22 minutes ago, Diehardfan said:

That is a lot longer than most have been tossing around

He said it takes 12 weeks for the bone to fully heal, even if there's no pain.  He mentioned that if its a 'regular' person, they get slinged for a week... then they are good to go in about 4 weeks (because its a non-weight bearing bone), but with a football player... pushing that timeline puts you in jeopardy of the break getting worse if playing after 4 weeks and the danger of reinjury goes way up, and the reinjury would definitely require surgery, as the most likely outcome would be a displaced fracture at that point.  

 

Now, I'm not a doctor, nor do I pretend to be, but what he said made sense to me.   We'll see how it works out.   

Just now, Alphagrand said:

Montez Sweat, yes.  I'd say both Payne and Allen are better players than Chase Young, though.

They’re both better than Sweat and Young IMO. 

Well, that wasn't conducive to a good night's sleep. But here are some thoughts after suffering 8 heart attacks in a 5 minute span, and...oh yeah, we won.

1. Jalen Hurts, take a bow. When I saw the hit on the knee at the end of the 2nd quarter, I was sure that he was done and was just hoping it wasn't an ACL. To come back, lead to TD drives in Q3...the development he has made as a pocket passer is just unbelievable. No one saw this coming -- not even his biggest fan boys. He made 3 throws yesterday that were just off the charts -- 4th down to Goedert on the first drive, the crossing route to DeVonta on 3rd down and the TD to DeVonta. 

2. Tyler Steen seemed to hold up fine, but I'm hoping Jurgens coming back will get the run game going. 

3. DeAndre Swift, hold on to the damn ball please.

4. Brian Johnson called a masterpiece...for 3 quarters. Then in Q4, he tried to ruin it all. The Brotherly Shove off the goal line was the right call, but the 2nd down play...go to the WR screen on 2nd down. Then after we get it up 28-23, the go ball on 3rd and 3. But the tour de force was whatever that near catastrophe on 3rd down was. I "think" they were doing an RPO where Hurts could have pulled it and flipped it to AJ. Feels like he had the memory of the Jets game in his head. Trust Jalen to win the game there.

5. I get we're on our 4th and 5th options in the slot, but...come on. Desai is going to stick with this soft coverage, make them work it down the field stuff. I don't like it, but I understand it. But that means on 3rd and 10+, you have to get off the field. I'd love to see him blitz and force the quick underneath throw there. 

6. We're better with Morrow on the field, not Dean.

7. Cunningham has been a savior for this defense. His coverage isn't terrible, and he's a great run support player and tackler.

8. Bradberry is still good, but he's a far cry from last year. That PI just can't happen.

9. Brandon Graham saved the game. And then Josh Sweat did. It's kinda amazing how the defensive line can find a way to close out games.

23 minutes ago, Diehardfan said:

The doc calling from the car doesn't have all the details 

Maybe he knew I'd be positive about his return and thought doomed.

@Outlaw

Obviously.

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

I would argue they are not depending on hurts running as much cause of the knee issue. If jalen didn’t have a bone bruise on his knee, i think the play calling wouldn’t just have him sitting in the pocket as much. This feels like more they can’t run their entire playbook because of his knee issue.

Agreed.  But, its helping in the RZ.  The QB draw has been removed from the playbook in the RZ.  Glad to see that.  It wasn't working anyway.

7 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

Happy? I’m irritated as hell. But I’m not stupid enough to think Johnson should be fired. 

I mean maybe on a team not expecting to win a SB it would be fine for him to have a season or two to learn...but he was with them last year and most players are the same. Hurts has looked like he regressed in many games, hasn't looked as comfortable, and the calls at the end of the game alone are maddening and honestly should have cost them the game if Dallas didn't crap the bed. Better teams won't. He is the problem with the offense and even when they do well it still feels like he is holding them back and it's Hurts carrying them on instincts making plays. 

Eagles stop the cowpads three times in the red zone. Despite the onfield refs trying to give them two of those.   Second game for the secondary.  Anybody notice that Dean went out?  Held cowpads under 100 yards rushing.   Jalen with another 70+% game.   Bye to heal up a bit. Goedert being hurt sucks but another week with Jones.  Another two weeks for Byard to study film and the playbook.  Sounds like Roby is back after the bye. Watkins may come back and Albert O is a receiving threat. Time for Calcaterra to deliver.  Likely get Cam back. Chance we get both Goedert and Maddox back when the season is on the line.  The Eagles beat the cowpads.  Overall, a good day to be an Eagles fan.

2 minutes ago, Diehardfan said:

I mean maybe on a team not expecting to win a SB it would be fine for him to have a season or two to learn...but he was with them last year and most players are the same. Hurts has looked like he regressed in many games, hasn't looked as comfortable, and the calls at the end of the game alone are maddening and honestly should have cost them the game if Dallas didn't crap the bed. Better teams won't. He is the problem with the offense and even when they so well it still feels like he is holding them back and it's Hurts carrying them on instincts making plays. 

We’re scoring more points per drive than we were last year…

Maybe Tyree Jackson gets the call. Think he’s on Giants PS?

The 125+ receiving yard streak Brown had ended

Just now, Mike030270 said:

The 125+ receiving yard streak Brown had ended

Gilmore/Bland aren't slouches - all good things...

8 minutes ago, judunno said:

I'm trying to figure out what everyone is looking for these days in a LB since the Eagles are 'so bad at LB'. Eagles are tops in the league in run defense... what else are you looking for in LB play?

Desai has done an excellent job on run fits.  I am also not as down on Dean as others have been.  I think Dean gets to the ball and makes the tackle.  He struggles some in coverage but there's not many TE's out there that excel in covering TE's.  I think out bigger needs are still safety and CB.  I don't know that acquiring those players fixes the defense.  Desai has to work on his play calling especially at the end of games.  I also think the players in the secondary need to be better coached.  Some of the coverage battles the team is losing is because they're just not in the right position. The first TD the Eagles gave up was on a RPO where Blankenship was the player being read.  Reed took a step towards the RB and that was all of the space the TE needed.  It was a difficult position to put him in and with coaching maybe he has better outside leverage against the TE so that even if he takes a step to the RB, he's in a position to recover.  

Curious how much of the secondary issues are talent and scheme. People can argue Slay lost a little bit and Bradberry lost a little bit, but even so, this was the 26th ranked pass defense coming into the game, probably lower now. There aren't 25 teams with better secondary talents than the Eagles, there just aren't. In 2017 the Eagles #1 corner was Ronald freaking Darby and they covered better than this.

One of the things I was thinking about in this game was, I kinda miss the Schwartz sticks defense on 3rd down. People hated it for whatever reason, but it was effective.

The Eagles should be able to get by with Slay, Bradberry, Blankenship(who's pretty damn good) and Byard as your top 4 secondary DBs without being a bottom 5 pass defense. That doesn't mean that I think they should be top 5 either, but bottom 5-6 is unacceptable and more than just the talent. Something needs to be fixed coaching-wise or schematically.

7 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

8. Bradberry is still good, but he's a far cry from last year. That PI just can't happen.

This has bugged me for years.  I realize playing CB in the NFL is a very tough job, but why does a CB not look back for the ball when the WR is running a 40 yard go route?  What is the CB afraid of -- he'll turn to look for the ball and the WR will suddenly cut to a square in?  When it's a go route, it's a go route; I suppose the CB is worried he'll lose speed by turning his head to look .... but how far does he think Dak can throw?  

Next matchup with the cowboys, they really need to be better at finishing tackles. The first half was all about how many times they didn’t complete the play and bring Dak down. 

30 minutes ago, BigEFly said:

Gamebook usually is not available on game day.

Not the full Gamebook, but they have it available after the game. It's just missing the snap counts and some of the miscellaneous stats. All of the play by play data is in there though.

We lost Goedert for a bit but we still have Brown, Smith, and Julio. That's plenty to still win games

 

6 minutes ago, Diehardfan said:

I mean maybe on a team not expecting to win a SB it would be fine for him to have a season or two to learn...but he was with them last year and most players are the same. Hurts has looked like he regressed in many games, hasn't looked as comfortable, and the calls at the end of the game alone are maddening and honestly should have cost them the game if Dallas didn't crap the bed. Better teams won't. He is the problem with the offense and even when they do well it still feels like he is holding them back and it's Hurts carrying them on instincts making plays. 

Hurts is having a better year this seaons throwing.  He had 2 of the best games he has played in the last 2 games.  I also don't agree that he's making a lot of plays out of structure to move the team.  BJ's playcalling has been problematic at times but he's doing a much better job than people are giving him credit for here.  They did not execute well at the end of the last game and the 3rd down throw to AJ was a terrible call.  Still this team had four solid TD drives against the team.  For the most part, it wasn't Hurts making plays outside of structure.  There were good calls that took advantage of the defensive looks.  

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

Next matchup with the cowboys, they really need to be better at finishing tackles. The first half was all about how many times they didn’t complete the play and bring Dak down. 

They need to keep him in the pocket as well.  There too many times when interior pressure pushed him out of the pocket and the DEhad gotten too far upfield.  

4 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

One of the things I was thinking about in this game was, I kinda miss the Schwartz sticks defense on 3rd down. People hated it for whatever reason, but it was effective.

Ah - the sticks defense... more effective than remembered, yes... but it begged for those quick wide receiver screens with blockers out front that sometimes worked, often robbed the defense of prime turnover situations and always ceded field position.

38 minutes ago, we_gotta_believe said:

Which would be great in 2003, but in 2023 not as much. It's a passing league now and while being stout against the run is obviously important, the lesser of two evils is being weak against the run as opposed to being weak against the pass.

I disagree. Stopping the run is just as important now as it was decades ago. It's a key indicator of who is winning in the trenches. LBs are going to be weak by nature against the pass in this era. The newly enforced rules don't allow them to man handle receivers and TEs like they did in the past. There may be a handful of decent coverage LBs in the entire league. It's just not how things evolved. To me the LBs role has changed tremendously to someone that can stop the run and limit YAC because they're not going to get PBUs and stop the pass game entirely. Hell the safeties can barely cover these guys these days that's why we're starting to see big dime concepts and the extinction of the box safeties. The days of having a Carlos Emmons type that can limit TEs are far gone. People need to understand that and readjust their lens when it comes to the LB position.

I am giving Goedert a full rehab schedule and feels pointless to rush him for last 3 games with Giants & Cardinals who will be tanking hard. I think we go back to our roots here with the running game, with timely 2 week break of rest for OL and Jurgens coming back. It will be good for whole team regarding time of possession and defense. Got too cute lately with passing in untimely situations. Actually want Watkins back with no Goedert. Like to see more Pistol, more motion and more Hurts under center. Let's spread them out and have them guessing. Hope Hurts can heal and be more of a threat as a runner, so the RPO can be a threat. Before season began and especially after Lane Johnson/Jets debacle, we would all have drooled to be 8-1 here and significantly ahead of Cowgirls and 40 whiners. With 2 new coordinators and all the injuries you knew this would take time. Let's just enjoy this. Will smooth out by end of the year. 

2 minutes ago, NCiggles said:

They need to keep him in the pocket as well.  There too many times when interior pressure pushed him out of the pocket and the DEhad gotten too far upfield.  

Yeah, I mentioned in the first half.  In the first half our pass rush was getting too far up field and giving him massive lanes to Take off. The  drive for their first score the first 3 plays were Dak rushing. didn’t keep containment. I get dak is not a Lamar Jackson type, but he is good enough as a runner that if you were going to give him massive lanes he’s going to take them.

49 minutes ago, Iggles_Phan said:

Covering the middle of the field against the pass.

I'm assuming you mean PBUs in the middle of the field because they are making the tackles in the middle of the field for the most part. Not many LBs doing that type of thing in this League in this Era.