2 minutes ago, austinfan said:

 The objective is to win games, not stat pad to please message board nerds.

SF passed only 20 more times than the Eagles, Samuel 1405 yards, Kittle 910 yards, Aiyuk 826 yards. But 7.7 NY/A.

So don't look for a drastic increase in passing, rather, the focus will be on increasing the efficiency of the passing game, and one way to do that is establish the run behind a powerful OL, and then quick strikes for big yardage off play action. And a lot more screens, with the athletes they have on the OL, they should have a top screen game. Spread defenses both horizontally and vertically.

I figure they'll move toward more of a balanced offense, say 550 pass attempts, 500 rushes. They averaged 4.9 yards a rush, why would you make a drastic move away from the running game when it was so effective?

They were 7th in average length of drive, but only 2 teams (Chiefs, Chargers) were significantly higher. So they only need an incremental improvement here.

12th in points per drive, that's where you want to make the jump.

 

 

Stat pad for message board nerds?!? 😂😂😂

Did you watch the playoff game? Did you watch the regular season? It’s not about stats, it’s about MOVING THE BALL EFFICIENTLY AGINST GOOD TEAMS. 
 

what in the world..

3 minutes ago, austinfan said:

 The objective is to win games, not stat pad to please message board nerds.

SF passed only 20 more times than the Eagles, Samuel 1405 yards, Kittle 910 yards, Aiyuk 826 yards. But 7.7 NY/A.

So don't look for a drastic increase in passing, rather, the focus will be on increasing the efficiency of the passing game, and one way to do that is establish the run behind a powerful OL, and then quick strikes for big yardage off play action. And a lot more screens, with the athletes they have on the OL, they should have a top screen game. Spread defenses both horizontally and vertically.

I figure they'll move toward more of a balanced offense, say 550 pass attempts, 500 rushes. They averaged 4.9 yards a rush, why would you make a drastic move away from the running game when it was so effective?

They were 7th in average length of drive, but only 2 teams (Chiefs, Chargers) were significantly higher. So they only need an incremental improvement here.

12th in points per drive, that's where you want to make the jump.

 

 

The top 5 rushing teams last year were Indy, Ravens, Eagles, Browns, and Titans. Can you please tell me how many PLAYOFF wins those teams had, combined? Isn't that the ultimate goal here, to win PLAYOFF games? 

15 minutes ago, austinfan said:

Who cares if Hurts gets to 4,000 yards.

 

49 minutes ago, Alphagrand said:

As far as a passing offense is concerned, there were 10 teams last season that averaged 250 passing yards per game.  12 teams that averaged 248 or more, then a big drop off down to 233 passing yards per game.  Of those 12 teams, 10 made the playoffs 

 

50 minutes ago, Alphagrand said:

To get into the top 12 passing offense the Eagles would need 4,200 passing yards

 

Just now, TorontoEagle said:

The top 5 rushing teams last year were Indy, Ravens, Eagles, Browns, and Titans. Can you please tell me how many PLAYOFF wins those teams had, combined? Isn't that the ultimate goal here, to win PLAYOFF games? 

According to afan, we just need to maintain one of the best rushing attacks to have a top 12 offense.

10 minutes ago, austinfan said:

The objective is to win games

The objective is also to win games against good/playoff caliber teams, which we did none of last year because we couldnt pass the ball with those teams. 

18 minutes ago, austinfan said:

Who cares if Hurts gets to 4,000 yards.

Eagles are one of the best running teams in the NFL, a lot of teams that put up big passing yards do so the way Reid used to, using the short pass instead of running the ball because they're so bad at it.

So I'd expect the Eagles to be in the bottom half of passing yardage, but top ten in total yardage and points scored.

13 teams with 600+ passes, only two had 7+ NY/A, 5 were less than 6 NY/A. Eagles were at 6.5 NY/A.

No one cares about the aggregate stats, we care about how the yardage is gained.  Is it at the beginning of the game when it matters, or at the end in garbage time?  Is it to gain the lead, or is it to desperately try to come back at the end against a prevent defense?  

Wentz in 2017 only had 3200 yards passing, but was a MVP candidate.  Why?  Because he got the team out to leads, threw a lot of TDs and very few INTs.   It is about how the stats come about, not what they are.  This isn't a fantasy league.  This is a league where wins and losses matter and guess what it takes to win against good teams in the playoffs?   The ability to pass the ball consistently.  So, don't tell me about the box score stat lines.  I don't care.

2 minutes ago, wussbasket said:

According to afan, we just need to maintain one of the best rushing attacks to have a top 12 offense.

The 2017 Eagles were 3rd in rushing & the 2018 Patriots were 5th in rushing. The 2018 Pats were a running team in the playoffs.

So yes, you can win a SB with a good rushing offense as the foundation.
 

5 minutes ago, TorontoEagle said:

The top 5 rushing teams last year were Indy, Ravens, Eagles, Browns, and Titans. Can you please tell me how many PLAYOFF wins those teams had, combined? Isn't that the ultimate goal here, to win PLAYOFF games? 

You'd think, but some love that unsustainable, one dimensional philosophy.  With this team, it will get us there most years, but our QB play can't keep good teams honest and we will lose soon after.  That's the Hurts Dilemma in a nutshell. 

9 minutes ago, TorontoEagle said:

The top 5 rushing teams last year were Indy, Ravens, Eagles, Browns, and Titans. Can you please tell me how many PLAYOFF wins those teams had, combined? Isn't that the ultimate goal here, to win PLAYOFF games? 

Titans? Didn't...NVM

11 minutes ago, austinfan said:

Who cares if Hurts gets to 4,000 yards.

Eagles are one of the best running teams in the NFL, a lot of teams that put up big passing yards do so the way Reid used to, using the short pass instead of running the ball because they're so bad at it.

So I'd expect the Eagles to be in the bottom half of passing yardage, but top ten in total yardage and points scored.

13 teams with 600+ passes, only two had 7+ NY/A, 5 were less than 6 NY/A. Eagles were at 6.5 NY/A.

It's possible they will be top 10 in total yards. Top 10 in points when half of the yards are on the ground is difficult to see.  

In this scenario you leave out 2 presumptions:

1. The Eagles will have time consuming, sustained drives as a core offensive element.

2. They will finish off enough of the sustained drives with touchdowns to be a top 10 scoring team.  Meaning they will have a very high TD/drives per game ratio.

I can't get on board with this yet, using last year as the only information we can truly rely upon for this upcoming season.  Way too amy consecutive 3 and outs, too many 20-30 minute periods without a TD.  Right now the history of production we have to rely on doesn't support a top 10 scoring team.  

I hope I am pitifully wrong amd the Eagles score at will.

 

 

 

 

14 minutes ago, austinfan said:

 The objective is to win games, not stat pad to please message board nerds.

SF passed only 20 more times than the Eagles, Samuel 1405 yards, Kittle 910 yards, Aiyuk 826 yards. But 7.7 NY/A.

So don't look for a drastic increase in passing, rather, the focus will be on increasing the efficiency of the passing game, and one way to do that is establish the run behind a powerful OL, and then quick strikes for big yardage off play action. And a lot more screens, with the athletes they have on the OL, they should have a top screen game. Spread defenses both horizontally and vertically.

I figure they'll move toward more of a balanced offense, say 550 pass attempts, 500 rushes. They averaged 4.9 yards a rush, why would you make a drastic move away from the running game when it was so effective?

They were 7th in average length of drive, but only 2 teams (Chiefs, Chargers) were significantly higher. So they only need an incremental improvement here.

12th in points per drive, that's where you want to make the jump.

The objective is to win PLAYOFF games.  And, they also have to please the guy that pays the bills... and he wants a passing offense.  

Tell me, did you watch the Eagles against the Bucs?   Did they have any chance in that game with that mickey mouse offense they ran?

I hope the Eagles win by getting many Safeties. 

3 minutes ago, RLC said:

The 2017 Eagles were 3rd in rushing & the 2018 Patriots were 5th in rushing. The 2018 Pats were a running team in the playoffs.

So yes, you can win a SB with a good rushing offense as the foundation.
 

In both of those cases, a QB was present that could pick up the team whether for one drive, a half, or a whole game.  Do we have that guy now?

12 minutes ago, RLC said:

This sounds like Howie did a retrospective review of scouts, looking at how they rated players in the past and identifying the scouts who did a mediocre job.

 

Man thinking back to 2017, that RB group of Blount, Ajayi, and Clement was a thing of beauty.

Know it wasn't sustainable but they really struck lightning in a bottle there.

2 minutes ago, RLC said:

The 2017 Eagles were 3rd in rushing & the 2018 Patriots were 5th in rushing. The 2018 Pats were a running team in the playoffs.

So yes, you can win a SB with a good rushing offense as the foundation.  AND THE QB GOING 54/76 FOR 725 YDS WITH 6 PASSING TDS IN 2 GMS
 

FYP

Just now, TorontoEagle said:

The top 5 rushing teams last year were Indy, Ravens, Eagles, Browns, and Titans. Can you please tell me how many PLAYOFF wins those teams had, combined? Isn't that the ultimate goal here, to win PLAYOFF games? 

No no no. Just making the playoffs as the 7 seed gets you sprinkles on your ice cream now and a trophy now. Screw the Lombardi trophy, we get the sprinkles playoff trophy. 

True or false: we are 1 high end DB and improved QB play away from Superbowl contenders. 

4 minutes ago, RLC said:

The 2017 Eagles were 3rd in rushing & the 2018 Patriots were 5th in rushing. The 2018 Pats were a running team in the playoffs.

So yes, you can win a SB with a good rushing offense as the foundation.
 

Maybe less foundation and more lead-protecting.

Either way, if teams start doing what Tampa did in the playoffs, we need to show that we are dangerous, not just competent, in the passing game.

1 minute ago, Iggles25 said:

Man thinking back to 2017, that RB group of Blount, Ajayi, and Clement was a thing of beauty.

Know it wasn't sustainable but they really struck lightning in a bottle there.

It was awesome.  By itself, I would be shocked if it would have been as successful. We had a very viable QB option all year and a high pressure defense. It just all came together.

Just now, DEagle7 said:

True or false: we are 1 high end DB and vastly improved QB play away from Superbowl contenders. 

A better front-seven should make the secondary less vulnerable.

'Improved' isn't enough.  Hurts needs to get in those top QB tiers.  Cam or Lamar 'lite' won't do.

2 minutes ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

Maybe less foundation and more lead-protecting.

Either way, if teams start doing what Tampa did in the playoffs, we need to show that we are dangerous, not just competent, in the passing game.

Yup. Teams need to be able to both run the ball and pass the ball *when* they want to.

49 minutes ago, austinfan said:

Who cares if Hurts gets to 4,000 yards.

Eagles are one of the best running teams in the NFL, a lot of teams that put up big passing yards do so the way Reid used to, using the short pass instead of running the ball because they're so bad at it.

So I'd expect the Eagles to be in the bottom half of passing yardage, but top ten in total yardage and points scored.

13 teams with 600+ passes, only two had 7+ NY/A, 5 were less than 6 NY/A. Eagles were at 6.5 NY/A.

@LeanMeanGM @TorontoEagle @Alphagrand

You win in the playoffs and win titles passing the ball.

The top 10 teams in the NFL in rushing had a combined playoff record of 3-7 and 3 did not qualify for the playoffs.

The top 10 passing teams in the NFL had a combined playoff record of 11-8 and 1 did not qualify for the playoffs.  Both Super Bowl teams were top 10 in passing yards as well as the AFCCG Chiefs.  None of those three were top 10 in rushing.   They ranked 16, 23, 25.

The top 10 teams in total offense had a 10-6 total record and two did not make the playoffs.  Of the 8 teams that made the playoffs, 4 of them were only top 10 in passing yards, and they had a 7-3 combined record.  The 3 teams that were top 10 in total offense and both passing and running yards had a 1-3 record.

In regards to passing attempts, 7 of the top 10 made the playoffs.  5 of the top 10 in rushing attempts made the playoffs.  I could go through the records, but I think you have had enough today.

 

What this tells me is you are more likely to win in the playoffs if you are a predominantly passing offense.

1 minute ago, Infam said:

I’d like to see that 4k yards but you are right: In the end you want points and wins.

Running the ball gives us more time of possession and makes our defense fresher.  Hopefully we will be able to get the ball back to our O more this year with the improved defense.  Last year we finished 21st in TOP... I'm thinking this year we should be top 10