DeMeco Ryans

All posts tagged DeMeco Ryans

“WE CAN ONLY SIGN ONE”

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/02/25
Posted in: Conversations, Fans, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Players, Rants, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . 2 Comments

lurie

EAGLES fans it’s time for a reality check. You either get to keep DT Fletcher Cox long-term, or QB Sam Bradford. If a long-term deal gets done for one this year, a one CANNOT be reached for the other. Let me say this plainly. We can only sign one. I say again, we can only sign ONE. The money simply isn’t there for both. The NFL will not expand the salary cap for JUST the Eagles.

Too many Eagles fans are stumbling around out there with images of Bradford as our starting QB in 2016. My guess is that those same fans either don’t own a calculator, or really don’t understand what the salary cap is. In fact, I get the feeling that some of them may think the salary cap is a type of hat.

Look, listen. Eagles GM Howie Roseman has said  that signing Cox is a priority and that he will get “great” player money. Cox is looking for a 100M+ dollar deal (with about 50M of it guaranteed). Being conservative and saying that he “only” gets an even 100M, that breaks down to 16M per year over 6 years, or 14M per year over 7 years. Given that he’s scheduled to make 7.8M this year, that’s at least a jump of 6M this year alone (depending on structure).

With cutting ILB DeMeco Ryans yesterday, the Eagles just added 3.5M to our 26.4M in cap space. That gives us a total of 29.9M in cap space. If Cox pulls down 14M this year, that would only leave about 15.9M in cap space. Bradford won’t stay here for 15.9M. Roseman has said “It’s a huge priority for us to keep Fletcher Cox”. Given that he’s uttered no such series of sounds about Bradford, I’d have to say that the Eagles have already made their choice here.

Let me sum up for those who still hold out hope that I’m wrong about Bradford: We can only sign one. Cox is the priority. Bradford won’t stay for what we can offer him. So go ahead and start burning your Bradford jerseys like you know you will, when you go from worshiping him to suddenly (and unfairly) labeling him a traitor or “just being in it for a paycheck”.

EAGLES/DOLPHINS PREVIEW

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/11/15
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Fans, Offense, Preview. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

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SUNDAY             1:00                              Lincoln Financial Field                     Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

THIS is a dangerous game. The Eagles need this game. Don’t lie to yourself and tell yourself that this game is anything less than must-win. Right now we sit solidly outside of wild card contention so our best shot is to win the East outright. The problem is at 4-4 we’re a win behind the 5-4 giants. Before you get your hopes up about the Patriots helping us by beating the giants this week, keep in mind we still have to face New England ourselves. So the favor they do us this week they could hand back to the giants in few weeks.

EAGLES

Defense

You may not recognize the Defense this week. Our top four active tacklers are all players in the Secondary. I say “active” because our #2 tackler was rookie ILB Jordan “Cowboy Killer” Hicks, before he was lost of the year with a pectoral injury that even he didn’t think was so bad at first.

The upshot of this is that our ILBs will be DeMeco Ryans and Kiko Alonso. After weeks of not really playing together in live-fire since Week Two, the communication and depth in the heart of our Defense will be seriously tested.

Offense

The rankings say that we’re in the top third of the NFL, but when you watch all those quick three-and-outs, and our 30.8% 3rd down conversion rate, you know our ranking is owed less to our own excellence, and more to a creeping mediocrity throughout the NFL.

We can run the ball pretty well as long as we rely more on a straight ahead power concept and less on the zone-read stuff that worked better when LeSean McCoy was here. Our top WR Jordan Matthews has 48 catches. The next most catches by a WR? …15 by Josh Huff. There is no balance here.

Our Offense needs our QB like a kayak needs a 65 pound anchor. He’s just as likely to throw a pick as he is a touchdown, and his target selection is a huge part of our awful 3rd down performance. But as long as this team treads water around the .500 mark, fans will hem and haw that “maybe he’s beginning to come around”.

.

Opponent

Defense

They suck vs the run, and were middle of the pack vs the pass. I said “was” because 7 of their teams 13 sacks just tore his Achilles tendon and is out for the season. So like last week against the Cowboys, we just got a big, fat softball, slow-pitched to us.

There really isn’t much to say on this one. There’s a small handful of household names (Ndamukong Suh, Koa Misi, Brent Grimes, Kelvin Sheppard) making tackles, but not really making plays. When your SS is your leading tackler by 20+ tackles, and you still have the leagues 31st ranked run defense, your unit is not pulling it’s weight.

Offense

What they aren’t is prolific, but this unit is conceptually well balanced and has the appearance of being in a learning phase with their offensive system which is pretty much the same Spread concept that we run. Despite canning their head coach a few weeks ago, the Fish stuck with former Eagles assistant Bill Lazor as their Offensive Coordinator. They’re onto something and they know it.

This is not a particularly explosive group, but they can create big plays, can surprise you, and can put up points. Eagles fans who don’t also play fantasy football may find themselves surprised by RB Lamar Miller, he’s not as physical as his body type would suggest, but the trade-off is that he’s much faster than his build would suggest. And he can catch. QB Ryan Tannehill (now with an OC who gets developing passers) looks to be putting it all together finally.

It’ll be interesting to see how Coach Kelly coaches against a version of his own system run by a guy who helped us be so dangerous two years ago.

BOTTOM LINE

A win says that maybe our team has enough in the tank to beat the teams they should beat. A loss says that our coach can be schooled by his own former assistant, who’s being led by a substitute teacher. But the truth is that Miami is already out of the AFC playoff picture so they may play their youth more to teach them, help with their 2016 Draft positioning, and limit playing time for vets with incentive laden contracts.

Since we need this game more than the Starkist Bunch, the Eagles should come out swinging. We can’t afford a loss here. We just can’t afford it.

PREDICTION

EAGLES 24 – Dolphins 21

DID YOU BUY A MYCHAL KENDRICKS JERSEY?

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/08/03
Posted in: Conspiracy Corner, Defense, Front Office (F.O.), Players, Roster, trade. Tagged: , , , , , , . 4 Comments

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IF you bought a Mychal Kendricks jersey, you may want to either see if you have time to return it, or you may want to buy some of those vacuum storage bags and some potpourri to toss in them. Apparently rumors of Kendricks being traded are just rumors. Or so we’re being told.

Remember the morning of 2014 December 29th? On that Monday morning, on WIP radio, our team’s current head coach told anyone listening “I want LeSean back”. Then, once given full carte blanche of personnel, that same head coach traded LeSean McCoy, then basically said that McCoy wasn’t a good fit for the Offense despite 2,900 yards rushing over two years.

Spin that anyway you like, (financial decision, character issue, system fit, change of mind, etc.) facts is that the coach already knew what McCoy cost, who he was, and how he fit BEFORE he said that he wanted him back. If the coach truly wanted McCoy back, when Owner Jeff Lurie gave the coach the juice to make it happen, all he had to do is do it. He didn’t because he really didn’t want McCoy back. When he said that he did…he was lying. And if you bought it shame on you, because I’d already told you what was going on.

Even after I told the world that DeSean Jackson was leaving, our head coach called him and made him think he was staying. WAIT! I have proof! HERE’S THE LINK! Oh well. If DJax read my articles, he’d have known about his future.

And who could forget our “QB for the next 1,000 years”? That statement didn’t even get a year old, before we traded Nick Foles for what’s left of Sam Bradford. (And this is coming from a guy who was never crazy about Foles!)

Now we’re being told that Kendricks isn’t going anywhere. And people actually buy it! There are fans who are 100% reassured by the statement the coach released. Which is HILARIOUS considering that Kendricks himself has no idea of what his Eagles future holds.

I’m not a betting man, (especially on sports), but if I had to bet the homestead on whether or not Kendricks is still here in September, the first thing I’d do is take a sharp look at how DeMeco Ryans looks coming back from his knee injury. If Ryans looks good, expect Kendricks to be dealt to make room for grooming players like Jordan Hicks and/or Jordan DeWalt-Ondijo.

If Ryans is less than he’s expected to be, the LB shuffle will have to be played by ear. I doubt that even a psychic could predict that one, so I won’t bullshit you and pretend I have the first clue as to how that scenario would play out. When I have answers, YOU get answers; but I’m not above saying “I don’t know”.

In any case, I hope you didn’t buy a Mychal Kendricks jersey yet. If you did and he’s traded, put yours in storage. He’s a good player and the jersey could be worth something if he ever wears a gold jacket. It’ll be worth more because it’ll be rare, since idiots will burn theirs when they decide Kendricks is traitor for being traded. Luckily my followers aren’t idiots, so I’m sure you were already making plans to store yours.

THE 46 DEFENSE BACK IN PHILLY

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/06/02
Posted in: Coaching, Crazy Talk, Defense, Fans, NFL, Players. Tagged: , , , , , . 2 Comments

White-Ryan2

THERE’S talk of the Jets possibly running the 46 Defense this year, and as an Eagles fan (of a certain age) I can’t hear the words “46 Defense” and not smile and think back to a simpler time. A time when the NFL was afraid of our team, our fans, and even the turf in the stadium.

Teams dreaded having to play the Eagles. It wasn’t just “Oh man they’re so good, they’re gonna kick our butts” type dread. It was ‘BodyBag Game’ type dread. It was “Seth Joyner  twisting up Jeff Rutledge’s facemask” type dread. It was our career-ending, “Knee-eating turf” and “700 Level” type dread. Big, strong, alpha males from all over this country, outright FEARED coming here.

The words “46 Defense” has the ability to take some of us back to a time that almost seems like a fairytale when we reflect on it. If you became an Eagles fan after Buddy Ryan, then you have no frame of reference to compare it to. Nothing Jim Johnson (god bless him) ever did could compare to the unit we had from about 1989 to 92. And everyone to follow JJ so far has ranked somewhere between the Eagles either playing a joke on us fans or sucker punching us while we kneel in prayer at church.

It got me to thinking about how leaky our defense is now, and how it would be great if we could put our 1990 Defense on the field with our 2013 Offense. That would be awesome wouldn’t it? (For one it would mean that Reggie White and Andre Waters were still alive.) Also with as good as that defense was at causing three-and-outs, the Eagles would seemingly always have the ball. And with LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson still in Eagle green, a triple digit score wouldn’t be out of the question.

BUT, since we can’t pull out a defense from a quarter century ago, why not just think about who we’d like to replace Bill Davis with when he’s fired after this season. Now is also a nice time to think about what kind of system we’d like to see run here. Personally, I’d like a 4-3 Monster instead of a typical base 4-3. The only problem is I think we’re a 3-4 team as long as Kelly is the Head Coach.

That said, I can’t think of a 3-4 system that I really like. I can think of 3-4 defenses I like, but that has far more to do with the players (generally LB’s) than necessarily the system they ran. Fan’s here seem to think our 3-4 will be better this year with Kiko Alonso being added, Brandon Graham now starting and DeMeco Ryans returning. Maybe it will, but I seriously doubt it.

The problems with Bill Davis’s system are in base principles of how to apply pressure and what is sacrificed in order to do so. It works fine against bad teams, but in San Fran, Arizona and now here, it can’t run with the big dogs. When your biggest issues are your core principles, who you plug in really doesn’t mean much.

However when you play sound, solid football… Man, I’m telling you, I do miss those days.

HITTING THE HOLES

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/12/10
Posted in: Defense, Draft, Front Office (F.O.), Offense, Players, Roster. Tagged: , , , . 16 Comments

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WITH all the talk going on about which QB we want to win with or whether or not Chip Kelly (actually Howie Roseman) will draft a QB in 2015; what we haven’t really discussed is what we actually need. There’s been no real discussion on how to fill the holes on this team. Or even what those holes might be.

Let me get started by picking up where I left off:

GUARD: Last year I said the EAGLES needed to draft a young Guard. A real inside mauler. Just a big ol’, Popeye’s chicken eatin’ sumbitch. I know, I know. Our scheme is predicated on getting linemen in space, and running around in tutus and shit. That however is exactly why we do so much east west running. That’s cute in college, but in the pros, you need to be able to move the line of scrimmage. For that as you’ve seen this year, you need a mauler. So no more Tackles converted to Guard!

STRONG SAFTEY: We could also use a Strong Safety with some real speed. Even if employed in a Cover-Two, SS Nate Allen has been easy to run by for YEARS now. With a Safety being your last line of defense, he’s got to be able to run someone down. Since we won’t be able to pry UFA Rahim Moore away from Denver, I’m thinking the Draft is where I’d head for this spot too.

CORNERBACK: This is a weird one, because I think soon to be FA Bradley Fletcher is fine at CB, but I don’t think he’s pay raise worthy out there. Before yelling about drafting someone or adding another expensive FA, it makes sense to see what we have on the roster. But things are going too well (as far as wins and losses) right now to go sitting starters down just so we can say “let me see something”.

LINEBACKER: What every defense needs at its heart is a guy or two who will not be pushed around, and who will grab teammates by their short and curlies if they get caught being pushed around. If we do cut ILB DeMeco Ryans (as my friend Chris suggested could happen) to make cap space, a sneaky good addition could be current Bronco and soon UFA, Nate Irving. He’d be both the playmaker and the vocal leader you expect from a MLB.

Oops! Did I say MLB? This is assuming that DC Bill Davis gets canned after we get shelled in the playoffs. I love my EAGLES, but come on; we aren’t exactly holding our own vs playoff caliber teams this year. Part of that is the Defense. Actually a large part of it is the Defense. What do you think of Rex Ryan? I think it’d be nice to have another Ryan coaching our Defense. But not Rob.

 

ARE EAGLES FANS AFRAID?

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/11/07
Posted in: Conversations, Rants. Tagged: , , , . 11 Comments

article regular-fans

THE EAGLES are 6-2, in first place in our division at the midway point of the season, and every other team in the division seems to be burning out of control.

So where is the swagger? Not swagger from the team, but swagger from the fans? Where is that attitude that says “Talk all you want bitch, we own you” ?

Some may say that it’s because QB Nick Foles is essentially done for the year, but to be honest there was a lack of bravado even before Foles injury or even the Arizona loss.

Some may say that it’s because RB LeSean McCoy still doesn’t seem quite right. Maybe, but we still lead the division even without the NFL’s leading rusher being on our team.

Still others might point to a lack of confidence in the Defense, made worse by the season-ending Achilles tear suffered by ILB DeMeco Ryans. Again, we’re still 6-2.

There is an air of…dissatisfaction among fans here right now. Each one you ask has a different reason from the last person you ask, but everyone has a thing that bugs them about this team. No one thinks the vagiants or Foreskins can catch us, and almost no one thinks the Cowpies can win enough games to overtake us.

People seem to feel that we’ve already won the NFC East. That we simply  need to not give away these games, and make it official.  Well if that’s the case, then where is the swagger that goes with it?

OVERRATED and UNDERRATED EAGLES

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/05/25
Posted in: Defense, Rants. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment
Image courtesy of trendingplayers.com

Image courtesy of trendingplayers.com

 NICK Foles set the NFL on fire last year, and LeSean McCoy led the NFL in rushing. Both went to the Pro Bowl, in addition to 3 of our Offensive Linemen, and a WR.

It was a good year for the team as a whole. But last year there were some players who I think got more credit than they truly deserved, as others didn’t get nearly enough.

I won’t go into who I think is overrated because I’ve done that enough on this fan-site this off-season. If you care, then you already know. If you don’t, then why bore you with it?

I WILL however,talk about the teams two most underrated players:

DeMeco Ryans and Mychal Kendricks.

In terms of run support, they are the interior of the Defense. If the NT gets beat it’s on them to fend off Guards and Fullbacks and still get to the ballcarrier.

In terms of coverage, they’re responsible for a sizable chunk of real estate out there. Remember when Charger WR Malcolm Floyd got destroyed?  

Look at who’s in coverage, 17 yards deep, on 1st and 10. That’s DeMeco Ryans. Watch it again and look at Mychal Kendricks read and begin a dropback before the ball is released. That’s not chase, that’s coverage. Did you see who delivered he clean hit and who hurried to grab the loose ball? Take a look again if you didn’t

So much is balanced across these two that the system would break if they weren’t so good. Think about it. Sit one and replace him with Casey Matthews or any other ILB on this roster. Would you feel as good about the line-up? If you answered yes then you’re dumber than my cat’s ass, because it doesn’t work without those two.

Worse than Kendricks being treated almost as an afterthought, is Ryans having possibly his best year as a pro, yet being talked about like he was still not quite effective enough. That almost gives me rage issues.

I don’t know if anyone else sees it, or feels how I feel about it; but instead of waiting around for somebody to say it for me, I decided I’d say it myself.