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Eagles News: Howie Roseman’s poor drafting among reasons for wide receiver struggles

Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 11/8/19.

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5 reasons why the Eagles have such an insanely ineffective group of wide receivers - NBCSP
1. The draft. The Eagles have drafted eight wide receivers since 2010, the year after they took Jeremy Maclin. Who has the best career numbers of those eight? Jordan Matthews, of course. Next on the list is Nelson Agholor, who has had his moments but has put up some of the worst numbers in NFL history by a first-round wide receiver. Riley Cooper had a decent year in 2013, but that’s about it. Josh Huff was a disaster as a third-round pick, Mack Hollins has done nothing to warrant being a fourth-round pick and JJ Arcega-Whiteside can’t even get on the field. It’s not just Howie Roseman. Agholor was a Chip Kelly pick and Huff was probably more of a Kelly pick, although Roseman was still the GM. The bottom line is none of them are elite. For the record, Cooper was drafted before Antonio Brown, Huff before John Brown and Agholor before Stefon Diggs. It’s too early to fairly compare JJAW with D.K. Metcalf, Terry McLaurin or Diontae Johnson, but the early returns aren’t encouraging. [BLG Note: Allow me to add that Riley Cooper is the only wide receiver drafted in the Howie Roseman era to receive a contract extension with the Eagles.]

Game-by-game predictions for the rest of the Eagles’ 2019 schedule - BGN
An annual bye week tradition here at Bleeding Green Nation involves me predicting the outcome of the remaining games on the Philadelphia Eagles’ schedule. In 2017, I predicted the Eagles would finish 13-3 and win the Super Bowl. That happened. In 2018, I predicted the Eagles would make the playoffs and lose to the New Orleans Saints in the Divisional Round. That also happened. So, the clear takeaway here is that I have clairvoyant powers. I know what’s going to happen over the course of the Eagles’ final seven games. Let’s take a look.

The Kist & Solak Show #143: Build the Whole Plane Out of Stoutland - BGN Radio
Michael Kist and Benjamin Solak have review the Eagles-Bears film and have a ton of plays to breakdown and a ton of takes to unleash! Powered by SB Nation and Bleeding Green Nation.

Eagles podcast: DeSean Jackson, Jordan Matthews, Josh Gordon, and Antonio Brown - PhillyVoice
How do the Eagles go forward with these bad wide receivers? Who should they bring in? Is Jordan Matthews enough? What about Antonio Brown? And should the Eagles have put in a waiver claim on Josh Gordon?

20 PFF stats to know entering Week 10 of the 2019 NFL regular season - PFF
5. Alshon Jeffery’s hands were uncharacteristically poor. With just two drops entering Week 9, Alshon Jeffery was seemingly one of the Eagles’ more sure-handed targets. That all came crashing down against the Bears, as Jeffery dropped a league-high three balls to up his total to five on the season. ... 7. Zach Ertz returned to form. While Zach Ertz is still on pace for numbers that pale in comparison to his 2018 campaign, his Week 9 performance was a step in the right direction. Quarterback Carson Wentz was all over his once-favorite target, throwing 11 passes Ertz’s way. That resulted in Ertz’s first 100-yard game since Week 16 of last year.

Biggest Week 10 injury questions for all 32 NFL teams: Latest on Mahomes, Johnson, Green - ESPN
Eagles wide receiver Alshon Jeffery suffered an ankle injury late in Sunday’s victory against the Bears, but he didn’t seem overly concerned about it after the game. However, couple this latest ailment with the calf strain that hindered Jeffery for much of the first half of the season, and this becomes a much-needed bye week for the veteran, who will have to carry the load now that DeSean Jackson is sidelined for the remainder of the season. “I’m going to take care of my body, that’s about it,” Jeffery said of his plans this week. “I’m not doing too much. Just treatment.”

Would Eagles be making a mistake by benching Andre Dillard and putting Jason Peters back at left tackle? - Inquirer
Baldinger thinks that would be a mistake “To be honest with you, I don’t know why they would put Jason back in there,” he said. “Even if he’s healthy, you don’t know how long it’ll be before he breaks down again. I just think they should move on right now and keep playing Dillard. Obviously, Jason’s an elite player, a certain Hall of Famer. But it’s so intermittent right now. They’re playing two rookies [at offensive tackle] in Houston right now, and they’ve won six games. You draft these guys, you’ve got to play them. You’re not going to get a better coach than Stout [Eagles offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland].” While they can put Peters back out there and hope he stays healthy this time, it hinders Dillard’s development to yo-yo him in and out of the lineup. “Put [Dillard] out there and let him learn and let him play,” Baldinger said. “They’re not losing games because of him. He’s not the reason the passing game is struggling.”

Eagle Eye: Look out! Fletcher Cox is back - PE.com
Head coach Doug Pederson and the Eagles’ coaching staff put on a clinic on how to negate a quality pass rusher in Sunday’s win over the Chicago Bears, which I detailed in my Eagle Eye in the Sky offensive recap. It’s time now to turn our attention to the defensive side of the ball, where we saw a lot of really interesting developments on the field. Before getting into anything from a schematic standpoint, let’s look at No. 91 Fletcher Cox. After studying the film against Chicago, and seeing his performance the previous week against Buffalo, I can say without hesitation that Fletcher is back. It showed up on the opening series.

Chicago Bears Sackwatch 2019: Week 9 vs. the Philadelphia Eagles - Windy City Gridiron
The Eagles brought a delayed six (and my guess is that guy was actually spying Trubisky), and the Bears had six in to block with running back David Montgomery staying in the backfield. Montgomery is a little too aggressive in coming up, but he had no way of knowing Barnett is coming on that stunt. I can’t fault the Bears’ o-line for not picking up the long stunt either, because center James Daniels has no way of knowing the defensive end would come two gaps inside. This just a real nice call by defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, so I’m putting it in the sacks happen category.

Cowboys vs. Vikings injury report: Amari Cooper expected to play on Sunday - Blogging The Boys
The Cowboys injury report for Thursday hasn’t changed much, although there was a slight scare this morning when it was reported Amari Cooper had an MRI on his knee and wouldn’t practice today. Cooper has been banged up with the knee and ankle for over a month, but the good news is it looks like he will be able to go this week.

FanPulse: Confidence of Giants’ fans is ... rising? Really, it is - Big Blue View
There is a sort of amazing thing going on with New York Giants fans. At least the ones who participate in our weekly ‘FanPulse’ survey asking if you have confidence in the team’s direction. Despite a five-game losing streak, the confidence of our voters has actually risen the past two weeks. From 24 percent after a loss to the Arizona Cardinals, to 27 percent after a loss to the Detroit Lions and now all the way up to 37 percent showing confidence after a loss to the Dallas Cowboys dropped the team to 2-7. With questions beginning to swirl around head coach Pat Shurmur that is, to say the least, a surprising result.

The Redskins place Trent Williams on the Reserve/Non-Football Injury List - Hogs Haven
The Redskins move is procedural since it has been reported that Williams doesn’t plan to play for the team again. With this move to the Reserve/NFI list, the team can attempt to have his contract toll, and not pay him for this season. This would leave two years on his contract when they try to trade him next year.

Nick Foles vs. Gardner Minshew: Let’s discuss win-loss predictions! - Big Cat Country
John Shipley: For me, it depends on the health of Jacoby Brissett. If he starts both games, I just think the Colts are flat out better than the Jaguars and sweep them there. I think they beat the Falcons and Titans with Minshew, but drop games to the Chargers and Buccaneers as well. So ultimately, I think 7-9 is likely but 8-8 is possible. The Jaguars are simply not a good team. They are entertaining at times, and are mostly not horrible, but they are certainly not a good team. ... Ryan Day: Then what would the coaches or front office see in the starting Foles over Minshew? If the long term answer is Minshew (which I think it is) and the short term answer is the same number of wins, what’s the thought process here?

Jaguars turning back to Foles doesn’t mean forgetting Minshew - Jacksonville
The 23-year-old rookie lifted up his team, emboldened this city and embraced the phenomena that he created with a genuine sense of humility. Minshew made football fun, but he may have to get used to being a spectator for the foreseeable future. For now, it’s hard to quibble much with Marrone’s decision, but it’s OK for Jaguars supporters and NFL fans in general to feel a touch of sadness over Minshew mania being temporarily halted. What a blast it was to see this rookie fireball set the league on fire. Minshew -- a guy nobody except people in his Mississippi hometown or Mike Leach’s office at Washington State figured would do much as a pro –- ended up being legitimate water-cooler conversation for two months.

Antonio Brown: “F–k the NFL” - PFT
And there goes any chance receiver Antonio Brown ever had of playing in 2019, or possibly ever again. Mercurial receiver Antonio Brown, with a meeting at 345 Park Avenue only a week away, has gone unhinged again on Twitter, with this message: “Imagine conforming to a system giving it a 100 percent to see them treat me like this is unfairly [sic]! Making money of my swear and blood. F–k the NFL I’ll never play in that sh-t treat black people the worse [sic]! Clear my name and go f–k your self.”

Cris Carter departs Fox Sports under mysterious circumstances - Star Tribune
Former Vikings receiver and Hall of Famer Cris Carter is no longer employed by Fox Sports, though the reason is both unclear and described by at least one report as “serious.”

This was my first ‘the NFL is a business’ moment, as told by a former player - SB Nation
The two questions I get asked more often about my time in the NFL are “who is the toughest player you played against?” and “what is the biggest difference between college and NFL?” The first is easy: Julius Peppers. The second has multiple answers. The easy answer is the speed of the game and the quality of opponents. In the Pac-12 conference (Pac-10 when I was there), I only played against one or two professional defensive ends, and in the NFL, you clearly play more than two all season. The hard answer, and one that’s not discussed often, is that the NFL is big business. This concept is hard to understand at first for 22-year-olds who just left college, where everything is provided for them and football still feels like a kids’ game.

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