Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links …
Howie – Iggles Blitz
The Eagles have been on a roll with recent drafts. They blew the Jalen Reagor pick in 2020 and they’ve been on fire ever since. There are stories about who wanted Reagor. The bottom line is that the Eagles took him and he was a major bust. Since that pick, they have been locked in. Maybe we should thank Reagor for making the organization realize they needed to not repeat that debacle. One of Howie’s biggest strengths is the way he is always looking for talent. Mekhi Becton was signed after the draft. 31 other teams had a shot at that guy and passed. Terrific addition. Isaiah Rodgers was another good addition that 31 teams could have had. I don’t know how things were between Howie and previous coaches, but he sure seems to listen to Vic Fangio. That’s smart. Find out what your coaches want and try to find out what they see so you can be on the same page. Fangio liked Jalyx Hunt and the Eagles took him in the third round. I’m sure Howie liked him independent of Fangio, but it was good to find out the DC liked the small school kid and would embrace him. The Zack Baun story will be a part of Eagles lore. The whole world saw him as a backup edge and STer. Fangio saw an ILB. Howie wanted to sign him either way, but the Eagles trusted Fangio and put Baun at LB. He now has a chance to be the Defensive Player of the Year. That is nuts. You sure can’t argue with Howie’s success over the past decade.
The Cowboys finally admitted it — they want to be more like the Eagles – Inquirer
The Dallas Cowboys have finally figured out how to get back to the Super Bowl — be like the Eagles. During a news conference Monday, Cowboys executive Stephen Jones said they’re studying the success of several other franchises around the league, including the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs, in an attempt to turn around their team’s misfortunes. But Jones also threw the Eagles into the mix. “A team like Philadelphia, you certainly look at the way they’re doing it, where they went out and did some things with some veteran players,” Jones said. “You have to take a look at that.” One of the reasons the Eagles have been consistently successful in recent years is general manager Howie Roseman’s ability to manage contracts and player salaries, building the best teams possible under the NFL’s salary cap rules.
Report: Kellen Moore has emerged as a lead candidate for the Saints head coaching job – BGN
Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore has “emerged as a lead candidate” for the New Orleans Saints’ head coaching job, according to a report from NFL insider Adam Schefter.
Roob’s Bonus Observations: A historic achievement by an Eagles position coach – NBCSP
10. It was striking hearing everybody who was interviewed post-game Sunday at the Linc talk about how they weren’t playing for themselves, they were playing for their teammates, for their brothers. Hearing Cam Jurgens explain that the only reason he went out and played after Landon Dickerson was forced to leave the game was because he knew his teammates were depending on him. Zack Baun screaming, “It’s not about me! It’s not about me!” when an interviewer asked about his playmaking. Nolan Smith telling anybody who would listen that the only reason he’s getting sacks is because his teammates are setting him up. Saquon Barkley joyous not over his long run but over Will Shipley’s. And on and on and on. Every team talks about being unselfish, but I’ve never seen an Eagles team that buys into that philosophy like this one. They genuinely don’t care who makes the play as long as somebody makes the play. They genuinely are happier when their teammates excel than when they do. They genuinely play for each other in a way that makes them almost impossible to beat. The Eagles have a lot of great players, but even more importantly, they have a togetherness woven into the fabric of the locker room that is stronger than any collection of talented individuals. They are the ultimate team.
Eagles’ biggest matchup questions for Super Bowl 2025 – ESPN
What’s different about the Eagles since they lost to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl two years ago? What do they do better / worse? The addition of Barkley has been massive. Pick any number of his house calls to see just how much of a game-altering threat he has been in his first season in Philadelphia. He has seven touchdowns of 60-plus yards this season, the most in NFL history. The Eagles’ primary back in ‘22 was Barkley’s backfield partner at Penn State, Miles Sanders, who ran for almost 1,300 yards and 11 touchdowns that year to make the Pro Bowl. But what Barkley has done has been transformational for this offense. He needs only 30 yards to pass Terrell Davis for most rushing yards in a season, including playoffs. Sacks were the bread and butter of the ‘22 Eagles defense: they had 70 of them, the third-most all-time. Haason Reddick and Co., though, were neutralized by the Chiefs offensive line and the famously slick field at State Farm Stadium in Super Bowl LVII. This year’s group, led by defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, is not as prolific rushing the passer (41 sacks) but has impact players at all three levels, including defensive tackle Jalen Carter, All-Pro linebacker Zack Baun and rookie corners Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean. It’s a disciplined, physical group that has a penchant for generating turnovers.
A season-best performance from Jalen Hurts pushed the Eagles’ offense to new heights – PFF
The pre-snap motion is an indicator for Hurts that the Commanders are likely playing zone coverage, and with there being only one deep safety, it’s likely Cover 3. But the Commanders like to play Cover 3 while still rushing five defenders, whereas it’s typically three defenders deep, four underneath and four rushing. That puts coverage players in difficult spots if the pass rush can’t get home. The Eagles run a post/wheel concept, looking to cause conflict between the flat player underneath and the cornerback to the top of the screen. It’s a clever way to get to it, with the inline tight end running the wheel. The cornerback at the top of the screen should be able to pass off the post to the safety and take the wheel route, but because the wheel is coming from an inline tight end, he doesn’t expect it and Hurts throws the ball on time and accurately for a huge gain. The Eagles’ rushing attack makes their offense tough to stop as is, but when you add in Jalen Hurts playing at this level with this type of efficiency, you get 55 points in a conference championship game. Hurts will have to play at a similar level to win his first Super Bowl and prevent the Kansas City Chiefs from a three-peat.
Jalen Hurts and Xavier Worthy step up, more conference championship thoughts: Quick Outs – The Athletic
Eagles’ O vs. Commanders’ D: Jalen Hurts played his best game of the season. By the numbers, Hurts was exceptional against the Commanders — he posted a 60 percent success rate, as well as 0.48 EPA per dropback, according to TruMedia. Not only would both of those marks easily have outpaced the league’s best over the course of the season, they made for Hurts’ second-best single-game showing this year. Statistically, Hurts’ only better performance came in Week 8 against the Cincinnati Bengals, and that was against a much weaker defense with less at stake.His success against the Commanders came down to two key factors: avoiding sacks and connecting on throws down the field. For a majority of the year, taking sacks has been Hurts’ biggest issue — he’s been one of the most sackable quarterbacks in the league when pressured. Hurts took just two sacks on Sunday, however, and only the second one was his fault. The first was the product of a protection miscommunication that let Frankie Luvu run free at the quarterback, which would have been a doomed situation for just about anyone.But the downfield passes were vintage Hurts. A fourth-and-5 go ball to A.J. Brown was Hurts’ most impactful throw, but he hit a handful of others.
Conference Championship Quick Reads – FTN Fantasy
This was Jalen Hurts‘ No. 3 game of the year by DYAR, trailing Week 15 against Pittsburgh (168) and Week 8 against Cincinnati (132). Hurts carried the ball 10 times for only 16 yards but scored three touchdowns.
Loudmouth Eagles player orders defeated young QB to ‘sit yo’ a— down’ – NJ.com
“Jayden McDaniels, i’mma tell you this. This all i’mma tell you, my boy,” Gardner Johnson said, via Instagram. “Hell of a year, but sit yo’ a— down and watch this s— from home. Cancun University. Get out.”
Nick Sirianni explains how the Super Bowl bye week is different – PE.com
Head Coach Nick Sirianni wouldn’t divulge any details, but he said at his virtual press conference on Tuesday that there will be some slight tweaks and changes to how he will prepare the team for Super Bowl LIX compared to the prep for the Super Bowl two years ago. But Sirianni acknowledged that it’s not a typical bye week, what with two weeks to prepare for a single opponent, followed by the extensive media engagements in New Orleans, and preparing for a different game schedule with alterations such as the longer halftime break. “I think at the end of the day, it does come back to what we’ve talked about all year and just controlling what you can control on being in the moment of where you are,” Sirianni said.
Nick Sirianni: We’ll tweak some things based on last Super Bowl experience – PFT
Sirianni said that there will be differences in that process than there were two years ago, although he added that he’ll keep them in house. “Yeah, obviously you go through everything,” Sirianni said, via a transcript from the team. “I won’t get into details there of what we’re changing, but after each week, you talk about what you can do better and what you did well. That’s a constant every Monday. That’s what we did after 2022 as well. So we have notes that we’re going through and that we’ve been going through. Couple tweaks here and there of what we will do differently, and a couple things that will stay the same. Of course any time you go through any situation like that, you take notes like that and you try to get better from each circumstance you go through.” The Eagles’ prep work last time served them well enough to take a lead into the fourth quarter, but the Chiefs came up with the better finish for a 38-35 win. They’ll spend the rest of the time leading up to kickoff working on ways to keep that from being the outcome again this time.
Bucky Brooks 2025 NFL mock draft 1.0: Titans take Shedeur Sanders at No. 1; Ashton Jeanty to Dallas – NFL.com
31) DT Derrick Harmon. The Eagles believe in investing in the trenches on draft day. Harmon would add another super-sized athlete to a defensive line that is loaded with blue-chip talent.
11 winners and 1 big loser from the Chiefs’ AFC Title win over the Bills – Arrowhead Pride
The excuses: All we heard all week was talk about the Chiefs benefiting from favorable calls and some imaginary conspiracy that allows a small-market team to build a dynasty. It couldn’t possibly be that they’ve built a proven winner around a Hall of Fame coach, coordinator, quarterback, defensive lineman and tight end. It couldn’t be that they prepare and practice, they fight through injuries, they reload the roster when they have to, they draft well, they have the right leaders in the locker room. To go to three straight Super Bowls and five in six years, something has to be rigged. Allen said it best after the game: “To be the champs you have to beat the champs, and we didn’t do it tonight.“ He added, “You can either get it done or you can’t, and we didn’t get it done.”
NFC Hierarchy/Obituary: The final 2024-2025 edition – PhillyVoice
They improved their roster to a level where the rookie quarterback wouldn’t be surrounded by utter garbage while simultaneously maintaining the flexibility to get more aggressive with long-term answers in 2025, when they’ll once again be loaded up with cap space. They currently have more than $87 million to play with, third-most in the NFL, per OverTheCap. Any team drafting a quarterback should study the Commanders’ 2024 offseason. But ultimately, the Commanders got thoroughly outclassed in the NFC Championship Game by an Eagles team that was better than them at almost every position on the field, including at quarterback, which is where they were thought to have their one significant edge. Oh, and the Eagles happen to play in the same division as them, so their quest to become one of the NFC’s elite pretty much runs through Philly. Their ascension to the upper echelon of the NFC seems so close, but more realistically it’s probably still a ways away.
Washington Commanders Coaching Tracker: Kliff Kingsbury is staying with Washington despite interest from the Saints – Hogs Haven
The NFL’s coaching cycle, along with the postseason, is almost over. There is only one head coaching job left, and two teams remain in play for the Lombardi trophy. The Washington Commanders lost to the Philadelphia Eagles, and will watch them play the Kansas City Chiefs in 12 days. The New Orleans Saints are the only team that is still looking for their next head coach. The Commandeers were in the same position last year before they hired Dan Quinn. Offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury and defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. both received interest from teams, but only Whitt actually interviewed(Jets). This was Whitt’s first head coaching interview, and he will return as Washington’s DC next season. Kingsbury was expected to get significant interest after his return to the NFL was helped by having the best QB in the 2024 draft. Kingsbury held off on interviewing while Washington was still in the playoff hunt, but will reportedly not interview with the Saints.
Hiring Brian Schottenheimer doesn’t feel like maximizing the chance to win with Dak Prescott – Blogging The Boys
At every turn, the rest of the league is proving with painful obviousness how behind the Cowboys are and how their ongoing decisions are not conducive to winning. They are either a step behind or too far ahead of themselves constantly, something also highlighted by the way quarterbacks making plays with their legs this postseason has been a revelation that feels very much like a thing of the past for Prescott. Any true Cowboys fans rooting against Brian Schottenheimer to, at this moment early in his first offseason, not defy the odds and help this team win games can hardly call themselves a fan. As unpopular as the decision has been, the Cowboys still have a core of talented players, many of which being easy personalities to root for, that deserve support in their best efforts to decide games on the field regardless of how the coaching staff or front office has prepared them. There is still a long offseason full of important decisions to be made though, and each of them offers an opportunity for the Cowboys to admit that going 7-10 and missing the playoffs this past season was a failure they plan to learn from. The most popular notion for now is that they’ve already started 0-1 in this column by choosing Brian Schottenheimer to lead the team for potentially the remainder of the Dak Prescott era.
Jerry Jones compared owning the Cowboys to a glory hole, or something? – SB Nation
There’s a whole lot to unpack here. Firstly, this is among the strangest sentences I’ve ever read in my life. I don’t think anyone in the history of the english language has used the term “smiles and glory holes,” as if they’re comparative items by which you can evaluate another thing.
Mike Kafka could call plays for Giants next year … if he isn’t the head coach in New Orleans – Big Blue View
Mike Kafka was shuffled aside by the New York Giants in 2024, when head coach Brian Daboll took over offensive play-calling duties from his offensive coordinator. Kafka got assistant head coach added to his title, but seemed to have an undefined role during on-field practices during the season. That might change in 2025. If Kafka isn’t the head coach of the New Orleans Saints, that is. Paul Schwartz of the New York Post reported from the Senior Bowl on Tuesday that “there is strong sentiment inside the Giants building for head coach Brian Daboll to give up the play-calling duties.
Mike McCarthy pulls himself out of the running for Saints head coach – Canal Street Chronicles
This comes after there were reports surfaced that conversations weren’t going well between the Saints and McCarthy. According to Nick Underhill of NOF, a meeting was never even scheduled. This leaves the Saints with four avaliable coaching candidates that have already interviewed: Mike Kafka, New York Giants offensive coordinator. Kellen Moore, Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator. Darren Rizzi, New Orleans Saints interim HC and special teams coordinator. Anthony Weaver, Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator.
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