Rivals

EAGLES ARE AFRAID TO SAY…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THE RIVALS 2019 (PT 2 of 3)

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/11/09
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, NFC East, NFL, Offense, Players, Rivals, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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IT’S THAT TIME AGAIN KIDDIES!!!

GENERALLY when I talk football, it’s about my Eagles. I tend to keep mum about our rivals, unless we have a game coming up against one of them. Otherwise, I’ve reserved most talk about them for my Pre-Draft Preview, which drops each April. (Look for it).

In 2017 however, I decided to try something new, and give our fan base a running commentary of what the division is doing around us. This ensures that Eagles fans ARE actually the best informed, and most knowledgeable fans, in the NFL. (Provided you visit this site often.) These updates will come out three times during the season: After Weeks 3, 9, and 15.

This is where we left off Part 1 

This is where things are today:

Washington Redskins: 1 – 8, 4th in the NFC East

There’s the basement, and then there’s being thrown into the Rancor pit. It took playing the Miami Dolphins to get this team a win. The Dolphins. The ones tanking publicly, and throwing out players like a desperate mother pitching her babies from a burning building. With 8 losses already, the Redskins ceiling is .500.

They’re ranked 31st in offense, only because the Jets are, well… the Jets. The bright spot of their season was that Week 6, 17-16 win over Miami. It was the last time they scored more than 9 points. (Perhaps for a long time.) Let’s take a look at their personnel.

In the backfield, starting QB Dwayne Haskins has an interception percentage of 9.1, and has yet to throw or run for a single touchdown.

1-Rypien on the skins

Methuselah is their starting RB, but he produces. Everyone behind him is trash. Just pure trash.

The ‘skins leading receiver is 200 yards ahead of the next closest guy on their roster, despite not catching for more than 40 yards in three weeks. Their second leading receiver doesn’t start, and hasn’t played a down in three weeks. The guy in third is a professional WR with 6 starts in the 9 games he’s played.

This offense isn’t just bad. It’s nuclear waste bad. It’s cancer risk bad. Right, Trent?

Defensively S Landon Collins is everything the giants hyped him up to be this offseason. (I know, I know. That was mean.)

All jokes aside, DE’s Jonathan Allen and Matt Ioaniddis come to wreck shit every week. I’d jump at the chance to see either of them in midnight green.

 

New York Giants: 2 – 7, 3rd in the NFC East

“YOU had dreams, of a Lear jet

But then it ended up, like Aliyah’s jet” – Loaded Lux

When QB Danny Jones took over an 0 – 2 team, in Week 3, giants fans were eager to see what the kid had. Then after two straight wins (over bottom feeders), you couldn’t tell giants fans anything. “Eli was holding the team back!” “We love Danny Dimes!” They were convinced that the team would battle back, and win the East this year.

Then, the worst thing that could happen to a breakout rookie, happened to Danny Dimes: Teams got some tape on him. PFFFT!!! Don’t look now, but if you compare Jones to deposed starter QB Eli Manning, they look a lot alike this year. So what? The giants still have RB Saquon Barkley. Right?

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Barkley is the worst kind of tease. He’s like watching partly scrambled, soft-core porn, on a “chipped” cable box. Just when you think you see somethiiing… NOPE! Nothing at all. Typical Saquon is 17 carries for 36 yards, and then 1 carry for 65. For that day it’s a 6.1 yard average, but it doesn’t reflect his actual average carry. And so the giants stall on drive, after drive, after drive. His deliveries often fall so short, that if he worked for the Post Office, most of the time you’d have to walk to the curb to get your mail.

As far as catching the ball, there’s TE Evan Engram! Did I mention that right now he has an injured foot and will miss at least Week 10. At least. Through nine weeks the leading WR for this team has 29 catches. I could go on, but it just keeps getting sadder. This isn’t me picking on the team. This is actually who they are. Look it up. If you root for this team you should already know this stuff.

Midway through the season and the giants two leading tacklers are their Safeties, with 65 and 67 stops. Safeties leading a team in tackles isn’t unusual, but 132 tackles this early in the year, indicates that teams are bypassing the LB level at an alarming rate. Especially when sporting a minus 10 takeaway figure, and surrendering 28 points per game.

This team not being in the basement, tells you just how awful the Redskins truly are.

 

Dallas Cowboys: 5 – 3, Top of the NFC East

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Boasting a Top 10 Defense, a Top 5 Offense, and an amazingly healthy roster, the Cowboys have ridden their good luck all the way to a staggering, one game lead in the division. Media pundits everywhere, say that QB Dak Prescott (15TD, 8INT) is finally playing his best football. Um, okay.

Accompanying the virtuoso passing, is RB Ezekiel Elliott. He had a 27 yard run in Week 2, and a 27 yard catch in Week 5. His longest plays of the year! He remains a player you have to watch for on every down, despite the fact that his explosive plays get less explosive, every season, for three straight seasons in a row. But who cares?! What he lacks in explosiveness, he’ll make up for in volume. In fact, he’s on pace for another 350 touch season, and is showing no ill-effects from that workload. Nor will he next year.

The catalyst to this whole thing is The Anointed One, WR Amari Cooper. Cooper leads the NFL in recep- Wait, that’s actually the Saints Michael Thomas. Well Cooper leads the league receiving yar- Hold on! No, that would also be Thomas. Okay, yards per catc- Nope! Chargers Mike Williams owns that. How ‘bout them touchd- Ooops! Tampa Bay’s Mike Evans, and Detroit’s Kenny Golladay share that lead. So what’s all this Cooper talk about?

You know, when I step back, their offense doesn’t look quite as dominant as we keep being told it is by football pundits. Perhaps we should talk defense.

You can’t argue with 17 points allowed per game, and a plus one turnover margin. Those are either luck vs a couple of early winless opponents, or pretty good marks with such a weak pass rush They only have 22 sacks so far. That’s one ahead of the Redskins, tied with the giants, and two behind the Eagles.

All the media buzz aside, this looks like a pretty stoppable team to me. 

TRIVIA: During the 2019 season, only one NFL team allowed the Jets to score 24 points on them, while losing to them mano y Mono. Who was that team? (Hint: It was not the dreadfully awful Redskins. Then again the Jets and ‘skins don’t play until next week. So the Jets could hang 24 on them, but if they don’t, man, it’ll just make this trivia question so much more amusing.)

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So that’s the state of our division rivals as your Eagles head into Week 10

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ARE YOU IN OR OUT?

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/10/22
Posted in: Defense, Fans, NFC East, NFL, Offense, playoffs, Rants, Rivals, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

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FELLOW Eagles fans! We’re 7 games into a 16 game season. That’s not even halfway through. We’re a game out of 1st place, with a rematch IN OUR HOUSE coming up at the end of the season. So the question is, are you gearing up for the Sixers season opener, or are you locked in for Sunday in Buffalo?

Don’t answer me. Answer your mirror. As for me…

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I’m always locked in. They’ll NEVER clean my cage!

I want to make two things plain right now.

First, I’m picking the Eagles over Buffalo. Not for homerism, or for bullshit “fan support”. The numbers clearly indicate that if the Eagles don’t beat the Eagles, then Buffalo won’t be able to. A couple of bad losses, will never get me to ignore raw data. That would be a sign of panic, and I cannot in 44 years of life, point to a single instance where I have panicked. Football won’t be where I start.

Second, the Cowboys didn’t beat us. We beat us. Nothing about the box score says that they dominated us. QB Dak Prescott, RB Ezekiel Elliott, and WR Amari Cooper all were productive, but none of them had a career day or some shit.

For those of us who watched, it was clear that no one hurt us as badly as we did. So don’t get it into your head that the final score indicates a gulf between how good they are, vs how good we are. It does not. It’s just a lil’ choppy water.

And I’ll say again,

Popeye

The Eagles made a move on Monday that I really really liked. We added DT Anthony Rush to our active roster. Back in June I was still rooting for us to find a way to keep the guy. We’ve long been a team that favored smaller DT’s, and Rush is a horse of a different color.

When we signed the 6’5, 350 pound Rush, after the 2019 Draft, I was all about that move. A big body to bull rush the “A” gap, and not let the Center get out on combo-blocks? All while having the length to possibly bat down passes, and affect field goal attempts?! I was excited about the idea of having someone who exceeds the prototypical 6’4, 320 mold, which the Eagles frequently fall short of.

When DT Malik Jackson went down, I actually thought of Rush, but I was lazy, and didn’t do the the leg-work to find out that he was unavailable anyway. When we later added DT Akeem Spence it seemed like a very mid-season Eagles (aka meh) sort of signing.

Rush however, seems like just the sort of move we need, now that we’re going with smaller LB’s who can’t get off of blocks. At least until OLB Nigel Bradham gets back. Once Bradham gets back, we should get some physicality back in the LB corps. And with Rush eating up space and blockers, those two things alone should go a long way, to changing what we’ve seen over these last two weeks.

It’s been a rough two weeks, but this is nothing we can’t handle. We’re making moves to right the ship. First place in Week 8 was never Step One. It never was. First place in Week 17 was Step One.

The storm be damned! Even at 3 – 4, we’re still on course. 

Popeye EM MAX

I’m all about the “get down”. Let’s chop it up!

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED – WK 7 – COWBOYS

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/10/21
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Four Things, NFC East, Offense, Players, playoffs, Reviews, Rivals, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

 

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There’s joke here for those who get it.

IT’LL probably strike you as odd that I’m not as angry as most of you. If you remember, in this week’s Four Things article, I start off by saying, “Fact is, even with a win and sole position atop the NFC East, we’ll still be just 4 – 3, with 9 more games to go.” So it’s easy for me to keep our 3 – 4 record in perspective. That said, we need to take an assessment.

We got blown out. Let’s table that right now. Don’t duck it. Don’t dodge it. Don’t run from it. We got shit-canned tonight. While the Cowboys offensive line did a great job of opening holes to keep the chains moving, nothing else about their play said “37 – 10”, yet me made that score possible.

The word I would use to describe the Eagles on both sides of the ball, tonight is ‘listless’. They barely seemed interested. No one came out fired up. On Defense, our LB’s looked to be little more than numbered decorations. Offensively, I don’t understand why the Eagles pay any WR besides Jeffery.

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EAGLES 10 – Cowboys 37

As has become our habit, we simply self-destructed on the field. We opened the game with a fumble by TE Dallas Goedert (4 – 69 – 17.2 – 1) and followed it with a strip/sack of QB Carson Wentz (16/26 – 61.5 – 191 – 1 – 1). By the time the dust cleared, it was 0 – 14 in the first quarter, and it was clear that we had no way to stop them on the ground.

The new LB trio of OLB Kamu Grugier-Hill (2 – 0 – 0 – 0), MLB Nate Gerry (7 – 0 – 0 – 0) and OLB T.J. Edwards (1 – 0 – 0 – 0) was weak and ineffectual. They were incapable of getting off of blocks to limit runs, and did a piss-poor job of underneath coverage, as most of what ate us up in the passing game, was “Dink-and-Dak” stuff.

It needs to be said that RB Jordan Howard (11 – 50 – 4.5 – 0 – 0) looked very good running the ball. My mind boggles that we don’t use play-action on second down much when he’s out there. HC Doug Pederson not elevating RB Coach Duce Staley to OC, last year, looks like a worse and worse decision by the week. (Even going back to last year.)

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

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

1) Play some Cover Two: HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Yeah, no. The Eagles don’t do that. To be fair, there were a couple of downs where we did. On one occasion FS Rod McLeod (2 – 0 – 0 – 0) was in position to hustle over and limit a big catch to just a catch. Otherwise it was mostly that Single-high stuff. Oh, and some nifty Cover Zero! You might remember Cover Zero, from the Atlanta loss. Good times. (NOT DONE)

2) Early misdirection/Late power: Nope. The Eagles came out using a paint-by-numbers offense that is highly uncharacteristic of them. There was too much that was weird about this game. Same as with the Falcons game. The Eagles just seemed flat. There was no indication by them that this was a division game, and that we needed to roll out new wrinkles that they hadn’t seen. (NOT DONE)

3) Stop the run: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! By the end of the game, it seemed like Cowboys owner Jerry Jones could have run for 100 yards on us. Our players stuck to blocks like Velcro. (NOT DONE)

4) Someone step up: This was one of the weeks when we would need a WR in addition to Alshon Jeffery (2 – 38 – 19.0 – 0), to make 4 or more grabs, so we could horizontally stretch the opposing defense. While seven different Eagles caught passes, the only other WR to do so, was Nelson Agholor (2 – 24 – 12. 0 – 0). That is to say, on 9 targets, Wentz’s WR’s caught 4 passes for 52 yards for him. Dear Anonymous, THAT is why he targets his TE so much. So for next week, catch more balls and throw less shade.

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(NOT DONE)

This week we had a Four Things score of 0 for 4. That makes our season total 12 of 28. That sort of deal won’t cut it next week, when we conclude our road trip in Buffalo vs a 5 – 1 Bills team.

Despite their record, the Bills have trouble putting points on the board, and their highly ranked defense, has so far only played one decent offense. Oh, by the way, they nearly found a way to lose to the Dolphins, on Sunday afternoon. So we could get back to .500 in a blink, if we get OUR shit together.

On The Whole:

While it was hard to stomach that “game” tonight, it might be a blessing in disguise. No, this is not me looking for a silver lining. It’s a statement of an honest to God, fact. We didn’t just lose to “some team”. We took a fourth consecutive loss to a division rival. One who now seems to score at will, against us. I promise you, a public statement by owner Jeffery Lurie, or GM Howie Roseman, will not portend good things for someone.

Howie to players

They say that winning is the best deodorant, and winning it all a couple years ago, behind our high-powered Offense, covered the stench of many defensive deficiencies that were literally on world-wide display, in that very game.

Today, (PFFFT! actually going back to last year), our Offense isn’t nearly as high-powered, and those defensive deficiencies are now a team-wide liability. I said last week, “teams with legit playoff hopes, don’t invite upheaval in the middle of the season.” I stand by that 100%. However, if our playoff dreams become less than legitimate…

DC Jim Schwartz has been getting a free ride for the last 3 years here. If we fall to 3 – 5 next week vs a team that is 20th in scoring, especially if we allow 24 points or more, it will be time to stop deluding ourselves about a deep playoff run in 2019, and fire Schwartz next Monday morning. After which Pederson should elevate LB’s Coach Ken Flajole to interim DC, and see if he has the chops to keep the gig in 2020.

FOUR THINGS – WK 7 – EAGLES – COWBOYS

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/10/17
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Four Things, NFC East, NFL, Offense, Players, Preview, Rivals, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

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ONE step at a time. The temptation is to talk playoffs, seeding, bye weeks and home field advantage. Fact is, even with a win and sole position atop the NFC East, we’ll still be just 4 – 3, with 9 more games to go.

So let’s pump the brakes, do what Doug said, and focus on going 1 – 0 this week. Then we’ll take the rest as it comes.

Remember being 1 – 2? Remember when the Cowboys were 3 – 0? Funny thing is, that was the same week. After that point, The Eagles battled back and climbed to 3 – 2. During that same period opposing teams got behind the curtain of the Great and Powerful Cowboys, and exposed them. Dallas fell to 3 – 2.

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Due to NFL tie-break procedure, the Eagles ended up as the “technical” head of the division. Both teams subsequently falling to 3 – 3 the following week, meant that there was no change in the pecking order.

This strikes me as weird, given that Dallas has two division wins to our one, and a higher conference win percentage (.500 to .400). Whatever. Doesn’t matter. After this week one of us will have beaten the other, making one team 4 – 3 and the other 3 – 4. There’ll be no need to split hairs, or cut farts into quarters.

Those are the stakes. This is what we’re playing for.

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

1) Play some Cover Two:

Last week, 4 touchdowns were thrown on 3 different CB’s. Three of those plays featured no deep Safety help. We have 12 DB’s on this team. Seems to me, before we bulldoze 20% of the roster, maybe we should try to see if there’s another way to squeeze talent out of at least a few of these guys.

In any case last week the Vikings handed the NFL a blueprint of how to dismantle our defense. We would be foolish not to throw a serious curve this week. We don’t need to stay in Cover Two, but for 2nd and 7 or longer, we should show that or some Tampa Two.

2) Early misdirection/Late power: Dallas prides it’s defense on it’s speed. So why not turn their strength into a weakness?

Early in the game, hit them with play-action bootlegs to the right, so that QB Carson Wentz can load up for deep passes, or easy runs of 5 yards here and there. Middle Screens to RB Miles Sanders would be a great addition. So would Slot WR Nelson Agholor, running Drag routes back to the strongside, in the shallow area cleared out by the TE.

Later in the game when the Cowboys are gassed from all the chasing we made them do earlier, bludgeon their quicker edge players with power running. On 2nd and less than 5 situations, use play-action and go deep to the Slot or TE.

Zach Ertz Dallas Goedert

3) Stop the run: This one doesn’t just mean the Cowboys RB, it means their QB too. If he wants to become a runner, present him with an exorbitant price tag.

4) Someone step up: This game needs an Eagles WR not named Alshon Jeffery to catch at least 4 passes. If Jeffery wants to have a big game, great! But he needs help on that other perimeter

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:

The Eagles will play a ton of Single-high coverage, because they hate me, and DC Jim Schwartz has a learning disability. Noise will be a factor only briefly. Once the Eagles get the lead, the crowd will quiet down.

PREDICTION: EAGLES 27 – Cowboys 24.

yeah-bitch

EAGLES FANS! DON’T PANIC

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/10/15
Posted in: Coaching, Crazy Talk, Defense, Front Office (F.O.), NFC East, NFL, Offense, Rivals, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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WILL DC Jim Schwartz be fired this week? Did we really cut LB Zach Brown over trash talk? Why can’t we get sacks? Why can’t we cover? Are the Eagles only marginally better than the rest of a crappy division?

I was going to release an article about what 12 Personnel is, and why it’s so effective. (It’s already written and waiting for me to publish it). However, given recent events that have some of our fan base in quasi-panic mode, I decided to delay that article, and go point by point to give NON-SPIN answers to these questions.

1) Will Schwartz be fired this week?

No. In fact, unless someone in the Front Office contracts mental retardation, Schwartz won’t be fired this season. Does he need to go? Hell yeah. Fuck yeah. We shouldn’t need to score 30 points to win a game. Giving up 25 points per game is not the mark for defensive competence.

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That being said, teams with legit playoff hopes, don’t invite upheaval in the middle of the season. Fact is, this is just one loss, following two wins. An Eagles win this coming Sunday, puts us firmly in command of the NFC East, and the Jim Schwartz problem gets the volume turned down on it.

2) Did they really cut Zach Brown over some trash talk?

On the surface it certainly looks like it. When I take a deeper look, it suggests that the trash talk may have just been a patsy for a move the team already wanted to make. Not just that, but it can also be used to give the appearance of a disciplinarian’s backhand.

It’s more likely because Brown was merely okay in underneath zone coverage, and didn’t make any splash plays. On the other hand, LB Nate Gerry who (ahem!) started the last two games, has flat-out, out-played Brown, over that span.

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That’s significant, because even last year, the Eagles used Gerry at the MLB spot when Jordan Hicks went down. Brown was here on a one year deal, and was never in the long-term plans. The Eagles just moved sooner, rather than later. This now clears the way for LB T.J. Edwards (whom coaches love) to get playing time.

The other part of this is, it sends the message that any shit talking, must be backed up. You don’t get to paint a target on the team, and then be invisible all afternoon. Also, we don’t know just how much Redskins cultural baggage may have followed Brown up here. There could very well (quite likely), be issues regarding his fit into the locker room.

3) Why can’t we get sacks?

QB’s are generally releasing the ball in fewer than three seconds vs the Eagles. The coverage is so loose that it allows for this. If we can get QB’s to hold the ball longer, then not only will sacks go up, but completion percentages will come down.

4) Why can’t any of our CB’s cover?

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This notion that ALL of our CB’s are trash is nonsense. The problem with our Corners isn’t a talent problem, it’s a system problem. Regardless of the CB, they are almost never allowed to play press coverage. Almost all of our man-to-man coverage involves giving up huge cushions that the WR settles into, to make quick, drive sustaining catches.

Making matters worse is the Single-high Safety coverage that this team has favored since the late Jim Johnson, used to keep S Quintin Mikell in since 2007. Yes! We’ve been rocking the same look for 12 years now. Sean McDermott? Single-high. Jim Washburn? Single-high. Juan Castillo? Single-high. Todd Bowles? Single-high. Bill Davis? Single-high.

There were times when we’d deviated here and there, but that was few and far in between. Complain all you like about FS Rod McLeod and SS Malcolm Jenkins, but answer this question, honestly. Prior to them, who was the best Safety duo for this team?

So yeah. The issue is systemic.

5) Are we a bad team that’s only slightly better than the rest of our division?

Hard to say that we’re the best, since we haven’t beaten Dallas yet. YET.

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As far as being a bad division. The Eagles are a couple of plays away from being 5 -1. We saw the giants make a game of it vs. the Patriots, without RB Saquon Barkley and a rookie making his 4th career start. The Redskins… Okay the ‘skins are legitimately awful. The Cowboys were 3 – 0, then ran out of zero win teams to crush, lost two games, took a deep breath, and then found a way to lose to a zero win team. So it’s hard to know how bad they might be.

That all being said, even if the NFC East is a bad division, that in no way means we have to be a bad team. Look at the aforementioned Patriots. Their division has been ass tar-tar, for two decades and yet we never hold it against New England. So who cares how bad our rivals are, if WE are truly good enough to win every week? Don’t sweat that shit.

So there you have it. Win or lose this week, understand: The sky is not falling. The Eagles need work, but as always the season is “work-in-progress” sort of thing every year. In five months, the Phillies will be reporting to Clearwater, and you’ll be pining for these days. So sit back and enjoy this ride while we have it.

And don’t panic.

THE RIVALS 2019 (PT 1 of 3)

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/10/06
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, NFC East, Offense, Players, Reviews, Rivals, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

IT’S THAT TIME AGAIN KIDDIES!!!

CHANGE MY MIND

GENERALLY when I talk football, it’s about my Eagles. I tend to keep mum about our rivals, unless we have a game coming up against one of them. Otherwise, I’ve reserved most talk about them for my Pre-Draft Preview, which drops each April. (Look for it).

In 2017 however, I decided to try something new, and give our fan base a running commentary of what the division is doing around us. This ensures that Eagles fans ARE actually the best informed, and most knowledgeable fans, in the NFL. (Provided you visit this site often.) These updates will come out three times during the season: After Weeks 3, 9, and 15.

This edition had to wait until the edge of Week 5, because the Eagles had a short week last week. That meant cramming Four Things Reviewed (Lions), Four Things (Packers) and Four Things Reviewed (Packers) into a Monday to Friday window. After which came the Eagles Quarterly Report Part 1. So there just wasn’t time (with a day job), to fit in researching three teams, and writing about them. But now it’s done.

And of course it’s worth the wait. I am always, worth the wait. So let’s hit it.

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This is where things are today:

Washington Redskins: 0 – 4, 4th place in the NFC East

Which is worse, being 29th in scoring (16.5 ppg), or 31st in points allowed (29.5 ppg)? Unable to run (31st, 49.8 ypg) or unable to stop it (29th, 147.5 ypg)? Is it worse to be the prey, or the predator that takes 17 weeks to starve to death?

As I write this, QB Colt McCoy is getting set to start his first game of the 2019 season. This is after QB Case Keenum went 0 – 3, and then was yanked early in Week 4, for rookie QB Dwayne Haskins. Presumably to capture some of the “magic” that the giants had experienced benching starter a week earlier. The thing is, the giants rookie got a week to prep. Haskins came off the bench, cold. So yeah. They Redskin’d it up.

2019 Redskined

Haskins came out, and proceeded to prove everyone who’s ever doubted him, as being right on the money. His 17 attempt, 9 completion, 3 interception debut, had all the “magic” of a 16-wheeler, sliding on its side through an orphanage. Today the Redskins QB position sits in shambles. A perfect representation of their team as a whole.

New York giants: 2 – 2, 3rd place in the NFC East

Two weeks ago the giants were 0 – 2 behind QB Eli Manning, and the organization said “Fuck it! Put the kid in!” The kid, is rookie QB Danny Jones, whom we all mocked the giants for drafting in April. They gave him a week to prep. Eli got a week to play diplomat. It was a tasteful ceremony. Everybody hugged and had s’mores. The transition went smoothly. (Did you hear that Washington? Smoothly!)

The second Jones hit the field, BAM! the “Anybody But Eli” movement got an emotional lift. The giants (behind a stunning four touchdown debut from Jones), beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 32 – 31, after the Bucs missed a field goal that would have iced the game. A week later, Jones would look a lot like Eli, and get his struggle face on, in a game against the lowly Redskins.

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This week they get a hungry Vikings team with a chip on their shoulder. It was different when the season was in the shitter, and the giants were just grooming a kid. Problem is, today 2 – 2 is just two games out of the division lead. Problem is, today there’s NFL tape on Jones. Problem is, today NYC will have expectations of and from the kid.

Throw the stats out the window. None of them mean diddly. The giants are a team in transition now. They are not who they were in Week 1. They’re trying to figure out who they are now. Unfortunately for the kid, there is no worse place, no less patient place on Earth, than New York for doing that.

Dallas Cowboys: 3 – 1, 1st in the NFC East

Had this report come out on time, this section would have been written very differently. Perhaps even deferentially. In light of that, I want to send a shout out to my friends, the New Orleans Saints… Good luck during the season, fellas. We’ll see you here. After our first round Bye.

Now to the Cowboys.

If your team has yet to win a game, the Cowboys are gonna smash that ass. They have hung no less than 31, that’s THIRTY ONE, points on every team they’ve beaten this year. If your team’s defense already can’t stop anyone, the Cowboys offense is a machine.

Until they finally beat someone who comes into a game against them, with a win, they’re basically the Tommy Gunn of the NFC.

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Paper Champion.

Three weeks in, there was serious talk about QB Rayne Dakota “Dak” Prescott, being the NFL MVP at season’s end. He was completing 156% of his passes, while throwing 18 touchdowns per game, with a passer rating of “Where do you want it?! Where do you want it?!” Those numbers are of course an exaggeration, but you get the idea. Cowboys fans were in Greasy Hooker Heaven.

People were talking about how Prescott’s price tag was just going up and up. Everyone was saying that Cowboys team owner Jerry Jones, was foolish for not rushing to get Prescott signed to long-term deal.

All the rumblings of Prescott needing RB Ezekiel Elliott to carry the Cowboys to win games, seemed to quiet down. Except, the entire time Prescott was playing well, so was Elliott. Until Week 4 when Elliott didn’t have a great game vs the Saints, and the burden was shifted to Prescott, who also had WR Amari Cooper playing in that game.

Suddenly all the excuses were gone. Elliott was playing, but he was struggling. They had a #1 WR. They had a Hall of Fame TE, in Jason Witten. They had their entire starting offensive line. They had a bookend DE. Good Lord, they even had a healthy Sean Lee! It was Prescott’s moment. His time to shine! 

Final score: 10 to 12. 

Saints.

And the Cowboys bandwagon…

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The MVP talk has suddenly gone stone silent, and those rumblings about Prescott have now re-started. The conversations around the Cowboys are suddenly very different. People want to see what happens this week against Green Bay before they say anything else. They likely sense what I’ve been saying the whole time.

Lean in. Close. Closer than that dammit! It’s a screen, I can’t bite you! 

Have you ever heard the term “overrated”? Inflated? Propped up? Paper Tiger? I’d been saying that for weeks now. No matter. A week ago, this section would have been written very differently. Perhaps even deferentially. But one game against a decent team, with a so-so back-up, and well…? Well here we are. 

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So that’s the state of our division rivals as your Eagles head into Week 5. The Eagles have their issues. There is absolutely no room for patting ourselves on the back. That said, this is still a wide open division. We’ll check back and see how things are shaking out after Week 9. (No short week for us then. That one will be on-time.)