Next Day Thread: Merry Christmas Ya Philthy Animals

[KDawg]

Oh man... it's Monday. What could possibly be good about things? Mondays are for returning to work and licking wounds September through January.

What's that? I don't have to work today? That's great. But I still need to lick my wounds, don't I?
Wait, no? We beat Philadelphia? Who could have seen that coming!? (Boone and I did... you'd know that if you watched the Blind Pigs Podcast [cheap plug]).

So, I'll start with addressing the elephant: Yes, Jalen Hurts being out absolutely helped us to win this game. I don't believe many people in this fanbase are actually delusional enough to think that we are a better team than Philadelphia when all things are considered at this point in "The Process" (see what I did there? A Harris/PHILADELPHIA 76ers reference...)

Having said that... injuries happen. And I am not going to sit here, as I type this out, and apologize for the Eagles having a key injury and us taking advantage of it. I just won't do it. We won the game. There are no asterisks, there is no reason to explain ourselves to anyone for the fact that we are proud and excited for our future.

I've seen some Philly fans saying that this game barely mattered to them, but to us it was our Super Bowl. And you know what? They're right. It was our Super Bowl. At least for the time being. We have had 30 years of disappointment. We haven't won a playoff game since Mark Brunnell was our quarterback in 2005 against Tampa Bay. Big games aren't really a thing for this franchise. So playing Philadelphia, a really good 12-2 team going into this week, who was on an extreme hot streak and winning? Yes - it's a big deal to us.

The Eagles still have Super Bowl aspirations. No doubt about it. And the scary part is that I think they have a real shot at winning. So my post here isn't to gloat and jump around saying, "WE'RE BETTER THAN PHILLY!" - I don't believe that. Not yet.

But my post here IS to jump around saying, "WE BEAT PHILLY!".

I'm going to start with coaching. I have a few nits to pick with some things that we do (the shotgun 3rd and short run being one) offensively, but I am over the moon happy with Kliff Kingsbury as our offensive coordinator. There was some concern (with some stats to back it) that Kingsbury's offenses always fizzled in the second half of seasons. But yesterday the Commanders offensive averaged 5.8 yards per play and had 368 yards. And Philadelphia held the ball for the majority of the third quarter.

So now, of course, we're on 'Kingsbury to be a HC' watch, right? Well, okay, but have you looked at our coaching staff lately? David Blough, Tavita Pritchard, Anthony Lynn, Bobby Engram, Brian Johnson and Bobby Johnson - I think we can find a guy to step up if that happens. But I'm not sure if Kliff will want to leave - why am I saying that? I'm not sure I would if I were in his position. Eventually? Yes, probably. But not yet. This is such an exciting situation for him and he has an electric quarterback.

Now lets transition to Joe Whitt. We had one of the league worst defenses last year. We had some of the worst linebacking play in the NFL year after year since London Fletcher retired. Whitt came in, with Quinn, and the trio of Whitt, Quinn and Peters realized the very first thing that they needed to do was fix the linebacking corps.

They did.

Bobby Wagner and Frankie Luvu - take a bow.

I don't want to digress too far, but the coaching has enabled us to find success with some talent deprived positions. But it's not just the coaching that is allowing this success... We may lack a bit of talent, particularly on the lines and at wide receiver... But what we do not lack is heart. Every player on this team believes in this team. And that... that is incredibly powerful.

Believe it or not, Olamide Zaccheaus was our leading receiver yesterday. I'm not overly fond of him as a guy we need to have moving forward, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't impressed with his bounce back. The guy had a few real bad plays to start... and then finished 5 for 70 and 2 touchdowns. There is something to be said for that.

Speaking of two touchdowns - Jamison Crowder... two receptions. Two touchdowns. While he isn't a spring chicken and has lost a bit of wiggle, the move he puts on the defender at the line of scrimmage on his big touchdown catch was a thing of beauty. It screamed veteran from the roof tops.

What did Terry McLaurin do? Well, it was a ho-hum day for him. "Only" 6 receptions, 60 yards and a touchdown. Oh, and that puts him at 73 catches for 1,029 yards (his fifth thousand yard season in a row) and 12 touchdowns. In Terry's first five seasons he accounted for 25 touchdowns. He has achieved 50% of his career statistics (heading into the season) in one season. I wonder why that is.

Oh, I know why... Jayden freakin' Daniels. I was a bit gunshy on Daniels at draft time. But never because I was worried about his talent. I was worried about how a skinny guy like him would survive the rigors of an NFL season. Like I always say, the best ability is avail... But he has really gone out of his way to protect himself. Watch him when he takes contact. He takes it on full bore, but turns his body a bit to limit the impact to him and protect himself as he goes to the ground. We know protecting yourself to the ground is ultra important... because we saw Jalen Hurts yesterday hit his head on the turf and leave the game - leaving Philadelphia incredibly vulnerable.

What I love about Daniels is that he is always excited. He's always smiling. Not in a "I don't care" kind of way, but in a "I'm going to go out there and battle" kind of way - and that is what makes him who he is.

His passing numbers aren't setting the world ablaze, but they are excellent when put into context. 69.7% completion rate, 3,303 yards, 22 TD and just 8 INT. He ranks 14th in the NFL in passing yards, the top rookie. He's 27th in the NFL in RUSHING yards... Not as a QB... in total.

Here's some numbers of a guy who is talked about as a MVP candidate:

67.9% completion
3,787 yards, 37 TD, 4 INT
147 carries, 765 yards, 5 TD

That is Lamar Jackson.

Those numbers are better than Jayden Daniels - there isn't really a debate... but...

69.7% completion (better than Lamar)
3,303 yards (worse by 400+ yards)
22 TD (worse by 15 - and this is the big difference)
4 more INT
128 carries (19 less), 737 yards (428 less), 6 TD (1 more)

Oh, and Lamar Jackson has Derrick Henry (1,636 yards rushing).

Jayden Daniels will, if he continues this pace for the last two weeks and the Commanders win out, not only solidify himself as offensive rookie of the year (which he may have already done) but will inject himself into the MVP conversation (sorry everyone, he's not going to win it over Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen at this point). Speaking of Allen...

Daniels comparatively to Allen:

Better comp %, ~300 less yards, 4 less TD, 2 more INT, 233 more rush yards, 5 less rush TD...

Huh.

He should already be in MVP consideration.

Defensively, I am going to keep it shorter... not because I am less impressed but because this post is way too damn long.

Jer'Zhan Newton had his best game as a pro... 6 tackles, a sack and 3 TFL. That deserves some recognition.

Marshawn Lattimore was targeted early and often and AJ Brown won a few times, especially on some PI calls (I know... it's popular to say they weren't PIs, but they were. The question is more of how ticky tack the call was, not that there wasn't PI)... but Lattimore came up huge for us in big moments. He was one of the best additions we could have made - Adam Peters deserves GM of the Year for that move alone.

Frankie Luvu had 0 tackles last week. They were able to gameplan him out of the game... This week? 7, 2 for loss and a big time pick... Oh, and the hit (clean) that took Hurts out of the game.

Bobby Wagner did Bobby Wagner things.

Fowler added a sack (9.5 on season), Cleliin Ferrell had one of the best strip sacks we've seen in years, Jaylyn Holmes got involved a bit...

The defense was clicking on as many cylinders as it could after a less than stellar start.

Oh, and by the way... we turned the ball over five times. So any Philly fan that complains about, "yeah, but we didn't have Hurts so who cares?" can take that and shove it. I don't care if you had [REDACTED] at QB. You have the leading rusher in the NFL and the Commanders turned the ball over five times. If I was a Philly fan that would bother me and would be stuck in my craw more than not having Hurts. I'd be furious with Sirianni and staff...

For the sake of brevity (too late) - I will end there.

Merry Christmas, ya Philthy Animals!

Studs:
Jayden Daniels - ***
Frankie Luvu - ***
Jer'Zhan Newton - ***
Marshawn Lattimore - **
Olamide Zaccheaus - **
Bobby Wagner - **
Jeremy Chinn - **
Terry McLaurin - *
Jamison Crowder - *
Mike Sainristil - *
Jalyn Holmes - *
Clelin Ferrell - *

Duds:
Brian Robinson -


Season Total:
Studs:
Terry McLaurin - 10x*
Jayden Daniels - 10x*
Frankie Luvu - 9x*
Mike Sainristil - 6x*
Marcus Lattimore - 5x*
Jeremy Chinn - 4x*
Bobby Wagner - 4x*
Jer'Zhan Newton - 3x*
Daron Payne -3x*
Chris Rodriguez - 2x*
Olamide Zaccheaus - 2x*
Tyler Biadasz - 2x*
Dante Fowler - 2x*
Jamison Crownder - 1x*
Jalyn Holmes - 1x*
Clelin Ferrell - 1x*

Duds:
Austin Seibert - 3x
Zane Gonzalez - 1x

 

[burgold]

I want to give a shout out to Luke McCaffrey and Brandon Coleman. The Eagles defense is no joke and it looked like our rookie was on an island much of the day and held his own. Luke has made kickoffs fun. He seems to always get on the plus side of the thirty. The two picks were when he was targeted, but they both looked like bad throws to a receiver who was pretty open. So, maybe not a stud, but definitely a nod to our rooks. Mike S. also balled yesterday.

 

[heisenberg]

Lattimore is a stud and we certainly need him but we may have to reserve judgment on whether it was a brilliant move by peters until we see how the hammy injuries play out especially since he has a long history of hamstring problems so the red flags were there.

It will really hurt our chances in the playoffs if he isn't healthy because as you have pointed out the rest of our secondary (sainristil excluded) is not very good.

 

[IdahoFan]

Nice Write up as always. Thanks.

What a difference a quality QB makes. If you have one you have a chance and we FINALLY have one. HTTR.

 

[KDawg]

Lattimore is a stud and we certainly need him but we may have to reserve judgment on whether it was a brilliant move by peters until we see how the hammy injuries play out especially since he has a long history of hamstring problems so the red flags were there.

It will really hurt our chances in the playoffs if he isn't healthy because as you have pointed out the rest of our secondary (sainristil excluded) is not very good.

I see your point… but even if his whole job was to slow down AJ Brown so we could win yesterday and give us a real shot at a playoff appearance… acquiring him is a big win for what amounts to peanuts.

That said, corner is back on the table in the draft/FA. With Sainristil and Lattimore, we’re going to need another because of Lattimore’s hamstring.

 

[Blaze Thunderball]

I am really looking forward to watching this when sky sports' exclusivity expires later on today.

So happy to stick it to the Eagles for once. Their fans can bitch and moan about not having Hurts, but at the same time were lording it over 49ers fans for winning in the '22 NFCCG against a team with no viable QB option.

 

[ExoDus84]

I'm not sure I agree with Lattimore being a stud this week. Two of the three PI penalties were garbage, but he also got beat deep on the underthrown bomb to Brown, and was also beat by Brown pretty badly on the quick slant TD pass. I'd say Brown definitely got the better of him in this matchup. Sainristil did a better job locking him down a few weeks ago.

Still, hope his hammy is ok and he's available for us down the stretch.

 

[DazedSkinsFan]

Couldn't have said it any better!! I told my wife yesterday during the game that this was my Superbowl. It feels great, I actually enjoy watching the national pundits now. It's been a long 30 years. I know we still have quite a bit of football left for this current season, but I'm excited to see what Peters cooks up during the off-season. JD with more talent around him is a scary thought for our opponents.

 

[HailYeah]

For me, this whole season is our Super Bowl. I’d love to make a deep run in the playoffs, but that seems unlikely. I’m enjoying it while I can

 

[Darrell Green Fan]

I'm just bummed that I only have 2 more regular season games to watch. But I'm thankful they added a 17th game.

 

[Command The Best]

Great write up…. A lot of ppl will not totally agree with the Lattimore assessment but I do… after watching our game, then the Seahawks Vikings game and then last nights game Bucs and Boys I really don’t see how any DB can cover in todays NFL… far to quick to throw the flag on deep routes down the sidelines… throw in the 2 really really bad calls yesterday and I agree with your assessment … overall all he lost some battles against AJ Brown but he won the war…. He did knock at least 2 if not 3 balls out of his hands yesterday….

And by far the dud award is easily BRob… he just doesn’t do it for me… hoping the last 2 games and however many playoff games we have we see Rodriguez and McNichols a lot more and less of BRob… a 6’1 230lbs should be a bruiser back not a finesse type runner… upgrade needed over the off season imho

 

[DCSkinz2023]

We need Crowder more involved, I think he's got enough in the tank to soften the blow of losing Brown, I think he's better than Brown but I guess they are different types of WRs.
Luke with over 180 return yards yesterday, he did a great job.
I worry that we can't run against playoff caliber teams, I'm not shocked that's the case but I'm glad Cliff went to the passing game early and often yesterday and trusted JD. Yes, he will throw some picks when he puts it up 40 times but when its 5 TDs vs 2 Ints, who cares?
BSJ worries me, especially with Lattimore's hammy back in play. The whiff on Brown was so bad, just sprinting as fast as he could with no body control and flying right by Brown, it was so badly played it was comical.

 

[Petey hodge]

any updates on Lattimore's injury report?

 

[Commander PK]

For me, the biggest thing about yesterday’s win was sending the Philly fans home pissed off. I hate the way they treat our stadium as a second home, and I think those salad days are ending for them. For far too long the NFC East has largely been a three team race with few exceptions.

The times they are a changin’. The future is so bright, we gotta wear shades. 😎

 

[Chris]

any updates on Lattimore's injury report?

Quinn said he will know more on Thursday into Friday.

 

[DWinzit]

A bit of an emotionally raining game but damn did it have the right outcome!

Crowder's abilities makes him one of our top 3 receivers. He knows how to get open, is reliable and appears Daniels is well aware. We all hope this is where Luke is in the near future. Until then he is a good return man a backup WR. He has some really good qualities and hopefully he is taking notes on Terry and Crowders play.

We need a 100% Lattimore and 0% St Juste. If Lattimore's hammy is not close to 100% I could see them sit him to not risk further damage an hope he' be ready for the following week.

 

[heisenberg]

Crowder's abilities makes him one of our top 3 receivers. He knows how to get open, is reliable and appears Daniels is well aware. We all hope this is where Luke is in the near future. Until then he is a good return man a backup WR. He has some really good qualities and hopefully he is taking notes on Terry and Crowders play.

And of course the rising tide raises all ships.

As this roster gets more and more talented the guys who are less talented will look more talented than they are.

 

[DWinzit]

It will be nice once we are not picking up teams discards that become our starters

 

[RexTomb]

What I love about Daniels is that he is always excited. He's always smiling. Not in a "I don't care" kind of way, but in a "I'm going to go out there and battle" kind of way - and that is what makes him who he is.

I think this clip sums it up well - @4:58 on the kneel down. Watch the exchange between Jayden and the Eagles DT. He is absolutely unflappable. It's hard to believe he's just a rookie, but he's having a great time out there.

 

[TTViper]

I’ll first acknowledge that AJ Brown is indeed a monster, but Lattimore’s performance was still disappointing. I will give him the benefit of the doubt and I hope that a greater sample size proves he’s a great addition to the team. The Brown TD seemed like a particularly poor effort. It was evident to me that the Eagles thought he was a weak link and intended to expose that (and they did). Some safety help could go a long way.

I expect RB and DB to be a top priority in the draft. Brob getting stopped on the first down early seemed like a weak effort, and the first fumble was very frustrating. I didn’t need to see him still in the game to fumble a second time. He’s not ever going to a great RB and I think he’s worn down at this point in the season. I hope they let him rest up over the next couple weeks and give CRod more playing time.

Someday I hope we have the luxury of watching a player like Saquan at our RB position. I too would be very embarrassed to be gifted 5 turnovers and still lose with that roster.