FOUR THINGS: WK 13: EAGLES-REDSKINS

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/11/30
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Fans, Four Things, NFC East, Offense, Players, playoffs, Preview, Rivals, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

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WHO’S ready to finally win two games in a row?! I know the fans are. I just hope the Eagles are too. Ready as in, prepared. Ready as in, motivated. Ready as in, not looking past this week’s opponent, just because their injury situation is suddenly as bad as (and arguably worse than), ours is.

Having dropped 3 of their last 4, then losing half an offensive line, plus their starting QB, by all indications the Redskins playoff hopes are dead in the water at 6 – 5. History, on the other hand, teaches that a wounded animal is often a very dangerous one.

The Eagles come into this game with a 5 – 6 record. Without having strung two wins together all season long, thus far. Our playoff hopes also look thin.

That is, until you do the math, and realize that a win this week and next, would put us at the head of the NFC East. Yes. That is a fact. Look it up. In fact, here’s a link to the standings: BOOM! 

However, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, there is this matter of the Redskins to attend to.

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

1) Neuter their defense: Get the ball downfield to TE Zach Ertz. Nothing of the quick 5 yard variety. The ball needs to be in the air for 8 to 10, and towards the sideline. Make the Redskins have to cover him with an OLB and nullify their own edge rush. That will also soften those edges for RB Josh Adams on pitches and stretch runs.

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2) Jump on their offense: QB Colt McCoy is a gutsy player. I actually like him. He plays the game the way fans can appreciate. Murder him. Take away the short quick passes and dial up the blitz. Kill this team quick. Do what we should have last week.

3) Keep our balance: Last week, offensive balance helped the Eagles erase a 16 point deficit. We looked like we were getting the hang of being balanced again. At no point did we have a swagger about us, but to me it kept looking like that was just over the next hill, or around the next corner. 31 passes to 27 runs. Those sort of numbers are what we need to shoot for this week as well.

4) KISS on Defense: Keep It Simple Stupid. We don’t need to do anything fancy to stop the run. Our players just need to trust what they see, and trust the man next to them. Set hard edges to keep the runner in front of a tackler, and then just hit our run fits. That’s it. Same as we did last year, and early this year.

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:

Eagles fans from Philadelphia are gonna hate me for saying this but: Trust the Process. Clawing back to the top is just that for us. It’s a process. A new Offensive Coordinator, a ton of injuries, a touch of complacency. We got knocked on our asses. Deservedly so.

Yet look at how we responded to it. Down 16 to a mange ridden cur last week. Perfect excuse to fold up, eat that 4 – 7 record and point to injuries as our easy out. All we had to do was lay down quietly. Sleep until September.

NOPE! We fought. And we aren’t done fighting. Some of these Secondary players from off the street got a taste of that. You think that hurt their confidence? Or maybe bolstered it?

Your Eagles will be prepared and motivated. Not because there are stakes. The stakes have always been there. They’ll be prepped and hyped, because they’re starting to feel it. The team isn’t there yet. Not yet. We need this second one in a row.

When we get it though…

PREDICTION: EAGLES 30 – Redskins 17

yeah-bitch

A POOR INTEGRATION

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/11/27
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Front Office (F.O.), Offense, Players, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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WHEN the Eagles traded for Golden Tate, many fans were happy about it. Not me. I was the guy on social media asking, “Why did we trade for a 30 year old WR?” Now, 3 games, 11 catches, and just 97 yards later, many of the happy crowd are souring on Tate himself. And that’s not fair. He never had a chance at doing what the Eagles need.

Offensive Coordinator Mike Groh, said recently that he’s having trouble integrating Tate into the Offense. Which makes total sense. When last year’s OC Frank Reich left to be the head man in Indianapolis, the Eagles had a no-brainer decision to make in promoting RB’s coach Duce Staley, to the OC spot. They goofed and instead gave the job to Groh, who isn’t nearly as seasoned as Staley. What we’re seeing from the Eagles Offense, is a poor integration of a position coach to a strategy coach.

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Golden Tate is a WR. You throw him the ball past the line of scrimmage. That is how you integrate him into an Offense. This attempt to cast him the role of injured RB Darren Sproles is why his integration has gone so poorly. On the surface it seems like he’s a natural fill-in for a guy like Sproles, but that’s where Groh not being as seasoned as Staley, hurts us the most. It’s what happens when an Offensive Coordinator (who’s trying to prove how clever he is), fucks up by putting the cart before the horse. Repeatedly.

With experience you gain not just knowledge (knowing how to do something), but wisdom (knowing why you do, or don’t do, something). Tate is similar to Sproles only on the surface. A WR thinks differently than a RB does. They have different intrinsic purposes, and so they are used differently. If a player like Darren Sproles could be manufactured by putting a WR in the backfield, then every team would have one or two. But it doesn’t work that way. Staley knows that. Groh obviously does not.

Tate isn’t a deep threat. He’s not a jump ball winner. He’s not a red zone dominator. He’s a guy who gets the ball in space and makes extra yardage. Basically he’s a Slot receiver. The easiest and most traditional way to work a Slot in, is to line him up on the weakside of the formation, and throw him passes that stretch the defense horizontally, or quick dumps over a blitz. There. Done. Integrated.

This would be apparent to an OC who himself wasn’t being integrated. Then again, given Staley’s background coaching RB’s who catch the ball (Brian Westbrook, LeSean McCoy, Darren Sproles, Corey Clement), the Tate trade likely wouldn’t have even happened if he’d gotten the OC post. He’d have probably asked to get RB LeGarrette Blount back, so we could run over some people.Duce Staley.jpg

At least that’s what I’d have asked for. 

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: WK12 :GIANTS

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/11/26
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Four Things, NFC East, NFL, Offense, Players, Reviews, Rivals, Special Teams, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

FOR all those who say “Pederson can’t coach!” or “Pederson’s lost the team!” or “We should tank!” The Eagles have a message for you:

cup of shut upThis was one of those wins which shows the character of a team. Most teams staring down the barrel of an early 3 – 19 deficit, would just mail in the rest of the game. Given the extent of our injuries, the Eagles had a “ready-made excuse” to wrap themselves in. But that’s not what they did. They instead elected to fight. They gave themselves a punchers chance, and in the end, our guys stood victorious.

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EAGLES 25 – giants 22

Rookie RB Josh Adams (22 – 84 – 3.8 – 1 – 0 ) and RB Corey Clement (5 – 45 – 9.0 – 0 – 0) gave the Eagles the running game that we’ve all been craving, since RB Wendell Smallwood (no carries) took over as the starter. Adding 3 sacks to the 28 attempts by QB Carson Wentz (20/28 – 236 – 71.4% – 1 – 0), there were 31 passing plays to 27 called runs. Our play selection was 53% pass and 47% run. You know what that is? It’s BALANCE! We achieved actual offensive balance.

Watching SS Malcolm Jenkins (5 – 0 – 0 – 0) wrap his mitts around a pass intended for giants WR Odell Beckham (5 – 85 – 17.0 – 0) got me onto my feet, and doing the world’s most uncoordinated Floss. Even worse than these people.  (I hit me in my pee-pee. But I didn’t care! INTERCEPTION!!). The return of our pass rush, and our OLB’s ability to make tackles for losses, spoke volumes about how much we’d been missing the presence of DT Timmy Jernigan (no stats).

For the first time this year, Special Teams makes an appearance in one of these articles. The punting was phenomenal. P Cam Johnston (4 – 201 – 50.2 – 2 – 59L) averaged 50 per boot, while pinning the giants inside the 20, twice. He nearly managed to get a third punt downed inside the 5, but slightly out-kicked his coverage. K Jake Elliott (3/3 – 100% – 43L) for a second year in a row used his big toe to doom the giants, prompting Eagles announcer Merrill Reese to dub him the “Giants Killer”.

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) Feed the pig! Feed the pig!: Let’s get RB Josh Adams 18 handoffs, is what I said. He got 22. Running is important. Even when a run ends up for a loss. Actual handoffs lead to opponents showing a lot more respect to play-action. This helps the Offensive Linemen block, which helps the QB keep the offense running on schedule. DONE.

2) Box that boy: In two games this year, giants WR Odell Beckham has a total stat line of 11 – 129 – 11.7 – 0 vs. Philly. Keep in mind that we’ve been struggling with our Secondary all year. WOW, right? Here’s some more WOW. This last game showed the world that the Eagles can contain Beckham with guys off the street. DONE.

3) Charge the ‘A’ gaps: We did none of that in the first half. I guess Head Coach Doug Pederson must have read Four Things to the locker room, during half-time. We came out, got on it, erased a deficit, took a lead, and won the game. DONE.

4) Fuck the crumbs: We didn’t make a big deal of going deep. (Maybe next week?) Instead we focused on a ball-control form of passing. The result was leading in time of possession 32 minute to the giants 27. That gave our Defense enough of a breather to play fast, while limiting the exposure of our inexperienced Secondary. NOT DONE.

This weeks score is 3 of 4 things done. The season score of 17 of 44 is still atrocious, but this week’s 3 of 4, beats the hell out of 0 of 8 for the prior two weeks. Baby steps. Next week we get a Redskins which currently sits at #2 in the division.

On The Whole:

Yes, it was sloppy. Yes, we had some self-inflicted wounds. That said, this was a great character win. It was a comeback, defending home turf, against a hated rival. We won with poise, balance and a little bit of grit for a change.

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Injuries are a circumstance, not an excuse. So if we’re going to be relying on these inexperienced players, then our defensive coaches may want to drill players on things like run-fits, and route re-directs. We made some things harder than they needed to be out there, and it will kill us if we don’t get them fixed.

It’s so nice to add a new killer to our roster. Jake “giant Killer” Elliott, to go along with Jordan “Cowboy Killer” Hicks. Now we need to find a guy who habitually murders Redksins. Do we have any players named Andrew Jackson?

FOUR THINGS: WK12: EAGLES-GIANTS

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/11/23
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Four Things, NFC East, Offense, Players, playoffs, Preview, Rivals, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

 

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GET UP YOU SON OF A BITCH!

We still control our own destiny. That’s a fact. From here out if we run the table vs our division, and finish even 9 – 7, we can make a comeback, and still win the East. This game is part of that comeback. This game, is that first step.

This game isn’t about what our opponent does. It’s about what we do. This season has been all about what we have, and what we haven’t done. We need our team to spend less time calling folks out, and spend more time making big plays.

We need G Isaac Seumalo to lock-out his assignments. We need LB Nigel Braham to make de-cleating tackles in the flat. We need RB Josh Adams to run angry. We need CB Sidney Jones to take the ball away. We need coaches like Jim Schwartz to show a new wrinkle here and there. Those are all internal things. Look in the mirror things.

Last time we faced the giants, their rookie RB piled up something like 1,000,005 yards. And they still got blown out, didn’t they? Damned straight they did. Because it wasn’t about them. It was about US doing the things that winners do. The Eagles need to focus on the Eagles jobs. Not fans, nor the locker room, just the job. Doing that will get us the sweep, and bring us one step closer to our division crown.

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

1) Feed the pig! Feed the pig!: RB Josh Adams is a more physical runner than we had the last time we faced this team. We need to establish to the NFL that we can pound the body again, and the giants are the perfect bitch to put on the poster for what we can do again. Feed that young’un the pig. Let’s get at least 18 handoffs into his belly, like we did with Wendell Smallwood in Week 6.

2) Box that boy: Don’t let WR Odell Beckham have the sideline. Don’t double him outright, but keep him bracketed where the FS can reach him with a hit. Beckham will see a fair amount of targets, even if he’s well covered. Forcing QB Eli Manning to throw the ball into a tighter window, could result in one (or more) of those delicious turnovers he likes to feed defenses. (This worked so well last time, I didn’t want to jinx it by changing a single space, syllable, or comma. So I just copy and pasted this onto the end.)

3) Charge the ‘A’ gaps: With DT Timmy Jernigan back, we now have a level of “up the gut” pass rush, that we’ve lacked since Week 8 last year. (After MLB Jordan Hicks got hurt, the Eagles DT’s were asked to do different things to compensate.) How big was that? Here is DT Fletcher Cox’s 2017 season. Notice the fall-off after Week 8? Well we’re full-go now. So, crash the gaps, invert the opponents offensive line and force them into a ton of screen passes.

4) Fuck the crumbs: Once the run game is going, play-action and the deep ball will pop open. Why throw short if we can cut deep and savagely? Again, this game is to serve notice to the NFL. We have the Rams coming up. Our offensive players need to know that they still have “It”. Treat the giants like a speed-bump, and make the NFL pissed at the Saints for waking us up. THROW. IT. DEEP.

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:

Pride. We may be chasing the division now, but right now pride is what we need to be playing for. The desire to punch another group of men in the mouth is what we need to show out there. The reality is, some people in this organization have it and some don’t.

QB Carson Wentz has it. HC Doug Pederson has it. SS Malcolm Jenkins has it. DT Fletcher Cox has it. RB Corey Clement has it. RT Lane Johnson, and LT Jason Peters have it. DB Tre Sullivan has it. G Stefen Wisniewski has it. DE Brandon Graham has it. DB Avonte Maddox has it.

G Isaac Seumalo doesn’t. CB Sidney Jones doesn’t. DC Jim Schwartz doesn’t. RB Wendell Smallwood doesn’t. WR Nelson Agholor doesn’t.

A lot of other players are either sort of in that middle, or like rookies RB Josh Adams, DE Josh Sweat, and TE Dallas Goedert, we haven’t seen them enough to know yet.

This game is going to come down to how bad the Eagles want to win it. On paper (even with injuries), we’re still the better team. We have the talent, and the depth to do this. It’s just going to come down to how much we want it.

All foreplay aside, despite the giants recent renaissance, they should still lose on Sunday. They can’t stop our run game, they can’t stop our passing game, they still can’t protect their QB, and most importantly, we aren’t San Francisco or Tampa Bay. Oh yeah. Those are the two wins that the NFL has been blowing them over. This one should be cake.

PREDICTION: EAGLES 28 – giants 17

yeah-bitch

THE DOOMSDAY SCENARIO

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/11/21
Posted in: Conversations, Draft, Front Office (F.O.), NFC East, playoffs, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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DESPITE an awful season so far, we’re still just 2 games out of first place with 6 games to play, 4 of which are against division opponents. We still control our own destiny as far as winning the NFC East goes. However, let me indulge those who say the season is already over. Let’s talk about the worst case scenario for 2018.

Lets say the Eagles fall off a cliff, lose all of the next 6 games, and end up 4 – 12. What does that mean for us?

1) It means the Eagles would likely pick in the top five in every round of the 2019 NFL Draft.

We have a good nucleus to build around, and an ass ton of Draft picks to work with. We already have a franchise QB, a solid RT, 2 blue chip TE’s, a solid WR group, youth at CB, a blue chip DT, a young star at DE, 2 solid starters at LB, a K that we can grow old with, a utility RB who may still have some up side, and a third string QB who would be fine as a second stringer.

We need a bell-cow RB, some youth on the interior Offensive Line, youth at Safety, a third LB, and a second DE.

2) It means we (should) get a 2019 schedule with fewer playoff teams on it.

In 2017 we came off of a 7-9 season, and had a schedule that included the Seahawks, Raiders, Chiefs, all 2016 playoff teams. add to that four games against division rivals (Cowboys and giants) who were playoff teams. Coming off of a losing record, we played half a season against playoff contender class teams. If 2019 is easy, so what? We’re owed an easy schedule year.

3) What are the odds that the injury bug bite this hard THREE years in a row?

It’s already weird that it’s biting this hard for a second straight year. So next year we’ll likely be healthier. (Then again, I thought the same thing for this season.) Aging, oft injured vets like RB Darren Sproles and LT Jason Peters will likely not be back. So those annual nagging injuries won’t be part of the 2019 landscape.

4) It means that this next offseason will not be spent writing books and such.

I don’t begrudge the players for basking in what could be once in a lifetime limelight. However, the fact is, those hungry dogs became so well fed, that they had trouble rolling over onto their legs. A 4 – 12 finish would mean that, Summer with Carson up in Fargo this year would have a different feel than it did last year.

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This is all provided that the Eagles year gets worse. In the event of a worst case 2018, the foreseeable future still looks pretty good. In fact, it could be argued that a bad 2018 could be used to our long-term advantage.

This isn’t justifying losing. It’s not spin, rose-tinted glasses, or tireless optimism. It’s about getting up when we fall down. It’s not about glass half-full, or glass half-empty. Its about seeing in either case, that the glass needs to be completely filled. 

 

As long as we’re still mathematically alive for any sort of playoff run, this team has no right to tank. Players like Peters, Sproles and Carson Wentz deserve better effort than that. That said, even if the season does go full-blown Hindenburg, there’s no reason to hang your heads Eagles fans. One way or another we’ll come out ahead of this.

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: WK11 : Saints

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/11/19
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Four Things, NFC East, Offense, Players, Reviews, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

YEAH we got shit-canned. The only bright spot of the game, was not having a 50-burger dropped on us. To make things worse, plenty of injuries were added to the insult. Time to abandon the season, disband the team, and burn down the Linc, right? Sheesh. Don’t be a dope.

Despite the low-point that was yesterday, we’re still just 2 games out, with 6 games left, 4 of which are divisional. At 4 – 6 we literally STILL control our own destiny.

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Eagles 7 – Saints 48

Deebo

Part of me feels like the Saints are still out there scoring touchdowns on us, despite the game being over for most of a day. But I’m going to sit here and try to pick gnat shit out of pepper, in an attempt to not be as negative as most fans have been, for the last few weeks. (My tweezers, please!)

On Offense, RB Josh Adams (7 – 53 – 7.5 – 1 – 0) got the start, and he made the most of his 7 carries, including a nice 28 yard burst up the gut, for our only score of the game.

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On Defense, weeee… got to see a lot of the Eagles bench? We held the Saints to as many points as they wanted? We didn’t get a single roughing the passer penalty, and no one dropped his full weight on the opposing QB? Are these positives? I can’t tell. Ever since I started this scream yesterday, I haven’t been able to stop. So I’m somewhat disoriented right now.

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) Run the ball: 25 carries, remember that? Even in a losing effort, we could have taken the time to run a few more handoffs. If only to get Adams’s feet a little more wet. Instead we (as a team) ran the ball a whopping 12 times. Yeah. NOT DONE.

2) Hit the QB: The opposing QB may not even have to launder his jersey this week. I think when he left the game, his jersey was cleaner than when he started it. NOT DONE.

3) Dictate the passes: Huh? What? NOT DONE.

4) Go deep early: That intercepted bomb to a double covered WR Nelson Agholor (zero – none – nada.0 – goose egg) was a thing of beauty wasn’t it? NOT DONE.

This weeks Four Things score is brought to you by the producers of Groundhog Day. For a second consecutive week, we went 0 – 4, bringing the season tally to 14 of 40 (.350). Next week we get a hot giants team riding a 1 game win streak. Look out!

On The Whole:

I honestly didn’t expect a win. I predicted a loss. I did however, expect that even if we allowed a bunch of touchdowns, we’d score enough to keep the game interesting. Instead, the Eagles straddled the Thanksgiving table, and dideth layeth a big ass turd upon the bird. And we have to live with this shit for a week. I have to eat Thanksgiving dinner with this taste in my mouth.

If there were any justice in the world, Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz would get egged on the street. Daily. His inability to make adjustments, is worse than the damned injuries! Just ONCE I’d like to see something like a Fire Zone Blitz from this team. Just to show some creativity. There is too much talent on our Defensive Line to not be able to get within a 50$ cab ride of the QB. Yet it’s happening more and more.

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We’re not HERE, but yesterday WAS awful.

FOUR THINGS:WK 11: EAGLES-SAINTS

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/11/15
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, Preview. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

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UNDERDOGS. THIS is what it feels like to truly be an underdog. Not running away with a conference, but sinking deep into a division. It means not being favored. It means mathematically not having a real chance. It means the odds being against you. THAT is what underdog truly means. The Eagles are underdogs now. It’s time to see how fast our team can run.

Word from on high is, the Saints aren’t taking us lightly. They are preparing as if they are going to face a champion. In their quest to become champions themselves, they are paying attention to the details. We need to match that.

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

1) Run the ball: This apparently has to be stated every week, or we won’t do it and then we’ll lose. So like a weird good luck charm, I’m saying it. Run the ball against the best rushing defense in the NFL. Hand the ball off at least 25 times. Over 25 handoffs (called runs) and we’re 4 – 0. Under 25 and we’re 0 – 5. Can’t be clearer on this. Just don’t let RB Wendell Smallwood get the bulk of the work. He sucks ass.

2) Hit the QB: Even if we have to late hit him, early in the game.

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If QB Drew Brees is worried about his safety, he might not see one of ours. (See what I did there?) One of the main reasons that the Saints have just one loss, is because they don’t turn the ball over. Brees isn’t going to give away turnovers, we have to force them. No QB in football has been sacked less (9) or hit less (28) than Brees. So hitting him would be unusual, and very likely to throw off his rhythm.

3) Dictate the passes: Old expression in fighting: Take one to give two. It means to decide on where to absorb punishment, in order to dish out more. Smart QB’s like to “take what the defense gives them”, so we need to decide where WR Michael Thomas can make catches. This sets him up for big hits and routes that our Safeties can sit on,

4) Go deep early: WR Alshon Jeffery is our X-factor in this game.

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The Saints have no answer for him. While TE Zach Ertz is reliable and helps move chains, he’s also not explosive and can’t force teams to scrap their coverage plans. On less than half the catches, Jeffery has just one fewer touchdown (4) than Ertz (5). It’s time to put the fear of God back into everyone who has to face us from here on out.

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:

“Where was this last week?!” If you’re an Eagles fan, you’ve said— No. No you haven’t. If you’re an Eagles fan, you’ve screamed those words before. Last week was a gimme, and we blew it. Now the world is talking like were the Replacements. Fans are looking forward to the Draft. Everyone is writing us off. And that is foolish.

I can’t, with a straight face, predict an Eagles win this week. I can say with a straight face, that with our Secondary being so banged up, to win we’ll need to have a shootout. I can also say with a straight face, that we have the tools to have a shootout. I can also say with a straight face, that we actually have more tools than the Saints do. They have a QB, a RB, and a WR. We have a QB, a TE, and two WR’s.

I have to play the odds and predict a Saints win just for credibility sake, but mark my words: This is actually a winnable game for the Eagles. So don’t be surprised to find yourself yelling “Where was this last week!?!”

PREDICTION: EAGLES 24 – Saints 31

yeah-bitch

WHERE MY DOGS AT?

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/11/14
Posted in: Conversations, Fans, NFC East, playoffs, Rants, Rivals, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 3 Comments

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I’M fucking disgusted. Last year, we ran away with the NFC. Not just the NFC East, the entire NFC. East, West, North, the other part. The whole damned conference. We owned half of professional football. The playoffs were a mere formality, on our way to setting up the showdown that would conquer and take the OTHER half of pro football.

And all the time, Eagles fans embraced that whole “underdog” thing. Eagles fans couldn’t get enough of the underdog imagery and talk. Which I thought was stupid.

I even said as much, starting in Week 7 last year, and continuing to mock it throughout the playoffs. Not just once, or twice, but three times.

So we weren’t getting respect from pundits. Who cares?! They were just fans of teams they grew up being told were already winners. You know the type. Steelers, Cowboys, the hoards of New England fans that didn’t exist in 1992. Not getting respect from a bunch of dick riders was no big deal. Them not rooting for us couldn’t make us underdogs. You can’t be an actual underdog with the best record in the sport, and being favored (often heavily), by Vegas to win almost every week. You just can’t be. So yeah. I mocked it.

Fast forward to TODAY. New Orleans is 8 – 1. The Eagles are 4 – 5. We’re the away team. We have a ton of key players on Injured Reserve, and we just lost to a shitty division rival. Dear Eagles Fans: THIS is what an underdog actually looks like. Care to buy a mask, now that it really counts?

Half a season left, just two games behind our division leader, and some fans already want to tank. You heard me. TANK. You tank when you’re completely, mathematically eliminated from even a wild card spot. For example, right now, the 2 – 7 giants have no right to tank.

Where is that fighting spirit now? This is when you need heart! This is where backbone counts! Then those same fans turn right around, and call Cowboys fans “front-runners”? Fuck man! Do you even OWN a mirror?

Good times and bad. THAT is a fan. Get OFF your asses, get ON your feet, and go find that “Hungry Dogs” t-shirt you bought at the parade, scarcely 9 months ago. Go circle both Redskins games on your calendar. Because unless you were just a front-runner, you should be about STARVING now.

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THE RIVALS 2018 (PT 2 of 3)

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/11/14
Posted in: Conversations, NFC East, Reviews, Rivals, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

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IT’S THAT TIME AGAIN KIDDIES!!!

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

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

This is where we left off  PART 1.

This is where things are today:

New York Giants: 2 – 7, 4th in the NFC East

The good news: It’s not over yet. They could win out and uh…. No. No. Just no.

The bad news: It’s not over yet.

It took 9 weeks for the giants to reach their 2nd win. That makes sense given that winning is done by controlling an opponent. At this point the giants don’t even seem to have control of their own roster.

Weekly now, there are questions about whether QB Eli Manning should be benched, in favor of a back-up that no one is excited over. They jettisoned two starting defensive players DT Damon “Snacks” Harrison, and CB Eli Apple, via trade. They have yet to give their 233 pound, first round drafted RB, 20 carries in any game. But he’s had 4 games where he’s caught 9 or more passes. (Without getting to 100 receiving yards in any of those. What’s up with that?)

All indications are that this team has no idea who it is, or what it’s doing this year. The giants are putting on a clinic on how to create a 4th place team, with top-shelf talent.

Dallas Cowboys: 4 – 5, 2nd place in the NFC East

Despite an identical 4 – 5 record with Philadelphia, the Cowboys are in 2nd place by virtue of the tie-breaker, due to just having beaten us on Sunday night. But don’t be fooled by the flashy 4 – 5 record that their fans are so proud of/relieved to have. This is not a good team.

First the good news: They made a trade for Amari Cooper to upgrade their WR group. It seems to be working so far. The Top 10 defense they had in Week 3, is still a Top 10 defense. While folks could question the stats, the underlying reason for the stats, or the quality/condition of their opponents, the fact is, Dallas is still statistically a top unit. They also own the NFL’s 5th ranked run game.

Bad news time: They don’t score much (24th), move the ball well (27th), or throw it worth a damn (28th). Their QB is still a liability, and the owner has publicly committed to extending his contract. Oh yeah, and there’s the owner who won’t fire the coach, because well… you know:

Washington Redskins: 6 – 3, 1st in the NFC East

Washington was listed as the #2 team in the division after Week 3. However, through the magic of winning ball games (hey Eagles, are you writing this down?), the ‘skins have moved into sole possession of the top spot.

With 176 points for and 175 against, we aren’t really talking about a juggernaut here. They can’t score (27th), move the ball (26th), or throw the ball (25th). What they can do is run the ball (10th), stop teams from scoring (5th), and not shoot themselves in the foot. (Seriously? Are you writing this down?)

The good news: Washington quietly boasts a defensive front that can be a handful. They do a good job of creating confusion and helping generate turnovers.

The bad news: Washington is coming into the tougher part of their schedule just as age and injury seems to be catching up with them. It’ll be interesting to see where the next 6 weeks takes them.

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

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: WK10 :COWBOYS

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/11/12
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Four Things, NFC East, playoffs, Rants, Reviews, Rivals, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , . 3 Comments

THIS loss upset me. However, what upsets me more, is that I’m not more upset. But how can I be? The 72% completion rate we allowed, isn’t new around here. The poor tackling technique, isn’t new around here. The inability to generate turnovers, isn’t new around here. Allowing opponents to come within an arm stretch of converting a 3rd and extra-long, isn’t new around here. I expected a comfy win. Vegas odds-makers did as well. Yet when we didn’t, I somehow wasn’t shocked at all.

Penny-Racers.jpg

EAGLES 20 – Cowboys 27

The record will show that the Cowboys kicked our asses last night, but they were entirely beside the point. Karma kicked our asses last night.

Head Coach Doug Pederson was force fed his own arrogance last night, and thank god for it! Maybe the humiliation will teach him. Hard to produce wins when your offensive balance looks like 44 pass attempts (with 2 sacks and 2 QB runs), to 14 hand-offs. Out of 62 plays, 48 (77.4%) were pass plays. We did that last night. As a team, the Eagles ran 14 times for 54 yards. AS A TEAM. We did that as a team. In a game that was NEVER out of contention, as a team we had all of 14 hand-offs.

Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz watched another football game yesterday. I say watched, because coaching requires making adjustments. I doubt he adjusted anything besides his headset. He hasn’t made any real in-game adjustments in weeks. Remember those toy cars that you’d pull back and let go, then the little motor inside would make it go forward in a straight line? That’s Jim Schwartz’s Wide Nine. No adjustments, no twists or turns. Just run forward until you run out of juice.

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) Come out aggressive: Didn’t happen. The Eagles started the game with a three and out and mostly looked listless and uneven throughout the night. NOT DONE

2) Be the Eagles: We generally hover around 61% pass play selection, which is why we were 4 – 4. Last night that pass play percentage ramped up to 77%. Clearly somebody who’s name rhymes withugg.jpeg

decided to get cute, and it cost us. Now we’re 4 – 5. Good times. NOT DONE

3) Wrap it up: Just tackle well. He had 151 rushing yards. That’s all this part required. Just 151. Just wrap the man up. Rushing yards. Wrap and hold on. Hurdles a Safety. My favorite part was when CB Ronald Darby (3 – 0 – 0 – 0) tried to lay a hit on WR Amari Cooper (6 – 75 – 12.5 – 0), bounced off of him, and let him pick up the first down. I couldn’t even scream on that one. Just vibrated in my seat, and cried a little blood. Good times. Good times. NOT DONE

4) RAC ‘em up!: Yards after the catch. Screens and shit to our RB’s, and the 30 year old we just traded for. Makes sense right? FUCK THAT! Hey Zach, wanna play catch? Let’s stare down my TE and throw an interception to take the crowd out of the game, give up an easy score, and add momentum to feed our opponent’s shaky confidence. NOT DONE

That’s 0 of 4 this week, and 14 of 36 on the year. Even that 0 for 4 mark still had us with 7 points, so imagine if we’d done ANY of these things. So much for common sense. Well, after losing to the juggernaut that is the Cowboys, we get off easy next week. We go down to the Big Easy to face an 8 – 1 Saints team, that now has to face the REIGNING WORLD CHA- ahhhhh fuck it.

On The Whole:

We allowed 151 rushing yards and 7.9 yards per carry, to one RB last night. We allowed an embattled QB to complete 72% of his passes. We allowed a team that was all-but done in 2018, to re-enter a crowded division race. If the Eagles miss the playoffs in 2018, this game, THIS one, will be the point that defined the entire season.