Eagles Season Likely Over, Fall to Packers on MNF

         

Eagles CB Carroll looking lost getting beat by Packers WR Adams for TD.  Image Courtesy: CSNPhilly.com

          The Philadelphia Eagles lost to the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night 27-13 in depressing fashion.  The Eagles with a record of 5-5 came into the game as 3 point favorites at home against the struggling Packers, who just couldn't seem to get anything going.  And then they rolled in to Lincoln Financial Field and things changed.  All week the running narrative was, besides how lost Eagles WR Nelson Agholor is, the Eagles should win this game against the Packers.  Now if you go to my twitter (@PhillySportsSrc) and listen to the podcast that I make a weekly appearance on (#TheSmallBallLineup), I predicted the Eagles would win this game in a close one, 28-24, but deep down in my heart of hearts I had a bad, bad, bad feeling the Packers and their All-Pro QB Aaron Rodgers having their backs against the wall that they would get their groove back against the Birds.  The Packers weren't only struggling on offense, but their defense had given up at least 31 points in their last 4 games...the Eagles put up 13 POINTS! 13 POINTS! 13 POINTS!  I'm beside myself right now so its just easier to bullet proof sentences with key points below, then I'm going to rip Eagles Head Coach Doug Pederson...nothing new, I know!

• Eagles first drive of the game was the only legitimately good drive of the game.  It was an 11 Play, 81 yard drive with the Eagles only TD of the game coming in on a QB Carson Wentz rushing TD.  
• WR Dorial Green-Beckham had 4 catches for 58 yards. (Finished with 6/82)

• As I mentioned above, Eagles WR Nelson Agholor was listed as a healthy Inactive and Practice Squad WR Paul Turner took his place...Didn't matter as he only had 23 Snaps and 0 targets.

• Rookie RB Wendell Smallwood who took the place of injured RB Ryan Mathews only had 9 carries for 37 yards.  The Eagles win when they run the ball well and they didn't even try.

• Eagles QB Carson Wentz besides his rushing TD (ran 4 times for 33 yards), his QB stat line read 24/36 for 254 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT with a QBR of 75.5

• Packers QB Aaron Rodgers was the first QB to throw for 300+ yards against the Eagles Defense as he finished with a stat line of 30/39 for 313 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT with a QBR of 116.7.  

• Packers WR Davante Adams torched CB's Nolan Carroll and Leodis McKelvin for 2 receiving touchdowns on 5 catches for 113 yards.

• To add insult to injury the Eagles Defense did not sack QB Aaron Rodgers once and he was only hit once, which was the Eagles DT Fletcher Cox's Roughing the Passer Penalty.

• The Eagles Defense allowed the Packers to convert 10 of 14 3rd Down Conversions where on the flip side the Eagles could only convert 5 of 11 3rd Down Conversions. 

• Eagles Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz for sure did not have his best game by; failing to establish a blitz with more than his front 4, press the corners against their receivers-gave them too much room to work with, and have terrible cornerback matchups-never made adjustments.

          The Eagles have now fallen to 5-6 and are pretty much out of playoff contention.  They needed this game against the Packers and they came up empty handed.  I originally predicted a 6-10 record in which you would see this team grow over the season, but after key wins against the Steelers, Vikings, and Falcons, add some bad losses in between, I have now seen this team regress in all facets of the game. In my very, very, very, very, very unpopular opinion I do not believe that Head Coach Doug Pederson should be the coach of this team following the Dallas Cowboys game on New Years day.  BUT I do understand it is unreasonable to fire a coach after one season (bad for team) but 3 years of an elementary-leveled play caller could set not only the franchise as a whole back but more importantly IMO the Franchise Quarterback back (Carson Wentz).  As I type this it's 12:22 AM just about an hour after the game and I don't feel like going to bed worked up so I will elaborate on the many issues this team faces and more in my season wrap-up, which may have multiple pieces and may be arriving before the official seasons end. 

Good Night Philadelphia, sorry it wasn't one for the Eagles.

Sleeping in Seattle, Eagles Lose to Seahawks

SEA QB R. Wilson scoring...on a receiving TD. Image: CSNPhilly.com

      The Eagles traveled West to play the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday and came home losers.  That's right, surprise, surprise!  They lost to the Seahawks 26-15 in a game where the score does not tell the story as it could've been worse.  Last week on The SmallBall Lineup (weekly podcast with Keith Smallwood) I predicted a very close 24-21 loss on the , because I thought this team was going to get it together respectably after a solid win against the Falcons.  Anyway they came out flat and the stats are irrelevant for the most part after a game like this.  What I am going to do this week is just keep it simple, make points and observations on this past week and for the team moving forward.

• Surprisingly, this was the first game of the season that the Eagles were completely out played in all facets of the game and for the most part were never really in it.

• Eagles Head Coach Doug Pederson continues to prove how clueless he can be.  His press conferences don't help him in the slightest as his poor explanations of his decisions to me depict how he calls the game on the field.  For example, He acknowledges in today's press conference that he knows that Rookie QB Carson Wentz should not be throwing the ball 45 times in Seattle, yet he had him throw the ball 45 times when the score wasn't out of hand yet.  Also, Doug needs to be careful because he tends to subtly throw Wentz under the bus as a rookie, yet many of the other players who make mistakes never are mentioned to the media.  In my opinion Wentz is the guy that needs to be tended to because he is one of the few on the team right now who will be the face of the franchise.

• The Eagles defensive as a whole did not play their best game for sure, but the defensive line was suckered all day by a sub-par/make-shift offensive line.  Going into the game the narrative was to contain Russell Wilson and the defensive line continued to over-pursue giving space for Wilson to slide up into the pocket.  Unfortunately this was not one of Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz's best games coaching as they were not creative in their blitzing schemes.

•  Eagles QB Carson Wentz has been regressing over the past couple of weeks and he does deserve a slight bit of blame but he is getting an unfortunate amount of flack with close to 0 help around him.  The guy has nothing to work with but at the same time he is making mistakes.  Some of this to me is the Head Coach not play calling as he was in the beginning of season and the other part is Wentz wanting to win by pressing.  The bright side of this all is that he can experience the lows now and if/when they can get him help he'll be able to capitalize on his mistakes in the future.

• Seahawks Quarterback Russell Wilson would've essentially been the best wide receiver on the Eagles on Sunday(when it mattered), scoring a 15 yard trick play Touchdown pass from Seahawks WR Doug Baldwin.  Seattle lived on the big plays Sunday as TE Jimmy Graham also caught a TD on a 35 yard broken play (awful missed attempt at a tackle by Safety Jaylen Watkins) while Rookie RB C.J. Prosise busted out a 72 yard TD scamper as the defense wiffed on getting the back down (big missed assignment by Eagles CB Jalen Mills).  Bottom line Seattle took advantage of missed opportunities by Philadelphia and Philadelphia hurt themselves on offense by taking away big plays via penalties and dropped passes.

• Speaking of Receiving...Eagles 2015 first round pick WR Nelson Agholor has been nothing short of a disappointment and Sunday may have been a breaking point.  Not only did Agholor drop another wide open strike from Carson Wentz, but his Illegal Formation penalty that negated a 57 yard screen pass TD to Zach Ertz in the 2nd quarter may have changed the tide for the Eagles.  He has admitted to his head not being in it and that he is pressing but I can not feel bad for him because he has been given every opportunity since he has arrived and has not been able to catch more than 3 passes in a game.  To cut him would cost around 7 million dollars and that seems absolutely crazy but it is something that has to AT LEAST be considered because he has been the epitome of how bad the wide outs have been here the past two seasons.

• Garbage time for the Eagles as I mentioned made this game look salvageable for this team.  WR Dorial Green-Beckham came up BIG in Garbage time.  Please people watch the game before referring to the box score so you know what you are talking about because just the box score is so misleading.  I still believe there is something there in talent and size with Green-Beckham but he has to do it when it counts, not just when they are down 19 in the 4th quarter.

• A couple bits of good news for this team moving forward.
• The Eagles are 1-5 on the road and 4-0 at home, so there are only 2 more road games and 4 more home games which favors the Eagles going forward, MAYBE keeping them in the playoff hunt if they can take advantage of the home field advantage.
• The Seahawks, in my opinion, are the best all-around team they have played this season and will play this season.

Eagles Beat Falcons, But Will The Real Doug P Please Stand Up?

 

Ryan Mathews celebrates after 1 of his 2 TDs on the day against Atlanta.  Image courtesy: WTOP.com

       Going into Sunday afternoon, the visiting Atlanta Falcons had the #1 scoring offense in the NFL averaging about 34 points a game, then they played the Philadelphia Eagles' stout defense and were held to a season low of 15 Pts as well as season lows in many other offensive categories.  The Eagles won the NFC battle by a score of 24-15 keeping their playoff hopes alive for another week improving their record to 5-4.  The title of this article may sound misleading as I still believe Sunday was a great win but down below in my observations from Sunday's game I will explain why I am not sure which Head Coach for this team Doug Pederson is, as well as the remedy to winning unfavorable match-ups and a rejuvenated home field advantage in South Philly that's been long overdue.

 Key Stats from Sunday's Game

• Eagles RB Ryan Mathews ran for 109 yards on 19 carries scoring twice, while Rookie RB Wendell Smallwood ran for 80 yards on 13 carries as they helped to contribute to the ground games total of 208 yards.
• QB Carson Wentz has cooled down since the beginning of the season as he goes a second game in a row without a TD pass but was 25/36 for 231 yards and 0 INTs.
• RB Darren Sproles, WR Jordan Matthews, and TE Zach Ertz combined for 20 receptions for 185 yards.
• The Eagles won the Time of Possession battle 38:10-21:50, their largest margin of the season.
• Exton Product and Falcons QB Matt Ryan had a very pedestrian day for himself on 18/33 passing for 267 yards 1 TD and 1 INT.
• If this next phrase is possible Falcons WR Julio Jones had a quite day catching 10 balls for 135 yards but did not find the endzone.

Observations Going Forward 

• WILL THE REAL DOUG PEDERSON PLEASE STAND UP? I REPEAT WILL THE REAL DOUG PEDERSON PLEASE STAND UP? WE'RE GONNA HAVE A PROBLEM HERE...I have made it abundantly clear time and time again that I am not the biggest fan of Eagles Head Coach Doug Pederson and do not believe he was or will ever be the best candidate for the job of Eagles Head Coach.  Why do I feel this way you may ask?  First, The Eagles were in a time of transition when they made the hire; Chip Kelly the power-hungry false-messiah was sent packing after ignorantly regressing by the season, so the front office hired the complete opposite, a yes man with no college or NFL head coaching experience who wasn't asked to interview with any other team that had a vacancy.  Second, as offensive coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs last year, Pederson took responsibility for the awful handling of the lack of using timeouts in their playoff loss to the New England Patriots, which in the past couple of weeks we are starting to see poor clock timeout management.  Finally, this is more of an assumption, based on his press conferences and interviews he comes off very vanilla and clueless at times and those shouldn't be the first two adjectives that come to mind when I think of a head coach.  Anyway, Pederson turned my head when the Eagles started off 3-0, I was catching myself paying compliments towards the head coach.  He was coaching conventionally; working with the talent he had, rotated his running backs well, had the team motivated to play, didn't make time management mistakes.  Then, after an early Week 4 Bye the team came out flat from the week off with two straight ugly losses as the team in 6 of the 8 combined quarters looked lost and clueless committing over 25 penalties for over 200 yards which is accredited to bad coaching.  Next, they turned it around against an undefeated Vikings team at the time in a defensive juggernaut followed by two more losses, but this time stemming directly from the coach, filled with indecision and time management issues, such as; drawing up terrible plays on 4th down, not rotating running backs well, not knowing when to call timeouts, taking points off the board by not taking Field Goals when you need points, making bad challenges, out-coaching himself, completely going against what was successful earlier in season, not establishing a conventional game plan, and finally not establishing an identity as a football team (mostly on offense, the defense has theirs).  Finally, we arrive at Sunday and Doug goes back to how he coached in the beginning of the season.  The Eagles won the time of possession battle and established a running game against the Falcons keeping their offense off the field not allowing them to get a rhythm, **but Pederson did almost go for a terrible 4th down but then came to his senses, called a timeout and kicked the FG when it was needed.**  This is all well and good as I hope he continues to coach similarly to Sunday, but until he establishes this teams identity and enforces it, I cannot say that I have faith in him as our HC and even though he is a rookie coach he in my opinion has made TOO MANY POP-WARNER LEVEL MISTAKES.  Who shows up in Seattle on Sunday Jekyll or Hyde?

• How this team can win unfavorable matchups.  Win the time of possession battle by running the ball effectively with your more powerful running backs.  It sounds so simple and it actually is but you must have the pieces to do it.  Surprisingly, the Eagles have the offensive line and running backs to do it against most teams, but eventually if they face better defenses they will need receivers to open up the field, which they do not have at this moment.  Even though the Eagles throughout the entire season have had one of the best defenses in the league, they cannot be effective if they are out on the field for too long, especially if they are playing an above average offense.  Let's take the teams two best wins, against the Steelers and the Falcons for example.  Both teams had excellent offenses filled with above average  QBs, RBs, and WRs (esp. WR because the Eagles Corner backs are one of the worst groups in the league).  If you go back and look over the game you could see that the Eagles offense's game-plan was to keep the opposing teams offense off the field by running the ball effectively and eating up the clock.

•  Home-Field Advantage is back in Philadelphia. I actually had the privilege of being in attendance on Sunday (thanks to mama dukes for winning me the tickets) as I was a part of the 69,000+ that cheered the Eagles to victory.  As I was observing the game and taking my mental notes I was zoning in on how loud the crowd really got, now I wasn't able to re-watch the game on television but I would have to believe the stadium was close to the loudest it has been in the past 3 years or so.  It felt like the place was shaking, especially towards the end of the game when big defensive stands were needed to disrupt the talented offense of Atlanta and when Ryan Mathews dove into the endzone for his second TD of the game taking the lead back again for good!  HIGHLY INTELLIGENT STATISTICAL ANALYSIS INCOMING: I'll leave you with this...The Eagles are 1-4 on the road this season, BUT they are 4-0 at home, which means they play better at home and that can almost directly correlate to an advantage over the visiting team, especially when the fans are causing havoc and pandemonium. 

Pederson's Blunders Lead to Eagles Loss vs Giants

Eagles final offensive play sealing win for Giants. Image Courtesy: Beaumont Enterprise

•  I'm not going to get into the player dynamics too much about Sunday's 28-23 Loss to the New York Giants becuase the game in general was ugly but I'll highlight some interesting stats...I guess.
• QB Carson Wentz started off the game by throwing 2 bad early interceptions but after that he settled in a little bit and had a decent yardage day...27/47 (way too many passes), 364 yards, 0 TDs and 2 INTs.
• TE Zach Ertz had his best game of the season hauling in 8 catches for 97 yards, while WR Jordan Matthews caught 6 balls for 88 yards.
• Giants WR Odell Beckham Jr. had only 4 catches for 46 yards...AND 2 TDs, making Eagles CB Leodis McKelvin look absolutely foolish on his first one as Beckham won on an untouched 26 yard slant route early in the game and Giants QB Eli Manning roasted the Eagles for 4 TDs on 336 yards passing.

• The narrative is getting so old and tired....AND IT'S ONLY WEEK 9, but Eagles Rookie Head Coach Doug Pederson (Andy 2.0) has done it again!  Pederson lost a winnable game on Sunday against the New York Giants at the score of 28-23 by making "Pop-Warner" level mistakes when it came to coaching this game.  In a nutshell he lost this game by; taking close to sure-fire points off of the table throughout the game by going for 4th downs when Field Goals would've sufficed (with one of the hottest Kickers in the NFL this year), going for those 4th down attempts contrary to FG's with horrific play calls, and making terrible judgements when going for challenges and using timeouts.  Unfortunately, the recurring trend is that this team is able to hang around towards the end of these games but can't close when it matters because the coach can not put the team in the best position to win.  I can now say that in the 4 losses the Eagles have suffered so far this season he has been the reason they have lost each game and with each game it is progressively more and more clear that he is to blame.  Don't get me wrong the players need to go out on the field and perform and they aren't holding up their half of the bargain either but the coach has a great deal to do with that.  I'm not saying that the Jeffery Lurie, Howie Roseman, and the Eagles organization needs to fire Doug...yet, but since the 3-0 start this team had, which seems to be forever ago, Pederson has instilled the fears I first had when it became official that he would be the leading man for this football team.  

• As I think this coming Sunday's game against the Atlanta Falcons at home (where the Eagles are 3-0 this season) is another winnable game, Pederson has to coach this game a total 180 of the last 4 or 5 weeks because if not it could get extremely ugly.  Atlanta has the number one scoring offense in the NFL at about 34 Points per game and their defense is much improved as the Head Coaching of former Seattle Seahawks Defensive Coordinator is starting to translate on the field.  I would give Pederson slack if the talent on the field was under performing way more than are at this moment in time but he is the one who is holding this team back from glowing and the Falcons could be poised to exploit the Eagles way more than they have already been with how good they have been playing this year.

Eagles Fumble Away a Victory in Dallas

Wendell Smallwood 4th Quarter Fumble. Image Courtesy: NBC10.com

• The Philadelphia Eagles would be sitting pretty at 5-2 and tied for 1st place in the NFC East if last nights game was 56 minutes and 47 seconds long, but that is not real life and just like last week this fan-base can not have nice things!  There are a couple of resorts to place the blame on for the L, but without a doubt the biggest reason far and away the Eagles lost to the Dallas Cowboys last night was that quote, unquote "very special guy"!  I'm not calling for his job but Head Coach Doug Pederson let a 10 point lead in the fourth quarter slip away as the Cowboys were able to drive down the field on the first possession in overtime and score a touchdown to a wide open Jason Witten, Tight End of the Cowboys.   Final score of the game was Dallas 29 Eagles 23 in Overtime, but if this game were coached properly the Eagles would've won by double digits and I will explain.

• Doug Pederson's Coaching Follies 

• Not Stretching The Field - In the NFL there is a theory that if you throw the ball down the field you can keep the defense honest and make them vulnerable by opening up the field and giving yourself more space.  Well, Eagles Rookie QB Carson Wentz never threw the ball for more than 20 yards down the field the entire game.  Yet WR Josh Huff threw a deep pass to WR Jordan Matthews on a trick play that was almost completed for a Touchdown, but that play should've never happened and I will get to that in my next point on Pederson's play calling.  Wentz was 32/43 passing yet he threw for 202 yards, an average of 6.3 yards per completion, making him captain check-down.  Doug must have read Les Bonehead's...I mean Les Bowen's piece on not throwing the ball down the field which is the opposite of what he should be doing.  I have been saying for weeks that Eagles should take shots down the field with WR Dorial Green-Beckham, who at 6'5 runs a 4.5 40, and the aforementioned Josh Huff, who has track star speed similar to former Eagle Desean Jackson, just to keep defenses on their toes.  Green-Beckham and Huff don't have the best hands, but it does not matter if it is an incomplete pass, they just need to let the Cowboys defense knows that they could go over the top of them and that will open more of the field for the offense to work with.

• Play Calling/Game Strategy Late in Game - As I have made abundantly clear above not stretching the field falls in this category, but I have 3 specific examples of decisions that cost the game.  
• 1.) With 13:05 remaining in the 4th Quarter as the Eagles offense started on their own 41 yard line with a 23-13 lead.  Rookie RB Wendell Small saw his first action of the game and he fumbled the ball in the backfield of the first play and Dallas recovered the ball and would go on to kick a Field Goal to cut the Eagles lead from 10 to 7.  I have been a big component of getting Smallwood carries but you can't leave a rookie cold and throw him in, in late in a big game to run down the clock.  RB Darren Sproles had been surprisingly effective as the lead back all game, at that point you have to stick to what you know.  This is now the 3rd time in 4 weeks an Eagles Running back has fumbled the ball in situations where they were trying to seal a game and twice it has cost them W's.
• 2.) Dallas resorted to trick plays twice in this game because their backs were against the wall and they were pressing.  One was a fake punt run in which they were successful and the other was a screen pass to Cowboys WR Cole Beasley, who overthrew an open Terrance Williams.  The Eagles were driving down the field, converting a couple first downs with 8 minutes left in the game with the lead and they ruined their rhythm by pulling out the same trick play the Cowboys did.  Here I am referring to the play I mentioned above, the Huff to Matthews TD attempt.  Even though the play almost worked it showed a sign of weakness in Pederson's play calling as he wanted to do what the Cowboys did instead of being conventional and moving the ball the way they had been successful most of the game.
• 3.) The Eagles defense played well most of the night, holding one of the best offenses in check and towards the end of regulation the Eagles got a big momentum swing when they could've used it most and didn't capitalize.  On the Cowboys last possession of the game that began with 38 seconds left the Eagles forced and incomplete pass followed by a huge 10 yard sack of Cowboys Rookie QB Dak Prescott with 33 seconds left.  The issues here is the Eagles still had all of their timeouts and could've have forced to cowboys to run a couple more plays deep in their own side of the field maybe forcing them to make a mistake or have to punt to one of the best punt returners in the game Darren Sproles who was on fire most of the game.  Instead the Cowboys did not attempt another play as they just let the time expire and head into overtime giving the Cowboys a potential momentum swing by receiving the ball to start OT, eventually winning the game on that possession.

• To end on a positive note and give a little bit of hope past the glaring negatives of last nights Eagles loss there were a couple of positives that should be noted that could benefit this team in the future. 
• Defense/Jim Schwartz play calling - The Eagles defense was able to contain the best running back in the league, Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliot, and the Cowboys offense as a whole in general.  When it mattered most Eagles Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz dialed up blitzes with his defensive backs and trust the corners in 1-on-1 coverage against a decent set of Cowboys wide receivers, including Dez Bryant.
• Darren Sproles - Even though I am not a huge believer in giving Eagles RB Darren Sproles lead back carries he took advantage of the opportunity running for 86 yards on 15 carries averaging 5.7 YPC.
• Carson Wentz - As I will mention again, Wentz was 32/43 passing for 202 yards with 1 Touchdown and 0 interceptions.  It is not a beautiful stat line but there is a slight silver lining to more than the box score.  6 of the 11 incompletions for Wentz were dropped by his receivers, who as a whole unit have been sub-par at best and Wentz could only throw the ball as much as the play calling of his coaches offered so he made the most of what little freedom he was given and was mistake free.
• Lack of Penalties - The Eagles have been one of the worst teams in football with penalties but they were mostly a non-factor in the loss as they only had 5 penalties for 40 yards as to where the Cowboys had 11 penalties for 84 yards.
• Offensive Line Play - The Eagles O-Line virtually committed no penalties, which they had been accustom to doing in the previous weeks and gave Carson time in the pocket....to throw the ball 5 yards (Womp-Womp.)  Thanks Doug!

• The Eagles now fall to 4-3 and travel north to the Meadowlands in New Jersey to play a MUST-WIN game against the New York Giants on Sunday afternoon.  Do the Eagles make a move to acquire a Wide Receiver by Tuesday's trade deadline?  More to come...

  

What To Take From Sixers Season Opener Against Thunder

Sixers Players Joel Embiid, Dario Saric, Sergio Rodriguez and Jerami Grant/Nik Stauskas

The Philadelphia 76ers opened their season and essentially the 2nd Stage of "The Process" last night at home against the Oklahoma City Thunder.  Unfortunately, there are two national headlines regarding last nights game and neither of them involve the team.  Singer Sevyn Streeter was to sing National Anthem but was pulled due to breaching of contract wearing a "We Matter" shirt and a local Urologist sitting court side Double-birded and screamed "F@#$ You" unnecessarily to Thunder Super Star Russell Westbrook after a fantastic play on his part.  Blah, Blah, Blah, I don't care about any of that so that's all you'll get on that from me.  The Sixers came out strong taking a commanding lead against the favored Thunder and were able to slightly maintain a slight lead throughout most of the game until the final minutes.  In the end Westbrook and the Thunder were able to capture the lead in the last two minutes and won the game 103-97, but that's not the basis of this column.  Below I'll display what I took away from last night's tough, but mostly positive loss to the Thunder

• JOEL "THE PROCESS" EMBIID was absolutely stellar in his long-awaited Sixers debut! - Where do I begin with Joel Embiid?  Last night was Embiid's first official regular season game with the Sixers, after being drafted by the team in 2014, and boy was it worth the wait!  Embiid said before the game that he was nervous playing in his first regular season game, but to me it didn't show.  He fed off of a packed Wells Fargo Center and the crowd fed off of him as well.  Embiid brought an energy on the court that has been missing in Philly for a while and regardless of where the Sixers are in the standings throughout the season he has made this team a must watch.  Embiid was very focused as well as very entertaining throughout the game, which to me is a quality that is hard to find and gives him the potential to be a star in this league.  Now Head Coach Brett Brown and the Sixers staff have made it very clear that Embiid will be on a minutes restriction this season as the team wants to make sure Embiid's foot heals as it should.  As the season progresses and if Embiid does not show any wear or tear in health, his minutes per game will go up, but last night he played just about 22 minutes when he was slated to play 20 and it was the best 22 minutes of basketball this city has seen from one player since Hall of Famer Allen Iverson!  Embiid had a monster game for being on a minutes restriction(22 Minutes) with a stat line of: 20 PTS (6/16 FG) (7/8 FT) (1/3 3PFG) 7 REB, and 2 Blocks (SWAT, SWAT!)...Embiid also had 4 TO (turnovers) but that number has actually from the beginning of the preseason.  The debut of Embiid finally gave solace to all of the "Processers" who never gave up on Sam Hinkie's vision, even after he was essentially forced out by the team as Embiid has taken on the moniker in self-appointing himself as "The Process" and he has done us and Hinkie so very proud in just one game! 

• Sergio Rodriguez took the game into his hands when he needed to. - "El Chacho", which translates to "The dude" in Spanish, is a great way to describe Sergio Rodriguez's play in his Sixers debut.  Rodriguez had what I would call an exciting yet shaky preseason for the Sixers as he turned over the ball a good amount but last night was a different story!  El Chacho's stat line read: 12 PTS (5/11 FG) (2/6 3PFG), 4 REB, 9 AST, and 0 Turnovers.  I was very impressed with Rodriguez last night as he played solid Point Guard last night, cleaned up some of his mistakes from the preseason, and lead this young team when they needed to look to someone to control the game.  He may not have games like last night where he didn't turn the ball over but he should continue to be a strong facilitator with this young band of talent as we await Ben Simmons' Sixers debut!

• Can Nik Stauskas actually play?!?!?! - I was a very big believer in Nik Stauskas before he came into the league as he was a sharp 3-point shooting Canadian who was a big contributor for the University of Michigan Wolverines.  In the 2014 draft, same draft as Embiid and Saric, the Kings took "Sauce Castillo" 8th overall and traded him away to the Sixers after a disappointing rookie year.  Ever since he got here he had been a major disappointment, not being able to connect on his many 3-point attempts but we saw a much different Sauce last night as he put up 13 PTS on 5/6 FG and was a difference maker on the floor for the Sixers.  Now it is only one game and I am not going to get ahead of myself but he looked much more aggressive as he put the ball on the floor and drove to the basket for most of his points.  We'll see how he plays, but if he can actually be a player for this team it will be a breath of fresh air for the kid who was once regarded as a great shooter in college!

• Richaun Holmes could take Nerlens Noel's place on this team - Richaun Holmes in flashes throughout his short career has shown that he can bring a different energy off the bench for this squad in their crowded front court.  In limited time last night Holmes scored 6 PTS and filled Noel's spot in defensive presence by grabbing 3 REB and denying the Thunder with 3 Blocks.  I have always admired Noel's defensive presence for this team and had always preferred him to Jahlil Okafor in regards to the crowded front court but with Free Agency looming for Noel it might be beneficial to ship Noel and bring in Holmes more often than not to replace Noel's defensive presence.

• "The Homie" Dario Saric(Rookie) and 2nd-year Big Man Jahlil Okafor did not have great games but don't worry! - Dario Saric had an excellent preseason for the most part for the Sixers but in last nights game I felt he pressed too much in forcing up some shots at times when he shouldn't have but he did show the hustle and aggressiveness that will translate to being a great 6th man in this league and for this team eventually!  Saric can be a decent scorer in this league but is more of an all-around player who does everything else well and it showed in his stat line as he shot just 2/12 FG for 5 pts BUT had 7 REB and 2 AST.  Give it time, he will work on his clutch 3-point shooting as he relaxes and catches up to the speed of the NBA game.  Now Jahlil Okafor, who I am not the biggest fan of did play decent for someone coming off of knee surgery as he scored 8 PTS on 4/10 shooting while grabbing 3 REB and getting 1 Block.  I think Okafor as he gets his knee fully back under him will play much better offensively but I think he needs to work on his rebounding and defense or as I mentioned above Richaun Holmes could eat up some more of his big man minutes.

•  Ben Simmons spoke for the first time last night, after having surgery on his foot.  1st Overall pick in the 2016 NBA, Ben Simmons was supposed to make his debut alongside Embiid and the Sixers last night, but that dream fell short due to a foot injury on the last day of training camp that should sideline him at least 3 months.  Simmons was in attendance on the bench for the squad showing his support last night and before the game spoke with the media on his current state.  There were rumors after Simmons' injury that his agent wanted to hold him out of the season entirely even though he would be able to at least play the second half of the season when healed, but as Simmons sat at the podium before last nights tip-off he stated he would be on the court as soon as he's told by his physicians that he can go out there and play.  We are used to injuries on this team and we are used to delays so we will see what happens, so I cannot say this was 100% confirmed by Simmons last night even though he has the best intentions, but all we can do as a fan base is hope to see Simmons with these other young stars ASAP so we can see what the future holds because we've been patiently waiting long enough!

#TrustTheProcess 

Eagles Down Vikings, Yet We Can't Have Nice Things!

WR/KR Josh Huff Flipping into the Endzone at conclusion of game-changing 98 Yard Kickoff Return TD.  Image Courtesy of CSNPhilly.com

First Off, if you know me and even if you don't...DON'T SLEEP ON JOSH HUFF!!!

That is all.

Anyway...

• On Sunday, The Philadelphia Eagles beat the formerly undefeated Minnesota Vikings 21-10 as the Birds defensive unit shined, ruining Former Eagles now Minnesota Viking Quarterback Sam Bradford's return to his old nest...So cliche, right?  Anyway (again), the 1st quarter itself saw 5 turnovers between the two teams(at one point 3 straight plays changing possession) and 8 total for the game(4 each).  Eagles Rookie Quarterback Carson Wentz did not look great as he had a sub-par game going 16-28 for 138 yards, 1 TD and 2 INTs, but I will discuss more about Carson below.  For the most part the Eagles offense will rise and fall based on the play of Carson Wentz as they also did not have a great day, but in total the unit did just enough to win the game.  On the other side of the ball the Eagles defense maybe had their best overall game causing 4 turnovers as well as sacking former Eagles Quarterback Sam Bradford 6 times.  

• Notes To Take Away From Game
• WR Dorial Green-Beckham caught his first Touchdown of the season in the Redzone on a bullet from Carson Wentz.  Even though DGB only caught 2 passes on Sunday he has been getting more opportunities, which to me is inspiring.  He has definitely made bone-head plays as he may not be the smartest player on the field but my unpopular opinion and hope is that by the end of the season the Eagles coaches are able to teach him into be a solid wide receiver with raw talent and athleticism.
• WR/KR Josh Huff returned a 98 Yard Kickoff return touchdown swinging the momentum in the Eagles favor as they never looked back the rest of the game.  In general Special Teams may not get as much credit as they deserve at times but good teams usually have good special teams and this is the 2nd week in a row the Eagles have taken a kick return to the house.  Also in regards to Huff, this new coaching staff has finally learned how to use Huff on offense as he caught 4 passes for 39 yards with most of those plays creating first downs.  Huff is not your prototypical wide receiver, as was the case when he played his college ball in Oregon, he was used as a Running Back/Wide Receiver hybrid, look for more of this play design as the season goes on and the team needs to get creative on offense.
• The Eagles Defense lit up the stat sheet on Sunday completely disrupting Vikings QB Sam Bradford, which was the biggest reason for the Birds win.  LB Jordan Hicks had quite the bounce-back game as he recorded 11 Tackles(8 Solo) 2 Tackles For Loss (1 Sack) and 2 Pass Deflections.  FS Rodney McLeod may have had an even better game than Hicks, making 7 Solo Tackles (1 Sack), grabbing his 3rd interception of the season as well forcing one of Bradford's 2 lost fumbles.  I can keep going down the list but one more defender that stood out on Sunday was DE Brandon Graham who piled on the pressure for Bradford as he recorded as sack and hit Bradford a team-high 6 times, as Bradford played under duress all afternoon in South Philadelphia.
• One glaringly negative aspect of Sunday's game for the Eagles was RB Ryan Mathews' play.  He rushed the ball 14 times for 56 yards which isn't terrible, but he fumbled the ball for the 2nd time in 3 weeks when the Eagles were trying to close out a game, running out the clock.  Mathews had a couple good runs on the afternoon creating a first down or two, but his "fumblitis" in closing out games may have the coaching staff looking to their younger backs such as rookie RB Wendell Smallwood in the near future as trust has been lost with Mathews.

• Here is why the city of Philadelphia Can't Have Nice Things: Carson Wentz
• The growing narrative in Philly has been that the Eagles rookie signal caller needs to lose his gun-slinger tendencies because he is costing the Eagles football games.  Local writers such as Jeff McLane, Zach Berman, and Les Bowen have written pieces saying his play is ill-advised and detrimental to the team.  To me there are many, many, many, many, many things wrong with this narrative, so I will go though them.  Don't get me wrong, Wentz's play of the past 3 weeks has not been as good as it was the first three weeks of the season, but that is normal, did we really expect Wentz to stay perfect?  Has he sailed balls over receivers heads at times?  Has he made decisions that may not have been the best possible? Sure he has, but the level of play has been better and he has learn to become resilient and has corrected some mistakes from early on in the season.
• But before I get into those reasons, I want to establish how frustrated I am with people who can not see the forest through the trees.  We live in a society in which you can have information on anything in seconds by way of a smartphone, which is great, but it debilitates seeing something for what it is in full because we need one answer right now!  This is why I suggest more people read my blogs because there is no agenda on my end and that I will be as objective as I possibly can be.
• Reasons Why Carson Should Continue To Play His Way:
• Average to Sub-par O-Line: RT Lane Johnson serving 10-game suspension for PED's(stupidity), C Jason Kelce has been a shell of himself for 2 seasons now and is too small to play as a "West Coast Offense" offensive lineman.  The line in general is not giving Wentz enough time in pocket to survey the field and make accurate passes.  Wentz is one of the best QB's in the league against the blitz, just imagine if he got used to having time in the pocket.
• Lack of Skill Position Talent: Pretty self explanatory.  WR Jordan Matthews is Wentz's best target yet is wildly inconsistent.  TE Zach Ertz has not been the player that we thought we were getting when being drafted.  This team is plagued with drops, which is an issue that still needs to be worked on.  I believe the Eagles should throw bukku money at Chicago Bears WR Alshon Jeffrey this upcoming off-season as he is a big-time consistent play-making receiver, when he has a QB that has a good head on his shoulders and can throw the ball farther than 20 yards.
• He's a Rookie: Before Sam Bradford was traded to the Minnesota Vikings, Wentz was listed as the 3rd QB on the Eagles depth chart who was coming off of an injury and wasn't even going to dress this season.  A rookie needs to make mistakes so he can learn how to avoid them in the future.
• Very High Football I.Q. and willingness to learn: In the beginning of the season when he was doing well he was doing one thing very poorly and has since corrected this issue.  The issue was putting himself in harms way, running around carelessly on the field.  These same writers who are saying he needs to be more cautious are not saying how he has not put himself in harms way the past three games.  The offensive coaches told him he needs to improve in that area of his game and so far he has not put himself in harms way.  Me personally I have not had any heart palpitations over the past couple of weeks!!!
• Teams have more game tape on Wentz: Let's be honest, teams are going to learn a QB's tendencies when watching more and more game tape.  Oh! And the Eagles on Sunday were playing the best defense in the NFL on Sunday against the Vikings...COME ON!
•  Most Successful QB's in NFL take chances: The last time I checked, most of the most successful QB's in the NFL made their way in the league by taking chances, doing things that most other QB's could not do. 
• Wentz Emulated his game after Brett Favre: Former NFL QB Brett Favre, who spent most of his illustrious Hall of Fame career as the signal-caller of the Green Bay Packers, was best known for his Gun-slinger attitude on the football field.  So I ask you, Brett Favre was one of the best to ever do it, wouldn't you want the second-coming of him?  I know I sure as hell do!  Also, The Eagles organization took a chance in trading up to draft Wentz because of the way he played in college, Gun-slinging.  Why would the Eagles take the Gun-slinger out of a guy who was successful being one?
• Wentz is the future of this team: We came into this season not expecting much and so far the team and Wentz has been out-performing expectations.  I want to see this team do well this year, but I know this team getting to the Super Bowl and winning is near impossible.  With that being said, I want to see Wentz grow the best way he can as his track record leading to the NFL speaks to himself and I want to see the Eagles build the rest of this team up to match the play and talent of Carson Wentz.  So if his Gun-slinger mentality brings mistakes this year its not the end of the world because he will fix them and he will grow into a Franchise NFL Quarterback leading this team into many victories in the future!