The Linc – DeVonta Smith’s route-running is a sight to behold

Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 11/11/21.

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links …

Grading all 32 first-round picks after Week 9 of the 2021 NFL season – PFF
PICK NO. 10: WR DeVonta Smith, Philadelphia Eagles. Overall Rookie Grade: 75.4 (Rank: 3/22). Week 9 Grade: 92.6. Smith enjoyed the breakout game that has been coming for a while, catching five of the six passes thrown his way for 116 yards and a touchdown. The sixth pass could easily have been another touchdown if quarterback Jalen Hurts had given him a little more of a chance on the throw. For the season, Smith is now averaging 1.75 yards per route run and 26 of his 38 catches have moved the chains for a first down.

NFL rookie rankings at halfway point of 2021 season: Bears’ Justin Fields rising – NFL.com
10) DeVonta Smith — Smith is coming off an excellent game against the Chargers (5 catches for 116 yards and a TD). I’ve been very impressed with his quickness and route polish.

Eagles All-22 Film Review: Observations from the loss to the Chargers – BGN
Everyone was talking about this play on Sunday! It’s another example of a bad miss (not a terrible one) but one you would like a top quarterback to make. For Hurts to really get to the next level, you want to see these completed. Personally, I actually don’t mind him drifting slightly as it makes it a better angle to complete the ball but he has to reset his feet before throwing. People often say ‘arm strength doesn’t matter’ but it does because certain quarterbacks can throw this ball off platform (Josh Allen, Aaron Rodgers etc) but Hurts doesn’t have the ability to. He needs to be properly set in order to complete this.

NFC East Mixtape Vol.30: What Even Happened in Week 9? – BGN Radio
Does the Cowboys’ loss really matter? Are the Broncos frauds and can Eagles stand a chance? Why would Russell Wilson want to come to Philly? It’s hard to draw meaning from Giants win but credit is due. RJ Ochoa and Brandon Lee Gowton recap all of the Week 9 NFC East storylines.

Eagles legend blames Howie Roseman for team’s struggles – NJ.com
The Eagles are 3.5 games behind the first-place Dallas Cowboys in the NFC East, and that doesn’t sit well with former franchise quarterback Donovan McNabb, who joined WIP Monday to air his grievances with general manager Howie Roseman’s roster. “Has anything changed in the last five years? We can talk all day about Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts because it’s the easiest ones to try to jump on,” McNabb said, “but we got to start in the (front) offices and work our way down. … Jeffrey (Lurie) has to make a decision about what is going to go on with Howie going forward.”

NFL picks against the spread: Sheil Kapadia likes the Seahawks, Browns and 49ers in Week 10 – The Athletic
The Eagles have found a formula on offense that at least suits their talent. It’s a run-heavy approach with play-action, run-pass options (RPOs), and Jalen Hurts creating out of structure. Defensively, they’ve struggled to find answers. The Broncos are coming off of back-to-back wins, including an impressive victory last week at Dallas. Javonte Williams has emerged as one of the most fun running backs in the NFL, and Teddy Bridgewater currently ranks sixth in EPA per play. Their offense is well-suited to go up and down the field against the Eagles. The pick: Broncos (-2.5).

Add Devonta Freeman, Drop Khalil Herbert on Week 10 waivers – NBC Sports Edge
4. Jordan Howard, Eagles – Rostered in 14 percent of Yahoo leagues (20-30%). Howard (surprisingly) separated from Boston Scott in the former’s second game on the active roster, handling the most carries (17) of any Eagles runner in a single game all year. With Philadelphia competing in consecutive contests with their newfound approach in scheming 66 backfield carries to Jalen Hurts’ 31 pass attempts in that span, Nick Sirianni is expected to continue pounding the rock with Howard above all else for at least one more game. There’s a chance Howard sticks around in a committee ahead of Boston Scott and Kenneth Gainwell once Miles Sanders (ankle) returns in Week 11, too.

3 RBs to start and 3 RBs to fade in Week 10 fantasy football – DraftKings Nation
Running Back Starts — Javonte Williams, Denver Broncos vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Williams has scored double-digit fantasy points in two of his last three games. He didn’t have any targets in Week 9 against the Cowboys, but had 17 carries for 111 rushing yards. The Eagles are giving up the fifth-most fantasy points per game. While Williams is still battling Melvin Gordon for snaps and rushing attempts, he is doing his best to earn that involvement in the offense. Even with a timeshare in the backfield, I think Williams has another start-able output this week.

The Broncos will look to complete the sweep of the NFC East – Mile High Report
At the end of the segment, Chahrouri mentioned that the Eagles are a team the Broncos should beat. That’s an interesting statement about a team coming off multiple weeks where they looked like they couldn’t beat the Little Sisters of the Poor School for the Blind, but then, out of nowhere, annihilated a Cowboys team that has been called a Super Bowl favorite. It’s an interesting position to be in. The defense was very good. They covered the Cowboys well. As Chahrouri said, the expectation was that the Broncos would be a good cover team. If they can continue doing what they did against the Cowboys when they play the Eagles, that should give Jalen Hurts problems.

State of the NFC East: Could the New York Giants possibly make the playoffs? – Blogging The Boys
The Eagles are actually so bad on defense right now and such bad-ness is encapsulated by one of the more wild statistics you will ever see. Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert became the fifth quarterback to complete over 80% of his passes against the Eagles defense this season. This season. Between 1950 and 2020 (so just prior to this season) the Eagles had allowed six TOTAL performances of such kind. Insane.

Playoffs? Let’s talk realistically about the Giants’ playoff chances – Big Blue View
The Eagles have matched the Giants to this point with a 3-6 record. They are projected at this point to have a better chance to make the playoffs than the Giants. Team Rankings gives Philly an 18.4 percent chance, FiveThirtyEight an 18 percent chance, the Football Power Index a 6.2 percent chance and Football Outsiders a 17.3 percent chance. The Eagles’ remaining strength of schedule (.418), including two meetings with the Giants, is on paper the easiest of any of the teams listed here. They are ahead of the Giants in the playoff standings because they are 3-4 in conference as opposed to the Giants’ 2-4 mark.

Fred Warner: DeMeco Ryans is doing an amazing job, it’s on us as players to execute – PFT
“DeMeco is doing an amazing job,” Warner said. “He’s doing outstanding. He makes sure we’re as prepared as possible every week. I know since he’s the head of the defense, he’s going to take a lot of the [blame] outside of the building. On defense as players, we know that it’s on us. It’s upon us to go out and execute the game plan that he’s set forth for us. He’s done, like I said an incredible job, especially in his first year. The type of style and the flair he’s brought to the defense. Obviously I’ve got a really close relationship with him, with him being my linebacker coach my first three years. He’s been the exact same person ever since becoming the defensive coordinator. I’m going to take responsibility for getting guys right to right this ship.”

NFL draft 2022 rankings: Updated top 25 prospects, best by position in Mel Kiper’s Big Board – ESPN
14. Jahan Dotson, WR, Penn State. Dotson is explosive. He had an incredible leaping catch against Illinois last month, and look how open he is on this 49-yard touchdown against Wisconsin. Plus, check out Penn State’s first offensive play against Villanova, a 52-yard strike to Dotson in which he showed acceleration at the catch. While he had a few drops in 2019 and 2020, he has only dropped one this season. He has 71 catches for 932 yards and nine scores, three of which came in the Nittany Lions’ win over Maryland over the weekend.

The NFL fined Aaron Rodgers for COVID violations and the punishment is a joke – SB Nation
The NFL announced the fines Aaron Rodgers, Allen Lazard, and the Green Bay Packers would receive for their role in breaching the league’s Covid protocols, and unsurprisingly, it’s all exceptionally weak. In another case of double standards when it comes to rule enforcement, the league might as well have let off the parties with no penalty. Rodgers and Lazard will each be fined $14,650, the Packers will be fined $300,000 for enabling the pair to breach protocols. Rodgers has not worn a mask in press conferences all season, despite rules mandating unvaccinated players must be masked. In addition, Rodgers and Lazard were found to be in routine breach of the league’s protocols for unvaccinated players while inside the Packers facility, and the team did not report that the pair attended a Halloween party. To Rodgers the $14,650 fine represents 0.0006 percent of his 2021 earnings. To put this in context, to someone making $45,000 a year he was fined $27.

NFL University #15: Odell sweepstakes, making sense of the week 9 upsets, & Lamar Demeatrice Jackson Jr – The SB Nation NFL Show
Welcome back to another edition of NFL University! Stephen Serda, Kyle Posey, and Justis Mosqueda discuss the reported top options for wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and how he’ll fit wherever he lands. The initial Adam Schefter report on the Dalvin Cook case highlights an ongoing problem in media. Week 9 was filled with massive upsets across the NFL. The guys discuss the biggest upsets and try to make sense of how they occurred. Lamar Jackson has taken it to another level this year, and it’s important to appreciate just how special he’s been this season.

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