I will never forget the Eagles second game against the Washington Redskins last year. They shredded the Redskins in front of a Monday Night Football audience with Michael Vick hitting DeSean Jackson on a long bomb to start the contest.
The Eagles offense tore up NFL defenses a year ago in the first half of the season with big plays downfield, but I don’t think they should enter the upcoming season with that mindset because of their challenges on the offensive line. I think they’ll need to keep the defense honest by running the ball some, throwing the ball short, then taking shots down the field with maximum protection.
I don’t want to see them come out against Steve Spagnuolo’s defense and start looking deep immediately and leave Vick open to blitzes and an effective pass rush. Everybody knows Spagnuolo will be coming after them with numerous blitz and overload packages
to test the offensive line and the Eagles blitz pickup.
Vick must play much better when the season starts than he did in the preseason and he must do it behind a line that’s just coming together. He’s got to go back to setting his feet to throw the football first and not be thinking of running every time he gets the snap. If you look at his feet during the Browns game, he was looking to run first because the offensive line was playing so poorly.
Vick must make protecting the football his number one goal. He must be able to see the entire field in a clearer way and if he’s not sure about making a throw then he must decide to be more conservative in his approach. Number seven can’t put those throws up deep unless he knows where the safeties are.
Turnovers are second only to the score on the scoreboard as a statistic to predict which team is going to win. The bottom line is that turnovers kill your opportunities to win the football game. Vick will have a much better defense to help him this season, so he must take advantage of it.
He has to realize that he doesn’t have to be great in every game for this team to win. If he’s not having one of his better days, then he should be more conservative with the ball, so he doesn’t turn the ball over. Force other teams to march the length of the field to score.
There are some games when they need him to be great when they’re playing some of the better teams in the league, but there are other games when all he has to do is take what the defense gives him, by dumping the ball to LeSean McCoy, throwing it short to Brent Celek or his other underneath receivers.
Vick doesn’t have to take chances with the ball all the time like he did in the Pittsburgh preseason game where he threw three interceptions. Those throws were bad decisions and forced. He was playing with the mentality that he had to create something even if there nothing there.
Even though the interception he threw against the Cleveland Browns didn’t count because it was called back when Vick was hit after throwing the ball, it was another bad decision. He threw the ball up deep without making sure that a safety wasn’t lurking back there.
It’s important early on that Vick not demand too much of his offensive line by holding the ball a long time while looking for the big play. There will be times when the offense is in maximum protection that Vick can look downfield. Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg must put the offensive line and Vick in position to succeed with a short throw game plan in the beginning of the season.
They don’t know how this unit is going to play, so they must protect them by giving them help with the tight ends and running backs. Vick has to be ready to get rid of the football, so he doesn’t get hammered like he did in the Browns game. That’s why I don’t want them to start the St. Louis game looking to throw bombs to DeSean Jackson.
I want a conservative game plan to start the season and I want Vick to have a conservative mindset when the play the Rams in St. Louis.
I agree 100% G and have stated so a few times..
The Coaching Staff and Game Plans are going to be very important and a key to the Eagles Success to th e1st month od this Season.. To think VIck is going to take 7-8-9 Step Drops and throw deep passes to D-Jax/Maclin is foolish thinking.. I am afraid that the Eagles who have nornally score of quick 4-5 play drives due to haaving big plays made down the field and now can they and Vick stay consistent and error-free (Sacks,Penalties and Turnovers) and generate 9-10-12 play Drives.. That is the question and we will soon find out but going against the Rams and Falcons Defense the 1st 2 weeks should allo VIck to hit lots of short routes,underneath routes to the RB’s/TE and maybe take the occasional shot down the field after establishing control of th eline of scrimmage…
On the Rams game, It will be interested to weatch Rams Safety W Mikell who obviously knows th eEagles Offense,WR and QB VIck’s tendancies, look for him to have a big game as he will be pumped to play versus the Team that let him go… Also watch Eagles J Maclin who is from St Louis and will want to play well in front of his family,relatives and close friends.. I hope he doesn’t push himself and try too hard and just relaxes and lets the game come to him.. It’s a long season Jeremy..
“G”..
I think it well be tough for Vick to protect the ball if DT’s are coming free continually up the middle with Kelce and Watkins next to each other…
And Now there’s a new jouneyman next to Peters, we may have an even weaker left side on the other side of Kelce.
Free for all….up the middle
Vick will have turnovers due to the weakness of the offensive line.
2 spots left guys. I’ve been out of the country. Send me an email for an invite astuckey05 @ gmail. com . Draft is Wed at 8pm.
Songs, Being a QB in the NFL isn’t suppose to be easy. Every O-line in the division has question marks…Brady’s has a rookie protecting him. Manning has rookies protecting him. You could prolly say something negative about every O-line in football….People on here act like every other O-line in the NFL is unbeatable. The fact is their not..It i what it is. But to give our QB a pass if he commits an abnormal amount of turnovers because the O-line isn’t all pro is BS. Turnovers are killers..By now in his veteran career, Vick should be able to read the blitz when he walks up to the line and audible the play. On top of that, all he has to do is just throw the ball away. There is nothing wrong with throwing the ball away. I believe Vick will get better at protecting the ball this year due to the coaching staff prolly drilling it to him everyday since the lockout ended.
The first 3 games of the season will be huge this year….If the Eagles can be 2-1 (which i think we will be) out of those games than I think this team will be 12-4 atleast…The tough games against NE, Jets, and Chicago are later on in the year at Home…by then this defense should be where it needs to be. I think we beat NE this year just like we finally beat the colts last year when they came here. The TE’s are the only thing that scare me on that offense. Chicago is a fraud…We wont have to play on that terrible grass this year which slowed our speed on offense down and Jay Cutler wont be throwing to practice squad corners like he did last year when he played us. I think Jets is a toss up. Im curious to see how much better Sanchez is this year.
great job gary- and in other news- the eagles need to score more points against the rams to win the game.
Play calling will be the key. We must run the ball. When we pass if the offensive line has problems Vick must roll out to his right or left to buy more time. He must get the ball out quickly. Definitely use the short passing game. Once we get their defense guessing then we can go for the long ball (Jackson). This is about playing smart and showing patience. We can’t allow the Rams to dictate the flow of the game. Our defensive line must get pressure on Bradford early to force him to make mistakes. Birds 31 Rams 24!!!!
I am so sick of these nit picking articles about Vick. Hell that applies to every qb in the NFL my goodness. Find something else to write about, like what are the Rams strenght and weekness. Vick understands what he has to do this year can we let him play a game.
Rams have 2 big Strengths,
#1) Running the ball between the Tackles with S Johnson,Caddilac Wiliiams
#2) Is Pash Rushing from their Front – 4
Outside of this, they have a mobile and up and coming QB in SAm Bradford, they Don’t have a lot of Speed in the WR’s Corps who are mostly possesion type of WR that Eagles Secondary shuld shut down, They do have a young and athletic Rookie TE in Lance Kendricks who can stretch the middle of the field but is still a Rookie
They have an active, older LB Corps who rely more on experience that Atleticim and could be taken advantage of…
Their CB’s are young and not very polished in coverage, again if the EAgles can provide time for VIck, their should be some big plays available early and often..
The other Strength and perhaps their biggest is their HC Spags.
What the Rams lack in ovreall talent, their Coaching staff will have them play hard and be fundamentally sound and not beat themselves with bone-head Plays & Penalties.. Remember they went 7-9 last Season and really lost a few games they coulda,woulda,shoulda won.. and going into last Season with a Rookie QB, no one even thought they would win 3-4 Games or even contect for a playoff spot ion the weak NFC West
This Season I believe the Seahawkws,Cardinals and Rams are all better teams than early last years version.. (the 49ers are a train wreck and HC Harbaugh has his hands filled with primma donnas like Gore,DAvis and Crabtree.and no solution at the QB position with A Smith.. I would say the 49ers are in the running for QB A Luck with the 1st pick in next years Draft and I expect the 49ers to shed some of these big name players on their current roster who have attitude problems and have basically underperformed and these 3 I mentioned all have big contracts but have not shown very good leadership so Iexpect HArbaufgh to clean house)
Vick doesnt call his own plays so this is not about him, MM& AR are the ones that gotta make sure they balance the game plan out but i dont see it happening, they are too stubborn an think their smarter than everyone else, what they dont understand is their so predictable they dont realize everybody knows their first 15 scripted plays, they better wake up an come out with a plan that will keep the D off balance an give that O-Line some time to gel.
Damn, we’re elite and Superbowl contenders, and they are improved to mediocre, and you guys are scared lol.
Shut up with this cautious talk and skepticism, our o-line was terrible last year and look what we did.
I think we’re already better today than any point last season, and we avg. 27 on any given Sunday.
The doubters, you have a serious problem, compare this team to GB and CHI, and the issues can be brought up. Not against STL and CAR of the world, take a reality check that you’re trying to type in your own thoughts, we are that damn good and like the other 31 teams that didn’t win it all, we have some things to work on, even GB does and they won.
Eagles on turf is remarkable, and this game will be won by at least 13.
And I’m a closet Rams fan, because of Spags/Shurmur (before he left)/Bradford/Jackson/McDaniels (as an off. coord.), and my best friend is a Rams fan and I followed them to an extent when they were in L.A.
I like what they’re doing, but this nonsense about being conservative makes absolutely no sense, and it starts with G.
Yeah, it’s your blog, you have inside access to the team and good info for us here, I appreciate that.
But you’ve been getting lazy, and the contributors on this site, and you’re leading the sourpuss pack, no wonder there’s bickering on here about Negadelphia and too optimistic fans.
Pay attention, if you’re not going to realize what went on in the preseason as an offensive standpoint, then open your eyes and stop typing for a minute, and process this:
We worked on a true west coast offense and the running game this preseason. We already know what we have in our passing game, and giving these QBs west coast reps and RB/OL time to “gel” so to speak is the missing link we need. The difference between us and the recent Champs of Patriots, Colts, Saints, and Packers, is that the seasons they won they stuck with the ground game even if they weren’t successful, it did just enough. We got Mudd and these run blocking linemen for no reason, McCoy/Brown are great at making defenders miss, and they can burst off of one or two cuts with that zone blocking scheme. Implementing a stretch play is going to benefit our offense. Imagine our big play offense, being able to score for 90 yards out, 70 yards, 50 etc. Not many teams can pull that off, but that’s a minor achievement that doesn’t matter to this site apparently. We’re unorthodox and you’re not comfortable with it, oh well it has gotten us into the playoffs nearly every season under Reid. My money, we’ll run more esp. with all the space defenses give us by backing off, and we have the best QB in football to make something out of nothing with his legs.
I try to be friendly on this site, but you all bitch like bitter ex-gfs. Ignore GBs shitty o-line and shitty run game last season, if the other teams/coaches got the memo, Reid and Marty know what needs to be done. And I’m only talking about 65-35 ratio that’s all those other teams did. And then you have the screen game, we are one of the best screen teams in the league and that’s extra, and Vick’s legs an another option/weapon/advantage. You guys get narrowminded and caught up with the world is ending and we’ll never win a ring talk and filled with hate on Reid. It takes a damn franchise to be on the same page, and we have gone out and spent (we’re so damn cheap right) and drafted LBs after years of ignoring the position just like we ignored WR for so long.
Wake up and appreciate your damn team you bozos, idc if you are faithless and don’t think we’ll beat the Packers, but don’t lower our team to the Ram’s level because you make up shit in ur head. The cowardly lion needs courage and the tin man needs a heart, if that’s you then i hope you get it.
wmonell…paste your comment.
Then tell us how that applies if we drop the first game to the Rams if they’re able to exploit our experienced rookies on the line who have not played solid all preseason.
See, I’m not drinking the green kool aid…that jug emptied after 2004.
I’m focusing on what can keep us from winning it all.
Hey, I focused on Asmo when everyone on this site thought it was impossibe to get him, and bashed me for insisting.
I focused on the safety position when we let Dawk go without a replacement.
I focused on the corner last year when we let traded Brown without a competent replacement.
I focused on the center position when we ignored Pouncy only to draft a bum that couldn’t crack the lineup over a 50 year old DE opposite Cole.
I focus on obvious weaknesses that could have been solved only if the Eagles sat pat a did what most thought would be the right thing to do, instead of them trying to be smarter than everyone else and waste picks.
Paulman and others had us getting Pouncy last draft…What we do?
Others had us getting Earl Thomas..what did we do?
This year experts thought we would at least trade up and get a top corner or tackle….naw…We get “Smokey” the 27 year old canadian hockey player, who moonlights as a fireman in his spare time.
Why can’t we actually get a talent in the first round that don’t have us scratching our damn heads?
Tell the truth
Was this the worse excitement after a draft we’ve experienced as Eagles fans this year?
Oh, I forgot about the Kolb year.
Anyway
I will not drink the kool aid and focus on what can stop us from winning it all, until we win it all.
u would rather have kolb walk away via free agency or for a pick or 2, and draft prince to be our 2nd cb?
im cool with being boring and drafting in the trenches, oh yeah and getting aso, drc, jenkins, babin, brown, smith, mathis, washburn, and mudd while were at it.
yeah. we added via draft, free agency, and trade. what more could you ask for?
its most of you guys and gcobb saying these rookies wont be good.
no one can be good/bad without a real game.
speak of what you know, and ur opinion is valid and has to be respected
speak of what you dont and ur full of shit and called out on it
no, im not perfect i predict on the upside of things when it coems to my eagles
i feel we’re gonna win it every yr. shouldnt every franchise/fan gear up/prepare/and feel that way
if it were possibly to assemble a pro bowl roster for all 22 starters, kicker and punter, it woulda been done
go ahead an say the patriots draft so well, they haven’t won a playoff game since 2008
theyre overrated and depending on too much youth over there, they made a slight shift in off. philosophy by ranking 12th in rushing and 16 in passing…
perhaps we are as well after ranking 4th on the ground and 9th through the air
all this worrying and condescending is premature
areas of concern? absolutely, every team ahs them
i participate on other teams boards and blogs for fun and to learn
this site is the most negative, other sites are flat out realistic and can be ruthless as well, but even the leaders of the naysayers can recognize the goods
bust ur bubble…
For wahtever it’s worth,
Has anyone checked out how my top rated LB from this past Draft is doing..
KJ Wright is ripping them up for Serattle and has a goo dchance top be the Starter whem Seattle starts the Season, at 6-3″ & 2456 lbs, this guy is a blow up machine and what pisses me off is that he went at the 99th Pick (4th Round) and he was a 3 year Starter at Miss State and played alongside Jamar Chaney during Chaney’s final 2 Seasons at Miss State. KJ Wright will be an All-Pro in 2 years time while Matthews will most likely be a Situational/Special teamer from what I’ve seen so far…
haha, its a prediction and we can monitor his progress with matthews/rolle and whoever else you want to
im down to compare/contrast, thats fair bro
i expect matthews to make the pro bowl at least once in his career
he will bust his ass, he was born into football
following his grandfather, dad, and brother, he will stop at nothing to succeed
give the kid a chance before you crush his future on a site when u know as much of him as you do jimmy graham and this kj wright guy
rolle is a player….he show grit.
Matthews is ass.
he’s matt mccoy with hair.
wont be the first good player, wont be the last bad player, shit happens
Lot of doom and gloom on here and I’m not sure why. The Eagles’ offence, and more particularly the QB, cannot be stopped. Cannot. The man said so himself.
It’s all good.
it is all good
I do like Rolle a lot and have stated so since they Drafted him and probably one of the real steals of this past Draft.. He has those LB natural instincts which you just can’t teach.. I expect by week #4, that Chaney moves inside and Rolle is a starter at the WILL position the MAtthews experiement finally comes to an end.
Did I just hear Superman –I mean Michael Vick just say on the radio he is going to play his game –the one he has for 8 years and not going to change
Sound like Vick and Coach AR are made for each other and unwilling to change and adapt for what lies ahead of them.. It may end up being a long season after all.. Vick did not play all that well down the strecth last Season or has he looked particularly sharp this Preseason in my opnion and we all know that Coach AR playcalling is not going to change and VIck will have to play SUperman for them to Win agaist the good teams with the good defenses.. time will tell, but if the Rams shut down this Eagle Offense, then there are more problems than I thought about this Team..
why dont half of you jump off the walt whitman, play barbies, stick with the phils, beyblades, pokemon, whatever, but to be this pessimistic before one game has been played, there is a dark malaise within your psyche, what the hell is wrong with you, maybe find some religion, paulman, you are a fraud, you come on here and dash hopes, but when the tide turns and the eagles, like the phils, are winning you will be the first to post telling us how all philly you are, you are not even from philly you are from some soft nj burb, a jock sniffer, john clayton wannabee
Paul, why you gotta be such a tool? “Sound like Vick and Coach AR are made for each other and unwilling to change and adapt for what lies ahead of them.. It may end up being a long season after all.”
You take the most bottom level unreasonable cliche criticsm and repeat it just to gain respect with the haters. Both Vick and Reid hthat ave changed throughout their NFL careers and you know it. Yes Vick is still a cocky athlete who will run with the ball a lot and Reid prefers the west coast offense, but to say that they are unwilling to change and react to what lies ahead of them is utter bullshit and you know it.
Kudos jakedog. EXACTLY. He’s pandering to the haters now and then he’ll take credit for predicting the positives ones the Eagles perform well. Rolle will make a play and he’ll say “Paulman stated….”
Paul, we know your tricks. It’s sad, pretty sad. For someone who claims to be so ‘into’ the sport, you sure sell yourself as someone who’s ‘into’ this website for ego managment.
ive been saying it all along, im with you jake and schiller were usually on the same page as well
look, we have our doubts, questions, but now is the season, its time to look for the better, to be optimistic, otherwise what the hell is the point, if the eagles falter again i will be the first to criticize, but not now, i am juiced for football and the promise of this team, and i dont need no critic from carolina, formerly from some nj burb pissing on my flakes, let the team play, damn it, let them play
AMEN
We are not an elite team. First off! We are a highly talented & touted team. That’s about it. If your vying for a Superbowl, which ain’t happening this year, you can not go into that season, with an O-line, Lb’s & Safeties in such a mess, disarray & with so many question marks, ifs, ands or buts. It’s that simple. We have a make shift O-line, with 4 giant concerns on it! There is no debating it! Vick is going to get frustrated with the lack of coverage & will start forcing plays & running with the ball! He will turn the ball over excessively & get battered like a crash test dummy! The truth is the truth!
Cue the stepford, zombies comments, calling me a negative hater. 3…2…1…
WM,
You do nothing but come on here & do nothing but rip GCobb himself & all of the contributers on here. Like I said before, if you do not like it GTFO, & go onto your own wannabe blog site!!! Again, in case you didn’t here me GTFO!!!!!!!! you creep & take Schiller with you. We all love the Birds on here! That isn’t the point! The point is if you want everyone to look through rose colored goggles & say everything is hunky dory, then your sadly mistaken. This team has many flaws that were not rectified in the off season. You can not over look that! I don’t care how much $$$ they spent! They did absolutely nothing to improve upon this O-line & Lb core, that was the 2nd & 3rd most prioritized needs in the off season, behind CB! END OF STORY! GO AWAY APOLOGISTS! GO BACK INSIDE ANDY”S COLON!
This have to be the rawest blog site for sports on the web
Songs, I wish they would stop overlooking the obvious! I love the Birds, & I know you do too. But the truth is the truth!!
Car – your display of ignorance reveals the average fan that you are, truly a puppet of the media’s perception. you don’t contribute anything to this website but the typical complaining and finger-pointing. you are not on that level and its ok, that’s how you choose to carry yourself grasshopper.
too many flaws? shit guy, in your eyes we’re the 49ers with that tunnel vision
you’re never going to be happy and i hope that attitude is just with the eagles, i’d hate for it to carry over into your personal life
let me teach your skewed outlook something:
team that made the playoffs last season:
afc: ne/ nyj/kc/bal/pit/ind
nfc: gb/chi/atl/no/sea/phi
who has a great o-line: ne/bal/atl/no (that’s 4 if you can’t count, the other 8 are mediocre and that’s the truth, including the superbowl teams
phi was 4th in rushing and 9th in passing: our line was terrible last season, and we broke franchise records in scoring in Vick’s 1st season as a starter. 12th ranked D (as bad as it was) and last in redzone (won’t have the same issue there). d-lines making back 7 look better on other teams, and we have the secondary that will make any defense instantly better. if we’re playing with the lead and run defense appears to be our weak point, well you can’t run the ball as much when you’re down, and decide to throw with our d-line pressure and secondary playmakers
no was 28th in rushing and 3rd in passing, Brees threw 21 picks behind a great OL right? oh and they have an amazing defense too. psyche
ne was 9th in rushing and 11th in passing: usually they’re ahead of the game. they might benefit from haynesworth/ochocinco, but they might not like people think, but it’s the patriots they get the benefit of the doubt, they haven’t won a postseason game since ’08. we went out and got pro bowlers (7 to be exact)
atl was 12th in rushing and 15 in passing: standard offense, standard qb, running team that added a weapon to their arsenal offensively, mediocre defense, you prob like them better because of their philosophy. we handled them with kolb last year, not an elite team and they will start 0-2 against chi and us
bal was 14th in rushing and 20th in passing: average joe at qb, running team, good run defense
ok, well car you read it and you’re head is still up your ass, alright you can keep it there but i’ll take my foot back bud
WM — why waste your time on a clown like DDCAR? If someone GAVE him $100,000….he would still complain he didn’t have enough for a mansion.
I’ll take this team for what it is. Does it have holes? From a fans perception, sure.
Then I ask myself….what team DOESN’T? A cohesive unit is more important than any single player/position. If these guys work as a TEAM, they have the talent to achieve the highest goals.
If they’re expecting Vick to go heavy with the short passing game and the quick slants they better have him in the shotgun alot or expect even more batted balls than last year.
good point birdo bro
If Andy plays it right, this so called hole, the o line, will be a strength come playoff time
Songs and bibboobvehical, keep crying and whining till your hearts content. But for the love of god, swap out that. Soaked blankie for a dry one! Its getting hard to tell if the puddle underneath is just tears or you pissed yourselves.
Get Matthews the hell outta the middle and move chaney back to his spot….It was good seeing explosiveness from the MlB position…
I wish the Eagles would leave positions of strength alone and focus on the positions that need upgrading.
That means, stop moving guys who are good at the position to other areas only to have their vacated position weakened.
We have a good MIKE name Chaney.Let’s get the speed bump named Matthews outta here.
mo joke schil
no*
You guys are getting too negative for me anymore..
I am going to strictly be on Eagles.Com Site from now on…
never seen eagles fans attack each other like this
@Paulman….
dont worry bout these clowns…for those of us that know anything about football, your knowledge of team(s) is appreciated…many times I read these articles and still have unanswered questions, you’re one person that I can count on to give a little background on a player/team….I may not always agree with you, but for the most part I consider you to be one of the top contributors to this site, that is real talk….
There is more and more dumb asses voicing their dumb ass oppinions on this site…I dont understand how you can be a fan, with so much negativity…I’m not a violent man by any means, but alot of these comments I read make me want to smack the hell outta most of you! saying someone isn’t a real fan because they dont live in philly? I live in Trenton NJ, reality is I can get to the Linc quicker than most of you cats that live in Philly! so what?!
thnx RealTalk777, appreciate the kind words,
I am going to be more positive from now on, there is enough negative crap going all around in our Country and lives right now.. Its’s the Start of a new Season and time to get behind our team, Do they have some issues and some faults, of course they do just like every one of the other 31 Teams in the NFL..
One thing that does crack me up though, is that we all knew the OL from the past couple of seasons was not getting it done, we all knew there would be changes and that some young players would be drafted and have to step up and learn quickly, and that other players would be brought in from the other teams that would have to quickly learn the Eagles System and Offense.. Let’s give these guys a chance to work out some bugs and learn how to play with another.. What’s the surprise here .. Everyone for 2 years has been saying n Cole Sucks, MJG can’t block my grandmother, WJ is a bum,etc,etc,.. Did everyone expect to land 3 All-Pros who have all worked together before and know the Eagles system.. Let’s be a realistic and see how this OL matures and gels together..
I could probably say the same thing or use the same logic about the young Eagle LB Corps..
In the end, can the LB and OL corps be any worse that what the Eagles have had the last couple of Seasons.. We all wanted change at these positions and now we have it, so lets give these players a chance to prove their worth and ability to play.. No more complaining from me..
paul – thats all ive been trying to say & do brotha, thats why i started participating on this site since halfway through last season (i was a longtime reader). we’re good and compete every year and i appreciate it. im well aware of our flaws and weaknesses, but the offseason effected everybody, and playoff teams have the immediate edge, and we added some elite talent and excellent depth throughout the roster and the coaching staff. i like what our youth is surrounded with and we can afford for them to grow unlike some other teams because we are as complete as we’ve ever been. every playoff team has rookies step in and give their other young players a shot.
sweet, let’s do this!