Eagles News: Philadelphia has the best red zone offense in the league

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Ranking every NFL offense by red zone scoring efficiency - PFF
The Eagles are one of the game’s best offenses, so it’s no surprise to see them maintain those standards once they hit the red zone. Their heavy use of run/pass-option plays also gives them a boost that other teams don’t get. This season the Eagles have used 27 more of these plays than any other team, and it allows QB Carson Wentz to simplify his reads and stretch defenses schematically. They have been more prolific from a passing standpoint in the red zone, and no team as has many passing scores from inside the 20 this season.

Vinny Curry has quietly stepped up for the Eagles this season - BGN
Among the Eagles’ starters, then, that leaves Vinny Curry as the most under the radar player. In his first year as a starter, the 29-year-old defensive end has been real solid. Curry has 18 tackles and three sacks through the first nine games of the season. While that might not seem overly impressive, consider Curry ranks second overall in PFF’s Run Stop Percentage (stops constitute a "loss" for the offense). Curry has 11 stops in 92 run snaps played.

Dawkins the Hall - Successful Launch! - BGNRadio.com
Hey, Bleeding Green Nation! Our Dawkins in the Hall campaign is off to a great start! I want to thank you for helping us get this off the ground. Brian Dawkins means so much to the people of Philadelphia and, together, we can return the love by getting him into the Hall of Fame! The response on social media has been incredible but what’s stood out even more is our petition. WE HAVE OVER 1000 SIGNATURES roughly 24 hours after we’ve launched! We’re so thrilled that you’re taking the time to sign and share our petition. With your support, we hope to double that number in the coming days.

Cowboys injury issues put Eagles' success, despite injuries, into perspective - PhillyVoice
Objectively, the Eagles have had far more injury adversity than the Cowboys this season, according to the website ManGamesLost.com (MGL), which tracks the number of cumulative injuries suffered by each team in the league. According to their data, the Eagles have missed a cumulative 96 games by their players. MGL doesn't name those players, but I believe I've pinpointed them as follows. To note, starters are in bold green print:

Who Are You? - Iggles Blitz
I also think part of what makes this team special is they have some “mutt” to them. LeGarrette Blount scored 18 TDs last year and the Patriots had basically no interest in bringing him back. Jay Ajayi got traded away from Miami because he was seen as a character problem on a team where the OL coach films himself doing lines of coke. Patrick Robinson didn’t exactly have a lot of teams trying to sign him. The Ravens dealt Tim Jernigan for the right to move up in the 3rd round. Wentz wasn’t highly recruited at all and ended up at North Dakota State. When the draft rolled around and he looked like a franchise QB that just about every team should want, the Rams said “We prefer Goff” and the Browns said “You’re not good enough”. I know Wentz still went 2nd overall, but you could imagine him feeling a bit slighted by the situation.

Identifying the best, most important games of NFL Week 11 - ESPN
It turns out Tyron Smith is very, very important. In Weeks 1-9, the Cowboys allowed their quarterback to be pressured on 19.9 percent of non-blitz dropbacks, 13th in the league. That number probably sells the offensive line a little bit short because Dak Prescott, being mobile, tends to hold the ball a little longer than average. Still, 19.9 percent isn't bad. But last week, with Smith out against the Falcons, that number rose to 37.8 percent. Facing pressure when the defense has a full set of defenders in coverage is a quarterback's worst nightmare, and Prescott was not his usual self in that contest. Smith's status is up in the air for this critical divisional bout, and clearly that is an important factor here.

Lawlor: The NFL Is The Survival Of The Fittest - PE.com
Football is a tough, physical sport. Players are going to get hurt, whether it's in the offseason, the preseason, or the regular season. Teams must be prepared for injuries. Head coach Doug Pederson talks about the “next man up” all the time. That's not just a phrase for the media. It is a mentality for his team. Pederson puts action behind those words. He gives his young players a chance to show what they can do. It gives them a feeling of confidence and helps to keep all the backups motivated.

'Dallas Week' intensifies for the Eagles - Inquirer
Some of the hype is admittedly media driven, but the players and coaches have a sense of what Eagles-Cowboys games mean to the Philadelphia fans. Coach Doug Pederson said as a player in 1999, he remembered hearing about it all week leading up to Sunday. “It was like you just [say], ‘I don’t care what else happens the rest of the year, you just have to beat the Cowboys,'” Pederson said. “That’s the mind-set of the city. … If you do win the football game, obviously the city of Philadelphia is, it’s big, it’s big for the city.” Quarterback Carson Wentz is playing in his third Eagles-Cowboys game. He said he’s “heard all sorts of stuff” from fans about the rivalry. “We don’t take it lightly, either,” Wentz said.

From home brewing to beekeeping, Dave Fipp may be NFL's most interesting coach - The Athletic
Fipp is one of the best special teams coaches in the NFL. But he's not afraid to admit he has other interests. “I hear guys say, ‘It’s all football. My whole life is football.’ And I’m like, ‘I could never be like that,'” he said. “I’m all football when it’s time for football. But when there’s not enough keeping me busy with football, when we’re in the offseason, then I need to find something else because I can’t sit in the house and relax. “I don’t know whether that’s unique or not. I also think there’s a lot of people who say, ‘My life’s all football’ because they think that sounds good on the outside. I’m not afraid to say that I’ve got a lot of interests and a lot of things that keep me interested. I’ve got no problem with that.”

Carson and Dak discuss the Wentz-Prescott rivalry - NBC Sports Philadelphia
Carson Wentz understands why people look at this weekend's matchup against the Cowboys as a matchup that pins him against Dak Prescott. Wentz knows it's a good thing for the conference, the division, and even the Eagles-Cowboys rivalry. He's just not about making this Wentz vs. Prescott. "At the end of the day, we're playing the defense," Wentz said. "I'm not playing Dak Prescott. I'm playing the Cowboys' defense and as a team, we're playing the Cowboys. I don't look into it too much. I really just focus on what we can do to beat this defense."

Will Beatty aiming to revive career in familiar setting - PennLive
Beatty, who said he arrived in Philly at about 300 pounds but plans to gain weight, had been working out at a training facility in Arizona this fall along with former Eagles guard Evan Mathis. He did his best to stay in shape but conceded Wednesday that it's tough to replicate the speed of an NFL practice. Still, Beatty said he's trained to ensure his past injury woes are behind him. He suffered a torn pectoral muscle and a rotator cuff injury in 2015 that derailed his career.

Anthony Hitchens will try to replace Sean Lee at weakside linebacker - PFT
Anthony Hitchens wants to be the best version of . . . Sean Lee he can be. The Cowboys play three games in an 11-day span, beginning with Sunday night’s showdown with the Eagles, and Lee could miss all three with a hamstring injury. That will force Hitchens to slide from middle linebacker to weakside linebacker. Jaylon Smith and Justin Durant will share middle linebacker duties.

Goff And The Rams Weren’t Supposed To Be This Good - FiveThirtyEight
The Los Angeles Rams had a 13 percent chance of making the playoffs at the start of the season and were projected to win just six games, according to FiveThirtyEight’s NFL predictions. When they improved to 7-2 with a 33-7 demolition over the Houston Texans in Week 10, the Rams exceeded our projected win totals and now own a 71 percent chance of making the postseason. You can forgive our Elo algorithm for being so low on the Rams in the preseason — they did have the NFL’s worst offense last year1 and did finish on a seven-game losing streak as part of a 4-12 record. This season’s truly incredible transformation has taken place under the league’s youngest-ever head coach — Sean McVay, who was hired when he was 30 years old — and thus far, L.A. ranks among the best teams in the league (the same can’t be said about their fans though).

Why do NFL teams ignore kickers? - SB Nation
Kickers account for nearly a third of all NFL scoring, yet no team — except one — is focused on coaching technique.

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