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2019 SEASON REVIEW: FOURTH QUARTER

Posted by The BEAST on 2020/01/04
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, NFC East, NFL, Offense, Players, playoffs, Reviews, Roster, Special Teams, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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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 next.

STATUS: 9 – 7, WINNER of the NFC EAST, 4th Seed in the NFC, Sole Playoff Representative of the Division.

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OPPONENTS:

W New York giants (4 – 12)
W Washington Redskins (3 – 13)
W Dallas Cowboys (8 – 8)
W New York giants (4 – 12)

Combined: (19 – 45)

OVERVIEW:

We needed to win all four games. We won all four games.

People can talk about how “unpretty” the wins were. They can talk about how bad our opponent’s records were. Doesn’t matter. We’re here, and no argument made against that, can change that. We fought. We clawed. We earned this, because we kept believing and we stuck together.

Losers fall apart (giants). Losers tap out (Like Zeke did). Losers change horses midstream (See: Dan Snyder). Winners win because they don’t quit. They give an all out effort. Winners get to feel elation. Winners get to know that they were vindicated. Losers? They can only wish to stand where we do today.

GRADES:

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QB: (A) Carson Wentz put this team on his back, and made those around him better. Amazingly enough, he also made himself better as over these last four games he’s been more cognizant not holding the ball forever as he waits to make a big play. The game winning touchdown he threw at Washington, was an example of him trusting his receiver to make a play, not just his own arm. As a result, he’s now doing a better job of throwing guys open. There are still overthrows of his deep ball, but I suspect that will iron out when he gets some higher grade firepower back on the roster.

RB: (B) Some fans would give this position a higher grade, but that would mean only seeing the good and not the bad. Jordan Howard hasn’t touched the ball in this quarter. So Miles Sanders and Boston Scott have taken up the load. They both have at times, been dynamic with the ball and reliable as blockers. What neither has been, is an inside runner who consistently finishes runs hard. Both are great to keep on the field, especially as compensatory pieces, but neither is a true Alpha. Teams don’t get worn down and tired, tackling those guys. Howards absence has highlighted the need for him. (Or at least someone (Holyfield) like him.)

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TE: (B) This position is usually the Zach Ertz Show. However, injuries have given Dallas Goedert and Josh Perkins a chance to strut their stuff, showing not just talent, but reliability. Goedert in fact, despite being a back-up, developed into a Top Ten player at his position (10th in yards, 9th in catches, and only 6 players at his position have more touchdowns).

Perkins leaves something to be desired as a blocker, but for a 3rd string target, he’s an absolute luxury. He’s the Range Rover that you only drive when your Tesla Model X, and Mercedes G-Class are being detailed. Good thing we had these guys too! The broken rib that Ertz suffered in Week 16 would have been a death knell for teams like Kansas City, or San Francisco. However, since our reserves are so silky smooth, Philadelphia hardly felt a bump in the road.

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WR: (D) Greg Ward by himself would get a “B” grade. Over the last quarter he’s put up 21 catches for 210 yards (10.0 yards per catch), and one game winning TD. The other 3 players active at this position, over that same span, posted 8 catches for 113 yards (16.6ypc) and no scores. To be fair to Deontay Burnett, he only played in the last game and still caught 2 for 48. That means the other two players produced just 6 catches for 85 yards over 4 games. Amazingly, our Eagles won 4 straight games despite this.

OT: (C) We’ve played the last three games without Lane Johnson. We instead relied on Halapoulivaati Vaitai to man the right side. Vaitai hasn’t been great, but he’s been servicable. In fact, many of his mistakes seem more attributable to coaches not compensating for his athletic limitations. Jason Peters has been Jason Peters as a blocker, but his name is being called far too often for penalties recently.

OG: (C) Isaac Suemalo remains an up and down player. While he moves well in space, he’s not particularly stout at the point of attack. Brandon Brooks was playing at a Pro Bowl level, until he was hurt during the last game of the season. Matt Pryor stepped in and handled himself well, but he hasn’t played a single full game in his two year career.

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C: (B) Despite less than stellar Shotgun snapping, Jason Kelce is doing a good better of the blocking calls, so there were fewer “A” gap rushers running free this quarter.

DE: (B) Brandon Graham isn’t getting sacks like he did around midseason, but he is doing a much better job of playing the run first and keeping contain. So I find myself not missing Chris Long quite as much, as I did around midseason.

Derek Barnett would do well to study containment. He flattens out too soon to chase down the line, and usually gets neither the pressure nor the tackle. Instead of doing his job first, he’s trying to make the play first. He’s playing inside-out and it frequently leaves us vulnerable on his side whereas Graham is locking down the other side.

2019 Vinny Curry on the a Dak

Vinny Curry! We won a Super Bowl starting that guy on the blindside. In the two games he played for the injured Barnett this quarter, Vinny was making a case that maybe we have the wrong guy starting. Hey, I’m just being honest! Josh Sweat has cooled off somewhat since midseason, which is probably part of the reason that Philly’s own Shareef Miller was added to the active roster as the season came to a close.

DT: (A) Statistics don’t tell the story of the job that this position is doing. They are playing excellent team concept football, dictating that RB’s can’t run up the middle and that QB’s can’t step up or hang I the pocket. They aren’t recording many stats, but they’re causing opposing offenses to run off-schedule. Amazing.

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Adding man-mountain Anthony Rush to the rotation with Fletcher Cox, has helped limit teams desire to run the ball inside. In fact, we went from a 3 – 4 team before Rush, to 6 – 3 since. I assure you that’s not a coincidence. If you think it is, check out both Dallas games, both before and after Rush was added.

OLB: (C) T.J. Edwards is an upgrade over Kamu Grugier-Hill. He’s more physical and instinctive, and so far there’s nothing to indicate that we’ve lost anything in underneath coverage. Nate Gerry hasn’t made a splash play in a while, but he’s making a lot of clean, unassisted tackles. Nothing is being schemed for him, but that feels like it may change in the postseason.

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MLB: (B) The feel of the Defense has changed since Nigel Bradham took over for Nate Gerry in the middle. Opponents haven’t been able to rely on their run games in weeks, so we’ve made offenses one dimensional against us. And not just against bad offenses. We held the NFL’s #1 offense to 9 points (3 field goals). Bradham isn’t making splash plays, but he’s everywhere we need him to be, when the moment arises. We didn’t have that with Gerry, and we didn’t always have that last year, with Jordan Hicks. We may be making plans for Nigel to play on the inside if the Eagles pick up his option.

S: (C) Malcolm Jenkins is even playing Special Teams. That is leadership by example. It says no job is too small or unimportant. It sends a message that every play, every down, is all hands on deck. Rod McLeod is frequently in tough positions when the ball is thrown long, some of which he can’t recover from. The scheme does him no favors.

CB: (B) Since Miami the DC seems to be letting these guys play a little more Press Coverage at the line. It’s still not enough, but some Press, beats no Press at all. The results speak for themselves. Players at this position have 18 passes defensed in the last 4 weeks. An unit that showed improvement last quarter, continued that trend.

Sidney Jones (whom I all but left for dead in my last report), has made clutch plays in three of the last four games including an interception while covering a receiver, who in a previous game had skinned us alive. Rasul Douglas lacks the long speed to be routinely put in man situations, but if the ball isn’t thrown over his head, he will try to get his mitts on it. There is also no denying that Jalen Mills and CreVon LeBlanc add a fiery competitiveness, that has rubbed off on their fellow corners.

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Talent-wise, we have no A+ or even A type players, at this position. We have a number of B level guys, who all have some sort of obvious limitation. So what we have here, are no stars, but a stable of solid to very solid players. That being said, due to the system we play, these guys will give up big plays here and there. However, recognizing all this doesn’t mean I graded them on a curve. This position got what they earned.

LS: (A) Rick Lovato is consistent.

P: (B) Cam Johnston stepped his game up in these last four games. Last quarter saw 20 punts for 12 returns (60% return rate), for 79 yards (6.5ypr). This quarter had 22 punts for 9 returns (40%) for 51 yards (5.6ypr). That’s across the board improvement, but those aren’t the most baller stats.

Of those 22 punts only 3 were fair caught and only 1 was a touchback. Of our 28 punts down inside the 20 this year, 11 were in these last four games. Of the 9 punts that we downed this year, 6 were in this quarter. That says that Cam took a real hard look in the mirror and opted to work within the system. That’s some real big boy stuff, right there

K: (C ) Jake Elliott was 5 for 8 kicking field goals this year, but two of those misses were from 55 and 53 yards, outside, with intermittent gusts of wind. Spend a day attempting 30 yarders, before you judge this guy too harshly for those. Kickoffs remain a concern though. 21 kickoffs, 10 returns (47% return rate), for 245 yards (24.5ypr).

That return rate is up from 36%. The returns ar up from 23.7. We are trending wrong people!

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PR/KR: (F) I won’t even post the numbers. Our return game is a wide-open wound.

KC: (C) Teams are taking more chances trying to make a big play, by attempting returns, that means it’s only a matter of time before someone gets lucky against us. Worse yet, when teams do return it we don’t stop them well short of the 25. So for opponents, taking a chance on a return is a risk-free proposition.

SINCE LAST QUARTER:

We won the division and made it into the tournament that will determine the league champion. We got our shit together when we needed to, and we had our selves a successful season. Yes, I said it was a successful season. As in Regular Season.

Now we’re trying to have a successful Post-season. THAT success will be determined by hoisting the SB trophy in February. Make no mistake though, we accomplished the first part of that quest already.

Bask in that. Until Kickoff Sunday at 4:40, vs the Seahawks.

2019 malcolm jenkins and nate gerry

MISSION FOR THIS QUARTER:

The regular season is over. We are now in the post-season. There is no quarter given here. Not by the calendar, nor the fans, nor the opposition to come. There is however, a mission, and it is this:

Win one game. Win a second. Win a third. Then win that fourth game.

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FOUR THINGS REVIEWED – WK17 – GIANTS

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/12/30
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Four Things, NFC East, NFL, Offense, Players, playoffs, Reviews, Rivals, Roster, stats, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

EXCUSES

THE PHILADELPHIA EAGLES ARE YOUR 2019 NFC EAST CHAMPIONS!!!

Once again, I predicted score wrong, but I was pretty on-point about the spread. (I predicted 18 points, the margin turned out to be 17.) At no point this week, did I think this game would be close. Turns out, I nailed it. 

EAGLES 34 – giants 17

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The story many will tell, will be of RB Boston Scott (19 – 54 – 2.8 – 3 – 0 / 4 – 84 – 21.0 – 0), taking over after Rookie RB Miles Sanders (9 – 52 – 5.7 – 0 – 0) went down with an ankle injury. The REAL story is of how QB Carson Wentz (23/40 – 57.5 – 289 – 1 – 0), continues to make everyone around him better, regardless of their Draft pedigree.

While Boston Scott led the Eagles in receiving yards, it was WR Greg Ward (6 – 43 – 7.1 – 0) who paced the roster in receptions, TE Dallas Goedert (4 – 65 – 16.2 – 0) who led in targets with 10, and TE Josh Perkins (4 – 50 – 12.5 – 1) who caught Wentz’s lone scoring strike. The point is, Wentz spread the ball around. Perfectly conducting the Offense, to make us more than the sum of our parts.

We made plenty of noise on Defense as well, with DE Derek Barnett (2 – 2.0 – 0 – 0) playing this game of the other side of the line of scrimmage, as both of his tackles were for losses. The same could be said of DE Brandon Graham (3 – 1.0 – 0 – 0) who also made all of his tackles in the backfield.

There’ll be no media coverage of how the Eagles defensive interior pissed all over the line of scrimmage, and marked it as their own territory. DT Timmy Jernigan (2 – 1.0 – 0 – 0) played like a someone was holding his family hostage. He absolutely wrecked any semblance of a blocking scheme, and he seemed to always be caving in the point of attack. DT Anthony Rush (1 – 0 – 0 – 0) strong-armed his way into a TFL as well.

2019 Fletcher Cox Daniel Jones

DT Fletcher Cox (1 fumble recovery) doesn’t make much of an appearance on a stat sheet, but his 4th quarter recovery of a fumble forced by SS Malcolm Jenkins (7 – 0 – 0 – 0), put the game out of New York’s reach, for good. And Sidney Jones (3 – 0 – 1 – 0)! Did you see that step for step coverage of giants WR Darius Slayton (4 – 50 – 12.5 – 0)? Slayton fell cleanly on the play, and Jones plucked the ball out the air, driving a dagger into the face of the giants hopes. Slayton had a very different day in this game, than he did when CB Ronald Darby (IR) was playing human turnstile, in the last match-up.

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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 last game, what exactly did we see?

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1) Protect the QB: The Eagles did decent (not great), job of getting Wentz outside of the pocket. However, the coaching staff left most of his protection up to the clock in his head. Wentz didn’t disappoint, as he made a point of either quickly vacating the pocket or throwing the ball away.

In fact, my second favorite pass of the day was an incompletion. On the third play of the 2nd quarter, Wentz spotted pass interference, and threw to WR Robert Davis (no stats), to draw the officials attention to the penalty. That’s an Aaron Rodgers, Jim Kelly, Peyton Manning kind of tactic. It worked, and we got 13 yards out a pass that never stood a chance of being completed. Nothing protects a QB like his own saavy, and Carson Wentz’s saavy magnified his physical protection in this game. (DONE)

2) Take away Barkley: RB Saquon Barkley (17 – 92 – 5.4 – 1 – 0 / 3 – 25 – 8.3 – 0) did what he always does. He spends most of a game under wraps, and then makes noise with one big play. This week it was a 68 yard rushing touchdown. Before that he had 11 carries for 10 yards (0.9 yards per carry), then the 68 yarder, and afterwards 5 carries for 14 yards (2.8 ypc). We made him not matter. We took him away from being able to help his team, on all but one down, and made his team play around him for the rest of the game. (DONE)

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3) Vary our attack: Boy did we ever! HC Doug Pederson emptied the attic this week. Strikes to WR’s on the outside. A 28 yard laser down the middle to Dallas Goedert, 14 yards worth of toe drag swag to Goedert on a clutch 3rd and 8, a cross body throw to a third string TE for a 24 yard score… And then when Sanders went out, Scott came in and we continued to pound the rock inside. That is, when we weren’t running Jet Sweeps, and throwing 39 yard screens… We threw a little bit of everything at the giants. I’d hate to be the team that has to watch tape and figure out what, or whom they need to stop. (DONE)

4) Hold auditions: This was done, but not the way I envisioned it. Due to CB Jalen Mills being out, and Darby being just placed on IR, both Sidney Jones and Rasul Douglas (3 – 0 – 0 – 0) had to start, and play the whole game. There was no way to play one off of the other. Instead of two half game auditions, we got two full game auditions, for Darby’s spot in 2020. During which both players defensed three passes each, and allowed no WR more than 68 yards (68, 50, 39, and 12). (DONE)

That brings the week to a perfect 4 of 4, and the REGULAR season total to 38 of 64 (.593), which is just about commensurate with our record of 9 – 7 (.562). To have gotten it to match exactly, our record would had to have been 9 – 6 – 1.

Given that over the last 4 weeks we’re 15 of 16 (.937) in Four Things, and are undefeated during that span, it would seem that the team is peaking at just the right time, because we’re taking care of exactly the right things.

On The Whole:

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This was an excellent victory. It was a slugfest that more or less became a blowout, on the road, in inclement weather, while still losing key players. I defy you to ask for better character building on the doorstep of the playoffs.

Now we begin our journey to the Super Bowl.

2019 SEASON REVIEW: THIRD QUARTER

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/12/07
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, Offense, Players, Reviews, Roster, Special Teams, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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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 next.

STATUS: 5 – 7, 2nd in NFC East

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OPPONENTS:

W Chicago Bears (6 – 6)

L New England Patriots (10 – 2)

L Seattle Seahawks (9 – 2)

L Miami Dolphins (3 – 9)

Combined: 28 – 19

OVERVIEW:

We shit the bed this quarter. 

The mission for this quarter was to cultivate a second WR. We played half of this stretch without either our #1 WR and without the guy masquerading as a #2. Instead of stabilizing our Offense, we lost pieces. The last three games were without our leading rusher.

Defensively we’ve been mostly solid for three fourths of this quarter. However the issues that have haunted us for years, continue to be an area that Philadelphia as a franchise seems incapable of ever mastering anymore.

GRADES:

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QB: (B) Some would say that this grade is too high for Carson Wentz, given how errant some of his deliveries have been, and the 6 turnovers in 4 games. I would argue that with the receivers he’s had, and his lack of chemistry with them, it’s a wonder Wentz managed to manufacture any sort of scoring during the middle part of this period. Given the circumstances, I’d fairly put this at a C+, but I don’t do the +/- thing, so I chose to just round it up.

RB: (C ) These last few games have shown that Mile Sanders needs Jordan Howard on the field. Without Howard to account for, teams are able to defend Sanders more honestly. It’s not only made him seem less explosive, it has also significantly changed the routes that Sanders gets to run. The Eagles are 0 – 3 since Howard disappeared from the line-up. Jay Ajayi was added to the roster during this stretch, but he doesn’t see enough work to make a dent, since in part, what he’s good at is tiring out defenders.

TE: (B) This position has carried the passing attack during this quarter. They get open and generally are sure handed. The biggest knock on them, is more about how they’re not utilized downfield enough. There isn’t a better TE duo in the sport than Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert.

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WR: (D) 2019 hasn’t been a good year for this position, but this last quarter has been flat out abysmal, overall. I say overall because It wouldn’t be fair to throw Greg Ward into this meat grinder. After FINALLY being promoted from the Practice Squad, he’s made good on his opportunities. I won’t blame a man for making an 8 yard catch on an 8 yard throw. I also won’t ding Alshon Jeffery too hard. Less because of his most recent game (which was very good), and more because even when he was playing hurt, as our only real outside threat, he still managed to produce for us. I won’t turn my nose up at such an effort. On the other hand JJ Arcega-Whiteside, and Nelson Agholor have been trash. There’s a player inside of Agholor, but I’m not sure there’s one in JJAW.

OT: (C ) This position grades lower this quarter, because it’s been so inconsistently staffed. LT Jason Peters and RT Lane Johnson have been pretty good when they’ve been out there. Rookie Andre Dillard looks great at LT, just don’t ask him play RT. Which is exactly what happened when Johnson went down for a game with a concussion. So Dillard was pulled. Halapoulivaati Vaitai played like garbage truck juice when filling in for the rookie. The Eagles should have traded him when they were getting offers.

OG: (D) Mentioning Brandon Brooks anxiety flare-up, surely makes me an asshole to everybody, but his absence helped cost us a game. That’s a fact. Not to knock Matt Pryor, but Pryor rides pine for a reason. Isaac Seumalo may be athletic and good blocking on the move, but his lack of raw aggression in the phone-booth, still leads him to fall off blocks, and be driven back into the pocket too often. We need more from this position over this next quarter.

C: (C ) It feels like Jason Kelce is about ready to retire. He’s never been the most intense player, but now it seems like his concentration is waning. The interior of this line needs an overhaul.

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DE: (C ) Derek Barnett still reverts to chase mode too quickly. He doesn’t do a consistent job of setting the edge, first. This is helping to open the door for cutback runs, Jet Sweeps, and flea-flickers. It tells opposing coaches that they can attempt that sort of stuff. Brandon Graham would be having a career year if we could cover worth a damn. Vinny Curry and Josh Sweat have been bringing heat when they get their minutes. The issue is more about the rotation, and less about the players in it. Barnett lacks the suddenness to play the blindside the way that he wants to play it, but Eagles aren’t going to put him behind Graham, so it leaves us stuck.

DT: (B) Our Defensive resurgence of recent is often put down to the Secondary getting healthy, but for my money it had more to do with the return of Tim Jernigan. His presence allowed Fletcher Cox to become more disruptive again. We’ve also benefited from the addition of 350 pound rookie NT Anthony Rush. Unlike the other players whom we brought in to patch the loss of Malik Jackson, Rush makes solo tackles. No pun intended, he could be huge down the stretch.

OLB: (D) Kamu Grugier-Hill doesn’t make big plays. He’s a jumped-up Special Teamer in a role that’s too big for him. (At least in this system.) At times he hasn’t gotten enough playing time, but that hasn’t been the case this quarter, as he’s started all 4 games, yet produced no sacks, turnovers, forced no fumbles and tipped no passes. His best game was just 5 tackles. Nate Gerry has become an impact player on the outside. He works well in space and also has shown an ability to get to the QB, with 1.5 sacks this quarter. The biggest knock on this position is with who is no longer used on the outside (Bradham), and that the fall-off in aggression and play-making ability from him to KGH, is impossible not to notice.

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MLB: (D) Nigel Bradham was moved into the middle to take advantage of his combination of size and speed, as well as utilize his familiarity with the scheme to call the assignments. On paper all of that looks great, but doing it required transforming a really good edge player, into a so-so interior player. It’s also limited his play-making and play denying opportunities. T.J. Edwards needs to play more. (We are undefeated (2-0) when he starts.) But seriously, he needs to play more just so that we know what we have in him. Some reports say he’s athletically limited, others rave about him. His one start this quarter didn’t put a thumb on either side of that scale.

S: (C) The stats for the quarter shows that plays are being made (3.5 sacks, 3 passed defensed, 1 interception, 1 forced fumble). The trouble is in the utilization of the players. Malcolm Jenkins is not a Linebacker, and Rod McLeod can’t cover both deep sidelines alone. Too often there is only one defender back deep, and it hurts the team defense. This is insanity. It’s hard to ding the players for a coaching decision, but it’s equally hard to give a top grade to our Achilles Heel.

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CB: (C) Coming off of the Miami game, that grade will be hard to swallow, but this report isn’t about one game. It’s about the last four. Over that stretch we’ve gotten back our top two players at the position in Ronald Darby and Jalen Mills. Their return has coincided with five of our six best defensive performances, three of which were during this quarter. The Nickel spot continues to be troublesome, as Avonte Maddox has done little more than tackle when playing there. Though we’ve played less Nickel during this period. Sidney Jones is all but done being an Eagle, as he was a healthy scratch for two of these games. Also we’ve allowed a minimum of 24 points this year, every time he starts or plays significant time. Ubba-G’byeeeee!

LS: (A) Rick Lovato is practically invisible and as reliable as a metronome. That’s probably why Eagles brass threw four more years’ worth of money at him.

P: (D) This quarter we punted 20 times vs 15 last quarter. That’s not on Cam Johnston. This quarter we allowed 12 returns vs 5 last quarter. That’s either A) less hang-time, or B) outkicking our coverage. Both of those have to be laid literally at the foot of Johnston. Given that two of our losses this quarter were close, on days where the Offense struggled, you have to figure that faring better in the hidden yardage battle, would have helped.

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K: (B) The damned announcers jinxed Jake Elliott in Miami, mentioning that he hadn’t missed a Field Goal attempt all season. So of course he got his first miss. (Assholes.) Otherwise he’s 17/18 (94%) on the season, and capable of booting it from 50-plus reliably. That said, his KR percentage is 28% on the year, but it’s crept up to 36% for the quarter, and his touchback to return ratio is 10:7 during that span. At 23.7 per return, it seems like flirting with disaster to not just kick it through the back of the end zone.

PR/KR: (F) During these last four games, between two players, we’ve returned just 3 punts, for all of 10 yards. Kickoff returns have produced just 7 attempts for 136 yards, with nary a return vs Miami. RB Boston Scott owns 5 of those returns for 105 yards. There is nothing Special about this part of the team.

KC: (D) 6.5 yards per punt return isn’t bad, but it could be tighter. In fact, it’s up half a yard over last quarter. Allowing under 24 yards per kickoff return may sound like a win for the unit, but the increased number of returns means that returners feel emboldened enough by something they see, to take a chance. Either the ball has to be kicked through, or we need to get down there fast enough to make them take a knee.

SINCE LAST QUARTER:

The team has seemed lost. Part of it is that, there are too many sacred cows on this team. The interior O-Line, Derek Barnett, and KGH to be specific. The other part is that there are no spark plugs on Offense. The default in the culture say that it’s supposed to be the QB. Reality on the other hand paints a very different picture.

Chest pounding, screaming, trash-talking, rally the troops, type bravado is generally not found in a team’s QB. It’s usually a RB or a WR. Rarely you get a TE like Shannon Sharpe who fires ‘em up. Whatever it is, the Eagles don’t have one. Haven’t since Terrell Owens.

Often these players can be a headache, but when your team gets emotionally stuck, like the Eagles are, a team needs one of those guys. Unfortunately for the Offense, all of our guys like that are on Defense. Cox, Jenkins, Mills, Graham, none of those guys play Offense

MISSION FOR THIS QUARTER:

2019 Wentz is a gunslinger

Win all four games or there will be no postseason.

If we find a way to lose to the giants Monday night, the playoff dream is over, so we should play our youth exclusively, and sit anyone we have no plans on bringing back. Every win will count toward building the pups, and every loss will be Draft positioning.

Either we win out, or the second we lose a game, we should start building 2020 and beyond.

(Unless the Cowboys lose to the Rams, in which case we’ll have new life.)

FIXING OUR RECEIVER PROBLEM

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/11/05
Posted in: Conversations, Draft, Offense, Players, Rants, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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OUR struggling Secondary has almost become the stuff of legend, with many fans feeling that it’s the fault of the athletes, and not the harebrained, tea-dance, flag-football scheme that we run on Defense. Ask most Eagles fans what should we grab with our first pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, and the answer you’ll hear most is: CORNERBACK.

CB Avonte Maddox is a gambler and a battler. CB Rasul Douglas is a ball-hawking, Screen sniffing machine. (He’s a bigger Sheldon Brown with much better hands.) As far as drawbacks, Douglas has issues with raw speed, and Maddox simply isn’t very tall.

In a Cover Two scheme, both of those deficiencies would be masked, and we’d end up with two excellent CB’s who not only cover well, but play the run well, and finish tackles. Hard to justify spending a high pick on one guy, when you could just swap out a shitty coach, and get a still under contract, two-fer for free.

Where our top pick should be spent, is on a WR. Actually, picking a top WR in 2020, would be making up for a move that’s already two years overdue. I said a couple years ago, that with Wentz as the Franchise, the Eagles should include him in their quest for the WR who will be the Rice to his Montana, or the Clayton to his Marino.

Montana Rice and Taylor.jpg

As it stands today, the Eagles #1 WR is Alshon Jeffery.

Alshon scores 2.jpg

While all of Alshon’s traits scream top-shelf WR2, we use him as a WR1 because frankly, we don’t have better. Alshon (when healthy) is physical, confident, and fast enough to hurt a secondary down the sideline. What he isn’t is a vocal leader who commands the ball and inspires his QB to throw it to him, regardless of who is covering him.

While Terrell Owens, Randy Moss, Chad Johnson type talent is rare, it is also not deniable. It is not containable. It is not team, scheme, nor QB dependent. Unfortunately, too often, the Eagles Offense is all of those things.

We need to stop piece-mealing the WR position, and to stop avoiding studs, as we instead hunt for steals. We spent on the QB. We added to the Offensive Line. We grabbed a great young TE. Even spent a high pick on a back-up RB. It’s high time that our QB got an outside weapon that put the NFL on notice.

That being said, we need to knock off this idiotic bullshit of getting ourselves a deep threat. When our SINGULAR deep threat gets hurt, we end up with 2018 and 2019.

Here’s a novel idea! Why not add more than on fast guy to the roster? Or better still a WR’s coach who can actually develop young players. Name the last WR the we drafted then groomed into a respectable starter. I’m thinking we’d have to go back to Jeremy Maclin. (Jackson was drafted a year prior.)

maclin vick Jackson.jpg

Picture Carson with these two and Ertz. SHEEEESH!

So yeah. It’s time to drop some serious Draft capital on at least two players. Two sounds about right. After which, we should fire our current WR coach. Then we tell then new guy, that we want starters, if he doesn’t want WR coach to be his career’s dead-end.

More talent. Scared coaches. That’s how we fix our receiver problem.

2019 SEASON REVIEW: SECOND QUARTER

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/11/02
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, Four Things, free agents, Offense, Players, Reviews, Roster, Special Teams, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 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 next.

STATUS: 4 – 4, 1 – 1 division, 2 – 4 conference, 2nd in the NFC East

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OPPONENTS:

W: New York Jets (1 – 6)

L: Minnesota Vikings (6 – 2)

L: Dallas Cowboys (4 – 3)

W: Buffalo Bills (5 – 2)

Combined: 16 – 13

OVERVIEW:

The Mission for this quarter was to suck less against the pass. Despite the prison shower scene that was the Vikings game, the Eagles moved from 32nd in the NFL, allowing 328 passing yards per game; to 20th, allowing 256. Not great, but still a marked improvement.

Injuries continue to be a major factor, as not only are they numerous, but every one of them seems severe. This has led to serious issues with communication and continuity.

GRADES: (These are not seasonal grades. They are grades for just these last FOUR games.)

QB: (A) Carson Wentz.

2019 Wentz is a gunslingerThere is a lot of blame to go around regarding this teams struggles, but NONE of it belongs to Wentz. Over the last 4 games he has improved his completion percentage and yards per pass. This is despite only having one WR to throw to. (This isn’t to undercut the TE position, but WR’s open up a defense, and Wentz is dealing with a stunted field every week.) In only one of the last four games has he reached 200 yards passing, but over the last three he’s run for 70. He hasn’t been remotely flashy, but he’s been more than most could hope for given his lack of tools.

RB: (B) The Eagles coaching staff learned in the first quarter, that rookie Miles Sanders is a better potato than a steak. Thus they began featuring Jordan Howard instead. Smart move. Feeding him early has proven good for our win column. Howard just had the team’s first game with 20 or more carries, since week 10 of last season. Sanders is coming into his own as a receiver, which will now allow for formations that put both backs on the field at the same time, and make audibles nearly terrifying for a defense. Boston Scott was added to the roster Week 6, after Corey Clement went on IR. Scott came in showing some wiggle, but has seemed less and less effective with each passing week. Darren Sproles has missed three of the last four games, but will be back to kick-off our second half of the season, this week. This position has been very productive with the ball, and needs to see it more

TE: (A) This position has improved in yardage, yards per catch, and touchdowns. Zach Ertz’s Bing Crosby, used to be a fine solo act, but Dallas Goedert’s Danny Kaye has proven to be a perfect complement. Though Ertz caught fewer balls in Q2, the position is seeing steady usage, with 28 catches in Q1, and 26 in Q2. Both players have seen their average yards per catch improve from Q1 to Q2. Ertz went from 10.6 to 13.0, and Goedert went from 8.0 to 10.7. This one-two punch has managed to help keep the passing game afloat, despite working in more crowded space than they should be.

WR: (D) If not for Alshon Jeffrey, this grade would be a bloody‘F’ served cold, with a side of spittle flecked profanity. No regular words. Just profanity strung end to end for roughly a paragraph.

Alshon eagle.jpg

Jeffery has in these last four games, caught 22 balls for 230 yards (10.4ypc) and 1 TD. Those numbers seem meager until you realize, he’s done that while teams could key on him as our only outside threat. Put in perspective, during that same span, the other three active players at this position have combined for 11 catches for 93 yards (8.4ypc), and zero scores. Oh yeah, and all of those numbers belong to Nelson Agholor. Mack Hollins and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside have so far been a waste of the coaching staff’s time. Even when given an opportunity, they seem afraid of it. Seriously, is there some reason why Greg Ward isn’t on the active roster?

OT: (B) Lane Johnson finally gave up a “sack” to Cowboys DE DeMarcus Lawrence, when Lawrence knocked a ball out of Wentz’s hand. It took ten games for Lawrence to get that “sack” and he still has yet to actually tackle our QB. Ten games equals five years. THAT is who Lane Johnson is. When Jason Peters is out there, he’s still Jason Peters. There’s a reason that announcers hardly ever breathe his name, without using the words “Hall of Fame” somewhere in the same sentence. The trouble is, he can’t stay healthy anymore. The edge simply askes to much of him now.

Which brings us to the real story of this section, rookie Andre Dillard. Dillard gave up a sack in his first start, but has otherwise looked far better than a rookie half a season into his pro career has any real right to. It’s clear that Dillard has learned as much as the bench can teach him. At this point the only way to improve him is to let him play. That’s no knock on Peters. In fact, a move inside might add a couple of years to his career. That might even let him someday retire, without ever suffering a serious decline in his game.

OG: (C) Gotta take some issue with this position. Isaac Seumalo and Brandon Brooks have been very good at opening holes in the run game, and aces at blocking for the QB Sneak. They have not been anywhere near as good when dealing with pass rushers in the “A” gaps. Wentz is frequently in more trouble from right ahead of him, than from the edges. Would it kill them to re-direct rushers outside, and give Wentz clear passing windows, or let him pick-up cheap rushing yardage? The lack of time n the pocket, is (to my thinking) also part of why our deep passing game has been a problem.

C: (D) Jason Kelce’s game has sort of gone into the tank since he became a new dad. It happens. It’s unavoidable. All his routines change. His sleep is affected. Possibly having arguments that spring from nowhere, when everything was great five minutes ago…

As a result, snaps are getting sprayed around, line adjustments to interior pressure are either being misread, miscalled or not called at all. And then there’s the getting run over. Fact is, he was also talking about retirement last year. His head is just not where it was three years ago. That’s a fact. (Which would explain the Eagles serious push at the position this offseason.)

DE: (C) In Q1 this position produced 30 tackles and 1 sack. In Q2 it produced 45 tackles and 10.5 sacks. Brandon Graham has led that charge with 19 tackles and 5 sacks, with at least 1 sack in three of Q2’s games. Derek Barnett added at least half a sack in three of the four games. Vinny Curry has piled up 10 tackles in Q2 as opposed to the 2 he had in Q1. This position is doing it’s best to pick up slack from a decimated interior line. The knocks on them are speed chasing down QB’s who escape the pocket and playing the edge too flat, instead of playing contain first. In truth, problem two may be causing problem one.

DT: (C) Fletcher Cox has been trying to play the role of two men. 17 tackles and 2.5 sacks in the last four games, while trying to be a teacher and emotional motivator. Hassan Ridgeway stepped up to fill the void left by Malik Jackson and Tim Jernigan, neither of whom played in Q2. Ridgeway added 6 tackles and 2 sacks in three games, before himself having to be put on IR.

OLB: (D) This grade is only this high because I’m listing Nate Gerry as Outside instead of Middle. He had one game as the starter in the middle, the other three games were on the outside. In two of the three games on the outside, Gerry has managed a splash play. (An interception for a TD in one game, and a sack in another.) Nigel Bradham was already having a lesser Q2, but then he missed the last two games with an injury. Kamu Grugier-Hill is a pretty good Special Teamer, but he can’t make an impact as a starter. When Bradham comes back, it should be he and Gerry who get the starting nod.

2019 Nate Gerry

MLB: (F) We cut the guy who started two of the last four games. Then we had Gerry start vs Dallas, and that went as well as picking a bar fight with Connor McGregor. Last game saw rookie T.J. Edwards record either 5 tackles or 3 tackles, depending on which NFL stat page you visit. Right after the game on Sunday, the box score had it at 1 tackle. In any case, it was an odd number, and he didn’t make any standout moments happen. Here’s hoping his game picks up.

S: (D) We sacrifice the ability to defend the pass, in order to more or less, lock down the run. As a result, this position is rarely even in a position to make a play on the ball, for us. Malcolm Jenkins has essentially become a Nickel LB with where he’s deployed, and his stats in Q2 (23 tackles, 2 passes defensed) back that up. Rod McLeod playing back deep, knocks down far more passes than Jenkins, right? McLeod has all of one pass defensed in Q2. It was his interception vs a Jets rookie who was greener than his helmet. Andrew Sendejo also had an interception in Q2. The talent is here. The biggest issue with this position, is how they are deployed.

CB: (D) Of 5 active roster players at this position, NONE of them has started more than three games in Q2. Injuries have decimated this position for the last two years. A lack of continuity, coupled with a bullshit system, have led to breakdowns in the Secondary that almost border on tragedy.

LS: (A) Nothing to complain (or rave) about.

P: (A) Cameron Johnston may be the best part of our Defense. 15 punts, 5 returns for all of 30 yards, in the last 4 games. These are all improvements over his Q1 numbers (14 punts, 6 returned for 47 yards).

2019 Eagles D.jpg

K: (A) Jake Elliott isn’t called on much, but when he is, he hits his kicks. 9/9 kicking Field Goals and 19/20 on extra points, with his miss being in a swirling Buffalo wind that even they had trouble kicking into.

PR/KR: (B) With the injury to Darren Sproles, Boston Scott has filled in and done a decent job with punts. Miles Sanders needs to get better at knowing when to take the easy 25.

KC: (C ) 20 kickoffs, 4 returns for 96 yards (24.0ypr). Not bad numbers, but nothing exciting.

SINCE LAST QUARTER:

Pass defense improved. Sack production has returned to the Defensive Line. We discovered our run game. Those are all actual improvements from Q1 to Q2.

MISSION FOR THIS QUARTER:

Cultivate a second WR. We need to lighten Alshon’s load and create more room inside for the run.

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

A-smooth-sea

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…

em12

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 – WK1 – REDSKINS

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/09/09
Posted in: Conspiracy Corner, Conversations, Four Things, NFC East, NFL, Offense, Players, Reviews, Rivals, Roster, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

2019 Carson's Weapons.jpg

TOLD you that we’d start slow. Honestly, if not for a couple of fluke scores by Washington, the final score wouldn’t be as close as it looks on paper. We went into halftime down 7 – 20, and still I was in good spirits. Because I already knew.

Some people will want to tell you that QB Carson Wentz (28/39 – 71.7% – 313 – 3 – 0) isn’t clutch, because he doesn’t have many 4th quarter comebacks. I on the other hand, think it’s nice when the comeback effort is complete before the 4th quarter.

EAGLES 32 – Redskins 27

There is no way to talk about this game without mentioning the whuppin’ that WR DeSean Jackson (8 – 154 – 19.2 – 2) put on the Redskins secondary. He teamed up with Wentz for two scoring strikes of 50 plus yards. One of which caused ‘skins CB Josh Norman (4 – 0 – 0 – 0) to spontaneously burst into flames.

2019 Josh Norman mock

For some reason, the Eagles chose to use RB Jordan Howard (6 – 44 – 7.3 – 0 – 0) sparingly, despite him being most effective ball carrier on the team. Rookie RB Miles Sanders (11 – 25 – 2.2 – 0 – 0) got the start, but spent too many of his first steps trying to pick a spot, instead of running with authority to dictate a spot.

Getting in on the run game was WR Alshon Jeffery (5 – 49 – 9 – 1 / 1 – 2 – 2.0 – 1 – 0), who ran for a 2 yard score, as well as catching a 5 yard score on a Crossing route in the back of the endzone.

Defensively the Eagles surrendered 380 passing yards on 30 of 44 passing (68.1%), and 28 rushing yards on 13 carries (2.1ypc). Some sloppy tackling allowed an ancient TE to score on a 48 yard catch and run. Later on, a poorly called defense allowed CB Rasul Douglas (3 – 0 – 0 – 0) to get matched up on a guy with 4.35 speed, with no Safety help over the top. Douglas isn’t a burner, so naturally he was easily beaten for a 69 yard catch and run, on a Skinny Post route.

These were of course, fluke type touchdowns. Even before halftime, the Eagles were showing that they could get a handle on the Redskin offense. So the second half was a completely different story, with the Eagles outscoring the ‘skins 25 – 7. Because well…

2019 DJax Wentz

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 (link to parent article) in this last game, what exactly did we see?

1) Be aggressive early: We really didn’t come out very aggressively at all. Short screens, running the ball with RB Darren Sproles (9 – 47 – 5.2 – 0 – 0) on the opening drive. It had the feel of this week’s Bears/Packers game, where Bears coach Matt Nagy kept getting cute with his playcalling. Our aggression showed up late, which is better than not at all. However, not showing it early, is also why we fell behind. (NOT DONE)

card.timmy.jernigan

This is Jernigan sacking Kirk Cousins. He also wore the target 8.

2) Shred their o-line: Early on it looked like this wouldn’t get done. Then the defensive interior began to assert itself. DT Timmy Jernigan (1 – 1 – 0 – 0) grabbed a sack, and DT Fletcher Cox (2 – 0 – 0 – 0) managed a tackle for a loss. The stat-lines aren’t sexy, but the line generated pressure and made it hard for their QB to settle his feet. (DONE)

3) Work the edges: While TE Zach Ertz (5 – 54 – 10.8 – 0) only saw 7 targets in this game, most of them were Outs and passes to the Flat. That worked to pull the LB’s and S’s towards the sides, and opened up the run inside. (DONE)

4) Play press coverage: The Eagles played tighter cushions when the Redskins went into Bunch formations. However, when the ‘skins spread out, our CB’s allowed those 6, 7, and 8 yard cushions to creep back onto the field. The result was allowing the Redskins to complete 68% of their passes. Unacceptable. (NOT DONE)

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So we open the season with 2 out of 4 things done. To be fair, even the things we didn’t do, we kinda did, but standards are strict here. Next week we head down to the A-T-L, to raise some major hell. After watching tape of the Wentz/Jackson show, I’m sure their coaches won’t sleep all week. Should make next Sunday night’s game more interesting than tonight’s Steelers and Patriots re-enactment of the Rodney King beating.

On The Whole:

This game was far more competitive than it should have been. I predicted a slow start, but c’mon guy! Our Offensive playcalling looked downright timid to start.

While Sproles is a nifty change of pace runner, he has no business running between the Tackles in the first quarter. Sanders showed some speed to the outside, but he was out-classed by Howard’s decisiveness, power, and patience. The Eagles indicated in this game that they’re trying to make the same mistake with Howard, that Chicago did, last year. Namely, putting someone before him, who isn’t as good as him.

CHANGE MY MIND

Wentz looked like the butcher that sliced up defenses in 2017. He wasn’t just a guy with a lot of weapons. He was a guy who knew how to use them. Two ballistic missiles to Jackson. Waving Ertz into position on a scramble. Throwing Jeffery open in the endzone. Wentz was conducting a symphony while extracting teeth, out there.

I have a nagging gripe about this game. DE Derek Barnett (3 – 0 – 0 – 0) did not do a consistent job of setting the edge today. Too often he lined up like was going to cross the DT’s gap, and then crashed down inside, leaving room for boots and Screens. This is the same thing that used to happen when DE Trent Cole played that same spot in Jim Washburn’s version of the Wide 9.

The team showed resiliency this week, but they need to show some grit as well. Overall, it’s just small things here and there. There’s nothing that can’t be ironed out in the next couple of weeks.