Rolle, Allen to start
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Eagles
Rolle, Allen to start
Jonathan Tamari and Jeff McLane
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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no way Coleman should sit after a couple of bad plays after watching nobody be able to tackle on this team (outside the line)...Page hasn't made a play yet this year...........and as someone commented above...we all wanted them to move up and take Berry or Thomas a couple of years ago...but what do we all know????— theglue- patting myself on the back for saying Rolle will end up starting this year. Mark1, good point about their drafting. You can occasionally come up lucky & there are enough late-round draft picks starting in this league. But this year the birds seemed to have gone overboard on those ventures (read: cheap).
Castillo seems overmatched, easily outfoxed, a lousy talent evaluator, and a Slow Learner.
Reid should be deprived of headphones on game days. We are witnessing the total collapse of their best-laid plans this season, hopefully andy's last. I just hope guys like vick don't end up permanently disabled. He deserves a second chance in life. AR & Co. blew theirs some years ago.— rad205 - If Allen still does not have full speed and range of motion, along with his is suspect tackling - probably better to stick with Coleman, who while he had a terrible game vs. NY, has still demonstrated himself to be a more willing and sure tackler.
In other words - it looks to be a lousy trade-off.
As for Matthews - a questionable draft pick, who should be plying his trade on special teams for the forseeable future.— FishFryFrank - Anyone else concerned we haven't even heard Jarrett's name as an option? He's a second round pick...— Badhog
- Especially since he was described as so physical a tackler...If he could play a little bit he's be out there already...can't play in space. — bearsfriend
People on here keep complaining about Juan's promotion. I think he's doing a decent job being a first year co-coordinator. No one does a bang up job their first year, he'll learn and get better. He has the defense in good position to make plays, the players just aren't making them and I'm not going to blame Juan for that. Rolle was a 6th round pick and Matthews was a 4th round pick so if you go by draft logic a 4th rounders should be better than a 6th rounder. We'll see how Rolle works out. I'm wondering how Juan was going to play the front four before the wide 9 was thrust upon him when Reid hired Washburn. Juan never worked with that alignment before and I believe now Juan has the LB group he wants and not the one Reid wanted. Reid has a lot of control he needs to just sit back and let those defensive coaches evaluate the talent and put the guys out there that they want. If Reid is so much of an offensive line guy he would tell Mudd he's putting Jackson back at center (is Jamal Jackson still on the team) let him call out those line calls which he has experience doing because Vick ain't Peyton and can't make those line calls to adjust for where the blitz is coming from. I'm wondering if Vick has the ok to change a pass play to a run play and vice versa.- Juan will be just fine. He had no experience before he became an OL coach either bc he was coaching defense and was an LB when he played. And Jim Johnson had no experience on defense either for that matter as he was a QB when he played. Biggest weakness that everyone recognized coming into the year was cornerback...so they went out and got 2 pro bowlers. Rollins was right about his front runner comment. For all of you that are "done" with the eagles, you can send me your tix and i don't expect to hear from you again. — azzurri1313
- Actually, Jim Johnson was a defensive line coach, secondary coach and linebacker coach in the NFL before being a defensive coordinator. So, no idea what your point is. Learn some facts before we have to hear from you again.
- Thank God, now can we please look into signing Julian Peterson or Lofa Tatupu.— oharabri
- Whats next, bringing back Ron Salt?— attila
Comment removed.- Akeem Jordan is the only LB with any expreience( 4th year ). He started for coach Johnson when we had a better defense and did well in 2009. Now he used only on special teams.He already has instincts rather than hoping to develop them someday.— fan13
- He, like many players, performed well for Johnson, flying around like a rabid animal. I wonder if he's just become used to standing on the sidelines. I predict that he'll get one more chance, probably replacing Moses Doukou, but he better leave no doubt that he's the guy. I liked him too, and thought he had real potential. — auntesther
- This makes the decision to start Matthews at MLB even more of a joke.— Bama
- What we need are large, strong, smart LB's. This Munchkin-land stuff just does not work in the NFL.. Andy Reid are you listening??? Think Urlacher, Lewis and the like.— DKNJ
