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** Official 2014 Philadelphia Eagles Thread ** (5 Viewers)

I love and agree with a lot of the write-up but I disagree about Babre. Outside of one play I thought he did a good job.

 
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Bigboy10182000 said:
I love and agree with a lot of the write-up but I disagree about Babre. Outside of one play I thought he did a good job.
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There's been "one play" in each game in about 30-40 total snaps, which is too many. But hey, if he goes out and plays steady against the Steelers I'll be less worried. The thing that looked bad to me was that both times he barely even got hands on the rusher.

 
Eagles Wake-Up Call: What Lifes Like For Marcus Smith II

BY SHEIL KAPADIA | AUGUST 19, 2014 AT 6:30 AM

Tra Thomas wasnt wearing pads or a uniform. Instead, he was dressed in a black Eagles t-shirt and black shorts.

With his hat cocked to the side and dark sunglasses covering his eyes, Thomas settled into his stance at left tackle just as hed done thousands of times throughout the course of his 12-year career.

Lined up across from him, angled to the left, was rookie Marcus Smith II. Thomas, now an assistant on Chip Kelly's staff, started 174 games in the NFL and made the Pro Bowl three times. He's seen 4-3 fronts, 3-4 fronts and everything in between. On some weeks, he faced the game's best pass-rushers. On other occasions, guys that had no chance of getting past him.

In 1998, the Eagles took Thomas in the first round. In 2014, they took Smith. And on Monday after practice, the two were working together.

"Just working on how to set up different moves, outside spin, one-hand stab, bull-rush, speed rush, just getting off the ball a little quicker," Thomas said. "So we just try to work on a lot of different things and see what sticks with him."

Added Smith: "We were working on different pass-rush moves cause I only have a certain few. Tra was just giving me pointers on what tackles do and what they see. So if I can switch my feet up or mess with their mind, I can be a good pass-rusher. He was just helping me out cause he was in it for 12 years. Hes seen it all."

It's been an eventful few days for Smith. On Friday, he played 73 snaps against the Patriots, second-most on the team. On Sunday, Kelly said the Eagles needed more production from the rookie. And yesterday, defensive coordinator Billy Davis echoed those sentiments.

"Marcus played a lot of reps the other night and had his share of mistakes and struggled a little bit," Davis said. "Going forward, he's going to get a lot of reps. The game is moving too fast in his brain right now in my opinion. As soon as it slows down for him and he can settle down and play with a little more confidence, I think he'll continue to grow.

"He's got the skill set. It is part of growing pains that you have with young guys. I think Marcus is fine. He's going to be fine. He's got to relax, settle down and trust his technique... instead of going and trying to make plays, which I think he's in that mode. He needs to just do his job and let the plays come to him."

By all accounts, Smith is putting in the work, not making any excuses and seeking guidance from a variety of resources. He's fully aware of the expectations that come with being a first-round pick, and he knows the Eagles could benefit from him making an impact as a rookie.

When Kelly was asked about the team's third-down woes, he pointed directly to the pass-rush. Smith is expected to help in that area eventually. It's just unclear when that impact will be felt.

"When you look at young ends, I think a lot of times they just think they can run around everybody," Thomas said. "And they dont understand, look, youve got to take the fight to us [tackles]. Youve got to initiate it. So the quicker you can take an offensive lineman out of [his] timing, then the more chance of success youll have. I think that hes starting to figure that out, and thats one of the things that we keep working on. Just trying to help get him a little bit better."

The dynamic surrounding Smith's development is fascinating. The coaches obviously have no issue offering their honest assessments, even if it comes off as critical.

Smith insists he can take it and has leaned on his teammates for support.

"Sometimes you just need somebody to kind of pick you up," said Malcolm Jenkins, one of the players who's helping Smith along. "But I also give him a little tough love too. Im not gonna feel sorry for him. Like I told him in the game, this is a mans league and men get beat all the time. Youve gotta have that short memory and be able to stop the bad string of plays when they come and make something good happen for yourself. So hes gonna go through that learning process, and I think every player goes through it, and hell be fine.

"Since Ive met him, since he got here, he hasnt made an excuse for anything. And a lot of times, youve got young players thatll try to blame whatever it is. He hasnt done that. Thats a good quality to have. He owns up to his mistakes and recognizes he needs to play better. And he actually asks questions and is locked in at meetings so he can make those adjustments to get better."

For rookies, especially, each day is a test. The Eagles have a short week, and Smith will get another chance Thursday night against the Steelers to show what he's learning.

"I want to get out there and contribute as soon as I can," he said. "These preseason games have been very helpful to me. When we go out there and go play the Steelers, Im gonna get after the quarterback. Thats what Im gonna do. Coaches are gonna let me loose, and Im gonna go do that."
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Huffs injury could lead to lengthy sideline stint

August 19, 2014, 8:00 am

Josh Huff, seen here in a preseason game against the Bears, was drafted by the Eagles in the third round (86th overall) of the 2014 NFL draft. (AP)

From the way his teammates are talking, rookie wideout Josh Huff could be sidelined for quite some time.

Huff, the teams third-round pick, injured his shoulder on the opening kickoff of Friday nights preseason game against the Patriots and didnt return. On Sunday, coach Chip Kelly said X-rays came back negative but added that Huffs shoulder was in a sling.

Kelly, who isnt overly revealing about injuries, said Huff probably would be out for the rest of the week, including Thursdays preseason game against the Steelers.

Riley Cooper painted a more pessimistic picture of Huff returning anytime soon.

Its sad to see what happened to Huff, Cooper said. I dont know the severity of it. But I know hes hurting and hes going to be out for a little bit. Thats a given. Hed been doing really well. Special teams, Ive been watching him do everything. I took him under my wing, just trying to explain things to him. Were very similar personalities.

On Monday, Jeremy Maclin echoed Coopers gloomy sentiment.

just let him know Im here if he needs me, said Maclin, whos coming off a missed season from an anterior cruciate ligament tear. If he wants to talk, talk about anything -- football, stuff off the field, just let him know everything is definitely going to be alright.

I understand this is something he definitely didnt want to go through, but its part of playing football. So understand as long as he attacks the rehab, hes going to come back even stronger.

Huff, a former Oregon standout who played for Kelly before Kelly left to become Eagles head coach, was taken 86th overall in the third round, one round after the Eagles had taken Vanderbilt wide receiver Jordan Matthews as Kelly aimed to overhaul his crop of wideouts after releasing DeSean Jackson and Jason Avant.

Huff figured to be the teams primary kickoff returner and contribute in sub packages, but if hes still on the mend by the Aug. 30 final cuts, the Eagles may have to keep an extra receiver to compensate. The team has several fringe receivers fighting for a spot, including Jeff Maehl, Damaris Johnson, Ifeanyi Momah, Arrelious Benn, Will Murphy, Kadron Boone and others.

If Huff is still far away on Aug. 30, the team might consider placing him on short-term injured reserve, which would create a roster spot but keep Huff out of practice for six weeks and out of games for eight weeks.

In his Monday press conference, offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur didnt give out any injury information but said Huff is getting an early education on dealing with injuries at the pro level.

Yeah, well, he's certainly going to miss some reps, Shurmur said. But part of being a pro is dealing with soreness, injury, and if you are injured and you miss time, this will help his development coming back from this.

So anybody that's played this game has gotten banged up or nicked, and there is a process mentally and physically that you go through when you come back from it. So I think early in his career he's going to learn something from it.
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JeffMcClane: #Eagles are checking out teams with 2 kickers, per @ZBerm, who spoke with ST coach Dave Fipp. Sounds like pressure could be on Alex Henery.

4:51pm - 19 Aug 14

 
Billy Bats said:
JeffMcClane: #Eagles are checking out teams with 2 kickers, per @ZBerm, who spoke with ST coach Dave Fipp. Sounds like pressure could be on Alex Henery.

4:51pm - 19 Aug 14
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Missed FG must have hurt him. His depth on kickoffs has been OK so far, but it started out that way last year too then tailed off as the season went on. They should have brought in a veteran to compete from the beginning.

 
Bigboy10182000 said:
@SheilKapadia: Eagles acquire RB Kenjon Barner from the Panthers for a conditional 7th-round pick in 2015.
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Interesting. He was the hot sleeper last year with Stewart hurt as usual and Williams being old. Never happened of course.

I wonder what he can do back in Chip's offense.

 
How to Run the Ball on the Eagles

In watching some of the late season games again, particularly the playoff game, I picked up a theme in the run game that the Saints most obviously, but also the Cowboys and the Cardinals used with some success to run the ball on us. We do have an undersized 3-4 as far as the DL goes, but Kendricks as well. One of the points Davis has made in favour of the 3-4 over the 4-3 is that it's better able to handle slot WRs and split TEs by bumping OLBs out with them. It's a fair point and one I hadn't thought of.

The Saints picked on Barwin a lot when he was bumped wide either over a slot WR, or head up on an outside WR, covering the flat, both in the run and pass games. When he's lined up wide outside you know he has flat coverage, and there were a few plays they gave Brees a simple inside-out read against that, with a RB shooting to the flat and the WR running a short in route or a slant. The TE would release over the middle to keep the ILBs at home, simple 3 step drop pitch and catch. They also ran off tackle at Barwin's side when he was lined up over a slot guy as well.

Something all 3 of the teams I mentioned did was to use 2 or 3 TEs, 2 TEs and a FB or 2 TEs with a WR motioned onto the edge of the formation to get a numbers advantage on the edge, and run stretch plays at it. The Saints in particular were consistent and committed to this, it was obviously a key part of the game plan. They dressed it up a few different ways, building it with various kind of initial formation and motions to get big bodies on the edge of the formation to run behind. With the Eagles playing conservative Cover 3 most of the time, they could even bring Colston onto the edge without it bringing a CB close enough to impact the play. The Cardinals did the same thing with 2 TEs and Fitzgerald and had some success with it, but not to the degree the Saints had. The Cowboys did the same as well early, but being the Cowboys they didn't stay with it because of course you want Kyle Orton throwing 50 times.

Bill Davis did better than I expected last year and on balance I think he's done/doing a solid job, but he got his ### handed to him by Sean Payton in that game.

 
Nucker101 said:
Bigboy10182000 said:
@SheilKapadia: Eagles acquire RB Kenjon Barner from the Panthers for a conditional 7th-round pick in 2015.
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Decent depth RB, for a conditional 7th that's not bad. I wonder if he's put on weight since he got drafted though.
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Panthers fan here - he has put on weight. I think he somewhat caught a bit of a raw deal here in Carolina, but part of it is on himself and part is on circumstances. Depth chart has always been stacked here at RB, then Barner didn't execute as well as they'd hoped on special teams. When his opportunities came in the running game, he was dropping passes or not executing there as well. The past two years he's been pushed or passed on the depth chart by UDFA guys...

He has put on weight...

http://www.si.com/nfl/2014/07/15/carolina-panthers-kenjon-barner-training

Interesting acquisition for Kelly and the Eagles given Barner's history with the offense. Makes him intriguing in deeper dynasty leagues, but McCoy isn't going anywhere and neither is Sproles.

 
JFS171 said:
Nucker101 said:
Bigboy10182000 said:
@SheilKapadia: Eagles acquire RB Kenjon Barner from the Panthers for a conditional 7th-round pick in 2015.
Click to expand...
Decent depth RB, for a conditional 7th that's not bad. I wonder if he's put on weight since he got drafted though.
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Panthers fan here - he has put on weight. I think he somewhat caught a bit of a raw deal here in Carolina, but part of it is on himself and part is on circumstances. Depth chart has always been stacked here at RB, then Barner didn't execute as well as they'd hoped on special teams. When his opportunities came in the running game, he was dropping passes or not executing there as well. The past two years he's been pushed or passed on the depth chart by UDFA guys...

He has put on weight...

http://www.si.com/nfl/2014/07/15/carolina-panthers-kenjon-barner-training

Interesting acquisition for Kelly and the Eagles given Barner's history with the offense. Makes him intriguing in deeper dynasty leagues, but McCoy isn't going anywhere and neither is Sproles.
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Thanks for the insight. Always good to hear a perspective from outside the land of the midnight green.

I'm surprised to hear Barner's been a special-teams underperformer ... from all accounts, Chip puts a ton of weight on ST performance in terms of the tail end of the roster guys. Then again, you literally can't get any cheaper than a conditional 7th-rounder, so maybe his thoughts were what do they have to lose? Barner certainly wouldn't be the first guy that just needed a change of scenery to start recommitting himself to the game.

 
CowboysHomer said:
Maybe McCoy's turf toe is worse than they're letting on...
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I think maybe the opposite:

Coach Chip Kelly downplayed LeSean McCoy's "small version" of turf toe Tuesday.
McCoy practiced in full Monday, a surefire sign that this ailment is nothing to worry about. If the Eagles' medical staff had any concern at all, they would have held him out as the regular season opener is more than two weeks away. "He's fine," Kelly said. "It's not as big of an issue as I think anybody has made it out to be. ... There’s a lot of questions about a toe in August that I think is way overblown."
 
Mr. Irrelevant said:
JFS171 said:
Nucker101 said:
Bigboy10182000 said:
@SheilKapadia: Eagles acquire RB Kenjon Barner from the Panthers for a conditional 7th-round pick in 2015.
Click to expand...
Decent depth RB, for a conditional 7th that's not bad. I wonder if he's put on weight since he got drafted though.
Click to expand...
Panthers fan here - he has put on weight. I think he somewhat caught a bit of a raw deal here in Carolina, but part of it is on himself and part is on circumstances. Depth chart has always been stacked here at RB, then Barner didn't execute as well as they'd hoped on special teams. When his opportunities came in the running game, he was dropping passes or not executing there as well. The past two years he's been pushed or passed on the depth chart by UDFA guys...

He has put on weight...

http://www.si.com/nfl/2014/07/15/carolina-panthers-kenjon-barner-training

Interesting acquisition for Kelly and the Eagles given Barner's history with the offense. Makes him intriguing in deeper dynasty leagues, but McCoy isn't going anywhere and neither is Sproles.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the insight. Always good to hear a perspective from outside the land of the midnight green.

I'm surprised to hear Barner's been a special-teams underperformer ... from all accounts, Chip puts a ton of weight on ST performance in terms of the tail end of the roster guys. Then again, you literally can't get any cheaper than a conditional 7th-rounder, so maybe his thoughts were what do they have to lose? Barner certainly wouldn't be the first guy that just needed a change of scenery to start recommitting himself to the game.
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Perhaps underperform wasn't the right term... he's not exactly lit it up on STs. Last year he looked REALLY small out there, dropped passes, didn't make anyone miss, and went down on first contact. After bulking up I admit I haven't seen much of him this spring, but I will say he's been getting outperformed on returns by Philly Brown by most accounts.

I think once he lost that gig, Darrin Reaves just looks like a better fit a RB. Add it all up and he was expendable in Carolina. Perhaps a change of scenery does him some good, especially back to Kelly's system.

 
CowboysHomer said:
Maybe McCoy's turf toe is worse than they're letting on...
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Actually its pretty bad:

BREAKING --- Eagles coach Chip Kelly said Tuesday that LeSean McCoy's sore toe is so serious "I don't think he'll ever play again."

Unbelievably, Kelly managed a smile while delivering this devastating news to a tent full of somber repor...what? You say he was kidding? Oh. Never mind, then.

"He practiced fully yesterday, he's fine," Kelly said. "It's not as big an issue as I think anybody's made it out to be."

Yes, sarcasm. Chip showing a sense of humor.

 
Deamon said:
I don't know if this link will work, but I saw this on facebook today and it got me SO pumped up for the Eagles season. Will never forget this game:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152587156957357&set=vb.6242887356&type=2&theater
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goosebumps. One of the best games I've ever watched.

I've obviously seen the Desean return replayed over and over about 500 times, but in the context of the whole game? Man. I just threw both arms up in the air when he broke through the line and I'm sitting at my desk at work.

 
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unckeyherb said:
Deamon said:
I don't know if this link will work, but I saw this on facebook today and it got me SO pumped up for the Eagles season. Will never forget this game:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152587156957357&set=vb.6242887356&type=2&theater
Click to expand...
goosebumps. One of the best games I've ever watched.

I've obviously seen the Desean return replayed over and over about 500 times, but in the context of the whole game? Man. I just threw both arms up in the air when he broke through the line and I'm sitting at my desk at work.
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hahaha awesome. Yes re watching this gave me goosebumps too.

 
jasvic said:
Bigboy10182000 said:
@CSNPhilly: The #Eagles have traded running back David Fluellen to the #Colts for kicker Cody Parkey: http://t.co/WJotRw48mO #EaglesTalk
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This part is a bit depressing:

Parkey now gives the Eagles three kickers, joining fellow rookie Carey Spear. But Spear probably won't be here much longer.

Parkey is the only one of the three who's made a field goal this preseason.
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I still dont get why we didnt have 5 kickers on the team after Henery last season. Is their a cap on roster size in the pre-season?

 
Bigboy10182000 said:
Deamon said:
So Polk has a torn Hamstring. This might explain why we went after Barner. Jeez, our RB depth is pretty awful.
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Reeally? We have McCoy and Sproles...with those 2 alone I think we're in good shape.
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Don't see Kelly using Sproles in much of a RB role this year (even more so if Huff misses much time) and don't think he's the answer to be the bell cow back if Mccoy goes down.

Behind Mccoy in a true RB sense we now have Tucker and Josey.

 
Foles had a couple of throws just a little bit off on the opening series- hopefully will settle in

 
No regard to if he actually was a hit to the head. He hit shoulder to chest.

Its like if it looks bad it's just automatic 15 which is unfortunate.

 
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Definitely a tough call. It's preseason though- which is the right time to actually call the close ones.

 
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