How sweet it is people! Football is back! But more importantly Eagles football is back and yesterday was our first glimpse at, most of, Chip Kelly’s new roster. It was the Eagles and the Indianapolis Colts going at it at one in the afternoon, because who doesn’t love afternoon preseason football.
What probably would of made for an interesting regular season game, much like it proved to be last season, turned out to be a bit of a snoozer outside of a few exciting plays. Then again it is the preseason, so I really shouldn’t be expecting much. But with that said it was an all round solid day for the Eagles as they operated well in all facets of the game, especially on Special teams.
David Fipp is like the second coming of John Harbaugh but gets much better results. It looks like the unit hasn’t skip a beat since their historic performance last season, but I’ll get into that a little later.
And now here’s my positional breakdown.
Quarterback:
Mark Sanchez started for the Eagles in place of Sam Bradford, gotta keep that new toy in the box in mint condition. I was optimistic about Sanchez this season, I figured having a year of this offense under his belt would give him an edge, but nope. Sanchez is as Sanchez does, and his play in this first preseason game was reminiscent of his Butt Fumble days. He was just never on the same page as his receivers all day. Sanchez consistently over threw his receivers and sailed the ball over their heads, in fact one of the biggest plays of the day for the Eagles only happen because Sanchez overthrew the receiver and the defender over pursued. Sanchez’s performance may have slightly opened the door for the man below him on the depth chart…
Matt Barkley was as solid as he’s ever been yesterday. This was probably the best I have ever seen the quarterback preform. He made two nice throws on his first attempts and lead the team on a quick scoring drive in his first possession. He slowed down a bit from there, but all in all it was nice day for a third year quarterback who hadn’t been showing much development in training camp. While he did do well to capitalize on Sanchez’s poor showing, its not very likely he’ll take the second string job from Sanchez, it is however likely the third sting QB competition is about to get more interesting…
Tim Tebow was the third quarterback out of the gate, but easily the most anticipated. The loudest point of the day was when God’s favorite quarterback took the field, and I will say he did’t disappoint. Timmy showed off an improved throwing motion which seems to have helped his game a little. He came out making quick decisions and good throws during his first series, but once the third string line came in his game went to shit. Tebow was constantly under pressure and had a hard time progressing to his second and third reads when his first was covered. A lot can be blamed on the O-line, but Tebow isn’t completely infallible for this one.
It was a very up and down day for the quarterbacks that didn’t fill me with very much confidence about the position, especially with Sam Bradford, the kneeless wonder, starting under center.
Running Back:
Ryan Matthews started in place of the (injured?) Offensive Player of the Year DeMarco Murray. Matthews wasn’t on the field for long but did impress in the limited carries he got. He showed an ability to hit the hole hard and then become nimble once reaching the second level, as opposed to the other way around which had been the norm with Lesean McCoy. If DeMarco Murray is actually injured and misses anytime this season, I feel confident with Matthews touting the ball…
Darren Sproles didn’t do anything sunday. Like at all. He shared the field with Ryan Matthews at times, and when it was Matthews time to hit the showers Sproles took the second teams reps. But Sproles finished the day with no catches and no carries. Now that doesn’t mean he had a bad day, he did nothing that really harmed the team, but still it would of been nice to just see something out of the Waterbug…
Kenjon Barner wins MVP honors for the game on sunday. The reason Sproles didn’t have much of a day was because Kenjon Barner was doing a pretty good Darren Sproles impression. Barner took over special teams duty and was electric from start to finish, he didn’t really have a bad return on the day. Barner was solid as the second team running back, he was the teams second leading rusher and had a nice nine yard score. If the rosters were finalized today, I think Barner would make the team as the fourth RB…
Raheem Mostert took some second but mostly third team duties. He was the team’s leading rusher, but I’d be surprised if he was anything more than a practice squad player.
The position was as expected to be, solid but nothing overly flashy. There wasn’t enough there for me to feel even more confident about the position, but there no real negatives either.
Receivers:
The first teamers were Riley Cooper, Josh Huff, and Jordan Matthews out of the slot. Both Cooper and Huff were held without a reception, which was a major disappointment after all the waves Josh Huff had been making during training camp. Jordan Matthews was his usual monster self, he looked impressive in limited snaps making the best of some poor passes. Trey Burton ran with the first team offense after Zach Ertz groin injury and because Brent Celek didn’t really need the reps. he had a nice 21 yard catch, but wasn’t much of a factor outside of that.
Nelson Agholor and Miles Austin both made the most of their snaps. Agholor had one of the plays of the day when he turned an over thrown Mark Sanchez pass into a 34 yard touchdown. While there’s plenty to get excited about with Agholor, he did leave a bit to be desired. He dropped a few easy passes and showed his rookie colors, drops were something that had recently become a problem during camp. Austin showed his veteran savvy on a deep 39 yard reception, while he may not be his former pro bowl self, he’s got the mind of a wily vet and that should be enough to make this team.
Two guys to keep an eye on in the coming weeks will be Rasheed Bailey and Eric Tomlinson. Both put on good enough showings to put them on the roster bubble. Bailey could push Jeff Maehl and if Tomlinson can preform well on special teams, Trey Burton’s seat will start to feel awfully hot.
The wide receivers on a whole put on the best performance out of any positional group. The quarterbacks put on an iffy show, but the wide receivers definitely proved their worth. For being a position I was very concerned about in the offseason, I feel much more reassured.
OLine:
Jason Peters, Jason Kelce, and Lane Johnson came out a did their thing for a few series. Peters looks as good as ever and Kelce and Johnson look like they’re only getting better. Allen Barbre and Andrew Garder took all the reps at the first team guard position, both preformed well. As of now its looking like Andrew Gardner may be your opening day starting RG. The first team line played well together, the colts pass rush wasn’t really a factor in the early workings of the game.
John Moffit got his fair share of playing time and preformed well. I’d expect the team to throw him some starting line reps in at least one of the coming preseason games.
Offensive line wasn’t much of an issue until the third teamers took the field. Of the third teamers Kevin Graf easily had the toughest day. He was consistently beaten of the block or would just get driven into the backfield. On one play the Colt’s D end got a hand in Graf’s neck and drove the shit out of him while he waved his arms helplessly. After this showing, I’d be surprised to see Graf make even the practice squad.
The unit was solid on the day outside of late in the game. The team’s strong at the top of the depth chart, but not overly deep. The team should be fine just so long as they don’t rack up the injuries.
Dline:
It was a very unassuming day for the position. Fletcher Cox, Bennie Logan, and a rotation of Cedric Thronton and Vinny Curry started for the birds, but in very limited snaps. Of the group I’d say Logan put on the best performance, he finished with three tackles in only nine snaps.
There wan’t much to be made of this group late in the game. Brian Mihalik had a nice sack, but nothing much other than that. I really wanted to see something, anything really, from Taylor Hart. He played a good amount of snaps, sixth most among defensive lineman, but accounted for only one tackle. For a player Chip Kelly wanted to overdraft on, Hart needs to start doing something.
Good at the top, not much at the bottom, a lot like the Oline. The Eagles have skill at the position, but not much depth. they’re good for now, but screwed if they get bit by the injury bug.
Linebacker:
All three of the players vying for a starting middle linebacker job were out of action Sunday due to injury. In place of DeMeco Ryans, Mychal Kendricks, and Kiko Alonso, fans got to see Najee Goode and third round pick Jordan Hicks. They both pretty much looked the same out there, neither preformed better than they other, but neither also preformed overly well. They were good in the run game, each finishing the day with two tackles, but neither played all that well in coverage getting beat multiple times over the middle. There was one play were both Hicks and Goode dropped back in coverage in opposite directions, while a receiver simply ran up an snagged a pass between the two of them.
Now Hicks is a rookie and Goode is returning from injury after having previously never received very much playing time before. The margin for error for these two guys was pretty wide, that considered I didn’t think they played that bad.
On the outside it was Connor Barwin and Brandon Graham. Both did well in the limited snaps they got. The real story of the day was Marcus Smith ACTUALLY LOOKING LIKE AN NFL PLAYER!! I was kind of pessimistic about Smith’s development through training camp, but I’ll be the first to say the kid looked good in his first action of the year.
He showed some pass rushing ability, I saw him transition from speed to power a few times on the day. He showed a lot of coverage ability, he looked completely different from the kid who didn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground from a year ago. My only question is now, are the eagles going to turn him into a solely pass rushing OLB like Graham or more of a jack of all trades backer like Barwin.
Also shoutout to Bryan Braman for taking Bryan Bennet to Suplex City. Pure savagery.
Cornerback:
The Eagles new multi-million dollar man, Byron Maxwell and Nolan Carroll started on the outside for the birds. Maxwell made some plays, missed others, there wasn’t really a whole lot to go of off. He showed enough to be optimistic.
Eric Rowe had himself a nice day and that by normal player standards, not just rookie. Rowe played the second most out of all defensive players, he showed some good coverage skills, but more importantly showed he had a nose for the football, forcing one fumble and helping cause another. Where ever the ball was, Eric Rowe was sure to be somewhere close by. Now Rowe did get beat in coverage and did have a hard time getting off his blocks here and there, there’s a lot more good than bad here.
The corner who impressed me the most was EJ Biggers. For free agent signing that went under the radar, he looked pretty good in his first taste of action. Biggers’ performance was a lot like Rowe’s in that he was constantly around the football. After sunday’s performance I’d expect Biggers to get a heavy dose of reps at the nickel corner position in the next preseason game.
Also, I beginning to see why the Eagles haven’t been giving Jaylen Watkins the bulk of the nickel corner reps. Watkins didn’t look that great in coverage, he got beat a few times, and didn’t wrap up on his tackles. Its looking like it might be another year on the practice squad for Watkins, if that even.
Safety:
Malcolm Jenkins and Walter Thurmond were the center fielders for the day. It was an unspectacular day for the two of them, didn’t play much, didn’t do much. with that said they were sound in coverage so not doing much isn’t all bad.
So lets talk about Ed Reynolds! Boy does that dude love his garbage time. finishing the day with two picks, Reynolds should soon be creeping up close on Earl Wolff’s roster spot. The first of his two picks came from playing deep and roaming centerfield, just how the Eagles like it. The second came from him reading the quarterbacks eyes and jumping the route, a very impressive play.
The kid did good but lets not over excite ourselves, it was the fourth quarter of the first preseason game after all.
Special Teams:
It’s gonna be a sad day to see David Fipp go, but I expect it sooner rather than later. Enough cannot also be said of Chip Kelly’s ability to find quality special teams players, he seriously makes it look like they fall off trees. Bryan Braman, Chris Prosinski, Chris Maragos all preformed at their typical high level.
Kenjorn Barner was complete money in the return game. I think the Eagles can stop any return man competitions they may have going on, just give it to Barner or Sproles and let them go to work.
Donnie Jones was also his typical pro bowl quality self. no worries on that front.
The Eagles special teams were great, but damn Cody Parkey sure did suck. After seeing him miss an extra point attempt, part of me is concerned that the new rule change might end of costing the Eagles some points. I’m just gonna chalk this one up to first game jitters and keep thinking about how awesome he was last year.
Also Cody Parkey should name his dog Cody Barkey.
Snowballs & Batteries 