Eagles News: One stat that makes Wendell Smallwood’s production look less impressive

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links ...

News, notes and nonsense on all 53 Eagles at the midway point - The Athletic
Wendell Smallwood – NFL’s Next Gen Stats tracks the percentage of times a running back runs the ball against an eight-man box. According to their data, Smallwood is the miles-ahead leader with just 3.3 percent of his rushing attempts coming against an eight-man box. For reference, league average is somewhere in the low 20s. No qualifying running back finished the season with a percentage lower than 10 percent. That means two things. First, Pederson and the offensive staff (and Carson Wentz at the line of scrimmage) have done a good job of putting Smallwood “in a position to succeed.” It also means his 4.3 yards per carry is a lot less impressive than it looks.

Checking in on the Eagles’ 2018 rookies after eight games - BGN
After having a strong summer, the Eagles’ 2018 second-round pick hasn’t been incredibly productive in term of volume stats. But honestly, that’s to be expected. As we’ve been saying all along, rookie tight ends typically don’t just come into the league and dominate right away. BGN’s own Michael Kist’s stat projection for Goedert coming into this season was 42 targets, 30 receptions, 350 yards, and 5 touchdowns. If Goedert can keep his current pace up, he should finish the year around those marks. And that’d be a very good season. With Zach Ertz dominating on a weekly basis, the Eagles don’t need Goedert to eat up a ton of volume. They just need him to be efficient and he has been; 10 of his 18 receptions have gone for first downs or touchdowns. The fact that Goedert is showing makings of a good blocker is a great bonus. Overall, Goedert is looking like a good pick at No. 49 overall, especially when you consider the Eagles were able to trade back from No. 32 overall and pick up Baltimore’s 2019 second-round pick before still landing him.

At the Podium #9: Groh & Schwartz, Jernigan & Washington’s Bad Day - BGN Radio
Double-header pressers with Eagles’ offensive coordinator Mike Groh and defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. PLUS Timmy Jernigan has been cleared to practice and participated in the walk-through today! Also, the Washington Redskins are dealt catastrophic injury news.

Eagles report cards through the first half of the season: Offense edition - PhillyVoice
QB Carson Wentz: Over the last four games, Wentz is 101 of 138 for 1,185 yards (8.6 YPA), 10 TDs, 1 INT, and a QB rating of 120.0. He has also been effective with his legs, rushing 16 times for 71 yards. What he is doing coming off ACL/LCL tears is nothing short of remarkable. If there’s anything to gripe about with Wentz’s play, he did miss some opportunities on the Eagles final drive against the Panthers, and of course there are the fumbles, of which he has had five in the last four games. Even with those gripes, which are valid, Wentz has been fantastic, and he is already a top 5 quarterback very early into his young NFL career. Grade: A-

A Good Day - Iggles Blitz
Huge news. We don’t know when Jernigan will be back, but it would be in the next three weeks. The Eagles have an exemption for him so they can see him practice and then decide whether to activate him or put him out for the season. Obviously they expect Jernigan to play so it really is just a question of when. Jernigan is a veteran and knows the scheme so you can’t rule Sunday out yet, but the team won’t rush him back. They want him for the stretch run, not just a single game. It was interesting to hear Jim Schwartz talk about Jernigan’s personality being as important as his talent. It sounds like he’s one of those guys who brings a lot of energy to the field. Or “juice”, as Doug Pederson would say.

The NFL’s New Norm: Offenses Rule The Day - PE.com
There is no question that defense wins championships – it will stay true until proven otherwise – but in today’s NFL, it’s vital to have the means to put points up in bunches. Look at the top teams in the league and where they rank in points scored: Kansas City (8-1) leads all 32 teams with 36.3 points per game. New Orleans (7-1) averages 34.9 points per game. The Los Angeles Rams (8-1) are scoring 33.2 points per game. New England (7-2) averages 30 points per game. Chicago (5-3) is scoring at a 29.4-points-per-game clip. Get the idea? The leaders in points allowed – Baltimore, Dallas, Tennessee, Seattle, and Washington – are borderline playoff teams. Think back to February 4 and Super Bowl LII, a 41-33 Eagles win over New England. Yes, Jim Schwartz’s defense made the big play late in the game when Brandon Graham recorded a strip-sack of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, but that game was a precursor to the 2018 season: Offenses rule.

Philadelphia Eagles launch STEM program in Germantown school - 6ABC
The Philadelphia Eagles are helping local school students get in the game when it comes to science, technology, engineering, and math, or “STEM.” The Eagles teamed up a Brazilian based petrochemical company called Braskem to celebrate the launch of a new web-based course being offered to schools in Philadelphia and Delaware counties for free.Former wide receiver Jason Avant was also on hand to kick off this new initiative. The goal is to introduce middle and high school students to careers in technical fields.

No acting, Nelson Agholor really is happy Golden Tate is an Eagle - NBCSP
“We want to carry versatile receivers,” Agholor said. “I think that’s the best way to do it. It’s about matchups, it’s about routes, it’s about putting people in different conceptual places. You have concepts and you move your guys around in the concept. … The days of just playing outside is kind of dead. You want to be versatile.” The 25-year-old Agholor knew there would be a perception that he might be unhappy with the trade to bring in Tate, but he claimed that couldn’t be further from the truth. He’s actually known and respected Tate for some time now. Coming out of high school, Agholor took an official visit to Notre Dame and even spent some time envisioning himself taking a similar role in South Bend to the one Tate once played. He’s admired the 30-year-old Tate ever since.

The Lions won’t admit it, but they already miss Golden Tate - Pride of Detroit
One of the clear-cut reasons Stafford was hit so many times is because he lost his check-down option. No matter what kind of trouble Stafford was in, Golden Tate would be right there to dig him out of it. A check-down to Tate is no normal check-down, Tate was able to take a normal looking dump-off and turn it into so much more. On Sunday, it seemed like Stafford was looking for Tate out there on the field, or at least looking for someone to take Tate’s place. Nobody could do that. It led to Stafford hanging on to the ball too long. In some cases, it led to Stafford trying to do too much, like the fumbled pitch to Kerryon Johnson. It seems crazy to think that a team could fall off so badly after losing just one player, and so many fans convinced themselves that wasn’t a big deal. I think the Lions themselves tried to do that, too.

Who Answered the Call? Week 9 in the NFL - MMQB
We mentioned in the Sunday Rundown that Golden Tate had an offer from the Lions (the team and the player’s camp had actually been in talks for two months), and I view that as a very good sign for the Eagles. The age-old question that NFL teams ask about players on the trade market is simple: Why is this guy available in the first place? In Tate’s case it was purely logistical. Detroit wasn’t going to give him the deal he wanted, structured the way he wanted it. And so they get a 3, and don’t have to worry about the comp pick formula quite as much when they’re looking at free agents in March.

Report: Sam Bradford didn’t practice for five weeks due to knee - PFT
When Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said that former Vikings quarterback Sam Bradford has a degenerative condition in his knee, it wasn’t #fakenews. Unless a new report regarding Bradford is, his most recent former team will have some explaining to do. Via Chris Mortensen of ESPN, Bradford hadn’t practiced in five weeks preceding his Saturday release by the Cardinals because his “left knee is basically bone on bone,” with no remaining cartilage due to two prior ACL repairs.

How These Seven Coaches on the Hot Seat Can Save Their Jobs - The Ringer
What He Can Do to Save His Job: Either leak to Adam Schefter the incriminating photos of Jerry Jones that Garrett must have locked in a vault or fix the offense. Garrett had a built-in excuse for this season by being handed a depleted pass-catching group, and the team has lived down to expectations. Entering Week 9, the Cowboys were 31st in passing yards (ahead of only the Tennessee Titans), 29th in passing touchdowns, and tied for 25th in points per game. The Amari Cooper trade gives him one legitimate outside receiving option, and now Garrett needs to prove he can actually make something of both Cooper and Dak Prescott down the stretch—and he can’t rely on the luxury of Dallas’s talented but declining offensive line. It’s the toughest test Garrett has faced in Dallas thus far, and he has long odds to stay in Dallas unless he ditches his conservative play-calling—the team’s offense is perhaps the least imaginative in football—and takes a more modern approach. He could be clapping from the stands in 2019.

Dak Prescott repeated an indefensible mental mistake in the Cowboys loss to the Tennessee Titans - Blogging The Boys
These are basic mental mistakes that a third-year quarterback is making in big-time moments. These cannot happen at any level of football let alone in the NFL. They are deeply concerning. There are a lot of issues with the Dallas Cowboys but this certainly lies among them. If Prescott is truly this unaware of field position at critical points of a game (really at any point) then the Cowboys have a problem on their hands in it. He has to know better. He has to. Prescott has the ability to throw the ball away in moments like this, while the consequence may only be a few yards again it is extremely important to conserve anything that you can, especially when you’re driving trying to tie the game like he was against the Titans.

This Is Bad. Brandon Scherff, Shawn Lauvao, and Paul Richardson All Out For The Season With Injuries - Hogs Haven
Ladies and gentlemen the Redskins are in for a brutal second half of season. Minutes ago it Head Coach Jay Gruden confirmed that Pro Bowl guard Brandon Scherff did indeed tear his pec and will be out for the season. The punches kept coming. OG Shawn Lauvao (OG) suffered a torn ACL and will also be out for the year as well as offseason acquisition Paul Richardson (WR) who injured his AC joint. This puts the Redskins offensive line in a brutal position to finish out the season and affect the ability of the offensive to maintain the production they were able to get. The Redskins face the Buccaneers, Texans, and Cowboys the next three weeks and will have to figure things out quickly to keep the season on track.

New York Giants story lines: 5 things to watch in the second half of the seasone - Big Blue View
How many more games will Eli Manning start as Giants quarterback? Is there anything Manning can do during the second half of the season to convince the Giants he can be a viable quarterback next season? Is this the final stretch of Manning’s career? How much will the arrest of Kyle Lauletta last week delay what seems like his inevitable insertion in the lineup? When he gets his chance, will the fourth-round pick from Richmond show the Giants enough to keep them out of the quarterback market in the offseason? Quarterback drama will likely be the biggest story of the Giants’ final eight games.

Bengals make changes to practice squad, give up on QB Christian Hackenberg - Cincy Jungle
Hackenberg, a third-year player out of Penn State, had signed to the Bengals practice squad on Sept. 3. This move signals the Bengals joining a list of other teams who gave up on Hackenberg.

Our Lives Depend on It - Players Tribune
Right now, our collective national identity is one of pain and despair, of confusion and anger. We are fractured, we are hurting and too many are finding themselves as mourners. But America’s true identity is one of greatness. We may have deep scars, but from times of darkness we have emerged as a nation with the courage to protect our neighbor from harm and the willingness to insist on our shared values of hope, of inclusion, of community. We have always stood up for each other. We have always been able to reclaim our identity. On November 6, we can return to that place. We can raise our voice and remind our officials and each other that we are more than the hate we have seen. With our vote, we can say that we believe in and are committed to the happiness, the health and the lives of all Americans. We can tell the world that we are a country worthy of our reputation as the world’s greatest nation. This is what is at stake with your vote.

Saints will reportedly work out Dez Bryant, which seems like a perfect fit - SB Nation
The New Orleans Saints are bringing in three wide receivers for a workout on Tuesday, and one of them happens to be the highest-profile unemployed receiver on the market: former Cowboys pass-catcher Dez Bryant, according to Jane Slater of the NFL Network. One of those other two receivers is veteran Brandon Marshall, who was recently released by the Seattle Seahawks: Kamar Aiken, most recently of the Philadelphia Eagles, is the third player, according to Rapoport.

...

Social Media Information:

BGN Facebook Page: Click here to like our page

BGN Twitter: Follow @BleedingGreen

BGN Manager: Brandon Lee Gowton: Follow @BrandonGowton

BGN Radio Twitter: Follow @BGN_Radio