Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 9/23/22.
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Hurts wows teammates with his powerful running style - NBCSP Hurts rushed for 57 yards on Monday night and he dragged defenders across the goal line on both of his touchdown scores. Through two games, Hurts has 28 rushing attempt for 147 yards and 3 touchdowns. What’s even more impressive, though, is how he’s doing it. According to ProFootballFocus, Hurts has 105 rushing yards after contact. That ranks 12th in the NFL among all players and first among quarterbacks by a wide margin: Jalen Hurts: 105, Josh Allen: 45, Justin Fields: 38, Carson Wentz: 37, Daniel Jones: 35, Kyler Murray: 34, Lamar Jackson: 34. “He’s a strong guy,” DeVonta Smith said. “When he does run the ball, he’s explosive.” A lot of it is determination, but pure strength likely plays a role too. Hurts was a competitive powerlifter in high school and was seen in a video before the 2021 season deadlifting an incredible 620 pounds.
Looking back on the Jalen Hurts and Carson Wentz relationship - BGN “It was like you were back in high school with the cool kids table and the nerds table,” someone very close to the situation put it a few years ago. “Carson was the captain of the cool kids table. He’d treat Jalen, really one of the best guys you would ever want to meet, like he wasn’t there. Jalen did his work. He kept his head down and paid attention. The other guy wasn’t about to lift a finger to help him. What made us all laugh was he just got a boatload of cash. Why was he so insecure about Jalen? The other part of the problem was everyone liked Jalen. Not so much the other guy.”
Breaking down Eagles big win over Vikings + Previewing Week 3 matchup against Carson Wentz’s Commanders - BGN Radio The Eagles are 2-0! Brandon Lee Gowton and Jimmy Kempski break down the Birds’ big win over the Vikings. The guys discuss Jalen Hurts’ impressive improvement, Jonathan Ganonn’s adjustments, and more. BLG and Jimmy also preview Philly’s much-anticipated Week 3 matchup against Carson Wentz’s Commanders and make their weekly predictions/NFL picks against the spread.
Mailbag: If Jalen Hurts is the answer at QB, what are the Eagles’ biggest 2023 draft needs? - PhillyVoice 1) Edge rusher: Edge rusher is the Eagles’ biggest long-term need, in my opinion, and it just so happens that the early indications are that it should be a very strong edge rusher draft. In terms of players that the Eagles can count on long-term, they have Josh Sweat, and not much else. Obviously, it is a very important position, and one the Eagles are more than willing to spend premium draft resources on.
Game Review – PHI 24, MIN 7 - Iggles Blitz Hurts threw one INT. It was a screen pass that Kenny Gainwell bobbled and it went to a LB. Hurts threw a catchable pass. I thought he made a poor decision to throw the ball. The Eagles were up 24-7. There was 8:18 left in the game. The Eagles were at their own 24. You have to be smart in that situation. Think risk/reward. Gainwell had a DT right on him. Hurts had to throw the ball awkwardly to get it to him. Gainwell should have made the catch. No one disputes that. I just think the smart play would have been for Hurts to just run for a couple of yards and keep the clock running. Instead, the Vikings got the ball deep in Eagles territory and could have really changed the game.
NFL Week 3: Top anytime TD props - PFF Washington Commanders (+6.5 vs. Philadelphia Eagles (47.5). BET: EAGLES RB MILES SANDERS ANYTIME TD (+130 ON DRAFTKINGS). He’s Getting Plenty Of Usage: After not scoring a single time in all of 2021, Sanders finally snapped his streak, scoring in Week 1. With Jalen Hurts at quarterback, a lot of the rushing game — including stats and touchdowns — is siphoned away. However, Sanders is getting plenty of looks, seeing 15 carries a game to start the year. With those carries, Sanders is averaging nearly six yards a clip. Against the Commanders, who rank 29th in run defense grade, the Eagles are nearly a touchdown favorite in the NFC East showdown. Sanders should get the same opportunities, if not more, and this is a great matchup to again hit pay dirt.
Week 3 NFL Picks Against the Spread - The Ringer Philadelphia Eagles at Washington Commanders (+6.5). Three times in NFL history has a quarterback thrown for 300-plus yards and rushed for 50-plus yards while completing over 80 percent of his attempts: Lamar Jackson in Week 5 of last season, Josh Allen in the wild-card round of last year’s playoffs, Jalen Hurts on Monday night against the Vikings. That was the best game of Hurts’s career. He was accurate, made plays from inside the pocket and outside the pocket, and was in full command. The Commanders fell behind 22-0 against the Lions before making it close in the second half. When Carson Wentz has had time, he’s connected on some nice throws downfield. When he’s been pressured, it’s gotten ugly. But the biggest issue for Washington is on the other side of the ball. The Commanders defense has had too many miscues. I think Hurts takes advantage. The pick: Eagles (-6.5)
Carson Wentz vs. Eagles: Key questions as he faces his former team for first time - The Athletic If the DL isn’t stout, good luck. Washington’s linebackers are underwhelming, and 2021 first-round pick Jamin Davis remains a work in progress. There is talent in the secondary, but miscommunications resurfaced after the Lions loss. Back-seven depth is unproven, putting the onus on the starters to improve or … gulp. The potential return of safety Kamren Curl (thumb surgery) after missing the first two games would help greatly in the run game and in coverage against Goedert and slot receivers. The 6-foot-2 Curl is aggressive and offers a bigger body. He’s also not Ronnie Lott. In other words, for a Washington win, it probably needs Carson Wentz thriving in a shootout. Imagine that.
Jonathan Gannon: For defense’s success, it must be one for 11, 11 for one - PE.com A defense is like a puzzle and it takes every piece to fit just right to make it work. As the Eagles prepare for Sunday’s game at FedEx Field against Washington, Defensive Coordinator Jonathan Gannon took a moment on Thursday to remind everyone of the “one for 11, 11 for one” idea in the wake of Monday night’s dominating performance versus Minnesota. “It’s not just the corners, the nickels, the safeties, the linebackers, all those guys fit in together and what you see is typically what sometimes people don’t realize is, really good cornerback play probably starts with the front. That’s what you saw in this game,” Gannon said of a performance that included the Eagles intercepting three Kirk Cousins passes and limiting Minnesota to 264 total net yards and seven points. “When the front’s rushing and winning at a high level like they were, it just makes the quarterback uncomfortable and sometimes he’s got to throw it before he wants to throw it, or the timing might be knocked off a little bit. “But all 11 are tied together. Our guys understand that and understand that here’s how these calls need to be played so we can win the down. But I thought all our coverage players in the back end had a pretty good game.”
The Gameplan: 3 Keys to beating Philadelphia - Hogs Haven Podcasts Jamual previews the matchup between Washington and the Philadelphia Eagles with Brandon Lee Gowton and Mark Bullock. Brandon covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SB Nation’s Bleeding Green and Bleeding Green Nation Radio. Mark covers the Washington Commanders by way of detailed film analysis. Mark and Jamual gave their 3 keys to a Commanders victory against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Commanders fans give Terry & Carson a thumbs up, but are pessimistic about Sunday vs. the Eagles - Hogs Haven After he started Week 1 with two touchdowns, followed by back-to-back interceptions, followed by two more touchdowns to get the win, we heard all about how the Eagles fans and Colts fans had warned us about “the Carson Wentz Experience”. (Meanwhile, the Colts fans watched their team play to an unsatisfying tie that Irsay blamed on the kicker). One week later, the entire team came out flat for the Week 2 game in Detroit; they looked shellshocked. Wentz seemed unprepared for the defense he was facing, and suffered several 3 & out drives en route to a 22-0 halftime deficit. However, he came out in the second half firing, and led the team to 4 touchdowns, including 3 passing scores. Fans were rightly critical of the horrible first half performance, but grudgingly admired the fight on display by the quarterback and the team in the second half, despite the loss.
Jerry Jones cannot stop himself from creating needless attention around the Dallas Cowboys - Blogging The Boys It would have been very easy for Jerry to say something that praised Rush, offered hope for his performances, and extended support for Dak Prescott as he continues his recovery to ready himself to play for the Cowboys. “Wouldn’t it be something if Cooper played well again? We always want to have as many talented players as possible and so to have another high-caliber quarterback behind Dak Prescott would give us a lot of depth to help us feel comfortable for the rest of the season. This is a contact sport which means injuries happen and it is nice knowing that Cooper provides tremendous insurance for our franchise quarterback.” But that wouldn’t have generated the attention that Jerry is looking to cause with this line. Welcome to the Dallas Cowboys. We’ll see you Monday night.
New York Giants Thursday injury report: Kayvon Thibodeaux, Azeez Ojulari getting closer - Big Blue View Edge defenders Kayvon Thibodeaux and Azeez Ojulari appear to be inching closer to making their season debuts on Monday night against the Dallas Cowboys. Thibodeaux (sprained MCL) and Ojulari (calf) have yet to play this season. Both remained listed as limited participants during Thursday’s practice, which was moved inside the Quest Diagnostics Training Center practice bubble by thunderstorms that soaked the practice field. During early portions of practice open to media, though, both players appeared to be ramping up the amount of work they were doing.
Ranking NFL’s worst 2-0 teams since 1981 and where the 2022 Giants land - ESPN+ The New York Giants were not expected to be competitive in 2022, but a surprising 2-0 start has made them one of the league’s undefeated teams. They’re playing better on both sides of the ball, backed by a new coaching staff led by Brian Daboll and his aggressive mentality. Kick a game-tying extra point against Tennessee? Run on third-and-long and punt to give Carolina one more drive? No thank you. The Giants play to win. So why are the Giants only 18th in the Football Outsiders’ DVOA ratings? It would be understandable if these ratings included prior data; that’s part of why the Giants are so low in the ESPN FPI ratings, for example. But the DVOA ratings are only based on the first two games, and they don’t even include opponent adjustments this early in the season, so it isn’t an issue of the Giants getting dinged for beating a bad Carolina team and a declining Tennessee squad. It turns out the Giants have been somewhat lucky in escaping with two close wins to start the season. When we drill down to their play-by-play performance with DVOA, we find that the Giants are one of the weakest 2-0 teams we’ve ever measured, going back to 1981.
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