Some of you guys are gonna love this.....

[FRESH]

Just listen.....

http://www.975thefanatic.com/teams/e...tryID=10190279#

And then you just might get angry.

[beagle]

Very interesting points. Definitely worth the listen.

[Ike]

Almost exactly what I've been saying for years.

[FRESH]

I wonder how many in the national scene.....those out of the immediate Phily area.....share this view of the Eagles organization? Now, I don't know of any axe he would have to grind to take up such a position, but he certainly has a strongly formed opinion of what our limitations are, and have always been. And I can't say that he's wrong. What's most curious to me is.....where did this philosophy come from? You would think that an ex-Olineman would have the mentality of "let's maul em!" Yet we don't display that. ANd with the toys that we now have on our offense, we likely never will.

[FearTheDawk]

Very interesting point in there about the defense..how with the defense practicing against the Eagles style of offense, that's what the defense becomes as well.
I had never really looked at it that way before, but that makes perfect sense.
It also explains how we let a scrub running back run on us like he was Barry Sanders, in a playoff game.
Im starting to get the same feeling abour Reid that I had about McNabb last year...that maybe this is as good as it gets with him, and we've seen their best already. I know a lot of people have been anti-Reid for a long time, and maybe Im just a slow learner .

[FairOaks]

Very interesting point in there about the defense..how with the defense practicing against the Eagles style of offense, that's what the defense becomes as well.
I had never really looked at it that way before, but that makes perfect sense.
It also explains how we let a scrub running back run on us like he was Barry Sanders, in a playoff game.
Im starting to get the same feeling abour Reid that I had about McNabb last year...that maybe this is as good as it gets with him, and we've seen their best already. I know a lot of people have been anti-Reid for a long time, and maybe Im just a slow learner .

... but it doesn't explain how we completely shut down a number of high-profile running backs for a long stretch of games there.

Any time we lose, we will all bring up our pet frustrations, whether they are a true cause or not. And if we win, we will sweep potential issues under the rug I enjoyed that last 8 minutes of the Giants game as much as anyone, but the first 52 turned out to be the harbinger of things to come.

I felt the season was lost with the Vikings game. Well, not *lost* -- we won the NFC East which is always a good year. But that was our best chance to go deep in the playoffs, and the offense just wasn't good or consistent enough, the way it had been earlier. That part concerns me, and yes I share all the concerns that we don't run nearly enough some games, and believe it's often an issue.

But, I feel the biggest issue was the offense just not being able to adjust to unexpected defenses. I don't know if that is coaching, or just part of the learning process with young players (and do we ever have young players). Even Vick, though 30, is really just starting to learn that part.

I look at our defense to end the year and am amazed we got as far as we did. It really felt to me as though Graham going down was the straw that broke the camel's back. He didn't seem all that amazing, as he was rarely getting to the QB, but in retrospect he must have been putting a reasonable time limit on them -- after that, it seemed as though other QBs had all day to throw back there. With our secondary, that was trouble.

[rspurr]

Let's see how much Green Bay runs the ball if they fall behind by 14 to the Falcons.

It's a lot easier to run the ball when you have the lead. I don't think we are the only fans that would want their team to run more either. When I look at other teams around the league I see the same thing. Dallas was good example earlier in the year. New England and Pittsburgh both have games when they hardly run at all.

[Rossovich]

I don't think a total running of the football is the answer. You get a yard then 3 then 2, yeah you may feel you mauled them, but it is still a 3 and out. I think what the Eagles need to do is be less predictable. Run more, drag the TE over the middle. Hell look at the short crossing route to DJax against Green Bay. We hardly ever see any plays like that. The few times we do, they actually work. Cut the deep shit all the time. Pick your spots to go deep. I recall we had second and a half yard against the Pack. To me that scremed take a shot deep. Nope, instead we run the ball for a yard and a half. As a team, you need balance. Teams will respect our speed. We need them to respect other aspects of our O and that will make the speed all the more dangerous.

[rspurr]

I don't think a total running of the football is the answer. You get a yard then 3 then 2, yeah you may feel you mauled them, but it is still a 3 and out. I think what the Eagles need to do is be less predictable. Run more, drag the TE over the middle. Hell look at the short crossing route to DJax against Green Bay. We hardly ever see any plays like that. The few times we do, they actually work. Cut the deep shit all the time. Pick your spots to go deep. I recall we had second and a half yard against the Pack. To me that scremed take a shot deep. Nope, instead we run the ball for a yard and a half. As a team, you need balance. Teams will respect our speed. We need them to respect other aspects of our O and that will make the speed all the more dangerous.

Ross, I agree with what you are saying. We have become way to predictable, especially by formation.

To further make my point: In the last Steelers/Ravens game, which the Steelers won 13-10, both teams passed the ball at almost a 2-1 ratio. These are considered the 2 most physical, smash mouth teams in the league and they are passing it more than 60% of the time.

Ray Rice had only 9 carries in that game!!! If you remember what swung the game in the Steelers' favor, Baltimore should probably have run it at least once more in that game.

[balto-eaglefan]

Couple of things. Might be wrong, but this is how I see it........

Reid and Marty both believe that "yards per attempt" is the best indicator of how potent your offense is. That's why they pass the ball so much, even when the pass offense isn't working. I also saw Gruden do that while he was coaching the Bucs, with Garcia at QB. It was like deja vu, and it was scary. They figure that, as long as the QB's ypa is higher than you'd get with a RB's ypc, then it's just better to throw. If the defense makes a mistake on a run, it goes for 20-30 yards. If it happens on a pass, it goes for 40 or more yards. And if you're behind, well, keep firing, because at some point that slot machine's gotta pay out.

Do I agree? Hell no. I remember a cold-weather game against the Giants in 2008 where we couldn't run the ball at all, but we actually kept doing it and finally the run game started to work. I don't know what adjustments they made, but thank God they didn't go one-dimensional.

I use stats as much as anybody and more than most, but yikes, even I know that we ought to use the run game to set a tone against those defenses. Especially in the playoffs. I'll bet that Manning's got a fantastic ypa, and yes he's been to the SB twice, but the Colts have also gone one-and-done 7 times with him. I mean, really, he might be the best QB of his generation, so how the heck is that possible? (cue the answer: team game, not just the QB......play balance, Colts' defense giving up points, opposing teams making plays, injuries, acts of God......)

[balto-eaglefan]

I've gotta add this........Americans in general, are big fans of stats. During a game, you'll see the score from your game, and other games. The numbers of defenders and receivers on given plays. The stats on a kicker when he goes for a field goal. The number of times (vs attempts) that the Eagles were able to make a play on 3rd-and-short, or 3rd-and-long, or hit a field goal.

And we're not even talking about baseball, which is a lot worse!

Wanna bet that, in 2006, facing a 4th-and-long when playing the Saints in the playoffs, that AR said into his headset:
"What this % chance we make this 4th down conversion?"
"About 10% according to the numbers."
"What are our chances of stopping the Saints on three straight runs if we punt?"
(A pause) "Uh...better than 50%. But they've been running on us all day, Andy."
"All right. We've got timeouts. That's it, we punt. I know, they're gonna think I'm crazy."
"Andy, you sure? Numbers don't make tackles........"

Hey, I mean really. It seems like stats are controlling some coaches' decisions already.

[rspurr]

Couple of things. Might be wrong, but this is how I see it........

Reid and Marty both believe that "yards per attempt" is the best indicator of how potent your offense is. That's why they pass the ball so much, even when the pass offense isn't working. I also saw Gruden do that while he was coaching the Bucs, with Garcia at QB. It was like deja vu, and it was scary. They figure that, as long as the QB's ypa is higher than you'd get with a RB's ypc, then it's just better to throw. If the defense makes a mistake on a run, it goes for 20-30 yards. If it happens on a pass, it goes for 40 or more yards. And if you're behind, well, keep firing, because at some point that slot machine's gotta pay out.

Do I agree? Hell no. I remember a cold-weather game against the Giants in 2008 where we couldn't run the ball at all, but we actually kept doing it and finally the run game started to work. I don't know what adjustments they made, but thank God they didn't go one-dimensional.

I use stats as much as anybody and more than most, but yikes, even I know that we ought to use the run game to set a tone against those defenses. Especially in the playoffs. I'll bet that Manning's got a fantastic ypa, and yes he's been to the SB twice, but the Colts have also gone one-and-done 7 times with him. I mean, really, he might be the best QB of his generation, so how the heck is that possible? (cue the answer: team game, not just the QB......play balance, Colts' defense giving up points, opposing teams making plays, injuries, acts of God......)

If that is the logic, then they should also look at negative plays that are a result of passing: Sacks, interceptions, fumbles by the QB, holding penalties, false start penalties, etc . . . How many 3 and outs were the result of pass-pass-pass?

[balto-eaglefan]

I know. I'd argue that, ypa be damned, we also make it too easy for opposing defenses to guess what's coming. Okay, it looks like a run formation, but those RB's in the backfield are going to block, and the Eagles are going to throw........why? Because it's what we do most of the time........

[FRESH]

It's part of why we generally stull put up a respectable YPC......because teams aren't guarding against it. They'll breifly look for a running back on the way to the QB. They can gamble a bit becsue they know....there's a high probablility that they will be right! We are passing the ball.

Shady averaged 5.2 YPC this season.....imagine how well he might do if we actually dedicated some time to it??

[Rossovich]

I remember a college coach (Woody Hayes?) say 3 things can happen with a pass and 2 of them are bad.