2 minutes ago, Iggles25 said:

Four swings and misses unless Byard goes on a tear in the playoffs 

He may have a nice big play INT at some point if he gets lucky or a good read, but it’s clear he’s toast.  

This is why I blame Siri.  You aren’t going to go 3/3 on OCs. Steichen was it.  Brian Johnson isn’t…but what if he was?  He’s instantly gone for a HC job.  Then we are on OC #3.  It was just a matter of time until things fell off without Siri being capable of managing this himself.

14 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

This is why I blame Siri.  You aren’t going to go 3/3 on OCs. Steichen was it.  Brian Johnson isn’t…but what if he was?  He’s instantly gone for a HC job.  Then we are on OC #3.  It was just a matter of time until things fell off without Siri being capable of managing this himself.

What has inspired any fragment of confidence in BJ this season?

Would rather take a chance on someone outside the fray.

Just now, Iggles25 said:

What has inspired any fragment of confidence in BJ this season?

Would rather take a chance on someone outside the fray.

I would too…but if we get a better OC, have a great 2024…then they are a HC in 2025 and our offense is back to square 1.  The HC needs to be able to be the constant.  

1 minute ago, eagle45 said:

I would too…but if we get a better OC, have a great 2024…then they are a HC in 2025 and our offense is back to square 1.  The HC needs to be able to be the constant.  

Makes sense.

It is a feedback loop that doesn't equate to success.

3 hours ago, HazletonEagle said:

Maxey has 40 but we have no answer defensively for Sengun. Really frustrating game in the closing minutes now. 

They do have answer.  They just score more points than they allow the other team to score.  This sports thing is so easy, I should be a coach.   

This is the best Sixers team since their 2018-19 team.  Will be interesting what Morey does at the deadline.  He has clearly been planning for beyond this year but the Sixers are perfectly suited to make a big move this year if it is worthwhile and becomes available.  I was saying early season when the Suns started slow and it is becoming even more so realistic now that the Sixers land Durant at the deadline.  He would be the perfect fit with Embiid and Maxey.  All time great that is a killer and a champion.  Doesn't have to be and won't be the best player on the team but can be lethal in the clutch.  Suns are so far over the luxury after that awful Beal trade and being over the luxury is going to really screw teams when it comes to signing buyout players after the deadline.  Having Tobias and a lot of other expiring contracts along with some good draft assets will be appealing to the Suns.  

 

Embiid and Durant have also had a lengthy and public admiration for each other's game.

 

AJ if he was forced to talk to the media.

 

 

9 hours ago, EaglePhan1986 said:

When’s Foles coming back to save us?

He is already saving the Browns.

Saturday Morning Predictions Update

31 predictions recorded thus far.  26 for an Eagles win and 5 for a Cardinals win.  The Average Predicted Score is Eagles 30 Cardinals 20, which is just under the Eagles -10.5 vs. Cardinals line put up by Las Vegas.

As always, please tag your prediction post with @mattwill that way I will be sure to see/record it.  Score predictions can also have an optional "Bonus Pick" tiebreaker prediction.  So far over the course of the season 142 different EMB posters have made at least one prediction. 

A list of the predictions is presented below, sorted alphabetically by the name of the predictor.  If you don't see your name there, then I either missed yours or you haven't submitted one yet.

@mattwill

Little birds 23

Big birds 31

 

Bonus:  defensive score for Eagles.

7 hours ago, Iggles25 said:

I'm all for keeping Sirianni.

But both coordinators are replaceable.

Sometimes you hit on those hires.

Eagles didn't.

Johnson and Desai aren't ready for primetime.

Don't waste this roster. The window will slam shut while they learn on the job.

We don't even have a full roster. Our back end on defense is aging clearly, and our LBs are patchwork. On top of that, we have two OL in the twilight of their career that will go down as Eagles greats that aren't very far from retirement. Replacing the coordinators? Sure. But the bottom line here is that the fans over-estimated the actual quality of the roster to begin with - they got too hype about being first in the NFL for as long as we were, and now immediately think the roster is amazing and we're super talented as a team. 

We do clearly have talent on our roster, yes, but it's certainly not last year's team. And last but not least, something tells me the amount of teams that win a Super Bowl the same year they get both a new offensive and defensive coordinator in the same offseason isn't that high, and we'd be doing that two years in a row. I guess we don't have many options, but that's certainly a challenging pill to swallow.

@mattwill

Eagles 31-26

Carter 3 sacks 

The Byard trade is a net positive. Not saying it's a home run, but it's a trade we'd redo with hindsight.

8 hours ago, eagle45 said:

I think Hurts shares more of the burden of this blame than anyone acknowledges. But from the pure coaching standpoint….if your HC isn’t smart enough and isn’t good enough with scheme, X/Os, or play calling that it all falls on the OC…..it’s going to be a bumpy ride for the offense.  Because every time you have real success, that OC is gone for a HC job and then things get messy.

It happened with Doug without his OC and it’s happening with Siri.  You can’t have a HC that is this reliant on the OC.

 

 This doesn't make a lot of sense. Consider this:

Does that mean that every defensive coach ever is doomed to fail because offensive coordinators will always leaver for greener pastures? That's obviously not true.

Additionally, does that mean it's impossible for an offensive coach to maintain a good defense because the defensive coordinators will always leave? This is also not true.

The answer is one that's existed for a long time: You get an older coordinator who isn't a heavily sought after hire, because right now the trend is 'young guns with a lot of grass ahead of them' as a head coach. Young coaches generally do not have a lot of cards in their pocket. If the first offense they learned is mostly ineffective by later tape, it's often the only offense they learned. As a result, they struggle.

This is why young coaches tend to either be pretty good, or suck really badly and get fired in a couple years. The fix to this is pairing them up with older coordinators, like I described above, that help them grow their understanding. Football is a team sport, and it's a team sport with the coaches too unless you have somebody like modern Andy Reid or Kyle Shanahan. But those guys don't grow on trees so I don't think we'll be finding the next one of those any time soon.

8 hours ago, Iggles25 said:

Four swings and misses unless Byard goes on a tear in the playoffs 

While I agree that Byard has underperformed (I pushed back when someone here called him a top-5 safety in the league before the trade  ) the picks were gave up for him weren't 3rd or 4th rounders. Giving up a 5th + 6th and a slug in Edmunds was worth a shot.

23-20 Eagles, another cringe game 

What the actual F is this guy even talking about?? This is the guy running the offense 🤦‍♂️

 

@mattwill

Eagles 34

Cards 17 

Josh Sweat gets a sack

52 minutes ago, AmericanEagle77 said:

 

 This doesn't make a lot of sense. Consider this:

Does that mean that every defensive coach ever is doomed to fail because offensive coordinators will always leaver for greener pastures? That's obviously not true.

Additionally, does that mean it's impossible for an offensive coach to maintain a good defense because the defensive coordinators will always leave? This is also not true.

The answer is one that's existed for a long time: You get an older coordinator who isn't a heavily sought after hire, because right now the trend is 'young guns with a lot of grass ahead of them' as a head coach. Young coaches generally do not have a lot of cards in their pocket. If the first offense they learned is mostly ineffective by later tape, it's often the only offense they learned. As a result, they struggle.

This is why young coaches tend to either be pretty good, or suck really badly and get fired in a couple years. The fix to this is pairing them up with older coordinators, like I described above, that help them grow their understanding. Football is a team sport, and it's a team sport with the coaches too unless you have somebody like modern Andy Reid or Kyle Shanahan. But those guys don't grow on trees so I don't think we'll be finding the next one of those any time soon.

Finding good coordinators with no aspirations to be HC is likely difficult regardless of age. Seems like coaches like we had in JJ are rare. As soon as guys get nominal success it seems like they suddenly become eligible for HC positions.

3 minutes ago, Cliftoma said:

What the actual F is this guy even talking about?? This is the guy running the offense 🤦‍♂️

 

Hmmm…

Part 1 is about how a RPO could be run or pass, and they rarely call structured run/pass plays in this scheme. Well, the issue here is that the defense can predetermine run/pass by giving you certain pre-snap alignments… so who’s really calling the plays here.

Part 2 is the argument of calling a game to get ahead of the sticks versus being aggressive and taking shots for explosive plays. I worry that the issues with part 1, put us behind the sticks as we have too many wasted plays (as the defense can maneuver our offense into low percentage plays situationally).

17 minutes ago, we_gotta_believe said:

While I agree that Byard has underperformed (I pushed back when someone here called him a top-5 safety in the league before the trade  ) the picks were gave up for him weren't 3rd or 4th rounders. Giving up a 5th + 6th and a slug in Edmunds was worth a shot.

I'd usually agree that sending a 5th and 6th aren't a big deal but as of today, the only picks they actually have are:

1st, 2nd, 2nd (NO), 5th and conditional 6th from Kentavious Street that is going to end up a 7th because he played 5 of the 6 games needed and is on IR.

Now, they are projected to have a 3rd and 3 5th round comp picks but I'm not banking on them until they are actually handed out. 

This is the current draft pick value chart, which includes projected comp picks. I'm a firm believer that the 4th round is where you really need to build your team. You still have top, fringe level players here. There is a huge gap between picks for the Eagles, which is a trend I've pointed out in the past. Things can and will change between now and the draft but I absolutely hate when the Eagles go for rounds between picks. If this is how the draft laid out, there are almost 2 "rounds" worth of players selected between the Eagles 3rd and 5th round picks.

I don't think Byard has done enough to warrant 2 draft picks, no matter where they are. 5 5th round picks and 2 6th round picks would give them much better ammo to get in to the 4th round, but again, we all know Howie will move up and down as he pleases. 

RD1		RD2		RD3		RD4		RD5		RD6		RD7
PK/TM		PK/TM		PK/TM		PK/TM		PK/TM		PK/TM		PK/TM
1  CHI	3000	33  CAR	580	65  CAR	265	102  CAR	92	137  CLE	37.5	179  JAX	19.8	222  TEN	2.6
2  ARI	2600	34  ARI	560	66  ARI	260	103  ARI	88	138  CLE	37	180  CAR	19.4	223  HOU	2.3
3  WAS	2200	35  WAS	550	67  WAS	255	104  WAS	86	139  WAS	36.5	181  WAS	19	224  WAS	2
4  NE	1800	36  NE	540	68  NE	250	105  NE	84	140  NE	36	182  MIN	18.6	225  LV	1.8
5  NYG	1700	37  NYG	530	69  NYG	245	106  NYG	82	141  NYG	35.5	183  NYG	18.2	226  ARI	1.6
6  LAC	1600	38  LAC	520	70  LAC	240	107  LAC	80	142  LAC	35	184  NE	17.8	227  LAC	1.4
7  TEN	1500	39  TEN	510	71  ARI	235	108  TEN	78	143  CAR	34.5	185  TEN	17.4	228  LV	1.2
8  CHI	1400	40  WAS	500	72  CHI	230	109  CHI	76	144  CHI	34	186  MIA	17	229  NE	1
9  NYJ	1350	41  GB	490	73  NYJ	225	110  NYJ	74	145  DEN	33.5	187  NYJ	16.6	230  BAL	1
10  ATL	1300	42  ATL	480	74  ATL	220	111  ATL	72	146  ATL	33	188  PHI	16.2	231  CLE	1
11  NO	1250	43  PHI	470	75  DEN	215	112  JAX	70	147  NO	32.6	189  HOU	15.8	232  SF	1
12  GB	1200	44  GB	460	76  GB	210	113  GB	68	148  BUF	32.3	190  GB	15.4	233  GB	1
13  LV	1150	45  LV	450	77  LV	205	114  LV	66	149  LV	31.8	191  LV	15	234  DAL	1
14  DEN	1100	46  NO	440	78  DEN	200	115  NYJ	64	150  DEN	31.4	192  LAR	14.6	235  DEN	1
15  MIN	1050	47  MIN	430	79  DET	195	116  MIN	62	151  PHI	31	193  ARI	14.2	236  LV	1
16  ARI	1000	48  HOU	420	80  ARI	190	117  HOU	60	152  ARI	30.6	194  CLE	13.8	237  HOU	1
17  PIT	950	49  PIT	410	81  PIT	185	118  PIT	58	153  LAR	30.2	195  PIT	13.4	238  PIT	1
18  CIN	900	50  CIN	400	82  CIN	180	119  CIN	56	154  CIN	29.8	196  CIN	13	239  CIN	1
19  IND	875	51  IND	390	83  IND	175	120  IND	54	155  IND	29.4	197  IND	12.6	240  IND	1
20  TB	850	52  TB	380	84  TB	170	121  TB	52	156  TEN	29	198  TB	12.2	241  TB	1
21  SEA	800	53  NYG	370	85  DEN	165	122  SEA	50	157  SEA	28.6	199  TEN	11.8	242  SEA	1
22  JAX	780	54  JAX	360	86  JAX	160	123  ATL	49	158  JAX	28.2	200  MIN	11.4	243  JAX	1
23  LAR	760	55  LAR	350	87  LAR	155	124  PIT	48	159  LAR	27.8	201  BUF	11	244  LAR	1
24  BUF	740	56  BUF	340	88  GB	150	125  BUF	47	160  BUF	27.4	202  BUF	10.6	245  BUF	1
25  KC	720	57  KC	330	89  KC	145	126  KC	46	161  MIN	27	203  LV	10.2	246  HOU	1
26  DAL	700	58  DAL	320	90  DAL	140	127  SF	45	162  KC	26.6	204  BUF	9.8	247  DAL	1
27  HOU	680	59  CLE	310	91  CLE	136	128  HOU	44	163  MIN	26.2	205  ATL	9.4	248  ARI	1
28  DET	660	60  DET	300	92  DET	132	129  MIN	43	164  DET	25.8	206  DET	9	249  DET	1
29  MIA	640	61  MIA	292	93  MIA	128	130  DEN	42	165  MIA	25.4	207  MIA	8.6	250  MIA	1
30  PHI	620	62  PHI	284	94  HOU	124	131  CHI	41	166  ARI	25	208  NO	8.2	251  SEA	1
31  SF	600	63  SF	276	95  WAS	120	132  SF	40	167  SF	24.6	209  DEN	7.8	252  SF	1
32  BAL	590	64  BAL	270	96  BAL	116	133  BAL	39.5	168  BAL	24.2	210  CLE	7.4	253  BAL	1
				97  JAX	112	134  ARI	39	169  NO	23.8	211  JAX	7	254  CIN	1
				98  PHI	108	135  BAL	38.5	170  PHI	23.4	212  LAR	6.6	255  NYJ	1
				99  SF	104	136  GB	38	171  PHI	23	213  DAL	6.2	256  NYJ	1
				100  BUF	100			172  NO	22.6	214  SF	5.8	257  LAC	1
				101  SF	96			173  KC	22.2	215  SF	5.4
								174  DAL	21.8	216  GB	5
								175  NO	21.4	217  LAR	4.6
								176  SF	21	218  LAR	4.2
								177  CIN	20.6	219  GB	3.8
								178  PHI	20.2	220  LAR	3.4
										221  TB	3

@mattwill

 

Eagles 31

Cardinals 20

 

Swift with 140+ yards rushing and a TD

15 minutes ago, Cliftoma said:

What the actual F is this guy even talking about?? This is the guy running the offense 🤦‍♂️

 

To sum up, it sounds  like they are relying more on Hurts do decide at the line or mid-play instead of the OC actually calling good plays. 

Also sticks out like a sore thumb to me that he said "let's play for a 3rd down". This is what I've been saying all year and I said the EXACT same thing earlier this week. The Eagles would rather play for a 3rd down instead of going for the 1st down. He is basically calling this offense to get in to QB sneak range. 

20 minutes ago, Cliftoma said:

What the actual F is this guy even talking about?? This is the guy running the offense 🤦‍♂️

 

Pretty clear to me. First part is about options out of the plays he calls. Meaning could be run or pass based on what the QB sees at the LOS. So they aren't calling straight up pass plays and run plays. This is what I have problems with. I feel like sometimes you should take the option of pass away and just run it with the RB for example. This is their scheme though.

The other part is about decisions on third down being situational based on the down and distance. ie 2nd and long the better play may be to play for third down meaning get what you can because a 20 yard play isn't always realistic on 2nd and 20. Though they do have players that can do it the better analytics play may be to try to get a chunk of it on 2nd then the rest on 3rd or 4th since they have the unstoppable shove.