#2 PLAY SOME DAMNED PRESS

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/04/03
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Players, stats, The 12, X's and O's. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

2-PLAY SOME PRESS

DEFENSIVE Coordinator Jim Schwartz is not going to abandon the principles that have built his career thus far. However, it’s clear that the old dog needs to learn a couple of new tricks. We need to become more disruptive of opposing passing games. We need to play some damned press coverage.

We don’t need to do it every down. That’s not who we are. But a 3rd and 7 should never come with a clean release off the line. Especially given how rarely this team blitzes. (We’ll also get into that soon, in another edition of The 12.) Adopting and adapting tactics that work, is just being smart. Observe:

Schwartz like to use off-coverage. He likes his Cornerbacks to play with a “cushion” of 5 or so yards off the line of scrimmage, so that they can read the intent of the receiver. (Is it an inside route, an outside route, a GO route, etc.?) That allows the CB to constrict their area of responsibility, release (if needed) the receiver to underneath LB coverage, and inform the Safety about where they have to be to help deep.

Last year the Eagles defense allowed opposing QB’s a 66.6 completion percentage (9th worst in the NFL). We also allowed 4,308 passing yards (3rd worst), 60 passes of 20 or more yards (tied for 3rd worst), collected just 10 interceptions (only 7 teams had fewer)*.

On the plus side, we only gave up 6 passes of 40 or longer (only 3 teams allowed fewer), and only 22 touchdowns all year (only 7 teams allowed fewer). Then again why would a team gamble if we keep giving them easy completions?

We aren’t giving up the big plays, but we also aren’t getting our Defense off the field. Plus, the longer the opponent has the ball, the more opportunities they have to do something dangerous with it.

We simply aren’t doing enough to get teams off the field. We aren’t doing enough to create turnovers. We aren’t doing enough to turn so many hurries into sack/fumbles. We aren’t doing enough to be disruptive. That 66.6 completion percentage (9th worst) tells that tale. New Orleans (both games) tells that tale.

Good but not good enough. If the mission is to win, then similar to the Patriots, we need to adjust to the situation, then adopt and adapt those tactics that will help us accomplish our goal. One of those things would be more of this:

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*NOTE: I use the “only x# teams had fewer” line, because of the screwy way the NFL ranks ties in a category. Note that both the Eagles and Bengals are ranked 9th , and how there is is no 10th ? As you can see, I made the adjustment and placed us 9th worst, not tied for 9th worst.

NFL ties

Both teams allowed a 66.6% completion rate, but going one decimal place over (Cincy .6660, Philly .6661), would allow for a definitive ranking. The NFL however, stops shy of that for some reason. This is just lazy stat keeping on the NFL’s part.

Keeping inaccurate stats helps fans make silly mistakes in debates, and look foolish for doing so. This can’t happen to you, because I do the homework to keep you looking good out there.

#1 RUSH FOR 2,000 YARDS

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/04/02
Posted in: Coaching, Offense, playoffs, stats, The 12, Uncategorized, X's and O's. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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RUSHING for 2,000 yards has to be one of the goals for the 2019 season. If another Super Bowl win is our mission, then we must pay respect to a very basic NFL truth. Specifically: If you want to win playoff games, pack your defense and your run game.

When the Eagles won the Super Bowl in 2017, we ran for 2,115. Last year in 2018, we ran for 1,570. See the difference?

During the regular season last year, we won 9 games. In each of those 9 wins, the Eagles ran the ball at least 20 times on non-QB carries. Our lone playoff win also fits into this category. We lost every game in 2018 where we didn’t run the ball at least 20 times.

Since 1999, the Eagles have run for 2,000 yards six times. Of those six times, we reached the Super Bowl twice (one win), and the NFC Championship game three times (two wins). More importantly, we only missed the playoffs, once. (Note: in 1980, the Eagles as a team, ran for 1,995 yards. We lost that Super Bowl)

We need to make a solid commitment to running opponents down physically. We need to make a solid commitment to controlling the clock. We need to make a solid commitment to limiting an opponents opportunities to posses the ball.

The NFL season is a marathon, not a sprint. It is a war of attrition. It’s critical that we adopt and adapt the tactics to accomplish our goal. In this case we need look no further than our own recent past.

So let’s get to wearing away our obstacles. Setting a goal of 125 rushing yards per game, and then executing it, does exactly that.

UPDATE: I wrote this on 3/4/19. Since then we acquired RB Jordan Howard via trade. I think the Eagles and I are on the same page right at the outset of these.

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Jordan Howard posing with his jersey, standing outside of (ughhhh) my job.

 

THE AAF IN PHILADELPHIA

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/04/01
Posted in: Conversations, Fans, Rants, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 3 Comments

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GENERALLY I don’t do interviews. Since I’m not an actual journalist, I usually can’t get direct access to athletes, coaches, general managers and owners of sports teams. The idea of talking to a fan with a “blog or whatever” doesn’t hold much appeal for people who already have large distribution media hanging on their every word.

As it happened however, on Saint Patrick’s Day, I managed to get into a liquor fueled shoving match with a guy, after he spilled his drinks on himself. He was walking backwards, carrying two drinks and shouting across the room. While it’s true that I was doing the same thing, I didn’t spill my drinks. So as you can see, that shit was totally HIS fault.

After my fingers were pried from his throat, I found out that he’s a lesser known figure in pro football. When I told him that I had a site, he asked if I wanted to interview him. To which I said. “Fuck. Why not?”

His name is Eugene Nicks, and he wants to start an AAF (Alliance of American Football) team here in Philadelphia.

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Image courtesy of Philly Sports Zone*

To this point the AAF has not contacted him, and he has several theories on why that is.

BEAST: First of all, I want to thank you for agreeing to this interview, and for dropping the charges.

EUGENE: I never said I was dropping the charges.

BEAST: Fair enough. Okay Eugene-

EUGENE: Mr. Nicks.

BEAST: Fair enough. Alright dude, why do you think the AAF hasn’t contacted you?

EUGENE: (Points to his MAGA hat) I think they’re worried about public perception, with their league being so young. Especially after what happened with Kaepernick and the Pledge of Allegiance.

BEAST: Yeah, no. It wasn’t the- You know what? Neverm- You said there were several reasons?

EUGENE: With Philly being home to like what is it 5, 8 million people?

BEAST: One point six.

EUGENE: Nooooo. It’s bigger than that. Gotta be. Gotta be. Know what? The number isn’t important. The point is that the market here is huge! The AAF should have a presence here, if they want to survive. But they don’t want a guy like me, because I have a history of telling the truth. Because I bring up subjects that make people uncomfortable.

BEAST: Subjects like?

EUGENE: Reparations for White people. I belong to certain groups that strongly believe we White people are owed for our contributions towards the development of Black athletes. I’m not saying that slavery was good, but there were, how can I say…unintended benefits, of that institution. Through a couple hundred years of selective breeding, Whites were able to create a race of super-athletes. Blacks have capitalized on that, and have made millionaires out of people with no other discernible skill or ability, beyond what we gifted them.

BEAST: Holy shit, dude.

EUGENE: There’s also the letter I wrote, saying that it’s in the leagues best interest to get an early handle on the salary issues. To make sure that we keep control of the plantation, so to speak.

BEAST: Plantation? Seriously? Are you- Seriously? Surely you’re aware that your rhetoric is overtly racist. Of course the AAF wants no part of you.

EUGENE: Racist? You say potato, I say potato.

BEAST: You just said “potato” the same way twice.

EUGENE: My racism isn’t even their biggest issue with me. It’s my insistence that we introduce new elements into the game. To help differentiate us from the NFL.

BEAST: New elements might be good. What kind of new elements?

EUGENE: Animals. The ball should be a cat, and you should have to get that cat, safely into the end zone. If the cat ends up dead, the team loses the game then and there. If the cat is just injured, it’s a penalty. A healthy cat makes it into the end zone, it’s 6 points. There would be no concussions because you couldn’t tackle too hard. And there would always be an element of chance to every game, because with the ball fighting to get away, the turnovers would be impossible to plan for. And of course players wouldn’t be allowed to wear any wrist or forearm protection. Gotta give the ball a fair chance to get away, right? Plus you’d have to be careful on the recovery of a fumble, because again, squished cat equals dead cat. Dead cat equals loss. So imagine what the bottom of a pile would look like!

BEAST: I can’t believe, I’m entertaining this, but… What about the passing game?

EUGENE: Can you imagine the fear in a wide receiver’s eyes as he worried about the hit AND being clawed up by the ball as it hissed and yowled through the air?

BEAST: People can’t throw a cat 30 yards!!

EUGENE: For enough money, and with enough vodka in their system, people will sure as hell try. That’s my other innovation. We’d replace water with vodka. Cramps, dehydration, bloody scratches, screaming cats twisting through the air… Drunk players stumbling everywhere, terrified of hitting each other, but still trying to… Tell me you wouldn’t pay to see that.

BEAST: I wouldn’t pay to see that.

EUGENE: Then you my friend, would be missing out.

BEAST: Don’t call me your friend.

EUGENE: Then you good buddy, would be missing out.

For those who’ve made it this far, let me just say APRIL FOOLS!

Love you folks! THE 12, starts tomorrow.

*Note: Shout out to Philly Sports Zone, for having a picture I could use as click bait, and being a media voice who actually has the “Philly Accent”. Most Philadelphian’s don’t have it, and we get sick of hearing about it. But it was interesting to hear football being broken down by a guy who does have it.

LANDING COLLINS

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/03/05
Posted in: Defense, free agents, Front Office (F.O.), NFC East, NFL, Players, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

 

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CAP space is limited. However, there are a bunch of you who hope that (GM) Howie Roseman can pull off a miracle, and make it so we can afford either RB Le’Veon Bell, or WR Antonio Brown. Well, my hope would be for SS Landon Collins.

SS Malcolm Jenkins is 31, and FS Rodney McLeod is coming off of an injury. Thinking of the future and building depth are not issues to be taken lightly. Also there is the idea of line-up flexibility. Three proven playmakers in a Nickel or Dime package, minimizes any falloff from us not being in our base defense.

The knock on Collins is that he’s more of an “in the box” Safety than a cover Safety. So what? He can cover, he’s just better near the line and in zones. No harm in that. Given how much we ask our LB’s to cover, that just makes him a better version of what we have in LB Kamu Grugier-Hill. For that matter, we could make the Nickel our base. Shit, half the time we do that anyway! (As you can see by KGH and former Eagle OLB Mychal Kendricks number of starts.)

Considering how good Collins has been for four years on a bad giants defense, it stands to reason that he’d be a force magnifier on a good unit. The Eagles defensive line can actually force QB’s into making errors, and plays the run well enough to allow him to play Safety, instead of Mr. Do-It-All.

It shouldn’t take a miracle to convince him to come to a team that just won Super Bowl two years ago, and still has a strong enough nucleus to do it again soon. Not a miracle, but he will want a lot of money. Deservedly so.

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Adding him here would do two important things. It would add depth and talent to our roster,, and keep him out of Dallas or Washington, while stealing him from New York. Particularly in the case of Dallas, as they may soon add FS Earl Thomas. Adding both Thomas and Collins, is an immediate and massive upgrade over current Safeties Jeff Heath and Xavier Woods.

Eagles fans, we don’t need that kind of headache in our lives.

Instead of trading for and then breaking the bank, on a WR who will only cry when TE Zach Ertz sees more targets than he does. Instead of breaking the bank, on a RB who has a penchant for missing games that have nothing to do with injuries. Instead of doing these things, why not add a player who shifts the balance of power in the division, just by signing?

Note: For those keeping score, so far my Free Agent Wish List consists of Latatvius Murray, LeGarrette Blount,

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and Landon Collins. That’s not my whole list, but I want to see who else hits the cutting room floor, before I just jump on the first few names. These guys all fit what we do, so they’re easy to add early.

FREE AGENT: NICK FOLES

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/02/28
Posted in: Conspiracy Corner, Conversations, Defense, free agents, Front Office (F.O.), Offense, Players, Roster, trade, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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LETTING QB Nick Foles become a Free Agent isn’t a good thing. It’s a great thing. This is the only smart move the Eagles could have made, and as a fan, I’m stoked that they saw that. Besides, this just made it easier for us to bring Foles back, at a price we can live with, for years.

Six days ago I said we should let him become a FA, then make him an offer of 50M over 5 years, with 30 guaranteed over 3. (Here’s that article) I still say we should float that out to him. If he bites, awesome. As I said, we’d have him at an affordable price until he retires. If he doesn’t, then he goes to a team that he can lead for a couple of years.

Either way, we don’t get saddled with a tag we can’t afford, on a QB we then couldn’t trade.

Foles was due 20M that we were never going to pay him in 2019. So he “bought his freedom” (yikes) for 2M, which allowed him to become a FA if he wished. This left the Eagles with the option to tag him for around 25M. That sets up a tag and trade situation, right? Right?! Wrong.

If the Eagles had already indicated that we wouldn’t shell out 20M, then why would we shell out 25? Every GM in the NFL with two brain cells to rub together, would realize that it’s just a matter of time before we had to cut Foles, at which point they could go after him for free, without having to give us anything in a trade. They could just wait us out.

In my sickest fantasy, we would have packaged our 1st rounder and Foles, in a trade to Jacksonville to move up from 25th to 7th , and get maybe a 4th or 5th rounder to boot. However, after the trade of QB Joe Flacco from Baltimore to Denver, it seemed that the market for trades had been set, and that it was a buyer’s, not a seller’s market.

That meant the Eagles would have no leverage in trying to move Foles. This is why I wrote last week, about just keeping him. Foles is more valuable as an Eagles player, than as an Eagles bargaining chip. Also, for a man of faith who says that where he plays matters, the Eagles are more valuable to Foles as well.

But…Let’s play Devil’s Advocate. Despite him being 30 already, let’s look at where Foles could get a shot to be “The Man”:

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1) Jacksonville: They’re a team that’s built to win now. The question is whether or not Foles fits in, with what can be an very up and down locker room, that isn’t known for handling adversity well. If they don’t get off to a good start, Foles might wish he never left Philly.

2) Washington: The organization is a shit show from top to bottom. The owner is an idiot. The head coach was 21 – 26 – 1 and he was given a two year extension in 2017. Since then, he’s 14 – 18, which brings him to 35 – 44 – 1 (.444) for his career. The weapons are mediocre. There is no standard for excellence there. Foles would be a fool to sign there. At least without a Kirk Cousins type deal. Which would be so ironic, it might kill me from laughter.

3) Arizona: Rumor has the Cardinals trading away their young QB, which means they’d need a signal caller. Foles played college ball out there in Arizona and most of his family is still in Texas, where he was born and raised. He’d get to play with RB David Johnson, and whatever is left of WR Larry Fitzgerald. Aside from that, he’d have to live with water drought, playoff drought, scoring drought, an offensive line that’s allowed 104 sacks over the last two years… Arizona is in rebuild mode. Foles would need a concussion to decide to sign here.

Basically comes down to if Foles is serious about being part of great team, or whether or not he wants to make a final cash grab. Is he willing to tarnish his legacy by starting for a mediocre team? We shall soon find out.

WHY NOT KEEP NICK FOLES?

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/02/21
Posted in: Conversations, free agents, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Offense, Players, Roster, trade, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 3 Comments

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FRANCHISE Tag? Transition Tag? Tag him and trade him? Tag you’re it? Chatter right now is about whether or not the Eagles will tag and trade, QB Nick Foles.

There’s growing speculation that they Eagles won’t, because if they can’t trade him, we’re stuck paying him roughly 25M$ to be a back-up, due to the tag. Growing speculation is that the Eagles can’t afford that gamble, and so may have to let Foles walk as a Free Agent, free and clear.

That means all interested teams have to do, is sit and wait us out.

The problem is in the form of trade partners. There are teams who have established QB, who aren’t going anywhere in 2019:

PHI – Carson Wentz

NYG – Eli Manning

DAL – Dak Prescott

MIN – Kirk Cousins

GB – Aaron Rogers

DET – Matt Stafford

CHI – Mitch Trubisky

NO – Drew Brees

ATL – Matt Ryan

CAR – Cam Newton

TB – Jameis Winston

SF – Jimmy Garafolo

SEA – Russell Wilson

LAR – Jared Goff

NE – Tom Brady

PIT – Ben Roethlisberger

BAL – Lamar Jackson

CLE – Baker Mayfield (I got halfway through typing Johnny Manziel)

CIN – Andy Dalton

IND – Andrew Luck

TEN – Marcus Mariota

HOU – Deshaun Watson

KC – Pat Mahomes

LAC – Phillip Rivers

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That’s 24 of 32 teams that wouldn’t gamble what they have for a shot a Foles. The remaining eight:

WAS – Is still waiting for an updated timetable for Alex Smith’s rehab.

ARI – Drafted Josh Rosen last year. Speculation is that Rosen could end up in NE, which would open up a possible landing spot for Foles near the place where he played college ball.

NYJ – Are content to let Sam Darnold continue his on the job training.

BUF – Josh Allen had a bad rookie year, but he was last year’s #7 overall pick, so the Bills can’t give up on him this soon.

MIA – Does Ryan Tannehill get another year? Do they draft a QB? No one has a clue what’s going on with the Fins.

JAC – Blake Bortles bags are packed and sitting by the door. While this team could draft a passer, they’re built to win now, and so would best be served by an experienced hand with playoff pedigree.

OAK – Derek Carr is the guy. The only reason he’s in this group and not the other, is the unpredictability of the Raiders Front Office.

DEN – Just traded for what’s left of Joe Flacco.

Of that group, only Washington, Arizona, and Jacksonville really seem to be in the market for a QB. Which poses a problem for the Eagles, when it comes to trying to trade Foles. Fewer possible trade partners, means we have less leverage to uh…incentivize teams to give us something juicy for Foles.

However, a choked market also means it will be harder for Foles as a FA. If few spots want to add a starter, he could just end up a back-up elsewhere. That is unless he wants to start for Washington or Arizona, two programs currently in turmoil. Dysfunction almost made him retire once. Jacksonville seems like the best fit, but we shouldn’t just let them grab him. Right?

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Hey! Here’s a crazy thought. What if we kept him? He’s frequently said that he loves it here. He’s also said that who he plays with, and the environment he plays in, matters to him. So why not put that to the test? He wants to play FA, okay. Offer him 50M$ over 5 years, with 3 of those years guaranteed. 

Aside from the current Joe Flacco (18M) / Case Keenum (21M) situation in Denver, there is no back-up in football approaching 10M per year. None. Done this way, Foles gets to stay in a place he loves, in a system that plays to his strengths, as he soaks up crazy bench fees, while staying pretty healthy to boot. And if we do need him to step in here or there, his coaches, teammates, and even he himself, has no jitters about what to expect.

He is the ultimate insurance policy for THIS CITY, and he should, and could be paid like it.

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This literally settles everything, and makes a deep strike at making sure that Nick Foles never wears another teams colors, ever again.

DEAR HOWIE ROSEMAN,

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/02/20
Posted in: free agents, Front Office (F.O.), Offense, Players, Roster, trade, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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DEAR Howie Roseman, could you please pass on WR Antonio Brown. We don’t need the headaches or drama he drags with him. Brown is talented, but in a figurative sense, adding him would be the equivalent of deliberately giving our team cancer.

He has a great contract that he’s unhappy with. He is anything but a team leader. He has been a malcontent that argues with coaches, and throws tantrums during games. His concept of accountability to his teammates does not gel with the current culture of the Eagles locker room. He embodies all the faults that people point out in star players.

And the BEST part? We can’t get him without trading for him. We would have to give away something that the Pittsburgh Steelers want from our roster or list of draft picks. So we have to help them, in order to start hurting us.

Similarly, could you pass on Le’Veon Bell, too? QB Carson Wentz needs a top-flight RB, and Bell would be nice to have, but not at the expense of not being able to land a LT, or DE. Bell is talented, but he wants too much money. Too much guaranteed money. Especially with Wentz’s contract coming up. This offseason we’re already hoping that you have a miracle or two up your sleeve, but this is simply too much to reasonably ask for.

In fact, at RB, adding either Free Agent Tevin Coleman

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or Latavius Murray

before the 2019 Draft, would save a lot of money, solve a lot of problems, and set a clear tone. It would also make signing other players cheaper, when they saw us as legitimately re-arming for another Super Bowl run. Then we could smuggle RB LeGarrette Blount back onto the roster during OTA’s. (If we add him before the Draft, we’ll spook the better FA RB’s and won’t land one.)

A backfield of Murray, Blount and Corey Clement sounds REALLY good actually! If we don’t break the bank on Murray, we might even be able to squeeze RB Darren Sproles back in under the cap.

Sometimes you get addition by subtraction, but other times you get subtraction by addition. Let’s not let the latter happen to us, as Pittsburgh attempts the former.

RAIDERS: THE GREAT TRADE ROBBERY 2.0

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/02/01
Posted in: Conspiracy Corner, Defense, Draft, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Players, playoffs, trade, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

 

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RIGHT now, (when you ask about it), this is what people think: Oakland got two first round picks, while Chicago got DE Khalil Mack and a double-doink knockout, in the Wild Card round of the playoffs. That’s true, but it’s massively oversimplified. The Raiders may have just pulled off the second Great Trade Robbery.

If the Raiders were a playoff team, they’d see both more and deeper media coverage (like they used to). If that were the case then “professional” reporters may have done their job, and taken a closer look at that trade, when it happened.

Thank goodness, you have me.

A few months back, I wrote about the Bears/Raiders trade, in an article called “OH THEM HIDDEN FEES!” In that article I said, even if the Bears make four quick playoff exits, then the trade is still a successful one, because it unseats Green Bay, and makes Chicago the focal point of their division. But I may have to rethink that.

Much of the national media barely stopped short of calling the Raiders morons, for having parted with Mack. If you read my article, you saw that I didn’t think it was a bad deal for Oakland at all. Quite the contrary! As someone who regularly follows the Raiders, I had a clue as to what was happening there. So I already had a glimpse of their Big Picture. (More about that, down the page.)

After watching Mack get essentially manhandled during the first round of the playoffs by  Eagles RT Lane Johnson and what’s left of LT Jason Peters, I decided to look again at Mack’s last two seasons. Just to put my eye on where the trade currently stands.

Remember when I said this was a good trade for Oakland? Well, early returns would suggest that the Raiders pulled a fast one on the Bears.

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In 2017 the Bears defense was 9th in points allowed, and 10th in yards allowed. In 2018 they moved to 1st in points allowed, and 3rd in yards allowed. So a top 10 defense became a top 10 defense. Yes, they moved into the top THREE, but you know how these things are divided up. Top 10 is good, middle 10 is meh, and bottom 10 means someone will likely be fired. (Finishing under 30th means someone probably got canned during the season.) Also, the Bears sack number went from 42 to 50. So the Bears moved up. But not really.

Mack himself missed games (two), for the first time in his career. His sack number was 12.5, which is the second best year of his career. However his tackle numbers fell off cliff. After averaging 76 per year for four years, and coming off of a career best 78 in 2017, his tackles fell to 47.

One of the best parts of Mack’s game was that he was also good vs the run, and made plays despite double and triple teams. This clearly hasn’t manifested in Chicago. That means the Bears may be deploying him incorrectly, and thus aren’t getting the player they traded for. Or, they are using him just as the Raiders did, but he can no longer be as effective as he was in Oakland.

In either case, the Bears aren’t getting the player they traded for.

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It raises the question of whether or not the Raiders already knew that, when they dealt Mack. Playing 64 straight games of constant double and triple teams. Combine that with four years of practices. Years of things left off the injury report, to not tip the opponent on how to gain an advantage. (Now why would I say something like that?) Did the Raiders already see a decline coming?

What did they know, and when did they know it? All signs point to them knowing plenty, and knowing it very early.

If that’s the case, then the Raiders idea may have been to hose a team, to help turbo-charge their re-build effort. In this way the Raiders could save themselves years of cap space, and parlay a player they didn’t see in their future, into multiple players that may be key components. So in August of 2018, the Raiders asked for TWO first round picks as the price of trading Mack.

The national media essentially laughed at Oakland for asking for a price that no one would be willing to pay. So of course Oakland wound up getting two first-round picks from Chicago (2019 and 2020), AND a 2019 sixth-round pick, as well as a 2020 third-round pick. Instead of hailing the Raiders as shrewd, they were more or less derided for doing what no one thought could happen.

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Funny thing is, 49ers GM John Lynch says he offered more. “I continue to (believe that we offered more for Mack). That, at times, leads me to believe, were we ever in consideration? I understand the thought of sending him right across The Bay — I don’t know how that factored in — but it is what it is.”

I agree with Lynch in thinking that the Raiders wanted Mack out of their media market. Besides, the favorable weather in San Fran would only contribute to Mack playing better, thus making the Raiders look dumber for trading him.

However, Chicago, longer grass, in cold weather?That helps hinder any player’s change of direction. Especially for a player with an ankle injury. Especially if he’s been dealing with and possibly concealing lower body damage for a year or so. Why that hint again? His Injury Report for 2017 in Oakland:

Week 1 Did Not Practice (knee).

Week 2 Limited (Not Injury Related).

Week 12.

Week 13.

Week 14.

Week 15.

Week 16.

All DNP. All NIR. Let’s get some context on Mack not practicing during those weeks, in particular.

Going into Week 12, coming off a 8 – 33 loss, with a record of 4-6, same as the Chargers, chasing a 6-5 Chiefs team, why would you not practice your best player, if he’s not hurt? It’s not like you’re resting him for the playoffs! You do it to ease up on an injury that you’re leaving off the books.

The Raiders finished 6-10, missed the playoffs, and subsequently stopped all communication with Mack during the offseason. They went zero dark thirty on him. Then they traded him. And not only did Mack miss practices in 2018, he missed actual games, for the first time in his career.

With a lower body injury.

Are you seeing that Big Picture now? I thought you might.

Some of you may remember the Great Trade Robbery, where Dallas (took it all, socks and drawers, and) left Minnesota nekkid except for flip-flops in the snow.

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Well here we go again. Oakland pulled a Dallas.

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The Raiders unloaded a sports car with a blown head gasket, now coolant is leaking into the combustion chamber. And the Bears paid through the nose for the thing that happens next.

2018 WAS WEIRD AS FU–

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/01/30
Posted in: Conversations, Crazy Talk, Fans, Front Office (F.O.), NFC East, NFL, Players, playoffs, Reviews, Rivals, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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FROM Fitzmagic; to the Chiefs cutting the NFL’s 2017 rushing leader; to the Minnesota implosion that only surprised people wearing purple; to the state of Louisiana being home to the world’s biggest collection of punk-ass, crybabies, 2018 was a weird season for many teams.

Weirdest thing of all, was the NFC East’s down-to-the-wire, dogfight for a playoff spot.

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Last year’s champs, started 2 – 1 then spent the next 12 weeks being .500 or worse. The team that would eventually win the division, took 12 weeks just to break .500. The team that got out to a 6 -3 start, then contracted Nancy Kerrigan’s Disease, and fell short of .500. And then there was that team that peaked at 1 – 2.

It was a weird year. Let’s take a look back at it, shall we?

NEW YORK: We learned a lot about New York this year. We learned that QB Eli Manning’s contract contains language that allows him to take the offense hostage. At least until the end of 2019. We learned that RB Saquon Barkley can personally generate 1,000,000 yards of offense in a game, and still manage to see his team get blown out by 21 points. Quick question: When was the last time you saw a GM have fire sale at midseason, with a Head Coach in his first year?

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We also learned that in the NFL you need two feet in bounds, to make a touchdown catch, unless one of your knees belongs to WR Cole Beasley.

WASHINGTON: Their 2018 season included more sad chapters than The Bible. Imagine riding high at 6 – 3, then suddenly: “Hey! Anybody wanna see a grotesque injury?” At which point QB Alex Smith’s leg was broken/blew up vs the Texans. At home in his living room, an unemployed Mark Sanchez said “Damn. That’s a shame” and looked over at his phone. Seemingly minutes later, the Eagles broke QB Colt McCoy’s leg. On the sideline QB Mark Sanchez said “Damn. That’s a shame” and put his helmet on. Sanchez was allowed 1 start, after which Owner Dan Snyder said “Damn. That’s a shame” and began burning his Redskins jerseys.

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Adding insult to injury, were even more injuries! I almost forgot to mention that their starting G’s were on IR for half the year. And then they lost back-up G’s and a starting OT, and then a back-up OT, and then… You know what? It would be faster to list the Redskins who didn’t end up on IR in 2018. Hey, have you ever seen a man break a 90 yard touchdown run, and still not rush for a 100 yards in that game? Yo, Adrian! Magically, RB Adrian Peterson managed to rush for 1,000 yards, despite being 33, with no supporting cast. Perhaps he’s the player the Redskins can finally build around. Damn. That’s a shame.

PHILADELPHIA: City of Champions! “Oh no! Our Starting QB might be healthy enough to play!” Nothing says “Get well soon, Carson!” like a shrine to back-up QB Nick Foles, built in a teammate’s locker.

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You wanna know what weird is? Weird is watching your team get jungle raped, 48 – 7 on national television, and then watching our players say (WITH STRAIGHT FACES), they still believed the Eagles could make the playoffs. Weirder still was believing it as a fan. Weirder than that, was realizing that we as fans, might be delusional this time.

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This fan base can be infuriating, but nobody, absolutely NOBODY, makes a point and drives it home, like this bunch.

Then, when the shit actually happened, even us believers were like “Wait! What? Yaaaaayyyyyy!” How about all the injuries to our Secondary? So many guys played back there, that they started putting letters on jerseys instead of numbers. (“Who the hell is ‘M’?”) There comes a point after you watch a field goal double-doink off a goal post, when you wonder if you too should have built a shrine. Then the team blew a 14 – 0 lead the following week, and we broke out the old “We’ll get ‘em next year!” 

DALLAS: They had a great year. Started slow, but won 7 of their last 8. Traded for a player that opened up their offense, and helps hide how much of a liability QB Dak Prescott is. Found a LB who lets them move on from LB Sean Lee. Saw a couple of draft gambles pay dividends. Even won a playoff game. Everything looked great in Big D. Yup, they’d almost pulled it off, buuuuut… You realize that the 2018 season isn’t technically over, until the Super Bowl ends, right? So everything that’s happened in the last couple weeks, is still part of the 2018 season. Meaning that 2018 will end with, Dallas’s brain trust, intentionally trying to murder 2019 already. Dallas decided to fire a lackluster offensive coordinator, and hire…Kellen Moore? He was the Cowboys QB coach in 2018, and that’s it. That’s the extent of his coaching career, and now he runs the offense. What’s weird is, the hire comes from over Head Coach Jason Garrett’s head, so he’s just getting stuck with the arrangement. Which is fine with him because, well, you know how he and Jerry Jones are.django1.jpg

Then again, one questionable hire isn’t so ba- Wait! It wasn’t just one questionable hire. They also hired Jon Kitna to be Prescott’s QB coach. You realize that Kitna was an absolute turnover MACHINE when he played. Now he’s coming off 7 years of coaching high school football, with ZERO pro coaching experience, to make a ‘meh’ QB,better? So no stars were suspended. No convicts were signed. Nobody stole any underwear and were run down from behind, by a mall cop. Just a strong finish, culminating in a division win, plus a playoff win and… DAMMIT! They couldn’t wait to squander all that momentum. Couldn’t even let it wait until Monday of next week. Talk about reserving your spot on the basement couch! 

So there it is. The NFC East season that was. It made you want to pull your hair out at times, but it was never boring. Odds are pretty slim that 2019 will treat us to as crazy a rollercoaster ride as this year was, but just in case, I’m going to ask for a prescription for heart pills today.

THE PATRIOTS AREN’T GREAT

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/01/28
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, NFL, Offense, Players, Rants, Super Bowl, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

THIS is an article about the New England Patriots.

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Actually, no. No it isn’t. This is an article about how the rest of the AFC has been complicit, in making the New England Patriots seem better than they really are.

I’m not going to harp on the cheating and the scandals. Me railing about the worst kept secrets in pro sports, would totally undercut what I’m getting at here. This is not about attacking the legitimacy of New England’s achievements. Nor is it about questioning the credibility of the current NFL for their stance on all things Patriot.

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In fact, let’s banish that for the duration of this article. For the sake of argument, lets say that every call, score, win, and division crown in the last nineteen years were ALL gotten by 100% legit means. Let’s say that the Patriots earned it all, and that they are really as good as advertised.

Let’s say that the rest of their conference, simply isn’t a match for them.

That very statement is a problem. Saying that the Patriots are that good, invalidates nearly half of the sport of pro football. It makes the rest of the AFC superfluous. In fact, if that statement is true, then the Owners on the Competition Committee, need to take a very hard look at what is going on here. Because it means that the sport is broken.

The Patriots have employed a single coach for just one year shy of two decades. There is plenty of film on what the he likes to run on both sides of the ball. There are a ton of former players who have cycled through that team, who have then carried intel to their new teams.

The coach’s offensive system isn’t a mystery. The basic tenets:

*Run on early downs, to eat clock and set up manageable 3rd downs.

*Attack the middle of the field with short to moderate passes, to punish and dissuade blitzing.

*Protect the QB by spreading the defense, so that he knows pre-snap where to quickly unload the ball.

*And run it all through a favorable mismatch, or the exploitation of an opponents weakness.

For example, here is a play in classic Patriots style:

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ESPN diagrammed this, this year like they were explaining cold fission. Meanwhile I figured this out over a decade ago, just by watching it on television! However, the rest of the AFC, especially the AFC East, has yet to figure out how to stop it. Nor have they decided to employ these tenets themselves, to become just as dangerous. Mentally it seems that they’re asleep at the switch.

Bah! Maybe I’m being short-sighted and not giving enough credit to their QB, who has been there almost as long as the coach. As time has gone on, he’s clearly become a stronger, faster athlete, right? That’s why his numbers are better than they were the year before, every year.

Except that’s not the case. Year in and year out, the QB hovers around 30 touchdowns and 64% accuracy, with exception of an extreme outlier in 2007, where he somehow threw 50 touchdowns, and had an accuracy mark of 69%. (Neither of which he’s ever approached again. For some reason.)

So how is it that the rest of the AFC can’t catch on to two people, doing something more or less one way, for two decades? Don’t misunderstand, there have been challengers.

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The Colts had a couple runs when Peyton Manning was there. Denver also had a couple runs under Peyton Manning. The Steelers have had a few under Ben Roethlisberger. But by and large, the rest of the conference has been playing Dizzy Bat for 20 years now.

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Note the team doing this. While wearing pads. See my point?

It’s not like the Patriots load themselves up with the most talent. They never have the most dangerous receivers. They never have the league’s rushing leader. They’ve built a few solid contributors out of other teams cast-offs. They’ve even been up and down on defense over the span.

So it’s not like talent is what’s bailing them out. Their offensive scheme isn’t a mystery, and their defense is trash at times. So what is it? Perhaps it’s other team’s stupidity?

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This is an 8-man box vs Rex Burkhead. Go ‘head and read that again.

The Patriots are less a product of doing anything great, and more product of other teams being wasteful, slow to learn, and slower to adapt, to what is almost mind-numbing repetition. The mere fact that New England has been challenged by less than a handful of conference rivals, but repeatedly challenged by the same ones, only drives home my point: The AFC is trash and the Patriots are simply fortunate enough to play in the most remedial division, of a shit-show conference.

Today the upshot of all of this is, most of the country is already shrugging over the upcoming Super Bowl 53. Ticket prices have fallen as Los Angels fans are way too fickle to travel cross-country, like (Saint Louis) real fans would. Patriots fans are simply bored from going so much.

It’ll be interesting to see what the domestic television ratings are, and if announcers and media types, try to hype how high the rating were in foreign markets. (As if NFL fans care about how many Hondurans watched a game that we tuned into for the commercials.)

I’m not saying that the Patriots suck or aren’t good, but if the Patriots were truly as good as advertised, the coach and QB’s record in Super Bowls would be 8 – 0, not 5 – 3.

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(Sigh)

Real team dominance looks like 4 – 0 in the Super Bowl. Right Joe?

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I have no idea what that fifth ring is. GOAT bling, maybe?