After a week of hyperbole, misplaced negativity, and haters being haters, fans were looking forward to a confidence boost heading in the playoffs, and the Eagles didn't fail to deliver. The offense looked crisp, the defense looked hungry, and they looked ready for the NFL Playoffs. After two intense and exciting old school style defensive battles, I'm foaming at the mouth for the playoffs. Can the divisional round get here already?
Foles came out cookin' in ice cold temperatures. His first pass was pure perfection to Alshon Jeffery for 8 yards to start the game. He completed his next pass to Agholor for 7 yards perfectly in stride. Then had another perfect throw to Zach Ertz for 15 yards, in a drive that was sure to lead to a touchdown halted by a Torrey Smith drop on another perfectly thrown ball.
Later in the game, Foles threw an INT that was the result of QB/WR miscommunication. The WR targeted was supposed to come back to the football on that play. In a game where the starters knew they wouldn't be playing the whole game, the results were incredibly impressive offensively. They had some completions, they moved the ball. He looked every bit the part of a Superbowl QB. What more would you realistically want?
On the other side of the ball, the defense looked hungry. Even with the backups in, they manhandled a Cowboys offense that was playing almost all of their starters. It looked like a unit chomping at the bit to bring it and punish offenses in a couple weeks.
Sudfeld look ok. He isn't as mobile, doesn't have as strong of an arm, and isn't nearly as accurate or poisoned as Foles, but for his first game as an Eagle, he did a decent job; as well as one could expect with backup players around him.
Sidney Jones looked excellent. He was sound in coverage, made great breaks on the football, and certainly looked like he belonged. He has All Pro written all over him.
Philadelphia has always been a city with a "Whoa is me attitude." I've always found that funny considering over the last 15 years, no city has won as many championships as Philadelphia, when you consider Villanova, the 2004 Superbowl belongs to us via cheating and the 2009 World Series does as well, and negating other cities and their Cheatpionships. That negativity has caused Philadelphians to micro-analyze any flaw, and try to become contrarians. Misery loves company, as they say. But when you're totally objective and view things with no bias or slant, the Eagles look great heading into the playoffs. There has never been an Eagles team in their history more poised or better positioned to win the city a Superbowl.
Once this city's innate cynicism wears off and excitement takes over, I expect objectivity to return. Philly sports fans are not dumb after all, even though they've sounded so over the last couple of weeks. I may even declare a Superbowl an never-fail guaranteed lock. I only bring that out for special occasions. I have never missed on one in my entire life and I have made thousands, so this is definitely something to monitor going forward. Meanwhile, just book your trips to Minneapolis with confidence. Or just trust the prophet.
Superbowl here we come.
Sunday, December 31, 2017
Monday, December 11, 2017
The Eagles can still win the Superbowl without Wentz, but it will come down to the defense more than Nick Foles
With today's absolutely crushing and gut-wrenching news about Carson Wentz suffering from a torn ACL, it has left Eagles fans everywhere trying to salvage every last scrap of hope they have left somewhere deep within themselves to continue on to hopefully get that Superbowl parade that has forever eluded the city. Nick Foles, a QB who has been relegated to a backup the last few years certainly doesn't instill a ton of confidence... at least not in the same universe Carson Wentz does. However, all hope is not lost. The Eagles are still a viable contender. Anyone who says otherwise, well, I'd question their football knowledge. Are they the favorites anymore? I don't think so, but the favorites don't always win. Especially in a sport like the NFL.
All of the talk today has been about Nick Foles, and rightfully so. He will be the man under center leading the team the rest of the way. Foles is a big key, but the most important aspect of this Eagles team in getting that Lombardi Trophy will come down to the defense. "Defenses win championships" is a cliche that doesn't always ring true. I think complete teams win championships. But it's impossible to ignore the overwhelming success elite defenses have in the NFL Playoffs. We see it every single year. Put an elite offense up against an elite defense and the defense usually wins. Superbowl XLVIII: the NFL's best Seahawks defense going up against the league's best Broncos offense. Seahawks blow the doors off the Broncos 43-8. John Elway vowed after that game to never see a defense that poor again, so two years later the suddenly defensive-oriented Broncos owning the best defense in the league face the NFL's top offense of the Panthers. The Broncos defense dominated the game and totally shut Carolina down all game. The Broncos, now built around their defense win the Superbowl 24-10. To say Peyton Manning was a shell of his former self is putting it lightly. He was one of the worst QBs in the NFL that season and was basically used as an apparatus to hand the ball off and occasionally throw a wobbly pass to an open receiver. Defenses rule the NFL's postseason and the Eagles have the makings of an elite defense.
With a dominant defensive line and an improved secondary, for the Eagles to get to Minneapolis in February, the defense is going to have to keep games low scoring, punish QBs, and force turnovers to give a suddenly less dangerous Eagles offense more chances to score points. Nick Foles does not have to be Carson Wentz, and thankfully so, because he can't be Carson Wentz. He doesn't have the talent or the physical tools to do so. He just needs to be accurate and take care of the football, and hope the defense keeps the pressure off of him to worry about having to play beyond his means. The Eagles defense dominates at home, so home field advantage throughout will be huge. Great defenses always start up front, and there is no front 4 in the NFL I trust more than the Eagles.
Unfortunately, we've seen some cracks in the foundation the last couple of weeks. Missed tackles, poor angles to ball carriers, etc. Those are teachable and can be cleaned up. We haven't seen much of that all season, I have confidence those will get fixed. But this team has stepped up all season long. The "next man up" mantra is not just a cliche, it's a lifestyle for them. They live it in their preparation and they live in in their play. We saw that in spades last night when Trey Burton steps in for Zach Ertz and had a monster game. This time is different. An entire unit needs to step up and dominate to keep those parade hopes alive. They certainly have the talent. They've shown they have the character. Now they just need to go out and do it. With a couple more wins the Eagles will lock up home field advantage throughout. Then, to quote the late, great Jerome Brown: "They brought the house and we brought the pain."
All of the talk today has been about Nick Foles, and rightfully so. He will be the man under center leading the team the rest of the way. Foles is a big key, but the most important aspect of this Eagles team in getting that Lombardi Trophy will come down to the defense. "Defenses win championships" is a cliche that doesn't always ring true. I think complete teams win championships. But it's impossible to ignore the overwhelming success elite defenses have in the NFL Playoffs. We see it every single year. Put an elite offense up against an elite defense and the defense usually wins. Superbowl XLVIII: the NFL's best Seahawks defense going up against the league's best Broncos offense. Seahawks blow the doors off the Broncos 43-8. John Elway vowed after that game to never see a defense that poor again, so two years later the suddenly defensive-oriented Broncos owning the best defense in the league face the NFL's top offense of the Panthers. The Broncos defense dominated the game and totally shut Carolina down all game. The Broncos, now built around their defense win the Superbowl 24-10. To say Peyton Manning was a shell of his former self is putting it lightly. He was one of the worst QBs in the NFL that season and was basically used as an apparatus to hand the ball off and occasionally throw a wobbly pass to an open receiver. Defenses rule the NFL's postseason and the Eagles have the makings of an elite defense.
With a dominant defensive line and an improved secondary, for the Eagles to get to Minneapolis in February, the defense is going to have to keep games low scoring, punish QBs, and force turnovers to give a suddenly less dangerous Eagles offense more chances to score points. Nick Foles does not have to be Carson Wentz, and thankfully so, because he can't be Carson Wentz. He doesn't have the talent or the physical tools to do so. He just needs to be accurate and take care of the football, and hope the defense keeps the pressure off of him to worry about having to play beyond his means. The Eagles defense dominates at home, so home field advantage throughout will be huge. Great defenses always start up front, and there is no front 4 in the NFL I trust more than the Eagles.
Unfortunately, we've seen some cracks in the foundation the last couple of weeks. Missed tackles, poor angles to ball carriers, etc. Those are teachable and can be cleaned up. We haven't seen much of that all season, I have confidence those will get fixed. But this team has stepped up all season long. The "next man up" mantra is not just a cliche, it's a lifestyle for them. They live it in their preparation and they live in in their play. We saw that in spades last night when Trey Burton steps in for Zach Ertz and had a monster game. This time is different. An entire unit needs to step up and dominate to keep those parade hopes alive. They certainly have the talent. They've shown they have the character. Now they just need to go out and do it. With a couple more wins the Eagles will lock up home field advantage throughout. Then, to quote the late, great Jerome Brown: "They brought the house and we brought the pain."
Monday, December 4, 2017
The promising young Sixers are starting to show their fatal flaws
Heading into December 4th's game against the Phoenix Suns, the 13-9 Sixers appeared destined to be a top 5 seeded playoff team with a win mark in the high 40's. Unfortunately, sometimes appearances can be deceiving. They have some promising things under their belt. They've beaten some of the NBA's best teams--some of those wins coming on the road. Simmons looks like the clear Rookie of the Year and Embiid has progressively improving every week, picking up where he left off last season. Even TJ McConnell has even developed into a really valuable piece, commanding the offense, taking care of the ball, playing pesky defense, and improving his 3 point shot. However, as we've seen over the past couple weeks, this team has flaws. Fatal ones.
They are the NBA's worst team in turnovers, they are a poor free throw shooting team, they blow leads seemingly almost every game, they regularly go through long stretches where they can't score, and they have one of the NBA's worst benches. Additionally, for a team that relies so much on the 3 ball with their 'pace and space' style of play, they are a below average 3 point shooting team sans two players in Robert Covington and JJ Redick. They put tons of pressure every night on two players to majorly produce from beyond the arc, as regulars like TLC, Saric, and Anderson(when he plays) are not consistently reliable from downtown and they generally don't have a lot of shooters on the roster to begin with.
Covington started off the season among the tops in the NBA in 3 point shooting percentage, and as we've seen lately, it was not sustainable. Covington is a good 3 point shooter, not a great one. I suspect he'll finish the season somewhere around 38%. When he and/or Redick struggle shooting the ball, the Sixers really struggle to score consistently since they rely so much from distance. That leaves the young Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid up to put the team on their backs and carry them night after night; a tall task for the young duo, as immensely talented as they are.
As teams continue to play the Sixers, coaches will learn how to match up against them, and the longer the grind of the season continues, their flaws will become more and more evident, and the lack of a bench is going to hurt them. Teams without quality depth rely so much on their starters and it wears them down over the course of a long season. Flaws always bubble up to the surface over the long haul for any team, it's the nature of sports. And don't even get me started on injuries. This team can ill-afford to lose TJ McConnell for a long stretch right now, let alone Embiid or Simmons. One injury to one of their best players and they're in serious trouble very quickly.
I got caught up in the Sixers excitement just like anyone else. They certainly are not a bad team by any means, and I think it goes without saying this is just the first step in many years of great basketball to come. But for this season? I'm sorry, a top 5 seed and more than 45 wins is unrealistic. They simply aren't good enough. I hope I'm wrong, but I think this is a borderline playoff team, a 7th seed at best, and that's not a bad thing. It's just a little disappointing when one is guilty is getting caught up in the hype.
They are the NBA's worst team in turnovers, they are a poor free throw shooting team, they blow leads seemingly almost every game, they regularly go through long stretches where they can't score, and they have one of the NBA's worst benches. Additionally, for a team that relies so much on the 3 ball with their 'pace and space' style of play, they are a below average 3 point shooting team sans two players in Robert Covington and JJ Redick. They put tons of pressure every night on two players to majorly produce from beyond the arc, as regulars like TLC, Saric, and Anderson(when he plays) are not consistently reliable from downtown and they generally don't have a lot of shooters on the roster to begin with.
Covington started off the season among the tops in the NBA in 3 point shooting percentage, and as we've seen lately, it was not sustainable. Covington is a good 3 point shooter, not a great one. I suspect he'll finish the season somewhere around 38%. When he and/or Redick struggle shooting the ball, the Sixers really struggle to score consistently since they rely so much from distance. That leaves the young Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid up to put the team on their backs and carry them night after night; a tall task for the young duo, as immensely talented as they are.
As teams continue to play the Sixers, coaches will learn how to match up against them, and the longer the grind of the season continues, their flaws will become more and more evident, and the lack of a bench is going to hurt them. Teams without quality depth rely so much on their starters and it wears them down over the course of a long season. Flaws always bubble up to the surface over the long haul for any team, it's the nature of sports. And don't even get me started on injuries. This team can ill-afford to lose TJ McConnell for a long stretch right now, let alone Embiid or Simmons. One injury to one of their best players and they're in serious trouble very quickly.
I got caught up in the Sixers excitement just like anyone else. They certainly are not a bad team by any means, and I think it goes without saying this is just the first step in many years of great basketball to come. But for this season? I'm sorry, a top 5 seed and more than 45 wins is unrealistic. They simply aren't good enough. I hope I'm wrong, but I think this is a borderline playoff team, a 7th seed at best, and that's not a bad thing. It's just a little disappointing when one is guilty is getting caught up in the hype.
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