I know Sam Bradford had a good day on Monday, but I didn’t think it was so impressive that the Eagles would be moved to start talking about an extension so soon. Ed Werder of ESPN reports the Eagles are trying to negotiate an extension with Bradford, which will extend his contract past the 2015 season.
Bradford didn’t have as good of a day on as he did yesterday. There were too many balls on the ground including some fumbled snaps. Bradford missed some outside throws and he missed some throws downfield. One of his attempts on an outside throw looked like a “Duck”. I think that’s the first pass he’s thrown that wasn’t a spiral.
Bradford and his receivers will need all the work they can get from now until the season starts, in order to get their timing down, but they do have potential. He missed some outside throws yesterday because he’s throwing it too far outside. You know he doesn’t want to run the risk of getting that outside throw picked off because it will be a pick six.
I loved a back shoulder throw he made to Jordan Matthews, as he as running down the right sideline. The second-year wideout went up and brought it down.
The other quarterbacks were struggling as well. Sanchez was off target too many times, Matt Barkley threw a nice deep pass that was dropped and Tim Tebow threw a couple of balls into the ground.
We’re getting a little taste of the “Musical Chairs Attack”, which we’re going to see in 2015. The “Musical Chairs Attack”, will have receivers lined up in places that you don’t normally expect to see them. Chip Kelly is looking for the matchup with an advantage, so you’re going to see the receivers lined up at spots you’re not used to seeing them in.
We saw a teste of Darren Sproles lined up in the slot on two consecutive plays. He caught the ball on both of those plays.
Ertz made a great diving catch yesterday as he pulled down a pass on a seam route in one-on-one coverage versus inside linebacker Jordan Hicks. The throw was made to the only place it could be made, which was to the back shoulder. Ertz went up and got it, then he had to take a few plays off.
All year long, the Eagles quarterback is going to need to ask himself a couple of questions. Where is Ertz and who is covering him? There aren’t many people in the league who can match up on him, so going to Ertz on big downs will be something they can do.
In the rookie battle between rookie wideout Nelson Agholor and rookie cornerback Randall Evans, Agholor took Evans to school time and time again during the practice. He came wide open each time when Mark Sanchez had to get rid of the football..
I’m not talking about a little open, I’m talking about wide open. Agholor needs to be on the field. He and Jordan Matthews are the team’s best receivers along with Ertz.
Eagles veteran tight end Brent Celek has been dropping passes. He’s caught some of them, but has also dropped quite a few.
Good. Bradford and the QBs shouldn’t be having stellar days everyday. I wonder how many stellar day RW has vs his Seattle defense in practice. Just compete.
Please, let’s not use RW and the Seattle defense in any way as an example to measure Sam Bradford and the Eagles defense as there is no comparison, Bradford has accomplished nothing, not even playing a full season two years in a row. I will attribute Bradford’s play to rust and timing, no excuse for dropped snaps that were perfect though. When the season starts and he is facing opponents, then Bradford will have to be spot on, he’s betting on himself, so no excuses…and Chip better be right about Bradford! BTW, read RW is having a very good camp..So is Jameis Winston.
i read differently about jameis. specifically
Jameis Winston was intercepted three times on his first five passes during a team blitz period Monday.
The highly aggressive Winston loves trying to fit balls into tight windows, as evidenced by his 18 interceptions in 13 games at Florida State last year. We wouldn’t consider it a bad thing from a fantasy perspective. Winston won’t be afraid to chuck jump balls to his vertically-imposing trio of Mike Evans, Vincent Jackson and Austin Seferian-Jenkins. Aug 4 – 11:41 AM
Source: Tampa Bay Times
I am talking 11 on11’s not blitz periods. The purpose of blitz periods is to work out those mistakes and to learn how find your hot reads. Let’s not forget, Winston is a rookie. Overall, he has had a good camp thus far.
Report from Tampa paper:
Long before the Buccaneers picked Jameis Winston first and the Titans took Marcus Mariota second, we knew that Mariota was the careful one with the ball.
And while the Titans rookie hasn’t thrown an interception yet in camp, Winston is having a bumpier ride.
According to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, Winston threw three interceptions during his first five passes of a live blitz period.
As you might imagine, Buccaneers coach Lovie Smith was quick to praise his defense for making three plays, while tempering expectations for the No. 1 overall pick.
“Our goal is to get Jameis ready,” Smith said. “We’re doing a lot of things that we normally don’t do this early, too, to try and give him as many looks as we possibly can. And it was the one blitz period is where he had his most trouble and that’s how it should be for a young quarterback.
“We’re not inventing defense or anything like that with what we’re doing on the other side. Jameis will tell you on some of those plays he just can’t make, but it’s part of the process of becoming a good quarterback in the league to go through some days like this. Keep in mind there are some scholarship players on the other side that we feel pretty good about. With my glass being half full, I’m pretty fired up about those takeaways we got on the defensive side.”
The reviews on Winston have been generally positive through camp, and the Bucs have already named him their starter (such that that was a mystery).
But his willingness to take chances for the shot at making a play downfield is something that was evident from his days at Florida State — he had 18 interceptions last year, whereas Mariota had four playing in a different offense.
But unless the Buccaneers are going to be able to create turnovers at that kind of rate against every opponent, Winston is going to have to learn and learn quickly.
I personally have watched some of the Bucs training camp on the NFL network. Of course the focus was on Winston’s reps. I liked what I saw and believe he is having an overall good camp.
Bucs look to Doug Martin as “lead guy” in backfield
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Those pesky facts EHL, lol
2015 Season may very well be the Final Season for TE B Celek, RB D Sproles, LT J Peters and LB D Ryans as the Eagles will get Younger, and more Athletic across the board…
These 4 Veterans have played a lot of Football over the Years but “Old Man Time” is starting to catch up with all of them so enjoy watching them for this may be it for them….
***NFL News*****
Houston Texans RB Arian Foster to have Surgery on Groin which likely will shelve him for the 2015 Season and are now in the market for a RB…
Just thinking out-load, Could a Deal including the Eagles sending Ryan Matthews to the Texans for lets say a 2016 2nd or 3rd Round Draft Pick have any legs..
Some Older RB’s like Ray Rice,Chris Johnson and Steven Jackson are all out there, but the Texans feel with their Defense that they can compete with the Colts for a Playoff Spot this Season and will need a solid RB to help their young QB and Foster has has a lot of Injuries in Recent Years..
Make the Call GM Chip Kelly and see what the story is, this is how you get to learn what other Teams and GM’s and Player Values are around the NFL
Cannot trade Matthews with Demarco “492 touches” Murray as the starting RB.
With Murray and Matthews together the Eagles (might) have one healthy starting RB.
Couldn’t a Tandem of Murray/Sproles take 85% of the Workload
Last Season Chip Kelly rarely used his 2 Back-up RB’s ..?
Personally I would rather keep both Murry and Matthews this season. A superior run game is the key to our season and I’m not sure I want to gamble on Murry and Sproles health. Why diminish our 3 headed monster?
I agree .. But Will Chip actually utilize a 3 Headed Monster…
Last year he said he was going to and failed to do so?
Y but this year they’re being paid. If Matthews sits on the bench all year, Lurie is going to begin to wonder what the $4 million is for….a little different than Polk.
I don;t mind how much they’re using Sproles. Returns and 5-10 touches/game. That’s fine. He can’t carry the load when Murray goes down. Matthews can….well at least for a couple games till he also goes down…hopefully Murray will be back by then…..
I hope Kelly breaks down the PLays as Follows
Murray 16-18 Carries
Matthews 10-12 Carries
Sproles 4-6 Carries/Touches
Both Murray and Matthews are both very good coming out of the Backfield like SProles is and have very good hands.. especially Matthews
so now you are saying you want Sproles touches reduced? Damn paulman…
Thats an awful lot of carries– assuming 3 of sproles touches are carries and using the average of 17 for murray and 11 for matthews– thats 75 more carries than last year (Mccoy, Polk and sproles)- will be interesting to see how much more he uses matthews than polk- he was not a polk fan!
Paul, you and many fans are incorrect on the utilization of Sproles. He was targeted (incomplete), received or rushed on 11% of the offensive plays from scrimmage. On a number of more plays (I don’t know the number) he was on the field and was not the play called- 11% of the plays went directly through him- this doesn’t count returns- I believe for a small guy nearing the end of the year that is a decent number.
To further drive it home- their entire receiving core accounted for 45% of the targeted plays, Shady was 32% and the combo of Foles/Polk and butt fumble acounted for 9% of the ‘carries’ -I believe that includes sacks. So sproles while we all wanted to see him more it was fine- get this between running and targeted receiving he only say the ball 22 less times per game than Maclin (13% of the LOS plays targeted him) and 18 more times than Matthews (9.4%), Ertz who we all believe will have a break out year saw the ball 8% of the time— Last I checked they still play with one ball and the coach likes to spread it around .. Just the facts ma’am!
Eagles ran Approx 1,100 Plays on Offense in 2014
D Sproles had 57 Carries and 40 Receptions (63 Target Attempts) in 2014 so he was involved in 120 Total Plays out of the 1,100 Plays the Eagles Ran
which is 11%, and more than I would have thought..
A 120 Plays called for Sproles in 2014, Averages to 7.5 Plays per Game
When you factor in Missed Targets in the Passing game his 4-6 Touches a Game are about equivalent to 7.5 Plays called for him since not every Pass Play called for a Receiver actually get completed for a host of reasons..
Receiver is Covered, Poor Pass, Penalty, etc,etc…
Fraud I already did the math– why did you re-do it and re-post it!
Isn’t that what I said?
I had to run the numbers myself…
About 20% of the Total 120 Plays Called for Darren Sproles were Incomplete Passes and Unproductive Plays .
57 Carries a Game = 3.5 Carries a Game
63 Pass Targets = 4 Targets a Game
7.5 Targets per Game – 6 Productive Plays per Game for Sproles in 2014
I see no Reason why they can’t improve on his Touches/Production in 2015
I can’t see him getting much more than 11% of the offensive plays– 8 targets per game? maybe, but I doubt it seriously.
On another note- interesting article by Spadaro on BGN- he mentions QB play of bradford, sanchez and TEBOW… nothing on barkley- he is preparing us as eagles mouth piece for the birds.
When you take in Account that the Eagles led the NFL in Giving the Ball away last Season which hopefully gets corrected, and should give the 2015 Eagles Offense more Plays to Run and More Opportunities for all the Players for more Touches.. If the Eagles Can Reduce their Turnover’s by 25-30%, How many more Plays can the Offense Run by having the Ball more?
Re Barkley – I really think they are hoping he has a Strong Camp so they can turn around and maybe Trade him for a 6th or 7th Rounder to a Team looking for a #2 QB — Many Teams like the Bears,Lions,Charges,Seahawks,49ers,Falcons,Bengals,,etc can use upgrades at Back-up QB…
Paul you are a clown, sproles a year older with Ertz emergence , Matthews maturity, Murray and Matthews in the backfield , huff developing why would you want him getting more than 1 in 10 touches ?
2015 is likely Darren Sproles Final Season as an Eagle,though he’s signed thru the 2016 Season but Algholor will take over the Punt Return Duties by 2016 and you don’t need to pay $3.5 Million to a 3rd String RB when the other weapons, as you mentioned are younger & cheaper so Chip Kelly may as well wear out Sproles for all he’s got in 2015…
A lot will depend on Josh Huff’s Development this year as well…
Eagles Sign OLB Kaheim Watkins to replace Travis Long on the 90 Man Roster
Watkins goes 6-4″ 258lbs and is long, rangy, athletic but raw..
He played at University of Alabama-Birmingham and had 10 Sacks last Season
And a 3 Year Starter for them… He’ll compete on Special Teams and who knows, maybe get a Practice Squad spot for a year until he gets stronger and acclimated to the NFL but you have to like his measureables…