Halapoulivaati Vaitai

All posts tagged Halapoulivaati Vaitai

FOUR THINGS – WK PS4 – EAGLES-JETS

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/08/28
Posted in: Conversations, Fans, Four Things, NFL, Preview, Rants, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

PS4-NYJ.jpg

LET’S talk about what’s at stake this week. Nothing. We know who the Starters are. We know who the second units are. The third stringers will spend the year being activated and deactivated. Is that what we’re watching too see?

Besides, we play the Jets in like six weeks. We’re not showing them anything worth seeing. We won’t even be hinting at anything in this game. 

I mean c’mon, rookie OT Brett Toth, who signed a three year deal a week ago, is currently a liability as a pass blocker, and has yet to see any preseason action. Even if he doesn’t play a snap in this game, we already KNOW he’s guaranteed a spot on the practice squad.

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So there are zero stakes for the team, and the final score is a shrug to the team. Aside from a handful of guys who want more audition tape, all anyone wants, is to avoid getting hurt. That’s it. That’s what everyone is playing for. (BTW: If a player is still compiling tape in preseason week four, they’ve already told teams enough.)

I spent from Sunday until Wednesday trying to figure out why any of us should care about this last preseason game, when it’s evident that the team itself is just going through the motions, due to obligation. Here’s what I came up with: Just don’t watch it.

Why pump direct ratings via cable boxes, Nielsen boxes, and satellite receivers, to a league that doesn’t see fit to offer you a decent product? “Here piggy piggy. You’ll consume it because it’s sort of football.” Really?

Between football players who don’t have to play, baseball players who don’t have to hustle, and basketball players who think it’s cool to go years without being able to shoot a basketball, teams just don’t worry about giving fans quality anymore.

Are we their bitches? Are we their whores? I can’t speak for you, but I for one, am certainly not. If we the fans don’t send some sort of message, we’re going to keep seeing this. Or worse. So I’m taking this week off, and I’m asking you to do the same.

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

1) Work: If you work nights, don’t bother trying to find places watch the game out of the view of your supervisor. Why risk a write-up for a game that doesn’t matter? Wait until the games count, to run that kind of risk. Right Carson?

2) A night out: While lots of fans will crowd into sports bars, and stay home to catch the game, so the theaters should have fewer people in them. Same with restaurants that don’t have televisions in them. Take advantage of the extra elbow room.

3) Grocery shopping: If your favorite supermarket is open until 10p.m. or later, then by 7:30 or so, sports fans with talking pets (small kids), have generally cleared out of the building. If you show up at 8:00, you should be able to have an almost leisurely experience shopping. It’s not as good as 10a.m. on a Tuesday, but it’s pretty close. (Note: This may permanently change when you shop.)

4) Decorate: Spend the night decorating for Thanksgiving. Turkey Day is a huge football holiday, and it seldom gets the attention it deserves, since Christmas always waylays it’s mojo. Friday August 30th is still very much Summer. I can hardly think of a better end to Summer next month, than barbecuing in 80 degree weather, with Pilgrims in your window, and a giant inflatable turkey behind you.

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:

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You will watch the game. You can’t help it. You’ve missed football for too long, to ignore it for a week. The season is just too finite, and you don’t want to waste a second of it.

I on the other hand, am dead ass serious about not watching this game. (I may see a few seconds here or there while channel surfing, but I will not be staying. By no means.) Because I won’t be watching it, Head Coach Doug Pederson will elect to play his Starters for a series or two. Rest assured I will nod in amused irony when you all tell me about, it the following day.

(Side note: The Eagles have been putting a LOT of emphasis on adding to that RT spot recently. Halapoulivaati Vaitai, Jordan Mailata, Brett Toth… They don’t keep taking swings like this, at any other spot on the line. We might want to keep an eye on Lane Johnson this season.)

PREDICTION: EAGLES 20 – Jets 17

[yeah bitch eagle pic]

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: WEEK 8: 49ERS

Posted by The BEAST on 2017/10/30
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, Reviews, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

 

THIS was supposed to be a trap game. You know it and I know it. However, the injuries we suffered last week, left a couple of our guys with something to prove in this one. That, combined with some suck-ass weather, and just flat-out more talent, was more than enough to send San Francisco to 0-8.

NUMBER ONE SEED PERIOD

EAGLES 33 – 49ers 10

Alshon Jeffery (2 – 62 – 31.0 – 1) had more yards on his 53 yard touchdown catch-and-run, than any 49ers player had rushing or receiving all day. The Defense collected 4 sacks, 13 hits, and two interceptions, one of which returned for a touchdown by CB Jalen Mills (2 – 0 – 1 – 0). QB Carson Wentz (18/32 – 56.2% – 211 – 2 – 1) didn’t have a great day but, he was still effective at keeping the Offense at full-size. At no point did it feel like, or look like the Eagles were dialing the playbook down, in order to make life easier on our back-up LT.

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) Win the blitz: The 9ers didn’t really blitz Wentz very much, and they didn’t really need to. They got decent pressure for most of the game, with just their line. While RT Halapoulivaati Vaitai wasn’t the disaster most of us were expecting, the lines of communication between he and LG Stefen Wisniewski, must improve ASAP. That said, once the Eagles went to a no-huddle approach, Wentz himself was much sharper and quicker at getting the ball out. (DONE)

2) Air it out: It would be nice if more of our long attempts became long completions, but the aim of this week wasn’t necessarily the completions. As I said the point was to show faith in the O-line, clear space for the run game, and show other teams that the loss of LT Jason Peters, will not shrink the playbook or stop us from attacking. If this goal were a bell, we’d have rung it hard enough to put a crack in it. (DONE)

3) Put the top on: Containing WR Marquis Goodwin was going to be key for clogging up the rest of San Fran’s offense. While he was questionable to play due to his back, he was active for the game. That was of no help to the 9ers, as the only thing Goodwin caught on Sunday, was possibly a cold. (DONE)

4) Turn up the heat: 13 hits and 4 sacks sounds like we dialed up a lot of blitzes, but really we didn’t. Didn’t need to, since we can generally get pressure with 4 rushers. That and the 49ers offensive linemen were dropping like teenage girls at Beatles performance. We didn’t really get this one done, but who cares? We got the result without doing the work. (NOT DONE)

This weeks score is 3 out of 4, bringing us to 26 of 32 on the season. Next week’s dance with the Denver Broncos may prove to be a little tougher, but at least we don’t have to play at Mile High next week. (And yeah, I’m aware that their stadium is called Sports Authority Field at Mile High. I just hate the shitty names that arenas have these days. And to me it’s still PATTISON station, not AT&T station.)

On The Whole:

We beat an opponent that we were supposed to beat. Even if we hadn’t dominated, it wouldn’t have mattered, because we won a trap game. That’s the important part. When a team becomes elite, most of their games are trap games, because few opponents will be elite. So instead of fearing trap games, get used to them.

We took two major injuries last week, and still rolled over an NFL team. LT Vaitai didn’t give up a billion sacks, and MLB Joe Walker (2 – 0 – 0 – 0) wasn’t a target that the 49ers could pick on all day. Detractors will tell you that San Fran wasn’t exactly the stiffest test, and that would be true. However, the 49ers were the only team on the schedule this week.

While no one was looking, the Eagles pulled off a balanced Offensive attack with 32 pass to 27 called runs. Speaking of running the ball, I told you to expect RB LeGarrette Blount (16 – 48 – 3 – 1 – 0) to carry the ball a season-high 18 times, and I was wrong. He only matched his season-high of 16 carries. RB Corey Clement (10 – 54 – 5.4 – 0 – 0) can now say there was a week when he led the team he rooted for as a child, in rushing yards. And he can say he did it as an undrafted rookie.

Defense was the story of the day. Once again we took away an opponent’s run game and left their QB to do everything all by himself. This game marked the third time in eight games that our opponent’s leading rusher was their QB. All this defense does is take, even though it’s by no means at full strength right now.

Be afraid NFL. This 7-1 team still has room to get MUCH better.

FOUR THINGS: WK 8: EAGLES-49ERS

Posted by The BEAST on 2017/10/27
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Four Things, Offense, Players, Preview. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

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THIS week we’re coming off of a win, in which we suffered two devastating, season-ending losses to LT Jason Peters and MLB Jordan Hicks. It’s been a season fraught with injuries that we’ve managed to mask, mitigate or otherwise overcome completely. However, there is a growing concern among some Eagles fans and media, that this team has run out of miracles.

This is going to be a very interesting game. A 6-1 Eagles team, playing in Philly against an 0-7 San Fran team. In most years this would be a trap game. This would be the game where the Eagles took an opponent lightly, came out flat, and were left saying…

da fuck

Instead, we got yet another visit from (that bitch) the Injury Bug last week, and it’s left us with questions. Questions like, Will the season fall apart now? Can the coaching staff make enough adjustments to offset the losses? Is there enough talent on the roster to give coaches any decent options? This game will be about answering those questions.

So let’s talk about the Four Things we need to focus on this week versus the 49ers :

1) Win the blitz: After LT Jason Peters was injured, the logical assumption was that RT Lane Johnson would take over the left spot, and back-up OT Halapoulivaati Vaitai would play the right, where he could be helped by a TE. NOPE! Head Coach Doug Pederson is leaving Johnson at RT, and starting (yes starting) Vaitai at LT. That means our RB’s will spend a lot of time lined up on the left to help Vaitai. If the RB’s are blocking left, expect blitzes from the middle and the right. QB Carson Wentz has to identify blitzers quickly and get that ball out of his hands. Otherwise this game will become a nightmare.

2) Air it out: While Wentz can’t spend all day holding the ball, at times we really do need to throw the ball deep this week. We need to show teams that losing Peters didn’t shrink our playbook, so not respecting our WR’s will be costly. In the long-run this helps out our run game. More than that, we need to demonstrate to our own O-line, that the staff still trusts them.

3) Put the top on: The most dangerous player on the 49ers offense is WR Marquise Goodwin. The guy is faster than a rumor, and if San Fran really knew what they had, they might be 5-2 instead of 0-7. We have to contain Goodwin, thereby keeping the rest of their offense in front of us, instead behind us. Goodwin is on the injury list with a “back injury”, but until he’s ruled “out”, he’s still as dangerous as honesty in a PC world.

4) Turn up the heat: Show blitz on practically every 2nd and 3rd down, but only bring it when the distance is 8 yards, or more. Getting to the 49ers QB isn’t hard at all. No need to overextend and expose ourselves and give up one or more big, catch-and-run plays underneath. The idea is to get MLB Joe Walker mentally involved and then keep him dialed in, emotionally. He’s a back-up, but he can’t look like a back-up out there. Otherwise, the 49ers will key on him and give themselves a chance.

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:

Offensively, the Eagles are going to give Vaitai help, by having RB’s watch that LT/LG gap for blitzers or rips inside. That, calls for a heavy dose of the big RB LeGarrette Blount this week. He may be allowed to develop a rhythm running the ball, since he should be out there in pass protection so much. (Having him out there and not really giving him the ball eventually tips our play-call to the 9ers. Why help them out?) So expect Blount to run the ball a season-high 18 times. Not using Blount in pass-pro, is an invitation for disaster.

So much is up in the air on Defense. It’s likely that Walker will be asked to make scaled down zone drops, and just attack his run fits. There would be no sense in the coaches telling him to go out there and make plays. He first has to get familiar with not just what he should be doing, but others around him as well.

It has to be expected that our MLB will be targeted in the passing game. While it would be nonsense for coaches to tell him to make plays, let me say AS A FAN, he has to make one or two plays, when they come at him. Otherwise, he will be seen as our weak link.

On the whole, we’ll win because even with as injured as we are, we still have more flat-out talent than San Francisco.

PREDICTION: EAGLES 27 – 49ers 10

yeah bitch

SURVIVING OUR INJURIES

Posted by The BEAST on 2017/10/25
Posted in: Defense, Front Office (F.O.), Offense, Players, Roster, Special Teams, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

wounded eagle

THIS fucking sucks. It’s bad enough that we lost LT Jason Peters and MLB Jordan Hicks for the season. Having to rely on OT Halapoulivaati Vaitai, and MLB Joe Walker, only makes matters worse, because there currently is no safety net behind those guys. Oh wait! It gets better! To add a dash of salt to the cut on our eyeball, there is the distinct possibility that we’ve seen the last of Peters.

Hicks on the other hand will be back here next year. Whether or not he comes back as a starter, has a lot to do with how Walker handles these last 9 games. Depth at LB has been an issue for this team for over a decade now. Like Guard, it is not a position we do a good job of drafting or stocking up on.

The word on the street, in every news paper, and on every website, is that RT Lane Johnson will move to LT to protect QB Carson Wentz’s blindside. This will relegate Vaitai, to RT. Given that Vaitai has problems against speed, or quickness, or strength, or persistence, I’m hoping that the coaching staff will get him more TE help.

Not giving Vaitai TE help would just be an act of arrogance. It could also lead to a career-ending moment for our franchise QB. Few things could be as embarrassing as starting the year as the 6 – 1, number one team in the NFL, only to implode completely and mortgage the future; over nothing more than an unwillingness to adjust the Offensive scheme a little.

I like Walker as a Special Teamer, and he’s fine for giving your starter a breather here and there. He just never seems eager to mix it up or control the area from DE to DE. You want a MLB to piss all over that area, and mark it as HIS. In all truth, during the preseason, I liked LB Don Cherry much more than I liked Walker. Maybe we’ll see Cherry back in here soon. (Gotta work on his tendency to shuffle his feet before hitting the gas, though.)

I’m not sure what can be done to help Walker. Hicks has a reputation for being a ballhawk, so QB’s weren’t too interested in challenging him when he was in coverage. Given that Walker is only 236 and isn’t a thumper, I’m hoping that coverage will be where he excels, and that we can get some tipped passes and a cheap interception (or four) from QB’s testing him.

Three days ago, I wrote another article about how I’m not worried about any of the other teams in the NFC, stopping us in the playoffs. I wanted to wait until after the Redskins game to release it, so that I wouldn’t jinx the win by writing 6 – 1, before it actually happened. Then these injuries happened. I may still release the article after we demolish San Francisco, but right now, I hardly feel like talking shit.

WK11: SEAHAWKS

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/11/19
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, NFL, Offense, Players, Preview, Special Teams. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

w11-sea

Seattle Seahawks

SUNDAY 4:25       CenturyLink Field       Seattle, WA

NEEDS TO STEP UP:

halapoulivaati-vaitai

RT Halapoulivaati Vaitai: He can’t be a liability this week. Under normal circumstances he’d have to line up against DE Michael Bennett who’s one of the best in the game. However, since Bennett is out with a knee injury, Vaitai’s dance partner this week is back-up DE Frank Clark. Before you breathe that sigh of relief, you need to know that Clark is 2nd on the team in sacks (7.5). Seattle is also starting a back-up LOLB, so we need to be able to attack that. We can’t do that, if we have to cover for Vaitai.

WE MUST CONTAIN:

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QB Russell Wilson: Got a really simple one here: Stay in your rush lanes, and limit Wilson’s sight-lines and scramble lanes. Seattle has no real run game, and their WR’s are just as yawn inducing as ours are. Their TE was a god in New Orleans, but since going to Seattle (even making allowance for injury), he’s been a shadow of his former self. If we hamper Wilson, we shut down their whole offense. Their defense is still good, but it’s getting by (in part) on a three year old reputation. Take away the QB and it’s not like that defense can score enough points to hang with us.

EAGLES STORY LINE:

One week after pummeling Atlanta into submission, we draw a team that likes to trade short-area punches. Seattle has been operating this way for years now, and we just started showing signs that we can do it again. So it can’t be expected that we can go toe-to-toe with them in their wheelhouse.

We however, pack a few nasty surprises that most brawler-type teams lack. We have probably the best Special Teams unit in the sport (that means all levels and all leagues). We also have a human spark plug (RB Darren Sproles), and an Offense evolving around a rapidly evolving QB in Carson Wentz. This team has never scored fewer than 20 points under this rookie QB, and our worst loss under him was by 7 points.

Seattle can punch teams in the mouth, but now so can we. This match-up will be different than the last one, where TIK was our coach. This is a message game. Once upon a time teams dreaded coming to Philly. They knew it meant an ass whooping. Even if we lost, you were going to leave here, bleeding from the face.

Tomorrow. 4:25. Be in character Eagles fans.

BOTTOM LINE:

If this were easy, it would be worthless. Time to take it. Tame it. EARN IT.

PREDICTION:

EAGLES 28 – Seahawks 18

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: FALCONS

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/11/15
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, Reviews. Tagged: , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

THE score was closer than the game was. Even with a few self-inflicted wounds (LB Najee Goode, I’m looking at YOU!) we managed to hold the NFL’s top scoring team, to less than half of the 34 (33.9) points that they came into the game averaging. We punked, bullied, and pushed Atlanta around at will.

This is exactly the team I was predicting they’d be prior to this preseason. The stifling team concept Defense, our Offense being based on a power run game, Special Teams that set the table for the other two units. It was great to finally see it all come together.

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RB Ryan Mathews powers into the end zone, with a physicality that teammate Darren Sproles does not possess. 

That 24 – 15 victory was a thing of beauty. It was in no way a finished product, as you could still see we have some growing to do. However, when you hold a team that averages 315 passing yards, to just 303 total yards, it’s something to be proud of. We took a team averaging 114 rushing yards per game and capped them at 48. This was also the worst showing of the year by the Falcons QB, who escaped the game with a passer rating of just 78.7.

But what about the stuff that the stats don’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) Get away from things we don’t do well. We didn’t lean on RB Darren Sproles as our bell-cow; only attempted a couple Screen passes; ran ZERO QB options; and didn’t try to force long balls to TE Zach Ertz or WR Nelson Agholor. Instead we leaned on RB Ryan Mathews, threw the ball down the field to WR Jordan Matthews, threw Ertz more underneath stuff, and QB Carson Wentz had the longest run of his career (so far), on a 13 yard scramble right up the middle. We handled business here. DONE

2) Put Matty on ice. We sacked him twice, but we only hit him six times. I expected more hits on him, but then again he was constantly unable to get comfy, and his lack of accuracy (54%, his second worst of this season), and his lowest QB rating (78.7) of the season showed as much. DONE

3) Be aggressive on Offense. You can’t get more aggressive on Offense than five straight runs with Mathews from the 28 yard line, all the way to the end zone. We ran the ball down Atlanta’s throat in that game, and dominated the point of attack. DONE

4) Run behind the rookie. This one has me on edge. Technically we did this, though we waited until the second half to run behind RT Halapoulivaati Vaitai, 4 or 5 times total. TOTAL. As in the whole game. Out of 38 rushing attempts, only about 5 went his way. If Wentz was a left-handed QB I would understand it as strategy. This however, comes across as protecting Vaitai. Long-term that can’t have a happy ending. NOT DONE

This week’s score is 3 out of 4 things done. I could get technical and say we went 4 for 4 (and it would be nice to), but that last one wasn’t truly earned. It also raises questions about whether or not he’ll be the weak link in our next game vs the Seattle Seahawks. (Now see, THAT was a segue.)

FOUR THINGS: EAGLES/FALCONS

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/11/11
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Four Things, Front Office (F.O.), Offense, Players, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , , . 1 Comment

IT’S dark here in this basement. Can’t see a damned thing, and the floor is slippery with blood from all these self-inflicted wounds. Sitting here at 4-4 is damned embarrassing. Not because we’re awful, but precisely because we aren’t. If this team gets it’s act together and does a few simple things, there’s no reason we can’t run the table during this last 8 games. I’m not saying we will, I’m saying that we have everything we need in order to do the job. SO LET’S DO THE JOB!

These guys coming in? These Falcons… So they’re 6-3. They aren’t champs! We don’t have to lay down for them, just because the world expects us to lose. This is game is in OUR house. If those guys want to come to OUR house and pick a fight, they’d better bring their lunch pails, because they’ve got a full day’s work ahead of them.

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Last week we learned about our limitations. This week we should be all about the business of cutting what doesn’t work and hanging our hats on what does. Particularly on Offense.

This week we get to face the NFL’s #1 team in scoring (33.9 ppg) , but on the flip they allow more scoring (28.8 ppg), than all but 4 teams. So there’s room for us to do our thing. Provided we actually make the attempt.

So let’s talk about the Four Things we need to look for, Week 10 versus Atlanta :

1) Get away from things we don’t do well. Screens, QB option runs, and utilizing Darren Sproles as a bell-cow RB are on this list.

2) Put Matty on ice. The Falcons allow more hits on their QB (61) than all but three teams in the NFL. This works for us, because if QB Matt Ryan is on his back, he’s not throwing passes to WR Julio Jones.

3) Be aggressive on Offense. The Falcons hemorrhages points already, and they have the NFL’s second worst pass defense. There is no reason to be tentative against this team.

4) Run behind the rookie. Most of our runs seem to go away from RT Halapoulivaati Vaitai. It seems that most of our Offense is designed to not expose him. The result is that we keep tipping our hand and teams know they can load up on us, to one side. So why not even the playing field? Coaches may not want to stand QB Carson Wentz behind Vaitai, but if he gets a chance to mash down on someone, it could do wonders for his confidence.

Last week’s game was a measuring stick for our progress. This week’s game is a measuring stick for individual player’s pride. I could say more, but it would only be a waste of words.

yeah-bitch

FOUR THINGS: EAGLES/VIKINGS

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/10/22
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, Offense, Players, Roster, X's and O's. Tagged: , , , , , , . 1 Comment

 

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LET me be honest with you. I’ve been afraid of this game since QB Sam Bradford was traded to Minnesota. Either we’d beat a so-so QB, or we’d lose to trash. Like winning a fight against a girl, there was never going to be an upside to this game for Philadelphia. Then something weird happened. The Vikings went 5-0.

So NOW it’s a big deal if we win, right? RIGHT? Wrong.

Though the Vikings (5-0) are undefeated, they are by no means a complete team. While their defense does get after QB’s, they have yet to be seriously challenged vs the run. Speaking of running the ball, Minnesota can’t. The cop-out answer is that it’s because RB Adrian Peterson is injured. However, prior to being hurt, he’d run for 50 yards on 31 carries. That’s a whopping 1.6 yards per tote. So the issue isn’t his injury.

Just like our win over the Steelers came with lame media excuses on Pittsburgh’s behalf (“Yeah, but there was no LeVeon Bell!” , “Ryan Shazier got hurt during the game!”, “Nooooo! They wasn’t ready!”, etc.), you can bet that a win over the Vikings would include similar lame excuses. For example: “Kyle Rudolph’s new twins won’t let him sleep!”, “The Vikings are a cold weather team.”, “LeVeon Bell didn’t play in this game either!”. Etcetera, etcetera, ad nauseam.

We either get to lose this game and get talked about like idiots for “giving away” Sam Bradford; or when we win, it’ll get spun as us beating a team that isn’t as good as their record. Nothing less than utterly dismantling the Vikings will earn the Eagles any form of acknowledgement nationally. This is a pitfall game.

Still though, a win beats a loss.

So let’s talk about the Four Things we need to look for, Week 7 versus the Minnesota Vikings :

1) Use less 12 personnel and more 21. If RT Halapoulivaati Vaitai is going to start, we have to find him effective help. Call me crazy, but I’d like to see us make an attempt at not getting Carson Wentz murdered during his rookie season. (I’m weird that way.) Vaitai is heavy-footed, so he lacks the ability to recover. That’s why last week’s attempt at using an in-line TE to help him, fell flat. Going from 12 personnel (1 RB, 2 TE 2 WR) to 21 personnel (2 RB, 1 TE, 2 WR), would leave a RB blocking to delay a defender, and give Wentz a chance to use his legs to run, or use his eyes and dump off the ball to a close RB. 

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2) Shorten the strong-side read time. This has to be said: A couple of the sacks from last week came from Wentz just holding the ball too damned long. This is our fault because we don’t throw enough short passes along the hash marks to the TE. That kind of pass forces Safeties to declare early whether they’re going outside to help with the WR, or staying in the middle to take away the TE. Using this pass will get our strong-side WR clearer one-on-one match-ups, and help Wentz can get the ball out quicker.

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3) Get QB Sam Bradford running. Bradford is completing 70.4% of his passes, which tells you right away that he’s not airing it out. Take away Captain Checkdown’s short options, and force him to throw on the move. We’ve seen firsthand what it looks like when defenses do that to him.

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“Minnesota is that way!”

4) Don’t fall into the trap, and run the damned ball! The Vikings have the NFL’s 4th best run defense. Sounds impressive until you realize that it’s because they are DEAD LAST in rushing attempts against. They allow 3.7 yards per attempt, but teams just don’t test them much. Given that they aren’t a very big defense on the ends, punishing them with the run is clearly be the best way to de-fang a unit where 4 players have at least 3 sacks apiece. We didn’t do this last week, and we got BUTCHERED for it. Let’s learn a lesson.

Executing quickly is the name of the game this week. If we get the ball from Wentz to other skill players quickly, we’ll own the game. Anything else plays into Minnesota’s hands.

yeah-bitch

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: REDSKINS

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/10/19
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, Reviews, Special Teams. Tagged: , , , , , . 1 Comment

DAYS later and the Eagles 20 – 27 loss to the Redskins still feels like a deep scratch that’s less than an hour old. For all the things that went wrong in that game, there were so many things that went right. Even with huge deficiencies, this game was at no point, ever out of reach. On the one hand those seem like things to take comfort in, but at the same time they only seem to highlight just how deep the problems were.

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Carson Wentz manages to protect the ball, despite not being protected himself.

The biggest of these problems was the way our run defense was exposed for a second week in a row. I won’t get into those weakness here, but you’d better believe, that they will feature prominently in my next Four Things article.

While the Lions (two weeks ago) didn’t run for a huge number of yards, their anemic rushing attack managed to get a toe-hold, and exposed some of the very keys that the Redskins exploited on their way to racking up 230 yards on the ground.

But what about the stuff that the stats don’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) We need a plan for covering TE Jordan Reed. This was a “just in case he played” sort of thing. He didn’t play, so there is no fair way to say “not done”. Especially given that Redskin QB Kirk Cousins’ completion percentage (52%) was his lowest of the season, by far. DONE

2) Work the edges. The idea was to force the Redskin OLB’s from pass rushing to coverage by throwing passes to their vacated areas. The prescription was for short passes along the hash marks. However, at no point did the Eagles scheme to fill it. NOT DONE

3) Do NOT punt directly to WR Jamison Crowder. I hate when technically something is done, but it’s swapped out for something equally as bad. While we didn’t punt directly to Crowder, the punts hung up there long enough for him to get under them, which in many ways is the same thing. Next time I will specify “line drive punts that go out of bounds”. DONE

4) Protect the rookie. This was emphatically not done. The Eagles coaching staff didn’t even try. They just rookie RT Halapoulivaati Vaitai, spend the day getting his ass handed to him by anyone who lined up across from him. It’s a miracle that QB Carson Wentz wasn’t seriously injured. NOT DONE

This week has a score of 2 of 4 which represents the toss-up that this game felt like. The problem was we did the smaller things, but didn’t address the big things. Deservedly, we lost this game. For this next game we get a 5-0 Vikings team, led by former Eagle QB Sam Bradford.

Though there was no indication that the Vikings would be any good behind Bradford, I’ve been afraid of this game since the trade. The media will use this next game to serve as a verdict on the question of whether we were right to move on from Bradford. Depending on how it shakes out, we may never hear the end of it from The NFL Network, ESPN, and Comcast Sportsnet this season. Fingers crossed!

WK6: REDSKINS

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/10/16
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Offense, Players, Reviews. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

w6-was

EAGLES 20 – Redskins 27

LET me start with this. There were a number of VERY correctable problems out there today. These last two losses are no reason to get down on this team. Our 3 – 0 start was more than most of you expected, so don’t go acting like you’re somehow being let down now.

Rookie RT Halapoulivaati Vaitai didn’t allow a single inch of the 230 rushing yards that the Redskins ran up today. He was however, beaten like a drum by pretty much anyone who lined up against him today. The worst part was in the second quarter, when that eight year old Redskins fan gave Vaitai a hard fake outside, and beat him for a sack with a spin move back to the inside. Alright, alright that didn’t happen, but given how Vaitai played, it’s really easy to picture it, isn’t it?

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If Vaitai isn’t replaced with Allen Barbre SOON, it may result in our rookie QB finishing the year playing ‘Go Fish’ with Teddy Bridgewater.

QB Carson Wentz (11/22 – 50% – 179 – 0 – 0) truly impressed me today. Not only did he keep fighting until the end, but he never melted down over his shitty protection, though he was sacked 5 times and hit 10 more. Given the Redskins porous run defense, you have to wonder why Head Coach Doug Pederson didn’t lean heavier on the run game and specifically RB Ryan Mathews (9 – 60 – 6.6 – 0 – 0). His 9 carries represented fewer than half the Eagles total of only 19.

I’d love to discuss the Defense, but it seems we forgot to bring one with us this week. The 230 rushing yards we gave up… Three words: “Gap integrity” and “contain”. No one on our team seems to know what these are. (Containment has been a concern I’ve been writing about since the preseason.)

Did you notice?

To hell with that today. This week we have a TRIVIA QUESTION! 

Question: Who was the last Eagle to rush for 100 yards in a single game?

Answer: DeMarco Murray. 112 yards, in a 27 – 7 Week 6 win over the giants on October 19, 2015.

So it’s been a full season since we had a 100 yard rusher. By the next time we play, it will have been a full calendar year.