Unpredictable, But Still Revealing

Sheil Kapadia:

Remember the whole “We’re not going to be predictable” storyline that got repeated after Juan Castillo was fired? Well, Bowles lived up to it here. I’d say blitzing Asomugha, your $60M corner, on third-and-long qualifies.

Another great All-22 breakdown from Sheil. Blitzing Nnamdi certainly isn't predictable -- although it also doesn't seem to have worked very well. And any time you're willingly taking your top corner and putting him on the line of scrimmage, well, he's probably not your top corner any more.

'He Reminds Me Of Brad Johnson'

Jon Gruden is not on the top of my list for the next Eagles head coach. Still, interesting to hear what he has to say about Nick Foles (whom he volunteered as the next rookie quarterback likely to start). From the LA Times' Sam Farmer:

I had [Philadelphia's] Nick Foles in the preseason against New England. Michael Vick got hurt on the fifth or sixth play, and Foles went the distance, on the road in Foxborough. If you like prototype pocket passers with some functional mobility and a tremendous amount of toughness, Foles is interesting.
What really impressed me in the preseason was they weren't running generic formations. They ran about 30 different formations out of about eight different personnel groupings in successive plays. So I see him recognizing coverages. I see him getting to second and third receivers, just like you'd want a quarterback to do in that system, and I love his NFL size. He reminds me a lot of Brad Johnson, from his football character to his ability to decipher a lot quickly, and we won a championship with Brad.

(via Tim McManus)