Trotter to play first and second downs?
I'm not sure if Jeremiah Trotter was just being confident or if he was shedding light on the Eagles plans for him when he said this...
Trotter said that he will play on first and second downs.
"Listen, I don't think they'd bring me back to play special teams," said Trotter, who signed a one-year deal Tuesday. "Fortunately, I played in this system for a lot of years so that'll help, but you still have to try and get things down to where you're not thinking and reacting so it's going to take some time."
If that were the case, that would essentially means he's the starter right? I'm skeptical about that. At least for the next couple weeks I don't see much changing. Trotter could come in on obvious run downs, but if he's in there on most first and second downs I could see teams really trying to exploit him... just like the last time he was here.
We'll see.... Frankly, I thought Omar Gaither did a great job against the Chiefs.
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I’m happy to see the AxeMan cometh but I remain confused. I thought that so far our linebacking corps has been doing well. If anything their only weakness seems to be in covering the tight end, something which I don’t think Trotter would really help.
Let the beasting begin.
by TransplantedFan on Sep 30, 2009 10:13 AM EDT reply actions
They brought him in so they can rotate him into the game. Some games he may start, others he won’t. I thought Gaither played well last week, too, but it was against the Chiefs who are a lot worse a team that I expected. Now was the best time to bring it Trot because he will need some time to get some legs under him. With the bye week and then two inferior opponents, hopefully he will have enought time to get some reps and gel with his teammates.
My opinion is that the primary reason they brought him in is to counter the strong, big-back-attacks that the Giants and Boys have. Jacobs and Barber could potentially beat-down the smaller Gaither over the course of the game, but will have a lot harder time running through Trot. Rotating the two can only help preserve their bodies for the length of the season and hopefully a nice long playoff run, as well.
by Scotty Laf on Sep 30, 2009 10:25 AM EDT reply actions 2 recs
rec'd
Good, clean, analysis. You’ll never make it as a sports reporter- no wild ass speculation, no unfounded conclusions, and most importantly, no anonymous second hand sources.
I bleed green and I piss silver and blue
also, several team sources have confirmed my prediction that
McD is planning to use all 4 LBs as down lineman and Vick play as the lone MLB on most 3rd and long plays
RIP JJ & HK
Let the future judge Michael Vick
Trotters specialty
I think Trotters best aspect as a linebacker was just totally blowing up the center on blitzes and reeking havoc in the backfield.
I really see him being a complimentary player that provides a different look for the defense, kind of like Mike Vick in the offense.
Hmm, and I was thinking we brought him in to compete with Hanson for the nickel CB job.
About 10 minutes ago, I was pondering my own existence. Then I decided that it didn't matter.
Or Hobbs as cornerback...
"Right now Winston Justice is the guy...until that person gets back out there"
That might work against New York because they really don’t want to put all the pressure on Eli to pass them to victory, and Boss isn’t a huge threat. But against Romo and Witten and to a lesser extent Campbell and Cooley? Trot at this point is essentially Antonio Pierce, assuming Pierce could actually tackle, and we’ve all greatly enjoyed watching Pierce flail desperately behind Westbrook and Celek. I love Trot, but this is a pass-first league and if he can’t cover at least a little, he’s going to get killed.
I think we brought in Trot to help with the run since Omar isn’t good against it and yes Omar did have a good game against them but the Chiefs are the 2nd or 3rd worst team in the league. So if he has a really good week of practice I wouldn’t be surprised if he started against Tampa since they are a good running team.
fightlockdown.com
Tampa had like 7 yards of rushing against the Giants.
Astra Inclinant, Non Necessitant
by EagleGreeninMD on Sep 30, 2009 11:32 AM EDT up reply actions
Gaither’s issue is he over pursues and gets lost in traffic, hopefully Trot can help him with this. I’d be shocked to see him get significant playing time but I didn’t see his workout.
Jim Johnson 1941-2009
"The 0-2 pitch, swing and a miss! STRUCK HIM OUT! The Philadelphia Phillies are 2008 World Champions of baseball! And let the city celebrate! " - Harry Kalas 1936-2009
Whodie
You are one of the few rational ones here.
My thoughts exactly. None of us saw his workout. Towards the end of his career, Trot was sportin’ a few extra pounds. If he shed some weight and cleaned out his knee, whose to say he can’t be good in coverage?
Eagles fans are not known for the ‘wait and see’ aspect of being a fan, and at this point everything is conjecture.
And for those of you who are well schooled fans . . .
There was a time when Trotter was a SHUTDOWN coverage LBer . . . albeit many years ago, just saying the guy has the athleticism.
Special Teams
I’m looking forward to seeing him blow some people up on Special Teams. Honestly, I think that’s where he can make the biggest contribution to this team. Remember when he came back in ’04? He was a total beast playing on ST before he got his starting role back.
Welcome back, Trot! Can’t wait to see the old 54 out there on Sundays again. (Tracy White has got to be giving up 54, right?)
Trotter got his #54 back by making a deal with White.
Felix is better than Brian. You can call me FIBTB.
by Route36 on Sep 30, 2009 12:28 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
just as predicted...
(see Trotter post) Trotter is not the type that will run his mouth and say bullshit. He said his workout went great and he got signed right after. Gaither is a good backup at best. Carolina’s first drive, Deangelo Williams ran all over the D and scored a td. Both Mikell and Gaither over pursued inside and got burned for the td outside. Carolina lost because of Delhomme’s poor play and the defense looked better than they were. The Saints game, freakin’ Mike bell and Reggie Bush looked like probowl runningbacks. Reggie scored a td on an inside handoff barely being touched. Chiefs are horrible, lets not even go there. Eagles are 15th in rush defense so far and Carolina wasn’t even a factor. That’s bad and i dont think Trotter will be any worse but better than Gaither vs the run.
Felix is better than Brian. You can call me FIBTB.
by Route36 on Sep 30, 2009 12:26 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
ok
number one our lbs are not good .. and number 2 gaither is not the problem .. gaither will move to the outside to replace gocong on most downs..u heard it here first
by jack is better than asante on Sep 30, 2009 12:27 PM EDT reply actions
Agree.
The linebackers with Bradley were ok. Bradley is a potential pro-bowler, but this LB core has me pining for Dhani Jones, if you can believe it.
"Right now Winston Justice is the guy...until that person gets back out there"
fuck that
i dont ever wanna see that air guitar again
by jack is better than asante on Sep 30, 2009 12:35 PM EDT up reply actions
But you gotta admit...
…Dhani Tackles the Globe is fascinating television
"Right now Winston Justice is the guy...until that person gets back out there"
Believe it or not, I enjoy that show. I grew up in Europe and have family in England and Germany, so watyching some of the sports culture from over there was cool. When he fought Mut Thai, that trainer whooped his ass, if anything I bet all that training made him more fit.
I love having Trotter back. Since releasing Jeff, it’s not like he can make us any worse, as long as we keep the best player on the field.
Astra Inclinant, Non Necessitant
by EagleGreeninMD on Sep 30, 2009 12:57 PM EDT up reply actions
Dhani Tackles the Globe
I’ve never seen Dhani tackle anything.
Jim Johnson 1941-2009
"The 0-2 pitch, swing and a miss! STRUCK HIM OUT! The Philadelphia Phillies are 2008 World Champions of baseball! And let the city celebrate! " - Harry Kalas 1936-2009
by Whodie126 on Sep 30, 2009 2:56 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Do you even watch this team?
Gaither is totally unsuitable to play SAM backer. Maybe in the Nickel he’s ok, but Gocong’s primary responsibility is to set the edge on running plays so that other linebackers (read Jordan and Gaither) can make the tackle.
by cavortingEagle on Sep 30, 2009 6:06 PM EDT up reply actions
Brookover & Lawlor
Brookover with a really good article on the responsibilities of a SAM in the NFL today – I think Jason linked to it a while back.
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/20090910_Gocong_grows_into_linebacker_s_role.html
And here’s another write up by Tommy Lawlor about why the Eagles went out to get Trot, the gist: Gaither doesn’t shed blockers well enough to play Mike for the Eagles.
http://eaglesblitz.blogspot.com/2009/09/tuesday-thoughts_29.html
The Eagles D really needs a Mike backer who can both play the Pass and the Run. That’s where the loss of Bradley really hurts, he could do both. Now we’ve got a run situation backer and a pass situation backer. Sweet!
by cavortingEagle on Sep 30, 2009 6:28 PM EDT up reply actions
uh no
gaither would be much better suided playing sam over the mike .. hes built for that ..not a mlb
by jack is better than asante on Sep 30, 2009 10:15 PM EDT up reply actions
JIBTA I want you to be the GM for the Cowboys
by cavortingEagle on Oct 1, 2009 12:09 AM EDT up reply actions
hahaa
i would win a superbowl .. so u dont want that .. TO would be there still .. they would pound it with barber and jones .. and i would of drafted my qb of the future too .. not that horrible draft the cowboys had ..
by jack is better than asante on Oct 1, 2009 2:53 AM EDT up reply actions
2002 redux . . .
This is essentially EXACTLY what happened in 2002 when the Eagles weren’t satisfied their MLB situation in camp and signed a 33-year old Kirkland in July to provide some more depth/potentially start in place of the forever mediocre Gardner.
Kirkland wasn’t their first chance (they lost out on Hardy Nickerson) but Gardner was so mediocre yet again that Kirkland wound up being the starter by default on 1st/2nd down much of the season and into the playoffs. He had a ton of tackles but the smarter offensive coordinators were able to exploit Kirkland’s complete lack of mobility.
I can see exactly what happened in 2002 with Kirkland/Gardner happening with Trotter/Gaither this year. I was just surprised since Kirkland came out of a season in Seattle where he had been “ok” while Trotter has been out of football for 2+ years now.
Love Trotter but I don’t see this playing out well with Trotter though. Really, Gocong has improved in coverage but he is still just a mediocre player overall. The only guy the Eagles have at LB that can occasionally make a play is Jordan and he is still learning on the job.
And the answer is....Levon Kirkland
I was just having a discussion with my future ex-son-in-law and for the life of me I couldn’t remember that name of the MLB thje Eagles signed in 2002. You know, the one who looked like 10 lbs of sausage in a 5 lb sack. His pass coverage was a train wreck, and like MG said, smart coordinators exploited that.
Am I remembering Kirkland’s performance correctly, or am I being wrongly humorously nostalgic? I remember it seemed like every game Kirkland was getting beat by some HB, TE, or other cement-footed running back.
Here’s hoping Trot performs multiple times better than Kirkland.
"Sometimes, children, fear is an appropriate response"
Addressed in camp
This should have been addressed in camp as soon as Bradley went down and instead if has festered for nearly 2 months/forced them to really grasp at straws by signing Trotter.
Hopefully Trotter proves me wrong and is a capable defender on 1st/2nd and short-yard situations including goal-line situations. I don’t doubt his leadership and that is the one thing when people bring up Dawkins that I thought the Eagles would miss the most.
Funny thing is I thought Dawkins would be a liability in the Denver defensive scheme and supposedly he has played at a pretty high level so far including being adequate in coverage although he has not been placed in 1-on-1 much. Harris on the other hand has largely been clueless in coverage and the Eagles have really had to play him deep as a result to protect him/make sure no one gets behind him.

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