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FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: WK 14: Cowboys

Posted by The BEAST on 2023/12/12
Posted in: breakdown, Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, NFC East, Offense, Players, Reviews, Special Teams, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment
WR A.J. Brown fumbles the ball away.

YEAH, I mention Sirianni’s kids in this one.

EAGLES 13 – Cowboys 33

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EAGLES STATS:

Passing: QB Jalen Hurts (18/27 – 66.7% – 197 – 0 – 0)

Rushing: RB D’Andre Swift (11 – 39 – 3.5 – 0 – 0)

Receiving: WR A.J. Brown (13 – 9 – 94 – 10.4 – 0)

Offensive Line Report: (TFL: 5/ Sacks: 1/ Scrums Won: 1/ Scrums Lost: 0)

Drive Killer: DT Jalen Carter (TD: 1/Int: 0/ FR: 1/ 4th down stops: 0/ FF: 0)

Sack Leader: OLB Haason Reddick (Sacks: 2.0/ FF: 0/ Tackles: 3)

Special Teams Ace: P Braden Mann 4th down punt fake, 28yd pass

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I hear you asking, “What about all the stuff that stats don’t reveal?” Well, that’s the reason for these Four Things articles. It’s to point out what we need to address BEFORE the game. Then AFTER the game, there’s a no-bullshit assessment of whether or not the Eagles did any of what they needed to do, to ensure the win.

So how much of what I mentioned in Four Things: COWBOYS  did the Eagles actually get around to doing? Well let’s see:

1) Use A Brute Force Run Game: We didn’t really lean into handing the ball off, until the second half when we were down 6 – 24. Nearly all of the runs were between the Tackles, which was good. Not so good, was how often these tried to utilize misdirection from the Shotgun. That will fool fans in the stands, far more often than players on field.

Our leading rusher had just 11 carries, against 28 dropbacks, and 5 designed QB runs. I guess there’s a Zen sort of alignment in not investing in the RB position financially, since we no longer invest in it philosophically.

The Philadelphia region RESOUNDINGLY implored the team, to not be stupid this week, but alas, Head Coach Nick Sirianni and Offensive Coordinator Brian Johnson, could not help themselves. Nor the players they coach. Insult to injury: None of the three fumbles we lost, were by a RB. (NOT DONE)

Rookie DT Jalen Carter recovers fumble forced by DT Fletcher Cox, and takes it back for SIX!

2) Take Away the Quick Throws: At times we did this. We played more Man Press, challenged more passes, and got their QB to hold the ball longer than he wanted to, at times. The problem was, we didn’t do it consistently. This is an aspect to build on. I just hope they see that during film review. (NOT DONE)

3) Win the Turnover Battle: HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Okay, seriously, we gave away two red zone fumbles and a bonus third one, while only getting one in return. The lost fumbles are uncharacteristic for WR’s A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith (10 – 5 – 73 – 14.6 – 0). So there’s nothing to panic about with these two. Can’t say that for Hurts though, as fumbles are anything but rare for him.

Look. the turnover battle is hard to win, if you depend on your opponent to give you gifts. Turnovers have to be forced, and the two best ways to get turnovers; are violent hits on the ball (for fumbles), or close coverage (for interceptions). Our zone coverage and drag down tackling while pulling at the ball, won’t get the job done. (NOT DONE)

4) Spread Them Out: Not much was done to spread the Cowboys defense horizontally, until they decided to do so when blitzing. For a team that loves to throw Screen routes, we didn’t see one thrown to a RB all night. Even with frequent blitzing. (NOT DONE)

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This week we did none of the Four Things, which led to the shit-canning that we endured for a second week on national television. Next week we’re on national television again, as we travel to Seattle to beat up on the Seahawks.

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DT Fletcher Cox forces a fumble.

Game Hero: DT Fletcher Cox (1 – 1.0 – 0 – 0) – Forced the fumble that was recovered by DT Jalen Carter and returned for a touchdown. This week’s hero designation could have gone to Carter, or Haason Reddick. It was razor thin. What tipped the scale for me, was Cox’s postgame interview at his locker.

It wasn’t just what Cox said, it was how he said it. He didn’t keep making attempts to leave. He stood there and answered the questions. He expressed trust in his locker room, and issued a challenge to the true leaders and elite players on this team. He was calm, and even keeled. He was every bit the leader the Eagles need right now.

Game goat: Jalen Hurts – The stoic body language may work for when the team is winning, but when we’re being embarrassed on national television, someone has to keep the troops dialed in and focused, and he cannot be counted on for that.

Rallying the troops?

For the record, I’ve never been a fan of Hurts’ sideline demeanor, as my nature is very different. On a sideline, I was Brian Dawkins. Bill Romanowski. An agitated doberman roaming without a leash. I was fire, and rage, and an absolute head-case. But I was always a constant source of energy for my side. I was downright contagious at times.

Watching the postgame show, it was interesting to see pundits who’d been praising Hurts’ stoic body language, suddenly say they didn’t like it. They said he was almost sulking. To be fair to Hurts, I didn’t see much different from how he usually is. What I think is happening here, is that losing is robbing him of the benefit of the doubt. Which is bullshit. Ride with his demeanor or don’t. Don’t waffle on him.

During his first couple of years, the local media largely backed off of our young QB. Then last year, and up until now, all the winning brought passes for his flaws. So Jalen Hurts has never experienced the Philadelphia media with their claws out. It’s been easy going the whole time he’s been here.

Well, losing the number one seed, by losing to Dallas, while giving away the ball in the red zone, and appearing visibly dispassionate about the whole thing, may end up changing some things for him. Very shortly, he may end up experiencing pressure and adversity that he can’t simply transfer out of.

On The Whole:

Before I get into it. I won’t discuss Defensive Coordinator Sean Desai, because I’m tired of saying the same shit over and over, with Sirianni never making sure that change happens. But add to the regular defensive woes, our three offensive fumbles, and suddenly Desai is largely off my hook this week.

Missed it byyyyy that much!

This was another one where we were out-coached folks! Fundamentals? What are those!? Instead of trying to win the game, once again our coaching staff was hell-bent on showing us how clever they are. The result was three drives ending in turnovers, two ending in field goals, and one turned over on downs.

While Brian Johnson can’t be blamed for those fumbles, Nick Sirianni certainly can. His team came out flat, played uninspired, and ended up looking tighter and tenser as the game wore on. In instances like that, a team needs someone to rally them back into the fight, and ignite their pride and their passions.

Knowing that his QB either can’t be, or won’t be that guy, Sirianni needs to be that spark. He can’t just be a preening cheerleader, posing with his kids after his team wins. He also needs to be someone his players can lean on during adversity IN games, not just a blah-blah guy between the games.

Understand, the Eagles didn’t just lose this game. We were thoroughly defeated in it. Both from the inside and the outside. It won’t take much to fix what ails us, but it WILL require actually fixing it. Let’s see if darling Nicky has more in store for us than lip service this week.

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: WK 13: 49ers

Posted by The BEAST on 2023/12/04
Posted in: breakdown, Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, Offense, Players, Reviews, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

PERHAPS now we’ll fix stuff…?

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EAGLES 19 – 49ers 42

EAGLES STATS:

Passing: QB Jalen Hurts (26/45 – 57.7% – 298 – 1 – 0)

Rushing: QB Jalen Hurts (7 – 20 – 2.8 – 1 – 0)

Receiving: WR A.J. Brown (13 – 8 – 114 – 14.2 – 0)

Offensive Line Report: (TFL: 4/ Sacks: 3/ Scrums Won: 3/ Scrums Lost: 0)

Drive Killer: NA

Sack Leader: OLB Haason Reddick (Sacks: 1.0/ FF: 0/ Tackles: 2)

Special Teams Ace: NA

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I hear you asking, “What about all the stuff that stats don’t reveal?” Well, that’s the reason for these Four Things articles. It’s to point out what we need to address BEFORE the game. Then AFTER the game, there’s a no-bullshit assessment of whether or not the Eagles did any of what they needed to do, to ensure the win.

So how much of what I mentioned in Four Things: 49ers did the Eagles actually get around to doing? Well let’s see:

1) Impose Our Will By Running: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Run the ball? What’s that? There were 48 dropbacks between Jalen Hurts and QB Marcus Mariota (2/3 – 66.6% – 16 – 0 – 0). This was balanced against all of NINE hand-offs, ALL. GAME. LONG.

NINE.

The less we run, the worse we lose, and in this game we got our teeth stomped through our assholes. I cannot recall an ass-whipping, so richly deserved by an offensive coaching staff. The loss I saw coming from half a year away, but the score did take me just a little by surprise.

However, it literally got to a point where I wasn’t even the least bit upset about the score. Or even the NINE hand-offs. No, that’s not totally honest. I’m understating it. There came a point where I was almost gleefully waiting for Head Coach Nick Sirianni’s presser, to see if he would tell us that Offensive Coordinator Brian Johnson is still doing a good job.

The way this game was called was indefensible. Speaking of indefensible… You know what? Later. I’ll get to that shortly. But the Offense! Even when we had a lead, the attitude was pass-pass-pass. Starting RB D’Andre Swift (6 – 13 – 2.1 – 0 – 0) took the bulk of the team’s NINE hand-offs. (NOT DONE)

2) Take Away Short, Quick Throws: We did a great job of this on the first two possessions. We even played five men on the Defensive Line. Then we just stopped doing it. WTF!? I wish I could get Defensive Coordinator Sean Desai in a locked room for five minutes. Just to repeatedly give him five solid reasons to improve.

We didn’t get beaten by deep throws. It was short throws, run after the catch, and S Reed Blankenship (7 – 0.0 – 0 – 0) repeatedly whiffing on tackles, that killed us. Have you seen how active General Manager Howie Roseman has been at trying to upgrade the S position? I sense a first or second round Draft pick being spent here. (NOT DONE)

3) Go Deep Early: We did not. Oddly, despite him being back, we didn’t try deploying WR Quez Watkins (4 – 3 – 28 – 9.3 – 0) as deep threat. He was solid catching the ball, with his targets being mostly around the sidelines. (NOT DONE)

4) Set the Edges: Yet again, this was something we started out doing. A lot of it was from a five man line. Then we just bailed and went to a four man line, for the most part. Even when they started pounding us behind their LT, we didn’t slide the line, add a man, or rush the LT’s outside hip to slow him getting to his landmarks.

Let me just say this, so it can’t be said, that you haven’t seen it somewhere. We have got to stop playing Haason Reddick at LDE. He really seems to be wearing down faster and faster in games. At his best, he’s an OLB playing from a five man rush, which we rarely do anymore. Didn’t think anyone could make me miss Jonathan Gannon. (NOT DONE)

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This week we nailed ZERO of Four Things, and as a result, we got absolutely keistered over it. We can get this taste out of our mouths with a win over Dallas, next week.

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Game Hero: WR Devonta Smith (11 – 9 – 96 – 10.6 – 1) – There wasn’t a whole lot to feel good about in this game, but Devonta had a pretty gutsy game out there. That 21 yard pick-up on 3rd and 19 was a thing of beauty. Watching his skinny ass power through tackle attempts, (in heavy traffic) had me on my feet, pounding my chest.

He had a couple catches today where he didn’t go down, but was instead pushed out of bounds. At one point he was German Suplexed, sparking a sideline blow-up that resulted in a 49er player, and the Eagles Head of Security, being removed from the field. And still Devonta played on.

Game goat: The Eagles Entire Coaching Staff – Top to bottom it almost looked like they were trying not to win this game. Never attempting a run game. Adjusting away from what was working on Defense. Using Quez Watkins exclusively on short routes. Not subbing out players who repeatedly missed tackles.

Every one of those things is a deliberate decision, and a result of coach’s call. We can complain about player execution, but if players are put in poor positions, it’s nearly impossible for them to be successful.

On The Whole:

This loss was pretty much always coming. I said it was in April, July, and even Friday. To us, it was the third game in thirteen days, with a division rival a week away. That’s the game that REALLY counts for something. For us, the 49ers was sort of a trap game. Simple as that. Their team needed this “rematch” for their wounded self-image. For us it was Sunday. 

The fact is, we into the 49er’s grudge match, with no stakes for us. We started the game as the NFC’s #1 team, and we came out of it that way. If the 49ers had scored 1,000,000 points, that was never going to change. I’m sure our guys cared, but c’mon, we’ve just played two back to back wars; and we have another one coming up next Sunday.

We weren’t as into it as they were, and we were NEVER going to be. Again, I said this in April, in July, and just this past Friday. That was confirmed by our coaching staff almost looking like they didn’t even HAVE a gameplan. We deserved the loss! But honestly, did any issue we showed, surprise you? Of course not. We’ve seen these issues all season.

A win would have been nice; but if I told you that I cared about this loss, I’d be lying hard enough to have lightning strike ALL of us Eagles fans. This game was a write-off. Look at who still leads in the standings. A win over Dallas Sunday, will make this loss mean even less.

And so…MOVING ON!

As far getting that win, it would be nice to see us address things like the Offensive play calling, and actually disguising some of our underneath coverages. We need to generate turnovers, and as long as our coverages are paint by numbers, no one will have a hard time against them.

FOUR THINGS: WK 1: EAGLES – PATRIOTS

Posted by The BEAST on 2023/09/08
Posted in: breakdown, Coaching, Defense, Four Things, NFC East, Offense, Players. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

FINALLY! I can’t remember when an offseason felt longer. To Hell with all the talk! We are just two days away from the wins and losses counting, and the deck looks stacked in our favor, to grab a “W” this week.

One of the best defenses from last year (the Eagles) is going against one of the worst offenses from last year. While we reloaded a defensive front that notched 70 sacks last year, the Patriots limp into the season with an offensive line that is already banged up.

Expect to see us eat in this one.

We need that “W” this week. The giants and Cowboys play each other Sunday night, so one of them (Cowboys) is likely to end up being 1-0. We can’t allow for there to be just one winning team in the division. Even for a week.

Who’s Out?

PHI: No one. But CB Josh Jobe was listed with an illness as of 9/6. He’ll likely play on Sunday.

NE: RT Riley Reiff is on non-season ending IR, with a non-specific “lower leg injury”. The Boston Herald said that WR DeVante Parker was “visibly limited on 9/6 by his knee injury. LG Cole Strange is also battling a knee injury, RG Mike Onwenu is still working back from off-season ankle surgery, and LT Trent Brown is listed with an illness. All but Reiff should play, but their o-line will be far from it’s best.

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The point of Four Things isn’t to predict a winner, it’s to discuss which tactics would give our Eagles the best chance to win this game. So here are the Four Things that we need to focus on this week versus: the Patriots.

1) Establish the run: Head Coach Nick Sirianni was a fan of heavy misdirection and zone blocking, when former Offensive Coordinator Shane Steichen was here. Whether that will still be the case under Brian Johnson, remains to be seen. According to Sirianni, we were very vanilla in the preseason. So there is currently no indication of what we should look like.

New England (like us), is essentially a 5-2 defensive front. Their Achilles heel is that there isn’t a player in their front seven under 250 pounds. It’s a big front that doesn’t play in space, or change direction very well. Misdirection will take advantage of that.

If we can rush for chunks of yardage, then they will have to load the box, which will open up the deep passing game. This was the blueprint for last season and we did pretty good with it.

2) Load the box: I just said that we should force our opponent to load the box, in order to open up our passing game. So why am I saying the we should load the box? Won’t that open up New England’s passing game?

Not really. Our CB’s are better than their WR’s; their o-line already has one leg in a bear trap; and their QB is game manager, not a miracle worker. They will need to run the ball just to keep it out of our hands, to limit our scoring opportunities.

Don’t let them run. Putting the game in their QB’s hands, immediately takes their head coach out of his comfort zone. At that point, apply pressure, get sacks, and maybe generate turnover or two.

3) Set the Dogs on Them: On third downs, use a five man rush. Go to Cover Two or a Tampa Two. Get those hands up, and challenge every ball in the air. We want to artificially speed up parts of their offense, to cause a miscue. This is the fertile ground where turnovers are grown.

4) Pull the Trigger: Once our run game takes over, the deep shots will be there for the taking. Two things New England doesn’t have in their secondary are size and speed. While I still have a soft spot for CB Jalen Mills, he can be exploited deep. When WR’s A.J. Brown or Devonta Smith are matched-up with Mills, QB Jalen Hurts needs to let loose down the field.

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If the Eagles do these Four Things, then we’ll be virtually impossible to beat. That being said…

The idea here isn’t to be big and splashy. Well coached teams have a way of coming back, against big splashy teams. What we want here, is to slowly drown the Patriots. Get a lead, then milk the time of possession. Take the occasional “BACK THE FUCK UP!!” deep shot, but mostly just run it, and bleed the clock.

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WARNING: I don’t have the faintest clue as to what a point spread is, and I know even less about how it works. I know FOOTBALL and that’s it. If you use Four Things as a gambling tool, then you are a fool trying to lose your money, and will deserve it when you do.

Check back in a couple of days for Four Things Reviewed, and we’ll discuss how this game went.

#5: LIMIT CALLED QB RUNS

Posted by The BEAST on 2023/06/19
Posted in: breakdown, Coaching, Offense, Players, playoffs, stats, Super Bowl, The 12. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

While any idiot can say “Hey let’s sign every high-priced Free Agent on the market”. THE 12 focuses on what we can do with what we already have, to fix or improve our team.

SOMETHING has to change, because in football, damage is cumulative. Which is why we’ve seen some players

get old all of a sudden. In two seasons as the Eagles starter, QB Jalen Hurts has played 30 games and run the ball 304 times. That’s an average of 10 times per game. Hurts is just 24. We don’t need him getting old at 26 or 27. So we have to stop running him 10 times per game.

To the Eagles credit, they’ve brought in an Offensive Co-ordinator in Brian Johnson, who is letting the world know, that Hurts will be throwing to his RB’s more. I love this. It’s best NOT to keep that new wrinkle a secret, because it tells opposing coaches, that now they can’t blitz Hurts without paying a stiff price. Fewer blitz attempts mean fewer hits on his body.

Also, when the coverage loosens underneath, it just makes Hurts scramble runs easier for him to get into, with more room to slide. Or dive head-first, as safely as football allows. The smart move would be (excluding QB Sneaks), limiting the OC to calling 3 Hurts runs per game.

Again, that’s called runs, not scrambles or Sneaks. Getting more short passes to RB’s should really cut into his scrambling. Hurts had 165 rushing attempts last year. That’s 11 carries per game. Getting that number down to 5 per game, would mean 85 for a whole season. And wouldn’t it be nice to see him play a whole season?

In prior seasons under OC Shane Steichen, pushing the ball downfield was the emphasis. So those RB Screens that RB Boston Scott was killer at, under Doug Pederson, didn’t get called. Scott saw just 6 targets last year. RB Kenneth Gainwell, who saw 50 targets as a rookie, saw just 29 last year.

While the team de-emphasizing passing to RB’s didn’t hurt our climb to the Super Bowl, overusing Hurts as the primary short yardage alternative to a hand-off, might stop us from going back any time soon.

The idea isn’t to handcuff him, like Rich Kotite wanted to do with Randall Cunningham. Nor do we want Hurts to avoid running, like Donovan McNabb (tried to do). We just need to limit how many high-speed, free shots we give defenses, on our QB. Including more checkdowns will help out with that.

So let’s keep it to 3 called runs per game. Circumstances permitting.