Weekly line thread: Eagles +7.5 home dogs vs. Ravens

[philafan4o8]

-7.5

[wyote]

2 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

But you can surely see that the roster is lets be honest not good at all...

LOL I see the same things you do. Maybe I interpret them a little less. But the main thing is, I don't know who made what decisions. I suspect the biggest problem may be Lurie himself, though it does look like Howie and Schwartz don't work together well. 

But as I see it, health is still the biggest problem the Eagles have. Are the injuries Howie's fault? Maybe. I don't know. All of TATE is pretending that injuries haven't cost the Eagles any games this year. A healthy O-line by itself might've made the difference between what we've seen and 4-0.  

I don't care if you want to scapegoat Howie. Nothing I could do about it anyway. Be careful not to make yourself part of the problem, though. You and I can't make any positive contributions to the personnel in the front office. We are a part of the fan base, though, and our attitudes affect the team from Lurie on down. 

I will go on hoping the Eagles succeed this week, and this entire year, and every week, every year. I don't hate Howie more than I love the Eagles. 

 

[Hawkeye]

55 minutes ago, wyote said:

LOL I see the same things you do. Maybe I interpret them a little less. But the main thing is, I don't know who made what decisions. I suspect the biggest problem may be Lurie himself, though it does look like Howie and Schwartz don't work together well. 

But as I see it, health is still the biggest problem the Eagles have. Are the injuries Howie's fault? Maybe. I don't know. All of TATE is pretending that injuries haven't cost the Eagles any games this year. A healthy O-line by itself might've made the difference between what we've seen and 4-0.  

I don't care if you want to scapegoat Howie. Nothing I could do about it anyway. Be careful not to make yourself part of the problem, though. You and I can't make any positive contributions to the personnel in the front office. We are a part of the fan base, though, and our attitudes affect the team from Lurie on down. 

I will go on hoping the Eagles succeed this week, and this entire year, and every week, every year. I don't hate Howie more than I love the Eagles. 

 

Injuries have decimated this team two years in a row.  I don't see too many signs that TATE is in denial. 

[CaliEagle]

I expect Baltimore's defense to play us tougher than Pittsburgh's' defense did. They know who Fulgham is now and they will scheme to limit him.  They might be willing to allow Ertz to get a few more catches vs. allowing Fulgham to tear them up.  We have trouble with outside containment on defense, so I expect them to run Lamar on QB sweeps and to run a couple of reverses to Duvernay. Andrews will tear up Gerry.  I think it will be around 27-13 game.  Baltimore should cover this one.

[wyote]

23 minutes ago, Hawkeye said:

Injuries have decimated this team two years in a row.  I don't see too many signs that TATE is in denial. 

I'd make a case it's been four years in a row. 

If we think a team with this much of its salary cap devoted to the injured list is going to be consistently good, which is apparently what we think given the weekly temper tantrums, we're in denial. 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

9 hours ago, wyote said:

But as I see it, health is still the biggest problem the Eagles have. Are the injuries Howie's fault? Maybe

Some yes, some no. When your roster relies on a deep threat WR who's missed games throughout his career through soft tissue injuries that's on Howie. Same with Alshon. Same with Peters. These are older guys who have missed time throughout their careers. That's absolutely on Howie. 

The OL is ageing and injuries are a problem across the OL. Coincidence? Maybe maybe not. But if we'd gone younger across the OL and then suffer injuries you can attribute that more to bad luck. 

If Howie could actually draft then we wouldn't be in such a mess both in terms of depth nor cap. 

[wyote]

1 hour ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Some yes, some no. When your roster relies on a deep threat WR who's missed games throughout his career through soft tissue injuries that's on Howie. Same with Alshon. Same with Peters. These are older guys who have missed time throughout their careers. That's absolutely on Howie. 

The OL is ageing and injuries are a problem across the OL. Coincidence? Maybe maybe not. But if we'd gone younger across the OL and then suffer injuries you can attribute that more to bad luck. 

If Howie could actually draft then we wouldn't be in such a mess both in terms of depth nor cap. 

In DJax and JP, at least, you do have a point. 

I'm not so sure those were 100% Howie's decision though. Like I said, I suspect Lurie's been exercising some unwise influence. I don't know, of course, and I'm not going to pretend to. 

I believe that not very many teams could suffer as many key injuries as the Eagles have over the past 4 years and be as successful as the Eagles have. To me, I see that, and I look around and wonder who gets credit for all that success. 

 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

1 hour ago, wyote said:

In DJax and JP, at least, you do have a point. 

I'm not so sure those were 100% Howie's decision though. Like I said, I suspect Lurie's been exercising some unwise influence. I don't know, of course, and I'm not going to pretend to. 

He's the GM... The buck stops with him there. Now if they fire Howie and then these similar decisions are made then fair enough we need to look at Lurie but at this point it's on Howie. 

[wyote]

5 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

He's the GM... The buck stops with him there. Now if they fire Howie and then these similar decisions are made then fair enough we need to look at Lurie but at this point it's on Howie. 

I don't know about you, but if I have a job like that, and my boss tells me to do something, I probably do it. 

Whose idea is it that the Eagles should be "a quarterback factory?" That seems like Lurie remembering back when Andy could turn guys like AJ Feeley and Kevin Kolb into 2nd round picks. 

Who said JP should be brought back last year, let alone this year? That seems like Lurie too. 

He didn't used to be that involved, he used to be a hands-off guy, but maybe the Super Bowl went to his head. Maybe it made him sentimental. Maybe he enjoyed the fans having such a good relationship with the team (for a change) and stepped in to try to hold on to it. I don't know, I'm not pretending to know what has been said to whom and when. But if he is actually that involved now, then -- on top of the injuries -- it's a wonder Howie and Doug have been able to keep the team are as good as they are. 

Again, I know I'm not talking you out of your hatred. He's a skinny little guy and a high-pitched voice who doesn't inspire respect. He looks like some guy most of our mothers-in-law wish their daughter had married. And you might actually be right about him. He might be the Rasputin of the NovaCare Complex. But there are other ways of seeing it, and no one on this board actually knows what has gone on, what thinking has been behind any of these decisions. Literally, for all we know, Howie wanted to draft DK Metcalf but got overruled, or Doug talked him out of it. If so, and if he were to peep about it publicly, he'd be fired and rightly so. 

 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

2 hours ago, wyote said:

I don't know about you, but if I have a job like that, and my boss tells me to do something, I probably do it. 

But you're assuming that is happening? And I'm saying at this point we can only go on Howie being a bad GM. If they fire Howie and bring in a new guy and the same things continue to happen then yes we need to look at the owner more. But right now I think we have to believe Howie is making the calls. 

[wyote]

6 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

But you're assuming that is happening?

I'm not the one making assumptions. I don't pretend to know who's decided what or what their reasons were or what the discussion was or who was involved. 

You're the one whose statements imply you know who has been responsible for various decisions. 

6 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

 And I'm saying at this point we can only go on Howie being a bad GM. If they fire Howie and bring in a new guy and the same things continue to happen then yes we need to look at the owner more. But right now I think we have to believe Howie is making the calls. 

This we/they mixup here is interesting. WE don't have anything to "go on." WE aren't firing Howie. WE literally cannot "look at the owner" because WE don't know crap. WE don't "have to believe" anything. 

THEY who might or might not fire Howie know stuff that WE don't know. THEY have stuff to go on. THEY have actual reasons to believe X or not-X. Reasons that, barring a complete organizational meltdown, WE will never know anything about. 

THEY are Lurie and the people he trusts most. WE don't know them. 

WE are only fans, no matter how much more important WE imagine ourselves to be. WE don't do poop except cause trouble pretending to know things we don't know as we rabidly demand scapegoats to be sacrificed to our out-of-control emotions. 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

6 hours ago, wyote said:

You're the one whose statements imply you know who has been responsible for various decisions. 

No I'm not saying I know. I'm saying Howie is the GM so based on what we know the GM job to be the buck stops with him. We don't know how much influence Lurie is having but we do know that Howie is the GM and therefore it is his job to build the roster. 

[EaglesRocker97]

I think we're gonna win and keep Jackson on his downward slide. Only thing that concerns me is Andrews against our LBs, and it's a significant concern.

[wyote]

On 10/15/2020 at 3:28 PM, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

No I'm not saying I know. I'm saying Howie is the GM so based on what we know the GM job to be the buck stops with him. We don't know how much influence Lurie is having but we do know that Howie is the GM and therefore it is his job to build the roster. 

I respect you too much to think you're actually that naive about the significance of a job title. If Lurie says bring back JP, Howie's job is to bring back JP. If Lurie says to draft Hurts if he's available in the second round, Howie's job is to draft Hurts if he's available in the second round. If Schwartz says he wants LJ Fort gone yesterday, Howie's job is to cut him. Even if Howie supposedly has the final say in something, when Doug pounds a table, Howie says yessir. 

If I were as confident as you are that the problem is Howie, I'd want him fired too. 

If I were confident that the problem is someone or something other than Howie, I'd want that fixed. 

I guess I follow the team about as closely as you do, and I suspect the problem is not Howie. My suspicion is that (a) the problem's not as bad as the injuries make it look; (b) Lurie himself is part of the problem because he's been too involved in decision making; (c) regardless of job titles, Howie lacks the personal authority or assertiveness to make actual personnel decisions, so the reality is that he is usually simply a secretary for Doug and Jim. 

If I were advising Lurie, one of the key qualifications I'd look for in a coach and GM is someone who can also command a little respect from the fans. No coach or GM in the Lurie era -- no one since Buddy Ryan -- has been able to do so. I don't know whether that has affected Lurie's bottom line, but I believe it has sometimes adversely affected the team's on-field performance. 

 

 

[LacesOut]

Ravens have 2 good TEs to worry about and try to cover. Ugh.

[UK_EaglesFan89]

54 minutes ago, LacesOut said:

Ravens have 2 good TEs to worry about and try to cover. Ugh.

Umm we have Nate Gerry. We are fine there...

🤥

[NCTANK]

Ravens by 14+

[UK_EaglesFan89]

1 minute ago, NCTANK said:

Ravens by 14+

I don't think so... At first I did. At first I thought it would be utter humiliation but... Nope. It'll be close. 

[NCTANK]

1 minute ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

I don't think so... At first I did. At first I thought it would be utter humiliation but... Nope. It'll be close. 

you’re right, i forgot about Schwartz.

[CaliEagle]

I think the only way we win this game is if we can jump up by 2 TDs really early. I'm not convinced that the Ravens are the type of team that can come back from big deficits. They are at their best when they get a lead and then mix the run with playaction.   I don't think we win though.  Our defense struggles with contain and the Ravens will run rollouts with Lamar and reverse action to guys like Duvernay and that will test containment on both sides. We lack discipline with outside contain and then when you combine that with Gerry trying to cover the TE, it's a bad recipe.  Plus, what adjustment is Jim going to make after last week? They just let Big Ben throw short little crossers and slants all game without doing anything to force him to hold the ball longer.

[Cochis_Calhoun]

14 hours ago, CaliEagle said:

I think the only way we win this game is if we can jump up by 2 TDs really early. I'm not convinced that the Ravens are the type of team that can come back from big deficits. They are at their best when they get a lead and then mix the run with playaction.   I don't think we win though.  Our defense struggles with contain and the Ravens will run rollouts with Lamar and reverse action to guys like Duvernay and that will test containment on both sides. We lack discipline with outside contain and then when you combine that with Gerry trying to cover the TE, it's a bad recipe.  Plus, what adjustment is Jim going to make after last week? They just let Big Ben throw short little crossers and slants all game without doing anything to force him to hold the ball longer.

Apparently the over/under is 0% adjustment

[UK_EaglesFan89]

15 hours ago, CaliEagle said:

Plus, what adjustment is Jim going to make after last week? They just let Big Ben throw short little crossers and slants all game without doing anything to force him to hold the ball longer.

They need to not be so aggressive and not commit so much to what they think Lamar is going to do. If they do then he'll rip them apart with his legs. 

[Hawkeye]

As of this morning the line has moved to Ravens -10 (a little 9.5 available too).

When was the last time the Eagles were ten point home dogs?

[NCTANK]

3 hours ago, Hawkeye said:

As of this morning the line has moved to Ravens -10 (a little 9.5 available too).

When was the last time the Eagles were ten point home dogs?

they were 9 point home dogs against the Gmen in 05, but 10? i dunno

[ManchesterEagle]

2 hours ago, Hawkeye said:

As of this morning the line has moved to Ravens -10 (a little 9.5 available too).

When was the last time the Eagles were ten point home dogs?

Sad, but we are playing against the best regular season team of the past couple of years, do not have the usual homefield advantage, only have one win and are decimated by injuries.

The offense has 7, debatably 8 starters out. The D has been neglected for years so that we have scrubs at linebackers and in most starting secondary positions. 

This is still a dangerous Eagles team. If the offense can somehow get to an early lead and the D-Line can take over we have a chance. But everything points to a comfortable Ravens win.