[moklerman]

IMO, Foles is a gamer and a big guy with command of his streaky offense.
Bradford has a great arm and once he gets in sync with everyone there, they will put up some points.

Foles' biggest strength is going over the top. It's uncanny how he can rainbow a long pass out of the reach of the defense. I keep waiting for safeties to catch up to his balloon balls but he gets away with it again and again.

He's good enough in the short and intermediate game but it's those long balls deep down the field that continue to amaze me. Obviously, it's more than luck and Foles knows when to throw them and that will pay dividends as the Rams running game continues to improve. Foles has definitely turned out to be just the right fit for this offense.

Bradford's rounding into shape too. As I was saying last week, for some reason he takes a while to get in sync with his receivers. I don't know if you've been watching his games this year but pretty much all of his passes deep to his WR's were off the mark. Most uncatchable. Overthrows all over the place. But this week, the proverbial switch gets clicked and he hits Cooper, Agholor and Austin all on perfectly thrown deep passes. It's just weird. I'm glad that he looked better this week but that offense is still misfiring.

I heard their LT Peters left the game and he's been getting dinged every week that I've watched so I wonder if they'll shut him down to get him healthy? That's a big loss on an o-line that needs some veteran depth. So, just when the passing game is showing some signs of life, they may get hamstrung by more incohesion on the line. The running game is another problem. Not sure if they'll give Murray the chance to fit into that offense. He's complaining that he's not getting the ball enough but it seems to me that Kelly is getting frustrated by how Murray's running. Especially when Sproles and (Ryan)Matthews haven't looked too bad when they've had their turns. A lot better than Murray, that's for sure.

(Jordan)Matthews and Agholor should be pretty good on the outside and are finally working their way into game shape but they have to grow up fast. A first and second year guy shouldn't be expected to carry the load but Cooper and Austin are complimentary at best.

[Hacksaw_64]

http://www.philly.co...other_loss.html

Bradford's frustration mounts with another loss

Mike Sielski, Inquirer Columnist
Posted: Monday, October 5, 2015, 3:01 AM

LANDOVER, Md. - Sam Bradford seemed committed to burying himself beneath his locker Sunday, so low did his head hang, so lost and lonely did he look in the quiet of that visiting locker room at FedEx Field. He sat there for a long time before pushing himself to his feet and trudging off to take a shower, the Eagles' 23-20 loss to the Redskins still sending him to a place somewhere between frustration and bewilderment. The game hates Bradford right now. Whatever he does right isn't enough, and whatever he does wrong is too much.

For a while Sunday, the script appeared to be writing itself. He had emerged from halftime, with the Eagles down by 13-0, a new quarterback: throwing two touchdown passes to tie the game, limping off the field late in the third quarter after spraining his ankle only to return and fire a third touchdown, 39 yards to Miles Austin, on the second play of the fourth quarter to give the Eagles a 20-16 lead. Here was Comeback Sam. Here was the guy the Eagles hoped he'd be when they traded for him in March, riding in to get them to 2-2, to get them a victory in the NFC East, to save their season. Here was, after four weeks of play from him that was at best inconsistent, a franchise quarterback.

But there were two late third-down throws that could have extended drives and that Bradford couldn't complete - one that was behind Darren Sproles, one to Jordan Matthews that was knocked from his hands, either of which could have led to a field goal or touchdown that could have finished off the Redskins. So many could haves. And again, for the third time in four weeks, the entire offense was godawful over a game's first 30 minutes.

"I wish I knew how to explain it because then we'd get it fixed," said Bradford, who threw for 270 yards and three touchdowns. "It seems to kind of be the story of these first few games. We're two completely different offenses. Once we get it going, we're pretty good, but for whatever reason, it seems like there are times we just struggle to get it going."

This first half was beyond a struggle. It was abject failure. The Eagles went 1 for 5 on third down. They had 44 rushing yards, 30 of which came on one carry by DeMarco Murray. Bradford went 5 for 10 for 75 yards. Yet for all the excuses that can feel so empty when it comes to explaining why Bradford hasn't been a more productive passer, this time it was difficult to blame him.

The departure of left tackle Jason Peters to a quadriceps injury forced Chip Kelly to move Matt Tobin into Peters' spot and to insert Dennis Kelly at right guard. If Kelly had wanted to test Bradford's confidence by putting him in the most challenging of situations, he could have done better only by having no one pass-block at all Sunday. The Redskins sacked Bradford three times in the first half, and it was fair to wonder whether Kelly might replace him with Mark Sanchez, just to stop the waves from crashing on Bradford's head.

Of course, Kelly was the one who had set the stage for that chaos, and the scene was a reminder of just how different his approach to building the Eagles has been from his predecessor's. Once Andy Reid, a year into his tenure, recognized that the Eagles had a franchise quarterback in Donovan McNabb, he and the Eagles' player-personnel people made solidifying the offensive line their No. 1 priority. They signed Jon Runyan. They cultivated enough depth that when center Bubba Miller was lost to injury, his replacement, Hank Fraley, remained the starter for the next 41/2 years.

Kelly did the opposite in the offseason. He tried to improve the skill positions. And if the decision to let guards Evan Mathis and Todd Herremans walk away was defensible, the inability to acquire upgrades wasn't, especially when it came to protecting Bradford and his tear-prone left anterior cruciate ligament.

"We said, 'We don't care who the receivers are. If we don't make [McNabb] comfortable and confident in the pocket, he can't showcase what he can do,' " said a former member of the Eagles' organization from the Reid-McNabb era, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "We had checked the most important box, but we needed to make some additional decisions properly. You can say they haven't done that."

In fairness, during the second half Sunday the line bought Bradford enough time to find Riley Cooper on that 62-yard touchdown deep down the center of the field, to shed Redskins linebacker Ryan Kerrigan and hit Brent Celek for a 10-yard score, to loft that 39-yarder over the top to Austin.

"You guys act like we don't want to throw the ball down the field," Bradford said, parroting Kelly's insistence that defenses have been taking deep throws away and the Eagles have been powerless to do anything about it. It was an answer with an edge, and it was good to see from Bradford.

That flash of firepower, though, only gave the Eagles the lead. It assured them of nothing. And as the Redskins tramped down the field on that 15-play, 90-yard drive for the decisive touchdown, the Eagles' defense too dog-tired to stop them, Sam Bradford had to be left asking himself what the hell it's going to take for him to get even with the game.

[email protected]

@MikeSielski

[Elvis]

"I wish I knew how to explain it because then we'd get it fixed," said Bradford, who threw for 270 yards and three touchdowns. "It seems to kind of be the story of these first few games. We're two completely different offenses. Once we get it going, we're pretty good, but for whatever reason, it seems like there are times we just struggle to get it going."

No worries Sam, QB coach Pat Shurmur will figure it out...

[moklerman]

Was able to find a copy of the game but only watched the first drive for each team so far. For the Eagles, it was a typical 2015 drive. First play, a 6+ yard potential gain, dropped by Sproles. Second play, Matthews stuffed at the line for no gain. Third play, Bradford's sacked by a 4 man rush. Punt.

With all of the drops and failure of the running game, I don't think there is much room to throw the ball on these 3rd and long situations. I don't know if it's the RB's or the line or both, but they've got to get that running game going. Their receivers aren't ready or good enough to win against crowded defensive backfields.

[Hacksaw]

Perhaps all of his receivers are crappy there too.

[Stranger]

It does sound very much like Groundhog Day. So, the question for me is why are we seeing this pattern?

[moklerman]

Perhaps all of his receivers are crappy there too.

No, I wouldn't say they are crappy but they are underacheiving. Sproles catches the ball very well for the most part but it's just another example of all the misfiring that's going on with the offense.

Which was what was being talked about by Bradford. When he said if he could figure out what's wrong then he'd fix it, I think that's what he's talking about. He isn't saying there's something wrong with the scheme, there's just a variety of mistakes being made that keep the offense from getting into gear.

Okay, after watching the rest of the game, there were at least 5 drops that I saw. His receivers are really not helping him out right now. 14 drops going into the game according to the announcer so almost 20 drops in 4 games is pretty absurd.

The o-line is just bad right now too. Instant pressure from a 4 man rush 3 consecutive plays to end the game. They've got a lot of work to do.

[dieterbrock]

Sproles dropped a pass that was thrown behind him and low while going over the middle. Happens to all QB.
I am so tired of this excuse following Bradford around.
How about the drops of potential INT? He's benefitted from quite a few. How about some of the great catches made by his recievers? Look at the 50 yarder that Agolor caught with one hand or the many great catches by Ertz

Philly has has been shut out twice in the 1st half and scored 3 one other time. 3 games, 3 points.
Then they did score 17 offensive points vs the Jets.
20 offensive points in half 1, 5 ppg.
Ugly
Team scored 474 points last year

[Hacksaw]

Bradford's teams have gone 19-33-1 in 6 seasons,, 18-30-1 with the Rams.
He completed approx 59% of his passes. (high 75% low 51%) That % is annually ranked in the 20's. Considering the dink and dunk style I would think that number would be higher.
IMO Samuel Jacob Bradford is decent QB with a cannon of an arm, but he needs to realign his site and reset his charge.
To me it's always been about the eye test. Under perfect conditions, (a clean pocket with time) he looks as good as anyone if not better. He as a beautiful delivery and the ball comes out very nicely.
Unfortunately in football that is not always the case.
I do remember too many times wishing he would just throw his guys open or in a spot where the receiver could catch it is stride for some of those YAC yds.
The tough part is it's a 53 man team with 11 guys having to work in sync perfectly on every play, so it's somewhat difficult determining who the problem really is.
Personally, I like Sam but I am glad we now have a QB who is a gamer. Who has command of his huddle and respect of his players. I never felt that with Sam.

[Stranger]

Personally, I like Sam but I am glad we now have a QB who is a gamer. Who has command of his huddle and respect of his players. I never felt that with Sam.

Perfectly said.