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FOUR THINGS: WK 13: EAGLES – JETS

Posted by The BEAST on 2021/12/04
Posted in: breakdown, Coaching, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, Preview. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

RETURNING to the scene of last week’s crime, and leaving with a different result. That’s the focus for this week. Running the ball with RB Miles Sanders and getting it downfield to WR Devonta Smith, will go a long way to meeting our goal.

Just don’t get cute.

A win gets us to 6 – 7, but Sunday night at 7:30 (unless something weird happens), we will likely still be on the outside looking in, with regards to one of the three Wild Card spots. That said, playoffs can’t be the focus right now. We need to find a way to string wins together first.

A loss drops us to 5 – 8. While it wouldn’t mathematically eliminate us, you have to wonder if it wouldn’t be smart, to go into Draft Assessment Mode.

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The point of Four Things isn’t to predict a winner, it’s to discuss which tactics will practically guarantee our Eagles this win. CAUTION: I don’t have the faintest clue as to what a point spread is, and I know even less about how it works. I know football and that’s IT. If you use FT as a gambling tool, you are trying to lose your money, and will deserve it when you do.

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

1) Play Our Aces: A big part of last week’s loss, was the coaching staff constantly rolling out back-up players, then trying to make them into something they aren’t, by forcing-feeding them the ball. The result was that we scored 7 points, and turned the ball over 4 times.

We need to lean on Sanders, Smith and TE Dallas Goedert. When teams get the ball to their best players, it tends to help them win games instead of lose them. We should try that! It’ll likely help a great deal, regardless of who starts at QB.

2) Interior Pass Rush: DT’s Fletcher Cox and Javon Hargrave need to collapse the ‘A’ gaps, and force the Jets young QB out of the pocket. We need to help our opponent make mistakes, not just hope for them.

3) Talent Has To Win: Offensively we will not out-scheme the Jets. Surely QB Joe Flacco has given up the tapes about the Eagles system and play-book. He likely understands it’s nuances better than any QB on our roster, and can communicate those nuances to his defensive coordinator.

So this is not the week to be cute or clever. This is in regards to the run game. This is a week where we have to be stronger at the point of attack, and faster with the ball in our hands. We just have to physically better this week. We just have to maul motherfuckers, and hit holes aggressively.

4) Make secure tackles: Don’t delude yourself into thinking this will be a cake-walk. Cincinnati did that on their way to losing a 31 – 34 shootout. The Jets leading RB has 205 rushing yards before contact, and 225 after contact. At 3 – 8 all they have left to play for is pride.

So don’t get cute. Don’t hold up the runner and claw at the ball. Just stop the ball-carrier’s progress. Wrap up and get him down.

If we do these Four Things,

We should win by 20. The Eagles are the better team. If we show up playing like it, then we could break this thing wide open in the 4th quarter. That however, is the issue. This team came out last week like we didn’t know who we were. We can’t come out playing that way, this week.

Don’t be surprised if QB Gardner Minshew plays at least a half on Sunday.

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PREDICTION: EAGLES 27 – Jets 12

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

FOUR THINGS: WK 12: EAGLES – GIANTS

Posted by The BEAST on 2021/11/27
Posted in: breakdown, Coaching, Defense, Four Things, NFC East, Offense, Players, Preview, Rivals, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

LAST week we hung 40 points on a defense that was Top 5 in points allowed, and put 242 rushing yards on a unit that was Top 5 vs the run. This week’s opponent comes in ranked 23rd vs the run. So we all know what’s about to happen with that…

A win gets us to 6 – 6 (.500). Once that business is taken care of, only THEN we can start talking about qualifying for the playoffs and such. Right now our record doesn’t qualify us to start talking about the season as if it’s already a success. Wild Card seeding talk is premature.

A loss sees us fall to 5 – 7, but technically still alive for a playoff spot. So even with a loss, there will be no talk of tanking. Right now our record doesn’t qualify us to start talking about the season as if it’s already a failure. Draft position talk is premature.

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The point of Four Things isn’t to predict a winner, it’s to discuss which tactics will practically guarantee our Eagles this win. CAUTION: I don’t have the faintest clue as to what a point spread is, and I know even less about how it works. I know football and that’s IT. If you use FT as a gambling tool, you are trying to lose your money, and will deserve it when you do.

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

1) Make the Passer Rush: LB Davion Taylor is on IR. If he wasn’t, I’d say use him for this. Since we don’t have access to him, we should use LB Alex Singleton. Put him on strong-side blitzes of QB Daniel Jones, on 2nd and long, 3rd and long situations. Jones likes to run, but he shouldn’t be able to outrun Singleton.

Bring MLB T.J. Edwards on “A” gap blitzes, on 1st down, sometimes. The idea is to make Jones very uncomfortable, and encourage him to get the ball out of his hands as fast as he can. A rushed pass, coming out vs Press Coverage, looks like six to CB Darius Slay.

2) Go Deep Off of Play-action: QB Jalen Hurts hasn’t seen 200 yards passing in any of the last four games, since we’ve rediscovered the run. So the giants may have it in their heads, that they can play 8, even 9 man fronts, to take away the run. We need to kill that idea before it breeds throughout the league.

Hurts needs to use play-action, and rifle the ball at least 30 yards in the air, sometime in the first quarter. Preferably on the first drive. Complete, incomplete, intercepted. If any of them happen on the first drive, off of a long pass, any of those results do the job we need done.

The point of the pass, isn’t the pass itself. It’s to tell the giants DB’s “You’d better stay the fuck back, or we will murrr – derrr you!” A few deep shots will maintain room for our running game. At that point our Offense can operate from a point of stability, and we can be who we are. (Bonus Points for completing an early shot of 40 yards or more, to WR Quez Watkins.)

3) Play Man Press: Usually the point here, is to make the QB go to his second and third reads. With Jones it’s more about his accuracy. He’s going to throw a few questionable balls in this game. He does in every game. If our guys stay close to the receiver, they have a better chance of picking off a pass. Or three.

4) Running Miles from Boston: This week we’ll be without RB Jordan Howard and his tough inside running. That however, doesn’t mean we can’t run inside. While RB Miles Sanders isn’t the fall forward, bulldozer type that Howard is, Sanders does break arm tackles, and he runs through contact.

RB’s Boston Scott and Kenneth Gainwell, on the other hand, don’t run through much contact or break tackles reliably. For that reason, the run game shouldn’t be an even split this week. We should feature Sanders/Scott on a 20 to 10 carry basis. Gainwell can be sprinkled in, but it would be great to see him get some work in the Slot.

If we do these Four Things,

We just need to stick to the script. The giants just fired offensive coordinator Jason Garrett and replaced him with Freddie Kitchens. So naturally the knee-jerk reaction is to comb through old film of Kitchens, to see how he calls games vs how Garrett calls games. Right? Nope. Don’t do that.

Just like we only had a week to prepare for the giants, the giants also had just a week to prepare for us. We know who we are, and what we’re building on. The giants are trying not to be who they were a week ago. The guy now responsible for that, has had his daily routine totally torn up, and he has to reinvent his team. On the fly.

The thing is, his new job doesn’t make a single player a fiercer blocker, a faster runner, or a higher jumper. It’s too late to draw up a new play-book, so they’re going to run the same stuff. The pre-snap keys will look the same. The spacing will look the same. The core concepts are going to come from their head coach. So the giants offense is still the giants offense.

Stick to the script. Don’t get cute. Do what we do, how we do it. Don’t get to a point where we’re second guessing ourselves, over a guy trying to find out who he is now.

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PREDICTION: EAGLES 28 – giants 17

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

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: WK 11: Saints

Posted by The BEAST on 2021/11/22
Posted in: breakdown, Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, Reviews, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

RUNNING down a dream.

EAGLES 40 – Saints 29

EAGLES STATS:

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

Passing: (S) QB Jalen Hurts (13/24 – 54.1% – 147 – 0 – 0)

Rushing: (S) RB Miles Sanders (16 – 94 – 5.8 – 0 – 1)

Receiving: (S) TE Dallas Goedert (8 – 5 – 62 – 12.4 – 0

Offensive Line Report: (3 + 5:1 – 3)

Drive Killer: (S) MLB T.J. Edwards (1 – 1 – 0 – 0 – 0)

Sack Leader: NO QUALIFIER

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

1) Play Man Press: We started out playing this, and played a fair amount of it. We also played a lot of off coverage which allowed the Saints back-up QB to throw for 200 yards and three scores.

It also contributed to why the Eagles didn’t have a single sack, against a team missing both of it’s starting OT’s. This was one of several things which probably went overlooked, due to the score. We did this, but not nearly as consistently as we should have. (DONE)

2) Force Malcolm Out Of the Middle:

We did a GREAT job of this! We kept S Malcolm Jenkins (4 – 0 – 0 – 0) out of the box, and so we kept him from impacting the game, in any meaningful way. Jenkins had all of FOUR tackles, in this game, despite us handing it off 32 times. He was kept safely away from the action, and our RB’s ran for 173 yards, on 32 totes (5.4 ypc), largely due to an uncongested middle of the field. (DONE)

3) Just Make the Tackle: Great job here as well. We didn’t see a bunch of piles moving, as our defenders clawed pointlessly at the ball. The one forced fumble we got from DT Fletcher Cox (2 – 0 – 1 – 1), was him reaching out to make a tackle, and grabbing the bicep of the opposing RB. BOOM. Ball popped out like Janet Jackson’s nipple.

Nothing extra needed. No holding the ball-carrier up. No clawing for the pig, and letting him churn out extra yards. Just went for the tackle and was rewarded by the football gods. (DONE)

4) Use Play-Action: There was some play-action, but not nearly enough to qualify it here. More to the point, it was deployed poorly. Understand, the game started with a designed QB run, which the Eagles kept repeating. On the day, Hurts threw the ball 24 times, and ran it 18.

There was never a point when the defense got to be more focused on some other player, than they were on Hurts. As a result, the defense keyed on him, never truly buying his fake hand-offs, pressuring him into some ugly scrambles, sacking him 3 times, and keeping the question of his accuracy a viable subject. None of those are the result of play-action used effectively. (NOT DONE)

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That brings this week’s tally to 3 of Four Things. Next week we take a 90 minute drive to the cesspool that is Rutherford, New Jersey. Then we’ll do what we need to, and walk out of there as a .500 football team. At which point we’ll have seriously positioned ourselves to be in the playoff discussion.

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On The Whole:

There are several things about this victory that bug me. They were bugging me even during the game. However, this is the first time we’ve had consecutive wins since November 1st of last season. So I’m going to let the fans enjoy this Four Things Reviewed.

Enjoy your turkey. We’ll talk soon. (Unless you decide to reach out to me sooner.)

FOUR THINGS: WK 11: EAGLES – SAINTS

Posted by The BEAST on 2021/11/20
Posted in: breakdown, Coaching, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, Preview. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

JUST a few weeks ago, I predicted that the Saints head coach, would out-coach Eagles Head Coach Nick Sirianni, and win this game. Today, I don’t feel like the Saints have a legitimate shot at winning this game. I could be wrong, but you and I know that I’m not.

The Eagles have found an internal source of power to tap into. Meanwhile, the Saints are starting to fall apart due to the aforementioned injuries, and a lack of offensive leadership. For the Saints, this is a bad time to have this fight.

A win would move us to 5 – 6, and one game away from being .500. This team hasn’t seen .500 or above since the end of the 2019 season. There’s possible playoff implications to be discussed, but let’s get to .500, before we start talking too much about playoffs.

A loss would drop us to 4 – 7 and shine more light on the three first round picks we have in the 2022 NFL Draft. As long as there’s a mathematical chance for us to make the playoffs, we should try everything to do so. That said, the second we’re out of possible consideration, we should tank, because it improves our draft position in EVERY round, not just the first.

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The point of Four Things isn’t to predict a winner, it’s to discuss which tactics will practically guarantee our Eagles this win. CAUTION: I don’t have the faintest clue as to what a point spread is, and I know even less about how it works. I know football and that’s IT. If you use FT as a gambling tool, you are trying to lose your money, and will deserve it when you do.

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

1) Play Man Press: First and most importantly, we’re 4 – 0 when we do. Secondly, The Saints are starting back-up QB Trevor Siemian, and he likes to share the football with his opponents. So we should be there for him. In fairness, he hasn’t thrown a single pick this season. WHICH MEANS HE’S DUE!

Take away the quick and easy stuff. If the “back-up’s body forced to be a starter” Steve Trevor

can beat us with deep passing, then we deserve to lose. Man Press will take away the quick stuff, help our pass rush, and help to keep the run contained.

2) Force Malcolm Out Of the Middle: One of the reasons that the Saints rank so high in run defense is former Eagles SS Malcolm Jenkins. He plays in the box like an extra LB. So we need to get him out of the box. The primary reason we moved on from Malcolm, was his apparent trouble with deep speed. Even when lined up deep, Malcolm has trouble versus true speed. So that’s the bone we should hack at.

The fact that he likes to walk into the box, makes that weakness all the more glaring. We should start in 11 Personnel (1RB, 1 TE). The TE doesn’t always have to be an actual TE. Using RB Miles Sanders, or RB Kenny Gainwell would do just fine on some downs. Split the TE wide, to pull Malcolm laterally out of the box. After a couple of deep routes, he’ll also start lining up deeper.

That’s when you pound the rock with RB Jordan Howard, vs a vacated middle.

3) Just Make the Tackle: Saints RB Mark Ingram is a leg churner and tackle breaker. He’s not a hard RB to box-in or catch, but teams clawing at the ball instead of getting him on the ground, literally give him extra yardage.

Once we get to him, drop him. Plain and simple. Clawing for the ball may help us if we’re down two scores in the 4th quarter, but doing it in the 1st quarter is a great way to end up down two scores. Just get these guys on the ground.

4) Use Play-Action: With the way the Eagles have run these last few weeks, selling a fake hand-off will be as easy as selling toilet paper.

QB Jalen Hurts would have clean pocket after clean pocket, as long as he doesn’t hold the ball too long.

Not only that, but if play-action is used well enough, both real and fake hand-offs will freeze their defense, as they take a beat to make sure of their read, instead of just reacting.

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If we do these Four Things,

If we hit all four of these, this game would break wide open, and put the NFL on notice. Sirianni would go from “the guy the media mocked over flowers” to “rookie head coach has turned his team around”.

While I would LOVE all four, I expect that #1 and #3 are the ones that will likely get done. If so that should be enough for a 28 – 17 win.

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PREDICTION: EAGLES 28 – Saints 17

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

FOUR THINGS: WK 7: EAGLES – RAIDERS

Posted by The BEAST on 2021/10/21
Posted in: breakdown, Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

LOSING a close game to the Buccaneers, must mean that it’s our year to win it all! At least that’s what Cowboys fans were selling after they lost to Tampa. So let’s start off with a win in the desert. Five in a row, HERE WE COME! 

There are rumblings that Head Coach Nick Sirianni wants to get the ball to RB Miles Sanders more. Hopefully that’s what happens here, because the Raiders don’t defend the run well.

A win here moves us up to 3 – 4, keeps us out the NFC East basement, and maybe even helps us climb into second place in the division. That is, if nature takes it’s course and Washington gets owned by Green Bay.

A loss here would put us at 2 – 5. That would make next week’s game at 0 – 6 (soon to be 0 – 7) Detroit, a huge bellwether of Sirianni’s future in Philadelphia. Sirianni probably can’t afford taking a loss to an 0 – 7 team, while falling to 2 – 6 in the process. So he needs to beat the Raiders this week.

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The point of Four Things isn’t to predict a winner, it’s to discuss which tactics will practically guarantee our Eagles this win. CAUTION: I don’t have the faintest clue as to what a point spread is, and I know even less about how it works. I know football and that’s IT. If you use FT as a gambling tool, you are trying to lose your money, and will deserve it when you do.

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

1) Run the Ball: Coming into this game, Vegas has had trouble with the run, allowing 4.6 yards per carry. Making matters worse, 340 pound, run-stuffing DT Johnathan Hankins, is nursing a hip injury. Also their pass rushing DT Quinton Jefferson, is playing with a back injury. That means less push in the second half.

They’re going to start the game full of juice. However, if they spend the first half fighting off blockers, getting half-time rest, will tighten up that hip and that back like an over-tuned guitar. Just 10 to 12 hand-offs in the first half should set the tone. Then in second half, the game should pop clean open. IF we hammer the ball.

2) Lots of Deep Passing: The Raiders Secondary is an injury riddled nightmare. Two CB’s on I.R., a fill-in who was torched and yanked after just 13 downs last week, and the back-up CB who played well in his place, is now dealing with a hip injury. Fire deep shots just to get their depth winded and tired early in the game. Demoralize them.

Deep passing means that QB Jalen Hurts will need time in the pocket. He should get it this week. I said last April that we shouldn’t trade for DE Yannick Ngakuoe and I was right. I like DE Maxx Crosby and I’m pulling for him, like I’m pulling for RT Lane Johnson. That said, Crosby is somewhat over-rated, so Lane and LT Jordan Mailata should have no problem with him. Hurts should have the time.

3) Call a Dentist: Charger Joey Bosa hit it on the head: “We knew once we hit (Derek Carr) a few times, he really gets shook. And you saw on Christian’s sack, he was pretty much curling into a ball before we even got back there. Great dude, great player … but we know once you get pressure on him, he kind of shuts down.“

To have a chance against Carr, you have to keep him under 63%. Luckily, getting hit messes with the clock in his head. So get to him early. Even if we need to draw a couple of flags. Especially if we can get DT Javon Hargrave or Fletcher Cox to flush him out. If we wreck his internal clock, we more or less remove the Bumble’s teeth.

4) Disrupt Waller: We can’t let TE Darren Waller get free releases off the line. He’s 6’6 and can fly. He will MURDER this weak zone that we run, and we don’t have LB who can run with him in Man. Trust me, I know these guys nearly as well as I know the Eagles. Put it like this: Waller is far more dangerous than Ertz or Goedert. Far more.

Contact Waller at the line of scrimmage, stall his release, and make Carr have to look for WR Hunter Renfrow. If CB Avonte Maddox is on his game, our Defense might get 6 out it. Otherwise, Waller is going to kill us all day long. All. Day. Long.

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If we do these Four Things,

The wheels come off the Raiders and this one gets ugly. On average, they score 24.5 points per game and allow 24.0. If they can’t score…Picture that scene in Superman 1, where Lois is being buried alive in the earthquake.

If we can get to Carr, this game is in the bag.

And therein lies the rub! Our pass rush is dreadful. It may require a couple of late hits to get into Carr’s head. Would I trade 30 yards in penalties on the first possession, to rattle a QB for the rest of the game? Absolutely! Where do I sign? That said, Sirianni and I are vastly different men. Getting to Carr can be done. I just don’t know if Sirianni is willing to do what it takes.

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PREDICTION: EAGLES 24 – RAIDERS 27

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

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: WK 6: Buccaneers

Posted by The BEAST on 2021/10/15
Posted in: breakdown, Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, Reviews, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

HEYYYY, it was closer than I predicted!

EAGLES 22 – Buccaneers 28

EAGLES STATS:

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

Passing: (S) QB Jalen Hurts (12/26 – 46.1% – 115 – 0 – 1)

Rushing: (S) RB Miles Sanders (9 – 56 – 6.0 – 0 – 0)

Receiving: (S) WR Quez Watkins (5 – 3 – 44 – 14.6 – 0)

Offensive Line Report: (2 + 0:0 – 2)

Drive Killer: (S) SS Anthony Harris (1 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0)

Sack Leader: NO QUALIFIER

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

1) Run the damned ball: One hand-off in the first half. A total of 9 in the whole game. Hurts carried the ball 10 times. For the first time this season, Sanders led the team in rushing and we didn’t win. That said, the Offense didn’t truly come alive until the touchdown drive where Sanders had 4 of his 9 carries.

For the second week in a row, nobody bought Hurts play-action. And why should they?

Head Coach Nick Sirianni has made it clear that he will go down with the ship, doing it this way. At this point, I’m just sitting back waiting for him to be fired. (NOT DONE)

2) Shut down Brady: On the down where Brady threw an interception, DT Fletcher Cox (1 – 0 – 0 – 0) had bull-rushed the RG almost into Brady’s lap. Aside from that, the only pressure on Brady, was barometric. (NOT DONE)

3) Bombs Away: Our two biggest plays of the day, were pass interference calls on 45 and 50 yard attempts to WR Jalen Reagor (3 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0). There was also the 24 yard pass to Watkins. Aside from that, the rest was dink and dunk bullshit. Didn’t we chew Sam “Sleeves” Bradford a new asshole over that? Why is this now acceptable to some fans? (NOT DONE)

4) Stick with Man Coverage: Utterly bailed on this. Last week he let his CB’s play more aggressively and tanked that “keep everything in front of you” nonsense. This week we were back to soft zones and cushions. The result was Brady field dressing our squad. On national television.

I hope Defensive Coordinator Jonathan Gannon, gets an ulcer from watching this game tape. He called a timid and cowardly game, and got fucked in the ass like prison ponks do, as a result. Good! Learn a goddamned lesson. (NOT DONE)

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So this week we did 0 of the Four Things needed to win, and as result, the game was never as close as the 22 – 28 score would indicate. Not this Sunday, but next Sunday we travel to Las Vegas to try and beat my second favorite team. So no matter how that one works out, I won’t be completely bummed at least.

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On The Whole:

Defensively, it seems like teams are targeting LB Alex Singleton (15 – 0 – 0 – 0). I noticed this a few weeks ago, but I didn’t say anything about it, because I wanted to see him vs a few offensive styles. On the boundary and in the flat, he’s fine. Unfortunately, he’s played in the middle, and has no feel for re-directing or denying traffic. Also, at just 230 pounds, RB’s keep overpowering him for extra yardage.

These issues reared their heads again vs the Buccaneers. You can’t just move an OLB to MLB and consider it equal. MLB is a mindset. You don’t manufacture a MLB, they have to be born. I know this first-hand.

As a player, I could be a maniac, but I was always a maniac with a plan, and was extremely self-aware. A couple of my coaches wanted to harvest the “maniac” and thought they could transplant me from LT to MLB. I gave it a shot in my first offseason.

Physically I was THERE! Nothing I couldn’t do. But mentally? As a lineman, collisions have a point. As a MLB, they don’t need one. A lineman filters chaos, to make clear paths for those behind him. A MLB is a guy who puts on a suit, kisses his wife goodbye, gets in his car, and causes a 22 car pile-up. And hopes to do it again and again!

Let me give you an example: Jon Runyan telling BWest to take a knee. Lineman. Dick Butkus playing on essentially one knee since high school, and living to hit people? Middle Linebacker. Mentally, I am not a MLB. And neither is Alex Singleton. He needs to be moved back to the edge.

Offensively, I’m not going to focus on Jalen Hurts. You’ve probably already seen enough of that on headlines today. I’m also not going to get into Sirianni telling the world at his press conference, that Hurts isn’t a franchise QB. I’ll get into that HEAVILY, later. For now, let’s talk WR’s.

Jalen Reagor was thrown three passes, and dropped every one of them. Quez Watkins didn’t showcase his speed in this one. Instead he showed off his concentration catching a deflected pass for 23 yards, and his body control on a 24 yard completion along the sideline. Despite Watkins being the better player week in and week out, Reagor keeps getting the juicy routes. Why is that?

Funny, we cut WR Travis Fulgham from our Practice Squad, but we keep trying to feature Reagor, and apparently kept WR J.J. Arcega-Whiteside to draw offensive pass interference penalties. Game-planning more touches and snaps for lesser players is just dumb, and it needs to stop.

FOUR THINGS: WK 6: EAGLES – BUCCANEERS

Posted by The BEAST on 2021/10/13
Posted in: breakdown, Coaching, Defense, Four Things, Offense, Players, Preview, X's and O's. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

LAST week RB Miles Sanders led us in rushing. In 2021 we’re 2 – 0 when he does, 0 – 3 when he doesn’t. So let’s keep that going. This week we have an aging, pocket based QB, going against DT Fletcher Cox and DT Javon Hargarve. SOMEONE MAKE SURE BRADY SIGNS THE WAIVER!!!

This game is not as winnable as I told you that Kansas City or Carolina was. However, there IS a path. While it’s not a wide path, it’s also not narrow. We just have to be serious about our fundamentals. Tampa is talented, but they have deep weaknesses that can be exploited, without much trouble.

A win jumps us up to 3 – 3, which would do nothing for our position in the division. At least not this week. Bigger picture, it would show the NFC, that they have to re-evaluate their opinions of this team. (And maybe division.) It would also indicate an amount of growth that would feed Eagles player confidence.

A loss would drop us to 2 – 4, and out of any serious discussion of winning the East. If that happens, it would take a great deal of success and some luck, to get back into that discussion.

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The point of Four Things isn’t to predict a winner, it’s to discuss which tactics will practically guarantee our Eagles this win. CAUTION: I don’t have the faintest clue as to what a point spread is, and I know even less about how it works. I know football and that’s IT. If you use FT as a gambling tool, you are trying to lose your money, and will deserve it when you do.

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

Remember back when we did this?

1) Run the damned ball: Tampa plays the run pretty well, so don’t expect a ton of yardage. This however, is a game where the rushing attempts mean more than the yards. It will require play-action to beat Tampa Bay, and if we don’t run, we can’t sell play-action.

Last week our lack of commitment to the run meant that Carolina ignored our play-action, and teed off on our passer. This is a better and more physical defensive front. Unless the mission is to get Jalen hurt, we have to make this defense pump it’s brakes. If we can do that, then we can buy time for our QB, and keep him healthy.

2) Shut down Brady: Sounds like a tall order, until you realize that it’s already been done plenty. How do we do it? First we have to understand the animal. QB Tom Brady likes his 6 yard, 3 step drop. Snap! 1-2-plant. Fire! Snap! 1-2-plant. Fire! That’s his cadence. Varying it takes him miles out of his comfort zone.

So the idea here, is to get him uncomfortable. Don’t let him plant his foot. Keep him backing up. Get him (a right-handed QB) moving left. He had to ice his throwing hand on Sunday. We play on Thursday. He’s 44. Make him feel every HOUR of his age.

So how do we do that? See this rush scheme.

That’s what the basic scheme for the day should look like. Sure we’ll vary it, but this is what the day should be built on. We do what we did with QB Matt Ryan in Atlanta. Converge both DT’s on the C, and forklift him back into the QB. That gives the QB nowhere, and no time to step up.

If Brady leaves the pocket going left, then it’s a foot-race between him and (#49) LB Alex Singleton. Going right, it’s (#50) LB Eric Wilson. Brady won’t take many sacks, but he will quickly throw the ball away to avoid them. Which is exactly the plan! Incompletions are wasted downs. We’ll take it.

One last thing. This rush scheme would also contain the run, and allows alleys for the LB’s to blitz or run blitz. So yeah, I designed it well.

3) Bombs Away: Tampa Bay just signed FA CB Richard Sherman, because they are depleted in the secondary. This is a flashing weakness, and we need to attack it. Relentlessly.

This is where running the ball matters so much. Once we can use play-action effectively, QB Jalen Hurts can get outside of the pocket, and our receivers have time to uncover deep. Against a depleted Tampa secondary, we have the makings of a massacre. A prime-time, nationally televised, massacre.

4) Stick with Man Coverage: No one expects 3 picks this week. However, if we can get Brady throwing from uncomfortable launch points, we’re more likely to get a donation from him, in Man. If we go to Zone, he’ll know from film study, where to throw the ball safely. Don’t give him that.

Limit his options. Force him to either throw into contested spaces, or throw the ball away early. We want the ball out of his hands early in the game. Then we want him pressing to make plays later in the game.

If we do these Four Things, we will shock the NFL.

Neutering Tampa Bay’s passing attack, essentially shuts their offense down. The NFL is an offensive league. Which makes it hard to win games, when an offense is watching, not playing.

Old boxing adage: If you work the (opponent’s) body, it will open up the head. Running the ball is working the body. It brings down a Safety deeper into the box. It takes an opponent out of (pass rush) attack mode, and puts them solidly on the defensive (trying to plug holes). When that happens, we can go full blown aerial assault.

We have the players to pull this off. We can do this! We simply need the will to attempt it. Unfortunately, I don’t think our coaching staff is here yet.

****

PREDICTION: EAGLES 24 – Buccaneers 31

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

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: WK 5: Panthers

Posted by The BEAST on 2021/10/11
Posted in: breakdown, Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, Offense, Players, Reviews, Roster, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

EAGLES Killmongered that ass!

EAGLES 21 – Panthers 18

EAGLES STATS:

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

Passing: (S) QB Jalen Hurts (24/37 – 59.4% – 198 – 0 – 1)

Rushing: (S) RB Miles Sanders (11 – 45 – 4.0 – 0 – 0)

Receiving: (S) WR Devonta Smith (8 – 7 – 77 – 11.0 – 0)

Offensive Line Report: (2 +2:0 – 2)

Drive Killer: (S) CB Darius Slay (2 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0)

Sack Leader: (S) DE Josh Sweat (4 – 1.0 – 0 – 0)

****

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

1) Run the Damned Ball!: Of the Eagles 13 hand-offs today (11 to Sanders), 4 were on the final drive. Sanders carried 3 times for 22 yards (7.3) on that series, but kept running out of bounds for some reason. Until that point (in the 4th quarter), we’d handed it off only 9 times, yet the Offense couldn’t quite get going. I wonder why…

Miles Sanders had 16 touches (11 rushes, 5 catches for 6 yards), which was his second most this season. He also led the team in rushing. Under Head Coach Nick Sirianni, this has been the recipe for him winning games. He’s 2 – 0 when these two things happen. The goal however, was 16 rushes for Sanders. Didn’t happen. (NOT DONE)

2) Don’t Help Carolina: Limit penalties to 6 or fewer this week. We committed just 6 penalties. Not a great thing, but it was a season low, and a step in the right direction. Give the team credit when they earn it. Lord knows we roast the shit out of them, when they blow it out their asses. (DONE)

3) Back the Line: Our Linebackers did little to dictate the action in the game. It seems like all LB Alex Singleton (13 – 0 – 0 – 0) does anymore, is make tackles at or beyond the first down marker. The other LB’s show up even less than that. If not for LB T.J. Edwards (2 – 0 – 0 – 0) punt block in the 4th quarter, you might not even realize that he played. (NOT DONE)

4) Take Away the Edges: CB Darius Slay shadowed the Panthers #1 WR D.J. Moore (7 – 5 – 42 – 8.4 – 0) today, grabbing two interceptions as a result. On the first, Slay used the sideline to trap the receiver, allowing him to make a play on the ball. CB Steve Nelson (2 – 0 – 1 – 0) used that same technique to sit on a WR, and drive on the ball for his first interception as an Eagle.

The Eagles CB’s took away the outside, by playing aggressive Man Coverage. They were still lining up on cushions, but they were very good at allowing the receivers to run themselves into being covered. With results like this, it will be hard for Defensive Coordinator Jonathan Gannon, to sell anyone on going back to Zone. (DONE)

****

So we did 2 of the Four Things and squeaked out a win. But this is no time for high-fives and handjobs. We have a short week that features the Tampa Bay Buccaneers paying the Linc a visit.

There is no team I hate to have in the Linc, more than Tampa. The last game played at Veteran’s Stadium was our 2002 NFC Championship loss to the Bucs. In 2003 we played them again, and their website ran a video that said “We tore down the Vet” and featured a ship swinging a wrecking ball.

You can’t find that video anywhere, but I will never forgive them for that. If it were up to me, every time Tampa came here, they’d have to play down 10th and Bigler, where Bok High School plays.

****

On The Whole:

Three turnovers, three sacks, and holding the Panthers to 16 points. The Defense is why we won this game. People may try to turn it into a discussion about Jalen Hurts, but the Defense is why we won. Thank our CB’s, and DT Fletcher Cox (1 – 1.0 – 0 – 0). All the attention that he commands inside, has been allowing DT Javon Hargrave (3 – 1.0 – 0 – 0) to strong-arm, Deebo, and generally wreak havoc in this game, and all season so far. Hargrave is currently on a 20 sack pace.

As a DT!

The Offense gave away two points on C Jason Kelce’s errant snap. Also, for the second week in a row, it committed another offensive pass interference penalty, which took 4 points off the board. In retrospect, this game should have been 25 – 16, not 21 – 18.

Offensively, we couldn’t get anything going, because of a total lack of balance in our play-calling. Look. Listen. The first time that Hurts was sacked, was on a play where he used play-action. Didn’t fool that LB. Not one bit. The LB never even slowed. A QB can’t sell play-action, if the offense doesn’t run the ball.

Fundamentals. We’re going to have to do better, from here on out.

FOUR THINGS: WK #5: EAGLES – PANTHERS

Posted by The BEAST on 2021/10/09
Posted in: breakdown, Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, Offense, Players, Preview, Roster, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

SCORING 30 points last week, was great. Allowing 42, was not so great. We get a chance at redemption on Sunday, vs a 3 – 1 Carolina team. It’s a Carolina team allowing opponents to score on 6 of 6 trips in the red zone, this year. The very same area where TE Dallas Goedert has snagged both of his TD’s.

As for that 3 – 1 record? The Jets, Saints, and Texans. That’s who Carolina has beaten this year. So we aren’t exactly facing a juggernaut this week. This game is very winnable. Very. So don’t let the records fool you. Carolina isn’t nearly as far ahead of the Eagles, as the NFL would like you to believe (Power Rankings: #14 vs #25).

A bounce back win would put us at 2 – 3. Then add that to the fallout from the NY/Dallas game. A giants loss would push them to 1 – 4, giving them basement all to themselves. A Dallas loss will put them at 3 – 2, and turn the East into a mad scramble.

Should we lose, we’d need Dallas to lose, just to keep realistically in the hunt. True, there’d be 12 games left, but we can hardly afford to fall further behind.

****

The point of Four Things isn’t to predict a winner, it’s to discuss which tactics will practically guarantee our Eagles this win. CAUTION: I don’t have the faintest clue as to what a point spread is, and I know even less about how it works. I know football and that’s IT. If you use FT as a gambling tool, you are trying to lose your money, and will deserve it when you do.

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

1) Run the Damned Ball!: By run the ball, I mean 16 hand-offs for RB Miles Sanders.

The one game we’ve won so far, saw him run the ball 15 times. Handing off the ball, changes how a defense attacks. It limits how aggressive they can be, because they have to diagnose what is happening. That’s less true of pass rushing.

Here’s a fun fact: The less Sanders touches the ball in 2021, the more the Eagles lose by. Atlanta – 19 touches, 26 point win. San Fran – 14 touches, 6 point loss. Kansas City – 10 touches, 12 point loss. Dallas 5 touches, 20 point loss. RB Kenneth Gainswell is a neat weapon to have, but he isn’t Sanders and the losses make that point.

With RT Lane Johnson missing a second week, LT Jordan Mailata is moving over there to fill-in. It’s also a smart audition for him, if recent leaks about Johnson are true, and the Eagles need a long-term answer there.

2) Don’t Help Carolina: The first 4 games saw us get penalized 15, 8, 13, and 9 times. So far, in every game we have deservedly been penalized more than our opponent. Granted, we’re not just going to quit penalties cold-turkey, but we need to take the first step and limit the number to 6 or fewer, this week.

Holding is occasionally an acceptable penalty. Sometimes it’s done deliberately to keep a QB alive. (Some holds have saved whole seasons!) Dumb penalties like offsides, ineligible man downfield, (clear) pass interference, tripping, and blocks in the back… Those are never sensible, and they have to be eliminated.

3) Back the Line: Carolina doesn’t have a great offensive line, so they should have their hands full with our Defensive Line. That means nothing however, if the LB’s don’t do a better job of coming downhill vs the run. It also means little if opposing receivers are getting open, early in their routes underneath.

This is what happens when receivers get a free release.

We need more jamming TE’s, and shoving WR’s off-course, when they run shallow Crosses and Drags. “More” in this case, is a polite way of saying “Any”, or “Some”, or “Please for Fuck’s Sake, get around to finally goddamned doing this!!” Zone Coverage doesn’t just have to mean watching the game. It can also mean playing in it! It can mean being an asset, and not just a well-paid liability. Someone tell our LB’s.

4) Take Away the Edges: In CB’s Steve Nelson and Darius Slay, we are supposed to have two of football’s better Man Coverage, corners. So I don’t understand why they’re so often on cushions, with Two Deep Safety help. Two Deep is what a team runs so that they can be aggressive with Man Press.

In this regard, the Eagles scheme- WHOOPS! That’s right, Defensive Coordinator Jonathan Gannon doesn’t run a scheme. “I don’t have a scheme. Our scheme should be to put our 11 guys on the field in the best position possible to succeed.” He actually said that. Those words, in that order.

Look, press the outside WR’s! Don’t let the QB execute the play as if he’s still in practice. Throw off his timing, and force him to go deeper into his progression. Make him hold the ball, and give our pass rushers time to reach him. We have the corners! Use them. This could even be the cornerstone of an actual scheme.

If we do these Four Things, this win is in the bag.

Miles Sanders, Darius Slay, Steve Nelson… We need to hear names this week that we haven’t been hearing much this year. We don’t need guys to step up, as much as we need the coaching staff to stop sapping the roster’s strengths. (Hence the article about DT Fletcher Cox this week.)

Most of our problems this season have been from self-inflicted wounds, and getting away from fundamentals. This week (and next week vs Tampa Bay), have to be about individuals being accountable for his own fundamentals. Not accountable after a mistake, accountable before each snap. Each man needs to focus on his work, and not waste the effort of the men beside him.

Carolina isn’t our opponent this week. The Eagles are. If they don’t beat us, Carolina can’t.

****

PREDICTION: EAGLES 27– Panthers 24

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

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: WK 4: Chiefs

Posted by The BEAST on 2021/10/04
Posted in: breakdown, Coaching, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, Reviews, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Head Coach Nick Sirianni argues that WR J.J. Arcega-Whiteside was running a route, not setting a pick. Sirianni was unsuccessful because everyone knows that Whiteside doesn’t run routes. He’s here to throw blocks. Like the illegal one that was just flagged.

MAYBE our head coach can’t learn?

EAGLES 30 – Chiefs 42

EAGLES STATS:

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

Passing: (S) QB Jalen Hurts (32/48 – 66.6% – 387 – 2 – 0)

Rushing: (S) QB Jalen Hurts (8 – 47 – 5.8 – 0 – 1)

Receiving: (S) WR Devonta Smith (10 – 7 – 122 – 17.4 – 0)

Offensive Line Report: (1 + 6:0 – 3)

Drive Killer: (S) LB Eric Wilson (1 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0)

Sack Leader: (S) DT Javon Hargrave (3 – 1.0 – 0 – 0)

****

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

1) The back Seven: The idea here was to use the LB’s to do more than stand around and watch the game. Instead, we got another week of the same. This thing where our LB’s seem to be waiting for an invitation to each play from the offense, is the root cause of us allowing over 40 points in two straight games.

We dictated no action and allowed the Chiefs to impose their will on us. What is the point of having two of football’s better man coverage CB’s, just to sit them back on 6 and 8 yard cushions every play?

And why was LB Eric Wilson ever stuck with covering WR Tyreek Hill (12 – 11 186- 16.9 – 3)? He got a pick covering TE Kelce. THAT made sense. (NOT DONE)

2) Run the ball: This weeks play selection was 48 passes and 19 rushes. That’s means 71.6% of the time, we were passing. Oh, and of those 19 rushes, 8 of them were by the QB. So the ball was handed off just 11 times. At one point in the 4th quarter the score was 28 – 23 Chiefs. So it’s not like there was ever a reason to abandon the run. Yet we did. Again.

Are the Eagles trying to replace RB Miles Sanders (7 – 13 – 1.8 – 0 – 0) with RB Kenneth Gainswell (3 – 31 – 10.1 – 1 – 0)? Gainswell had the better stat line today, but that generally hasn’t been the case this season. Nor is Gainswell the blocker that Sanders is. Seems silly to rock this boat right now. (NOT DONE)

3) Ends Gotta Sweat Mahomes: The DE’s needed to show up in this one, and they didn’t. We did get another Bonehead Barnett personal foul, which helped the Chiefs on the touchdown drive that put them up 21 – 13 at the half. So at least Barnett is being consistent? (NOT DONE)

4) Throw the ball deep: We did air it out, which opened up the intermediate passing game, and gave the passing attack the feel of efficiency.

TE Dallas Goedert gets my fantasy team 7 points, on the way to my 141 – 106 lead, heading into Monday night. I have a Kicker to play and my opponent has no one left.

The problem is, without a balance of real run game, passing attacks become 50/50 in the red zone. We aired it out, but we were operating half of an offense again. Still, if our WR’s can be coached to run their routes in bounds, we might have something here. (DONE)

So we got 1 of the Four Things, this week. Next week we limp into Carolina, to face the 3 – 1 Panthers. There, we’ll get to see if our coaching staff is still incapable of learning from their repeated mistakes.

****

On The Whole:

Down 10 – 14, on first and goal from the KC 3, we threw two passes, and ran the ball once. To the outside. From the Shotgun. So we of course settled for a FG.

That there is a microcosm of everything wrong with Eagles football. It’s meant to be cute. Clever. It’s razzle-dazzle for the highlight reels. What it is not, is fundamentally sound. What it is, is 1 – 3.

Unsound football leads to losing. However, our coaching staff doesn’t seem to grasp that. In fact, this coaching staff, despite being just four games old, is already displaying an almost arrogant unwillingness to learn or adjust. This is both in-game and week to week.

Hurts has led the Eagles in rushing yards, in 3 of 4 games this season. The one he didn’t, was the game we won. We’ll see if the offensive coaching staff can pick up on that little nugget.

Playing the CB’s on cushions, and putting the LB’s in zone coverage on nearly every down, has opponents completing 72.7% of their passes, with 9 touchdowns against 1 interception. We’ll see if the defensive coaching staff can make anything resembling an adjustment, to stop that bleeding.

For the record, I don’t think this staff can. They are already too enamored with their own ideas of how things should be done. The trend is that things are getting worse. If we give up a 50 burger this season, someone needs to be fired.