Rolle, Allen to start
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Eagles
Rolle, Allen to start
Changes have arrived on defense.
Brian Rolle said he has been elevated to first team weak side linebacker and Nate Allen will be starting at safety in place of Kurt Coleman. Linebacker and safety have been glaring weaknesses early in the season.
Rolle, a sixth round pick, has looked more instinctive and aggressive than Casey Matthews, the fourth round selection he'll replace in the starting line up. He is short, however, generously five-foot-10.
Rolle said he will continue to play in some nickel packages as well. Coming in as a sixth round pick who began with limited playing time, Rolle said his goal was to make sure that when he did get on the field, his name was called out.
"Every time you see me on the field you hear my name," Rolle said he told his father this week. "My coaches must have seen that light and felt that I need to be on the field more."
Rolle, a speedy but short linebacker, said he believes he is actually better against the run than he is against the pass. But he said he hopes he gets a chance to take on tight end Vernon Davis this weekend.
"It’s going to be a lot of fun get out there, play in space and hopefully get matched up with Vernon Davis," Rolle said. "Everybody has their weakness. You can be fast, but being fast isn’t everything, it’s all about technique in this league as well."
Rolle has worked at weakside linbacker since training camp, unlike Matthews, who was in the middle until last Wednesday, and showed Sunday he still has learning to do.
Rolle said he wasn't concerned about being a sixth round pick or starting low on the Eagles depth chart.
"I just thought about working hard and letting that pay off and it has," he said.
Allen replaced Coleman Sunday after Coleman missed a tackle, leading to a 74-yard touchdown. He entered training camp as a starter, but was hampered in his recovery from a torn patellar tendon and lost his job to Jarrad Page.
More soon.
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wait, i thought instincts were matthew's strong point!?! he's not big, he's not fast, i swear the eagles liked him because he was instinctive...hmmm, go figure. sounds a lot like drafting a 26 year old lineman because he's nfl-ready.— nyphilliephan
They need to bench Foku and Page while they are at it. I would argue Coleman is better than Page, even with that missed tackle.- Jeez, like nobody saw this coming a month ago.....zzzzzzzz— Mark1npt
- Once again, the "smarter than anybody else" braintrust has to eat it. Why don't they ever just focus on drafting the obviously good players instead of trying to uncover that diamond in the rough that happens along once every 100 years?— Mark1npt
- Maybe they should've drafted Earl Thomas with the 13th pick last year instead of Brandon Graham.— Clt Philly Fan
- Now who replaces Page and Fokou??— stikolaboloni
Comment removed.- The Rolle move I like.. Regarding Nate Allen, I am super down on him.. His tackling is beyond bad. He got run over a few times last week after coming in to replace Coleman.. Coleman usually is a reliable tackler.. Last week he had a bad game and no one can dispute that. From what I've seen, Allen is a major liability and has certainly not recovered from his last years injury well enough to be in there.— bradco
- where's Bil Bergey and Andre Waters? remember when the Eagles were known for their defense? can't Reid just resign already if Lurie won;t pull the trigger— warbiscuit
- uhhh so whats the upside here. Matthews started over this guy right. "well he cant suck worse than Casey can he?"— IcanTakeit
- Comment removed.
- LOL, cant win with late round linebackers? Thats what they said about James Harrison on the Steelers - who was not big enough, not fast enough, not instinctive enough. He was a FA that bounced around. Before you start saying players who make it to the NFL are no talent wait and see. You are not in the NFL now are you.
- Thanks for confirming something we saw way before you Andy & co. And you spend everyday with these guys... what were you looking at? Getting harder and harder to root for this team!!!— gdm
- just the fact that they are scrambling this badly 4 weeks into the season to find SOMETHING that works at LB should tell you everything you need to know...rookies being swapped out, switching positions...can you imagine what happens if one or more of these guys gets hurt? they GROSSLY underestimated the LB position AGAIN and it will cost this team any chance of getting deep into the playoffs this year...— soalivetoday
- Exactly, you have to wonder what they were looking at in training camp...they also were very quiet when teams made final cuts...They desperately need upgrade at safety and there probably is an answer on someone's practice squad...But the fact that 2 #2 draft picks are uncapable of excelling magnifies the lack of talent thru poor drafting. — bearsfriend
