Eagles Blog

This is kinda cool.

Me and my role model Brian Dawkins at the rookie symposium! I refuse not to be anything less than great pic.twitter.com/0H5AYL3efd

— Earl Wolff (@Ewolff27) June 29, 2013

Evan Silva of Rotoworld took the time to re-watch Bryce Brown’s snaps from 2012. He was then kind enough to share his thoughts.

Brown is built powerfully to the point that he almost looks wide. He is physical with plus burst and acceleration, and genuinely rare speed for a man his size. During Brown’s coming-out Week 12 demolition of the Panthers — he rushed for 178 yards and two touchdowns — ESPN’s Jon Gruden described Brown as “a big back who can get the corner and finish.” Brown consistently runs through arm tackles. Despite weighing at least 15 more pounds than both David Wilson (breakdown here) and Lamar Miller (breakdown here), Brown possesses similar breakaway jets in the open field. Brown is not quite a punishing runner, but I think he could develop that aspect of his game. He flashed the ability to be a runner who piles up yards after contact, relentlessly shucking tacklers.

Another positive on Brown’s rookie tape was his pass-catching ability. He has natural hands and catches the football with them as opposed to letting passes get into his body. I thought the latter was an issue with David Wilson.

I also thought Brown demonstrated some nifty footwork — particularly on upfield cutbacks — but there was limited wiggle to his game. He doesn’t try to make defenders miss with lateral jukes or shake and bake. If Chip Kelly‘s Eagles get Brown to perform more professionally — running within offensive design and becoming ball secure — he will be an ideal complement to shifty, elusive starter LeSean McCoy. And I think Brown could be an every-down sustainer if McCoy went down again.

Good stuff. Evan knows football and does his homework.

I think Brown could have a huge year if he can clean up his mistakes from last year and stay focused. We see young players with strange backgrounds (and his is strange) sometimes struggle with success. Hopefully Chip Kelly and the new staff will stay on top of Brown. He’s got big time potential.

Some athletes and stars have PR hacks that help run their Twitter accounts. This isn’t a big deal unless something dumb comes out. Check out this tweet from “Donovan McNabb” today.

Could this be the end of Aaron Hernandez NFL career? Your thoughts?

— Donovan McNabb (@donovanjmcnabb) June 26, 2013

That is his account, but no way do I believe that is Donovan. That’s a PR hack trying to generate Twitter activity. You have to seriously wonder if the person is much of a sports fan with that question. Ugh. Heck…how smart are they, period?

Your thoughts? (see what I did there…)

Here is somewhat of a strange report. Chris Mortensen commented on the Eagles QB competition recently on ESPN.

On Tuesday, Mortensen appeared on the NFL32 program and said it was his understanding that Vick made more mistakes “decision-making wise” than Foles did during OTAs and minicamps. The two quarterbacks took their turns with the first-team offense throughout training camp, and if Mortensen is to be believed, Vick likely made a few bad decisions with the football.

So I’m reporting that someone else is reporting that Mort heard Vick made more decision-making mistakes. Got that?

Sadly, no word on what Merrill Hoge has heard that Trent Dilfer has heard from some of Adam Schefter’s sources. Joking aside, I do trust Mort for the most part. Just wish I knew where he was getting his info. Is this just him reading Eagles writers or has Mort gotten inside info from legit connections?

Really can’t wait until we watch these guys in action with our own eyes.

I posted a link recently which took a look at the difficulty of schedules based on time (playing on a short week or with extra time off and all that kind of stuff).

A reader named iskar36 offered some great thoughts. In case some people don’t read the comments, they should see this. Really good stuff.

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When the schedule first came out, I posted some thoughts on the Eagles schedule, focusing on the travel/rest stand point, over on igglesblitz.com.  Last years schedule was really rough in terms of other teams getting extra rest.  This year seems much better.  Here is the post:

“Some schedule observations:

1. Starting the season off on Monday night is going to suck. Not because it hurts the team in anyway, but every one of us is going to be excited to get the season started, and on the first Sunday of the season…. we’re going to have to wait one more day.

2. We will have a shortened week leading into week 2 (due to having a Monday night game), but the Chargers also have a shortened week (they have the 10:20 game on Monday in Week 1), so we don’t have a disadvantage there.

3. While we end up having to play 3 games in 11 days to start the season, at least it will be early in the season, likely when the team is not worn down from a full season. On top of that, the team we play is going to play 3 games in 12 days, so not a major difference. Finally, that game is at home, and while it will be a big game since it is AR, we will be going up against the team who had the worst record in the NFL last season plus a team with a new head coach, so we shouldn’t be at any significant disadvantage going into that game from a scheduling standpoint.

4. We have to travel to Denver the following, week, but we have a long week due to the Thursday night game while they have a shortened one due to a Monday night game the week before. We will have a total of 4 extra days of rest/practice leading up to that game.

5. That 3 game road trip is probably the toughest part of our schedule, but the middle game is close by (at Giants) so travel shouldn’t be a major factor.

6. Tampa Bay will be coming off their bye week when we play them. They are the only team we play coming off a bye the week before all season.

7. The second game against the Giants, they will be coming off a short week since they play on Monday night the week before.

8. Traveling to Oakland and then to Green Bay is not ideal, but Green Bay will be coming off a Monday night game when we play them.

9. Against the Redskins, they will have an extended week because they have the Thursday night game the week before.

10. We have a 3 game home stand which also includes our bye week, so we won’t travel for awhile late in the season

11. Also, the bye week comes late which if we do manage to end up in playoff contention, is valuable in terms of resting up and getting ready for the last stretch of the regular season.

12. Obviously, against the Cardinals we will be coming off our bye week. And this year, that actually is an advantage because the Cardinals play the week before (unlike last year where the team we played also had a bye).

13. Lions will be coming off an extended week since they play on Thanksgiving the week before.

14. As has been the case the last several years, we play a division team the last week of the season which if things are close in the standings can always be helpful.

Overall, definitely a fair schedule for the eagles in terms of logistics and having an advantage/disadvantage in terms of relative time to prepare against an opponent.

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That is excellent work by iskar36. Pretty cool that the Eagles have such smart fans.

Matt Barkley just publicly admitted to learning from NY Giants.

I love training with seasoned vets like @TerrellThomas24 and @rivers55, always something to learn from their experience

— Matthew Barkley (@MattBarkley) June 25, 2013

Uh, Matt. Those aren’t USC alumni anymore. They are traitors and scum. They are the enemy. I don’t recall Luke Skywalker being nice to Darth Vader just because they both went to the University of Yoda (worst cheerleaders ever!).

What’s next…not listening to Chip Kelly since he coached Oregon or not throwing the ball to DeSean Jackson since he went to Cal.

College is over, Matt. Learn to embrace the hate. Those guys are the enemy.

Please, please, please don’t ever be nice to Eli Manning. I just don’t know if I could handle that.

Dan Graziano, ESPN’s NFC East blogger, put up a quick note on LeSean McCoy today. Graziano was reading a piece on RBs and was blown away by the fact that Shady still hasn’t turned 25 (that will happen on July 12).

No, the point is that as brilliant as McCoy has been, it’s incredible to imagine what’s still possible for him, considering he’s still only 24 as I write this. When we watch McCoy run, we see him do things other backs can’t do in terms of vision and speed and shiftiness. Add to the fact that players his age aren’t generally as good as they will eventually be, and you can start forecasting levels of brilliance for McCoy that boggle the mind. He missed time last year due to injury, and the popular perception of him has been bogged down somewhat in the argument about the extent to which Andy Reid did or did not use him. But with Chip Kelly now coaching in Philadelphia, I believe the offense is going to be heavily based on the run game. And with a weapon like McCoy, with as much as he likely still has left in the tank at this point in his career, why wouldn’t it be?

We’re all looking forward to seeing what Shady does in Chip Kelly’s system.

Matt Barkley isn’t your typical rookie QB. He started 4 years in high school. He started 4 years at USC. He is very comfortable in the spotlight. He also has been part of QB competitions in the past. His eyes are wide open as he heads into Training Camp.  He’s learning, but still ready to compete.

Barkley gushed about the relationships he’s developed with the Eagles’ two incumbents. He said he’s learned about how to approach game situations from Vick, who is sharing knowledge he’s gained over a decade in the NFL. Foles has impressed Barkley with how quickly he transfers a concept from the meeting room to the field.

Barkley also made sure to include former Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon, noting Dixon’s understanding of Kelly’s system and the instruction Dixon offers when the first- and second-team offenses are on the field.

“This is all new to all of us,” Barkley said. “Those other guys kind of got a head start from being there a month earlier, but we’re all pushing each other.”

It will be interesting to see if Barkley is able to push Vick and Foles in camp.

The LVH Superbook in Las Vegas is not real impressed with the Eagles.

They have the Eagles as one of the biggest longshots in the NFL. The only team in the NFC with worse odds is the Cardinals.

The Eagles are picked at the bottom of the NFC East.

Here’s the article

Just a quick picture of the odds

h/t to Bounty Bowl…make sure you follow him on Twitter

Normal strength of schedule is formulated by the winning percentage of your opponents. There is another way to look at that and one that hurt the Eagles last year.

Pro Football Perspective has a post on the subject.

Philadelphia faced four teams coming off bye weeks last year, tying the ’09 Falcons, ’05 Chargers, ’03 Cowboys, and ’99 Chargers for facing the most teams coming off a bye week since 1994.

The Eagles also played two teams coming off Thursday night games (the Cowboys, both times), giving them six games against teams with extra rest. The Seahawks had the second worst luck in 2012, playing one game against a team coming off 13-15 days of rest (i.e., a bye week) and four games against a team with 10-11 days of rest (i.e., off of a Wednesday or Thursday night game).

The Eagles had the worst situation. Seattle and Atlanta were next, a pair of playoff teams. What you see there is that good teams win, regardless of external factors.  The Eagles were a flawed team and one that needed help, but didn’t get any from the schedule.

2013 should be better. The Eagles only play 3 games against teams with extra rest.  Let’s hope a better team plus a better schedule leads to much better results.