Sports

[gardenman]

Game day for the banged-up Birds going against the Vikings. It's not ideal to be missing a starting corner and safety when you're going against arguably the best wide receiver in football in Justin Jefferson. I suspect the Eagles will have Darius Slay shadow Jefferson to try and hold him in check.

The Eagles need to get quick pressure on Kirk Cousins and not give the Vikings time for their offense to function. That's pretty doable with this defensive line. 

On offense, the Eagles need to use more guys. Last week they largely forgot Dallas Goedert existed. I would expect to see more passes coming his way. Rashaad Penny should get some carries at running back and we should see more focus on D'Andre Swift also. 

Assuming Jalen Hurts doesn't have two bad games in a row, a pretty safe assumption, the Eagles should get the win. It might be more of a shootout than I'd prefer given the injuries to the defense, but you never know. It should be a pretty good game anyway. If the Eagles look shaky, expect the crowd to motivate them.

[teganslaw]

Latest report is that the Jets aren't getting a replacement for Zach Wilson. Robert Saleh says that he's confident in Wilson going forward. Maybe that will change after several games, but for the moment it's Wilson's team. 

The Colts are still interested in Kareem Hunt and are checking out Leonard Fournette. They also contacted free agent Darrell Henderson. Something could be happening soon. 

[Spurt]

I thought this info was interesting courtesy of Washington Post Sports Reporter Nicki Jhabvala:  It appears the Broncos were also a bit of a dysfunctional franchise too looking at their number of QBs and their coaching staff

[gardenman]

@Spurt 

The QB part is the big problem. Get a stud QB and the coaching staff tends to hang around. Bad QBs get everyone around them fired. If you want to keep your job as a head coach or coordinator, get a good QB.

[Spurt]

---

@gardenman wrote:

@Spurt 

The QB part is the big problem. Get a stud QB and the coaching staff tends to hang around. Bad QBs get everyone around them fired. If you want to keep your job as a head coach or coordinator, get a good QB.

---

@gardenman 

John Keim had an interesting Podcast with Jeff Legwold,  the guy that covers the Broncos---

He said that Russell Wilson hasnt been making the needed adjustments due to his age like Tom Brady did. Tom knew he couldnt play like he did at 40 like when he was 32.  Russell has to play differently (and he hasnt been doing that !)  Peyton Manning also adjusted, older QBs have to be honest with themselves.  Russell's thing is I'm not gonna speak negativity into existence and he won't admit to any human fraility----I dont feel pressure, I'm not scared, I dont get nervous, and thats CODE for I'm not gonna change anything, I'm gonna do what I always do!!! That's a mistake for him!!! He doesnt have that physical package anymore to get away from outside LBs and Edge guys they're gonna catch him now!!!! But as great QBs age they have to be honest with themselves in what they have to fix to succeed!  The Reporter did say in last week's game he ran the offense effectively, didnt hold on to the ball, made good decisions. But he's refusing to make other changes which is impacting his team. Now they recently revised their o-line too which needs to get used to each other. They are dealing with lots of injuries to their WR corp, maybe they need to run the ball more.  Bronco fans are expecting more than 16 points under Sean Payton!

Jeff also said to be successful a team can't miss on drafting a QB and cant ditch draft picks---thats what's happened to Denver.  On D the former old Cowboy Randy Gregory cant finish plays....DE Frank Clark's a mess didnt have a good camp bled over to the season...those 2 guys have to be much better!

It sounds like this guy NAILED IT on Wilson and the Broncos!!! So it sounds like my Washington team has a chance with our Dline and Jon Allen, Daron Payne, and Montez Sweat.....And our offense cant make stupid mistakes....no dumb penalties, no turnovers ........

[Spurt]

---

@gardenman wrote:

@Spurt 

The QB part is the big problem. Get a stud QB and the coaching staff tends to hang around. Bad QBs get everyone around them fired. If you want to keep your job as a head coach or coordinator, get a good QB.

---

@gardenman 

But what happens if the team over-rates a QB in the draft???? Or drafts a QB with skills that dont fit their game plans but the GM is stupid and doesnt consult the coaches.....it shouldnt be only the Coaching Staff that gets fired, it should be that GM....but many times they keep the GM and just fire the coaches, and this same GM messes up yr after yr.....Snyder and GM Vince Cerrato was my team's problem...and also Bruce Allen!

[gardenman]

The Eagles got the win. Not the prettiest game, but a win is a win.

[Spurt]

---

@gardenman wrote:

The Eagles got the win. Not the prettiest game, but a win is a win.

---

@gardenman 

CONGRATS to the Eagles on their WIN!!  They went back to the old fashioned ground and pound and the Vikings defense couldnt stop 'em!!!  And Kirk Cousin's o-line looked a lot like Washingtons.....and oh THOSE TURNOVERS!!!

[gardenman]

D'Andre Swift showed everyone last night why the Eagles were trying to sign him to an extension before the season. The kid is special. Most RBs will look good behind this o-line, but Swift looks very good. 

The Eagles are glad to have a long break now before their next game a week from Monday. Injuries are piling up at an alarming rate. Last year we kept all 22 starters healthy through most of the season. Not so much this year. Players are dropping like flies. We lost Avonte Maddox, Boston Scott, Quez Watkins, and Zach Cunningham last night. (Not sure for how long.) Add those guys to the guys we lost in week one and the number is starting to get alarming.

Still, a win is a win. We need to fix the mid-range passing game as we have none now. It's pretty much all very short, behind the line of scrimmage passes, or down the field bombs. Defensive coordinators are mixing up their looks a lot in the first two games and creating a certain amount of chaos for the Eagles on offense. We saw a lot of three-man rushes with eight guys dropping into coverage last night. That makes throwing the ball in the mid-range area kind of difficult. With the defense in a zone, they're all spying Hurts if he tries to run and close in quickly.

The only real option to force teams out of that look is to do what the Eagles did yesterday and that's pound the football down their throats with the running game. If they've got eight guys dropping back at the snap and your back can find a crease, he's got five yards or more before he runs into a defender. A few Vikings defensive players were unhappy after the game saying the Eagles didn't do anything fancy in the run game, they just ran over them.

The Eagles need to get healthier, fix a few issues here and there, but so far, so good. We've got the Bucs, Commanders, Rams, and Jets coming up next. We've got ten days (or so) before our next game against the Bucs. We should get a few guys back for that game. The coaches will have some time to see what the first two defenses did to us and find ways to fix those issues. Anytime you've got two wins in your first two games, you can't complain too much.

[gardenman]

To give some ideas of how well the Eagles' o-line executed their run blocks last night, D'Andre Swift had 133 of his 175 rushing yards before contact with a defender. Granted, the Vikings helped by dropping eight guys back out of the box fairly regularly to take away the pass. But even given that defensive philosophy, that's an impressive number. I'm not sure the Eagles want him getting 28 carries per game, but it worked last night. And 28 carries with fairly minimal contact with defenders isn't as dangerous as getting pounded on every play. He was typically getting dragged down by a corner or safety rather than getting slammed by a defensive lineman or linebacker.