Chargers @ Eagles

[Vin+ 3,121]

 

http://hosted.stats.com/fb/preview.asp?g=20130915021&home=21&vis=24

 

(AP) -- The new version of the Philadelphia Eagles offense was a rousing success in the season opener - at least for 2 1/2 quarters.

 

Same goes for the San Diego Chargers, though they came away much more disappointed.

 

Despite successfully debuting his up-tempo style as Eagles coach, Chip Kelly would like his offense to pick up the pace even more for Sunday's matchup with the visiting Chargers.

 

"There are certain games where you play the clock, but I don't know that there will be a time in this game where you won't be wanting to go score and keep scoring because of how fast they play offensively," San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers said. "No lead is ever safe."

 

Though Philadelphia's 53 first-half plays were the second-most by any team since 1991, Kelly felt his team could have moved more quickly and smoothly in Monday night's 33-27 win over Washington.

 

"I felt like it was slow, to be honest with you," Kelly said. "I'm not joking. We've got to do a better job. We left the ball on the ground too much. We didn't get the ball to the officials. We could have sped things up from a process between plays. That's something we need to continue to work on."

 

At least twice it appeared star runner LeSean McCoy had to leave the field just to catch his breath. Exemplifying how Kelly plans to run the ball about as much as he did at Oregon, McCoy had a career-high 31 carries for 184 yards - one shy of a personal best.

 

"The tempo really worked," McCoy said. "I don't think anyone has seen it that fast."

 

McCoy's 34-yard touchdown run gave the Eagles a 33-7 lead early in the third quarter. However, they didn't score after that as the offense slowed down, in part to take time off the clock, and they failed to gain more than 16 yards on four of their final five possessions.

 

"We've got to keep working. There are a lot of mistakes we made," said Michael Vick, who threw for 203 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 54 and a score. "I think (in) the second half, we got a little bit sloppy."

 

While Kelly and the Eagles were pleased with Vick's play, new Chargers coach Mike McCoy had to be happy with how Rivers implemented his new offensive scheme through two-plus quarters. Rivers tied a career high with four TD passes as San Diego built a 28-7 lead midway through the third.

 

However, the Chargers totaled just 10 yards after that, Rivers' interception was returned for the tying touchdown in the fourth and Houston won 31-28 on a game-ending field goal.

 

"We had every opportunity in the world to finish that game and we didn't do it," McCoy said Wednesday. "And it's all about winning and losing. We get paid to win games here and we didn't finish the game. But we're moving on. We're learning from it."

 

Rivers threw for 195 yards and was 14 of 29 for a 48.3 completion percentage which was the second-worst of Week 1. He's not expecting things to get any easier against an Eagles defense that sacked Robert Griffin III three times and intercepted two of his passes.

 

"I know everyone's talking how fast their offense is and how fast they play, but their defense is the same way," Rivers said. "Their personnel is fast and they just fly around."

 

Philadelphia limited the Redskins to 74 rushing yards despite playing against Griffin and Alfred Morris, last year's top rusher among quarterbacks and the league's second-leading rusher overall.

 

Ryan Mathews was held to 33 yards on 13 carries in the opener as San Diego fell to 7-16 in games he plays and has less than 65 on the ground. The Chargers have failed to rush for 100 yards in eight consecutive games.

 

Their defense, meanwhile, surrendered 449 yards to the Texans - six yards more than Philadelphia had last week.

 

All but two of the 10 meetings between these teams have been decided by eight points or less. In the most recent one, Rivers was 20 of 25 for 231 yards and two TDs in a 31-23 home win in 2009.

 

The Chargers have lost their only two trips to Philadelphia since 1995. They're 0-6 on the road against NFC foes since 2009 but did win both of their trips to the Northeast last season - against Pittsburgh and the New York Jets in December.

 

[Dutch 874]

I can't wait for this game to get another sample of Chip Kelly and our team. However, I don't think this game will come easy. I think we may have a problem with Floyd and his height and another matchup I'm looking forward to is Freeney against our o-line. I was telling people his last year with the Colts despite his sack numbers, he still had some gas in the tank. He showed last game that he can still ball. Even though Rivers slowed down last game, I'm not going to doubt his ability. Until we play a team that I know for a fact is considerably better than us, I'm riding with my Eagles until they give me a reason not to.

 

27

 

21

[housemd 338]

20

24

[NFL-Lady 1]

EAGLES win this one...

[SteVo+ 3,702]

It's strange approaching this game, given how my expectations for this team have completely changed. Predicting this is a challenge especially considering what the Chargers did last week. The gambler inside me says the Eagles win because of the whole west coast team traveling east thing.

[KempBolt 498]

28

27

 

I'd call for a win for the Bolts if it wasn't for the early east coast kickoff.

[Thanatos 2,847]

24

34

[AllYouNeedIsLovie 377]

Both teams really impressed me in week one. I'm taking the Eagles because the Chargers have to travel out to Philly and they usually play shitty in the beginning of the season.

[theMileHighGuy 656]

35

24

 

Chargers are up 24-0 at half time, then allow 35 straight points.

[Dutch 874]

Eagles vs Chargers: Pre-game notes

 

 

 

http://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2013/9/14/4731678/eagles-vs-chargers-pre-game-notes

 

This is a very good matchup for the Eagles; they should win this game.

I’d have said that (and did) before last week, so now I’m even more confident. I’ve seen a few articles and commentators talking about the danger of being "overconfident", and it’s a valid concern. However, the Chargers just do not match up very well with the Eagles. Outside of one specific vulnerability, which I’ll get to in a minute, I’m not seeing a lot to be concerned about.

- The Chargers run game isn’t very good. Last year, the team ranked 28th in the league according to Football Outsiders’ rushing DVOA stat. Ryan Mathews, the Chargers’ #1 RB, averaged just 58.9 rushing yards per game in 2012. It’s always tricky when comparing a team’s performance year-over-year, so these stats should be taken with a grain of salt. The team does have 3 new starters on the O-Line (though one is King Dunlap). The point, however, is that San Diego doesn’t have anywhere near the rushing attack the Redskins do. As a result, we should see the Eagles focusing mainly on pass defense, at least until the Chargers prove they can threaten with the run. Last week, Ryan Matthews had just 13 carries, and I don’t see any reason to believe he’ll be a larger focus this week.

- The Chargers passing game is just OK. Similar caveats apply (year-over-year comparison, roster changes, etc…), but Football Outsiders had the 2012 Chargers ranked 16th overall in Passing DVOA. Philip Rivers is obviously the key here. He’s a very good QB. It seems like people are down on him, but look at his stat line from last season:

64.1% Comp., 26-15 TD-INT ratio, 88.6 Passer Rating.

Now he only threw for 225 yards per game, but if the Eagles are going to lose, it’s going to be because Philip Rivers beat them (or they beat themselves).

- The Biggest Vulnerability for the Eagles. The shallowest position on the Eagles team is CB. Bradley Fletcher, a starter, will not play. That’s a problem. Brandon Boykin will start in Fletcher’s place, and I’m confident he can fill in adequately. However, behind Boykin and Williams, the Eagles don’t have anyone I trust. Further, if Boykin or Williams goes down with an injury, we could see some fireworks (not good ones). That brings me to…

- The Key to the Game (the only one). As I just explained, the Eagles CBs might have trouble defending the Chargers passing attack. How does the team counter? With a disruptive D-Line. Given the lack of rushing threat, I expect to see Trent Cole in full pass-rush mode for most of this game. I hope Vinny Curry will be active, that would help. I also expect to see Kendricks on multiple blitzes and Brandon Graham for more than 16 defensive snaps. Basically, Bill Davis will do everything he can to get to Rivers before Rivers can get to the CBs.

Did I mention that King Dunlap is starting at OT for the Chargers?

I did? Good. Then you’re already smiling.

As I mentioned in the week 1 post-game notes, I’d like to see Davis use a 4-3 alignment more often. It allows the team to get its best pass-rushing line-up on the field and will help keep offenses off balance. I don’t think he’ll do it, but it makes a lot of sense to me, so I’ll be keeping a eye out for it.

- Vick’s accuracy. He needs to be better. He left a lot on the field in game 1, on throws that shouldn’t have been difficult to complete. For the offense to truly "take off", he needs to hit those consistently. As I explained in the Rewind, Chip Kelly’s packaged plays will scheme receivers open. That works as long as Vick can get them the ball. If he can do that consistently, the team will be extremely difficult to defend.

- Where’s Damaris? Good question, I’m hoping we’ll see him soon.

- More Bryce Brown. Brown had 9 rushing attempts in game 1. I expect that number to climb into the 10-15 range as the season progresses. It’s tough to get him on the field when the offense is moving at warp-speed, but Kelly has to know that keeping Shady healthy is vital to making a playoff run. Given Brown’s talent, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him take the RB role for entire drives, but that might not happen until later in the season. Still, expect to notice him more this week, with a few more touches, and more importantly, more effective running.

- Kelly Challenges. A minor issue, but given how horrendous last week’s challenge was, it bears watching. This is such a simple part of the game, it’s astonishing so many coaches/teams struggle with it. It won’t come into play often, but losing a TO on a foolish challenge is an unforced error. That holds for both unwinnable challenges (last week) and low reward challenges.

- Guys I’ll be focused on: Sopoaga, Logan, Johnson, Boykin.

- Prediction: Eagles 31 – Chargers 20

Lastly, from ColdHardFootballFacts:

See that second line there? There’s obviously more to this data than just the time/location of the games, but the fact remains: it’s very tough for anyone to play a road game on the opposite coast.

Rest assured, the Eagles will “come down” at some point this season. However, it’s very unlikely that it happens this week.

I think if the Eagles can get some pressure on Rivers, we will have a lot of success. I'm not to worried about Ryan Matthews (hopefully I don't jinx it) but disrupting their passing game is imperative especially because we are thin at the CB position due to injuries. We also have to limit turnovers. I do look forward to going against the Chargers D-line as well. I think that may be a strong point on their defense.

[BJORN 679]

I doubt the Eagles defense holds our run game like Houston did.

[Vin+ 3,121]

 

Eagles declared RCB Bradley Fletcher (concussion) inactive for Sunday's Week 2 game against the Chargers.

Undersized slot corner Brandon Boykin will start in place of Fletcher. It would be a concern if the Chargers still had both Malcom Floyd and Danario Alexander, but DX is out for the year with a knee injury. Boykin is capable of holding his own against Vincent Brown and Eddie Royal.

No surprises on the rest of the Eagles inactives: QB Matt Barkley, DB Shaun Prater, G Matt Tobin, T Dennis Kelly (back), DL Vinny Curry and TE Emil Igwenagu.

 

 

 

 

Chargers declared ILB Manti Te'o (foot) inactive for Sunday's Week 2 game against the Eagles.

Te'o is reportedly not a candidate for injured reserve, but there is no timetable for his return. That leaves backup Bront Bird as an intriguing IDP plug-n-play in tackle-heavy formats. Bird had 14 tackles last week and will be playing a ton of snaps against the fastbreaking Eagles' run-heavy offense.

The rest of the Chargers inactives: QB Brad Sorensen, WR Seyi Ajirotutu, SS Brandon Taylor, LB Terrell Manning, G Johnnie Troutman and DE Drake Nevis.

[Dutch 874]

It's halftime and our defense hasn't been looking hot. Rivers is shredding us and is like 14/16 100ish yards and a TD. Nate Allen ofcourse is out of position, always in the wrong spot and blowing coverages while trying to tackle our own guys and give them concussion. I want him gone so bad. Our pass rush has had a moment or two but need to get to Rivers more. Ryan Matthews is also having success in the running game outside of that one fumble. On the flip side, our defense made some clutch plays causing two turnovers in the redzone. The Boykins fumble force on Gates at the 1 yard line was amazing and Trent Cole getting Ryans to cough the ball up.

 

Mccoy is balling but we need to sustain drives better. Freeney has caused like two 3 and outs I believe going against our rookie Lane Johnson. Vick could use more pocket awareness. Holding onto the ball too long and has had opportunities to run.

 

It will be interesting to see what adjustments we make after halftime and Chip Kelly's peptalk.

[KempBolt 498]

Holy crap this game is intense!

[KempBolt 498]

Feel good Eagles fans. Your offense is nuts. You're gonna win several more games.

[SteVo+ 3,702]

Good game, Chargers fans. Disappointing with all the dumb mistakes, and our secondary still sucks, but at least our offense is capable of big things.

[KempBolt 498]

There were points in this game where it looked like we were going to cost ourselves another W. The goal line fumbles were killers. But our offense kept plugging and we came out on top of a shoot out. Rivers is looking fantastic, which has me pretty excited. Really bummed about Floyd, but this new regime clearly has a better understanding of how to use Eddie Royal.

 

My game ball goes to Mike McCoy. Our team came out hot despite a short week and a 10 AM pacific time kickoff on the east coast. Most teams come out flat in that spot, and that wasn't the case today.

[BJORN 679]

Fantastic game, a little disappointed with our defense, can't believe we gave up a bomb to Jackson after they were close to hitting him 3 or 4 times. think we would've adjusted. McCoy is my new favorite running back. This guy is immense!!!!!! Made so many guys miss on what could've been 1 or 2 yards gains but instead were 7 or 8 yard gains. And yeah, Rivers is looking really good. It feels good after defending the guy for the past two years of disaster.

[Glanvilles Grits 142]

Rivers has looked good two weeks in a row now. Perhaps he fixed his problems from last season. How about Eddie Royal? He's a huge part of the Chargers' game plan. 3 Touchdowns today it says on ESPN??!!

[SteVo+ 3,702]

Rivers has looked good two weeks in a row now. Perhaps he fixed his problems from last season. How about Eddie Royal? He's a huge part of the Chargers' game plan. 3 Touchdowns today it says on ESPN??!!

 

What Rivers really nailed today was reading our blitz packages. He called audibles to his O-line perfectly, they picked up every blitz, and he found an open receiver with a clean pocket.

[KempBolt 498]

 

Rivers has looked good two weeks in a row now. Perhaps he fixed his problems from last season. How about Eddie Royal? He's a huge part of the Chargers' game plan. 3 Touchdowns today it says on ESPN??!!

 

What Rivers really nailed today was reading our blitz packages. He called audibles to his O-line perfectly, they picked up every blitz, and he found an open receiver with a clean pocket.

 

 

That's true-- you could say a lot of his victories over the opposing defense happened before the snap. He's pretty underrated in that regard I'd say.

 

And two things have happened with Eddie Royal. 1) He got healthy. 2) He got an OC who knows how to use him much better than Norv Turner did.

 

I'm concerned with our pass defense though. That's two weeks in a row that we've allowed huge games to the opposition. We'll see how it continues. Have to kind of give them a mulligan this week in that regard because I get the sense that the Eagles are going to roll up a ton of yards on almost everyone this season.

[RazorStar 4,025]

Wouldn't say h looked good week 1. He was half good and half bad. This week was basically all good, which was the kind of stuff he did in 2007 and 2008.

 

Other things to add, DeSean is the perfect weapon for Chip Kelly's offense. With him and LeSean, the Eales have so many ways to tear apart defenses. Serious props to the chargers though for hanging in with that offense and pulling out a tough victory. We didn't see this a lot in the past few years, the AFC West might be a tougher division to win than it looks.

[KempBolt 498]

Wouldn't say h looked good week 1. He was half good and half bad. This week was basically all good, which was the kind of stuff he did in 2007 and 2008.

 

Other things to add, DeSean is the perfect weapon for Chip Kelly's offense. With him and LeSean, the Eales have so many ways to tear apart defenses. Serious props to the chargers though for hanging in with that offense and pulling out a tough victory. We didn't see this a lot in the past few years, the AFC West might be a tougher division to win than it looks.

Yeah that's fair to say about week one. But the TD:INT ratio is what's most encouraging to me thus far.

[56AceInDaPlace 110]

Rivers has looked impressive lately. He comes to Tennessee this upcoming week. I hope we can slow him down. Is Malcolm Floyd going to be out of this game? If so ill feel better for our defense.

[Dutch 874]

Good game Chargers fans. This was definitely a fun game to watch. Much props to the Chargers who made it an interesting game. Phillip Rivers was simply on fire. He was extremely accurate and made all the necessary presnap adjustments and put his offense in good situations to succeed. Eddie Royal also played out his mind. He proved that he can be a dangerous player if utilized correctly. Gates killed us. We usually struggle against good TE's anyway; not too surprised there. Mike Mccoy also did a great job in milking the play clock keeping our offense off the field. That was very smart and proved to be somewhat effect (even though we still scored 30).

 

Now for my Eagles...

 

The Good

 

Desean Jackson is once again the most dangerous deep threat in the league. The way Chip Kelly is utilizing him he's also dangerous underneath. I've been saying since the preseason I think Desean is primed for one of his best seasons in the NFL; currently leading the league in yards.

 

Lesean Mccoy is a baller. He's definitely showcasing himself as one of the best dual threat RBs in the league; 114 yards receiving and 53 yards rushing. Almost 200 all purpose yards. Unfortunately he only had 11 carries which is something I wasn't a fan of but I'm not sure if it was because the Chargers stacked the box or if it was because of Mccoy's knee.

 

Michael Vick had a pretty good game. He did leave some big plays on the field over throwing Desean Jackson but he threw for 428 yards, 2 TDs, ran for a TD and didn't turn the ball over. I'm definitely not going to complain with that. His awareness leaves room for desire but he still had a great game. Not to mention Vick played like a warrior taking hits in the pocket for the sake of making a play. I don't condone it with his injury history but praise him for his bravery nonetheless.

 

Brandon Boykin was simply amazing. He was good in coverage and made a clutch play forcing a fumble in the redzone on Antonio Gates at the 1 yard line. That's his second straight game with a turnover and I can definitely see him pushing for a starting job before the season is over. With how badly or secondary played, it could very well be in the near future.

 

Trent Cole is continually making plays. He forced a fumble in the redzone which was a huge play. Cole has also managed to force a turnover in two consecutive games.

 

Zach Ertz only had two catches but got some good chunk yardage and I'm just glad to see him get involved. He has the potential to be a great playmaker in this league if he cleans up his drops.

 

Donnie Jones is continually pushing teams inside the 20. I swear he's making a case to be the best punter in the league. He's been awesome burying teams deep in their own territory even though our defense can't hold them there

 

The Bad

 

 

Nate Allen has to be the worst starting safety in the league. He was solely responsible for two TDs, several blown coverages ALWAYS out of position in the wrong spot, bites on players OUTSIDE of his zone, misses tackles but manages to tackle our own players in the helmet threatening to give them concussions. I WANT HIM GONE FOR THIS TEAM SO BAD Nothing infuriates me like Nate Allen and Kurt Coleman who for the love of god finally got benched. We need safeties badly.

 

Cary Williams went from being a favored Eagle to being in the doghouse. Cary was simply horrible yesterday and committed 3 DPI's and was getting beat left and right and managed to miss a few tackles. And one of those DPI's continued a Chargers drive that ended up in points. I can see Boykin pushing Cary for his starting job soon if he doesn't improve.

 

Alex Henery missed a FG that he's more then capable of making. That was a killer.

 

Lane Johnson had an illegal formation that took Desean Jackson's TD off the board. Desean could have had like 250 yards receiving today...lol

 

Our pass rush was not hitting home. The Chargers did an amazing job picking up our blitzes and Rivers did that rest picking us apart. We got handed up front and that was suppose to be our key on defense because our secondary is horrible.

 

James Casey also dropped a TD pass.

 

Lesean Mccoy only had 11 carries. I'm not sure if that was because of his slight injury scare in regards to his knee or if it was because the Chargers stacked the box. But either way, we needed to run the ball more. When Mccoy has over 20 carries, we have like a 90ish+% win rate.

 

Desean Jackson's penalty was a killer. the TD stood but this gave the Chargers great field position in a critical part of the game.

 

Overall, we left some points on the board due to self inflicting injuries and the Chargers took advantage of their opportunities which is what good teams do. They capitalize. Great game Chargers and you may have hope for the superbowl because every team that we've played against in our home opener for the past 4 years has won the superbowl

 

Btw, this was awesome lol

 

 

Edit: I wish Malcolm Floyd a speedy recovery.

Edited September 16, 2013 by dutchff7