Destiny Vaeao

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FOUR THINGS: WK 1: EAGLES/FALCONS

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/09/04
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Four Things, Offense, Players, Preview, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

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DON’T let the sports media over-hype this game. This is not a title defense, because this is football, not boxing. Even if we (somehow) lost this game, we wouldn’t have to hand over our Super Bowl trophy. This isn’t a title defense, or even a playoff game. It’s one of sixteen down payments on a playoff berth. That’s it. Now let’s get down to it.

NFL Network reporter Randy Moss, said that the Falcons are looking for revenge against the Eagles, for putting them out of the playoffs last year. He said that aside from Atlanta players and fans, no one really remembers that they almost beat us in that game. He’s wrong on both counts.

First, there is no avenging a playoff loss with a regular season win. For eliminating Atlanta, Philadelphia was rewarded with another playoff game. IF they beat us this week, they’d be rewarded with, (drum roll)…Week #2. Second, winning by five points sucked. We want to beat them by more this time. Like we did in 2016 (Eagles 24 – them 15). You know, when they had pretty much the same team that we just beat 15 – 10 in the playoffs. Which is pretty much the same team they have now. (Are you seeing the pattern, Eagles fans?)

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

1) Lean on the run: Even if it seems like it’s not working. Whenever QB Carson Wentz gets back, it would be unfair to saddle him with having to carry the Offense. That means we have to get our ground game established. Since we gave our starters the preseason off, we have to start getting things ironed out as early in the year as we can. Seeing RB Jay Ajayi carry the ball 17 times for 82 yards (and RB Corey Clement carry 6 times for 33) would be a solid opening.

2) Chase that bird:

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We need to get some pressure up the gut from DT’s Fletcher Cox and Destiny Vaeao. The Falcons QB is (how do I say this gently?) not a very nimble creature. If we can get him off his spot, alter his launch point, and keep him from stepping into throws, it increases our chances of him serving up some warm turnovers.

3) Go for the knockout: WR Mike Wallace is a true deep threat and we should come out making that point. While Wallace’s proficiency with running Slant routes is nice, the fact that he can take the top off of defenses, should help loosen the box, and give our run game room to operate. That being said, we have to at least threaten opponents with him early, or they won’t respect his presence.

4) Win hidden yardage: Of the last 39 points we’ve scored against Atlanta, 19 came off of a Kicker’s toe. A quick KO would be great, but recent games against the Falcons have been wars of attrition. We need to go in expecting to have that kind of a fight.

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:

The crowd will pick up where it left off, and will be so loud, that the Falcons will have to burn early timeouts to prevent penalties and miscues. QB Nick Foles will be solid. The Eagles will push the Falcons undersized defensive front around, when running the ball. We’ll also use their speed against them, with misdirection plays that pull defenders out of position. WR Julio Jones will catch 9 or 10 balls for 110 or so yards. Atlanta is a play from ahead type team, that’s going to find themselves in a street fight. They’re a plucky bunch, but they simply lack the power to put away a brawler. They just aren’t built for winning that way, which is why we will keep beating them.

PREDICTION: EAGLES 28 – Falcons 16

yeah-bitch

IS JERNIGAN’S INJURY DESTINY FOR VAEAO?

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/05/07
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, Players, Roster, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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NEXT man up! After recent surgery to repair a herniated disc in his back, DT Timmy Jernigan will be out for 4 to 6 months. That means he’s going to miss OTA’s, any mini-camps, and likely most (if not all), of training camp and all four preseason games.

Upon his return to action during the season, he probably won’t be in proper football shape just yet. That opens the door for someone to step up and push for Jenigan’s starting role. Specifically DT Destiny Vaeao. Understand that “push” for the starting role, and “challenge” for the starting role mean very different things here.

By “push” I mean that if Jernigan is out longer than anticipated, the starting role would lean more towards one player inheriting it, than towards having several players split it.

To “challenge” would mean that Vaeao showed enough to make coaches consider taking the starting role from Jernigan. So far Vaeao hasn’t shown himself to be that player. However, in all fairness, he’s never had an opportunity to start and/or play extensively.

This however could be his opportunity, despite there being five other DT’s on the roster. Let me explain why it should be him and not the other five:

1) Timmy Jernigan – He’s out, and that’s the reason his spot is open.

2) Fletcher Cox – He’s already starting, so he can’t be competition.

3) Haloti Ngata – He’s the no-brainer pick to start, right? Wrong. He wasn’t brought here to play extensive minutes on a weekly basis, early in the season. Running him down early compromises him for when we’ll really need him.

4) Elijah Qualls – He wasn’t active for 10 of 16 games last season. He didn’t even start during preseason Week 3, or the regular season’s Week 17 garbage game, so it’s unlikely that he’d get the nod while the season is still on the line.

5) Winston Craig – He didn’t start a single preseason game in 2017, and didn’t make cutdowns last year. He was brought back AFTER the Super Bowl. He might have just been a camp body if Jernigan didn’t have surgery, but if he acts up in camp, he could use this opportunity to challenge Qualls for his roster spot.

All this makes the spot Vaeao’s to lose. Unless of course, the Eagles fuck up and opt to overuse Ngata, which undercuts the plan for him, and in turn undercuts the whole Defense. The Eagles are too smart to Eli things up that bad.

So keep your eyes focused on the interior of our Defense during camp and preseason. It’ll give you something to root for, until the NFL begins throwing us franchises to eat on September 9th.

NO SUH. YES SUH.

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/03/12
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, Front Office (F.O.), Players. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 3 Comments

 

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WHILE DT Ndamukong Suh is no longer the player he was in Detroit, he’s by no means used up. He still has the ability to beat blockers one-on-one. He still has the ability to collapse a pocket with solid technique and brute strength. He can hold the point of attack vs the run, and make tackles on grown men with one arm.

You don’t hear him talked about like he used to be, but the guy can still play this game at a higher level than most DT’s. For that reason, among my nightly prayers, is the phrase “Please don’t let Suh become a Cowboy. Or a giant. Or a Redskin.”

I don’t want him paired as a “war daddy “with DE Demarcus Lawrence in Dallas. I don’t want him snacking with DT Damon Harrison in New York. I don’t want him in the same half-empty stadium as DE Johnathan Allen and OLB Ryan Kerrigan in Washington.

Where I would like to see him, is right between DT Fletcher Cox and DE Derek Barnett. Or behind DT Timmy Jernigan, in a rotation. (Imagine that second line: DE Chris Long, DT Suh, DT Destiny Vaeao, DE Michael Bennett.) YIKES! Many starting defensive lines don’t look that good!

It’s unlikely that Suh will be an Eagle. However, what I can hope for, is that we don’t have to see him twice a year.

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FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: WEEK 11: COWBOYS

Posted by The BEAST on 2017/11/20
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, Reviews, Rivals, Roster, Special Teams, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

THERE can no longer be any debate over which team is the class of the NFC East. We are now officially the first team in the NFL, to be guaranteed to finish over .500 for the season. That said, there is still the matter of qualifying for the playoffs to nail down. That’s Step One. Step One is still the mission. Next man up, No excuses.

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EAGLES 37 – Cowboys 9

PHILADELPHIA piled up 215 rushing yards on a Cowboys team that only allows 104 per game. Led by RB Jay Ajayi (7 – 91 – 13.0 – 0 – 0) in yardage, with rookie RB Corey Clement (6 – 50 – 8.3 – 1 – 0) chipping in a score, and RB LeGarrette Blount (13 – 57 – 4.3 – 0 – 0) acting as the closer. Down 7 – 9 at halftime, the Eagles came out and put up 30 unanswered points, with QB Carson Wentz (14/27 – 51.8% – 168 – 2 – 0) more or less on cruise-control.

The Defense snagged 4 sacks, 3 interceptions, and OLB Nigel Bradham (6 – 0 – 0 – 0) returned a fumble for a touchdown. CB Ronald Darby (8 – 0 – 1 – 0) reclaiming his starting spot (after being out with an injury for 8 weeks), prevented two touchdowns in the end zone, by deflecting one pass, and picking off another. Rookie DE Derek Barnett (3 – 2 – 0 – 1) spent the night harassing Dallas’s 4th round QB, until the Cowboys coaching staff mercy’d him in the 4th quarter, allowing the back-up to be just as ineffective.

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) Take away the run: “We need take away the reliability of their rushing game and dare their QB to carry the game.” While we did give up a few good runs here and there, we absolutely took away the reliability of their run game. The onus of winning the game was placed directly on the shoulders of their 4th round QB, and he responded by turning the ball over FOUR times (3 interceptions and a fumble). He looked very much like a guy teams would pass on for three, maybe four rounds. (DONE)

2) Sak Prescott: QB Dak Prescott (18/31 – 58.0% – 145 – 0 – 3) was sacked four times, fumbling on one of them. Missing their All-Pro LT, Dallas compensated by having Prescott bootleg away from the substitute LT who allowed one guy to get 6 sacks last week. Didn’t help. Statistically, Prescott had a worse game this week (in every regard) than the disaster he endured last week. We indeed did play a DT over their LG and left the LT in isolation with our DE rotation. However, it was Barnett who really had his way with the over-matched fill-in. (DONE)

3) Slot their throats: This is one of those times when one of the things was technically done, but not done truly in the spirit of how it was meant. The Eagles made a deliberate effort towards involving receivers who lined up in the slot. Also, when the Cowboys went Nickel to compensate, we hit them with the run. Said all that and we did it. Technically. What would have been nice is if more of those passes were held onto. That said, Wentz did hit WR Alshon Jeffrey (4 – 67 – 16.7 – 1) who lined up in the slot, over the middle for a honey of a 17 yard touchdown pass. (DONE)

4) Run ‘em down: The first half of this game had too many incompletions and too many pass attempts. The team wasn’t doing what it was supposed to do and as a result we were down by 2 at the half. Coming back out, we turned on the run. We had 30 called runs for the night (3 by Wentz), which was the mark we needed to hit. (DONE)

This week our Four Things score is an uneasy 4 out of 4. That brings the year’s numbers to 34 out of 40. Next week we’ll see if we can keep this crazy train running when Chicago comes to Philly.

On The Whole:

The most impressive part of the game was what happened after K Jake Elliott went out with a head injury. Reserve LB Kamu Grugier-Hill stepped up to do our kicking, and handled 4 kickoffs without a single flub. The coaching staff adjusted, deciding to not even attempt Field Goals, since KGH couldn’t reasonably be expected to be accurate. It wasn’t “next man up”, it was “somebody has to step up”.

Offensively, the coaching staff did an excellent job of adjusting after the half. Early on, our passing game wasn’t firing on all cylinders, like we’ve come to expect. Instead of forcing the ball with a “keep firing” mentality, the staff shifted gear and opted for a more conservative and physical approach.

And it worked, like I said it would work.

Defensively, we took away the run and dared Prescott to beat us with his head and his arm. Yet again, that strategy paid off for a Cowboys opponent, as Prescott is just not capable of putting a team on his back. It also didn’t help that we kept him under nearly constant duress.

This team utterly refuses to be derailed by anything. The craziest part is that we aren’t just eeking out wins, we’re kicking ass wholesale and doing it with STYLE. I can honestly say that in nearly 3 decades as a football fan, player, and coach, that I have never seen anything like this. We look like a team of

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THE 12: #9 DISRUPTION UP FRONT

Posted by The BEAST on 2017/03/25
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Defense, NFL, Players, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

THE122017#9

WHAT if we can do better at DT ? The possibility of losing Bennie Logan got me to wondering who’d replace him if he goes. The knee jerk answer was of course DT Beau Allen, who filled in for Logan in 2016 when he was injured for a couple games. During that time however, Allen was “just a guy”. It reminded us of why we needed Logan so much. However, after I gave it some more thought, I found myself faced with a question: Do we really need Bennie Logan?

THAT was written before Logan became a Chief. It was supposed to be the original open for this article. Then things happened how they happened. 

I’m glad I had already asked myself that question. Had I not already been considering it, Logan not re-signing might have concerned me deeply. As luck would have it, I’m pretty sure we’re good. Not to dump on Bennie (because he’s a good soldier), but the question was worth asking. The answer is: “No, we don’t need him. We’re going to be fine.”

Logan is not the difference maker, he’s the rock in the middle vs the run, who absorbs blockers so that others can make plays. He doesn’t offer much as a pass rusher, but that’s really not his game. He’s a good guy, but what he does is easy enough to find and replace. He is by no means rare. We will see plenty like him.

What Logan does is “gap maintenance”, not “disruption”. He’s not the guy who blows up gaps and ruins plays. That ‘s who DT Fletcher Cox is. Logan is the stay-at-home DT who anchors the line. No shame in that if it works for him, but given all the times QB’s were able to step up into the pocket…was it really working for us?

So what if we replaced Logan with another disruptor? In my wettest of dreams, we signed DT Dontari Poe to team with Cox, but the money was never going be there for that. DT Destiny Vaeao on the other hand, is already on the roster, and is an active gap penetrator with enough foot speed to chase QB’s back and out of the pocket. Unlike Logan, Vaeao has the ability to be disruptive. We need that.

One of the primary goals of any defense is to cause turnovers. One of the best ways to do that, is to force the offense into making mistakes. If we can disrupt plays early, then opponents can’t do what they practiced. They then have to improvise, and that increases the odds of them making mistakes.

So let’s figure out a way to be disruptive right at the line of scrimmage. Let’s do that by starting the most disruptive D-Line we can assemble. Let’s make opponents as uncomfortable as hell, right at the snap of the ball.

WK17: COWBOYS

Posted by The BEAST on 2017/01/02
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Offense, Players, Reviews, Rivals, stats, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . 2 Comments

 

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EAGLES 27 – Cowboys 13

WITH nothing left to play for in the regular season, the Dallas Cowboys treated the game like a preseason exercise. They played all three of their QB’s, and sat RB Ezekiel Elliott to keep him from getting hurt for no damned reason whatsoever. QB Tony Romo (remember him?) threw the Cowboys only TD on the day.

HEY! Speaking of throwing touchdowns, Carson Wentz (27/43 – 62.7% – 245 – 2 – 0) threw 2 scores, without throwing any picks in this game, bringing his rookie totals to 16 TD and 14 picks. Speaking of picks, Jordan “Cowboy Killer” Hicks (5 – 0 – 2 – 0) grabbed two of those tasty treats, and did his part to kill the Cowboys once again.

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While all the talk on Offense will likely be about Wentz or TE Zach Ertz (13 – 139 – 10.6 – 2), the guy who really caught my eye was 6’1, 240lb RB Terrell Watson (9 – 28 – 3.1 – 1 – 0). The young man was signed off the street this week, but he brought a passion and energy, that I hope the coaching staff doesn’t let get away. Even when he was running outside, there was a physicality to his running that the Eagles have lacked since Correll Buckhalter last played here in 2008. What I liked the most however, was how after his TD run, while on the sideline, he went to each O-lineman and thanked them for their blocking. There was no “treating it like a business”. He just looked like a guy enjoying the game. That sort of thing can be infectious when there’s something to play for. I hope to see him back here next season.

The pass rush was there in this game. Given that DT Bennie Logan (1 – 0 – 0 – 0) is a Free Agent after this season, I found it interesting that A) DT’s Beau Allen (2 – 0 – 0 – 0) and Destiny Vaeao (2 – 0 – 0 – 0) got to play as much as they did, and B) that our Defensive Front still handled business against “the best offensive line in the entire-” (insert slurping noises from commentators). The only weak link in the Defense were our CB’s, specifically Nolan Carroll (4 – 0 – 0 – 1), whom the rusty Romo beat for an easy TD pass to WR Terrance Williams.

Did you notice?

The Eagles yet again desperately tried to give RB Byron Marshall (10 – 42 – 4.2 – 0) every opportunity they could give him, to show that he can take over RB Darren Sproles (9 – 32 – 3.5 – 0) role next year. So far the rookie simply hasn’t shown the potential.

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.

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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

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: BEARS

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/09/22
Posted in: Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, Reviews, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

 

MONDAY Night Football. Prime time, national audience, on the road, with a rookie QB under Center. The stage was set to watch our budding team fall on their faces. After which national sports pundits would talk about how nice our rookie was, but how much farther this team has to go. But this team had other plans in mind for how that game would turn out.

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DT Destiny Vaeao gets his first sack-fumble on Jay Cutler.

It wasn’t a performance for the ages, but it was a 29 – 14 victory. At no point did the team panic when something didn’t go our way. After spending the first half unable to get the ball in the end zone, all three second half scores were touchdowns. That says that someone somewhere on the coaching staff, is correctly recognizing the underlying problems, and then doing a great job of addressing them so far. Kudos to them.

The Defense was stingy on the ground giving up just 64 rushing yards, and driving the opposing QB out of the game with a hand injury. He was the second QB we knocked out of a game in two weeks.

But what about the stuff that the final score doesn’t reveal? That’s the reason for these “Four Things” articles. To have an idea of what needs addressing BEFORE the game, so that we’re forced to honestly answer questions AFTER the game.

So, of the Four Things we were looking for in this last game, what exactly did we see?

1) Hit Jay Cutler early and often. We did. He gave us 2 turnovers and we knocked him from the game. DONE.

2) DE need to keep contain. I was watching this one like a hawk and we did a solid job of it. As a result the Bears run game was bottled up and the game was put on Cutler’s narrow shoulders. DONE.

3) Get some Guard help for C Jason Kelce. While keeping an eye on this I noticed that starting LG Allen Barbre was losing some snaps to back-up Stefen Wisniewski. While I can’t say that I was bowled over by how the left interior played, I will say that QB Carson Wentz was able to stand in the pocket and step up when he needed to. DONE.

4) Play aggressive man coverage with WR Alshon Jeffery. We really didn’t do too much of that. Jeffrey saw a lot of off-coverage and what looked to me like tight zone coverage. The result was 5 catches for 96 yards with a long of 49. NOT DONE.

The result was a clear score of 3 of 4 goals this week. In sports it’s possible to got one of these things “mostly done” or “done for all intents and purposes”, if you write about sports, you have to be mindful of that fact. This week however, (and thankfully) there was no parsing of these things.

Next up we get a hard assignment in the form of a high scoring Steelers team. Can the Eagles hang in a fire-fight? Or will our Defense do to Pittsburgh’s offense, what China did to their regional economy?

yeah-bitch

WK2: BEARS

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/09/20
Posted in: Defense, NFL, Offense, Players, Reviews, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

 

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EAGLES 29 – BEARS 14

THIS was not a pretty win. Like last week, the Eagles broke the game open in the 3rd quarter, but unlike last week, the Defense played the entire game. This week it was the Offense who had trouble finding the stadium, as 20 of our 29 points didn’t come until after the half. K Caleb Sturgis (3/3 – 2/3) battling a leg ailment, missed an extra point that would have had the final score at 30 instead of 29.

On Offense we took a three field goal, 9 – 7 half-time lead into the locker room. Apparently someone made some adjustment somewhere, because our last three scores were all touchdowns. Two on the ground by RB Ryan Mathews (9 – 32 – 3.5 – 2 – 0), and one by TE Trey Burton (5 – 49 – 9.8 – 1), who finally broke his touchdown cherry. QB Carson Wentz (21/34 – 61.7% – 190 – 1 – 0) was an effective game manager, who’s numbers may have looked a little better if not for WR Jordan Matthews (6 – 71 – 11.8 – 0) losing a sure touchdown off of his fingertips.

Defensively we held the Bears to 64 yards rushing, on 18 attempts, for 3.6 yards per tote. We also harassed QB Jay Cutler (12/17 – 70.5% – 157 – 0 – 1) sacking him three times, picking him off, and getting a fumble from him; on the way to injuring and knocking him out of the game. If you’re counting, that’s two straight QB’s we forced off the field in just two weeks. Can you FEEL that?

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Nigel Bradham kills a Bears drive

DE Brandon Graham got a sack in second straight game (4 – 1 – 0 – 0 ). OLB Nigel Bradham (1 – 0 – 1 – 0) killed a Bear’s drive with a leaping interception that he almost took back to the house. Also getting in on the turnovers was MLB Jordan Hicks (1 – 0 – 0 – 0) recovering a sack/fumble forced by rookie DT Destiny Vaeao (1 – 1 – 0 – 1), and CB Ron Brooks (5 – 0 – 0 – 0) recovering a fumble forced by DT Bennie Logan (1 – 0 – 0 – 1), whom I called out in this weeks Preview article. Between the forced fumble and the improved run play, I would say that Logan responded very well.

Hey, did you notice:

How easy it was to hear players cursing at each other out there. You could hear them yelling things like “That’s fuckin’ HOLDING!”