Right now, Eagles head coach Andy Reid is sticking by rookie middle linebacker Casey Matthews and keeping him in there as the starter. He hasn’t committed to him for the long term, but for now the rookie will start again on Thursday when the Eagles host the Cleveland Browns.
Matthews has yet to prove he can get the job done on this level at the middle linebacker position after two preseason games. I haven’t made up my mind on him yet because I’ve only seen him play in maybe 30 to 40 plays, but he’s not getting off of blocks. The system the Birds are playing may not fit him.
He’s got to find a way to get big offensive lineman off of him. If he can’t get off of blocks then he can’t play middle linebacker in the Birds current system. I haven’t seen him escape a block and pop somebody. I’ve seen him making tackles by grabbing the ankles of the running back. I want to see him put a lick on a ball carrier.
It’s important that he have a good game against the Browns because he must prove that he can get the job done to the coaches as well his teammates. The middle linebacker and signal caller must be a leader because he’s the only one talking in the huddle. If the guys on the defensive side of the ball don’t respect him as a player, it’s going to come out at some time during the season.
The former Oregon Duck needs to prove his worth and he needs to do it this week. Most of the time, the first team doesn’t play much in game four of the preseason, so he may only have this week to prove himself. I don’t think they can start him in the middle if he doesn’t play well this week.
I’m sure the Birds don’t want to go into game one of the season against Pro Bowl running back Steven Jackson with a middle linebacker, who can’t get off blocks and has struggled in every game he’s played. The lockout has eliminated preparation time this preseason.
This is a tough situation he finds himself in because the Birds are expected to be Super Contenders. They’ve got to win right now, 
these no time to wait for a rookie to find a way to get the job done. The team is playing a new defense under a new defensive coordinator, Juan Castillo and the defensive linemen are firing off the ball and on the way to the quarterback. They’re not trying to keep offensive linemen off the 6’2″ 230-pound rookie.
The Eagles young middle linebacker struggled on Thursday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers. A few times he got matched up against the Steelers Pro Bowl center, Maurkice Pouncey, and he learned why the Pittsburgh offensive lineman is a Pro Bowler.
Matthews is being asked to make some big steps in a very short period of time and nobody knows whether he’s going to be able to keep the starting middle linebacker job.
“Obviously, I’m new to this,” Matthews said after the game in Pittsburgh. “I’ve been here three weeks. I’m getting comfortable each and every day I get more reps in practice and games and stuff like that. The more time we spend together, the easier it’ll get.”
The problem for the youngster is that the Birds don’t have much time.
“I wasn’t discouraged,” he said. “Obviously, the more you play the more you’re going to get more comfortable. … We’re all new to this. We’ve got a lot of new guys on the team. It’s a newer scheme. We’re still all getting used to it and getting live reps with it.”
“I felt fine,” Matthews said. “Last week it was only eight plays so I didn’t really get into a rhythm, but getting to play more and especially against a pretty good team like the Steelers, it definitely helps out a lot. Responsibility-wise, I felt pretty good out there.”
His job against the Browns won’t be an easy one with Cleveland running back Peyton Hillis being the guy he’ll have to stop. Hillis is a beast at 240 pounds who has made it a habit of running over linebackers.
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Matthews is a weakside linebacker at best at his current size. I thought this was a no brainer all along, no way this kid could come in an do what we need him to.
Should have signed stew.
What the hell are the Eagles coaching staff looking at?
Chaney is the best Middle linebacker on the team!!!!!
Teams usually draft players to upgrade the weaker positions!
They should have started Matthews on the outside with less resposibility, and less pressure coming in as a rookie.
The crazy thing about this is that if his brother wasn’t a beast over there in Green Bay, this guy probably wouldn’t be here.
a middle line back cannot be small and slow.. theres never been a successful small and slow middle line backer.. all the short guys like fletcher mills singletary zack thomas were strong ass hell agressive mean and fast.. get chaney in there and that keenan clayton kid one the field.. clayton is fast gained extra muscle so he could start this year and what do they do but in mathews just becuase of his name… how much did bradley singn for?
“Do or Die” may be a stretch G… I keep hear you and other media always stating that the Eagles are Super Bowl Contendors… So are all the teams in the NFL at this stage of Pre-season.. People need to stop thinking/waiting/skipping over the next 4 months of the actual seasaon to see what it takes for a team to come together and win a Football Championship.. Right now the Eagles as a Team and Matthews as a MLB are in their infancy and all this needelss hype about him or the team is helping no one..
I do agree that another sub-par/poor performance this week means Matthews liklely will lose his Starting Job, and many of us still aren’t so sure how he got to be the Starter sinec Day 1 in Camp in the first place, Chaney will be the opening game starting M:B..Ooh by the way, The Rams will beat the Eagles on Opening game regardless of who plays MLB..
Rams 24 – Eagles 20. ..
Casey needs to start taking HGH, like his brother. The truth will come out.
There you go, it didn’t take you long Paul my dear friend not long at all. You are a foundation of consistancy, as well as the nation’s up and coming premiere “Stand up comic” you go boy!
The Eagles have us all fooled (I hope), they know what chaney can do and confident in him in the middle. Right now they are practicing and training their LB’s to be versatile at all positions.
You guys heard it here first but don’t quote me, per my military training I will denie to your face I ever wrote this post.
By the way get real and stop fooling around Paul, Eagles win and they stage for a season reign of terror and fear that will make every fan on this site and all Eagledom blush. Thats my story and I’m sticking to it.
As always “LONG LIVE THE EAGLES”
You cant teach nastiness. You cant teach aggression. Like Trotter would say you eithier have sme “DOG” in you or you dont. You can tell that right away. Jenkins, Parker, Herrimans, Avant, Cole, Babin,Coleman and to a certain extent Samuels have that. Matthews and Allen on the defense are soft. Its not thier fault its just their makeup. Matthews never was and never will be a big hitter. I dont care how many reps he gets. I watch all these games with other teams and see their 2nd and 3rd string MLB who are big and aggressive.Urlacher is an exception to the rule. You figure it out.
Wouldnt surprise me one bit if Samuel is moved after this game and a MLB is brought in via trade or a vet who has been released.
I think the Eagles will struggle out the gate and it will take a good 4-6 weeks into the Season before this Defense gels (their LB/Safety spositions will get picked on and exposed until they prove otherwise) which is no real stretch not to see of understand, You have a COachign Staff, new systems anad about 4-5 new starters and 3-4 new key back-ups .. And what ,they are all supposed to get on the same page within 3-4 weeks of Summer Camp.. It’s going to take a while and I don’t care if they were all former Pro-Bowlers or not for that means nothing now for this 2011 Season and moving forward.
And I don’t believe your premise about having Chaney learn another position.. It’s not like he has a ton of starting experience at MLB and calling the DSefense’s, what he has 4 Starts last season for Stew and to be honest, he has a lot of improving to do as well from that MLB spot, so how is he improving in this area if he’s playing the OLB spot.. Put your best players where the belong and that should have been Chaney at MLB all shortened camp to begin with.. They’ve wasted 1/2 their camp/practice time and now will need to get Jordan/Clayton/ROlle up to speed to fight it out for a Starters spot at OLB…
Shouldnt struggle on offense. No excuse for that. Same amount of time as other teams and not much turnover. Gotta keep the TE to help at RT would be nothing new.
I believe the 1st Round of Player Cut-Downs should occur this week when NFL Rosters go from the Current 90 Players tdown to 70-75.. I still think EAgles will acquire a MLB from weith a trade, free-agent or someone from the waiver wire.. I cannot for what all the improvements and quality players they have brough in all over this squad, that they will go with a LB Corps of Fokou,Matthews,Chaney and their current back-up’s could very well be the weakest LB Corps in the entire NFL from top to bottom..
Eagles should not reaaly struggle on Offense , but I think they will,.
#1) The OL may have 3 new starters at C, RG, RT with Kelce,Watkins and Dunlap or Harris at RT )
#2) WR J Maclin probably won’t be up to a 100% until the 3rd/4th Week of the Season so other WR’s will need to step up..
#3) How will D-Jax react and how does Coach MM change up his schemes for D-Jax will be double covered,hit, and harrassed and the Eagles need to have a better plan on gettign him the ball more often and earlier in games.
#4) Has M Vick Peaked as a QB, were last years phenomenal performances versus the Monday night Redskins and the Giants comeback victory the pinnalce of his Eagle career.. Can he improve his consistentcy and get back to protecting the ball like he did the 1/2 half of last year or are we going to see the Vick that struggled down the stretch in reading the blitz and multiple coverages properly, getting the ball out quicker and not turning-over the ball..
If Coaches MM and AR plan to have a similar Offsensive scheme like last year, this team will fail for Defenses and D/Coordinators are much better prepared in stopping or at limiting Vick and D-Jax from making th ebig-plays and if the Eagles Offense can’t make big plays, than they will struggle to sustain drives and keep their own defense fresh..
Hell Paulman then I guess we are looking at a 1-5 start.
It’s all on Vick, who will have to play great right out of the get-go while the Defense and the Offense’s catches up with their injuriesmnew players,etc,etc..
I believe he’s up to it but I also believe that simply a good performance by him is noy good enough for the Eagles to win, He will have to play great for them to win and that’s hard to do and ask of him to do every week..
Maybe change the Offensive philosophy and play calling a little bit to pound the ball more, thro w more safe passes to the RB’s and TE’s , to shorten the games to help rest this smallish Defensive Front 7 , and but running the ball more this would help the O/l (which will have lots of new players) to help them develop some chemistry and a confidence, then after the first 4-6 games and players are more acclimated to each other and other players are now up to speed 100% in the System and in health, then open up the playbook but what’s so wrong with playing it close to the vest the first few games of the seaosn… Just some wishful thinking on my part I guess…
“What the are the eagles coaching staff looking at?”
One night Andy Reid could not sleep. So he stayed up all night watching the Sci Fi Channels Star Wars Marathon. As he dosed off, he confused his midnight green clothes with being Yoda and began to think he possessed the Force Sensitive gift of seeing into the future.
Thust he secretly became known to the coaching staff as Crystal Ball Andy. Any coach or player who did not agree with his vision of the future was fired or traded.
His biggest and most powerful vision was seeing a sorry offensive line coach as the defensive coordinator that will lead this defense to the superbowl.
Rookie at Middlelinebacker.
That vision is Just a day in park, when you hang around Crystal Ball.
Ive been reading gcobb since 2009, I rarely comment- that said
Paulman- shut the f**k up. You’re not an Eagles fan. You’re a troll that people have tolerated and laughed at, article after article. Your predictions are always off base, and your “sources” = profootballtalks comments section.
I’m gonna go ahead and call you a Panthers fan. Like you, I have no evidence to back that up. So…have you bought your Cam Newton jersey yet?
bsm, another classic post, andy reid, yoda, crystall ball andy, priceless
Thus far the Eagles seem like a confused bunch of players and coaches. Is the Dream a good one or a nightmare. We’ll see very soon. Andy and Co can’t assess linebackers to save their lives. I remember Howie saying that they had been watching and following the Detroit LB from afar and were very impressed as was Andy with Simenou. Trott was the best because Andy inherited him from Ray Rhodes as he did Dawk.
Thanks Eaglesinoak for setting the record right on Paul.
Fellas, man up! If our team had the fortitude of us fans we would be 6 -10 maybe at best. Selective memory. Our first game we came moved the ball well and the defense made plays, so us fans were like “We ready to roll”. then a Steelers team that comes back intact from the superbowl, who the previous week had their booty handed to them like they ours to us, and us fans are llike” We don’t stand a chance this year, oh wa wa we not goingto make the playoffs, wee wee wee we not goingto beat any wining teams.
Man the hell up Eagle fans, you want improvements great say so, but have some damn fortitude. You know what time it is, its pre-season time.
I don’t have a grip with you stating the obvious we have needs, what I do get is, Fans quitting or singing the blues.
Here is what I say, I want stud LB’s and RT’s so I can dominate other teams, but dang nabit we’ll cat fight a victory with this team we have right now. Any mook that has the nerve to say the Rams is going to beat us, well then that just shows the fan fortitude.
If we start the season 1-5 then we the right to blast this team, but they have earned our respect through pre-season. They have done just about everything we ever wanted and still we find the few warts to groan about. Damn!
That steelers game made me say “What the hell!!!”, but I still feel good about this team and it is going to take more than that to make go rogue.
Damn okay I am done, this place is steeling my dang joy. I am going to Eagles.com for some good old propaganda, and crowd pleasing. To much reality can kill your spirit. See ya later “Keeping it Realers”
P.S. I’ll be back though casue I love you guys.
haha mono i love you too
Im with you Runtheball.. definately shoulda resigned stew. It really just dawned on me today how we developed Stew to be a pretty solid MLB, very good when healthy, and then at the prime age of 27, just decided… hey lets start all over.. bring on the Great White Hope(no disrespect intended)! .. But to put all these pieces in place to win, then take a crucial gamble in the heart of the defense really perplexes me. Makes ya wanna say… Come on Man! LOL. I bleed green just like the rest and since i cant personally make a change, Im riding with whoever’s out there till the wheels fall off , but man… I just pray we dont wind up with a Rolo defense man.. ya know.. hard on the outside with a soft and creamy middle.. geeez
Man, I wish that Samuel for Willis trade was for real, & not a fantasy from a bunch bloggers so called sources. That would kill two birds with one stone.
Oh well, we can still dream, right?
Patrick Willis is going absolutelty nowehere… I don’t need any sources to know that… He’s the foundation of the 49ers Defense, one of the top MLB ‘s in the game and just signed a 6 year extension before the Lockout.. C/Mon Man..
Reid et. al ain’t interested in stud, break up the offense, middle linebacker, Reid needs speed, flash, small guys who have big play capability but not shut down presence throughout the game
G:
Unfortunately, Stewart Bradley wasn’t ever close to being a good MLB either. G often said he was, and I disagreed with him and all of you vehemently about it. Unless the system he is playing in will cater to his strengths (whatever THEY are,) he’ll be Mike Mamula at LB. Face up to it.
I do think it might be wise to sign another cast-off veteran MLB at this point. I don’t know that I trust Matthews at MLB or any LB position. I did like Chaney last year. Foiku was an improving player. So we need a third one.
G, in my opinion lost a lot of credibility endorsing Bradley. He was right about a lot of players before anybody else ever knew about them (Brian Dawkins especially,) but he was wrong about Bradley for a lot of years. So far he’s taking a wait-and-see attitude about Matthews, which is what the Eagles should be doing. Not starting him.
The rumour mill in Charlotte is the Panthers looking to add a CB
(the lost R Marshall in Frr-agency and the other CB C Gamble has been injured so far so they are down to Rookie and 2nd year CB’s and playing against Brees/Ryan and Freeman, the Panthers need quality CB’s if they want to be compettive.. The Panths also signed their Franchise Tag Player (R Kalil) to a long erm deal freeing up soem cap space to be able to afford a player like CB A Samuel’s Contract..)
Panthers have ILB Dan Connor as back-up on their team to All-Pro Jon Beason) and could very well be expeandable.. He’s a former Penn State LB who is 6’2″ and 230 lbs and is a tackling machine and etering his 5th Season.. maybe a deal with A Samuel for Connor and a high Draft pick (a 2nd or a 3rd Round pick) can get this deal done.. Connor also has the speed and experience to also play the outside
Then the Eagles would keep Hanson at the Nickle/Slot CB adn still have Lindley/Hughes/Marsh to be the back-ups to Asmo and DCR…
the defense will be fine and thanx paulman for making week 1 a lock
doubling down on that now eagles and eagles moneyline
and since u said we will strugglle first 4-6 weeks i suggest every1 play the eagles hard the 1st 4 to 6 weeks
pman the gcobb merril hoge
The Eagles 2011 schedule has them playing 5 teams with winning records
and 8 teams with losing records, overall a shade above .500. If they can’t make it this season how pathetic would that be.
Paul Hoge, HAHAHA!!! BigE that’s hilarious!!
Sorry, meant Phillywill!