FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: WK 17: REDSKINS

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/12/31
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Four Things, Offense, Players, playoffs, Reviews, Roster, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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IT was a must-win game and we won it. We needed help to punch our ticket to the tournament, but that help would have been meaningless, if we didn’t do our part, and take care of business.

To that end: We came. We saw. We conquered.

Put into modern parlance: Our fans and team rolled up to the stadium. We told them that they have a “nice place”,

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Then we proceeded to ruin that shit.

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EAGLES 24 – Redskins 0    (Motherfucking ZEE-RO!)

We pitched a shutout! Yes, yes, yes. The media narrative is all about the Quarterbacks, but the story, the REAL story here, is our Defense holding the Redskins to 89 total yards, 68 passing yards, 0 for 9 on 3rd down, and 16 minutes 41 seconds in time of possession. The only thing we didn’t do was put a leash on their players and make them beg for treats.

CB Rasul Douglas (4 – 0 – 1 – 0) came out and snagged a pick on the first play from scrimmage. At that point you KNEW what time it was. DT Fletcher Cox (3 – 3.0 – 0 – 1) grabbed 3 sacks, en route to his first 10 sack (10.5 actually), season of his career. DE Micheal Bennett (3 – 1.0 – 0 – 0) continued to make the case for being re-signed, by delivering his 9th sack of the season.

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QB Nick Foles (28/33 – 84.8% – 221 – 2 – 1) put on a clinic on how to dissect a defense, before leaving the game with “bruised ribs”. There were 30 handoffs and two QB sneaks, to bring our rushes total to 32, vs a pass total (34 attempts, 3 sacks) of 37. That’s 54% pass to 46% run, on our play-calling.

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?

1) Run the ball: Our play selection was 32 runs to 37 passes. That’s not only meets the 25 handoff threshold, but it provides possibly the best balanced attack we’ve used all season long. DONE.

2) Make him run: Our front four did a great job of forcing their QB to move around and not allowing him to set his feet. Pressure right up the gut, forced their QB out of the pocket and into erratic throws. That was the idea here. DONE. 

3) Work the edge: We did a lot of work on the perimeter this game, but not the way I suggested here. The job the Eagles did was actually much better, since it incorporated many players, instead of focusing on just one. NOT DONE.

4) Tackle, tackle, tackle: RB Adrian Peterson (4 – 0 – 0.0 – 0 – 0) was bottled up all day. The game was placed in the QB’s hands, and the ‘skins collapsed. DONE.

This week’s Four Things sees a score of 3 of 4, bringing the total for the regular season to 29 of 64. While the regular season is over, we have a playoff game next week, vs the Chicago Bears, who ironically helped us get in.

On The Whole:
This game was domination from start to finish. It was almost cruel. I loved it. Seriously, CB/FS Rasul Douglas and CB/FS Avonte Maddox (3 – 0 – 0 – 0) have been catching my eye for weeks now. I honestly can say, they have me not missing Jalen Mills in the least.

FOUR THINGS: WK17 : EAGLES-REDSKINS

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/12/27
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Four Things, NFC East, NFL, Offense, Players, playoffs, Preview, Rivals. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

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TODAY we stand at 8 – 7, at least guaranteed to not have a losing season. While fighting our way into the playoffs is the hope, not finishing at .500 should be the immediate goal.

Making the playoffs requires us to win, and another team to lose. We don’t control whether or not another team loses, but we DO control whether or not we take care of our business. No matter how our playoff hopes shake out, we need to leave the 2018 regular season showing that we have righted our ship.

To be the man, you have to beat the man. Even if we don’t make the postseason, we need to leave the world KNOWING that we were worthy of it, and that whatever team wins the championship this year, they did it without truly having been put to the test.

There is no “looking past” the Redskins this week. We are looking dead at them.

They are the obstacle.

They are what stands in our way.

They are in extreme peril.

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

1) Run the ball: Whether we make a ton of yards or not, is beside the point. The idea is to keep the ‘skins honest, when QB Nick Foles uses play-action. That’s it. If the ‘skins want to be water-tight vs the run, let ‘em. What they don’t give up up-front, they open up, deep.

2) Make him run: The Redskins QB has some mobility. Usually asking for an opposing QB to scramble is a recipe for disaster, but this week… It’s just what the doctor ordered. So far their QB has been playing better football than he really has a right to. I commend him for that. So bring heat up the gut, and get him running for his life. He doesn’t know the system well enough to ad-lib AND stay within it, at the same time. That leaves his teammates and coaching staff frustrated, and opens up opportunities for key moments in the game, to fail and break due to lack of trust. This is less about outright destroying the Redskins, and more about corroding them.

3) Work the edge: The main reason why the ‘skins can’t beat the Eagles anymore is because their pass rush comes from their OLB’s. When a defense takes an OLB from covering TE Zach Ertz, he’s open earlier than usual. Often on the boundaries.

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We can grab and rip the balls clean off the Redskin pass rush, if we force them to cover Ertz with a pass rusher. At which point Foles will have the time to launch missiles to WR Alshon Jeffery.

4) Tackle, tackle, tackle: RB Adrian Peterson has run for 1,000 yards. Not too shabby for a 33 year old, and it’s more than I thought he would do. That said, in 6 of 16 games this year, he’s averaged fewer than 3 yards per carry, and in 4 games he’s averaged fewer than 2. His game by game breakdown reveals a RB who is more of a detriment to his team than an asset. Make sure he gets on the ground when he runs, and put this game in their QB’s hands.

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:

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I expect to see more of THIS.

The Eagles will come out looking to put this team away. They will watch the scoreboard to see how the Bears/Vikings game is turning out. They will play with pride and passion. They will play for hope and the fulfillment of faith.

The Redskins will come out pumped to make a statement. Then we will punch them in the mouth. At that point they will sober the fuck up and realize that they are a bad team, that releases good players who speak up about being coached by idiots. They will deflate. Especially on defense.

As long at the Bears don’t get blown out by the Vikings, this game should be a cakewalk.

PREDICTION: EAGLES 30 – Redskins 10

yeah-bitch

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: WK16 : TEXANS

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/12/24
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Offense, Players, playoffs, Reviews, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

ANY team (or fan base) that says they aren’t scared of the Eagles right now, is lying. Right now the Eagles are playing scrappy, ballsy, no holds barred, football. We’re playing with the swagger of a radioactive man, walking among his enemies, with nothing to lose. At this point in the year, when teams see the Eagles on their schedule, they swallow hard and just hope that we make it quick.

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EAGLES 32 – Texans 30

QB Nick Foles (35/49 – 71.4% – 471 – 4 – 1) set the team record for having the most 400 yard passing games of any QB in an Eagles jersey. TE Zach Ertz (12 – 110 – 9.1 – 2) set the ALL-TIME RECORD for passes caught by a TE in a season. On the way to those records, we took a minute to hand Houston a shiny new “L” for their Christmas tree.

The stats do no justice to the day that was had by RB Darren Sproles (9 – 32 – 3.5 – 0 – 0/ 3 – 76 – 25.3 – 1). Since returning from injury four weeks ago, Sproles has been playing like a man possessed. On just 35 touches, he has 3 scores, often fighting off multiple defenders, while he refuses to stop until he hits paydirt.

DE Chris Long (2 – 2.0 – 0 – 0) brought his sack total up to 6.5, which is his best year since 2013, when he had 8.5. The difference is, in 2013 he had 16 starts. This year he has zero. DT Treyvon Hester  (2 – 1.0 – 0 – 0)  25 games into his career, finally broke his NFL cherry and git himself a sack. CB/FS Rasul Douglas (8 – 0 – 0 – 0) despite being beaten by an amazing throw for a score, played a hell of a game, yet again. The pairing of he and CB Avonte Maddox (2 – 0.5 – 0 – 0) is giving the Eagles a real presence both against the run and the pass.

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?

1) Run the ball: I said we needed 25 handoffs and we got 21. The run/pass play selection was 21 to 51. We can’t live that way. We got away with it this week though. NOT DONE

2) Take away the catalyst: The Eagles spent a lot of time in Cover Two, and kept the catalyst out of the endzone. We allowed completions, then we closed, made the tackle and didn’t let him become a problem. DONE

3) DE’s set the edges: The Defense was AMAZING at this! The Texans run game was served right up to our tacklers, who wrapped up and finished the down. DONE

4) Screen Time!: We didn’t do much in the way of Screens. NOT DONE

This brings this week’s Four Things score to 2 of 4 and the seasons total to 26 out of 58. Next week we get a shot at sweeping the Redskins in a game we need (along with outside help) to make the playoffs.

On The Whole:

Nick Foles picked up another cool quarter million, plus a record, plus a win, plus more validation for the shrine to him, created by Chris Long. On February 6th I said:  “If Foles wants to stay, we need to find a way to let him. If he doesn’t, we need to find a way to convince him.”

This game was a great win to watch, but there may be a very serious decision to be made at the QB spot for this team. This game ruined any chance of there being a cut and dried decision on it.

Have fun celebrating, but recognize that there is a headache and some extreme discomfort coming up. And the further we go, the worse it will get.

FOUR THINGS: WK 16: EAGLES-TEXANS

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/12/20
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Four Things, Offense, Players, playoffs, Preview, X's and O's. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

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MAN, if only we could trade that Rams win, for a win over the Cowboys! Instead, we sit here, as the 7th seed, needing help to climb into the 6th position. A Vikings loss to Detroit this week would be a huge boost, to that hope.

However, there is an even BETTER (though highly unlikely) scenario. If we win out, we’ll finish 9 – 7. If Dallas manages to lose out, they’ll finish 8 – 8. Given that Dallas gets 2 gimmies against Tampa this week, and the giants next week, that’s (as I said) HIGHLY unlikely. But if we sprinkle just a little more Spite,

SPITE bottle

we might be able to help that thing happen. (Though we still have to win out.)

Don’t let Houston’s record fool you. That 10 – 4 mark is about as hollow as 10 – 4 records get. They split with Indy and Tennessee, but aside from that, their only win against a +.500 team was a 19 – 16 win over Dallas. That’s 7 of 10 wins, over teams that are .500 or poorer. So I assure you, we aren’t taking on world beaters this week.

The Eagles have a bunch of key injuries, but what else is new? We’re playing without our first string QB, but our other starter just earned a cool quarter mill by winning a shootout with the #2 team in our conference. There’s another quarter mill bonus on the line of he wins this one, too. So think of this as Jeff Lurie putting a hit out on the Texans.

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Foles going deep to Jeffery.

Yippie-ki-yay motherfuckers.

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

1) Run the ball: Every time I say it, we do it, and we win. Every time I neglect to, we take a football up the ol’ poop chute. We need 25 carries at least! Houston owns the 4th best run defense in the NFL, but they’ve played a bunch of teams that can’t run the ball for shit. Let’s put them to the test.

2) Take away the catalyst: WR DeAndre Hopkins has 1,321 yards receiving. The next four Texans have 1,310 receiving yards. COMBINED. Hopkins’s 11 touchdowns, are 2 more than any other two Texans players combined. If we’re going to slow that offense, Hopkins seems like the right place to start.

Unlike many star WR’s, Hopkins doesn’t have a static side to line up on. He tends to travel, which greatly affects how a defense needs to react to him. Here (just to lay out the concept of how he needs to be played), I have him lined up on the LEFT.

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In the diagram, Hopkins is lined up across from #32 CB Rasul Douglas. #29 FS/NCB Avonte Maddox is over the Slot (presumably WR Keke Coutee). #24 FS Corey Graham is playing deep in Cover Two. Hopkins has entirely too much speed to play Cover One against. Especially since the Eagles play cushion, not bump. (If you see Graham lined up as a “Center Fielder”, expect to get hosed on that down.)

Our Secondary needs to focus on taking away areas of the field. Allowing completions, but shrinking the size of the holes the QB has to throw into, as there’s less and less field to defend.

Again, Hopkins will travel, so this strategy needs to flip sides as he does. If he lines up in the Slot, the Nickel needs to switch out of Zone, and force him across the middle where the big hits lurk.

3) DE’s set the edges: The Texans use Hopkins to clear out room for their largely unheralded run game. This is why I called him a catalyst , despite him leading the team in scoring. Don’t sleep on this run game! They are 6th in the NFL at running the ball. Keep the Texans run game directly in front of our tacklers. Force their RB to run through creases and tire himself out. Our Defense has done too much East/West running over these last two games, and LB Nigel Bradham is playing with a cast on his thumb. If we’re going to win four straight playoff games, we need to get out of the regular season without running our defense into the ground.

4) Screen Time!: The Texans feature some pretty good pass rushers. Let’s turn that against them, with a few Screens to RB Darren Sproles, a couple to TE Dallas Goedert, and let’s see if we can get RB Josh Adams involved in that as well, off of play-action. No WR Screens please. The Texans are too good for something that lame. If we want to get the ball to WR Golden Tate, throw it down the field for a change. Hey, you know what would be awesome? A QB Screen on 3rd and short.

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:

Houston will try to run the ball. When they see that they can’t, they’ll try to threaten us with the quick pass, to create room underneath. This will be a grind it out game, with just enough of a lack of familiarity to allow each team chances to score.

Last week was a game of balanced offense, which let our defense rest. This week needs to be very much the same. 25 carries says we win, 24 carries says we lose. Period. Head Coach Doug Pederson will call up a formula of something like 24 handoffs, and 31 passes. This is an extremely winnable game for the Eagles, but a lack of commitment to the run will be fatal.

PREDICTION: EAGLES 24 – Texans 26

yeah-bitch

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: WK15 : RAMS

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/12/17
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, Reviews, Special Teams, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

UNDERDOGS. This is what being an underdog looks like. This is what being an underdog feels like. Winning in spite of conventional wisdom and expectation. Clawing and fighting your way out of a hole.

Three straight wins, and we’ll have done all we can to get ourselves back to the postseason. We’re gonna need some help, but this was one hell of a start on our part. We showed the world that the Rams are mortal.

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These are the faces of men who were just mushroom stamped.

EAGLES 30 – Rams 23

Last night WR Alshon Jeffery ( 8 – 160 – 20.0 – 0) caught every pass that QB Nick Foles (24/34 – 77.4% – 270 – 0 – 1) threw in his direction.

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Impressively, Foles wasn’t sacked once in the entire game. Most impressive however, was how Head Coach Doug Pederson stuck with the run game, despite it not yielding a bunch of huge plays.

Looking at the one sack we got all night (from DT Fletcher Cox (2 – 1.0 – 0 – 0)), doesn’t tell the story of the kind of pressure the Rams QB was under all night long. A better indication might be the 2 interceptions he threw us.

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) Roof It: Throw that monkey DEEP! Did we? Did you see that Alshon Jeffrey stat line? We used play-action the way God intended, and it helped us get that coveted “W”. It also helped us put the world on notice, that the Eagles ain’t laying down for nobody. DONE.

2) 25 Handoffs: Play-action is meaningless without actually running the ball. So we had 28 handoffs, and 2 QB runs. The result was clean and healthy Nick Foles at the end of the game. DONE.

3) Tween Scheme: Due to the Nickel package being used as much as it was, LB Nate Gerry (2 – 0 – 0 – 0) wasn’t on the field as much as anticipated. That said, the Eagles did shutdown the Rams run game, and despite 55 pass attempts, kept the passing offense from scoring. NOT DONE.

4) Something Special: Our Special Teams didn’t try anything tricky or gimmicky. We didn’t need it. NOT DONE.

So, this weeks Four Things score is a solid 2 out of 4. This is fine given that we’d didn’t need one, and only technically didn’t do the other. That brings the season tally to 24 of 56. Next week we host the 10 – 4 Houston Texans, who are currently leading the AFC South.

On The Whole:

Any game that leaves a division leader asking:

jizz

is a great game. I’m thrilled with the outcome of the game. Still, there were a couple of things that bugged me about it.

First, we need a more physical RB. Our current RB’s tackle way too easily. We left entirely too many extra yards on that field last night. Second, reserve FS Corey Graham (1 – 0 – 1 – 0) makes too many business decisions in run support. I’m thankful for the 2 turnovers he’s collected recently, but this diving at ankles without bringing his arms, has got to stop.

 

 

FOUR THINGS: WK 15: EAGLES-RAMS

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/12/14
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Draft, Four Things, Offense, Players, playoffs, Preview, X's and O's. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

WK15-LAR

UNTIL you are mathematically eliminated from playoff contention you should fight to make the playoffs. It would be smart to deliberately lose games to drive up our Draft position. It would be even smarter to go with Tank 2.0 and improve the Eagles dramatically by June.

But if we stop fighting, what are we telling Jason Peters, and Darren Sproles? What message are we sending to future Eagles? Because of those questions, we have to try. We need to try and win this game. We need to try and make these playoffs. As long as there is a chance, we have to fight.

We come into this game on the outside. Everything to gain and nothing to lose. Although HIGHLY unlikely, there still exists a scenario where the 6 – 7 Eagles run the table, the 8 – 5 Cowboys drop their last three, and we win the division.

But that can’t happen if we quit now. So fuck the Rams. Who cares about the Rams? Didn’t we beat them last year, when everyone was worshiping their coaches balls, and calling them the Super Bowl favorite? Fuck them.

Let’s win this one for SPITE.

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Just pure, good ol’ fashioned spite. With a little bit of Christmas spite, we can wish for a very possible Cowboys loss to the Colts, and then a somewhat less possible Rams win for ourselves. Wouldn’t that be a nice stocking stuffer?

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

1) Roof It: Throw the deep ball, off of play-action. If we go down in this game, we go down swinging for the knockout. Win or lose, when the smoke clears on this game, the world should know that the Rams are mortal, and CAN BE made to bleed.

2) 25 Handoffs: Throwing deep will work better off of play-action. Play-action won’t work if we don’t hand it off a lot.

3) Tween Scheme: LB’s Nate Gerry and Kamu Grugier-Hill are sort of LB/S tweeners. They lack the thump of a LB, but they aren’t quite as fast a true S. They do however, run pretty well for LB’s. Scheme to get them in position to take away angles that the Rams use to spring RB Todd Gurley. Gurely is the straw that stirs that drink, and when teams make life hard for him, the Rams offense has a tendency to stall out.

4) Something Special: Isn’t it time we saw a fake or something by our Special Teams?

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 probably run about 17 – 20 times. The idea will be to take the weight off the QB, but Offensive Coordinator Mike Groh can’t help himself. Regardless of who starts at QB this week, you can expect something like 38 pass attempts when 29 would be best.

The Rams will find a way to manufacture yards from a Gurley who isn’t nearly as dangerous as he used to be. Like last week when the Eagles made it hard for the Cowboys RB to get off the ground later, expect the Rams RB to hit a similar wall.

PREDICTION: EAGLES 18 – Rams 28

[yeah bitch eagle pic]

JOHN DEFILIPPO’S RETURN TO PHILLY

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

(article)NEWS FLASH!!!

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

 

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

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

no just no

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

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

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

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No. No it wouldn’t.

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

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

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

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