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Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links ...
After ‘wild ride’ in Philly, Carson Wentz prepares for his former team - Washington Post
“There are always things I look back on and [think], man, I could have been better here. I could have been better as a person, as a teammate. [There are] lots of things that you do take for granted,” he said. “And so I think I definitely thank God for the experiences I’ve had even though sometimes they’re dark or sometimes they’re not how I envisioned them to be. But I think it’s allowed me to grow as a person, and I’m thankful for that.” [...] A division victory could change the trajectory of either team. But with Wentz in burgundy instead of green, the matchup has personal ties that could ensure the wild ride carries on. “I’m excited for it,” Wentz said. “But … you try not to make the game bigger than it needs to be. Every week is a big week. It’s hard to win in this league. And so I know once the first kickoff goes, it’ll be football again.”
Inside the Eagles’ 2020 QB shift that altered careers for Jalen Hurts, Carson Wentz - ESPN
Trust was at the heart of the issue. Wentz was often reluctant to play within the system during his time in Philadelphia, sources with direct knowledge of the offense’s inner workings said. He became irritated, one of those sources said, when his freedom to operate the offense was largely stripped from him as injuries and inefficient performances piled up during the 2020 season. His relationship with Pederson became strained. With coach and quarterback pulling in different directions, the offense flopped. Much has been made of Wentz’s standing among his teammates during his days with the Eagles. The bottom line is this: Wentz was largely viewed as a good guy and good teammate — several players said they spoke with Wentz just in the past week and were complimentary of him as a person and player — but he ran in a tight circle and therefor didn’t have strong relationships built up across the entire locker room. So when Wentz would target good friend Zach Ertz significantly more than the other receiving options over the course of a season — like when Ertz had 48 more targets than any other pass-catcher in 2019 — it would rub some players the wrong way because they did not have the same access to him off the field as Ertz did.
Eagles at Commanders: Five matchups to watch - PhillyVoice
His stats, in print, look pretty good. He’s 57 of 87 (65.5%) for 650 yards (325 per game), 7 TDs, and 3 INTs. His 7 TDs tie him with three other quarterbacks for a share of the league lead, however, his 3.4% INT rate (small sample size alert) happens to be the same as it was in 2020, when he led the league in INTs despite getting benched for the final four games. It should be noted that all three of his INTs this season have been his fault. The Eagles need to force the “What the hell was that?” moments, and they can do that with pressure. Wentz’s worst trait remains his lack of pocket presence [...] One of my favorite Wentz pocket presence quirks is that once he either avoids an edge rusher, or an edge rusher runs by him, it’s as if he believes that that player no longer exists, and won’t continue to keep trying to get after him. He did it throughout his career in Philly, and it has carried over into Indianapolis and now Washington, with an example shown in the Twitter thread above. Normally, you don’t want your edge rushers getting too far up the field and simply getting escorted around the bend, taking themselves out of the play. Against Wentz, Haason Reddick and Josh Sweat should not feel the need to try to flatten their path to the quarterback as much as possible. Taking wider paths to Wentz can be just as effective. If you get in behind him, Wentz will eventually drift back in the pocket into strip sack opportunities. The plan should be to enclose him in the pocket, and whenever a lineman is within striking distance, tackle the football, not the quarterback, because he is one of the worst in the league at protecting it.
Eagles vs. Vikings: 18 winners, 5 losers, 1 IDK - BGN
Hurts also made a real impressive throw rolling to his left to hit Quez Watkins along the sideline, only to be wiped out by a holding penalty. As a runner, Hurts picked his spots well as opposed to relying on his legs too often. His 26-yard touchdown scramble on 3rd-and-2 was incredibly impressive. He easily could’ve ran out of bounds but he saw a weakness and attacked it, fighting through contact and extending the ball over the goal line for the score. Hurts left no doubt on Monday night. He looked like a franchise quarterback that the Eagles would be more than happy to sign to a long-term contract extension as soon as after this season. More than that, though, he looked like a freaking NFL MVP candidate out there. THIS was a needle-moving performance that raises the Eagles’ ceiling to being legitimate Super Bowl contenders. Pretty exciting stuff!
NFL Week 2 Secondary Rankings - PFF
8. Philadelphia Eagles. Highest-Graded DB: CB Darius Slay (84.8) We saw a vintage performance from Darius Slay on Monday Night Football in Week 2, picking off Kirk Cousins twice. He was absolutely dominant on his way to the fourth-highest game grade (86.6) among 189 qualifying secondary players in Week 2. With Slay, Avonte Maddox and James Bradberry, the Eagles have one of the league’s best cornerback trios. But, of course, they need their safeties to play better —and they will. Until then, they are ranked only just inside the top 10.
Week 3 NFL game picks: Steelers outduel Browns; Buccaneers top Packers - NFL.com
The Commanders’ offense is erratic yet surprisingly fun. They have enough playmakers and derring-do to bring the Eagles back to earth. But the communication problems on Washington’s defense and lack of pass rush are all too reminiscent of 2021. Like most teams facing Philly, the Commanders aren’t tough enough.
NFL picks against the spread: Vic Tafur likes the Bills and Giants to get to 3-0 - The Athletic
The Carson Wentz revenge game against the Eagles. Yeah, baby. The Commanders couldn’t stop Jared Goff last week, so what the heck are they going to do with eventual fantasy football MVP Jalen Hurts? And Miles Sanders averaged 7.4 yards a carry last week. (Washington is the only team to already allow two runs of 50-plus yards, while 25 teams haven’t even allowed one.) We’re just asking Wentz to not throw the ball to Darius Slay and for a talented receiving corps to keep it close and not lose big at home to a team that played Monday night. An ATS win still counts as revenge, right? The pick: Commanders (+6.5)
Spadaro: The pulse of the locker room? Focus is all on Washington - PE.com
In the context of everything that defensive tackle Fletcher Cox has seen in his 11 Eagles seasons, this is nothing over which to break stride. Yeah, it’s nice that the Eagles have won their first two games and, of course, the players and coaches understand that storyline that is Carson Wentz as the starting quarterback for the Washington Commanders on Sunday. Two things to consider here, no doubt, but given the natural course of the season, not much more than blips. “It’s about us and that is something I say every week,” Cox said on Wednesday as the Eagles prepared for their walkthrough practice at the NovaCare Complex. “We have to get ready for a football game on Sunday against a good Washington team that knows us, that is in our division. We know that every time we play them it’s a battle. That is our focus.”
Tracking the 2022 Linear Super Bowl title - Daily Norseman
But our friends over at the Norse Code podcast have taken this idea to heart, and as such we’re now going to be tracking this year’s “Linear Super Bowl” title. See, the Vikings won the Super Bowl in Week 1. . .if you’re stupid. . .and the Philadelphia Eagles then defeated them for the Linear Super Bowl title this past Monday. This week, your Linear Super Bowl championship will either remain with Philadelphia or move on to their division rivals, the Washington Commanders. We will continue to track this title throughout the course of the season and see where it ends up. Will it get an opportunity to come back to Minnesota? Possibly. . .but there’s a long way to go on that front.
Commanders vs Eagles Wednesday Injury Report: Kam Curl was a full participant in practice today - Hogs Haven
Starting safety Kam Curl suffered a thumb injury in the Commanders 2nd preseason game and had surgery. He missed both games, and has been wearing a cast to practice while working in the side field. He was a full participant in today’s practice and is expected to play on Sunday. His replacement, Darrick Forrest, will also be worked into the defense after some positive play in relief of Curl.
Are the 2022 New York Giants for real? Numbers to believe, and not believe - Big Blue View
It’s two games, don’t get excited. A statistically insignificant sample. The teams the Giants have played are not good. This may well be true for Carolina. Tennessee was thought to be a high quality opponent but they were dismantled by Buffalo, so it remains to be seen whether they will survive the loss of A.J. Brown to the Eagles. The Giants are a collection of mostly mediocre players, but the coaching is compensating for that with good offensive and defensive schemes and good play calls at the right time to hide their deficiencies and put them into positions to succeed. This is plausible but difficult to quantify. Surely Wink Martindale’s aggression on defense and heavy fronts vs. dime packages has made a difference. Surely Mike Kafka’s offensive sequences that run different plays off the same early motion make a difference. Surely Brian Daboll’s decision to go for two made a difference. They’ve just been lucky. A missed 47-yard field goal. A made 56-yard field goal. Reverse those and maybe they’re 0-2.
Cowboys at Giants preview: Michael Gallup, Jason Peters could change things for the game - Blogging The Boys
As for Peters, it’s a little more murky. The plan is for him to practice this week and see how that goes. Here is what Stephen Jones said about him playing. “Start[ing] to feel good, especially as we know Peters and Connor McGovern are going to be getting well sooner rather than later,” Jones added. “So, it will just help with our depth in the offensive line.” Earlier in the week Jerry Jones mentioned ‘position flex’ when talking about Peters playing. So it’s unclear where exactly he would fit in if he played. But if the Cowboys want to roll out their best five, it would be LT Peters, LG Smith, C Biadasz, RG Martin, RT Steele.
Why stopping the Bills’ passing game is almost impossible - SB Nation
I try my best to be prepared for every single radio appearance. On Tuesday, for the first time in a long time, I was unable to answer a question. It came during my weekly appearance on Sportsnet 650, with my friends Bik Nizzar and Randip Janda, which you can catch every Tuesday at 2:30 P.T. if you are interested. Late in the segment, they posed a relatively-straightforward question. “How do you stop the Buffalo Bills?” I stumbled my way through a non-answer, because in the moment, I could not come up with a way. Through two games, it seems that I am not alone. The Bills, preseason Super Bowl favorites, are 2-0 and are living up to expectations. They went on the road in Week 1 to take on the defending Super Bowl Champions, and beat the Los Angeles Rams by a final score of 31-10. Then on Monday night, they hosted the Tennessee Titans — last year’s top-overall seed in the AFC — and won by a final score of 41-7. Meaning they beat the Super Bowl Champions and the AFC’s top seed in back-to-back weeks by a combined score of 72-17. They have punted just three times this season.
Bills WR Stefon Diggs, Bills at Dolphins, & the Gauntlet - The SB Nation NFL Show
This week on the SB Nation NFL Show, Rob “Stats” Guerrera, Kyle Posey, and Justis Mosqueda prepare you for week 3 of the NFL season. Before we preview one of the biggest games of the week between the Bills and Dolphins–we sit down with Bills superstar wide receiver Stefon Diggs coming off his huge Monday night performance. Normally we preview the Thursday night game–but we’d rather discuss this huge AFC East matchup between the Bills and Dolphins. To wrap things up we take the biggest NFL overreactions through “the gauntlet.”
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