EMB Blog: 2022 OTAs thru Pre-Season

[EaglePhan1986]

1 minute ago, RememberTheKoy said:

 

Looked like he called him out by name.  

 

 

Eh… I thought it was a bit of a show by Sirianni. Whatever works I guess 

[Iggles_Phan]

2 minutes ago, BigEFly said:

I am not a huge fan of Reagor but the reports from TC is that he has had his most consistent camp.  Tonight he looked better than Covey by far.  I would say that as a WR, I thought Covey did not show much at all.  Thing is, Smith is currently injured and Brown loses time every year.   Reagor trade has a $3.6 million cap hit.  

Trusting Reagor to be consistent is just wishcasting at this point.  I'm not suggesting that Covey will be a great NFL WR.  I don't think he will.  

Yes, Smith might be fragile.  Brown has always missed time.  But, I'm ok with keeping 5 WRs and having Reagor not be one of them.  I think a castoff WR from elsewhere carried on the PS could fit the bill in an emergency and perform at least as well as Reagor.

[Sack that QB]

Good news is you don’t have to worry about this with Hurts. He doesn’t have the arm strength

[Texas Eagle]

1 minute ago, Sack that QB said:

Good news is you don’t have to worry about this with Hurts. He doesn’t have the arm strength

Stashing him on IR now most likely or waiving

[The Blackfish]

 

[LeanMeanGM]

37 minutes ago, Ace Nova said:

Nope. 

 

YUUUUUUUP

[Thrive]

Fascinating.

[Iggles_Phan]

11 minutes ago, Texas Eagle said:

Stashing him on IR now most likely or waiving

Can't release without a settlement since he's injured.  I'd expect IR.

6 minutes ago, Thrive said:

Fascinating.

Why?  Just why? 

[BDawk_ASamuel]

12 minutes ago, The Blackfish said:

 

 

[Utebird]

1 hour ago, Texas Eagle said:

Not yet but hopefully next game

Why would you hope he plays poorly???

I don't get why fans would root against players in their own team?

[FranklinFldEBUpper]

1 hour ago, Iggles_Phan said:

Please explain how trading Reagor is risky to the Eagles.

Bradley seems like a guy who will make the team purely for ST acumen, which is fine.  Having a ST specialist like him isn't a bad roster move.  If he's Bryan Braman... that's fine.

He's not.

[RememberTheKoy]

34 minutes ago, EaglePhan1986 said:

Eh… I thought it was a bit of a show by Sirianni. Whatever works I guess 

 

Yeah but that's still got to make an awkward handshake a few hours later.  Sirianni pulling his johnny small college coach stuff with another professional NFL HC.   

[RememberTheKoy]

25 minutes ago, The Blackfish said:

 

[Guest]

Just now, RememberTheKoy said:

 

Yeah but that's still got to make an awkward handshake a few hours later.  Sirianni pulling his johnny small college coach stuff with another professional NFL HC.   

Maybe if he wore a Hurts shirt Saleh would have taken him seriously 

[The Blackfish]

53 minutes ago, EaglePhan1986 said:

Eh… I thought it was a bit of a show by Sirianni. Whatever works I guess 

 If Hurts didn’t bail a clean pocket, he doesn’t get nailed, and goofy doesn’t rant on Saleh. 

[HazletonEagle]

48 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

Good news is you don’t have to worry about this with Hurts. He doesn’t have the arm strength

That was early in. He still secured a punt nicely.  

[FranklinFldEBUpper]

Some random thoughts about the game for people who didn't get to watch it.

QB -- This might bother some, and I'm sure it'll thrill some, but basically Jalen Hurts was excellent. He completed every pass he threw and appeared poised and confident. The only criticism I would have was his decision to try to run for the first down on third and five. He was never going to get there, and he came up short as he went out of bounds. Fortunately for the Eagles (not for Hurts), he was drilled with a late hit and the drive was extended. He later ran for a touchdown but it was called back because of a hold. And he threw a touchdown pass on the next play. Gardner Minshew was inconsistent. He didn't outright suck but he didn't really look all that good either. Reid Sinnett kinda crapped the bed, though he did lead the team to a go-ahead drive in the closing minutes. Carson Strong didn't play. He'll probably get a lot of action in one of the two remaining games. Based on tonight, I'm not keeping Sinnett on my 53.

RB -- It was mostly Jason Huntley. He had one very good kickoff return (he's good at that) and I would say he ran hard. But he really didn't look good. There were runs where he definitely should have gotten more yardage than he got. Free agent Kennedy Brooks looked very slow to me, especially when moving laterally. But he showed some power and I guess you'd say he made a decent overall impression.

WR -- AJ Brown never saw the ball. DeVonta Smith didn't play. Apparently Greg Ward and John Hightower didn't either. Quez Watkins made a fine deep sideline catch on the first play of the game but he also dropped a catchable (not that it was easy) pass later in the game. Jalen Reagor caught a couple short balls but was unable to do anything after the catch. That's supposed to be his bread-and-butter, but he didn't show it. Zach Paschal made a couple of catches and looked the part of an experienced veteran who can help the team. Deon Cain dropped a ball. I think he caught one later. Britain Covey didn't shine. He had a decent kickoff return but also a poor punt return. Apparently he also got injured so we probably won't see him again. Devon Allen seems so buried on the depth chart (translation: not a chance in hell he's making the team) that he only got in on the last play of the game. (Could be wrong about that since it's hard to tell watching on television).

TE -- Dallas Goedert had a touchdown catch. He's obviously the real deal. Didn't need to play after that. Jack Stoll caught a pass but the announcers didn't realize it was him. Noah Togiai made a couple of good plays. I'm not sure he's making the team but I'd say he helped himself. JJAW dropped the only pass that came his way. The announcers tried to make excuses for it (poorly thrown) but I don't buy it.

OL -- The highlight of the night was the play of Cam Jurgens. He played the whole first half and looked really good. Very mobile and always active. What I really liked about him was the way he kept his feet. There was also a running play that made me say "wow" out loud when I saw how quickly he got onto the defender and moved him. Andre Dillard seemed okay but I didn't really focus on him. He got flagged for a false start but it was really the whole line that moved when Jurgens snapped the ball late. The third team guys did not impress.

DL -- Jordan Davis only played a little bit but you could see the talent. Tarran Jackson batted a pass. I thought he looked okay. I don't think Derek Barnett played, and if Josh Sweat played, I didn't notice him. It was a game with the backups. I didn't see any standouts.

LB -- Kyzir White intercepted a short pass and had a pretty good return. For a moment there, I thought he might take it to the house. I'm excited about the idea of actually having linebackers who can make plays in the passing game. He's definitely a plus. I thought Nakobe Dean and Davion Taylor were active. I'd give them both a plus. I would say that Patrick Johnson was more noticeable than Kyron Johnson but that's hardly a definitive judgment. It's just a casual thought.

DB -- I would say that Zech McPherson had a positive game. He's a tough dude. He was aggressive in his tackling. I saw him get beat once in coverage but I seemed to recall him making a play another time. Of the other corners, I'd say the best was Tay Gowan. Josh Jobe got beat a few times. No one else really stood out. 

K/P -- Jake Elliott made all his PATs. The Eagles intentionally kicked off high and short in the early going but still couldn't manage to pin the Jets as hoped. Then with less than a minute to go after the Eagles took the lead, Elliott kicked the ball five yards deep with what I believe was very good hangtime...and the Eagles barely kept the return man from getting to midfield. Arryn Siposs had one very good deep punt and a decent (mostly good) game overall. I was a bit disappointed when he had the chance to punt from around midfield and pin the ball deep. Instead he landed the ball at around the fifteen. You gotta do better than that, dude.

I've seen worse preseason openers. It's kinda disappointing to lose when you're up 14-0 off the bat. But the backups kinda stunk. Fortunately there weren't injuries other than Covey.

[schuy7]

Not that I'm an expert, but I don't know why the Eagles like Opeta so much. He gets man-handled too easily to me.

[jsb235]

Some thoughts on the first half. 

1. Hurts did some good and bad things. On the Goedert TD, he scanned the field and found the open guy, which is good. But he bailed from what looked like a clean pocket on the rtp play, which is bad. But great throws to Goedert and Watson, and worked checkdowns to Sanders. Also, the TD run was electric. All in all, a positive day. 

2. Minshew looked fine. Doubt they trade him. Arm strength is an issue as was evident on the throw to Pascal in the end zone, but he is a plus backup. 

3. Backup oline was great. Put Scott or Gainwell out there and they would have looked better. Huntley is just not the guy. 

4. Davis wrecked Vera Tucker on one play. Just waltzed right by him. He is going to be a star. 

5. Williams was tough to block as well. They didn't run any 5-1with the starters, but you can see how it is shaping up, and teams with bad olines are going to get punished. 

6.Tarron Jackson is legit. I also liked what I saw from Chachere, Dean, Scott and McPhearson. But the rest of the depth on defense is suspect to me. Which is fine, since having 4 decent backups in the back 7 is as good as it gets. But I think some dead weight will make the roster on defense. To me, Davion Taylor still looks lost. And Patrick Johnson, Kvon Wallace and others don't seem to do much out there. 

7. Overall, it's hard not to come out of this game feeling pretty good. The offense was missing a few pieces, but looked good. The defense was fine. It's early days, and preseason is a long way from the games counting, but it was better to see them play well rather than play poorly. 

 

[schuy7]

Kick coverage was poor all night, that was a little concerning.

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

Preseason is cool and all but Phillies playing in a playoff like atmosphere and beating the Mets, scherzer without harper and schwarber is peak sports ecstasy 

 

[RememberTheKoy]

1 hour ago, Sack that QB said:

Good news is you don’t have to worry about this with Hurts. He doesn’t have the arm strength

 

Congratulations to Britain Covey for becoming a prime IR candidate keep for the Eagles.  

[D-Shiznit]

It's hella early but it looks like Howie nailed the first 3 picks in Davis, Jurgens, and Dean.

Coupled with last year's top 3 picks in Smitty, Dickerson, and Milton, well done.

[RememberTheKoy]

The blog agrees.

 

 

[Alphagrand]

40 minutes ago, FranklinFldEBUpper said:

QB -- This might bother some, and I'm sure it'll thrill some, but basically Jalen Hurts was excellent. He completed every pass he threw and appeared poised and confident.

Doesn’t bother me at all.  I didn’t see the game but 6/6 for 80 yards and a TD pass is what every team should hope for from their starting QB in a preseason game.  I was at first encouraged that he didn’t have any runs on his stat line, but he had a TD run negated by penalty and another run he got drilled on for a penalty, so I’m not quite as encouraged with 2 runs against 6 passes.  A huge part of his development will be to eliminate the excessive running and to win with his arm, while augmenting with his legs.

We’ll see if he can get there.