Sports

[gardenman]

The good news for the Eagles is Lane Johnson says he should be good to go this week at right tackle. The kids (Driscoll and Mailata) didn't play bad though. Nate Herbig, starting in his first pro game ever at right guard graded out among the best of the Eagles linemen. He's not a typical Jeff Stoutland (Eagles o-line coach) o-lineman. Stoutland tends to prefer the taller, leaner, more athletic offensive linemen. Herbig, well, he's big. The good news is it takes defenders a long time to go around him, you can't really push him back, and it's hard to go over him. He needs a bit more work on getting that mass moving forward on running plays, but he did okay on pass protection.

Herbig's only 22 years old so he's likely to be around for a while. The Eagles have some youth and depth, inexperienced depth but depth, on the o-line. It's a good thing. The way this year has started we'll get those kids lots of experience. Herbig may also be the backup center should something happen to Jason Kelce, so the kid's versatile. You don't want him at tackle due to his lack of elite athleticism, or any kind of athleticism for that matter, but he's getting the job done.

It sounds like Brandon Graham may make it back for Sunday. He's in the concussion protocol after taking a shot to the head, but reportedly has no symptoms. Vinny Curry is out for four to six weeks, maybe longer. Joe Ostman will likely be promoted from the practice squad to take his place. Possibly permanently as Vinny's getting up there a bit in age. 

Given the salary cap situation for 2021, a whole lot of youngsters will be on the roster next year. It's good to get them some experience now. I'd prefer to get them the experience as we win games, but you can't have everything.

This week will be a measuring stick game for the Eagles. We know how the Rams played the Cowboys. We can see how we play the Rams and use that to get a feel for where we truly stand. For the first third of last Sunday's game, Wentz looked like his 2017 self as the Eagles cruised out to a 17-0 lead. Then it all imploded. A couple of poorly thrown passes and we were in trouble. Add in a few drops by guys who shouldn't have dropped the ball, Ertz and Hightower, and the game went the other way. Reporters covering training camp remarked that Hightower never dropped a single pass all summer. First game, first pass, first drop. Ugh! We'll see how we do against the Rams and go from there.

[sunshine45]

so disappointed in the GIANTS loss......was hoping that the ravens would be sitting all alone at #1 for the first week.

oh well, at least we have one division game over with with a win.

[gardenman]

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@Spurt wrote:

@gardenman @JillyMarie @redwingsgal @sunshine45 @AuntG @teganslaw 

The Giants looked awful....the Steelers shut down Barkley and that was the end of their offense as Jones was pressured and struggled...Ahhh  Garrett's game plan...

One thing we have to remember is perspective....these early games are like pre-season games where teams are just shaking off the rust and getting warmed up....But it looks like the Chiefs and Ravens are READY TO GO....can you imagine what they will be like as time goes on....And lets not forget the Pack with Aaron at the controls...

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The Giants will have to shake things off pretty quickly as they've got a murderous early schedule. They've got the Bears, Niners, Rams, Cowboys coming up and could easily be 0-5. Then they've got the WFT, Eagles, Bucs, WFT, Eagles, Bengals, Seahawks, Cards, Browns, Ravens, and Cowboys. They could beat the Bears. The Niners, Rams, Cowboys games look like losses. The WFT and Eagles will play them tough. The Bucs should be better with Brady by then. The Bengals almost won on Sunday. The Seahawks, Cards, Ravens are almost certain losses. The Browns game is pretty winnable assuming the Browns stay in perpetual freefall. That's a weird team. So much talent and such lousy performance. It's not hard to look at that Giants schedule and say they might just win 3 or 4 games this year. Do they make the move to Garrett if that happens?

The Chiefs look unstoppable barring injuries. The Ravens are pretty close behind them. Aaron Rodgers is just one of the best to ever play the game. You really wonder what his records would have been had they surrounded him with better talent.

The Niners will be an interesting team to watch. Losing to the Cards isn't horrible, and they've got a couple of games that are almost byes with the Jets and Giants. If they lose one or both of them though, look out! The schedule makers really seemed to want to get the Niners off to a good start. After the Giants they have the Eagles, then the Dolphins. The Niners are 0-1 now, but should be 2-1 by the time the Eagles play them. If they're 1-2 or 0-3 then things will be going very badly in San Fran. They should be 4-2 or 5-1 after six games. Anything less than that and the Super Bowl hangover will be very real and they'll be in trouble.

Drew Brees still looks like the man in New Orleans. Will he retire after this year? I don't know. He's playing very well right now though.

[AuntG]

I could have won our family Week 1 pool had I not changed my JAX pick at the last minute. Should add we are including @gardenman and he beat all of us.

[Spurt]

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@gardenman wrote:

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@Spurt wrote:

@gardenman @JillyMarie @redwingsgal @sunshine45 @AuntG @teganslaw 

The Giants looked awful....the Steelers shut down Barkley and that was the end of their offense as Jones was pressured and struggled...Ahhh  Garrett's game plan...

One thing we have to remember is perspective....these early games are like pre-season games where teams are just shaking off the rust and getting warmed up....But it looks like the Chiefs and Ravens are READY TO GO....can you imagine what they will be like as time goes on....And lets not forget the Pack with Aaron at the controls...

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The Giants will have to shake things off pretty quickly as they've got a murderous early schedule. They've got the Bears, Niners, Rams, Cowboys coming up and could easily be 0-5. Then they've got the WFT, Eagles, Bucs, WFT, Eagles, Bengals, Seahawks, Cards, Browns, Ravens, and Cowboys. They could beat the Bears. The Niners, Rams, Cowboys games look like losses. The WFT and Eagles will play them tough. The Bucs should be better with Brady by then. The Bengals almost won on Sunday. The Seahawks, Cards, Ravens are almost certain losses. The Browns game is pretty winnable assuming the Browns stay in perpetual freefall. That's a weird team. So much talent and such lousy performance. It's not hard to look at that Giants schedule and say they might just win 3 or 4 games this year. Do they make the move to Garrett if that happens?

The Chiefs look unstoppable barring injuries. The Ravens are pretty close behind them. Aaron Rodgers is just one of the best to ever play the game. You really wonder what his records would have been had they surrounded him with better talent.

The Niners will be an interesting team to watch. Losing to the Cards isn't horrible, and they've got a couple of games that are almost byes with the Jets and Giants. If they lose one or both of them though, look out! The schedule makers really seemed to want to get the Niners off to a good start. After the Giants they have the Eagles, then the Dolphins. The Niners are 0-1 now, but should be 2-1 by the time the Eagles play them. If they're 1-2 or 0-3 then things will be going very badly in San Fran. They should be 4-2 or 5-1 after six games. Anything less than that and the Super Bowl hangover will be very real and they'll be in trouble.

Drew Brees still looks like the man in New Orleans. Will he retire after this year? I don't know. He's playing very well right now though.

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@gardenman 

Good analysis--one team to keep an eye on is the Bills---they upgraded their roster and their "wild card" is their QB who seems to be maturing......If they get a steady performance from him---they could surprise and go far.....

[redwingsgal]

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@Spurt wrote:

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@gardenman wrote:

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@Spurt wrote:

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@kaydee50 wrote:

Go Bears!  What a comeback!!

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@kaydee50 

That was amazing! 

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I felt really sorry for that Lions' receiver who dropped the game winning pass though. Ugh! Those hurt.

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@gardenman 

I bet @redwingsgal was heart sick ..........

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She was, but she is so used to it!  I wait all summer long for the season to start and every year I get dumped on over and over and over and over.....