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FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: WK 3: Bengals

Posted by The BEAST on 2020/09/28
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, NFC East, NFL, Offense, Players, Reviews, Roster, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

YAY, we didn’t lose!

 

EAGLES 23 – Bengals 23

EAGLES LEADERS:

(S) QB Carson Wentz: (29/47 – 61.7 – 225 – 1 – 2)

(S) RB Miles Sanders: (18 – 95 – 5.2 – 0 – 0)

(S) WR Greg Ward: (11 – 8 – 72 – 9.0 – 1)

(S) DE Brandon Graham/Derek Barnett: (4 – 2.0 – 0 – 0)

I hear you asking, “What about all the stuff that stats don’t reveal?” Well, that’s the reason for the 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: BENGALS did the Eagles get around to doing? Well let’s see:

1) Give the rush time to get home: There were a couple of drives where this happened, and the Eagles racked up 8 sacks because of it. Particularly on the two opening drives, and through the fourth quarter. During the middle of the game however, it was open season on our Secondary. Again! (NOT DONE)

2) Trust the Offensive Line: Wentz seemed at his best when he got out of the pocket, or was improvising after a near sack. His improvised touchdown pass to Ward was a thing of beauty. Same with his 7 yard touchdown run. Behind the line, he still looks like he’s trying to beat the egg timer. If you get a chance to see a replay of this game, notice how at ease he looks on the move, and how jittery he looks in the pocket. (NOT DONE)

3) More balanced play-calling: This week we saw 47 pass attempts, 28 designed runs, and 7 scrambles. On 81 plays, that’s a 54 to 27 pass/run ratio, or 66.6% pass. This is not a winning formula. (NOT DONE)

4) Do the hard part: There is no joy to be seen out there. The team body language is devoid of passion. There was the standard celebratory, defensive preening nonsense, but nothing to get the team’s energy up. Nothing to get them out of their heads, and into the moment. (NOT DONE)

 

This week we posted a score of 0 out of 4, (3 of 12 this season). Were this not the Bengals, starting a rookie QB, we’d have been blown out. Next week we get a wounded 2 – 1 San Fran, that is eager to challenge for their division lead. Hur-fucking-rah.

On The Whole:

Wentz didn’t look good today as a passer, or for that matter as an emotional leader. He did however, turn in a gritty performance, adding 65 yards rushing yards, and a big-time, ‘gotta-have-it’ 7 yard touchdown run. While he may have looked shaky as a passer, at no point did you doubt that he was all-in. At no point did you doubt that he wanted the “W”. He never dogged it.

To be fair, he wasn’t aided by the in-games losses of WR DeSean Jackson, TE Dallas Goedert, and LT Jason Peters. By the fourth quarter, he was back to Ward, WR Deontay Burnett, and a third string TE. Just like late last year.

For a third straight week, the Defense allowed over 20 points. What was your question?!? How many takeaways did our Defense get? What’s a takeaway? Is it Chinese?

I’m afraid that as an Eagles fan, I don’t know what a “takeaway” is anymore. I don’t think our Secondary has any clue about what that could possibly be.

That all said, given the horrid, downright goofy nature of the NFC East this year, even our 0-2-1 record has us just half a game out of first place. We have ZERO wins in three cracks, and the division is still wide open.

FOUR THINGS: WK 3: EAGLES – BENGALS

Posted by The BEAST on 2020/09/24
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

WE shit the bed Week 1, and rolled over in it Week 2. On the upside, finding our run game led to our QB not being sacked once, behind what is STILL a makeshift Offensive Line. That sort of stepping up is why injuries can never be used as an excuse here.

This is a battle of two 0 – 2 teams. Some say that something’s gotta give, and so an Eagles win won’t be much of a big deal. Those people are dead wrong. This team is currently just a single game behind. We have two losses, and are still just ONE game behind. We aren’t exactly chasing the ‘72 Dolphins here. A win mean means a lot.

A win gets us to 1 – 2, and back in the national conversation with regard to who wins our division. A loss puts us at 0 – 3 and in the basement with a jackhammer.

The point of Four Things isn’t to predict a winner, it’s to discuss which tactics will practically guarantee our Eagles this win. CAUTION: 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 FT as a gambling tool, you are trying to lose your money.

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

1) Give the rush time to get home: Everyone is talking about how disappointing the Defensive Line is, and it drives me nuts. Are we being shredded by numerous deep, accurate throws? Nope. Opposing QB’s are getting the ball out of their hands quickly. Which means that opposing receivers are uncovering quickly. Which means the coverage is shitty. (This is the same coverage that had GM Howie Roseman boasting about WR J.J. Arcega-Whiteside during Training Camp. So keep in mind that our Secondary may be trash.)

If Not Malcolm Jenkins wants people to stop bringing up Malcolm Jenkins, he needs to give us a reason to stop missing Malcolm Jenkins. Otherwise, we’ll keep saying Malcolm Jenkins, when we say we miss Malcolm Jenkins.

2) Trust the Offensive Line: After taking an 8 sack beating during Week 1, QB Carson Wentz’s Week 2 accuracy came into question (despite receivers getting two hands on some of those “errant” passes). He was clearly rushing passes, forcing passes, and (in my opinion) seeing ghosts.

After a week of being able to run the ball and not getting beat to shit, he’ll have some reason to trust his Line again. If he does, he should look more like himself, in terms of his processing and delivery mechanics.

3) More balanced play-calling:

Week One (42 passes, 17 called runs) 71.1% passing.

Week Two (43 passes, 24 called runs) 64.1% passing.

So far this season, we’ve thrown the ball 67.4% of the time. No one will buy play-action from a team that never hands the ball off. We’re telegraphing to opponents that they can unload the box, and pin their ears back. That makes it harder to utilize all the speed we added this offseason. Even a 34 pass to 26 run ratio, would change that.

4) Do the hardest thing: Dear Eagles, Right now the hardest thing for this team (or any losing team, trust me, I’ve been there), is remembering to have fun. Remember why you compete. Remember that you love to show off. Are you better than the man across from you? Then PROVE IT TO HIM. Prove it to his woman watching at home. Prove it to his mother, who’s hoping you don’t kill her boy. Prove it to his father, who this week can’t say “I taught him that!”

This is just Week Three. This is no time for the ‘Dig Down Deep!!!’ speech. It’s too early for the ‘Who Wants It More?!’ speech. This week’s speech is the ‘Trust Your Brother, and Have Fun’ speech. Don’t go to work this week. Don’t “practice your craft” this week. Just go out there and play football. Let’s see some joy out there. Let it be infectious. Just don’t get Covid.

If we do all these things we should win, with a score looking like:

PREDICTION: EAGLES 27 – Bengals 23.

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