Oh i hate Jim Schwartz. The guy is a total asshat made of shit, always has been. Which is why its kinda fitting that he's a senior coach on a team with a POS fanbase as big as the Eagles have. I used to love watching him get L's(which he did a lot) with the Loins. The dis he got from Jim Harbaugh was an all-time postgame handshake moment ha. He may have been #3 in yards, but Ertz comfortably let all TE's in receptions. He had almost 30catches more than 3rd place(!) Kittle. With a ridiculous 116catches this season, Ertz is a volume target chain-moving studfuck of the highest order. Watching the Texans game was pretty F'ing crazy when they were clearly trying to roll coverage his way and yet the guy just kept making catch after catch after catch. Floyd against Ertz in man is just a flat out mis-match, which is a big problem cos you ideally want to try and matchup with Ertz in man cos he doesn't have the depth threat speed of a Kittle/Kelce and is so adept at finding the soft spot in zones. As you say, Smith & Trevathan are gonna have to play well against him also. Smith has gotten better as the season has gone on but what concerns i do still have about him are def on the pass coverage side. Trevathan on the year has given up over 550yards, 5TD's & a 116QBR on passes his way per CBSucks. I have this as a clear edge for the Eagles FWIW. I don't think its ridiculous at all tbh. You have to respect the fact that Foles is a different QB in this scheme. And he's come out in playoff time and he's taken it all the way. Who do you trust more in this game, Trubisky or Foles? If we're being objective, you have to say Foles. For my part i've gotta say im pretty nervous about this game. The Eagles are in form and there are matchup issues here i don't like. I think a top tier QB shreds this Eagles pass D, but im not there with Trubs yet, especially in big games. I think the Eagles are gonna remove the run game and make Mitch win it. To supplement that i wouldn't be surprised if they try to take away Cohen, possibly with a Safety. Having ARob, Miller & Gabriel all practice fully is huge. ARob needs to justify the #1 WR. Gabriel has really impressed me this season but he hasn't caught more than 4balls since November, it could be time to target him. A lot of us have talked in gamethreads about Fangio blitzing more. I really hope he doesn't blitz a lot here, at least initially unless Plan A isn't working. Foles has, somehow, been decimating blitzes since he came back into the lineup. Id like them to take away the run then get home with a standard pass rush with guys in coverage for the forced pass. Thats the plan anyway. But i think Foles will look to get the ball out quick and efficient, teams have been able to move the ball on this D when they've done that and the pass rush isn't on its A-game. Foles also likes his RB's, i hope that little fucker Sproles is accounted for. I also think Pederson is gonna drive us all nuts in this game. The more underdog this guy is the more ballsy he becomes. That means going for loads of 4th downs(many he will convert), 2 pointers, and prob looking to attack our weak ST's with trickery somewhere. I think this will be a close game, we'll all have squeeky bum syndrome and my alcohol/weed intake will be double normal rations. Bears 27 Eagles 26
I think this is very much along the lines of what I'm anticipating. The Eagles make me nervous, the Saints scare me. Every other NFC team I'd feel better about. Gonna be a big weekend, kids.
I did too, but went back and took a look at how well we've held TE's in check this year. Consider this: We've given up a single passing TD to TE's. We've allowed over 50 yards just once. We've allowed over 40 yards just 4 times. We've allowed 2 or fewer receptions 10 times. We've allowed 10 yards or less 7 times. Over 16 games stats for starting TE's = 35 receptions/330 yards/1 TD These are the stats for starting TE's this year against the Bears: Receptions/Yards/TD's 1) 2/8/0 2) 3/42/0 3) 1/35/0 4) 0/0/0 5) 4/49/1 (Dolphins) 6) 0/0/0 (Patriots) 7) 1/7/0 8) 0/0/0 9) 1/16/0 10) 2/13/0 11) 1/4/0 12) 4/42/0 13) 1/9/0 14) 4/27/0 15) 7/74/0 (Kittle SF) 16) 4/19/0
Fangio and Nagy were talking about this the other day. Basically saying the eagles love to throw the deeper routes, putting a shit ton of pressure on safeties - our Safeties cannot let the receivers get behind them. I thought it odd because on games I've watch on rewind, while there isn't a ton of underneath, this year I haven't seen a lot of deeper routes. I wonder if there was coaching chess going on with that interview... I really hope they look for the longer developing deep routes. Mack and Co. are going to murder Foles if he's sitting and waiting on longer routes to develop.
Trey Burton is a late addition to the injury report. Questionable with a groin injury. Late additions to the injury report and never good.
Yeah well that sucks, seems that the Eagles defense is committed to stopping the run and it seems those LB's commit to their gaps early on those plays. I would like to see the Bears run play action against it and Burton could be a reliable target over the middle when they do and it should loosen them up, and help out the running game if it starts to struggle.
Strange timing for sure. You would think Burton would absolutely want to play in this game given that it's against the Eagles. Shaheen may be a better weapon anyway. Burton excels in route running and getting open. I'm not sure if Shaheen does but we know his hands are good and catch radius much better. Either way though it probably puts more pressure on a banged up group of WRs.
