Front Office (F.O.)

THERE IS NO PLAN.

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/01/09
Posted in: Conspiracy Corner, Conversations, Crazy Talk, Fans, Front Office (F.O.), Offense, Players, playoffs, Roster, Super Bowl, trade. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

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MY position a couple weeks ago, had QB Carson Wentz starting, and QB Nick Foles returning to the bench, if the Eagles made these 2018-2019 NFL playoffs. It was the only thing that made sense out of not putting Wentz on Injured Reserve after he was found to have fractures in his back. After all, you keep an athlete active to play him. If he isn’t going to play at all, you shut him down for the year, and put him on IR. That’s how this game works. It’s no-brainer kind of stuff.

Wentz playing in these playoffs seemed like a given, due to several (still pertinent) factors:

1) The Eagles need to evaluate how much money they’re going to pay Wentz on his extension.

2) Wentz’s contract will likely set the new market.

3) Raiders QB Derek Carr missed one game with this injury in 2017, and Lions QB Matt Stafford missed zero games with this injury in 2018. (Wentz missing these last FOUR games indicates that he’s not as tough or as hungry to compete.)

All those things can be thrown out the window, if the Eagles have already decided that Wentz’s next contract isn’t their problem. In which case, you shut him down to avoid any distraction, and chart a clear course with Foles. Again, this is all no-brainer stuff.

Unless of course, the Front Office expectation was that Foles was going to flop against Chicago’s #1 ranked defense. Had that happened, it could be stated that there is no “Foles magic”, that there’s nothing to see, and we can move on.

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If that’s what the FO wanted, it completely blew up in their faces with a clutch touchdown drive, followed by a miraculous, unheard of, tipped and double doinked field goal miss.

NOW the problem is, with every playoff win, the notion of Foles magic grows exponentially. The farther we go, the harder it will be to get this fan base to accept Wentz again as the starter, with out half of the base calling it a step backwards.

Should Foles win another Super Bowl this year, shipping him out, or (finding a way to afford him and) sitting him behind Wentz again, sets Wentz up as a sham QB. In fact, if we repeat, anything short of Wentz winning one next year, says that the Eagles are where we were before we drafted Wentz. Searching for a QB who can deliver.

The only way out of this, is for Wentz to play and win in these playoffs. That’s it. At that point Foles isn’t magic, and Wentz isn’t magic, the Eagles are magic. Nothing short of that gets the whole fan base all on one bus, and allows Foles to leave here and Wentz to stay here smoothly.

Short of a Wentz  won SB in 2019 or 2020, Head Coach Doug Pederson can look forward to the remainder of his tenure being marred by questions about whether Wentz is over-paid, and if his bosses goofed when they took away the only magic this franchise has ever laid claim to.

Not a good look.

JOHN DEFILIPPO’S RETURN TO PHILLY

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/12/12
Posted in: Coaching, Conspiracy Corner, Conversations, Front Office (F.O.), Offense. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

(article)NEWS FLASH!!!

FOR all those who think the Eagles offensive woes are due to losing two offensive coaches, I have an important update: One of them has already been fired, and he didn’t even last 14 games into his new gig.

 

Minnesota just shit-canned Offensive Coordinator John DeFilippo, and already Eagles fans are screaming that we should hire him back. This seems weird to me. Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against the man. All evidence points to him having been good at his job, when he was a QB coach here.

My issue comes with the staggering level of self-deluding, that’s required to think such a move solves anything for this team. I’m alternatingly disgusted, and then morbidly fascinated by it. Instead of taking a hard look in the mirror and fixing what’s wrong, some fans seem to think a spin in the “Way Back Machine” will fix everything.

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It won’t. It won’t because it can’t. I realize this makes me the resident buzz-kill, but the band will not be getting back together. The sooner someone says it, the sooner we can let go of the damaged mess we are today, and do the small handful of things needed to be the awesome dynasty we are meant to be. Again, it is a SMALL handful. (Irony is using all caps to write the word “small”.)

Frank Reich will not be coming back. His Colts team looks to be about to make the playoffs, and even if they somehow miss them, the ownership has to be thrilled with how he’s resurrected their franchise and it’s QB. So Reich ain’t coming back.

Reich not coming back means that we will have a different OC than we did during our Super Bowl run. So who should be our OC? DeFilippo? All indications are that he was a good QB coach, but he bombed as an OC, both in Cleveland and Minny. Duce Staley? That would be  a great move, but the Eagles already passed on him. Mike Groh? Well that wouldn’t be a change at all, would it?

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No. No it wouldn’t.

So do we bring in DeFilippo to be a position coach again, just so he can bail the next time a better job offer comes along? I mean he did walk away from a chance to repeat, right? And he did it quickly too!

You know what? Fine. Devil’s Advocate. Let’s say he gets brought back. Does that change the play-calling? Nope. Does it change the personnel groupings? Nope. How about the overall offensive concept? Well, to make the QB more comfortable, that could be tweaked in places, but by and large, nope.

Look, integrating a new OC meant there was going to be a drop-off. No one thought it would be quite this steep, but these things happen. They do. Also, keep in mind that the same awesome offensive staff from the Super Bowl, was 7 – 9 the season before. So relax. Show some patience. Let the new regime re-tool and grow.

If we add DeFilippo: “Hey, welcome back bro”. If not: “Hey, good luck fella”. Either way we can make it work. We’re going to make it work, because that’s who we are. We just have few small things we need to do, to get this ship righted. At that point, we can start working on our dynasty.

2018 SEASON REVIEW: QUARTER THREE

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/12/08
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, Front Office (F.O.), NFC East, NFL, Offense, Players, playoffs, Reviews, Roster, Special Teams, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

SEASON Reviews are usually done at the end of the season. (Duh, right?) A few are done at the halfway mark, and/or at the end. Starting in 2017, Eaglemaniacal.com began treating the season like a game, and breaking it into four quarters. Since football is a hard sport, we’ll take a hard look, at where our team stands at the moment (in relation to where it started), and where it needs to go.

STATUS: 6 – 6 overall, 3 – 1 division, 4 – 5 conference, 2nd in the NFC East

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OPPONENTS:

L: Dallas (7 – 5)

L: New Orleans (10 – 2)

W: New York Giants (4 – 8)

W: Washington Redskins (6 – 6)

OVERVIEW:

Find a run game! Three of our next 4 games are division rivals, and we can’t beat them if we can’t run.

That was the stated mission for this quarter, and we’ve done that over the last couple of weeks. The result was two straight wins for the first time this season. Offensively the Eagles seem to have found a balance, and therefore a rhythm, which has eluded our team for most of the season.

Injuries have been a huge problem for the second year in a row, but the team looks as if it’s coping now. Players (particularly on Defense), asked the coaches to simplify things within the schemes, and it’s been paying off. Especially in the Secondary. It remains to be seen if we can apply these lessons to teams who are above .500. for example, though Washington was 6 – 5 when we encountered them, they were a team in free-fall, that had lost 3 of it’s previous 4 games. We need to beat a team in good standing. Lucky for us, we get 3 in a row starting Sunday.

GRADES:

QB: (C) Aside from an abysmal game at New Orleans, Carson Wentz has been solid this quarter. Not great, but solid. That being said, forcing the ball to a new WR, leaning on the TE, rarely throwing the deep ball, and not using his legs to pick up cheap yardage, has marred this quarter for him. He’s been competent, but if we’re going to get to and win playoff games, then we need to see him be spectacular.

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RB: (B) Elevating rookie Josh Adams and ending the Wendell Smallwood experiment, may have saved the season. The Eagles now have a legitimate rushing attack, and are now balanced because of it. Darren Sproles has just made his way off the injured list, and into the end zone, and Corey Clement looks to be fully healed from his quad injury. (Tidbit: We are 5 – 0 in games where Clement has double digit carries.) This unit isn’t as dangerous as it was a year ago, but it’s a damned sight better than it was a month ago.

TE: (A) We have Zach Ertz. Like legs in a brothel, he’s always open. With 93 grabs already, he’s the second leading receiver in the NFL. As if that wasn’t enough, we have rookie Dallas Goedert, who is already better than some starters in this league.

WR: (D) Alshon Jeffrey hasn’t reached 49 yards in any of the last 5 games. The deep ball has disappeared from our arsenal. Attempts to force-feed the ball to Golden Tate have (until this last game) been a dismal failure. Nelson Agholor needs to be switched out for Jordan Matthews in the slot.

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OT: (C) Jason Peters is giving everything he has. It seems unfair that he should have to go through this, but I don’t want to be the guy who attempts to drag him off the field. He’ll play until he can’t. Lane Johnson has had better seasons. Still waiting to see him assert his will on that right side. Halapoulivaati Vaitai is better suited to the right.

OG: (D) Not a great year in terms of communication of assignments, and free-runners into the backfield. Running the ball should help at least slow rushers, as they’ll actually have to read the play, depending on down and distance. Given Brandon Brooks history of being quietly solid, the knee-jerk reaction is to blame the less than stalwart, Isaac Seumalo. However, it really does seems to be an issue of communication.

C: (D) Communication on the interior isn’t sharp, and there have been too many false start/simulating the snap type penalties this year on Jason Kelce.

DE: (C) During this quarter, this position is playing extremely sound, team-concept football. They are where they need to be to allow the rest of the front to flow around them. Delivering big plays in key moments however, is a weakness for this unit. Michael Bennett and Brandon Graham have combined for 5.5 sacks in the last four games, but neither man has had back to back games with a sack, nor are they scaring QB’s into throwing interceptions.

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DT: (D) If Fletcher Cox was the only player at this position, the grade would be an “A”. Since he isn’t, the grade is much lower. Timmy Jernigan is just two weeks in, working his way back from back surgery, so judgment on him will be held in abeyance. Haloti Ngata and Treyvon Hester on the other hand… neither is an every down player. However, injury has forced them to be. This allows teams to focus more on Cox than they otherwise would be able to.

OLB: (C) One pass deflection. That is the only non-tackle stat that Nigel Bradham or Kamu Grugier-Hill has produced in four weeks. One pass deflection. KGH has all of 29 tackles to this point in the year. We simply don’t attack with them enough.

MLB: (C) Soooo, Jordan Hicks is hurt. Again. Are you surprised? Prior to that, he’d been steady (not spectacular) this quarter. Filling in for him these last two games, is OLB/S tweener Nate Gerry. Gerry has had some issues with his run fits, and needs to play more downhill, to get in an O-lineman’s face before that lineman gets any momentum going. His diving interception against the Redskins was nice though.

S: (B) Malcolm Jenkins played lights out this quarter, making visible, tangible impacts on the outcomes of the Eagles last two victories. Getting back Corey Graham from injury has been big for the communication in the Secondary, and now deep balls down the middle are no longer a gimme. Injured CB/S Avonte Maddox filled in gamely until Graham got back, but being a rook, there were things he just hadn’t seen and could be exposed by.

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CB: (F) Rasul Douglas, Sidney Jones, Cre’Von LeBlanc, DeVante Bausby, Chandon Sullivan. All five have started at least one game in the last four weeks and in that ENTIRE group, there isn’t so much as a single pass break-up. Not one. No sacks. No picks. Nothing. Some guys flash traits here or there, but by and large, the Eagles either have to re-evaluate the defensive system, or the way that Cornerback talent is scouted.

LS: (B) Reliable.

P: (B) Cam Johnston was good this quarter, but not quite a weapon. Of his 10 punts, 6 were returned for 39 yards (6.5ypr). He is also still struggling not to out-kick his coverage, as only 5 of his 47 punts this season, have been downed near the goal line. No NFL Punter has fewer.

K: (A) Jake Elliott is 7 for 7 over the last four games, with no extra point misses. Only 3 of his 17 kickoffs in that span have been returned.

Jake Elliott 9.24.2017

PR/KR: (D) The picture here changes too often for it to be anything but a liability.

KC: (B) No scores allowed yet. However, teams have threatened on a few occasions.
SINCE LAST QUARTER:

The mission for this quarter was “Find a run game”, and we did that. That has set the table for less abuse on our QB, and it has given our Defense chances to catch a breather, as they review what the opposing offense is trying to do.

Since finding this formula, we haven’t had to play anybody of consequence, but that has given us a real opportunity to test out what we’ve learned, and lean on it. Aside from an utter shit-canning from the Saints, every game in this quarter was either a win or contested to the very end.

MISSION FOR THIS QUARTER:

Put it all together and finish strong. We’re 6 – 6 today. We don’t see the playoffs with a record of less than 9 – 7. Running the table would be awesome, but (barring a miracle of mathematics) we have to have three of these four. Seeing more mobility from Wentz would go a long way towards getting that done.

A POOR INTEGRATION

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/11/27
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Front Office (F.O.), Offense, Players, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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WHEN the Eagles traded for Golden Tate, many fans were happy about it. Not me. I was the guy on social media asking, “Why did we trade for a 30 year old WR?” Now, 3 games, 11 catches, and just 97 yards later, many of the happy crowd are souring on Tate himself. And that’s not fair. He never had a chance at doing what the Eagles need.

Offensive Coordinator Mike Groh, said recently that he’s having trouble integrating Tate into the Offense. Which makes total sense. When last year’s OC Frank Reich left to be the head man in Indianapolis, the Eagles had a no-brainer decision to make in promoting RB’s coach Duce Staley, to the OC spot. They goofed and instead gave the job to Groh, who isn’t nearly as seasoned as Staley. What we’re seeing from the Eagles Offense, is a poor integration of a position coach to a strategy coach.

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Golden Tate is a WR. You throw him the ball past the line of scrimmage. That is how you integrate him into an Offense. This attempt to cast him the role of injured RB Darren Sproles is why his integration has gone so poorly. On the surface it seems like he’s a natural fill-in for a guy like Sproles, but that’s where Groh not being as seasoned as Staley, hurts us the most. It’s what happens when an Offensive Coordinator (who’s trying to prove how clever he is), fucks up by putting the cart before the horse. Repeatedly.

With experience you gain not just knowledge (knowing how to do something), but wisdom (knowing why you do, or don’t do, something). Tate is similar to Sproles only on the surface. A WR thinks differently than a RB does. They have different intrinsic purposes, and so they are used differently. If a player like Darren Sproles could be manufactured by putting a WR in the backfield, then every team would have one or two. But it doesn’t work that way. Staley knows that. Groh obviously does not.

Tate isn’t a deep threat. He’s not a jump ball winner. He’s not a red zone dominator. He’s a guy who gets the ball in space and makes extra yardage. Basically he’s a Slot receiver. The easiest and most traditional way to work a Slot in, is to line him up on the weakside of the formation, and throw him passes that stretch the defense horizontally, or quick dumps over a blitz. There. Done. Integrated.

This would be apparent to an OC who himself wasn’t being integrated. Then again, given Staley’s background coaching RB’s who catch the ball (Brian Westbrook, LeSean McCoy, Darren Sproles, Corey Clement), the Tate trade likely wouldn’t have even happened if he’d gotten the OC post. He’d have probably asked to get RB LeGarrette Blount back, so we could run over some people.Duce Staley.jpg

At least that’s what I’d have asked for. 

THE DOOMSDAY SCENARIO

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/11/21
Posted in: Conversations, Draft, Front Office (F.O.), NFC East, playoffs, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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DESPITE an awful season so far, we’re still just 2 games out of first place with 6 games to play, 4 of which are against division opponents. We still control our own destiny as far as winning the NFC East goes. However, let me indulge those who say the season is already over. Let’s talk about the worst case scenario for 2018.

Lets say the Eagles fall off a cliff, lose all of the next 6 games, and end up 4 – 12. What does that mean for us?

1) It means the Eagles would likely pick in the top five in every round of the 2019 NFL Draft.

We have a good nucleus to build around, and an ass ton of Draft picks to work with. We already have a franchise QB, a solid RT, 2 blue chip TE’s, a solid WR group, youth at CB, a blue chip DT, a young star at DE, 2 solid starters at LB, a K that we can grow old with, a utility RB who may still have some up side, and a third string QB who would be fine as a second stringer.

We need a bell-cow RB, some youth on the interior Offensive Line, youth at Safety, a third LB, and a second DE.

2) It means we (should) get a 2019 schedule with fewer playoff teams on it.

In 2017 we came off of a 7-9 season, and had a schedule that included the Seahawks, Raiders, Chiefs, all 2016 playoff teams. add to that four games against division rivals (Cowboys and giants) who were playoff teams. Coming off of a losing record, we played half a season against playoff contender class teams. If 2019 is easy, so what? We’re owed an easy schedule year.

3) What are the odds that the injury bug bite this hard THREE years in a row?

It’s already weird that it’s biting this hard for a second straight year. So next year we’ll likely be healthier. (Then again, I thought the same thing for this season.) Aging, oft injured vets like RB Darren Sproles and LT Jason Peters will likely not be back. So those annual nagging injuries won’t be part of the 2019 landscape.

4) It means that this next offseason will not be spent writing books and such.

I don’t begrudge the players for basking in what could be once in a lifetime limelight. However, the fact is, those hungry dogs became so well fed, that they had trouble rolling over onto their legs. A 4 – 12 finish would mean that, Summer with Carson up in Fargo this year would have a different feel than it did last year.

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This is all provided that the Eagles year gets worse. In the event of a worst case 2018, the foreseeable future still looks pretty good. In fact, it could be argued that a bad 2018 could be used to our long-term advantage.

This isn’t justifying losing. It’s not spin, rose-tinted glasses, or tireless optimism. It’s about getting up when we fall down. It’s not about glass half-full, or glass half-empty. Its about seeing in either case, that the glass needs to be completely filled. 

 

As long as we’re still mathematically alive for any sort of playoff run, this team has no right to tank. Players like Peters, Sproles and Carson Wentz deserve better effort than that. That said, even if the season does go full-blown Hindenburg, there’s no reason to hang your heads Eagles fans. One way or another we’ll come out ahead of this.

2018 SEASON REVIEW: QUARTER TWO

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/11/05
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Front Office (F.O.), NFC East, NFL, Offense, Players, Reviews, Roster, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

SEASON Reviews are usually done at the end of the season. (Duh.) A few are done at the halfway mark, and/or at the end. Starting in 2017, Eaglemaniacal.com began treating the season like a game, and breaking it into four quarters. Since football is a hard sport, we’ll take a hard look, at where our team stands at the moment (in relation to where it started), and where it needs to go.

STATUS:

4 – 4 overall, 1 – 0 division, 2 – 3 conference, 2nd place in the NFC East

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OPPONENTS:

L: Minnesota (4 – 3 – 1)

W: New York Giants (1 – 7)

L: Carolina (5 – 2 )

W: Jacksonville (3 – 5 )

OVERVIEW:

Injuries are part of any football team’s season, but the bug seems to LOVE us. For the second year in a row, all you can do is shake your head at the number and severity of our losses. We have a LT who was battling his way through a torn bicep, when the RT sprained a knee ligament, and will now miss a month. The right side of our 2018 projected starting Defensive Line is now on Injured Reserve. Starting RB, gone for the year. Deep threat starting WR, gone. Starting FS is on IR. Our reserve FS is out. Nickel Corner, out.

Yet here we sit. At 4 – 4. Still in the hunt.

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The stated mission last quarter was to tighten up the pass defense to improve our pressure up front. There was marginal statistical improvement across the board, except for takeaways. In the first 4 games, the Defense surrendered 1,161 yards on 103/159 passing (64.7%) allowing 7 touchdowns and grabbing 3 interceptions. In these last 4 games, the Defense surrendered 1,137 yards on 103/160 passing (64.3%) allowing 4 touchdowns and grabbing only 1 interception. We collected 11 sacks in both quarters so far.

Given the nasty injuries we’re dealing with in the Secondary, which have us starting a rookie (out of position) at FS, it’s hard to poo-poo these seemingly meager improvements.

We still have some things to sort out on Offense, however. For one, we need a proper run game. I won’t write a book here for it, but if you read my last one, then you know how we can do that up nice.

GRADES:

 

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QB: (A) Carson Wentz has been nothing short of AMAZING over these last 4 games. He’s posted a 10:1 touchdown to interception ratio, a 73.1 completion percentage, 1,185 yards, and an average yards per attempt of 8.5. He’s been killing it. He’s also been sacked 12 times. Some on him and some not.

RB: (D) This was an “A” last quarter (read why HERE). It would be an “F” this quarter if injuries to the Offensive Line, and scheme issues didn’t also play a contributing role in the fall-off in quality. But that’s all the curve I can give this group. The fact is, to a man, none of them has shown themselves to be an individual difference maker. Wendell Smallwood has gotten the bulk of the work, and has shown no ability to be explosive, elusive, or physical as a ball carrier. He’s the anti-Zeke. Starve him. Corey Clement has 52 yards on 23 carries in the last three games. He is however, still dealing with a lingering quad injury that already cost him two games, so the Eagles have limited his role as he works his way back. Rookie Josh Adams had the best day of any Eagles back since starter Jay Ajayi went out on IR during Week 5. Adams isn’t terribly physical as a runner, but he does provide more POP than the other two backs on the roster.

TE: (A) L’embarras du choix. Which is pronounced…

Pardon my French. That phrase means “Embarrassment of riches”. Right now in Zach Ertz leads all NFL TE’s with 61 catches so far. He’s tied with WR Odell Beckham for most catches in the NFL, and behind only WR Adam Thielen. In the last 4 games he has two 100 yard games and a touchdown in all but one week. Rookie Dallas Goedert looks like a seasoned pro out there, grabbing a touchdown in both of our last two games. Josh Perkins hasn’t caught a ball in the last 6 weeks, but we haven’t needed him to.

WR: (D) Yes we added Golden Tate. However, this report is about how Eagles players did during this last quarter. Tate wasn’t an Eagle, so this is about the guys who were.

Alshon Jeffery leads the team with 4 scoring grabs, 3 of which came in the last 4 games. Jordan Matthews doesn’t see a lot of targets, but he’s made the most of them when he does. His hands have been reliable, and he’s averaging 17.5 per catch over these last 4 outings. Nelson Agholor simply isn’t doing enough in the slot, and he may be the reason why we traded for Tate. Without a deep threat to open space underneath, Agholor has been rendered harmless. In the last 4 games, no one at this position has had a 100 yard day, only Jeffery has scored, and only once have two players had 50 or more yards in the same game.

OT: (D) Injuries be damned, LT Jason Peters is plowing through the season like a Mack truck going downhill, with no brakes. He is leaving everything, every ounce out on the field, in what looks like an unannounced swan song. Both he and RT Lane Johnson have had an issue of letting rushers leak underneath, after elongating the pocket. They need to start dictating a stop point. That is, when Johnson gets back from the month he’s about to miss with an MCL sprain. This should manageable though, since Halapoulivaati Vaitai is better suited to the Right. Rookie Jordan Mailata, was promoted to the active roster for Week 7, so his debut could be very very near.

OG: (D) For the first 4 games we had Stefen Wisniewski starting a LG, for the last 4 we’ve had Isaac Seumalo. Pressure up the gut has become a real problem. So has being unable to generate a new line of scrimmage on run plays. Some of that is scheme, but some of it is stepping down in terms of talent. Wiz is a battler, while Seumalo is kind of soft.

C: (D) I’ve WATCHED a couple plays in this quarter where Jason Kelce went to double a guy and had a man smoke right past him. Someone is doing a poor job of identifying secondary rushers, as well as stunt keys. That job is usually reserved for this position.

DE: (C ) Losing Derek Barnett was a big blow. He was playing very solid vs both the pass and the run. Brandon Graham isn’t producing the sacks that he was a year ago, but his run defense has been as good as it ever was. Chris Long is doing a good job of applying heat to QB’s, but he’s proving susceptible to off-Tackle runs, since this scheme frequently plays a LB inside the DE-DT gap, instead of outside of the DE, to set the edge. Michael Bennett is logging time at DE and DT, and is also second on the team with 3.5 sacks. Rookie Josh Sweat needs to show the coaches something if he wants to earn more meaningful playing time. This is a group that is playing very good team defense, but they aren’t delivering big plays, in big moments.

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DT: (C ) Fletcher Cox has come in playing like a man on a mission. He leads the team with 4 sacks, and is a MAN about defending his area vs the run. Haloti Ngata has been nicked up recently, probably due to playing more minutes than were anticipated when he signed. Treyvon Hester has started a game, but all indications are that he’s just a guy. Destiny Vaeao was waived and Timmy Jernigan has yet to return from the Non-Injured/Reserve list. This has taken a massive toll on last year’s stellar rotation strategy, but sprinkling in some Michael Bennett is keeping this unit from being a one man show. Word from on high, has it that Jernigan may make his return right after the Eagles Bye week.

OLB: (C ) This group still has yet to stand out, but they haven’t been a liability either. Nigel Bradham and Kamu Grugier-Hill have the athleticism to do all kinds of things, but they aren’t being utilized with any creativity.

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MLB: (A) Jordan “Cowboy Killer” Hicks had 31 tackles in the 1st quarter, and he topped that with 40 in the second quarter. He also added 1.5 sacks to bring his 2018 total to 3 so far. Coming into this season he had 2 total for his career. Hicks is stepping his game all the way up, but you never hear his name outside of Philly.

S: (D) Malcolm Jenkins is the emotional and mental heart and soul of the Secondary, but we need him to force more turnovers. With Rodney McLeod done for the year, Jenkins needs to lead by example more than by words. Corey Graham was tasked with filling in for McLeod and was promptly injured. Filling in for Graham, is rookie CB turned FS Avonte Maddox. Maddox just looks thrilled to be playing, even if it’s not his true position. He’s throwing his body around, playing with reckless abandon, and has even made a couple of plays. CB/S tweener, Rasul Douglas is being groomed to play this spot. Like the DE position, S is playing solid team concept ball, but fails to deliver in tight spots and big moments. Injuries here have impacted us severely.

CB: (D) We allow too many QB’s to leave the game with high completion percentages.

LS: (C ) He snaps the ball. Whoop-dee-do.

P: (B) Cameron Johnston punted 15 times this quarter, for 9 returned, and 3 fair caught. Same as last quarter on 5 fewer punts. He hasn’t been hitting them as hard and as a result, none of his boots have ended as touchbacks. In fact, 5 of them were downed inside the 20, with one out of bounds. Johnston isn’t great with his placement yet, but he’s working on it.

K: (C )Making 6 of 8 field goals (75% same as last quarter) Jake Elliott is reliable, but he has yet to show off the big leg that catapulted him into Eagles lore, last year.

PR/KR: (C ) On 10 punt returns DeAndre Carter is averaging 10.3 per attempt, with a long of 42. On kickoff returns he’s posting 20.4, with a long of 30. serviceable, but not scary. We need scary.

KC: (D) Last quarter we gave up 16.0 yards per kickoff return. This quarter we’re giving up 26.0. That number will only encourage returners to not take the fair catch. Punt returns went up too. 5.6 per return in Q1, then 8.1 in Q2.

SINCE LAST QUARTER:

We continue to be inconsistent. Despite increasingly amazing play from Wentz, the Offense seems stuck in neutral. The lack of a credible run game prevents us from being able to close out games, and rest our Defense.

Special Teams has forgotten about the importance of winning the hidden yardage battle. Or to wait until a game is over before you celebrate.

MISSION FOR THIS QUARTER:

Find a run game! Three of our next four games are division rivals, and we can’t beat them if we can’t run.

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FOUR THINGS: WK 3: EAGLES-COLTS

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/09/20
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Four Things, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Offense, Players, Preview, Roster, Super Bowl. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

W3-IND

NICK Foles! He of seven touchdowns, the Snow Bowl and Super Bowl LII. Three of the greatest moments in Eagles history.

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Thank you for the way you stepped up, and did what few of us (I was on-board, early), thought you could do. As I said before the Atlanta game in January, we could have scarcely been in better hands. More than that, thank you for the grace with which you are stepping out of the spotlight, as QB Carson Wentz makes his return.

Let’s get this out of the way right now. We’re glad that Wentz can come back, but we’re going to spend the game obsessing over his knee. Anytime any Colt brushes him, we’re going to be on our feet, ready to punch a guy in the helmet. Any Offensive Lineman who gets pushed back into Wentz, or who steps on his foot, might find that his car has been ticketed, towed, impounded and crushed. Carson has to make it out of this game no worse than he went in. Oh yeah, and a win would also be nice.

Like Week 3 against the giants last year, our season could very well pivot on the character we show here. And I’m pretty sure the coaching staff sees it exactly that way.

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

1) Protect the QB: That doesn’t mean keep him from getting hit, it means keep him from getting rattled. He’s had no preseason and hasn’t seen live-action in most of a year. He will be rusty, and the game will get away from him in moments. Wentz likes to air the ball out, so putting brakes on him might only make him feel that total confidence in him hasn’t returned. Let him play. Let him fall. Let him figure it out when he screws up. The best way to get a man’s best, is to treat a man, like a man.

2) Mix up coverages: The Secondary plays Single-high almost exclusively and that’s making it too easy for opposing QB’s to read and anticipate deep routes. Also, giving up 5 yard cushions on every play has got to stop. Same with TE’s getting clean releases. This shit has to stop! Sprinkle in some Cover Two. Play some bump-and-run, here and there. Redirect TE’s and slots further into traffic. Quit being stupid out there. It’s robbing us of sacks and easy turnovers, and last week it cost us an entire game.

3) Introduce a new wrinkle: Lost in all the talk about returning QB’s is the fact that Indy’s head coach was our Offensive Coordinator last year. That means he’ll be familiar with our core concepts, most of our playbook, play keys, players, and even the way some of our players and coaches think. He will spend this week prepping his team to beat us mentally. That means we have to add something to the mix that he hasn’t seen from us. RPO’s and our Screen game? They’ll be looking for those. A HB Option would be nice. Perhaps a couple of Power Sweeps?

 

4) Come out in Rally mode: With Wentz returning, and WR Jordan Matthews

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coming back, it seems like new life has been breathed into a sleeping gi- (noooo, I need another word here!) a sleeping Hulk (how’s that?). However, we can’t forget that the QB has to prove himself again, the WR’s are still banged up, the Secondary is leaky, and the O-Line has shown some wear already. Everyone needs to come out playing for each other this week. Everyone needs to be receptive to constructive criticism, and everyone needs to be honest and tactful about giving it.

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:

Remember the touchdown that we gave up to the Vikings in the playoffs last year, when LB Najee Goode didn’t know his assignment? Guess who’s starting for the Colts at OLB? So TE Zach Ertz should have a field day out there. The Colts front seven isn’t particularly stout against the run, nor do they boast a single dangerous pass rusher. This is as good a game for Wentz to return in, as any.

Allowing a QB to complete 70% of his passes is a great recipe for losing a game. Despite the Eagles defending their over-reliance on Single-high coverage, Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz is too smart to not switch it up this week. If this were on the road, I’d pick the Colts, but it’s in Philly. Between the rush, the crowd and mixing the coverage, this has the feel of a 2 or 3 turnover game. 

PREDICTION: EAGLES 21 – Colts 17

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