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Week 4 GDT: Eagles (2-1) vs Titans (2-1)

EaglesPeteC

By EaglesPeteC
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Jroc04

Jroc04

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3 hours ago, dtait93 said:

Like weeks 2 and 3 against Houston and Jacksonville with no Marcus (or atleast a gimped throwing hand/elbow Marcus) we’ll try to make the game ugly on the shoulders of the running game, an improvised passing attack, and stout defense. That’ll be a lot tougher against you guys though with how your ends will be positioned to take away the outside scrambling lanes for Marcus, your #1 rushing defense, and your offense that is clearly better than Houston’s and Jacksonville's.

Like the other Titan poster mentioned, we’re gonna be without our top corner Adoree (Lewan suffered a concussion in week 1 and was told by Vrabel the following Tuesday he won’t be playing in week 2 and to just focus on getting rest - I expect the same will be true for Adoree) and that’ll hamper our secondary but who knows, we’ve been pulling out wins with a makeshift o-line, a backup QB and no Delanie. If the defense can bend but not break like we did against Houston and Jacksonville we’ll have a shot but it’ll be a lot harder this time without Adoree. If we do break and give up multiple touchdowns then I’m confident you guys will come away with the victory. I’m not expecting much out of our offense again unless Marcus’ hand/fingers magically regain feeling at some point this week. 

I haven’t watched any Philly games this year so I have a couple questions for you gents to help me get informed:

1) Statistically you have the #1 ranked rushing defense. However, Indianapolis and Tampa don’t exactly boast the best rushing attacks. How much do you credit the run defense compared to how good/bad Indy’s and Tampa’s rushing attacks are?

2) How did Wentz look his first game back? Like Watson, we now face Wentz in his 2nd game back from an ACL tear and we made him look very uncomfortable (it is important to note though that they have a much, much worse offensive line than yours) so I’m hoping the same fate is in store for Wentz.

3) How have the 4 headed monster in Long-Graham-Bennett-Barnett looked getting after the quarterback?

4) And lastly, any sign of the dreaded Super Bowl hangover (congrats again btw)? We may need to see that symptom rear it’s head ugly head to pull out the W on Sunday.

1. The run defense is legit. #1 last year as well. It all starts with Cox but the rotation, specifically the DE rotation all take big pride in stopping the run. Football 101 but, we make teams one dimensional and then unleash the wide 9 and drop 7 in coverage. It worked out very well last year because Carson was so efficient while opponents abondoned the run and played into our hands. Nothings really changed this year. We were succumbed to FitzMagic and we’re still letting Wentz knock most of the rust off but it’s been business as usual outside of some injuries to some key positions. Specifically, Alshon and Ajayi. Of course, statistically, we benefitted from playing against weak rushing teams so far but the rush defense is as good as it gets throughout the league. 

2. Carson was excellent on his first drive then it went a bit downhill from there and we ended up grinding out a win. We are down 3 of our 4 top WRs and that is pretty much where it starts. They did well to utilize the TEs but you can see we are definitely struggling a bit getting into a grove missing so many pieces. (Ajayi, Sproles as well). Truthfully, we’ve seen the OL play much better. They let entirely too many pressures in against Indy. But no one is worried. It rained all game and it was a sloppy afair. But most importantly, Wentz showed that he’s fully functional again, showing off his running and escapeability. This is basically his preseason so we’re fully expecting a better effort by everyone as he gets better acclimated. 

3. The DEs have been decent, not great. Barnett is getting a lot of the reps and has taken a step forward. Long has his moments and is good in the rotation. Bennett has gotten some pressures and tends to rush from the DT spot a lot on 3rd downs. Graham has started slow this year but he was banged up in the preseason. I don’t think anyone is worried but they haven’t been as dominate as they were last year as of yet. They are collapsing the pocket very well but the ends haven’t been getting home very often. 

4. No, I wouldn’t say there’s any sign of complacency or a hangover. There were some key veterans that didn’t get to participate in that super bowl so I think the team is plenty hungry. We haven’t looked great for any long stretch but everyone’s well aware of the health, specifically on the offensive side. I imagine once we get healthy we’ll be hitting our stride. 

I know I’m painting an optimistic picture but I honestly think most fans feel this way. Carson will get better as he gets more comfortable after the injury, Ajayi and Alshon will get healthy and be major contributors and really open the offense up, and the team will have overall better success. We’re fortunate to be 2-1 but I don’t think we’re lucky. I think it speaks to the depth and coaching of the team to grind out some wins before we start hitting our stride. It is very important for us to get some wins in the early go of the season. Waiting to get healthy and with the schedule getting harder as it goes further in the season, these games are very important right now. 

With all that said, I’d be floored if we at least can’t control the Titans defensively. I can’t imagine losing the game when the QBs can’t be relied on to play well while the running game is average at best. The Titans are an improved team defensively and we probably aren’t getting a full compliment of our offense back yet so there very well may be another grind out game ahead of us. I just don’t really see the Titans being able to out score us. Vegas has us as a 3 point favorite and although it’s not a huge line, I expect to win. 

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TitanLegend

TitanLegend

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2 hours ago, Jroc04 said:

I forgot that they ended up with Dennis Kelly. ?

Go figure that they ended up on top of that trade. 

Kelly has been surprisingly good here. In 16 was great playing as a "tight end" to help in blocking as an extra o-lineman, 17 wasn't quite as good as 16 but from a backup OT standpoint still can't ask for much better, and this year he started vs Miami and shut down Cameron Wake completely.

Wasn't expecting much out of him, but he's been certainly more than worth the trade and with the state of o-line play on a lot of teams, he could probably start and be an upgrade on like 6 or 7 teams.

Edit: Apparently he's signed through 2019, thought we extended him on the final year of his deal, but apparently Philly added a year to his deal before trading him.

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dtait93

dtait93

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1 hour ago, Jroc04 said:

1. The run defense is legit. #1 last year as well. It all starts with Cox but the rotation, specifically the DE rotation all take big pride in stopping the run. Football 101 but, we make teams one dimensional and then unleash the wide 9 and drop 7 in coverage. It worked out very well last year because Carson was so efficient while opponents abondoned the run and played into our hands. Nothings really changed this year. We were succumbed to FitzMagic and we’re still letting Wentz knock most of the rust off but it’s been business as usual outside of some injuries to some key positions. Specifically, Alshon and Ajayi. Of course, statistically, we benefitted from playing against weak rushing teams so far but the rush defense is as good as it gets throughout the league. 

2. Carson was excellent on his first drive then it went a bit downhill from there and we ended up grinding out a win. We are down 3 of our 4 top WRs and that is pretty much where it starts. They did well to utilize the TEs but you can see we are definitely struggling a bit getting into a grove missing so many pieces. (Ajayi, Sproles as well). Truthfully, we’ve seen the OL play much better. They let entirely too many pressures in against Indy. But no one is worried. It rained all game and it was a sloppy afair. But most importantly, Wentz showed that he’s fully functional again, showing off his running and escapeability. This is basically his preseason so we’re fully expecting a better effort by everyone as he gets better acclimated. 

3. The DEs have been decent, not great. Barnett is getting a lot of the reps and has taken a step forward. Long has his moments and is good in the rotation. Bennett has gotten some pressures and tends to rush from the DT spot a lot on 3rd downs. Graham has started slow this year but he was banged up in the preseason. I don’t think anyone is worried but they haven’t been as dominate as they were last year as of yet. They are collapsing the pocket very well but the ends haven’t been getting home very often. 

4. No, I wouldn’t say there’s any sign of complacency or a hangover. There were some key veterans that didn’t get to participate in that super bowl so I think the team is plenty hungry. We haven’t looked great for any long stretch but everyone’s well aware of the health, specifically on the offensive side. I imagine once we get healthy we’ll be hitting our stride. 

I know I’m painting an optimistic picture but I honestly think most fans feel this way. Carson will get better as he gets more comfortable after the injury, Ajayi and Alshon will get healthy and be major contributors and really open the offense up, and the team will have overall better success. We’re fortunate to be 2-1 but I don’t think we’re lucky. I think it speaks to the depth and coaching of the team to grind out some wins before we start hitting our stride. It is very important for us to get some wins in the early go of the season. Waiting to get healthy and with the schedule getting harder as it goes further in the season, these games are very important right now. 

With all that said, I’d be floored if we at least can’t control the Titans defensively. I can’t imagine losing the game when the QBs can’t be relied on to play well while the running game is average at best. The Titans are an improved team defensively and we probably aren’t getting a full compliment of our offense back yet so there very well may be another grind out game ahead of us. I just don’t really see the Titans being able to out score us. Vegas has us as a 3 point favorite and although it’s not a huge line, I expect to win. 

Thanks for the break down. It honestly sounds like our seasons have unfolded very similarly thus far with the plethora of injuries and relying on the depth and coaching to grind out a few W’s to be sitting at 2-1. I will say though with everything you described, a grind it out close game while the teams are looking to hit their strides and get healthy is exactly the type of game this team wants to be in and is comfortable being in. We were in 11 games decided by 1 score or less last year and came away victorious in 7 of those games.

The story’s been the same so far this year as all 3 of our games have also come down to 1 score or less. Leading up to the Houston and Jacksonville games the narrative was similar to the one you painted. They both were expecting a win with full confidence as well and were also banking on controlling us defensively, and to their credit, they did for the most part. We were just able to come through and make more plays at more critical junctures of the game. If it comes down to a 1 possession game again on Sunday I like our chances. Should be a fun one, especially with it looking like Conklin will be back in the mix. Win or lose I’ll be fine as long as there aren’t anymore injuries (just found out today we lost our reserve tackle, Pamphile, for the year with a torn tricep...literally can’t make this stuff up lol).

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