1 hour ago, Iggles_Phan said:

Notice that Fulgham isn't body catching everything?  He's using his hands... like a real WR.  Most of the rest are just cradling the ball to their chest, and if the ball isn't on their chest, they can't make the catch.... like Hightower on that deep ball in the end zone.  If he attacks the ball with his HANDS, then he might have had a chance to make a difficult catch.  BUT... if he doesn't and tries to bring his chest up to the ball, then he whiffs completely.    Routinely, week in and week out, I see WRs make hands catches and help their QB out quite a bit.  Not every ball is going to be perfectly placed, by any QB.  And when that QB has to move around in the pocket to stay alive, because his OL is struggling to keep him clean, then that's going to make the balls a little less accurate.  Football is the ultimate TEAM sport.   ALL 11 need to do their job for it to work.  If only 5 guys out there are doing their job well, then EVERYONE suffers for it.

Both Hightower and Watkins were a bit of body catchers in college.  Both can and have caught with their hands.  Ward is a hands catcher and both TEs are although all body catch at times.   I would note that on the long touchdown to Fulgham, he bobbled the hand catch and then cradled into his body.  JJAW tries to be a hand catcher.  Jeffery and DJax are hand catchers.  One of the reasons Hightower and Watkins slid was their tendency towards body catching.  

16 minutes ago, downundermike said:

Lane's contract makes him untradeable this year.  We go from 17 million under the cap to 11 million over the cap if we trade him if I a reading OTC correctly.

That seems to be correct.  If its a post-June 1 trade, he becomes an $8M cap hit in 2021, and a $21M cap hit for 2022 (an extra $7M over his current value).

3 minutes ago, BigEFly said:

Both Hightower and Watkins were a bit of body catchers in college.  Both can and have caught with their hands.  Ward is a hands catcher and both TEs are although all body catch at times.   I would note that on the long touchdown to Fulgham, he bobbled the hand catch and then cradled into his body.  JJAW tries to be a hand catcher.  Jeffery and DJax are hand catchers.  One of the reasons Hightower and Watkins slid was their tendency towards body catching.  

Absolutely.  Toughness seemed to be questioned a bit (or at least maybe fragility to hold up... both are built very thinly).  But, I like the tenacity I've seen from Hightower on runs and him getting a personal foul (offsetting) last week in the early going actually made me happy.   

1 hour ago, PrinceKelby said:

Crying for Toohill? A 7th rd Barwin pick for a guy who was arguably our top 2 or 3 best D players last year?

Give me Curry over a 7th rounder all day. 

I had no idea Toohill had fans here. 🤣

Toohill is potential as a pass rush specialist. Avery beat him out for that position.  Always believed he would be a PS candidate.  They spent the money on Vinny and he was playing.  I have no issue with him as a rotational player at this point.  Interesting that the Eagles are moving towards having the most Philly homeboys that wanted to play for their team as active. 

3 hours ago, MediterraneanDiet said:

So you post about Sidney making plays stating you told us so and then? 

I never said I told anyone anything, it was a head scratching move at the time. It wasn't the right draft pick. Our inept coaching staff just compounded the situation. 

3 hours ago, greend said:

So Schwartz and Howie injured the guy every freaking year?

Never should of drafted a guy in round two who was 5 weeks fresh off a achilles year. Pretty simple 

 

Just now, ManuManu said:

 

Welp, see ya next year Lane.

 

This team needs a better strength and conditioning program to go with the better training staff.   How are there so many soft tissue injuries?    We need to bring back the Smoothies from the Chip era!    (Maybe the only thing he ever got right)

2 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

 

Who will be the RT for the rest of the year?

Just now, ManuManu said:

 

Could Will Parks fill the Gerry vacancy? 

It's funny reading over the different takes in the blog. It seems many want the Eagles to copy the Patriots style of team building and management, whereby once you hit a certain age or your talent may start to be slipping, you are shipped off for draft picks. I understand the thought process here, and for the Patriots, it largely seems to work, though I think Belicheck is the main driver of that. From the outside looking in though, as a fan above all else, cheering for the Patriots just doesn't seem fun or enjoyable. Sure, there's all the Super Bowls and success, which is obviously the ultimate goal. But even Lane threw shade at them in the Super Bowl run-up, calling them a "fear-based" culture. I think he hit the nail on the head. The Pats by and large are mercenaries. Guys go there to get a ring, and then quickly leave. As a fan, who on the Pats would be favorites? Gronk I suppose, for his outsized personality. Before that, maybe Teddy Bruschi? Rodney Harrison? Vince Wilfork? Troy Brown? I don't think Brady is very likeable at all from a fan perspective. He seems so robotic and, just, I dunno. (On the flipside, Peyton is extremely likeable). 

As far as the Eagles go, there's tons of characters over the years. Lane, Kelce, Graham, Dawkins, Djax, Peters, etc (I'll keep it to since 2000, to keep up the comparison with the Pats). Hell even Mills is enjoyable as a fan, he has short comings of course, but he's certainly got the right attitude a corner needs in this league. That 2017 run and win was insanely enjoyable as a fan, because the guys on the team were fun to root for. The story was great (hungry dogs and all that). And against seemingly all odds they really did it (though pre Wentz injury, they were by far the best team in the league). 

Teams need to be rebuilt and retooled, and yes at some point aging vets need to move along for younger guys to step in. But when names like Cox and Lane start getting thrown around, it feels like the fans want us to be in the mold of the Patriots. I for one, don't want that. It's been frustrating this year watching the team, no doubt. But you know what? I watched that miked up segment from Fletch against the 49ers, and goddamn if it didn't get me enjoying the team again. I like cheering for most of these guys. Gerry can pound sand, but otherwise, I don't want to just trade willy nilly for draft picks, when the draft is such a major unknown. And I refuse to just give up on this season - yeah, it's extremely unlikely we win the Super Bowl this year, but cheering for draft positioning when we aren't eliminated is the antithesis of fandom, to me anyway. 

As somebody born and raised in Toronto, the Bills have always been the "hometown" team. The Bills haven't hosted a playoff game in ages. This year seemed like it was gonna be the year that they might get one. Bills games are an absolute blast to go to, the fans are way into the team and everybody generally is there to have a good time. COVID has ruined the dream of attending this year, but I think some of you Philly based fans forget what it's like to not have playoff home games. I've never been to a playoff game, the atmosphere seems electric and insane. As a fan, that's the memories I want. Attending playoff games and cheering till I got no voice left. Not figuring out which under sized RB we're gonna take with that 4th round pick Howie got for trading Ertz at the deadline. 

Criticism of the team and management is totally fair and needed. Nothing is perfect nor rosy, and hell yeah there's a ton of issues with the current roster. I guess the whole point of this rambling post is that sometimes you need to stop and see the forest from the trees. Some bloggers seem so eager and keyed up on how 2021 and beyond are going to shakedown, that they don't even realize why they were fans of the team to begin with. They seem more interested in cap numbers and what value guys will bring in trades, that they don't seem to be cheering for anything but how smart they can be. Just my two cents is all. 

 

 

 

 

2 minutes ago, Iggles_Phan said:

This team needs a better strength and conditioning program to go with the better training staff.   How are there so many soft tissue injuries?    We need to bring back the Smoothies from the Chip era!    (Maybe the only thing he ever got right)

What is Chip doing now? Maybe Lurie can pony up some dough and offer him the job of Chief Smoothie Officer.

3 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

 

I have zero interest in Bell, maybe even negative interest.

5 hours ago, greend said:

Like the o-line or the receivers? Both have held up okay with tons of injuries. How about d-line?  In fact without q.b. depth in 2017 we don't win the super bowl. Depth isn't the problem in my book, some of the starters on the defense and offense might be though.

So the depth isn't the problem, the OL held up well, the WRs held up OK, Wentz is nearly elite...so are we 1-3-1 because of Nate Gerry?

15 minutes ago, greendestiny27 said:

Never should of drafted a guy in round two who was 5 weeks fresh off a achilles year. Pretty simple 

Well he's gone now so let's pretend the draft never happened. Confused as to why him playing better on another team upsets you then?

27 minutes ago, Iggles_Phan said:

Absolutely.   The RG position is the weakest link.   Driscoll had his share of rough snaps.  A couple times Mailata got beat with the speed of Dupree.  But, by and large, PASS protecting, they did very well (grading on a curve here).  The run game is another story altogether.  Other than the perfect call at the perfect time with that draw to Sanders (and a great block by Kelce)... there was ZERO running game.  Not a minimal running, literally ZERO.   Sanders had 10 other carries for 6 yards. Scott was 1 for 3.  Wentz had 4 for 11.

 

But, the Steelers are REALLY good against the run, so that was to be expected to an extent.  But, only 20 yards on 15 carries is abysmal.

Up to sunday the Steeler were averaging 54 yds per game on the ground. So yeah, i'd call that really good.

Just now, eagle45 said:

So the depth isn't the problem, the OL held up well, the WRs held up OK, Wentz is nearly elite...so are we 1-3-1 because of Nate Gerry?

Wentz hasn't played elite this year so stop being silly (which I have openly admitted). And yes Nate Gerry, Alshon, Jackson, Peters, Dillard and other starters are the issues right now. You rarely have backups that play as good as starters and you rarely have to go to practice squad players after backups to backups go out. Depth is fine

5 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

So the depth isn't the problem, the OL held up well, the WRs held up OK, Wentz is nearly elite...so are we 1-3-1 because of Nate Gerry?

Had Wentz played in games 1-3, the way he played in games 4-5, we'd be 3-2 at worst.

 

Just now, Bacarty2 said:

Doubt it

Play calling. Unless we completely over match the team talent wise Doug cant get people open. 

We definitely overmatched the Steelers’ elite defense with *checks notes* Travis Fulgham, Greg Ward and John Hightower. 

2 minutes ago, RLC said:

Had Wentz played in games 1-3, the way he played in games 4-5, we'd be 3-2 at worst.

That's likely true.