12 hours ago, austinfan said:

Pre-season games matter only for the scrubs trying to make the PS.

Sirianni values the scrimmages with other teams more than pre-season games, b/c he can script them with the opposing HC and see how players look in different situations.

Your roster players may only play one game worth of PT in 3 exhibition games, and you have no control of situations (red zone, etc) so you don't get to see some things that will determine the "winners" of contests for roster spots.

There's actually a lot more reps in the scrimmages than in exhibition games.

As far as players - we're still in July, let's see where they are 2-3 weeks from now - especially veterans who are more focused on working on things than impressing the media. The rookies and last year PS guys are still climbing the learning curve. As they get closer to the first cut down day, the intensity will rise.

Dang AFan, quit trying to talk reason about what TC and PS focus on to the misfits.  

8 hours ago, blindside said:

In terms of Sirianni/players coaches vs. authoritarian coaches....

I see both sides. Definitely see why wearing a Hurts shirt is short-sided and perhaps goes against the "constant competition” narrative the team pretends to have. 
 

But it’s pretty obvious Hurts is gonna get every opportunity to start this season. So I get the coach supporting him publicly. It could backfire pretty easily, but so could the AJ Brown acquisition. 
 

But also, that’s a tough balance for a coach. We’ve seen it go both ways. Andy is a players’ coach, he won a SB. Tomlin too. Doug did for us. And we’ve seen hard ass coaches lose their teams like Meyer and McDaniel. And Chip Kelly for us. 
 

But we’ve seen it go the other way too. Bill B being the most obvious example. 
 

For me, I’d prefer to have a likable coach if possible. I like Nick. Seems like a good dude. Can he coach? Idk. Would I rather win another SB than like the coach? Sure. But it is nice having a staff you can want to root for. But there has to be a balance. I don’t think making a bunch of talented, rich, athletes, who know someone else will pay them, feel like they’re treated like children is sustainable. But being their best friends and not holding them accountable won’t either. I don’t envy any NFL coaches. 
 

Doesn’t matter though. This IS Hurts season, whether we like it or not. I’m not too concerned about the shirt. I’m more concerned about how the offense is going to adjust. Will we adjust to what is sustainable, or adjust to the QB’s strengths and limitations?

Hey that’s a swell story 

 

Seems light

Weak 

And no fine. Curious to see how the league responds. They didn't commit to supporting the decision like the NFLPA did. 

 

14 hours ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

Outside of any of that, It’s a bad look.  It would be unbecoming if another coach wore a T shirt with his starting QB on it, regardless of who that QB was.  Not to mention all of the other player shirts he’s worn.  Makes him look immature.  

Maybe get that stick out of your behind.

He’s young, players are young, no need to behave like 60+

4 minutes ago, DEagle7 said:

6 games is a lot less than expected. Makes the Browns look a bit less stupid.

Then again I’d still feel annoyed if he was here and I would have to cheer for him.

18 minutes ago, downundermike said:

 

So what lesson did Watson learn?  I'm assuming he didn't learn anything from this.  

4 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

So what lesson did Watson learn?  I'm assuming he didn't learn anything from this.  

Don't hire a masseuse from Instagram.

This is a fair point

You can be a masseuse lech and get a 6 game suspension.  You bet $1500, suspended for the whole season

1 minute ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

Meh.  I don't have a problem with 6 games.  He is a dirtball dealing with a bunch of other dirtballs.  Those other dirt balls were pissed or embarrassed and got together and went after him.  There's a reason why most of them didn't want to sign an NDA.  I would have like to have seen him fined.  But the Browns kind of took care of that, with the way they wrote up his contract.  So they're dirtballs too.  

For Watson, I don't have a massive issue - a fine too would have been fair.  But Watson's behaviour was persistent over a number of years, Ridley made 1 mistake; Ridley has every right to feel aggrieved at the disparities in punishment.  Esp when the NFL keep signing official betting partners.

19 hours ago, justrelax said:

That's true, but with several caveats. (1) The coaches may know the scripts but the players won't be told ahead of time. (2) You may not get a chance to work specific type of situations in a PS game that you want/need to work on, such as goal line offense and defense or certain blitzes - either to execute or block. Gannon may ask Doug to run certain plays or play-actions to see how his players react to them. They're installing 3-4 and 4-3 concepts and want to see how another team may attack those alignments. They may try various tempos and two-minute drills, things that may not come up in the course of a game. (3) You can see how your down-the-depth chart guys handle certain situations, which is critical when making roster cuts. And so on.

Why can’t we have both scripted scrimmages and get the randomness provided by actual PS games? 
 

I was ok with the experiment of scrimmages last year, because I thought we were a bottom of the barrel team and why not try a new approach? The problem was that first month of the season, how many penalties did we have? I believe we were on pace to smash the all time record. I think the lack of live, random game snaps was a big contributor to that. And now that we have some expectations this year, I think they need to incorporate as many reps as possible. 
 

The actual outcome of the reps, good or bad aren’t as relevant, but there’s really no excuse not to take PS game reps 

For what it’s worth (I’m just catching up on the blog from being away this weekend) I would prefer we at least let strong compete for the starting job. Meaning, give him reps with the ones.

Hurts is a leopard, his spots aren’t changing. Time to move on.

3 minutes ago, TorontoEagle said:

For what it’s worth (I’m just catching up on the blog from being away this weekend) I would prefer we at least let strong compete for the starting job. Meaning, give him reps with the ones.

Hurts is a leopard, his spots aren’t changing. Time to move on.

It's early to expect Strong to be with the ones. He's still learning. Drinking from the fire hose.

And, Hurts . . . is going to get an opportunity this year. Not sure how many games, but Hurts is Plan A this year.

 

24 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

So what lesson did Watson learn?  I'm assuming he didn't learn anything from this.  

Get the happy ending agreement in writing next time.

1 minute ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

Is that what you do?  

Only with myself unfortunately ☹️

8 minutes ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

I don't believe our future QB is on the roster.  I think the Eagles, mostly Lowie, wanna sell seats and merch.  The best way they can do that is show some sort of upward progress while positioning to get their QB of the future.  Jalen Hurts and the college offense we run gives them the best chance to do both.  They are positioned for next years draft.  They can compete and look functional this coming year.  As opposed to possibly tanking the entire season with a rookie UDFA QB.  

Oh I know Strong won’t get a real shot this year unless there’s a rash of injuries. But it’s more that I’m certain Hurts ain’t it. May as well open up the competition now and see what everybody can do under the same conditions (playing with actual NFL talent).  Lowie won’t allow it though, of course. 
 

And for all of NS’s competition BS, the truth is when it comes time for real, actual competition, he shies away from it. Most likely because of a directive from Lowie, but it’s a negative aspect of NS I don’t like 

8 minutes ago, TorontoEagle said:

Oh I know Strong won’t get a real shot this year unless there’s a rash of injuries. But it’s more that I’m certain Hurts ain’t it. May as well open up the competition now and see what everybody can do under the same conditions (playing with actual NFL talent).  Lowie won’t allow it though, of course. 
 

And for all of NS’s competition BS, the truth is when it comes time for real, actual competition, he shies away from it. Most likely because of a directive from Lowie, but it’s a negative aspect of NS I don’t like 

Lurie, Howie and Siri continue to prop up Hurts as the starter. 

It's like they are protecting an investment.

Maybe they are protecting his ego.

Maybe they are protecting his reputation. . . in case we trade him.

All we need is one team out there that is desperate for a QB (aside from us).

 

25 minutes ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

That guy has a problem.  I mean, I like sex and hookers  as much as the next guy.  But he has an addiction.  

There is no reason for a man in Deshaun Watson's position to be searching Instagram for a massage. He has access to NFL trainers, he is loaded with money... He doesn't need to find some random women in Houston for a massage. He can hire the best. He was only looking for trouble and he found it. I have no pity for Watson. I feel sorry for the women he abused.

21 minutes ago, TorontoEagle said:

For what it’s worth (I’m just catching up on the blog from being away this weekend) I would prefer we at least let strong compete for the starting job. Meaning, give him reps with the ones.

Hurts is a leopard, his spots aren’t changing. Time to move on.

Am I missing something? You expect an UDFA rookie should get a shot at the starting job? Really? 

Just now, EaglePhan1986 said:

Am I missing something? You expect an UDFA rookie should get a shot at the starting job? Really? 

Open competition is a bad thing? If he’s as bad as an UDFA should be, then Hurts should be able to blow him away in a competition, right?