What I had concerns about trading AJ Brown

2 hours ago, paco said:

Hang in there. Focus on the positive. crap can feel like quicksand if you stare at your feet so try to keep your head up and keep a look out for all the good around you.

Appreciate that, man. I’m trying. Some days are easier than others, but yesterday was a good day. I’ll take the wins where I can get them.

14 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

So we don't actually know that they have other options along the OL. Given that the OL was bad last year (and they kind of had no choice but to run it back with the same 5), so much hype went into Kendall and Lampkin as "the difference" because the depth was so much better. One is a 2nd year UDFA while the other is a 2nd year 5th round pick. Just because a bunch of people said they had nice camps doesn't mean you actually want either one as a starting OL on this team. Neither are or ever will be a road grader, so we can forget about recreating 2024 running game and Barkley by making that switch. Bell and Morris are fun prospects, but they aren't ready to play this year.

So it's not as simple as just benching Dickerson and/or Jurgens.

But we know we don't want Landon starting if he's gonna play like that. He couldn't move. That was worst OG in the NFL level play. Kendall would have to be really bad to be worse.

2 minutes ago, krzyroone07 said:

For Dickerson in particular, can it really be any worse? If you take away the Jurgens penalties there wasn’t anything glaring from his performance, without having dug through the film. Dickerson however in space can’t move which without some help isn’t sustainable.

Fair point. The goal with Kendall is to be able to run the offense better without disruption. He's not going to excel in opening big holes for a run first attack. All the coaches talked about him in camp, but they aren't willing to put their money where their mouth is and play him.

Also weighing on this is Dickerson's contract and whispers of retirement. The Eagles tweaked Dickerson's contract this offseason the best they could to disentangle themselves from him in the long term future. Apparently, Dickerson retiring helps the Eagles more than cutting him this offseason. How they handle his usage this year could impact whether he retires or forces them to cut him.

7 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

What I had concerns about trading AJ Brown

Wicks had 77 yards and a TD in the first half before inexplicably never being targeted again. They can cloud smitty but wicks proved in the first half he's capable of winning 1 on 1 matchups, and goedert of course got a few in.

Week 1 that'll work, by week 5 if this iffense clicks teams won't be able to do that

5 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

But we know we don't want Landon starting if he's gonna play like that. He couldn't move. That was worst OG in the NFL level play. Kendall would have to be really bad to be worse.

I think the move is to start Dickerson next week and pull the plug mid-game if he continues to look like that.

I hate to even speak this into existence, but we all know the Lane situation. It would be nice to get the interior OL sorted out before the RT rotation kicks off.

9 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

What I had concerns about trading AJ Brown

Makes you wonder why Wicks had 0 targets for 2 1/2 quarters if coverage focused so much on Smith.

10 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

What I had concerns about trading AJ Brown

It shows that the Commanders respected Smith and no one else. The Hurts-Wicks connection did make them pay....but essentially with 1 play. If 1 becomes 2 and then 3, then this offense is going to be off to the races and teams will let up on Smith. If 1 becomes 0 against a defense that isn't bottom of the barrel, then we are in trouble.

People keep forgetting Mannion has never called plays. This is his 3rd year in the NFL as a coach overall, and first as an OC. Just a couple weeks ago he was trying out whether to call plays from the booth or sidelines because he's never done this before. People are scrutinizing everything, while at the same time for months we said it would take weeks into the season to really judge because it's all new.

Also after years of Stoutland they have a new OL coach and blocking scheme as well. Had they played starters in the preseason which they don't do anymore, it would have shown if Dickerson were healthy, how does Jurgens look, get Lemon touches in those games, and other things. But they don't, so regular season week 1 is also preseason action for them to learn from. I liked the old method of preseason where the starters got a half in a game to give the fans something to see, and for the coaches to evaluate and prep for the regular season. But they don't do that anymore so this is what we get. And yet, they won the game against a division opponent.

The defense we know will be great. DeJean is a great player, he had an off day. The D line was gassed, that conditioning will come.

I agree on Dickerson, it's not rust or lack of preseason games. He looked like his body just couldn't give the effort and hold up. He may be cooked. Like last year, a healthy backup is better than a talented starter who simply can't because of injury. Can't have a liability out there.

As people should have expected, there were plenty of issues and things to fix. They will review film, practice, make progress. Then we'll see how things go throughout the season.

Watching some of the clips back, I'm off two minds of Makai Lemon.

1) He DOES get open when he's not used as a LOS/screen player.
2) He's the worst type of player for Jalen.

Just a weird fit, and this was said the moment he was drafted.

Thoughts on the game…

• Hurts was damn good. Drive to drive, play to play, he exhibited a level of control of the offense that I haven’t seen from him in a long time. The 3rd and 18 run was vintage Hurts, and might have been faster than he’s been in a long time. The dime to Goedert in the end zone, that rocket down the field to Wicks, the Devonta toe drag pass. He was steady and had the wow moments.

• Mannion seems to be able to adjust. While the OL was just a big a problem as it was last year, Mannion was able to call a game around it even if it wasn’t pretty or maybe even the type of plays he wanted to call. That’s pretty big considering what we had to put up with last year from that bozo Patullo.

• That said, something’s gotta give on the OL. Dickerson looked horrible. I’ll give Jurgens a little more grace since he at least looks on the upswing from last year. But you can’t let these guys blow up your offense.

• Daniels did a great job escaping pressure, but more of those pressures have to turn into sacks. Ebiketie was out there 40% of the snaps, that surprised me.

• Baun was a force. Best LB we’ve had in decades.

One nice thing for the Eagles...the NFCE is going to give the NFC South a legit run for its money as the worst division in the NFL. Dallas/NY/DC are going to have as few combined wins their year as we've seen from them in a long time. 6-0 in the division is possible.

In the 2nd half, they targeted Smith and Goedert more. If they would have kept throwing to Wicks, fans would complain why were they forcing it to Wicks and not others. There were big plays to Goedert including a TD, a Smith had a 10 yard then 31 yard pass. So they were clouding Smith, yet they were able to get him the ball for some nice gains. They also tried (and failed) to get the screen game going by passing to Barkley and Lemon.

The OL also blocked poorly so when Hurts got sacked or had to take off to run for a first down, who knows what the plan was or who might have been targeted.

It's week 1. They got the ball in the hands of Wicks, Smith and Goedert, plus some screen attempts to Barkley, Shipley and Lemon. Hurts threw 3 TD passes. They won the game. New OC, new scheme, Mannion never called plays before. New OL, new blocking scheme. A mostly new WR group.

As expected, growing pains. As the weeks go on, defenses will have film on them and make their adjustments, and the Eagles Offense will review their own film to make adjustments to what they're doing and try to improve.

Btw week 1 last year Hurts has less pass yards, no pass TDs, the top receivers were Goedert with 7 catches for 44 yards and Jahon Dotson with 3 catches for 59 yards. AJ Brown had 1 catch for 8 yards, Smith had 3 catches for 16 yards.

26 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

What I had concerns about trading AJ Brown

It's good he's up for the challenge. A lot of us knew this would be the outcome

Always nice to see preseason champ Ty Robinson get zero defensive snaps.

I think I've upgraded myself to a certified Wicks hater. Outside of those 2 catches where Sainristill decided to not cover him, he was lining up incorrectly, dropping balls, and downright awful at blocking. There is no way this team can run a successful WR screen if you have Smith and Wicks out blocking in front.

I would really like to see Lemon run a route that's more than 5 yards deep. No clue what they are doing with him.

Wonder how much of the OL struggles had to do with Stoutland being gone.

Some people will say "Zero because the OL was bad last year." Last year it wasn't as good, but it wasn't that bad. That was the worst game I've seen the OL play in years. Last time they looked that bad was like 2020.

The thing about Stoutland was everyone was focusing on his impact as a talent developer. He was great at that. But a lot of people forgot the in-game aspect of his coaching. And guys yesterday weren't just getting beat, there looked to be a lot of confusion. When you are adopting a new scheme, wonder if we're seeing the value of Stoutland.

I don't think we know either way yet.

1 minute ago, wussbasket said:

Always nice to see preseason champ Ty Robinson get zero defensive snaps.

I think I've upgraded myself to a certified Wicks hater. Outside of those 2 catches where Sainristill decided to not cover him, he was lining up incorrectly, dropping balls, and downright awful at blocking. There is no way this team can run a successful WR screen if you have Smith and Wicks out blocking in front.

I would really like to see Lemon run a route that's more than 5 yards deep. No clue what they are doing with him.

The play calling was very conservative. I was not happy with it. It reminded me of last year.

So I'm starting to wonder do we just keep hiring OCs who are terrified or is this a Sirianni mandate that "We will win with great defense and not turning it over." Because they should have learned their lesson from last season. You can beat the middle of the pack and bad teams playing that way, but not the good teams. Against good teams you need to score and this "Let's throw a bunch of safe throws that will lose us yardage because they won't cause turnovers" is going to collapse at some point. This isn't sustainable.

I hope this was them just putting something on tape for later in the season or something, because there was very little I was impressed about with Mannion yesterday.

12 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

Wonder how much of the OL struggles had to do with Stoutland being gone.

Some people will say "Zero because the OL was bad last year." Last year it wasn't as good, but it wasn't that bad. That was the worst game I've seen the OL play in years. Last time they looked that bad was like 2020.

The thing about Stoutland was everyone was focusing on his impact as a talent developer. He was great at that. But a lot of people forgot the in-game aspect of his coaching. And guys yesterday weren't just getting beat, there looked to be a lot of confusion. When you are adopting a new scheme, wonder if we're seeing the value of Stoutland.

I don't think we know either way yet.

Stoutland only would run his scheme. So they never had to run a new scheme really. I can't blame the coach for what Dickerson looked like

13 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

Wonder how much of the OL struggles had to do with Stoutland being gone.

Some people will say "Zero because the OL was bad last year." Last year it wasn't as good, but it wasn't that bad. That was the worst game I've seen the OL play in years. Last time they looked that bad was like 2020.

The thing about Stoutland was everyone was focusing on his impact as a talent developer. He was great at that. But a lot of people forgot the in-game aspect of his coaching. And guys yesterday weren't just getting beat, there looked to be a lot of confusion. When you are adopting a new scheme, wonder if we're seeing the value of Stoutland.

I don't think we know either way yet.

For the OL, its a change of Coach, change of Blocking Scheme and O Scheme all at the same time. Many have mastered 1 scheme and had 1 position coach as an Eagle which creates habits and muscle memory. All gone now. Dickerson's role is entirely different than it was before.

12 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

The play calling was very conservative. I was not happy with it. It reminded me of last year.

We tried to throw.

The LOS passes gotta go though.

2 minutes ago, pgcd3 said:

Stoutland only would run his scheme. So they never had to run a new scheme really. I can't blame the coach for what Dickerson looked like

It wasn't just Dickerson, every OL gave up at least one pressure in that game. It was clearly more than just losing individual matchups. I don't think it's cause for alarm yet, but I'll say I'm tucking it away in the back of my mind for down the road that the worst the OL has looked in like 5 years is the first game without Stoutland.

Just now, Sack that QB said:

It wasn't just Dickerson, every OL gave up at least one pressure in that game. It was clearly more than just losing individual matchups. I don't think it's cause for alarm yet, but I'll say I'm tucking it away in the back of my mind for down the road that the worst the OL has looked in like 5 years is the first game without Stoutland.

We saw them struggle with blitz pickup in pre-season when the OL was otherwise dominating.

The scheme is supposed to be simpler- beat the man in front of you. But that gets muddied when there is more than 1 guy in front of you. Its going to take some time to gel with the new blocking scheme. Theyll figure it out I think. But Dickerson probably wont improve.

Tank getting one carry is once again, a f'n pitiful abysmal inexcusable joke. Abandoning Wicks after he was about to have a career day. Saquan getting hit over and over behind the line of scrimmage.Just give me a break. No matter what coordinator we have it's the same results. Is the analytical dept involved or something or someone behind the scenes? It doesn't make much sense.

It's gonna be hot in Tennessee on Sunday. Gonna be like a Tampa game.

Week 1 is always weird, and division games are always tough, so a win is a win. And there were plenty of things to like. But plenty to be concerned about as well, and it's time to say thanks and best of luck to one of our favorites.

Offense

• Overall, the boom or bust nature of the offense simply won't work over the long term. Winning a game, and outgaining the opponent, when we only had 10 first downs and forced zero turnovers...that can't have happened too often in history. But looking at the drives that failed:

  • second drive of game, set back by Jurgens hold and then the 5 yard loss on dumb screen to Lemon

  • 1st drive of 2nd half, -1 yard run and -3 on play to Lemon (theme here)

  • Next 2 drives, sacks and negative runs

• Let's just deal with it now - Landon Dickerson almost personally lost us this game. He is just unplayable, and we need to stop fooling ourselves. He was a warrior in 2024, but he wrecked his body and it's over. With no guaranteed money left after this year, you make him a post June 1 cut (hopefully he retires) and spread the $23.6mm in dead money out over 2 years (save $9mm in 2027, take $15.3mm in 2028). Kendall is a much better option. This is a test for Nick - will he do what needs to be done.

  • I thought, other than the 2 flags, Cam was better than last year and would have looked better if the guy to his left wasn't a turnstile. I'd give him more time

• Sorry @HazletonEagle, but Hurts basically single handedly won us this game on offense. The 3rd and 18 conversion saved the game, and he looked quicker overall. The 1st 2 TD throws were both high level - perfect placement to Goedert, and stood tall against a free rusher (thanks Landon) to hit Wicks. Reminded me of the game against Dallas last opening day when he basically willed the team to a win. To put up a 122 rating and 3 TDs with that OL debacle was unreal. And hopefully he'll get more comfortable going forward. Hurts was the biggest positive on offense by far.

• Hard to judge Barkley when they simply couldn't block. But on the few occasions where he had room, he looked decent. On one early run he basically ran into Smitty and tackled himself...

  • Also, we need to see more Tank

• Smith and Wicks did their jobs, and Goedert...thank God no one wanted to pay him this offseason. The manufactured touches for Lemon are too obvious. Again, Landon being a turnstile makes it hard to know what could have been if Hurts had more time.

Defense/Special Teams

• I "think" the defensive line played well despite the lack of sacks - Daniels was under constant pressure and only completed ~50% if his passes. But...they clearly got gassed in the 4th quarter. Part of that is week 1, it was hot, and Washington dominated TOP. Want to see the snap count analysis, but felt like JC barely came off the field (he was very disruptive). Thought Carter, Davis, Ojomo and Nolan played well, Hunt was a little disappointing given all the TC hype.

• Baun is just absurd. We may need to find a way to keep him after this year.

• Campbell had a bad mistake on a 3rd and long conversion. Otherwise, I thought he looked solid.

• Q and Riq completely shut down the outside receivers. McLaurin was a non factor all game.

• Coop...I think he may have hurt himself early in the game. But, this was a lot like when he played Thielen - shifty vet gives him the business. Diggs was eating him alive. Hopefully it was just a bad week.

• Felt like our kickoff coverage kind of sucked

Again, a win is a win. And I hate to just make it about one player but...Landon Dickerson is done.