After watching the all 22, I get somewhat annoyed when I hear that LBs don't matter, when we absolutely got destroyed by their linebackers and our linebackers cost us the game.

It obviously wasn't pretty. Some positive were that the oline played well. Wentz generally had a clean pocket even when they brought pressure. We struggled with games they ran on us, but hopefully that will get better with experience among the newbies.

On offense, Fulgham was running great routes and made all the catches he had to make. He might be the real deal. Hightower was wide open twice. I think Wentz missed him both times. The first he was under pressure and made a good throw, but just a step too far. The second was at the end of the half and Hightower should have had it, but he had to slow up for it. Had the ball been placed better, it's an easy score. Wentz just didn't throw it soon enough. Yeah, it's a catch Hightower should have made. But your $130 million qb has to be better there, as compared to a late-round draft pick. We win that game I think if Wentz connects on some of those deep balls.

The run game was stymied by their linebackers. We couldn't block them and they didn't miss tackles. Our oline didn't do anything wrong, but they are just really good in the front seven.

On defense, Riley was actually not horrible. But he still took some bad angles on a few plays. But it was probably his best day. Gerry continues to be a black hole. He can't shed blocks at all, even ones thrown by wrs. The corners had a rough day, but not too terrible. Ben made solid reads and found open guys.

I did see Bradley on the field at the goaline, and he made a nice tackle. So maybe he gets more playing time this week?

We need to give him a try. 

16 minutes ago, jsb235 said:

The second was at the end of the half and Hightower should have had it, but he had to slow up for it. Had the ball been placed better, it's an easy score. Wentz just didn't throw it soon enough. Yeah, it's a catch Hightower should have made. But your $130 million qb has to be better there, as compared to a late-round draft pick. We win that game I think if Wentz connects on some of those deep balls.

Mmmmmm not every throw is going to be on the money that was a play 100% on Hightower Wentz got the ball to him was catchable he has to make the catch that simple.

The first deep pass he missed to Hightower he could not fully step up because he was getting hit.... Was just a tad to far if we have Reagor or Djax that probably a TD still though or if Wentz had like half a sec. longer to step into the throw.

Overall that was Wentz best game easily on the season and it was against a great D top 5 easy. You have to hope that’s a sign of things to come going forward 

2 hours ago, joemas6 said:

I'm not disagreeing with the results.   I'm just saying I don't expect the results we saw before with the team not being as good. " yeah but its year 5"... yeah, the team is worse around him in year 5.... that's the bigger issue for me.  You put Joe Montana on this team.... its still not winning a SB.  Not even close.  

Yeah the SB was a fluke

1 minute ago, Bleedinggreen93 said:

Overall that was Wentz best game easily on the season and it was against a great D top 5 easy. You have to hope that’s a sign of things to come going forward 

I would agree. There were a few I know he would like to have back, but for the most part he was solid. It was totally different than the previous games. Against the Steelers, he didn't have nearly as much time to throw as in previous games, and the coverage was much better. But he found the open guys. In previous games, I found myself really questioning what was wrong with him. But in this game he was carrying the team.

Once he gets his timing down with the new guys, I think he's going to be really good. Fulgham looks like the real deal. He just looks smooth out there. JJAW made a really difficult catch on his only target. I know it was essentially useless, but the defenders didn't let him have it. He just made a play, which is a nice sign. Hightower continues to get open deep. It's just a matter of time before they connect.

The Ravens are another tough test. But after that we really don't face a defense that scares me very much. Maybe the Packers, but by then we should have Goedert and Reagor back, which should make us even more dangerous.  

39 minutes ago, jsb235 said:

I did see Bradley on the field at the goaline, and he made a nice tackle. So maybe he gets more playing time this week?

We need to give him a try. 

This is the play I was talking about.

 

I heard an interesting theory on the radio today after Schwartz's press conference that he may be playing Gerry as a kind of FU to the front office for some personnel decisions he didn't agree with.

I don't know how credible this is, and it seems really unlikely, but there are some breadcrumbs. First, Schwartz said today, and has said in the past, that he doesn't have control of the roster, which I think is an insinuation that if the defense doesn't play well, it's the guy who is picking the players, and not the guy telling them what to do.

Secondly, Bradham was his guy, and they cut him. Schwartz played him all of last year even though he was terrible. This year we have put Gerry in that role even though he is a completely different player than Bradham, and literally anybody else in the linebacker room would be better suited for it except maybe Taylor.

Third, there was a report today from Jeff McLane that Howie has a significant say on who is active on gamedays. That info would almost certainly come from a disgruntled coach.

I don't know what to make of things. But it's really unfair to Gerry to put him in a position where he can't succeed, and unfair to us in that we have to watch it. From the get go, it was obvious that Edwards should be in the Bradham role, Riley should be in the KGH role and Gerry should be in the Gerry role. But we didn't do that. And it was also clear that Singleton should back up Edwards.

We will see how long the players put up with this crap. McLeod took a veiled shot after the game, and I am sure no one else in the locker room is happy they are playing poorly right now. 

6 minutes ago, jsb235 said:

I heard an interesting theory on the radio today after Schwartz's press conference that he may be playing Gerry as a kind of FU to the front office for some personnel decisions he didn't agree with.

I don't know how credible this is, and it seems really unlikely, but there are some breadcrumbs. First, Schwartz said today, and has said in the past, that he doesn't have control of the roster, which I think is an insinuation that if the defense doesn't play well, it's the guy who is picking the players, and not the guy telling them what to do.

Secondly, Bradham was his guy, and they cut him. Schwartz played him all of last year even though he was terrible. This year we have put Gerry in that role even though he is a completely different player than Bradham, and literally anybody else in the linebacker room would be better suited for it except maybe Taylor.

Third, there was a report today from Jeff McLane that Howie has a significant say on who is active on gamedays. That info would almost certainly come from a disgruntled coach.

I don't know what to make of things. But it's really unfair to Gerry to put him in a position where he can't succeed, and unfair to us in that we have to watch it. From the get go, it was obvious that Edwards should be in the Bradham role, Riley should be in the KGH role and Gerry should be in the Gerry role. But we didn't do that. And it was also clear that Singleton should back up Edwards.

We will see how long the players put up with this crap. McLeod took a veiled shot after the game, and I am sure no one else in the locker room is happy they are playing poorly right now. 

IDK if this is the case or not.If you recall I did say "maybe he's not getting the players he wants".Or to be more precise.AFTER whomever gets all THEY want,Schwartz is left with scraps and he takes whatever he can find(aka gets what he "wants"). Conversely as you have pointed out, we DID get some guys(a few) in here with a skill set,so as a fan I can't say who or what is responsible for the annual defensive nightmare.I feel we do pretty good with less than stellar players. So is it lack of picking the right players? Ignoring what Schwartz wants? Schwartz ineptness? I mean at times the defense shines with,as I said, lackluster playmakers,but when we get better ones,it doesn't seem like we improve much.I have no answers.I like the Slay pick-up,can we BUILD OFF that??? We need LB's in a bad way!!!! Ignored every year,some needs to step the hell up

1 hour ago, GreenbleedinNC said:

 I mean at times the defense shines with, as I said, lackluster playmakers, but when we get better ones, it doesn't seem like we improve much. I have no answers.

It's a tough situation. I feel like we have made way too many mistakes, especially in the draft. Taylor was a mistake. It's too early to criticize the Hurts pick, but clearly if we wanted to win right now, we should have taken a player that could have helped us do that.

On the other hand, guys playing poorly here, or not even getting a chance, and then doing well elsewhere isn't a great look for Schwartz. In all honesty, would you rather have a starting back seven of the guys we have (Mills, McLeod, Maddox, Gerry, Riley, Slay, NRC) or the guys we have gotten rid of (Fort, KGH, Jenkins, Darby, Jones, Douglas)? Out of those two groups, Slay and McLeod are probably the only guys who start out of the guys we kept.

I do think the problems are fixable, and with our dline we can turn it around really quickly. McLeod and Slay are solid, and LeBlanc is fine as a slot. You can survive with Mills at CB2. Getting Parks back should help a lot at SS. The only real weakness is linebacker, and Riley actually wasn't terrible in the last game. So maybe he is turning things around. I know I pick on Gerry a lot, but he's just outclassed at his position. He was okay last year in his role, but we are asking him to do too much. My hope is that Riley continues to get better to the point where we can't bench him, and then Edwards replaces Gerry when he comes back. I don't think that is a perfect defense, but I think it is far better than what we have now. 

1 hour ago, jsb235 said:

It's a tough situation. I feel like we have made way too many mistakes, especially in the draft. Taylor was a mistake. It's too early to criticize the Hurts pick, but clearly if we wanted to win right now, we should have taken a player that could have helped us do that.

On the other hand, guys playing poorly here, or not even getting a chance, and then doing well elsewhere isn't a great look for Schwartz. In all honesty, would you rather have a starting back seven of the guys we have (Mills, McLeod, Maddox, Gerry, Riley, Slay, NRC) or the guys we have gotten rid of (Fort, KGH, Jenkins, Darby, Jones, Douglas)? Out of those two groups, Slay and McLeod are probably the only guys who start out of the guys we kept.

I do think the problems are fixable, and with our dline we can turn it around really quickly. McLeod and Slay are solid, and LeBlanc is fine as a slot. You can survive with Mills at CB2. Getting Parks back should help a lot at SS. The only real weakness is linebacker, and Riley actually wasn't terrible in the last game. So maybe he is turning things around. I know I pick on Gerry a lot, but he's just outclassed at his position. He was okay last year in his role, but we are asking him to do too much. My hope is that Riley continues to get better to the point where we can't bench him, and then Edwards replaces Gerry when he comes back. I don't think that is a perfect defense, but I think it is far better than what we have now. 

I agree with all this.I don't believe we have ever had a "shut down" anything in the secondary. Our strength was a DOMINATING D line,therefore top line secondary players weren't actually needed.We could get away with "ok" and "adequate" LB's.I'm not knocking our D line,but they are good,not "dominating".Like most teams,the key(or one of them) is to force those 3 and outs and although I did not check stats,we seem to let teams get too many 3rd down conversions.I could be wrong,I am only using the eye test,or possibly I am just seeing those happen at inopportune times? Could be.I would like to draft a Parsons (or the kid from NC later,I scouted him but forgot his name lol) that can play both Mike and Will.All things equal,I think a LB who is a difference maker would help immensely.I would not be against actually drafting one of those 2 LB's AND picking up a second one in later rounds(maybe a FA also).We really need to address this position seriously.I have been preaching the "turn around" thing for CB's for a decade(at least).IDK if they are taught NOT to(here),or what that problem is with that.Maybe they are simply getting beat.I hope once we get some guys back we can turn this boat around.TOUGH game up next.We need to win a few before the bye if we want a shot at this lame division title.If we gel and "peak" at the end who knows?

53 minutes ago, GreenbleedinNC said:

dominating".Like most teams,the key(or one of them) is to force those 3 and outs and although I did not check stats,we seem to let teams get too many 3rd down conversions.I could be wrong,I am only using the eye test,or possibly I am just seeing those happen at inopportune times?

I'm pretty sure, and can't be 100%, that I heard either before or after the Pittsburgh game that our third down defense was ranked top 10 in the league (7th I think). I was really shocked by that. 

7 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

I'm pretty sure, and can't be 100%, that I heard either before or after the Pittsburgh game that our third down defense was ranked top 10 in the league (7th I think). I was really shocked by that. 

 lol, could be because they never have 3rd downs..... Maybe we should check stats on 2nd down conversions?

 

   I just looked and we are not in top 10. We are in lower half. Red Zone TD's given up we are in the bottom third. That used to be our strong point.

2 hours ago, stine said:

just looked and we are not in top 10. We are in lower half. Red Zone TD's given up we are in the bottom third. That used to be our strong point.

How many of those Tds came because of an offensive turnover and the team being in short field position????

We are 1-3-1 right now the NFC East is terrible so yes we likely can win it but why??? If we win the East think it should at least be with the youngsters growing into it so we have something to look forward to.  
 

We need to be selling our aging stars and getting whatever we can for them. Should be starting now and doing everything we can until the trade deadline.

1 hour ago, Bleedinggreen93 said:

We are 1-3-1 right now the NFC East is terrible so yes we likely can win it but why??? If we win the East think it should at least be with the youngsters growing into it so we have something to look forward to.  
 

We need to be selling our aging stars and getting whatever we can for them. Should be starting now and doing everything we can until the trade deadline.

To me it is a tricky one. 

You always want to be in the post season. To do it 4 years in a row would be a huge huge achievement for this organisation. And as you say the younger players can gain some play off experience that could prove invaluable in years to come. 

On the other hand, a disappointing season is more likely to lead to major changes. And this organisation needs major changes. So as part of the bigger picture perhaps that is best. 

One things for sure... We should be sellers at the deadline. I'm all for buying young talent to improve us for years to come but no trades that look like win now moves. 

I know we will try,but if we can't win 2/3 next 3,then I feel a shot at the division is gone,unless after the bye we string alot of wins together with the players we got back.I can't even say right now if we could be Dullaz of the Gnats.Dalton looked fine leading dem rotten boyz,Freeman is getting the hang of their offense,they have WR's but we cant sleep on their new TE either.Their team is beat up like ours,should be a good game and an aerial showdown,although I hope we dont abandon the run game.Seeing as we play the Ravens,even if Alshon can play would you play him? I would not.I would hold him out this week.Wentz now working on the chemistry with Fulgham,Ward so Even if Alshon comes back Wentz will be off timing again with him.As I look around the league I'm not seeing any team in desperate need of filling a WR role,so I think our trade scenario is in a bit of trouble.I think we will have to "suffer" with who we have and maybe that is a blessing in disguise

4 hours ago, stine said:

 lol, could be because they never have 3rd downs..... Maybe we should check stats on 2nd down conversions?

 

   I just looked and we are not in top 10. We are in lower half. Red Zone TD's given up we are in the bottom third. That used to be our strong point.

Good point LOL(and UGH at the same time)

4 hours ago, stine said:

 lol, could be because they never have 3rd downs..... Maybe we should check stats on 2nd down conversions?

 

   I just looked and we are not in top 10. We are in lower half. Red Zone TD's given up we are in the bottom third. That used to be our strong point.

Yeah we used to bend but not break,now teams are breaking us

14 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

To me it is a tricky one. 

You always want to be in the post season. To do it 4 years in a row would be a huge huge achievement for this organisation. And as you say the younger players can gain some play off experience that could prove invaluable in years to come. 

On the other hand, a disappointing season is more likely to lead to major changes. And this organisation needs major changes. So as part of the bigger picture perhaps that is best. 

One things for sure... We should be sellers at the deadline. I'm all for buying young talent to improve us for years to come but no trades that look like win now moves. 

I would trade Alshon for either a LB or a 4th pick.Our LB's are really struggling.There are 2 LB's I like/want in the next draft.Of course I have said Parsons as a round 1.he is a homer and we like those,so maybe we go that route(lords knows we need one).if we choose another option in1,I like Chazz Surratt who is a homer for ME from UNC.He would probably go round 2-3,but we need a youth and talent of LB's injected directly into this teams veins

Will be tough to peddle Alshon because he has not played a snap. IDK any team that would buy goods sight unseen.Is he back? Does he suck? If I'm shopping, Alshon is a hard pass until he gets 2-3 games in I wouldn't be able to trust him,unless I am taking him as BU insurance.Even if Alshon plays this week,I don't suspect he would put up any numbers that would impress teams enough to say "yeah we need to trade for him"

49 minutes ago, GreenbleedinNC said:

I would trade Alshon for either a LB or a 4th pick.Our LB's are really struggling.There are 2 LB's I like/want in the next draft.Of course I have said Parsons as a round 1.he is a homer and we like those,so maybe we go that route(lords knows we need one).if we choose another option in1,I like Chazz Surratt who is a homer for ME from UNC.He would probably go round 2-3,but we need a youth and talent of LB's injected directly into this teams veins

I think a LB who's buried on a teams depth chart may be possible but then do we really want a player who's probably not very good? And I don't see us getting a 4th for Alshon. 

2 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

To me it is a tricky one. 

You always want to be in the post season. To do it 4 years in a row would be a huge huge achievement for this organisation. And as you say the younger players can gain some play off experience that could prove invaluable in years to come. 

On the other hand, a disappointing season is more likely to lead to major changes. And this organisation needs major changes. So as part of the bigger picture perhaps that is best. 

Making the playoffs with an old roster at 6-9-1 or something like that shouldn’t be seen as much. I mean basically get in just because our division sucks.

Yes we have seen teams make some pushes once they just got in best example might be AZ at 8-8(we were a 9-6-1 team that year McCann struggled and even got benched for Kolb vs the Ravens). But go forward what would we have to build on??? 
 

At least if we make the playoffs with a young core(would be HUGE for our youngsters no matter the record) or if we just miss out we have them tons of experience and should have some new blocks to build on.

As for what to get in trades mainly it’s about freeing cap and collecting draft capital get the old guys off the books 

41 minutes ago, Bleedinggreen93 said:

Making the playoffs with an old roster at 6-9-1 or something like that shouldn’t be seen as much. I mean basically get in just because our division sucks.

Very true but then we've been declining the last couple of years and I just fear another year that ends in the play offs will mean no major changes. Howie will stay in position and that's a massive issue. 

2 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Very true but then we've been declining the last couple of years and I just fear another year that ends in the play offs will mean no major changes. Howie will stay in position and that's a massive issue. 

Reality is Howie isn’t going anywhere nor is Doug not because of one bad season.... Best case might see an overall on the D side but even that seems unlikely. 
 

Teams been riddled with injuries(yes all teams deal with injured but not like Philly has) since our SB.

Yet still we have made the playoffs each year 17 won a SB, 2018 we are what a Brooks injury and an Alshon dropped pass from an NFC championship.

2019 not saying we beat Seattle but a cheap shot to the back of Wentz head definitely altered the game. 

But I think it could put them on sink or swim status. Howie is officially GM this year before he didn’t hold that title. 
His picks are his picks no well this was a Joe guy and this one was a Howie pick etc. if Picks fail 100% on Howie. 
 

Since 2016 when Howie got back in control the only good draft I feel like we have had is 2016 before Douglas got to town.

This most recent class seems to have shown some promise but really to early to tell if it will be good or bad but it’s also solely on Howie