The Linc

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links …

Forget the Loss – Iggles Blitz
If Saquon Barkley catches that pass, the Eagles are 2-0. Since he dropped the pass and the Eagles lost, the focus seems to be on the result of the game more than anything. What if the Eagles run the ball on third down? What if Nick Sirianni goes for it on fourth down? Would the Eagles still have lost? Should the Eagles have kicked the FG earlier in the game? Even if the Eagles had won, this team has real issues. To me, thinking about the issues is far more important than losing to Atlanta. We all agree that the run defense was terrible. The thing that jumped out to me was yards before contact. RBs were getting untouched to the second level over and over. That has to change. The DL are not winning enough battles up front. Bryce Huff struggled to set the edge. He was especially bad in the second half. The DTs are not controlling the middle with any regularity.

Eagles Film Analysis: Depressing defense takeaways from the loss to the Falcons – BGN
I had completely lost my head by this point of watching the film. I always look for the positives and understand the coach’s point of view, but I need someone to explain why the Eagles are continuing to slant their defensive tackles. This time, the Falcons cleverly use motion to the same side they are running to, so I am guessing Carter is told to slant to the right, expecting the run to go the other way. Baun had a fantastic week last week, but he wasn’t aggressive enough in these situations for me. Nakobe Dean appears to be running to set the edge, but Darius Slay is also blitzing the edge, so I assume that is another mistake as by someone. Lastly, there has been a lot of talk about Bryce Huff’s and Nolan Smith’s inability to rush the quarterback. This is true. But as it stands, I am playing Nolan Smith on every single early down and not letting Huff see the field until an obvious passing situation. Smith is a good run defender. Huff was borderline unplayable on early downs in this game.

Will Eagles be able to fix terrible run defense? – NBCSP
Don’t worry, the Eagles aren’t the first team in NFL history to allow 315 rushing yards and 6.4 yards per carry in their first two games. It’s happened before. Like Washington in 1944. The 1945 Steelers. And the 1950 Baltimore Colts. The 1952 Dallas Texans and 1959 Washington. Seven other teams as well. But there’s no way around the fact that through two games the Eagles have one of the worst run defenses in NFL history. And Alvin Kamara and his NFL-best 5.7 yards per carry are three days away. Yikes. “We’ve just got to play better run defense at the end of the day,” Reed Blankenship said. “And it goes for all levels, especially when you’ve got secondary guys rotating down. You’ve just got to make tackles. And I’m part of that, too. And we’re going to get that fixed.”

If Eagles’ run defense doesn’t improve, the team could implode: ‘This s*** (has to be fixed) right now’ – NJ.com
If the Eagles don’t tackle better or aren’t able to dominate at the line of scrimmage, Kamara could finish with better numbers this week. “It’s something that we need to fix right now,” Eagles linebacker Nakobe Dean told NJ Advance Media on Wednesday. “It’s not something you gradually get to. It’s f****** you get this s*** done right now with tackling and everything.” Dean was one of several Eagles players who said the run defense has struggled because of the “little details.”

Week 3 NFL picks: Jets unanimously chosen to beat Pats on Thursday; will Ravens or Cowboys get right? – NFL.com
Why Ali picked the Saints: This could definitely be a back-to-Earth game for the Saints, who have ripped through their first two opponents with remarkable ease. At first glance, facing a traveling Eagles team coming off yet another late-game collapse, quite possibly without A.J. Brown and on a short week should equate to another NOLA win. But Philly is 6-2 when playing on short rest since 2022, while the Saints are 1-5 versus such teams under Dennis Allen’s watch, per NFL Research. That said, DA didn’t have Klint Kubiak’s play-calling in those six contests, which ultimately makes the difference on Sunday. I don’t see New Orleans blowing out the Eagles — Philly’s offense is too potent. But I do see a heavy dose of Alvin Kamara against the Eagles’ suspect run defense combined with timely downfield shots by Derek Carr propelling the Saints past a motivated, Jalen Hurts-led squad.

Jalen Hurts says he was dealing with undisclosed injury last week – PFT
Even if the illness didn’t limit Hurts’s practice reps, it’s the kind of thing that should have been disclosed. What if the illness had gotten worse? What if between Saturday and Monday the Eagles had downgraded him to questionable or doubtful or out over a previously undisclosed illness? It’s a simple thing for a team to be expected to disclose an illness when the player is ill. Keeping that kind of thing secret does a disservice to gamblers and fantasy-football players. It also creates inside information of significant value.

Jason Kelce rips Sixers’ ownership over downtown arena plans – Liberty Ballers
Kelce’s stance, like so many others on this topic, makes a lot of good points but doesn’t quite capture the whole picture. His main gripe is that Sixers ownership “strong-armed” the city by threatening to leave to New Jersey. He brought up multiple times how the Cleveland Browns left for Baltimore in 1996 due to a dispute between the owner and the city, and how that experience scarred him growing up a Browns fan. While Kelce is certainly right here, it always sucks when billionaires play around when people’s livelihoods for leverage, it’s not quite an apples to apples comparison.

Our offense vs their defense: Philadelphia Eagles – Canal Street Chronicles
Kubiak has done an excellent job with the run game. Last year it was stale, but this year we’re seeing them get outside on almost every attempt. If you look at his NextGenStats rushing chart (click here to see), Kamara rushed the ball between the hashes just four times in their win over Dallas. They worked him heavily to the left side – behind Fuaga – and he saw four of his attempts to that side got for 10+ yards. I would expect that trend to continue, especially against a very good Eagles defensive line. Get Kamara outside and try to take the defensive tackles out of the run game. They do have Zach Baun who’s been playing his butt off through two weeks at LB, but Kamara is great at making guys miss in space. I’ll admit, I still have some very tiny doubts about if this offense is sustainable, but if they can come out and dominate Philly like they did Dallas, then I’ll be fully on board and completely believe this is real. Based on the first two weeks, the Saints offense shouldn’t have any problems moving the football against the Eagles, but it’s hard to count them out. The Eagles always seem to have a good defense, and they still have a lot of the same players, so we’ll see if they end up coming around this weekend or not.

Establish the Fun: The Saints’ shocking offense, Matt LaFleur channels Erik Spoelstra, and the Patriots’ emerging star – SB Nation
If I were to tell you any NFL offense through the first two weeks of the season would set records for points in a game, who would you offer up first? The San Francisco 49ers? A solid guess, but incorrect. The Kansas City Chiefs? Also wrong. It is the New Orleans Saints, whose 91 points through two games are the most in the NFL since 2009, which saw 93 points in the first two games from … the New Orleans Saints. History repeating itself? I’m not too sure about that, but I do know that after their 44-19 demolition derby of the Dallas Cowboys in the Jerrydome almost automatically earned them a spot on this week’s ETF. So let’s dive in and see what has New Orleans feeling jazzy. What stands out the most about watching New Orleans is how much base personnel they see from defenses. This is because they practically live out of 12 (one running back, two tight ends) and 21 (two running backs, one tight end) personnel. Offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak comes from San Francisco, where the 49ers’ basketball on grass approach to offense was emphasized by how they made use of versatile, dual threat players such as RB Christian McCaffrey, WR Deebo Samuel, TE George Kittle, and FB Kyle Juszczyk. The Saints don’t have that equal firepower, but they have their own versatile bunch of players that makes it hard for teams to keep up with them when they go in their base. And they are all about that base.

Carolina Panthers promote former Philadelphia Eagles pass rusher to 53-man roster – Charlotte Observer
The Carolina Panthers have shuffled up their outside linebacker depth chart. On Thursday, the team promoted former Philadelphia Eagles pass rusher Tarron Jackson from the practice squad to the 53-man roster. The Panthers also re-signed outside linebacker Eku Leota, the team’s current sack leader through two games, to the practice squad.

Girls Flag Football is now a state-sanctioned sport in Pennsylvania – PE.com
In a monumental vote, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) sanctioned Girls Flag Football as an official sport in Pennsylvania on Wednesday. “This is not just an important day for the Eagles and Steelers, but for the sport of football and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” said Eagles Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie. “When we launched our Girls Flag Football League in 2022, we set an ambitious five-year goal to get the sport sanctioned in our state. Now, here we are three seasons later and two years ahead of schedule. The sport’s organic growth is a credit to the participants, administrators, coaches, officials, and parents who helped raise the profile of Girls Flag Football. We thank the PIAA for their leadership in recognizing a sport that has the power to unlock new pathways and opportunities for girls of all ages in every community.”

Can Joe Whitt Jr. get what’s needed from his defensive unit before it’s too late? – Hogs Haven
The Commanders’ defense is reeling to start the season, from 29th in points allowed to 21st in yards per game. They also rank 32nd on third downs and 28th in red zone defense. Clelin Ferrell, who was signed to be an addition to the team’s run defense, leads Washington in sacks with two and is also the only defensive player on the team with a sack. Unfortunately, there are many reasons why the defense is struggling, and the Tampa Bay and New York offensive play-callers have been able to scheme their respective teams out of trouble. It is week two, so there is plenty of time for this defensive unit to gel together and get on the right track.

Cowboys could tie unbelievably bad NFL history with poor defensive showing vs Ravens – Blogging The Boys
Should the Cowboys allow the Baltimore Ravens (funny enough that it would be Baltimore) to score 44 or more points on Sunday then they would tie the NFL record for most consecutive home games with that many points allowed against them. You can see that the 1966 Atlanta Falcons currently sit atop the list all by themselves, lonely and looking for company. Amazingly, in another twist of coincidence, it was the Cowboys who began that streak against Atlanta almost 60 years ago. The Ravens have scored 20 and 23 points, respectively, in their first two games this season, so even if you were to add those up they do not meet the required mark. Across all of last season, where Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson won MVP, Baltimore only reached 44+ a single time when they dropped 56 against the Miami Dolphins. But the Cowboys defense left much to be desired in their home debut. Hopefully the Cowboys are able to limit Baltimore, particularly in a winning effort.

Daniel Jones on Giants’ 0-2 start: ‘We’ve got a good football team’ – Big Blue View
The New York Giants got back to work on Wednesday in advance of their Week 3 game against the Cleveland Browns. Not only is the team entering a tough stretch on their schedule, but they need to pick themselves up after falling to 0-2 to start the season. The record is bad enough, but a bad loss to the Minnesota Vikings and a heartbreaking loss to the Washington Commanders makes it that much worse. That was the backdrop when Daniel Jones spoke to the media. “I think everyone realizes our record. I think everybody understands that, but no one’s discouraged or no one’s letting that affect our preparation and how hard we work going into the game,” Jones said. “There’s a great energy and feel in the building still, and I think that that’s important. Important to our preparation, important to our process, and making sure we’re practicing well and preparing to play well. We know the record, but it’s a long season, and we’ve got a good football team.”