I was going to make a joke about Hurts having the same numbers in his first playoff start as Johnny Unitas until I saw he was 26/40, 65%, 349 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT

1 minute ago, Iggles_Phan said:

Bills for me.   Those poor fans have been through the ringer...

 

 

 

 

 

 

and they live in Buffalo.

They can hold the parade in May after the 12 feet of snow melts.

Big Ben getting those Jalen Hurts stats.

I'm rooting for the Packers to win. I want all the people who tried to slander him for the COVID stuff to have to eat it. And you know damn well Rodgers won't be shy about calling them out either.

Zero need for seven seeds in playoffs.

Nick said all the right things about Hurts after the game.  Support the players to the public after a tough game.  Then call Howie and tell him to get a QB.

Just now, Freshmilk said:

Nick said all the right things about Hurts after the game.  Support the players to the public after a tough game.  Then call Howie and tell him to get a QB.

He should call someone who can evaluate NFL talent

Just now, Sack that QB said:

I'm rooting for the Packers to win. I want all the people who tried to slander him for the COVID stuff to have to eat it. And you know damn well Rodgers won't be shy about calling them out either.

I don't think Rodgers really has a shot.

A silver lining of being out early- if our DC is hired away we can look for his replacement early in the hiring cycle for once.

Applebee's is not Cheers

Just now, downundermike said:

He should call someone who can evaluate NFL talent

All those numbers are blocked by the Eagles.

Just now, downundermike said:

He should call someone who can evaluate NFL talent

You really think they don't see what we see?  They changed the whole philosophy of the offense because Hurts can't operate like an NFL QB.

16 minutes ago, austinfan said:

Well, I've seen some great QB play this weekend, uh Allen, and . . . even Brady wasn't exactly scintillating.

Of course Hurts had almost the exact numbers as Watson in his first PO game.

Maybe the playoffs are tough?

 

Numbers, that’s the thing. Numbers are misleading … you know watching the game (the ‘Ol eye test) Hurts ain’t measuring up. 

4 minutes ago, Uscg-green said:

Zero need for seven seeds in playoffs.

Yup. Said this several times today.

 

It could always be worse? I guess?

34 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

It was always going to be all about the money.  But at what point does the regular season interest and revenue diminish as the games become less important?  They are just banking on a linear, voracious demand for consuming more football.  And they may be right…but it sure doesn’t help things on Sundays in September.

Speaking personally, I’m probably not going to quit watching the Eagles - but I am finding it easy to skip SnNF, MNF and ThNF as the NFL product is not particularly good. The game is so bloated, production worsening and the quality of refereeing/ruleset so bad - I’d rather talk about football then actually watch it. Case in point… I haven’t bothered to tune in for one minute of the late game tonight because re-runs of Cheers are more entertaining.

Well, now that the season is a wrap, I wanted to list/discuss the key young assets on the team to build around moving forward.

1. Mailata.  Some hyperbole gets thrown around with him, but it’s for a reason.  He’s the franchise LT moving forward.  Now…he has a lot of work to do to button up his pass protection, which still needs work.  I’d actually like to see him lose a bit of weight.  He’s not as lean as he was when he came into the league and sometimes looks a bit sluggish around the edge against speed rushers.  Between his talent, attitude, and coach, I am very optimistic that he’ll get where he needs to be and will then remain there for a very long time.

2. Devonta Smith.  He’s a tragically ironic evaluation.  He was a high first round pick because of his silky smooth, precise routes and explosive breaks to create separation.  Precision timing to break open from defenders.  All of those strengths were completely neutralized by his QB, all year long.  Throws were inaccurate and late with no anticipation…so all those hyped Smith routes and separation really turned into contested 50/50 catches and reaching, toe-tapping sideline grabs.  He spent the year as an underneath possession WR using his long arms, despite his thin frame, to make contested catches in traffic and to sit in the soft spot of zones underneath.  You rarely saw him catching balls while streaking downfield or catching passes in space after dusting a defender…because the defender always was back on him in tight coverage by the time the ball got there.  So on one hand, it’s VERY impressive that Smith managed to have a very solid rookie year while being forced to do all the things that are not strengths of his game.  On the other, we still need to see him do the things that made him the most dangerous player in college football to prove he’s a true #1 WR and not a #1/#2 tweener.  But his capacity to do every single little thing right as a rookie is just beautiful.  

3. Dickerson.  Many of us, myself included, bashed the value of his selection.  Given his position and injury history, I still question it.  But jeez…he sure plugs in nicely at LG next to Mailata.  "Fun to watch” is not something you often use to describe an offensive line, but it fits the left side of our OL.  For a while there, teams knew we were running it, knew we couldn’t pass, stacked the box…and still couldn’t cope with the physical dominance of Mailata/Dickerson.

4. Milton Williams.  I think this guy deserves more hype than he’s getting.  It’s still more likely than not that he falls into being a productive but unspectacular DE/DT tweener.  But he has a real shot to be a special, disruptive player.  The key is the right coaching and usage.  I think he should be consistently used as both a DE and DT and would like to see him get pretty heavy snaps next year.  His combination of strength, explosion, and size is extremely rare…and he’s not some stiff combine tester, because he’s already shown as a rookie that he can translate it to the field.

5.  Gainwell.  Call me crazy, but in some ways, he’s already better, more trustworthy, and more reliable than Miles Sanders.  He does not yet have injury issues, is extremely comfortable running routes and catching passes, and is learning to be a complete back.  Provided that he is handcuffed by a proven, reliable rotation and stable of backs behind him, I’d actually be fine with him as RB1 moving forward.  The guy can play and will only get better.  

6.  Quez Watkins.  If it’s hard to know exactly what we have in Devonta Smith, then it’s IMPOSSIBLE to know with Watkins.  This guy could be Desean Jackson or John Hightower and we wouldn’t know the difference.  When he is streaking wide open deep, I don’t know if it’s because he’s that good or if it’s because teams just don’t bother defending the deep part of the field anymore.  He’s always open and it never matters.  He has flashed the ability to make the rest of the defense look like it’s standing still.  When someone shows that once, let alone multiple times, you have to give him patience and multiple opportunities.

 

The other youngsters aren’t really worth mentioning as assets yet.

Where’d our resident Hurts defender get to?

Just now, purplefiggy said:

Where’d our resident Hurts defender get to?

@RememberTheKoy your presence is requested.

1 minute ago, LeanMeanGM said:

 

It could always be worse? I guess?

At least he’s retiring.

1 minute ago, Waiting4Someday said:

Speaking personally, I’m probably not going to quit watching the Eagles - but I am finding it easy to skip SnNF, MNF and ThNF as the NFL product is not particularly good. The game is so bloated, production worsening and the quality of refereeing/ruleset so bad - I’d rather talk about football then actually watch it. Case in point… I haven’t bothered to tune in for one minute of the late game tonight because re-runs of Cheers is more entertaining.

Your loving that. Good show but haven’t watched it in decades.

1 minute ago, Casey @ Bat said:

Your loving that. Good show but haven’t watched it in decades.

That’s definitely part of the novelty.

3 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

 

It could always be worse? I guess?

He's 100 years old though. You know, like that one guy in the draft.

4 minutes ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

You really think they don't see what we see?  They changed the whole philosophy of the offense because Hurts can't operate like an NFL QB.

Who knows what Howie sees.

2 minutes ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

You really think they don't see what we see?  They changed the whole philosophy of the offense because Hurts can't operate like an NFL QB.

Oh they see it, but they also thought he was one of the top 53 players in the 2020 draft.  Poor evaluation.