Week 15 Official Game Thread - Eagles at Bears, DEC 18th, 12pm, FOX, PHI -9, O/U 49

[Alaskan Grizzly]

And Jaylon Johnson on an Alaskan Grizzly redemption game with a spectacular stop on 4th down.  Lol!!!

[Alaskan Grizzly]

2 minutes ago, BearFan PHX said:

I dont blame Poles for trying on a speedster, but I think we all see that it just isnt happening.

He did have a nice catch and run earlier in the game. But his errors outweigh his positives so far 

[adam]

5 minutes ago, BearFan PHX said:

he was taking flyers on WRs that have some attributes but didnt make the first two rounds. He knows you cant coach speed, but you might be able to coach a guy to hang on to the ball. But nope. Hands and speed are both attributes you have or you dont.

I dont blame Poles for trying on a speedster, but I think we all see that it just isnt happening.

Velus was not rated that high. These were the guys on the board when he picked Jones:

Bernard Raimann - OL
Daniel Faalele - OT
Cordale Flott - CB
Dylam Parham - OL
Abraham Lucas - OL
Christian Harris - LB
David Bell - WR

[BearFan PHX]

at the time, Poles knew he didnt have bullets in his gun and he was trying to create competition in the WR room. Well, weve seen the competition and Velus didnt win LOL

[Alaskan Grizzly]

Cody Parkey lives on in the form of “doinked” FGs.  Weird that it was against the Eagles when he made that infamous double doink a few years ago…in Chicago.  Hmm.

[adam]

Now Fields is hurt, wtf. Just shut him down for the season. 

[Alaskan Grizzly]

9 minutes ago, adam said:

 

[Alaskan Grizzly]

4 minutes ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

10 minutes ago, adam said:

 

Null.  

[adam]

Refs are terrible. Eagles had two guys in motion at the same time, but they call offsides on Pennel on same play? Rewatch that one, unbelievable. How do they miss that? Results in another easy TD, completely changes the game.

[BearFan PHX]

Fields is an incredible hero.

[adam]

Just now, BearFan PHX said:

Fields is an incredible hero.

Great play, I love that he continues to look to pass on his scrambles.

Sucks that the refs suck, game should be tied right now.

[Alaskan Grizzly]

4 minutes ago, BearFan PHX said:

Fields is an incredible hero.

Absolutely.  So glad he came back. Building on that legendary status. 

[Alaskan Grizzly]

9 minutes ago, adam said:

Refs are terrible. Eagles had two guys in motion at the same time, but they call offsides on Pennel on same play? Rewatch that one, unbelievable. How do they miss that? Results in another easy TD, completely changes the game.

Had the Bears tried for that earlier FG they’d only be down by 2…for the moment.  And may have not done that darn onside kick.  Should’ve kicked it deep with the way the D has been playing.  IMHO of course.  

[BearFan PHX]

8 minutes ago, adam said:

Great play, I love that he continues to look to pass on his scrambles.

Despite having generational running talent, he really is a passer first in his mind. As the game slows down for him, he is going to become incredible.

Job One for this staff was/is to develop Fields. If you think about where he was 14 weeks ago, this is a tremendous achievement.

[adam]

Another winnable game. Hurts has some nice touch on the outside deep balls. Fields needs to learn/practice that.

Expected to lose, they had the lead and were competitive all game. Despite injuries, the team played pretty good. 

I am most excited about Gordon's performance. He really needed a game like this.

I hope Jenkins and Sanborn are ok with only minor injuries, those are 2 players we need in 2023.

[adam]

Now we root for Denver, let's Ride!

[adam]

Gipson was bear hugged on a 3rd down incompletion before the missed FG, no-call. Would have given the Bears better field position.

Then right before the last TD run, the Eagles had two guys in motion (TE in motion to right as OL-eligible jumps up and goes in motion to left) before Pennel jumped offsides. Pennel gets called, not the illegal motion.

 

[adam]

People have been concerned about Fields not finishing with a scoring drive, well he got one today. No turnovers from him, he made plays despite a terrible O-Line and literally playing with WR4s and WR5s. Whitehair looks done. Leatherwood not the answer at RT. 

I suspect we need 3x OLinemen this offseason, a new LG, C, and RT. Hopefully Jenkins is not seriously injured, then that would be 4 new guys needed.

It will be nice to get Herbert back next week. Montgomery was solid, but I would rather see Herbert get the touches over Ebner and Evans at this point. 

Gordon's stock way up, Velus Jones stock down.

What do you do about Jaylon Johnson? Supposed to be a shutdown corner and AJ Brown gets 8 receptions for 160+ yards with Johnson in coverage. 

Crazy stat, Brown and Smith accounted for 307 receiving yards, all other players accounted for 8. Most of those were against Johnson and Jones. 

[Alaskan Grizzly]

On 12/12/2022 at 12:20 PM, Alaskan Grizzly said:

I’m doing a dangerously hot take . Bears LOSE by a slim margin.  They did some amazing work (adjustment wise) after the mini-bye (blew out Pats if I remember). Looking forward to see how they do after a full bye…at home.  Brisker and Gordon will be back and I’m sure Justin will be playing to win.  

Had to do a slight edit.  ??

[Alaskan Grizzly]

4 minutes ago, adam said:

What do you do about Jaylon Johnson? Supposed to be a shutdown corner and AJ Brown gets 8 receptions for 160+ yards with Johnson in coverage. 

Don’t think he’s fully redeemed himself in my eyes.  If he’s expecting a big payoff coming up I’m not sure he’s earned it.  Maybe try Gordon on the outside (instead of Jaylon Jones) going forward to get a better evaluation there?  If Gordon does well enough then you look FA or draft for another CB candidate. ??‍♂️

[Mongo3451]

1 hour ago, adam said:

Velus Jones is like Kindor Vildor on offense. All the dude does is make mistakes. 

We were bereft of talent at the WR position.  Poles knew we would be a running team this year, so he drafted a guy that was compared to Deebo on size and speed hoping to get a weapon.  So far, I've not seen much.  Where Deebo seems to play faster than he looks, Velus does not look fast, agile out strong with the ball in his hands.  He was begging for a PI call and want within 5 yards of the ball.  You gotta fight toward the ball to get that call. This was all while the DB had him blanketed at full speed.  He's going to have to man up.

[BearFan PHX]

2 minutes ago, Mongo3451 said:

You gotta fight toward the ball to get that call.

and to catch it! this is what I see from too many of our receivers, they are waiting for the ball to come to them, rather than attacking it. Given that Fields is still progressing, that ball's often coming a fraction late, so the defender is closing faster, and attacking the ball becomes that much more important.

[AZ54]

I again am very impressed by the effort put forth by this team.  We were simply out-manned at nearly every spot on the field and kept it close with effort despite losing several key players throughout the game.  More than anything young players keep improving and I think that bodes very well for the future as we add better talent.   

Find a post in this thread that mentions Braxton Jones?  Fields each game takes a step forward, small but you can see it in a few plays each game.  The backup DBs again didn't look overwhelmed and played physically at the point of attack.  As much as we blitzed and as many as we blitzed I expected to see WRs wide open all over.   

Given where we are at this point (draft focused) I don't even get upset at all the heavy blitzes we're doing.  I don't believe that is characteristic of what this teams wants to do long term.  Who was wrong on the safety blitz that gave up the easy TD by Hurts we won't know but had they gone into different gaps that play is dead at the LOS.  This is the time to experiment and see what happens and who can handle things.  

Thoughts on players:

Whitehair - if he wants $14mil next season this was the game to earn it.  He failed, repeatedly.  

Leatherwood - needs one more quick kick step in that drop to handle what Reddick was showing him.  It appeared he did that better in his first game. I'm not giving up on him though because when he's right he's very right and he's still working on very few snaps.  Will he show enough for Poles to commit to him as our future RT?  That doesn't seem likely but I can see him in the competition for the job in camp.  That could be against a rookie or vet but the decision has been made that it won't be Borom.    

Fields - watching the NFL Network pregame show with Kurt Warner comparing Fields now versus early in the season the progress in the pocket is obvious.  On his quick throws to the WR screen he has to get his feet right.  That's something he needs to work on this offseason.    

Ebner - he is still not comfortable in the backfield.  I don't know the future for our WRs corps but if these injuries linger we should see him run some routes out of the slot.  Velus isn't showing much so mix it up a bit and give Ebner some of his routes.  

Being sick all weekend I watched a lot of football.  I don't see us as far off from a playoff contender as our record states.  This game just reinforced that belief and makes me even more enthusiastic for what we can become when we add talent this offseason.  

 

 

 

[Stinger226]

6 hours ago, adam said:

I have really soured on this coaching staff. Flus and Getsy very suspect on offense, Flus and Williams on defense. They literally blitzed a Safety leaving no one in the middle of the field for one of the easier TD draws you will ever see. 

There might be a blown assignment that someone didnt fill that lane, without knowing all of the details, hard to blame coaches. Not saying they dont deserve some criticism for somethings.  I think the defense played fair against a team that averages over 30 points a game. With them basically not having a pass rush, the DBs performed fairly well. Stats didnt look good with both WRs blowing them up, but they have some promising moments. 

[Stinger226]

1 hour ago, AZ54 said:

I again am very impressed by the effort put forth by this team.  We were simply out-manned at nearly every spot on the field and kept it close with effort despite losing several key players throughout the game.  More than anything young players keep improving and I think that bodes very well for the future as we add better talent.   

Find a post in this thread that mentions Braxton Jones?  Fields each game takes a step forward, small but you can see it in a few plays each game.  The backup DBs again didn't look overwhelmed and played physically at the point of attack.  As much as we blitzed and as many as we blitzed I expected to see WRs wide open all over.   

Given where we are at this point (draft focused) I don't even get upset at all the heavy blitzes we're doing.  I don't believe that is characteristic of what this teams wants to do long term.  Who was wrong on the safety blitz that gave up the easy TD by Hurts we won't know but had they gone into different gaps that play is dead at the LOS.  This is the time to experiment and see what happens and who can handle things.  

Thoughts on players:

Whitehair - if he wants $14mil next season this was the game to earn it.  He failed, repeatedly.  

Leatherwood - needs one more quick kick step in that drop to handle what Reddick was showing him.  It appeared he did that better in his first game. I'm not giving up on him though because when he's right he's very right and he's still working on very few snaps.  Will he show enough for Poles to commit to him as our future RT?  That doesn't seem likely but I can see him in the competition for the job in camp.  That could be against a rookie or vet but the decision has been made that it won't be Borom.    

Fields - watching the NFL Network pregame show with Kurt Warner comparing Fields now versus early in the season the progress in the pocket is obvious.  On his quick throws to the WR screen he has to get his feet right.  That's something he needs to work on this offseason.    

Ebner - he is still not comfortable in the backfield.  I don't know the future for our WRs corps but if these injuries linger we should see him run some routes out of the slot.  Velus isn't showing much so mix it up a bit and give Ebner some of his routes.  

Being sick all weekend I watched a lot of football.  I don't see us as far off from a playoff contender as our record states.  This game just reinforced that belief and makes me even more enthusiastic for what we can become when we add talent this offseason.  

 

 

 

I agree with everything you have said. I will have to re watch the game to see how Whitehair did. Up until this game he hadnt given up a sack or had a penalty.