Teams Philadelphia Eagles - The Gold Standard

[sblack]

Give me Bell

Or Tevin Coleman

 

[brutus76]

LeSean maybe?

 

[ChockNurris]

LeSean maybe?

even if he gets cleared of the child abuse claims, nobody trades for an old rb. demarco murray just retired.

 

[rumply]

Got some cap space, couple extra picks in next years draft, maybe Wiz is on the trade table, Foles is sitting around twiddling his thumbs.

Make a move & get Bell.

 

[Southerntakeover]

Ok, well, we're 3-3 and still pretty good shots to win the division.

The offence needs both fitness, and a talent injection at the skills positions you feel (we're short one explosive back or receiver right now). Still, we're alive.

 

[rumply]

Need to acknowledge how well Wentz is progressing since his return despite the protections problems, which thankfully improved last night. That was his 4th highest career passer rating & hasnt thrown a pick since his first game back. Travelling beautifully.

& while it's probably not going to happen, the idea of Bell in this team gets me drooling a bit. Maybe we dont need him, maybe he's not worth the trouble, Smallwood & Clement both good last night, but what if...

 

[Southerntakeover]

Wentz has just gone right back to being elite.

The scary thing is that his numbers should be far better than they are, if his receivers hadnt dropped all sorts of catchable balls, often for big games.

 

[Southerntakeover]

Also, not sure that if we're adding players it shouldnt be on the secondary side. We're getting really thin there, and I'm not at all comfortable relying upon Maddox at safety.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Eagles one win away from evening rivalry with Giants for first time ever
Posted by Michael David Smith on October 13, 2018, 5:36 AM EDT

Getty Images

On October 15, 1933, the Philadelphia Eagles, a team in its first year of existence, went to the Polo Grounds to take on the New York Giants. It did not go well: The Giants destroyed the Eagles 56-0, winning the first game between the two teams and starting what would be a longstanding trend of the Giants getting the better of their rivals.

But this season the Eagles have a chance to even the rivalry for the first time ever: After the Eagles beat the Giants on Thursday nights, the rivalry’s all-time record is 86 wins for the Giants, 85 wins for the Eagles, and two ties. That means if the Eagles win on November 25, the rivalry will be tied for the first time since it started in 1933.

The Giants dominated the rivalry in the early years, and by 1970 they were 20 games over .500 against the Eagles, 46-26-1. More recently the rivalry has been more competitive, but it only started to turn decisively in the Eagles’ favor in the last decade, with Philadelphia winning 17 of the last 21 games between the two teams.

Given the current state of the two teams, with the Eagles building a Super Bowl winner around a talented young quarterback and the Giants struggling to move on from an aging quarterback, it shouldn’t surprise anyone if the Eagles even the series in November and then move ahead in 2019. For the first time ever, the Eagles may soon be able to say they’ve had the better end of their rivalry with the Giants.

 

[rumply]

With one big fix, 2018 Eagles can be an elite team

If you have an elite quarterback and a top-10 defense, you have a chance to be a special team.

We know the Eagles have the first. And they just might have the second.

I don't have to make much of a case for Wentz as a top-10 quarterback.

Without the benefit of a preseason, limited in training camp, victimized by drops and inconsistent offensive line play, Wentz has come in and performed at an extraordinary level these last four weeks.

He's completed at least 65 percent of his passes in all four starts, averaged just under 300 yards and thrown eight TDs to just one interception. The only other Eagles quarterback to ever have a four-game stretch like this was Donovan McNabb the first four weeks of 2004.

What's scary is that Wentz has gotten better each of these four games, and you know he's only going to keep getting better.

Top 10 quarterback? Heck, yeah.

The real question is how good is this defense, and honestly, I don't know the answer yet.

Six games in, two things stick out:

No. 1, they're allowing way too many big plays.

And No. 2, when they don't allow a big play, they're very good.

The Eagles have allowed seven plays of at least 45 yards, tied with the Raiders for most in the NFL. It's also the most they've given up six weeks into a season in at least 25 years.

Those seven plays have netted 420 yards, which equals an incredible 20 percent of all the yards the Eagles have given up all year.

This sounds nuts, but when the Eagles aren't allowing big plays, they're not allowing very much at all, and the numbers prove it.

The Eagles' defense has allowed the third-fewest first downs in the league, 17.7 per game. Only the Ravens (15.5) and Bears (17.0) have allowed fewer.

On third down, they're third-best in the league at 29.5 percent, behind only the Vikings (25.0) and Ravens (26.5).

And in the red zone, they're once again No. 1 in the league, allowing touchdowns on only seven of 21 opposing drives.

Add up all that, and you have a defense that, despite allowing big plays at an alarming rate, is still allowing the fifth-fewest points per game in the NFL.

Here's a look at the top 10:

12.8 … Ravens

16.0 … Bears

16.7 … Titans

17.2 … Cowboys

18.3 … Eagles

18.3 … Seahawks

19.7 … Rams

19.8 … Jaguars

20.8 … Redskins

21.4 … Packers

The Eagles' defense has allowed just 11 touchdowns. Only the Jaguars (10), Titans (10) and Ravens (8) have allowed fewer.

So there are signs of greatness. But in the midst of all of it are plays of 75, 75, 68, 55, 51, 50 and 46 yards.

What does this tell us?

If the Eagles can solve their problem allowing big plays, they have a chance to be a special team.

When you look at that list of top-10 defenses, how many of those teams also have top-10 quarterbacks?

Mitch Trubisky has played very well and given the Bears new life. Jared Goff, Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers are elite. Alex Smith and Dak Prescott have both been OK.

There are obviously teams whose quarterbacks are so good they keep their teams in every game, despite weak defenses. Matt Ryan, Pat Mahomes and Drew Brees lead teams with bottom-7 defenses that are nonetheless very dangerous. The Patriots are 20th in defense but will be a threat as long as Tom Brady is in uniform.

But the bottom line is the Eagles have a chance.

On those key plays that are killing them, they obviously need to tackle better and cover better. If they can do that and either eliminate or drastically reduce those big plays, they're going to have a chance every week.

I don't think any of us know exactly who this Eagles team is yet. They're certainly not where they wanted to be at 3-3.

But I know exactly what they can be. And they're not that far off.

 

[Southerntakeover]

I'm not sure you can 'just fix' an issue that stems from having slower corners like Mills and either inexperienced or over the hill options at safety (opposite Jenkins).

 

[rumply]

Eagles bring back CB Dexter McDougle, waive DT Destiny Vaeao


Roster reshaping continued on Tuesday for the Philadelphia Eagles, who were forced by injury to bring back cornerback Dexter McDougle and waive defensive tackle Destiny Vaeao with an injury settlement to make room for McDougle on the roster.

McDougle was originally a third-round pick of the New York Jets in 2014. He played eight games with the Eagles last year before being cut and catching on with the New Orleans Saints for a week.

The journeyman has played in 29 career games with no interceptions and one pass defensed.

His arrival is the surest sign yet that the Eagles will be without injured nickel cornerback Sidney Jones (hamstring) for more than a week.

Because the Eagles also are short at defensive tackle, another roster move could be forthcoming to fill the void created by Vaeao’s departure.

In the meantime, they did beef up that position on the practice squad by adding Winston Craig and subtracting linebacker Kyle Wilson in a corresponding move. They added linebacker B.J. Bello to the practice squad earlier on Tuesday.

The Eagles were forced to finish their last game, a 34-13 romp over the New York Giants last Thursday, with cornerback Avonte Maddox at the nickel spot and cornerback Rasul Douglas at safety.

Maddox had been moved to safety to fill in when the Eagles lost Rodney McLeod for the season. Getting McDougle back could possibly allow Maddox to move back to safety while McDougle handles the nickel corner role.

This is because the coaches do not view Douglas as anything other than an outside corner or an emergency safety.

With Vaeao gone and Tim Jernigan remaining on the NFI List indefinitely, the Eagles are down to three defensive tackles. One of them is Haloti Ngata, who missed the previous two games with a calf injury.

This leaves Craig and Bruce Hector, who opened the season on the active roster, as candidates to be promoted from the practice squad if Ngata is unable to answer the bell again this week.

 

[rumply]

Eagles' Avonte Maddox receiving effusive praise from coaching staff, big role on defense

Philadelphia Eagles Avonte Maddox during an NFL preseason football game against Pittsburgh Steelers Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018 in Philadelphia. (Winslow Townson | AP Images for Panini)




By Mike Kaye

mkaye@njadvancemedia.com

NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

PHILADELPHIA -- Eagles rookie defensive back Avonte Maddox has been through a lot of over the last four weeks.

During the first three regular season games of his career, Maddox served as a gunner on special teams, never playing a defensive snap. That all changed in Week 4, as the rookie was asked to fill in as the third safety with starter Rodney McLeod sidelined on injured reserve with a torn MCL.

In Week 5, the University of Pittsburgh alum replaced veteran Corey Graham at starting free safety, making him the third player to man the position in three weeks. In Week 6's Thursday night matchup against the Giants, Maddox was named the team's sixth captain.

While some decision-makers would balk at the idea of a rookie enduring so much change in so little time, the Eagles' coaching staff is bullish about the young defensive back. He has earned the coaches' respect with his intelligence, playing style and toughness since rookie minicamp.

"We all felt more than comfortable with Avonte in that [free safety] role, being able to get people on the ground," defensive backs coach Cory Undlin said. "He's got great range, he's fast, the guy is really, really smart back there, he's got great awareness. Some of the things he's done in the last two weeks, it's like wow, the guy has stepped in there without hesitation."




Grugier-Hill making the most of expanded role on defense

Eagles third-year linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill made a big play in the early moments of Thursday's win over the Giants.

Special teams coach Dave Fipp first noticed Maddox during the draft process. The Pittsburgh alum stood out on tape on defense and special teams. He would eventually be the Eagles' first of two fourth-round picks in this year's draft.

"Avonte is a great player," Fipp said on Monday. "We loved him on film coming out, we knew he was competitive on special teams and on defense, we liked his college film a lot ... Obviously, we've lost him a little bit unfortunately for us [on special teams] to his defensive role but the guy is a great kid, he works hard, I love seeing him have success. We call it 'graduating' when a guy ends up going from special teams to an offensive or defensive starter."

Maddox spent most of training camp competing for the Eagles' starting nickel cornerback job, which was eventually awarded to second-year defensive back Sidney Jones. Maddox still needed time to learn and his special teams prowess kept him busy during the preseason and early regular season.

"He did a great job for us [on special teams] when he was a prime contributor," Fipp said. "He made a bunch of plays as a gunner, really did a great job of holding up on the outside on punt returns. Great kid, works hard, really good story."


Eagles' Press Taylor on Carson Wentz's accuracy
Since McLeod's injury in Week 3, it's been a whirlwind for Maddox, but the coaching staff prepared him for the possibility of a conversion to safety early on in his tenure during training camp. The Eagles like to cross-train defensive backs and Maddox stood out as a player who could make the transition fairly quickly.

"[Maddox] played fast, he played hard, he played physical [in college] and then you take those three things and put them together and you say he could always play safety even though he hadn't done it before," safeties coach Tim Hauck said. "The skill set is obviously there and I love the kid to death because of what he does. I mean, he works hard at it and he plays extremely hard. You get that part done, you're halfway there."

In his first glimpse of defensive action, Maddox picked off a pass from Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota. It was a good start to what has been a steadfast transition to a new position.

Against the Giants, the Eagles had to improvise again with injuries piling up. After Jones went down with a hamstring injury in the first half, Maddox took over for him at nickel cornerback, moving fellow defensive back Rasul Douglas to safety. As with his transition to safety, Maddox impressed the coaching staff with his innate ability to adapt on the fly against New York.

With all of the position shuffling in Week 6, Maddox never left the field on defense for the Eagles.

"He didn't even blink," Undlin said of Maddox's performance at nickel cornerback against the Giants. "He's had thousands of reps throughout OTAs, training camp ... he played [at nickel cornerback] for the last eight months, so for him to go back in there and not even blink was great to see."

Moving forward, Maddox's role may continue to evolve as the Eagles assess their growing list of injuries in the secondary. He has instilled confidence in his coaching staff that he can deliver, regardless of the task at hand.

 

[rumply]

Interesting stat re Giants Eagles rivalry - over the last 22 games Eli Manning has 4 wins....& so does Donovan McNabb.

 

[rumply]

Most will remember the absolute ass raping that Morelli's crew handed the Eagles in the Panthers game last season (10 for 126 compared to 1 for 1, a record discrepancy) yet still managed to win. Turns out this time around the NFL is giving us Clete Blakeman under whom the Eagles have a 9 & 1 record. Nothing to see here.

Anyway, this list grows by the week, most on limited practice to play apparently.

 

[ChockNurris]

expect the panthers to really attack the middle of the field with jones out and and maddox starting at safety

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

Turns out this time around the NFL is giving us Clete Blakeman under whom the Eagles have a 9 & 1 record. Nothing to see here.

Excellent, I'm looking for excuses as I'm expecting us to lose by quite a lot. Eagles by 2TDs + IMO.

 

[Southerntakeover]

Yeah, that was ****ed up. Between that and Tennesee we've lost twice in games where we had absolutely no right to. Hunger just isnt there. Defence is an absolute joke at times.

 

[kaiserchief13]

Need to trade for a running back immediately. Schwartz is on thin ice. Change things up or GTFO

 

[rumply]

Really poor decision from Wentz on that last 3rd down looking off Smallwood for a simple completion which gives 4 shots from the 10 into the endzone with plenty of time left. Shouldn't have been in that position to begin with, the D just pathetic that last quarter giving up so many points & another 4th & long conversion.

Well done Panthers, put the pressure on & we folded like a cheap suit. The boys got some dancing in that 4th quarter tho, wont regret that much...

 

[sblack]

* football. Deja vu of the Titans game. A team that wants to win a super bowl doesnt give up 17 point leads in the 4th qtr. Especially after shutting them out for the first three.

 

[PhatHQ]

**** football. Deja vu of the Titans game. A team that wants to win a super bowl doesnt give up 17 point leads in the 4th qtr. Especially after shutting them out for the first three.

Damn... spoiler alert

 

[rumply]

Need to trade for a running back immediately. Schwartz is on thin ice. Change things up or GTFO

Those 4thq Panther drives, the 4 man rush clearly not getting the pressure they need but nothing changes down after down, too scared to send a blitzer or two for fear of exposing the secondary yet the secondary gets exposed badly at some point every game anyway. The Schwartz approach is a head scratcher at times, they do so well for a half but then put up that 4th quarter, not that the offence was any better, looked like they all switched off at 3q time.

 

[sblack]

It was Mills who lost Torrey Smith on that 4th down as well.

No idea how Rasul doesn't get any playing time. Neither does Deoindre Hall who we traded for. Has he even played a snap. Why did we trade for him?

 

[ChockNurris]

Excellent, I'm looking for excuses as I'm expecting us to lose by quite a lot. Eagles by 2TDs + IMO.

nice reverse jinx

dear eagles fans, we are the superbowl champs and 3-4 going into our match up with sir blake bortles........relax