Eagles head coach Andy Reid just finished his day after news conference and I could hear some planning in his answers when he talked about his offensive line and more specifically his three offensive tackles.
I think Mr. Everything on the Birds offensive line, Todd Herremans is going to find his way back to that left guard spot before the season is over. Reid was asked what he would do if he had a healthy Jason Peters, Todd Herremans and Winston Justice.
He didn’t even try to answer right away which told me all I needed to know. He also gave nothing but clichés which talking about left guard Evan Mathis. He said he was a good athlete, who loved to play the game, which means nothing if you know Andy Reid jargon.
Herremans has done a tremendous job for the Birds. He played left guard all preseason, then moved to right tackle at the start of the season and yesterday he did a great job of at left tackle yesterday. He may be the most versatile offensive lineman in the National Football League.
I think Reid would love to see Herremans lined up next to Peters on the left side of that line. It would give them a strong run side and probably give the Eagles a place to run on short yardage and goalline. Right now they have no place to run in those situations.
Current left guard Evan Mathis isn’t a strong straight-ahead blocker, but as Reid said he’s a good athlete, who can get out in front of screens and sweeps. I saw him getting pushed into the backfield on LeSean McCoy’s touchdown run, yesterday.
The bye week will be just what the doctor ordered for Peters, who will have time to recover from his hamstring injury. Justice got the chance to play yesterday and did a good job. He will now get the chance to continue to get stronger.
Wow our oline went from the weakest part of our team to the strongest by week 6. Which i predicted back b4 the season started. Justice played his best game as an eagle to date. And if Herremans isnt voted into the probowl this yr than there is something wrong with the voting system.
Did you guys notice the running formation the eagles came out in on that last drive to close the game out? That was incredible. I loved it. If they really wanna run the ball they could do it and be successful with it. The oline picked up every guy giving shady open lanes… (And if anyone doubted it before i know they sont know that being Lesean McCoy being the best RB in the NFL.) I dony think its even close either. But what a big way to close that game by coming out in a run formation and getting it done on the ground… Keep “FEEDING THE BEAST”!
Jon Gruden signs 5 Year Extension with ESPN and earns more $$ than
DeSean Jackson does..
Justice appeared to do a good job at right tackle. He didn’t stand out in the negative categories. Peters was a tight end in college. Can you imagine that. I wonder how much bigger he got to play tackle.
Big – ha, I bet he’s much bigger now. But that’s funny, a player moved to a different position that was successful…hmmm… I though we were told that’s impossible and stupid on this site… hmm
Schill – I covered that one in the Hermanns – Justice O Line cme up big blog –
is it me or is it remarkably quite on this site today (knock-knock-knock) hello, anyone out there, anyone……………………………………..
the day after the eagles lose I have 10 ‘friends’ asking me to justify the eagles performance – I man up and say it sucked ——— today listen shhhhh – shhhhhhh crickets!
better behave – don’t want people writing to Mr Cobb complaining about me….
yeah seriously navy. Sorry though, I can’t be responsible for keeping track of everything you, i mean us, I mean we, I mean me posts….
Yeah, it is quiet. I think the ‘crow’ is tough to chew this week… that’s the best explanation I can come up with.
Definitely need to move Herremans back to guard and they probably need to start working Jamal Jackson in at RG if they aren’t going to play him at center. At this point it’s been made abundantly clear that the time for experimentation is past.
Why not!? Musical stiffs on the right side, what do they have to lose now!? At least the left side will be competent again! Mathis blows! I like Herremans & Peters! It’s the rest of them, that make me hack up my food! JH, it was one game, in which they finally pounded Shady, to cover up the pass protection horrors! Do you honestly think, Reid & Morningwood are going to do that every week!? NO! They can’t help themselves! You have a great back, a line that is better at perimeter run blocking & can’t pass protect, if they had machine guns. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist or even a coach to figure what to do!
The Eagles will have to beat the
The Bears, Patriots or the Jets to have a realistic chance to get to 10 wins.
The Bears and the Jets can and will run the ball against the wide 9.
The Patriots could use a college team and still beat Andy Reid.
The Patriot game is a great coaching match-up. The ultimate pretender vs. the real deal. Stupid logic vs logic.
Eating crow??
I don’t think so.
Fat boy ran the football.
How long have we been asking for that?
He’s a day late and a dollar short.
It only took 4 loses in a row to get him to make adjustments.
Yeah he’s a real winner.
Wow – DCar said something nice – things must be getting better!
Some people don’t even pay attention to whats going on in the game…
#1 rushing team thru 6 weeks offensive line that’s rank 6th in the NFL and has given up only 9 sacks 170 yds avg rush 5.7 yds per carry
30 rush attpts 36 pass attmpt per game…
How many Rushes were originalyl called “Pass plays” that break-down and Vick ends up scrambling for positive yardage which counts as a “Rushing play” .. Those rushing #’s are skewed because of Vick scrambling ability, but regardless, their Rushing average has been impressive when you account for just the RB Stats..
After looking at Eagles Stats and removing Vicks 45 Rushes for 370 Yards
the Eagles as a Team have 135 Rushes for 650 Yards which is just below 5 yards per Carry.. 135 Rushes in 6 Games is about 22 Rushes per game (not counting VIck’s scrambles) which is in increase of prior seasons..
I do realize that some of Vick’s Scrambles or Carries are designed runs or QB Sneaks, etc,etc, but the majority of his runs and yards will come on broke-down, scrambling tyhpe of players that were designed to be a “pass”
Which makes for a 22 Rush Attempts per game and about 40 Pass atempts per game per my numbers, which is still about 35%-65% Run to Pass Ratio..
Don’t think Justice is ready to play full time. Best move now is move Herremans back to RT until Justice is really ready. Just my opinion…..
I’m no offensive line guru, however Peters(LT), Herremans(LG), Jackson(C), Kelce(RG), and Justice(LT) works well for me! This line-up will ensure the Birds the NFC East. Eventually, Watkins will be that dude at RG, which moves Kelce back to his original position.But if you’re all-in, you need battle tested road graders. When your record is 2-4, there is no time for MUDD in your tires!
Jackson will never see the field (outside of an injury to Kelce) with Coach Mudd at the helm, it’s not going to happen.. JJ is an emergency Center and that’s it..
I would go with Peters,Herremans,Kelce,Mathis and Justice with Dunlap the 3rd OT and Watkins the 3rd G in case of Injury..
I think you will see Peters, Hermans, Kelce (who despite the vitrol is playing well for a rookie and getting better each week), Watkins, Justice – I think in another 2 to 3 weeks we will be discussing how this O Line has become the strength of the team with the team scoring 35 a game………………… I agree Jackson is done – he is here because the eagles saw what happened when you ‘back up ‘ center isn’t really a center – big difference between pitching in for a play of two and playing 3 quarters or starting.
Pman – no removing stats – stats are stats – the eagles are paying what 100 million for those stats – that ability to shift, move, run – if the other teams don’t want that stat to count they can set up there defense to prevent Vick from running – and then we are drawing fine lines – so if Vick has a nice pocket, but sees a huge lane and for no other reason then he can – he takes off for 25 – that shouldn’t count? Very difficult to parse those numbers –
Keith – what was Kelce’s original position – he started in college as a LB – then switched over to offensive line – played left guard and center, then exclusively left guard – then center – he started 26 games at guard and 12 at center – these crazy college coaches that switch players around all think they are smarter then everyone else!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just kidding Kelce is about 285/290 – very small for a guard – he can use speed (like 4.9 40), quickeness and technique as a center – but very hard to do as a guard (though the Broncos used to use very small lines, but they zone/cut block a lot)
Navyeaglefan- I agree with your offensive line choices! However, I don’t think Jamal Jackson is done. The one thing he brings to the table is his experience against NFC East foes. He fares pretty well against the Giants and Cowboys defensive tackles. Remember, we are not taking about smalish DT’s. He is a road grader. When the Birds are third and goal on the one, Jamal will make a quarterback sneak a REAL option. How many times have the Eagles been in that situation?
Problem Keith is that J Jackson has played 1/2 of 1 game in almost 20 months since getting Hurt in Dec of 2009.. he played the 1st Haf of opening game of Sept 2010 and that’s it… How is his timing with QB VIck for snapping the ball being that inactive for that long.. His time is done,,
I wouldn’t mind seeing him line up in the backfield on red-zone situations and be a lead blocker and get a running start to knock out a LB for a running pklay.. Having him snap the ball with that many close defenders around is a scrary thought..
Keith – Pmans first line is correct – I think you will see the birds pick a small guard/big center in the 4/5/6 range next year and we will bid adios to Jackson –
which props to him – hell of a run for a guy from Delaware State that made it as a undrafted FA!
I think this years Draft pick Guard J Vandervelde will get some snaps at Center next Camp and will be groomed as the back-up Center/Guard.. Vandervelde did play some Center early in his College CAreer in Iowa..
I think Eagles Draft a OT in the 3rd/4th Rounds and then grab an interior OL later rounds, A lot will depend if W Justice returns 100 % to form and if he does, than the Eagles are actually in pretty good shape at the OT position with Peters,Herremans,Justice and Dunalp which to be honest, probably no other team in the NFL has 4 quality OT on their roster,, most teams are lucky to have 2 or 3 at most…