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FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: WK 2: RAMS

Posted by The BEAST on 2020/09/20
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, Reviews, Roster, Special Teams, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

HOW do we fix this?

Eagles 19 – Rams 37

EAGLES LEADERS:

(S) QB Carson Wentz: (26/43 – 60.4% – 242 – 0 – 2)

(S) RB Miles Sanders: (20 – 95 – 4.7 – 1 – 1)

(S) WR DeSean Jackson: (9 – 6 – 64 – 10.6 – 0)

(S) DE Brandon Graham: (1 – 1.0 – 0 – 0)

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

1) Run the football: I said 24 handoffs at least in this game, and 24 handoffs is exactly what was delivered. As a result, Wentz was sacked exactly none times this week. He also wasn’t holding the ball long, which sort of neutered all the speed we added in the offseason. (DONE)

2) Play more man coverage: We played loose man coverage, and took away the Screen game. However, we also let receivers to uncover far too quickly, allowing the Rams QB to hit on all of his first 13 pass attempts. In fact, the Rams had 21 points on the board before a single pass was contested, as the ball was delivered from clean pocket after clean pocket. We played “man”, but there was no “coverage”. (NOT DONE)

3) Get outside and play: In the 3rd quarter, Wentz hit TE Zach Ertz (7 – 5 – 42 – 8.4 – 0) on a play-action roll-out to his left, but it was the only one not born from pressure. It’s as if the coaching staff feels that they no longer have to be creative or unpredictable, now that we have more speed on the roster. FYI: We have yet to make that speed dangerous to anyone besides our own expectations. (NOT DONE)

4) Capitalize on their punting: What punting? On ten drives, the Rams scored 5 touchdowns, 1 field goal, had 2 punts, 1 drive ended by half-time, and 1 drive ended by the game expiring. We can’t stop anybody or generate turnovers. The one turnover we had today, was generated by our Special Teams. Our Defense is trash. And no I didn’t stutter. (NOT DONE)

This week we did 1 out of 4 things, (3 of 8 on the season), which is how you get keistered by almost 20 points. We were almost blown out. At home! In front of our cut-outs!

There is a metric fuck-ton to fix, in order to avoid going 0 – 3 vs Cincinnati next week.

On The Whole:

I know many fans are going to want to put this on Wentz, because he didn’t throw a touchdown, while throwing two interceptions. Fine. Go ahead. I won’t argue with that crowd.

FOR THE REST OF YOU: I’m far more concerned with our inability to stop anybody, or even seem to slow them down much. On those eight drives not ended by the Rams just LETTING time expire, they scored six times. Five of those six scores were touchdowns.

In two weeks, this Defense has also generated zero turnovers, and hasn’t even been close to doing so. Next week we face an 0 – 2 rookie QB, and run game that is sputtering. If we can’t stop that team from putting up 21, then it will be time to seriously evaluate the Defense from the top down.

This season is far from over. The two division leaders are both sloppy 1 – 1 teams. So the NFC East is by no means out of reach, or even starting to slip away. That said, we need to put up a “W”, quick, fast and in a hurry. The fastest way to do that, will be finding a way to stop opponents from scoring at will.

FOUR THINGS: WK 2: EAGLES – RAMS

Posted by The BEAST on 2020/09/17
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, Preview, Special Teams. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

LAST week we absolutely shat the bed! Instead of complaining about that, I’m focusing on the upcoming game. Please. Step into Week Two with me.

Lost in all of last week’s wreckage, was the fact that the Eagles showed an ability to start fast. Given that this week’s opponent still looks like their slow-starting 2019 edition, there’s a definite advantage to be had. If we jump on it.

The return of RB Miles Sanders with his knack for running routes and snagging passes, also gives us a decisive edge over the Rams Linebackers. In fact, the 3-4 scheme that they run, is similar to the system that Washington just abandoned. (After we swept it for three straight years.)

There are no rivals playing each other this week. That means (in the most extreme cases), we could all win, or we could all lose. A win over the Rams gets everyone realizing that our loss last week, was a fluke. A loss doesn’t bury us, but it could give teams the impression that we’re past our prime. That’s not a stink we want on us.

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.

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

1) Run the football: At least 22 handoffs to RBs, have to happen. This line cannot pass protect for intermediate and deep routes, without threat of a run. Last week’s play selection (71% passing plays), will not get the job done. If we get off to a fast start again, the run game will help us sustain what we’ve built. Even if all it does is slow down pass rush on early downs.

2) Play more man coverage: The Rams like to employ WR Screens. Those are hard plays to execute with a CB shadow. It doesn’t have to be press coverage, but when the ball is in the air, the CB has to be ready to make the tackle (not hit) for a loss. Send the message early, that they have to throw away a large section of their playbook.

3) Get outside and play: Sprinkle in some play-action bootlegs with QB Carson Wentz, to open up quick underneath routes.

Instead of complaining about him not giving up on a play, why not give him options to salvage that play? Seriously. Why waste downs? The object of a drive isn’t to avoid a mistake, it’s to make enough plays to score points. QB Nate Sudfeld didn’t throw a single interception last week. Did it help? Nope. Not at all. This week, the coaching staff needs to help Carson make plays.

4) Capitalize on their punting: We need punts to come out fast and flat, or short and high. Either the ball needs to reach our PR before the coverage can get there, or it basically needs to be shanked. In either case, Special Teams would be back to being a contributing factor, and not just a daycare for back-up players.

If we do all these things we should win, with a score looking like…

PREDICTION: EAGLES 28 – Rams 17

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

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: WK15 : RAMS

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/12/17
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, Reviews, Special Teams, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

UNDERDOGS. This is what being an underdog looks like. This is what being an underdog feels like. Winning in spite of conventional wisdom and expectation. Clawing and fighting your way out of a hole.

Three straight wins, and we’ll have done all we can to get ourselves back to the postseason. We’re gonna need some help, but this was one hell of a start on our part. We showed the world that the Rams are mortal.

Sean-McVay-Shocked-Face-Rams-Memes.jpg

These are the faces of men who were just mushroom stamped.

EAGLES 30 – Rams 23

Last night WR Alshon Jeffery ( 8 – 160 – 20.0 – 0) caught every pass that QB Nick Foles (24/34 – 77.4% – 270 – 0 – 1) threw in his direction.

Jeffery rises above.jpg

Impressively, Foles wasn’t sacked once in the entire game. Most impressive however, was how Head Coach Doug Pederson stuck with the run game, despite it not yielding a bunch of huge plays.

Looking at the one sack we got all night (from DT Fletcher Cox (2 – 1.0 – 0 – 0)), doesn’t tell the story of the kind of pressure the Rams QB was under all night long. A better indication might be the 2 interceptions he threw us.

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?

Nick Foles like a BOSS.jpg

1) Roof It: Throw that monkey DEEP! Did we? Did you see that Alshon Jeffrey stat line? We used play-action the way God intended, and it helped us get that coveted “W”. It also helped us put the world on notice, that the Eagles ain’t laying down for nobody. DONE.

2) 25 Handoffs: Play-action is meaningless without actually running the ball. So we had 28 handoffs, and 2 QB runs. The result was clean and healthy Nick Foles at the end of the game. DONE.

3) Tween Scheme: Due to the Nickel package being used as much as it was, LB Nate Gerry (2 – 0 – 0 – 0) wasn’t on the field as much as anticipated. That said, the Eagles did shutdown the Rams run game, and despite 55 pass attempts, kept the passing offense from scoring. NOT DONE.

4) Something Special: Our Special Teams didn’t try anything tricky or gimmicky. We didn’t need it. NOT DONE.

So, this weeks Four Things score is a solid 2 out of 4. This is fine given that we’d didn’t need one, and only technically didn’t do the other. That brings the season tally to 24 of 56. Next week we host the 10 – 4 Houston Texans, who are currently leading the AFC South.

On The Whole:

Any game that leaves a division leader asking:

jizz

is a great game. I’m thrilled with the outcome of the game. Still, there were a couple of things that bugged me about it.

First, we need a more physical RB. Our current RB’s tackle way too easily. We left entirely too many extra yards on that field last night. Second, reserve FS Corey Graham (1 – 0 – 1 – 0) makes too many business decisions in run support. I’m thankful for the 2 turnovers he’s collected recently, but this diving at ankles without bringing his arms, has got to stop.

 

 

FOUR THINGS: WK 15: EAGLES-RAMS

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/12/14
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Draft, Four Things, Offense, Players, playoffs, Preview, X's and O's. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

WK15-LAR

UNTIL you are mathematically eliminated from playoff contention you should fight to make the playoffs. It would be smart to deliberately lose games to drive up our Draft position. It would be even smarter to go with Tank 2.0 and improve the Eagles dramatically by June.

But if we stop fighting, what are we telling Jason Peters, and Darren Sproles? What message are we sending to future Eagles? Because of those questions, we have to try. We need to try and win this game. We need to try and make these playoffs. As long as there is a chance, we have to fight.

We come into this game on the outside. Everything to gain and nothing to lose. Although HIGHLY unlikely, there still exists a scenario where the 6 – 7 Eagles run the table, the 8 – 5 Cowboys drop their last three, and we win the division.

But that can’t happen if we quit now. So fuck the Rams. Who cares about the Rams? Didn’t we beat them last year, when everyone was worshiping their coaches balls, and calling them the Super Bowl favorite? Fuck them.

Let’s win this one for SPITE.

SPITE bottle.jpg

Just pure, good ol’ fashioned spite. With a little bit of Christmas spite, we can wish for a very possible Cowboys loss to the Colts, and then a somewhat less possible Rams win for ourselves. Wouldn’t that be a nice stocking stuffer?

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

1) Roof It: Throw the deep ball, off of play-action. If we go down in this game, we go down swinging for the knockout. Win or lose, when the smoke clears on this game, the world should know that the Rams are mortal, and CAN BE made to bleed.

2) 25 Handoffs: Throwing deep will work better off of play-action. Play-action won’t work if we don’t hand it off a lot.

3) Tween Scheme: LB’s Nate Gerry and Kamu Grugier-Hill are sort of LB/S tweeners. They lack the thump of a LB, but they aren’t quite as fast a true S. They do however, run pretty well for LB’s. Scheme to get them in position to take away angles that the Rams use to spring RB Todd Gurley. Gurely is the straw that stirs that drink, and when teams make life hard for him, the Rams offense has a tendency to stall out.

4) Something Special: Isn’t it time we saw a fake or something by our Special Teams?

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:

The Eagles will probably run about 17 – 20 times. The idea will be to take the weight off the QB, but Offensive Coordinator Mike Groh can’t help himself. Regardless of who starts at QB this week, you can expect something like 38 pass attempts when 29 would be best.

The Rams will find a way to manufacture yards from a Gurley who isn’t nearly as dangerous as he used to be. Like last week when the Eagles made it hard for the Cowboys RB to get off the ground later, expect the Rams RB to hit a similar wall.

PREDICTION: EAGLES 18 – Rams 28

[yeah bitch eagle pic]

THE BEST D-LINE IN THE NFL

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/04/02
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Players, Reviews, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 3 Comments

 

Best line?

WHEN the Los Angeles Rams went out and signed free agent DT Ndamokung Suh, the cry heard ‘round the world was that the Rams now had the best defensive line in the NFL. Pairing Suh with DE Aaron Donald is talked about like it’s the end-all be-all in the NFL. People are talking like the Rams are now the favorite to win the Super Bowl in 2019.

Whoa now. Hold up. Pump the brakes.

The Rams will boast an extremely scary interior, that is just as disruptive against the run as the pass. But still it’s just two guys. One of which will be learning to switch from being a 4-3 DT to either a 3-4 DE or NT.

They play a 3-4, so you have to look at the front five, not four. Take a look up and down their ROSTER and you won’t see another player to fear. DE Michael Brockers? He has 19 sacks in 6 years, after being selected 14th overall in 2012. Everyone else is a career back-up who’ll now be counted on to make difference. (I guess.)

With the Minnesota Vikings (4-3) there are four legitimate headaches with Everson Griffen, Linval Joseph, Sheldon Richardson, and Danielle Hunter. Not two guys, four. The Jacksonville Jaguars have 3 game wreckers in Calais Campbell, Malik Jackson, and Yannick Ngakoue.

Then of course there’s the grand-daddy of them all, the Philadelphia Eagles.

brandon grahan lombardi kiss

DE Brandon Graham

The Eagles boast Fletcher Cox, Timmy Jernigan and Haloti Ngata at DT. At DE There’s Brandon Graham, Chris Long, and Derek Barnett. We lost DE Vinny Curry and all we could find to replace him with was some guy named Michael Bennett. That’s SEVEN players. The Eagles are literally, TWO defensive lines deep.

We don’t just have starters better than the Rams starters, we have better back-ups than the Rams starters. (DE Steven Means and DT Destiny Vaeao don’t qualify for this list because of who’s in front of them, but if Bennett misses any time, you’ll see those two make a serious contribution in his absence.)

Even if we were to throw out things like sacks and hurries as a measure of an individual player’s effectiveness, there’s the fact that the Eagles as a team, allowed just 79.2 rushing yards per game, to the Rams 122.3. That’s number one vs fifth worst. Also our key players aren’t in their first year of the scheme.

So all this big talk about the Rams D-line is ridiculous. The Rams don’t have the best D-line in the NFL. Hell, they don’t even have the best D-line in the conference. Those distinctions BOTH belong to the Eagles.

As things stand, the Rams D-line may not even be as good at the Vikings. IJS.

THE PLAYOFF TEAM THAT SCARES ME

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/01/05
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, Fans, NFL, Offense, Players, playoffs, Roster, Special Teams. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 4 Comments

WHICH team do I fear in the playoffs this season? Who will be the toughest test, for Head Coach Doug Pederson? Everyone has a team that they fear for some reason or another, and I’m no different.

Most fear the Minnesota Vikings, minnesota vikingsbut I’m not entirely sure why. Yes, they have a good defense. Other than that, we’re talking about a team that’s been held to fewer than 17 points, 4 times. They’ve also played 2 games against the Bears (rookie QB), 2 games vs the Packers (no Aaron Rodgers), and had games against the Browns, Redskins, Buccaneers, and Bengals. Seriously, that’s half a season worth of gimmies! That’s 8 – 0 because the sun came up. The rest of the way they were 5 – 3, but just 1 – 2 on the road vs this season’s playoff teams. Minny is a dome team, and has played 11 of their 16 games either in a dome or in warm weather. Readers who don’t live in or around Philadelphia may not know this, but Philly’s winter weather isn’t likely to do the Vikings any favors.And if you do live in Philly, just look outside your window right now.fans 1 Dome team. ‘Nuff said.

new orleans saintsMany fear the New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees and RB Alvin Kamara. Thrown in a defense that has improved steadily for two years, and the Saints are actually respectable opponent. That said, they suffered 3 of their 4 losses, on the road, and played 14 of 16 games either in a dome or in warm weather. Our last playoff game was a home loss to the Saints in cold weather, but keep in mind, we were being coached by an idiot (TIK) who proudly ignored basic pro football wisdom, and then was out-coached by a guy deliberately employing Football 098 tactics, just to show him up in front of the nation. Well, we’re no longer being coached by an idiot.

los angeles rams.jpgSome fear the Los Angeles Rams. We beat them in a shootout that QB Carson Wentz played most of, before tearing his ACL. This time around we have Nick Foles in the pilot seat. While Foles is no Wentz, he is still more than capable of leading this Offense. Also, perhaps our Defense might show up for this game, unlike the last time we played the Rams. Oddly enough, the Rams on the road were 7 – 1, and so were better than the 4 – 4 they were at home. However, given that they won’t receive a Bye week, I’ll wait to see if (and more importantly how) they survive the first round, before deciding if I’m concerned about them. They concerned me during the regular season, but I’ll need another look at them before deciding if they warrant that again. However, if you put a gun to my head and asked me if I’m concerned about them today, I’d have to say that I’m not. This time we have a real MLB, and won’t be starting and playing most of this game in the Nickel.

Atlanta. Yeah, no one fears Atlanta. It might be wise not to stand to close to them, since they have a tendency to self-destruct, and we don’t want to get any of their stank, on us.

Which brings me to my point. The only team I fear in these playoffs.

It’s the Eagles. That’s it.

We’re a team that can pump on all cylinders. Offense? We put up 30 per game. (23.5 under Foles, even if you subtract the defensive TD vs Oakland). Defensively we hold teams to 18 points per game. Our Special Teams has repeatedly proven themselves as clutch and/or pivotal this year. So we can do it all.

Come_at_me_bro.jpg

Instead of being a team that is offensive or defensive, we’re complete on all THREE sides. As long as the Eagles bring even our “C” game, at the very least we’re going to be in the game until the very end (See: Chiefs and Seahawks). If we bring our “B” game or better, we’ll be sending teams on long, quiet plane rides to clean out their lockers.

No. I don’t fear any of the poor suckers who have the misfortune to come visit the NFL’s best football team. The only thing I fear is the Eagles executing poorly. As long as that doesn’t happen, no one is coming into OUR HOUSE and leaving it with a win.

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: WK 14: RAMS

Posted by The BEAST on 2017/12/11
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, playoffs, Reviews, Special Teams, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

PLAYOFFS here we come! The only thing to work out now is how long our playoff ride will last. During the course of this game, the Injury Bug paid our team yet another unwelcome visit, and claimed our Quarterback. For how long, has yet to be confirmed.

NFL PLAYOFFS

EAGLES 43 – Rams 35

On the play before leaving the the game, QB Carson Wentz (23/41 – 56.0% – 291 – 4 – 1) hit WR Alshon Jeffrey (5 – 52 – 10.4 – 1) with a 2 yard scoring strike, which put us ahead of the Rams 31 – 28. WR Torrey Smith (6 – 100 – 16.7 – 0) only the second Eagles receiver this season to have a 100 yard day, had his best game as an Eagle so far. TE Trey Burton (5 – 71 -14.2 – 2) took up the slack for TE Zach Ertz who was inactive with a concussion from last week.

Burton scores.jpg

Courtesy CBS Sports

OLB Nigel Bradham (6 – 0 – 0 – 1) may have failed to snag either of his two chances at an interception, but he did manage to cause one of our two turnovers with a forced fumble. The biggest forced fumble of the game however, belongs to DE Chris Long (2 – 1 – 0 – 1). His key strip/sack in the 4th quarter gave the Eagles good field position to notch the go-ahead field goal by K Jake Elliott (4/4x, 3/3f – 41L), who was perfect on the day. DE Brandon Graham (0 – 0 – 0 – 1) put the nail in the coffin with the interception of a lateral (recorded as a fumble recovery), which he returned for a 16 yard touchdown as regulation expired.

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) RUN. THE. BALL: Our play selection was 51 passes to 32 runs. Keep in mind that 4 of those runs were by a QB. The first half featured 23 passes and 13 runs, in a half that we spent most of the time leading. It is no wonder that Wentz was injured. If this is how we’re going to play now, we need to keepQB Nate Sudfeld warm. (NOT DONE)

2) Man Coverage underneath: It looked as if we spent more time in loose zone coverage to take away most of the easy, quick decisions as options. While it did help slow down the Rams passing somewhat, it led to us being gashed repeatedly by the run. If we see this team in the playoffs, we cannot approach them that way again. (NOT DONE)

3) Get some help: TE Brent Celek (1 – 5 – 5.0 – 1) did spend sometime lined-up alongside LT Halapoulivaati Vaitai, and he did provide some chipping upon his releases. That was nice to finally see out there. In all truth, LG seemed to be more of a problem than LT did in this game. (DONE)

4) Use brute force: One of my favorite moments of this game was seeing DT Fletcher Cox (4 – 0 – 0 – 0) explode through the “A” gap and hit the Rams QB hard enough to knock his helmet off. Also, when the team went back to doing this in the 4th quarter, we were able to get the Rams off the field and rob their RB of a 100 yard day, by taking yardage away from him. Attacking the Rams “A” gaps is the real reason we were able to hang on and win this game. (DONE)

This week’s Four Things score is 2 out of 4, and 39 of 52 (75%) on the season. A score of 2 of 4 explains why we had a teeter-totter of a game. 50/50 going in, is 50/50 coming out. If we play like this next week, the giants may very well embarrass us.

On The Whole:

This is a conceptually sound Offense. It has clearly defined things that it asks a player to do, in a given role. That’s why no matter who goes down, someone else is able to step in and perform adequately. This is the epitome of Next Man Up. Rest assured, the Eagles are not a team in the sense that, our starting players are reliable. The Eagles are a team in the sense that, everybody on the roster is a starter waiting to relied on.

card-nick.foles

On Offense, we moved the ball pretty well all day. We scored a touchdown in each of the first three quarters. Wentz even managed to throw a score with a bad knee, after having been injured while diving into the end zone, on a score called back due to penalty.

Regardless, even after Wentz went out and QB Nick Foles (6/10 – 60.0% – 42 – 0 – 0) came in, we still moved the ball and got a key first down when needed, on a 9 yard dart from Foles to WR Nelson Agholor (8 – 64 – 8.0 – 0). Eagles RB’s provided 114 yards on 28 carries for a solid 4.0 average. So Offense was hardly an issue.

 

Defense, on the other hand… For about ¾ of this game it seemed like the Eagles had completely forgotten how to tackle, stack blockers, or set an edge. To be totally honest, at some points, it looked like some our DB’s were making “business decisions” out there vs the run. (Don’t worry Ronald Darby, and Patrick Robinson, I won’t name any names.)

Seeing Wentz go down, seemed to snap the Defense out of the funk it’s been in for the last two weeks. Foles came in, the stakes were made clear, and our guys turned it on and went hunting.

FOUR THINGS: WK 14: EAGLES-RAMS

Posted by The BEAST on 2017/12/07
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Four Things, Offense, Players, Preview. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 6 Comments

W14 - LAR

ONE win and we’re in the playoffs, because we’d clinch the division. Getting the win this week will help set-up a first round bye, and help us chase home-field advantage throughout. So unlike last week, there is sharp-edged motivation for winning this game.

This game is between the number one and number two scoring teams in the league. Both are average 30.1 points per game. So it should be a shootout, right? Pump the brakes. The devil is in the details. And it’s details we need to concern ourselves with.

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

1) RUN. THE. BALL: The Rams are 27th in the NFL against the run. Like the Redskins, they play an attacking 3-4 defense (meaning that the OLB’s are primary pass rushers). Neither of their starters at OLB will play this week. They also feature two ILB’s who are undersized and so beat up, that neither has practiced so far this week. The Rams have sucked versus the run with their starters in. They can’t much better with back-ups playing.

2) Man Coverage underneath: OLB’s Nigel Bradham and Mychal Kendricks need to be RB Todd Gurley’s shadow, on routes out of the backfield. He’s already integral to the Rams passing attack, and they’ll likely be missing their leader in receiving yards, which only increases Gurley’s importance this week. Taking him away, makes life harder on the Rams passing attack overall.

3) Get some help: The presence of LT Halapoulivaati Vaitai has all but removed the deep ball from our arsenal. Watching him get beat repeatedly on outside-in moves, has gotten old as fuck. Flanking him with a TE who repeatedly chip-blocks, would give him a chance to see an outside-in move unfolding, and help him hold the corner. Then we can get back to calling an aggressive game again.

4) Use brute force: Attacking the “A” gaps (on either side of the Center), will ruin any pocket before it starts, and cause traffic jams for the run. Rams QB Jared Goff isn’t the most mobile fella, so let’s see if we can get him throwing on the run and off his back foot. We could use a few turnovers this week.

PlayerCard_Template_Curry

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:

While we’ve been dealing with a snowballing injury bug, the Rams have been dealing with a sudden rush of them. The result is a sudden bunch of fill-ins, mostly on defense, hoping they don’t make a mistake. That being said, we have to force them, and bait them into making mistakes. Shouldn’t be too hard. Especially considering how raw their depth is. Advantage Eagles.

The Rams haven’t scored more than 20 points in a loss this year. That’s because they’re heavily dependent on Todd Gurley for production. Problem is, if a team has to play catch-up, they can’t really run their offense through a RB. Falling behind would effectively force them to surrender their best weapon. As it did in 2 of their 3 losses this year.

We’re going to take Gurley away from the Rams because that’s what we do. We make teams one-dimensional, and then we close in on their QB. Unlike last week, the QB being served up to us this week, has the mobility of a ceiling fan. Advantage Eagles.

PREDICTION: EAGLES 28 – Rams 17

yeah bitch

IN MY CROSSHAIRS

Posted by The BEAST on 2017/12/02
Posted in: Conversations, NFL. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

AFTER we beat the Panthers 28 – 23 in front of the entire nation, naysayers had to pump their brakes on saying “Yeah, but the Eagles didn’t beat anybody good yet”. That roar turned into a mumble and most fans focused on games against division rivals. A few worried openly about our post-Bye, road match-up against the Seahawks.

Since the Panthers, the game that I’ve been low-key stalking, has been the one versus the Los Angeles Rams.

The Rams had already caught my eye about two weeks earlier, when their starting RB called out the Dallas Cowboys on nation television. Conventional wisdom says, “Don’t hand out bulletin board material”, but then the Rams actually went out and did backed it up. At that point, it occurred to me that the Rams might be every bit as real as we are.

This is a measuring stick game between two teams who are actual peers. Our QB’s (Jared Goff and Carson Wentz) were taken one and two in last year’s NFL Draft. Our teams are the #1 and #2 scoring offenses in the league. We both feature a similar offensive style, and are built defensively to play from a lead. While we’ll both use a similar attack when we face each other, the winner will be better at it.

That is what makes this game a measuring stick. That is why I’ve been stalking the Rams for weeks now. That is why want this game so bad.

Fortunately for us, the Rams have a consistent and glaring weakness. They give up 123 yards per game on the ground. While the Rams starting RB has been the leading rusher in 6 of the 11 games they’ve played so far, the Rams as a team have been out-rushed in 2 of those contests and 6 times overall. Did I mention that the Eagles are the #2 rushing team in the NFL? Did I mention that we’re #1 against the run in the NFL?

I could go into it more, but I’m not trying to do an installation of Four Things, a week early. Let’s just leave it here for now, so that if something weird happens at Seattle tomorrow, you know it’s not false bravado that has me saying that we can beat the Rams.

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