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2022 QUARTERLY REPORT CARD: QUARTER TWO

Posted by The BEAST on 2022/11/27
Posted in: breakdown, Conversations, Defense, NFL, Offense, Players, playoffs, report, Reviews, Roster, Special Teams, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment
Y’all ain’t seen nothing yet!

SEASON Reviews are usually done at the end of the season. A few are also done at the halfway mark. Starting in 2017, Eaglemaniacal.com began treating the season like a game, and breaking it into four quarters.

In 2021, the NFL expanded the season to 17 games, which makes for an uneven split. So this year (at least), these Quarterly Reports will come after games (not Weeks) 5, 9, 13, and 17. (Ugh. I hate even looking at that format.)

Since football is a hard sport, we’ll take a hard look at where our team currently stands, in relation to where it started. Then we can discuss where it needs to go next.

Note: This Report was supposed to come out BEFORE the Colts game, The records below reflect the records at that time.

STATUS: 8 – 1, 1st in NFC East, 1st in the NFC

Chips pushed to center of the table.

OPPONENTS: (After game nine)

(W ) Dallas             6 – 3

(W ) Pittsburgh       3 – 6

(W ) Houston         1 – 7 – 1

(L ) Washington     5 – 5

OVERVIEW: Bad news first. We just suffered our first loss. We are allowing an increasing number of rushing yards as this quarter wears on. Now the good news. We didn’t allows a team to reach 200 yards passing for any of these four games. We also haven’t allowed a team to reach 20 points in 3 number of those four games.

We’ve also started scoring points in both halves of ball games. It sounds like sarcasm, but it isn’t. Looking at the Raiders and Raven blow big leads repeatedly this season, makes a clear point. It’s not how many points, it’s how often points. Big, early leads that get chipped into, give the opponent confidence. However, constantly topping up our score, can make an opponent feel that they’ll always be just out of reach.

This is how to make opponents dread seeing us on their schedule.

NOTE: This Report was supposed to come out BEFORE the Colts game, but the Monday Night game threw everything off. That means no mention or consideration of the Colts game stats will figure into this report. This segment will be the only place that will mention DT Linval Joseph or DT Ndamukong Suh, and even then, only to say that they aren’t discussed in this Report.

*****

GRADES:

QB: B / Jalen Hurts rushing this quarter (26 – 88 – 3.3 – 1 – 1) is way too much risk for way too little reward. Also the number of times he’s been sacked 12 in the last three games is up 11 in the first five games. The boil-down is that our QB is taking too much punishment, for too few yards. Some of it is the line, but some of it is him holding the ball too long.

When he does get the ball off, he’s just gunning defenses down. In the first five games, he threw 4 TD/2 Ints. In these last 4, he’s thrown 10TD/1 Int.

RB Miles Sanders scores in our 26 – 17 victory over Dallas

RB: C / Miles Sanders (56 – 296 – 5.2 – 3 – 0) has been effective when used, and even enjoyed a three game scoring streak. Where he’s fallen off, is just 2 targets in the last four weeks, vs 11 in the first five. His snap count was also down. Kenneth Gainwell (11 – 57 – 5.1 – 1 – 0) has been effective as a runner, but his 5 catches for 29 yards (5.8) isn’t what the team was hoping for from him. Boston Scott (15 – 47 – 3.1 – 0 – 0) has seen mostly mop-up duty, and hasn’t been part of recent games while they’re still in contest. Trey Sermon hasn’t played since week five.

This group has been less involved and it has showed itself in the slow start against the Texans and the loss vs Washington. Running is this team’s bread and butter. This has to get fixed.

TE: C / Dallas Goedert (24 – 19 – 209 – 11.0 – 2) has been a consistent catalyst for the Offense. Key third down conversions are becoming his calling card. He should see more targets when the Offense is inside the 10, but the Offensive Coordinator is in love with bunch formations and trying to get our QB killed.

Stepping up his production is blocking TE Jack Stoll (5 – 3 – 45 – 15. 0 – 0). His numbers are meager, but his last quarter as a receiver has already been more impactful, than his entire 2021 season. No other Eagles TE has caught a pass since Week 1. We have no depth here. The pending injury report on Goedert (hurt vs Washington), will tell us if we’re lucky or screwed.

WR: B /A.J Brown (28 – 16 – 289 – 18.0 – 5) has been on a tear. Aside from the Washington game where he pulled up lame early in the contest, he’s scored in each game this quarter. Devonta Smith (23 – 18 – 128 – 7.1 – 2) has become just a possession receiver this quarter. Even his two scores were both in the red zone. This seems to work better for making the QB comfortable, than it does for sustaining scoring drives. Smith needs to be opened up more.

WR A.J. Brown scores easily on a pass rusher forced to cover.

Quez Watkins (8 – 7 -105 – 15.0 – 0) has been far from featured, but at least he’s been less of an afterthought this last quarter. Zach Pascal (5 – 4 – 75 – 18.7 – 1) is still a blocker/enforcer/H-Back, but the Eagles seem to want to weaponize him more. Which is good! He’s too small (214 pounds) to consider in a TE role, but he can gives us versatility if we motion-switch alignments vs a Nickel or Dime front.


OT: B / LT Jordan Mailata (6’8”) had one bad game vs DE Jerry Hughes (6’2”), but you’d swear that the media was going to rename him Winston Justice. It did however expose that in a playoff game, at his height, Mailata might require help vs shorter DE’s who can flatten and bend the corner. Good to know in advance!

RT Lane Johnson did what Lane Johnson does. Legitimately a Hall of Fame candidate, he opens holes and doesn’t allow defenders to touch his QB. He missed about half of the win vs Dallas leaving with a concussion. Swing T Jack Driscoll came in and batted clean-up. He allowed more hits and pressure than Johnson did, but look at who we’re comparing Driscoll to.

OG: B / LG Landon Dickerson is at his best teeing off on players and imposing his will, in the run game. He’s doing a great job and not allowing sacks, but his game still feels muzzled. RG Issac Seumalo does a good job getting to the second level in the run game, but he still seems to have trouble with bull rushers. Given that he plays the right side, it makes the QB have to feint back and not get as much on his passes.

C: A / Jason Kelce has been letting it all hang out this quarter. Even pulling teammates by their helmets for extra yards! He looks like a man who wants to prove that he can still play at high level; so that when he does walk away after this year, he leaves his legend intact.

DE: F / Josh Sweat hasn’t generated much heat in the last quarter. He produced a sack/fumble against Washington, but otherwise has been quiet. Brandon Graham was also practically invisible. Since coming over in a Week 8 trade, Robert Quinn has been active, but hasn’t put his stamp on the defense.

Schematically this position has been where it needs to be, on the field. What it hasn’t done, is make anyone take any notice of it. That’s led to a lot of finger-pointing (not internally), towards the wrong folks, and solutions that aren’t really.

DT: C / Much has been asked of Fletcher Cox. Statistically he isn’t posting numbers, as he’s been asked to play over 70% of the snaps in three of the games this quarter. Last week he played 70 snaps (85%). SEVENTY! For a d-lineman at age 31, that’s a ludicrous ask., But he’s been game to try. Honestly, at his age he should be playing more strong-side DE, if we’re using a lot of outside rush, but I don’t coach the Defense, so…

DT Javon Hargrave pitchin’ woo!

Nearly (but not quite) as much has been asked of Javon Hargrave, who’s racked up 6 sacks , 5 tackles for loss, a forced fumble, and a partridge in a pear tree. (Note: He was in on 13 tackles with just 1 being for a loss this week vs Washington. This is telling.) Rookie Jordan Davis is on I.R. with a high ankle sprain. He wasn’t racking up stats, but he’s the rock that our run defense is built on. We haven’t been right since he went down.

Milton Williams also moonlights at End and probably needs to play out there more. He’s a not really an inside penetrator, or a pocket collapser, but as a Nickel body, he’s ideal. Marlon Tuipulotu has a sack and a fumble recovery this quarter. The thing is, he plays entirely too much football south of his finger divots. He’s just not very quick off the snap.

OLB: C / Hasaan Reddick has added 2 sacks and 5 QB hits this quarter. What he hasn’t done is force a turnover or be much of force against the run. One or the other needs to be part of his game. Opponents have been careful about throwing the ball around Kyzir White, but more and more runs are being tilted towards his 216 pound frame. (It may be time to start giving rookie Nakobe Dean some of White’s snaps early in games.)

Patrick Johnson moonlights at End, and is producing no impact plays at either spot. If you listen closely, you can almost hear his replacement being drafted.

MLB: B / T.J. Edwards has racked up 45 tackles in the last 4 games. He makes plays despite not being kept very clean up front. He’s at his best when he just drops ball-carriers, instead of holding them up as they fight for (and gain) more yards. (It’s an attempt to slap the ball out, and every team teaches it.)

SS Chauncey Gardner-Johnson with one of his TWO interceptions in our 26 – 17 victory over Dallas.

S: A / If you hear Jaws music while you’re Christmas shopping, it just means that Chauncey Gardner-Johnson is in the area. Grabbing 5 interceptions and 1 sack over these last four weeks, to QB’s this guy has been scarier than cancer. Marcus Epps continues to play every single down, of every game this season. He still doesn’t have any wow stats, but the way the Secondary is playing may be all the wow he needs. K’Von Wallace is has seen an uptick in downs this quarter.

CB: B / Darius Slay is not coming off of his best game, allowing (8 – 6 – 104 – 17.3 – 0) vs Washington. Otherwise (9 – 5 – 23 – 4.6 – 0), he’s had an extremely strong quarter (17 – 11 – 127 – 11.5 – 0) and owns his corner. James Bradberry (26 – 11 – 124 – 11.2 – 1) has seen more traffic, but owns his corner as well. Both have an interception each, in this quarter.

Avonte Maddox is currently on I.R., but he forced a fumble and recovered one (on two different plays) vs Pittsburgh this quarter. Josiah Scott filled in at Nickel for Maddox, and on 54 downs this week, only 1 ball was thrown his way. That said, he wasn’t a huge help vs the run, as Washington ran 49 times vs throwing it just 29.

LS: A / Rick Lovato hasn’t blown any snaps and even helped on a tackle this week. Finally! I was beginning to think the Rickshaw wouldn’t run over some poor sucker this season.

P: C / Arryn Siposs has only had to punt 14 times this quarter, and his average of 47.1 yards per boot, which is a two yard improvement over last quarter. Unfortunately this quarter there have been 6 returns for 56 yards (9.3), which isn’t great on two fronts. First, there seems to have been some out-kicking of the coverage. Second 6 of 14 punts is a high return rate. Also smacks of out-kicking.

K: B / Jake Elliott hasn’t made a Field Goal attempt since Week 6. In fairness, he’s only attempted one since Week 6. He’s been 13 of 13 on extra points this quarter.

PR/KR: F / Britain Covey during this quarter has returned 4 punts for 32 yards. He’s been better about attempting kick-off returns with 7 this quarter vs just three in th first five games. He’s only garnered 137 yards for an average of 19.5 yards. Meaning we’d be better off if he’d stayed shy about returning the ball.

*****

WR A.J. Brown tattooed FS Minka Fitzpatrick with THREE touchdown catches like this, in this game.

SINCE LAST QUARTER:

Last Quarter having the Offense play a full game of football was listed as the mission. On a side note, Jalen Hurts throwing for more than 4 measly touchdowns over five games, didn’t seem like too much to ask. Well both prayers were answered.

So we’re on track, as far as maturing as a team. We aren’t peaking too fast, and we’re being thrown some adversity to overcome and learn from. This is all good for us. Even the Washington loss. Perhaps most especially the Washington loss. We had a couple of weaknesses exposed. It’ll be interesting to see how we respond to that.

MISSION FOR THIS QUARTER:

Secure a playoff berth. Even a Wild Card. Sounds ridiculous as the #1 overall seed in the conference right now, but mathematically, we’ve secured nothing yet. There are seven seats at the table, so we officially need to be better than nine other teams.

This expanded playoff format will keep the playoff picture cloudy, longer than in past years. However, over the next few weeks, by virtue of how many losses they have, the math will eliminate some teams. Possibly as soon as Week 13. By the end of this Third Quarter, we need to lock a berth down

2020 SEASON REVIEW: FIRST QUARTER

Posted by The BEAST on 2020/10/10
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, free agents, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Offense, Players, Reviews, Roster, Special Teams, stats, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

SEASON Reviews are usually done at the end of the season. A few are also done at the halfway mark. Starting in 2017, Eaglemaniacal.com began treating the season like a game, and breaking it into four quarters. Since football is a hard sport, we’ll take a hard look at where our team currently stands, in relation to where it started. Then we can discuss where it needs to go next.

STATUS: 1 – 2 – 1 / 1st place in the NFC East / 21.0 points per game vs. 29.2 points allowed

OPPONENTS:

(L) Washington 1 – 3

(L) Los Angeles Rams 3 – 1

(T) Cincinnati 1 – 2 – 1

( W) San Francisco 2 – 2

IT’S been a shit-show. Injuries (more than anything else), have derailed any sense of rhythm this team was supposed to have coming out of the gate. On Offense it’s led to inconsistencies, which have led to turnovers, which have left points on the field. On Defense it’s led to communications errors, magnified by gaps in talent, which have translated into points for the opponent.

POSITIONAL GRADES:

QB Carson Wentz dives for a touchdown.

QB (D): Why not an F for Carson Wentz? Because of context. Context means you look at the WHOLE picture, not just the stat-line. Washington was going well, until the sacks started piling up. He was bad in the Rams game. In the last two games however, Carson has put this team on his shoulders. Despite protection issues, and a lack of weapons, he’s figuring out how to keep us in games. Still, he has to get the turnovers under control. Jalen Hurts has played 10 snaps and still has two fumbles (Neither was lost.)

RB (C ): Miles Sanders has been effective running the ball, but far from dangerous. He hasn’t established himself as a tier of the Offense, merely as an option in it. The short passing game won’t pop until that happens. Boston Scott is not a true runner and it shows, in how easy it is to stop his forward progress. Corey Clement is scarcely being utilized.

TE (C ): Seems like a high grade until you realize that the production is off, because shorter routes are being emphasized for this position. The team is scheming away from Zach Ertz in order as they audition replacements. That was going fine until Dallas Goedert ended up on IR. Now the Eagles are standing in the rain, on the doorstep of the girl they just dumped, horny and somewhat humbled. “Looking for a little romance. Given half a chance.”

WR Greg Ward hits paydirt!

WR (D): The inability to stay healthy is bad enough, but the “next man up” needs to do a better job of trying to crack the starting line-up. As a group, so far they’ve caught 43 of 70 targets for 478 yards (11.1 ypc) and just 2 touchdowns. Greg Ward is the leader at this position, but he doesn’t even average 9 yards per catch. Taking what the defense gives you is one thing. Letting them dictate to you all game long, is quite another. These guys have to do a better job of getting open on intermediate and deep routes

T (D): Neither Jason Peters nor Lane Johnson has looked quite like themselves this season. With JP it’s a toe injury that put him on IR for a few games. With Johnson it’s offseason ankle surgery, that isn’t back to 100% yet. Rookie Jack Driscoll has played quite a bit of football this year, but he looks like a rookie. Three year project Jordan Mailata got his first start in the Eagles lone win. He wasn’t amazing, but there was definite promise there. Still this position has been too inconsistent to grade it highly.

LG Nate Herbig beside LT Jordan Mailata, in his first NFL start.

G (C ): Matt Pryor and Nate Herbig won’t be mistaken for Pro Bowlers, but we haven’t lost a game since they became our starting tandem, two games ago. They aren’t the best pass blockers, but that has the upside of “encouraging” bootlegs and getting the ball out earlier.

C (D): Jason Kelce still understands leverage and landmarks, but his ability to win at the point of attack seems greatly diminished. Also he could do a better job of shielding the scramble lane. The good news is we’ve already seen the first of his annual two wild snaps. Kelce still is a wily vet, and he can get by on that. The question is: “Can the Eagles?”

DE (C): The sack production is there, with 10 in the first 4 games. Brandon Graham is on pace for a 12 sack season. So is Josh Sweat. Derek Barnett is on pace for 10. However, the backside run stopping is dangerously lax. Regardless of who lines up there (usually Barnett or Sweat), our RDE often doesn’t set the edge. Instead, they flatten to run down it. Without second level containment on that side, the Eagles fall frequent victim to reverses or stretch runs. FYI: It happens enough for opponents to be able to scheme for and target.

DT (A): This position is the engine that drives the Defense. It is the source of our power. They are the primary reason why we are giving up just 3.8 yards per rush. They also provide the pressure that has us leading the NFL in sacks. Fletcher Cox is Fletcher Cox of course, but Malik Jackson? Him?? As a group, all four players have 14 QB hits through 4 games. Jackson owns 9 of them. As an interior lineman!

OLB (D): Opponents now know that Nate Gerry has neither the speed to cover anyone, nor the strength to take on blockers. As a Nicklebacker (ugh!) playing ZONE, he provides a level of shift-on-the-fly flexibility that’s hard to match. However, as an every down ‘backer, he’s more like shit-under-flies. On the other hand, we haven’t lost since Duke Riley became a starter. Riley has also been lackluster, to put it kindly. The only splash play made by this group was Alex Singleton’s 30 yard game sealing pic-six vs the 49ers.

MLB (C ): T.J. Edwards wasn’t setting the world on fire, but we were getting some decent football out of him inside the Tackle box. But he’s on IR now, so…(nodding) ya know… In the meantime, getting a good look at rookie Shaun Bradley can only help his development. No one said they would, but at this point, they should.

FS Rod McLeod picks off a 49er pass.

S (C): FS Rodney McLeod has been targeted 13 times for 6 completions, just 68 yards, 0 TD’s, and a red zone interception. He’s been a low-key brightspot in the Secondary this season. Jalen Mills has been a bit of a disaster at SS. Targeted 7 times for 7 completions and a TD. Plus the soft tackling. His move back outside for WK4, was a godsend. During WK4, rookie Kavon Wallace got the start, while veteran Marcus Epps got most of the snaps. They weren’t All Pro, but they showed actual promise. The grade for next quarter should be higher. Provided that Mills stays outside.

CB (C): Darius Slay is the story here. He has no picks, and is allowing completions at a rate of 66%. However, he’s also only allowed 180 yards through 4 games, and his deflection in our lone victory, stopped George Kittle from stealing it from us, in the closing seconds of the game. Jalen Mills in that game was targeted 7 times, allowing just 2 completions for all of 6 yards. Never move him to Safety again. (Love him at N/CB though.) When we stopped playing Nickell Robey-Coleman 60% of the time, we started winning, and allowing 32 points per game. That, coincided with playing Cre’Von LeBlanc a lot more. So it feels like the Eagles are finding a rhythm at the position. A per game grade would look like D, F, C, B.

LS (A): The fact that you can’t recall mentioning Rick Lovato, is always a good thing.

P (A): Cameron Johnston is out there MURDERING IT so far. He’s averaging 51.6 yards per punt, 12 of which have been returned for an average of just 5.6 yards.

K (A): Jake Elliott is 7 of 7 on extra points and 6 of 7 from the field, with his only miss being from 50+ yards.

LB(?) Nate Gerry comes up small. Again.

SINCE LAST QUARTER:

We ended 2019 on a 4 – 0 tear, vs admittedly garbage ((cough) division), lever competition. We tweaked the Offense by moving around some coaches, and added a ton of speed. Injuries however, have reared their ugly heads, yet again. The difference is, now we’re so used to it, that we know how to take it in stride.

MISSION FOR THIS QUARTER:

Getting the Offensive Line and the Secondary to gel, should be the focus of these next few games. We need to be able to solidly separate ourselves from the bottom of the division. While 4 – 0 would be great and should always be the goal, coming out of these next 4 (Pittsburgh, Baltimore, New York giants, Dallas) at 2 – 2 seems more realistic.

We need DE Derek Barnett to get us a few of these, in the next few weeks.

THE 2020 ROSTER (FIRST EDITION)

Posted by The BEAST on 2020/09/06
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, Draft, free agents, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Offense, Players, Roster, Special Teams. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

THERE were a few names among the cuts that I was not happy with: DT Anthony Rush, CB Rasul Douglas, and DE Shareef Miller specifically. That said, I wouldn’t rule out seeing one or two of those guys added to the Practice Squad in the next couple of days.

The key to this roster is not to over-react to it. With no preseason there may be a guy or two who made the team, simply because the coaching staff felt that they needed a look at him during live fire, before shipping him out. Cutting “just a guy” in order to make sure that you don’t pass on a diamond in the rough, is a hard thing to argue against.

Here’s my take on the Eagles roster as it stands now. We’ll keep it simple: GREEN (Ready to roll) / YELLOW (Serviceable, but needs bolstering) / RED (This can’t be the best we can do)

QB: Carson Wentz, Nate Sudfeld, Jalen Hurts – I have no worries here. Wentz is a top ten starter, Sudfeld has never been “WOW!”, but he’s never sucked either. Hurts is a rookie with a lot of talent, but he’s 100% untested at this level. GREEN

RB: Miles Sanders, Corey Clement, Boston Scott – This is a good group. Good. Not great. Everyone here can catch the ball and is dangerous as hell in the Screen game. What’s missing is a 3rd and 2 banger. A back to wear down the defense, eat clock, and quiet the crowd for road games like Week 10 (giants), Week 11 (Browns), and Week 13 (Packers). (YES! We drew away games at Lambeau TWO years in a row! Total bullshit.) GREEN

WR: Alshon Jeffery, DeSean Jackson, Greg Ward, J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, Jalen Reagor, John Hightower, Quez Watkins – Seven. I thought the team might keep six, but I guess with Jeffery not being back from injury yet, Watkins is getting an opportunity. Numbers aside, I’ve been an Eagles fan since 1989, and I have never seen our team assemble a receiver corps this dangerous. Jackson, Hightower and Watkins can all fly. Jeffery is open even when he’s covered. (And here’s a link for those who forgot that.) Greg Ward has a knack for uncovering early in his route, which gives the QB an almost instant place to go with the ball. Reagor and Whiteside have reportedly looked very promising in camp. This group is very fast, and diverse, so they can be schemed to exploit a new weakness every week. GREEN

TE: Zach Ertz, Dallas Goedert – This is likely the best TE 1-2 punch in football. The problem is that there is no depth here. While on most teams, a second TE would be depth, our team plays them both so much, that an injury to one totally disrupts our base offensive concept. This is one of the positions that either requires and add, or for a lineman to switch position. (Now who might be athletic enough to handle such a switch…?) However, as long as these two are healthy, opposing defensive coordinators can kiss a week of sleep, goodbye. GREEN

C: Jason Kelce – Good solid player. GREEN

G: Isaac Seumalo, Jason Peters, Nate Herbig – This is a solid bunch, though I still think that if Peters is playing the position, he should be on the Left, not the Right. YELLOW

T: Lane Johnson, Matt Pryor, Jordan Mailata, Jack Driscoll – Johnson is a perennial Pro-Bowl type of player at RT. Everyone else is a a crapshoot. With the season ending injury to Andre Dillard, Jason Peters should be at LT. Instead, we’re out here holding tryouts a week before the season starts. RED

DE: Brandon Graham, Vinny Curry, Derek Barnett, Josh Sweat, Genard Avery, Casey Toohill – Both Graham and Curry play the run well and get plenty of heat on the QB. (Though neither is a sack machine.) Barnett has yet to put it all together, and has been average at best to this point in his career. Sweat showed flashes last year, and may be nipping at Barnett’s heels for his starting spot in 2021. Avery is an OLB/DE tweener who relies on explosive brute force to get to the passer. We saw a tiny sample of that in 2019, but there’s a lot of buzz about him from coaches this year. Toohill is still here because a 250 pound DE, who runs a 4.62 forty, is a nice thing to have on Special Teams. This isn’t a flashy position, but there are at least 4 players here who are NFL caliber starters. GREEN

DT: Fletcher Cox, Malik Jackson, Hasaan Ridgeway, Javon Hargrave – Three of these four demand frequent double-teams. That alone will to open up many, many one-on-one opportunities for edge rushers this season. And what’s scarier: All the players at this position are all finishers. GREEN

OLB: Nate Gerry, Duke Riley, Alex Singleton, Davion Taylor, Shaun Bradley – Gerry is going to start. Beyond that, everything is a question or just speculation. As if to further fuel that very thing, the Eagles have taken down the depth chart section of their website. There’s a lot of speed here, but Gerry is the only one with significant experience playing NFL defense. Bradley and Taylor are both rookies. Singleton and Riley are career Special Teamers. Communication breakdowns are going to be a regular occurrence here. RED

MLB: T.J. Edwards – The Eagles don’t make a distinction between OLB and MLB. At least on paper they don’t. Fact is, with Edwards’s limited speed and range, he has to play the MIKE if he wants to play in this league. YELLOW

S: Rodney McLeod, Jalen Mills, Rudy Ford, Marcus Epps, Will Parks, K’Von Wallace – While I’m still peeved over letting Malcolm Jenkins walk, Mills will provide a little more speed. That means it won’t require McLeod to over-extend himself in deep coverage. Ford and Epps were here in 2019 and they combined for 17 games and 11 tackles. No passes defensed or nothing. Parks was brought in and moved into third on the depth chart, but he’s injured, and it remains to be seen how he bounces back. Wallace is a rookie. YELLOW

CB: Avonte Maddox, Cre’Von LeBlanc, Craig James, Darius Slay, Nickell Robey-Coleman – Slay isn’t quite “shutdown” level, but he’s the next best thing. Or at least he has been so far in his career. Maddox seems to be the second starter. He’s feisty and will gamble for the ball, but his stature (5’9”, 183) could become an issue. With Robey-Coleman being brought in to play the Nickle, it raises some serious questions about the role (and future) of LeBlanc. James just got a one year contract extension. YELLOW

 

K: Jake Elliott – Has been on a two year slide since 2017, and no one was brought in to challenge him. YELLOW

P: Cam Johnston – Needs to give his coverage time to get to the returner. YELLOW

LS: Rick Lovato – Must be awesome. You never hear his name. GREEN

 

Again, this is just the first edition of the roster. So there’s no need to freak out, and no reason to reserve Super Bowl tick- oh right. Covid.

2019 SEASON REVIEW: THIRD QUARTER

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/12/07
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, Offense, Players, Reviews, Roster, Special Teams, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

headshot.jpg

SEASON Reviews are usually done at the end of the season. (Duh, right?) A few are done at the halfway mark, and/or at the end. Starting in 2017, Eaglemaniacal.com began treating the season like a game, and breaking it into four quarters. Since football is a hard sport, we’ll take a hard look at where our team stands at the moment (in relation to where it started), and where it needs to go next.

STATUS: 5 – 7, 2nd in NFC East

[pic]

OPPONENTS:

W Chicago Bears (6 – 6)

L New England Patriots (10 – 2)

L Seattle Seahawks (9 – 2)

L Miami Dolphins (3 – 9)

Combined: 28 – 19

OVERVIEW:

We shit the bed this quarter. 

The mission for this quarter was to cultivate a second WR. We played half of this stretch without either our #1 WR and without the guy masquerading as a #2. Instead of stabilizing our Offense, we lost pieces. The last three games were without our leading rusher.

Defensively we’ve been mostly solid for three fourths of this quarter. However the issues that have haunted us for years, continue to be an area that Philadelphia as a franchise seems incapable of ever mastering anymore.

GRADES:

2019 wentz collapsing pocket.jpg

QB: (B) Some would say that this grade is too high for Carson Wentz, given how errant some of his deliveries have been, and the 6 turnovers in 4 games. I would argue that with the receivers he’s had, and his lack of chemistry with them, it’s a wonder Wentz managed to manufacture any sort of scoring during the middle part of this period. Given the circumstances, I’d fairly put this at a C+, but I don’t do the +/- thing, so I chose to just round it up.

RB: (C ) These last few games have shown that Mile Sanders needs Jordan Howard on the field. Without Howard to account for, teams are able to defend Sanders more honestly. It’s not only made him seem less explosive, it has also significantly changed the routes that Sanders gets to run. The Eagles are 0 – 3 since Howard disappeared from the line-up. Jay Ajayi was added to the roster during this stretch, but he doesn’t see enough work to make a dent, since in part, what he’s good at is tiring out defenders.

TE: (B) This position has carried the passing attack during this quarter. They get open and generally are sure handed. The biggest knock on them, is more about how they’re not utilized downfield enough. There isn’t a better TE duo in the sport than Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert.

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WR: (D) 2019 hasn’t been a good year for this position, but this last quarter has been flat out abysmal, overall. I say overall because It wouldn’t be fair to throw Greg Ward into this meat grinder. After FINALLY being promoted from the Practice Squad, he’s made good on his opportunities. I won’t blame a man for making an 8 yard catch on an 8 yard throw. I also won’t ding Alshon Jeffery too hard. Less because of his most recent game (which was very good), and more because even when he was playing hurt, as our only real outside threat, he still managed to produce for us. I won’t turn my nose up at such an effort. On the other hand JJ Arcega-Whiteside, and Nelson Agholor have been trash. There’s a player inside of Agholor, but I’m not sure there’s one in JJAW.

OT: (C ) This position grades lower this quarter, because it’s been so inconsistently staffed. LT Jason Peters and RT Lane Johnson have been pretty good when they’ve been out there. Rookie Andre Dillard looks great at LT, just don’t ask him play RT. Which is exactly what happened when Johnson went down for a game with a concussion. So Dillard was pulled. Halapoulivaati Vaitai played like garbage truck juice when filling in for the rookie. The Eagles should have traded him when they were getting offers.

OG: (D) Mentioning Brandon Brooks anxiety flare-up, surely makes me an asshole to everybody, but his absence helped cost us a game. That’s a fact. Not to knock Matt Pryor, but Pryor rides pine for a reason. Isaac Seumalo may be athletic and good blocking on the move, but his lack of raw aggression in the phone-booth, still leads him to fall off blocks, and be driven back into the pocket too often. We need more from this position over this next quarter.

C: (C ) It feels like Jason Kelce is about ready to retire. He’s never been the most intense player, but now it seems like his concentration is waning. The interior of this line needs an overhaul.

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DE: (C ) Derek Barnett still reverts to chase mode too quickly. He doesn’t do a consistent job of setting the edge, first. This is helping to open the door for cutback runs, Jet Sweeps, and flea-flickers. It tells opposing coaches that they can attempt that sort of stuff. Brandon Graham would be having a career year if we could cover worth a damn. Vinny Curry and Josh Sweat have been bringing heat when they get their minutes. The issue is more about the rotation, and less about the players in it. Barnett lacks the suddenness to play the blindside the way that he wants to play it, but Eagles aren’t going to put him behind Graham, so it leaves us stuck.

DT: (B) Our Defensive resurgence of recent is often put down to the Secondary getting healthy, but for my money it had more to do with the return of Tim Jernigan. His presence allowed Fletcher Cox to become more disruptive again. We’ve also benefited from the addition of 350 pound rookie NT Anthony Rush. Unlike the other players whom we brought in to patch the loss of Malik Jackson, Rush makes solo tackles. No pun intended, he could be huge down the stretch.

OLB: (D) Kamu Grugier-Hill doesn’t make big plays. He’s a jumped-up Special Teamer in a role that’s too big for him. (At least in this system.) At times he hasn’t gotten enough playing time, but that hasn’t been the case this quarter, as he’s started all 4 games, yet produced no sacks, turnovers, forced no fumbles and tipped no passes. His best game was just 5 tackles. Nate Gerry has become an impact player on the outside. He works well in space and also has shown an ability to get to the QB, with 1.5 sacks this quarter. The biggest knock on this position is with who is no longer used on the outside (Bradham), and that the fall-off in aggression and play-making ability from him to KGH, is impossible not to notice.

2019 Eagles Bear trap

MLB: (D) Nigel Bradham was moved into the middle to take advantage of his combination of size and speed, as well as utilize his familiarity with the scheme to call the assignments. On paper all of that looks great, but doing it required transforming a really good edge player, into a so-so interior player. It’s also limited his play-making and play denying opportunities. T.J. Edwards needs to play more. (We are undefeated (2-0) when he starts.) But seriously, he needs to play more just so that we know what we have in him. Some reports say he’s athletically limited, others rave about him. His one start this quarter didn’t put a thumb on either side of that scale.

S: (C) The stats for the quarter shows that plays are being made (3.5 sacks, 3 passed defensed, 1 interception, 1 forced fumble). The trouble is in the utilization of the players. Malcolm Jenkins is not a Linebacker, and Rod McLeod can’t cover both deep sidelines alone. Too often there is only one defender back deep, and it hurts the team defense. This is insanity. It’s hard to ding the players for a coaching decision, but it’s equally hard to give a top grade to our Achilles Heel.

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CB: (C) Coming off of the Miami game, that grade will be hard to swallow, but this report isn’t about one game. It’s about the last four. Over that stretch we’ve gotten back our top two players at the position in Ronald Darby and Jalen Mills. Their return has coincided with five of our six best defensive performances, three of which were during this quarter. The Nickel spot continues to be troublesome, as Avonte Maddox has done little more than tackle when playing there. Though we’ve played less Nickel during this period. Sidney Jones is all but done being an Eagle, as he was a healthy scratch for two of these games. Also we’ve allowed a minimum of 24 points this year, every time he starts or plays significant time. Ubba-G’byeeeee!

LS: (A) Rick Lovato is practically invisible and as reliable as a metronome. That’s probably why Eagles brass threw four more years’ worth of money at him.

P: (D) This quarter we punted 20 times vs 15 last quarter. That’s not on Cam Johnston. This quarter we allowed 12 returns vs 5 last quarter. That’s either A) less hang-time, or B) outkicking our coverage. Both of those have to be laid literally at the foot of Johnston. Given that two of our losses this quarter were close, on days where the Offense struggled, you have to figure that faring better in the hidden yardage battle, would have helped.

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K: (B) The damned announcers jinxed Jake Elliott in Miami, mentioning that he hadn’t missed a Field Goal attempt all season. So of course he got his first miss. (Assholes.) Otherwise he’s 17/18 (94%) on the season, and capable of booting it from 50-plus reliably. That said, his KR percentage is 28% on the year, but it’s crept up to 36% for the quarter, and his touchback to return ratio is 10:7 during that span. At 23.7 per return, it seems like flirting with disaster to not just kick it through the back of the end zone.

PR/KR: (F) During these last four games, between two players, we’ve returned just 3 punts, for all of 10 yards. Kickoff returns have produced just 7 attempts for 136 yards, with nary a return vs Miami. RB Boston Scott owns 5 of those returns for 105 yards. There is nothing Special about this part of the team.

KC: (D) 6.5 yards per punt return isn’t bad, but it could be tighter. In fact, it’s up half a yard over last quarter. Allowing under 24 yards per kickoff return may sound like a win for the unit, but the increased number of returns means that returners feel emboldened enough by something they see, to take a chance. Either the ball has to be kicked through, or we need to get down there fast enough to make them take a knee.

SINCE LAST QUARTER:

The team has seemed lost. Part of it is that, there are too many sacred cows on this team. The interior O-Line, Derek Barnett, and KGH to be specific. The other part is that there are no spark plugs on Offense. The default in the culture say that it’s supposed to be the QB. Reality on the other hand paints a very different picture.

Chest pounding, screaming, trash-talking, rally the troops, type bravado is generally not found in a team’s QB. It’s usually a RB or a WR. Rarely you get a TE like Shannon Sharpe who fires ‘em up. Whatever it is, the Eagles don’t have one. Haven’t since Terrell Owens.

Often these players can be a headache, but when your team gets emotionally stuck, like the Eagles are, a team needs one of those guys. Unfortunately for the Offense, all of our guys like that are on Defense. Cox, Jenkins, Mills, Graham, none of those guys play Offense

MISSION FOR THIS QUARTER:

2019 Wentz is a gunslinger

Win all four games or there will be no postseason.

If we find a way to lose to the giants Monday night, the playoff dream is over, so we should play our youth exclusively, and sit anyone we have no plans on bringing back. Every win will count toward building the pups, and every loss will be Draft positioning.

Either we win out, or the second we lose a game, we should start building 2020 and beyond.

(Unless the Cowboys lose to the Rams, in which case we’ll have new life.)