1 hour ago, rrfierce said:

As cool and amazing as Barkleys backwards hurdle was, I hope he never does it again.

I thought the exact same thing after seeing it several times, incredibly athletic while at the same time incredibly dangerous with 240lb athletes flying at you. One of the coolest things I've seen on a football field in a log while though.

 

43 minutes ago, McMVP said:

The ‘he’s taken a step back in pocket presence’ thing is off base imo.  By just about every metric I’ve seen, his numbers have improved vs pressure. 

I’m not sure  how we can talk about a QB regressing in pocket presence after becoming the 1st ever QB in Eagles history to be 119+ in passer rating for 4 consecutive games.  

Not saying he doesn’t have area of improvements…all QBs do.  It just reeks of nitpicking imo…

Those 4 games are all wildly different though.  This week he had a B+ game, led the team in spite of the HC, the week before he was MVP level, against the Giants was one of the worst games of his career, and against the Browns he was frustrating to watch a lot of the game.  These past 2 weeks he’s been making a lot smarter decisions and trending up…hopefully he comes out balling this upcoming weekend and shows it’s a trend.

My crock pot sabotaged me tonight.

Had a chuck roast in it for 8 hours.

Went to shred it and it was tougher than a bag of leather.

Currently riding in the pressure cooker for the save.

2 hours ago, Iggles25 said:

My Top 5

Lions

Falcons

Commanders

Vikings

Eagles

I think DC may have peaked. They gave up 320 yards to the Giants. Kliff usually gets figured out and they are missing Jonathan Allen. They are 25th in the league in rush defense. 

 

Cooper Rush without CeeDee and that run game means we score 17 and it's over (take the points Nick). 

3 minutes ago, RLC said:

Cooper Rush without CeeDee and that run game means we score 17 and it's over (take the points Nick). 

Big one to watch this week at practice 

22 minutes ago, RLC said:

Cooper Rush without CeeDee and that run game means we score 17 and it's over (take the points Nick). 

The problem with a WR trying to play with a type 2 is that its going to be very painful for him to lift his arms overhead if he has to reach for a pass. 

You can have an OL or DL play with it much more easily. 

47 minutes ago, Iggles25 said:

My crock pot sabotaged me tonight.

Had a chuck roast in it for 8 hours.

Went to shred it and it was tougher than a bag of leather.

Currently riding in the pressure cooker for the save.

Better than I did.  A couple of months ago...got up early, got everything together, turned the crockpot on low, left at 7am...came home at around 4:30, as soon as I got to the front door, theat wonderful pot roast smell was not in the air...I forgot to plug the damn slow cooker in.

1 hour ago, McMVP said:

The ‘he’s taken a step back in pocket presence’ thing is off base imo.  By just about every metric I’ve seen, his numbers have improved vs pressure. 

I’m not sure  how we can talk about a QB regressing in pocket presence after becoming the 1st ever QB in Eagles history to be 119+ in passer rating for 4 consecutive games.  

Not saying he doesn’t have area of improvements…all QBs do.  It just reeks of nitpicking imo…

That's fair...he put things on tape Sunday that were mistakes.  And that's what we do...come to the blog and nitpick mistakes.  So it's nitpicking, but I see no problem with nitpicking.  

In the last 2 weeks, Hurts has made mistakes.  He has shown limitations that still leave me questioning the sustainability of his excellent play and his long term future.  However...I'm happy to acknowledge it...if he does for the balance of the season exactly what he's done for the last 2 weeks, he'll be the NFL MVP.

1 hour ago, McMVP said:

The ‘he’s taken a step back in pocket presence’ thing is off base imo.  By just about every metric I’ve seen, his numbers have improved vs pressure. 

I’m not sure  how we can talk about a QB regressing in pocket presence after becoming the 1st ever QB in Eagles history to be 119+ in passer rating for 4 consecutive games.  

Not saying he doesn’t have area of improvements…all QBs do.  It just reeks of nitpicking imo…

Compared to last week he was definitely worse. Much worse, with bailing the pocket, throwing off his back foot, and taking bad sacks. All you have to do is watch the games. Stats dont show you what the play looked like. The encouraging signs of the previous 2 weeks have fizzled a bit. 

On the plus side, he did slide up in the pocket once yesterday and deliver a strike. He did have times where he stood in there and delivered strikes. And he made some really good plays with his arms and legs like has hasnt been able to do much this season. He played better than he has most of the season. But nowhere near as well as last week. And I know the stats wont show much difference between the 2 games, but it was clear as day. 

25 minutes ago, RLC said:

Cooper Rush without CeeDee and that run game means we score 17 and it's over (take the points Nick). 

Kick a FG, game over...Dallas won't score. Well, to be safe score 10, the only way DAL will score is the kicker, they get inside the 45 and he's got a very good chance of scoring, but they will not score a TD...

The Eagles are usually good at making highly analytical, unpopular decisions from an aerial view.  They generally make their decisions from a 30,000' perspective rather than a ground level one (this is a good thing).  

And this leaves me wondering, waiting, for some instructions from above to permeate down to the coaching staff about Saquan Barkley's usage.

I know we are all enjoying the Saquan Barkley experience.  I know that 75% of the fan base is going to curse Siriani's name every single meaningful play that Gainwell is in there and underwhelms.  But this train isn't headed for the station we want.  Teams built around running backs do not compete for the SB.  They just don't.  The model fails time and time again.

But this team is different.  Hurts is finding his groove, they have elite WRs, and a really good TE.  In January, if you come at the Lions/Chiefs when they don't know if Barkley is going to get 30 carries for 200 yards or if Brown/Devonta are going to combine for 200+ yards in an aerial game, that's a problem for them.  They have to respect the deep ball, but you can keep the ball away from their offense all game long.  You dictate when they can score, who gets the ball last...really the terms of engagement for the whole game.  That's 90's football...and 90's football works for a game, just not for the playoffs, mostly because the feature back can't shoulder it at that point in the year.

So it's not going to work if Barkley is either unavailable or reduced.  The playoff track record of 25+ touch backs is just bad.

Spoiler alert: they are going to the playoffs.  Round 1 bye is not likely.  Number of home games played is the primary variable.  If that's the only thing at stake for the balance of the regular season, I would value a healthy, fresh Barkley over one, even two more wins in the regular season.

So start using him accordingly.

2 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

The Eagles are usually good at making highly analytical, unpopular decisions from an aerial view.  They generally make their decisions from a 30,000' perspective rather than a ground level one (this is a good thing).  

And this leaves me wondering, waiting, for some instructions from above to permeate down to the coaching staff about Saquan Barkley's usage.

I know we are all enjoying the Saquan Barkley experience.  I know that 75% of the fan base is going to curse Siriani's name every single meaningful play that Gainwell is in there and underwhelms.  But this train isn't headed for the station we want.  Teams built around running backs do not compete for the SB.  They just don't.  The model fails time and time again.

But this team is different.  Hurts is finding his groove, they have elite WRs, and a really good TE.  In January, if you come at the Lions/Chiefs when they don't know if Barkley is going to get 30 carries for 200 yards or if Brown/Devonta are going to combine for 200+ yards in an aerial game, that's a problem for them.  They have to respect the deep ball, but you can keep the game all game long away from their offense.

But it's not going to work if Barkley is either unavailable or reduced.  The playoff track record of 25+ touch backs is just bad.

Spoiler alert: they are going to the playoffs.  Round 1 bye is not likely.  Number of home games played is the primary variable.  If that's the only thing at stake for the balance of the regular season, I would value a healthy, fresh Barkley over one, even two more wins in the regular season.

So start using him accordingly.

The problem isnt spelling Barkley. Its that Gainwell isnt the guy to do it with. Shipley is more dynamic and explosive. But it would also be nice to have another guy who can really grind clock and wear down defenses. 

7 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

He played better than he has most of the season. But nowhere near as well as last week. And I know the stats wont show much difference between the 2 games, but it was clear as day. 

Josh Allen was in his face all game. The guy who struggled wasn't the QB, it was the left tackle, who came back to earth after a really good game against Hendrickson.

16 minutes ago, Joe Ball said:

Better than I did.  A couple of months ago...got up early, got everything together, turned the crockpot on low, left at 7am...came home at around 4:30, as soon as I got to the front door, theat wonderful pot roast smell was not in the air...I forgot to plug the damn slow cooker in.

Just now, HazletonEagle said:

The problem isnt spelling Barkley. Its that Gainwell isnt the guy to do it with. Shipley is more dynamic and explosive. But it would also be nice to have another guy who can really grind clock and wear down defenses. 

There are several moving parts.  Barkley and the Eagles could chase after a statistically memorable season.   His level of play has certainly "earned it."

But the most statistically impressive RB seasons over the last 20 years have been uniformly ill-fated.  The Eagles with the Saquan Barkley of Sunday could compete for a SB in January if they let him run wild.  But the gradual in-season erosion that we always see from bell-cow feature backs by January?  We know how that ends.

With or without a quality #2 RB, how would Barkley take to a true RB rotation when he's in the midst of a monster season?  That's a weird, tough ask at the ground level even if we can see what it does for them with some perspective.

 

We have a backup RB with juice and we just won't use him. This is on the coaches.

21 minutes ago, Joe Ball said:

Better than I did.  A couple of months ago...got up early, got everything together, turned the crockpot on low, left at 7am...came home at around 4:30, as soon as I got to the front door, theat wonderful pot roast smell was not in the air...I forgot to plug the damn slow cooker in.

Mother effer…I’ve done that once before.  It’s happened twice to me actually.  Once it was me having a pre-mature senior moment.  The other was a power outage.  

1 minute ago, RLC said:

We have a backup RB with juice and we just won't use him. This is on the coaches.

In fairness, do the Eagles win on Sunday if Barkley gets 15 carries?  Probably not.

My argument is that you'll have to take a couple L's (and that it's worth it) to keep him optimized.

2 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

In fairness, do the Eagles win on Sunday if Barkley gets 15 carries?  Probably not.

My argument is that you'll have to take a couple L's (and that it's worth it) to keep him optimized.

I get your big picture approach, but that requires blowouts (in either direction) for coaches not to use him.

Or it takes Barkley pulling himself more in games.

In fairness, Barkely doesn't take that many direct hits and not all snaps are created equal. 

In discussing the standings race, I really only have my eye on 2 teams: Commanders for the division and Lions for the 1 seed.  

I see only 4 categories that matter: 1 seed, division champion, wild card, out of playoffs.  I think any seeding beyond that just isn't worth fighting for.

We should have several games left by the time we realize out of the playoffs is not a consideration.  If they declare themselves competition for the one seed, that's great, but it also eliminates margin for error.  If you want to push for that, you've got to ride Barkley hard.  

Division?  I see that as the sweet spot.  Ride the Barkley express in both Commander games.  Get some separation there and rest up for the last 2 weeks of the regular season.  Play a cupcake at home on wild card weekend to knock off the rust, and roll into Detroit hitting on all cylinders while they are feeling the pressure and expectations after 2 weeks of downtime.

I had a grade 2-3 sprain a few years ago and played basketball like 4-5 days after (before going to the doctor).  Big mistake, it hurt like hell.  I had to use my other arm to lift my arm above my head 

13 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

In fairness, do the Eagles win on Sunday if Barkley gets 15 carries?  Probably not.

My argument is that you'll have to take a couple L's (and that it's worth it) to keep him optimized.

They dont need to take more carries away from him. They need to take the carries away from Gainwell, and use Shipley or some traded for power back.