Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 9/25/20.

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Why Eagles’ Miles Sanders is key to getting the season back on track vs. Bengals - NJ.com
The Bengals have allowed 370 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns in just two games. Opposing runners are averaging a strong five yards per carry against Cincinnati. Compared to the rest of the league, the Bengals’ defense ranks among the bottom-five units in categories like rushing yards allowed, rushing yards per carry average, rushing first downs allowed and rushing plays of 20 or more yards. Those numbers should have Eagles assistant head/running backs coach Duce Staley salivating. Sanders had an impressive season debut — sans a first-drive fumble — against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 2. The second-year running back picked up 95 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground, while also collecting 36 yards through the air. He also converted 10 total first downs against Los Angeles.

Start and Sit: Week 3 - Football Outsiders
After missing Week 1, Miles Sanders confirmed our assumption of his bell-cow status by taking 76.9% of the Eagles’ carries in Week 2. That instilled confidence comes at the perfect time with the team set to play the porous Bengals defense on Sunday. The Bengals are the No. 2 booster of run plays at 12% and are also top-10 increasers of rushing yards per carry, rushing touchdowns per carry, running back completion percentage, running back yards per target, and running back touchdowns per target. Sanders jumps from outside of my true-talent top 10 to seventh at the position this week.

2020 Fantasy Football Rankings: Running backs for Week 3 - Fake Teams
4) Miles Sanders — There is no running back committee in Philadelphia. It’s all Sanders.

My greatest fear about the Eagles’ 2020 season - BGN
I have reason to believe the Eagles haven’t been completely honest with themselves about how the past two seasons have gone. How they unconvincingly qualified for the postseason hasn’t mattered as much as the bottom line that they did make it. The feeling here is that’s dangerous and delusional results-over-process oriented thinking. And if the early 2020 season results are any indication, the proof is in the pudding: they clearly weren’t as close to contending as they thought they were. So, it’s my belief that a wake-up call is in order. In the long run, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if the 2020 team bottomed out and the organization realized that significant changes need to be made.

Kapadia’s Eagles mailbag: Dishing on the state of the team in Week 3 - The Athletic
I analyzed all of Howie Roseman’s offseason decisions in real time (you can find the stories on my author page) and was generally critical of the moves he made. This is an old, expensive team, and it’s hard to identify where Roseman has given the Eagles an obvious edge — when you look at the draft, free agency and roster building — over the last couple of seasons. Having said that, Roseman has outlasted just about everyone in the organization during his run with the Eagles, and he did deliver a Super Bowl. Jeffrey Lurie has not wavered publicly in his confidence in Roseman, aside from the brief stint when he gave Chip Kelly personnel power. The offseason moves the team made indicate that Lurie believes the problem is more coaching than personnel, which I do not agree with. So I would be surprised if Lurie considered moving on from Roseman in the near future.

Just What, Exactly, Is Wrong With Carson Wentz and the Eagles? - The Ringer
Through two games, Wentz’s numbers are abysmal. He’s completed 58.8 percent of his passes (29th), which is 8.8 percentage points below expected, according to Next Gen Stats, the second-worst dropoff in the league. Wentz has averaged 6.0 yards per attempt (32nd). He ranks 32nd among quarterbacks in both ESPN’s QBR (28.1) and expected points added (0.7) metrics, making him one of the NFL’s most inefficient QBs. Per Pro Football Focus, his 40.7 percent accurate pass rate is a league low. Wentz has thrown a league-high four interceptions, and his eight turnover-worthy plays are the most in the NFL, per PFF.

Barnwell ranks the 0-2 NFL teams in 2020: Are the Texans, Eagles and Vikings really this bad? - ESPN
The idea that Wentz is just one player or one stretch away from his 2017 form has been faulty for years now. I’ve written repeatedly about how elements of that 2017 season are huge outliers. Going back through 2009, his 2017 season ranks as the fifth-best season of the past decade in terms of QBR on third down (91.7) and the sixth best of the past decade by QBR in the red zone (97.2). Wentz blew away the league and the rest of his career in both categories. Since the start of 2018, he has a 74.5 QBR in the red zone and 55.0 QBR on third down, both of which rank from 11th to 13th over that time frame. Even if you put a healthy Wentz on the field with the same coaching staff, offensive line and weaponry, what we saw in 2017 was going to be almost impossible to repeat over a full season a second time.

Eagles’ fixation on 12 personnel might be a problem without solution - NBCSP
The NFL in 2020 is about speed. It’s why literally every other team in the league has spent more time in 11 personnel (1 running back, 1 tight end, 3 receivers) than any other grouping this season. So the Eagles are bucking the trend, which wouldn’t be a problem … if it was working. But through two games, the Eagles are averaging 6.3 yards per passing attempt out of 12 personnel and 4.2 yards per carry. Those figures are down from last year, when they averaged 6.7 and 4.4 And remember, after last year, the Eagles decided they needed to become a more explosive offense and tried to add speed. Traditionally, 12 personnel lends itself to slower, more methodical drives.

Former Eagle Jon Dorenbos opens up about reconnecting with estranged dad - PhillyVoice
Dorenbos was only 12 years old when his father, Alan, was found guilty of murdering his mother, Kathy, and sentenced to 13 years in prison. Dorenbos, 40, recently reconnected with his father over coffee at a diner in Spokane, Washington. He spoke about the experience on HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.” The episode can be streamed on HBO Max. “I wanted to sit across from him,” Dorenbos said. “I wanted to relive that entire part of my life. I wanted to relive the pain. I wanted to relive the betrayal.”

NFL Week 3 Rookie Preview: Jags’ C.J. Henderson faces a tough test on TNF, 49ers need more from WR Brandon Aiyuk - PFF
Expect Joe Burrow to once again face near-constant pressure, as he’s set to go up against a strong Eagles defensive line in Week 3. Even a little banged up, they should be able to get after what’s been one of the lowest-graded guard duos in the NFL.

Is A.J. Green just rusty, or has father time caught up? - Cincy Jungle
This year has been very, very different. In two games, Green is only catching 36.3% of the passes thrown his way despite his rookie quarterback, Joe Burrow, actually being overall pretty accurate. Joe Burrow has completed 62% of his passes so far and 69% to players other than Green. Yes, the QB has struggled throwing the ball deep, and that is where Green gets a lot of his yards. But it’s clear that the two most important players on the offense are simply not on the same page. That must - and will - change this week in Philadelphia.

Cowboys fans are just as confident in the team right now as they were last week - Blogging The Boys
As you can see confidence didn’t fluctuate one direction or the other for the Cowboys as a result of beating the Falcons. The team did win, but they didn’t look great in the process. It’s no surprise people are simply at the same point that they were last week. This week will offer quite the test for the Cowboys as they will be visiting the Seattle Seahawks. If Dallas is able to pull off a win in the Pacific Northwest there will undoubtedly be a larger injection of confidence, and if they lose people might be pushed off of the edge that they are currently balanced on.

Fan confidence: New York Giants fans feel surprisingly good - Big Blue View
New York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman promised before the season that “better days are ahead” for a team that hasn’t been good in recent years. Coach Joe Judge said Wednesday that “there’s no white flag here” despite an 0-2 start. Judging from the results of the Week 3 SB Nation Reacts polling, Giants fans are buying into what they’re being sold. A surprising 72 percent of Giants fans who voted in this week’s SB Nation Reacts poll say they remain confident in the team despite the back-to-back season -opening losses. That’s down, but only by nine points, from last week’s 81 percent confidence tally.

NFL 2K5 First Person Football - SB Nation
ESPN NFL 2K5 is a great game to look back on for nostalgia purposes. It’s also a great way to get easy retweets if you’re a brand account on twitter. Just say something like “Who else misses this game?” and that’s at least a thousand retweets right there. I’ve not above the nostalgia spamming either. I’ve written about 2K5 Michael Vick and The ESPN 25th anniversary game mode. I also talked about ESPN First Person football for the first video that I made on my personal channel. Looking back, however, I didn’t really go in depth about how the NFL 2K5 game made me play each position. That changes today. We’re going to go through all the positions in First Person Football and dig into how each one operates and plays.

Pennsylvania’s naked ballot problem, explained - Vox
If you’re voting by mail in Pennsylvania this year, and you want your vote to actually count, you need to remember one crucial thing: the secrecy envelope. Once you fill out the ballot itself, you must place it inside the provided secrecy envelope, which contains no information about your identity. Then you put the sealed secrecy envelope inside a different postage-paid addressed return envelope, on which you have to sign your name and write your address. If you forget the secrecy envelope — simply dropping your ballot in the ordinary return envelope — your ballot will be deemed a “naked ballot.” And, according to a recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling, election officials will have to throw it out.

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