10 Things I Think I Think About the Philadelphia Eagles — Post-Dress Rehearsal Edition

Drew Balis
Aug 27, 2017 · 7 min read

The dress rehearsal is complete. Next up, a must-win Act One in Landover 15 days from now.

Alright, there’s the Jets game before that, and contrary to popular opinion, it is not totally meaningless, but at the same time, there is not a lot more we’ll learn before we hit the road for Landover.

I didn’t watch as much of Thursday night as I should and need to rewatch as I was deep in a fantasy auction. That said, there’s some good stuff in here.

You know the drill. All previous versions of 10 Things are here, here, here, here, here, here, and here respectively. The tweets are here.

Let’s hit it.

  1. If I don’t tweet much, it’s because I’m watching Torrey Smith burn Byron Maxwell on a loop. Also on vacation but mainly watching that.

What a memorable first catch as an Eagle for Smith even if it doesn’t ultimately count. He took advantage of some Dolphins miscommunication issues and absolutely toasted the former Eagles cornerback for an early touchdown Thursday night. Burnt to a damn crisp.

The 50-yard bomb was longer than any touchdown through the air last season. Nelson Agholor caught a 40-yard deep ball from Carson Wentz in Week 16 last season, but a receiving threat who can consistently take the top off was clearly missing.

My friend was at the game Thursday and texted me that the Linc pretty much exploded after Smith ran under Wentz’ deep ball and corralled it.

Smith is an intriguing guy right now. We assume he’s an upgrade and has had a good camp but was quiet in limited action in the first two games, and coming off a few down years — albeit with shaky quarterback play — it was reason for concern.

What we ultimately get out of Smith remains to be seen, but he seems like a great guy who everyone wants to root for, and if Thursday was any indication, we’ll know him for being a pretty decent receiver too.

2. Wendell Smallwood is the best running back on the team not named Darren Sproles, but that doesn’t mean Blount doesn’t have a key role.

A lot of people seemed down on Smallwood throughout the offseason, and I can’t quite figure out why. As I’ve mentioned before, Smallwood reminds me of Correll Buckhalter from the early Andy Reid era — A solid player who’s biggest flaw is his ability to stay on the field.

That admittedly can be a costly flaw in the NFL, but whenever on the field, he’s been productive. He can catch passes out of the backfield, he can run between the tackles, and he can obviously run outside with his speed.

He averaged 4.1 yards per carry last season, and a whopping seven yards per rush Thursday night. Obviously the seven number is not sustainable during the season, but if used properly and maintained well, he can be effective.

There’s a here’s a role for Blount, Sproles, and Smallwood, and the second year back from West Virginia should be a lock to make the team.

3. As for the fourth running back, I’ve made my decision: Corey Clement on the team. Pumph to IR. What phantom injury are we coming up with?

Hamstring tear in the final week of practice? Something with the shoulder? Doug and Howie will come up with something.

As much as I wanted to see Sproles and Pumphrey on the field together, I think this is the best move. I don’t see how you can tell Clement he isn’t on this team right now, and he’s a known enough commodity from Wisconsin that another team may try to scoop him up after final cuts before you can get him through to the practice squad.

Keeping Clement gives the Eagles a more diverse set of running backs, and even if he starts off as one of the seven inactive on gameday, It’s worth having him around while Sproles spends his final hurrah mentoring Pumphrey without much pressure on the San Diego State rookie.

4. The Eagles are a better team with Mychal Kendricks on it than not on it. It’s on Jim Schwartz to blitz more and figure out how to use him.

I don’t think it’s realistic to expect Mychal Kendricks to be this good during the regular season.

He’s a liability in coverage. When opposing offenses are actually game-planning, they’ll find ways to exploit his weaknesses, but man, is he playing with his hair on fire right now.

Linebacker depth is a concern for me. Nigel Bradham has some potential legal issues hanging over his head. If I’m Howie Roseman, unless a team offers me a second round pick that projects to be a high one, I’m holding Kendricks and telling Schwartz that he needs to get creative even if that means deviating from his scheme some.

5. I wish Doug would have played the offensive line more Thursday night even with McGloin in. 19 snaps together before Landover is not a lot

The brewing storyline through the first three preseason games has largely become the play of the offensive line.

This is a tough damned if you don, damned if you don’t situation. If Pederson leaves his starting five in and Jason Peters gets his ankle rolled up on, he would never hear the end of it. At the same time, this unit barely played together this summer, and has to deal with Ryan Kerrigan in two weeks, the same Ryan Kerrigan who tormented them in Landover last October to the tune of 2.5 sacks.

This is just something we have to live with for the time being. None of them will play in the preseason finale. There’s no solution, and hopefully there will be no problem two weeks from now.

If I don’t sleep well for the next 15 nights, I’m blaming Kerrigan.

6. I hope Odell Beckham Jr. plays Week 1 against Dallas in Jerry World. I am cautiously optimistic that he will suit up.

Alright, so this is less about the Eagles, but everyone knows I’m on record as rooting for the Giants over the Cowboys Week 1. While I ultimately think the Giants are the better team, dealing Dallas a divisional loss at home out of the gate would be huge.

A decent amount of progress needs to be made between now and then, and the Giants won’t risk his health long-term, but I imagine Beckham will be a go when the lights come on.

7. Part of me wishes Lane Johnson wouldn’t have said what he said, and another part of me loves it. Let the war of words begin, baby!

Lane Johnson as I’ve said before can be a real knucklehead, and a lot of this is clearly a PR stint to rebuild his image following the PED suspension and some comments criticizing fans in 2015, but I’d be lying if I said reading his Players Tribune article didn’t fire me up.

Let me tell you what’s going to happen in a couple of weeks: This team is going to go down to D.C. and whup some ass against the Redskins.

There’s something awkward about saying this regarding a team you’ve lost to five straight times going back to December 2014, and naturally the Redskins fired back.

Week 1 has an interesting subplot all of a sudden that should only increase as gameday inches closer.

8. I still have major concerns and will keep biting my nails, but Caleb Sturgis has earned the right to go to Landover as the Eagles kicker.

Sturgis made a 30-yard field goal Thursday night. It’s honestly the type of thing that didn’t put my mind at ease as much as prevented an all out panic. A miss from 30 yards would have been a cause for serious concern.

I wouldn’t totally mind a 50-yard opportunity against the Jets for him to get some confidence, but tt’s clear the Eagles are not as worried as I am about this. Sturgis is the kicker. I just can’t fully get Landover 2015 out of my head where he missed a short field goal along with an extra point in a three point loss.

Hopefully I’m making something out of nothing. I really hope. Convince me, Caleb.

9. If you think the Eagles-Jets game on Thursday is totally meaningless, try telling that to A.J. Feeley. Real Eagles fans will get it.

Between the OBJ scare, Julian Edelman, Spencer Ware, it’s been a rough week for preseason football. Injuries don’t automatically mean that the concept of preseason football is bad though.

The purpose it does serve is that guys battling for their jobs — literally for the chance to continue doing what they do to earn a living — have a chance to prove themselves in what can be career-defining moments.

The difference between being cut — maybe never getting another chance — and carving out a long-career.

I always think back to Feeley leading a touchdown drive against the Jets in the final moments of the preseason. That drive won him a roster spot over Ron Powlus, and he ended up spending 11 years as backup in the NFL.

Preseason football is not perfect, but the hardos who climb atop their personal Mount Everest, banging on their chests and screaming and yelling about the preseason being bad, are not helping. I find most of these hardos to be desperate for attention college football fans who can’t acknowledge that it’s okay to like both college and the NFL.

There’s too many games. They could replace two of them and have more joint practices, but those could produce injuries too.

A perfect solution doesn’t exist, but think about the A.J. Feeley of your team — the guy who won a roster spot because of that final preseason game.

Try telling them that it doesn’t matter. That’s what I thought.

10. I don’t go on the record with any predictions until next week, but if you have a fantasy draft, I recommend you pick Zach Ertz.

No official predictions in terms of records, playoff teams, etc until after the final preseason game.

That’s my strict policy, but I can say right now that Zach Ertz is going to have a big year.

It’s going to be fucking HUGE, and if you don’t like it, you can kiss my ass.

On that note, 10 Things will be on vacation for a few days until next weekend. There will be no Wednesday post, but we’ll be back after the preseason finale. 15 Days until kickoff in Landover. 💚🏈

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