The win in Indianapolis was huge; a tough place to play with a stud quarterback who had never lost consecutive games in his short but accomplished career. The Eagles came from a double digit deficit once again, and the “once again” question marks have me intrigued with the overall dynamic of this football team.
I knew coming into the season; that the loss of Desean Jackson would change how the offense looked and attacked. Defenses were going to adjust to Nick Foles, and to the pace that Chip Kelly runs. I felt confident that Sproles would add a new dynamic to the offense, that Chip would find multiple ways to get the football in his hands. Ertz showed during the second half of the season that he was a player on the rise, and the offensive line if able to “remain” healthy; would return as one of the top units in the league. McCoy is a proven stud, and I felt like I had a good read on what Cooper really was as a receiver, the max that Maclin could be and how the rookies would contribute as the season got under way.
On the defensive side of the football, I felt the Eagles would be better in year two of the 3-4, but I had questions on how the pass rush would look on a weekly basis, and the depth behind the starting four linebackers. The secondary would be improved with the free agent signings, but the way that coach Davis and Kelly like to scheme, it’s more of a bend but don’t break defense; giving up chunks of yards, but holding strong in the red-zone and minimizing the big plays.
I can appreciate the team effort with the two come from behind teams; my issue is, both of the defenses we played are in the bottom third of the league, so why the slow start in both? I look at some of the teams on our schedule; Seattle, San Francisco and Arizona, how the Eagles will respond to the physical style of these teams? Can they get scrappy if that style of play is required to walk away victorious?
I learned last season to be patient before getting too far ahead with a small sample for the season. I believe this is a 12 win team, who can make some serious noise in the playoffs. I’m looking for some things on Sunday to show me the team is getting all of their gears in motion; learning from mistakes and making the necessary changes to better themselves.
There has been a lot that I’ve enjoyed thus far, just looking for it to continue.
In “Chip” I trust.
Casey Matthews and Emmanuel Acho is the equivalent of having Blaine Gabbert as your starting QB. The Eagles have the worst starting middle linebacker this week in the NFL. I would try to get the Eagle replacement weak link into space. Brandon Graham and Emmanuel Acho both can’t be on the field together. Neither one can back peddle. I think I would rather have Earl Wolfe or Nolan Carroll on the field instead most of the game than Matthews and Acho.
I can’t agree more with your perspective of the backup LB’s. I would rather adjust to more of a 4-3 this game, or shuffle vets like Barwin and Ryans, plug in the 1st round pick with former first rounder Graham as your OLB threats in 3-4 looks. I hear Mathews, I think Reno Mahe… A guy that finds a way to stay on the team for his “special teams” play, yet there is nothing about the special teams play that is great.
disappointed in Jeremy Maclin so far — I thought Maclin could easily outproduce DJax. Maclin is doing the bare minimum with his chances. McCoy is option one and Maclin is option number 2 in the Eagle offense. These 2 have to get 100 yards Sunday. This is the bread and butter of the bird offense.
Andrew Gardner vs Ryan Kerrigan looks like a nightmare. Washington will win that matchup. Let’s hope it doesn’t implode the entire offense.
Maclin has always been a WR 2, and his good speed looks like average speed after the level that D-Jax played with. Maclin is a Greg Jennings at best, but without a guy like Rodgers throwing him the football. I hope as Huff continues to heal and Jordan gains more confidence and snaps, we get a better glimpse of our future WR’s. As for Hanging with “Mr. Cooper” he looks like a guy that should not have been awarded that contract, possibly a guy like Decker should have been viewed as an upgrade.. Good chance it’s only 1 year of the contract for Cooper if he continues to drop passes.
Foles, Boykin, Cix and Kendricks will command nice $ this offseason, but I could see that $ available with the likes of Casey, Cole, Ryans, Carry Williams, Maciin and Cooper all gone after this season. Crabtree will be on the market, I’m not a huge fan of his, but he is certainly an upgrade over what we have.
Cooper got 10 million guarantee for 2 years in a 5 year 25 contract, he will be back in 2015. He should have two TD this season. He misplayed one each week in the end zone. He does get credit for the McCoy TD last week since he drew the penalty in the end zone. This is what I expected out of Cooper. Boom or Bust moon shots from Foles. Foles likes to throw right. The only time Foles looks left is when the play is called to look that way. Foles likes to throw right and drift right out of the pocket. 70% of the time Foles is going right. Cooper is going to get 8 TD and 50 catches this season. It might be 3 td game and 10 games without a TD but that is what he is in the offense. Boom or Bust.
I would argue that McCoy is 1, Ertz has emerged as 2, Sproles as 3 and Maclin 4 at this point.
Whether its not practicing together for much of TC, or whatever….I don;t think FOles has a lot of confidence in the WRs. And I think one of the bigger, unspoken about issues right now is that I don’t think FOles trusts Cooper.
Perhaps this goes back to the Cooper drop vs NO last year and has been compounded by the drops this year. But that was a telling play last week when Cooper ran the crosser wide open right in front of Foles and he didn’t throw it. I keep reading “Foles didn’t see him” but I find that very hard to believe. I think he’s hesitant to pull the trigger to Cooper and only throws to the guy deep down the sideline when he’s in 1 on 1.
Wow vinnie that’s a good analysis of why Foles has been off with cooper he just doesn’t trust him….and these receivers gotta show us they actually care show some damn passion….why is brad smith, james casey, and trey burton even on the team they don’t do anything but celebrate when someone else does something
All QBs “like” to throw to the side they’re looking when they drop back. right handers to the right, left to the left….but 70% Where did that number come from?
This year Foles has thrown 45% to the right, 30% left and 25% up the middle.
And while Foles has been struggling, especially in the first half…lets look at more positives. What is it that’s always spouted in here. “Crunch time”. “Down the field when it matters” “Pressure situations” and all that?
Foles in the second half this year:
22 of 37 (62%) for 327 and 3 tds
Foles in the fourth Q this year:
7 of 10 for 199 and 2 tds
Kid does better when the pressure mounts
He also has a qb rating well over 100 on 3rd downs this year.
Oh, and despite “only dumping off to RBs and throwing short” Foles leads the league in deep attempts (balls more than 20 yrds in the air)
So he only throws short when only throwing short means leading the league in deep attempts.
Damn you vinnie!
Who said he doesn’t attempt to throw deep? He can’t consistently COMPLETE throws deep. Which is why Pro Football Focus has him rated 36th out of 39 qualifying qbs in Accuracy%, which takes into account batted passes, throwaways, and drops, for those who want to shift blame to the WRs for drops being the cause of Foles’ struggles.
Damn you Vinnie! Always selectively picking what stats you want, while ignoring others.
Pro Football Focus has Eli Manning, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and Ryan Tannehill in the top 10 after 2 games – so who gives a shit? It’s two games!
And besides that – PFF don’t take into consideration drops in that QB accuracy stat.
Yes they do. Guess you have problems reading.
-Don’t confuse the issue with facts!-
Is Smith II starting at ILB this week??? I heard they were working him there.
He is a more natural athlete than Matthews
emergency MLB, it looks like he will dress though.
From what I have seen of Marcus Smith, he doesn’t like contact and positions himself with an escape route away from piles. Finesse player who self blocks himself to avoid the weight of OL.
Right on the money E0S.
Good characterization E0S. I saw the same thing. On a passing down he took a few steps forward, did not rush and then kind of floated with no receivers around. I thought they might use him on some selected blitzes but he appears to not like all of the traffic in the middle, much more of an outside rusher.
Throw the ball to the open receiver stop with all that trust crap, If your receivers don’t catch the ball the coaches will deal with that. Can the receivers stop trusting the QB and not run routes? Stop with the lame theories.
Vinnie, You are smart but you need to chill out on foles, I can see why some of these clowns react the way the do with their eagerness to pounce on the qb , you are now attempting to turn negatives into positives, or deflect why foles isn’t making certain throws, plays, sounds a lot like the vick apologists
Must agree with my good friend big lion , let it play out
Do I still need to chill out?
Haha vinnie, you are the man, but let foles’ play do the talking, it was the most gutsy play by an eagles in a long time
Foles gets it done. Great job. Only thing I wonder is why Late Allen and Carey Mathews are still on this team?
Birds are 3-0 behind a backup online and an out of sync O.
*casey