Eagles News: New York writer says Giants need to go after Nick Foles

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Eagles hero has become perfect candidate to replace Eli Manning - New York Post
I’ve seen all I need to see now: If there is any chance that Nick Foles becomes a free agent, he is the best option to succeed Eli Manning. Go get Nick Foles. If the Eagles do not franchise him to trade him, go get Nick Foles. He won’t come cheap, no. I would no longer be afraid to show him the money. Buyer beware? What would the Giants have to lose? It isn’t often you see a team believe in a quarterback the way the Eagles believe in Foles, the Miracle Man who declawed the Bears 16-15 to set up a showdown with his Westlake High School (Austin, Texas) predecessor Drew Brees next Sunday. Foles (25-for-40, 266 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs) silencing Soldier Field and the Bears the way he did with the season on the line Sunday night only adds to his legend and offers more evidence that following in Manning’s footsteps on the big and bright New York stage would not make him blink, or scare him.

Giants news, 1/16: Nick Foles a free agent? What would that mean for Giants? - Big Blu View
Valentine’s View: My guess? I think Foles probably gets a deal on the higher end of that. Will it come from the Giants? I have always figured that the Eagles would find a way to trade Foles and get draft picks in return. If, as Corry predicts, he hits the free agent market that changes the equation for the Giants if they want an experienced replacement for Eli Manning.

Top 10 graded Eagles of 2018 according to PFF - BGN
Statistically Wentz saw career highs in completion percentage (69.6%), yards per attempt (7.7), and QB Rating (102.2), but he still had his fair share of struggles. Coming back from major knee surgery, Wentz wasn’t as dynamic as a runner or as clean in his footwork, but those talking points got slightly overblown by the local media. The Saints’ game in Week 11 was a low point for Wentz, who threw three interceptions in one of his worst games as a pro. Wentz rebounded and put on three solid performances that are easy to forget considering the circumstances. Zooming out, Wentz had a stretch of play that put him solidly in the second tier of quarterbacks which was marred by one awful game and the teams’ inability to string together wins.

The Kist & Solak Show #72: Film & iTunes Review - BGN Radio
Michael Kist and Benjamin Solak finally get around to discussing the all-22 film review of the Eagles’ loss to the Saints in the Divisional Round, PLUS they read the best iTunes reviews and mean tweets about themselves! Powered by SBNation and Bleeding Green Nation.

Malcolm Jenkins: Eagles have ‘no regrets’ about how 2018 season played out - PhillyVoice
“We scrapped our way back against a team that blew us earlier in the year, and they had all of their guys, it was disappointing, but for us, all we had to go through, we have no regrets,” Jenkins said about the 20-14 NFC divisional round playoff against the New Orleans Saints. “I think we’re a special group and I think it’s the fact that we love each other, and we honestly play for the man next to us. We had everybody contribute. At first, the plane ride home (after the Saints’ loss) was a little disappointing, but when we realized these were going to be the couple of moments we would have together, we laughed it up, knowing we won’t have the opportunity to play again.”

Coaching Changes - Iggles Blitz
One thing that both Wilson and Brewer may have had in common was a lack of player development. DE Derek Barnett had a solid rookie year in 2017. He played better this year, but didn’t take such a leap forward that it blew you away. Elijah Qualls failed to show much progress in his time with the Eagles. Josh Sweat didn’t show any progress this year. He looked completely raw. Shelton Gibson caught one pass in 2018. It felt like Nelson Agholor took a step back. Mack Hollins got hurt and missed the year, but he wasn’t overly impressive in the offseason camps. Developing talent at the NFL level is hard. You have to be a great teacher. You also have to know how to motivate men. That means being both tough and positive. Greg Lewis wasn’t tough enough on the receivers in 2016. He got fired. Groh was tough on them in 2017. The receivers played really well and he got promoted.

Despite playoff struggles, Eagles’ Avonte Maddox had a promising rookie campaign - PFF
Avonte Maddox’s 59.4 overall grade in his rookie season, including playoffs, ranks 15th among 20 rookie cornerbacks. But the poor mark doesn’t tell the entire story of a year that should certainly give the Philadelphia Eagles reason for optimism. Maddox was admittedly torched in the Eagles’ two playoff games, where he allowed 13 receptions for an abysmal 264 yards in coverage — more than he surrendered in 10 regular season games combined. So while he admittedly fell short of expectations there, the fourth-round pick had some promising moments in the regular season. Maddox averaged 21.7 snaps per reception allowed, which was the best regular season rate among all cornerbacks in 2018 with 200-plus snaps and the best rate for a rookie cornerback with the same threshold since at least 2006. His 11.8 snaps per target was also the second-best among cornerbacks in 2018 and the best among rookie cornerbacks in a season since at least 2006.

Lawlor: This Was A Special Team - PE.com
The magic ran out in New Orleans. The season-ending loss is usually frustrating because it means the Eagles came up short. This was different. I was more upset that I didn’t get to watch this team anymore. The way they came together down the stretch made it fun. This was a true group of underdogs and you wanted their journey to just keep going. That’s just not the way pro football works. If any one player is the face of the 2018 Eagles, it is Cre’Von LeBlanc. He went from “Who’s that guy?” to playoff hero. LeBlanc was given a chance to be the team’s nickel corner and he ran with it. He played well enough that he’s going to have a chance to be a key player in the future. You love it when guys take advantage of opportunities like that.

State of the Eagles: From Doug Pederson to free agency and Wentz’s future, 10 offseason thoughts - The Athletic
I went through the All-22 of the Saints game to try and figure out what happened to the offense. What I found — and this will upset some — is that Foles had one of his worst stretches of the season. On the first interception, Ertz ran a beautiful route and was open for an explosive play, but Foles underthrew him. Two drives later, he had Ertz wide open for a first down but threw off-target again. On a third down later in the game, Foles had a chance to connect with Golden Tate on an over route but underthrew him, too. Foles said after the game that he should have put more air under a ball that was intended for Nelson Agholor on a third down. Obviously, there were other factors. The Eagles couldn’t run the ball, and Alshon Jeffery dropped the pass at the end. But Foles delivered a C game. The Eagles didn’t need an A-plus, but they probably would have won if they got a B performance from the quarterback. In the past, I’ve referenced the Next Gen Stat called Completion Percentage Above Expectation. It takes a look at the probability of every pass based on where the receiver is, where the nearest defender is, location on the field, nearest pass rusher, et cetera. Foles finished at a minus-2.7 percent. In the regular season, he was a plus-5.7, which ranked second in the NFL. He just wasn’t as sharp as he’d been previously.

Eagles’ options with Nick Foles: Tag and trade could be in play - ESPN
How will this play out? I’m no fortune-teller, my friend, but let’s try and piece it all together: If the Eagles exercise the 2019 option, Foles almost certainly will opt out of it, handing the team back $2 million. If my math is correct, $2 million is greater than zero, so it seems like a good bet that the Eagles will trigger this transaction. They will then explore the tag-and-trade avenue. If they find a dance partner that Foles is interested in, they’ll place the tag on him. Otherwise, they’ll let Foles walk and be satisfied with the compensatory pick that they receive for losing him in free agency -- likely a third-rounder.

An early look at some free-agent targets for the Eagles - Morning Call
Le’Veon Bell would love to play in a committee system like the one Eagles coach Doug Pederson employs. And he’s a super patient runner with great vision in the mold of Emmitt Smith. On the other hand, the cost almost certainly will be too high. After all, he already refused to accept the $14.5 million he would have received from the Pittsburgh Steelers after they applied the franchise tag on him in 2018. Though he wants to be paid like a bell cow back, he doesn’t want to be used like one, and he wouldn’t be if he comes to Philadelphia. But allow yourself to think about it for a second: The Eagles already have a good number of complementary backs to go with Bell, two really good tight ends in Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert an offensive line that’s better than most and a corps of wide receivers that should be stronger in 2019 than in 2018. Now imagine quarterback Carson Wentz working with all that right from the start of OTAs. You get the idea.

Food-truck service backed by Carson Wentz moves into former Rockhill in Cherry Hill - Courier Post
The offseason is already active for one Eagle. Carson Wentz’s charitable foundation launched Thy Kingdom Crumb food truck with a local church last summer. On Thursday, TKC announced it had purchased the former Rockhill restaurant in Cherry Hill. Rockhill closed in July after four years in business on Route 70. The location right off Interstate 295 is a convenient headquarters for TKC, which has made free food-truck stops in Camden and at the Philly stadium complex. And the Connect Church, which kicked off the truck project in partnership with Wentz’s AO1 Foundation, has a location on South Cornell Avenue in Cherry Hill.

Looking at the wild, injury-plagued year for Eagles’ secondary - NBCSP
The Eagles overcame a ton of injuries during the 2017 season on their way to hoisting the Lombardi Trophy, but the 2018 season was a lot different. For a while, all their injuries happened to the same position group. By the time the season ended in New Orleans on Sunday, the Eagles had incredibly used 15 defensive backs on defense during the season. No team in the NFL used more and the NFL average was 11.8. Of the five starting defensive backs this season, only Malcolm Jenkins remained by season’s end. Three of the five were on IR. So here’s a look at all 15 defensive backs the Eagles used this season with their snaps in the regular season and in the playoffs.

In tragedies’ wake, Andy Reid and the Chiefs found success through second chances - Washington Post
The calls came early; that’s all most anyone can remember now. It was early August 2012, and during the Eagles’ training camp at Lehigh University, Garrett Reid had been assisting the Eagles’ strength and conditioning staff. But as emergency vehicles surrounded Building C of Sayre Park Village, the coaches’ dormitories, the voices delivering the news were strained: Garrett had been found that morning, surrounded by a syringe, heroin and a spoon. A nearby gym bag contained anabolic steroids, 19 vials of liquid and more syringes and needles. A team doctor had attempted to revive him, but it was too late. Andy Reid’s 29-year-old son was gone. So, for the moment, was the coach himself. The next time Philadelphia staffers saw him was at Garrett’s funeral, where NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Patriots Coach Bill Belichick were among the 900 people in attendance. What struck some of Reid’s friends and co-workers was his strength: The man who’d lost a child was comforting them, explaining that addiction was a heavyweight bout with a grizzly bear. “He didn’t flinch,” Riddick would recall. “You knew he was broken inside. It’s his son. It’s as simple as that. I couldn’t have handled that the same way he did. There were people who were crushed. Devastated. Devastated over it. And the strength that he showed was not of this world.”

Day of reckoning; Cowboys part ways with offensive coordinator Scott Linehan - Blogging The Boys
It sounds like Linehan had lost the faith of his players. That may be the most important factor in all this, as keeping the locker room behind him has been one of the hallmarks of Jason Garrett’s tenure in Dallas. While he is not going to let his players run things, Garrett likely has a good feel for the tone of things on his roster, and may have realized that Linehan was no longer in a position to be productive, and could soon be a real divisive element. Now the big question is who will take his place. Stay tuned for the latest developments.

Reuben Foster is a Stud - Will he be Available to Help the Redskins in 2019? - Hogs Haven
The Redskins are in dire need of help at inside linebacker. Foster has the pedigree, awareness, athleticism and tackling ability to be a force in this defense. He can play either the MIKE or JACK in a 3-4 base, and all three linebacker positions in a 4-3 look. He is the type of athlete who doesn’t need to come off the field in passing situations, and is an effective blitzer when asked to do so. Let’s hope, for the Redskins sake, that Foster is not suspended for any games during the 2019 season. If he’s able to play, he will be a force at linebacker in this league for years to come - hopefully all with the Redskins!

Conference Title Week Matchups - Rotoworld
Albeit not quite the “Arctic Blast” feared early in the week, Sunday night’s Kansas City forecast calls for sub-30-degree temperatures but insignificant winds and precipitation. Patrick Mahomes made his coldest college start in 38-degree weather at Iowa State in 2016, and he played his coldest game this season at 27 degrees in Week 16 against the Ravens. With small-ish hands (9 ¼”) and limited experience in the cold, Mahomes logged his fewest (6.8) and fourth-fewest (7.1) yards per attempt in his only two 2018 starts of 30 degrees or lower. Additionally, this game’s total has dropped by 2.5-3.0 points after opening at 58.5. … After averaging 9.3 yards per attempt with a 9.5% touchdown rate in Weeks 1-11, Mahomes regressed to 7.60 YPA with a 5.7% TD rate in six starts following Kansas City’s Week 12 bye. The Chiefs’ offense continued to hum – averaging 31.8 points per game with a low of 27 – but Mahomes simply wasn’t as dominant in Weeks 13-19. He now faces a Pats defense whose strength is its lockdown secondary after allowing the NFL’s seventh-fewest yards per attempt (6.5) and seventh-lowest passer rating (84.0). Aided by the elements, Bill Belichick’s likeliest game plan will be to try to keep Mahomes confined to the pocket, fool him on fake blitzes where defenders drop into coverage, focus on big-play limitation by halting Mahomes’ improvisational rollout bombs, and make concessions on the ground.

The Endless Evolution of Andy Reid and the Chiefs Team He’s Spent His Career Building - The Ringer
The 60-year-old has done everything as an NFL head coach except win a Super Bowl. Now he has his best chance, thanks to a system and roster that fit his vision—and a quarterback who ties it all together.

How the Chiefs defense beats the Patriots offense for the AFC Championship - Arrowhead Pride
The Kansas City Chiefs are on the doorstep of an AFC Championship, and they are there — in no small part — due to the efforts of their defense. Just like we all predicted... right? The Chiefs face the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game this Sunday night to see who gets to go on to Atlanta. This is what it’s all about. While much has been made of Bill Belichick plotting to stop Patrick Mahomes, the newly revamped Chiefs defense will see a stern test from Tom Brady and the Patriots offense.

The NFC Championship tale of the tape - SB Nation
The first time around, the Saints slowed Todd Gurley a lot better than the Rams slowed Michael Thomas — but a lot has changed since early-November.

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