After watching the Eagles offense work today at the Nova Care Complex, I’ve changed my mind about them not playing the starters on Thursday night for a quarter. I know about Andy Reid’s formula of preparing for a season, but this is a completely different team than he’s had in the past.
It seems that the confidence of this young offense is reducing rather than increasing. They looked better during training camp than they looked today. There are supposed to be more good plays than there are bad plays as they get closer to the season.
They need to burn today’s video tape of the practice. Maybe it was too hot for guy’s concentrate. Maybe the heat made the ball hang in the air longer and therefore it threw everybody’s timing off. Maybe everything was off because star wide receiver DeSean Jackson is home nursing a mouth which is missing two wisdom teeth.
Second year wide receiver Jeremy Maclin is in a Pro Bowl glide even though he’s never been to the Pro Bowl.
Kevin Kolb seems to be pressing and the accuracy that is supposed to be a strength has gone missing.
They had a sloppy practice full of tipped balls, interceptions, dropped passes and incompletions. I don’t think it’s reason to panic but these guys had better realize what time it is. The regular season is less than two weeks away and this offense had better wake up. They should be getting to the point where they can run certain plays without even thinking about them.
They’re acting like it’s a piece of cake, but this isn’t the veteran Eagles team that went to the playoffs for nearly every year in a decade. They don’t have a bevy of guys who know what it takes to make back to back to back to back NFC Championship games. There should be a sense of urgency but I don’t see it.
I know I’m not politically correct because it’s just a practice a couple of days before a game which none of the starters are going to play in, I’m not into pretending that everything’s great as the Eagles prepare for the season and their last preseason game. but things are supposed to be looking better now than they did before. Practices are supposed to be getting crisp. and quite a few other
LOL
Then sit for 10 days.. I see very little benefit for the #1’s to play a quarter just to “feel good” in what will be most likely against the #2’s from the Jet defense and take a risk of getting injuries to players who can least afford them and don’t have much quality depth behind… What happens if a let’s say
Kolb,McCoy,Weaver,Celek,Herremans,Maclin get injured… (obviosuly D-Jax and J Jackson are already not going to suit up).
The Risk far outweighs the benefit in this case…
The real season starts in 2 weeks and I don’t think anything that anyone does this Thursday in a meaningless game is going to mean one “Iota” come Sept 12 at 4pm, why take the chance,
Probably the biggest positive out of camp and pre-season is the fact of very few injuries which most have been the minor variety…
Let the #2’s get the reps in the 1st half and let the players who will be cut next week play in 2nd half
to at least reward them for their hard work and maybe look good on film for another team to grab them
G that is why i read your articles because i feel i get more honesty from you then i do from watching eagles live. I like spads but he is partial to everything they do because he works for them. At least you can tell us how it really is. Im in florida i cant see the practices. I appreciate that! I told everyone we are gonna go 8-8 best 9-7. 10-6 isnt gonna happen. i hope it does but lets be real here. MORE IMPORTANTLY this goes back to someone saying our reciving core isnt as good as made out to be and it might have been PAULMAN. But looks like he might have been right. Jackson goes down and they have been playing like crap. Maclin hasnt really done anything execpt have a DECENT year last year and drop a bunch of passes in preseason when it was his turn to shine. I like Maclin and hope he turns this thing up a notch. I dont wanna read to much into it cause its preseason. But still!! you cant perform like utter crap in the preseason and then go to the playoffs. Unless your peyton manning
who cares if something happens to kolb
wow there goes ur 7-9 season give me a break
Yeah Dawk, Peyton Manning waits until the playoffs to suck.
Some Good pojts Dawkplex,
I have also stated that the NFC East has not played well at all this preseason and neither have the
Panthers,Bears,Cardinals,Vikings, Does this mean that all these battle tested teams and Coaching staffs won’t have these teams in the playoff hunt…Of course not, it’s a 4 month season with lots of games to be played. The Fact that the Eagles are relatively healthy and have Herremans/Jackson retuning to the O/Line and Bradley back at MLB abnd healthy I think bodes well for Eagles
If we based Regular Season/Playoff probablility by Pre-seaon performance, the NFC East would not e have a team make the playoffs the way that all the NFC East teams have played to date so far…
agreed www
Agree with Paul
many teams look terrible in the NFC right now. That doesnt make me feel better about the Eagles individually. but there competition isnt that far ahead, if at all. I am very concerned about our offensive confidence and our o-line but think they will rise to the call against GB. We lose against GB and we were “supposed to” and we win that game and that will be the biggest confidence in the world for this team…
I couldn’t help but jump in on the Maclin conversation. I’ve been reading for months about how much he’s going to contribute to this team, and so far, I haven’t seen him do a single thing to earn the accolades he’s been receiving.
My brother and I refer to him as Jeremy Pickston. So far he is the exact same player. He makes a big play every now and then – mostly when it doesnt mattter, but for the most part he consistently drops balls, is afraid to run across the the middle, and is slow running after the catch (which was also shown in his put return attempts last year).
People are giving this kid way too much credit. He looks like he should be in a flag fooball league.
*Pinkston
first off paulman…the panthers are straight garbage…..Second…we were not told in the off season that getting rid of Mcnabb meanS the rest of the offense would forget how to play. A matter of fact we were told the complete opposite. I’m surfing around and all the so called experts who were downing Mcnabb are all eating crow, ducking and dodging.
Some would like to say, “Aw it’s just preseason”. Well guess what buddy? It’s preseason for the 1st teams that’s manhandling our squad too, and it’s not like this team is not trying because it’s preseason. Practices transfer over to the field and no one here can say it will all turn up roses on game day.
Does one man make a difference? You bet, when that one man is the quarterback, the most important position in sports. As Kolb lose confidence, the team loses confidence and by that forget the fundamentals. When Mcnabb had bad times we knew he could snap back….It’ll take me 2 games to know what this Kolb is about and if he have that blank stare without blinking we’ll reflect back on the day this franchise had the nerve to trade the QB that brought this team credibility.
And by the way…when Andy became coach he already had key defensive players in place..Troy Vincent, Bobby Taylor, Hugh Douglas, Jeremiah Trotter, Brian Dawkins, and we also had Tra Thomas, Duce Staley on the offense.
All Andy had to do was pick the right QB and have a D coordinator to call the plays for a stout defense. and get the special teams locked up.
He did well with what was already in place and now this team is in worst case especially now Mcnabb is gone.
There’s no hope for this year and this might be it for the forseeable future.
“TIMES YOURS”
I agree SONGS you cant just play like crap in presentation and in practice and come out and dominate you just cant!!!!
WWW- you can say what you want about manning he has a ring! More then we have
preseason i meant my bad
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/126162-the-myth-of-peyton-mannings-postseason-chokes-exposed-as-works-of-fiction
this is for www and philly will
And that link that i posted once it gets approved was writin before this past season when the colts went to the bowl!!!!!!
Guess what? Kolb have not did anything to make me think we need to protect him for game 1. This guy need us much game time reps he can get before the season starts and as far as I’m concerned he’s on the same par as Kafka. Both are unproven and need reps and I wouldn’t be surprised if Kafka ends up being better than Kolb beause he’s able to work without any pressure. pressure busts pipes.
Get ready for a loooooooooooooong season
To Songs,
The Panthers are not crap,
They have one of the best rushing combo attacks in D Williams/J Stewart, have a great WR in Steve Smith and a very physical,experienced offensive line.. they aren;t pretty or goign to score points in a hurry, but they can beat a team down by pounding it all game long which shortens the game and gives them a chance. They have a good expereinced game coach in J Fox and oretty favorable schedule this year but of course have a unproven QB and not real depth at WR and only average TE’s
The Def/Line is completely rebuilt with 5 players gone from last years squad, they havegood athletic LBs but no depth and have a great CB tandem in C Gamble and R Marshall… Their Safeties are young and aggressive and suseptible to getting burned deep, they have a good kicker and punter so they will be in almost every game they play and will have a chance at a playoff run like 3/4 of the teams do
If their QB M Moore plays well and protects the ball, this team will surprse a lot of people
. 3 rookie players to watch out for are DE G Hardy (how this guy lasted to the 6th Round is beyond me, he has 4-5 sacks, 4-5 tackels for losses and has not been blocked one on one by anyone this pre-season thus far.. OLB E Norwood is going to be an All_Pro in 2 years time, this was a kid from th eUniversity of SOuth Carolina who slipped from 2nd material anmd fell to the 4th or 5th and was an absolute steal, he plays with a real chip on his shoulder and takes no prisoners. (he was one of the LB that I was hoping the Eagles would grab) and lastly a rookie WR B LeFell who was their 3rd Rd pick at 6’4″ is a carbon copy of retired Panther WR Mushin Mohammed, big target, great downfield blocker who plays his size and has some good hands, he’s not the quickest WR but he makes plays ..
If you look at the Panthers Draft picks the last 2-3 years, they have had some excellent value picks
I have watached their pre-season games and have been impressed with rookie QB J claussen,
A big strong arm kid whop can really sling it, he needs to look off defensers for he locks in too soon on who is is going to throw to, but he’s looked pretty godo basically playing with the #2 and #3 so he isn;t getting a whole lot of help, I expect he will see some action this year but really will battle for a starter’s spot come 2011 (they got him at #48 pick and saved a ton of $$$ by having him fall that far)
Would you guys shaddup and show me where the potatoe salad is? I’m starving.
jimmy mac
Andy Reid was the last one I saw with the potato salad. You’ll have to ask him.
jesus pman did songs hit a nerve talking about your panthers
Just passing on info about the Panthers team to the general fan who doesn’t know much or care about them.They are better team than many people think and typically they have a good season every other year when expectations are low which they are this year..
See I am an Eagles fan first but I keep up on many teams around the league on who is doing what,
whose in whose out,etc,etc, just part of being a True fan of Football ..
Wait, was that a BigE fat joke? Wow, total shocker. I set my watch to BigE fat jokes.
schill are u andy reid cmon man tell us
I have told you, I’m not. you really think Andy Reid has time to post on GCobb? Are you really george bush or do you just come off as stupid?
schiller says:
September 1, 2010 at 10:10 amWait, was that a BigE fat joke? Wow, total shocker. I set my watch to BigE fat jokes.
Do you wear as large a band as Andy, toad.
Amazing comeback, you counter me by proving my point. Uh, ok
Boneheadedness is something you have in common with Reid- Scumler
4 wins…mark my words 4 stinkin wins and quite a bit of finger pointing when it’s all been said and done.
Reid -Week 1 “We’re gonna fix it…”
Rinse and repeat
Week 16 “Well, we learned a lot and we’ll be better next year…”
Butch – Wah wah wah, cry cry cry, woe is me. blah blah blah
rinse and repeat
Oh, I forgot
Butch – Doomsday doomsday doomsday
rinse and repeat