LET me say up front, I would like to see SS Chauncey ‘CJGJ’ Gardner-Johnson return to the Eagles in 2023. He’s smart, aggressive, versatile, and sticky fingered. He’s also the sort of emotional spark plug that a defense needs, in order to max out it’s potential. So let me say again, (because I don’t want to confuse anyone): I would like to see him return.
That being said, if he doesn’t return, I am more than ready to roll with SS Reed ‘Ghost’ Blankenship. Blankenship wasn’t the sort of emotional leader that CJGJ is, and he’s not quite as fast, but he brings a work-pail and hardhat approach that can’t help but resonate with the people of Philadelphia. Even better, he’s also a sticky fingered, aggressive hitter.
The word is that CJGJ wants upwards of 15M$ per year; whereas Blankenship being drafted last year, is on his rookie deal. If we can re-sign CJ, great! If not, we have money that can be spread around to other veterans. Maybe someone like G Isaac Suemalo. Or perhaps DT Ndamukong Suh. Extra cash could also help facilitate a trade.
All I’m saying is, if we don’t end up with CJGJ, it is by no means the end of the world. Our fallback position is fairly excellent as far as options go. We have a young, confident go-getter, who is trusted by his teammates already, and best of all, he’scheap.
So don’t be nervous. Howie, will figure it out. And again, while re-signing him is what I’d prefer, having CJGJ Ghost us, wouldn’t kill our chances of running it back. Meanwhile, at the Commanders headquarters…
THE Eagles 2023 Defense is going to be hard for me to pin down for a while. We have Defensive Coordinator Sean Desai, who is said to favor a 3-4 base. Like the man he’s replacing (Jonathan Gannon), Desai is also favor a “multiple alignment” approach. However, it’s our base which will drive the type of personnel that the team either adds, or allows to slip away...
Right now all the talk is about whether or not SS Chauncey “CJGJ” Gardner-Johnson will re-sign; and whether CBDarius Slay will be traded. These guys are important, but those aren’t the big issues for this Defense. Those guys benefit from our identity. They don’t create our identity.
Let’s start with something you already know: Pass rush and winning up front, are what the Front Office wish to be the calling cards of our Defense. So they usually spend the big money, and the early draft picks, on the front seven. Which poses a bit of a problem for this season.
If we’re switching to a 3-4 base, under contract, we have Haason Reddick at LOLB to build off of, and Jordan Davisto plug in at NT. However, every other player at the DT position: Fletcher Cox, Ndamukong Suh, and Linval Joseph, are all free agents as of this week, or already gone (Javon Hargrave). So we have no interior depth.
At 3-4 DE, we have possibly Milton Williams, but DE Josh Sweat and DE Brandon Graham aren’t 3-4 DE’s or OLB’s either. In fact, the last time Graham played in a 3-4, (back in 2015), he was moved to OLB, and was a liability vs the pass. Those legs are 8 years older now. So, two of our better 4-3 players don’t fit the new 3-4 scheme.
If we do switch, it would make far more sense to play Nakobe Dean at ILB. That would give OLB/DE Patrick Johnson a chance to shake his ill-fitting tweener label. Johnson has been used as a situational, pass rush, 4-3 DE; but he’s too small for every down use there. A move to 3-4 OLB could transform his career.
With OLB Kyzir White being a free agent, we really don’t have a presence at RILB, let alone depth. So there’d have to be a fair amount of roster rebuilding between now and September, with everyone learning how to communicate new terms, as they fill new roles. Which basically sounds like missing the playoffs, due to the division’s weakest defense.
Of course, if we stick with a base 4-3, we just need a DT to pair with Davis, and to re-sign White. After that, we’re building depth, and guys who are used to their 4-3 roles, are just learning new terms. Better still, the new DC can lean on veteran leadership. If everything is all new to everyone, we’re essentially playing 11 rookies.
BUT! Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. We’ll revisit this when Free Agency quiets down.
SINCE the Super Bowl, I’ve been almost dead silent. I wrote Four Things Reviewed, and a reaction article to Jonathan Gannon leaving. I haven’t even weighed in on new Defensive Coordinator Sean Desai, yet.
My silence wasn’t because I was upset over the loss. Understand, I wanted that win. I really did; but it would be a bald-faced lie, if I said the loss, or how it happened, wasn’t almost expected. The NFC Championship Game. The Super Bowl. Everyone else was so excited. Meanwhile, I’d been secretly dreading them both, since Week 18.
Standing outside for the 2018 parade, the cold turned my Wawa coffee into a slushie. I was hoping for a repeat of that, for this year. However, when Chiefs RB Jerick McKinnon slid down inside the five yard line, I felt nothing but calm. I didn’t yell, curse, or jump up. I didn’t turn off my TV, or change the channel. I watched until it was time to go write my little article.
I took that loss so well, that you would think I’d bet against the Eagles and won. People were literally asking me if I was okay. My calm was apparently too calm. I turned the page just a little bit too fast for the comfort of others. The fact is, I was able to make immediate peace with it, because that game went almost exactly as I’d truly expected it to.
We had that loss coming. And I’d said as much, MONTHS prior.
You may remember this article from September of last year PUTTING A FOOT IN DOUG’S ASS. In it, I foretold a great fall. In fact, I called it “the biggest fall of them all”. Those were my exact words. Most importantly, in that article, I told you WHY it would happen.
The NFC Championship Game and the Super Bowl. The knot in my stomach. Expecting the bill to finally come due, in one of those games, I was secretly dreading those games the entire time. The biggest fall of all, is what I predicted. I desperately hoped to be wrong. Desperately. Usually I love being right. But not always. Sometimes being able to see ahead, is a curse. And a lonely one.
How big was our fall? During the only NFL game seen around the world, we set a record for points scored (35) in a loss. Beating a record that we hung around an opponent’s neck, for our only Super Bowl win so far. Our QB played an almost flawless game, and yet the seven points from his turnover, would have been the difference. Changing that loss into a win. Our vaunted Defense, was suddenly unable to even hunt a lame QB.
Had the Eagles won with our youthful core, everyone would be using the term “beginning of a dynasty”. Instead they are saying that our “Super Bowl window” should be open for a few years. Given how close we came to winning, this was a massive faceplant. It was.
Again, we had it coming. We made that bed. As Eagles fans we see how it’s gone since Jerry Jones fired Jimmy Johnson, and we revel in it. So we should have learned: There will someday come a reckoning. ALWAYS. You never escape your own energy. And we got ourselves a taste last month.
Again, I was hoping, praying that we’d pay in some other way, or some other time, and win that game. I had hoped to freeze at another parade, outside of the Municipal Services Building. Well, not this year. That said, we’ve put the ugliness behind us. We’ve paid our Karmic debt. So now we can, and likely will, be holding up another Lombardi trophy, inside of the next few years. Afterwards, I hope we’re smarter this time.
Heck, maybe in 2024, instead of standing outside the MSB in the cold; I’ll watch the parade from my window. While seated comfortably, in the warmth of my office. Sipping on hot, gourmet coffee, brewed by my own expert hand.
Yes. That sounds about right. So how’s about I get back to writing about football.
This is the view from my first office. I haven’t taken a picture from the new one yet, but it’s DIRECTLY next door, so the view looks pretty much identical.
EAGLES Defensive Coordinator Jonathan Gannon, has fucked off to become Arizona’s head coach. This is a HUGE break for our team! Offensive Coordinator Shane Steichen also left, to become the Colts next scapegoat, but I don’t give shit about that right now. I want to celebrate Gannon’s departure RIGHT NOW! This is addition by subtraction.
The very first article that I ever wrote on this site, was ‘WANT A SUPER BOWL? THEN FIRE BILL DAVIS.’ In it, I mentioned how continuing to settle for Davis as our Defensive Coordinator, wasn’t going to get us where we wanted to go. I wrote that on February 2, 2014.
During 2015, the Eagles fired then head coach, Chip Kelly, and Davis followed. In 2016 Doug Pederson, became our new Head Coach. Pederson was joined by DC Jim Schwartz, who inherited the talent that Davis had been squandering on Defense. The result was that we won our first Super Bowl on February 8, 2018.
Similarly, Gannon has been squandering the talent on the defensive side of our roster. Yes, yes, I know! We got 70 sacks in 2022. But what else did we do? Let me give you a quick rundown:
We got turnovers in bunches at the beginning of the 2022 season. When those dried up, no adjustment was made. Just more and more soft coverages, allowing easy completions which kept our Defense on the field. Look at how we finished the season:
Ryan Tannehill: 14/22 – 63.6% – 141 – 1 – 0
Daniel Jones: 18/27 – 66.6% – 169 – 1 – 0
Justin Fields: 14/21 – 66.6% – 152 – 2 – 0
Dak Prescott: 27/35 – 77.1% – 347 – 3 – 1
Andy Dalton: 18/22 – 81.8% – 205 – 0 – 1
Davis Webb: 23/40 – 57.5% – 168 – 1 – 0
That 3rd and 30 vs Dallas? Our four man rush allowed Dak Prescott to move gently left, and heave a 50 yard strike, to a guy who had recently been on his couch! Who dialed up that rush? Who called for that loose coverage?
Looks like our Secondary wasn’t set right?
NOPE! We were set. This alignment is just how it was called.
Hey, how about the development of the rookies, DT Jordan Davis and LB Nakobe Dean?
Davis was injured in Week 7, and sat out three games. Prior to his injury, he had five starts. Once he returned, he would never again see 20 snaps in a game under Gannon. Free agent additions DT Ndamukong Suh and DT Linval Joseph, helped give DT Fletcher Cox relief during Davis’s injury, but they should have never out-snapped Davis after his return. Both did in every game.
Dean played all of 34 snaps all season long. He played a total of 43 if you count the playoffs. There is no way to convince me (or most of you), that Dean should have played behind LB Kyzir Whitefor most of this season. Don’t even get me STARTED about CB Zeck McPhearsonbarely seeing the field.
Does anyone want to discuss his adjustments in the Super Bowl? What adjustments? Great question. The Chiefs played pitch and catch all game long. I’ve seen clouds under more pressure than QB Patrick Mahomes saw that night. And yet how often did we see a five man rush? How about Man-Press? A Fire Zone Blitz?
When asked what defensive system he ran, Gannon answered with “Multiple”. I hated that answer right from the get-go! Multiple should mean that we see all kinds of exotic looks, but this guy didn’t come with the resume for Multiple. (Few in history have.)
Instead of “Multiple” what we got was mostly 4 – 3, off-Corners, 2 Deep Zone. Translation: Missionary, under the covers, in the dark, while wearing pajamas. Just get me someone who wants to play with his toys, and dreams up inventive things to do with them. Handcuff her behind her knees, and hit it from the back with your foot on her cheek. Let’s see some imagination!
My fear was that Gannon was going to stick around, and continue to squander talent. However, his fucking off, opens the door to a quick return to the Super Bowl. Maybe even as soon as next season, despite free agent departures like DT Javon Hargrave and CB James Bradberry! We could stumble into a dynasty here, folks.
Hold on. Let me dial it back a sec. I haven’t been a fan of any of our DC’s since Jim Johnson. Most of you have ridden that ride with me (hey, remember Juan Castillo?), so I don’t have to go into detail. We could still screw this up, but as of now, we’re stronger for having lost him. Today, we had some addition by subtraction.
LET’S not try to spin last week’s loss to the Cowboys as a “good” thing. That said, let’s not ignore how many great lessons we learned from it. We put up 34 points, despite 4 turnovers, and playing with a back-up QB. The next time we face them, QBJalen Hurts should be back, and we won’t be giving the ball away four times.
Now the league means to entertain the world, by ushering Saints into the Colosseum that is Lincoln Financial, to be devoured by the BEAST of the East.
Winning will make us 14 – 2, give us the NFC East crown, install us as the Number One Seed in the Conference, and position us to pick in the top ten of the upcoming Draft. Whether we win by one or one thousand, the results will be the same for us.
A loss here would drop us to 13 – 3, leaving the door open for the Cowboys to win the East, the Vikings to win the NFC, and leaving the Saints alive for a possible playoff berth, which would drop our potential top ten pick, all the way down to twenty-first. At best.
****
The point of Four Things isn’t to predict a winner, it’s to discuss which tactics would give our Eagles the best chance to win this game. So here are the Four Things that we need to focus on this week, versus the: Saints
1) Run the damned ball: By run the ball, I don’t mean run the QB, I mean hand it off to RB Miles Sanders. The Saints come into this game giving up 4.5 yards per tote, and have a smallish front 7 seven vs our huge Offensive Line. This is free yardage! For the love of Pete, just take it!
Also, hand-offs set up play-action. Why not make life easy on our QB, (regardless of which plays), if we can?
2) Tight man on the Corners:The Saints don’t have a WR that we need to be overly concerned about. The real reason for our CB’s playing tight to the Line Of Scrimmage, is to already be in position to create a funnel, when they throw any Screen passes. The idea is to funnel the receiver back into a million hands clawing at the ball and vicious collisions.
3) Get Chunk Plays:Instead of Hurts attempting forty-five 9yard passes, how about we whittle it down to fifteen 20yard passes. Let’s put up 20 first half points, and let Gardner Minshewtake over. There is no sense in sacrificing a deep playoff win, just to get the top seed. Preserve Hurts shoulder. No playing with our food this week. Go for the killshots, early.
4) Blow up the “A” Gaps:Seriously folks, QB Andy Dalton is a statue. His rushing stats are 71 – 244 – 3.4 – 0. Since 2020! Get after him. Make him change his launch angle by making him move his feet. This should impact their passing game as well as the inside run game, and make it hard for them to move the ball in any regard.
****
If the Eagles do these Four Things, then we’ll be virtually impossible to beat. That being said…
No need to talk a bunch here. Last week we didn’t handle business, and here we are with everything we worked this season, on the verge of being stolen at the last moment.
No more chit-chat. Go win.
****
Prediction: EAGLES 24 – Saints 13
WARNING: I don’t have the faintest clue as to what a point spread is, and I know even less about how it works. I know football and that’s IT. If you use Four Things as a gambling tool, you are trying to lose your money, and will deserve it when you do.
Check back in a couple of days for Four Things Reviewed, and we’ll discuss how this game went.
LT Jordan Mailata comforts RB Miles Sanders after his fumble.
WE fumbled the game away
EAGLES 34 – Cowboys 40
EAGLES STATS:
Categories include an EXCLUSIVE weekly Offensive Line Report (Rushing TD’s (6 points)+ 3rd downs converted by handoffs(1 point) + sacks allowed (-2 points)= score); as well as Drive Killer (Int – FR – 4th down Tackles – FF – TD).
New Category Ace is for Kick return TD’s, Returners run-down, kicks blocked, etc.
I hear you asking, “What about all the stuff that stats don’t reveal?” Well, that’s the reason for these Four Things articles. It’s to point out what we need to address BEFORE the game. Then AFTER the game, there’s a no-bullshit assessment of whether or not the Eagles did any of what they needed to do, to ensure the win.
So how much of what I mentioned in Four Things: Cowboysdid the Eagles actually get around to doing? Well let’s see:
One of TWO interception taken from WR Quez Watkins
1) Make their OLB’s Cover:They came out in a 4-2-5 alignment, moving OLB Micah Parsons (3 – 0 – 0 – 0) all around the formation to try and create a mismatch. While Minshew was under a fair amount of pressure during the game, Dallas collected no sacks all game long. We failed in this aspect, but we may gain a new tactic after this film study. (NOT DONE)
2) Punish the Blitz: Aside from a 21 yard pass to RBKenny Gainwell (4 – 1 7 – 4.2 – 0 – 0 / 4 – 4 – 41 – 10.2 – 0), at no point did we catch them over-exposed during a blitz. Also, more could have been done with play-action. (NOT DONE)
3) Take Away the Quick Stuff:Slot WR Ceedee Lamb (11 – 10 – 120 – 12.0 – 2) was immediately into his routes. The timing routes were so good, that their QB could have almost played with his eyes closed. (NOT DONE)
Sacks. Pick Sixes. DE Josh Sweat did it all.
4) Squeeze and Occupy the Gaps: Well executed. Cowboys RB’s ran for 74 yards on 25 carries (2.96ypc). This also opened up pass rush opportunities, leading to six sacks.(DONE)
****
Sadly, we rung up just 1 of the Four Things this week, but we’ll see this team again, soon. Having not taken care of business this week, we need to play another meaningful game next week vs the Saints. Which in all truth, may be the best thing for our playoff run.
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On The Whole:
FIRST! That interception by Josh Sweat was a amazing. The last time I saw a play like that, I was making it at age 15. It was just street ball. No pads. I’ve never seen that play made in pads, and couldn’t believe it when I saw it. The degree of difficulty to make that play in pads… I need to give Sweat props, before going into the postmortem.
Two fumbles. One by RB Miles Sanders where he simply lost the handle; and an inexplicable one by RB Boston Scott (0 – 0 – 0.0 – 0 – 1) where he took a handoff and for whatever reason never closed his arms over the ball. Worse was WR Quez Watkins(5 – 1 – 19 – 19.0 – 0) giving up two interceptions by letting the defender take the ball out of his hands.
Don’t tell me how competitive each man on the team is, when I see a lack of hunger this pronounced. Next season it might be wise to distill Watkins, RB Boston Scott, and KR Britain Covey’s roster spots into a back-up WR or RB, who has college KR experience. Our third round pick should be a GREAT place to find that player.
Aside from the four turnovers, there was the 3rd and 30 that we allowed the Cowboys to convert. While everyone else is harping on the coverage, the real problem was the lack of pressure that allowed the clean look, on a pin-point pass, delivered with follow through. Just a four man rush on 3rd and 30? It was clear that was the plan pre-snap, so I was in my living room screaming for five. Screaming! So the catch wasn’t surprising.
Overall, I didn’t see anything that worries me for the rubber match in a few weeks. Do I see us forcing just one punt, and giving the ball away four times, again? Not at all. I also don’t see us holding their RB’s to 74 yards, but the tactic for playing them will jump off any game tape. A six point loss, with four turnovers, playing with our back-up QB? Plenty of confidence for when we see them next.
He’s the DT that the Eagles have put on Injured Reserve. Remember when they carted him off the field on Monday ni-, oh right. They didn’t. The Eagles put him on I.R. on Wednesday the 16th. This is Sunday morning the 20th. Quick! What’s his injury? Anybody? Anybody? His injury is sucking ass, and being pushed aside for two better players, that’s what his injury is. Please! Go to the Eagles website and get the details on this “injury”. I’ll wait…..
Over the last 5 weeks, the Eagles have allowed 124 rushing yards or more, in every game. It got really bad after the Bye week, when we allowed 144, 168, and 152 respectively. Many things factor into that. Not bringing arms to tackle attempts, holding runners up to claw at the ball, tackling shoulders instead of thighs. All of which are quickly correctable.
The biggest reason we’re getting run through however, is because we’re getting beat on the line of scrimmage. The knee jerk from fans, has been to either blame DT Fletcher Cox for falling off, or to blame the injury to DT Jordan Davis. Both are correct, but only in a round about way.
Cox was being asked to play more snaps than usual, as the coaching staff hoped he could fill the hole left by Davis, both as a presence and rotationally. As a result, we’re running Cox into the ground. In fact, we’re using him the opposite of how we should be using a player his age. (More on that in the upcoming Quarterly Report. Yes, it’s late. I know. Bear with me.)
Linval Joseph working the “One Half” technique. Ndamukong Suh gets a taste of Philly’s sports media.
So the Eagles added 34 year old DT Linval Joseph, and then DT Ndamukong Suh, who is 35. While Joseph is more of a space eater for the run game, Suh is a flat-out disruptor of blocking schemes. Even when he doesn’t make the play, he frequently causes havoc.
Understand, the worst of our run defense has coincided with the ramp up in snaps for Tuipulotu. Over the last three games, he’s averaged 33% of the defensive snaps. And that is not a good thing! I made it clear in last years Draft Reportthat I didn’t see selecting him as a good move. He stuck anyway.
I repeated my point about Tuipulotu in this year’s Pre-Draft Preview. My specific choice of words: “Marlon Tuipulotu played like trash, with a side order of ass last year,”. Yet he kept seeing the field this year. And the more he did, the more others like Cox were asked to compensate for everything that Tuipulotu can’t do. Which, you know, is pretty much everything.
Cox eats double teams and disrupts the pocket; DT Javon Hargrave is an ‘A’ gap penetrator who gets to QB’s; Davis is a space eating, pocket collapser. Those are our true DT’s. While DTMilton Williams can play that spot, he’s more of a DE/DT tweener. He’s coming along, but we still don’t really know who he is, just yet. Tuipulotu is just a 300 pound guy. Hell, I’M a 300 pound guy! There should be more qualifications than that, to get a roster spot.
When Davis went down, we were left with a bum (Tuipulotu), and two guys who specialize in slipping the point of attack, not holding it. That’s not saying that Cox and Hargrave can’t play the run! We all know that they can. But that’s not where their salary size comes from.
Do you realize that at worst, if Suh and Joseph don’t contribute much as players, those two, plus Cox and Hargrave, will be pouring wisdom into Davis. Meanwhile we have no timetable on Tuipulotu’s return date. Which is totally understandable without an actual injury to assess.
STILL atop the NFL! Despite last week’s loss to Washington. We did some things last week that are uncharacteristic for us. We barely ran the ball. We turned the ball over four times (two real, one bullshit, one on the game’s final desperation play). Even still, up until that last play, we were only down five points.
Now because Washington ran the ball a lot and controlled the clock, rumor is, this is the blueprint for how to beat us. So expect the Colts to try to copycat. Of course, the operative word in that sentence, is “try”.
Last time I checked, we still had LT Jordan Mailata. We still had LGLandon Dickerson. We still had Hall of Fame C Jason Kelce. Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t RT Lane Johnson still play here? I get the feeling, that they’re going to want to impose their will on an undersized Colts defensive line. Like I said… Just a feeling.
A win here, and the Eagles are guaranteed to finish above .500, and will still have a strangle hold on the NFC East. Also, we’ll still sit at the head of the table in the conference. Especially if Minnesota loses to the Cowboys. (That game works for us regardless of how it goes.)
A loss here, and the Eagles still are at the top of the division. Even when the giants beat Detroit. Coupled with a Minnesota win, we’d lose the NFC’s top spot, but if we lost, then we’d sort of need a Cowboys loss more, to keep a tighter grip on the East.
Both us and Minny losing keeps us in the NFC’s top spot, but the Cowboys would inch closer to us and the giants.
****
The point of Four Things isn’t to predict a winner, it’s to discuss which tactics would give our Eagles the best chance to win this game. So here are the Four Things that we need to focus on this week, versus the: Colts
1) Run the ball: If only for the sake of letting our Defense get a breather. We brought in reinforcements for DTFletcher Cox, but DT’s Linval Joseph and Ndamokung Suh are coming off their couches. (Maybe off-the-couch players, is how you beat an off-the-couch coach? Perhaps there’s some wisdom couched in that there somewhere? I’ll stop. I’ll stop. C-OUCH! Banged my knee.)
Seriously though, the Colts also have an undersized front seven. They have LB’s who can fly around and make stops, but they don’t generate many big plays. We hardly touched our run game last week, so our big fellas must be hungry for some contact. It’s time we let them impose their will, and show the NFL that the KING, still lives.
2) Drop ‘em!: Enough with this holding the ball-carrier up, to swipe at the ball, bullshit. Just make the gall-dang tackle! Just get the guy on the ground!! There is no reason to let a RB churn a 2 yard gain, into a 5 yard gain. There even less reason to let it happen consistently. It makes 3rd down almost impossible to win.
3) Open Up the Passing Game: In nine starts this season, WR Devonta Smith has averaged double digits per reception in just three of them. In nine games (three starts), WR Quez Watkins has seen all of 17 attempts in his direction. His shock at getting his hands on a ball, and his over-eagerness to make a play was evident in him trying to do too much, and fumbling.
With TE Dallas Goedert on I.R., this Offense will need another home run hitter, who can threaten a defense, and open things up inside for the run game. We can’t keep making WR A.J. Brown the only deep threat in town.
4) Get Heat On Matty Ice: Before he was benched in favor of a rookie, QB Matt Ryan was already out there seeing ghosts. So we need to hit him early, even if it’s late. By which I mean, be willing to draw a couple of flags, just to rattle him. We need to get him off his game early.
Ryan has never been the most athletic QB, and his arm isn’t what it used to be. He is still in this game at his age, because of all the mental parts of his game. Take that away from him, early. The rookie they had replace him, looked bad with a week of practice. If for any reason Ryan has to come out of the game, that rookie will have less prep time. Or maybe we’ll get to see third string QB Nick Foles.
****
If the Eagles do these Four Things, then we’ll be virtually impossible to beat. That being said…
We go eight games with no losses and the NFL barely notices us. We lose one game (and make no mistake, Washington didn’t win it, we lost it), and suddenly people are picking the Colts to beat us.
The disrespect is real!
No matter. The Eagles have a point to prove this week. They didn’t last week and came out flat. Actually if we’re keeping it Wilt,
the Eagles have started flat for a couple of games now. Last week’s loss was just the kick in the pride, that this group of grown men needed. Hell, it got General Manager Howie Roseman to flex his phone call muscle, and Owner Jeff Lurie to flex his check writing muscle.
Don’t expect flatness to follow moves like that.
****
Prediction: EAGLES 25 – Colts 16
WARNING: I don’t have the faintest clue as to what a point spread is, and I know even less about how it works. I know football and that’s IT. If you use Four Things as a gambling tool, you are trying to lose your money, and will deserve it when you do.
Check back in a couple of days for Four Things Reviewed, and we’ll discuss how this game went.
WATCHING SS Chauncey Gardner-Johnson literally snatch the last game away from the Cowboys, made it known to the world exactly why the 6 – 0 Eagles, are the king of the fucking mountain. This week the NFL feeds sheep to lion (yet again), as they serve Philadelphia a shaky rookie QB.
Even worse, the game is here in Philadelphia. Philly is a tough, frenetic place to play even under normal circumstances, but now? NOW?? This city is in the grip of Championship Mania, as thePhillies begin a best of seven World Series push, this very night. Everyone and everything in this city, is thrumming with energy. You can get an electric shock from touching asphalt here. Throwing this rookie out there on Sunday… That poor kid has no chance. None. None at all.
A win of course, keeps the Eagles at the head of the table, as the NFL’s only undefeated team. Coupled with a loss from the giants, a win would open up our lead in the division. A loss coupled with a giants win, would put them in first place, due to one extra win, because they didn’t have a bye yet.
****
The point of Four Thingsisn’t to predict a winner, it’s to discuss which tactics would give our Eagles the best chance to win this game. So here are the Four Things that we need to focus on this week, versus the: Steelers.
1) Divide and Conquer: This game needs to be the tale of two halves. The first half spent mostly rushing four, and giving the Steelers QB confusing coverage looks. Rush four to not over-commit our LB’s, so they can take away the run, and put the game on the QB’s shoulders. Give him different coverage looks, so that he doesn’t trust his eyes. Especially early in the down.
In the second half rush five, and play aggressive man coverage. Fake some looks that we gave him in the first half, so that he thinks he knows what he’s seeing, then make plays on the ball. Don’t just blitz his body. Blitzkrieg his mind. This week we chambered another round,
when we added DE Robert Quinn to the roster, via trade with Chicago. We’ll be looking to either pick off the QB himself, or his passes.
2) Suffocate the Run: Engage the Steelers at the line of scrimmage, and bottle up the run early. Their leading rusher averages just 3.3 yards per carry, and twenty percent of their offense runs through him. We don’t need to shut him down, just make him unreliable. Keep our LB’s clean, and their run game should taper off.
The Steelers haven’t invested much draft or development capital in their offensive line, and it shows up in their run game (3.3) and pass protection. Left to right, in terms of talent, they trot out a 4th rounder, 4th rounder, two free agents, and a 3rd rounder. Across from them: DE Brandon Graham 1st rounder, DT Fletcher Cox 1st rounder, DT Jordan Davis 1st rounder, DE Josh Sweat 3rd rounder.
3) Win the Phonebooth: The Steelers run a 3 – 4 that’s an actual 3 – 4. Their OLB’s are not DE’s playing a glorified 5 – 2. Their OLB’s can actually play in space, so there will be no gimme routes to TE’s or RB’s. It will probably not be easy for QB Jalen Hurts to bootleg into big plays. So we’ll have to come at this one a little bit differently.
Drop our 300 pound G’s, repeatedly in the laps of their 240 pound ILB’s. Make it a physical game. Make it a fistfight in a phonebooth. Run the ball straight ahead, and just beat the hell out of them. Maul them. Harass them. Wear them down. Wear them out. Put the dogs on them. Leave nothing left of them for the second half. Then once they’re tired and stiff from resting during half-time, do it again in the second half.
4) Give Minka Fits:Line up WR Quez Watkins in the Slot, and have him run directly wherever FS Minka Fitzpatrick is. Keep one of their most important players where he can’t influence the game. Blow the top off their defense, and create room to work underneath of it.
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If the Eagles do these Four Things, then we’ll be virtually impossible to beat. That being said…
This game shouldn’t be about big splashy plays. We’re facing a team with an old reputation of being hard-nosed, no nonsense, and blue-collar. Usually as a Pennsylvanian, I’m proud to share those traits with the former Steagles. However, this week is Cross-state Rivalry Week. Order must be maintained.
Also, we need to send the NFL a wake-up call. We’re undefeated, and have won multiple ways. We aren’t part of the 2022 conversation. We ARE the 2022 conversation. The league needs to see us put on an execution. A slow, deliberate, methodical dismantling of an opponent. One where no one talks about a lucky bounce, or missed call, or some other fluke being the difference.
It’s high time we made it clear, that WE, are the king of this fucking mountain.
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Prediction: EAGLES 28 – Steelers 13
WARNING: I don’t have the faintest clue as to what a point spread is, and I know even less about how it works. I know football and that’s IT. If you use Four Things as a gambling tool, you are trying to lose your money, and will deserve it when you do.
Check back in a couple of days for Four Things Reviewed, and we’ll discuss how this game went.
ARMING for a Super Bowl run. That’s the whole point in making a mid-season trade. It’s getting that last piece, which should put your team over the hump. It’s shoring up a glaring weakness, or giving an obvious strength the Barry Bonds treatment. It’s saying “Damn the consequences. I’m all in!”
Defensive line and pass rush, are already deep and dominant areas for this Eagles team. There isn’t an NFC team that can beat us now. Adding Dallas Cowboys DE DeMarcus Lawrence to this team, would almost act as a reservation to play in the upcoming Super Bowl.
Understand, this move is highly unlikely at the moment. The current NFL playoff structure includes seven teams, three of which are Wild Cards. If the playoffs started today, Dallas would be in as the sixth seed. With playoff hopes still alive, no team is parting ways with a player like Lawrence.
That said, the November 1st trade deadline is two Cowboys games away from now, and currently there are six, 3 – 3 teams in the NFC. The math will turn suddenly and sharply for at least one of these teams. If the the 4 – 2 Cowboys split these next two weeks, they’d be 5 – 3. If they drop both, they’re 4 – 4 with a very murky franchise picture going forward.
Get this: Lawrence is 30 years old, and set to count 35M$ against the 2023 salary cap. He last had a 10 sack season in 2018. Since then, he’s put up 5.0, 6.5, 3.0, and currently sits at 3.0 through six games. This year, that’s half a sack per game. Over seventeen games that projects as just 8.5 sacks, and he’s under contract until 2025, when he’ll be 33.
Hell, with DE’s Chauncey Gholston and Sam Williams waiting in the wings, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones might welcome a chance to dump Lawrence’s contract. Especially if he can get us to cough up a second rounder and fourth rounder in 2023; or a 2023 second, and a 2024 third.
For the Eagles it would also work out well. Part of Lawrence’s production issues have to do with him never having an interior presence like DT Fletcher Cox. With OLB Hasaan Reddick on his left arm, and Cox on his right, there may not be enough players left to block him! Lawrence isn’t a long term building block, but he can be this year’s Chris Longor Michael Bennett, and really help further a playoff run.
As far as figuring out the money, The Eagles are already projected to have a loose estimate of 11M in cap space for 2023; they should have about 10M in rollover; and no one knows exactly what the cap ceiling will be. Also General ManagerHowie Roseman can take a bad contract, and turn that water into wine. So if you think of the money as an impediment, DON’T.
I’m writing this on my personal laptop, with my work laptop open to my lock screen. The picture on that screen, is of the Eagles 2018 parade. Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles is holding the trophy in the air, as the bus travels (the wrong way) on 15th Street. Crazy thing is, I’m in this picture. (Don’t look for me. Even I can’t make me out in this shot, and I know exactly where I’m standing in it.)
Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles holds up the Lombardi trophy, in front of the Municipal Services Building. Kevin Bacon’s father Edmund, designed it. FYI: When this was taken, I was standing across the street from it, with no clue that I’d ever work there. I work there now. Life can be funny.
This trade would put us in a real position to see another one of these, at seasons end. Again, this move is highly unlikely at the moment. So share the shit out this article! Spread the rumor! Speak it into existence. We have two weeks to get it to the right set of ears, and maybe make it happen. Be that 12th man, and I’ll see you on in February on 15th Street.
EAGLEMANIACAL.com 