7 minutes ago, Iggles_Phan said:

This team needs more offensive players with this type of mindset while on the field.  They just seem so passive.  

At least Reno knew when to catch a punt and when to let it bounce.   I'd take Reno Mahe level punt returning over what we have right now.

Fun fact: in 2005 Reno mahe led the entire nfl in average punt return yards at 12.8

43 minutes ago, greend said:

I like the violence that Jordan plays with. That dude is strong and mean.

Rugby players are not soft. 

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

Fun fact: in 2005 Reno mahe led the entire nfl in average punt return yards at 12.8

He did... very consistently got 13 yards... his long that year was like 40 yards, I think.  

He never scared anyone back there, but he could be counted on to catch the punt at the right time, and he would usually move it forward some.   Just the opposite of Greg Ward, who lets it bounce far too much and we lose an extra 5-10 yards in field position.

16 minutes ago, Iggles_Phan said:

He did... very consistently got 13 yards... his long that year was like 40 yards, I think.  

He never scared anyone back there, but he could be counted on to catch the punt at the right time, and he would usually move it forward some.   Just the opposite of Greg Ward, who lets it bounce far too much and we lose an extra 5-10 yards in field position.

I agree completely with the Greg Ward complaints...just a real coaching and personnel problem that an NFL team can't do better there.  However, PR is a position with rapid turnover (despite what Reno Mahe's multi year stranglehold on the job might suggest).  Given how far this team is from contention and the other talent problems, this doesn't really even register on the problem list.  They STILL need to revamp the WR corps and CB room, 2 positions that often supply the PR's.

I'm not sure why Boston Scott doesn't get looks back there.  He returns kicks, has good quickness, good speed, and isn't a regular starter in the offense.  It's also an opportunity to get Watkins' feet wet.

1 hour ago, greend said:

I like the violence that Jordan plays with. That dude is strong and mean.

Yea I think the more he plays the nastier he will get too.  His strength is unreal, he throws 300 lb guys around like they are twigs.  

2 things you will never see out of Dillard are a nasty streak and brute strength.  

52 minutes ago, Iggles_Phan said:

This team needs more offensive players with this type of mindset while on the field.  They just seem so passive.  

At least Reno knew when to catch a punt and when to let it bounce.   I'd take Reno Mahe level punt returning over what we have right now.

I wish we had Reno on opening day 2007.  

27 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

I agree completely with the Greg Ward complaints...just a real coaching and personnel problem that an NFL team can't do better there.  However, PR is a position with rapid turnover (despite what Reno Mahe's multi year stranglehold on the job might suggest).  Given how far this team is from contention and the other talent problems, this doesn't really even register on the problem list.  They STILL need to revamp the WR corps and CB room, 2 positions that often supply the PR's.

I'm not sure why Boston Scott doesn't get looks back there.  He returns kicks, has good quickness, good speed, and isn't a regular starter in the offense.  It's also an opportunity to get Watkins' feet wet.

I disagree.   I think a lot of the problems on offense in a fair number of games was exacerbated by the fact that they were starting with their backs on the goal line.  It really limits what an offense can do, and when the offense is struggling, and they refuse to run the ball... it just makes things worse.   The safety the other week, as an example.  Ward let that hit around the 12... and it bounced down to about the 2 or 3.  If he catches it at the 12, that safety is only a sack, or maybe, they have a little more confidence in something a bit more aggressive at the 12 than the 2, and they actually gain some yards on the first couple plays before 3rd and long comes.

 

The issue for me, is that having a 'qualified' PR who knows when to catch the ball is not that hard to learn.  Brian Mitchell never did it in college, as a former college QB... but he comes to the NFL, they teach it to him in a preseason and he goes on to have a borderline Hall of Fame career almost exclusively as a returner.  I'm not asking for (necessarily) a threat back there right now... but competence.   But, they do have Reagor.  And he did it in college.  So, how much harder would it be to do it in the NFL?  Not that much.  Yeah... he's not the most sure-handed.  Ok.  Who cares at this point?  Let him work in at it now.  But, even earlier... they had him out for a punt away from the goal line in the first game of the year.  They didn't like what they saw and immediately pulled the plug.  Greg Ward became the guy, but he's been absolutely awful.   They go back to Reagor, he gets them a TD... and they immediately go back to Ward again.   

 

The Greg Ward at PR issue is actually far less about Ward, and way more about coaching and roster construction.   He who can be trusted in little things, can be trusted in big things.  Whoever is incompetent in little things, will be incompetent in big things.   For that matter, Andy Reid demonstrated that he'd lost his way here, when he went away from Reno and turned over punt duties to Greg Lewis.  Meanwhile, he lasted 5 more years... but with diminishing returns.  2008 was a fluke ending where they barely even made the playoffs, benched their starting QB, etc.  2009 was the debacle in Dallas with the air guitar and losing back to back games to Dallas.  Then came 2010 and the Kevin Kolb experiment, turned to Michael Vick.   They were just sort of rudderless during that time until the plug was finally pulled after 2012.

Just now, 4for4EaglesNest said:

Wait, hold on.  You want Boston Scott to be the solution at PR?  Do you know why teams are kicking off short against us now?  Because they know Boston Scott will not get the ball pas the 25 yard line.  Boston Scott is terrible at KR.  Otherwise, teams would just kick the ball out the back of the end zone.  

Yup.  Watkins is an interesting name and one I brought up.  Why wasn't he working in a PR in practice while he was on the practice squad?   Just inexcusable.

20 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

Yea I think the more he plays the nastier he will get too.  His strength is unreal, he throws 300 lb guys around like they are twigs.  

2 things you will never see out of Dillard are a nasty streak and brute strength.  

Mailata is just a big human being, and reminds me of that old country boy 'Country Strong'.  He probably never really even lifted much until he got into the NFL.  Not as much need for it in rugby.

5 minutes ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

Wait, hold on.  You want Boston Scott to be the solution at PR?  Do you know why teams are kicking off short against us now?  Because they know Boston Scott will not get the ball past the 25 yard line.  Boston Scott is terrible at KR.  Otherwise, teams would just kick the ball out the back of the end zone.  

Our weapons suck.  Boston Scott is one of the best guys on our team with the ball in his hands. It is what it is.

25 minutes ago, Iggles_Phan said:

Yup.  Watkins is an interesting name and one I brought up.  Why wasn't he working in a PR in practice while he was on the practice squad?   Just inexcusable.

He also has experience in punt returning in college. So it really doesn’t make any sense if you don’t really want to use reagor all the time, you’re going to have him active now and he could have been learning to be a better punt returner

37 minutes ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

Wait, hold on.  You want Boston Scott to be the solution at PR?  Do you know why teams are kicking off short against us now?  Because they know Boston Scott will not get the ball past the 25 yard line.  Boston Scott is terrible at KR.  Otherwise, teams would just kick the ball out the back of the end zone.  

There are more teams kicking the ball high and short because they figured out that they can cover before the returner gets to the 25

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

He also has experience in punt returning in college. So it really doesn’t make any sense if you don’t really want to use reagor all the time, you’re going to have him active now and he could have been learning to be a better punt returner

Seems that Doug and Fipp are contented with below mediocrity results from Ward.  They have to be finished here, because there's no real drive to improve, to get better, to find ways to get the better athletes involved... just a rewind with Alshon Jeffery and Greg Ward.   It's ridiculous.  And that stupid win on Sunday just encourages more of the same stupid roster management... pushing the younger players that might actually have some upside down the depth chart, keeping them buried behind players that, frankly, have no real place on this roster for 2021.

1 hour ago, bpac55 said:

Yea I think the more he plays the nastier he will get too.  His strength is unreal, he throws 300 lb guys around like they are twigs.  

2 things you will never see out of Dillard are a nasty streak and brute strength.  

Yup. If they don't want to trade him, move him to the right side and train him there. He can take over for lane as he gets older and more prone to injury (that time seems to be fast approaching). Mailata has shown more in the short time he's had this season than Dillard has in his short time here, it should be mailata's spot to lose.

5 minutes ago, Iggles_Phan said:

Seems that Doug and Fipp are contented with below mediocrity results from Ward.  They have to be finished here, because there's no real drive to improve, to get better, to find ways to get the better athletes involved... just a rewind with Alshon Jeffery and Greg Ward.   It's ridiculous.  And that stupid win on Sunday just encourages more of the same stupid roster management... pushing the younger players that might actually have some upside down the depth chart, keeping them buried behind players that, frankly, have no real place on this roster for 2021.

I wonder if they think Ward is the most expendable if he gets injured on a punt return.

Just now, devpool said:

Yup. If they don't want to trade him, move him to the right side and train him there. He can take over for lane as he gets older and more prone to injury (that time seems to be fast approaching). Mailata has shown more in the short time he's had this season than Dillard has in his short time here, it should be mailata's spot to lose.

I wouldn't care if they moved Mailata to RT if Lane gets hurt. At least he's proven he can play the right side and RT has become more important since the defenses have changed.

Dillard may not be able to move to RT

Just now, devpool said:

Yup. If they don't want to trade him, move him to the right side and train him there. He can take over for lane as he gets older and more prone to injury (that time seems to be fast approaching). Mailata has shown more in the short time he's had this season than Dillard has in his short time here, it should be mailata's spot to lose.

The blind side days are over, many of the elite pass rushers play LDE or LOLB, so RTs now get paid similar to LTs.

Mailata is probably a better bet to move to RT, he held his own there and seems to be comfortable playing both sides, Dillard would have to commit a TC to the right side to get comfortable, and his skill set is more of a LT. If Brooks came back 100%, Brooks - Mailata - Goedert would cave in most team's left side of their defense - of course, a healthy Lane is merely a pro bowl RT.

We were discussing Jalen Hurts mobile QB's yesterday.  What do you guys think of Kyler Murray, another young, mobile QB?

Murray has rushed 115 times for 712 yards, 10 TD's but has also passed for 3231 yards , 23 TD's and 10 INT's, 67% completion % with a 94.7 QB ratings and 70 QBR.  

He already has close to 4000 yards of offense, 33 TD's on the season and still has 3 games left to play. 

Pretty impressive, imo. 

1 minute ago, Asg 15 said:

I wouldn't care if they moved Mailata to RT if Lane gets hurt. At least he's proven he can play the right side and RT has become more important since the defenses have changed.

Dillard may not be able to move to RT

 

Just now, austinfan said:

The blind side days are over, many of the elite pass rushers play LDE or LOLB, so RTs now get paid similar to LTs.

Mailata is probably a better bet to move to RT, he held his own there and seems to be comfortable playing both sides, Dillard would have to commit a TC to the right side to get comfortable, and his skill set is more of a LT. If Brooks came back 100%, Brooks - Mailata - Goedert would cave in most team's left side of their defense - of course, a healthy Lane is merely a pro bowl RT.

I just don't want them to move mailata to RT while lane is still here, it keeps him from playing. Mailata is better than dillard, based on what we've seen from both so far; he needs to be in the starting lineup.

The easier route is to put dillard at backup RT and let him get comfortable while lane is still at a pro bowl level, filling in for spot starts when lane is injured. When lane gets too broken or old, mailata will have had a lot of experience at LT and dillard should be ready to start at RT. Mailata and dillard at tackle for a good bit.

3 minutes ago, Ace Nova said:

We were discussing Jalen Hurts mobile QB's yesterday.  What do you guys think of Kyler Murray, another young, mobile QB?

Murray has rushed 115 times for 712 yards, 10 TD's but has also passed for 3231 yards , 23 TD's and 10 INT's, 67% completion % with a 94.7 QB ratings and 70 QBR.  

He already has close to 4000 yards of offense, 33 TD's on the season and still has 3 games left to play. 

Pretty impressive, imo. 

I'm pretty sure the bulk of his numbers came early in the season. Without checking, I'm pretty sure the last few weeks have not been good for him.

1 minute ago, devpool said:

I'm pretty sure the bulk of his numbers came early in the season. Without checking, I'm pretty sure the last few weeks have not been good for him.

Even if true, every QB has average/bad games mixed in, no?

I guess we'll see what he looks like first hand this week. 

A run dominant qb in his first year of being productive...Murray will fall apart eventually, just a question of when.

23 minutes ago, devpool said:

I'm pretty sure the bulk of his numbers came early in the season. Without checking, I'm pretty sure the last few weeks have not been good for him.

They were. Since the Hail Mary the cardinals offense had been struggling. The Rams game is deceiving cause they got garbage time stats when they were down 17 late in the second half. But even against the giants their offense wasn’t great. The giants ineptitude on offense with jones absolutely gassed their defense and put them in a bad position. The league caught up to kingsbury. He really hasn’t adapted his offense over the last couple weeks and they’ve not been as dynamic. Murray had a bit of a shoulder issue but it really wasn’t preventing him from throwing or running. Teams just prevented Murray from beating them with his legs and forced him to make throws from the pocket 

45 minutes ago, Asg 15 said:

There are more teams kicking the ball high and short because they figured out that they can cover before the returner gets to the 25

The cost/benefit on that one makes no sense to me.

10 minutes ago, Saltpeter said:

The cost/benefit on that one makes no sense to me.

Simple. If they can kick the ball high and get to the returner at the 15 or 20 they gain 5 or 10 yards.

They're probably also looking at the possibility of a fumble.