gazoo

I just say the DL as a whole. That game was a bloody, physical trench war, and the Falcons DL won the battle. These signings of Bailey and Davison were all world. Davison and Bailey cannot be bullied and shoved around by bigger OL. The Eagles beat us in trenches in 2017 playoffs. We beat the Eagles in the trenches last night.

I get that some are questioning things, but when they totally ignore the importance of the blockers all being in sync for our running game to be dominant it makes me question their motives

Freeman has been a star player for us, he deserves the benefit of the doubt if nothing else, yet some willing to start trashing him because they personally want one of the guys behind him to start.

We’ve got fans who just look at stats to bash players with no level of analysis to back up their positions. Some here will be unfairly critical to Freeman because they selfishly want one of the new RBs to play.

If blocking isn’t in sync, 1 cut and go ain’t happening for any RB. I suspect the issue is the OL timing far more than Freeman, but next two games will reveal the truth to posters who know what they are watching

Its too hard to know if he's lost a step or not at this point. While I agree he doesn't look the same, I also know our running game is based on timing and there is no way Free and our OL are in sync yet. Couple that with the fact we've played two tough defenses against run and I just don't know. The next two weeks will reveal the truth. I would not count Freeman out though. I know some here are salivating to see Ollison and Brian Hill so Freeman won't get a fair shake from them, but I absolutely will give him more time to show it without screaming for the bigger backs. Freeman is elite when he's on it. He caught a really critical pass last night under severe duress if I recall correctly.

Last nights brutally physical game was the kind of game we always lost. Even against bad teams, if they had big bullying lines, we would often lose. It was so frustrating to lose to bad teams for this reason even in playoff years. We never matched up well against physical teams. Well, that changed this offseason. This same team in 2017 playoffs, we lost to after it bullied us for 4 quarters. I believe the rebuilt lines are why we won last night. The Eagles threw everything they had at our OL with intense pass rushing heat and for most of Ryan’s 43 attempts, he had a legitimate pocket to step up into and release the ball. Our OL was able to anchor in pass protection. Not only that, McGary leaves the game on a cart in first half, and I was shocked to see him come back in second half playing again! TOUGHNESS. OMG that speaks volumes about what we did to improve our line toughness on both sides of ball. As far as our DL, the big strong physical Eagles OL tried to bully us, and our DL gave it right back to them all game long. Our DL refused to back down and were not manhandled. The additions of the physical and powerful Bailey and Davison, to line up with Grady, were exactly what I was hoping for. They matched the physicality of Eagles OL. This game was a hard fought highly physical battle of the wills trench war, the very type of game we used to always come up short on. Not this year, not this team. We have a new identity and a new toughness to go along with the phenomenal skill pieces. Just wait until we get our OL and RBs timing down in the running game over the next couple of games....we will see similarities to 2016.

I’d say even 6 hits, given 43 attempts and Eagles bringing the house virtually every snap with ineffective running game is still decent. We averaged over 7 hits per game last year and most defenses we played had nowhere near the pass rush intensity we saw last night.

That was the kind of stuff I was talking about when I said expect more growing pains this week. Just need to get their communication and tim8mg down, gel, and this offense is going to be a rendition of 2016! The running game I knew would be the last thing to catch up, the backs and OL all just need more snaps together, but passing game is a little ahead of it as shown by some of those big plays. But you give Ryan a pocket and it’s lights out once we are firing on all cylinders!

Id be interested to see how many times he officially got hit. I think what impressed me even more than one sack, was how little he got hit. Ryan dropped back 43 times and Eagles were bringing the house, yet barely laid a hand on him. Stark contrast from last year when he was hit 122 times in16 games.

Did you notice when heat got on Ryan he was able to step up into the pocket and throw? Just wait until his timing gets back with his receivers where he’s throwing rainbows again.....lethal, Ryan FINALLY HAS A LEGIT POCKET!

Yep, I noticed same. Just a useless Troll doing what trolls do, trolling

Yeah, it didn’t look like that was Oliver, despite Collinsworth saying Oliver got beat. It looked to me Neal was late.

Yep, he’s coming into his own.....and the game winning tackle is just what he needed!

I’m telling you guys, what happened tonight was bigger than just a win. What happened tonight is, to me, a display of what the missing pieces has been for this team, a nasty, physical, never give up knock their heads off attitude. The Eagles brought everything they had tonight, and came up short. What happened tonight is this team is coming of age. A team that can win a dogfight in the trenches like we did tonight can beat anybody, anywhere at anytime. You add that to having the toughest QB in the game, and many elite skill position players, man......sky’s the limit folks! And we are still growing. We can get a heck of a lot better and will in a very short period of time.