Eagles Blog

Here is a good article on Bryce Brown and what he did to cure his fumbling issues.

So in January, when Brown began his offseason workout program with his trainer and longtime mentor, Brian Butler, their mission for the next six months was strangely simple: Brown had to relearn how to hold a football.

If Brown ran up a steep hill, if he went on a long-distance jog, if he plodded through a sand pit to keep his legs strong, he always carried a football with him. Butler made sure of it, and he made sure Brown’s form was correct. “If I had the ball out here,” Brown said after a recent practice, extending his right arm away from his hip, “he’d say, ‘Do it over. Start again.’ “

One theory for the fumbling issue is that Brown’s track background caused him to swing his arms when he ran. That exposed the ball and gave defenders a chance to get to it.

No fumbles so far for Brown this year. He’s holding the ball stronger and tighter to his body.

The Eagles OL was a mess in 2012. It hasn’t been as dominant as some hoped this year, but has played pretty well. They’re doing an outstanding job in the run game.

Check out these stats:

The 2012 numbers were among the worst in the league. 2013 are among the best. The 3.59 yards per clean attempt is the best in the league and it’s not even close. No other team is at 3.00.

0-6. This doesn’t suck.

Little known fact: Justin Tuck uses his helmet to drain spaghetti. When he's not doing this: http://t.co/ex2Vb4lepB #TNF

— the guy (@theguyotc) October 11, 2013

Victor Cruz will have a phenomenal post-career job as an NFL official. He calls at least 15 penalties a game already.

— Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan) October 11, 2013

My prediction…Giants cross midfield and then Eli throws a pick.

— Tommy Lawlor (@lawlornfl) October 11, 2013

Why does Eli Manning look surprised that he just threw a critical interception? Doesn't he watch football? #TNF

— the guy (@theguyotc) October 11, 2013

Eagles fans are the best.

Matt Barkley hurt his shoulder last year against UCLA. He got it fixed and then spent all offseason saying that he was at 100 percent.

Apparently that wasn’t the case. Tim McManus has some quotes from Barkley.

“I’ve come a long way, come a long way,” said Barkley after practice. “My shoulder — I didn’t think it would take that long to get healthy — but it was really hurting during OTAs at one point. [Training] camp it hurt a little bit, too. But right now I feel it’s the strongest it’s been all year, I feel like I’ve got more power on the ball, more zip. I feel comfortable with the offense and that always helps with the timing of things.”

“It’s a tough situation,” said Barkley, “but you have to suck it up. It’s the NFL, no one cares about stuff like that. Feels good now, though.”

Barkley certainly didn’t wow anyone with his arm in the OTAs, TC or the preseason. I’d love to see him throw now to see if there is a noticeable difference or not. He’s never going to have a great arm, but he could be good enough.

Barkley throws good deep balls because of his mechanics and the way he uses his lower body. The throws he’ll struggle with are the deep outs where you either have a strong arm or you don’t. You can’t manufacture velocity.

There was a lot of talk about how tough the Eagles schedule started out due to 3 games in 11 days. One underrated factor in that is the fact that the team simply couldn’t get into a rhythm in terms of practice and playing. Football players are creatures of habit. The Eagles had long and short weeks for the first 4 games. That can throw you off.

Don’t take this as an excuse for the 1-3 start. The Eagles were outplayed in the losses. But it is hard for a team in transition to be at their best when there is no rhythm to the season.

Chip Kelly offered his take.

“We’re all new here.  These guys are getting used to us; we’re getting used to them.  In the first three weeks, we were never in the same schedule.  We opened up on a Monday, then played a Sunday, then played a Thursday, then we had four days off, came back and played a Sunday.  Now, we call it ‘battle rhythm.’  I feel like we’re started to get into a rhythm.  You play on Sunday, you’re off on Monday, you’re in on Tuesday, Wednesday is red zone and third down.  As you get going, you start getting into that rhythm that we’re trying to get into.  It was really the first week in that rhythm.  We’re learning them; they’re learning us.  I think we’re moving in the right direction.”

Battle rhythm. I kinda like that.

Kelly preaches the importance of practice in an extreme way. The odd schedule at the beginning of the season didn’t do him any favors.

Eagles fans probably don’t see a ton of Shannon Sharpe since he’s an analyst for CBS, but if you watch him at all, he can drive you crazy. SNL did a hilarious bit with an over the top impersonation.

I want to see that walrus win the Tour de France.

I enjoyed this from Twitter

@AdamSchefter old news Adam. Had it Sunday night. thanks for cleaning up the old stuff

— Howard Eskin (@howardeskin) October 7, 2013

Eskin talking trash to Schefter. Classic.

Tom Coughlin on Eli.

“I honestly believe that he’s trying so hard to get us a win, he’s almost put too much on himself,” Coughlin said, via Gary Myers of the New York Daily News. “He keeps it all pretty much inside. I’m not making excuses. There were a couple of those plays that were terrible.”

Nice.

And just how bad are the Giants?

0-5…The Giants have been outscored by 100 points in their five games, the Jaguars by 112.

— Brian Startare (@brianstartare) October 7, 2013

Ouch.

Jordan Raanan has the snap counts from Sunday’s game.

Little by little, Riley Cooper is losing snaps. The Eagles embattled wide receiver was on the field for 62 of the 81 offensive snaps on Sunday. That’s 77 percent of the plays. The Eagles’ third wide receiver Jason Avant logged 63 snaps.

 Jeff Maehl, meanwhile, played a season-high 20 offensive plays and there seemed to be more packages that involved the former Oregon receiver than before. Maehl did not catch a pass. Neither did Cooper, who was targeted once.

Cooper’s playing time has been in a gradual decline. He played 100 percent of the snaps Week 1, 95 percent in Weeks 2 and 3, 83 percent in Week 4 and 77 percent this Sunday.

It likely has to do with his lack of production. Cooper has just eight receptions for 93 yards and a touchdown in five games. Despite playing the most snaps among Eagles receivers this season he is sixth on the team in receiving yards and fifth in receptions.

It will be interesting to see if this trend continues.

The inconsistent start has overshadowed some of the amazing numbers being put up by the offense.

Eagles are 4th team in NFL history with five straight games of 430 or more total yards: 1968 Raiders, 2011 Saints, 2012 Saints.

— Reuben Frank (@RoobCSN) October 7, 2013

When the yards lead to more TDs than FGs…watch out.