Category: Eagles

Eagles hiring Kellen Moore as offensive coordinator

Kellen Moore is returning the NFC East

Nick Sirianni has a new offensive coordinator to go with the new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.

It was reported Saturday that the Philadelphia Eagles are plucking Kellen Moore from Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers,

Moore was with the Dallas Cowboys before heading to Los Angeles and the Bolts.

Moore will face Dallas twice in 2024. The Chargers are not on Philadelphia’s schedule.

4-Down Territory: Tua Tagovailoa, Mike McCarthy, Nick Sirianni, Worst of the Week

In this week’s “4-Down Territory,” the guys get into Tua Tagovailoa, Mike McCarthy, Nick Sirianni, and the Worst of the Week for the wild-card round.

Now that the wild-card round of the playoffs is over, it’s time once again for Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire, and Kyle Madson of Niners Wire, to come to the table with their own unique brand of analysis in “4-Down Territory.”

This week, the guys have some serious questions to answer:

  1. What should the Miami Dolphins do with Tua Tagovailoa?
  2. Should this be the end for Mike McCarthy in Dallas?
  3. Has Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni become more an liability than an asset?
  4. What was our Worst of the Week?

You can watch this week’s “4-Down Territory” right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “4-Down Territory” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

Future first-ballot Hall of Famer Jason Kelce was a pro’s pro to the end

Jason Kelce was a pro’s pro and the definition of a center to his very last NFL snap. Canton will come calling in exactly five years.

There are those players whose retirements predicate discussions as to whether they are future Hall of Famers.

Jason Kelce is not one of those players. If the longtime Philadelphia Eagles center, who will retire after 13 years in the trenches, isn’t a first-ballot Hall of Famer, someone needs to do something about the voting process. The 36-year-old Kelce finishes his NFL career with seven Pro Bowl nods, six First-Team All-Pro selections, a Super Bowl ring, and a place as one of the greatest athletic centers of all time.

Even in his final game, Philly’s 32-9 wild-card loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night, Kelce was stoning defenders to all levels of the field as he had for eons.

Has there been a center in Kelce’s era who has played as well or better at a consistent rate? Not hardly. Has there been a center in the new millenium who has played as well or better at a consistent rate? Not really. There’s a legitimate argument to be made that Kelce is a top-five center in the Super Bowl era, and those who would present five better names had better come with all kinds of homework.

In his final season, including that playoff loss, Kelce allowed two sacks, one quarterback hit, and 11 quarterback hurries in 697 pass-blocking reps. And as we’ve seen, he was equally adept in blowing people up in the run game.

Moreover, Kelce was a leader, an unerring standard-bearer, and the kind of intelligent goofball who endears himself to a city and to a franchise once and forever.

You had a feeling it was over near the end of that Bucs loss, when Kelce spent a few important and emotional moments with longtime line coach Jeff Stoutland.

Still, it’s jarring when an all-time great leaves the game under any circumstances, and that’s what we’re facing here.

America demolishes Eagles after wild-card implosion against Buccaneers

The Philadelphia Eagles embarrassed themselves in a ridiculous wild-card loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and America was fed up with it.

The defending NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles did their level best to make their wild-card playoff game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers look like a preseason game. Between the horrible schemes on offense and defense, the poor execution on both sides of the ball, the miserable coverage and tackling on defense, and the complete lack of a blitz plan on offense against a Bucs defense that had blitzed at the third-highest rate in the regular season (40.1% behind only the Minnesota Vikings and the New York Giants), head coach Nick Sirianni, offensive coordinator Brian Johnson, and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia were both singularly and collectively unprepared for what became a 32-9 rout at the hands of the Bucs.

Now that the 2023 Eagles’ season is over, ending as it did with six losses in the team’s last seven games (including this embarrassment) after a 10-1 start, one has to wonder what team owner Jeffrey Lurie and general manager Howie Roseman will have to say about the coaching issues.

What we already know is that based on social media reactions, America has had ENOUGH of his particular Eagles team.

Eagles allow more yards to Buccaneers in the first quarter than they did in Week 3

The Eagles are proof positive that if you have two defensive systems, you have no defensive systems.

If you want to know how far the Philadelphia Eagles’ defense has fallen since head coach Nick Sirianni made the decision to switch play-callers from Sean Desai to Matt Patricia, here’s one quick and easy statistic for you. The Eagles beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 25-11 in Week 3, allowing 174 net yards. But in the first quarter of the wild-card rematch on Monday night, things were far worse.

Philly’s defense has dropped from 27th to 29th in Pass Defense DVOA in the second half of the season, so that’s been a problem throughout, no matter the guy in charge. But the run defense has gone splat — from fourth to 31st.

Moreover, the communication on defense has become an irreparable issue, as was shown on this 44-yard Baker Mayfield touchdown pass to David Moore with 5:47 left in the first quarter. This had not been a common occurrence. The horrible spacing and tackling, however, has been all too frequent.

One issue with changing defensive play-callers in season, unless the two coaches have fairly common schemes, is that you’re asking your players to do a lot of new things at a time when NFL practice rules are limited, and it’s tough to get the installs in place to the point where they work on the field.

Greg Cosell and I discuss this exact issue in this week’s “Xs and Os.”

On January 8, Sirianni was asked about the difficulties in installing all kinds of new things in such a short amount of time.

“We’re not completely changing to adjust Matt’s philosophy,” Sirianni said. “Matt’s also doing things to fit the defense that’s currently in place. So, to me, that’s not what the issue is going on.

“You know, are we doing some different things and some new things? Yeah, of course, but we’re doing some different things and new things on offense as the year progresses. And so that to me is not — we’re very conscious of that, and we understand that when you put something new in, every detail has to be ironed out, and every offense that you go against has to be prepared for it with that scheme that you’re putting in. And so that’s done with thought in mind.

“We’re being conscious of how much we’re changing and what we’re doing because it is hard to change. To say, ‘hey, we’re going to run a completely new defense at this point in the year,’ when Matt took over, and that’s why we’re not doing that.

“We’re just making some adjustments, some different things that we’re doing when we’re going through defense, and hey, has it been good enough these last couple of weeks? No, but we’re still working like crazy to get it better.”

Whatever that work may be, it’s not showing up on the field, and it could end the Eagles’ season sooner than anybody in the building would like.

The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell: Previewing Super Wild-Card Weekend

In this week’s “Xs and Os,” Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar preview Super Wild-Card Weekend with tape study and advanced metrics.

It’s time for Super Wild-Card Weekend! Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup, and Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire and the USA Today Sports Media Group, are here to get you ready for the most interesting matchups that could decide who advances to the divisional round.

Browns at Texans: Will the Browns defense under Jim Schwartz have answers for C.J. Stroud’s excellence against single-high coverage? Nobody plays more of it than Schwartz’s guys.

Dolphins at Chiefs: It’ll be very cold at Arrowhead Stadium, which puts the focus on the run game. Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel has all kinds of wrinkles in his rushing attack, and we discuss a new one with rookie De’Von Achane.

Steelers at Bills: Can the Steelers counter the Bills’ improving defense with shot plays from Mason Rudolph? And what does T.J. Watt’s injury mean for Josh Allen?

Packers at Cowboys: Everyone’s talking about Jordan Love and Dak Prescott here, but watch out for Green Bay’s run game with Aaron Jones as the lead dog.

Rams at Lions: Similarly, while everyone’s talking about the Matthew Stafford-Jared Goff “Revenge Game,” don’t sleep on these two great rushing attacks. Kyren Williams has changed Sean McVay’s run schemes to great effect.

Eagles at Buccaneers: Bucs head coach Todd Bowles is the Greg Maddux of blitzers — he’ll throw everything at you with a little spin at the end. How will Jalen Hurts react, when he’s struggled against pressure most of this season? Also, Baker Mayfield and his receivers could feast on Philly’s misbegotten pass defense.

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get into all of it.

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os,” previewing every game in the wild-card slate, right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

4-Down Territory: Most, least serious wild-card teams, Secret Superstars, new coaches

In this week’s “4-Down Territory,” the guys get into most and least serious wild-card teams, Secret Superstars, and new head coaches they’d like to see.

Now that the 2023 NFL regular season is over, and it’s Super Wild-Card Weekend, it’s time once again for Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire, and Kyle Madson of Niners Wire, to come to the table with their own unique brand of analysis in “4-Down Territory.”

This week, the guys have some serious questions to answer:

  1. Which wild-card team should be taken most seriously for a Super Bowl run?
  2. Which wild-card team should be taken least seriously?
  3. Who’s your Secret Superstar for the wild-card round?
  4. Which assistant coach would you most like to get a vacant head coaching job?

You can watch this week’s “4-Down Territory” right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “4-Down Territory” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

2024 NFL playoff power rankings: Ravens rule the roost, but who else is near the top?

Now that we know who the 14 playoff teams will be in the playoffs, here is how they stack up against one another

The NFL field of teams has been cut from 32 to 14, and we now know who all 14 playoff teams are. How do they stack up against one another? Here are the NFL playoff power rankings ahead of wild-card weekend.

2024 NFL Mock Draft: End-of-season quarterback decisions lead to surprising picks

How many NFL teams will stick with their current quarterbacks? A high number could make for an interesting first round of the 2024 draft.

Now that the 2023 NFL regular season is over, every team turns its attention to the draft — even those teams that are part of the postseason. Area scouts will start to move to the home facility to interact with scouting directors and general managers, and with the scouting combine less than two months away, it’s time to start putting your big boards together.

This applies especially to those teams with crucial quarterback decisions to make. For the purposes of this mock draft, we’ll assume that the Chicago Bears are sticking with Justin Fields, the Arizona Cardinals are committed to Kyler Murray, the Tennessee Titans think they have a future franchise quarterback in Will Levis, and the New York Jets think that eventually, Aaron Rodgers will stop shooting his mouth off long enough to play quarterback in 2024.

Conversely, the Washington Commanders, New England Patriots, New York Giants, and Atlanta Falcons will avail themselves of the best draftable quarterbacks possible in the interest of turning things around.

So, four quarterbacks go in the first round here, with more teams looking to build around the guys they’ve already got. That makes for one notable omission (Oregon’s Bo Nix), and a whole bunch of talented prospects at other positions pushing themselves up the boards.

Giants safety Xavier McKinney picks off Jalen Hurts, Marcus Mariota in 29 seconds

The Eagles are circling the drain, and nothing summarizes it like Xavier McKinney picking off Jalen Hurts and Marcus Mariota in 29 seconds.

It does not appear that the Philadelphia Eagles are interested in winning the NFC East. It would have taken an Eagles win over the New York Giants and a Dallas Cowboys loss to the Washington Commanders (with other tie-breaking scenarios involved) for that to happen, but the brunt of it was that the Eagles needed to beat the Giants.

It’s 24-0 at the half… in the Giants’ favor, and the Eagles look ridiculous on both sides of the ball. They have 102 net yards to Big Blue’s 272, and this is against a Giants team that has been a non-starter on offense through most of the season. That’s how things are going on defense.

On offense, Jalen Hurts completed seven of 18 passes for 55 yards, no touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 26.8 before giving way to backup Marcus Mariota, who threw one pass and had it intercepted.

Both picks were courtesy of Giants safety Xavier McKinney. The Hurts interception was an amazing effort on McKinney’s part, as he went all vertical on this deep sideline pass to Julio Jones.

That happened with 1:34 left in the first half. Then, with 1:05 left in the first half, McKinney got Mariota for the 29-second twofer.

Even if the Eagles lose, they’ll still be 11-6, so it’s tough to say that they’re an “unserious” team… but things are certainly trending that way.