Eagles News: Carson Wentz reacts to anonymous criticism

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Carson Wentz concerned by anonymous quotes - NBCSP
Carson Wentz said Wednesday anonymous quotes critical of him are “concerning” and said he and his teammates — presumably including Alshon Jeffery — have spoken about the comments. Wentz declined to speak in detail about those conversations but said, “We’ve moved on.” ESPN’s Josina Anderson quoted an unnamed player critical of Wentz, and WIP’s Howard Eskin this week identified that source as Jeffery, one of the Eagles’ starting receivers. Jeffery denied that the comments came from Jeffery. “We’ve all had conversations and everything and everyone’s good, everyone’s going forward and on the same page,” Wentz said.

Chris Long: “Carson is not the problem in Philadelphia. He’s just not.” - BGN
“I was bummed about that. And no, I don’t think they’re right about that. Last year, it was complaints about leadership, overtargeting Zach Ertz. Like, listen. He targeted Zach Ertz a ton last year, Zach was also very good. Could he have spread the ball around a little bit more? Sure. But I think he probably took that to heart, took the criticism, didn’t lash out at anybody, didn’t start screaming or kicking and coming in and ‘motherfucking’ people. Listen, if I was him, and there’s people in the building talking about the franchise quarterback to reporters? If you’ve got a problem, come say it to me. And a lot of people tried to make last year’s leak, there was a big article [from PhillyVoice] questioning his leadership and his decision-making, etcetera. They tried to make it an Alshon thing. They tried to make it — a source told me that it wasn’t Alshon. Last year. Now, this year, there’s the Josina thing, which is disappointing again. And people are trying to make it Alshon. […] I’m disappointed with any player that has an issue with a teammate and doesn’t go to that teammate and goes to a reporter. There have been situations where reporters have come to me because I’m media friendly and tried to get me to sink people or sink coaches and I just don’t do it. Because it’s bullshit, that’s not the way you do things. And, especially if you want your team to be successful, you have a man-to-man conversation with the person you think is the problem, if you think they’re the problem. And, by the way, Carson is not the problem in Philadelphia. He’s just not.”

The Kist & Solak Show #136: A Very Angry Eagles-Cowboys Film Review - BGN Radio
Michael Kist and Benjamin Solak have review the film of Eagles-Cowboys and they are not happy.. Deep dives into Carson Wentz and the offense, plus an abysmally executed and coached game from the defense. It’s the whole team. Powered by SB Nation and Bleeding Green Nation.

The Eagles’ receivers are extremely nonthreatening - PhillyVoice
According to the NFL’s NextGen stats, Jeffery is averaging 2.6 yards of separation between himself and the nearest defender at the time of a catch or incompletion. There are 54 receivers with enough qualifying targets who are getting more separation. Hollins is slightly better, at 2.7 yards of separation on average. There are 46 receivers with better separation numbers than him. Agholor actually does OK here, as he is getting a respectable 3.7 yards of separation on average, except, you know, the next category ... The Eagles lead the league in drops, according to this site, with 11. Drops are of course a subjective stat, and I reject the notion that the Eagles only have 11 of them. But obviously, nobody needs an official stat on that to know they have struggled mightily to catch the football this season.

Eagles film breakdown: Carson Wentz is the least of the team’s problems - Inquirer
Wentz was forced to press throws in the Eagles’ last two losses. But he did enough late in the Packers win to sustain a lead, and if it weren’t for late dropped passes in both the Falcons and Lions losses, the narrative of his and the Eagles’ season might be flipped. But even in his worst game Wentz showed why he is still performing at a high level, if not at one high enough to lift his team, however, unrealistic that may be.

Defensive tackle: From dominating plans to emergency additions - PE.com
Rush is familiar with what the Eagles do up front defensively, having been with the team through the spring practices and Organized Team Activities. He won’t be lost mentally on Sunday. With Rush, it’s a matter of conditioning and knocking the rust off; he hasn’t played in a game since the preseason with the Raiders. Huggins is a different story. He’s new to the system – the terminology, the checks, his teammates’ names, everything. This is a cram session in a big way. The hours move quickly between now and Sunday at 1 p.m. “I think we’ve got a good group of guys here. They welcomed me with open arms,” Huggins said. “Our D-line coach (Phillip Daniels), he came to the hotel last night to help me out with the plays, make sure I get them down pat. They’re depending on me and I’m depending on them to help me out, so we’re helping each other out.”

NFL Week 8 PFF Preview: Players to watch, fantasy football advice and betting projections - PFF
Philadelphia Eagles @ Buffalo Bills: Players to Watch. Among the 31 NFL quarterbacks with at least 50 pressured dropbacks this season, Eagles’ Carson Wentz ranks first in PFF passing grade (81.3), fourth in yards per attempt (8.3) and fifth in NFL passer rating (85.7). He has completed 40-of-82 attempts for 579 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions across his 100 pressured dropbacks on the year. Only Mitchell Trubisky has a lower grade than Bills second-year quarterback Josh Allen on throws of 10-plus air yards among the 26 signal-callers with 50 or more throws of such depths through Week 7. Allen has completed just 32-of-63 attempts on such throws for 663 yards, four touchdowns and four interceptions. Including plays nullified by penalty, Allen has logged just four big-time throws and five turnover-worthy plays when throwing 10 or more yards down the field.

Kapadia: 10 thoughts on the state of the Eagles at 3-4 - The Athletic
7. Which brings us to the final and most important roster-building point: The Eagles aren’t getting enough production from their last three drafts. They selected 13 players in the 2017 and 2018 drafts, and only one (Derek Barnett) is contributing as an above-average starter (even that might be generous). The Sidney Jones pick in the 2017 second round (43rd overall) could be the most costly. With the Eagles in desperate need of corner help Sunday, he was a DNP-coach’s decision. Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz didn’t trust Jones to play nickel even as Orlando Scandrick yielded big play after big play. The Eagles missed on Donnel Pumphrey in the fourth round that year, which led to them bringing back Darren Sproles again and again. Shelton Gibson, whom they took in the fifth round in 2017, was unable to serve as an average deep threat and is no longer on the roster. They took defensive end Josh Sweat in the fourth round in 2018. He’s flashed some in recent weeks but has not given their pass rush a boost. Jeffrey Lurie has talked about how the Eagles want to be volume drafters, but they’ve selected just 10 players the past two years. The Eagles have gotten 544 snaps from their 2019 draft picks. Only three teams have had fewer. Part of that has to do with veterans being in place, but there have also been opportunities for guys like Arcega-Whiteside and Shareef Miller that they’ve failed to seize. No one’s denying that the draft is hard. But this season might look a lot different if one of the young players from the past three drafts — specifically at corner or wide receiver — had emerged as a quality starter.

Best veteran contracts on every NFL team: What’s next for all 32 - ESPN+
Why his contract is so valuable: Graham is probably going to go down as the most underappreciated edge rusher of his era, despite his strip-sacking Tom Brady in the fourth quarter of a Super Bowl. Graham has never gotten his due on pure sack numbers, topping out at 9.5 in 2017, because the Eagles use a deep rotation of edges. Despite that, Graham has three consecutive seasons with 41 or more pressures and is at 27 after his first seven games of 2019. Graham is not slated to take up a huge amount of cap space compared to that of the best edge rushers in the game the next two seasons. As he enters his 30s, like Calais Campbell earlier in this list, Graham continues to wreck offensive linemen left and right. And there’s no reason he can’t be a bargain for the rest of his contract.

Scramble for the Ball: A Passing Emergency - Football Outsiders
Comfort in Sadness Stat of the Week: Seventy-five points allowed in two games has the Eagles in a tough spot ahead of their third straight road trip, this time to the overachieving Bills. Philadelphia looked like one of the deepest rosters in the league ahead of the season, but they have just about exhausted their depth at far too many positions already in the first half of the campaign. One bright spot against the Cowboys was the performance of second-year tight end Dallas Goedert: with Zach Ertz blanketed and the receivers a non-factor, Goedert led the team in receiving with the second-best yardage total of his young career. If the team can ever get its wideouts healthy, they in theory have a deep and diverse set of targets for Carson Wentz. The problem, as always, is the sheer size of such a small word: if.

Deals We’d Like to See at the 2019 NFL Trade Deadline - MMQB
Jets DE Leonard Williams to the Eagles. The former Jets first-round pick has not stood out statistically (17 sacks in four years) despite being part of some good-to-excellent defensive lines over his five seasons. The Eagles, meanwhile, lost Malik Jackson for the season to a Lisfranc injury and just so happened to have a former high-ranking personnel executive now in charge of the Jets’ roster. I would be stunned if the Jets did not shed some talent heading into the stretch run of the season (head coach Adam Gase wouldn’t have pushed for a clean slate at G.M. had he not felt the roster was deficient in some ways, and probably couldn’t gut it completely before the start of the season). I would also be stunned if Howie Roseman sits on his hands during the deadline given how clumped the NFC East has become. This is an affordable way to improve the team and gives them a look at a high-upside talent for 2020 and beyond.

Buffalo Bills defense is still stingy despite less-than-stellar result vs. Miami - Buffalo Rumblings
Buffalo is holding its opponents to 15.17 points per game through the first six games of 2019, while the 1993 team limited its foes to 13.3 points per game. The Bills are on pace to allow 243 points this year, which would rank fourth all-time in terms of fewest points allowed, trailing only 1999 (229 points), 1988 (237) and 1993 (242). Buffalo qualified for the playoffs in all three of those seasons.

Jaguars plan to activate Nick Foles against Colts - Big Cat Country
Personally, I think just straight up inserting Foles into the Jaguars starting lineup regardless of what happens between now and Week 11, is a mistake that could blow up in their face. If Minshew is playing poorly for an extended period of time, I get it, but as it stands I’m not sure there is a game that the Jaguars lost that I feel like they would have won with Nick Foles. The Jaguars invested a lot in Foles this offseason and got lucky with Minshew, so it’s understandable they’d like to see some return on their investment, but they could run into the issue of causing a huge unnecessary disruption to everything if Minshew continues to play well, regardless of the record.

Michael Bennett on his suspension: ‘It’s America, you can voice your opinion about certain situations’ - Boston
Michael Bennett returned to the Patriots on Wednesday, his first practice back following a week-long suspension for “detrimental conduct” after a disagreement with defensive line coach Bret Bielema. Bennett had told ESPN previously that the suspension was a result of a “philosophical disagreement with my position coach,” but after practice, the Patriots defensive end briefly elaborated on what happened.

Trying to make sense of the Patriots’ decision to place Josh Gordon on injured reserve, release him at a later point - Pats Pulpit
There are two basic reasons why waving Gordon after next week’s deadline is better than releasing him right away instead of placing him on IR: 1.) The waiver wire is like the draft: the worst teams pick first, the best come later. Waiving Gordon instead of straight-up releasing him increases the chances of him landing with a non-competitor. 2.) There is a salary cap benefit to this, which we will now dig into a bit. As noted above, New England’s salary cap situation likely plays a big role in the decision to move the team’s number two wide receiver — one that has caught 20 passes in six games for 287 yards and a touchdown — to injured reserve and later let him go. After all, the team could save up to $952,000 in case Gordon gets waived with an injury settlement after the trade deadline and ultimately claimed by another team.

The Trailblazing Coaches Who Went From Friday Night Lights to the NFL - The Ringer
Former high school coaches like Doug Pederson and Matt Nagy brought innovative schemes from lower levels to the pro game, as well as an emphasis on teaching and development

NFL Panic Index 2019: The Eagles are even more dysfunctional in the locker room than on the field - SB Nation
Panic index: Perhaps winning will cure all, but things might get worse before they get better. The Eagles face a tough upcoming slate against the Bills, Bears, Patriots, and Seahawks, before they get an early December reprieve (Dolphins, Giants, Washington).

Sixers open the season with a win over Boston - Liberty Ballers
{BLG Note: Let’s go Sixers!]

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