It’s going to be heart check time for the Eagles starting receivers, DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin throughout the season. They have the capabilities of being outstanding but will they be when an opposing defense tries to punch them in the mouth. Can they be taken out of their games by tough intimidating defenses?
With Kevin Kolb running the show, the Birds will be running more of a classic west coast offense with the emphasis on the intermediate and short passing game. We’ve seen both Jackson and Maclin get knocked out of games this preseason after catching short passes.
Ironically their second-string receivers, Jason Avant and rookie Riley Cooper are bigger, more physical and better fits for working in crowds, catching the football and taking hits.
Both Avant and Cooper are tough and outstanding at catching passes in traffic, then holding onto them despite getting hit.
On the other hand, Jackson and Maclin are both capable of taking short passes and turning them into a long touchdown plays, but they seem to match up well against tough physical secondaries.
Jackson may be the most explosive player in the NFL, but he also weighs only 170 pounds. The former Cal Bear suffered a concussion last year when he was hit on the shoulder by Redskins middle linebacker, London Fletcher.
He was forced to the sidelines in the third preseason game against the Chiefs when head-hunting rookie safety Eric Berry got a good shot on him. It’s obvious that Jackson isn’t the same player after he is blasted.
Can the Eagles keep throwing the ball to Jackson on short routes in congested areas of the field?
The Eagles need to be smarter about the way they use him and Jackson needs to be smarter about avoiding the big hits. The pint-sized wideout should get on the ground if he’s caught in a crowd. Taking a shot to the head or upper body isn’t worth it, when he doesn’t have much of a chance of escaping.
Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg should get Jackson the ball in open space. If they let him get beat up in traffic he’s not going to be a factor in the game.
Second-year wide out Maclin put on weight and muscle during the off season, but it doesn’t look like he’s added any heart. Maclin was knocked out of the Cincinnati game after being pounded on his shoulder. He was calling for a trainer to come get him before the play was over.
He has started sticking up only one arm to catch slant routes, when he’s in traffic, rather than show a willingness to take a hit to catch a pass. Maclin looks like he wants no part of the middle of the field after he gets hit. The former Missouri Tiger seems to start hearing footsteps after he is hit.
He was beaten up in the Bengals game and couldn’t catch the ball in the Chiefs game.
It’s going to be interesting to see how Reid uses his receivers because the starters are the game-breakers but the backups fit the classic short and intermediate throws of the west coast offense.
i have been saying for while now maclin and jackson are more suited for a spead offense where the ball is thrown with wrs running deep routes with a qb able to throw the deep ball. cooper and avant are better fits for a west coast offense because of their size. basically running the west coast offense using jackson and maclin mean safties and linebackers taking big shots on them. which could lead to our top two wrs being on the injured list for a long time. the kolb area has begun!!!!
This is both the blessing and curse of Kolb being your QB. Kolb will be able to put the ball in places to allow them to make plays but that means more risk of them getting hit so you gotta take the good and the bad. I said this a while ago: McNabb may not have been the perfect QB for the West Coast offense but neither are these receivers. McNabb and these 2 WRs are best suited for an offense that consistently throws the ball down field. He has the arm to do it and they have the speed. But this isn’t Kolb’s issue. This is Andy’s issue. Now they think they have the QB to run the WCO but now you have puny receivers who cannot take hits which is needed in an offense that focuses heavily on short and intermediate passing. I said it before and I’ll say it again, Jackson will be wishing he had McNabb when he’s running a 3 yard slant and gets rocked by a linebacker. And not because Kolb is bad but because this offense will kill them. We will see.
Yes, because Jerry Rice was a big, dominating receiver who became the best receiver in the game in the west coast offense due to his muscle and size and nothing else — you’re both idiots scootaboot and scorp.
The WCO comes down to precise route-running, accuracy, and timing. Desean is VERY well suited for this offense and still trains with the best to ever play in it (Jerry). So I’m very comfortable with having Desean as our number one in the WCO and think he’s the best fit for it.
I am not sold on J Maclin being a true #2 WR or a game breaker by any stretch.
He has to improve his route running, his hands and his blocking ability. He aslo needs to stop
running/playing “SCARED” for you are going to get hit in the NFL and he needs to stop running so upright where he becomes an easier target to hit..
I rank him about the 4th best WR on the team behind D-Jax,Avant and Cooper from what I’ve seen.
I hope he proves me wrong and improves his game and turns out to be that 75-85 receptions WR ..
(I just don’t see it in him as of yet and feel he is overated as is the entrie Eagle WR corps..)
I don’t think the entire Eagle WR corps is overrated, they just need to play up to ability. You have a gamebreaker that can’t be covered in Desean Jackson. You have mr. sure hands in Jason Avant. And then you have Maclin, who showed promise as a rookie making some VERY impressive catches and is looking to improve in his second season.
I think we have the best receiving corps in the NFC East and up there in the NFC. Now whether they play up to their talent level is another question entirely.
well all i know is this is the best wr corps since i been live
29 yrs and counting
BirdoBeamen, no one said you had to be built like TO to play in the WCO. We all know Jerry Rice wasn’t but he surely wasn’t 170 pounds and SCARED to take a hit like Maclin. That’s the difference. It’s not only about stature but mindset as well. For one thing you don’t see a lot of 170 pound receivers successful in the league let alone being in the WCO offense. Jackson will miss a couple of games this year. Maclin is just a punk. Avant is tough as nails and Coopers looks like it as well. Keep your insults to yourself just because you don’t like what someone says. You can keep on thinking this team is perfect and keep drinking the koolaid. Afterall this regime has brought us _____ Super Bowls. You fill in the blank.
I sincerely hope that Desean Jackson stays healthy and provides production and energy. He’s a unique and deadly weapon. But I do think that Avant is the best receiver the Eagles have. I think he’ll be bigger money this year than he ever has. He’s the kind of player that makes for championship offenses. His value is dependability. He’ll make more big plays when the Eagles need him to, than those he’ll fail at doing so. And I thought that Cooper was outstanding in camp. If they use him a lot this year, the kid looks like he’ll make it pay off. I hope Maclin decides to be a professional football player. He’s got talent.
I was impressed with the brutally honest assessments of all of the players comprising the squad this year put forth on the website.
Yeah…it’s a pretty screwed up predicament they’re in, now that the personnel is severely mismatched. The only thing I see resolving this is after they win 4 games this season the Eagles are able to get Jake Locker or Ryan
@Birdo Have you ever seen Jerry Rice stand up next to Jackson? (he looks like a giant…lol) Sure Rice was small compared to John Taylor, but he’s still a fairly big guy compared to Jackson which says a lot.
@Butch — I’m not saying they are the same size….just saying Rice didn’t use his “size” to get open or become the greatest receiver to ever play the game. He used smarts, a decent amount of speed, and route running that no one else can match up to.
TO Pw,
yes the 2010 Version is the best WR corps the Eagles have had in a long,long time…
But in comparison to there iNFC East Counterparts, they rank 3rd by most observors…
#1) Cowboys – Austin,Williams,Bryant, Ogletree & Hurd
#2) Giants – S Smith, H Nicks, M Manningham, V Cruz and R Barsden
#3) Eagles
#4) Redskins
If you look aroundf the NFC , I would rate Packers,Saints,Falcons,Cardinals,Vikings (with S Rice)
all ahead of the Eagles Group… No If MAclin truly steps up and performs like a #2 and R COoper ends up being the real deal, then the Eagles can move up, but yuo can say that about every teams players… The when you throw in the AFC with the Patriots, Ravens,Bengals,Colts,Texans,Jets
it’s apparent to me that the Eagles WR Corps is about a middle of the pack and rank as low as they do since none of them really block well (outside of J Avant), and none of them are really good Red-Zone targers to make the tough catches (outside of Avant..)
Paulman, unfortunately, I have to agree with you. Considering our history this is a good WR corps but in the grand scheme vs the rest of the league there are plenty of teams that have better. Sure we have the potential to be very explosive but right now we are a middle of the pack as corps. It all depends on Maclin. I think many looked at him as possibly being the most well rounded WR on the team and the one with the most upside. If he doesn’t play scared then that certainly changes the dynamic. Even though this is the best WR corp (talent wise) we’ve probably had in a very very long time it’s nowhere near the best in the league.
I question Macklin’s toughness. He looks like he has no shoulders and chest and does not like to get hit. I’m sure other teams will see this in the films and try to intimidate him. Jackson has heart but is like a stick figure. When he was drafted Schiller tried to compare him to Jerry Rice in size which was a joke. G keeps referring to him as 165 Lbs now 170. If Reid keeps throwing him the ball at the line of scrimmage like in the preseason when he was pounded by four guys, he won’t last physically. After the catch yardage also depends on the strength of the receiver and ability to break the first tackle not just accuracy of the QB.
This is UNFREAKINREAL for years all I heard was we need more talent at WR. Now we have what could be the best corp of receivers in the game and we are complaining they dont fit??
Jackson is a stud football player that has done nothing but prove people wrong his whole life. He has the heart of a lion.
Maclin admitedly sometimes looked soft but he is no Todd Pinkston and you can not judge based on pre season where the focus is to stay healthy. If he continues to regress when the games count ok but it is way too early to make any calls on him. He has potential to grow this year so lets see.
Avant – Another guy that is too slow blah blah blah. All he does is make big catches for 1st downs why don’t we run him out of town like chris carter who “only caught touchdowns”
Cooper- He is a big physical reciever that has never played an nfl game but certainly looks like a gamer.
Bottom line who’s whole receiving corp would you rather have???
I havent even mentioned Celek, Weaver and McCoy who will all catch the ball on game day.
Weapons galore here in my opinion. All Kolb has to do is stay upright and get the ball to an open man and we will be ok. If he grows into making plays on his own in the next few years we will dominate. Take it to the bank!
By the way our defense appears to be much much improved from last year. Its almost time for real football and I have not been this excited about a season in a while. Go EAGLES
Regal, The best receiving corp in the game is a little over the top. No one is complaining, jusy worried that the two wideouts are injury prone and can’t take big hits. I think the trend has been towards larger
wide receivers and many teams have changed. Look around the league.
RegalEagle says:
. Take it to the bank!
The bank is not paying very much return for our money. Some people would rather take it to the mattress.
injury prone? lol if they know whats good for them and their future with this poor kid kolb in front of our billion dollar organization, they better not do any reaching for those passes. lol…..