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I know its been tough watching the last six days. I know for ne I am not real happy. But if you take a step back and look at it, This team is about where I thought they would be. Is this team as good as last year. Probably not. Why do I not say that definitely. Well there are a ton of factors this year. Most of it has to do with the fact that they won the Super Bowl last year. As a result of that they got the following:
1. Lost there OC and several key components to the organization.
2. Lost a ton of good football players who probably got overpaid elsewhere because they won a Super Bowl.
- As a result they are really young on defense
- Josh Sweat is probably the only one who has been consistently good. We can talk about Rodgers but he started out great in Minny and hasn't been great really the 2nd half of the year. Milton Williams is really good, but he is hurt and Ojomo actually has better stats. CJGJ would have been great o have especially with Mukuba slow ramp up and then ultimate injury. However Mukuba really was playing well before he got hurt. Gardner Johnson has been cut from two teams since we dealt him. Slay is up and down in PIttsburgh, probably better than Adoree Jackson but the salary cap dictated that move.
3. Teams coming off Super Bowls tend to struggle with injurys and fatigue over the season. The reason is they don't get as long to have there body heal after a year. This is pretty obvious that our offensive line who used to man handle people just can't anymore. Does it mean the players are shot. I don't know. I hope not because we have a ton of money into Mailata, Dickerson and Jurgens.
4. The Schedule is absolutely brutal. One of the worst I have seen after a Super Bowl year. Its not just the teams on their schedule its how it plays out. Play a physical game against Denver and lose late, 4 days later have to travel to the Giants and play a physical game and get hood stomped. Play a physical game in Dallas (after a Monday night in Green Bay and home Physical game against the Lions) then 5 days later come home and get hood stomped in a physical game against the Bears. If you want to take anything positive. The Eagles have played 10 games against teams 500 or better. They are 7-3 in those games. The other two games were against a division rival in the Giants. Divisional games are always tough not matter what the teams records are. In other words They are not playing the New Orleans of the world.
5. Finally the officiating has been brutal across the NFL this year. However you can see that each game there is a tilt towards one team or the other. There have been a few games were I can say it was tilted towards the Eagles but for the most part the officials are calling things very tight against the Eagles. I think the Officials look at the Eagles closer than any other team. Why? They are teh Super Bowl Champs and they want to control the narrative. You can not tell me that the Folks in New York don't want any team running away with a Division. The game in Dallas not just against us but also when Dallas played the Chiefs were brutally officiated by two different crews. 24 penalties for 219 yards in two games. Both teams struggled all game to move the ball because every time they did they would get a penalty. Here are some stats to back some of this up. The Eagles are tied for the 4th most penalized team. They have 91 excepted penalties to their opponents 68. The top three teams Dallas (first game), Denver & the Giants(first game) all had their lowest penalty output against the Eagles. The Bears are tied with the Eagles with 91 penalties. They had their lowest output yesterday. Now are these teams perfect or are these teams benefiting from New York controlling the narrative?
So were are we? About where I thought we would be. I figured the offense would struggle. There was always going to be a reverse to the mean on the run game. Now did I see it this bad NOPE. But I didn't expect 2k out of Barkley. I figured 1200 or so. Which is still a good year. However he is on track for just 1k. I did think some others would pick up the slack. That just isn't happening because of the offensive line. As I said in other Thread the offensive problems can be broken down as follows in my opinion
Offensive Line - 50 %
Hurts - 25%
OC - 20%
Penalties - 5% (although I could go 10% for that and 20% on Hurts)
Fix the offensive line and some of the other issues will correct themselves. One other thing, Hurts may have reached his ceiling. The Ceiling is a pretty darn good QB for sure. But he just might not have enough to overcome having a bad oline and a none existent running game. He is struggling going through his progressions because he is getting Happy Feet. Its really evident to me watching him. Then his excuse in his press conference saying he and Devonta were not on the same page on those misses. That is bullcrap. You have been together 5 years in the Pros and a year in college. No the problem is he is late in his processing or some cases he is abandoning the pocket too quickly. Now this is not all the time. There are some really good examples on when he is on he is on. However when he is off he is off. There really is no middle ground. A decision needs to be made on Hurts this offseason. You say what? Yeah they could trade him this offseason and his cap hit would be right about what is already on the books for his salary. After that moving on would be extremely costly. Extremely risky for sure but if my hunch is right, this offense is going to need to be rebuilt especially on the lines. That is what takes the longest to rebuild. It may not be the most far fetched thing. I am sure New Orleans would give up a Kings ransom for Hurts. Will this happen probably not but.....
Defensively they are young. They have a clear hole at CB2. A clear hole at backup DT behind Jordan Davis. They have a Vic Fangio problem when it comes to balanced teams with physical runners. (Denver, Dallas and Chicago). He refuses to adapt or adjust and just keeps the same bend but don't break mentality. Now that works pretty well but it also they are 27th in the league in yards allowed. They rarely produce 3 and outs. That is a problem a huge problem. Why you say? Getting the ball back to the offense is critical. They do a good job of that for the most part, however they usually do it after the opposing offense has gained 20-25 yards. Now back when the ball was placed at the 20 after a touchback, Giving up a first down and forcing a punt was OK. Now with teams averaging starting at the 33 yard line against the Eagles and the kicking ball (which has added another 10 yards to FGs), its not a good thing. In fact its resulting in poor field position more times than not for the offense and more FG opportunities for the opponents.
They are a good defense but they will never be great until Fangio adjusts to teams running the ball against them. Taking out a DE and putting in an extra DT like he did yesterday did nothing to help. They needed to get out of Nickel and go to a traditional 4-3. Campbell did not play a single snap yesterday in a game that screamed to have him out there. Why because Fangio is a one trick pony. He is stubborn (like continuing to play Jackson when Bennett is better) Howie keeps giving him pieces and he is not using them. I would not be surprised if Fangio gets shit canned before Patullo does. Yes I said it but the NFL is different than even last year. The bad kickoff rule and the new kicking ball is making it so the only way to play defense is to force 3 and outs. That means tight coverage, playing the run and forcing mistakes by the offense. Sitting back and playing soft zone against teams that are both good in the run and the pass (and BTW I am not so sure Chicago is so good at passing). Turnovers are great and we do force some
Special Teams Jake Elliot is a good kicker but not great kicker. He tends to go through some streaks like he has the last two games. No one is talking about the fact that he missed a field goal in Dallas and two more yesterday along with an extra point. You just can't have your kicker going into slumps like this when you are struggling to score points. I would cut him. That would send a clear message to the rest of the team perform or you are gone and I don't care about who you are. There return game is not good either punt or kickoff. Oddly they are really good at blocking kicks and punts but really are not very good elsewhere. They need to fire Clay after this year.
All of this said, the team is 8-4. They could easily win out, or they could lose out. I think they go 3-2. Get to 11-6 and are a wild card. The NFL wants the Cowboys to win the division and what the NFL scriptwriter wants the NFL Scriptwriter gets. I think they win the wild card game and then get hood stomped in Chicago again because Fangio will play the same exact way.
1. Lost there OC and several key components to the organization.
2. Lost a ton of good football players who probably got overpaid elsewhere because they won a Super Bowl.
- As a result they are really young on defense
- Josh Sweat is probably the only one who has been consistently good. We can talk about Rodgers but he started out great in Minny and hasn't been great really the 2nd half of the year. Milton Williams is really good, but he is hurt and Ojomo actually has better stats. CJGJ would have been great o have especially with Mukuba slow ramp up and then ultimate injury. However Mukuba really was playing well before he got hurt. Gardner Johnson has been cut from two teams since we dealt him. Slay is up and down in PIttsburgh, probably better than Adoree Jackson but the salary cap dictated that move.
3. Teams coming off Super Bowls tend to struggle with injurys and fatigue over the season. The reason is they don't get as long to have there body heal after a year. This is pretty obvious that our offensive line who used to man handle people just can't anymore. Does it mean the players are shot. I don't know. I hope not because we have a ton of money into Mailata, Dickerson and Jurgens.
4. The Schedule is absolutely brutal. One of the worst I have seen after a Super Bowl year. Its not just the teams on their schedule its how it plays out. Play a physical game against Denver and lose late, 4 days later have to travel to the Giants and play a physical game and get hood stomped. Play a physical game in Dallas (after a Monday night in Green Bay and home Physical game against the Lions) then 5 days later come home and get hood stomped in a physical game against the Bears. If you want to take anything positive. The Eagles have played 10 games against teams 500 or better. They are 7-3 in those games. The other two games were against a division rival in the Giants. Divisional games are always tough not matter what the teams records are. In other words They are not playing the New Orleans of the world.
5. Finally the officiating has been brutal across the NFL this year. However you can see that each game there is a tilt towards one team or the other. There have been a few games were I can say it was tilted towards the Eagles but for the most part the officials are calling things very tight against the Eagles. I think the Officials look at the Eagles closer than any other team. Why? They are teh Super Bowl Champs and they want to control the narrative. You can not tell me that the Folks in New York don't want any team running away with a Division. The game in Dallas not just against us but also when Dallas played the Chiefs were brutally officiated by two different crews. 24 penalties for 219 yards in two games. Both teams struggled all game to move the ball because every time they did they would get a penalty. Here are some stats to back some of this up. The Eagles are tied for the 4th most penalized team. They have 91 excepted penalties to their opponents 68. The top three teams Dallas (first game), Denver & the Giants(first game) all had their lowest penalty output against the Eagles. The Bears are tied with the Eagles with 91 penalties. They had their lowest output yesterday. Now are these teams perfect or are these teams benefiting from New York controlling the narrative?
So were are we? About where I thought we would be. I figured the offense would struggle. There was always going to be a reverse to the mean on the run game. Now did I see it this bad NOPE. But I didn't expect 2k out of Barkley. I figured 1200 or so. Which is still a good year. However he is on track for just 1k. I did think some others would pick up the slack. That just isn't happening because of the offensive line. As I said in other Thread the offensive problems can be broken down as follows in my opinion
Offensive Line - 50 %
Hurts - 25%
OC - 20%
Penalties - 5% (although I could go 10% for that and 20% on Hurts)
Fix the offensive line and some of the other issues will correct themselves. One other thing, Hurts may have reached his ceiling. The Ceiling is a pretty darn good QB for sure. But he just might not have enough to overcome having a bad oline and a none existent running game. He is struggling going through his progressions because he is getting Happy Feet. Its really evident to me watching him. Then his excuse in his press conference saying he and Devonta were not on the same page on those misses. That is bullcrap. You have been together 5 years in the Pros and a year in college. No the problem is he is late in his processing or some cases he is abandoning the pocket too quickly. Now this is not all the time. There are some really good examples on when he is on he is on. However when he is off he is off. There really is no middle ground. A decision needs to be made on Hurts this offseason. You say what? Yeah they could trade him this offseason and his cap hit would be right about what is already on the books for his salary. After that moving on would be extremely costly. Extremely risky for sure but if my hunch is right, this offense is going to need to be rebuilt especially on the lines. That is what takes the longest to rebuild. It may not be the most far fetched thing. I am sure New Orleans would give up a Kings ransom for Hurts. Will this happen probably not but.....
Defensively they are young. They have a clear hole at CB2. A clear hole at backup DT behind Jordan Davis. They have a Vic Fangio problem when it comes to balanced teams with physical runners. (Denver, Dallas and Chicago). He refuses to adapt or adjust and just keeps the same bend but don't break mentality. Now that works pretty well but it also they are 27th in the league in yards allowed. They rarely produce 3 and outs. That is a problem a huge problem. Why you say? Getting the ball back to the offense is critical. They do a good job of that for the most part, however they usually do it after the opposing offense has gained 20-25 yards. Now back when the ball was placed at the 20 after a touchback, Giving up a first down and forcing a punt was OK. Now with teams averaging starting at the 33 yard line against the Eagles and the kicking ball (which has added another 10 yards to FGs), its not a good thing. In fact its resulting in poor field position more times than not for the offense and more FG opportunities for the opponents.
They are a good defense but they will never be great until Fangio adjusts to teams running the ball against them. Taking out a DE and putting in an extra DT like he did yesterday did nothing to help. They needed to get out of Nickel and go to a traditional 4-3. Campbell did not play a single snap yesterday in a game that screamed to have him out there. Why because Fangio is a one trick pony. He is stubborn (like continuing to play Jackson when Bennett is better) Howie keeps giving him pieces and he is not using them. I would not be surprised if Fangio gets shit canned before Patullo does. Yes I said it but the NFL is different than even last year. The bad kickoff rule and the new kicking ball is making it so the only way to play defense is to force 3 and outs. That means tight coverage, playing the run and forcing mistakes by the offense. Sitting back and playing soft zone against teams that are both good in the run and the pass (and BTW I am not so sure Chicago is so good at passing). Turnovers are great and we do force some
Special Teams Jake Elliot is a good kicker but not great kicker. He tends to go through some streaks like he has the last two games. No one is talking about the fact that he missed a field goal in Dallas and two more yesterday along with an extra point. You just can't have your kicker going into slumps like this when you are struggling to score points. I would cut him. That would send a clear message to the rest of the team perform or you are gone and I don't care about who you are. There return game is not good either punt or kickoff. Oddly they are really good at blocking kicks and punts but really are not very good elsewhere. They need to fire Clay after this year.
All of this said, the team is 8-4. They could easily win out, or they could lose out. I think they go 3-2. Get to 11-6 and are a wild card. The NFL wants the Cowboys to win the division and what the NFL scriptwriter wants the NFL Scriptwriter gets. I think they win the wild card game and then get hood stomped in Chicago again because Fangio will play the same exact way.
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