Sports

[gardenman]

@Spurt 

Eagles fans are a pretty football-savvy group. McCarthy had the best QB in the league in Green Bay and flopped. He didn't impress all that much last year in Dallas. I wouldn't be shocked to see him out of a job come November/December of this year. JJ has Kellen Moore and Dan Quinn as emergency head coaches waiting in the wings. The expectations in Dallas are a big issue for McCarthy. Fans are expecting a Super Bowl. They could pretty easily get off to an 0-3 start. Going 0-6 before the bye isn't out of the question if the defense isn't markedly better. If they're 0-6, 1-5, or even 2-4 at the bye, JJ might pull the rug out from under McCarthy. That Cowboy defense is still a big old mess. They've got lots of linebackers, but everything else is not especially good. 

Joe Judge is largely an unknown still. The Giants weren't impressive last year. I'm not wildly optimistic they'll be better this year. They're betting a lot on their o-line improving a lot. It could happen. They could also be who they are. The crybaby act over the Eagles not beating the WFT to let the Giants into the playoffs got a bit tiresome. Hey, if you want to get in the playoffs, win games. Don't expect someone else to do it for you.

Nick Sirianni and his staff are pretty interesting guys. I like what I've seen from them, but man are they young. I like what I've seen so far, but how well will they hold up under fire? The staff reminds me of Vermiel's and Reid's first young staffs. A whole lot of really bright, young, football minds working together. The bad news is those staffs got stolen away by other teams pretty quickly.

Rivera's just a rock-solid guy. You know what you get from him. He's an old-school, shoot from the hip type. He's not going to reinvent the game. He's not going to dazzle you with trickery, but his guys will show up and play. Mike Tomlin is pretty much the same way. They're just good, solid coaches.

Of the four NFC East coaches, I'd put Rivera first. Nick in second isn't unreasonable. At least so far. We've seen Mike McCarthy implode in Green Bay. Dan Quinn was not who I'd have hired as DC. Joe Judge is still something of an unknown. It was a fairly accurate poll to me.

[Spurt]

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@gardenman wrote:

@Spurt 

Eagles fans are a pretty football-savvy group. McCarthy had the best QB in the league in Green Bay and flopped. He didn't impress all that much last year in Dallas. I wouldn't be shocked to see him out of a job come November/December of this year. JJ has Kellen Moore and Dan Quinn as emergency head coaches waiting in the wings. The expectations in Dallas are a big issue for McCarthy. Fans are expecting a Super Bowl. They could pretty easily get off to an 0-3 start. Going 0-6 before the bye isn't out of the question if the defense isn't markedly better. If they're 0-6, 1-5, or even 2-4 at the bye, JJ might pull the rug out from under McCarthy. That Cowboy defense is still a big old mess. They've got lots of linebackers, but everything else is not especially good. 

Joe Judge is largely an unknown still. The Giants weren't impressive last year. I'm not wildly optimistic they'll be better this year. They're betting a lot on their o-line improving a lot. It could happen. They could also be who they are. The crybaby act over the Eagles not beating the WFT to let the Giants into the playoffs got a bit tiresome. Hey, if you want to get in the playoffs, win games. Don't expect someone else to do it for you.

Nick Sirianni and his staff are pretty interesting guys. I like what I've seen from them, but man are they young. I like what I've seen so far, but how well will they hold up under fire? The staff reminds me of Vermiel's and Reid's first young staffs. A whole lot of really bright, young, football minds working together. The bad news is those staffs got stolen away by other teams pretty quickly.

Rivera's just a rock-solid guy. You know what you get from him. He's an old-school, shoot from the hip type. He's not going to reinvent the game. He's not going to dazzle you with trickery, but his guys will show up and play. Mike Tomlin is pretty much the same way. They're just good, solid coaches.

Of the four NFC East coaches, I'd put Rivera first. Nick in second isn't unreasonable. At least so far. We've seen Mike McCarthy implode in Green Bay. Dan Quinn was not who I'd have hired as DC. Joe Judge is still something of an unknown. It was a fairly accurate poll to me.

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@gardenman 

Great analysis! Agree with you 100%, and Rivera wants guys that love the game, work hard, and bring it on the field, he's a straight shooter and lets the players know exactly where they stand, a bit "old school" but good for a rebuilding team, and he is smart too, that's why he turned the offense over to OC, Scott Turner....with more weapons Turner talked about the offense being more explosive this year, last year he didnt have the players, but this year they boosted the talent and now Turner can be more creative!!  

[gardenman]

@Spurt 

That WFT offense needs two things. The first, and biggest, is for Fitzpatrick to be consistently okay. He doesn't have to be consistently great, just okay. He swings between great and horrible and tends more to horrible. Just be okay and things should be good for the WFT.

The second thing is the running back. They don't really have one that scares me. McKissic and Gibson are more pass catchers than running threats. (The folks who follow Memphis football say that the Eagles' fifth-round pick Kenneth Gainwell is a better back than Gibson or the Cowboys Tony Pollard.) I thought the WFT might address that fairly early in the draft, but they didn't. If defenses aren't threatened by the run, it makes passing that much harder. And frankly, I'm not sure any of the WFT running backs threaten most defenses.

If I was coaching a defense against the WFT, it would be all nickel and dime packages until they prove they can run the ball. There's just no one there who scares me as a runner. There's no home run hitter who can score from anywhere on the field if a tackle is missed. Gibson was the best last year and he rushed for less than 800 yards. That's not a lot in a 16 game season. Derek Henry ran for over 2,000 yards. Miles Sanders ran for 867 and almost all of those yards came in just the first half of games as Doug would abandon the running game at halftime. Miles would have been around 1500 yards had they let him play a full game. 

If the WFT can find someone to run the ball well and Fitzpatrick is just Fitzaverage instead of Fitztragic or Fitzmagic, the WFT should be good.

[Spurt]

@gardenman 

Agree, the WFT still needs some help at the RB spot---

Our current RBS--

Antonio Gibson, J.D. McKissic, Peyton Barber, LaMar Miller, Jaret Patterson....(they will probably keep 3 RBs)...Better blocking from the O-Line will also help the running game......Curtis Samuel will also run some plays out of the backfield....

Gibson did get better and better as the season wore on. If not for a late-season turf toe injury, Gibson may have been in line for Pro Bowl consideration. As it was, he ended up tied with the Colts’ Jonathan Taylor for most rushing touchdowns by a rookie with eleven. His running should continue to improve with experience.  And with more weapons in the offense I think that will help Gibson too....

McKissic is more of a change of pace RB......

Barber is more of a special teams guy and may not even make the roster this year....

Miller---30, has not touched the ball since 2018, but he has more yards on his resume than the other RBs combined!  He is a question mark to make the final roster...

Patterson---he's the wildcard, an undrafted rookie, he hits holes hard, and gets positive yards, he has the ability to shift direction without losing a step –and shows strength at the point of contact...

Thought you'd find this comment interesting---one of the analyst actually said that he thought the Cowboys Pollard might be getting more carries than Zeke this year....He thinks Zeke is showing wear and tear and isnt the same....

[gardenman]

Tua isn't reassuring the Dolphins that he's the answer to their QB void. He threw at least five interceptions in practice today. Not great. There's footage from New England showing Cam missing receiver after receiver while Mac Jones is dropping the ball right into their hands. It's still very, very early, but not a great start for Tua and Cam.

[gardenman]

Numerous stat guys are claiming the Eagles had two of the worst QBs in the whole league last year. Well yeah, but why? Were both guys trash or were they in the wrong place at the wrong time? I'm a big believer in the wrong place at the wrong time position. Fourteen different starting offensive lines in sixteen games is not the norm. We used fifteen offensive linemen over the course of the season. We had guys playing out of position just to have a body out there.

We had two veteran wide receivers in Alshon Jeffrey and DeSean Jackson. Alshon caught six passes for 115 yards. (That's for the whole season, not one game.) DeSean Jackson caught 14 passes for 236 yards. I kind of expect Devonta Smith to have better stats than both of them after game three. Zach Ertz, the top tight end clearly did not have his head in the game. (Or his hands for that matter.) Ertz only had 36 catches for 335 yards.

Oh, but our running game was good! In the first quarter. Then Doug Pederson would call fewer and fewer runs making it easier for the defense to only worry about the passing game. In one game we only had two running plays in the entire second half.

Were the QBs stats bad? Absolutely. But, you could have put Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, all in their prime in that offense and they'd have been as bad. We had coaches who'd quit. Veteran players who were retired, but still on the field (Alshon and Jason Peters). Seriously outmatched guys filling roles they'd never played before. And two quarterbacks out there trying their best to make something good happen despite it all. 

[teganslaw]

Cynthia Frelund's data analysis and algorithms showed that SF has the best chance to win the NFC West. Arizona will improve on their 2020 record, and both LA Rams and Seattle will each win less than 10 games. I don't know how accurate her data is, but I thought this was interesting. A fan survey favored the Rams.

I recently found out that DeSean Jackson is with the Rams. How did I miss that? I didn't know he signed with that team. 

[gardenman]

@teganslaw 

Yeah, Desean signed with the Rams pretty early in free agency. I didn't think anyone would sign him, but I was wrong. In two full seasons with the Eagles, he caught 23 passes for 395 yards and three TDs. Total. In two seasons. And we paid him $9.3 million a year for that kind of production. He's even a $5.8 million dead cap hit this year for Philly. Not the best investment we've ever made.  

When it comes to the NFC West, it's hard to bet against Seattle. Russell Wilson is the real deal at QB and they've apparently patched up whatever rough spot they had. People think Matthew Stafford is the greatest QB who ever lived and will make the Rams great. Uh, no. I don't think so. To me, Stafford is just an older, more expensive version of Jared Goff. Stafford's had some really good players around him and the Lions did next to nothing. I still can't believe the Rams gave up all they did to get him. The Cards are good and getting better, but I'm not sure they're quite where they need to be just yet. As to the Niners, who is their QB? Jimmy G? The kid? Teams with uncertainty at the QB spot tend not to win a lot. If Jimmy G is the starter and has a bad game, guys will be looking at the kid and wondering why he's not starting. If the kid is the starter and flops, guys will be wanting Jimmy G. If you draft a kid to be "the guy" you should flush everyone else and let the kid be "the guy."

I'd go with the Seahawks over anyone else in the west. DK Metcalf is a scary dude at wide receiver. Russell Wilson spent much of his early career untouched behind a great offensive line. In later years the line has been a bit more porous. They think they've patched the line back together. If they have, expect the Seahawks to be tough again.

[Spurt]

@teganslaw @teganslaw 

With all the questions surrounding Jimmy G the 49ers are a bit of an odd choice......  personally I think the Cardinals will surprise! To me last season revealed weaknesses that started to appear on the Seahawks....

AND THE WINNER IS---Yep it will be two g.o.a.t.s on the Madden 22 cover: 

And speaking of QBS......Coach Tomlin is taking a "hands-on" approach with Dwayne Haskins, he said he was concerned about Dwayne the person. Tomlin has been communicating with him during team drills, and spending time with Dwayne after  pratice....Haskins said being cut by the WFT was a humbling experience and he's thankful the opportunity he got with the Steelers and wants to prove to his teammates and coaches that he loves football.... I wish him the best and hope what he's been through has helped him grow up! 

Also Bear's Coach Matt Nagy said Justin Fields is behind Andy Dalton, the #1 Bear's QB, but Fields is ahead of Nick Foles.........

[gardenman]

@Spurt 

Haskins is a talented kid and the Steelers are a good fit for him. Tomlin's a great coach and the franchise knows how to handle guys. Even before he became a Steeler I felt like that was where he needed to be. The Steelers aren't necessarily a QB factory, but they can manage guys who need managing. Andy Reid and the Chefs might have done a better job of making him a better QB, but Tomlin can make him a better man. He just turned 24 in May, so he's still a young guy. The right woman in his life could help things along. (The wrong woman could do the opposite.) He's got a chance to be great. The skills are there. He just needs a bit of harnessing. Tomlin's good at that. He kept AB in check for quite a while. He managed to keep Leveon Bell relatively happy. Neither of those is an easy thing as their recent coaches have discovered.

Tomlin may more deserve the accolades typically given to Belichick as the best active coach in the NFL. His worse record in fourteen years as head coach was 8-8.  His overall record is 145-78 and a tie. That's pretty darn good. That's a winning percentage of 0.650. Andy Reid's is 0.629. Belichick's is 0.673, but his teams have largely gotten byes from the Jets, Bills, and Dolphins over his tenure where Tomlin's been fighting it out with the Ravens.