EMB Blog: 2021 Regular and Post Season

[NCiggles]

1 minute ago, austinfan said:

One reason you're not going to see a lot to the left out of the pocket is the lack of a traditional, big possession "X" WR.

Given Sirianni's history in Indy, I think that will be an offseason priority, though it'll be interesting to see how they use Jackson once he's healthy.

Stoll is establishing himself as the #2 TE, especially with his improved blocking, Jackson might get some looks as a big WR/H-back hybrid.

JJAW must really suck not to get looks in that role, Sirianni has worked with a number of big WRs in SD and Indy, from Allen to Pascal to Pittman. He likes them.

I think they have moved Devonta around the formation.  So I don't think the issue at this point is the lack of a true X WR in terms of throws. It's definitely Hurts.  He is uncomfortable throwing to his left.  He cannot quickly set and throw to the left side.  

[Dwide Schrude]

5 minutes ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

We benched a backup for another backup for a half.  The pick impact was maybe a slot or two, not an entire round.  This would be different.

 

1 minute ago, LeanMeanGM said:

*Quarter. Hurts played all of Q3. Big difference between 1 quarter of a game and 1 quarter of a season.

Yeah situations are completely different 

[NCiggles]

16 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

Wait it’s on weidl now? I thought it was on doug cause he smiled in the draft room.

Weidl nodded and Doug smiled so Howie had no choice.  

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

2 minutes ago, austinfan said:

And it wasn't done to tank, Pederson had promised Sudfeld some PT to showcase his talent (or lack of such) before he entered free agency.

Sure it wasn’t…. Just had a curiosity why didn’t they just give sudfeld that entire game since it was completely meaningless and a ton of guys were already injured the chance to showcase it? But instead they waited til the 4th quarter where he’s coming in cold 

[HazletonEagle]

1 hour ago, eaglesflyers#1 said:

Is it possible to change your username on here? I created this dumb one like 15 years ago when I watched a ton of hockey.

Also side note, my gamertag on Xbox is Wentzlvania. I have to stare at that every time I play.

 

58 minutes ago, goeagles5039 said:

I don’t know about here but you can change your gamer tag on Xbox. I think it cost 10 or 15$ though.

 

55 minutes ago, WentzFan11 said:

Not as bad as mine. 

You just have to send a mod a PM with what you want it changed to. 

[austinfan]

Colts have what should be 4 "gimmies" - Jets, Jags, @ Houston, @ Jags for last game.

So that's 7-5, which means 2-3 against the tough teams leaves you 9-8 and a shot at the wildcard.

They're not benching Wentz unless they go into a freefall, and the schedule is set up to keep them in contention until the last week.

They'll end up somewhere between 8-9 and 10-7.

[LeanMeanGM]

3 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

To be honest I don’t even think they would just bench them. I think they would use the ankle injuries as an excuse that he’s not right this late in the season and we don’t want him to further injure it for next year. That’s probably the reasoning that they’re going to come up with if they were to do it. That said I expect them to be in competition for the wildcard up until week 15. They are 3-5 and the current 6 and 7 seed are 4-3. The colts have 5 tough games left at Buffalo, at Bucs, vs. New England, at Arizona and vs. raiders. I wouldn’t be shocked if they go 3-2 or 1-4 in those games. They’ve shown they can play with teams like the ravens and titans. So i don’t think it’s a stretch if they upset the cardinals and beat the patriots and raiders at home. 

He hasn't even been on the injury report for the last 3 weeks. I don't think they can pull that card. It would have to be something new. 

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

1 minute ago, NCiggles said:

Weidl nodded and Doug smiled so Howie had no choice.  

And the Häagen-Dazs vanilla flowed freely 

[HazletonEagle]

57 minutes ago, greendestiny27 said:

Sanders is on the IR. Not sure if he can be traded 

I think he can

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

1 minute ago, LeanMeanGM said:

He hasn't even been on the injury report for the last 3 weeks. I don't think they can pull that card. It would have to be something new. 

Didn’t the Eagles do that with his back injury. It was on there after that Giants game and then it really didn’t appear throughout the course of the year and then all the sudden he had a back fracture. I might be misremembering that situation but I want to say that’s what happened with wentz and the back injury when they IR’d him after the Cowboys game

[Guest justrelax]

6 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

To be honest I don’t even think they would just bench them. I think they would use the ankle injuries as an excuse that he’s not right this late in the season and we don’t want him to further injure it for next year. That’s probably the reasoning that they’re going to come up with if they were to do it. That said I expect them to be in competition for the wildcard up until week 15. They are 3-5 and the current 6 and 7 seed are 4-3. The colts have 5 tough games left at Buffalo, at Bucs, vs. New England, at Arizona and vs. raiders. I wouldn’t be shocked if they go 3-2 or 1-4 in those games. They’ve shown they can play with teams like the ravens and titans. So i don’t think it’s a stretch if they upset the cardinals and beat the patriots and raiders at home. 

I hope you're right. All I'm saying is that if they're out of it then I see nothing wrong with protecting the pick.

[LeanMeanGM]

2 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

Didn’t the Eagles do that with his back injury. It was on there after that Giants game and then it really didn’t appear throughout the course of the year and then all the sudden he had a back fracture

Don't remember the exact details but from the injury report, no. They might have brought it up but he was practicing fully until they shut him down.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/phi/2018_injuries.htm

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

1 minute ago, justrelax said:

I hope you're right. All I'm saying is that if they're out of it then I see nothing wrong with protecting the pick.

I’m with you I would do it. I’m not losing a first round pick on a loss season where I’m not going to make the playoffs. I think they would find a way to bring up his ankle injury as their reason. If they lose to the jags and the jets over the next two weeks it might not be a matter of benching him for because they just lost to two of the worst teams in the league. I would guess it probably means he’s not playing well

[LeanMeanGM]

5 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

I think he can

I don't think so. Brought this up a few pages ago. Similar situation happened with Ertz last year and they couldn't trade him because he was on IR with a minor injury. 

[LeanMeanGM]

 

[Alphagrand]

7 minutes ago, NCiggles said:

Weidl nodded and Doug smiled so Howie had no choice.  

It's been pretty well documented Weidl travelled to Oklahoma to watch Hurts and became infatuated with him as a prospect.  Not only did Doug smile in the draft room, Doug is on record from both Brett Favre and Troy Aikman saying after last season his plan was to roll with Hurts over Wentz.

Howie is ultimately responsible for making the pick, especially after Wentz had reservations about it when Howie told him -- but Weidl and Doug were the ones pushing for the pick to be made.

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

2 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

Don't remember the exact details but from the injury report, no. They might have brought it up but he was practicing fully until they shut him down.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/phi/2018_injuries.htm

This tweet came out right after they put him on IR with the back fracture.

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

Just now, 4for4EaglesNest said:

If the threshold took them to the last week of the season or the to last week of the season, sure.  But it's ridiculous to assume it's an option right now.  Unless he misses time and they freefall.  

I could see them doing it if they lose to the Jets and the jags the next two weeks. If they lose those two games this season is completely over at 3-7 and I’m guessing Carson Wentz didn’t play well in those games if that happens. However I think it’s gonna be fine for those games and I’m betting he plays well in both of them to the point of where they’re probably gonna be 5-5 after 10 weeks so I don’t see them doing it

[LeanMeanGM]

1 minute ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

This tweet came out right after they put him on IR with the back fracture.

Hmm good find. 

[LeanMeanGM]

Long winded way of saying he was benched. 

[LeanMeanGM]

 

[Texas Eagle]

Just now, LeanMeanGM said:

 

He'll be back 10 lbs overweight

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

Just now, 4for4EaglesNest said:

I don’t see them losing those two games so i don’t see it happening. Frankly hoping the titans combust a little without Henry to keep them in it as well as the afc wild card race where teams keep losing to the the jets and beating up on one another. 

colts likely are 6-7 heading into their by with a chance to play themselves into the playoffs winning the last 4 games of the year against vs. pats, at Arizona, vs. raiders and at jags. 

[greend]

23 minutes ago, justrelax said:

If they reach a point where they're no longer in the playoff hunt it would be stupid of them not to protect the pick. We sat Hurts last year and played Sudfield in the last game. The Giants howled, at least I think it was the Giants. Too bad. Do what's best for your team. It's the difference between, say, pick 13 and pick 45.

J.R. they aren't going to be out of the playoff picture until after it's too late. That said it would also sour teams making future deals with them if they played those kind of shenanigans.

[Iggles_Phan]

1 minute ago, austinfan said:

Moving the goal posts much? First, I talked about the last four years, 2018 was the only decent draft under Douglas. Howie depends on his personnel guys, his strength is draft day maneuvering, not player evaluation.

2018-2019 were limited due to only 10 draft picks, (1) 1st, (3) 2nds, (0) 3rds, combined that's a good first day draft.

Goedert is a starter, whether he re-signs or not (we're judging drafts, not subsequent moves). Mailata is a starter, some players are drafted knowing they'll take time to develop.  Maddox is a top NCB. Sweat is a rotational pass rusher but so are most sackmeisters, how many play more than 50-60% of snaps? Pryor was a top backup here and is starting.

Dillard was behind Peters, tore his bicep, behind Mailata, but showed he can start, and will start once he's traded. Being stuck behind two top OTs doesn't mean you can't play.

Reagor I think will turn out like Agholor but the mirror image, they tried to make Agholor a slot WR, he's better as a deep threat, I think Reagor is better as an underneath WR where the focus should be on YAC. Obviously, they should have taken Jefferson, I'm curious about who was lobbying for Reagor? Taylor, Driscoll, Watkins at worst are top backups. Taylor was a project when drafted - unless you want a lot of JAGS you have to gamble on these guys after pick 100.

Hurts is good value at #53.  Hurts may be struggling to learn how to pass out of the pocket, but so is every young QB not named Mac Jones, Mayfield after 4 years still can't figure it out. Why should Fields, Lawrence and Wilson get a mulligan? Aren't the Eagles a bad team like the Jets, Bears and Jags?  What excuse does Darnold or D Jones have in their 4th and 5th seasons? Point is Hurts is about as good/bad as you'd expect from a young QB with 12 starts in his fourth different offensive scheme in four years.

I didn't move the goal posts... I planted them where Howie took over as GM again.   You want to put everything on Douglas... it's not.  Howie is his boss.  Howie is the one making the final decision.  Howie is the one that supposedly, sided with the coaches, rather than the scouts on certain players.  He's the one that gets to make those decisions, it's his decision, not Douglas'.  And if he can't handle the pressure or doesn't want the accountability of being the one who ultimately makes the final choice, then get out of that chair and give it to someone who can and does.  Howie was the one that went against the scouts and went Reagor over Jefferson, by all accounts.  If Howie is depending on his personnel guys, then he shouldn't overrule them.  Howie was also the one that went against the scouts and went Hurts over Chinn, against their recommendation... apparently Hurts was rated at a 3rd round level by his personnel people.  So, apparently, Howie only leans on them when it comes time to point the finger, not when it comes time to make a decision.   Just completely disingenuous for you to try to paint Howie as if he doesn't love having the final say.  

 

As for Hurts, he isn't an NFL starting QB.  You can play the game of misdirection all day.  Hurts' performance speaks to what he is... an athletic, hard working guy, who can't throw at the NFL level, can't see the entire field, or anything close to it, and runs WAY too much.   Hurts isn't a rookie, so stop acting like he is.  And if you want to know why Hurts doesn't get a mulligan, it's because the team decided they could punt on preseason games because he didn't need the reps.  So, either his lack of experience is a problem, in which case he should be on the field more, or his lack of experience isn't a problem, and he should be held to a higher standard than a rookie.  

And if you want to throw around bad QBs (Darnold, Jones, etc.) to defend Hurts, that sort of proves the point, doesn't it?  Hurts isn't a starting caliber QB, same as those guys.  No one is making excuses for Darnold or Jones, are they?  Darnold is going to be a journey man type QB in the league.  It will feed him, pay his bills and make sure he always has a roof over his head.  Hurts will be just fine too.  But, that doesn't mean that the team needs to, or should hitch their wagon to him long term as the starter.  That would be worse than the decision to draft him in the first place.   And now you bring in the trump card... 4th system in 4 years.  Tell me again why he had to transfer from Alabama?  Oh yeah, because he wasn't good enough to be a starter there... he was the backup, primarily because his PASSING ability was extremely limited at the collegiate level, and now we are to believe that he'll be better as a passer in the NFL with more time?  Stop it.  It's getting embarrassing.

 

As for Dillard... I didn't say he was a bad pick, or that he couldn't play.  I said he's been depth here.  The Eagles are at fault for him not getting the chance to start over Peters sooner.  Peters was not a top OT at that point.  He was a shell of his former self, but this organization was slow to recognize that (organizational failure again).  And then he got hurt.  It happens.  Then he got beat out by Mailata.  But, once again, can we not use hyperbole?  Mailata has a great deal of potential to be a top OT.  But he's not that guy yet.  Of course, if he is, that helps your case for Howie.  But... hurts it at the same time, because apparently the drafts from 2016-2019 were all on Douglas, so if Mailata works out, then Douglas, not Howie, gets the credit.

 

So, if you want to know what the theme of all this is:  bad organizational moves are compounding and all of this falls at the feet at the top of the organization.   And unless we want to declare Lurie as the most meddlesome owner in the NFL, the person at the top is Howie Roseman, and he's to blame for the organizational failure of this team and their rapid fall from grace... from Super Bowl Champs to last place chumps in the span of 3 years... and it looks like the Eagles will be fighting to be the chumps of the NFC Least again this year against two other organizations that are organizational failures with the Washingteam and the Gnats.