Bryce Treggs

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REACTION TO THE 2017 ROSTER

Posted by The BEAST on 2017/09/03
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Draft, NFL, Offense, Players, Roster, Special Teams. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

lack of surprise

WHEN Training Camp opened up, we more or less already knew who we’d be relying on this season. We also had a pretty good handle on who was more or less just a “camp body”. For the most part the Eagles roster has shaped up along those lines. For the most part the guys who earned spots have made the cut.

For the most part.

At QB we got a Wentz/Foles pairing, which surprises no one. Given that our 3rd string TE can fill in at emergency QB, there’s no need to stockpile three, while #1 and #2 are healthy. Speaking of TE, that position also shook out as predicted.

I wish I could say that I was surprised that RB Donnel Pumphrey made the roster. He did nothing to earn the spot, but the Eagles brass doesn’t care to discard a 4th round pick. That will unfortunately send a message to players about how this organization views and rewards performance.

Marcus Johnson was already a stretch, but somehow WR Shelton Gibson made the roster, while Bryce Treggs didn’t. This too will send a message to players about how this organization views and rewards performance. Then again we did spend a draft pick on him…(smh)

Offensive Line seems a little light at 8 players. Then again, even the 9 that I predicted seemed light. Ideally you want at least a back-up for every starter. (This also does wonders in practice.) It’s hard to “push” a young player who doesn’t have to look over his shoulder. Sacred cow status sends the wrong message.

It would have been nice to keep Alex McCalister, but there is just no sane way to keep 6 DE’s on this roster. We’re already pushing it with 5 (and that’s only because Curry can be kicked inside on pass rush downs). Still, if McCalister could cover even a little, he’d have been re-cast as an OLB and probably would challenged for a starting job.

Unfortunately the DT position played out as I thought it would. The Eagles kept 7th round pick Elijah Qualls, and cut the free agents. For the record I’m far less impressed with Qualls than some are. With no starts in the preseason, Qualls faced the bottom of an opponents roster in every game . That wasn’t so for Justin Hamliton, a free agent whom Qualls beat out. Then again at #5 on the depth chart, it will hardly matter.

At LB the Eagles went with 6 players not 7 (3 OLB , 3 MLB). I’m guessing that they aren’t done here. 6 LB’s is too few to go into a season with. You need LB’s on Special Teams to beat blocks faster, close out areas, and draw block in the back penalties. We can’t use starters to fill in there, because it tires them out for defensive downs. Right now we’re at 6, but I’d be appalled if it didn’t change by kick-off.

We kept 5 Safeties. I was sure of four of them. The 5th was something like a surprise, without actually being one. I don’t know what to say about this group. Until about midseason last year, this position had been the strength of our Secondary. Since midway through last season, the only place we’ve seen them is on the backs of milk cartons. I’m hoping this changes, because lord knows we have the talent.

The position causing our coaching staff the most headache is CB. I expected them to keep 6, if only to have options during the year. Instead the Eagles went with 5. Considering that 2 of these guys are defensive starters, and a third may play heavy minutes at Nickel, it seems weird to only keep 5 total.

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On the whole, I want to be a lot more optimistic about this roster than I am. However, there are some serious deficiencies built into it now. Most glaringly, it looks like Special Teams and/or Offensive line depth, took a hit in order to accommodate 3 draft picks who failed to demonstrate that they can help this team, one iota. That said, adjustments still have to be made, so we’ll see how that shakes out.

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SURPRISES AMONG EAGLES RECEIVERS

Posted by The BEAST on 2017/07/01
Posted in: Conversations, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Offense, Players. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

FUCK YEAH

DORIAL Green-Beckham being cut is no surprise in itself. I mean at some level in part, it’s just a numbers game. Like last year, the Eagles are probably only keeping 5 or 6 active WR’s. Three of those will be Alshon Jeffrey, Torrey Smith and Jordan Matthews. So beyond that, every name on the roster was and will be, up in the air until final cuts are made on September 2nd.

I was pleasantly surprised by part of the news surrounding Green-Beckham being waived. It’s to be expected that the Law Firm (Jeffrey, Smith and Matthews)* would be ahead of Green-Beckham on the depth chart. What I was surprised by, was that Bryce Treggs was also listed ahead of him.

Last year on Treggs’s first NFL catch, he hauled in a 58 yard pass (and nearly scored), right down the middle of the giants defense. It was the shot in the arm that our deep passing game had needed so badly. Suddenly it looked like we might have stumbled onto a deep threat. At which point Treggs basically disappeared. For whatever reason, he was used on more modest routes, and on Jet Sweeps.

It also didn’t help that in 12 targets last year, he only caught 3 of them. (No, the other 9 weren’t drops.)

This offseason when we signed Torrey Smith as our resident deep threat, it seemed the book had been closed on Treggs. There was no way that he would get into the top six, right? Not with the Law Firm, Nelson Agholor, Green-Beckham, and RB/WR Byron Marshall, all ahead of him.

However, the release of Green-Beckham now clears a seat at that table for Treggs. It also gives an outside shot to guys like rookie Mack Hollins, and to working class hero, Paul Turner. My favorite part, is what it could do for the team. You say that you hadn’t thought about that part? Well get ready to smile like an idiot.

Treggs possesses DeSean Jackson-type speed and acceleration (but without the change of direction skills). Still, the idea of having both him AND Smith… I’ve been an Eagles fan since 1989 (put away the calculator, that’s almost 28 years), and at no point during that span has this team EVER had two deep threats like this, on the roster at one time. Provided that Treggs can beat out Agholor or Marshall, the sky could be the limit for this Offense.

It’s funny. All this talk about our WR’s, yet QB Carson Wentz receiving so many new weapons, could end up being the NFL’s greatest catch of the year.

 

*Law Firm! I coined it! Now when people ask where that nickname got started, you can tell ’em that you were there at the beginning, and helped spread the name around. And yes, I’m aware that the nickname was used by BenJarvus Green-Ellis already. However, if the Jets can steal ‘Gang Green’, and the giants can steal ‘Thunder and Lightning’, then we can boost a nickname too.

AND NOW FOR SEVERAL BEEFS

Posted by The BEAST on 2017/01/10
Posted in: Conversations, Draft, Front Office (F.O.), Offense, Players, Rants, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 3 Comments

mpfc-andnowfor

FACTS give you something that you can build a future on. Perceptions gives you something to build rumors on. Let me give you some facts:

WR Nelson Agholor‘s 40 Time – 4.42

WR Jordan Matthews 40 Time – 4.46

WR Dorial Green-Beckham – 4.49

The perception is that our WR’s are too slow and that we need to draft a fast one. The fact is, our WR’s are faster than most of the prospects out there. See for yourself HERE. You have to be careful with perception. It can get you to make stupid mistakes even with the “best of intentions”.

intentions

And since a well-intentioned fuck-up will still be a fuck-up, you can see why I have several beefs with these perceptions.

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My first of several beefs is of course the speed thing. The problem with our WR’s isn’t speed. On too many plays (just too damned many), QB Carson Wentz was forced to throw the ball into crowds because often the routes would intersect downfield. That’s not an issue of receiver speed, that’s an issue of poor play design. It didn’t help that at times when receivers did get open, balls bounced off of hands, they didn’t get their feet down in bounds, they were frequently overthrown, and/or they often failed to drive back to the ball. We saw a ton of these things through all 16 games, and not one of these things is speed related. So let’s bin that ill perception, and perhaps run the risk of getting it right for change.

My next issue is the shortsightedness of this franchise.

what-do-you-see

“What do you see beyond your fists?” It’s a question with an obvious answer, but this team has an amazing history of looking past and around obvious solutions. For example, there was no real reason why WR Paul Turner should have been inactive for as long as he was, and there was even less reason to use him sparingly once he was active. Wentz’s development could have started Week One if the Front Office didn’t prize Agholor’s draft position over Turner’s actual ability to play. But of course, that was too obvious.

Another issue is that WR Byrce Treggs actually did stretch defenses on the rare occasions they let him run deep routes. It boggled my mind to see him used on Jet Sweeps. The idea that our coaching staff didn’t want to keep a guy with 4.39 speed (DeSean Jackson runs a 4.35), on the field as often as possible, hurts my head. Even just as a decoy to keep a Safety back and clear the box for the run. The last time we had that sort of threat, RB LeSean McCoy ran for 1,600 yards. But we didn’t want that sort of thing ’round here, now did we?

My final issue is with the poor investment strategy. We’ve spent the picks. What we haven’t done is spend the time. In 2015 Agholor was a 1st round pick. In 2014 Matthews was a 2nd round pick and Josh Huff was a 3rd round pick. None of those players was coached up by the former head coach of this team. They learned to run plays instead of learning to become NFL receivers. Fact is, 2016 was their first year under a real coaching staff, and their position coach is Greg Lewis. Nothing against Lewis, but he wasn’t really a Hall of Fame sort of player, now was he?

NOTE: Since the original writing of this article, Lewis has since been given a guided tour of the exit, and an unlimited supply of unpaid vacation days, which he has already begun to use. 

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While I agree that we need to draft a WR, the fact is, it isn’t speed that we lack out there. What we lack is a guy who commands the ball and takes every snap as a personal challenge. We need a competitive guy in the mold of Jerry Rice, Anquan Boldin or Antonio Brown. A guy who’ll be a leader, and work in his spare time to perfect more than his Whip and his Nae-Nae. A guy who doesn’t take boat trips with a playoff game coming up.

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The fact is, we have guys who can run. We need guys who can make the guys around them better. That’s fact, not perception, and facts give you something that you can build a future on.

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FOUR THINGS: EAGLES/RAVENS

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/12/16
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Draft, Four Things, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Offense, Players, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

THERE are no more big plans for the 2016 season. Since most sports pundits and Eagles fans didn’t have many to begin with, no one should be disappointed at where the team is right now. The time has come for us to shift focus. Instead of trying to win 3 more meaningless games in 2016, or we should the table for 2017, 2018, 2019 and so forth and so on. Our 2017 season should start this Sunday.

we-rise-9-26-15

Billboard down the street from my house, at the Girard street on-ramp to 95

Since this game is meaningless, this game shouldn’t be about this game. This game should be about the 2017 offseason. It should be an evaluation tool that includes a high number of young players starting and playing in critical situations. We should get a deep look at our youth during “live fire”. Not just during “garbage time”, but while the game is on the line, to see how they handle the pressure and if they can respond well to it.

The smart play here is to get a long look at the back end of our roster, to be sure that we A) don’t release any youth that has real potential, and B) that we don’t waste a Draft pick on something that we already have, but don’t realize that we do. This way we get to focus laser-like on what we truly need, and can build on strengths.

This game shouldn’t be about beating the Ravens, but if we can do that with a bunch of young players and deep bench guys, it portends greatness and is a hell of confidence builder for the young guys.

So let’s talk about the Four Things Players we need to look for, Week 15 versus Baltimore :

1) WR Bryce Treggs: I’ve been screaming for more of him for weeks now. Rumors of possibly signing Free Agent DeSean Jackson next season, only make getting a DEEP look at Treggs so much more important. Why pay more for DJax’s balky, old hammies, when Treggs can already stretch a defense? If he can effectively snag deep balls against a team fighting for a playoff spot, then there’s no need to overpay for a FA, or spend a high Draft pick at the WR position.

2) WR Paul Turner: He should start over WR Nelson Agholor for two reasons. 1) it keeps the fire lit under Agholor’s ass, and 2) we get to see Turner vs starting NFL CB’s, and not just second and third string units. Everyone is screaming that we need to grab a WR early, and maybe we do. However, we should first take a long look to make sure.

3) G Dillon Gordon: G Stefen Wisniewski is a FA after this year, but he played well enough to be brought back. However, given the contract of G Brandon Brooks, and the commitment to developing rookie G Isaac Seumalo, giving Wisniewski an inflated contract to be a back-up, seems unlikely. That makes it imperative to determine if Gordon can be relied upon at all. If he can’t play, at least we know where we stand. If Gordon can play, then we can either improve our leverage with Wisniewski, or move on from him altogether with less doubt.

4) DT Destiny Vaeao: With DT Bennie Logan becoming a FA after the season, it would help to know how Vaeao looks when paired with DT Fletcher Cox. DC Jim Schwartz likes to sub his Defensive Line, 4 guys at a time, so we haven’t gotten to see much of a Cox/Vaeao interior. Even when Logan missed games with a calf injury, DT Beau Allen simply sucked up more playing time. Vaeao isn’t the run-stuffer that Logan is, but he’s a more dynamic pass rusher. Given the fall-off we’ve had in that area, seeing a Cox/Vaeao interior might be the shot in the arm this team has been needing.

At this point, looking ahead to the future isn’t tanking. Tanking is quitting early while there is still something on the table worth winning. We’re past that at this point. To paint you a realistic picture: We’d have to win out and go 8-8, while Tampa Bay and Atlanta (8-5), Washington (7-5-1) and Green Bay (7-6) would ALL have to drop their remaining games. Actually given Tampa and Atlanta’s 6-3 conference records with 3 conference games remaining, I don’t see how we (5-7 conference, 2 conference games remaining) overtake them. When you add in our inability to win road games and that we’d be exclusively on the road, it only makes sense to give real consideration to our Draft position (round Two and on), and determine the depth of our needs pertaining to free agency. It’s just smart football and good business.

yeah-bitch

WK11: SEAHAWKS

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/11/21
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, NFL, Offense, Players, Rants, Reviews. Tagged: , , , , , , . 3 Comments

 

regret

EAGLES 15 – Seahawks 26

SAFETY Malcolm Jenkins (4 – 0 – 0 – 0) was expecting it to be a “knockdown, drag out” game, and it seemed that we did get knocked down and dragged quite a bit in that game.

You could tell it was going to be a long day at the office, when Seattle’s previously shrug-worthy run game, reeled off a 72 yard TD run to start the day. Which (YAY!) by the way, set a record as the longest run ever in that stadium. We also (ALRIIIGHT!) allowed their QB to catch a 15 yard touchdown from a WR.

It was remarkable to see that their WR’s can even throw passes, as we struggle to teach ours how to get separation on routes and catch balls. All game long we had to hear douchebag Phil Simms drone on and on, about how “overlooked” and “underrated” he thinks Seattle’s WR’s are. Meanwhile, we have a first round draft pick who cost us a touchdown, because he doesn’t pay attention to where he’s lined up.

Having just had my wisdom tooth extracted Tuesday, my blood pressure was up high enough during the game, to cancel the pain killers I’m on. Thank you Eagles. It wouldn’t be a real NFL season without at least one game causing me actual physical pain or a nose bleed from the sheer frustration of watching you. Good times.

Our (lack of) passing game helped kill us yesterday. Not just in terms of drops, but in terms of where we went with the ball. To put it in sharp perspective, we averaged 4.3 yards per run yesterday. However, for the game we only averaged 4.2 yards per play. That’s because we only averaged 4.1 yards per pass attempt.

Once RB’s Ryan Mathews (7 – 31 – 4.4 – 0 – 0) and Darren Sproles (2 – 15 – 7.5 – 0 – 0) were knocked out of the game with injuries, QB Carson Wentz (23/45 – 51.1% – 218 – 2 – 2) got very little help from his supporting cast. Specifically WR Nelson Agholor (errors are only stats in Baseball), who is apparently paid to drop balls and line up wrong. (Dear Eagles, if that’s all you want, I’ll work for half of what he’s getting. Just sayin’.)

On the other side of the ball, don’t be surprised if you see our Secondary on a milk carton. Did you see the way they covered Seattle’s receivers? Of course you didn’t see it, because they didn’t do it! The 5 and 6 yard cushions that our CB’s kept giving Seattle were a goddamned joke. They have guys on that roster who couldn’t run the 40 in 40, and we were respecting their speed?! All it did was lead to a number of cheap and easy passes from a QB who we kept in the pocket pretty well, by rushers who generally stayed in their lanes. Missing from the game was the sort of man-press that helps pass rushers, and causes QB’s to make mistakes.

Did you notice?

Wentz forcing a deep ball to WR Bryce Treggs who was double covered by CB Richard Sherman and FS Earl Thomas. Sherman of course intercepted the pass. Why on EARTH would any QB throw that ball? Also, what could Wentz have seen on that play, that was somehow a less attractive option?

I CAN’T THIS WEEK

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/11/08
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, Offense, Players, Rants, Roster, Special Teams. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

regret

MANY fans will want to dump on Head Coach Doug Pederson for going for it on 4th and short, instead taking those two field goals. To hell with that. That’s all window dressing. Look a little deeper and you’ll see something much more important and far more pervasive. It’s something that would only rear it’s head in a game like the giants game, and in moments like those we just faced.

What you’d see is a team with no real sense of it’s own limitations. History shows that there is no more important ingredient in a hand-spun, homemade, old world ass whipping. We avoided it by playing the giants last week, but Atlanta may not be so kind this week.

This was the game where we learned some of the things we simply can’t get away with. We’ve all heard the expression “athletes who play within themselves”. Players who don’t over-reach and focus on what they’re good at. That’s a nice way of saying for example, that Steve Kerr wasn’t as talented as Michael Jordan, but he still found a way to be great in his own right. Well, the Eagles have a bunch of Kerrs (see what I did there?), and are damned short on Jordans.

It’s important to work within your limits once you’ve learned what they are. That way you can avoid future beatdowns of the abjectly humiliating and spiritually traumatic variety. So class, what did we learn specifically on Sunday?

We learned that RB Darren Sproles card-darren-sproleshas never been a bell-cow RB for a damned good reason. On 59 carries this year, he’s yet to see the end zone or break a run for 20 yards. His 36 touches over the last two weeks have taken a visible toll on his quickness and explosiveness. Which explains why he ran out of gas on the punt return that he almost brought back Sunday. Bet you hadn’t put those two together.

 

 

We learned that QB Carson Wentz might have good straight ahead speed, card-carson-wentzbut he can’t evade NFL level speed on bootlegs. If he’s going to bootleg, it has to be into a throw. That option running stuff is out of the question for him. He’s just too slow at this level. If he drops back and the pocket splits, by all means young man, RUN! These QB option plays though? They have to go. Unless we’re drafting another QB.

 

 

We learned that DT Beau Allen is at best a stop-gap player. card-beau-allenHe gave us all a reason to sit up and take notice in the preseason, but since the games began to count, he’s been only useful as a plugger vs the run. Even when going against an O-line decimated by injury. Despite frequent double teams on DT Fletcher Cox, Allen also can’t take advantage of one on one blocks and is a likely candidate for being replaced after this year.

 

We learned that WR Nelson Agholor card-nelson-agholoris holding the team back. While Agholor had more catches than rookie WR Bryce Treggs, Treggs managed to both, beat his man deep AND catch the ball. Those are two traits we have yet to see much from Agholor. He’s had a season and a half to make the sort of impression that Treggs did within mere minutes of his NFL debut. While I wouldn’t go so far as to start Treggs over Agholor, it’s clear that Agholor needs to sit.

So there you go. Four things (see what I did there?) that the team entered the giants game thinking they could get away with, but learned they need to stop. Making the adjustments to these things won’t cost a dime. They don’t need to bring in anybody. This is just a matter of playing within themselves and doing what they’re actually good at. And no, Screen passes are not on that list.

WK9: GIANTS

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/11/07
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, NFL, Offense, Players, Reviews, Rivals. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

w9-nyg

EAGLES 23 – giants 28

THE Eagles fell behind early (14 – 0), and never were quite able to recover fully. Twice we were able to close the gap to 4 points only to stall on Offense, and surrender touchdowns which grew the lead to 11 again. This will be the game that people remember losing by 5 because Head Coach Doug Pederson elected to go for it on TWO early 4th downs, instead of kicking Field Goals. (Given the situation and our history, faulting Pederson is irrational and blatantly unfair.)

Still, we were in it until the bitter end. (And man was it bitter!) Despite our best efforts to assist the giants, we could have won the game on a fourth quarter, 4th down pass into the end zone. Unfortunately that pass was a little too long and a little to far to the right.

Carson Wentz (27/47 – 54% – 364 – 0 – 2) continued his regression as an NFL QB. Yes, yes he was still very poised and whatnot, but the NFL doesn’t award points for composure. At some point he has to prove that he can make plays, by actually making some plays.

Our 25 rushes (compared to 47 passes in a game where the lead was never more than 11 points) were paced by RB Darren Sproles (13 – 57 – 4.3 – 0 – 0). When used as a downfield target, WR Jordan Matthews (6 – 88 – 14.6 – 0) was actually rather effective. He was less effective when catching Screens. (HINT MOTHERFUCKING HINT!!!) New Eagle WR Bryce Treggs (2 – 69 – 34.5 – 0) made his pro debut with two catches in the first half, then was put into the Witness Protection program for the remainder of the game. TE Zach Ertz (8 – 97 – 12.1 – 0) had a busy day as a receiver, but still was pulled on too many run-blocking downs, which tips our hand to opponents about what sort of play is coming.

The giants were held to 54 yards rushing on 24 attempts (2.2 yards per tote). We also got two heads-up interceptions by MLB Jordan Hicks (5 – 0 – 1 – 0) and CB Nolan Carroll (3 – 0 – 1 – 0). Hicks was his second in as many weeks, caused by DE Connor Barwin (1 – 0 – 0 – 0) tipping a pass. Carroll’s was literally ripped from the arms of WR Odell Beckham, before he could secure a catch while going to the ground.

We only managed one sack this week, as the 4 week absence of injured DT Bennie Logan continues to hurt our pass rush. Except for a 6 sack outburst against a decimated Vikings offensive line 3 weeks ago, this unit has managed just 3 total sacks in 3 of the last 4 games.

Did you notice?

Darren Sproles already looks slower and less explosive. The extra use is already putting excess wear and tear on him. He can’t continue to be used at this pace, if we expect him to be of any use.