Musings on the Eagles Offense, TEs

by birds'n'raiders on Oct 31, 2011 12:38 PM EDT

So, who else lols whenever you see a pundit on ESPN say that "the Eagles don't like to run the ball. McCoy isn't good up the middle, they want to air it out." Dilfer on Sportscenter today made me spit my coffee. I just find it funny that they don't want to believe that we are far and away the best running team in the NFL (20 yards/game more than the #2 team, the Oakland Raiders on the back of Darren McFadden).
What's even more interesting, that d-jackfan10 pointed out in another thread, is that Andy may be the highest Yards Per Carry coach for runningbacks of all time. I mean. Holy shit guys. We are the best running team in the game and our star halfback has 28 and 30 carries in his last two outings. Talk about changing of Big Red's tide.

Pictured: A rumbler, tumbler type of TE. Not a smooth, fluid type.

-To business: I'm intrigued by our TEs right now. What people seem to think is that Celek has been in to block a lot this year. Wrong. He has gone out on more pass patterns per game than any other year. In fact, after his breakout year in 09, the trend started. Last year, he had more plays without "chipping" than the previous, and for most of this year, way, waaay more than last.
The trend broke last night. As Andy said in the presser, "Brent [at least] chipped on every single play." Huh. How about that. His numbers are directly correlated to the amount of time he does blocking. If anything, this is a restatement of things we know. He is not an elite athlete - he is no Vernon Davis or Jimmy Graham. Celek is at his best when utilized like a true TE. He was used that way last night, and we saw what that brought to the West Coast Offense.

You guys might remember the days of people saying, "Donovan McNabb runs his offense best when he gets the ball to the TE." It isn't just 5, it is the system. We run a more wide open version of the system with more spread elements, but the system is at its core the West Coast Offense.

-As for our other budding TE, Clay Harbor, all I can say is 'wow.' That guy has surprised me. He is quietly one of the better (if not one of the best) blocking TEs in the league right now. Not bad for a guy who played WR in college. Physically speaking, he brings more to the table as a receiver than Brent. Smoother athlete, faster (pre-draft 40-yard-dash time of 4.58 vs. Brent's 4.79), and stronger (30 reps of 225 lbs [also, the most for any tight end in the 2010 draft] vs. Brent's 19).

Clay's ability to wham block has been one of the reasons we've run so well. The dude delivers a hell of a pop and can handle DEs/OLBs one-on-one rather well. For a particularly good example, check him out here on the left side of the formation taking in Brian Orakpo one-on-one in pass pro for 4 secondson a boot to his side.

Meanwhile, he is a fluid athlete, up there with the great L.J. Smith (whose number he hilariously sports).

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/20111031_Paul_Domowitch__Eagles__Celek_catches_on_against_Cowboys.html

Domo points out here that we've been using two tight end sets more than ever to the aid of the run game, but I think we are only beginning to see what these two guys are capable of doing. I contend that Harbor in motion or even from a three point stance is our best big bodied WR. (Fun fact, his vertical jump is 40 goddamned inches. Wow.) We have yet to see what the emergence of a stronger run game and these two TEs will amount to, but I have a feeling that it will be fun as hell to watch.

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Good FP

If I were to pick nits, our run offense numbers are a bit skewed due to the fact that they include Vick’s numbers, and per Chris and Al from last night, those rush yards have all been had on plays that were designed to be pass plays. So, even though Vick ended up running the ball, those yards are a result of a pass play that 1-the receivers couldn’t get open and he had to run or 2- the defense was so concerned with defending the pass that they gave Vick too much room to run or 3- the pass rush got to him before he could throw the ball but Vick somehow escaped and ended up running on the play.

But still, for a AR run team to lead the league in rushing is awesome.

by The Reddgie on Oct 31, 2011 1:00 PM EDT reply actions

I was more toying around with the fall of the numbers against the “Andy never runs the ball” trope. I don’t particularly care how the offense is successful, I just like success.

Going on your point, I’d like to see how much of our run game is actually directly Shady McCoy.

Compare that to some of the other best rushing offenses right now (subtracting away QB rushing attempts and yardage for consistency) who have one guy as the feature back.

Philadelphia: Shady McCoy 81.3% of non-QB rush attempts,
90.1% non-QB rushing yardage

Oakland: Darren McFadden 59.5% of non-QB rush attempts,
60.4% non-QB rushing yardage

Minnesota: Adrian Peterson 81.5% of non-QB rush attempts,
72.4% non-Qb rushing yardage

Buffalo: Fred Jackson 84.6% of non-QB rush attempts,
84.2% non-QB rushing yardage

Jacksonville: Maurice Jones-Drew 76.25 of non-QB/P rush attempts,
84.9% non-QB/P rushing yardage

Chicago: Matt Forte 77.5% of non-QB rush attempts,
86.6% non-QB rushing yardage

Just kind of interesting how he stacks up and how much our running game is actually just Shady, especially against teams like Minnesota.

The first Drauschak.

by birds'n'raiders on Oct 31, 2011 4:04 PM EDT up reply actions

Excellent FP

Part of me likes it because it’s well written and informative and part of me likes it strictly because I’m also a TE. I really like the way Brent Celek is playing ball. He’s not easy to tackle and he’s definitely a guy who will go the extra mile to make a play. Granted, you can talk about his abysmal performance last season and some easy drops every so often but I still think Brent is a better option than most TE’s around.
And the fact that Harbor is doing so well is awesome too. I like the play where harbor or celek would come back across the formation to spring McCoy. Thats something I’ve rarely seen and would love to actually run that play myself.
In my opinion though, I feel like Celek is the better tight end but Clay is the better athlete/football player. Clay could split out wide, his speed is solid, he can motion to fullback and provide pass protection or hit the hole for a power run play block. Not to mention he’s already rushed for what, 3 first downs this season on a TE sweep?
Celek, although not as prolific as Witten, is strictly a TE to me. Yes, he can split out wide but he wouldn’t be nearly as dangerous as Harbor with his speed.
On another note, I thought our offense was amazingly fluid last night. Most of the times I watch the game, i end up in this, “Man, hope we don’t make a stupid mistake this drive” but last night, everything looked like it slowed down for Vick and McCoy and our team just made everything happen. Still stoked as fuck on the W.
Back to this, though, great post.

by WarGeist on Oct 31, 2011 4:21 PM EDT reply actions

Rec..great post!

by piercit on Oct 31, 2011 6:25 PM EDT reply actions

Shady

1st in rushing yards per game
2nd in total rushing yards (Peterson hasn’t had a bye yet)
2nd in rushing TD’s
1st in yards per carry among running backs with enough carries

If he keeps going like this, he could be a legitimate MVP candidate

GO CUSE, BLUE, AND EAGLES!

by tanman5 on Oct 31, 2011 7:32 PM EDT reply actions