EMB Blog: 2021 Offseason

[Iggles_Phan]

6 minutes ago, TorontoEagle said:

Not really. Desean was a great player, absolutely. Hill already has 3 seasons that eclipse Desean's best season. I think Hill is a far better WR than Desean was, actually. 

As a versatile piece, Hill is better.   As a pure deep threat, Hill has a ways to go to pass Desean.  

[ManuManu]

23 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

And the Colts pass defense was basically middle of the road.  Sorry, I want better than that.

They had little in the way of edge rusher. 

[Iggles_Phan]

1 minute ago, ManuManu said:

Oh cripes. Box score scouting. Who is saying Hightower or Watkins aren’t JAGs too?

How much did Howie get killed in here for drafting Dickerson?

Well, if he were taking these risks in Round 3 instead of Round 2, I think that would be a better spot to take that sort of risk, especially in Round 3 at pick 85 versus Round 2 at pick 37.  

[Saltpeter]

12 minutes ago, WentzFan11 said:

 

Disrespecting DeSean. 

Post is obvious bait. Look at that dude's picture for christ's sake. I hate Twitter.

12 minutes ago, WentzFan11 said:

 

Disrespecting DeSean. 

 

[ManuManu]

1 minute ago, Iggles_Phan said:

Well, if he were taking these risks in Round 3 instead of Round 2, I think that would be a better spot to take that sort of risk, especially in Round 3 at pick 85 versus Round 2 at pick 37.  

Sure, but he would have been killed for it nonetheless. Blackmon was looked at as a reach in round 3 too. 

[Iggles_Phan]

3 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

Sure, but he would have been killed for it nonetheless. Blackmon was looked at as a reach in round 3 too. 

I'm not discussing the individual players, I'm discussing the issue of the risk-reward assessment.   At pick 85, an injury risk is significantly less investment than 37, which is why Howie got criticism for Dickerson there.    

[Guest justrelax]

4 minutes ago, Iggles_Phan said:

I'm not discussing the individual players, I'm discussing the issue of the risk-reward assessment.   At pick 85, an injury risk is significantly less investment than 37, which is why Howie got criticism for Dickerson there.    

If the reward is high, the risk tolerance is high as well.

[bpac55]

2 minutes ago, TorontoEagle said:

Are you sure you wouldn't be happier cheering for the Cowboys/Giants/Team? You seem to really fawn over their roster building, yet you constantly ignore the fact that their on field results are actually putrid. 

Not to say the Eagles don't have issues, we certainly do, but I cannot for the life of me understand this obsession you have with the other NFC East teams and how they're run. For the better part of 30 years now they've been mostly horrible, with the Giants being an exception. 

I see nothing wrong with looking at what our rival teams do and comparing it to what the Eagles do.  If you're referring to my previous post rather than the one you quoted what I was showing that every team in the NFCE made better and more aggressive moves than the Eagles when it comes to addressing the defensive backfield.  

As of late, while I hate those teams, I do think they have made better moves than the Eagles.  It sucks to admit it but it's the truth.  In no way am I saying that the Eagles should emulate those teams and build their rosters the same way but when you look at the teams they are putting together the Eagles are clearly at the bottom looking up. 

I think some people are so hung up on their Eagles fandom they can't admit when other teams do good things.  I was also pointing out the investments made in the defensive backfield, I wasn't saying I want every player they have.

The fact of the matter is the Eagles have done the bare minimum in trying to improve CB and S which could be their weakest position group on the team. The rest of the NFCE, who already had pretty strong defensive backfields (Dallas is on part with the Eagles) continued to use more resources than the Eagles to improve their secondary.  

The Eagles roster sucks.  Point blank.  I've also said this time and time again.  I'm a bigger college football fan than pro football.  There are college players I love to watch who have gone on to teams I hate.  I can still hate the team but like a player.  I hate that Dallas has CeeDee Lamb and I really wanted Jabril Cox.  I love Saquon Barkley.  You can say they overdrafted him but who cares, he's an incredible talent.  Chase Young is a guy I'd love to see in midnight green.  

 

[Guest]

 

[bpac55]

20 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

Oh cripes. Box score scouting. Who is saying Hightower or Watkins aren’t JAGs too?

How much did Howie get killed in here for drafting Dickerson?

Well I just did.  There's nothing wrong with box score scouting, it just sucks when it shows that the players we have aren't that great. 

Howie did get killed in here but are you talking about the EMB, Philly media? 

[BigEFly]

33 minutes ago, justrelax said:

Brining poultry can mean a couple of things. Traditional brines - salt and water - do two things: they oversalt the bird and they add water, which has no intrinsic taste. You think it's juicier but it's not; it just has added water. And all that salt makes the pan drippings unusable. Your gravy thus is over salted or store-bought. Another thing: the brine does not penetrate the skin and when you remove the bird from the brine and pat it dry (which you better do or the skin won't get crispy) all the salt and flavors just fall away. You and @BigEFly inject, which is more effective but you're still oversalting and adding water, not flavor.- At least you're getting past the skin.

Dry brining, OTOH, is quite useful and, as I mentioned in my post, I put it under the skin. It's barely a brine at all, really just seasoning.. Most people would call it a rub. I do not use an acid.

The one concession I make to brining is for fried chicken, which I soak in buttermilk (buttermilk is an acid). This does impart flavor as the skin is not washed and patted dry after brining but instead is dipped in an egg wash and rolled in seasoned panko breadcrumbs before frying.

I lightly brine (less salt, always coarse kosher, and less than an hour). I do that with chicken I am grilling and sometimes with the convection oven. I air dry rather than pat down and tend to rub it and then mop it on the grill.  I inject sauces only in chicken, usually barbecue sauce but sometimes white wine sauce on skinless, boneless breast as it is so hard to get flavor in whole ones. (I prefer if I am grilling boneless skinless chicken breast to fillet and flavor mainly with smoke, like applewood, cherry or a combination with hickory.  Then eat with a good sauce, like hatch, tomatillo, for example.) I brine a whole bird is when I rotisserie it for the most part. I have tried it with roast chicken but that I prefer with a fresh herb rub under the skin. Rotisserie chicken needs the water to hold the moisture (fat) and run over the chicken. I am more inclined to grill thighs, drumsticks, including leg quarters, and wings than breasts. More flavor in dark meat.  Too many people over brine their meat.  I want the salt to enhance the flavor, not be the flavor.  Dark meat tends to have a bit more fat than a breast. I want that to flavor the meat.   Do you ever do an apple cider vinegar based mop?

I assume that fried chicken is pan fried in cast iron.   I like a seasoned flour breading but use panko at times, especially in chicken Parmesan.  I too will soak in buttermilk. 

There are some tricks to pushing flavor into meat.  Injection.  Rub and let it sit (in the refrigerator). Using a vacuum sealer to marinade.  The latter with a pounded boneless skinless chicken breast can work but it still needs to be cooked with spices or a pan sauce. 
 
Meanwhile, my lettuce is going strong in the garden as is the spinach. So the greens for my chicken street tacos tonight or tomorrow will be fresh from the garden. 

[BigEFly]

I think the NFL projection on WRs and CBs is out of date.  Shorter means slot to them.  That’s just not the case.  This season because of the success AR has had and what is coming out of the college ranks, teams focused on speed and accepted height limitations.   The Eagles have focused a bit on speed at CB.  All are low 4.4 guys.  

[TorontoEagle]

5 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

I see nothing wrong with looking at what our rival teams do and comparing it to what the Eagles do.  If you're referring to my previous post rather than the one you quoted what I was showing that every team in the NFCE made better and more aggressive moves than the Eagles when it comes to addressing the defensive backfield.  

As of late, while I hate those teams, I do think they have made better moves than the Eagles.  It sucks to admit it but it's the truth.  In no way am I saying that the Eagles should emulate those teams and build their rosters the same way but when you look at the teams they are putting together the Eagles are clearly at the bottom looking up. 

I think some people are so hung up on their Eagles fandom they can't admit when other teams do good things.  I was also pointing out the investments made in the defensive backfield, I wasn't saying I want every player they have.

The fact of the matter is the Eagles have done the bare minimum in trying to improve CB and S which could be their weakest position group on the team. The rest of the NFCE, who already had pretty strong defensive backfields (Dallas is on part with the Eagles) continued to use more resources than the Eagles to improve their secondary.  

The Eagles roster sucks.  Point blank.  I've also said this time and time again.  I'm a bigger college football fan than pro football.  There are college players I love to watch who have gone on to teams I hate.  I can still hate the team but like a player.  I hate that Dallas has CeeDee Lamb and I really wanted Jabril Cox.  I love Saquon Barkley.  You can say they overdrafted him but who cares, he's an incredible talent.  Chase Young is a guy I'd love to see in midnight green.  

 

All 3 of the other teams in this division have massive issues as well, that you gloss over in your admiration for their defensive backfields. In fact the Football Team's secondary was not very good last year if I remember correctly. 

The Cowboys have an aging o-line that gets worse year over year. They have a handful of headcases, which has been their MO since Jerry took over. But even last year, with a healthy Dak, they still sucked. They should have lost their first four games if not for Atlanta (the 4th worst team in the league) having yet another second half meltdown. But sure, the return of Dak fixes all of their problems. Not like his insane stats were inflated last year because they were down by huge deficits in the first half. 

The Giants have Daniel Jones still, who is not good. If he was the QB for the Eagles, the vitriol thrown at him would be crazy high. Their o-line is also not good. They have a handful of average to above average WRs, and Golloday isn't exactly a picture of health. Sure they have a far better secondary than us....but so what? 

Then there's the Football Team. Fitzpatrick at QB means they aren't winning jack. The guy will have some monster games early in the year, get everybody jacked up....then he'll proceed to start throwing 3-5 INTs every week and they'll flame out. It happens basically everywhere he goes. So all those shiny new toys they have won't mean much when he's throwing it to the other team. They do have a dominant d-line, that they built up by being arguably the 2nd worst (behind only Detroit) franchise in the entire league the last 30 years. That d-line is so dominant it will probably carry them to the division title this year, but it's no guarantee. 

Of course all 3 teams have good players and make good moves. I have no problem acknowledging that they do. But by and large, again, over the last 30 years really, only the Eagles and Giants have any modicum of success. The likelihood of the East being the worst division in the league this year, yet again, is very high. So while we are at the bottom looking up, we also just had a Super Bowl and 3 playoff seasons before tanking out. That simply can't be ignored. Until those three teams show actual results on the field, they can be the off season champions every year as far as I'm concerned. 

[RememberTheKoy]

9 minutes ago, BigEFly said:

I think the NFL projection on WRs and CBs is out of date.  Shorter means slot to them.  That’s just not the case.  This season because of the success AR has had and what is coming out of the college ranks, teams focused on speed and accepted height limitations.   The Eagles have focused a bit on speed at CB.  All are low 4.4 guys.  

 

Problem is we have short corners who also have very short arms.  If they had a longer wingspan they might be able to hold it down better on the outside. 

[Connecticut Eagle]

1 hour ago, justrelax said:

Brining poultry can mean a couple of things. Traditional brines - salt and water - do two things: they oversalt the bird and they add water, which has no intrinsic taste. You think it's juicier but it's not; it just has added water. And all that salt makes the pan drippings unusable. Your gravy thus is over salted or store-bought. Another thing: the brine does not penetrate the skin and when you remove the bird from the brine and pat it dry (which you better do or the skin won't get crispy) all the salt and flavors just fall away. You and @BigEFly inject, which is more effective but you're still oversalting and adding water, not flavor.- At least you're getting past the skin.

Dry brining, OTOH, is quite useful and, as I mentioned in my post, I put it under the skin. It's barely a brine at all, really just seasoning.. Most people would call it a rub. I do not use an acid.

The one concession I make to brining is for fried chicken, which I soak in buttermilk (buttermilk is an acid). This does impart flavor as the skin is not washed and patted dry after brining but instead is dipped in an egg wash and rolled in seasoned panko breadcrumbs before frying.

Respectfully disagree, specifically with regards to brining a turkey.  Been doing it for Thanksgiving and we get very tender birds.  Never had an issue with salty drippings either.

Maybe the size of the bird matters.  (Like the size of a tropical fish tank is crucial for salinization.)

[RLC]

Being concerned about Dickerson's injury history is very, very valid. 

[Guest justrelax]

3 minutes ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

Respectfully disagree, specifically with regards to brining a turkey.  Been doing it for Thanksgiving and we get very tender birds.  Never had an issue with salty drippings either.

Maybe the size of the bird matters.  (Like the size of a tropical fish tank is crucial for salinization.)

I had almost gotten away from turkey because of the problems with breast vs. thigh meat. My solution has been to cut the turkey up before roasting. I do the herbed butter thing and can cook the bird in one hour. It doesn't look like the traditional holiday presentation but the doneness is exact and the flavor is the bomb. Not to mention I don't worry about bacteria.

More important to me than brining, by far, is the quality of the turkey. Butterball tastes like chemicals to me. I get a free-range turkey that was properly fed. Costs more but worth it.

[ManuManu]

35 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

Well I just did.  There's nothing wrong with box score scouting, it just sucks when it shows that the players we have aren't that great. 

Howie did get killed in here but are you talking about the EMB, Philly media? 

1) Yes there is.

2) In here or the media. Doesn’t matter. 

[Connecticut Eagle]

Just had a good listen to the the "Q&A" podcast on the Inside the Birds platform (Caplan/Mosher).  Its Jason Avant and Quintin Mikell's show.  They provide some insightful player perspective on what is happening with the team.

Some nice nuggets on the WRs and defensive scheme.

One item from this episode was Avant touching on how Pederson had modified the traditional West Coast scheme to make it TE (Ertz) centric.  Maybe this underscores some of Alshon's comments.

[ManuManu]

 

Didn’t actually listen to the answer yet, but have at it. 

[Iggles_Phan]

53 minutes ago, justrelax said:

If the reward is high, the risk tolerance is high as well.

Of course, but every selection already carries with it significant risk in terms of the projection to the NFL.  Adding an additional risk factor at the top of Round 2 is a bit extra.  

Sydney Jones was considered by many to be the top CB in that draft (or at worst, #2), and certainly worthy of a top 15 selection.   The Achilles knocked him out of Round 1, but the question that really remained for him was whether or not he could come back from the injury.  Selecting him, a player that could not see the field his rookie year, precipitated the trade for Ronald Darby... at the cost of a 3rd round pick the following year.  

The Jones pick and the Dickerson pick have a lot of similarities.  Jones had only the one injury, whereas Dickerson has had 4 major ones.  Jones was also a mid-round pick, whereas Dickerson was about 15 slots higher.    So, the Dickerson pick, imo, carries even higher inherit risk than the Jones pick.  Perhaps it also carries a higher upside, but Jones was supposed to be a shut-down CB... highly coveted in the NFL and normally a 'premier' position.  Dickerson is an interior OL, and rightly or wrongly, that position is generally a much lower level of priority and top level players can often be found at later portions of the draft, and not just really good players at those positions but some of the best in the NFL. 

[Iggles_Phan]

34 minutes ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

Respectfully disagree, specifically with regards to brining a turkey.  Been doing it for Thanksgiving and we get very tender birds.  Never had an issue with salty drippings either.

Maybe the size of the bird matters.  (Like the size of a tropical fish tank is crucial for salinization.)

I think it's more about three factors... salinity concentration of the brine, volume of brine to volume of meat ratio, and the time factor.  

 

A less salty concentration, a lower brine to meat concentration and a shorter brine time can all contribute to a less salty end product.     

• The salinity will stop entering the meat once equilibrium has been met, so there can't be more salt in the muscles than in the brine.   
• The lower brine concentration compared to the meat means that there is much less salt available to penetrate, and that the brine salinity will drop as the meat takes up some of the salt, whereas a larger volume of brine remains relatively constant in salinity.   
• The time factor deals with how much brine (total fluid, not in a way that changes the salt concentration of the meat) can actually be absorbed by the meat.  The muscles can absorb extra fluid if left in the brine for too long, which is why it is recommended for chicken to brine for only an hour, up to about 4 hours, rather than overnight - like with turkey.    The larger the volume of meat to be brined, the longer it should be brined to allow the brine to penetrate deeper, but once it has penetrated the full thickness of the meat, it begins to 'bloat' (for lack of a better word) the muscles.

 

[Iggles_Phan]

28 minutes ago, justrelax said:

I had almost gotten away from turkey because of the problems with breast vs. thigh meat. My solution has been to cut the turkey up before roasting. I do the herbed butter thing and can cook the bird in one hour. It doesn't look like the traditional holiday presentation but the doneness is exact and the flavor is the bomb. Not to mention I don't worry about bacteria.

More important to me than brining, by far, is the quality of the turkey. Butterball tastes like chemicals to me. I get a free-range turkey that was properly fed. Costs more but worth it.

Spatchcocked smoked turkey is an amazing option versus the traditional roasted turkey.  

[McMahonHeadband]

23 hours ago, Mike030270 said:

Impressive? Did you watch the last game?

you literally highlighted  my quote about context and asked about week 17?

 

Star running back Miles Sanders, who missed the Week 1 matchup between the two teams, is out with a knee injury. Tight end Dallas Goedert is out with a calf injury. Veteran pass-catcher DeSean Jackson will also not play with an ankle injury. Starting tackle Jordan Mailatta is also out with a concussion.

 

we had our worst version of our oline all year that game going up against the best dline in football.  ON top of that it was  a game in which the Eagles were clearly not interested in playing.   

 

 

If you take anything from that game you're a moron.

[The Blackfish]

30 minutes ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

Just had a good listen to the the "Q&A" podcast on the Inside the Birds platform (Caplan/Mosher).  Its Jason Avant and Quintin Mikell's show.  They provide some insightful player perspective on what is happening with the team.

Some nice nuggets on the WRs and defensive scheme.

One item from this episode was Avant touching on how Pederson had modified the traditional West Coast scheme to make it TE (Ertz) centric.  Maybe this underscores some of Alshon's comments.

The conversation about TO, especially playing basketball with Avant, was hilarious.