Philadelphia Eagles coaches game analysis

Originally posted by WINiner:
Wilhoite has stuck out the last 2 weeks. Glad to see him playing so well.

coach told him to stop being scared just go out there and play and he has.

really glad to see it

hopefully the light is on for the defense and they get back to what they should have been doing every week.

and this is without aldon/bowman/dorsey/brock

Well done j and I look forward to the low-level breakdowns by you and thl.

A few points:
1. As to the genius play calls, I'd love to see a breakdown of these in both the running and passing game. Last night in watching the Chief's offense with their depleted personnel, I saw some genius misdirection run designs that got their RB's off tackle and out in space where they could do their thing and a short controlled passing game that utilized everyone and kept a defense completely off balance from sideline to sideline and I don't even know if Alex had many "intermediate passing plays" yet still threw for 250 and 3 TD's. That is genius design to me! In this game, for us, aside from 2 ad lib, broken-play-TD's and a few runs off tackle (which would be a given against the Eagles anyhow given their rank), I didn't see too much by way of design that got me excited at all. I totally agree that CK struggled with accuracy and was Alex Smith-like gun shy at times and I'm sure he was hearing and SEEING footsteps all day d/t the inside pressure and crappy play by the OL but in those cases, what did we do to adjust and make life easier for him (settle him down) and help get the OL back into a rhythm?
2. Not a fan of the constant first down runs up the gut that Philly was clearly waiting for (are we tipping our hands on many of these formations?) and relying so heavily on 50+ yard FG's. Just throw a damn swing pass, check down to the RB's, TE, etc. Try to pick up SOME positive yards. If you get pressure, instruct CK to throw it away and no harm, no foul, otherwise, you might as well just kneel down or kick a FG on 3rd down. If Dawson misses that FG, Philly is in great shape in terms of field position. PS: There was NO wind this game which is insanely lucky and rare there!
3. As to Fangio, this D played lights out AND those TO's are coming more and more and more. This unit is starting to gel, clearly and we don't even have our best players in Aldon, Bowman, Dorsey OR Brock. Think about that for a second! As to the off coverage vs. true physical press? I think most thought that given the personnel Baalke has been bringing in here the past 2 years, it's clear, he wants to plays some physical press...but...we never do...not even one snap to date. I think many see that as a strength of our starters and it's another tool we could use to mix up the QB/OC. Sort of like our complaint on the offensive side of the ball...use all your weapons and put them in their positions of strength. And have some situational awareness too...if Culliver is getting beat a lot playing off coverage, change it up. If he's fine (like everyone was), carry on as normal. I'd just like to see some wrinkles (last second press or start in press and back off)...how about some more exotic off coverage schemes where a CB breaks off their routes like we've seen against us in both the Bears/Philly games for INT's. To me, THAT'S exotic if by design/coaching!

Anyway, just some thoughts. We clearly have a ton to work on but it does feel good to get that W and know we're in striking distance and we're starting to see some upside so early (esp. on the defensive side of the ball)! Cheers...and again, well done!

Originally posted by jonnydel:
One of us will show that play, but, it was a double slant pattern and Philly doubled down on a bet for short routes. They brought heavy pressure while playing the underneath routes in a zone blitz. It's hard to fault him too much on that play because everything happened so fast and you couldn't tell it was a zone until the last second. Still, a pick is a pick is a pick..... But, Philly was gambling that they were gonna get the rush to CK before he had any time for a downfield route.

I'm not so sure it was zone coverage. Check out the other side of the formation and how those DBs were playing. Also, the safety had a lot of depth, like a cover1 safety. I think Kap just telegraphed that throw and the CB was indeed gambling by squatting the short route. Kap got smacked right as he let go of that pass. Feel free to touch on that play later.

Originally posted by jonnydel:
Here's an example of how I thought Boone's play has been subpar. This play really cost us in the game. It was the first drive of the game and ended up pushing us back so far that we got the punt blocked:


Philly shows a heavy blitz look with 6 guys on the LOS. However, we still have enough guys to block, even if they do bring the house. Philly, however, only brings 4 as they drop the 2 outside guys. They still get a guy through unblocked. If you can get to the QB by his last step by only bringing 4 -the other team has no chance in Hades....



Boone needs to be taking the "A" gap guy no matter what, instead, it appears that he though Gore was going to take that guy. Gore, however, has the "b" gap.... Boone slides over as if to help Davis on his guy, or to pickup the DE so that Davis will take the end man of the LOS. However, that guy drops into coverage.


All Boone does is stick his arm out on the guy - never tries to block him. Gore is stuck behind him ready to cover the "B" gap. By the time he see's the guy come through unblocked, it's too late.


You see how there's a guy through unblocked and he's going to be at CK when CK hits his back step. CK tries to evade but ends up losing another couple yard trying.

Boone has to understand where Gore's help is going to be and where he has to be. You cannot give up inside pressure like this on any play, let alone a 3rd down. There's nothing anyone else on the team can do when a guy fails this badly.

This wasn't a blitz, but it seems as though this Oline is having a LOT of trouble with delayed blitzes and stunts into the middle of the Oline. Defenses are starting to test them in this area on critical 3rd downs.

Originally posted by Marvin49:
Totally agree with the bolded. I mentioned that in my "Thoughts" post.

Bethea was all over the field. Pick, forced fumble, stop of McCoy when otherwise Shady scores the go-ahead TD, a few stops for no gain, staying backside to prevent cutback.

He's not the intimidator that Whiner is...but he was simply sound in every aspect.

does not need to intimidate anyone. needs to cover and react. love the way he plays, i remember a run where shady went with the flow action and made his cut to the back side and antoine came from his safety position right down hill to cut all of that nonsense out

Originally posted by thl408:

I'm not so sure it was zone coverage. Check out the other side of the formation and how those DBs were playing. Also, the safety had a lot of depth, like a cover1 safety. I think Kap just telegraphed that throw and the CB was indeed gambling by squatting the short route. Kap got smacked right as he let go of that pass. Feel free to touch on that play later.

It'll be interesting to see it, because the whole tenor if the game flipped on that play IMO. I think we might win in comfortable fashion minus that play. Gotta give credit to Jenkins tho breaking off and stealing that pass.

Here's some of the things we did early in the game to disrupt Philly, these aren't "splash" plays, but solid defense across the board to make a team play 'left-handed'.


Here, we're going to run straight man-coverage with a single safety and the LB's playing "man-zone" coverage. Meaning, whoever's side the back doesn't go out into the pattern will play zone. This makes it really hard for a QB to identify whether we're playing man or zone coverage because our alignment won't change.


You see Foles is trying to read the 3 receiver side of the field. Bethea immediately reads that it's a pass and never bites on the play fake an goes straight for his man. Note: We're not playing a "pattern match" man-coverage on this play like we normally do.


The RB doesn't go out to Willis' side so he drops into a zone, reading the Qb's eyes. You see Bethea fire through the crowd to get to his guy. Normally, a team is going to win when they get this kind of in/out combo against man-coverage. Bethea does a great job of navigating the "wash".


Because Bethea worked his way through, and Willis was there for the hook route, the only throw left for Foles is, what I think is, the toughest throw in football. The deep, over the shoulder, corner route. The TE actually gets away with a major push off of Ward - Ward actually get's knocked off balance because the guy pushes off so hard.


Just trying to blow up the push off


You see Ward off balance from the pushoff, but, it's still incomplete. We made the QB go to his 3rd read on the play and force him to make the toughest throw out there.


Very next play: We're going to run man coverage again - this time with Bethea in a "lurk" position. Again, this is not a "pattern match" coverage but a straight man-coverage.
They're looking to get the ball to Darren Sproles. They're trying to beat our man-coverage, we just play it too well. The idea is that the TE and LB covering the TE will create traffic for the MLB on Sproles to fight through, giving Sproles room to run.


You see how Willis was too fast and got outside the TE before the TE could even get vertical. This allows him to be in position against Sproles(probably had to do with something Willis saw on film that alerted him to this kind of play).


you see how Willis' position on Sproles forces Foles to go to the corner route again. Again, the toughest throw in football because of the great positioning of Wilhiote.


Just pointing out why the defense will give up this kind of throw. Note how far the throw has to travel, perfectly in step with the receiver as the corner route does not allow for any error long or short, over the shoulder of the receiver. There are very very few QB's who could hit this throw consistently.

Originally posted by NCommand:
Well done j and I look forward to the low-level breakdowns by you and thl.

A few points:
1. As to the genius play calls, I'd love to see a breakdown of these in both the running and passing game. Last night in watching the Chief's offense with their depleted personnel, I saw some genius misdirection run designs that got their RB's off tackle and out in space where they could do their thing and a short controlled passing game that utilized everyone and kept a defense completely off balance from sideline to sideline and I don't even know if Alex had many "intermediate passing plays" yet still threw for 250 and 3 TD's. That is genius design to me! In this game, for us, aside from 2 ad lib, broken-play-TD's and a few runs off tackle (which would be a given against the Eagles anyhow given their rank), I didn't see too much by way of design that got me excited at all. I totally agree that CK struggled with accuracy and was Alex Smith-like gun shy at times and I'm sure he was hearing and SEEING footsteps all day d/t the inside pressure and crappy play by the OL but in those cases, what did we do to adjust and make life easier for him (settle him down) and help get the OL back into a rhythm?
2. Not a fan of the constant first down runs up the gut that Philly was clearly waiting for (are we tipping our hands on many of these formations?) and relying so heavily on 50+ yard FG's. Just throw a damn swing pass, check down to the RB's, TE, etc. Try to pick up SOME positive yards. If you get pressure, instruct CK to throw it away and no harm, no foul, otherwise, you might as well just kneel down or kick a FG on 3rd down. If Dawson misses that FG, Philly is in great shape in terms of field position. PS: There was NO wind this game which is insanely lucky and rare there!
3. As to Fangio, this D played lights out AND those TO's are coming more and more and more. This unit is starting to gel, clearly and we don't even have our best players in Aldon, Bowman, Dorsey OR Brock. Think about that for a second! As to the off coverage vs. true physical press? I think most thought that given the personnel Baalke has been bringing in here the past 2 years, it's clear, he wants to plays some physical press...but...we never do...not even one snap to date. I think many see that as a strength of our starters and it's another tool we could use to mix up the QB/OC. Sort of like our complaint on the offensive side of the ball...use all your weapons and put them in their positions of strength. And have some situational awareness too...if Culliver is getting beat a lot playing off coverage, change it up. If he's fine (like everyone was), carry on as normal. I'd just like to see some wrinkles (last second press or start in press and back off)...how about some more exotic off coverage schemes where a CB breaks off their routes like we've seen against us in both the Bears/Philly games for INT's. To me, THAT'S exotic if by design/coaching!

Anyway, just some thoughts. We clearly have a ton to work on but it does feel good to get that W and know we're in striking distance and we're starting to see some upside so early (esp. on the defensive side of the ball)! Cheers...and again, well done!

Well, we do play press - just very, very rarely. The press is best utilized(unless your Seattlehold) to disrupt timing in a zone defense - or if you really, really have a lot of faith that your corners can be in man-coverage without any disguise and win consistently - like Arizona. I don't think we have the corners to do that - especially with Brock out. Cox is playing well, but he's definitely a better zone coverage corner than man-coverage. Also, If you watch Culliver - he does move a lot pre-snap as you suggested with showing a press and then backing off and then sometimes showing a cushion and moving up to press(just the more former than the latter).

Originally posted by jonnydel:
Here's an example of how I thought Boone's play has been subpar. This play really cost us in the game. It was the first drive of the game and ended up pushing us back so far that we got the punt blocked:


Philly shows a heavy blitz look with 6 guys on the LOS. However, we still have enough guys to block, even if they do bring the house. Philly, however, only brings 4 as they drop the 2 outside guys. They still get a guy through unblocked. If you can get to the QB by his last step by only bringing 4 -the other team has no chance in Hades....



Boone needs to be taking the "A" gap guy no matter what, instead, it appears that he though Gore was going to take that guy. Gore, however, has the "b" gap.... Boone slides over as if to help Davis on his guy, or to pickup the DE so that Davis will take the end man of the LOS. However, that guy drops into coverage.


All Boone does is stick his arm out on the guy - never tries to block him. Gore is stuck behind him ready to cover the "B" gap. By the time he see's the guy come through unblocked, it's too late.


You see how there's a guy through unblocked and he's going to be at CK when CK hits his back step. CK tries to evade but ends up losing another couple yard trying.

Boone has to understand where Gore's help is going to be and where he has to be. You cannot give up inside pressure like this on any play, let alone a 3rd down. There's nothing anyone else on the team can do when a guy fails this badly.

Agreed, he's so big and tall he also blocks out Gore (literally) from being in position to pick up the rusher (on either side). I guess if he was to push off with his left arm (chip) and slide OVER to assist Davis, that would make it obvious who to pick up for Gore in that hole...but he ends up half-assing both jobs (weak chip and really, he doesn't help Davis at all and puts Gore is in poor position IMHO).

At this point with 4 games in, are you seeing anybody that needs to be benched/replaced like now?

Originally posted by jonnydel:
Well, we do play press - just very, very rarely. The press is best utilized(unless your Seattlehold) to disrupt timing in a zone defense - or if you really, really have a lot of faith that your corners can be in man-coverage without any disguise and win consistently - like Arizona. I don't think we have the corners to do that - especially with Brock out. Cox is playing well, but he's definitely a better zone coverage corner than man-coverage. Also, If you watch Culliver - he does move a lot pre-snap as you suggested with showing a press and then backing off and then sometimes showing a cushion and moving up to press(just the more former than the latter).

Truth...but I'm talking physical, jamming press (physically disrupting WR routes off the LOS). I see that as a strength for Culliver, Cook, Johnson and as physical as Brock/Cox are, probably them as well. I'm not talking about "press" where we're within 1 or 2 yards ofs the WR and still give them a clean release. I know Cook mentioned this off season that they worked on that a lot...but now, never do it. I just think it would get guys like Culliver et al. "into the game" more esp. if they are getting some completions on him in off coverage. Just a nice wrinkle to give the QB/WR/OC something else to think about...

This is the 23 yard catch by Lloyd. Kap hits his progressions well on this play.

1Q 1st & 10
To Kap's left is a variation of the Sail concept to get a Hi-Low read (zone buster).
PHI: Cover3 Pattern Match


Kap is seen looking to his left towards the high-lo read. The blue defender (hook/curl) will pattern match VD. Blue understands that no one else will be threatening his zone, so he will vacate it in order to stay with VD.


These are Kap's progressions. He has the high-lo read along the left sideline. On the backside, he has Lloyd running a deep In route.


No one is open on the Sail concept so Kap looks backside. Because Kap initially looked to his left, that pulls the safety in the middle of the field (orange) over to the left, allowing Lloyd to work his route.


5 step drop with the hitch steps to take him through his progressions. When he has time, he cycles through his progressions.

Originally posted by jreff22:
At this point with 4 games in, are you seeing anybody that needs to be benched/replaced like now?

That's a really good question!

Here's the pick from CK - props to Thl, he did correct me on it being man-coverage. Case in point - I don't see everything lol....


Philly is going to run a cover 1 "lurk" with the MLB playing a "lurking" middle zone. We're going to run an in/out pattern up top and a double slant on the bottom.


The slot corner does a good job of staying in a "trail technique" against Boldin as he knows he's got help to the inside with the LB. Loyd does a good job of creating separation at the bottom.


The only thing is that the slot corner slows up on his coverage because he knows we're looking for a shallow route and he's got inside help.

Here you see the corner break off of his coverage on Boldin. Loyd had the separation for a first down and CK is getting hit right as he throws - so he couldn't hold the ball any longer.


The corner is in the perfect spot for the pick.
Remember, the guys on the other team are getting paid a lot of money too. Sometimes, players make plays and it's not something you can count on. You can't count on a guy completely abandoning his responsibility like this. I know this happened to Alex Smith a couple years ago when he threw a pick against the Giants. The "mic'd up" from that game showed Smith go to the sideline and Harbaugh asked, "did you guess on the coverage??" and Smith said, "no, he guessed". Meaning, the defender broke off his coverage and guessed on the slant route. That's what happened here. This guy "guessed" where the ball was going. - It happens to every QB from time to time. The Saints did it to Peyton Manning when they won their super bowl....

Originally posted by jreff22:
At this point with 4 games in, are you seeing anybody that needs to be benched/replaced like now?

That is a great question. Right now - If Boone keeps playing the way he has - I'd say Boone..... Unfortunately. He's had more negative plays than positive plays and by this point in the season - hold out or not, he should be better. The only problem is, I don't think Looney is that much of an upgrade - even with Boone struggling. Looney plays ok - not great, most of the time IMO. But, there are others who might think more of him, I just personally do not.

Other than that - I don't really see anyone "bench" worthy.