I just want to make it that I am not an advocate for their more generic split zone that hits like a zone run for the RB and targets B/A gaps. They don’t call it often. But when they do it’s wasted snaps. These various C gap versions and the bluff/RPO/PA/RO off them should be a staple in the O now.

I think it's entirely possible the Ragles repeat while playing like shit, and a lot of people will be unable to feel actual joy about it. Like how Brazilians get about the Seleção. I love us so much.

Just watched most of Nolan Smith's snaps. It seems he is playing in a way to take stress off his left triceps. Not great. I hope he gets closer to 100%. It's nice that we have the depth we currently do.

Ojomo is one of those guys who is going to find a way to maximize all of his physical abilities on the field. That Guard got sat down. The pressure forces Goff closer to JD's big and tall mitts.

Vic has been leaning on cov8 more often lately with Q on the boundary. 1-2xs per game he throws in a 3rd down cov6 to keep opponent guessing. It fails here and you see why 8 is better. Reed is too deep as 1/2 saf for over route from his side. Other safety can't poach because he has his own vertical.

Baun maybe knows that he can play his run gap more aggressively since they are gapped out (1 defender in/near box for each gap) with Mukuba inching into the box. I'm not sure if they are in man or 3 match. TFL

We missed Nolan vs the run. Decker prob a little stronger to grapple with than most LTs he faces. So, he grabs cloth and plays his secondary gap from behind the line of scrimmage.

JD dominates the Center again in the run game. When he gets these 1 on 1's, he's more likely to make the tackle now at the lighter weight. He controls the Center, peaks into the interior gap, then discards him and makes the tackle in the secondary gap outside.

I chronicled ad nauseam how Vic's condensed fronts went from a major strength to a major weakness vs the run in the 1st half of the season. Still the same. He has used them less lately (0 snaps vs GB). Only 2 snaps vs Detroit, both go poorly. His motion rules in condensed are inadequate:

Rare mint front sighting: Tite front (4i, 0 or 1, 4i) with a wide edge, 2 LBs, and a nickel. JC lets the fellas know where the run is going and seems to switch gaps with Baun. To me, this is one of the better ways to get all three LBs on the field with DeJean. Instead of Hunt, could use Jihaad.

Lamb+Pick together on Q's side=1/4s w poach safety Lamb+Pick together on Adoree side=cov8 w poach Lamb+Pick opposite sides man or 1/4s bracket whichever of two is on Adoree side cover 8 or 6 put 1/2 safety to Adoree 1-2 surprise tampa 1-2 surprise cover 0 1-2 bonus FZ creepers 1-2 2 hi man

Other than one long TD, the Eagles survived a decent amount of Adoree in single hi or quarters vs Lions. In Dallas Fangio should probably not take that same approach. They have 2 pretty legit outside WRs who gave Adoree matchup problems in week 1. #FlyEaglesFly

Off the top of my head at least 4 different versions of inside zone and 1-2 versions of outsize zone produced roughly 10 yards. If they simply replaced most of those zone runs with duo the run game can be very good. I'm not sure that the holdup is. The results are clear. #FlyEagleFly

Vs Lions on Ground Fake pull naked toss 2x10 ypc= 20 Counter 9x6 ypc= 54 QB run 2x11.5 ypc= 23 C gap split zone/bluff 5x7.6 ypc= 38 Pin/pull 1x2 ypc= 2 137 yards = gap run+QB design (helped win the game!!) 8 yds QB scramble 12 yards several mid to bad zone runs+tush push #FlyEaglesFly

Everyone, please take a breath and don't overreact to professional gossipers masquerading as sports media. Hurts is not Wentz 2.0 We are 8-2 and again have a strong chance at Super Bowl contention. Beat Dak in Dallas!!! Shut up the cockroaches. #FlyEaglesFly

I have to stop posting and clean the apartment. I will leave you for now with an early game 3rd+long cover 8 with Quinyon on the boundary, just like they spammed with success previous game. So much better than cover 6 vs pass at NFL level. And Q on boundary means Adoree gets safety help. Win-win.

Early game coverage bust becomes serendipity, as Goff tries to get it to the guy left wide open, but has to throw over Jordan Davis.

Were those reps of Duo a few games ago vs the Giants real? Did I have a fever dream? Where did it go? I will give all of you a break from me lamenting about this for a month or so, since this probably won't change. #FlyEaglesFly

One good thing they did last night that has worked all season...I don't understand why they don't tap into it routinely...they turn split zone into a gap run to the C gap area where there is either a kickout or a TE double team. On this one they bluff the C gap split zone block and run outside.

A short thread of solid Tyler Steen blocks in the run game. He was overall solid in the run game in this one. Steen+Fred were washing DT's down the line of scrimmage all game long. It's partly why they had some success with counter.

Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter have combined for 10 passes defended this season and two blocked field goals. #FlyEaglesFly

Him: “This team is gonna be the death of me.” Her: “Go Birds!” ~ despite having the best record in the NFC, these two are every Eagles fan

I don't want to hear another word from AJ Brown other than "Glad we won" until he shows on the field that he is still an elite player.

Just one year ago some were saying Goff was as good or better than Hurts. What sport were they watching? Another QB bites the dust. #FlyEaglesFly

First my son’s Championship game in soccer. He plays a big role on offense so it’s fun to watch. Then going to the Linc for a potentially important NFC standings game vs a dangerous offense. Hope it’s not too windy on field. If it is, that gives Detroit a bit of an advantage. #FlyEaglesFly

Issue#1 Vic uses all 3 LBs in base. 5 ypc vs Green Bay. Jihaad weakens edge vs run. Issue#2 Vic used ZERO condensed fronts vs GB due to his 3x1 problem Solution Fix 3x1 New base D: -condensed instead of 5 down odd -Jihaad overhang instead of edge -Coop to strong safety instead of CB Thread:

Let’s Go ‘Nova. Their QB can air it out a bit it seems. Ranked 7th in FCS. Son got free tickets through a program at school where he spends time with some of the players. It’s nice to see my son get into football a little. It’s getting me a lil emotional.

Hopefully this is a non-issue the rest of the season, as Dickerson does look less hobbled lately. But I sure hope Toth being successful at backup C does not mean the Eagles still consider him the top backup LG. There are other options on the roster. #FlyEaglesFly

Hang these views of Hurts to Smitty in the Louvre 🖼 #Eagles #gobirds #flyeaglesfly

In honor of the never-ending stream of Eagles doubters here are my bold predictions for this week: -Eagles hang 40+ on Detroit - AJ 6 catches, 92 yds, 2 TDs - Devonta 8 catches, 112 yds - Goedert 4 catches, 44 yds, TD - Saquon 18 carries, 95 yds - Shipley 3 carries, 11 yds, TD - Hurts 22/28, 278

A fan of his pro prospects above consensus since his year at OK, to me Hurts is a top 5 QB, and I'm glad he's ours. That said, like most he is not without flaws. It would be nice if he is prepared to throw to the opposite side of the field of his primary read more often. Volume up

This was their repeat inside run play throughout the game and it worked well. It is a run targeting the strong side A gap. They ran it successfully to both sides of the line. In this case, they are running behind Dickerson. It's a simple run that suits our guys and should not go away. Volume up

They either need to adjust how the left side of the line of scrimmage is blocking this by returning to the way they did it last year, or they need to go back to the drawing board. We have too much talent on the OLine for these results. Volume up.

My goodness the play calling for the run game is soooooo meh. I just went through it a few times. It didn't look quite as bad as it has at earlier times this year. But it still looked pretty bad. I don't understand how they see what works and then decide to discard it so often 1-2 weeks later.

Eagles should get AJ the ball more. But he also has to accept he is WR2 now. They scored 31+28 in two Ws. He posted cryptic after both because he wasn’t getting targets. Actions speak louder than words. He wants to eat. This is prob his last year as an Eagle.

Phillips looks better vs both the pass and the run than Josh Sweat. If they stay healthy, our DLine will be better than the one that played in the Super Bowl. #FlyEaglesFly

LOL

By putting Q on the boundary, Eagles were successfully able to make CB2 (Adoree) more of a zone CB in cover 2. They played cover 2 to Adoree's side, and often man or 1/4s to Quinyon's side. This gives: 1-Adoree more help 2-safety on Adoree's side more help from the weak safety #FlyEaglesFly

Volume up. When I speak of how Vic needs to make CB2 more of a zone CB, putting Q on the boundary so that saf help can roll to Adoree's side is one way to do this. This snap is 1/4s w/poach safety. But often it was cover8 instead with 1/2 safety over top of Adoree and weak side poach safety.

A changeup from our usual DE as outside contain guy. It is a technique called TGOG (two gap, one gap). The badass who can win his matchup (DE vs TE) starts in D but ends up defending C (two gap). The LB (one gap) slow plays the C and late gap exchanges to the D if DE is effective. Volume up

Oh my. A squirrel just went by me that had half the body of another creature hanging out of its mouth. I think the other half was probably inside the squirrel. I didn’t know squirrels eat each other. Yikes

Eagles opened the game w/3 snaps of cover 8 -6 yd completion due to missed tackle -11 yd sack -incomplete They were able to do this by putting Quinyon on the weak side of the formation no matter which WR was aligned there. @denizselman33.bsky.social cover 8 > cover 6 #FlyEaglesFly

Cover 8 wFangio is a strange and cool coverage. Watch Blank and Coop both decide mid-snap how they are going to cover the #2 wr at the bottom of the screen based on what the #2 te at the top of the screen does with his route. Once Coop sees it's not a vertical, he releases his guy to Blank.

Maybe we should not sign him for season two. But he may save us this one.

Throwing in the caveats that I haven't seen the all-22 yet and Green Bay was unlikely to light it up due to injuries, that's the closest our D has been to last year's dominance. And that's a good thing. The Eagles came into Lambeau knowing they could take a conservative approach on offense and win.

I didn’t see every play. Did the Eagles take any deep shots in the half? When Green Bay gets into their split field coverage, it’s possible to get their corners in a bind deep by occupying the safeties with other routes.

Nakobe’s creepers up the middle were missed at times this season. Big play there.

It’s gonna be so nice to see Nolan and BG back out there again!! #FlyEaglesFly

Talked to Brett Toth about Veterans Day and his wacky NFL journey. He’s in line for another start at center. The 29-year-old Army captain has come a long way: www.inquirer.com/eagles/brett...