55 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Do they figure him out after a half though? I mean that's some poorly prepared teams if they need a half to adjust. Or is it as much that Doug just didn't do a good job calling plays?

When it's a new QB ... or a running QB.  You see them have a little success early because teams don't see them run first hand.   Then when teams adjust, it's up to the QB to show he can produce if they contain him.   

You can watch all the film on someone, until you play them live you really won't know.

A look at Marcus Epps, who I thought had a pretty good year.

Eagles player review: Marcus Epps edition | PhillyVoice

Jimmy is down on him, but let's see him in action. Here's a video of his bad plays from last year.

Marcus Epps missed tackles - YouTube

Going through the plays, on the first one he is on the opposite side of the field, and a screen goes the other way. The other safety (McLeod) just gets bulldozed on the play. NRC gets bulldozed. Slay is useless. A DE misses a tackle. Gerry is in great shape but he blows the tackle (shocking.) Epps comes from all the way across and gets hurdled, but at least he showed good play recognition. But the funny thing is, Kempski criticizes Epps for not being able to fight off blocks, and then his first clip is of McLeod getting knocked 5 yards out of the play.

The second play, Epps takes a bad angle and we give up a TD. But Mills getting twirled around is a bigger issue to me, and McLeod again is useless. He is running toward the checkdown and completely takes himself out of the play. Just no recognition.

The third play, he doesn't go a great job here, but Mills and Wallace are way worse. Mills misses the tackle and Wallace is running toward the end zone. Just not great.

The third play, this is what you want from a deep safety. He recognizes what is happening and comes down with speed. Obviously not a great tackle, but he did enough to get the ball carrier out of bounds. Nice of Barnett to give them a free 15. Mills again is in position to make a play but can't get through a block. On a sidenote, Barnett doesn't look horrible in space there. Obviously not a great penalty, but he showed good awareness.

The next play, Epps misses a tackle on Kyler Murray. But where is the rest of the team? Mills starts off in the shot but disappears. Duke Riley is probably still following the RB on the fake. Credit to Epps, he at least knew what was happening.

The next play features a really bad job of tackling by Slay. Obviously you would like Epps to step up and make a tackle there, but if Deandre Hopkins is running full speed at you, maybe waiting for help isn't the worst thing.

The next play he sets the edge and another safety comes in and blows the tackle. Maybe you can ding Epps for not getting off the block, but at least he contains the ball carrier and forces him to help.

The final play, Shaun Bradley and Epps do a great tandem workshop on crap tackling. Not great from the kids.

Overall, these plays showed that Epps has tackling issues, but is solid at recognizing what is happening and quick to react, which is important. It is also important to keep in mind that, on every play, mistakes were being made around him. So it's not like the mistakes he was making were out of the ordinary, and realistically this is life in the NFL. A lot of safeties miss around 10 percent of the tackles. Epps isn't an outlier in this area.

Hopefully Epps gets better at tackling this year, which is his biggest weakness. But a lot of the other traits are there, namely play recognition and coverage skills. The video shows that he recognizes what is happening in front of him, which is why he had 47 tackles in just 30 percent of the team's snaps. In all honesty, I think he is much better than McLeod, and should do a lot better in a two deep scheme. And he should also benefit from having better talent around him.   

https://www.phillyvoice.com/early-look-what-positions-are-strong-2022-nfl-draft-eagles-058882/   FWIW

11 hours ago, GreenbleedinNC said:

https://www.nfl.com/videos/projecting-win-totals-for-second-year-qbs-nfl-total-access

LOL, video wouldn't load for me. 3X in a row, "Fumble……reload". I was like WTH lol

A look at the roster right now as compared to last year.

Iggles Blitz » Blog Archive » Are They Better?

His conclusion, we are better at WR, OL, RB and LB (to some extent.) I think this is pretty obvious.

Unknowns are QB, TE, S and CB. He had Dline here, but that was before the Kerrigan trade.

In a perfect world, someone emerges as the TE2, McPhearson wins the CB2 job, someone excels in the slot, Epps is good at safety and Hurts gives us above average play at QB (I think anyone would take top 20 play from him.) I think all of those are possible, with McPhearson being the biggest question mark. Which makes me think we sign a CB after June 1. At TE, one name that stands out to me is Jesse James, but they may just let the current guys battle it out. There are also likely to be some guys cut. The Colts and Cowboys have an overload, and NE drafted two TEs in the third round last year, but signed two guys this year, so one could fall to us there. Another thing to note is that JJAW played the Hback role pretty well in the last game, so he can effectively be the second TE in 12 personnel, so we really only need a guy to step in if Goedert gets hurt. 

Rodgers is out there, but he is so bad at blocking I don't see bringing him back.   

1 hour ago, jsb235 said:

A look at the roster right now as compared to last year.

Iggles Blitz » Blog Archive » Are They Better?

His conclusion, we are better at WR, OL, RB and LB (to some extent.) I think this is pretty obvious.

Unknowns are QB, TE, S and CB. He had Dline here, but that was before the Kerrigan trade.

In a perfect world, someone emerges as the TE2, McPhearson wins the CB2 job, someone excels in the slot, Epps is good at safety and Hurts gives us above average play at QB (I think anyone would take top 20 play from him.) I think all of those are possible, with McPhearson being the biggest question mark. Which makes me think we sign a CB after June 1. At TE, one name that stands out to me is Jesse James, but they may just let the current guys battle it out. There are also likely to be some guys cut. The Colts and Cowboys have an overload, and NE drafted two TEs in the third round last year, but signed two guys this year, so one could fall to us there. Another thing to note is that JJAW played the Hback role pretty well in the last game, so he can effectively be the second TE in 12 personnel, so we really only need a guy to step in if Goedert gets hurt. 

Rodgers is out there, but he is so bad at blocking I don't see bringing him back.   

Grimes can play as a TE/slot/outside slant route/crossing some, as I mentioned before. Obviously Pitts had that role at FL

2 hours ago, jsb235 said:

His conclusion, we are better at WR, OL, RB and LB (to some extent.) I think this is pretty obvious.

Unknowns are QB, TE, S and CB. He had Dline here, but that was before the Kerrigan trade.

Not sure if I agree with these yet.
 

Unknowns

QB- this is easy one to label 

CB- again easy

LB- to many unknowns here with guys changing spots 

WR- on paper we can say we are better but with our luck with WR I can’t say it until I see it. 
 

Better/ or the same 
RB- don’t think we are worse but similar to Wr gotta wait to see guys actually produce before I’ll say better.

DL- we aren’t worse similar to RB if young rooks step up some could be stronger unit 

TE- If we are going to a more to using only 1 TE we are fine here which would seem likely with Geodart likely the only proven guy going to be on roster.

S- Harris/McLeod are proven guys would say they are the same compared to last year though I thought Mills was extremely good at S. I prefer Wallace like the coverage ability and should only get better but have other young guys as well in the mix. 
 

OL- honestly just moving on from JP in my mind makes us a stronger unit everyone else is pretty much the same starter wise and depth has much more experience plus new rook I’d probably say this is the one unit I’d say for sure got stronger. 

53 minutes ago, GreenbleedinNC said:

Grimes can play as a TE/slot/outside slant route/crossing some, as I mentioned before. Obviously Pitts had that role at FL

Grimes and Butler both have the profile to do it. But JJAW did it last year against Washington and was effective as both a blocker and receiver.

Here is a video that includes him making three really good blocks on running plays, the first of which was really impressive since he had to throw the block at a bad angle plus get out of the way of the runner, which he managed to do.

JJ Arcega-Whiteside vs Washington 2020 - YouTube

It also shows him running good routes out of the slot, which is a big improvement from last year.

So we know he can do it, and we know that this type of player has a big role in the offense the team is likely to run. So I don't know if they have to overthink this. If someone else beats him out, that's fine. But at least we know we have a guy who can play that role at a pretty high level.

I think his performance in the last game got somewhat overlooked because we were tanking, but the WFT had a lot to play for, so it wasn't like he was playing backups. And it is the first time I felt he was used in a role that made sense for his skill set.   

1 hour ago, jsb235 said:

Grimes and Butler both have the profile to do it. But JJAW did it last year against Washington and was effective as both a blocker and receiver.

Here is a video that includes him making three really good blocks on running plays, the first of which was really impressive since he had to throw the block at a bad angle plus get out of the way of the runner, which he managed to do.

JJ Arcega-Whiteside vs Washington 2020 - YouTube

It also shows him running good routes out of the slot, which is a big improvement from last year.

So we know he can do it, and we know that this type of player has a big role in the offense the team is likely to run. So I don't know if they have to overthink this. If someone else beats him out, that's fine. But at least we know we have a guy who can play that role at a pretty high level.

I think his performance in the last game got somewhat overlooked because we were tanking, but the WFT had a lot to play for, so it wasn't like he was playing backups. And it is the first time I felt he was used in a role that made sense for his skill set.   

You can point to a few good plays from about anyone. I am not impressed with Jjaws "body of work" 2020 was kind of a lost year for almost everyone. We shall see, but to this point seems like a wasted draft pick to me. He was supposedly selected for his block out ability (much as Grimes was without spending a pick). Then of course we took a guy who plays QB and are trying to maker him a TE(more stupidity). Like we have 5 years to wait around for that transition(if there even is one). Hard to know what we have,so IMO thats why we are bringing in 50 guys . Reviewing most vids from last year is an effort in futility, still that's all you have to work with

1 hour ago, GreenbleedinNC said:

You can point to a few good plays from about anyone.

The thing about the video from the WFT game was the it included 11 of the 41 plays he was on the field, and didn't include a play where he generated a PI penalty. So this wasn't selected plays, but rather a pretty good look of what he can give you during a game.

As far as Grimes, there's a reason he wasn't drafted. His tape shows way too many plays where he didn't show any effort. He's a former 5 star prospect who never lived up to his ability. Maybe that will change, and if it does, great. But JJAW's tape shows that he is willing to go all out on every play. And when put into a position to be successful, he has produced.

Don't get down on this kid because he struggled while Wentz was here. Wentz never trusted him, which is why he never got the ball. But the tape is clear that he has come a long way since his rookie season, and that against the WFT, he was getting open consistently.

Wentz was the root of all the problems. We will see that come January.  

These were interesting tweets.

Honest NFL on Twitter: "After weeks of asking around, I finally learned that Gannon basically has full autonomy over how the defensive staff plans, how he calls the game, and how players will be developed to eventually excel, but all he wants a collaborative approach with staff input. An unselfish SOB." / Twitter

Honest NFL on Twitter: "Sirianni is basically just giving Gannon the same Tuesday-Sunday responsibilities that Eberflus has in Indy, but he will be more involved than Pederson was. He wants to be a sounding board for the defensive staff in the same way Gannon will be the offense’s consigliere." / Twitter

It sounds like Nick and Rich are taking a more collaborative approach, which makes sense for Gannon since he wants to be a head coach someday, and makes sense for Nick because it will keep him from getting overwhelmed. They also seem to have different personalities, so it probably isn't a bad thing for them to be "co-head coaches" instead of Nick holding the reins by himself. It also might help to keep Howie from making bad decisions, since it won't be Howie against Doug or Howie against Schwartz, but rather three people having input on both offense and defense.

Didn't see HR or JL mentioned - therein lies part of our problems

https://www.nfl.com/news/diagnosing-drama-around-aaron-rodgers-russell-wilson-najee-harris-can-refuel-ste

Agreed

Apparently I am not the only one that walks around wearing green colored glasses.

Tyler Steege on Twitter: "QB: Hurts RB: Sanders TE: Goedert WR: Smith WR: Reagor WR: Fulgham OL: Top 3-5 in NFL. Nobody wants to hear this but the #Eagles offense has top 10 potential anchored by an elite run game." / Twitter

There is a world where Fulgham becomes a match up nightmare for teams out of the slot, and at the same time is the worst player on the offense.

2 hours ago, jsb235 said:

These were interesting tweets.

Honest NFL on Twitter: "After weeks of asking around, I finally learned that Gannon basically has full autonomy over how the defensive staff plans, how he calls the game, and how players will be developed to eventually excel, but all he wants a collaborative approach with staff input. An unselfish SOB." / Twitter

Honest NFL on Twitter: "Sirianni is basically just giving Gannon the same Tuesday-Sunday responsibilities that Eberflus has in Indy, but he will be more involved than Pederson was. He wants to be a sounding board for the defensive staff in the same way Gannon will be the offense’s consigliere." / Twitter

It sounds like Nick and Rich are taking a more collaborative approach, which makes sense for Gannon since he wants to be a head coach someday, and makes sense for Nick because it will keep him from getting overwhelmed. They also seem to have different personalities, so it probably isn't a bad thing for them to be "co-head coaches" instead of Nick holding the reins by himself. It also might help to keep Howie from making bad decisions, since it won't be Howie against Doug or Howie against Schwartz, but rather three people having input on both offense and defense.

Ped started out in charge. Later the dynamic duds intervened. I wouldn't be TOO certain anything has changed because it's the same FO. SO Rah Rah aside,I hope(as I said before) that this is true and Howie and Lurie keep their noses out of it. Chip had "control" also.It's the same pattern/ MO, where the coaches start off doing their thing, then the FO botches it all up trying to be the smartest guys in the room instead of drinking their Martinis and shutting the hell up

9 hours ago, jsb235 said:

Wentz never trusted him, which is why he never got the ball

Chicken/egg theory  A QB doesn't just NOT trust someone for no reason. You worked with them all off season.If you had no trust in him, the coaches should make the change for the QB, but now the QB is gone, so we'll see what Hurts does with him and if Jjaw can get open.. I remain unimpressed with Jjaw at this point. Not real impressed with Reagor either. Both these guys better show something this year.

2 hours ago, jsb235 said:

Apparently I am not the only one that walks around wearing green colored glasses.

Tyler Steege on Twitter: "QB: Hurts RB: Sanders TE: Goedert WR: Smith WR: Reagor WR: Fulgham OL: Top 3-5 in NFL. Nobody wants to hear this but the #Eagles offense has top 10 potential anchored by an elite run game." / Twitter

There is a world where Fulgham becomes a match up nightmare for teams out of the slot, and at the same time is the worst player on the offense.

I've got green blood, but no offense please…………that's a tad too rosy for my blood. Heard all of that BS during the Dream Team build. LOL Sheesh. Just like the movie "Christine" with the red Plymouth Fury for me and Arnie says, "SHOW ME." Love your optimism though and hope you (or they) are right. 

32 minutes ago, EaglesTD123 said:

I've got green blood, but no offense please…………that's a tad too rosy for my blood. Heard all of that BS during the Dream Team build. LOL Sheesh. Just like the movie "Christine" with the red Plymouth Fury for me and Arnie says, "SHOW ME." Love your optimism though and hope you (or they) are right. 

This pretty much sums up Eagles fans, especially in Philly, from what I've seen when the Eagles aren't doing well.

 

7 hours ago, EaglesTD123 said:

I've got green blood, but no offense please…………that's a tad too rosy for my blood. Heard all of that BS during the Dream Team build. LOL Sheesh. Just like the movie "Christine" with the red Plymouth Fury for me and Arnie says, "SHOW ME." Love your optimism though and hope you (or they) are right. 

When I look at this offense compared to 2017, I think there is a lot to get excited about.

RB - Sanders, Johnson, Gainwell, Scott (Ajayi, Blount, Smallwood, Clement)

TE Goedert (Ertz, Celek, Burton)

WR Smith, Reagor, Fulgham (Jeffery, Algholor, Smith)

Oline Mailata, Seumalo, Kelce, Brooks, Lane (Vaitai, Wiz, Kelce, Brooks, Lane)

Talent wise, they are close. A lot of ifs this year, but if the wrs play to their potential and we have some luck on the injury front (which I admit would be a miracle) I don't think we are in bad shape. To me, it will all come down to Hurts.. If he is good, the offense will be good. If he's not, we have a bunch of #1 picks to get a guy. But the foundation appears to be there. And the good thing is only three guys are over 30, and their replacements (Dickerson, Driscoll, Dillard and Herbig) are already on the roster.

35 minutes ago, jsb235 said:

A lot of ifs this year,

This is the thing to many unknowns potentially we could be good or bad depending how guys swing.

WR- basically entire group had to prove something and our luck at WR lately yea.

RB- think is more talented but we don’t have the same type of guys as the 17 squad. More finesse runners now vs the downhill wear you duo of Blount/Ajayi.

OL- younger Brooks/Lane/Kelce over them now for sure... Semaulo= to Wiz... JP>Mailata=Big V 

TE- Really like Geodart but the 17 TE was superior though if Geodart plays to the level I think he can he would easily be the best of the bunch think he can be top 3 in the nfl. 
 

QB- we have talked enough on Hurts only thing left is to see what happens. 
 

Siri- his O and play calling will factor a lot in on this team success as well. I would say they are about even with the coaching experience of 2017. 

37 minutes ago, jsb235 said:

If he's not, we have a bunch of #1 picks to get a guy.

I truly want us to swing either good or bad don’t want to be in the middle ground going into next years draft lol. Hope we either suck have a top pick can get our QB without giving away our 1s and or Hurts is the guy and we can use our 1s to help the team. 
 

Might be to greedy and optimistic to think it would fall this wonderfully for us but oh well 

The unknowns... is a big reason I have a 6-9 win window.

How do the old guys hold up?

WRs should be way better...not for talent, but the inexperience last year is something people miss. No real offseason and Fulgham, Reager, Hightower and the soon to be unleashed Watkins...  all taking first NFL snaps. 

Same with the OL... Mailata, Herbig, Driscoll... first ever NFL snaps.  Plus the scrubs that came in after they got hurt.

RB should be better.  But with me I'm not high on Sanders like the rest.  To me he brings nothing special as far as durability, blocking, catching, etc.  But if we make holes for him, he can get yards. The depth looks better at the position,  which to me means less need to rely on Sanders.

The O has a lot of room to grow with the young guys.  I still believe that the QB will need 2 years to show either way.  Mediocrity this year would be a huge step up for him, I couldn't justify moving on until another year to see if he makes the next jump, especially considering the rest of the young guys could get  better with him.

Defensively, very easy concern for me. Throughout all the injuries, Cox and Graham have been reliable and playing at high levels.   How long can that continue.   Both their avoiding major injury and playing at the high level?   If the idea is just for 2021, the outlook can be pretty good.  Beyond that is still my biggest concern for this franchise.  DL at their level are not easy to find.  We won't be able to " scheme" around that.   Whatever coverage or run defense is set up, the DL is the key to both.  Can't substitute for talent there.

This Eagles roster kinda reminds me of the 2010-12 teams. 
 

Short mobile QB

more Finesse style RB

Smaller faster outside WRs

Good blocking TE probably underrated receiver 

Team was explosive picked up yards also got boggled down at times and had issues scoring. 

We should be better, but most other teams also got better. We will see if Fulgham was a fluke or can be a solid player going forward. Ward seems an adequate BU. Grimes,Hightower,Jjaw should be an interesting battle. Quez IDK, maybe he sticks for ST play. Reagor showed me virtually nothing last year as did Jjaw. Bad Oline or bad QB no matter, your first job is to get open and I saw that rarely with these 2. Better step it up or get swallowed up cause they are cranking nice WR"s out of college now pretty consistently so just because you are here year 2/3 don't think you can't be replaced by a rook. One of my big knocks on Ped was us coming out of the tunnel flatter than a steam rolled pancake. Some games we played 30,20 even 15 minutes.It was a sorry display of spirit and I dont want to see that BS EVER again(ok so the cardboard fans didnt care but the real ones DID). Every team has bad games,but please,if we can't come out fired up, pack up the tent and go home because I won't watch you get trounced due to lack of effort. I would rather watch paint dry. Not expecting miracles,but I AM expecting EFFORT. The D held up the lame O last year(as usual) so the key for me(even if we suck) is to stop the 3 and out's and at least get some first downs before you have to punt. WE have a "move the chains" offense.I want to see that work.of course takes your downfield shots and we need to take those shots ALOT earlier than we have been to loosen up the D faster.Just give me 4 yards per play and all is well. I am reminiscing about OSU past with the 3 yards(except I want 4 yards to avoid the 4th an 1 HAHA) and a cloud of dust, but we can do this in the air also.