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Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links …
Bold predictions for all 32 NFL teams in 2024 – PFF
Philadelphia Eagles: SAQUON BARKLEY LEADS THE LEAGUE IN RUSHING. Newly acquired running back Saquon Barkley‘s current career high for rushing yards in a single season is 1,312, which we saw him amass back in 2022. Now playing behind the Eagles’ offensive line, I not only expect him to have his best season yet but I am predicting he will lead the league in rushing. Christian McCaffrey led the league in 2023 with 1,459, which is realistic for Barkley to eclipse if he can stay healthy. Philadelphia’s offensive line has earned PFF overall grades above 80.0 in each of the past three seasons.
Eagles rebound and contend for NFC supremacy. After an impressive 2022 campaign and painful loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII, the Philadelphia Eagles never managed to recapture the magic in 2023. They opened the year 10-1, but things never felt quite right. Late in the season, Nick Sirianni’s squad collapsed. Those shortcomings have lit a fire under the Eagles’ young core players on both sides of the ball. The offseason hiring of Kellen Moore as offensive coordinator, plus the free-agent signing of former New York Giants rival Saquon Barkley, will help quarterback Jalen Hurts and his unit rebound in impressive fashion. Meanwhile, new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio should have a similar impact on a unit anchored by talented young linemen Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter and rookie defensive backs Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean. The Birds will reclaim their perch atop the NFC East and return to Super Bowl contention.
NFL team previews 2024: Predictions, rankings, depth charts – ESPN+
Bold prediction for 2024: Jalen Carter will record 10-plus sacks, which is well beyond what my sack projections say. Last season the top three defensive tackles in “pass rush get off” — the time to cross the line of scrimmage when pass rushing — were Chris Jones, Carter and Aaron Donald, in that order. Carter has elite potential.
Vic Fangio Defense 101: Part 4 – Runs Fits and Pressure Looks – BGN
Fangio’s most common ‘blitz’ is known as a fire zone. There are many different ways of running a fire zone blitz, but the ‘standard fire zone’ will have three deep and three under coverage. This means three defenders are responsible for a deep 1⁄3 and three defenders are responsible for an underneath 1⁄3. Here’s a nice diagram from Shawn Syed. You can see that although it’s three deep, the safety may carry a receiver vertically because of the match rules. Remember, four verticals should never outnumber Fangio’s 3 deep defenders.
Eagles vs. Packers: Five matchups to watch – PhillyVoice
5) Jalen Hurts (and Kellen Moore) vs. Packers DC Jeff Hafley. In the Eagles’ regular season finale last season the Eagles faced Wink Martindale and the horrid New York Giants, and there was no mystery to what the Giants were going to try to do to the Eagles defensively. They were going to blitz Jalen Hurts, early and often. The Eagles were wholly unprepared for it, as Hurts looked to extend plays by running out of the pocket and away from blitzes, trying to buy time for vertical routes to develop down the field before eventually throwing the ball away. As usual, there were no hot routes or other mechanisms to allow Hurts to beat the blitz by getting the ball out quickly. Against Todd Bowles and the Bucs in the playoffs, once again it was crystal clear that the Eagles were going to see a lot of blitzes, and sure enough, they did, with similarly bad results. A week ago, The Athletic’s Mike Sando published his yearly (excellent) “QB Tiers” article, and unsurprisingly Hurts’ ability to handle the blitz was broached. ”The word is out there, if you run zero blitz against Hurts, or show zero and back everyone out, he will panic,” one coach said. “That has to change. They lose Jason Kelce, who handled the protections, basically did everything, and you bring in a coordinator who likes to drop back. It will be interesting.” As noted above, the Packers’ defensive coordinator last year was Joe Barry. He was replaced this offseason by Jeff Hafley, formerly the head coach at Boston College. Hafley has a reputation for employing an exotic blitz package, though he doesn’t necessarily blitz in bulk. Heading into 2024, guess what! Defensive coordinators are going to blitz Hurts and the Eagles’ offense until they prove that they can consistently beat it, and that’ll very likely begin Week 1 against the Packers.
The offensive coordinator excels at keeping the elements of the offense “simple without being simplistic,” Covey explained. In the big picture, the plays are still intricate, but Moore boils the read progression down to something of a hypothesis. If the defense is showing a particular coverage or pressure look, then the offense narrows in on its precise answer and eliminates the other options. “It’s like letting Jalen [Hurts] have an easy pattern of thought, easier reads, still complicated plays and stuff, but you simplify the read progression,” Covey said. “If they do this thing, you cancel out every other thought, because you know exactly what we’re gonna do. “Even as a receiver, you have a read progression. OK, if I see this guy here, I know exactly what they’re doing. If he’s not, then this.” Moore has labeled each play with the read progression. This helps the receivers with their timing and allows them to understand where the ball is likely going depending on the coverage. By doing this, Covey said that Moore is putting an emphasis on ensuring that the quarterback and the receivers are on the same page, more so than they have been in the past. His ability to break it all down in an easy-to-digest manner is the key, according to Covey.
The surprising thing Mekhi Becton is most proud of this summer – NBCSP
Over the last couple months, Mekhi Becton learned a new position and won a starting job on the Eagles’ offensive line. But that’s not what he’s most proud of this summer. “Most proud of?” Becton said on Sunday, taking a moment to ponder the question. “I feel like I’m most proud of me having fun again. I’m starting to have fun again. I’m having a smile on my face every day. I feel like that’s what I’m most proud about. “I dug myself out of that dark hole that I was in previous years. I feel like that’s what I’m most proud of.” Becton, 25, was a first-round pick by the Jets back in 2020 and had a really promising rookie season. But then he suffered injuries and played in just one total game in 2021 and 2022. He returned last season as a starter for the Jets at tackle but then they let him walk in free agency. And it took until after the draft for the Eagles to sign him to a one-year, prove-it deal. But since Becton has been in Philly, he’s been in a much better place mentally.
Inside the Eagles’ travel plans for Brazil – PE.com
The planning has been in the works for many months, and now the moment has arrived. The Eagles are days away from an international flight to São Paulo, Brazil and everything is in order. All the equipment has been sent – thousands of pounds of it. All of the passports are approved. The lodging is set, the transportation mapped out … every bit of detail has been addressed. This has been a full-team effort, says Dan Ryan, the Eagles’ director of team travel and logistics. And it has been an exercise in how to tackle a huge project one step at a time, with the team’s success as the objective at every turn. “The first site visits were to get an idea of the infrastructure of the area and what we can do within that and in visits after that, we wanted to customize the experience as best we could to fit our needs,” Ryan said. “We essentially made the schedule for that game – our hotel, the logistics of the traffic in Brazil – to have a plan going in. You look at buses and transportation options, and you look at hotels and everything we need.”
Injury Update: Packers RB MarShawn Lloyd returns to practice – Acme Packing Company
When the Green Bay Packers returned to practice on Sunday, a fresh face joined them on Nitschke Field: rookie running back MarShawn Lloyd. Lloyd has been missing from action since he went down with a hamstring injury in the preseason opener, but he is back just before Week 1 of the regular season — an injury timeline that matches up with the typical projection for a Grade 1 hamstring strain.
Odds are against the Dallas Cowboys repeating as NFC East Champions in 2024 – Blogging The Boys
This brings us back to the point up top. Do I believe that the 2005 Giants have anything to do with the 2024 Cowboys? Are the 2010 Eagles in any way tied to the 2024 Commanders? Obviously the answers here are no, but how can we say that this means nothing when it has been 20 years? At most this is all a continued run of weird coincidences impacted by a variety of things that fill every NFL season and we shouldn’t overreact to it in any sort of serious way, but again, it is a strange thing and makes betting on the Cowboys to win the division this year (even if the offseason hadn’t been frustrating) feel a bit scary.
How young is the New York Giants’ roster? This young – Big Blue View
At an averaged of 25.70 years of age, the Giants are the fourth-youngest roster in the NFL. Their starting lineup, averaging 25.50 years of age, is the second-youngest behind the Packers (25.49 years of age). That might be skewed ever so slightly when the 28-year-old Adoree’ Jackson is officially added to the roster, but not by much.
Film Session: Noah Brown adds more physical toughness to the WR room – Hogs Haven
On the latest Trap or Dive film session, I broke down what Noah Brown brings to the Washington Commanders. Brown primarily wins on full-speed routes due to his good acceleration, foot speed, and burst to reach the 2nd and 3rd levels quickly. Brown has very good physical toughness that makes him a reliable target in contested situations; he has trustworthy hands and is willing to put his body on the line for a catch. He has good mental toughness that allows him the catch point to win in critical situations. In the run game he can be utilized as a perimeter blocker on the frontside and backside of run plays. Brown can also be used as a motion WR to the H-back look as a chip or sift blocker in the run game or pass pro. The biggest risk with Brown is his injury history, but as a receiver, he should not be used on first-level change-of-direction routes due to his inability to get out of breaks quickly. He also struggles at the line of scrimmage against press and should be used off the line against Press/Jam-dominant defenses. Brown would need to continue developing his release plan and hand usage.
James Madison’s Alonza Barnett III might earn an Oscar nomination for an all-time flop – SB Nation
The 97th Academy Awards are scheduled for March 2, 2025, and will honor the best films and performances from 2024. On January 17, 2025, the nominees in each category will be announced. James Madison quarterback Alonza Barnett III should be among those nominees in the “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” category. Barnett threw a pair of touchdown passes to lead the Dukes to a 30-7 road win over Charlotte to open their 2024 season. But his most memorable moment from Saturday night’s game might this flop, a moment that might go down as the funniest of the entire college football season. Following a play early in the fourth quarter the passer got into things with Charlotte defensive lineman Dre Butler. At the end of the exchange, Barnett was shoved by Butler, leading to this all-time flop.
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