Answering 3 Eagles questions
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Answering 3 Eagles questions
For Eagles fans, it may have been great to see Nick Foles and several other rookies make prominent debuts, and for Trent Edwards fans it must have been great just to see him on the field for the first time since 2010.
But last night’s 24-23 victory over Pittsburgh raised a few questions—some lingering from the 2011 season.
Are the linebackers in over their heads?
I mean that literally; the Eagles have the smallest linebackers in the NFC East by far, and against the Steelers the first-team group appeared to be muscled out of play after play.
Brian Rolle (5-foot-10), DeMeco Ryans (6-1), and Mychal Kendricks (5-11) may be quick and instinctive, but if the defensive line doesn’t hold off offensive linemen who tower over the group, the Eagles are in a world of trouble similar to last season’s linebacking woes.
Where are the big, bruising ‘backers? On other teams.
Of the 14 linebackers set to start in the NFC East , the Eagles have three of the five shortest. Every linebacker on Dallas and New York is bigger.
Granted, the Eagles were missing three-fourths of their starting defensive line due to injuries, so the top-line support wasn’t there. But Rolle, Ryans and Kendricks aren’t getting any taller this season.
And the dinking and dunking by Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger, who led a 16-play drive that consumed almost 10 minutes, is a blueprint for playing the Eagles.
All but two projected starting tight ends the Eagles face this year are at least 6-foot-4, and that group includes Pro Bowl-caliber stars like New Orleans’ Jimmy Graham (99 catches), Detroit’s Brandon Pettigrew (83), Atlanta’s Tony Gonzalez (80), and Dallas’ Jason Witten (79).
DeMeco Ryans was asked what he and the linebackers could work on as a result of the game. “The fundamentals—getting off blocks, tackling—you can’t work enough of that,” he said.
Um, yeah. This question clearly remains unanswered.
Can the defensive line save the linebackers’ shortcomings?
Somehow, without Jason Babin, Trent Cole, and Cullen Jenkins, who combined for 34.5 of the team’s 50 sacks last year, the Eagles racked up seven sacks against Pittsburgh.
It was an impressive performance, especially since Phillip Hunt (2 sacks), Brandon Graham (1), and Cedric Thornton (1) were on the hot seat to step up their play. And Derek Landri, who had a solid game, forced another sack with his pressure on Roethlisberger.
“I thought we were playing on the other side of the ball,” said an impressed coach Andy Reid. “There were just some good things in there by the young players.”
Second-year defensive line coach Jim Washburn got a full year of teaching and Organized Team Activities after 2011’s truncated offseason, and the results could pay off this year. He also got two potentially big additions in first- and second-round picks defensive end Fletcher Cox and defensive tackle Vinny Curry.
The Eagles tied for the NFL lead in sacks last year and added talented young players to the mix. So the short answer to this question is a definite maybe.
Do the Eagles finally have a legitimate kickoff returner?
Reid doesn’t always learn his lessons quickly (time management, and drafting first-round linebackers are still on his to-do list), but he seems to have learned something about playmakers.
When you have them, you have a better chance to win. Similar to how he realized it was better to have DeSean Jackson than James Thrash, Reid drafted a potential weapon to help his kickoff return team.
Brandon Boykin wasn’t just a good returner in college—he was among the all-time best. He won the Paul Hornung Award as college football’s most versatile player, and tied the Southeastern Conference record of four career kickoff returns for touchdown (along with Willie Gault and Felix Jones).
His 46-yarder on his first return Thursday night matches the Eagles’ longest for the past two seasons. “Coach [Bobby] April told me later I was eight yards deep—but I wanted to take it,” Boykin said.
Starting field position is crucial; however, opponents have averaged more yards per return in seven of the last nine seasons and the Eagles have only one kickoff return touchdown in the last decade.
Last night, thanks to Boykin’s three returns for 89 yards, the Eagles’ kickoff return average was almost double the Steelers’ (27 yards to 14).
As DeSean Jackson has shown with his four punt returns for touchdowns in the last four years, returners can win games.
With Boykin back there, it appears Reid can check off one item on his to-do list.
If Boykin stays healthy, it really looks like he's a top returner.— armchairGM- what about questions on the secondary looking much like last year? NA got toasted a few times, Jarrett took poor angles and did not wrap up on a tackle attempt. Did not look too good back there from what I saw— connorjr
- I really thought they did a better job at the end of the season last yr when they realized they should limit the wide 9. When they mix it in and use it more on passing downs they end up being more effective against the run. I thought that would carry over, maybe not. Maybe its also a way to learn about certain players progress on the D line and lb and not showing your cards. We can only hope. Otherwise all these sack stats mean nothing. I was always under the impression a great D line that gets pressure helps the DBs. Only would the eagles find a way to reverse that— peteike
- Its not just getting off blocks, its making plays and tackling by the back 7 that has to get much much better.— jss31
- connorjr--good question. You can read Jeff McLane's take on the defensive secondary since he's covering that angle: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-eagles/165739546.html
I'm not worried about Nnamdi, DRC or Coleman. Jarrett--yep, that's a concern.— John Roach - connorjr--good question. You can read Jeff McLane's take on the defensive secondary since he's covering that angle: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-eagles/165739546.htmlI'm not worried about Nnamdi, DRC or Coleman. Jarrett--yep, that's a concern. (HTML deleted)— John Roach
- The D will improve. Once season starts they will not play in base set for any peroid of time. LB's and secondary, will be up on the line more and shorten gap between charging D line and backers.
If they stay in base set with backers and safety 5 to 7 yards off line of scrimage, they are toast.— camasbud - It's funny. Some Eagles fans/writers worry about the fact that the Steelers had a 16 play 52 yard drive that resulted in a FG (not me, but some do); meanwhile, Steelers fans/writers are worried about the same thing:
"Haley's play-calling in the first half was conservative to a fault. Only once in the 16-play opening drive, which ended with a field goal, did Roethlisberger take a shot downfield, his pass for wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders overthrown. The Steelers had 17 pass plays in the first two quarters -- counting the four sacks -- and the 16 running plays. Mostly, it was dink-and-dunk.
'We were very limited ... I don't want to say limited, we just didn't have a lot,' Roethlisberger said.
Asked about the many dump-offs to the running backs, Roethlisberger said, 'Those were the guys who were open while I still had time.'"
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/ron-cook/cook-young-linemen-have-room-to-improve-648448/#ixzz23A0EIGXx— keithpetres - Big bruising backers? On other teams? Name them dude. Its one game, I thought kendricks showed legit playmaking ability. He had mistakes and so did ryans, but they're playing vanilla now. Anyways, big bruising backers are a liability in pass coverage now. Name one that isn't and compare them to who we got. Size, not just height but weight, strength, and jumping ability. Tell me how you feel after the first REAL game. No time to panic yet.— 46 and 2
uh, yea keithpetres. Its saying they were DISSAPOINTED by beating the eagles starters only 13-0. As in they ran a simple gameplan to not give anything away for Week 5 when they play again. As in they didnt even attempt a deep pass, because if they did, it probably would have been converted over Jaqqiann Jarretts head. The D looked terrible as Reids teams always look terrible, on both sides of the ball, against teams with big 3-4 defenses (bal, pit, NE) and teams with physical power run games (NYG,bal, pit). His combined record against Pit/bal/NE is like .200 or worse. or basically, pathetic.- 46 and 2: Are you kidding? For big linebackers in our division, how about Dallas' DeMarcus Ware (6-4), New York's Mathias Kiwanuka (6-5), and Washington's Brian Orakpo (6-4). Every other team in the NFC East has one.
— John Roach - Roach: Hard to compare Ware with any LB in the league since he doesn't play the pass, he has 1 int in his career and has never racked up more than 849 tackles in a year, he's more of a DE than a LB. Likewise Kiwanuka has never had more than 84 tackles in a year. Orakpo has never had more than 60 and has never had an int. When has Orakpo played coverage, can either Orakpo or Ware play the 4 - 3? Can either play coverage? DeMeco Ryans averaged 129.5 tackles from 2006 - 2009 plus he can play nickel LB in coverage.— 46 and 2
- Ware's highest single season tackle total is 84 not 849. — 46 and 2
- The linebackers and Safety position are still liabilities to the defensive line. It seems to me that the tackles do not understand they need to keep the offensive linemen off of the linebackers. There is also the missed tackles that i can not understand. How is it you can get to this point in a professional career and no make solid tackles of ball carriers?
The Linebackers and Safeties are getting to the point of attack but they bump the runners instead of wrap tackle. These are the same problems from last year. Ryan is no better than Cheney or Mathews in that regard. If it was no for drag tackles there would be no tackling by anyone in the back seven Eagles defense.— Dexter - Roach, weren't those guys Defensive Ends who now play linebacker? With the Eagles, that will not work, most of their Defensive Ends are 6'1, no taller than solid tackling safeties in the NFL.— Dexter
