Hassan Reddick

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FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: WK 5: CARDINALS

Posted by The BEAST on 2022/10/10
Posted in: breakdown, Coaching, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, Reviews, Special Teams, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

TE Dallas Goedert signals FIRST DOWN!

PHILADELPHIA declared open season on Cardinals, this week!

EAGLES 20 – Cardinals 17

EAGLES STATS:

Categories include an EXCLUSIVE weekly Offensive Line Report (Rushing TD’s (6 points) + 3rd downs converted by handoffs (1 point) + sacks allowed (-2 points) = score); as well as Drive Killer (Int – FR – 4th down Tackles – FF – TD).

New Category Ace is for Kick return TD’s, Returners run-down, kicks blocked, etc.

Passing : (S) QB Jalen Hurts (26/36 – 72.2% – 239 – 0 – 0)

Rushing : (S) QB Jalen Hurts (15 – 61 – 4.0 – 2 – 0)

Receiving :(S) TE Dallas Goedert (9 – 8 – 95 – 11.8 – 0)

Offensive Line Report/Enforcer : (2 + 1 – 2 = 9) / C Jason Kelce

Drive Killer : (S) SS Chauncey Gardener-Johnson (1 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0.)

Sack Leader : (S) OLB Hasaan Reddick (1 – 1.0 – 0 – 0)

Ace : K Cameron Dicker (Filling in this week. 2/2 FG’s including the game winner)

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

SS Chauncey Gardener-Johnson gets his first pick as an Eagle

1) Fence Him In: We started out doing this, and it helped us to control the pace of the game. The Cardinals however, decided to start taking advantage of all the off-coverage we were playing, and everything fell apart form there. Too often their QB would take the snap, turn, and fire the ball. We didn’t make him hold the ball. We didn’t make him read. He completed 66% of his passes, and most of them were gimmies. (NOT DONE)

2) Tackle Securely: Tackling started out good, but it got worse as the game wore on. No. That’s not it. Actually, it seemed as if having to tackle 230 pound RB James Conner (9 – 55 – 6.1 – 0 – 0 ), took some of the starch out of the Eagles. Nobody on the Defense seemed to want to bang bodies. Interesting. (NOT DONE)

3) Throw the Ball: We had 36 pass attempts to just 18 hand-offs. So yes, we threw the ball. Unfortunately, so much of it was on Screen passes. I mean, a Screen to Devonta Smith (11 – 10 – 87 – 8.7 – 0) on 2nd and 20? What the fuck for?! Never mind. Never mind. That said, with passes being 66% of our play selection this week, it’s impossible to not rate this as (DONE)

4) Read-Option Early: We showed it early, which was what I suggested. Sadly though, when you run the QB as often as you hand it off, opponents stop buying the Read-Option and play-action. We got away with it this week, but don’t expect that from every opponent. (DONE)

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K Cameron Dicker hits game winner whilst filling in for injured K Jake Elliott.

This week we did 2 of the Four Things, and fittingly, barely eeked out a win, off the toe of a substitute Kicker. (The smell of mimeograph ink, hung practically hung in the air.) Next week we take on the division’s second place team: the Dallas Cowboys.

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On The Whole:

Yet again the Eagles couldn’t put together two halves of a football game. For the fourth game in a row, the Offense just stalled out in the second half. I know everyone wants to heap a ton of praise on Jalen Hurts, but he has yet to play an entire football game, at a high level this year.

QB Jalen Hurts led the team in rushing again

When the Eagles went to a ground based attack on their final drive, it proved very effective. We ran 17 plays, with the 13 of those being runs. The 3 passes? A completion for -2 yards, another for 16 yards, and an incompletion. All of which culminated in the game winning field goal.

The Defense is very active, aggressive, and generally well-disciplined. We have an extremely assignment sound unit here. What our Defense isn’t, is tough. It’s not physical. There’s a lot of swagger, but nothing that teams fear coming in. That showed today with the way they attempted to run Conner at us, despite knowing that he’s fragile.

In any case, the Eagles ended the day 5 – 0. Which was the point.

FOUR THINGS: WK 5: EAGLES – CARDINALS

Posted by The BEAST on 2022/10/07
Posted in: breakdown, Coaching, Defense, Four Things, NFC East, NFL, Offense, Players, Preview, Special Teams. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

DRIVING rain, missing starters, down fourteen points. So what? This Eagles team is undefeated because we have no weaknesses. Conversely, this week’s opponent is comprised entirely of weaknesses. Sadly, there will be no mercy for them this week.

Adding OLB Hassan Reddick (3.5 sacks), has re-invigorated DT Fletcher Cox (3.0) and DE Brandon Graham (3.0). The left side of the Defense is downright predatory. All it does is hunt. On the flip-side, is an Offense that ranks 5th in rushing yards, and 8th in passing yards, with QB Jalen Hurts averaging 9.1 yards per attempt.

A win here makes us 5 – 0, still number one in the NFC East, the NFC, and the NFL. A loss, would leave us at 4 – 1 and still atop of the NFC East, unless Dallas beats the Rams. (Tie-breaker: Division games. Dallas (2-0), Philly (1-0)) That reason right there, is why I don’t think this is a trap game.

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The point of Four Things isn’t to predict a winner, it’s to discuss which tactics would give our Eagles the best chance to win this game. So here are the Four Things that we need to focus on this week, versus the: Cardinals

1) Fence Him In: Someone said that Cardinal’s QB kyler murray, when scrambling in the pocket, looks like a toddler who has your car keys. I watched him play last week, and now I can’t unsee it. So we need to set the edges of the pocket, and force him backwards.

Two weeks ago DT Jordan Davis started the Commanders demise, by batting a pass from 6’5” QB Carson Wentz. murray is listed at 5’10”, but he’s got to be the shortest 5’10” I’ve ever seen in my life. Our pass rushers need to get their hands up, when they can’t get their hands on murray. Just to get him to hold the ball an extra second or two.

2) Tackle Securely: The Cardinals running game is utterly pedestrian. The problem is they’re stuck between two schools of thought, and so, execute neither well. Worse than that, their offensive line consists of just a bunch of guys, led by C Rodney Hudson (who some think is better than C Jason Kelce).

While they have a poor scheme, that is also poorly blocked, RB James Conner is not to be overlooked. He’s not really a game changer, but at 233 he’s a load. He doesn’t “run angry” but he does use his size, and can tire out a defense. If we don’t get cute, he shouldn’t be a problem.

3) Throw the Ball: Through four games the Cardinals have just 4 sacks. Half of those belong to what’s left of DE J.J. Watt. They play a 3 – 4 that’s more like a 4 – 3, with OLB Markus Golden playing the role of “non-coverage OLB”. If LT Jordan Mailata is ready to go, pass pro won’t be an issue. If not, then OL Jack Driscoll may need a little help.

The Eagles receivers against this secondary, is an absolute mismatch. I’d expect WR’s A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith to have 80 yards each. Especially playing indoors on dry grass. With as lackluster as their starting CB’s are, they have no answer for WR Quez Watkins in the Slot.

4) Read-Option Early: We don’t need to get QB Jalen Hurts get injured, so let’s limit his carries. Eight or fewer (not counting kneel downs), sounds good. However, to open up the run game, we should use the Read-Option early. Right away. Either on the first or second carry. (Ideally the first.)

Having to defend that, should hold S Budda Baker in the box, and open up the deep shots, (hopefully off of play-action). Once we hit a ten yard run or a twenty yard pass, it’ll stress their defense enough to make calling the game easier.

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If the Eagles do these Four Things, then we’ll be virtually impossible to beat. That being said…

I don’t want to seem like I don’t take this opponent seriously, but it’s so hard to do so. They fuck up so many simple things. For instance:

WR Marquis Brown bolted from Baltimore, because he didn’t like how he was being utilized. So he leaves a running QB who doesn’t know how to utilize his blazing speed, for a running QB, who doesn’t know how to utilize his blazing speed. Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh was a Special Teams coach. What’s Kliff Kingsbury’s excuse?

The improper utilization of S Budda Baker and LB Isaiah Simmons, should be grounds for someone’s arrest. These are two players with game-changing talent. They should be play-makers, not tackle collectors.

Arizona has a long and storied history, of questionable decision making and squandered talent. They’re so far spending 2022 building on that tradition. Yikes,

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Prediction: EAGLES 29 – Cardinals 10

WARNING: 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 Four Things as a gambling tool, you are trying to lose your money, and will deserve it when you do.

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

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: WK 4: JAGUARS

Posted by The BEAST on 2022/10/03
Posted in: breakdown, Coaching, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, Reviews, Special Teams, stats, The 12. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

HASSAN, CHOP!!!

EAGLES 29 – Jaguars 21

EAGLES STATS:

Categories include an EXCLUSIVE weekly Offensive Line Report (Rushing TD’s (6 points) + 3rd downs converted by handoffs (1 point) + sacks allowed (-2 points) = score); as well as Drive Killer (Int – FR – 4th down Tackles – FF – TD).

New Category Ace is for Kick return TD’s, Returners run-down, kicks blocked, etc.

Passing : (S) QB Jalen Hurts (16/25 – 64.0% – 204 – 0 – 1)

Rushing : (S) RB Miles Sanders (27 – 134 – 4.9 – 2 – 0)

Receiving :(S) WR A.J. Brown (7 – 5 – 95 – 19.0 – 0)

Offensive Line Report/Enforcer : (4 + 1 – 2 = 21) / (S) C Jason Kelce

Drive Killer : (S) OLB Hassan Reddick (0 – 2 – 0 – 2 – 0)

Sack Leader : (S) OLB Hassan Reddick (4 – 2.0 – 0 – 2)

Ace : (S) K Jake Elliott (Nominated for an Oscar after roughing penalty)

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

Look at the receivers hands! Ouch!

1) Man Up: Despite injuries, to CB Darius Slay (no stats) and NB Avonte Maddox (DNP), the Eagles Secondary stayed in the faces of Jacksonville’s receivers. QB Trevor Lawrence (11/23 – 47.8% – 174 – 2 – 1) didn’t have anywhere quick to deliver the ball, so he had to hold onto it. That gave time for Eagles defenders to harass him, sacking him 3 times, and getting him to lose 4 fumbles. That’s not a typo. FOUR fumbles.

As a result of the coverage, the QB was forced into 5 turnovers, and their 72M$ Slot WR Christian Kirk (9 – 2 – 60 – 30.0 – 0) was exposed as an overpriced sham. On one play Lawrence stared down Kirk, and CB James Bradberry (2 – 0.0 – 1 – 0) flashed in between them, snatching the ball out of the air, in absolute defiance of the wet conditions. (DONE)

2) Box Them In: When I wrote this, I didn’t think condition would be as wet as they ended up being, so this worked so much better than I expected it to. Their RB’s were held to 16 yards on 16 carries (3.8 ypc). They had some early success down the middle, but once cleats started to chop up the ground, things settled down.

Let me explain “chop”. Early on, the field is whole and the grass can be slick. However, with each possession, the ground gets a little more torn (chopped) up. So you can put your feet in the chop, and get more purchase as the game goes on. Their interior o-line isn’t as strong as our DT’s, so when the slick grass was gone, the advantage that they had at the snap, evaporated. We did a better job of understand the ground. (DONE)

3) The Kerrigan Plan: We started out working it, and it helped us get back into the game, as TE Dallas Goedert (6 – 5 – 72 – 14.4 – 0) caught several balls in the Flat or on TE Screens. RB Miles Sanders (3 – 2 – 22 – 11.0 – 0) caught balls in the same area. As conditions grew worse though, the emphasis was wisely shifted to the run.

Interestingly, QB Jalen Hurts threw three passes to WR A.J. Brown. It was the same route off the right side, essentially a Post route, right under the Safety. They completed all three times for good yardage, but I started to think they were going to that well to often. That however, was a new wrinkle taking advantage of those vacated OLB areas. It’ll be interesting to see how that works in better weather. (DONE)

C Jason Kelce escorts RB Miles Sanders in for a touchdown. Kelce was HUGE today for Sanders.

4) Run in the Second Half: We started the second half like we had brain damage, running just once out of 11 plays and punting twice. Then we got it together, and ran on 24 of the next 34 plays, scoring twice in the fourth quarter. When the coaching staff meets tomorrow, hopefully they’ll talk… (DONE)

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We crushed the shit out of this week, going a perfect 4 of Four Things. Next week we go out to Arizona, and hopefully it won’t be a trap game. They are just awful. I watched/endured/was tortured by their game against Carolina today, and I will never forgive myself for sitting through it. That shit was gross.

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On The Whole:

“We should score easily enough, the only question is: How well will our Defense do?”

That’s how I ended Four Things. To answer, our Defense held a team averaging 28 points to just 14, grabbed 3 sacks, 1 pick, 4 forced fumbles, 4 recoveries, 4 calling birds, 3 French hens, 2 turtle doves… Every time I question them, the Defense sends me a stiff message. So expect me to question them EVERY week!

I said this game had to be about talent and execution, and it was. Thank goodness for the inclement weather, because there were times when the Eagles coaching staff tried to be cute on Offense (beginning of the second half), and it just wasn’t working. If the weather had been better they may have kept trying. Mother Nature, we owe you one.

Understand, we spotted a team 14 points, and then cleared our throats. We were fighting a double digit lead, injuries coming in, injuries during, the elements, and still we just strolled to a victory. And this wasn’t against some bottom-feeder team. This was against the (still) division leader of the AFC South.

I said on June 9th: “Folks, people are predicting us to win the East, but I… I might already be looking past that. I’m telling you, if Hurts can read defenses better in 2022, the entire NFC (not just the East), is on notice. Rams, Bucs, Green Bay AT Lambeau. All of that. We want ALL the smoke.”

I have to admit now, I was wrong. We’re putting the WHOLE LEAGUE, on notice.