said, why beat your own roster up so much?

The answer is simple: The Defense’s experience is a byproduct of conditioning the Offense to run the system. To run a system that moves this quickly you (duh) of course need players in shape enough to stay on the move. The caveat is that running players this hard is like any other thing you put a human body through, the effects are cumulative.

All over the roster.

The NFL season is a marathon not a sprint. We got out to a fast 3-0, but there is no law that states we will another game this season. Those wins must be earned. Traditionally teams that don’t finish strong don’t generally see the postseason. May not hurt to listen to the veteran.

 

I’M EXPECTING FIREWORKS

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/09/18
Posted in: Coaching, Front Office (F.O.), Offense, Players. Tagged: , , , , . 5 Comments
desean-and-chip1.section215

Courtesy of Section215.com

DeSEAN Jackson even while nursing an injured shoulder, has no intention of missing this game. This will be his first time setting foot on Lincoln Financial Field in a jersey without an EAGLE on it. There’ll be the desire to make the EAGLES pay for casting him aside. There’ll be the need to show the organization just what they gave up.

Gave away.

For nothing.

That’s the part that has to burn him the most. So make no mistake he’ll want revenge. He’ll be angry. But mark my words, there’ll be some sadness too. Nothing, NOTHING about his demeanor on the subject indicates he’s at peace with this yet.

 

On the other side we have Jeremy Maclin, Riley Cooper, and Chip Kelly, each with something to prove.

Maclin is on a one-year deal to prove he can be a #1 WR. Cooper has to prove that he’s legit WR who doesn’t need Jackson on the other side for him to be a factor in a game. But those are smaller personal goals.

The real challenge is reserved for Chip Kelly. Kelly has to prove that releasing Jackson wasn’t a mistake. That we can not only get along fine without him, but that he can’t be used to hurt us.

Kelly cannot afford to let Jackson come here and give us fits; and he cannot allow his starters to be outplayed. What I’m saying here, is that Sunday the EAGLES have to put on a show.

I quite frankly, am looking forward to it.

2014 FINAL ROSTER PREDICTION

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/08/25
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Front Office (F.O.), Offense, Players, Roster. Tagged: , , . 17 Comments

the big bird

KEEP in mind I’m a fan. I have no more inside information that you do, I just have a kick-ass record of being right about these things.

This Final Roster Prediction is just a guess based off of what Chip Kelly did last year. Imagine you and I were having a beer and giving our take on the roster. That’s all this is. So don’t be an asshole if I don’t nail all 53 of these.

 

Special Teams: (3)
K: (1) Alex Henery – There just isn’t enough known about the other Kickers on the roster. Foolishly one wasn’t allowed to kick in any game, and the other was brought over so late, there’s no way of knowing if he’s better or worse.

P: (1) Donnie Jones – He’s the only Punter on the roster.

LS: (1) Jon Dorenbos – He’s the only Long Snapper on the roster.

 

Offense: (26)

QB: (3) Nick Foles, Mark Sanchez, Matt Barkley – Foles is your starter and Sanchez has demonstrated a quick command of this system. If he isn’t traded to the Rams, he’s the #2. If he is then Barkley has a leg up on anybody they could bring in.

RB: (4) LeSean McCoy, Darren Sproles, Henry Josey, Matt Tucker – I’m thinking 4 because last year Kelly went with 4. I’m thinking Josey because all he did was make plays. I’m thinking Tucker over Chris Polk, because Tucker has been solid while Polk hasn’t played a down this preseason and has trouble staying healthy.

WR: (6) Jeremy Maclin, Riley Cooper, Jordan Matthews, Josh Huff, Damaris Johnson, Jeff Maehl – I doubt Johnson makes the roster if Huff still isn’t hurt, but if he still is we need a KR. Maehl went to Oregon.

TE: (3) Brent Celek, Zach Ertz, James Casey – Rookie Trey Burton is more versatile and a better fit in this offense, but cutting Casey carries too much of a Dead Money penalty to justify over a 3rd string player.

OT: (5) Lane Johnson, Jason Peters, Allen Barbre, Dennis Kelly, Matt Tobin – Last year we kept 4 but Barbre was listed as a Guard. Aside from that this is the exact same group.

G: (3) Evan Mathis, Todd Herremans, Julian Vandervelde – Vanderveld is listed as Center on the EAGLES roster, but he was a Guard in college, and this preseason has lined up at Guard when the back-up Center has been in.

C: (2) Jason Kelce, David Molk – There’s wiggle room all over the O-line as some players have no hard positional designation. That’s a strength among 3rd stringers, not 2nd. Molk on the other hand is a Center. Period.

 

DEFENSE: (24)

DE: (4) Cedric Thornton, Fletcher Cox, Taylor Hart, Brandon Bair – Kelly flat out let Hart know he’d made it. As much as I’d like Vinny Curry to make it, the deck has been stacked against him.

DT: (2) Bennie Logan, Beau Allen – Allen hasn’t shown anything that says if he has to step up, he can. But the coaching staff likes him and they get to make the call.

LB: (8) Trent Cole, Connor Barwin, Marcus Smith, DeMeco Ryans, Mychal Kendricks, Bryan Braman, Casey Matthews, Emmanuel Acho – The last 3 will stick for Special Teams.

S: (4) Malcom Jenkins, Nate Allen, Earl Wolff, Chris Maragos – Kept 6 last year, but CB offers some flexibility so 6 aren’t necessary now.

CB: (6) Cary Williams, Brandon Fletcher, Brandon Boykin, Nolan Carroll, Curtis Marsh, Jaylen Watkins – Many want Marsh gone, but when you read his bio on the EAGLES site and compare it with the one of Roc Carmicheal, it tells you what the organization thinks of each man.

 

So there it is. Again it’s just a guess. Injury or trade however, could change any of this.

Just a bit of gossip: As of this moment  (8:07 a.m. Monday 8.25.14), Sanchez hasn’t been traded to the Rams and has said he doesn’t want be. I (like most of you), am hoping we don’t do it. But if we do, hopefully we get our grubby mitts on QB Shaun Hill as part of the deal.

THE FIRST WAVE OF EAGLES CUTS

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/08/24
Posted in: Coaching, Front Office (F.O.), Players, Rants. Tagged: , , , . 3 Comments

chippah!

 

LOT has happened in the 24 hours. For one thing I haven’t slept yet.  Oh yeah, and then of course, yesterday 14 EAGLES players learned that their dreams of playing in the NFL may be totally dead, when they were cut from the roster in the first of two waves of cutdowns (August 26th and August 30th).

None of the guys who were cut were big losses for the team, but there’s something about these cuts that’s really irritating me. Most of my followers already know what it is.

It’s the Ducks.

No! You know what? It’s not the Ducks. It’s the blatant favoritism shown by Chip Kelly towards the Ducks (his former players). It’s not production that has kept them here, so let’s not delude ourselves into thinking this is a “comfort level with the system” thing. In fact, let me get you some examples.

Of the players cut here’s how they matched up against their Oregon counterparts who still have jobs:

 

WR:

STAYED:                   CUT:

Jeff Maehl                  B.J. Cunningham

Will Murphy                Kadron Boone

 

DE:

STAYED:                   CUT:

Brandon Bair            Frances Mays

Taylor Hart               Alexandro Villanueva

.                                Joe Kruger

 

LB:

STAYED:                   CUT:

Josh Kaddu                 Jake Knott

 

Knott was cut due to a numbers crunch and an upcoming 4 week PED suspension, but in each of these cases, the guys cut out performed at least one of the Oregon guys who got to stay. This wrong. merit is not deciding these battles. 

Maybe it’s the caffeine talking, but if you add to this the continued benching of Vinny Curry (just because DC Bill Davis keeps underestimating him), it feels a lot like we may not be putting our best guys on the field. If we can do that and manage to still win the division, hey who am I to argue? But if we fall short this year with all of these iffy players on the roster, Kelly shouldn’t be allowed a 3rd year here.

 

CAN MARCUS SMITH BE REACHED?

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/08/20
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Draft, Players. Tagged: , , . 13 Comments

NFL: Preseason-Philadelphia Eagles at New England Patriots

CHIP Kelly says that rookie OLB Marcus Smith needs to be more productive. Despite playing more than 70 snaps against the Patriots, Smith logged only 1.5 tackles. While Smith wasn’t brought here to fill up a boxscore, spending a first round pick on him means they need to get him to make plays sooner rather than later.

Soon after this year’s Draft, Kelly pooh-poohed the idea that Smith might have been a reach. However with Smith so far playing like the early 3rd rounder he was projected as, you wonder if Kelly may be rethinking that stance.

I said in this week’s Breakdown: “Chip Kelly is about to learn the value of having elite talent at this level”. Specifically because his rivals have added some and he hasn’t.

So far in the last two Drafts we’ve shied away from adding any top shelf talent to the Defense and it’s showing. Defensively the last two Drafts look like: (2013) Bennie Logan, Earl Wolff, Joe Kruger, David King, (2014) Marcus Smith, Jaylen Watkins, Taylor Hart, Ed Reynolds, and Beau Allen.

You see any earth shakers there? Me either. In fact, all I see is one starter.

It is waaaay too early to call Smith a bust, or to even start that conversation; and NO that isn’t what this is. That is not being said here, so let’s not go there.

What is being said here, is that Smith was a reach who was graded where he was, (late 2nd -4th round) by most teams for a reason. His lack of production is indicative of that. Particularly because even with such a low grade, he was selected early despite plans to switch him from DE to OLB. (He was a rush LB in 2011, and DE in 2012 and 2013). Even by itself that switch-up is enough to classify him as a project; and you don’t take a project with the 26th pick.

Sadly, Marcus Smith is doing exactly what he should be doing under the circumstances. He’s struggling. I hope for his sake that he’s able to figure things out, before the “B” word starts dogging him, simply because someone else reached.

“YES, WE HAVE TONY ROMO!”

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/08/18
Posted in: Coaching, Front Office (F.O.), Players. Tagged: , , , , . 9 Comments

henery miss

REPORTS out of EAGLES practices say that rookie Kicker Carey “Murderleg” Spear looks bad compared to veteran Alex Henery. This could be why Spear has so far not gotten an opportunity to swing his leg during live action so far.

I call bullshit on that.

Before I go into it, let me say that I’m not surprised that Henery has won this job. I said he would (SEE HERE). I wasn’t happy about it when I said it, but I could see the handwriting on the wall; and when I see something coming, it’s my job to share it with you whether I like it or not.

I thought that Spear would at least get a chance to lose the job. Instead it looks like Chip Kelly is fine with releasing a guy who he hasn’t even looked at in live fire. I mean if Henery can look good in practice but suck in games, why not take a chance that Spear may be better when the lights come on? It’s unlikely, but that’s partly what preseason is for, right?

Of course if Spear out-shined Henery, the Kicker position would suddenly be a decision that has to be actively weighed amidst a bunch of others. This may be drama that Kelly would rather avoid. However as far as most of us fans are concerned, Kicker has been a decision worth actively weighing for years now; because while Henery’s career percentages are stellar, he never fails to fail in big moments.

The idea of a Kicker who only misses important FG’s is terrifying. You want a Kicker who’s clutch, but we don’t have that. Currently we have the Tony Romo of Kickers. Yes, we have Tony Romo! The guy who statistically should be the answer to your prayers, but who in clutch moments is the biggest liability on the roster. Yeah, we have that guy.

My hope was that Spear would push Henery, and that through mentoring Spear, Henery would go back to doing the little things. That didn’t happen. In fact if there was anything for Henery to take away from this, it’s that no matter how many times he fails us, there will always be a home here for Tony Romo.

THE TRUE MEANING OF PRESEASON

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/08/17
Posted in: Coaching, Fans, Players. Tagged: , , . 1 Comment

santa akyroyd

HO HO HO!  I bring you the gift of Knowledge! 

Mostly because the Win/Loss record doesn’t count; and in part because players are shuttled in and out, lots of fans are under the impression that the preseason doesn’t mean anything. You get people coughing up hairball wisdom with statements like:

 THEY RUN VANILLA SCHEMES SO THEY DON’T GIVE ANYTHING AWAY.

Yeah. BOTH teams do that. Actually, all teams do that. You know if these people listened to what they had just said, they’d be MORE concerned instead of less. If both teams are playing vanilla (basic) football, then what you’re seeing is player vs the player. It’s skill for skill. You vs me, without all the trickery. If your guys are getting beat at basic football, your team has a problem.

THE STARTERS ONLY PLAYED A SERIES OR TWO.

For players part of the point of preseason is to shake off rust. The other part is to get comfortable with any improvements or changes over what they did last year. In football more reps is better. Fewer reps only mean more miscommunications and bad reads when the games count.

WE ONLY LOOKED BAD BECAUSE THIS GUY OR THAT GUY DIDN’T PLAY.

Holding out players for precautionary reasons is part of preseason games. If that exposes a lack of depth, teams know to make moves to shore it up. If they see they have a glut of players at one position they have trade bait. You can’t find that out without playing these games.

IT’S NOT LIKE THESE GAMES COUNT.

Ask Curtis Marsh if these games don’t count. Ask former EAGLE Kurt Coleman if these games don’t count. Coaches across the NFL use these games as an evaluation tool to determine whether or not a man can make his living playing NFL football. If your job hinged on your boss evaluating less than 4 hours of your performance, would you say those 4 hours were meaningless? I highly doubt it. Every time you watch one of these “meaningless” games that’s exactly what’s going on.

Any fan who thinks of the preseason as a preview of the regular season is likely one of these:

  1. Under 13
  2. New to the sport
  3. An absolute idiot

 DO NOT assume that a good preseason means a good regular season. Quite often it means the exact opposite. Step back and just do what the coaches are doing: Look at the players.

By the way, did you see my letter to MY HATERS? That shit is delicious!