American Football

The Linc – Miles Sanders says “I love Philly. Just bring me back.”

on

New York Giants v Philadelphia Eagles
Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 1/18/23.

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links …

How Eagles RB Miles Sanders made his breakout season a reality — just in time for a payday – ESPN
“This year, he and Coach Craig talked and he was like, ‘Just remember that you’re out here to perform. If you’re not performing for the Eagles, you’re performing for someone else. So you have to get that in your head, this is not just for the Eagles, you are putting on your show for all 32 teams. At some point, if they don’t want to pay you what you deserve, somebody else will,’” Marlene said. Sanders has at least one more showcase game for the Eagles and the rest of the NFL, and it comes against his former backfield mate, Barkley. This is Sanders’ third playoff appearance and he doesn’t yet have a win to show for it. Changing that is clearly the top priority. After the playoffs, focus will shift to a contract. And while the business side will factor in heavily, Sanders remains hopeful that the lifelong dream of sending his mother off happily into retirement will come while playing for the team that drafted him. “I love Philly. Just bring me back. I hope they bring me back,” Sanders said. “I love you [general manager] Howie [Roseman]. I hope you love me too.”

How Miles Sanders stepped up for Eagles in a prove-it season: ‘A switch flipped’ – The Athletic
To change the narrative about him, Sanders had to change his running style. Singleton says this season, he became a more vertical runner. Now, Sanders is less disposed to negative carries and nonsense, and more inclined to collisions that can be heard in the upper reaches of Lincoln Financial Field. That altered running style has earned him more opportunities near the goal line. “You’ve seen him lower his pads, push the pile and ride the wave with the O-line getting their guys in the end zone,” Singleton says. The payoff has been 11 touchdowns — 11 more than he scored a year ago. But the ultimate payoff should come with money that can change lives. “I plan on calling my mom and telling her she doesn’t have to work no more,” Sanders says of Marlene, a Jamaican immigrant who manages properties in Pittsburgh. “I can’t wait to do that.”

Jalen Hurts not listed on Eagles estimated injury report ahead of Giants playoff game – BGN
The Philadelphia Eagles issued their first official injury report on Tuesday in advance of their Divisional Round playoff game against the New York Giants. Note that this report is an estimation because the team held a walkthrough in lieu of a normal practice. The big news is that Jalen Hurts was not listed on the report at all. Good sign! This development does not come as a total surprise; Nick Sirianni said Hurts would be full go. Still, this instance marks Hurts’ first time not listed on the report since suffering his shoulder injury on December 18. Hurts was listed as limited in practice leading up to the Week 18 game he played in.

NFC East Mixtape Vol.94: The NFC East Does The Divisional Round – BGN Radio
Ahead of the Eagles-Giants divisional round game on Saturday, Big Blue View’s Ed Valentine stops by to discuss the biggest differences between the Giants now and Week 14 in addition to his concerns with the Eagles. Later in the show, RJ Ochoa and Brandon Lee Gowton run through the biggest storylines for the three NFC East teams remaining in the playoffs.

Who is better, Eagles or Giants: Offense edition – PhillyVoice
Quarterback: Daniel Jones was a turnover machine the first couple years of his career, but has protected the ball far better over the last two. In 2022, he only threw 5 INTs. The tradeoff is that he was also arguably the most conservative quarterback in the NFL, as the Giants rarely hit on chunk plays in the passing game, and Jones only had 15 TD passes. As a runner, Jones is very much a threat, as he racked up 708 rushing yards on 120 rushes (5.9 YPC) and 7 TDs. His style of play has allowed the Giants to (mostly) hang with opponents, but almost never pull away from them. Hurts might have been the MVP of the league had he not sprained his throwing shoulder Week 15 against the Bears. Like Jones, Hurts did a great job of not turning the ball over in 2022, as he only had 6 INTs. The difference is that Hurts consistently connected for big plays down the field to his receivers. He is also a more explosive runner, even if some rushing stats (like yards per carry) favor Jones (partly because of all of Hurts’ sneaks and kneeldowns). Edge: If healthy, Hurts is worlds better than Jones. Eagles.

Postseason Expectations – Iggles Blitz
The good news is that the Eagles have the pieces in place to go win it all this year. They don’t need luck. They don’t need the ball to bounce their way. This is an outstanding team that went 14-1 with Hurts as the starting QB. That doesn’t guarantee postseason success, but as we saw on Monday night, records do mean something. The 8-9 Bucs got blown out by the 12-5 Cowboys. Tampa just wasn’t a very good team. Andy Reid got the Eagles to the playoffs in Year 2. They reached the NFC title game the next season. They reached the Super Bowl in Year 6. Doug Pederson got the Eagles to the playoffs in Year 2 and won it all. Nick Sirianni got the team to the postseason in his first year as coach. He had the Eagles as the best team in the league in Year 2. He is off to a phenomenal start. It will be interesting to see how he does this postseason. Last year the 9-8 Eagles got blown out by the 13-4 Bucs. The Eagles are the big boys this time around. They have the loaded roster and a season of success to show how good they are. The Eagles have been at their best in big games this year. That’s due to a combination of good coaching and talented players. I’m excited to see what they do the rest of the way.

What Eagles’ offense learned from Tampa playoff disaster – NBCSP
Eagles-Buccaneers wild-card game at Raymond James Stadium. A year ago this week. The moment the Eagles had been waiting for since the start of training camp.First quarter. First play. And they knew right away something wasn’t right. “Dude, first play we came out, I will never forget that,” Jordan Mailata said Tuesday. “First play. We had three plays, and we couldn’t run any of those three plays. We had three audibles built in. “It was like, ‘What the hell?’ That’s how I knew we were thrown into the deep end.” Right from the jump, the Buccaneers seemed to have answers for everything the Eagles tried. This was the defending Super Bowl champs against a young, inexperienced team with a 23-year-old quarterback and a rookie head coach.

NFL Defensive All-Rookie Team: Sauce Gardner, Tariq Woolen and Aidan Hutchinson headline my selections – NFL.com
DT Jordan Davis. Davis’ importance to the Eagles’ defense was evident in games he missed, prompting Philly to bring in veterans to plug the gap. The 6-foot-6, 336-pound behemoth eats up blockers, giving Eagles linebackers clear lanes to the football. In limited regular-season snaps due to injury, Davis still gobbled up nine stops and generated eight QB pressures, per PFF. A rotational player in his first year in Philly, Davis owns the size and upside to be a game-wrecker in the middle of the Eagles’ defense if he stays healthy.

Updated DVOA with Big Night for Cowboys – Football Outsiders
[BLG Note: The Eagles are ranked 5th in DVOA while the Giants are the lowest remaining playoff team at 17th.]

Giants know they will be walking into hostile environment – Big Blue View
The New York Giants know what they will be walking into Saturday night when they face the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in the Divisional Round of the 2023 NFC Playoffs. A hostile crowd. No, make that a HOSTILE crowd. Giants’ defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence said Tuesday he told his mother to stay home. “I told my mom she can’t come to the game because she’ll go back at them [Eagles fans,]” Thomas said. “It should be fun and I’m excited.”

Report: Colts ask to interview Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn for head coach – Blogging The Boys
The Dallas Cowboys have moved through the Wild Card Round and are now focused on their Divisional Round opponent in the San Francisco 49ers, but as a team that has had a lot of success this season, they are drawing the interest of other squads across the National Football League. More specifically, the Cowboys are seeing some of their talent wanted by other teams. As of Monday morning defensive coordinator Dan Quinn had already been asked by the Denver Broncos to interview for their head coaching position, and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore had been asked by the Carolina Panthers. Quinn has now had another request. According to ESPN, the Indianapolis Colts are now interested in interviewing Dan Quinn.

Report: Potential bidders have been told Dan Snyder plans to sell controlling interest in the team – Hogs Haven
The Washington Commanders failed to make the playoffs again this year, but the team is still firmly in the NFL news cycle due to the expected sale of the franchise by Dan and Tanya Snyder. The co-owners and co-CEOs of Washington’s NFL franchise hired Bank of America Securities to assess potential transactions for the sale of the team, an arrangement that was reported on November 2nd last year. They confirmed after the initial report that all options were on the table. That was two and half months ago and the fanbase has been patiently waiting for resolution to a 23 year-old problem. The first round of bidding for the team ended around Christmas last year, but Washington fans are still looking for a present they’ve been deprived of for decades. Several names have popped up as front runners including Jeff Bezos, Todd Boehly, and Josh Harris, but the bidding process isn’t clear. Bezos didn’t submit a bid during the first round of bids, and Boehly is reportedly out. There were “a half dozen” bidders in the first round, and the top bid was $6.3 billion, less than the $7B that was earlier reported.

Who is Jim Schwartz? What can the Browns expect from him? – Dawgs By Nature
One thing is very evident: Schwartz is an incredible defensive-minded coach that has been a head coach in this league. One thing he will do, and expect this immediately, is he will improve the Browns’ defense with the roster he has inherited plus the players that will be hand-picked to give this unit respectability for a change. He is an avid reader, very intelligent, and married with three children. He is also well-known for his love of hard rock music. Whatever Schwartz has been employed as the DC, it has worked and he has been a huge asset to the team. His defense has landed at the Top-10 in multiple categories on an annual basis.

Arizona Cardinals interview former Colts’ HC Frank Reich for their open head coach position – Revenge Of The Birds
The Arizona Cardinals wasted no time in adding a new name to their search for a head coach…and didn’t even broadcast it. Frank Reich, notably, has coached for the Cardinals before. In 2012, he was hired as Ken Whisenhunt’s wide receivers coach and was not retained under Bruce Arians. He moved to being the Chargers in the same role, taking over as offensive coordinator when Whisenhunt left but is most known for his role as the OC for Doug Pederson and Nick Foles for the 2017 Philadelphia Eagles in their Super Bowl.

DeMeco Ryans Has the Juice – The Ringer
The Eagles’ contingent of Ryans forecasters focused on his leadership because that’s what they got when they traded for him in 2012. Ryans became more than just the savvy veteran who called out plays for Beau Allen; he became the defensive leader of the team. In 2014, when Ryans ruptured his Achilles tendon, Kelly gave Ryans his nickname—Mufasa, the leader of the animal kingdom in The Lion King; in 2015, the Eagles drafted a “Simba” in rookie Jordan Hicks, who Ryans took under his wing and developed as his eventual replacement. During his rookie season, Hicks was asked what he learned from DeMeco: “What haven’t I been learning from DeMeco?” was his response. When I ask just what kind of a leader Ryans is, everyone has a slightly different answer. Smith, the defensive coordinator who watched Ryans take command of a defensive huddle as a rookie, calls Ryans “quiet and reserved”—something he worried about, because middle linebackers typically need to be “loud and abrasive.” But once the defense realized that Ryans could get them into the right calls and positions and checks, he earned their trust and respect—and suddenly, his volume didn’t matter as much.

Revisiting Green Bay’s unbelievable playoff finish against the Cowboys in 2017 – SB Nation
Entering the 2016 season, the Cowboys’ luck finally appeared to be changing thanks to a rookie quarterback they were reluctant to play, Dak Prescott. Prescott led the Cowboys to a fantastic 2016 season, poised to make a run for the Super Bowl until they ran into the NFL’s cockroach, the Green Bay Packers. What followed next was a chaotic NFC Divisional matchup filled with an improbable comeback, ridiculous late lead changes, and a miraculous catch. But to fully appreciate the madness of this game, it’s essential to understand the history between these storied franchises and understand the journey of the folks that got us to this crazed moment. To do that, we gotta rewind.

Social Media Information:

BGN Facebook Page: Click here to like our page

BGN Twitter: Follow @BleedingGreen

BGN Instagram: Follow @BleedingGreenInsta

BGN Manager: Brandon Lee Gowton: Follow @BrandonGowton

BGN Radio Twitter: Follow @BGN_Radio

You must be logged in to post a comment Login