Sean Jensen, at Yahoo Sports:
When he signed with the Tennessee Titans, defensive line coach Jim Washburn told him that he’d give snaps to the best players, regardless of where they were drafted or how much they were paid.
“ ‘If Jeff Fisher tells me who to play, I’m going to tell him to [expletive] himself,’ ” Babin said Washburn told him. “ ‘Then he can fire me.’ ”
For the Eagles to win the division and make the playoffs, they need to win out against the Cowboys and Redskins, and hope the Giants lose this week and beat the Cowboys next week.
That’s still an unlikely string of outcomes, but it’s much better playoff chances than the Eagles have had in weeks. Football Outsiders head honcho Aaron Schatz was gracious enough to provide archives of their week-to-week playoff odds, and I’ve compiled the Eagles numbers here:
You can follow along the Eagles ups and downs, from the heights of perceived Super Bowl glory (18 percent chance of winning it all after week one) to the brief resurgence following week eight, to getting eliminated from wild card consideration completely.
Amazingly, the current 15 percent chance is the highest they’ve had in seven weeks. Still a long shot, but it at least makes this weekend interesting — a fan luxury we wouldn’t have if any of the other NFC East teams were any good.
Tommy Lawlor:
We’d all love the Eagles to go find Dawk, Ed Reed, Troy Polamalu, or someone like that, but these are rare talents. You simply can’t hold the Eagles (or any team) to that standard. Can the Eagles upgrade on the current set of Safeties? That’s certainly possible, but I think the player would have to be special.
It’s obviously a false dichotomy to say that the Eagles only choices are essentially to stick with what they have or bring in a “special player.” That kind of attitude also suggests that the Eagles should have stayed with Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown as starting wide receivers, and that drafting someone like Earl Thomas wasn’t possible.
I still hold out hope for Nate Allen to rebound in 2012 and perhaps Jaiquawn Jarrett will show his talent, but Kurt Coleman is at best a good backup safety and none of the three have consistently demonstrated above-average play. What’s wrong with signing a non-Jarrad Page veteran and making the youngsters actually earn one or both starting jobs next year?
Tommy Lawlor, in his always detailed game review:
Speaking of FGs…a few people (me included) wondered why Reid didn’t try for a FG in the late 3rd Qtr when we had the ball at the NYJ 36. We punted. We then stopped the Jets and got the ball back at the 39. 3 plays later we scored a TD. I won’t lie. I wanted to see Henery kick a long FG. We know the guy is good from 30-the low 40s. We have no idea about 45-55. Mystery.
It’s not that much of a mystery, unfortunately. At least at this point in his career, Henery doesn’t have the leg to consistently make field goals from beyond 45 yards.
Remember when David Akers used to crush 60-yarders in warmups? Before every game I’ve attended in the press box this year, I’ve watched Henery stuggled to make the distance from 50 yards out. The transition in the kicking game is an untold story this year.
I rewatched the Eagles-Jets game last night and came away with several short nuggets for your enjoyment. Here you go:
The Trent Cole and Jason Babin delayed blitz routine is fun to watch. Jimmy at Blogging the Beast has a nice breakdown of it. Though they’ve run this for a few weeks, it was especially effective against the Jets. I expect that the Cowboys tackles will be more prepared to pass their rushers off to the inside, which is when the Eagles should go double A-gap blitz instead.
On the other side of the blitzing coin, there’s no need to pull zone blitzes that drop Cole into coverage. It’s just counter-productive. Mark Sanchez completed his long pass to tight end Dustin Keller against Cole. Of course, it helped that he could use a pump fake to move Kurt Coleman out of position.
Casey Matthews definitely has potential as a nickel linebacker. He’s at least playing at game speed now and recognizing backs out of the backfield quickly, which is a massive improvement from before. He wasn’t a horrible pick in the fourth round, but I have no idea what Juan Castillo and company were thinking starting him, especially as a rookie.
Meanwhile, Brian Rolle seems to be hitting a bit of a rookie wall. Where Matthews was flying around the field, Rolle looked slower than usual.
Asante Samuel shifted over into the slot on the right side once or twice when he didn’t have a receiver to match up with on his side. That said, he was immediately called for pass interference on a slant route.
Pro Football Focus charted the Eagles defense with 9 blitzes out of 31 plays. In general, blitzing (even sending 6+) is very positive for this team, since most of the coverage problems originate with linebacker or safety play.
I loved the little play action screen pass in the third quarter, when the Eagles brought Brent Celek across the formation as if he was going to trap block, then he let the defensive end go, turned, and was open for the quick pass. Almost converted for the first down.
The Jamar Chaney interception was all Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. DRC jumped the slant route and knocked the ball into the air. It really shouldn’t be as hard for him to adjust to the slot as he makes it out to be, but he’s clearly more comfortable on the outside.
LeSean McCoy’s 33 yard TD run was a classic example of his skills. He dodged the first free rusher and then bounced to the opposite side of the field, dancing around another defender. Then he turned on the burners. Touchdown.
Photo from Getty.
From Monty Python to The Princess Bride, Mike Tanier explains the Eagles’ current situation:
Like 20-something underachievers who realized their girlfriends would leave them unless they stopped jamming at open mike nights and got a real job, the Eagles combed their hair and abandoned slacker chic in the last two weeks. They are now brilliantly flawed, which is a step up from their brilliantly self-destructive state of earlier this season.
LeSean McCoy, as told to Reuben Frank at CSN Philly:
“Training during the offseason, I wanted to be one of those guys. I think that’s the biggest difference from this year and last year – the confidence level. When I step on the field now, I feel like I’m one of those guys (opponents) are worried about.
“‘Where’s DeSean Jackson? Where’s Mike Vick? Where’s LeSean McCoy?’ I want to be one of those guys. The whole offseason, that’s what I put in my mind. I don’t want to just be another guy on the field. I want to be a guy who has that confidence that those guys know, ‘I’m ready to play.’”
He got his wish.
It never ceases to amaze me how quickly both fans and writers can jump-start the bandwagon after a mere modicum of success.
When I wrote yesterday about the possibility of a pro-Juan Castillo movement, I had no idea it would get started so quickly. I assumed it would take at least another week or two of solid defense, and even then it wouldn’t be particularly vocal. Apparently I was wrong.
The Eagles have put together back-to-back good defensive performances. Both games came against mediocre or worse offenses (check the DVOA) with poor starting quarterbacks. In both games the defense benefitted from early opponent turnovers and the return of Michael Vick, who guided the Eagles offense to two large halftime leads. Then the Jets/Dolphins offense, neither being world-beaters in the first place, became one dimensional and desperate through the rest of the game.
Even if you want to overlook those particularly beneficial factors, don’t you at least remember how the rest of this season has gone? Not once, but twice before the Eagles defense seemed to be going in the right direction.
After week eight the Eagles had won two straight games and limited the Redskins and Cowboys to 20 points combined. The playoff hunt was back on… until it wasn’t. The Eagles immediately lost to the Bears and Cardinals. But all was forgiven again when Vince Young led them a win over the Giants in the Meadowlands. At least until they came back the next two weeks and got blown out by the Patriots (38 points), and embarrassed by the lowly Seahawks (31 points).
So forgive me if I’m not ready to crown Castillo after these last two “everything that can go right” wins. I’d be surprised if the defense manages to keep up the pace over the final two weeks. And, not to move the goalposts, but even if they do play well (against two flawed teams they’ve already beaten) it will still be best for the Eagles to move on from this utterly failed defensive coordinator experiment.
Photo from Getty.