Philadelphia

All posts tagged Philadelphia

DO YOU WANT DISASTER OR HEARTBREAK?

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/12/28
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Front Office (F.O.), Offense, Players, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , . 6 Comments

sam1

DISASTER or heartbreak? Which one do you want? If you’re a Sam Bradford booster, you’re about to be force-fed one or the other. As a fellow Eagles fan I’ll almost feel bad for enjoying your misery. Almost. Because the truth is, I’m sick of folks making excuse after excuse for this guy. The shorthand says that I’m supposed to be a fan of any Eagle on my team, but I can’t support a guy who is a big part of why it got worse instead of better.

Let’s start with heartbreak. Bradford’s boosters are sooo happy, that he’s sooo comfy with the system now. “His play has turned a corner!” “He’s become a leader now!” “Just wait until 2016!” That last one is my favorite by far, because it ties together the overarching theme of what the boosters are thinking. They expect Bradford to perform better within this system next year. They actually expect him back here next year.The odds are so stacked against that, that it’s almost ridiculous to envision it at all.

(Let me set the mood: Back when we drafted WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy in 2009, both players alluded to their injury histories playing a role in deciding to enter the Draft early. They wanted to ensure some level of financial security in case the next football injury was their last. As young men still playing college ball, their football mortality was already on their minds. Now back to Bradford.)

After his second ACL injury, Bradford was considering quitting football. He was weighing it as recently as this calendar year. It was his college coach who talked him out of walking away from his NFL career. So after collegiate injury to his shoulder, and two pro injuries to his knees, you can bet your ass that financial security is very much on the mind of Sam Bradford. But how much security could he get?

Today Bradford is at the end of a rookie contract where he made 13 million this year. He gets to be an unrestricted Free Agent in just a couple of months, and in a league desperate for signal callers, Bradford on the open market could become a bidding war between the Eagles and teams like Dallas, Cleveland, San Francisco, Houston, possibly the Jets, and maybe even St. Louis again. So perhaps you think we should franchise him to keep him from entering the open market at all?

Franchise tags are the average of the top five contracts at the position, right? That would mean Aaron Rodgers (22M), Russell Wilson (21.9M), Ben Roethlisberger (21.8M), Eli Manning (21M), Phillip Rivers (20.8M). That works out to 21.5M for Sam Bradford next year even on a short-term deal. You may recall that the Eagles were trying to get Bradford to sign an extension during the preseason, but Bradford shot that down because he could see a bigger payday coming if he stayed healthy.

If the Eagles don’t pony up the cash for him, Bradford’s boosters will see him flee Philly over “just money”. All that time they spent defending him and piking him up as the Messiah, only to have him leave them standing at the altar over “just money”. I can already smell the burning jerseys.

Next up we have the disaster. Let’s say that the Eagles write that check. Hooray, right? Only if you’re a masochist. Serioulsy, 21.5M a year for a guy who’s never thrown more than 21 touchdowns in a 16 game season? 21.5M for a guy with fewer playoff wins than Tony Romo?? 21.5M for a guy who has never been on a .500 team??? It would just be 8M more than he’s making this season, but considering how much guaranteed money is tied up in other players, signing Bradford would mean that so much of the roster would have to be bargain bin level players.

Bradford has never proven that he’s a special QB. He has never demonstrated an ability to carry an NFL team. Seriously, when was the last time you heard of a QB attempting 59 passes in a single game with only one of them being a touchdown? His mediocrity is almost statistically impossible. Still, desperate teams will bid for him next year, and whoever gets him will be overpaying and limiting their teams options for adding help.

That team could be us! Oh goodie.

So either the Bradford apologists will have their hearts broken over “just money”; or they’ll get their wish and have to admit this time next year, that they spent the last two years backing an expensive lemon. A lemon whom we may be stuck shoveling years worth of guaranteed money into.

So it’ll be heartbreak or disaster. Either way, find yourself a Bradford booster to follow and screenshot their posts often. Because man, this one oughta be good.

 

EAGLES/REDSKINS PREVIEW

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/12/25
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Offense, Players, Preview, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , . 7 Comments

WAS (H)

SATURDAY   8:25   Lincoln Financial Field   Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

PLAYOFF football starts tomorrow night in Philadelphia. If we don’t win this game, the next one is mere formality. A win doesn’t automatically put us in the playoffs, since we’d still need to win the last game; but a loss means the team can head back to the locker room, shower, and then start throwing their shit in Hefty bags.

EAGLES

Defense

We have a bunch of fatigued players, some of whom are overpaid, all of which are playing in a bad scheme. You can only expect so much at this point in the year. If Defensive Coordinator Billy Davis had any ideas for shoring up this unit, you’d have seen those ideas three years ago. At this point, we are what we are until he’s fired.

Offense

QB Sam Bradford had his best statistical game as an Eagle vs the Redskins, and that was before he was said to be “getting comfortable” or “turning a corner” within this Offense. Only attempting 18 rushes is how the Head Coach Chip Kelly handed a win to the ‘skins in our first match-up this year. If he repeats such a formula and we lose, it will be time to run him out of town on a rail.

There is no reason this team should perform worse in this game than we did the last time we faced this defense.

.

Redskins

Defense

The good news is that the ‘skins can be run against. They aren’t soft, but they are overly aggressive and allow teams to find room to run against their 3-4 front. OLB Ryan Kerrigan is of course leading the team in sacks with 8.5, but his counterweight OLB Trent Murphy isn’t producing at the rate the team was hoping for when they decided they could release Brian Orakpo this offseason. The ‘skins are active and aggressive, but they aren’t as tough or tough-minded as they purport themselves to be.

They can be had.

Offense

The last time we faced QB Kirk Cousins, he pretty much did anything he wanted to do, and that was with WR DeSean Jackson inactive with a hamstring issue. Jackson is back and he’s playing on a tear. While the ‘skins have struggled to run the ball all year, they did a pretty handy job running against us in our first meeting this year.

There is a potential bright spot as in recent weeks it’s been easier to get to Cousins than it was earlier this year. The only knock on that bright spot is that even when you get in his face he’s still completing passes over the 70% mark.

BOTTOM LINE

It would be smarter in the long run to lose this game and put ourselves in position for the team to get better pieces to build a stronger future. Instead, what’s going to happen is this team will come one step closer to winning the division which will sandbag ourselves in the arms race vs. our rivals.

PREDICTION

EAGLES 26 – Redskins 20

WK 6: EAGLES/GIANTS

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/10/18
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Offense, Players, Roster. Tagged: , , , . 3 Comments

NYG (A)

MONDAY      8:30                 Lincoln Financial Field                      Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

WITH a win the Eagles will be in first place in the NFC East. We’ll have the head-to-head over the giants, and one more win than the Cowboys or Foreskins. That may only last a week, but it speaks to how winnable this division is. We just need to win this game and we’re in the driver’s seat.

EAGLES  

Defense

DE Fletcher Cox leads the team in sacks with 4, but the pass rush around him seems to have completely dried up. Of his 4 sacks 3 of them came last week vs a bad Saints team, so it’s not like there’s been a lot of consistency there. Luckily we haven’t been playing offensive juggernauts, so as long as we can keep opponents to 17 points or fewer we have a chance.

What we do well so far (again no juggernauts) is get turnovers. We have 14 (8 fumble recoveries, 6 interceptions) to date. What we don’t do well is defend the pass in a passing league. Only 6 teams do a worse job than we do. We’re 10th against the run, but that’s a mixed bag since teams choose to take yards in chunks through the air instead of running the ball.

Offense

Reports of this Offense finally getting their act together, are greatly exaggerated. What’s happened is we’ve gotten a few less than stellar defenses to play against and that trend will continue this week. That’s actually good for us because it allows us to continue to sharpen our Offense.

While RB DeMarco Murray is only averaging a sad 2.7 yards per carry, that number should be on its way up, as the Eagles seem to want to involve Murray more. Getting serious about running the football in between the Tackles and not only on zone-plays, will help keep QB Sam Bradford’s jersey clean. (FYI: Last week we committed to the run and Bradford was not sacked or knocked down by NFL statistics.) If we commit to running the ball the rest will fall into place. In our two wins the Eagles ran it 38 and 34 times. In our three losses, 16, 17 and 18. This ain’t rocket science folks.

giants

Defense

Gone is the pass rush from this team as their most explosive defender is not currently on the active roster. As a result the giants are the worst pass defending team in the NFL. This is only made worse by the pectoral injury to CB Prince Amukamara.

While they are the number two defense at rushing yards surrendered, only eight defenses have faced fewer rushing attempts and two of those teams have had their Bye already. Teams simply don’t attempt to run because there is no one easier to throw against.

Offense

We like to joke that QB Eli Manning is a turnover machine but the guy is responsible for exactly THREE turnovers this year so far. On the other hand he’s thrown 10 TD’s including a dagger to the face of the 49ers last week. Their passing attack will be without WR Victor Cruz and (if he’s smart) Odell Beckham. Beckham may attempt to play, but if he does will be a shadow of himself and may be more of a decoy to help get guys like Rueben Randle (who likes the middle anyway) more room to roam inside. TE Larry Donnell will be someone you want to look for as well. Running the ball is also not something they can rely on since they do it so poorly.

BOTTOM LINE

This is not a good team, they simply benefit from having a good QB and a +5 turnover ratio. They could easily be 1 – 4 right now, save for a break here and there. They are extremely beatable. That being said, we have things we have to get straight before we can say that we deserve to be on top of our division. Overall we’re a better team than the giants, plus we’re playing at home, in our black uniforms. It’ll be close, but it’ll be a win.

PREDICTION

EAGLES 20-19

EAGLES/SAINTS PREVIEW

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/10/09
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, NFL, Offense, Preview. Tagged: , , , , , . 7 Comments

Wk5-10.11.15

 

SUNDAY        1:00                 Lincoln Financial Field          Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

 

THIS team was the last one to beat us in a playoff game (AT HOME!), so you may have noticed that I’m still working through some bitterness. This game has the ability to be a shootout that keeps you on your feet, or it could be the equivalent of Phil Simms appearing on the inside of your television, greeting you by name, and then smearing handfuls of feces all over his side of your screen. I think it will be the latter. This game will be won by the first team to realize there’s a game going on.

 

EAGLES  

Defense

Having to play 95% of the minutes− Oops! Sorry, Chip. The “snaps” –in every game, is starting to show up in the number of injuries that are beginning to mount among our Defensive players. Right now we can’t stop the pass (ranked 25th) and are only okay at stopping the run (13th). However, stopping the run only gets harder as the year goes on. At this rate we won’t be able to stop anyone passing or running by December. But December is still weeks away. Unfortunately for the Saints, they face us in October.

Offense

Being unable to run makes us only half of an Offense. Teams know we’re going to pass because it’s the only way we really move the ball. We cripple ourselves with runs that start off going east-west instead of downhill. The one week we opened up with something different (vs the Jets) we were able to run our full Offense and we won the game.

Opponents are now just squatting in the “B” gaps to disrupt our blocking scheme. Look for how our opponents play the “B” gaps. You may be in danger of becoming a more knowledgeable fan.  

 

Opponent

Defense

Rookie OLB Hau’oli Kikaha has recorded a sack in 3 straight games and he leads the Saints in that category. Word on him is that he’s a one trick pony. Then again, getting sacks is an impressive trick. Especially when it leads to 2 of the teams 3 turnovers. Yes you read that right. Going into Week 5 the Saints have a paltry 3 turnovers, none of which are interceptions.

Offense

Like us, they throw the ball a ton because they can’t reliably run the thing. For that reason more than any other they’re 3rd in passing yardage, but they’re 19th in scoring.

QB Drew Brees is still trading on his rep from back when he had weapons like RB Darren Sproles, TE Jimmy Graham and a functioning version of WR Marques Colston. In reality his TD and yardage numbers have been dropping every year for the last four. He’s still good, but he’s not “that guy”anymore.

WR Brandin Cooks is shaping up to be a phenomenally pedestrian player; (and to think some fans wanted this guy to replace DJax.) The receiver to keep an eye on is Willie Snead.

What the Saints do different this year is they’ve knocked off that RB by committee nonsense and now they run everything through the team’s leading rusher (in both carries and yards), and leading receiver (in both receptions and yards) RB Mark Ingram. It’s not producing great numbers or wins yet, but it’s a sound building block to establish a go-to for big moments.

 

BOTTOM LINE

This is two bad 1-3 teams hanging on by a thread. Somebody’s season is coming to an end on Sunday. The giants are almost certain to beat the 49ers and go to 3-2. We can ill-afford to fall to 1-4. On the other hand most of our issues are technical and can be overcome. The Saints however are every bit as bad as their 1-3 record indicates.

 

PREDICTION

EAGLES 28 – Saints 16

EAGLE/REDSKINS PREVIEW

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/10/02
Posted in: Defense, Offense, Players, Preview. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

WAS (A)

 

SUNDAY        1:00                 FedEx Field    Landover, MD

EAGLES fans, we’re about to find out a lot about our team this weekend. This is not the same pushover, “see them on the schedule and write two wins down in ink” Redskins from the last few years. These Redskins plays with a bit of a chip on their shoulder on both sides of the ball. This game will serve as an early season measuring stick for our Eagles.

 

EAGLES  

Defense

It’s the same as the last two years. We’re fine against the run (7th), but we still rank among the bottom feeders against the pass (24th). Our defense gets turnovers, but they play too many minutes. (And yes I said minutes, not snaps.)

This week we get an opponent that relies heavily on the run, so unless they decide to give us a big dose of their passing game, or our guys get gassed out there, stopping the opponent should be right in our wheelhouse this week

Offense

Guess who the ranks dead last in the NFL in yard per game? That’s right, the Rams (274.3 yards per game). And who is just above them? Us (285.3 yards per game). We are 30th in the NFL at rushing yards per game, and so far we have a 2.7 yards per carry average. Our passing attack is ranked 23rd.

Some blame QB Sam Bradford, some blame our WR’s for the 10-15 drops so far. The truth is it’s the Offensive Line. Specifically the Guards. Notice how last week the O-line played better and we still won, despite a pedestrian 50%, 118 yard performance from our QB? When we committed to a basic power running approach (keeping it simple for our Guards) early on, it set a tone and allowed us to dictate the action. It’ll be interesting to see if we try that again this week or if we try to go back to what wasn’t working two weeks ago.

 

Redskins

Defense

Keep in mind that while the ‘skins are ranked high across the board, they also have played three offenses that rank very low or have consistency issues. That having been said, this is a feisty bunch. If you were in a bar fight and the Redskins defense had your back, you’d be in good company. Whatever we get from this team we’ll have to take, because they will not give us anything. They have a 69.4% stop rate on 3rd down, and in three games have only given up 4 first downs due to penalty. (We’ve given up 8). 

Offense

The Redskins have allowed more QB hits (63) than any team in the NFL (even though the Steelers and Ravens have each played one more game). QB Kirk Cousins is nothing special, but he’s a low level starter/high level back-up who can manage a game. Just don’t ask him to put a team on his back. The bread and butter of this unit is the run game. That 4th place run game is no mirage.

 

BOTTOM LINE

This game will be a fight. Two 1-2 teams, who are division rivals looking to avoid the basement. Two QB’s trying to legitimize themselves as starters. Two coaches trying to prove that their way is the right way. Ascension in the division and pride are on the line. However, on the road, in nasty weather…Bad weather doesn’t favor fast paced offenses. In fact it tends to magnify miscues. (Remember how bad we looked for ¾ of the Snow Bowl? Thank god we were facing a dome team!) I think Mother Nature teams up with D.C. this weekend.

PREDICTION

Redskins 23 – Eagles 18

 

KELLY CAN’T BENCH SAM BRADFORD

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/09/30
Posted in: Coaching, Conspiracy Corner, Front Office (F.O.), Offense, Players, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , . 9 Comments

chipsamich

CHIP Kelly can’t bench QB Sam Bradford, so you may as well get used to the idea of him as your starting QB for 2015. Remember when Kelly said “Peyton Manning switched teams because of an injury. Drew Brees switched teams because of an injury. So we went down that path.”. Does it feel like we got a Peyton Manning or a Drew Brees, to you?

The problem with that is that Bradford isn’t playing anything like those QBs. Even if you adjust for drops, he still looks to check the ball down, still stares down his receivers, and even former Eagles RB Brian Westbrook says he looks tentative out there. He simply lacks the swagger or heart of someone who should be a leader of men.

Circumstances however, make Bradford virtually unbenchable. If he’s benched and we don’t make the playoffs, fans won’t be the only ones to question whether or not Chip Kelly has too much say in personnel issues. Jeff Lurie handed Kelly a great deal of rope to either climb with or hang himself with. Meanwhile we’re 1-2 due primarily to problems on the side of the ball that Kelly himself specializes in.

Look, most fans (and not just Eagles fans) understand that Kelly brought Bradford here to attempt to package and trade him to some team (Tampa Bay or Tennessee) to move up in the 2015 Draft and then select QB Marcus Mariota. There’s more to that, but long story short the move blew up in Kelly’s face and we got stuck with an oft-injured, $13M lemon, on the last leg (no pun intended) of his rookie deal. We’re essentially renting a taxi at Lamborghini prices.

Could Kelly have sat $13M of Jeff Lurie’s money to let Mark Sanchez open as our Week One starter and lead us to 8-8 or 9-7? Of course not. Even if we went 10-6 with Sanchez, Eagles fans would wonder about “what Bradford could have done if given the chance”. In fact anything short of 12-4 with Sanchez would likely precipitate that question. And don’t even mention what people would say if we missed the playoffs behind Sanchez. So the money says to start Sam Bradford; and getting ahead of public perception says to start Sam Bradford.

So Kelly is stuck with starting Sam Bradford. And we’re stuck with watching it.

Trading away the starting QB (Nick Foles) that he was winning with, for a fragile checkdown artist was bad enough. But if Kelly kept him on the bench for 1/10th of the teams salary cap, it would be a major step towards showing that he can’t evaluate talent. That means Kelly has to keep Bradford on the field in hopes that he can salvage some value from the Foles/Bradford trade. That also means that Kelly has to keep lying about being happy with Bradford’s performance even though there is no way he can be.

What that means is that you can expect to see Bradford out there for the remainder of 2015. Kind of sucking and being underwhelming won’t be enough to sit him down. To see Sanchez start a game this year you’ll need one of three things to happen:

  • Scenario One: Bradford gets injured. Doesn’t have to be long-term, just one that lasts long enough for Sanchez to win a couple games and remotely justify Kelly “going with the hot hand”.
  • Scenario Two: Bradford melts down in consecutive games. I mean like throwing 3 picks in back to back games, or arguing with Kelly on the sideline, or going full-blown Jim Everett and the Phantom Sack. Something on that level.
  • Scenario Three: Week 12 or 13 is here but the NFC East is still a tight race, Bradford has been treading water and so Lurie flat out tells Kelly to play Sanchez. (This is almost entirely unlikely, but I’d be remiss not to mention it, because although remote, stranger things have happened.)

Barring those three situations you can pretty much count on a steady diet of passes under 8 yards, 20 passes per game thrown in the direction of WR Jordan Matthews, and WR Neslon Agholor being invisible for yet another week. And the whole time while you suffer and grit your teeth this year, keep in mind that nobody, not the fans, not Sanchez, not the WR’s, wants Bradford to ride pine as much as Chip Kelly does; but he can’t just bench Bradford. He pissed in the bed he made, and now he has to lie in it.

THE EAGLES NEXT MOVE

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/09/24
Posted in: Conspiracy Corner, Fans, Players, Roster. Tagged: , , , , . 8 Comments

 

 

1eb

WHO told you DJax was leaving before anyone else? I did. (I actually thought he’d be traded). People said I was crazy, that we would never trade him. A couple months later the Eagles simply released him.

I told you the Offense was changing. People dismissed me. Four months later, Jaws said the Offense was changing and it came as a surprise to everyone except my regular readers.

I told you that we’d trade McCoy after 2014. People said I was nuts. Six months later the Eagles traded him.

I told you not to expect 2013 Nick Foles in 2014. People called me a hater. The season started and Foles regressed badly. Lots of fans lost their minds. My regulars merely waited for Mark Sanchez to play.

I said we should trade Foles while we still have him under contract. People said there was no way the Eagles would do that. Tell me again how we got Sam Bradford.

I said Maclin may go to Kansas City. People said that there was no way Chip would let that happen. The coach then proceeded to shove Maclin out the door. His landing spot? Kansas City.

I said Byron Maxwell wasn’t a good signing. People shouted me down. I wonder what those people think of him so far?

I said our Guards would be a problem in 2015. People said Guards weren’t that important, that Offensive Tackles were what mattered. Well we’ve run for 70 yards in two games.

I said the Offensive Line would suffer due to the decline in talent at the Guard position. People said I was over-reacting since we still have Jason Peters, Jason Kelce, and Lane Johnson. Today some of those same fans are throwing those same players under the bus. Oh, and the line HAS suffered. Eagles fans are in shock over this. Well… only the ones who aren’t regulars here.

I said signing Jared Wheeler and John Moffitt were total wastes of time. People said give them a chance they could turn out to be real steals this season. Wheeler didn’t make it to the second round of cuts and Moffitt didn’t even make it as a back-up.

Today I’m saying that Sam Bradford is not a viable NFL QB anymore. He won’t be benched yet, but he’s no longer a piece to build around. He’s just a guy now.

Despite my track record for telling you what’s coming, people are still trying to convince themselves that I’m just a lone crackpot. Well…some people NEVER learn. For my regulars and new followers (there’s a FOLLOW button if you scroll up), you’re gonna want to pay close attention this season.

SAM BRADFORD IS DONE.

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/09/21
Posted in: Front Office (F.O.), Offense, Players. Tagged: , , , . 6 Comments

done

SAM Bradford is done as an NFL QB. He’s never been great, but he’s been abysmal this season. Still there were some fans who wanted to make it seem like he was blameless. They even went as far as putting together a film of all of his attempts vs the Falcons to prove it.

Funny thing is, looking at film and breaking down film are two different things. Not knowing the difference is why what they actually did was expose Bradford. They showed the world that he’s done as a pro, by accidentally showing the world that he’s still afraid for his left leg. Terrified actually.

Now give me twenty minutes and I’ll make you a better football fan for the rest of your life.

I did an article recently on whether or not his knee would hold up. I invited my readers to stand up and throw an imaginary football while paying attention to their plant leg. (If you didn’t see that article you’ll want to throw that imaginary pass now to get on the same page with the rest of your fellow fans, and before reading further.)

Now that we’re all up to speed, below is the 7 minute film those fans made that contains all 52 of Bradford’s attempts at Atlanta.

Take note of how gingerly Bradford treats his left leg. He never really straightens it, plants it and steps into his passes. As a result many of his passes tend to wobble and lack zip, while other passes tend to overshoot the receiver, and still other passes seem to “float” and allow defenders to close in on them. (This is similar to what we saw from Nick Foles throwing off his back foot last year.) Check out his delivery. He’s torqueing his waist on many throws to compensate for what he’s missing due to not stepping into his passes. As a result the ball tends to “spray” out of bounds instead of being a frozen rope.

But don’t take my word for it. Take 7 minutes and look at what Bradford himself shows you. Don’t be convinced by what I say. Be convinced by what your own eyes see.

Now that you’ve seen it, you’ll never be able to miss it on any QB. (You’re officially a more knowledgeable fan and therefore a better fan now.)  During the game against the Cowboys Bradford’s delivery was jumping off my screen so much that I wanted to scream. However, that’s fixable with coaching as long as the player still has heart. Then came the moment that said Bradford was over.

Before cadence was being called, C Jason Kelce snapped the ball (for some reason) to Bradford who was (for some reason) not paying attention to where he was. The ball hit Bradford in the chest and tumbled to the ground. As a football player your first instinct is to fall on the ball, but Bradford didn’t. Instead he bent at the waist and groped a bit for it, keeping his knees out of the scrum. It was a total lack of commitment, courage, situational awareness, and football IQ.

If his teammates haven’t seen that yet, they soon will. It begs the questions: How do you follow a leader with no heart? How much commitment do you give to a leader who is only partly committed to his unit? By Wednesday the Eagles players (to a man) will be asking this question every time they line up with Bradford. They’ll deny it publicly, but if you’ve ever had to put your ass on the line for or with someone else, you know they’ll be asking that question.

That means he’s done here. If he’s done here, chances are excellent that he’s done everywhere else. Sam Bradford is done as a viable NFL starting QB. Over the next few weeks the Eagles will likely fix the problems surrounding him, and he’ll begin to look better; but we’ve already seen who he is (both here and St. Louis).Why mortgage the future on a guy one a one year deal, when it’s clear he’s not the answer? Admit the mistake and correct it while we still have 14 games left.

10 THINGS THE EAGLES DID RIGHT

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/09/17
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Offense, Players, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , . 3 Comments

ck

INSTEAD of only discussing what went wrong Monday night, I want to discuss some of the things that went right. I want to give credit where credit is due, instead of being angry over only one loss. Here’s the list:

  1. The team apparently was able to find the stadium.
  2. Nobody’s uniform was on backwards or inside-out.
  3. At no point did CB Byron Maxwell attempt to cover FS Malcolm Jenkins.
  4. No one stuck his head in the Gatorade, and drowned standing up.
  5. QB Sam Bradford survived despite his protection’s best efforts.
  6. WR Riley Cooper didn’t threaten to fight every (Black person) in Atlanta.
  7. Hooray!! Bradford can throw accurate screen passes.
  8. No one was injured by a blocking sled or other practice equipment.
  9. At no point did Bradford tell RB DeMarco Murray NOT to score.
  10. No one broke a bone in their foot.

That having been said:

 

Dear Eagles,

We love you. Now get your shit together.

Sincerely,

Your Fans

MARK SANCHEZ WILL START

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/09/16
Posted in: Coaching, Offense, Players. Tagged: , , . 12 Comments

 

blacksportsonline.com

Photo courtesy of blacksportsonline.com

QUARTERBACK Sam Bradford’s knee has to be of some concern to you now. I know during the offseason and preseason many Eagles fans seemed convinced that there would be no issue with Bradford’s knee. That he’d start 16 games, while never throwing a single incompletion, on his way to being something other than the guy he’s been as an NFL QB. I’m not sure if that was naive optimism, or just grown people with a 6 year old’s understanding of the human body.

I on the other hand, wrote an article talking about the knee and how the Offense might look different with Bradford out there. Most of what I wrote was centered around the fact that the Eagles average 35 pass attempts per game under the current head coach. I wondered openly, just how long that knee would take the pounding of simply planting on that knee to throw.

Well in Bradford’s first game as an Eagle, he attempted 52 passes. This is in contrast to just 16 rushing attempts (as a team), all game long. Put down your calculators, that means 76% of the plays called were for passes; on what I keep being told (but not shown) is a run-first team. In a 2 point loss in a game that was never out of control, there was no reason to abandon the run. None. That many pass attempts also didn’t help Bradford, seeing as he was hit 8 times in the pocket in that game.

While his often discussed ACL injuries weren’t the direct result of being hit, his shoulder injuries were. Given his lack of real mobility, he’s a sitting duck if the interior Offensive Line doesn’t do a better job of giving him an area to safely step into.

In one of my fantasy leagues I drafted Mark Sanchez (very late), because I fully believe that Bradford will be shelved at some point this season. I was originally thinking it would be Week 9 or 10. However, if the play selection and/or the pass protection doesn’t get better soon, I’d say Mark Sanchez will start Week 7 or sooner.