Eagles News: Jalen Reagor needs to start making plays

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In Roob’s Observations: Whose fault is Jalen Reagor’s slow start? - NBCSP
1. Jalen Reagor has gone eight straight games without a catch of at least 25 yards. He doesn’t even run deep routes anymore. The idea seems to be: Try to get Reagor the ball on high-percentage throws and let him use his speed to get big-time yards after the catch. But it’s not working. Reagor’s 8.3 average this year ranks 107th out of 108 receivers with at least 10 catches, ahead of only 36-year-old Dany Amendola of the Texans. Out of 259 WRs in Eagles history who caught at least 20 passes in a season, that 8.3 ranks 257th – ahead of Greg Ward last year (7.9) and Josh Huff in 2016 (5.5). Of Reagor’s 20 catches this year, five have gone for one yard or less and only five have gone for more than 10 yards. He’s on pace for 350 yards in a 17-game season. Whose fault is all this? The play caller? The quarterback? Reagor himself? Sirianni can certainly do a better job trying to draw up plays to get Reagor the ball, and Hurts can always do a better job delivering him the football. But this is mainly a Jalen Reagor problem. Ultimately, it’s up to him to start making plays.

Can the Eagles pull off the upset against the Chargers? - BGN
Then again, one must consider the Bolts are bad at stopping the run in part by design. Under Brandon Staley, the Chargers employ a lot of Cover 2 looks — not totally to Jonathan Gannon — that are meant to invite the ground game. Because running the football is generally less efficient than passing. Against the Eagles, though, the Chargers would be wise to adjust and put the game on Jalen Hurts’ arm. Los Angeles should be able to live with losing if it means Hurts has his best passing performance in some time. Losing because they allowed the Eagles’ current offensive strength, their running game, to carry them to victory, well, that would be a harder pill to swallow.

Eagles trade deadline fallout, Lions takeaways, and Chargers preview - BGN Radio
Brandon Lee Gowton and Jimmy Kempski discuss this week in Eagles news: Fletcher Cox almost (?) getting traded, Eric Wilson getting cut, acquiring Kary Vincent Jr., and Russell Wilson potentially landing in Philly. The guys also discuss what, if anything, can be taken away from the Lions game and preview the Birds’ Week 9 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers. Can the Eagles pull off the upset and keep their positive momentum going?

Grading the Eagles’ trade deadline deals, and non-deals - PhillyVoice
That report certainly jibes with the Eagles’ obvious play to make him available through national media types. However, because they made an unforced error by needlessly restructuring Cox’ contract eight weeks ago, the Eagles made Cox nearly impossible to trade. Add in another unnecessary contract restructure to Derek Barnett, and no deal for Andre Dillard, likely because, again, they’re overvaluing his worth, and there were missed opportunities to save money while acquiring assets for players who may not be part of the long-term plan. Overall trade deadline grade: C.

NFL picks and best bets for Week 9: How will Packers, Titans fare without Aaron Rodgers, Derrick Henry? - ESPN+
Fortenbaugh: The look-ahead line for this matchup was Chargers -3 before Los Angeles fell on its face against New England last Sunday and Philly blew out Detroit. I believe the adjustment to Chargers -1.5 is too great, so I’m siding with the road favorite here. The Eagles are 0-3 at home this season while the Chargers have, somewhat surprisingly, covered the number in eight of their past 11 outings dating back to last season. Keep in mind that Philadelphia has followed up its two previous wins this season with losses. Pick: Chargers -1.5

Dallas Goedert stars, Gardner Minshew sits: 10 Eagles predictions for NFL’s second half - The Athletic
The Eagles finish with three picks in the top 15 but none in the top five.. The Eagles are slated right now to have picks No. 3 (via Miami), 8 and 9 (via Indianapolis). It says here the Dolphins will win enough games to move out of the top five, while the likes of the Jaguars and Jets find creative ways to lose. The Eagles, thanks to their soft schedule, will pop just outside the top 10, as will the Colts, though Carson Wentz will pass the playing time threshold for Indianapolis’ pick to convey. The Eagles will enter the offseason loaded with ammo to find a new quarterback, though it will be the kind of package better suited for landing a veteran than moving to the very top of the draft (if there is a quarterback in the draft worth pursuing that high).

Fantasy Football Volatility Index: The riskiest and safest plays for NFL Week 9 - Fake Teams
WR Mike Williams (Los Angeles Chargers). Turns out Mike Will won’t be filling the bag this summer... or will he? Hard to know, considering the ridiculous outcomes from this man in both the real and the fantasy football worlds to this day. Last week I picked QB Justin Herbert as the most volatile player available, and indeed he had a good-not-great 15.8 FP performance against New England that was below his average on the year. Williams started the season with three consecutive bangs (22.2, 22.1, and 33.2 PPR points) but then scored a ground-level, turd-like 2.1 PPR points against Las Vegas... only to bounce back for a silly WR2 36.5 fantasy points (8-of-16 catches, 165 yards, 2 TDs). Oh, and he sandwiched the Week 7 bye between a 4.7 and a 3.9 FP-outings. The consensus opinion is the one saying Mike-W will rebound once more sooner rather than later. Are you risking the biscuit rostering such a random player, folks?

Fantasy Football: Best and worst DFS targets in Week 9 - PFF
Best: Austin Ekeler, Los Angeles Chargers. Ekeler may not get the same hype other top running backs do, but he ranks third in scoring with an elite 153.2 fantasy points through eight weeks. He doesn’t have the same rushing volume as other top backs, either, though his 39 targets and 302 receiving yards are tied for the fourth-most at the position. Ekeler is in a major smash-spot against the Philadelphia Eagles this week. Philadelphia ranks 24th in passing allowed yards to running backs and 27th in rushing yards allowed to the position. Their defense leaves something to be desired, evidenced by their 19th-ranked -0.012 EPA allowed per play.

A 6-pack of Chargers-Eagles matchups to watch - PE.com
2. Defensive approach vs. QB Justin Herbert. Philadelphia has all kinds of respect for Justin Herbert, the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year last season. He’s a strong-armed quarterback who has toughness, smarts, and athletic ability. He has thrown 16 touchdown passes and six interceptions this season. How do the Eagles attack him? Defenses of late have dropped defenders in coverage against Herbert, forcing him to throw into tight windows. Herbert has had great success against the blitz, another reason defenses have backed off in the way they approach Herbert. What will Jonathan Gannon dial up to take Herbert off his game? It’s going to be a fascinating chess match to watch on Sunday.

5 Questions with Bleeding Green Nation - Bolts From The Blue
We have a jam-packed edition of our weekly “Five Questions” segment and it’s all thanks to our very own Brandon Lee Gowton over at Bleeding Green Nation. Brandon is one of the best out there so you know you’re getting the high-quality content you deserve whenever he’s involved. Without further ado, let’s get right to it.

Mailbag: What’s Next For Deshaun Watson and the Texans After the Trade Deadline? - SI
For Deshaun Watson, it means there potentially being more teams to pick from—and, remember, because he has a no-trade clause, he does have some control over the situation. He’s losing a year of his athletic prime in the big picture. But in the smaller snapshot of the last few weeks, he’s lost only the chance to play out the string with a 1–7 Dolphins team, with a good chance that team will be involved again when we get to the offseason. The upshot is the other three teams that have kept close tabs on the situation since the start of training camp (the Panthers, Broncos and Eagles) figure to maintain their interest as well, given where they stand now at quarterback, and other teams that haven’t been involved at all in 2021 could well reassess and dive into the veteran quarterback pool in ’22. (Giants? Browns? Seahawks? Steelers? Saints?)

ARIZONA’S ZACH ERTZ NAMED WEEK 9 NFLPA COMMUNITY MVP - NFLPA
Zach Ertz has been named the Week 9 NFLPA Community MVP after launching a program to provide meals for Arizona food banks and breaking ground on his foundation’s House of Hope project to create a safe space for Philadelphia youth. Last month’s trade that sent Ertz from the Philadelphia Eagles to the Arizona Cardinals has managed to benefit both teams’ communities. Just prior to his October 24 debut with the Cardinals, the ninth-year tight end announced the “Score More n’ Feed More” campaign, which is donating 5,000 meals to local food banks for every touchdown that Arizona scores for the rest of the season. So far, the team’s high-powered offense has helped provide 40,000 meals over the past two games.

Cowboys vs. Broncos final injury report: Tyron Smith out, Amari Cooper, CeeDee Lamb questionable - Blogging The Boys
The news is not as good for Tyron Smith; the left tackle will not see action this week. Smith was designated as out for the game. He is likely to be replaced by Terence Steele while La’el Collins slides back in at right tackle. CeeDee Lamb twisted an ankle earlier this week in practice and sat out yesterday’s team activities.

Big Blue View mailbag: Daniel Jones, DeSean Jackson, more - Big Blue View
Lawrence Taylor asks: What does Daniel Jones need to show the second half of the season for you, as GM (sorry about the demotion), to exercise his 5th year option in April? Also, how do you expect Daniel to play and what do you expect the Giants to do regarding the option? Ed says: Lawrence, there are Giants fans who will want to sack me for this but he doesn’t have to show me anything. There is no question in my mind that I’m exercising that option. I know the Giants don’t score enough points. I know Jones doesn’t throw enough touchdown passes. I know he still makes an occasional bad decision, or stares down a receiver. I also know that to my eyes Jones has shown a lot of improvement this season, and even before he was injured last season. He’s never going to be Patrick Mahomes or Aaron Rodgers. I think he can be a good NFL quarterback, though, and I’m not ready to start over. I still want to build with him and see what can happen if the Giants ever put a quality group around him.

Aaron Rodgers’ COVID-19 saga, explained - Acme Packing Company
On Friday, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers made a surprise appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, a live talk show that Rodgers typically joins on Tuesdays. While the Packers were having practice, Rodgers told McAfee and his former teammate A.J. Hawk that he’s “doing really well,” the first update on Rodgers’ health since he was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list on Wednesday. Many questions have popped up around Rodgers’ vaccination status since NFL Network reported that he would be held out of the facility for 10 days following his single positive COVID test, a policy that is only in place for unvaccinated players. His unvaccinated status brought up questions as to if the Packers broke league protocol by allowing an unvaccinated player to do press conferences indoors without a mask, which in part has started a league investigation into the program. According to Fox’s Jay Glazer, the league’s investigation will not result in a suspension of Rodgers, but simply fines for either he or the franchise. Glazer did not mention if the team would potentially have to forfeit draft picks based on what the league finds in its investigation. For reference, the NFL fined the New Orleans Saints $700,000 and made the team forfeit their 2022 sixth-round pick for 2020 COVID protocol violations.

Aaron Rodgers Can’t Defend a Losing Argument. That Won’t Stop Him From Trying. - The Ringer
The Packers quarterback went on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ on Friday to explain why he chose not to get the COVID-19 vaccine. His rationale was objectively false at times—at others, it was just bizarre.

6 burning questions in Week 9 of the NFL - SB Nation
Can the Cowboys break the streak? One of the more bizarre trends in the NFL, the Cowboys have not beaten the Broncos since 1995. Denver has had Dallas’ number over the last 25 years, winning each of the last six game between the two. On paper there’s no way Dallas drops this game, but weirder things have happened. I’m curious to see if history can continue.

NFL Reacts #14: Jonathan Taylor, Odell Beckham is free, Packers without Rodgers, and Pick 3 - The SB Nation NFL Show
Welcome to another edition of NFL Reacts! Stephen Serda and Kate Magdziuk discuss the budding superstar that is Colts running back Jonathan Taylor. The Jets seems to be in a weird quarterback pickle, and Odell Beckham Jr. is no longer a Cleveland Brown. The Packers are still in play in fantasy even without Aaron Rodgers, and running backs to target if you lost Derrick Henry. We finish up with ‘Pick 3’ to get you ready for week 9, and whether you should trust the Eagles backfield.

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