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Eagles News: Four Philadelphia offensive linemen graded among top 10 players at their positions

Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 10/10/19.

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Rankings: Top Offensive Linemen Rankings through Week 5 - PFF
8. Jason Peters, Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles drafted Peters’ long term replacement in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft this offseason, but the 16-year veteran looks far from finished on the left side of the Eagles line. He has yet to allow a sack on 202 pass-blocking snaps so far this season, giving up just three hits and six hurries. 9. Lane Johnson, Philadelphia Eagles. Peters’ teammate at the opposite side of the line is up next, and they form a pair of bookends who have yet to concede a sack. On the field for 212 pass-blocking snaps in 2019 so far, Johnson has allowed two hits and nine hurries and has also produced a 76.1 PFF run-blocking grade on 144 run-blocking snaps. 2. Brandon Brooks, Philadelphia Eagles. Brooks has dominated both as a run blocker and in pass protection through the first five weeks of the season, giving up just a hit and three hurries on 202 pass-blocking snaps. His PFF run-blocking grade of 84.3 ranks fourth at the position so far this season, with Brooks creating plenty of room for the Eagles backs to work with. 10. Jason Kelce, Philadelphia Eagles. Kelce’s appearance on this list takes us up to four Eagles on the offensive line grading among the top 10 players at the position. He has been a little below average in pass protection, allowing a sack, a hit and eight hurries from 212 pass-blocking snaps, but has been better as a run blocker, producing a PFF run-blocking grade of 68.7.

Eagles vs. Vikings: Which team has the edge? - BGN
According to Sheil Kapadia, Wentz is producing negative plays at the third lowest rate among NFL quarterbacks this season. Cousins, meanwhile, is producing negative players at the fourth highest rate. I’m leaning Wentz here.

The QB Scho Show #36: Kirk Cousins & The Popes - BGN Radio
Michael Kist and Mark Schofield preview the Eagles’ match-up with Vikings’ quarterback Kirk Cousins PLUS thoughts on Carson Wentz, Jared Goff, and Russell Wilson! Powered by SB Nation and Bleeding Green Nation.

Carson Wentz is putting together a highlight reel season, with gifs and stuff - PhillyVoice
In 2017, before he got hurt, with each new game, Carson Wentz had another absurd highlight reel play to add to the pile. In 2018, while solid, he didn’t quite have the same flair for the impossible, as he was still recovering from his torn-up knee. In 2019, through five games, Wentz is once again making plays that only a handful of NFL quarterbacks are capable of making.

Know Your Enemy – Vikings - Iggles Blitz
The O-line is struggling in pass protection, but they are getting the job done in the run game. The Eagles must win the battle up front. Cousins and the Vikings passing attack are still a mystery. Last year the group was great at times. This is a very different offense. Cousins has 5 TD passes in 5 games. He hasn’t thrown for 280 yards in a game. Stefon Diggs was reportedly asking for a trade last week. Those rumors have gone away, but there is no question that Diggs and Adam Thielen are frustrated with the inconsistent passing game. One of the issues with this team is figuring out how good the Vikings are. They have wins over Atlanta, Oakland and the Giants. None of those teams is particularly good. Minnesota’s losses came to Green Bay and Chicago, a pair of good teams. I watched the game between the Vikings and the Bears. Chicago absolutely dominated that game. The Vikings had 95 yards of total offense at one point in the fourth quarter. They finished with 222 yards for the game, but needed to get hot to even get to that point.

Eight questions, eight answers: Assessing how Carson Wentz is performing this season - The Athletic
This has been the strongest part of Wentz’s game so far. Just 1.1 percent of his attempts have been intercepted (10th-best), and he is one of seven starting quarterbacks who has yet to fumble. (Wentz averaged 10.7 fumbles per year in his first three seasons.) He’s also cut down his sack rate to 4.4 percent, which is 11th-lowest in the league and would be the lowest mark of his career if it holds for the entire season. I added up each quarterback’s negative plays (interceptions, fumbles, sacks) and came up with a negative play rate based on number of snaps. Wentz has produced a negative play on just 5.32 percent of his snaps. That’s third-lowest behind Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady. In a weird way, it’s been what Wentz is not doing that has been the difference this year. He’s avoiding negative plays.

Eagles-Vikings ready for latest in sneaky-good rivalry - PE.com
“We’ve had a lot of meaningful games with these guys in the last few years and their fans certainly seemed to dislike the Eagles fans the last time they came into the Linc,” center Jason Kelce said. “They’ll probably have the ‘SKOL’ chant geared up and it will be a fun environment to play football in.” For those players who were part of the Super Bowl LII victory at U.S. Bank Stadium on February 4, 2018, there will be a moment, however brief, of recollection as the Eagles take the field for their pre-game warmups. But that will pass quickly, because the stadium won’t be a 50/50 division of fans. While Eagles fans will do their best to represent – and they do it as well as any fan base in the NFL – the Eagles know they are playing in Vikings country. The stands will be a sea of Vikings colors.

Doug Pederson on Sidney Jones: Sometimes you have to push yourself - NBCSP
“Yeah, it’s something that we’ve got to keep in mind because you don’t want the player, in this case Sidney, focused on the injury because then it doesn’t allow him to play or play fast,” he said. “So we have to make sure — and he has to make sure — that he’s 100 percent before we put him back out there so he can be confident in his ability.” How it is possible to wait until your 100 percent before you play while still “breaking through that threshold” isn’t clear. What is clear is that the Eagles are growing frustrated with Jones, the 43rd pick in the 2017 draft.

Vikings Wednesday injury report: Three Vikings sit out - Daily Norseman
Gedeon suffered his concussion in the second half of the Vikings’ win over the New York Giants on Sunday and is going through the concussion protocol. I’m not sure when Kline suffered his foot injury or how severe it is. Hopefully we’ll get an update. As far as Joseph is concerned, this looks like a veteran rest day for the big man, as his absence was listed as not injury related. Alexander and Brothers both missed the game against the Giants with their injuries, but both were back out on the practice field today. At this point, the Vikings seem to be relatively healthy. We’ll continue monitoring the team’s injury situation over the next couple of days until the final report comes out on Friday.

The Gardner Minshew, Nick Foles question doesn’t seem that difficult - Big Cat Country
I’ll say it simply; If Minshew’s play has not just completely fallen off a cliff and he’s actively detrimental to your offense, there isn’t really any acceptable reason to bench him. Benching him just because you handed Nick Foles a large contract in the offseason isn’t a good reason, and certainly not one that will sit well with a locker room of players who’ve been riding with the rookie that is a large part of keeping them in games.

The Jaguars’ Quarterback Job Is Now Gardner Minshew II’s to Lose - The Ringer
It’s been far more difficult to look past everything that’s happened during the past four weeks, though. Minshew Mania has taken root: The rookie signal-caller’s mustache, jorts, and jovial personality are a big part of that, of course, but far more importantly, the former Washington State standout has played just as well as―if not better than―he did in his debut. After another strong outing in the team’s 34-27 loss at the Panthers last week, Minshew became the first player in NFL history with 200-plus passing yards and a passer rating of 95.0-plus in each of his first five career games, and has racked up a 67 percent completion rate with nine touchdowns and just one pick in those contests. Thanks to a combination of pinpoint accuracy, controlled aggressiveness, and a little old-fashioned playmaking moxie, Minshew has looked a lot less like an injury placeholder for Foles and a lot more like the future at quarterback for Jacksonville. Foles is still under contract for three more years, but it’s become clear during the past month that the Jaguars’ quarterback job is Minshew’s to lose.

Cowboys @ Jets injury report: La’el Collins, Tyron Smith, Leighton Vander Esch miss practice - Blogging The Boys
Every Wednesday of game week brings the first injury report, and it’s pretty much as expected for the Cowboys. Offensive tackles Tyron Smith and La’el Collins were both out of practice toady. They were joined by Leighton Vander Esch who was rumored to have a knee issue but was held out mainly because of illness. There is a general expectation that Vander Esch will be fine to go this weekend versus the Jets.

Redskins Practice Notes and Videos: What is different under Bill Callahan? - Hogs Haven
Club Jay is over and Bill Callahan has taken over the Redskins and their practices. Callahan is more old-school and disciplined that Jay Gruden, and that shows already in his first practice as Redskins interim Head Coach. The music was turned off after stretches. Team captains were put up front. Referees were present for one of the team’s most penalized teams. The team ran sideline-to-sideline sprints after practice. The practices under Jay Gruden got a lot of scrutiny while he was here, and right after he was fired. Bill Callahan is running his practices a little differently.

Giants’ injury report: Saquon Barkley, Evan Engram OUT vs. Patriots - Big Blue View
The New York Giants will be severely under-manned on offense Thursday against the New England Patriots. Saquon Barkley (high ankle sprain), Evan Engram (sprained MCL), Wayne Gallman (concussion) and Sterling Shepard (concussion). That list, of course, includes the Giants best two running backs and their top two receivers (Engram, 33 catches | Shepard, 25 catches). That is 1,184 yards of total offense (236.8 yards per game) that will be out of the lineup when the 2-3 Giants face the 5-0 Patriots and their league-best defense.

NFL Panic Index 2019: Baker Mayfield has the rest of the league coming after him - SB Nation
NFL defenses have caught up to Daniel Jones. In his past two games, Jones has two touchdown passes and three interceptions. Things will get worse before they get better. Not only does the rookie have to face the league’s stingiest defense on Thursday night when he faces Bill Belichick’s Patriots, but he’ll be without several of his most important weapons. Saquon Barkley won’t play thanks to the ankle sprain he suffered in Week 3. Wayne Gallman left Week 5 with a head injury and has been limited in practice since. Sterling Shepard is dealing with his second concussion of the season and will miss an undisclosed amount of time to recover. Evan Engram, by far the team’s top target so far, won’t play Thursday night thanks to a sprained MCL. Golden Tate is back in the lineup after serving a four-game PED suspension, but he had just three catches (on six targets) for 13 yards in his 2019 debut. As a result, Jones will be throwing passes to a receiving corps where only one player — Bennie Fowler, who was released last week— has double-digit receptions through five weeks. His running game could be anchored by undrafted rookie Jon Hilliman and his 2.8 yard per carry average.

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