Why the Eagles were so Explosive

[MSalmon]

Look at the players on the Eagles' offense: Desean Jackson, Brent Celek, Lesean McCoy and Jeremy Maclin. These are all recent draft picks and extremely explosive players They do have flaws in their offensive line, but arguably their line did fine against us.

Who exactly have we drafted that has been explosive offensively in the last 3 years? HD? He's ok. Kerry Meir? We have Roddy and Tony G. But Tony G is not explosive and apt to big plays at this point and juncture.

I still go back to my rant this offseason prior to the draft concerning our constant and insanely myopic focus on defense and the way it has bit us in the posterior. We drafted Ryan #3 overall and have proceeded to to surround our centerpiece with mediocre role players and possession type receivers.

And before anyone points out the obvious, i know that we drafted a couple of Olinemen and Kerry Meir. But again, none are on the field and all project to be role/backup type players.

I like a nice defense but here's the bottom line in the NFL : 1) the rules favor the offense --this often negates a great defense2) Explosive offenses have been winning the Super bowl the last decade or so 3) You always build to your strengths--Ryan was our strength

Maybe the plan is to pay attention to the offense next year--hopefully we get enough offense to get far in the playoffs; and we see a few early draft picks focused on offensive playmakers next year

[sdogg]

I agree 100%. 3/4 or more of our off season needs to be focused on the offense. We need to inject some serious play makers, not just a possessive guy. We also need to get some real OL talent. If Ryan is to have any shot of being a top tier QB, we are going to have to upgrade his weapons and protection. I don't see him getting any better than what we have seen most of last year and so far this year, with basically just Roddy as the only real threat.

[Nono]

How come we on this board can figure out that we need "explosive" offensive players and Flowery Branch can't? It is so obvious that when our run game doesn't work then neither does the entire offense.

[falcons faithful]

Tom D has built the D. I think next couple of drafts will be the Offense. Philly has great young talent on O but D not so much. But the are also will to sign more Free agents to try then we seam to be willing to do.

Edited October 19, 2010 by falcons faithful

[MarloStanfield]

No hating on the Falcons because they have a good, physical team. They just don't match up well with the Eagles because of the team speed, but the Eagles don't match up well against teams with just as much team speed, but are big and physical like the Falcons. I agree with the Poster, the Falcons need more explosive players on Offense as well as a few CBs that can keep speedy WRs from getting on top of the safeties so quick.

One question, why a few more blitzes weren't dialed up, but maybe I answered my question in my last statement.

[Zenduke]

I get what your saying but at the same time. We only have so many picks. Our defense was SO bad and it's improved a lot mostly because of the Draft. Plus remember this

1. The eagles have had the same coach and same philosophy for the past ten years.

2. The falcons have gone through four different coaches with four different philosophies as far as offense and defense. In fact didn''t we have a 3-4 defense in the past ten years?

3. The eagles have been consistantly good for the past ten years. I don't think any of us can argue that.

4. in the first year that TD was here there was a HUGE turn over of players. We had to start over. We had to REBUILD. The Eagles haven't had to do that since Reid first got there.

Edited October 19, 2010 by Zenduke

[SaintsH8]

I get what your saying but at the same time. We only have so many picks. Our defense was SO bad and it's improved a lot mostly because of the Draft. Plus remember this

1. The eagles have had the same coach and same philosophy for the past ten years.

2. The falcons have gone through four different coaches with four different philosophies as far as offense and defense. In fact didn''t we have a 3-4 defense in the past ten years?

3. The eagles have been consistantly good for the past ten years. I don't think any of us can argue that.

4. in the first year that TD was here there was a HUGE turn over of players. We had to start over. We had o REBUILD. The Eagles haven't had to do that since Reid first got there.

This

[SaintsH8]

I do believe that we will see a more balanced draft this year

[1989Fan]

Gonzalez > Celek

White > Jackson and Maclin

Turner > McCoy

so I dont see where people can cry that PHI has better weapons for their QB.

look at the game called by Reid in comparison to Murlarkey. that is where the difference lies. Reid calls his game to his teams strengths. MM calls the game he knows, regardless if it is the best game plan for the pieces he has.

[st4ngeI2]

Teams are built in time, we HAD to address our woeful defense and we're finally getting to where we need to be...

[trubirdfan4life]

we need playmakers all over.

we need a quick RB. we need a quick WR. we need better Oline.

on defense we need another starting caliber LB. we need a playmaking DE.

[since68andcounting]

Gonzalez > Celek

White > Jackson and Maclin

Turner > McCoy

I don't agree. At this point in his career I think Gonzo is about upper middle of the pack in terms of NFL tight ends. He's good at getting open and almost impossible to single-cover, but he no longer has the speed to be a deep "seam" threat. The better NFL ttight ends now are big AND fast. They are downfield threats. Look at the Patriots. They just drafted TWO of them.

White may be better than Jackson or Macklin individually, but when you combine White/Jenkins or White/Douglas vs. Jackson/Macklin the Eagles have a clear advantage. They have two #1 receivers, which is becoming more the norm amongst the good NFL teams. Even with Jackson out of the game their passing attack did not slow down. Could you imagine our offense without White? Ugh. Don't even think about it.

The only one of these three I might agree with is the third, especially if you add Snelling into the mix. But the absence of a true breakaway speed back like Norwood still hurts us I think.

The Eagles have better skill players. Period. Now, we TRIED drafting for skill/speed over the years when Vick was here. White, Jenkins, Norwood, Peerless Price, Crumpler, Dunn... What we ended up with was a lot of hit/miss skill players and NO offensive line to help them out. At least now we have been concentrating on the foundation, the men in the trenches, a little more. We've done very well on defense I think. But our OLine is STILL suspect. So what are you gonna do now? Focus on offense...specifically OT and WR in my mind. Maybe RB.

[alexander1.9.71]

Gonzalez > Celek

White > Jackson and Maclin

Turner > McCoy

so I dont see where people can cry that PHI has better weapons for their QB.

look at the game called by Reid in comparison to Murlarkey. that is where the difference lies. Reid calls his game to his teams strengths. MM calls the game he knows, regardless if it is the best game plan for the pieces he has.

this right here explains it:

White > Jackson and Maclin

Turner > McCoy

[Chitown2ATL_Falcon]

How come we on this board can figure out that we need "explosive" offensive players and Flowery Branch can't? It is so obvious that when our run game doesn't work then neither does the entire offense.

Here's a thought what good are explosive players, if you can't get the ball to them. We take care of the offensive line and the rest will follow. Just a thought.

[Atl/0]

Gonzalez > Celek

White > Jackson and Maclin

Turner > McCoy

so I dont see where people can cry that PHI has better weapons for their QB.

look at the game called by Reid in comparison to Murlarkey. that is where the difference lies. Reid calls his game to his teams strengths. MM calls the game he knows, regardless if it is the best game plan for the pieces he has.

Gonzo > Celek

Gonzo still has hands but he's not explosive as he used to be.

White > Jackson and Maclin

no question there but there if your talking about overall talent that position but the thread is about explosiveness. those two well burn you as you saw sunday

Turner > McCoy

Turner is a punisher but he seems a little slow this year than previous ones. two years ago if he broke through the secondary he would be gone but now he gets hawk in with ease. Shady has proven he can cause havok in the passing game as well as slashing through holes and making people miss for big gains.

We have talent but we don't have big play capability as other teams do.

[McMVP]

4. in the first year that TD was here there was a HUGE turn over of players. We had to start over. We had to REBUILD. The Eagles haven't had to do that since Reid first got there.

The Eagle's Super Bowl roster of 2004...I bolded the current Eagles:

NO NAME-POS HT WT DOB EXP COLLEGE

-- -------- -- -- --- --- -------

2 David Akers, K 5-10 200 12/9/74 6 Louisville 5 Donovan McNabb, QB 6-2 240 11/25/76 6 Syracuse

8 Dirk Johnson, P 6-0 205 6/1/75 2 Northern Colorado

10 Koy Detmer, QB 6-1 195 7/5/73 8 Colorado

11 Jeff Blake, QB 6-1 223 12/4/70 13 East Carolina

20 Brian Dawkins, S 6-0 210 10/13/73 9 Clemson

21 Matt Ware, CB 6-2 210 12/2/82 R UCLA

22 Eric McCoo, RB 5-10 210 9/6/80 R Penn St.

24 Sheldon Brown, CB 5-10 200 3/19/79 3 South Carolina

25 Dorsey Levens, RB 6-1 230 5/21/70 11 Georgia Tech

26 Lito Sheppard, CB 5-10 194 4/8/81 3 Florida

29 Roderick Hood, CB 5-11 196 10/3/81 2 Auburn

30 J.R. Reed, S 5-11 202 2/11/82 R South Florida

31 Dexter Wynn, CB 5-9 175 2/25/81 R Colorado St

32 Michael Lewis, S 6-1 211 4/29/80 3 Colorado

34 Reno Mahe, RB 5-10 212 6/3/80 2 Brigham Young

36 Brian Westbrook, RB 5-10 205 9/2/79 3 Villanova

46 Quintin Mikell, S 5-10 206 9/16/80 2 Boise St

49 Josh Parry, FB 6-2 250 4/5/78 1 San Jose St.

50 Mark Simoneau, LB 6-0 245 1/16/77 5 Kansas St.

51 Nate Wayne, LB 6-0 237 1/12/75 7 Mississippi

53 Hugh Douglas, DE 6-2 281 8/23/71 10 Central St Oh

54 Jeremiah Trotter, LB 6-1 262 1/20/77 7 Stephen Austin

55 Dhani Jones, LB 6-1 240 2/22/78 5 Michigan

56 Derrick Burgess, DE 6-2 266 8/12/78 4 Mississippi

57 Keith Adams, LB 5-11 223 11/22/79 4 Clemson

58 Ike Reese, LB 6-2 222 10/16/73 7 Michigan St.

59 Mike Labinjo, LB 6-0 241 7/8/80 R Michigan St.

63 Hank Fraley, C 6-2 300 9/21/77 5 Robert Morris

65 Jamaal Green, DE 6-2 272 6/5/80 2 Miami Fla

66 Trey Darilek, OL 6-4 301 4/23/03 R Texas El Paso

68 Steve Sciullo, OL 6-5 325 8/27/80 2 Marshall

69 Jon Runyan, OT 6-7 330 11/27/73 9 Michigan

71 Jermane Mayberry, G 6-4 325 8/29/73 9 Texas A&M Kingsvill

72 Tra Thomas, OT 6-7 349 11/20/74 7 Florida St

76 Alonzo Ephraim, C 6-4 312 11/9/81 2 Alabama

77 Artis Hicks, OT 6-4 320 11/28/78 3 Memphis

78 Hollis Thomas, DT 6-0 306 1/10/74 9 Northern Illinois

79 Ian Allen, OT 6-4 310 7/22/78 3 Purdue

80 Billy McMullen, WR 6-4 210 3/8/80 2 Virginia

81 Terrell Owens, WR 6-3 226 12/7/73 9 Chattanooga

82 L.J. Smith, TE 6-3 258 1/13/80 2 Rutgers

83 Greg Lewis, WR 6-0 180 2/12/80 2 Illinois

84 Freddie Mitchell, WR 6-0 195 11/28/78 4 UCLA

85 Jeff Thomason, TE 6-5 255 12/30/69 10 Oregon

87 Todd Pinkston, WR 6-3 180 4/23/77 5 So Mississippi

88 Mike Bartrum, TE 6-4 245 6/23/70 10 Marshall

90 Corey Simon, DT 6-2 293 3/2/77 5 Florida St

91 Sam Rayburn, DT 6-3 303 10/20/80 2 Tulsa

93 Jevon Kearse, DE 6-4 265 9/3/76 6 Florida

95 Jerome McDougle, DE 6-2 264 12/15/78 2 Miami Fla

96 Paul Grasmanis, DT 6-3 298 8/2/74 9 Notre Dame

97 Darwin Walker, DT 6-3 294 6/15/77 5 Tennessee

Our Kicker and a 2nd year Safety (at the time) are all that's left from that team...

But we haven't had to rebuild at all...

[kiwifalcon]

Remember though after the 07/08 debarcle we have been doing a huge overhaul in personel weather its been FO or players I'm pretty sure we will address the need for more explosive playmakers in time but time is the operative word as MS and TD are still building this team as I believe we are just starting to see what we are fully capable of I think if we look back over the last 3 seasons we are starting to bear the fruits of how TD and MS are trying to do so I'm still confident that thwe sought of explosive playmakers that have been mentioned in this thread will come but again it'll just take time.

[vel]

Look at the players on the Eagles' offense: Desean Jackson, Brent Celek, Lesean McCoy and Jeremy Maclin. These are all recent draft picks and extremely explosive players They do have flaws in their offensive line, but arguably their line did fine against us.

Who exactly have we drafted that has been explosive offensively in the last 3 years? HD? He's ok. Kerry Meir? We have Roddy and Tony G. But Tony G is not explosive and apt to big plays at this point and juncture.

I still go back to my rant this offseason prior to the draft concerning our constant and insanely myopic focus on defense and the way it has bit us in the posterior. We drafted Ryan #3 overall and have proceeded to to surround our centerpiece with mediocre role players and possession type receivers.

And before anyone points out the obvious, i know that we drafted a couple of Olinemen and Kerry Meir. But again, none are on the field and all project to be role/backup type players.

I like a nice defense but here's the bottom line in the NFL : 1) the rules favor the offense --this often negates a great defense2) Explosive offenses have been winning the Super bowl the last decade or so 3) You always build to your strengths--Ryan was our strength

Maybe the plan is to pay attention to the offense next year--hopefully we get enough offense to get far in the playoffs; and we see a few early draft picks focused on offensive playmakers next year

Tell me what holes we have on defense. Yea you can TRY and point out DE but we have Sidbury in the stable still and the coaches know more about him than we do. You can try and say OLB to replace Nicholas but Nicholas would be starting on a number of teams in this league. We have holes on offense. This draft is set up for us to fill every possible hole on offense. Explosive players, OLinemen, depth players, you name it.

You guys are forgetting that we just went 4-12 not more than 5 years ago. Yes we have a good team, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. We all see our OL can be improved significantly. We all want another dominating WR. We all want an explosive utility player. Can you give TD some time to address these issues? He focused on giving Smitty his defense. That defense has won us games this year already or at the VERY least kept us in them. Now give him a chance to get the offense together.

Edited October 19, 2010 by vel

[SOI]

A few things to remember here when discussing the differneces between the Eagles and Falcons draft picks:

1. You draft based off of current personnel, coaches, and schemes.

2. The Falcons needs are different than the Eagles. I happen to think that because of their history of success i.e. more victories and playoff appearances than the Falcons, they have a deeper roster.

Thus they don't have to replenish their roster like the Falcons have had to recently.

[McMVP]

Thus they don't have to replenish their roster like the Falcons have had to recently.

But the Eagles have completely overhauled their roster over the last few seasons...

[SOI]

But the Eagles have completely overhauled their roster over the last few seasons...

But they haven't had to fill has many holes with their draft picks has the Falcons have AND they have had the same coach and schemes as always. Don't forget this fact.

[McMVP]

But they haven't had to fill has many holes with their draft picks has the Falcons have AND they have had the same coach and schemes as always. Don't forget this fact.

Well you are correct to a certain degree.

The Eagles rebuilt on the fly...but the vast majority of their current starters are draft picks (Jason Peters and Ernie Sims are the only ones I can think of that weren't)...

The Eagles never reached the lows that the Falcons did (top 5 draft pick status)...I don't think they've had a higher pick than 14th overall in the last decade.

[SOI]

Well you are correct to a certain degree.

The Eagles rebuilt on the fly...but the vast majority of their current starters are draft picks (Jason Peters and Ernie Sims are the only ones I can think of that weren't)...

The Eagles never reached the lows that the Falcons did (top 5 draft pick status)...I don't think they've had a higher pick than 14th overall in the last decade.

And the consisitency of Andy Reid and his coaching schemes and the personnel has helped them stay a strong team i.e. Patriots and Steelers

[The Don™]

TD stresses speed on the defense, and he's gotten speedy guys over the last couple years.

It's time to do a similar type of thing with the offense. I mean, look at what the Eagles have with Jackson, Maclin, and McCoy.

We literally have like two guys on this offense currently that are considered quick/fast. That is Roddy and Harry. Roddy is proven and Harry is just potential. Harry needs to stay in the slot. I know Jenkins can run a 4.4 40, but he doesn't show it often...

This offseason, I would look for a legit #2 WR that is considered a playmaker. We need somebody that can take pressure off of Roddy and be that playmaking #2 WR that Jenkins is not.

Also, we need that fast, quick, agile, #3 RB that Jerious could have been. That can be had easily later in the draft...

Also, upgrade the OL with some talent and not just guys that are considered "blue collar". Mike Johnson and Joe Hawley are the future at G and C. We could see Johnson at LG next season with Hawley at C. Also, I would bring back Clabo and stick him at RG. Dahl is really not strong, and Clabo is much better at G than at T IMO. Obviously, the LT and RT spots would have to be filled...

I wouldn't be surprised to see more offensive players being selected than defensive players in this draft...

[putnam6]

I don't agree. At this point in his career I think Gonzo is about upper middle of the pack in terms of NFL tight ends. He's good at getting open and almost impossible to single-cover, but he no longer has the speed to be a deep "seam" threat. The better NFL ttight ends now are big AND fast. They are downfield threats. Look at the Patriots. They just drafted TWO of them.

White may be better than Jackson or Macklin individually, but when you combine White/Jenkins or White/Douglas vs. Jackson/Macklin the Eagles have a clear advantage. They have two #1 receivers, which is becoming more the norm amongst the good NFL teams. Even with Jackson out of the game their passing attack did not slow down. Could you imagine our offense without White? Ugh. Don't even think about it.

The only one of these three I might agree with is the third, especially if you add Snelling into the mix. But the absence of a true breakaway speed back like Norwood still hurts us I think.

The Eagles have better skill players. Period. Now, we TRIED drafting for skill/speed over the years when Vick was here. White, Jenkins, Norwood, Peerless Price, Crumpler, Dunn... What we ended up with was a lot of hit/miss skill players and NO offensive line to help them out. At least now we have been concentrating on the foundation, the men in the trenches, a little more. We've done very well on defense I think. But our OLine is STILL suspect. So what are you gonna do now? Focus on offense...specifically OT and WR in my mind. Maybe RB.

Yea I hear what you are saying but doubt Mularkey would know how to use them.