15 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

Close but not his school. He's Eastern Illinois. NIU is home to Michael Turner. 

I forgot it is eastern 

1 hour ago, Mike030270 said:

Normally I'd agree. Except with this one

I agree.  The 'upside' of the play is a maximum of 2 yards.  Other plays, literally nearly every other play you could run, has an ultimate upside, even if it's unlikely, of breaking out and going the distance, and that includes the horrific flanker screens they ran last year.  A missed tackle here and a botched assignment there and it could have gone all the way (though not with this team).  The Tush Push from the 1 to get to pay dirt makes tons of sense to me.  1 yard is the ultimate goal in that situation.  Get in, some way, any way.  But, 3rd and 1 from your own 29?  Is it really the only, or even best option?  It is an extremely limiting option.  What about 3rd and 1 from the opponent's 29?  Maybe a shot at the end zone on 3rd down, knowing that an incomplete pass could still give you the opportunity to move the chains on 4th down, but you might also get the TD or a first and goal situation.  

 

The old adage, "you can't go broke taking a profit" may be true, but it is also short sighted.  Sometimes you need to roll the dice and ride it out to get larger gains rather than the short sighted approach and cash out immediately once the numbers are in your favor.   

 

That's how I see the Tush Push.  The goal is merely to move the chains.  And that's a great motivator... but the ultimate goal is to get into the end zone.  And if you have a weapon like the Tush Push (or if you ask me, the real weapon was having a center like Kelce that could make any strong QB behind him highly effective on a QB sneak - recall Wentz' sneak numbers were also ridiculously successful), then you should leverage it to get higher yields than merely a first down. 

Running the Tush Push from the 29 on 3rd and 1 is nice when it results in a first down from the 28.   But, what if you actually used a wrinkle off it and instead of gaining only 1 yard, turned it into 5 yards, 10 yards, even got into the end zone?  And if you failed on the 3rd down play with an incompletion on the wrinkle, you'd have a shot at the actual Tush Push on 4th down with the same yardage opportunity as the play before.    Granted, you'd need to run it enough on 3rd down to keep defenses honest to overcommit.   But where did the wrinkles go that they hinted at and showed a little in 2022?  They completely disappeared in 2023.

And this team went WAY overboard with it.  The coaches (or at least one of them, likely at least 2) started to think of 3rd and 8 as a 3rd and 7, so that they could get into a 4th and 1 situation.  They were literally calling plays that were designed to end up SHORT of the sticks, rather than attempting to get beyond the sticks on 3rd downs.  (Such as the many QB draws on 3rd and longs in the red zone). Sirianni admitted as much when he said that having that in the back pocket was like every set of downs is "1st and 9".   That showed where his head was with this play.  It was their saving grace to get them out of trouble.  And they went to that well constantly.  

But, that's a horrific way of thinking and the offense almost became hampered by the success of the Tush Push.   On the surface, having a stellar short yardage play is a great thing to have.   However, when the tail begins to wag the dog, you've got a problem.   And frankly, that's how I see the Tush Push having evolved with this team.  And the bigger the reputation became, the more often the Eagles went to that well.  I remember one game, I think the Eagles ran it at least 5 times.  It almost seemed like the goal for the offense was to see how many times they could run it.  A play which by design is limited in its scope to only gaining 1 to 2 yards at a maximum should not have become the focal point of the offense that it did last year.  But, when you are drowning in self-doubt and unsure how to proceed, you'll grab on to any flotation device.  So, the more the offense struggled, the more they seemed to focus on getting in position to use the Tush Push, rather than trying to find ways to leverage it into bigger gains.

2 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

I forgot it is eastern 

33 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

Personally I’ve just been burned way too many times as a Philly sports fan to just enjoy the moment. I know it’s not healthy but it is what it is growing up and missing the really bad days of Eagles history and starting to follow the team closely around the same time Lurie bought the team. 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It's all gravy after they won the SB for me. 

3 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

24 minutes ago, DaEagles4Life said:

I doubt it especially since they added a game and will end up adding a 18th game. Feels like teams just use the 1st game as a warmup. 

They added a game and dropped a preseason game. Less than ten years ago, there were 4 preseason games and virtually everybody played their starters for a portion of the first 3 games with the "dress rehearsal" game usually being between 2-3 quarters for the starters. On top of that, teams were allowed more practices and longer practices. We also now have an added  week of rest between the first game and the last preseason game. 

Obviously if they add a regular season game, they will drop another preseason game. 

My biggest argument is that if teams now are extremely limited by the CBA in how many practices they can have, then they shouldn't completely dismiss the preseason as a practice opportunity for starters. 

37 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

Personally I’ve just been burned way too many times as a Philly sports fan to just enjoy the moment. I know it’s not healthy but it is what it is growing up and missing the really bad days of Eagles history and starting to follow the team closely around the same time Lurie bought the team. 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This is the whole reason why I emotionally hedge bet in the playoffs. Because if they win, I’m happy and excited. but if they lose and I emotionally hedge bet against them and win money, it isn’t a complete loss. And let me tell you, it still sucks and I’m still upset when they lose. But at least i won money. 

Over the last 3 seasons, the Eagles are 27-5 when Big Dom is on the sideline

3 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

1 minute ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

This is the whole reason why I emotionally hedge bet in the playoffs. Because if they win, I’m happy and excited. but if they lose and I emotionally hedge bet against them and I win money so it isn’t a complete loss. And let me tell you, it still sucks and I’m still angry when they lose. But at least i won money. 

Now I know who to blame. 

 

 

9 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

14 minutes ago, jamiller said:

Now I know who to blame. 

 

 

Honestly what it feels like when it happens 

Not sure you can really say Horn has control before his foot comes off the ground.

3 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

Rufio to this day is still one of the coolest movie characters. 

Also, this is how they need to use Jordan Davis

lol these idiot announcers said it was indisputable that he caught it. ruling of incomplete was upheld. These guys are idiots.

2 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

lol these idiot announcers said it was indisputable that he caught it. ruling of incomplete was upheld. These guys are idiots.

Did you hear them try to defend the hold saying even though his jersey is stretching and he's holding, the material really won't hold him back so it shouldn't count as holding. What??

4 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

Rufio to this day is still one of the coolest movie characters. 

Also, this is how they need to use Jordan Davis

Really wish i saw this last year when the eagles had Julio 

3 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

Did you hear them try to defend the hold saying even though his jersey is stretching and he's holding, the material really won't hold him back so it shouldn't count as holding. What??

lol. no. I just turned it on. 

4 hours ago, bpac55 said:

What makes you think differently? Rodgers hasn't practiced once in the slot. Quinyon Mitchell is CB2 now. Cooper DeJean is the slot in training. When he's ready, the job is his. I just don't know where Rodgers fits.

Rodgers was out, do we even know if he wasn't going to start if he was healthy? They were going to play Mitchell inside for a while, am I missing information confirming that changed, or is that assumed simply by him doing a good job for one game? How does anyone know whether he would be good or not in the slot?

Seems way too early to peg Mitchell to only the edge and create a problem for ourselves where now we can't have our best corners on the field, especially in a league where people move around. Or are you saying Maddox is better in the slot than Rodgers is on the boundary?

4 hours ago, Iggles_Phan said:

I've been against it since the beginning.

 

1 - Kelce was amazing at QB sneaks long before the Tush Push.  The center has the greatest impact on it.

2 - The OVER RELIANCE on the Tush Push is one of my major complaints about it, and it was stated by Sirianni (not explicitly, but the meaning was obvious) that they would run plays in some moments of games to set it up.  

3 - They would run it on 3rd down far too frequently in spots where the fact that you have it in your back pocket should open up your playbook to go for the jugular rather than 'settle' for a fresh set of downs.  (Situationally, of course.) 

4 - Once upon a time they showed some wrinkles to play off of it.  They have completely evaporated.  One of the great things about a play that the defense is so keyed on is to take advantage of them over committing to it.   I can't remember the last time they actually ran a counter off the formation.

 

Bring the Guards in tight... with a single back (Barkley) and stay in 11 personnel to spread the defense out a little bit more.  A big play is still possible for an overcommitment to that play.  And the best part is, the OL can usually still do the same thing, even on a pass play.  If they are just firing forward and low, they will still be within a yard of the LOS when the ball is thrown.  It's just a lack of imagination to use it that much.  And more importantly, they pigeon hole themselves by doing it so much.  

But the vast majority of the points here have nothing to do with the play itself and more to do with stupid utilization of it. Which is kind of my point. Just use it more responsibly.

Really looking forward to a relaxing day of RedZone tmw knowing we’re up 1-0 after beating a top NFC team. Also glad Love will be back.

Did anyone else get auto-renewed into Sunday ticket? Sorry wife - it is what it is 

3 minutes ago, Texas Eagle said:

Really looking forward to a relaxing day of RedZone tmw knowing we’re up 1-0 after beating a top NFC team. Also glad Love will be back.

Excited to see dallas stumble in Cleveland

4 minutes ago, Texas Eagle said:

Did anyone else get auto-renewed into Sunday ticket? Sorry wife - it is what it is 

I switch to Verizon 5G+ internet at my house and they gave it to me for free. Much better than Comcast and cox internet 

Hopefully DeJean can come along quickly because Maddox looks washed with his speed at this point at nickel.