Vinny Curry

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FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: WK 16: Cowboys

Posted by The BEAST on 2020/12/28
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Four Things, NFC East, NFL, Offense, Players, Reviews, Rivals, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

TIME TO TANK!

Eagles 17 – Cowboys 37

EAGLES LEADERS:

(S) QB Jalen Hurts: (21/39 – 53.8% – 342 – 1 – 2)

(S) QB Jalen Hurts: (9 – 69 – 7.6 – 0 – 1)

(S) DeSean Jackson: (1 – 1 – 81 – 81.0 – 1)

(S) DE Brandon Graham/DE Vinny Curry: (2 – 1.0 – 0 – 0)

I hear you asking, “What about all the stuff that stats don’t reveal?” Well, that’s the reason for the Four Things articles. It’s to point out what we need to address BEFORE the game. Then AFTER the game, there’s a no-bullshit assessment of whether or not the Eagles did any of what they needed to do, to ensure the win.

So how much of what I mentioned in Four Things: COWBOYS did the Eagles get around to doing? Well let’s see:

1) Run the ball: Well the Eagles got 60 rushing yards from Hurts. The problem (as always), is that they stopped handing the ball off. RB Miles Sanders had just 15 carries in this game, which doesn’t look too different from most weeks. Until you realize that 11 of those were in the first half. Back when the Eagles were still in the game. (NOT DONE)

2) Rush the passer: We didn’t get enough heat on the Cowboys back-up QB, and he picked us apart, basically looking like a dad playing catch with his kids. (NOT DONE)

3) Three sacks or fewer: We kept it to three sacks, but one of them resulted in a fumble. It was recovered by LT Jordan Mailata, but it took us out of rhythm. (DONE)

4) Cover Two, where are you?: The Eagles did shift to some of this later in the game. However, for most of it, Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz, absolutely stranded and abandoned undrafted, rookie CB Michael Jacquet out in man coverage. The result was the Cowboys offense “running a train” on his ass. This was pitiful. It was shameful. Putting that kid out there to be bitch-beat like that. (NOT DONE)

One of three this week. We end the year against Washington next week. Thank god.

On The Whole:

This week we faced a QB, not a RB who can throw. It exposed two things. The first was our piss-poor Secondary. Many blame injuries, but we were looking like this Week 2 vs the Rams with everyone healthy. Yet again our defensive system was exposed.

The second thing that was exposed was Jalen Hurts. When the Cowboys made him play from the pocket, he became a shadow. It took the Saints a half to figure out that they need to stop him from scrambling to his right. The Cardinals caught on faster. The Cowboys faster still. Three games in, and he’s already been figured out. The upcoming Redskins game might put this debate completely to bed.

To everyone who blamed QB Carson Wentz and elevated Hurts as the savior, sit here beside me. Sit. Did you notice that we only put up 17 points this week? Did you notice that the QB had 1 TD and 3 turnovers? Did you notice that Hurts, yet again didn’t complete 60% of his passes? Did you notice that Hurts again had no chemistry with his WR’s? Did you notice that of the three and a half games Hurts has played in, we’ve only won ONE? Did you realize how these numbers practically mirror Wentz’s production in some 2020 games?

Anyone who claims that Wentz was the problem, but is happy with Hurts, is totally full of shit. If the idea is for the Eagles to win, then you should still be disappointed. But I know. You want to blame the coaches for not running the ball now. And the Offensive Line for not blocking better. And the Secondary for being a bucket with no bottom. Go ahead. Let me hear it. You know you want to say it…

Wrong!

If Wentz didn’t get to use these “excuses” while the head coach kept saying that it wasn’t just one guy, then when Hurts claims “full ownership”, he damned sure can’t use these “excuses”. Right?

Again. Wrong. They aren’t excuses, they’re reasons. And they all are 100% true. Hurts can use them. Wentz can use them. And if we don’t fix them, then this team won’t go anywhere, with any QB. This civil war among Eagles fans has got to stop. This is not Wentz vs Hurts. This is Eagles vs sucking ass. The enemy is out there, Eagles fans. Stop arguing over the QB. Let’s fix the real problems.

VINNY CURRY RETURNS! (AGAIN.)

Posted by The BEAST on 2020/08/08
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, free agents, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Players, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Vinny Curry

CURRIED QB is on the menu again in 2020! The Eagles have re-signed DE Vinny Curry, bringing him back on a one year deal for 2020. I’m a huge fan of the move. I love his experience in the scheme. I love his productivity. I love his schematic versatility. I love the depth he adds. Indeed, the rich have gotten richer.

It’s the timing on the move that raises my eyebrow.

When Curry was allowed to walk at the end of the season, the Eagles already knew what they had. So why wait until a week into camp to bring him back into the fold? My first instinct was, maybe they aren’t seeing as much from the young guys as they were hoping.

Rhodie (JFK)

Then I had another thought. Maybe it’s Covid-19 proofing. Our Defense is predicated on getting pressure on opposing QB’s. DC Jim Schwartz tries to do that with his four down linemen. So keeping those linemen fresh, is as important to the scheme as the X’s and O’s are. That in mind, we might just be stockpiling pass rush talent.

That would also explain last month’s cutting and immediate re-signing, of DE Daeshon Hall. Hall “failed” his physical, cleared waivers, was quickly snatched up by the very team that cut him, and placed neatly on our PUP (Physically Unable to Perform) List, where he incidentally won’t count against the roster. So basically Hall was stashed away.

While Curry at 32 years of age is unlikely to be stashed, a younger player could be. I’m thinking of players like DE’s Shareef Miller, Joe Ostman, Matt Leo, and the aforementioned Hall. A couple of those guys may end up on the Practice Squad, or this year’s very flexible I.R. format.

GRAHAM AND CURRY

If I had to bet on which DE’s make the Week One roster, I’d go with Curry, Brandon Graham, Derek Barnett, Josh Sweat, and Genard Avery playing a LB/DE swing role. Curry gives us a Nickle/Dime DT presence as well. (Graham and Barnett will start of course.)

This signing is a great move. Not only for what it added to our roster, but for removing Curry from garnering interest from a division rival at some point. Everything about this move was forward thinking. I have to love it.

MANIACAL FACT: When Vinny Curry starts 16 games, his team ALWAYS wins a Super Bowl. 

card.vinny.curry

#10 SEND FIVE

Posted by The BEAST on 2020/02/19
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Players, Rants, The 12. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

THE 12 2020.10

 

WANNA see something stupid?

ccard.jim.schwartz

 

What is this happy horseshit where we usually rush four, rarely blitz, but when we do, we end up in crap like Cover Zero? We need to send five so that-  Hold on. I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me roll this back a bit.

Last year in almost every game the commentators would mention that our pass rush isn’t as potent as it’s been in the past. At first that sounded weird, because our sacks have gone up two years in a row. If sacks were the only metric used, it would just seem like the typical media down-talk directed at the Eagles. Which we fans are used to.

Then you think about our opponent completion percentages. And their QB ratings! Seriously. We even made Haskins look good… The eyeball test makes it clear that we don’t bring the heat like we used to.

Part of that is because the only player on our D-Line who requires a double-team is DT Fletcher Cox. Us rushing four vs an opponent’s five man o-line, plays directly into our opponent’s plan. We have a pair of complete DE’s in Brandon Graham and Vinny Curry, but we don’t have a guy who alters blocking schemes. (DE Derek Barnett too often bails early on his contain responsibility.)

We need to send five rushers more often, to get Cox more 1-on-1 match-ups. That way he can do to blocking schemes what he does to marriages. We don’t have to do it all the time, but it has to stop being rare.

 

2019 SEASON REVIEW: FOURTH QUARTER

Posted by The BEAST on 2020/01/04
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, NFC East, NFL, Offense, Players, playoffs, Reviews, Roster, Special Teams, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

2019 Wentz sees Perkins.jpeg

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: 9 – 7, WINNER of the NFC EAST, 4th Seed in the NFC, Sole Playoff Representative of the Division.

NFC BEAST.png

OPPONENTS:

W New York giants (4 – 12)
W Washington Redskins (3 – 13)
W Dallas Cowboys (8 – 8)
W New York giants (4 – 12)

Combined: (19 – 45)

OVERVIEW:

We needed to win all four games. We won all four games.

People can talk about how “unpretty” the wins were. They can talk about how bad our opponent’s records were. Doesn’t matter. We’re here, and no argument made against that, can change that. We fought. We clawed. We earned this, because we kept believing and we stuck together.

Losers fall apart (giants). Losers tap out (Like Zeke did). Losers change horses midstream (See: Dan Snyder). Winners win because they don’t quit. They give an all out effort. Winners get to feel elation. Winners get to know that they were vindicated. Losers? They can only wish to stand where we do today.

GRADES:

2019 Carson Wentz on the move.jpg

QB: (A) Carson Wentz put this team on his back, and made those around him better. Amazingly enough, he also made himself better as over these last four games he’s been more cognizant not holding the ball forever as he waits to make a big play. The game winning touchdown he threw at Washington, was an example of him trusting his receiver to make a play, not just his own arm. As a result, he’s now doing a better job of throwing guys open. There are still overthrows of his deep ball, but I suspect that will iron out when he gets some higher grade firepower back on the roster.

RB: (B) Some fans would give this position a higher grade, but that would mean only seeing the good and not the bad. Jordan Howard hasn’t touched the ball in this quarter. So Miles Sanders and Boston Scott have taken up the load. They both have at times, been dynamic with the ball and reliable as blockers. What neither has been, is an inside runner who consistently finishes runs hard. Both are great to keep on the field, especially as compensatory pieces, but neither is a true Alpha. Teams don’t get worn down and tired, tackling those guys. Howards absence has highlighted the need for him. (Or at least someone (Holyfield) like him.)

2019 Dallas Geodert winning TD.jpg

TE: (B) This position is usually the Zach Ertz Show. However, injuries have given Dallas Goedert and Josh Perkins a chance to strut their stuff, showing not just talent, but reliability. Goedert in fact, despite being a back-up, developed into a Top Ten player at his position (10th in yards, 9th in catches, and only 6 players at his position have more touchdowns).

Perkins leaves something to be desired as a blocker, but for a 3rd string target, he’s an absolute luxury. He’s the Range Rover that you only drive when your Tesla Model X, and Mercedes G-Class are being detailed. Good thing we had these guys too! The broken rib that Ertz suffered in Week 16 would have been a death knell for teams like Kansas City, or San Francisco. However, since our reserves are so silky smooth, Philadelphia hardly felt a bump in the road.

2019 Greg Wards first TD.jpg

WR: (D) Greg Ward by himself would get a “B” grade. Over the last quarter he’s put up 21 catches for 210 yards (10.0 yards per catch), and one game winning TD. The other 3 players active at this position, over that same span, posted 8 catches for 113 yards (16.6ypc) and no scores. To be fair to Deontay Burnett, he only played in the last game and still caught 2 for 48. That means the other two players produced just 6 catches for 85 yards over 4 games. Amazingly, our Eagles won 4 straight games despite this.

OT: (C) We’ve played the last three games without Lane Johnson. We instead relied on Halapoulivaati Vaitai to man the right side. Vaitai hasn’t been great, but he’s been servicable. In fact, many of his mistakes seem more attributable to coaches not compensating for his athletic limitations. Jason Peters has been Jason Peters as a blocker, but his name is being called far too often for penalties recently.

OG: (C) Isaac Suemalo remains an up and down player. While he moves well in space, he’s not particularly stout at the point of attack. Brandon Brooks was playing at a Pro Bowl level, until he was hurt during the last game of the season. Matt Pryor stepped in and handled himself well, but he hasn’t played a single full game in his two year career.

2019 Boston Scott.jpg

C: (B) Despite less than stellar Shotgun snapping, Jason Kelce is doing a good better of the blocking calls, so there were fewer “A” gap rushers running free this quarter.

DE: (B) Brandon Graham isn’t getting sacks like he did around midseason, but he is doing a much better job of playing the run first and keeping contain. So I find myself not missing Chris Long quite as much, as I did around midseason.

Derek Barnett would do well to study containment. He flattens out too soon to chase down the line, and usually gets neither the pressure nor the tackle. Instead of doing his job first, he’s trying to make the play first. He’s playing inside-out and it frequently leaves us vulnerable on his side whereas Graham is locking down the other side.

2019 Vinny Curry on the a Dak

Vinny Curry! We won a Super Bowl starting that guy on the blindside. In the two games he played for the injured Barnett this quarter, Vinny was making a case that maybe we have the wrong guy starting. Hey, I’m just being honest! Josh Sweat has cooled off somewhat since midseason, which is probably part of the reason that Philly’s own Shareef Miller was added to the active roster as the season came to a close.

DT: (A) Statistics don’t tell the story of the job that this position is doing. They are playing excellent team concept football, dictating that RB’s can’t run up the middle and that QB’s can’t step up or hang I the pocket. They aren’t recording many stats, but they’re causing opposing offenses to run off-schedule. Amazing.

2019 Fletcher Cox Daniel Jones

Adding man-mountain Anthony Rush to the rotation with Fletcher Cox, has helped limit teams desire to run the ball inside. In fact, we went from a 3 – 4 team before Rush, to 6 – 3 since. I assure you that’s not a coincidence. If you think it is, check out both Dallas games, both before and after Rush was added.

OLB: (C) T.J. Edwards is an upgrade over Kamu Grugier-Hill. He’s more physical and instinctive, and so far there’s nothing to indicate that we’ve lost anything in underneath coverage. Nate Gerry hasn’t made a splash play in a while, but he’s making a lot of clean, unassisted tackles. Nothing is being schemed for him, but that feels like it may change in the postseason.

2019 Dwayne_Haskins_fumble_Nigel_Bradham_TD

MLB: (B) The feel of the Defense has changed since Nigel Bradham took over for Nate Gerry in the middle. Opponents haven’t been able to rely on their run games in weeks, so we’ve made offenses one dimensional against us. And not just against bad offenses. We held the NFL’s #1 offense to 9 points (3 field goals). Bradham isn’t making splash plays, but he’s everywhere we need him to be, when the moment arises. We didn’t have that with Gerry, and we didn’t always have that last year, with Jordan Hicks. We may be making plans for Nigel to play on the inside if the Eagles pick up his option.

S: (C) Malcolm Jenkins is even playing Special Teams. That is leadership by example. It says no job is too small or unimportant. It sends a message that every play, every down, is all hands on deck. Rod McLeod is frequently in tough positions when the ball is thrown long, some of which he can’t recover from. The scheme does him no favors.

CB: (B) Since Miami the DC seems to be letting these guys play a little more Press Coverage at the line. It’s still not enough, but some Press, beats no Press at all. The results speak for themselves. Players at this position have 18 passes defensed in the last 4 weeks. An unit that showed improvement last quarter, continued that trend.

Sidney Jones (whom I all but left for dead in my last report), has made clutch plays in three of the last four games including an interception while covering a receiver, who in a previous game had skinned us alive. Rasul Douglas lacks the long speed to be routinely put in man situations, but if the ball isn’t thrown over his head, he will try to get his mitts on it. There is also no denying that Jalen Mills and CreVon LeBlanc add a fiery competitiveness, that has rubbed off on their fellow corners.

2019 sidney jones.jpg

Talent-wise, we have no A+ or even A type players, at this position. We have a number of B level guys, who all have some sort of obvious limitation. So what we have here, are no stars, but a stable of solid to very solid players. That being said, due to the system we play, these guys will give up big plays here and there. However, recognizing all this doesn’t mean I graded them on a curve. This position got what they earned.

LS: (A) Rick Lovato is consistent.

P: (B) Cam Johnston stepped his game up in these last four games. Last quarter saw 20 punts for 12 returns (60% return rate), for 79 yards (6.5ypr). This quarter had 22 punts for 9 returns (40%) for 51 yards (5.6ypr). That’s across the board improvement, but those aren’t the most baller stats.

Of those 22 punts only 3 were fair caught and only 1 was a touchback. Of our 28 punts down inside the 20 this year, 11 were in these last four games. Of the 9 punts that we downed this year, 6 were in this quarter. That says that Cam took a real hard look in the mirror and opted to work within the system. That’s some real big boy stuff, right there

K: (C ) Jake Elliott was 5 for 8 kicking field goals this year, but two of those misses were from 55 and 53 yards, outside, with intermittent gusts of wind. Spend a day attempting 30 yarders, before you judge this guy too harshly for those. Kickoffs remain a concern though. 21 kickoffs, 10 returns (47% return rate), for 245 yards (24.5ypr).

That return rate is up from 36%. The returns ar up from 23.7. We are trending wrong people!

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PR/KR: (F) I won’t even post the numbers. Our return game is a wide-open wound.

KC: (C) Teams are taking more chances trying to make a big play, by attempting returns, that means it’s only a matter of time before someone gets lucky against us. Worse yet, when teams do return it we don’t stop them well short of the 25. So for opponents, taking a chance on a return is a risk-free proposition.

SINCE LAST QUARTER:

We won the division and made it into the tournament that will determine the league champion. We got our shit together when we needed to, and we had our selves a successful season. Yes, I said it was a successful season. As in Regular Season.

Now we’re trying to have a successful Post-season. THAT success will be determined by hoisting the SB trophy in February. Make no mistake though, we accomplished the first part of that quest already.

Bask in that. Until Kickoff Sunday at 4:40, vs the Seahawks.

2019 malcolm jenkins and nate gerry

MISSION FOR THIS QUARTER:

The regular season is over. We are now in the post-season. There is no quarter given here. Not by the calendar, nor the fans, nor the opposition to come. There is however, a mission, and it is this:

Win one game. Win a second. Win a third. Then win that fourth game.

doug-pederson ABOUT IT.jpg

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED – WK 16 – COWBOYS

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/12/23
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Defense, Four Things, NFC East, NFL, Offense, Players, playoffs, Preview, Reviews, Rivals, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

ONCE again the Eagles are back at the head of the division, and please don’t start with how “unsexy” the division is. Your car isn’t a Rolls Royce, but you still love it and fuss over it, right? Well in that same spirit, this division may not be the NFC West, but we’re gonna drive this motherfucker ’til the wheels fall off.

2019 opponent-rival mock

Yes, yes, I know! That’s not to say that the East is ours free and clear. We still have one more payment to make on it. And it’s due next week.

EAGLES 17 – Cowboys 9

Despite all the missing weapons, QB Carson Wentz (31/40 – 77.5% – 319 – 1 – 0) led his team to (what right now is) the signature game of his career. That’s not to say that he was without help. For the second week in a row, rookie RB Miles Sanders (20 – 79 – 3.9 – 1 – 0 / 5 – 77 – 15.4 – 0) put up 150+ yards from scrimmage.

NFL: Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles

Dallas Goedert scores the go ahead touchdown in the first quarter.

Stepping up for TE Zach Ertz (4 – 28 – 7.0 – 0) who injured his ribs early on, was TE Dallas Goedert (9 – 91 – 10.1 – 1). Geodert hit pay dirt with a 6 yard dart from Wentz. Don’t look now, but WR Greg Ward (4 – 71 – 17.7 – 0) may be trying to coax Wentz into throwing the ball down the stripe a little more, after breaking off a 38 yard gain for his QB. Even rookie WR JJ Arcega-Whiteside (2 – 39 – 19.5 – 0) made a declaration of sorts, by opening the game with a 27 yard grab, and catching both balls thrown to him.

Defensively, the stat line for MLB Nigel Bradham (2 – 0 – 0 – 0) doesn’t tell how instrumental he was in rendering Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott (13 – 47 – 3.6 – 0 – 0 / 7 – 37 – 5.2 – 0) ineffectual for the day. The same can be said for DT Fletcher Cox (3 – 0 – 0 – 1). It’s a shame that the fumble he forced, didn’t turn into points.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it until it happens. DE Vinny Curry (2 – 1.0 – 0 – 0) needs to be brought back in 2020.

2019 Vinny Curry on the a Dak.jpg

DE Josh Sweat (2 – 1.0 – 0 – 0) is justifying the coaches patience with him, and is starting to look like the steal he was drafted to be. (Though he has a tendency to flirt with neutral zone infractions. Crown of your helmet Josh!) DT Anthony Rush (1 – 0 – 0 – 0) gives us a physical presence inside that makes it hard for a run game to get traction. I thought I saw him make a Tackle For Loss, but the (generous) spotting of the ball made it a run for no gain. In fact, Bradham (1), Curry (1) and Sweat (2) all had TFL’s. Just what we needed against this team.

2019 Sidney Jones.jpg

Much maligned CB Sidney Jones (1 – 0 – 0 – 0), made yet another excellent play on the ball, in a critical fourth down situation. In fact, the play he made was potentially what saved the game, and possibly the season. He still tackles like a young Deion Sanders, but if he can get his confidence back up, we may have a guy that we can trade out of the conference. (Tackling is too important to risk keeping him.)

I hear you asking, “What about all the stuff that stats don’t reveal?” Well, that’s the reason for these “Four Things” articles. To introduce an idea of what needs addressing BEFORE the game, so that fans have to honestly answer questions about those things, AFTER the game. This helps to get us, and keep us, all on the same page.

So, of the Four Things we were looking for in this last game, what exactly did we see?

2019 Nigel Bradham vs Elliott.jpeg

1) Keep Bradham clean: Our D-Line not only kept Bradham from having to fight off offensive linemen, they made plays on the other side of the line of scrimmage! This was the deluxe version of what we needed here. (DONE)

2) Force them into their base defense: Apparently the Eagles coaches and I see things very similarly. According to a Next Gen stat that was put up on the television screen, deep into the 4th quarter, the Eagles had run 2TE formations, 56% of the game. That forced the Cowboys to play newcomer OLB Malcolm Smith (2 – 0 – 0 – 0) clearly more than they wanted to. So much so that at one point you could see that he was visibly winded. This allowed us to victimize him several times. Good show! (DONE)

2019 Carson Wentz with the carry.jpg

3) Gut the middle: The idea was to keep them in their base, and make their LB’s play chase all day long. If they’re chasing, they aren’t dictating the action or making big plays. So we made them chase TE’s, and we forced them to follow Sanders all around the formation. We also threw 6 passes to RB Boston Scott (3 – 12 – 4.0 – 0 – 0 / 6 – 7 – 1.1) and he caught all of them. Almost all of them were routes towards the sideline to force LB’s into lateral coverage, or pull a Nickel out of position. We even ran Wentz a couple times on designed runs. Worked like a charm, and the Cowboys stayed off-balance all game. (DONE)

4) Don’t over-commit vs the run: Since the front seven played well enough on it’s own, there wasn’t much call for that. We showed some heavy fronts, but they never really brought the house aside from short yardage moments. We did a lot of “threaten and bail”, which forced Cowboys QB Dak Prescott (25/44 – 56.8% – 265 – 0 – 0) to read our coverages more often than film study would have suggested was necessary. We didn’t over-commit to the run, and made it harder for him to throw the ball against us. (DONE)

For the third time this year, we nailed a perfect 4 of 4 for the week, boosting our season tally to 34 of 60 (.566). Next week we can clinch the NFC East and a home playoff game with a win vs the giants. That game by the way, has been FLEXED from 1:00 pm to 4:25 pm.

On The Whole:

Cowboys Season Kevin Hart1

We’ve been a team in need of consistency for weeks now. Recently our QB play has gotten more stable and creative. Carson was moved around a lot today. Bootlegs, called QB runs, split out wide… Everything except QB Sneaks. (Weird, right?)

Play at RB has become more dynamic recently. I said after the Miami game that Sanders reminded me of Brian Westbrook. Weeks later, I stand by that. He is effective both with, and without the ball in his hands.

Lots of people want to draw a comparison between he and LeSean McCoy, probably due to body type. However, young McCoy was a more dangerous natural runner, but needed the football to make plays. Sanders is a much scarier draw out-wide, than McCoy ever was.

And then there’s situational football. As you could see on Sanders “Take a Knee 2.0” today, for him making the play isn’t always about what you do as a runner. He gave up a TD in exchange for sealing a win.

Defensively we need to decide on who we are. If we’re going to be a team that doesn’t rush 5, we need to scheme more rushes or packages that actually get hands the QB more. For two years I’ve been saying that we don’t cover long enough for the rush to get home. That wasn’t true today.

If we’re going to affect games, dictate action and cause turnovers, we need our Defense to be more sudden. Our plodding pass rush of the last month has to improve if we intend to make any noise in January.

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED – WK 14 – GIANTS

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/12/11
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, Four Things, NFC East, Offense, Players, Reviews, Rivals, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

ertz seals it

WE came into this game with just three WR’s, and lost two of them during the contest. But we kept fighting, and we figured it out. We lost our RT, but we kept fighting, and we figured it out. This whole season has been us fighting through, and figuring our way through, one nut-punch after another.

Why should this game have been any different?

Instead of being mad that we didn’t dominate, let’s give this team a hand for sticking together, not pointing fingers, and battling shoulder to shoulder. We need to give credit for the grit that this team showed. I can’t vibe with these fans who think we should either dominate or immediately curl into the fetal position.

 

EAGLES 23 – giants 17 (OT)

The engine that drove this beast was QB Carson Wentz (33/50 – 66.6% – 325 – 2 – 0). On a night where he didn’t have any of these guys

2019 Eagles WRs - Good luck trying to sleep.jpg

he still managed to find a way to will his team to victory in the closing two quarters.

Giving Wentz somewhere to go with the ball, were TE Zach Ertz (9 – 91 – 10.1 – 2), TE Dallas Goedert (3 – 41 – 13.6 – 0), and TE Josh Perkins (5 – 37 – 7.4 – 0). By the way, Perkins is a 3rd stringer. We also got a massive effort from yet another of our 3rd stringers, in RB Boston Scott (10 – 59 – 5.9 – 1 / 6 – 69 – 11.5 – 0).

boston scott cut.JPG

Scott had to fill-in for a while after RB Miles Sanders (15 – 45 – 3.0 – 0 / 4 – 24 – 8.0 – 0), (filling in for injured RB Jordan Howard), due to muscle cramping.

On defense it was a big night for DE Vinny Curry (2 – 2.0 – 0 – 0), as he started in place of injured DE Derek Barnett.

2019 Vinny Curry.jpg

We need to make a point of bringing Vinny Curry back in 2020.

There was even a sighting of CB Sidney Jones (one deflection) as he broke up a key third down pass, to end a late giants drive. He looked good in press coverage, didn’t he?

I hear you asking, “What about all the stuff that stats don’t reveal?” Well, that’s the reason for these “Four Things” articles. We introduce an idea of what needs addressing BEFORE the game, so that fans have to honestly answer questions about those things, AFTER the game. This helps to get us, and keep us, all on the same page.

So, of the Four Things we were looking for in this last game, what exactly did we see?

1) No disrespect: The idea was not to overestimate the amount of rust on QB Eli Manning (15/30 – 50.0% – 203 – 2 – 0), by blitzing him like he was a rookie, or practice squader. We did blitz him, but not disrespectfully. There were no Zero blitzes, and we didn’t blitz every down. We did some overload stuff, some “A” gap stuff, but we kept it disciplined. (DONE)

2019 Carson Wentz on the move.jpg

2) Throw the ball: Our play selection was 50 passes to 30 called runs (which included three Sneaks by Wentz.) It worth noting that, that was 50 passes with a depleted WR corps. So there can be no mistaking the Eagles commitment to the pass this week. (DONE)

3) Rush the passer: We did get decent pressure on Manning, we did work the “A” gaps, and we did cause plenty of errant passes. It allowed us to use (but not be reliant on) the blitz. This allowed us to play disciplined, and not eat a trick play for the fourth week in row. So the important part of this was done. That said, I really wanted those one on one victories inside, from DT Tim Jernigan and NT Anthony Rush. (Neither who recorded as much as half of a tackle.) But the idea was to play solid team concept defense, not pad individual stats. (DONE)

4) Screen Carson’s visitors: Our Screen game was so sick, that we’re going to have put Boston Scott in quarantine for a week. He put a move on CB Janoris Jenkins (4 – 0 – 0 – 0) which left that poor fool playing Twister all by his lonesome. (Right hand green, bitch!)

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(DONE)

That brings this weeks Four Things score to 4 of 4, and the yearly totals to 27 of 52. This is the second time this season that we put up a perfect score, but the other time resulted in a loss. What’s funny, is that most of this stuff didn’t really start to take hold until the second half. I sat watching this game with a fairly empty notepad for so long, that I actually put it on the couch behind me, and nearly forgot about it.

In any case, despite the Redskins being just an awful team, we won’t get away with a stinker like this again on Sunday. Not because the Redskins are somehow better than the giants. We won’t get away with it, because Karma won’t reward the Eagles two weeks in a row, for shitty play with so much on the line.

On The Whole:

It was by no means pretty, but we won the damned game. That’s the part that matters. All this talk about how much we struggled with a 2 – 10 team, is utter nonsense. We came in as a 5 – 7 team, and even with this win, we’re still under .500. (For fuck’s sake, we lost to MIAMI last week!)

So folks need to quit talking like we were supposed to be world-beaters in this game. The Eagles are a team that is trying win it’s division, while simultaneously trying to get it’s shit together, as injuries continue to mount.

And STILL, no one in our division has more wins than we do. Isn’t that right, rival fans?

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WHAT MICHAEL BENNETT MEANS

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/03/08
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, Front Office (F.O.), Players, Roster, trade. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 4 Comments

(2a.m., coffee bathes the lower halves of my pupils, fingers flying, ‘No Church In the Wild’ on repeat, on repeat, on repeat.)

(Whispering) Run with me.

TRADING away a 5th round pick and WR Marcus Johnson, to get DE Michael Bennett and a 7th round pick, seems like a steal on the surface. A fiery, veteran pass rusher, who’s used to winning? That sounds like a guy any defense would be happy to have in their starting line-up. Clearly we crushed the fuck out of this trade.

Whoa now. Pump the brakes. While there’s no knocking the addition of Bennett, his being added to the roster signals two things.

curry cam

The first thing is that, the Eagles are about to release DE Vinny Curry, in move that’s designed to save the team $5M of the $11M he’s scheduled to be paid in 2018. (Initially I’d put my feelings about that in this article, but it hijacked the article’s tone. So, I decided to relocate those paragraphs. They’re still part of the original draft, they just weren’t added to what you can see here.)

barnett sack

The second thing it signals is, Derek Barnett will now become our starting RDE. No surprise there. That was the plan from the moment he was drafted on the steps to the Art Museum’s East Door last Spring. However, Curry’s contract still had guaranteed money on it, and that didn’t facilitate Curry being a back-up in 2017. So Barnett sat lat year.

That was last year.

It remains to be seen how this will affect our run defense however, since Curry was our best DE against the run in 2017. Curry did an excellent job of setting the edge of the defense last season, and keeping runs from successfully bouncing wide, on his side. It remains to be seen if Barnett can hold it down the same way.

For his part, Bennett is here to be the 2018 version of Chris Long. A veteran player who probably isn’t as good as he used to be over 16 full games, but might be awesome over 16 half games. There can be no doubt that he will put heat on QB’s, and probably make our four man pass rush even more effective than it was in 2017.

bennett v prescott

While Bennett can be moved around pretty much anywhere on the Defensive Line, he’s likely to mainly line up at RDE. I love that. A QB who sees Bennett lined up on his blind-side, is already thinking of quickly dumping the ball. Even before the ball is snapped. That’s already a rushed pass.

Basically Bennett means we can intimidate opposing passers, just because of where we line him up. Not bad Howie Roseman. Not bad at all.

Oh yeah, just because I put this out, doesn’t mean I skipped out on today’s THE 12 article.  You can find that right HERE

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FOUR THINGS: WK 14: EAGLES-RAMS

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

W14 - LAR

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PlayerCard_Template_Curry

If we do all these things, we’re just about guaranteed to win. Now that we’ve covered what should happen, let’s get into what likely will happen:

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

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

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

PREDICTION: EAGLES 28 – Rams 17

yeah bitch

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: WEEK 9: BRONCOS

Posted by The BEAST on 2017/11/06
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, Reviews, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

HOLY wow, Batman!The Broncos came into the game allowing only 71 rushing yards per game, and we hung 197 on them. They came in allowing 18 points per game and we hung 51 around their necks.

The Eagles could have phoned this one in, and just ducked their heads into the Bye Week. If we went in at 8-2, no fan would be terribly disappointed. Instead, the Eagles went out and dismantled a team with one of the best defenses in the NFL. In the words of Adam Sandler: Not too shabby!

Vinny Curry

EAGLES 55 – Broncos 23

Carson Wentz (15/27 – 55.5% – 199 – 4 – 0) beat up on Denver’s “No Fly Zone” secondary and hardly broke a sweat doing it. He even picked on All-Pro CB Aqib Talib (2 – 0 – 0 – 0) for two of those touchdowns. In fact, the only way to stop Wentz from piling more points on that ass, was to take him out of the game. Maybe QB Nick Foles (1/1 – 100% – 35 – 0 – 0) lobbied to protect his record? (That was a joke. Don’t go around spreading that.) WR Alshon Jeffrey (6 – 84 – 14.0 – 2) had his best game as an Eagle so far, and rookie RB Corey Clement (12 – 51 – 4.2 – 2 – 0/ 1rec – 15 – 15.0 – 1) outscored the Denver offense. “New to us” RB Jay Ajayi (8 – 77 – 9.6 – 1 – 0) led the team in rushing and was one of three Eagles to gain more rushing yards than the entire Broncos team, as RB LeGarrette Blount (9 – 37 – 4.1 – 0 – 0) also did some damage.

Defensively, we allowed Denver all of 35 yard rushing, partly because DE Vinny Curry (2 – 1 – 0 – 0) was a monster on the right side. FS Rodney McLeod (1 – 0 – 1 – 0) grabbed his second interception in two weeks.

I hear you asking, “Well golly mister, what about all the stuff that stats don’t reveal?” Well Billy, that’s the reason for these “Four Things” articles. We introduce an idea of what needs addressing BEFORE the game, so that fans have to honestly answer questions about those things, AFTER the game. This helps to get us, and keep us, all on the same page.

So, of the Four Things we were looking for in this last game, what exactly did we see?

1) Gelding the pass rush: Early in the game we got the ball out to TE Brent Celek (3 – 39 – 13.0 – 0) and to TE Trey Burton (2 – 41 – 20.5 – 1) in the absence of TE Zach Ertz who was out with a hamstring injury. Wentz also used a hard count to draw the Broncos offside a few times. And of course there was also our run game. The result of those things cut the nuts clean off of the Broncos pass rush, and made sure that Wentz was only sacked once during the game. (They also got to Foles for one.) (DONE)

2) Set up play-action: There was no way to expect that we’d hang 200 rushing yards on the Broncos, but the prescription was to stick with it anyway. Well brother, did we EVER! The play selection was 34 called runs to 27 passes. The play-action was there, and Wentz’s jersey stayed pretty clean. (DONE)

corey clement

3) Pick our poison: The deal was to take away the run and force the Bronco’s QB to beat us. Worked like a charm. (DONE)

4) Run the Walker: Sending MLB Joe Walker (2 – 0 – 0 – 0) on a few blitzes was the idea, but instead he spent more time in coverage or scraping. (NOT DONE)

That makes this weeks score 3 of 4, bringing the season tally to 30 of 36. The players get a much needed week off now to heal and nurse injuries. (As much as a single week will allow.) For you and I of course, a week with no good football will be sheer Hell. However, keep in mind that the playoff push begins directly on the other side of the Bye, with a match-up against the Dallas Cowboys. I’m sure you won’t mind giving our players time to rest, and our coaching staff time to prepare.

On The Whole:

With this win we are officially a better team than we were last year. We have 8 wins now, and are guaranteed .500 at worst. Now we are working on that one victory that will guarantee us a winning record for 2017.

This game against the Broncos. All we did was whatever we wanted, however we wanted to do it. Running, passing…I think we could have scored sending smoke signals, if we had decided to try it.

I do have one gripe though.

It’s Alshon Jeffery. He never seems like his head is all the way in the game. For example, he had a holding penalty on a Corey Clement run that cost us some yardage, and was laughing and joking after having been flagged.

For a guy on a “prove it” contract, he simply doesn’t produce at the rate that you would expect, for a guy who’s going to ask for a ton of money in March. I’d like to either see him start looking like THAT guy, or for the Eagles to let our young receivers get more looks on the outside.

FOUR THINGS: WK 3: EAGLES-GIANTS

Posted by The BEAST on 2017/09/21
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Four Things, NFL, Offense, Players, Preview, Rivals. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

W3-NYG

DESPITE two road games, we opened the season 1-1, and (technically, by tie-breaker) atop the NFC East. This Sunday, the Eagles will finally get to play in front the best fans in the nation, and the first sacrifice upon our altar, will be New York’s worst football team. Beating the giants this week further cements our division lead, regardless of how the Foreskins and Cowpies do. So yeah, this week is sort of a big deal in Philly.

The giants aren’t worried about the Eagles. They’re having enough trouble with the vultures circling their 2017 season. The season just started, and already the giants are decomposing so rapidly, that it’s even scaring zombies. I sat through both of their games this year, and I can’t imagine how they’d win this game. I can however, imagine how the Eagles could lose it. We can’t allow that during our home opener. 

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

1) Keep Wentz from wincing: Quick! Guess which QB has been hit the most in the NFL through two weeks. If you said QB Carson Wentz then you were correct. If you’re in denial and need proof here’s a link. (Note: The 9ers and Rams play tonight, so if you read this article after Thursday, one of those teams may own the top spot. It will be somehow worse if they don’t.) Right now, Wentz’s hits and sacks are 9.5 and 4 per week. Those numbers have to come down.

2) Run up the middle: The giants have an explosive pair of edge rushers, but rule of thumb says that we can shutdown their interior rush by running the ball. (Preferably with RB LeGarrette Blount.) If we run the ball up the gut, we’ll tire out their interior, cut their rush off at the knees, and give Wentz a pocket to step up into later in the game. Five to eight such carries in the first half. That’s the soft target depending on how fast we score on drives. (I’d already written most of this article when I found out that Chance Warmack was getting the start at LG, but I’m not changing anything in the article. Just adding this note and doubling down on #2 here.)

3) Avoid blitzing: Our D-Line can shred even good lines. That said, going against the blocking dummies in front of QB Eli Manning, should be cake for us. Better to leave our LB’s in underneath coverage to take away easy completions, and be in a position score if Eli bakes up one of those delicious turnovers that Eagles fans love him for.

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4) Break their spirits early: The giants come into this game averaging 6.5 points per game. That’s a touchdown with no cherry on it. A couple of early sustained scoring drives, where we convert a 4th down or two, putting them where they seem to keep finding themselves every week. It would go a long way towards breaking their spirit, and taking them mentally and emotionally out of the game. While in hostile territory. (This is where the 12th Man really can do some damage.)

If we do all these things, we’re just about guaranteed to win. Now that we’ve covered what should happen, let’s get into what likely will happen:

(Sniff) (Sniff) You smell that? That smells like DE Derek Barnett’s first sack. DE Vinny Curry is the starter on the right, but I get the feeling that Barnett will see more snaps this week. He’s a first rounder, so you want to sell his jersey to the home crowd. A big splash Sunday would help with that a great deal. Surely the Front Office has made this point to the coach. Enter human turnstile, LT Ereck Flowers, who has stopped fewer people than a Walmart greeter. If Barnett gets a fair number of snaps against him, you know how this ends. 

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You know how this ends.

Philadelphia+Eagles+v+New+York+Giants+YFAxMOeXhGtl

You KNOW how this ends.

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Troy Aikman will mention Reggie White at least once.

Due to a commitment to running the ball, Wentz will be able to set his feet in the pocket, and more importantly, calm the fuck down. His deep balls will become catches, instead of overthrows. TE Zach Ertz may find it harder to operate against SS Landon Collins, but that will just open things up for WR Alshon Jeffery.

I know we aren’t supposed to look past an opponent, because any given blah blah blah, but seriously, I told everyone what the giants deal was BACK IN APRIL. At this point I’m just constantly nodding, pointing and muttering “Yep. See there?”, as the prophecy unfolds in real-time. Enjoy the game and enjoy your Sunday. Oh, and if you have Philadelphia’s defense in fantasy football, START THEM. (I know I will.)

Note: I will be avoiding game threads (except at the half), because I want to yell and dance around, unfettered. Also I don’t want to drop salsa on my keyboard again.

PREDICTION: EAGLES 35 – Giants 13

yeah bitch