Did the bust Nolan Smith even play? 

How in the world did they think targeting Covey 7 times, at least 4 where he was the primary target was a good idea?  I’d rather them throw a RB screen to KG instead of plays designed for Covey.  The 3rd time he only got 3 yards should have been enough to at ok, enough of that.  Nope, let’s keep going to it! Oh and let’s have DeVonta Smith block for him.  

It's still unfathomable to me that after last season's historic collapse, they decided to run it back on so many fronts. Keeping the head coach. Keeping the same defensive scheme(albeit with a new man running it), fake grinning with the "Well, we drafted these guys on defense, it's time for them to step up!" Ok, cool. And it remains evident they suck. So good for you sticking by your players, thanks for just flushing an entire season of everyone's prime down the toilet, I guess. But hey, you gave them a chance to prove their worth even though it was already obvious to everyone half of them can't play.

This team needed a culture change in the worst way. And they decide to make window dressing coordinator changes and strip their head coach of almost all power, which we all knew was absolutely Fing absurd at the time. At least with a guy like Tomlin(who has won jack crap since Roethlisberger retired btw) is a defensive guru. Sirianni doesn't even factor into the offense anymore.

The Eagles offseason from beginning to end was just one head scratching move after another. Usually when the Eagles come off a bad year, Howie is at his most locked in self. But this offseason felt different. If the season goes down the toilet, I'm waiting for the inevitable Jeff McLane piece that dissects the offseason, that has all the finger pointing about how no one was on the same page and 3 different people in the Eagles brass all wanted 3 different things. I'm convinced something like that went down, because everything they did seemed very not Eagles-like, and reeked of no plan. Just a scattered collection of moves and decisions.

But if this season continues with them playing this way, I don't think anyone is safe. The sharpest axes tend to fall after you give something one final chance and they disappoint you. I can't imagine Lurie was happy after last night.

OK, I can barely stomach doing this. But...here we go.

- Hurts isn't to blame for last night, so stop it. Yeah, the pick at the end sucks, but they never should have been in that position. Without our best player on offense, he was efficient and led 4 straight scoring drives to put them in position to win the game. The last throw sucked, but was there anywhere to go with that ball? At least we saw the 2022 version of Hurts the runner.

- Someone has to explain our 4th down strategy to me. So we go on 4th and 4 early instead of taking 3 points and the lead, which I hated. Especially in a game where you are missing your biggest weapon, you take the points. Then, 3 yards to win the game and you kick a FG? You get stopped there, Atlanta gets the ball backed up on their 10. Either be aggressive or be conservative.

- Saquon dropped a perfect pass, but what a HORRIBLE play call. Run it with Barkley, and if he gets stuffed, run it down to 1:00, take a timeout, and then go on 4th down. Our line was wining all night -- 2 chances to get 3 yards to end the game. If you were determined to throw it, throw it on 4th down.

- Our defensive line is an abomination. Carter, Davis, Huff, Sweat...they are giving us no pass rush and getting eaten alive on the ground. Booker, Williams, Ojomo and Graham are giving you more right now. If this is our D-line, we are not a serious contender. 

- Slay has to be better than that

- How do you keep giving Cousins the sideline throws on that last drive?

- We blitzed once, go burned for a TD, and never did it again. Actually, I remember one more where Cousins overthrew a WR (play where Maddox got hurt). How did we not bring pressure on Cousins once on the last drive?

 

My basic takeaway is we are not a serious contender with this defense. We might win the division, but we will be one and done in the playoffs. 

Reading between the lines on some things with coaching. Sweat says they're not on the same page defensively. Hurts all training camp and preseason was talking about doing what he's asked to do and it seemed to me like maybe he was frustrated a little. 

Sometimes it seems he is playing hero ball and making bad decisions, other times the decisions by the coaches are clearly bad. Maybe it's just a combo of both. But Hurts is a smart guy. I don't quite understand. Fans and media on twitter can break down the tape and suggest what would work better yet the coaches don't do it. Hurts throws better from the pocket. Even without AJ Brown they've got Smith, Goedert, Barkley and Gainwell who can all contribute in the passing game. Dotson recently joined the team but there's no reason by week 2 he shouldn't be ready and contribute more.

There are a lot of problems with the team, but the blame has to start with the HEAD coach/CEO. The point of not calling plays is to free the HC up to view the game as a whole, manage the situations, evaluate the game live and make adjustments as needed. He should be making better decisions on game plan and strategy. He should see what's not working and hold his coordinators and players accountable to fix it.

This was my #1 problem with the team last year. We were watching the boat sink week after week and Siri wasn't doing anything to address it.

No one else really talked about it and I get it was a quick one-read and get rid of the ball playcall, but DeVonta was wide open in the end zone on the Barkley drop play. 

6 minutes ago, Texas Eagle said:

I don’t get blaming Howie for the Dotson trade in week 2. Howie isn’t behind center, it’s not his fault he’s had 2 targets. Jalen locked into Smith and for some reason Covey all night. Will have to look back at the game but I’m sure Dotson had to be open at some points last night.

I think it's certainly fair to blame Howie. His original decision was to sign a literal dinosaur in Devante Parker on the first day or two of free agency. Parker managed to do Howie a solid and retire early in the off-season and his answer was to sign Parris Campbell and John Ross, two busts. He also had the draft to address it, and tried, but I won't criticize that too much since the draft is unpredictable. What's not is bringing in guys as free agents or trades. He went all training camp when everyone knew there was no viable WR3 and then panicked traded for a guy on the eve of the season who has this weird dark cloud over him to begin with. Dotson has had only 3 weeks to learn the system and has absolutely no chemistry with Hurts who has a history of not throwing to guys he doesn't have chemistry with. I find it hard to blame Dotson and Hurts. It's on Howie, IMO, for not figuring this out sooner. 

Just now, Sack that QB said:

It's still unfathomable to me that after last season's historic collapse, they decided to run it back on so many fronts. Keeping the head coach. Keeping the same defensive scheme(albeit with a new man running it), fake grinning with the "Well, we drafted these guys on defense, it's time for them to step up!" Ok, cool. And it remains evident they suck. So good for you sticking by your players, thanks for just flushing an entire season of everyone's prime down the toilet, I guess.

This team needed a culture change in the worst way. And they decide to make window dressing coordinator changes and strip their head coach of almost all power, which we all knew was absolutely Fing absurd at the time. At least with a guy like Tomlin(who has won jack crap since Roethlisberger retired btw) is a defensive guru. Sirianni doesn't even factor into the offense anymore.

The Eagles offseason from beginning to end was just one head scratching move after another. Usually when the Eagles come off a bad year, Howie is at his most locked in self. But this offseason felt different. If the season goes down the toilet, I'm waiting for the inevitable Jeff McLane piece that dissects the offseason, that has all the finger pointing about how no one was on the same page and 3 different people in the Eagles brass all wanted 3 different things. I'm convinced something like that went down, because everything they did seemed very not Eagles-like, and reeked of no plan. Just a scattered collection of moves and decisions.

But if this season continues with them playing this way, I don't think anyone is safe. The sharpest axes tend to fall after you give something one final chance and they disappoint you. I can't imagine Lurie was happy after last night.

Howie did a fantastic job addressing the secondary, and our 3rd receiver. And giving us a top 5 back. 
 

The coaching philosophy and ideology is soft and vanilla. No one of offense or defense look like they’re ever having any fun. We don’t mix things up, we aren’t creative in the slightest. 

11 minutes ago, Mike030270 said:

Didn't watch any of the PC's. Did Nick take the blame for throwing it instead of running?

No, he kinda threw Moore under the bus.

 

Just now, LeanMeanGM said:

No, he kinda threw Moore under the bus.

Really? Woah.

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

 

Imagine blaming any unit but the defense last night. Unserious people.

2 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

OK, I can barely stomach doing this. But...here we go.

- Hurts isn't to blame for last night, so stop it. Yeah, the pick at the end sucks, but they never should have been in that position. Without our best player on offense, he was efficient and led 4 straight scoring drives to put them in position to win the game. The last throw sucked, but was there anywhere to go with that ball? At least we saw the 2022 version of Hurts the runner.

- Someone has to explain our 4th down strategy to me. So we go on 4th and 4 early instead of taking 3 points and the lead, which I hated. Especially in a game where you are missing your biggest weapon, you take the points. Then, 3 yards to win the game and you kick a FG? You get stopped there, Atlanta gets the ball backed up on their 10. Either be aggressive or be conservative.

- Saquon dropped a perfect pass, but what a HORRIBLE play call. Run it with Barkley, and if he gets stuffed, run it down to 1:00, take a timeout, and then go on 4th down. Our line was wining all night -- 2 chances to get 3 yards to end the game. If you were determined to throw it, throw it on 4th down.

- Our defensive line is an abomination. Carter, Davis, Huff, Sweat...they are giving us no pass rush and getting eaten alive on the ground. Booker, Williams, Ojomo and Graham are giving you more right now. If this is our D-line, we are not a serious contender. 

- Slay has to be better than that

- How do you keep giving Cousins the sideline throws on that last drive?

- We blitzed once, go burned for a TD, and never did it again. Actually, I remember one more where Cousins overthrew a WR (play where Maddox got hurt). How did we not bring pressure on Cousins once on the last drive?

 

My basic takeaway is we are not a serious contender with this defense. We might win the division, but we will be one and done in the playoffs. 

Id have to watch the all 22 version of last play but I’m pretty sure goedert was open or had a good amount of distance on the check down to get 6-7 yards and get out of bounds. 

2 minutes ago, RLC said:

Imagine blaming any unit by the defense last night. Unserious people.

His interception was pretty boneheaded. He deserves some blame. 

Let's blame the offense.

1 minute ago, NOTW said:

Really? Woah.

It's kinda up to interpretation I guess. I'll try to find a clip of it. Someone started asking about the decision to throw and who it came from and he kinda cut them off and said "Kellen Moore is the offensive coordinator, he calls the plays. I'm the head coach. Don't try to stir things up".

The defense was the main culprit, but I think if we're gonna be honest, the offense should be better with the weapons it has. There are offenses out there with half the weapons the Eagles have and lesser OLs that are slicing and dicing teams.

If you remove 2022 from the equation, which is looking more and more like just a lightning in the bottle outlier season, this offense has been totally unimpressive since Sirianni's been here. I mean, it was evident the offense was gross last year, the only reason everyone didn't jump fully aboard that train immediately was because of 2022 and holding out hope that would return at some point.

The Eagles offense is that girl you meet at a party who looks insanely hot because you're kinda drunk, so you start dating her, and every time after that she just never looks as sexy as she did at that party ever again. It was like a one time thing in the right lighting, just amount of drunkenness.

2 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

It's kinda up to interpretation I guess. I'll try to find a clip of it. Someone started asking about the decision to throw and who it came from and he kinda cut them off and said "Kellen Moore is the offensive coordinator, he calls the plays. I'm the head coach. Don't try to stir things up".

So he's not overruling Moore like he did to the other OCs?

 

So Moore is the idiot then

9 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

 

 

My basic takeaway is we are not a serious contender with this defense. We might win the division, but we will be one and done in the playoffs. 

As someone else had said, we are 2-9 in the last 11 games.  Forget serious contender..,they are a crap team until proven otherwise.  That’s a big sample size.

9 minutes ago, RLC said:

Imagine blaming any unit by the defense last night. Unserious people.

What? Defense is definitely blamed. However when you lead the league in turnovers since the start of 2023 and your turnovers/decision making are also a problem.

we can blame the defense. And we should for allowing the Falcons to march 70 yards in a minute and five seconds. Allow them to go 60 yards in 4 plays.

If you wanna sit there with your head in the sand pretending like leading the league in turnover since the start of last year and his decision making has been questionable at multiple times so far this season you go right ahead. I find it BS though because I’m guessing most people were grilling Carson wentz when he made poor decisions and leading the league in turnovers with a crap defense and an offense with far less talent in 2020

 

Where I stand on this team

 

The Eagles were charged with 12 missed tackles against the Falcons, according to @PFF. Six different players missed at least one.

The real issue is I don't know what the plan is from here. The offense is locked in for the next 2-3 years, and no one is really moveable given contract structures. And for the most part that's fine -- the offense is a top 10 unit in the NFL. But we have basically no salary cap space for the defense, and the high draft picks aren't producing. I have no idea what has happened to Carter, Davis just blows (and I liked the pick), Huff is invisible, Smith can't get pressure, etc. It's easy to say "they only gave up 22 points" but they are simply getting manhandled. 

Frankly, I'd give Ojomo, Williams, Booker and BG a ton more snaps. At least I see effort there.

1 hour ago, we_gotta_believe said:

Looks like you don't know the meaning of words...

 

Says the person who removed words that provided context with their meaning.