It looks like Andy Reid and the Eagles are going to sit down all their banged up starters and any other players who are ailing. Chief among them will be Michael Vick and DeSean Jackson.
Going to the playoffs on a good note would be a plus for the Birds, but Reid obviously thinks that getting the team back to full health is even more important.
A good argument could be made against what Reid is planning on doing. One could argue that Reid should play his starters this weekend and try to turn around the way his team has been playing. That would mean they might not be as healthy physically going into the playoffs, but they might be more confident after playing well and beating Dallas.
This football team was outplayed by the Giants for 3 1/2 quarters before coming back to win. The Vikings were starting a rookie quarterback and had nothing to play for when they dominated the Birds on Tuesday night.
Which do you think is more important? Is more important to be healthy going into the playoffs or is it more important to be playing well? Do you think Andy is making the right decision?
Heck yes! Gary? stop it.
A good question and a tough decision, but the smart call is to get healthy, hopefully the players can be confident and feel good about their chances when they physically feel good.. If you play all the regulars this week and a couple of more get banged up or get hurt, then what good did it really do for you and the team. Beating the Cowboys this week takes a back seat into getting healthy, this game could very well be like a pre-season game for the Cowboys will be playing lots of young players to evaluate their talents and abilities..
The Biggest mistake I think is that you have your starters play (who many are banged up) and then they go out and play poorly (like last week) and become more injured/sore/beat-up than they presently are..then you have little chance for success come playoff time physically and mentally..
I think Coach AR has to stress to his team to let’s go out and have some fun, let’s play a lot of back-ups, play hard for your fans and lets try to beat these damn Cowboys and work on certain areas that need improving for the bigger goal is the following week..
Paulman’s Starting Unit
QB – Kolb and maybe Kafka in the 4th Quarter
RB – J Harrison and O SChmitt (Buckley come in to spell Harrison)
WR – Maclin,Avant,Cooper,Hall ( get Maclin out in the 2nd half)
TE- Harbor gets most of the snaps and sorry Brent, you will have to stay in and block
OL – A Howard , Herremans, McGlynn, MJG, Justice (Cole,Wells and Dunalp play 2nd half)
Defense
D/L – Tapp, Patterson,Bunkley,Teo, Parker, McCray, & Clark (Rest Cole,Dixon and Laws)
LB’s – Sims,Chaney,Fokou (let Clayton,Gaither,Joardan play in the 2nd half)
DB’s – Mickell, Coleman, Lindley and Patterson (rest Samuel and take Mickell out in 2nd half)
make sure DB’s Hanson and Colt Anderson get their snaps)
Yes rest them. Vick is hurting, Jackson is hurting, get Bradley back etc. It’s more important to get healthy than to risk any more injuries or keep guys from getting healed in a game that doesn’t mean anything. Being healthy is more important at this time of the year especially for your top 2 offensive players and your top defensive player. By that rationale, no team should ever want a bye week if they lost the last game of the season. Rest them up, get their minds right so they can be ready. Stop it Gary. All the starters won’t sit, just the most important ones and banged up ones. No problem with that.
I think it’s extremely important that this team get healthy, but I’ve watched footage of their last few games and I’ve talked to people around the team and around the league. If the Birds don’t make a big change of direction, they’re going to be one and done.
Maybe Kevin Kolb will play great and get the Birds going, so that they finish the season strong.
I think we all know they need to fix a lot of things but there’s no need to put your starters in against the Cowboys and a new QB who probably won’t play well. So a win over Dallas means nothing. Will it boost morale? Maybe. But that butt whooping by the Vikings should wake them up. I rather them rest and prepare for the playoffs just like a normal bye. Like I said if a team loses the last game of the season and they were trying to win, should they give up their bye if they could? No. Take the extra time to regroup and get healthy.
Scorp,
Are you referring to LB Bradley as the top Defensive player on the Eagles…
Paulman yes and that isn’t saying much. But compared to the rest of the LBs on the team, he’s a top defensive player. Not league wide just on this team. Sometimes your best is just average in the grand scheme of things.
Give your hurt and banged up starters rest. This should be like a “bye week” for many. Also consider that Dallas might use this game to see what some of their backups might do… they have nothing to play for, not even pride. McGlynn needs practice and playing time to get ready for playoffs. Eagles lose nothing by giving many guys a break; the Dallas game, win or lose, proves nothing and Eagles 3rd seed is already set. Even while some guys rest they’ll see film of the Packers which seems the likely team they will face again, and the need to deal with the defensive player of year, Clay Matthews. Reid/Mornhinweg have to get the blocking schemes set for unending blitzes along with variety of screens, draws, short passes to TE’s, etc. Defense needs to be secure against big runs as they’ve done this year and keep pressure on QB’s in pocket. If Lindley can play at all at right corner, I’d rather trust him there than live/die with D. Patterson.
I want to see Austin Howard get some meaningful time at a position; he’ll love beating on a Dallas player in front of him. Turn Teo loose from an end position. We don’t need Bradley in there, or a Gaither at MLB… play Chaney so he keeps learning. I’m not so sure Bradley is guy for middle anymore after this season. We need some big, tough dudes on defense in next draft and a center/OL. Get a top free agent in here in offseason. Keep Owen Schmidt since Weaver is very unlikely to play next season, or ever again. Graham will not be 100% either, and probably not Allen, let alone Owens… 4 very serious injuries on defense, 2 starters. Will Marlin Jackson be ready to help in secondary????
No longer expecting Eagles to get past the 2nd round unless somehow they play Falcons. I think next year is time they can truly contend for SB, IF they draft/sign some defensive talent as priority. This team can’t depend on Vick & high-octane throwing game only to win a SB. Defense has got to be able to consistently shutdown other teams’ passing attack. Vick can’t do it alone.
Scorp,
CB A Samuel is the top Defender on this Eagle team without a doubt, he’s the playmaker and he’s hurt and has played very tentative the last 2 weeks and has the gimpy knee which won’t really heal until after the season.. This is my biggest concern for when he’s playing well, the entire Secondary seems to play well as a unit, to be honest about Bradley, I think Chaney playing is an upgrade over him …
A tough position for the team to be in, a loss and especially a bad one to the Cowboys always sucks no mater whose hurt, whether you have anything to play for or not… A Defeat to your hated Rival wil lhang all off-season as a Playoff loss would..
The Eagles would be smart to just run the ball 40 times between J Harrison,Buckley and Schmitt and just eat some clock and try to get out with a win and no injuries…but the Cowboys are not going to come in and just lie down to the Eagles, Cowboys probably need a win to save a job for Garrett and lots of young players will get some long looks .. This could be a 20-16 type of game..
But an ineffective Samuel is the dagger to this Defense
paulman – i agree with ur playing time/subs
every situation is different, in our case we need to get healthy.
chaney will be our starter at mlb next season
if we keep bradley (because he is injury prone) he will be on the strongside (his original position)
i am ok with sims on the weakside, even jordan, i think mcdermott deserves some blame (playcalls)
for example, i loved jason babin when he played snaps, now he is a pro-bowler in tennessee
tapp has made plays his whole career, i always liked him, he needs more PT
we need to spell cole more or give tapp more snaps opposite of him
and ppl need to understand patterson/hanson will be targeted, who wants to throw at asante???
all teams do is run outside on us, or throw short. its that plain in simple
defensively, we need to let cole do his thing on the QBs blindside and blitz middle/strongside
the wlb can help the 2nd corner, even shade more safety help (since we dont blitz much anymore)
mcdermott needs to improve his playcalling, whether its by keeping it simple or…
letting jauron have some say, but its mroe than the players on the field the playcalling sucks
something subtle mr. cobb said that is important, and that is they play of kolb; if 4 lights it up, then 7’s motivation will be that much higher to perform well in playoffs.
i don’t understand you who spend all day pointing out gloom and doom scenarios, if it is that bad, why are you here, find something else to do, maybe crossdressing
They can’t play well if they’re hurt, G.
BOYER – You hit the nail on the head. The main reason Desean and Vick missed on those bombs was that they were hurt. Desean was overthrown because he could not excellerate like he usually does.
It is a no brainer. Rest the players. The NFL jamed the Eagles buy switching the game.
The Saints lost 3 games in a row at the end of last year and won the Superbowl. The year the Eagles when to the Superbowl they rested the starters and lost games. Momentum is overrated. The Giants were on a roll when the Eagles came back and beat them. The Giants had been forced to play alot of games in a short time. it catches up with you. There only so much you can make your body do, before it shuts down.
Rest Vick and let him study the hot reads for the blitzes. We should be making these teams pay for these blitzes.Line up shady like we use to do Westbrook. A slant to shady on a blitz in the open field would be gold.
OK I am over the lost to a ROOKIE HEAD COACH and a ROOKIE QB. The ROCKY theme is playing in the backround, it’s time to come out Philadelphia Fighting Mad!
Kick some COWBOY BUTT just to watch their sad faces, and send a message for next year!
ANDY REID BURNT THIS TEAM OUT
Think about this. Leslie Frazier realizes he has a rookie QB. Look at his play calling. Short quick passes. Lots of running plays. Patience. Play mistake free football. Keep the game close and wait for a break. He tailored the game plan to the talent he had on the field and the tendencies of the Eagles.
THIS IS WHAT UPSETS EAGLE FANS
Andy Reid has a QB that is getting crushed. He knows he has a WR that is hurt. And he keeps dailing up Bombs. He gets the most mobile QB in the history of the NFL sacked 6 times. It is that kind of hard headedness that frustrates EAGLE FANS. You have a great RB and good healthy recievers and TEs and you just can’t ADJUST THE GAME PLAN. Riley Cooper at 6′ 4″ and 220 pounds on a quick slant to the side of the blitze. Simple. WR Screen.
IT’S SO SIMPLE EVEN A CAVEMAN or a ROOKIE COACH CAN DO IT.
Interesting note fellas, listening to some of the good film breakers, they point out that on many of the blitzs, that indeed the center made the adjustments called the blocking change and that winfield was Vick’s responsibility. On the film break down all the linemen made the proper blocks, McCoy picked up his blocks. In the film the Wr’s were bolting down the field. Vick seems like he was not aware of the men coming off the blideside or sight side.
I believe Reid sees this and he will burn that visual into Vicks mind, and it will get corrected, Reid and Vick will get this fixed, and the next team to play this kind of defense will go from predator to victim, and they will not know how to adjust.
Teams are to confident in Reids ability to not change, but guess what Eagles are going to change, and we Eagles fans are going to see something like the Ali-Foreman fight the packers or whoever is going to be looking for one thing and are going realize their plan is not working and they won’t have an answer before panic kicks in.
We say Andy can’t change, but oh yes he will, mark my words. The offense will kick in high gear and the defense will poss as a series of speed bumps instead of a barrier and we will greatly enhance our victory %.
Its coming brothers enjoy the ride.
BSM, very good points my friend, very good. Hey what choice do I have at this point but to hope and rely on the experience of a coach who has been winning consistently and impressively for 10 years, its the only hope I have left brother at this stage. Andy make the adjustments! I believe in you big Boi.
Finally I have tried to get a gage of what professionals think of McDermont, and here it is boiled down, quick and dirty. The general concenus is that McD has done a great job since he has taken over, not in production mind you but in process, and many feel that he is a rising star to be. Not my words!
I am going to go with these guys, not the show heads but the guys who break the film for a living, not a weekend hobby tivoed on the TV. Real film guys speak highly of his work.
Okay you got me, I like McD, I damn well hope he gets to stay. Thats my view, if you disagree state your case and leave minds alone casue I like the guy sorry.
correct mr. bsm, and let’s hope he rejuvenates team for big win in 1st round
and watch how the game plan will change with kolb, you will see the balanced offense, but with Vick, Reid is like an addict on crack, can’t get enuf of the big strike, espn hilight shit
JAKEDOG – Your 2nd comment is why now think that the Eagles will defeat Dallas.(who could think right after the minnesota nightmare)
Reid will protect Kolb for a number of reasons. He wants to win the game and he wants Kolb to look good in the event they decide to trade him. Or if Vick gets hurt in the playoffs, the team will have confidence in Kolb.
He will balance the attack and shorten the routes for BabyArm. The defense will be better rested because of the longer offensive drives. And I believe McDermott is going to use Trevar Linley more in Demetri Pattersons spot.
Andrew is a very proud man, and the backup players will be focused in this next game. Jobs are on the line for many of the backups. And maybe a few coaches. Last year showed that nobody is untouchable.
The fresher players will now play and do a better job than the banged up exhausted starters.
PS – HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!
Don’t have a nice day. MAKE IT A GREAT DAY, and a great Year!
HAPPY NEW YEARS FELLAS
o wow comment box back i should go on vaca more often lol
This game versus the Cowyboys will really prove how Good or Bad a Coach AR and his Coordinators are… Though this game has no bearing for the Playoffs, the goal is to win, play well and not get anyone injured.. For young players and back-ups, it’s a chance to get some reps and make some plays for all the hard work and practice time they put in..
I finally have last week’s game out of my system and am looking forward to the game against the Cowboys. Happy New Years and the week off should do wonders for Vick,D-Jax, A Samuel and others who are hurting …
I wonder why Chris Clemons doesn’t perform for us then the next year goes out and gets 10 sacks. And I liked Babin when he was with the Eagles. Even though he didn’t play much, he seemed to make plays when he was in there. Did I think he would make the Pro Bowl? Hell no. But I thought he could be a pretty productive pass rusher for us. Babin and Clemons seem like a better pair right now than the guys that replaced them, Tapp and Graham. Hell, we could probably use Antoine Barnes.
mr. pw, I thought you checked out because of all this negativity
Oh I meant my last post to be in the Pass Rush article. My bad.
LOL at BSMVIDEOS “babyarm”. He should be called baby-nuts. Damn skippy Reid will protect his ass by running the ball more and chipping and chipping and chipping. We might not see a formation with more than 3 receivers out in the pattern all day. Celek and Schmitt will basically be playing offensive line on Sunday.
naw i jus took off last week jus like the birds did. that was disgusting and im quite sure it was negative around here. im sure vinnie was around lol
I’d rather have a healthy Vick, Jackson, Samuel etc going into the playoffs than have them play in this game. If any of the key playmakers are hampered evidently this team becomes totally mediocre. So I don’t really see how it was a choice for Reid at all. He sees clearly that if the key playmakers are injured for that first playoff game then they have virtually zero shot at getting past the wildcard round.
On defense part of me would like to see all the starters out there the whole damn game and for every single one of them that doesn’t man up it would even be great to see Reid deactivate them for the first playoff game. Okay, okay, I know that’s going overboard and is totally unrealistic & childish but I used to love the Eagles for their defense and the defense this year is just ripping my heart out. I don’t know if they fix it with better game planning, better adjustments during the game or better execution from the players, but the defense has to raise its level of play if the Eagles are going anywhere in the playoffs. I’m holding onto the hope that is possible and will happen.
This team needs to get healthy. I think many of their current problems can be attributed to health. I think it is good to use the backups for this game verses the Cowboys with the intentions of having players ready for the playoffs. In a sense the Eagles still got a bye week.
Please Rest trent cole!!!!!!!!!!!!1
I can honestly say that this is probably the most unanticipated Eagles Vs Cowboys game that I could careless about. Normally im all for a good old fashion Eagles A whooping on the cowboys but this week I just dont care. Am I the only one that feels like this? I mean we are coming off a bad lost and we look out of sync. All im thinking about is game 1 of the playoffs. Am I alone on this?
The beauty of our Eagle defense, its a great concept. It is not what we want it to be, it does not get the ever fan popular sack stat like we want it, but when working in in sync it is a master plan to be loved.
Eagles defense is designed around stopping the run and its DB’s. Our DE’s and front line in total are not designed to sack that is the added benefit, they are designed to pressure, to spook the QB into throwing the ball away, throw where it can be hit down by DB’s, or intercepted. It is a pressure defense, based on one of the most demoralizing incidents in a football game, the interception.
A sack is great, but our Eagles have mastered the two most demoralizing, momentum changing factors in football, the long play and the interception. The greatest percentage adjusters in football is the interception which decreases the team throwing the interception by 20% each. Anyone notice how fast the Eagles chances of winning slide over the last weeks when we throuw interceptions. The other is long play.
The long play is not just the deep pass, it is McCoy busting out and taking one for 15+ yards, or a demoralizing DJax end around. But back to the defense, fellas like Sun Tzu the Eagles have us crying about one thing when they are mastering the other. The key to this defense is not sacking it is our corners, and a heavy pass rush that makes the QB uncomfortable. The Giants model is beautiful it is what they are built for. They live and die by the sack, we live and die for the deflection,throw away, or interception.
If we can continue to stop the rush, and get our DB’s up to the concept challenge then we are looking good. The goal of our LB’s is to stop the run and get the QB once he has been flushed out. We have not been doing a great job the last couple games of getting the QB once he is out. I like our defense we just need to focus and execute.
No team is more demoralizing than the Eagles (other than the Patriots, who bleed you dry every game and wear down your will to win), teams spend the whole game waiting for the show to drop, even when it does not come. This is our advantage.
So my point is we got a good chance to play some football in these here playoffs fellas, stop looking at the expected. Ali dance in the ring, fight with his hands down and talk trash the experts said it wasa liablity until the saw the results. Our DB’s have not answered the bell, the key to victory is not our sacks or pass rush, it is our DB’s ability to knockdwn or cover every play.
A QB gets sacked he brushes it off and burns you two plays later maybe, he gets sacked its out of his mind the next play. Intercept a QB’s throw and you are in his mind he loses confidence and only the best or the strongest can recover ask Eli, hell ask Vick over the last two games.
The key is our DB’s ability to deflect the pass, deter a throw through coverage or better get an inteception. From there it is a matter of containing the run and tackling the flushed QB.
You guys can disagree with me that is cool, but before you do take a moment and thing about all the games this year and then concider what I ssay in that context. We need our DB’s to show up fellas in the playoffs they are more important to us than our ability to sack the QB.
As someone on this site always says……………Times yours 🙂
Paulman’s Final Regular Season NFL Picks (Overall Record of 149-91)
Falcons over Panthers
Steelers over Browns
Lions over Vikings
Chiefs over Raiders
Pats over Dolphins
Saints over TB Bucs
Bills over Jets
Ravens over Bengals
Broncos over Chargers
Packers over Bears
Colts over Titans
49ers over Cardinals
Redskins over GIants
Texans over Jaguars
Rams over Seahwaks
Eagles 23 – Cowboys 16
Teams that make it in to the playoff
NFC
#1 Seed Falcons,#2 Bears,#3 Eagles,#4 Rams,#5 Saints,& #6 Packers
AFC
#1 Seed Patriots,#2 Steelers,#3 Chiefs,#4 Colts, #5 Ravens& #6 Jets
NFC Playoffs
Wild-Card Round – Packers over Eagles, Saints over Rams
Divisional Round – Packers over Falcons, Saints over Bears
Championship Game – Saints over Packers
AFC Playoffs
Wild-Card Round – Chiefs over the Jets, Ravens over the Colts
Divisional Round – Patriots over Ravens, Steelers over the Chiefs
Championship Game – PAtriots over the Steelers
Super Bowl — Patriots 37 over the Saints 32 in a shootout (MVP is T Brady)
PFT is rumoring up that Vick could get pulled against the Pack next week if he struggles to read and adjust to the blitz packages like he did against the Vikes. Supposedly the coaches pointed out his calls, reads, etc and he did not adjust last Tuesday. Let the screaming, hair pulling and knashing of teeth commence now.
That’s strange Anderson. Vick has made such a career of reading the blitz. Its been his strongpoint really. Don;t know what has happened the past couple of weeks at all.
What’s also interesting is watching Vikes right now and how they haven’t sent any blitzes against the all world Drew Stanton. Presumably afraind of being torched.
whoops, its shawn hill…
Yes, rest Vick cause he needs that extra step when he can’t read the blitz
That’s Andy’s fault too, if he knows Vick cannot read the blitz like the NFL analysts are saying then Reid should have more options for QB