OTHER SPORTS DISCUSSION Thread

things are getting better slowly, but surely. this year's free agent class is significantly better and younger than our last and of course an established/experienced/respected HC in Del Rio was finally drawn in. also finally paid up for top shelf teachers and assistants as well. the next step is the biggest one ( outside of winning)..move this team to LA and get new facilities/stadium.



Nate Allen just signed as likely our new starting FS as well. good pick up..finally blossoming as a player and still just 27 years old. a plus FS in both coverage and against the run..might only get better studying under CWoodson, Marcus Robertson, and Rod Woodson.

 

It's because you didn't restart it like all the other ones when spring training started.

 

Dude Nate Allen sucks

 

gotta say it..you look like the rest of Philly's fans holding Allen's draft position and the fact that he sucked his 1st few years against him. Philly fans are known for holding grudges, though, so not surprised. He graded out better than Rahim Moore last season.

Nate Allen
2014 Grade: +3.9
2014 Snaps: 1121

Allen improved in each of the last two seasons following a -13.0 graded 2012. Last season he graded positively in both run defense and coverage while playing primarily as a deep safety, though he also saw snaps near the line of scrimmage and in the slot. Got his hands on six passes in 2014, including four interceptions, which matched his PD total over the previous two seasons. That improvement will likely be a focal point for teams and along with his age (27) may suggest that he still has a chance to reach his potential that saw him picked in the second round in 2010.

 

and i know you're not into pro football focus and what not, but they aren't the only ones speaking to his improvement. i don't expect him to be a pro bowler, but a solid starter at the least?..he's trending upward and has pretty good teachers in Charles and Rod Woodson and Marcus Robertson, so yap. some guys bloom later than others..particularly guys from smaller schools.

 

It wasn't supposed to be a barb, just pointing out something that you did.

 

.........

Ian Rapoport @RapSheet · 3m3 minutes ago
It’s 1-year for $4M for the Redskins and Terrance Knighton. Tough market, good deal considering

.........

damn fool had a multi-year deal for 6M a year in hand and turned it down. there's your respect, Pot Roast..a 1yr deal

 

Bruh you know its serious when I couldnt even finish this post and quickly put my phone down to get on a computer to reply

I for one am not an irrational Eagles fan. I spend the time to understand the schemes we run, the responsibilities of each player and the talents of our personnel
Nate Allen played solid his rookie year before getting hurt. Afterwards he was never the same player.
In fact, last year we let him test the market. He had either no offers or shitty offers and he had no choice but to come back for a very cheap deal. With how bad safety play around the league is, it speaks volumes when a player who 'graded positively' couldnt even get decent offers. Whatever though, read/believe what you want,

Let me tell you right now Allen is not a starting caliber FS. Sure he can be a solid backup, but i wouldnt trust him to come in and be a good contributing safety
The Eagles employ a cover 1/3 (similar to pats and seahawks) and Allen was the primary coverage safety. This dude helped our CB's (mostly bradley fletcher) give up long pass after long pass. His responsibility was to provide help over the top and this guy consistently failed to provide any help. Watch the Dallas Cowboys game. That essentially happened year long. His tackling sucked last year, usually used bad angles. Was better this year but still dont expect much.
His interceptions and fumble recoveries were a product of being in the right spot, not really making a great play on the ball.
We let him go when we need a safety aside from Malcolm Jenkins. Right now we dont even have a reliable safety other than malcolm.
You'll soon see that this dude is trash as a starter and PFF is just bullshittin

Once again how PFF grades Safeties when you cant even see them on the broadcast is beyond me.

 

what it speaks to is teams being wary of giving him the deal he preferred after 1 solid season following about 3 bad ones. that's reasonable. everybody knows how bad Allen was before 2013 because Philly fans never shut up about " bums ", but not everybody knows how hard the Wide 9 front is on safeties.

plenty of analysis from the past 2 seasons say different.

the Eagles' cover 1/3 isn't nearly similar to the Pats'/Seahawks' because the Pats and Seahawks actually have corners and some which actually cut the field in half because opposing QBs refuse to even test them. personnel..that's half the battle. see, that's what i'm talkin about when i talk about unreasonable Philly fans. smh your corners sucked..all of them..outside of the Wide 9, that's a back safety's worst nightmare regarding his own team.

general rule..the football travels faster than man. to have nary a corner means that any safety can be manipulated and most likely will if the opposing QB can walk and chew gum at the same time. Nate Allen basically played with his hair on fire the last 2 years.

 

OK, what are we doing, Lakers...LOSE THIS GAME.

 

Great game by the Kings.

 

they did

 

The wide 9 was only employed when Jim Washburn was there
For the last two years we have been running a 3-4 2 gap defense. This keeps the LBs free to attack and the secondary doesnt have to worry about playing the run first. So on any down they can focus on pass defense and then come in pursuit if its a run or short underneath pass...

Our corners did suck, that i wont disagree with. But a safety should still understand that you have Bradley Fletcher covering Dez and various other receivers 1 on 1 and shade over to that side. Cary wasnt nearly as bad as Fletch
Nate is too slow to react, and not fast enough to cover any type of ground. Countless plays people threw over the safety which should never happen in our defense.
And its not as if we played cover 1 the entire game/season. We used Cover 3 a majority of the time and Nate still sucked.

But please, dont rely on these stats. If you have the time, go watch some Eagles tape.
NFL game rewind has a free one week trial. Youll see nate isnt that good. Or if you rather, come back one year from now and we'll discuss the 2015-16 season

 

I know and it was partly responsible for disrupting Allen's progress.

Not as bad, but both very beatable..when you have a Terrance Williams over on the other side you're damned either way and that's the conundrum for a safety in that position in general. It's not like a Romo won't just go to Williams.

It shouldn't happen, but not solely because of Nate Allen. You compared their coverage scheme to Seattle's, but again opposing QBs aren't even challenging Sherman and that's half the battle for a safety who has back responsibilities in that scheme. When both sides can be challenged successfully, it's a problem..unless you have somebody like Ed Reed back there, but of course Allen is no Reed.

I never said he was good..I said he was improving and a solid play. I've watched my share of Eagle games..the difference in his game from 2011-12 to now is night and day. Not to the level of say a Kareem Jackson, who was equally as shitty to start out ( albeit at a different position) and now pretty good, but Allen's made a pretty good jump in spite of having no corner talent to work with and dealing with all of Philly's shuffling since the Jim Johnson era ended.

If these young/talented Raider corners don't stay healthy Allen will probably find himself in a similar situation, but if they do..they have enough good secondary minds in the building to be a good group.

 

and thank God



Rapoport @RapSheet · 33m33 minutes ago
#Rams signed DT Nick Fairley on a 1-year deal worth $5M base, source said. He can make up to $7.5M in incentives. A prove-it deal.


..because their D-line just wasn't dominant enough. Wow.

 

I agree when you have a Revis or Sherman the safety can favor one side.
But the issue is not every team has an elite lockdown safety. The Raiders dont. most other teams dont
So the safety should show the ability to be able to read/recognize/react and show the range and quickness to provide help to either side.
THIS is the problem more so than scheme. You think in Oakland Nate is gonna be shading over to one side the entire time? nah
youre basically saying you give nate a pass because he had to play the normal role of a safety in a standard cover 3 that many teams employ across the league. okay.

What do you see to suggest Nate is an ascending player? What you saw the last two years is likely the level of play youre going to get
Previous to Bill Davis we had the safeties reading run first and then pass which severely hurt nate because of his lack of range and speed.
he was put in a better position now, but still doesnt showcase the atrributes necessary to be a good starting safety.
Plus the Raiders DC came from Seattle iirc and its likely hell employ a cover 3. If he does then youll see the same thing

 

Darren McFadden gets the perfect opportunity to resurrect his career in Dallas with a solid o-line and top 5 QB.

 

The talent within the scheme is the problem, however, the 3 at it's root is a depth coverage..meaning that regardless of the safety's position, the corners should not be beat deep as they're playing soft coverage to begin with. But again, the Eagle corners were weak and so they were overmatched from the snap..coverage foiled immediately most times.

I haven't said anything about giving Allen a pass..I'm being reasonable. No need to give him a pass because he's been solid..he's just not THAT good and like I said above..from the very snap of the ball your corners were toast, so Nate had to play with his hair on fire. He's not the only safety in the league that has to play that way..like you said, there are plenty of shitty corners around the league playing in similar systems and safeties playing under similar circumstances.

Well for one he's 27yrs old, so time is still on his side and again he's got hall of fame/former all-pro teachers now. He made the jump from a -13 defensive player to a +4 player over the last couple years and it was noticeable. He's got some momentum behind him in terms of continuing to be solid.

He lacks instincts more than anything else you've mentioned.

Yes, you will see some 3 from the Raiders this year..mostly because CWood is moving to SS and will be in the box as basically another linebacker and helping cover tight ends and what not. However, no I don't expect to see Allen having to play with his hair on fire if the young Raider corners stay healthy. Both youngsters are physical, fairly athletic and have the ability to make plays on the ball..the 7th rounder Carrie perhaps even better than the 1st rounder Hayden. And McGill is a monster of a corner at 6'3'' 210, so he may actually end up being the best fit. They need health more than anything else..if their health doesn't stand up all bets are off.