birds

Birds Fail to Clinch

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Well the battle tested team won this game.  The Seahawks took advantage of some soft play calling in the first half as well as mistakes and missed plays by the Eagles.  Early on Carson missed a wide open Nelson Agholor.  Later he the game he fumbled out the back of the end zone.  They struggled to deal with the crowd noise and couldn’t make adjustments at the line of scrimmage.  This just proves how important home field advantage is going to be.  The birds need to come back next week and beat the Rams in LA.  The will have the feel of a playoff game as well.  The good news is that the Vikings will have to go to Carolina and play.  Hopefully the Panthers can do a solid for us and take out the Vikings.  The Eagles needed a game like this, it would have been better for them to win but they now see how difficult it is to play this time of year especially when the opponent is desperate and hungry for a win.  No time to dwell on this loss, move on and get ready for the Rams.

GO BIRDS!!!!!

Eagles vs. Broncos

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The Eagles are in for a tough defensive game this week with the Denver Broncos coming to town.  They match up well on defense and with the LT Jason Peters out expect the Broncos to throw a lot at Big V, yes big V because his name is to hard for most people to pronounce.  Oh you don’t think so, well here try it out.  Halapoulivaati Vaitai (pronounced hal-lah-poo-lee-VAH-tee VIE-tie), yeah even with the pronunciation help you still screwed it up.   Any way, they are going to throw a lot his way not because he sucks but because he isn’t Jason Peters.  He may be one day just not today.  This will be okay because we can offset the blitz with quick passes and a fluid running game.

Wait!!!!!!! Did some one say running game, hell yeah.  Jay Ajayi, welcome to Philly big dog.  We are already the #5 rushing team in the NFL and with the addition of Ajayi we will be the number 1 team over the next 8 games.  Ajayi is coming off a short practice week which means he will get some designed carries.  I expect him to run the ball 10-15 times at most.  I do think he will find the end-zone.  Being able to run the ball effectively will offset the blitz packages that are sure to come.  Plus its age-old tactics in football that you use the run to set up the pass.  Did someone say pass, oh yeah that’s right we have the MVP from the first half of the season in Carson Wentz who is nasty on third downs and just so happens to lead the league in TD passes.   Sorry Deshaun Watson, it would have been nice to see you and Carson battle for that top spot.  You two are the wave of the future in this league.

The Eagles will struggle a little in the beginning but ultimately take care of business.  The statue known as Brock Osweiler will turn the ball over at least twice, and get sacked at least 3 times in the game.  Eagles will drop over 20 points in this one continuing their streak of 20+ points in a game to 13 straight games dating back to last season.

Final Score in this 24-13.  Eagles of Course.

GO BIRDS!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Eagles vs. Giants 

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Last week we got the winning score right just the wrong team.   Some will argue this week that the birds are getting into a trap game but that isn’t the case.   The Eagles will handle the Giants easily today.  The Giants can’t stop the run or the rush.  Expect Barnett to get another sack today and hopefully we see a lot of Blount today.  I think we will see  Cory Clement should get a few touches also.  Today’s score 30-10.   Go Birds.  

Eagles vs Redskins

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Today kicks off the Eagles Regular Season.  My predication for today’s game is 33-13 Eagles.  Sure that seems like a lot but the birds are new and improved.  Going into today’s game the Eagles will control the ball with a new and improved rushing game led by Blount.  Carson Wentz will throw over three hundred yards today with at least two TD passes.  The rest of the scoring will come from on the ground and field goals.  The defense will spend much of their time in the Redskins back field applying pressure all day.  You will see the Eagles come away with 3 sacks today, one by Barnett, and at least one pick.  Expect Alshon to have a great game with 8 to 10 catches and over a hundred years receiving.

That is my take on the game leave a comment and let me know what your predictions are.

Eagles 2017 Edition

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How the hell can our sports teams be headed in so many different directions right now.  The Eagles have a young center piece that they are committed to building around.  The 76ers are stock piling young draft picks but can’t seem to figure out how to get them on the court.  The Phillies are well, I don’t know what they are.  I think they want to be the Red Sox but it is hard to tell what they are doing.  Lastly the Flyers have put together an interesting package of young and old talent and continue on their life long journey of trying to find that golden Goalie.  So I guess we can focus out attention on the Eagles and start getting excited about the upcoming season.

THE EAGLES

The Eagles seem to have at least the best laid plan, and the only one truly moving forward.  The Eagles decided to go out and get a head coach last year and a new quarterback in Doug Pederson and Carson Wentz.  This was a move that looked like Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb all over again.  The truth is there are a lot of similarities between those two teams in Doug’s first year.  This season it appears they are trying to not make the same mistakes they did during the Andy Reid era.

SIMILARITIES YEAR 1

  1.  New Coach and New Quarterback:  Andy drafted Donovan in their first season.  Carson Wentz and Doug Pederson came together as rookies in their respective positions.
  2. Lack of a true running game:  Andy struggled to get a true running back or running game going.  Doug struggled with the crew of backs he had in his first season.  Both Coach’s relied heavily on the play of their young quarterbacks.
  3. Bad Receiving Core:  The eagles under Andy Reid always struggled to get or keep a solid receiving core in Philadelphia.  Donovan, with exception of the TO debacle, never truly had that ace wide out.  Doug had what many would argue was the worst recieving core in football last season.

Don’t make the same mistake twice.

Unlike the Andy era, the Eagles went out this year to fix areas that they were weak at the year prior.  They went out and signed one quality receiver in Torrey Smith, and signed a legitimate #1 in Alshon Jeffery  Instead of waiting to get that talent later in Carson’s career they hooked him up early.  Imagine if the same was done with Donovan McNabb.

The Eagles looked like they were going to stick with a platoon back field of smaller more shifty running backs.  Oh here we go again, no focus on the running game.  What the hell were we going to do in third down and short or inside the five.  Then, as if they were listening to the football gods they picked up Legarrette Blount.  A big bruiser who is the size of most linebackers and can get you those critical first downs, and will be huge in the later parts of the season.

I like that the Eagles front office went back to a system that had sustained success for a little over a decade.  Although the Andy and Donovan reign didn’t get us a championship it did give us great football and gave us a foundation to build on.  There were some holes in the system that if fixed would have produced a title or two.

Issues

  1.  Time Management:  This was Andy’s Kyponite.  He would use bad time outs and always seem to run out of time somehow.  The worst was when there didn’t seem to be a sense of urgency in the later parts of games.  (The Super Bowl Lose Need I say more)
  2.  The lack of a sustained run game:  THe 60/40 pass to run ration (I,m being generous there) killed that team far to many times.  Football has been following the same footsteps for years and that’s when you have a lead you run the ball in order to chew up the clock.  Ask the Falcons and Seahawks if they would run the ball again in there Super Bowl losses.
  3. Pass to Run Ratio:  If you are going to maintain a 60/40 pass ratio at least have guys that can catch the damn ball.  Really guys.  The Eagles had #2 and #3 wide outs playing as the #1 for years.  Even as good as Deshuan was he was still a one trick pony.  Couple this with McNabbs erratic accuracy and it caused for some tough times and hard losses.

The Fix is In 

I like what the Eagles are doing this time around.  They are building around the QB with wide outs and what appears to be a stronger running game.  I would still like to see them find that every down back next season in the draft, but the platoon they put together this year will work well.  They have good change of pace backs that can catch out of the back field, and a bruiser that can get those needed yards at the end of games.

What Next

The Eagles still have some defensive holes that they have to address in the next year or two.  First they have some money tied up to guys that may not even start this season, namely Vinny Curry.  BAD SIGNING GUYS.  They drafted well on defense and if they can apply the pressure up front then that will help out the DB’s.  If they can’t find a way to get pressure (because they don’t blitz – STUPID) then we may see more shoot outs then we care for.

Andy’s teams were carried in the early years by having a great Jim Johnson defense.  Having a great Defense helps cover up some of those offensive issues.  They kept them in a lot of games.  The current team lacks the same defensive assistance the way they are built today.

With all of this I think you can expect some of the same early success that we saw with Andy and Donovan.  In their second season the Eagles went 11-5 and lost in the divisional round of the playoffs.  I believe the Eagles this year will be at least 10-6 and make the playoffs.  Of course this is everyone stays fairly healthy and nobody gets suspended for PEDS, Lane Johnson and Alshon Jeffery.  Keep it together you two.  If they run the ball when they are supposed to and get pressure on the opposing QB this could make for a great season.  I don’t think they will get further than the Divisional Round in the playoffs but they can at least win a wild card game.  The biggest x-factor for the season is going to be if Carson Wentz is the real deal and continues to progress or does he slide into a sophomore slump.  If this happens then the there will be Hell to pay in the City of Brotherly Love.