Jaelan Phillips

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FOUR THINGS: WK 12: EAGLES – COWBOYS

Posted by The BEAST on 2025/11/22
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, NFC East, Offense, Players, Rivals, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

YET another supposed Super Bowl favorite, falls under the treads of the mighty Eagles machine. Defensively, we shutdown all recognizable aspects of a Lions team that publicly said that, they had been looking forward to the game for months. We made them look unprepared. Damned near unprofessional.

Now the schedule presents to us, a Cowboys team that we’d already beaten this year, without DT Jalen Carter. Beat them before we added OLB Jaelan Phillips. Before the return of LB Nakobe Dean. Before DE Brandon Graham came out of retirement. How many defenses can claim to be stronger at mid-season, than they were on open day? It’s amazing Howie do it. Meanwhile, their star QB is nursing a hip injury.

Aww.

Winning moves us up to 9 – 2. Our grip on the NFC East would tighten, and the top seed in the conference would still lean our way. (Plus, we’d have the pleasure of sending the Cowboys into battle with the Chiefs, on just four days rest.)

A loss would hold us at 8 – 3, but still firmly in charge of division. We’d still hold the top seed if the Rams lose to Tampa Bay, on Sunday.

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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. Often I list fundamentals, as some of the four things. BUT NO MORE! Unless something specific is needed, fundamentals like Running the ball; playing lots of Man Press; and Tackling instead of going for the strip, will be automatically included. (Like the five consonants and a vowel that Wheel Of Fortune automatically spots you.) So here are the Four Things that we need to focus on this week versus:

[pic]

DE Brandon Graham sacks QB Dak Prescott in 2023

1) QB Hits Are Hip: Get their QB on the ground! Shut their passing game down at the tap. No specific number of sacks is the benchmark. However, with their QB nursing a hip injury, if we can put him on it hard and aggravate it, it may affect his delivery of the football. Consider his pain an investment in our win.

2) Feed Our Big Dawgs: With playoffs approaching, we can’t give potential opponents the confidence of thinking we’re a passive team. This game can’t be about taking what we’re given. We need to show that we can take what we need. We need a 100 yard day, or a 2 touchdown day, from one of our Big Four (Barkley, Brown, Smith, Goedert).

3) Make ‘em Run: The Cowboys have spent this season building the interior of their defensive line. It would be silly to run right at it. Instead, we should make those big guys chase our RB’s (and maybe WR Jahan Dotson on a Jet Sweep). Get those defensive linemen winded, so they don’t have as much juice to pass rush with. We brawled for rushing yards last time. Let’s finesse them this time.

4) Take Away Quick Passes: The Cowboys QB and WR1 have been together for a few years now. They have a chemistry which allows the QB to get the ball out quickly. Nothing we can do will change that. What we can do, is make any quick catches expensive, with LB’s sitting seven or eight yards deep in zone coverage.

WR Ceedee Lamb hearing the footsteps, fearing the footsteps, making his FOURTH drop in the game.

The idea is, to either force their QB to hold the ball long enough for him to meet our pass rush; or get his receivers jacked up catching quick passes. Either way, we’re adding pain to the equation.

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

The Cowboys have a defense that just gave up 16 points, to a Raiders team that had already been held to 9 points or fewer, in half of their games this year. The Cowboys defense can only hang with our Offense if they’re allowed to by our coaching staff. We should be about to blow the doors off that team.

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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, then you are a fool 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 10: Packers

Posted by The BEAST on 2025/11/12
Posted in: breakdown, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, Offense, Players, Reviews, Special Teams, stats, trade. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment
S Reed Blankenship forces a fourth quarter fumble and recovers it.

EAGLES colder than Lambeau.

EAGLES 10 – Packers 7

Passing: QB Jalen Hurts (15/26 – 57.6% – 183 – 1 – 0)

Rushing: RB Saquon Barkley (22 – 60 – 2.7 – 0 – 0)

Receiving: WR DeVonta Smith (7 – 4 – 69 – 17.2 – 1)

Drive Killer: S Reed Blankenship (TD: 0/Int: 0/ FR: 1/ 4th down stops: 1/ FF: 1)

Sack Leader: LB Nakobe Dean (Sacks: 1.0/ FF: 1/ Tackles: 7)

Special Teams Ace: K Jake Elliott 1/1 FG and 1/1 XP under windy conditions

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

1) Over A Buck Rushing: We put up 111 as a team. Benchmark. The ground was hard packed, and multiple players showed issues with slipping on the grass. I know that (going back to the prior article) I keep harping on the weather, but in these conditions, the stadium itself becomes another opponent.

Saquon faced loaded box after loaded box, but we stuck with the run, feeding him 22 times. Not for nothing, but the formations that we keep coming out in, with the WR’s packed inside, are helping to keep boxes loaded against him. In any case, we got the rushing yardage. (DONE)

WR DeVonta Smith mossing a dude for six.

2) Deal Out Aerial Hurts: I said that getting the ball to our WR’s downfield, was critical to getting this win, and our only touchdown was a 36 yard pass to DeVonta Smith. Benchmark. Without that score this is a 3 – 7 loss. (DONE)

3) Our DT’s Must Penetrate: I said in particular, we needed a big night from DT Jalen Carter (3 tackles). I didn’t say anything about sacks or tackles. What I brought up was, making it difficult for the Packers QB Jordan Love (20/36 – 55.5% – 176 – 0 – 0) to step into his passes. The plan was to affect his releases.

The result was Carter deflecting two of those passes, and Love being forced backward frequently. Once for an 11 yard sack, and again for a forced fumble. Benchmark. Then there was DT Moro Ojomo (no stats) calling out the Packers play before they ran it, resulting in a fumble by RB Josh Jacobs (21 – 74 – 3.5 – 1 – 1). Our DT’s were huge. (DONE)

4) Take Away Anything Easy: Josh Jacobs led all Packers with 5 receptions, as Jordan Love was forced into inaccurate deep passes and checkdowns for most of the game. Benchmark. He finished with 4.9 yards per attempt, 3 sacks, a lost fumble, and a QB rating of 68.8. We reduced him to trash and made the night sheer Hell for him. (DONE)

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This week’s Four Things score was 4 of 4. While there wasn’t a great deal of visual spectacle, the benchmarks that were requested were met, as soundly as any 4 of 4 score, I’ve ever recorded here.

Next week we host the Lions in South Philly. Let’s make sure it turns into a zoo.

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Game Hero: Defensive Co-ordinator Vic Fangio – Fangio spent the night out-coaching Packers head coach Matt LaFleur, seen here ignoring the game while desperately searching for answers against Fangio:

This is what Vic Fangio reduced Green Bay’s coaching staff to.

Vic did that, while simultaneously folding in a brand new trade acquisition OLB Jaelan Phillips (6 – 0.0 – 0 – 1); a player returning from I.R. in OLB Nolan Smith (2 – 1.0 – 0 – 0); and player returning from retirement in DE Brandon Graham (no stats). Did I mention this was done on the road? In Green Bay? In freezing weather? Well it was.

Game goat: CB Jaire Alexander – C’mon man. He didn’t even travel with the team. This is the sort of game that we got him for, and not only doesn’t he suit up, he’s not even on the sideline in street clothes, bonding with the team.

As a result of him not playing, we had to start CB Adoree Jackson (3 tackles). Jackson wasn’t bad, but it’s better when he doesn’t have to be out there.

Note: Alexander has opted to step away from football, to focus on his health. Oddly, if this article had come out on time, I wouldn’t be able to tell you that. I almost revised this and went with Offensive Co-ordinator Kevin Patullo again, but I thought I should stick to my original statement. Besides, I’m sick of mentioning Patullo.

On The Whole: Everyone else seems to have been expecting a shootout, while all I did was talk about how difficult playing in that weather is. In FT, I even alluded to the Packers QB being affected by it: “Think about it, a stressed QB to throwing a slippery brick, deep downfield, without being able to step into it.”

While the Eagles coaching wasn’t very creative, circumstances also didn’t really allow for razzle-dazzle. This was ‘frozen tundra’ throwback football. It was a defensive struggle, in which we won Time of Possession 32 to 27. Let’s save trying to be clever, for when the ball is more catchable.

RB Saquon Barkley’s 41yd catch and run. Dig WR A.J. Brown blocking out front. It’s nothing fancy, just the little things that separate champs from chumps.

My favorite part of this game was establishing our ownership of the Packers. Whether in Brazil, our house, their house, the NFL Rules Committee… Anywhere we see them, we close a car door on their head, and take their wallet. Feels good.