Genard Avery

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FOUR THINGS: WK 17: EAGLES – REDSKINS

Posted by The BEAST on 2022/01/01
Posted in: breakdown, Coaching, Defense, Four Things, NFC East, Offense, Players, playoffs, Preview, Rivals. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

LAST week the giants (4 -10 at the time) hadn’t yet been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. Then we came along. BOOM! We bodied the giants. This week we go to Washington, to face their “not yet mathematically eliminated” football… Can you really call that mess, a team? I mean look…

Currently we hold the 7th seed in the playoffs, but at 8 – 7, we haven’t clinched it yet. That means we have to win to defend, the spot that we’re in. A win by us and a loss by the 7 – 8 Vikings, makes the magic happen before dawn Monday morning.

A win means we climb to 9 – 7. If the Vikings fall to 7 – 9, the only other NFC teams who could also get to 9 wins, are the 7 – 8 Falcons, and the 7 – 8 Saints. Both of whom we hold head-to-head tie-breakers over. So we need to win and we need Minny to lose.

If we lose, it could be catastrophic. Especially if the Vikings win. At that point, we’d a be a game out, and they’d be the 7th seed, by virtue of deep tie-breaking procedure. If that happens, we’d have to win next week and hope, PRAY that Minny loses.

Of course all of this solves itself, if we finish running the table.

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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, and will deserve it when you do.

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

1) Don’t get cute: Run the ball. That’s who we are. That’s what we do. The NFL’s best hasn’t been able to stop us, and lord knows Washington can’t. We hung 238 rushing yards on them just 2 weeks ago. So keep it simple, and just come out running. Run until they stop us. If they stop us. They won’t stop us. They can’t stop us. Run the ball.

With RB Miles Sanders out, the Eagles need complimentary running now more than ever. We’ll likely start and lean on RB Boston Scott, but our run game is less violent when he or rookie RB Kenneth Gainwell is the tip of the spear, and neither has demonstrated enough break-away speed to offset being smaller and easy to tackle.

No one knows if RB Jordan Howard will be ready to come back from the stinger he suffered last week. If he’s going to play, he has to be ready to live up to his “Bulldozer” nickname. (Look it up.) If he can’t, my guess is that recently signed RB Kerryon Johnson will be elevated from the Practice Squad.

2) Blitz On Long Downs: Washington isn’t going to beat us by relying on dump passes to WR Adam Humphries and TE Ricky Seals-Jones. WR Terry McLaurin on the other hand is a big play guy who can swing, or kill momentum in a game. We have CB’s good enough to make life hard for him. However, it’s a lot easier to take him away as a downfield threat, if there’s no time for him to get deep.

Blitz the QB and get the ball out of his hand ASAP. I want to see more of OLB Genard Avery firing through the “B” gap. That or Avery and DE Josh Sweat leveraging the RT. Sacks here and there would be great, but what we really want, is for the QB to SEE the rush, and consistently treat the ball like a live hand grenade.

3) Knock Taylor on his Heinicke: Last time we played Washington, we played against a short notice fill-in at QB. Sadly, he looked better than he should have. Going against gunslinging QB Taylor Heinicke however, will pose a much stiffer challenge. He knows he’s not Washington’s future, so he plays every game like it’s an audition. He’s inspired to play hero-ball on every down. And that makes him dangerous.

So hit him. A lot.

The thing about auditioning constantly, is that he always needs a product (his body) to be in a condition where he can sell it. Taking extra damage for a team going nowhere? A team that he knows wants to bail on him?? No need for late hit flags, just let him know that his body is in danger. That should calm his heroic vibe, right the fuck down.

4) Mr. Smith goes to Washington: Get WR Devonta Smith 7 to 8 targets. And start early! Intimidation. That’s the point of this one. To create room to run underneath, we need to push DBs’s out of the box. So give Washington the choice of giving up a 30 yard pass, or a 7 yard run.

When they go split-Safety, and the Nickle is deeper than 5 yards, then we can audible to an inside run play. That way if we have to play a bunch of smaller RB’s, we can still gash Washington for chunks of rushing yardage.

(And when we do this, can the RB PLEASE angle toward the DB, instead of the LB? That creates a much higher chance of a broken tackle or a trucked defender.)

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If we do these Four Things,

It would be disrespectful to flat out say that we should practice for the playoffs against the Redskins, but we do need to polish up on a few things.

We need to get sharper at throwing Screens. The way we do it now, tends to draw downfield blocking penalties, because QB Jalen Hurts often holds the ball too long. Better acting on pick plays is also needed.

We also need to establish a second outside threat, so that when teams take away Smith in the playoffs, it’s not all GoedertGoedertGoedertGoedertGoedert.

Small things done well, will lead to our Offense being terrifyingly consistent. That said, we don’t have a lot of time to get ready for the playoffs. That is, if we want to make any noise.

PREDICTION: EAGLES 24 – Redskins 16

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

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: WK 15: REDSKINS

Posted by The BEAST on 2021/12/22
Posted in: breakdown, Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, NFC East, Offense, Players, playoffs, Reviews, Rivals, Roster, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

WE’LL be .500 for Christmas!

EAGLES 27 – Redskins 17

EAGLES STATS:

New categories include an EXCLUSIVE weekly Offensive Line Report (Rushing TD’s + 3rd and 4th downs converted:missed of 2 yards or less – sacks allowed); as well as Drive Killer (Int – FR – 4th down Tackles – FF – TD).

Passing: (S ) QB Jalen Hurts (20/26 – 76.9% – 296 – 1 – 1)

Rushing: (S ) RB Miles Sanders (18 – 131 – 7.2 – 0 – 0)

Receiving: (S ) TE Dallas Goedert (9 – 7 – 135 – 19.2 – 0)

Offensive Line Report: (2 + 4:2 – 3)

Drive Killer: (S ) DT Fletcher Cox (0 – 0 – 0 – 1 – 0)

Sack Leader: (S ) DT Fletcher Cox (3 – 1.5 – 0 – 1)

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I hear you asking, “What about all the stuff that stats don’t reveal?” Well, that’s the reason for these 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: Redskins (1) did the Eagles actually get around to doing? Well let’s see:

1) Use the 12th Man: Eagles fans were out IN FORCE for this one. The idea here was to have the players drive the crowd, but that hardly was necessary. Even when the Eagles were in a 0 – 10 hole to start the game, the crowd was never truly out of it. There were some boos, but really that crowd last night was one of the best I’ve ever seen.

The first 10 points we gave up were the result of weirdness, but no one was worried that level of weirdness was going to happen on every drive, for four straight quarters. It of course didn’t, and a wolf ate a sheep. Nature took it’s course. In part because the crowd never stopped making it hard on the opponent, during cold, dark, misty conditions. Well done Philadelphia. Well done. (DONE)

2) Run the Ball: There were 41 runs to 26 pass attempts (61.1% run). While 8 of those runs were by Hurts, he pulls the ball down so early that it’s not always easy to know what was a called run and what was a legitimate scramble. So from here on out, I’m just lumping his runs in with the handoffs. Otherwise it’s like picking gnat shit out of pepper.

We stuck to our identity, even when down 0 – 10. It allowed us to get a rhythm and settle our QB, who looked tight to start the game. Though he’d missed just one game, in real-time, he hadn’t seen action in nearly a month. We didn’t overplay our hand, or play down to the opponent. As a result we piled up 238 yards on the ground. (DONE)

3) Blitz from our right: Shout out to OLB Genard Avery (1 tackle) had a great run-stuff off the right (which came damned close to being offsides). Aside from that, there was never a concerted effort to get the ball out of the hand of QB Garrett Gilbert (20/31 – 64.5% – 194 – 0 – 0).

Our lack of aggressive defense allowed this kid to look better than he had any right to. Let me say right now, this approach won’t beat Washington twice this year. If we want a sweep in two weeks, we’ll have to dial up far more pressure. (NOT DONE)

4) Don’t force-feed Reagor: Turns out WR Quez Watkins (2 – 2 – 14 – 7.0 – 0) was able to play in this one, so there was no need to overuse WR Jalen Reagor (3 – 3 – 57 – 19.0 – 0). Reagor caught all three of his targets, and even threatened to score once. If calling him “trash” results in him contributing like this, I will call him “heated garbage soup” every week next season.

We forced nothing to him and he had 57 yards. I said in the Third Quarter Report that we need a non-Devonta WR to contribute 50 yards per game, over these last 4. We just got it from Reagor, without force-feeding him. (DONE)

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That gives us 3 out of the Four Things for this week. In five days, we get to extend five knuckles worth of hospitality to the giants as we host them Sunday afternoon. A win in that game, will make us an above .500 team to bring in the New Year.

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On The Whole:

As I said, if we put up 25 points, that should do the trick. Even at full strength the Redskins can’t manufacture points very well. Well we put up 27, and they only put up the points they did, because early in the game Jesus Klaus gifted them with a bizarre couple of turnovers.

Jalen Hurts just got his first win over an NFC East opponent. We’re technically still just outside of the picture, but now that we’re 7 – 7, we can legitimately bring up the playoffs as a subject.

When the game was scheduled for Sunday, the plan may have been for QB Gardner Minshew and Hurts to each get snaps. However, this delay allowed Hurts’s ankle to get to full strength. As a result, the only snaps Minshew saw, were the ones played by Hurts. So there is no QB controversy.

(FYI: The QB position is still VERY MUCH under evaluation. There’s just no question about the pecking order. Today.)

VINNY CURRY RETURNS! (AGAIN.)

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

Vinny Curry

CURRIED QB is on the menu again in 2020! The Eagles have re-signed DE Vinny Curry, bringing him back on a one year deal for 2020. I’m a huge fan of the move. I love his experience in the scheme. I love his productivity. I love his schematic versatility. I love the depth he adds. Indeed, the rich have gotten richer.

It’s the timing on the move that raises my eyebrow.

When Curry was allowed to walk at the end of the season, the Eagles already knew what they had. So why wait until a week into camp to bring him back into the fold? My first instinct was, maybe they aren’t seeing as much from the young guys as they were hoping.

Rhodie (JFK)

Then I had another thought. Maybe it’s Covid-19 proofing. Our Defense is predicated on getting pressure on opposing QB’s. DC Jim Schwartz tries to do that with his four down linemen. So keeping those linemen fresh, is as important to the scheme as the X’s and O’s are. That in mind, we might just be stockpiling pass rush talent.

That would also explain last month’s cutting and immediate re-signing, of DE Daeshon Hall. Hall “failed” his physical, cleared waivers, was quickly snatched up by the very team that cut him, and placed neatly on our PUP (Physically Unable to Perform) List, where he incidentally won’t count against the roster. So basically Hall was stashed away.

While Curry at 32 years of age is unlikely to be stashed, a younger player could be. I’m thinking of players like DE’s Shareef Miller, Joe Ostman, Matt Leo, and the aforementioned Hall. A couple of those guys may end up on the Practice Squad, or this year’s very flexible I.R. format.

GRAHAM AND CURRY

If I had to bet on which DE’s make the Week One roster, I’d go with Curry, Brandon Graham, Derek Barnett, Josh Sweat, and Genard Avery playing a LB/DE swing role. Curry gives us a Nickle/Dime DT presence as well. (Graham and Barnett will start of course.)

This signing is a great move. Not only for what it added to our roster, but for removing Curry from garnering interest from a division rival at some point. Everything about this move was forward thinking. I have to love it.

MANIACAL FACT: When Vinny Curry starts 16 games, his team ALWAYS wins a Super Bowl. 

card.vinny.curry

THE  LINEBACKER PROBLEM

Posted by The BEAST on 2020/05/12
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, Front Office (F.O.), Players, Rants, Reviews, Roster, Special Teams. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

byron and seth upend emmitt

LINEBACKER is one of two positions where the Eagles have an extremely spotty Draft history. If you go back to 1975 (the year I was born), there have have only been nine LB’s drafted by, and panning out, as a four year starter for the Eagles: Reggie Wilkes 1978, Jerry Robinson 1979, Anthony Griggs 1982, Seth Joyner 1986, Byron Evans 1987, William Thomas 1991, Jeremiah Trotter 1998, Mychal Kendricks 2012, Jordan Hicks 2015.

Let me say that again. In 45 years, and after spending 52 draft picks on the LB position, the Eagles have had just NINE of them pan out. Since Jeff Lurie bought the team in 1994, the numbers are just 3 out of 27. Keep in mind that 1994 was 26 years ago. So we’ve drafted just three successful LB’s, in the last quarter century.

Which brings us to our current situation.

Many media types are wondering if the Eagles did enough in the 2020 Draft to shore up our holes at the MLB and OLB position. Let me disabuse you of the notion that this is a question. No. The Eagles have not done enough to patch the holes at LB.

card.LB nate.gerry

DC Jim Schwartz has given OLB Nate Gerry a few starts at MLB, and every time yields disastrous results. Gerry playing MIKE gives us sideline to sideline hustle, and better than average fluidity in coverage because he played Safety in college. Due to his size, in the NFL he was either going to be a fast LB, or a slow S. The Eagles opted for fast LB, and as long as Gerry stays on the outside, he’s an absolute asset and a playmaker. But he lacks the sand in his pants to play inside, or to start vs a run heavy offense, that has a good blocking TE.

Right now OLB Genard Avery is sitting in limbo. As an edge defender, his speed and power adds juice to our pass rush. He also has a history of playing ILB, and does a good job of not staying blocked when facing offensive linemen. Since opposing blocking schemes already are going to struggle with the Eagles DT’s, if Avery could make the move to MLB, our interior could become a virtual No Man’s Land. That however, is speculation on my part. To date there is no word of Avery making a move inside. 

OLB Jatavis Brown was added via Free Agency. In 2018, injuries forced the Chargers to start him in 10 of the 15 games he played. He made such an impact that he started just 1 of 13 in 2019. At 220 pounds, he’s a big S, but an undersized LB. In the limited video I can find of him, he needs help to finish many tackles. In coverage he’s no ballhawk, with zero interceptions in 4 years. He’s got speed, but what’s the point of speed, if you don’t make impact plays? I hope he makes me eat my words.

NFL: Chicago Bears at Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles are high on Second year MLB T.J. Edwards, despite him having what keeps being referred to as “athletic limitations”. While he may not be a great individual athlete, he might be a great team concept football player. It’s worth noting that the Eagles are 4 – 0 when he starts, despite playing a combined 11 snaps in those games. (Perhaps he’s a human rabbit’s foot?) Also in those four games, our Defense which gave up a season average of 22.1 points per game, gave up 13, 14, 17 and 9 points respectively. He made no splash plays in the preseason, regular season or postseason, despite playing in all 21 of those games.

MLB Duke Riley is a 218 pound Special Teamer who saw just 28 defensive snaps in 2019. (This is compared to 111 for the rookie Edwards).

Second year LB Alex Singleton may be among the first wave of cuts. He’s a Special Teamer who didn’t see any defensive snaps during the season. That isn’t exactly a vote of confidence from the team, about his ability to play his position.

Rookie OLB Davion Taylor is a tweener in the Nate Gerry mold. Doesn’t seem to offer much vs the run. he’ll have to add weight to his 225 frame to handle the NFC East.

Rookie MLB Shaun Bradley is nice “local boy makes good” story, but his tape says Practice Squad at best.

Rookie free agent signee, MLB Dante Olson looks like a genuine Tackle to Tackle presence, but that may not be the best scheme-fit. I like him. I really do. However, unless the Eagles are about to alter what we do at MLB, I don’t know how he fits.

#1: PICK UP BRADHAM’S OPTION

Posted by The BEAST on 2020/02/10
Posted in: Defense, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Players, Roster, The 12. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

THE 12 2020.1

LINEBACKER has long been a sore spot for this team. Our 20 year history of identifying and developing talent at this position “hasn’t been great” to put it kindly. It’s specifically for that reason that we need to pick up the option on LB Nigel Bradham’s contract.

2019 nigel bradham

How much are we talking? In 2019 Bradham had a cap hit figure of 4.4M. In 2020 that would jump to 9.7M. That’s an additional 5.3M, or a raise of 120%. And yes, it sounds steep when you say it that way.

However, given the current LB market, our projected cap space (42M according to Spotrac), and that his cap hit freezes at 9.7 for two years, it means if he’s basically affordable until his deal expires in 2023.

Has Bradham been amazing? No, he hasn’t, but he has been pretty good, he’s been consistent, he does call our defensive plays, and he’s still the best LB we have. Replacing him through free agency would likely cost more, with no guarantee that they’d be as good as what we already have.

2019 Dwayne_Haskins_fumble_Nigel_Bradham_TD

OLB Nate Gerry is more like a S/LB tweener, both in build and play style. All indications are that OLB/DE Genard Avery will be used more like a stand-up DE, and less like a real OLB. So Counting Bradham, we have effectively 1.5 LB’s, and then a bunch of kick coverage guys.

The position undoubtedly needs a rebuild, and the Eagles will undoubtedly draft a LB, be it inside or outside. (Hopefully inside.) For now, Bradham and Gerry give us a decent base to build on. So why not start there, instead of scrapping everything, and hoping things work out for the best?

Re-sign Bradham, and build around him as a point of stability. This one is easy. Let’s hope the Front Office gets it right.

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED – WK 9 – BEARS

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/11/04
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, Reviews, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

FRUSTRATION. That word kept being applied to the Bears defensive players today, whenever they committed a bone-head penalty. However, the word just as easily could have been used to describe what it was like to see drive after Eagles drive, stall due to spotty play selection in the red zone.

To be honest, this game wasn’t nearly as close as the score, and should have been a blowout before half-time. While it’s impossible to ignore the issues that will be magnified over the next month, or the time being we have a couple days to appreciate being over .500 for at least a week.

Let’s enjoy it for a bit.

2019 Special Teams Bears muff

EAGLES 22 – Bears 14

The one-two punch of RB Jordan Howard (19 – 82 – 4.3 – 1 – 0) and RB Miles Sanders (10 – 42 – 4.2 – 0 – 0 / 3 – 31 – 10.3 – 0) was once again the engine that drove this team. While QB Carson Wentz (26/39 – 66.6% – 239 – 1 – 0) did have a nice day playing catch with TE Zach Ertz (9 – 103 – 11.4 – 1), he’s going to remain handcuffed until we get genuine #1 WR on this team.

New addition DE Genard Avery (1 – 0.5 – 0 – 0) came in and made his presence known. The coming Bye week gives him a chance to study, and get a better grasp of the scheme, before anyone gets much tape of him in it. Could be interesting. DE Brandon Graham (2 – 1 – 0 – 0) continues to find his way to the QB. He was aided today by a lot of early press coverage on the edges. The entire rush was aided by it actually.

2019 Eagles Bear trap.jpeg

Seemed like this would be a game that we could get a couple of turnovers in, but we didn’t force one all game. You know the word “comforting”? Yeah, this the opposite of that.

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) Make OLB Mack a liability: We didn’t really do this. They flip-flopped DE Khalil Mack (4 – 0 – 0 – 0) to try and get him some good looks, but he spent this game largely being negated. That in itself is a great thing since most of his match-ups were one-on-one. What sucks is that we didn’t punish him for being good at something. We didn’t capitalize on him. While what we did was still great, we didn’t do the thing written, so… (NOT DONE)

2) Steal their crutches: We spent an entire game doing this successfully. It wasn’t until we gave them another option, that they gained the slightest bit of life. (DONE)

2019 wentz sacked goldman.jpg

NT Eddie Goldman sacks QB Carson Wentz on opening drive. C Jason Kelce strolls over as the play unfolds.

3) Mix it up: We did a really good job of this in the first half. The second half, not so much. That first drive was awesome, until our interior Offensive line caved, and allowed Wentz to be sacked by NT Eddie Goldman (2 – 1 – 0 – 0). Later we would also give up one to DT Nick Williams (2 – 1 – 0 – 0). Then again, I just said in this year’s second Quarterly Review, that our interior has issues with pass pro. No one else is talking about that though. (DONE)

4) Toss them an anchor: Instead of tossing the Bears an anchor, we gave them a Zero Coverage look, which allowed even their QB, to hit a receiver for a 53 yard gain, which set up a very short TD. Prior to that, it was 19 – 0 and the Bears were reeling. Had they turned the ball over or allowed another score of any kind, the team would have folded like origami. We have got to find a player to inspire some form of emotional killer instinct. (NOT DONE)

So for this week, heading into our Bye, we break even at 2 of 4 things in Four Things. That brings us to a mark of 17 of 36 (.472) for the year.

I don’t set these tasks at higher than basic, and I tailor them to each opponent. So these grades are fair. They are by their very design, timely, unbiased, and stark. Despite having a 5- 4 record, a sub .500 Four Thing score, indicates that we aren’t doing basic things, and thus are a fundamentally bad team.

As things stand today, we do not deserve a playoff appearance. Here’s hoping that we get this turned around.

On The Whole:

2019 Jordan Howard Khalil Mack.jpg

For a second week in a row, we leaned on Jordan Howard and walked off with the ‘W’. We played some press coverage, and saw our Defensive Line cash in for 2.5 sacks.

Guy Fawkes Anonymous mask.jpg

Carson Wentz ignored the voice of Guy Fawkes, and targeted Zach Ertz 11 times. Ertz made plays when his number was called. No WR came close to his production.

Speaking of which, the WR issue has gotten terrifying. Alshon hasn’t looked right since he came back from injury. Frankly, given how much attention he sees, with no other WR threat to cover, I’m amazed that he’s produced much at all. But that’s a discussion for another day. Like tomorrow. The article is already written.