28 minutes ago, Mike030270 said:

How can they attribute it to CTE when the sport itself can give CTE?

Because if a team supplies it and it helps them pass concussion protocol when they shouldn’t and they end up returning to the game, it opens the door of liability.

Imagine if down the line Tua ends up with CTE and passes away. The family can say the Dolphins are liable for providing something that may have helped him pass the concussion protocol test when he should have been pulled from the game. The NFL wants to avoid that situation before that happens.

6 hours ago, DrPhilly said:

I think we take them out this year. However, I can see losing to LA and being 3-2 in any case.

Stafford's back is a big question mark for LA. He's 37 and has a disc problem. That's not good.

2 hours ago, Utebird said:

Simon was such a wasted potential, his best year was his rookie year, where he he set his career highs in sacks and tackles after that while he was still productive was never as good as his rookie year and just got fatter and more useless year after year.

I think ojomo will be able to replace Ken Clarke😁

Ken Clarke, what an underrated nose tackle. He and Charlie Johnson were the best one-two punch at nose tackle in the late 70s.

23 minutes ago, just relax said:

Fine by me. My only real point is that Becton is much better than Steen. More expensive too and therein lies the rub.

In terms of power and speed they are far apart.

Yes and there arent too many guards in the league that can match Bectons power in the run game so...

Im fine with steen, while he wont move guys at the point like Becton( who does) Steen should be quicker out of his stance quicker at the point and quicker down field and should be fine in pass pro.

My thoughts on the changes on defense:

1. CB. I don’t like the Bennett trade because I’m a big Ringo fan and it’s not a great vote of confidence in him. I do like the Bennett trade because I do like Bennett quite a bit and it’s incredible value at a position of unproven competition for negligible cost. Just makes sense. Ultimately, I am confident they will get acceptable, and likely much more than that, CB play from CB2 this year.

2. Safety. Trust is the key word here. Trust in Fangio, trust in Dejean. Is DeJean CB2? CB3? S? All 3? It just seems that he is so versatile, so dynamic, and that Fangio has a feel for how to move him around without screwing him up. Some players get lost in that shuffle, others thrive off it. Between Dejean and Brown, I think they’ll be in a good spot here too.

3. Jalyx Hunt replacing Sweat. This one…forget about camp reports or preseason games that he won’t play in. We won’t know if Hunt is ready for this job until the real games start. I’m not necessarily expecting SB level Sweat, but the Sweat we typically saw in the regular season? I think he can be that.

4. Edge rotation. These guys suck. They were available off the scrap heap for a reason. And their lack of viability is going to translate to a lot of snaps for Smith and Hunt. Which leads to…

5. Campbell. If the Eagles defense (and maybe team) is to repeat 2024, they need Jihaad Campbell to be the LB version of Cooper Dejean. Needs to be an almost identical parallel. Probably misses time early and doesn’t do much of anything thanks to the injury. And then transforms the defense by nullifying a liability and adding a new dimension once he settles in. Is Dejean a CB, safety? How do you use him? Well…does Campbell need to be an off ball LB because that’s the open spot right now? Does he need to rotate as an edge because we have no one disruptive outside the starters? Can he do both? Is that an opportunity to get his feet wet…or make him drown? How they integrate Campbell into the defense may be the single biggest variable for the defense this year. Is he going to be a shot in the arm or completely neglected?

15 hours ago, pgcd3 said:

Ricks didn't sniff the field last year and despite no one stepping up this year he hasn't gotten a look with the 1's. Seems like Fangio isn't a fan to me. Similarly Ringo didn't get PT last year and he isn't grabbing hold of the starter reps. I don't think Ricks will be on the team and I don't think Ringo will be the starter

I agree with your bottom line on Ricks. I expect Howie to trade him in the next two weeks. I don’t agree with your bottom line on Ringo. I expect him to be CB2.

15 hours ago, UK Eagle said:

One of the Philly beat writers (forget who it was) suggested that Mukuba is the replacement for Blankenship leaving in FA. So Safety would be Coop and Mukuba in a base D

No idea who it was as I was on all hands and doom scrolling it away

The logic behind that suggestion is that both Mukuba and Blankenship fit the mold of a Free Safety more closely than Strong Safety. CJGJ was more of a Strong Safety than a Free Safety.

I’m not sure how to profile DeJean as a Safety.

13 hours ago, RememberTheKoy said:

I'd much rather keep Ricks than Jackson.

Why?

12 hours ago, LeanMeanGM said:

The way the beats are describing Sydney Brown in camp sounds like he's at least attempting to play the way Vic wants his safeties. They all said he hasn't had any egregious blown coverages or has been badly out of place during team drills.

The problem though is they also say he hasn't made any splash plays or done anything impressive. To me that sounds like he's not playing his natural style and instead making an overly conscious attempt to not screw up so much so that it's at his detriment in a way.

That seems like a good assessment, particularly your final point. With that said, I’m not overly concerned with that, if it is true. The reason is that learning comes from repetitions. Right now Sydney is thinking about what he is doing rather than simply doing it by instinct. The more reps he gets, the less he will think about what he is doing, and simply do it naturally.

JMO

12 hours ago, just relax said:

Good stuff. I think all three of us see something similar. What we call Coop tends to be limiting because he can do a variety of things, do them well, and his responsibilities may change from play to play. I think Fangio loves this and I think it will be a headache for opposing QBs and OCs,

I call him a monster back.

40 minutes ago, mattwill said:

I agree with your bottom line on Ricks. I expect Howie to trade him in the next two weeks. I don’t agree with your bottom line on Ringo. I expect him to be CB2.

I don't like the idea of trading CB6 until we know for sure that CBs1-5 are healthy.

The road to 23-0 starts today

3 hours ago, JamesK said:

Stafford's back is a big question mark for LA. He's 37 and has a disc problem. That's not good.

Yeah I saw that

11 hours ago, Iggles_Phan said:

I think its realistic to expect that they will lose the first two road games, and win the first 3 home games. KC wants revenge and this team just can't handle playing in Tampa. It's just not a good spot for this team. The Rams could steal their game, but a 1 PM EST start for a West Coast team is always tough. Taking that all into consideration... 2-3 is the worst I could see the Eagles starting, but I think 3-2 is extremely likely.

I said 5-0 before and I say it again now. KC may want revenge, but denying them that revenge is a statement on two levels (1) that we are the better team now, and (2) that the last game was not an anomaly.

Time to put the Tampa Bay history to bed. Again a statement.

6 hours ago, eagle45 said:

My thoughts on the changes on defense:

1. CB. I don’t like the Bennett trade because I’m a big Ringo fan and it’s not a great vote of confidence in him. I do like the Bennett trade because I do like Bennett quite a bit and it’s incredible value at a position of unproven competition for negligible cost. Just makes sense. Ultimately, I am confident they will get acceptable, and likely much more than that, CB play from CB2 this year.

2. Safety. Trust is the key word here. Trust in Fangio, trust in Dejean. Is DeJean CB2? CB3? S? All 3? It just seems that he is so versatile, so dynamic, and that Fangio has a feel for how to move him around without screwing him up. Some players get lost in that shuffle, others thrive off it. Between Dejean and Brown, I think they’ll be in a good spot here too.

3. Jalyx Hunt replacing Sweat. This one…forget about camp reports or preseason games that he won’t play in. We won’t know if Hunt is ready for this job until the real games start. I’m not necessarily expecting SB level Sweat, but the Sweat we typically saw in the regular season? I think he can be that.

4. Edge rotation. These guys suck. They were available off the scrap heap for a reason. And their lack of viability is going to translate to a lot of snaps for Smith and Hunt. Which leads to…

5. Campbell. If the Eagles defense (and maybe team) is to repeat 2024, they need Jihaad Campbell to be the LB version of Cooper Dejean. Needs to be an almost identical parallel. Probably misses time early and doesn’t do much of anything thanks to the injury. And then transforms the defense by nullifying a liability and adding a new dimension once he settles in. Is Dejean a CB, safety? How do you use him? Well…does Campbell need to be an off ball LB because that’s the open spot right now? Does he need to rotate as an edge because we have no one disruptive outside the starters? Can he do both? Is that an opportunity to get his feet wet…or make him drown? How they integrate Campbell into the defense may be the single biggest variable for the defense this year. Is he going to be a shot in the arm or completely neglected?

I don’t think Campbell will be a big factor at EDGE….at least not this year. Fangio is already signaling that.

But if he’s as good off ball as we are hearing, then maybe Baun is able to transition to more of the roamer that you are looking for. He has mentioned that he wants to rush more.

7 hours ago, eagle45 said:

My thoughts on the changes on defense:

1. CB. I don’t like the Bennett trade because I’m a big Ringo fan and it’s not a great vote of confidence in him. I do like the Bennett trade because I do like Bennett quite a bit and it’s incredible value at a position of unproven competition for negligible cost. Just makes sense. Ultimately, I am confident they will get acceptable, and likely much more than that, CB play from CB2 this year.

2. Safety. Trust is the key word here. Trust in Fangio, trust in Dejean. Is DeJean CB2? CB3? S? All 3? It just seems that he is so versatile, so dynamic, and that Fangio has a feel for how to move him around without screwing him up. Some players get lost in that shuffle, others thrive off it. Between Dejean and Brown, I think they’ll be in a good spot here too.

3. Jalyx Hunt replacing Sweat. This one…forget about camp reports or preseason games that he won’t play in. We won’t know if Hunt is ready for this job until the real games start. I’m not necessarily expecting SB level Sweat, but the Sweat we typically saw in the regular season? I think he can be that.

4. Edge rotation. These guys suck. They were available off the scrap heap for a reason. And their lack of viability is going to translate to a lot of snaps for Smith and Hunt. Which leads to…

5. Campbell. If the Eagles defense (and maybe team) is to repeat 2024, they need Jihaad Campbell to be the LB version of Cooper Dejean. Needs to be an almost identical parallel. Probably misses time early and doesn’t do much of anything thanks to the injury. And then transforms the defense by nullifying a liability and adding a new dimension once he settles in. Is Dejean a CB, safety? How do you use him? Well…does Campbell need to be an off ball LB because that’s the open spot right now? Does he need to rotate as an edge because we have no one disruptive outside the starters? Can he do both? Is that an opportunity to get his feet wet…or make him drown? How they integrate Campbell into the defense may be the single biggest variable for the defense this year. Is he going to be a shot in the arm or completely neglected?

SB Josh Sweat wasn't a real player. I loved him when he was hot. The problem with him though is that he would go long stretches of doing nothing. We'd get 8 games of where's Josh Sweat, then he'd bunch some sacks together and we think all is well.

I can't believe it's been 6 months. GAME DAY!!!!! We got those Bengals coming in. Looks like Burrow and company will be getting reps. They have started a horrible 1-9 over the 1st two weeks of the season the last 5 years. I do not expect to see any main starters as Nick has a long history of not playing starters in the preseason. Anyways, excited for this new year and new team. Not a fan of the Zig/Zag schedule they gave us with no back to back home games. Ironically the Preseason has back to back home games, lol. It's all good, as long as we get home field advantage again we'll get those home games back to back. Let's go.

Saw this on twitter. I would LOVE if the Phillies did this. They never will, but man the marroon just looks so damn good.

8 hours ago, eagle45 said:

My thoughts on the changes on defense:

1. CB. I don’t like the Bennett trade because I’m a big Ringo fan and it’s not a great vote of confidence in him. I do like the Bennett trade because I do like Bennett quite a bit and it’s incredible value at a position of unproven competition for negligible cost. Just makes sense. Ultimately, I am confident they will get acceptable, and likely much more than that, CB play from CB2 this year.

2. Safety. Trust is the key word here. Trust in Fangio, trust in Dejean. Is DeJean CB2? CB3? S? All 3? It just seems that he is so versatile, so dynamic, and that Fangio has a feel for how to move him around without screwing him up. Some players get lost in that shuffle, others thrive off it. Between Dejean and Brown, I think they’ll be in a good spot here too.

3. Jalyx Hunt replacing Sweat. This one…forget about camp reports or preseason games that he won’t play in. We won’t know if Hunt is ready for this job until the real games start. I’m not necessarily expecting SB level Sweat, but the Sweat we typically saw in the regular season? I think he can be that.

4. Edge rotation. These guys suck. They were available off the scrap heap for a reason. And their lack of viability is going to translate to a lot of snaps for Smith and Hunt. Which leads to…

5. Campbell. If the Eagles defense (and maybe team) is to repeat 2024, they need Jihaad Campbell to be the LB version of Cooper Dejean. Needs to be an almost identical parallel. Probably misses time early and doesn’t do much of anything thanks to the injury. And then transforms the defense by nullifying a liability and adding a new dimension once he settles in. Is Dejean a CB, safety? How do you use him? Well…does Campbell need to be an off ball LB because that’s the open spot right now? Does he need to rotate as an edge because we have no one disruptive outside the starters? Can he do both? Is that an opportunity to get his feet wet…or make him drown? How they integrate Campbell into the defense may be the single biggest variable for the defense this year. Is he going to be a shot in the arm or completely neglected?

Edge? OLB is more correct. That’s a better fit for Ojulari, Uche, and Okoronkwo. Hell, even Mathis. Not sure about APR and Patrick Johnson but they are probably destined for the PS. The first three have all started for other teams, albeit worse teams. But they are rotational relievers. Not as worried about that as you are. My biggest concern is can they seal the edge. I think that is where they will miss Sweat and BG, maybe.

16 hours ago, LeanMeanGM said:

I don't know what OASIS defense rankings are but

Maybe. Cooper DeJean is the one thats gonna save me. After all, he's our wonder wall.

An Oasis defence?

What is it about Fangio's scheme that makes him value position versatility so much? It seems as if he's placed a huge emphasis on LBs who can rush/drop in coverage (Baun, Campbell and even Hunt/Smith to a lesser degree) as well as DBs who can roam a bit (DeJean, McWilliams and Bennett).

Is it all about disguising coverages/blitzes? Or is there more to it than that?

8 hours ago, mattwill said:

Why?

Because Ricks has done nothing but play extremely well when he has been given the chance to get on the field in an actual regular season game. He is 24 so he still has upside. Adore Jackson is 30 and on the downside of his career. He was terrible in New York.

15 hours ago, Iggles25 said:

I heard the odor came from where he was sticking those pencils...

12 minutes ago, DEagle7 said:

What is it about Fangio's scheme that makes him value position versatility so much? It seems as if he's placed a huge emphasis on LBs who can rush/drop in coverage (Baun, Campbell and even Hunt/Smith to a lesser degree) as well as DBs who can roam a bit (DeJean, McWilliams and Bennett).

Is it all about disguising coverages/blitzes? Or is there more to it than that?

Lot's of content on that.

Basically, disguise coverages pre-snap, prevent explosive plays, make a team be mistake-free in order to score. Versatility allows him to have more flexibility in the blitzes, run fits, and coverages he wants post-snap.

Defensive Guru: Vic Fangio

Defensive Guru: Vic Fangio

There are a few thought leaders in all industries that set examples for the rest to try and duplicate. If you drill down to understand some of the key figures in defensive scheme,

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/3311028/2022/05/24/vic-fangio-defense-analysis/

SumerSports

Take a Bow, Vic Fangio

How Vic Fangio's defense changed my career path, the Philadelphia Eagles, and Super Bowl 59.

10 hours ago, LeanMeanGM said:

Because if a team supplies it and it helps them pass concussion protocol when they shouldn’t and they end up returning to the game, it opens the door of liability.

Imagine if down the line Tua ends up with CTE and passes away. The family can say the Dolphins are liable for providing something that may have helped him pass the concussion protocol test when he should have been pulled from the game. The NFL wants to avoid that situation before that happens.

I must have missed the part where smelling salts can help them pass a concussion test