Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 9/17/23.

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Avonte Maddox could be out for the season. How might the Eagles replace him? - Inquirer
However, if the Eagles don’t feel entirely comfortable entrusting second-year player Mario Goodrich with responsibilities at the nickel, then slotting James Bradberry inside (no pun intended) might make sense. That would leave second-year player Josh Jobe to man the outside opposite Darius Slay. Bradberry missed Week 2 with a concussion, but, according to league sources, he remains on track to return next Monday at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Bradberry, who collided with teammate Terrell Edmunds in the regular-season opener at New England, has developed his reputation as an ironman, appearing in 97 of 100 potential regular-season games dating back to 2017. Defensive coordinator Sean Desai actually experimented with Bradberry at the slot throughout training camp. That thought process with Bradberry moving inside, according to league sources, was initially intended to be matchup-based this season. The expectation was Bradberry would line up against specific tight ends, such as the Vikings’ T.J. Hockenson, the Chiefs’ Travis Kelce, and the Giants’ Darren Waller, with coaches favoring Bradberry’s size (6-foot-1), lengthy frame, and his physicality enforced at the line of scrimmage. But with McPhearson and Maddox sidelined, Bradberry’s move to the inside could come sooner than expected — and on a full-time basis, at least for this season.

Way too early Eagles coaching report card - BGN
Confidence level: Poor. Johnson is likely a good QB coach, at Mississippi State he was Dak Prescott’s QB coach, at Florida as QB coach he helped Feleipe Franks and Kyle Trask to have the best seasons by a Gator since Tim Tebow a decade prior, and of course he was Jalen Hurts’ QB coach the past two years. We may have another Mike Groh Peter Principle situation–though Groh didn’t call plays–in that Johnson is a good position coach who is not ready or maybe not cut out (he is only 36) for a promotion. This offense is far less than the sum of its impressive parts. That’s on the game plan, that’s on the in-game adjustments, and that’s on the players too. And all of that is on the coaches. Both these guys are going to take their lumps during the season because they’re learning on the job. The post-TNF mini-bye, which is even longer than usual because the next game is Monday Night Football, will give the coaching staff plenty of time for self-scouting. If we see a lot of the same stutters on offense in that game, you can flip open the safety cover on the panic button.

In Roob’s Eagles Stats, crazy numbers from Swift, Elliott and Smith - NBCSP
Swift piling up the yards: We have to start with D’Andre Swift, who ran 28 times for 175 yards and a touchdown in his first extended action in an Eagles uniform. Swift is only the eighth player in the Eagles’ 91-year history to rush for 175 yards in a game. LeSean McCoy did it three times, Timmy Brown, Steve Van Buren and Wilbert Montgomery twice each and Bryce Brown, Duce Staley and Swede Hanson once each. Swift is the first player the Eagles did not draft to rush for 175 yards in a game since Brown had 180 yards against the Cards at Busch Stadium in St. Louis in 1965. Brown was a 29th-round pick of the Packers in 1959. Brown and Swift are the only Eagles drafted by another team to ever rush for 175 or more yards for the Eagles. Swift’s 175 yards are the most by an Eagle since Shady’s franchise-record 217-yard game against the Lions in the snow in 2013. He had the most rushing yards against the Vikings in 32 years, since Barry Sanders – like Swift a Lions draft pick – gained 220 yards in a 34-14 win over the Vikings at the Metrodome in 1991.

Spadaro: What we know about the 2-0 Eagles - PE.com
3. The best of the offense is yet to come. The players and coaches acknowledge that they have things to improve upon on offense, and that’s simply part of the play-and-correct part of the NFL. And for sure, it hasn’t been perfect but the Eagles have shown a lot of positives and are unbeaten against two good teams, coming off a game in which they scored 34 points and put up 430 yards of total offense. More work to do, yes, and everyone knows it, but that’s something to understand.

Amazon and Nielsen claim 16.6 million on average watched Vikings-Eagles - PFT
The new calculations are having the intended effect. More people are watching Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime. Or, more accurately, Amazon Prime can claim more people are watching. With a revised formula from Nielsen that ruffled the feathers of executives from other NFL broadcast partners, Amazon Prime announced a total audience of 16.6 million viewers for Thursday night’s Vikings-Eagles game.

Week 2 NFL Picks Against the Spread - The Ringer
New York Jets at Dallas Cowboys (-9.5). Jets fans: By the time you read this, I sincerely hope that your team has made a move at quarterback. They simply cannot just roll with Zach Wilson the rest of the way. The team is too good and too fun. Breece Hall. Garrett Wilson. Quinnen Williams. Sauce Gardner. A bunch of role players who showed up on Monday night in what felt like a miraculous win. The Jets owe it to their fans to do something. Here’s the thing about Zach Wilson: It’s not just that he was terrible last year. It’s that his style of play doesn’t fit with how this team can win. If he were a dink-and-dunk artist who never made a big play but also avoided mistakes, I’d be able to buy into the idea of giving him another chance. But that’s not who he is. He makes bad decisions that negate dominant defensive performances and lead to losses. We just saw this over and over again last year. Wilson repeating that type of season again will be a soul-crusher for the other players on the roster and the entire fan base. So whether it’s Philip Rivers or Jacoby Brissett or someone else, I need the Jets to do something. As for this game, the Cowboys looked incredible Sunday night, but given how good the Jets defense is, and against all of my better judgment, I’m taking the points. The pick: Jets (+9.5)

Cowboys stock watch: Risers and fallers heading into the Jets game - Blogging The Boys
TE Jake Ferguson. To be clear, this is not an indictment on Ferguson going forward. But we have to be fair here and note that his first game as TE1 didn’t go as anyone would’ve hoped. Ferguson was targeted seven times but only had two catches for 11 yards; glaringly low efficiency for the position. The bad weather was certainly a factor, no doubt causing some of Ferguson’s uncharacteristic drops. He didn’t drop a single pass as a rookie, albeit on a relatively low sample size of just 22 targets. Now with Dalton Schultz gone and and second-round pick Luke Schoonmaker behind him, Ferguson is feeling pressure on both sides. Week 1 will be quickly forgotten if he gets back to 2022 form, but he can’t afford to many down weeks given Schoonmaker’s presence.

‘Things I think’ before Giants-Cardinals: The Giants need to win on Sunday, and more - Big Blue View
I think the Giants have to win on Sunday. On paper, the Cardinals are the weakest team on the Giants’ 2023 schedule. It’s a team whose front office is trying not to win. The Giants can’t lose to this team. They can’t heap the embarrassment of losing to Arizona, the team with the best chance of earning the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, on top of the embarrassment they suffered at the hands of the Cowboys. They can’t fall to 0-2. We know that is the kiss of death when it comes to playoff aspirations. Below, the numbers for how NFL teams starting a season 0-2 have performed since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.

Establish the Fun: Browns’ defensive dominance, Rams’ breakout rookie, and how Texas whooped Alabama - SB Nation
Welcome back to Establish the Fun, where football is fun and we’re establishing that more and more each day. It may only be Week 2 of the NFL season and Week 3 of the college football season, but fun levels are sky high. In fact, I’d say Establish the Fun stocks are through the roof, and you should get ‘em while they’re hot! This week, we got three more things for you to look out for before you set up your multibox and watch the games this weekend. From Texas perhaps being back to a Rams wideout that has stepped up big time, we got you covered. Let’s start with the angriest pack of elves I’ve seen since J.R.R Tolkien picked up his pen.

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