17 hours ago, hputenis said:

No chance.  Went with sushi today at a BOGO restaurant in the middle of hot Charlotte though, so I'm not sure which is better?  

You might want to get that checked out.

15 hours ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

I can’t wait to get the update from my wife at dinner tonight about how and why Cosby was released.  Woman can’t remember to take the trash down to the street when I am out of town.   But damn if she don’t know every detail about Bill Cosby, R. Kelly, Housewives of Wherever, Alien Nerd Shows and which family members isn’t talking to each other.  

They know

 

Just now, bpac55 said:

Unfortunately, I think Hurts is going to showcase very well in practice and we won't have a good feel for him until live games.  I also think that the Philly media is going to develop a man crush on the new, young, hip QB who is the anti-Wentz and they are going to prop him up the best they can with their reporting so again, we won't have an honest look at him until the games start.

There's going to be a buzz around him.  I think there are some like BLG and Kempski that won't have an agenda when it comes to Hurts.  I think there's others like ESP that just want to do whatever will get them attention.    I think it was Avant that was discussing Hurts' accuracy in practice last season on his podcast. He said that Hurts had better practices than Wentz.  I don't know how much that means but it wouldn't surprise me if Hurts looks good in practice.  You're right that until he's processing throws in a game we don't know what it will mean.  I mean even pre-season games are going to be meaningless.  None of the reporting matters.  

3 minutes ago, NCiggles said:

There's going to be a buzz around him.  I think there are some like BLG and Kempski that won't have an agenda when it comes to Hurts.  I think there's others like ESP that just want to do whatever will get them attention.    I think it was Avant that was discussing Hurts' accuracy in practice last season on his podcast. He said that Hurts had better practices than Wentz.  I don't know how much that means but it wouldn't surprise me if Hurts looks good in practice.  You're right that until he's processing throws in a game we don't know what it will mean.  I mean even pre-season games are going to be meaningless.  None of the reporting matters.  

I think it's important for Hurts to stay around the 15% ratio of runs to pass attempts; he runs to contact and if he's taking off for 10+ carries per game I think it's just a matter of time before he gets dinged up.  30-35 passes and 5-6 carries would be a good guideline for Sirianni and Steichen to coach into him.

The good news is he apparently has Donovan McNabb mentoring him.  

 

2 minutes ago, Alphagrand said:

I think it's important for Hurts to stay around the 15% ratio of runs to pass attempts; he runs to contact and if he's taking off for 10+ carries per game I think it's just a matter of time before he gets dinged up.  30-35 passes and 5-6 carries would be a good guideline for Sirianni and Steichen to coach into him.

The good news is he apparently has Donovan McNabb mentoring him.  

15 minutes ago, Alphagrand said:

I think it's important for Hurts to stay around the 15% ratio of runs to pass attempts; he runs to contact and if he's taking off for 10+ carries per game I think it's just a matter of time before he gets dinged up.  30-35 passes and 5-6 carries would be a good guideline for Sirianni and Steichen to coach into him.

The good news is he apparently has Donovan McNabb mentoring him.  

21 minutes ago, Alphagrand said:

I think it's important for Hurts to stay around the 15% ratio of runs to pass attempts; he runs to contact and if he's taking off for 10+ carries per game I think it's just a matter of time before he gets dinged up.  30-35 passes and 5-6 carries would be a good guideline for Sirianni and Steichen to coach into him.

The good news is he apparently has Donovan McNabb mentoring him.  

I think designed runs are going to be important for him developing.  I would like him to stay away from running as the result of scrambling out of pressure.  I think you're right on the ratio.  

35 minutes ago, Alphagrand said:

 

The good news is he apparently has Donovan McNabb mentoring him.  

Can’t think of a better mentor for a young qb.

And those stupid Lincoln Financial Field worms thought they were safe…

16 hours ago, ManuManu said:

Damn. Reagor, Hightower and especially Ward are pathetic here…

 

I noticed Larry Fitzgerald is pretty far down that chart too so maybe it's not just an indictment of the WRs?

Devil's advocate here, but poor offensive design that allows receivers to get blanketed in man coverage rather than scheming them open with rubs, legal picks, option routes, etc could play a part here. A lack of a strong running game also lets CBs comfortably focus on their man when they don't have to keep one eye on the backfield. Also, a QB who won't throw to someone who's not wide open or or otherwise never throws people open, etc doesn't help either.

16 hours ago, ManuManu said:

Damn. Reagor, Hightower and especially Ward are pathetic here…

Ward is one of the worst per snap wrs in the history of the nfl pass happy era.

13 minutes ago, notgetleft said:

 

I noticed Larry Fitzgerald is pretty far down that chart too so maybe it's not just an indictment of the WRs?

Devil's advocate here, but poor offensive design that allows receivers to get blanketed in man coverage rather than scheming them open with rubs, legal picks, option routes, etc could play a part here. A lack of a strong running game also lets CBs comfortably focus on their man when they don't have to keep one eye on the backfield. Also, a QB who won't throw to someone who's not wide open or or otherwise never throws people open, etc doesn't help either.

1) Fitz is cooked. He’s just a guy now. 

2) Of course all of it matters, but we asked our WRs to win with iso routes and they couldn’t. The scheme didn’t help them (because it asked them to win in ways they weren’t capable of), but they frankly sucked. Reagor couldn’t run a decent route. No attention to detail. Ward simply isn’t any good. 

2 hours ago, bpac55 said:

So with TC fast arriving....realistically, are there any players you guys think will step up and surprise?  Usually we have a better feel for the roster but this year I really have no idea.

Craig James and Michael Jacquet have been popular under the radar names discussed in the media over the last year or 2.  Can one of them make the jump from CB5 to CB2?  

Maybe one of the young TEs are able to stand out from the crowd?  Would be nice to have a young athletic TE ready to go at TE2.

It seems that even with the battles at LT, CB2 and LB, the roster for the most part is set.

 

Things I would love to see happen: 

-Zech McPherson come in and lock down CB2

- Milton Williams to show he can be a swiss army knife across the d-line

-Derek Barnett to come in healthy, at a good weight and prove he can be an anchor on the d-line deserving of an extension

-One of Davion Taylor/JaCoby Stevens/Shaun Bradley stand at LB

- LT to be a close, well fought battle with the loser (Dillard IMO) proving to be a legit swing T

- Landon Dickerson to come in healthy and stay healthy

- WRs making plays.  Reagor, Watkins and Fulgham step up ready to take over.  I think JJAW/Hightower are odd men out and they can find a better WR5/6

- Clear cut RB2.  I want one of the RB behind Sanders to step out of the crowd for a legit 1-2 punch

- Jalen Hurts steadily improve 

- No injuries

 

 

A 4th round rookie locking down the CB2 spot I think would say a lot more about the other CBs than it would McPherson. 

 

Bradley will be the LB to emerge from that pack.  He should have got more snaps than he did last season. 

9 minutes ago, RememberTheKoy said:

 

 

A 4th round rookie locking down the CB2 spot I think would say a lot more about the other CBs than it would McPherson. 

Agreed, I just want someone to come in and take the spot.  We all know CB is a wreck.  We're also due for our draft picks to start hitting and developing and maybe even finding that diamond in the rough...

44 minutes ago, notgetleft said:

 

I noticed Larry Fitzgerald is pretty far down that chart too so maybe it's not just an indictment of the WRs?

Devil's advocate here, but poor offensive design that allows receivers to get blanketed in man coverage rather than scheming them open with rubs, legal picks, option routes, etc could play a part here. A lack of a strong running game also lets CBs comfortably focus on their man when they don't have to keep one eye on the backfield. Also, a QB who won't throw to someone who's not wide open or or otherwise never throws people open, etc doesn't help either.

Fitzgerald is like 62

15 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

Agreed, I just want someone to come in and take the spot.  We all know CB is a wreck.  We're also due for our draft picks to start hitting and developing and maybe even finding that diamond in the rough...

There isn't any draft investment at CB2 anymore.  Maddox was a 4th, McPhearson is a 4th, Josiah Scott is a 4th, Kevon Seymour was a 6th

James is UDFA, Jacquet is UDFA, Arnold is UDFA, Lavert Hill is UDFA, Shakial Taylor is UDFA.  

1 hour ago, notgetleft said:

 

I noticed Larry Fitzgerald is pretty far down that chart too so maybe it's not just an indictment of the WRs?

Devil's advocate here, but poor offensive design that allows receivers to get blanketed in man coverage rather than scheming them open with rubs, legal picks, option routes, etc could play a part here. A lack of a strong running game also lets CBs comfortably focus on their man when they don't have to keep one eye on the backfield. Also, a QB who won't throw to someone who's not wide open or or otherwise never throws people open, etc doesn't help either.

I mean the stat is yards per route run.  Look at the fact that no Eagles receivers even made it on the chart when you look at catchable balls.  So the stat doesn't really indicate how open players are.  It does tell us the offense stunk.  Certainly part of the problem were the receivers.  

13 hours ago, ManuManu said:

I think it’s a reflection on Reagor and Ward not being able to win 1 on 1.

Then I believe you read the chart wrong.  What the red reflected was receiving yards per routes run.   The yards per catch for each of the players reflected the depth of route and to some degree the accuracy of deeper routes.   Ward had very few drops on catchable balls.  Hightower, OTOH.  Reagor had a few drops too, but that was an issue for him out of TCU, concentration drops.  Their red placement is reflected by those drops some.   And Doug absolutely misused Hightower.  Over the should deep routes work for DJax (and Smith, who can run any route) but are not in most WRs wheelhouse.  So why run those with Hightower   F’d with his mind a bit.  

We heard it from JJAW after his first year bust that Doug wanted him to learn all the positions and all the routes.  Learn, yes, run no and it sure appeared that Doug wanted all receivers to be able to run all routes.  That’s nonsense.  Rather tailor routes for a WR’s strengths.  We hear from Sirianni that no WR is truly an X,Y or Z but that rather they will be in positions based on what they are expected to run on a given play and that he plans based on player strengths.  Expect to see slants with Hightower, if he makes the team, for example.  Surely some fly and post routes for Watkins.  Box out routes for JJAW, if he can learn a one step stop and makes the team.  No fly routes for Ward but possibly some plays where Hurts leads him.  All sorts of routes for Ward (jack of all trades, master of none), Reagor and especially Smith.  Plays that take advantage of Fulgham’s size and quickness.   Intermediate throws to players that aren’t TEs (which came to be so predictable under Doug).

Last year, and relatively true for most of his career, Wentz hasn’t been good at leading a WR.  He lasers in throws with placement throws but doesn’t anticipate routes well.  (We saw a lot of timing throws and spot throws under Reich and he will see that again). That deep lob in shorts from Hurts to Smith is not a ball every high schooler can throw, it is leading the receiver.   That on intermediate and deep routes leads to higher YAC and greater reception yards.  The depth of routes isn’t on WRs, it is on the coach.  YAC is as much QB ball placement as it is a WRs ability to run after the catch.

There has been a lot of discussion about whether Brady is a GOAT on the Blog this past week.  Well Brady is a GOAT at leading a WR although Joe Montana and Brees were pretty good at it too. None have massive arm strength  Rodgers is amazing at it with the deep ball as is Wilson. (Metcalf’s success is as much Wilson and Carroll’s offense as his skill).  

Inability to lead WRs is a flaw in most QBs’ arsenals. But you see some ability at it in Hurts game.  Now if only he learns to trust his ball placement when a laser is needed, his WRs and his OL as much as he trusts his legs. He may evolve from a one look and go QB.  I really think his accuracy and his ability to anticipate the WR is why the Eagles felt comfortable moving on from Wentz and passing on Fields. But he must overcome his tendency to jump to running.  (And he has to protect the ball better.). 
 

 

4 minutes ago, Alphagrand said:

There isn't any draft investment at CB2 anymore.  Maddox was a 4th, McPhearson is a 4th, Josiah Scott is a 4th, Kevon Seymour was a 6th

James is UDFA, Jacquet is UDFA, Arnold is UDFA, Lavert Hill is UDFA, Shakial Taylor is UDFA.  

Nope, there isn't.  For that matter, there isn't much investment in the defensive backfield at all.  The highest Eagles draft pick in the secondary is a 4th round pick.  The rest as you alluded to are 6th rounders and UDFA.  Eventually they have to start using premium picks at the position. They can't just keep hoping to strike gold on someone else's trash. 

I really don't understand why they were so fast to cut their 2nd and 3rd round investments before their rookie contracts were up in Sidney Jones and Rasul Douglas.  Were they setting the world on fire?  No.  Did they show potential?  Yes.  Were they that bad to cut them before their rookie deals were up with basically nothing on the roster to replace them. I don't think so.  Both Jones and Douglas would be better options at CB2 than anyone on the current roster. 

I'm holding out hope that they double dip at CB in round 1 next year.  There's some supreme talent at the position.  What's more likely to happen is that Maddox plays ehhh so they extend him for 2 years and McPherson shows some potential so they don't think they need to use a premium pick on the position despite the talent available.  

I have no idea what their thought process is anymore.

 

17 hours ago, Alphagrand said:

As a kid I never found Cosby very funny, although I did like the Fat Albert cartoon with Mushmouth, etc.  I only ever watched 1-2 episodes of The Cosby Show; just didn’t see the appeal but I understood it spoke to those in the African-American demographic who wanted to see a "real family”.

His standup schtick never struck me as funny.

Back in the day We used to listen to his stand up on tape on Road trips when I was a kid,  funny stuff.

Now that's a tainted memory though☹️

 

34 minutes ago, Swoop said:

Fitzgerald is like 62

I also noticed Jerry Rice wasnt separating from man coverage last year either!

3 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

Nope, there isn't.  For that matter, there isn't much investment in the defensive backfield at all.  The highest Eagles draft pick in the secondary is a 4th round pick.  The rest as you alluded to are 6th rounders and UDFA.  Eventually they have to start using premium picks at the position. They can't just keep hoping to strike gold on someone else's trash. 

 

I have no idea what their thought process is anymore.

 

Neither do they...

Just now, Utebird said:

Back in the day We used to listen to his stand up on tape on Road trips when I was a kid,  funny stuff.

Now that's a tainted memory though☹️

 

We would listen to Cosby's stand up as well and always enjoyed it.  Loved the Cosby Show as a kid too.

This is not a defense of Bill Cosby and in no way saying it was OK what he did however, my guess is that this was happening much more than people realize in the 1970s in Hollywood.  I'm sure some of our favorite actors of that time period have done A LOT of regrettable, horrible things.  Drugs were everywhere, women's rights were still being fought for and it seems that actresses of that time period were naïve/too trustworthy/would do what was needed to get a foot in the door.  Bill Cosby just got caught. 

The older I get, the easier it is for me to realize that the majority of Hollywood actors and athletes, no matter how much I like their performances, are more than likely crappy human beings.  

5 hours ago, Swoop said:

Strange. Could've sworn the resident Greg Ward expert told many of us that he never struggled with separation.

If that is me you are targeting, I never said that.  I did say that Ward was running a lot of RB routes last year.  His YAC is not a strongpoint by any sense.  But that chart was receiving yards to routes run against man coverage.   What you see with Ward is a lot of routes run against man in Cover 1 and Cover 2.  Well, that figures as he ran routes mainly from the slot last year.   The only reflection on separation might be the lack of YAC, but that is better reflected by his average depth at catch, IIRC something around five yards last year and his average per reception, around 8 yards last year suggesting a YAC last year of about 3.4 yards, IIRC.  (Like I said, a lot of RB routes last year). That means he wasn’t running away from the defender much but ball placement didn’t really afford him much opportunity for that.  

An understanding of predictive analytics shows how meaningless this chart is on its own.   It is so one dimensional and really leads itself to not much of a conclusion.  I would include that information with type of routes run, from what position, the other routes on the play,  type of defender, progression, and a whole lot of other aspects to come up with a truly predictive model. Now not all data factors will be predictive on who and what succeeds against man coverage but that the job of Howie’s analytics group to couple them.  I surely hope his staff is better at it than the creator of this chart.  It’s why I don’t put a lot of stock in PFF’s stuff, for example.  It can be interesting at times but tends to be way too one dimensional and thus not truly predictive.