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FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: WK 13: Saints

Posted by The BEAST on 2020/12/14
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Draft, Fans, Four Things, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Offense, Players, playoffs, Reviews, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Time-out on all the handjobs and high fives.

Eagles 24 – Saints 21 

EAGLES LEADERS:

(S) QB Jalen Hurts: (17/30 – 56.6% – 167 – 1 – 0)

(S) RB Miles Sanders: (14 – 115 – 8.2 – 2 – 0)

(S) TE Dallas Goedert: (6 – 4 – 43 – 10.7 – 0)

(R ) DE Josh Sweat: (3 – 2.0 – 0 – 1)

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: Saints did the Eagles get around to doing? Well let’s see:

1) Lose the game: Didn’t happen. Now the Eagles exist in a third place limbo that neither helps their playoff chances, nor Draft position. Needing SERIOUS salary cap relief, this team will need a massive infusion of young contributors, if we’re not trying to make a habit of sitting behind New York and Washington. Both of which are respectively 2 and 1 year ahead of our rebuild effort. The win may have felt good to the fans, but a look at Owner Jeff Lurie’s face, as he sat in the press box with his team ahead in the fourth quarter, will plainly tell you this win was NOT in the plans. (NOT DONE)

2) Don’t bench Hurts: This was only for if he looked shaky out there, and he didn’t. Total freebie. (DONE)

3) Give up 35 points: Nope. The Defense played very well, thanks in part to the Saints starting a QB made of tofu. They insisted on playing into the strength of the Eagles Defense, even after 75% of our starting Secondary was hurt on one play! Our Secondary is trash on a good day, and their RB/TE/KR/FB/H-Back/QB was too dumb all day long, to audible into anything that could have hurt us. Any Eagles fan who sees this team part ways with DT Fletcher Cox, or DE Brandon Graham, will see it as a step back. Especially without the Draft capital to replace such players. (Now are you starting to see how all this fits together?) (NOT DONE)

4) Doug has to look clueless: Don’t look now, but Pederson has just out-coached Sean Payton, with a rookie QB. Calling a plethora of plays that we haven’t seen for 12 games (that 40 yard Slot Drag to WR Jalen Reagor was a poorly executed thing of beauty!), the Saints had no answers, as everything they studied this week had to do with a pocket-based offense. Next week the Cardinals will be trying to keep Hurts from immediately bootlegging right, but this week it took the Saints an entire half to even try to start a containment. (NOT DONE)

Put plainly, the team won the game, but it was a MASSIVE step back for the Front Office. We’ll see what shakes out next week at Arizona. And please don’t get too caught up in the “who starts at QB” thing. We’re 4 – 8 – 1. At this point, that’s window dressing. Look ahead to the BIG picture.

On The Whole:

Allow me to bring up a few points.

Fewer than 200 passing yards, less than a 60% completion rate, one touchdown and one turnover. But the fans are happy?

We didn’t give up a sack, largely because the QB was running from the pocket. Even before pressure. On practically every down. But the fans are happy?

Before you make the Michael Vick comparisons, remember what his hand looks like. Lamar Jackson? Kyler Murray? Cam Newton? Robert Griffin III? Randall Cunningham? All terrifying runners. Not one ring between sixty fingers.

Guys like Russell Wilson, Steve Young (HOF), John Elway (HOF), and Aaron Rodgers all use/used their mobility to buy time to make a throw. Not to outright sprint for sidelines. As a result…they have rings.

Jalen Hurts can run, but we have yet to see him play QB. This game featured him running to a side, and then operating on that side. So before you become enamored with that style of play, scroll back up and take a long look at the two lists I put up. The fans were happy with the win on Sunday. But by the time you read this, it will be Monday.

THE THIN GET THINNER

Posted by The BEAST on 2020/08/16
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, free agents, Front Office (F.O.), Players, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Salt Bae Context

REALLY? So this is what we’re rolling with? I gave it a few days to see what move the Eagles would make, and the result is bupkis. Look, LB Jatavis Brown’s retirement shouldn’t come as a shock. Though he’s only 26, reports were that he’d fallen out of love with football. Given the handwriting on the wall, it’s not hard to see why.

Brown was a marginal player (at best) for the bulk of his four year career. The entirety of his playing days were for the Los Angeles (nee San Diego) Chargers. At one point in 2018, injuries forced the Chargers to start him for the majority of the season. He didn’t impress them.

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Once the Chargers let him walk, Brown signed with Philadelphia. Keep in mind, this was before the 2020 NFL Draft. (Where we picked up rookie LB’s Davion Taylor in the 3rd round, and Shaun Bradley in the 6th.) So when Brown signed, he probably did so with hopes of being a starter, for a contender.

Recent talk of LB’s Nate Gerry, T.J. Edwards, and Duke Riley, being the team’s primary three LB’s likely dimmed Brown’s hopes. Especially in light of the fact that the Eagles play a lot of Nickel, and therefore usually only have two LB’s on the field most of the time. Looking at being buried deep on a bench, beside two rookies who were drafted (i.e. invested in), may have gone a long way to souring Brown.

So now we’re down an experienced, albeit marginal player. Our LB corps now consists of rookies and back-ups, spearheaded by Gerry. There is talk of possibly kicking the tires on OLB Clay Matthews III, but he’s far more of a pass rusher than a “chase and cover” LB. For that matter we may as well stick with LB/DE Genard Avery.

2019 Genard Avery half sack

While Brown’s presence didn’t add much, his absence makes a large hole even larger. The Front Office created a hole in the floor when they allowed LB Nigel Bradham (Saints) to walk. They then attempted to patch it with a sheet of aluminum foil (Brown). However, before the foil could fail, it simply blew away. Now we’re left with the hole again.

Last month I wrote an article attempting to give the Eagles the benefit of the doubt regarding the moves made at this position, but I have to step back from that now. While Brown’s presence didn’t add much, his absence changes the metrics. Without a trade for an impact LB, I feel like this position is going to be an absolute liability for us in 2020.

This is nearly half of a century of disrespect for a position, which has coalesced into a culture of neglect for how this team treats it. The result is a self-inflicted wound which will show up every Sunday for this team. Dear Football Fan, imagine a defense where LB’s are an afterthought.

Adding DE Vinny Curry was a stroke of genius. The rich certainly got richer there. But the LB position? The thin have gotten thinner, and indeed, the poor have just gotten poorer.

Internal scream

EAGLES HOLES ARE FUCKIN’ UGLY

Posted by The BEAST on 2020/03/22
Posted in: Conspiracy Corner, Conversations, Defense, free agents, Front Office (F.O.), Players, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

doug pederson water bottle presser 2020

WE have a hole at starting SS. We have a hole at starting MLB. We have a hole at starting OLB. We have a hole at starting CB. We signed a career back-up SS. We signed a career back-up Nickel LB. It’s still early in the offseason, but still, it would be great to not have so many exposed holes.

Look I get it. We can find quality free agents after the Draft. We did it before, with players like RB LeGarrette Blount, This makes Eagles brass feel good about being late shoppers. But I want to show you something. Look at the 2017 signing dates of the free agents we brought in that year:

2017 free agents

To quote the poet, Bubba Sparks: “How else can I say it? I don’t speak no other languages?”

That chart is as clear as you can make a thing. If you want an impact player, you generally have to get him before the draft. That’s just common NFL knowledge. It’s also basic economics. The law of supply and demand. The demand for impact players is high, and so the supply of them will quickly run out.

This leaves us hoping for huge contributions from our rookies. Because we’ve been great at developing those, right? Look, we don’t have to sign a ton of expensive veterans, but a couple of pivotal ones? To fill important holes?

Put another way, at certain positions we’re just standing and watching everyone else buy up all the Charmin. Maybe GM Howie Roseman feels really good about those boxes of dot matrix paper he just bought, but a quick look at the situation, says that our holes are in for some rough times ahead.

dot matrix paper.jpg

For all the gas the Eagles talk about being a “win now” team, and wanting to “be competitive every year”, they certainly have all the ear-marks of being about to take a year off. This feels like an outright re-build.

“It’s fuckin’ ugly.”

WHAT’S THE PLAN HOWIE?!

Posted by The BEAST on 2020/03/21
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, Draft, free agents, Front Office (F.O.), NFC East, Offense, Players, Rants, Roster, trade. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Howie Roseman USAToday.jpg

That’s our kick-ass GM Howie Roseman. This guy, is a friggin’ GENIUS!

THIS so far, has been a nightmare. So far there doesn’t seem to be a plan. When we left the 2019 season we had obvious holes to fill, and things to strengthen. So get to it, right? Instead what happened, was our GM Howie Roseman, created more holes and has so far left them empty.

Some fans may have been placated by Howie trading for 30 year old CB Darius Slay. That said, I think many will acknowledge that a week earlier, no one was talking about Slay. Everyone (except me) seemed to want CB Byron Jones. As it stands now, Nobody’s First Choice, is thus far Howie’s crowning achievement of 2020.

Six weeks ago (going by talent on rosters), the NFC East was in the bag for the Eagles. Then our GM began just ripping shit up. Got rid of our only complete LB (OLB/MLB Nigel Bradham), a future Hall or Famer (LT Jason Peters), a perennial All-Pro (SS Malcolm Jenkins), the roster’s only down hill runner (RB Jordan Howard) and our leading receiver in Super Bowl 52 (RB Corey Clement).

card.corey.clement

Howie has left us thin at all of those positions now, and he hasn’t even brought in unproven players to fill those holes. What did we add to our roster you ask? Well shit, let’s take a look!

We got the aforementioned 30 year old CB, a NT (Javon Hargrave) for our 4-3 defense, in a Wide Nine system. We also got a… a… um…

Fuck! Just fuck, man! Fuck! The fuck is he doing, man?! I just want to… All he had to do was… I’m gonna go upstairs, put my head under my pillow, and blow my fuckin’ brains out!

Wait! Better idea.

head in oven.jpg

But it’s no time to panic.

It is after all, still early in the process, and with everything being pushed back a bit, due to a public health concern (WINK!), it theoretically gives the Eagles Front Office more time to weigh all the options. The problem with theoretically, is that other teams are making moves in real-time, which removes some of the options, off the board.

Raise your hand if you’d have liked a serious run at trading for WR DeAndre Hopkins.

How about QB Nick Foles for a 4th rounder (like Chicago paid)? Foles is re-doing his deal so that the Bears can afford him. So, you know. Yay. I’m happy for the Bears. Hey, if you can’t see my eye twitch, or hear the bitterness in my tone, then you might assume that I took that trade in stride.

Hey! CB A.J. Bouye for a 4th rounder (like Denver paid), would have  also been nice.

How about signing free agents like MLB Joe Schobert or LB Cory Littleton?! RB Lamar Miller is still out there (coming off an ACL injury) and waiting for a committee role.

Don’t even get me started about us not re-signing Bradham (still unsigned), Peters (still unsigned) Jenkins, Howard, or DE Vinny Curry (still unsigned). Rumor has it that the Jets are interested in Vinny.

too much stress.jpg

I understand the idea of getting younger. I understand the idea of leaning on the draft. What I don’t understand, is the inactivity. What I don’t understand, is what we’re waiting for. What I don’t understand, is the plan.

Howie Roseman USAToday.jpg

UGH! Look at this idiot’s face. What’s the plan?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY TEAM!?!?

#2 PAY THE MAN!

Posted by The BEAST on 2020/02/11
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Players, Rants, Roster, The 12. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

THE 12 2020.2

RENEGOTIATING SS Malcolm Jenkins is a bigger priority than picking up LB Nigel Bradham’s option. I put Bradham first, because picking up an option is a decision. Both players are still under contract, but Jenkins is a negotiation. I wanted to lead with something the Front Office could 100% do, and do quickly, if they wish.

I have no idea how much money Jenkins wants. What I do know, is that we don’t have anyone else like him on the field, in the locker room, or in the community. Jenkins not coming back in 2020, would rip the beating heart out of this team.

longjenkins.jpg

More than what he means to the psyche of this team, is his actual on-field value. While once upon a time he was a CB/S tweener, he’s no longer very good against deep passes. It’s why so much of the scheme is designed to not (ahem) expose him, to certain situations. (We love you Malcolm, but it’s the world’s worst kept secret, that you can be had deep.)

On the other hand, underneath, intermediate, and in the box, he’s AMAZING. And even better than his play, he sees things early, and often helps teammates erase mental mistakes before the ball is even snapped. There is no stat for that. If you think this Defense can be a sieve with him out there, taking him away would be like cutting the bottom out of a bucket.

Oh yeah, and just who is his successor….

I hear crickets. Do you hear crickets? Because I hear crickets.

A couple of years ago it seemed like Tre Sullivan would be that guy, but NOPE! The Eagles never bothered to get a guy to stand behind Jenkins and learn So now if Jenkins walk, our defense is…

Soap drop

Seriously, behind Jenkins we have (drum roll)…Rudy Ford and Marcus Epps. Pardon if I can’t find my whelm. It’s under something. Between them there are 5 NFL seasons, 48 career games, 1 start, 20 total tackles, and not a single pass break-up. Ever. Not one. Between two players.

So Malcolm has the Eagles by the balls on this one. It’s just a matter of how soon the Front Office realizes that, and acts accordingly. Or they could do what they did with Brian Dawkins. Remember that one? That worked out splendidly for us, didn’t it?

Pay the man!

2019 Malcolm Jenkins pre-game

THE DOOMSDAY SCENARIO

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/11/21
Posted in: Conversations, Draft, Front Office (F.O.), NFC East, playoffs, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Pederson Lurie.jpg

DESPITE an awful season so far, we’re still just 2 games out of first place with 6 games to play, 4 of which are against division opponents. We still control our own destiny as far as winning the NFC East goes. However, let me indulge those who say the season is already over. Let’s talk about the worst case scenario for 2018.

Lets say the Eagles fall off a cliff, lose all of the next 6 games, and end up 4 – 12. What does that mean for us?

1) It means the Eagles would likely pick in the top five in every round of the 2019 NFL Draft.

We have a good nucleus to build around, and an ass ton of Draft picks to work with. We already have a franchise QB, a solid RT, 2 blue chip TE’s, a solid WR group, youth at CB, a blue chip DT, a young star at DE, 2 solid starters at LB, a K that we can grow old with, a utility RB who may still have some up side, and a third string QB who would be fine as a second stringer.

We need a bell-cow RB, some youth on the interior Offensive Line, youth at Safety, a third LB, and a second DE.

2) It means we (should) get a 2019 schedule with fewer playoff teams on it.

In 2017 we came off of a 7-9 season, and had a schedule that included the Seahawks, Raiders, Chiefs, all 2016 playoff teams. add to that four games against division rivals (Cowboys and giants) who were playoff teams. Coming off of a losing record, we played half a season against playoff contender class teams. If 2019 is easy, so what? We’re owed an easy schedule year.

3) What are the odds that the injury bug bite this hard THREE years in a row?

It’s already weird that it’s biting this hard for a second straight year. So next year we’ll likely be healthier. (Then again, I thought the same thing for this season.) Aging, oft injured vets like RB Darren Sproles and LT Jason Peters will likely not be back. So those annual nagging injuries won’t be part of the 2019 landscape.

4) It means that this next offseason will not be spent writing books and such.

I don’t begrudge the players for basking in what could be once in a lifetime limelight. However, the fact is, those hungry dogs became so well fed, that they had trouble rolling over onto their legs. A 4 – 12 finish would mean that, Summer with Carson up in Fargo this year would have a different feel than it did last year.

wentz-pederson.jpg

This is all provided that the Eagles year gets worse. In the event of a worst case 2018, the foreseeable future still looks pretty good. In fact, it could be argued that a bad 2018 could be used to our long-term advantage.

This isn’t justifying losing. It’s not spin, rose-tinted glasses, or tireless optimism. It’s about getting up when we fall down. It’s not about glass half-full, or glass half-empty. Its about seeing in either case, that the glass needs to be completely filled. 

 

As long as we’re still mathematically alive for any sort of playoff run, this team has no right to tank. Players like Peters, Sproles and Carson Wentz deserve better effort than that. That said, even if the season does go full-blown Hindenburg, there’s no reason to hang your heads Eagles fans. One way or another we’ll come out ahead of this.

SHOW A SPECIAL PLAYER SOME LOVE

Posted by The BEAST on 2017/08/18
Posted in: Coaching, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Offense, Players, Rants, Roster, Special Teams. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Byran Braman.jpg

CLEARLY the Eagles Special Team Kick Coverage unit has lost something since last season. In my opinion what they lost was OLB Bryan Braman. In fact, it already looks similar to the falloff we experienced when we foolishly let LB Ike Reese go to Atlanta, after the 2004 Super Bowl.

For the last three years, Braman was a ST demon for this team under ST Coordinator Dave Fipp. Funny thing is, while we’re experiencing a slide in our kick coverage, Braman is sitting at home. Unsigned. Last I heard, he was visiting with the Saints earlier this month, but apparently that didn’t work out.

Typically football fans undervalue the importance of great Special Teams kick coverage. They don’t realize how it sets the table for a defense. Forcing poor field position, followed by a three and out (or a turnover), sets up an offense with a short field and an ability to score quickly.

Frequently the only yards fans and pundits discuss, are what an offense produces or what a defense allows. The “hidden yardage” of Special Teams generally gets ignored. Not investing in a kick coverage unit, can cost a team that hidden yardage battle, many times over the course of a season. Losing that battle can easily contribute to losing the game. With that in mind, it seems like someone in our Front Office needs to make a phone call, and get Fipp a guy he can work with.

GOODBYE WENDELL SMALLWOOD?

Posted by The BEAST on 2017/05/22
Posted in: Conspiracy Corner, Crazy Talk, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Offense, Players, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

card.wendell.smallwood

EVERYONE seems to be talking about what RB LeGarrette Blount means for the Eagles Offense. Conversely, no one seems to be talking about what signing Blount means for 2nd year RB Wendell Smallwood. Sure they discuss how Smallwood may be used. How many touches per game he would, should or could see, but not what the Blount signing really means for him. Long term means for him. Well friends, allow me to enlighten you.

Howie to players

The Eagles went into the 2017 Draft wanting to draft a RB with second round pick. Let me repeat that. They went into the Draft with that desire. For Smallwood, the Eagles initial desire to draft a RB with a second round pick, says they didn’t feel that they have a star or even a starter in Smallwood.

The Eagles FO (Front Office) reportedly wasn’t able to move up in the 2nd round in order to get RB Dalvin Cook, so they took CB Sidney Jones instead. Since they didn’t sign a RB in Free Agency’s first round, and didn’t get their man in the Draft, the FO was left scrambling.

Realizing that they’d screwed the pooch, the FO took a hard look at the options already available on our roster. Those options were A) pay RB Ryan Mathews for 16 starts while only getting 6 to 8 out him; or B) they could release him, and go with a roster full of runts at the position. What happened next was no less than a repudiation of Wendell Smallwood himself.

Once they whiffed on Cook in the Draft, the FO didn’t trade for a promising young RB, nor did they get behind any back currently on the roster. They essentially decided that they would eat a year at the position. Yet even with that decision, Smallwood would still not be “the guy”. Not even in a throwaway year.

Instead, the FO spent as much as 2.8M on a 30-year old, one-dimensional player, just to act as a stop-gap for 16 games or so. He’s a one year role player, here to play (what even he called) “situational football”. Next year, either through the Draft or Free Agency, you can bet your sweet ass that the Eagles will prioritize getting QB Carson Wentz a RB he can grow with. 

The Eagles blatant disregard for Smallwood in particular has to be jarring for his confidence, considering that the team didn’t even invest much in the guy they gave his spot to. Blount is here long enough for the team to have a full spate of options to pick from in 2018. At which point they’ll be looking past Smallwood again. I hope his agent is preparing him.

Maybe I’m wrong and Smallwood will have a huge year, be a top 5 rushing leader, and become a breakout star. Maybe the Eagles will decide they don’t need to spend an early draft pick on a RB in 2018. Maybe Donald Trump will be the best thing that ever happened to America, and maybe the Eagles and Browns will play in the Super Bowl this year. Oh wait, I don’t take hallucinogenics. Never mind.

This signing basically tweets to the world what the Eagles think of Wendell Smallwood. If he can still be an effective Kick Returner this year, then I can see him getting a deal to stay beyond his rookie contract. If not… This Philly (guy) is 75% sure that Smallwood will be packing his bags with Blount at the end of this year.

THE 12: #4 DEVELOP A TE

Posted by The BEAST on 2017/03/18
Posted in: Coaching, NFL, Offense, Players, Rants, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

THE122017#4

ONE of the biggest disadvantages we face as an Offense, is that we telegraph when we’re going to run the ball, by bringing in TE Brent Celek. We do this because TE Zach Ertz isn’t a great blocker in the run game. So when opponents see Celek out there, they know to walk a Safety down to the box. I mean it’s not like we throw to Celek much anymore, so we’re tipping our hand whenever we send him out there.

Right now we overpay Celek be almost exclusively a blocker, while overpaying Ertz to be almost exclusively a receiver. This is part of the glut in our current salary cap situation. Decisions like this force us to hold onto players we shouldn’t, while releasing players we want to keep. Basically we’re taking it in the ass both on the field AND in the Front Office, and it has to stop.

The obvious answer is to work on Ertz’s physicality at the point of attack. If he could be developed this way, then he could stay on the field and we wouldn’t be tipping our hand to our opponents. It also means we won’t have to keep paying a back-up player 4M$ a year, while we pay the starter just as much. (BTW: Ertz’s salary just about doubles starting next year.)

THE 12: #1 NINE WINS IS A MUST

Posted by The BEAST on 2017/03/15
Posted in: Conversations, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , . 3 Comments

THE122017#1

SOMEBODY (Jeffery Lurie) has to come out and declare the floor for this season. The goal is always a Super Bowl, but we’re a rebuilding team coming off of two straight 7-9 seasons. A championship would be nice, but realistically speaking, it would be an unfair expectation to have at this moment.

Still, some sort of benchmark must be set for this season. Otherwise it will leave the issue of our success or failure open to interpretation, and that can’t happen. There needs to be a clear indicator that we’re a better team than we were a year ago, so that the Front Office, coaching staff, and players all have an idea of what to build on and what to cut away.

Nine wins (at a minimum) would be a great indicator. Having just been 7-9 (sub .500), the knee jerk reaction is that 8-8 (.500) is the next step up. You know what? Maybe eight wins is the next step up. Maybe it is. But we aren’t talking about taking a step, we’re talking about a turnaround.

We’ve been losers for two years now. (Don’t argue with me. Being sub .500 is losing.) The idea is to show that we’re done with being losers, and are now winners. The best way to show that you’re a winner, is to go out there and be a winner. So a 9-7 (winning record) not an 8-8 (tied record), is the logical the benchmark.

Make no mistake, going from being a loser to being a winner requires fundamental changes. In the event that we don’t see 9 wins, we will know that enough hasn’t fundamentally changed from our 7-9 season two years ago. The changes have to be fundamental not merely statistical.

The last thing we need is to go 7-9 again, with people saying we’re better now because QB Carson Wentz‘s TD/Int ratio went from 16/14 to 26/12, or because the Defense amassed 48 sacks over last year’s 34. Better cannot be measured increments for a team serious about winning a championship.

We need a turnaround, not a step up. We need at least 9 wins, not 8. We need winning, not tied. We need that benchmark.