The Eagles were playing NFL football on Sunday. Birds quarterback Sam Bradford came to the line of scrimmage, identified the front and coverage that the Giants defense was in, then he audibled to the play, which he and the offensive coordinator had considered to be the best way to attack that specific front and coverage. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, and Drew Brees have been running their offenses this way for the last decade.
Andy Reid let Donovan McNabb change plays at the line of scrimmage, if he saw a play was doomed. Every quarterback in the NFL, except Eagles quarterbacks were given the freedom to change a play at the line of scrimmage if they could see that previously called play was doomed.
This is one of the areas, which Chip Kelly needs to change. I like his “up tempo” system, but there are times when it is not in the best interest of the offense to rush to the line of scrimmage and run a play that is not designed to beat the defense they’re facing. Kelly refused to give his quarterbacks that freedom and that’s one of the reasons part of the time.
On Sunday, interim head coach Pat Shurmur gave Bradford the freedom to change the play.
“We audibled throughout,” Shurmur said. “We wanted to get lined up, and we have a handful of plays, and then we tried to get into the best one. … The one thing that’s important is that we have a quarterback that’s extremely smart. We trust him, and so you don’t have to be a play behind with Sam because he can get you in the right stuff.”
Am I the only one who thinks the Giants tanked yesterday?? First, you have a RB that runs for 170 yards yet you throw six straight passes in the RZ. The last one, Eli threw it away in less than two seconds with no one near him. Second, with the clock winding down needing 8 points, you kick a FG. Third, you mean to tell me Beckham can’t destroy EJ Biggers and Co?? If the Giants were not tanking, Beckham certainly was and so was Eli.
I’ve been posting all week in another forum that the Giants were going to tank. And, voilà, they’re in the top ten of this year’s draft. I was hoping that the Eagles would be smart enough to out-tank them but I didn’t think they would since Shurmur was essentially auditioning for the HC vacancy. Also, had Jeff kept Kelly on, he too, was going to play his regulars throughout just to pad his W/L so as not to look TOO bad (hah). Count on the Eagles to do the wrong thing at the wrong time just as they have all season.
Since the 1970 merger, Eagles have picked 13 twice. Keith Jackson and Brandon Graham. Not bad. Between injury, Washburn and Chip Kelly’s ill-advised 3-4, Graham has had some major obstacles. I think he could get 8-12 sacks regularly as a 4-3 DE playing the blindside. He sets the edge well against the run. He is kind of another Trent Cole. Good but not dominant. Curry would look great on the strong side in a 4-3 with the weight and strength he has added.
Its funny not hearing much Interest around the NFL in Chip Kelly
Both the Titans, Browns & Colts have all said No Thanks..
I thought the Dolphins would want to Talk to him, but apparently Owner Stephen Ross is set on Mike Shanahan/Kyle Shanahan combo…
Tom Coughlin Informs the NY Giants Staff and Players that he will not be Returning as their HC… No Word on New Coach (though I believe it will be OC Ben McAdoo)
**Giants News & Rumors***
Patriots OC Josh McDaniels in the running for the Giants HC Position
**Panthers News***
Panthers CB Charles Tillman tore his ACL in Yesterday’s Game and will be unavailable for the Rest of the Season.. This is the 3rd Panther CB to go down for the Season for them… Tillman just returned to action the last 2 Games after missing the 2nd half of the Season with his sore Knees.. .This is probably it for Charles Tillman
Coach Ron Rivera announced that recently signed CB Robert McClain will replace Tillman as the Starter as Cortland Finnegan remains the inside slot CB
I remember seeing that early on. Bradford bent down under centre….then stood up and barked orders left and right and I thought, “holy shit – an NFL QB!”
Kelly was a putz – but they should have let him stay for one more year for total collapse.
It boggles my mind that an nfl team didn’t have the ability (or weren’t allowed to) audible! No wonder the negative plays etc, no wonder the D knows whats coming, the predictability of it all!!! Ray Diddy said yesterday that when we think of audibles we typically think of huge plays but he said more often then not an audible gets you out of a bad play into a play which can get you a couple positive yards etc…I just have no idea how in the world we had an nfl team with no audibles…. junior high football has ‘check with me’ calls which is a form of audible…
I’ve told you all many times – one of the teams I now coach is a 13-14 yr old girls touch team.
I let my QBs audible to a set of packaged plays or “hot calls” any time they see the need for it.
Too funny Kelly wouldn’t trust an NFL QB to it.
right… a guy he gave up a valuable pick for??? plus a qb with a great winning record yet he wouldn’t allow him to audible.
well to be fair to Kelly, guys had not played in his system that long…the guy who played the longest in the system…Nick Foles…was no good at reading defenses anyway…why trust him
Bradford had not played for 2 years, very little playing time in the preseason…he needed to warm up.
Hot air you continue to show zero football knowledge. ‘Little playing time’ and ‘can’t read defenses’ means they can’t count to 7 or 8! Stupid! I’ve had hs juniors that never played qb in their life be able to call a simple audible after a week. Here is how you do it, ‘count the guys in the box, if there are 8 say ‘check,check’ and throw a slant’ or some similar variation. You are a low expectation excuse maker
Mike Vick, who by all reports is not the sharpest knife in the Drawer was running the offence just fins after a couple of weeks.
Your new “10 times smarter” hero Sam Padmystatsford was admitting in week 14 that he still didn’t have the playbook down.
Good times.
I think the Eagles need to re-sign Thurmond, Curry and Bradford. Release Peters, Cooper, Celek and Demeco.
bradford price tag just gonna be too high for what he is… u resign him you are basically saying our teams best case scenario is purgatory with bradford until you finally admit a few years later you got ripped off by this bum…
agree with thurmond. unsure on curry he isnt a difference maker but if he is cheap fine…
release peters? and start who? id keep peters and pay the man and DRAFT someone
no kidding…his price tag is the best proof of his value
If he was a bum his price tag would be low and the Eagles could resign him for peanuts..
Bradford has to be priority No#1
Need to keep Thurmond and Curry and switch over to a 4-3 defense where Curry can be more effective
keep Peters..can squeeze one more year out of him
the first cut should be Cooper
get rid of Celek
Demeco has got to go
However, if you let Bradford go…you may as well have a massive overhaul of the team. Get rid of a lot of these players and start fresh. No Quarterback…what need is there to keep Peters around…No viable QB…may as well let Curry and Thurmond walk. and every other free agent on the team walk. Start over from scratch. Make some moves to stockpile draft picks and move on…
There you go…now you are beginning to get the picture.