Eagles Blog

8 games into Andy Reid's tenure, the Eagles were 2-6 and he was starting Doug Pederson over the #2 overall pick.

— Noah Becker (@Noah_Becker) October 27, 2013

8 games into Bill Belichick's tenure with the Patriots, the Patriots were 2-6 and had given up 30+ in back-to-back games.

— Noah Becker (@Noah_Becker) October 27, 2013

8 games into his Giants tenure, Tom Coughlin was 5-3. The Giants lost the next 7 consecutive games.

— Noah Becker (@Noah_Becker) October 27, 2013

We can also mention that Joe Gibbs started off 0-5 with the Skins in his first season.

And Josh McDaniels started off 6-0 with the Broncos.

You can’t judge a coach until he’s got a couple of seasons in the books. You need time to see what really works and what doesn’t.

For the Eagles…

QB N Foles
RB M Tucker
OL D Kelly
OL M Tobin
DE D Square
LB J Knott
S P Chung

No real surprises.

For the Giants…

RB B Jacobs
RB D Wilson
QB R Nassib
TE A Robinson
OL D Reynolds
DL S Rogers
CB J Hosley

The Giants will rely on Cox and Hillis at RB. And losing Rogers does hurt their DTs. They still have Joseph, Patterson and Jenkins, but Rogers is the guy who could really be a handful when he was going good.

While at Marshall, Vinny Curry once dressed as Ric Flair, aka The Nature Boy, for Halloween. Here’s proof.

To appreciate the greatness of Flair…

Wrestlers today just don’t come close.

Let them play. To those of us that were kids in the 1970s, that phrase was linked to this scene.

Cary Williams and Bradley Fletcher want officials to let them play. That’s what happened in the Dallas game and it allowed the Eagles CBs to be effective. When officials are strict, the physical Eagles corners are in trouble.

Paul Domowitch wrote a good piece on this.

Williams and the Eagles’ other two corners, Bradley Fletcher and Brandon Boykin, were able to mix it up with the Cowboys’ big-and-tall-shop wide receivers. Inside linebacker DeMeco Ryans was allowed the freedom to knock receivers off their routes as they came across the middle even if the contact occasionally was beyond the allowable 5-yard limit.

“For the most part,” Boykin said, “they let us be physical. That’s what you want to be able to do. Get your hands on guys and be physical with them. Because that’s what they do to us.

“I like it when they keep it fair. As long as we’re not preventing them from getting out of their breaks or whatnot, I think it’s fair.”

Domo also has lots of good stats on the Eagles and some interesting info on the DL rotation.

Jay Glazer, the most trustworthy NFL insider, shared an interesting nugget on WFAN the other day. During the 2008 season, the Eagles had a deal in place for Tony Gonzalez. They were going to ship a 3rd round pick and a player to KC for him. At the last minute, the Chiefs decided to hold out for a 2nd rounder.

KC ended up dealing Gonzo to the Falcons for a 2nd round pick in the offseason. The Eagles kept their 2nd rounder and used it on some guy named LeSean McCoy.

Jimmy Bama has a few more details on the story.

My baby boy was born today in a perfect home birth weighing 7 lbs 10 oz. God has blessed us beyond belief! #thankful #blessed #BeckhamLee

— Bryce Brown (@BryceBrown_34) October 26, 2013

Congrats to Bryce. I’m sure you can insert some kind of joke about not fumbling the baby here, but I’m way too classy for that. And I can’t think of a good one.

Phil Simms is well-spoken. He tells a good story. That’s about where his good qualities as an analyst stop. Watching a game on CBS is painful as you listen to the many dumb things he says.

Tim McManus has the details on some even dumber stuff than usual from Simms, this time via Inside the NFL.

“I put the Philadelphia Eagles, their offense, in my bottom five,” Simms said. “Why? Not that they’re one of the worst five units in the NFL. It’s because it’s gonna be one of the most fastest thing we’ve ever seen, and what are you gonna do to stop it? The NFL, it’s gonna be unbelievable. That’s all I ever heard, and how’s it working out? Is it just the most unbelievable thing?”

The segment had analysts choose their top-five and bottom-five units (offense or defense) in the league. Of a possible 64 units, Simms had the Eagles’ offense at No. 60. The only two offenses he listed below them were the Cardinals (No. 62) and Jaguars (No. 64).

I do not understand this … “logic”.

Is Phil simply angry at the hype/buzz around Chip Kelly’s offense? If so, just say that. Calling them a bottom-5 unit makes no sense.

Is Phil just having some fun with Eagles fans? After all, he is a former Giant and is certain to hate the Eagles/Eagles fans from his playing days. If that’s Phil’s idea of a joke, we need to buy him a joke book for Christmas.

Phil Simms is just weird.

Want to have some fun? Go read this Bill Barnwell piece on the Cowboys looming salary cap nightmare. There are 7 players whose contracts total $39M this year. That jumps up to $79.6M in 2014.

Yikes. Oh, and one more thing: Two pretty important players for the Cowboys are in the final year of their contracts in 2014. Wide receiver Dez Bryant and left tackle Tyron Smith are two players the team will have to re-sign, and even if they sign deals in 2014 that don’t begin until 2015, there’s not exactly a lot of wiggle room to work with. This is a brutal situation.

There is a way out of this, but it won’t be painless. Barnwell suggests the Cowboys should consider cutting DeMarcus Ware after this year. He’s slated to make $16.7M next season. There would be some dead money, but it would free up cap space for younger players.

Is there any way Jerry Jones would actually have the discipline to make a move like that?

If you hate the Cowboys, you’ll love the article.

This is a great video.

Jerome McDougle’s one and only great NFL moment was his big hit on Eli in 2004.

Tim McManus did an excellent piece on the Eagles starting CBs, Cary Williams and Bradley Fletcher.

Fletcher is quietly compiling some good stats. His 11 pass break-ups leads the team, is second-best in the NFL and ties a career high for a season. Quarterbacks are completing only 50 percent of their throws in his direction, per Pro Football Focus.  Williams’ number in that department is significantly higher (67 percent completion rate) but he is fourth among corners in tackles with 32, per PFF. He has a pair of interceptions on the year compared with one for Bradley.

The Eagles allowed one touchdown through the air against Tony Romo and a potent aerial attack. Williams and Fletcher were put in a healthy amount of one-on-one situations in that game.

“I think the corners had a nice game,” said Chip Kelly. “They took turns, both the corners going up against [Bryant].”

Clearly, the Eagles need to get better at CB if they want the defense to take a big step forward in the future, but Williams and Fletcher are proving to be an effective duo. They might lack elite skills, but both players understand their talents and limitations.

And they do play hard. It was painful to watch Nnamdi and DRC in 2012, as they underachieved and showed so little effort at times. I’ll take a less-talented overachiever any day of the week. I know I can count on that player. The underachiever will tease you with moments of greatness and then punish you at other times when his head or heart aren’t in it.