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Eagles News: Ronald Darby grades out as one of the NFL’s best non-press cornerbacks

Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 12/30/17.

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Philadelphia Eagles v Dallas Cowboy Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

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32 NFL observations, Week 16 - PFF
Philadelphia Eagles: When cornerback Ronald Darby doesn’t line up in press coverage, he has allowed a passer rating of just 34.5. That is third-best behind A.J. Bouye (12.7) and Marshon Lattimore (30.6) for cornerbacks thrown at 20 or more times outside of press coverage.

What to watch for in a meaningless Eagles-Cowboys game - BGN
The newest edition of BGN Radio is here! (Episode #289). In this episode, we preview the meaningless Eagles vs. Cowboys game in Week 17, talk about concerns with Nick Foles, debate the idea of resting starters, and more.

Mailbag: In order for the Eagles to have success in January, they must ... - PhillyVoice
Obviously, Nick Foles can’t play the way he did last Sunday, or they have no chance, but that’s just understood at this point. But for the purposes of a realistic way the Eagles can win, think back to the preseason, waaaaaay before anyone knew how good Carson Wentz was going to be this season. If you were to ask, ‘What is the strength of this team,’ the answer would have nearly unanimously been, ‘The defensive line.’ Well, once again, with Wentz out, the defensive line is the strength of the team, and they are going to have to get after opposing quarterbacks in order to win. Defensive lines have carried teams to championships in recent history. The Giants’ two unexpected Super Bowl runs were both fueled by their defensive lines, as was the Broncos’ of a couple years ago. It’s time for Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, Timmy Jernigan, Vinny Curry, Derek Barnett, Chris Long, and Beau Allen to go out and put the team on the defensive line’s back.

All-22: Eagles' run game needs help from Nick Foles, better execution - The Athletic
The run game has looked dynamic at times this season. The Eagles have a variety of different schemes at their disposal, and the coaches have done a good job of knowing when to call on each, depending on the opponent, the back and the game situation. But with Nick Foles at quarterback instead of Carson Wentz, the offense is going to need more from the ground game in the postseason. In Foles' two starts, the Eagles are averaging just 3.9 YPC on 48 attempts. Overall, they've dropped down to 16th in rushing efficiency. The offensive scheme calls for the quarterback to help with the run game. That can mean checking into or out of certain plays, based on the look of the defense. And it can mean taking advantage of pass options when the Eagles don't get a favorable count in the box. That decision-making was something that Foles struggled with against the Raiders.

Game Review – PHI 19, OAK 10 - Iggles Blitz
The Eagles offense was a mess all night long. They were 1 of 14 on 3rd downs. They had one TD drive. Nick Foles was a man on a mission. Unfortunately the mission was to strengthen Carson Wentz’s case for being the league MVP. Foles looked lost and out of sync. When he wasn’t off-target with his throws, he was retreating from the line of scrimmage faster than me from a vegan buffet.

Barack Obama gives Chris Long a shoutout for charitable efforts - ESPN
"Not only do I respect him but he's has so much pull and so much of a following, the leader of the free world until a year ago and did it for eight years," said Long. "So when he tweets something about what we've been able to try and accomplish off the field, it's gratifying and means we're doing some good things and hopefully can just keep spreading the word."

Nelson Agholor: Living In The Moment - PE.com
Nelson Agholor sits beside his locker inside the NovaCare Complex on a recent Wednesday just after practice. He is spending a few moments going through letters sent to him from fans. He pulls out a No. 13 midnight green jersey with his name on the back, takes a look at an attached note and reaches for a black Sharpie marker to give the letter writer what he wanted: an autographed jersey. It had been a long day for Agholor who arrived at the facility hours before the 9 a.m. team meeting to get a jump-start on the day - watching film, catching balls from the JUGS machine. And the day had hardly begun. There were still more meetings and film study ahead. But Agholor, who embraces every opportunity to improve his game. He put down the newly signed jersey to talk about a quote he had seen and then retweeted early that morning. “Two things define you: Your patience when you have nothing and your attitude when you have everything.”

Eagles rookies biding their time in winning environment - Inquirer
At the end of last season, one of the Eagles’ organizational talking points was the contributions from their rookie class. For a 7-9 team with a rookie quarterback, touting promise made sense. One year later, the Eagles enter Week 17 against the Dallas Cowboys without needing to boast about their rookies. A big reason is because the Eagles didn’t need to rely on their rookies so quickly. The Eagles have the NFL’s best record and benefited from more experienced players on the depth chart.

Why are so many Eagles fans jumping ship? - NBC Sports Philadelphia
I'm pretty sure people have lost their minds. Not everybody. Maybe not even most people. But some of the stuff I've seen on Twitter and heard on sports radio and read in the comments section under our stories lately is so bizarre I genuinely can't believe what I'm seeing. They have no chance. It's hopeless. There's no reason to even care anymore. It's over. Why even bother playing? I've seen bandwagon fans abandon the Eagles in past years because they're losing. I've never seen them bail out because they're winning.

Massages, cold tubs and diets: Philadelphia Eagles' many key veterans stay spry - PennLive
Patrick Robinson never misses a trip to the cold tub. Not anymore, at least. When the Philadelphia Eagles cornerback was a younger player with the Saints, he said he'd occasionally swing by the team's training room for a stretching session or a dip in the ice tub to soothe his muscles. But nothing was routine or structured -- he did those things when he had time. At age 30, circumstances have changed. Robinson, enjoying one of the best season of his eight-year career, said he now takes a chunk out of every day to focusing on healing. "It's really just being consistent with your body," Robinson said. "Sometimes guys start off pretty good taking care of their body. Cold tub every day, and then as the year goes along, you start to slack off, you get a little lazy. But for me, I stayed in the weight room, I stayed in the training room."

Are teams lining up to face Eagles in playoffs? - DelawareOnline
So perhaps the Rams saw Nick Foles play for the Eagles in their 19-10 win over the Oakland Raiders on Monday night, and decided that's the matchup they wanted. If the Rams end up the No. 4 seed, and win their first-round game, they could play the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in the divisional round the weekend of Jan. 13-14. If the Rams stay at No. 3, they wouldn't have the potential to face the Eagles until the NFC Conference championship game.

Five things to look for in the Cowboys finale against the Eagles - Blogging The Boys
Should the Cowboys lose however, the consolation prize could be a nice slide up in draft positioning. Brian Martin from Inside The Star examined how the Cowboys could move into a better position with a loss on Sunday. Currently, the Cowboys hold the 19th spot. So while there is no longer anything to be gained from an Atlanta loss, the team can still benefit from the outcome of other games going on in the league. Martin believes dropping to the 15th spot is a good possibility and that could end up making a big difference in the draft.

Jim Schwartz at top of Giants’ short list of coaching candidates? - Big Blue View
John Mara made it obvious Friday that one reason the New York Giants hired Dave Gettleman as general manager now is that they want to strike quickly when they are able to begin contacting coaching candidates next week. Pro Football Talk is reporting that the early leader could be current Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz.

Giants new GM Dave Gettleman promises return of 'big-boy football,' exactly what the team and fans want to hear - SB Nation
Gettleman is back with the Giants, and his first order of business is to fix the offensive line.

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