Sports

[grandma r]

Football, even preseason, is a welcome relief!!!!  Looking forward to the season beginning.  

I'm hoping that the Birds can get on track again.  Carson, Sproles, and a few others didn't play in the Super Bowl win.  Of course, I would love to see ZErtz win again in the same way Julie has.

[gardenman]

The Eagles are continuing to try and corner the market on defensive backs. They've now signed safety Johnathan Cyprien to a one year deal. He's a former Jag then Titan who tore his ACL and has been recuperating. The Eagles worked him out in June and have now signed him.

That's now four veteran starting (pro bowl-ish) safeties on the roster in Malcolm Jenkins, Rodney McLeod (the presumed starters), Andrew Sendejo (former Viking) and now Johnathan Cyprien. Add in young players like Blake Countess (picked up from the Rams), Trae Elston, Deiondre' Hall (picked up from the Bears), and Tre Sullivan, all of whom have at least some NFL experience, and that safety room is getting pretty darn crowded. I don't know what they're doing with all of those guys since only two safeties can be on the field typically, but they're bringing them in by the boatload. 

Has the coaching staff cooked up some sort of multiple safety defense? Jenkins, Countess, Sendejo, Sullivan and Cyprien can all move into the box as a pseudo-linebacker, so maybe they're looking at a base nickel defense with just two linebackers and a safety dropping in the box? Kind of weird considering the lack of wide receivers they'll face in the NFC East. There are some decent tight ends however. Maybe this will be a defense designed to stop the tight ends?

We'll have to see. Anyway, if you're an out of work safety looking for a team, drop by the Eagles. They seem to be signing them all. I guess they're just looking for safety in numbers. Last year when they had to insert Corey Graham things fell apart a bit as he was late in getting over to cover the wide receivers. He's one of the few safeties in the league not currently on the Bird's roster, so that tells you how they value him.

[teganslaw]

Andrew Luck will sit out the 4th preseason game along with the 1st. He admitted that his calf injury isn't healed to where it should be, but there is no problem with an achilles muscle. Rest and some rehab will take care of it. Luck is training and doing 7on7 snaps, so he's keeping in shape. I can understand why some are concerned. After missing the 2017 season, anytime Luck has to sit out games can be worrisome, people thinking the worst.

I'm going by what Luck himself has said. I don't think that he would hide things from the fans. 

The Falcons' backup QB, Benkert, was one of the more impressive players in the HOF game. Going by last night, he would be getting the #2 job instead of Schaub. 

Drew Lock didn't look good. It's only one game, though, and he has time to work things out. 

[gardenman]

Calf injuries are real easy to reinjure, so getting it right is the first priority. If he reinjures it the whole healing process starts all over again. That could cost 6-8 regular season games. It's better for Luck and the Colts to get it right.

[gardenman]

The Eagles are continuing to shuffle the bottom half of the roster by bringing in formerly injured guys. They just signed tight end Alex Ellis who played for the Chiefs last year before getting injured. He's 6'-4" and weighs in at 250+. Not an impressive resume in three catches for eleven yards but they see something in him. They cut a rookie linebacker to make roster room for him. There are two things you can guess about this move and the signing of Johnathan Cyprien.

First of all is that on offense the Eagles are planning to use a lot of two and maybe even three tight end sets this year. They've got Ertz, Goedert, Richard Rodgers, Will Tye and Joshua Perkins already at tight end. (Ertz, Goedert and Rodgers are roster locks and Perkins has played very well.) Why add a sixth guy to the mix unless you're planning on carrying four, maybe five? Alex Ellis has been less of a pass catching threat than a blocker, so we'll have to see what happens there. Just a camp body, or a legit shot to make the roster?

Cutting loose another linebacker and signing another big safety in Cyprien implies the Eagles will be going more to a base nickel look this year. The bigger safeties don't sacrifice much in defending the running game but are better able to matchup with the tight ends in the NFC East like a Witten, Evan Engram or Jordan Reed. They can even benefit in the run defense as they're typically a bit faster and niftier than a linebacker so the speed backs like a Barkley or Elliott can be tracked down a bit quicker. They have a harder time fending off blocks from o-linemen, but if they can avoid those guys a smaller, faster, trio of safeties can be pretty effective on defense. They also bring an ability to rush the passer with speed should the need arise, or track down a scrambler like a Dak Prescott if he tries to escape the pocket.

We'll see which guys make the final roster cut, but it looks like the Eagles are looking at some interesting formation changes on both offense and defense this year. 

[Spurt]

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@teganslaw wrote:

Andrew Luck will sit out the 4th preseason game along with the 1st. He admitted that his calf injury isn't healed to where it should be, but there is no problem with an achilles muscle. Rest and some rehab will take care of it. Luck is training and doing 7on7 snaps, so he's keeping in shape. I can understand why some are concerned. After missing the 2017 season, anytime Luck has to sit out games can be worrisome, people thinking the worst.

I'm going by what Luck himself has said. I don't think that he would hide things from the fans. 

The Falcons' backup QB, Benkert, was one of the more impressive players in the HOF game. Going by last night, he would be getting the #2 job instead of Schaub. 

Drew Lock didn't look good. It's only one game, though, and he has time to work things out. 

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@teganslaw 

And how about former Redskin, Mark Rypien's nephew, Brett, kept the drive going and with a lucky bounce won the game for the Broncos 😊

[Spurt]

@sunshine45 

Congrats to Ed Reed....and all the HOF inductees

But Joe Jacoby should've been inducted....😠  Always a semi finlist, but never made the final cut....Now he's been moved to a Senior Candidate😣...With more candidates eligible for the 100th Anniversary maybe he will FINALLY get in....I can only hope....

[sunshine45]

@Spurt 

he is a good looking man......calm, cool, collected. a great

attitude to go with the looks and demeanor.

that is why we were "wacko for flacco."

LOL, no there did not seem to be THAT much of a buzz as a heartthrob when he was here.

it kind of broke my heart the other night to see him in a broncos uniform. it just didnt look "right." i was out at a bar having drinks, eating dinner, and hoping to see him play a little. unfortunately, it did not happen. will be keeping an eye on him......

[Spurt]

@teganslaw 

In his HOF speech, the Ravens Ed Reed, talked about how Chuck  Pagano recruited him when Chuck coached the secondary at the Univ of Miami ....didnt know Chuck was a coach at "The U".......

You can google and watch the HOF speeces.....

I hope Andrew's calf gets better.....

[gardenman]

The Eagles suffered their first significant injury of training camp with Kamu Grugier-Hill going down with a grade 3 MCL tear. That's typically one of those six to eight week injuries, sometimes more, sometimes less, but with the opening game of the season five weeks away, he's likely to miss at least a few games. We have decent depth at linebacker now, but he was playing very well through the OTA's and training camp, so it's tough to see him go down. It does open the door for someone else to step in and get more reps though.