Sports

[gardenman]

Yikes! Tyrone Crawford, the Cowboys defensive end, had a really nasty looking ankle injury yesterday. Not only did he roll the ankle, but he also rotated it about ninety degrees and ankles aren't supposed to move that way. Expect him to be out multiple weeks, maybe months. That's not a good looking injury.

It always seems that injuries pop up at the positions where you're weakest. The Cowboys are weak at defensive end starting the season with three ends suspended and it might be tough for Crawford to be ready by week one. Starting out with your fifth and sixth best defensive ends starting is not a recipe for success. Bear in mind that most teams only carry five ends, so they'll likely be starting someone who wouldn't even make the roster in a typical year.

The Cowboys are saying it's a lateral sprain and he'll be ready for the season opener. We'll see. It's a very unpleasant looking injury on the photos.

[gardenman]

The Eagles have their first preseason game tonight against the Packers. I'm not sure if we'll even see the starters at all, but we'll see. It'll be interesting to see if the Eagles' receivers still look as good as they have in camp, or if they just look good against our corners. Likewise it'll be good to see how our corners perform against other receivers. It's been a very one-sided battle through training camp with the receivers dominating.

The Eagles defensive line will be a nice test for the rebuilt Packers offensive line.  The d-line has been very solid in camp. Timmy Jernigan has been a beast so far in camp. This is the first time in his career he's been allowed to just attack the line of scrimmage and he's having a ball. Until now his job has been to control and contain, but Jim Schwartz has unleashed him and Jernigan is creating chaos. We'll likely see a lot of Derek Barnett at defensive end. He was very active in the OTA's but you haven't heard as much from him in camp. That could be because he's going against Jason Peters and Jason Peters is a beast, but we'll see how he performs tonight.

We'll get a good feel for the depth of both squads as few of the starters will play long and even most of the second team guys will be in and out pretty quickly. It's good to have football back again!

[teganslaw]

The Colts released DT Kendall Langford because of a failed physical. He has been on the PUP list,  (injured knee) but, apparently, his rehab hasn't been going as well as expected. When he was healthy, he was a solid performer and hadn't missed a game until his injury. It just shows how fleeting life in the NFL is. It doesn't matter what a player has done in the past; can they perform now? Sometimes there are exceptions, but not often. 

Tolzien will be the quarterback when the Colts face the Lions Sunday. I doubt any starters will play the first game. 

SPURT, so is McCoy going to be the quarterback against Baltimore or will Sudfeld play? 

Yay, football is finally back!

[yellowBeetle]

@gardenman

Looking forward to seeing the Eagles tonight!! Heard Wentz say on the local sports news that he plans to play some. I always think it is a bit risky to put the QB out there in these preseason games - with the exception of the third one which is like a "dress rehearsal."

Again, thank you so much for your beautifully written detailed analysis of not only the Eagles, but all things NFL!! 

[gardenman]

Some positive and some negatives from last night's Eagles game. Carson Wentz looked pretty good overall. The Packers came out throwing every blitz package in their playbook at the Eagles which had the offensive line scrambling a bit. (Most of the time you see a very vanilla defense in the preseason. The Packers were anything but vanilla with run blitzes, pass blitzes, sending corners and safeties and pretty much everyone at Wentz. I'm not sure I didn't see Mike McCarthy, the Packers head coach, coming on one of the blitzes.

The offensive line didn't look all that impressive due to the pressure they were getting. There were no running lanes for the backs and little time to throw the ball. Carson did hook up on a touchdown throw with Mack Hollins (our fourth round pick at wide receiver) on a nice touchdown where Hollins just stiff armed two Packer defenders out of his way to the endzone. Matt McGloin took over after that at QB and played respectably.

Derek Barnett, our first round pick at defensive end, got a couple of sacks and lots of pressure on the QB while he was in the game. He looks like the real deal, but he'll have to work more on his inside move to be more effective. All of his pressure came on outside rushes. If he can combine that with an effective countermove or two, he'll be a beast. If his only effective move is the outside rush, teams will be able to scheme around that. A chip by a back or tight end will defeat a pure outside speed rusher. He needs a countermove that's effective.

The cornerback situation looked a bit better than feared. Patrick Robinson played pretty well and Jalen Mills played very well. CJ Smith had a rough night after a good camp. He needs to redeem himself in coming weeks to compete for a starting job. He got too anxious last night and got beat on a couple of double moves. The rest of the corners were about as expected.

The running game was largely non-existent, so that will likely be the focus heading into future games. The Packers seemed determined to stop the rush and threw everyone they had at the run game. They stopped it, but in a real game leaving their corners manned up on recievers to stop the run can be very dangerous. A touchdown like the one to Mack Hollins can happen way too easily if you play that type of defense all of the time.

All in all, not a bad outing, but nothing spectacular. Matt McGloin probably improved his standing by his play. Derek Barnett looked good. Mack Hollins looked good. It looks like the blocking in the back rule is being relaxed on special teams or the officials just ignored it, as there were several blatant block in the backs that weren't called on punts. We'll have to see what happens with the Eagles running game. The Packers were determined to stop it last night, but we'll have to see what happens against more conventional defenses. 

[yellowBeetle]

@gardenman

I agree totally with your take on last night's game! Great in-depth summation!

Wentz seems more polished and poised. And Derek Barnett looks very promising!

(Thanks, too, for the laugh about Mike McCarthy!! :)

[Spurt]

And the verdict is IN!!!!........Zeke Elliott is suspended 6 games---WOW!!!  They really lowered the boom on him!!! ....  Of course Zeke and Jerry will file an appeal..........and I think I heard someone say that while the appeal is going on he can still play---how "convenient".............

[Spurt]

@teganslaw

Good luck to your Colts on Sunday against the Lions---so who will be the Colts starting QB until Luck returns?.................

Let's see as far as your question on the QB's---OMG---we scored a whole 3 points!!!!!!!  Cousins only played 2 series (1-2 for a whopping 5 whole yards--) One play they want to use often,  a play-action pass over the middle to WR Pryor, Cousins’ pass was high, and Pryor couldn’t make the catch. He’s made tougher catches, though  And Colt McCoy was terrible (6/13-40yds), Sudfield (5/12-68 yds)  --- I'll stop any talk of signing Colin K, but maybe we should give Tim Tebow a shot......Johnny Manziel perhaps.(being sarcastic)......  But its not just the QBs....the offense overall was particularly awful...Now to be fair to the QBs, the O line didnt do a good job in giving the QBs time to throw...

Scores in pre-season games really don't matter, but as one reporter said, "The Redskins looked inept".....Key offenses starters, Reed, Crowder, Doctson didnt play, but overall poor execution, and the run blocking and protection were pathetic! The running backs had no lanes.  The Redskins managed 16 total yards in the first quarter..

Rookie RB Samaje Perine had to do a lot of pass protection, which he didnt do in college and it showed he struggled to pick up the blitz, he was stripped of the ball on one play, dropped a pass (he has shown good hands in practice)....If he wants a starting job he better improve!  

Keeping in mind that Flacco didnt play, but LB Zack Brown stood out and showed good speed, and rookie Ryan Anderson continues to impress. Rookie Jonathan Allen used his savvy in getting a sack. Phil Taylor SR was good and steady at nose tackle.

Josh Norman said, "You get set up for that cake you think you're about to eat and then you can't devour it."  He was referring to the starters not getting much playing time, but to Redskin fans it summed up what they saw............

@gardenman Our only consolation was that the Eagles scored 9 whole points, Wentz had a good showing 4-4 and a TD,our O lines peformed about the same, the Eagles's defense let Araron Rodgers backups have their way..............our respective teams didnt have a good showing....  At least we have a month to get something going! 

[teganslaw]

Scott Tolzien will play Sunday against Detroit. They might also give 3rd string backup Stephen Morris a chance later. I don't expect many starters to play. It will be interesting to see how Malik Hooker does. RB Marlon Mack will probably be in that game, also.

I watched most of the Denver-Chicago game, and was impressed with Trubisky. He played in the second and third quarters, and did well. Had poise, good pocket awareness and accurate passes. He threw for two touchdowns. I know it was only one game, and Trubisky has yet to prove himself, but it was a nice start. What if Chicago knew something others didn't? I'll be keeping track on how Trubisky develops throughout the season, even though he won't be the starter.

Good thing it is only preseason; some teams have to work on their skills. They might improve by the regular season; also promising players could fall. Anything can happen in a month.

[Spurt]

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@teganslaw wrote:

Scott Tolzien will play Sunday against Detroit. They might also give 3rd string backup Stephen Morris a chance later. I don't expect many starters to play. It will be interesting to see how Malik Hooker does. RB Marlon Mack will probably be in that game, also.

I watched most of the Denver-Chicago game, and was impressed with Trubisky. He played in the second and third quarters, and did well. Had poise, good pocket awareness and accurate passes. He threw for two touchdowns. I know it was only one game, and Trubisky has yet to prove himself, but it was a nice start. What if Chicago knew something others didn't? I'll be keeping track on how Trubisky develops throughout the season, even though he won't be the starter.

Good thing it is only preseason; some teams have to work on their skills. They might improve by the regular season; also promising players could fall. Anything can happen in a month.

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@teganslaw

I concur, I also watched the game and Trubisky did really well!!!  Of course Im a bit snake bit, because I remember how well RGIII did .......evern after 1 season and look what happened.....the defensive coaches got tape on him, he got hurt when running, and didnt play very well in the pocket and even the Browns cut him and no one has picked him up...........So its a wait and see approach with me....But your right, he could be the real deal and the Bears could've made a fantastic decision and other teams will be kicking themselves for not doing what Chicago did and jumping up in the draft and taking Trubisky..........and all the waysayers who knocked Trubisky will have egg on their face....that is why the NFL is so intersting .......

It will be interesting to see how the Cowboys QB Dak Prescott does this year....and especially if Zeke Elliott's suspension stands and he wont have his star RB to rely upon............

Yep anything can happen in a month and teams that are playing well can have an injury to their QB and/or key player and their season could go down the tubes........