Eagles head coach Andy Reid’s decision to hire veteran lines coaches Jim Washburn and Howard Mudd will hurt the team long after Reid and his staff are gone.
The Eagles offensive and defensive lines have had a lot to do with the demise of this football team this year, but the fact that they are using gimmicky systems will mean the team’s offensive and defensive lines will need to be totally rebuilt.
Both Washburn and Mudd employ unique systems, which utilize undersized linemen. Washburn’s “Wide Nine” believes in allowing smaller and quicker defensive linemen to get upfield on the snap of the football. They ignore the blocking of the offensive line and get upfield regardless of the play.
The defensive line is going to need to be totally rebuilt for next season. Chances are that whomever the new coaching staff that takes this job, they’re going to want their defensive line to get bigger and more disciplined. It will mean drafting and acquiring a new defensive line.
The same is true on the offensive side of the ball. Mudd’s system will be out the door. The veteran offensive line coach likes undersized offensive linemen who can move quickly on his stretch run plays. The Eagles will need to totally revamp this unit when the season is over.
The Birds will be relying on Eagles GM Howie Roseman to draft offensive and defensive linemen to replace the group they have now.
How does that make you feel about the future of this football team?
So happy to see Reid go and his pathetic finesse p*ssy approach with all these small players. We need to get mean and nasty on both sides of the ball… Also Nick Foles looks like Bobby Hoying # 2
Go watch the tape. Foles looks better in the tape than you will see from the game. Lots of drops. Only a few really bad plays (rookie stuff)
Where’s the beef?
I certainly wouldn’t call Jason Peters small. Everyone liked how Kelce was doing and Evan Mathis is regarded as a very good left guard.
If they come back to health, which has some risk, and you move Herremans to RG, then all you really need is a RT. Depth will need to be acquired and that depth can be in the form of larger lineman for future plans.
As for defensive line, they certainly have not played up to anyone’s expectations. Cox is a beast in the middle and will only get better. With a different line scheme and some creative blitzing, I think you would be surprised what improvements could be made with most of the existing personnel.
All is not lost but it certainly is crying for help.
agreed. Babbin is gone and perhaps NNamdi too but this D can play with good coaching and a new attitude.
Andy Reid you are the dumbest person in a position of power I have ever witnessed in my life. The whole world tells you to run the ball to be successful with this offensive line and qb and you have to throw the ball all game. You are so dumb it is actually scary to watch. I can draw up better plays in the sand then you have on your chart. What happen to the “game starts in the trenches approach” to football. What happen to the little playbook that was all plays designed for TO couldn’t you use that to get Jackson the ball. What happen to playing an attacking style defense. We get Mudd and Washbern that are so old and dumb they cant even see that the schemes aren’t working. BUT you are in charge of it all and you have no clue about football or talent. Thanks for getting rid of Samuel and keeping Nomdi around. He should be playing on my flag football team….Me and him would be fighting for the starting corner spot. This is the worst managed team in the NFL. Thanks you dope!
On the defensive side I am forced to agree way too undersized to be taking a week in week out pounding from massive o-lines. On the O-side I think you can Get away with Peters mathis Kelce Herrimans and Sign a monster or Draft one.
Oh—1 more thing. ANDY REID WILL NEVER BE A SUCCESFULL COACH AGAIN IN THIS LEAGUE—EVER. He is to OLD and Dumb now. Thanks for 5 good years. Thats all you gave us.
On the defensive side I think some of the lineman can play in any system. There’s a good chance the new system will be a base 3-4 defense. In that case we would need a nose tackle. I think a couple of our (4-3) tackles could become (3-4) ends. I’m sure some of our (4-3) ends could become (3-4) outside linebackers.
On the offensive line Peters would be alright, but some others might be too small – or just not good enough.
Keepers on oline….Peters,Kelce,Mathis,and Herramens. Mathis and Peters worked well together. That wont change depiste the scheme.Herremens is a solid pro when healthy and brings a vet presences. Theres not many legit tackles coming out this year. Some nice gaurds and center or two.
D-line keepers…Cole,Cox,Thorton,Hunt,Graham(young and will improve i think) and Curry.
E, Mathis & Graham blow!!! Does Hunt still play here?
O-line… Peters, Mathis (Serviceable), Kelce (Serviceable), Herremans… They will need a bigger Center and a RG… Maybe Watkins is better in a more traditional line.
D-Line… Cox, Cole, Thornton, Graham, Curry, Patterson… they will need another DE and DT (preferably both are BIG…
The systems need to change on both sides of the ball. Maybe they can bring Juan back 🙂 But the Wide 9… get it out of here..fast.
Here’s my take…
I don’t know that I would keep any of the starters on this offensive line other than Peters. Serviceable isn’t good enough. Having a line with more than one serviceable starter means you’re going to have problems.
To me, Mathis and Kelce aren’t anything more than average at best. Watkins is a disaster and I don’t want any part of him. I’m not even sure that I’d want Todd Herremans back. Even before the injury, he was having a subpar year.
The same can be said for the defensive line. I don’t need to see anymore of Trent Cole and Jason Babin. Brandon Graham is clearly a bust, and its time to move on from him. Darryl Tapp shouldn’t even be taking snaps at this point.
Vinny Curry and Phillip Hunt are the only defensive ends that I want to see play from here on out.
As for the defensive tackles…Fletcher Cox has been the lone bright spot on the defensive line so far and he looks like a keeper. Cullen Jenkins and Derek Landri have been completely invisible. Mike Patterson still might have something left, but how much can you count on him moving forward with his brain condition? And Cedric Thornton is what he is…the fourth or fifth tackle in a rotation.
A lot of holes to fill here…
What exactly have you guys seen Patterson do, his entire career here? He is a nothing on the field. He does absolutely nothing. He tackles no one! Get’s zero pressure on the qb. Did you guys get amnesia, & forget before last year, how horrific our run DF up the middle was with him & Skunkley in the middle, & the yearly average of 3-4 sacks combined, they brought. If he didn’t have the brain issue the last 2 seasons, he wouldn’t even still have a roster spot. Just because he is a good guy, doesn’t warrant him a roster spot. He sucks! Come on!
R.I.P. Navy
Fletcher Cox is the only current Eagle on Defense that will be here in 5 years-
On Offense maybe DJax or Maclin but in 5 years the entire team will be Reid cleared. Keeping Howie is a mistake because I know Nate Allen and probably Kendricks aren’t good enough but how long will Roseman continue to hold onto these light weights because he drafted them
Kendricks is fine.
Kendricks was fine in September but here in November after Offensive coordinators got some film on him, he is too small to play NFL linebacker
Division rivals Dallas and Washington ran him over and unless he adds some functional size he will be run over for many Division games for the next 3 years
I have said before the season began that people are overvaluing Evan Mathis. He’s just ok. We need better talent on that side of the line, and they will have to draft him. He allows as many sacks as anyone on that line. Stop saying he’s good , he’s a steal….no the hell he is not!!!!!!!!
Howie making the pick is not good for the Eagles; He overvalues the job he does as well. He should only be allowed to do what Banner did with the contracts only. Someone else with a real eye for talent should be put in the position to draft the players, and bring in new free agents, and make trades. My firstvote is for GMCliff. My second is John Dorsey Director of Football Operations for Green Bay, or Nick Casario (New England), or Ron Hughes (Pittsburgh), Head of Pro, and College Scouting……..Again Howie can clean Toilets.
The middle of the offensive line was getting blown up before Kelce went down. We need stout throughout the line with Kelce as a backup at best.2 Safeties and a big DT to pair with Cox, an athletic linebacker for Sam is imperative. Curry can man the other defensive End and we can trade Babin and Cole.
I still believe Kendricks can play. He is a rookie that started form day one. Have Tight Ends like Jimmy Graham made him look bad? Yes, sure. But Jimmy Graham also made a fool out of the SF linebacking core in that playoff game…Pat Willis was no match for the guy..I guess he sucks too. Just saying Kendricks will be a player in this league. Some of the TEs in the league are virtually impossible to guard, you just have no chance no matter who you throw out there.
And it might be impossible to play linebacker in this league when you have the pathetic combo of Nate Allen/Coleman behind you…and a group of Dlineman that have put up a combined 16 sacks on the year. I think Aldon Smith has 15.5 all by himself. So safeties have been putrid and Dline has been putrid, and on top of it we run a wide 9 for the most part. Simple Logic like that tells me not to say something like Kendricks cant play.
The major concern for me is the secondary. We have absolutely no safeties at all. On top of that, our corners cannot tackle for shit and thats when they are actually trying, which is only half the time. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind get rid of both of them. Even if that means starting a rookie so be it. Id rather have somebody that plays will intensity and effort over an overpriced softie who has been a loser his entire NFL career and clearly only cares about money.
Paulman’s Plan
Defense
DL Release/trade Babin, Tapp, Jenkins, Patterson
Add 2 DT’s and a big DE
LB- release Matthews and Chaney
Add SAM and shift Kendrick’s to WILL
Secondary – Release/Trade Asmo, Coleman & Sims
Keep DRC, move Boynkin to the outside, move Hughes to the Slot CB
Switch Marsh to Free Safety and Draft a Strong Safety & CB
On Offense
O/Line – Have Peters, Herremans, Kelce , Jake Scott and add a free agent RT
From l to right, Draft a Guard and OT and have Watkins be a sub and maybe with new scheme and Coaching he can be the fill-in Guard and release
Bell, Dunkap and Reynolds. Kelly a backup RT
TE – release Harbor and Draft or sign a TE to take over for Celek as primary receiving TE but Celek can be used in 2 TE sets
RB – release Dion Lewis who contributes absolutely nothing
Have Polk work both FB and RB Roles (like Panthers Tolbert does)
WR- Release/trade Avant and D Johnson and let Maclin walk
Add a big WR (Bowe) and Draft a WR or two
Come into camp with D-Jax,Bowe, Cooper, Gilyard,McNutt and a Draft pick
QB- exeercise buyout of Vick and let him go
Come into camp with Foles/Edwards and either obtain a Matt Flynn
Or Chad Henne or Draft a QB which is not a strong class
Play Foles for the remainder of this season which will determine if he’s a legitimate Starter for next Season
Become a running Team first with McCoy, Brown and Polk which will take pressure of whoever wins the QB spot, shorten the games and yest take pressure off a rebuilt Defense who will have their 5th Defensive Coordinator in the last 6 Years
Employ double TE sets more often and maybe even a I-Formation in the backfield which is a lost formation Football anymore and may give some Defenses a new look and allow McCoy some space to operate his great cutback and go abilities..
Paulman,
What’s going on with Watkins ? Is he hurt or really that bad ?
I heard that their is an off the field issue with Watkins
(Mental Breakdown or some Dependancy issues..)
Not confirmed of course, but something is going on with him and maybe we’ll hear about after the Season is over from the Eagles..
I wouldn’t be surprised if Watkins is just over sensitive to his failures as I am willing to bet he is a character kid that knows he is hurting the team.
It would have gone better for him to be a 3rd or 4th rounder than to be a HORRIBLE decision in the 1st round. I wish the young man all the best but he is just struggling horribly. Maybe a new coach gets more out of him!
(firefighters are usually team players)
His balls were burned off, putting out a fire.
Remember It’s never quite as bad or as good as you think it is.
I would however cut guys like Namdi, Babin and let the youth play. Vinnie Curry and Phil Hunt must (be exposed) I mean play. Can anyone cover in the secondary ???
I would IR avant and Maclin if he stubs his toe. Put McNut out there and see if size trumps speed.
Jackson needs to be in the slot far more. He should watch welker tape.
It’s audition time!
WTF is up with this pop up on this web site. I should start with saying I agree with the premise of this article. Why do you want to call Brandon Graham a bust? He has been by far the most effective end on the team. Dude was hurt for a year and he looks to be healing quite well.
Cold- trade
Babin-cut
Mathews, Chaney-cut
Coleman- fuckin outta here! Thank The Lord
Allen- who the hell knows, prob not a good idea to give up on him yet.
Asmo- gone
Drc-???
Jenkins- goner
Patterson- gone
That’s a lot of people to replace. I wouldn’t really worry about Brandon graham
First to Schiller and Navy.
After years of reading your delusional assessments of Andy Reid, I hope both of you are on your meds….Don’t stop because you are really going to need them for the rest of the season.
Second…
Gather all Eagle fans at the link. Place a stake in the center of of the stadium with plenty of wood, matches and gasoline. Gather every single thing at the nova care complex that Andy Reid has ever touched and burn it. Playbooks, film projectors, football helmets, chairs etc… if it can be moved burn it.
Completely remove the stench of his fat rear end. That sissy offense and defense. Shave off his mustache and add it to the flame. The last thing to burn is his play calling chart. Strip all his victories from the Eagle record the same way they did Joe Paterno. If they can do it to a legend like JOE PA we can do it to a fat fake like andrew “the angel of football death” reid.
Oh and one last thing. On his flight out of town make sure the TSA do a thorough cavity search. Leave no cake unturned.
Roseman is such a wimp that he wears long sleeve shirts to training camp to hide his stovepipe arms. This franchise will suffer even further when Reid and Roseman are gone. Look at San Francisco and their college coach and second string QB who is awesome. When the Eagles don’t play on SAunday you get tom watch real football and in comparing it to the Eagles play it is embarrassing
to see just how bad they really are.
the roster is void of talent —– the young draft picks have not only not be good ( Kendricks, Allen, Watkins) half of them can’t get on the field ( Jarrett, Graham, Curry)