Eagles 2023-2024 Season

[zambonir]

Yeah it doesn't seem like it would be a bad thing. Much like you don't dismiss a baseball run differential if it's the product of a bunch of blowouts.

That fact that there are legitimate reasons to say the offense doesn't feel as potent can only be a good thing IMO. Still work in progress.

[MichaelJackSchmidt]

When I watch the 2022 offense vs the 2023 offense, I see a difference. I'm sure my eyes are not seeing .8 PPG worse - that's miniscule.
Hurts's completion percentage, 67.9% in 2022 vs 67.26% in 2023, this isn't much.
Hurts's passing 1359 yards in 2022 vs 1262 yards in 2023. This isn't huge either.
Hurts's rushing attempts after game 5 in 2022 was 68 for 266 yards and in 2023 55 for 206 yards.
Team rushing yards after game 5 in 2022 - 525 yards vs 820 yards in 2023, so the rush is better in 2023.
Team receiving after game 5 in 2022 - 947 yards vs 1202 yards in 2022, so the pass/receiving is better in 2023.
Red Zone TD percentage was 61.90% after game 5 in 2022, 2023 its 42.11%. This is significant and Sirianni has acknolwedged that they have to improve.

So perhaps it's the red zone offense that I am noticing, and up until the Rams game, Hurts not running the ball as much and was sliding 4-5 yards before he did in 2022. I also see a bunch of missed routes. I did not pay this much attention to every play last year, so perhaps they had the same problems.

[BostonRoss]

This is good information. I too have the observational impression that Hurts is sliding earlier, and as I watch, that pleases me since it reduces the injury risk. I don't think it impacts the red zone efficiency much, which I agree is the area that needs improvement (and I think the Eagles will get better).

[allentown]

The Eagles continue to call, perhaps to keep other teams honest, plays which worked last season but have been figured out and need to disappear from the repertoire. The RPO with Hurts running up the middle has been a loser this year. Straight runs by Gainwell have been a loser. Hurts did well on Sunday with impromptu runs with his receivers covered, but the planned run in the red zone was stuffed. Most of Hurts' successful rushes this year have been to the outside, whether impromptu or planned. Quez Watkins is in his second consecutive bad season. They finally added Goedert to the passing attack and that should help. The Eagles seem to have forgotten that Penny and Boston Scott are still part of the team. Would they really be worse than Gainwell.

[Docs]

Penny is hurt so probably. I think Sunday was the first time hurts scrambled like last year, and while i am glad when he bails early to stay healthy, it does seem like the offense opens up more when defenders have to stay at home to contain hurts. The eyeball test says the offense still has room for improvement, which i chalk up to a first time OC, and they are getting lots of stuff to work on each week which is a positive.

[phillychuck]

Gainwelll is a great blitz-pickup blocker, one of the best in football. This earns him snaps over Penny (who messes this up) and Scott (who is average at blocking). Cosell was pointing this out with Duffy in the film review, and you can really see it.

Jets are a big trap game. Their offense probably won't score a whole lot, but their D is excellent. Gotta be ready.

[Purduke]

Gainwelll is a great blitz-pickup blocker, one of the best in football. This earns him snaps over Penny (who messes this up) and Scott (who is average at blocking). Cosell was pointing this out with Duffy in the film review, and you can really see it.

Jets are a big trap game. Their offense probably won't score a whole lot, but their D is excellent. Gotta be ready.

I'm not sure if the Gainwell or Penny "best\worst" assessments are valid overall. Gainwell's PFF Pass Blocking - HB rating'has been getting better during his 3 year career -- from Poor to Below Avg his first two years to Good so far this season. These are inherently SSS (especially thru 5 games this year) and with wide difficulty variation. So definate improvement, but I definately wouldn't consider him one of the best blitz blockers in football.

For instance, Penny has had only 2 PB opps this year and I believe one was a free runner up the middle blitz where he got blown up by the blitzer v\ Minn. Compare that to having to seal a DT where the OG had the DT largely contained. Large differences in difficulty. So with only 2 opps Penny is rated Poor this year (but excluded from overall rankings because of SSS).

But career wise Penny has had 2 Good, 2 Avg and 1 BA rankings overall in his prior 5 pre-Phil years. I would tend to trust his PB overall vs Gainwell's.

That said, even with Swift, being rated Avg is based on 17 PB engagements in '22 and 20 in '21. Being rated above average vs poor is maybe 2 plays -- with difficulty variations.

If I had a take away from their rankings - the best Pass Blocking HBs tend to be the more robust\physical HBs. If you look at a 3 year Top Ten ranking you get names like Saquon, James Connor, Tony Pollard, Samaje Perrine, Gus Edwards, Derrick Henry etc. Doesn't mean a smaller guy can't be in there (Devin Singletary is), but I think you are challanging nature if you rely on scat-backs against free runners, unless they've demonstarted a particular skill over several years.

[xogfog]

Eagles make decision on punter, Mann has been moved to the 53.

[xogfog]

The Eagles also added LB Brian Smith to their practice squad. I liked Smith coming out of Penn State, he might be a good fit here. He was drafted by Carolina and was released in their regime change, so this might be a steal.

[bkeich]

It is hard to believe there isn’t a better punter. He has been very underwhelming so far. I actually think Siposs was better, and he was consistently in the bottom 5-8 punters.

[xogfog]

Punt God is still out there. I know he has a civil trial coming up, but what would be the harm of signing him to the practice squad in the meantime. If no other team has signed him, it would be like stashing a player on their team like they did with
Isaiah Rodgers. Unless the Eagles and the rest of the NFL have some knowledge that is not public and that is why he is unsigned, then that would seem like a typical Howie move.

One last Eagles sentiment before the Phillies eliminate the Braves. GO GET BUDDA BAKER.

[zambonir]

Clearly the whole league either does have other knowledge, thinks the whole story has not been fully told or believes he's not a quality person. Not being charged with a crime doesn't mitigate any of those possibilities.

If not those things, then it's simply about the backlash and bad PR. Once the civil suit is over, even if he settles/loses, some team might take a chance on him. But right now if the Eagles signed him there would be stories about "Eagles punter Matt Araiza" every day during the trial.

[bkeich]

So now Justin Evans to IR. It always seems that injuries just pile up on one position, we can barely field a secondary at parts of this season (although most are back now).

Is Evans addition by subtraction? Certainly his stats don’t seem to show that he was really doing that much, but I suspect that is a false evaluation. Sometimes Safeties don’t look like they are doing that much because of the system, they are there to stop the ball from being thrown, and if they do their job they don’t show up much in the box score.

I really think we need to look at trades for secondary help. We don’t need some of the things that are brought up on the internet like a RB or WR, we need to replace the guys that are getting hurt (and was a thin position to begin with). DB and LB, huge needs.

[phillychuck]

LB is fine now--they are four-deep off-ball with Morrow, Dean, Eliss, and Cunningham, all of whom have played well or are players the team is optimistic about.

Agree we could use a Saf/CB addition, but Howie picked up Roby last week already, who looked good vs. the Rams.

[bkeich]

Yes, we have Roby to play the nickel, now we need another Safety to replace Evans for at least 4 weeks.

Cunningham absolutely cannot cover anyone. He might as well blitz on every pass play because he is terrible in coverage, it is painfully obvious why he was available. He is a superior run defender, but him being on the field should be an automatic audible to a pass to a RB or TE. Eliss also isn’t much more than a ST player.

[phillychuck]

S. Brown is probably playing. The position is very thin, agreed, and a quality acquisition would help. I have no idea who might be available. I don't think there is anyone reasonable on the street.

Trappy game Sunday versus the Jets.

[bkeich]

Now both Slay and Jalen Carter will miss Sunday’s game. Literally every player in the secondary has missed at least 1 game now, this would be really ugly if the Jets had a QB.

We have so many people out (Watkins also) that McKee might actually be active. I think he is the only one who won’t be active as it stands now, but there are still 2 days left until the game for someone else to be “out”

[dicemen99]

I suspect that if Brown did not get hurt he would have been taking Evan's place already. We'll likely see a few more mistakes, but infinitely more splash plays (infinitely more than zero is not a very high bar though). Good spot to get Brown experience that will pay off later in the season.

I think you are too worried about losing Evans, he is completely replaceable at a low-impact position. The CB injuries are much more concerning and losing Slay for any period of time will hurt. Hopefully, Roby will provide the answer for Roby, but let's face it, losing Maddox for significant portions of the season is expected and this is probably the only spot that Howie could possibly have addressed sooner. If Roby works out, we are fine.

[bkeich]

I think you kinda prove my premise that Evans seems easily replaceable but maybe is not. You are right, he makes zero “splash” plays. He barely shows up on the box score. It is also true that we are not giving up many (any) big pass plays way down the field. I guess we will find out if he was the reason, I fear that he was stopping that.

But yes, I want to see more of Brown, who will clearly make more plays. He seems like a future fan favorite type player, the guy will show up in highlight reels.

[zambonir]

Wow, Niners kicker just missed what's basically a chip shot in the NFL. Browns are gonna win.