Posts Tagged ‘DeMeco Ryans’

Philadelphia Eagles players take to Twitter to celebrate Thanksgiving beat down of the Dallas Cowboys

Friday, November 28th, 2014

by Brandyn Campbell

Brandyn Blog

 

 

 

 

Eagles

This is what we were most thankful for on Thanksgiving Day: A total beatdown of the Dallas Cowboys by the Philadelphia Eagles. The defense was unstoppable. The offense was on fire. Tony Romo and his team were in meltdown mode. And the Eagles fought their way to #1 in the NFC East. All right in Jerry’s World. And thankfully, the revolution was televised across the land for all to see.

It just doesn’t get any better than that.

We’re all still riding the joyous feeling of victory so let it continue. Here are how Eagles celebrated their big win and shared it with fans on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/BrandonBoykin2/status/538148238642008064


The king of them all, beloved Brian Dawkins, shared his Thanksgiving glee about the awesome victory as well.

There are leftovers to feast on (no, I don’t mean the Cowboys this time), it’s a holiday weekend and we have over a week to ride this high–and rub it in the face of each and ever Dallas fan that you meet. Maybe God likes Eagles fans after all.

If you’re hitting the stores today, don’t trample nobody, please!

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Brandyn Campbell of Philly Sports Muse, for War Room Sports

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All eyes on Mark Sanchez as Philadelphia Eagles face Carolina Panthers

Monday, November 10th, 2014

by Brandyn Campbell

Brandyn Blog

 

 

 

 

MS

As with any game, there are many important aspects of the Philadelphia Eagles on which to focus this Monday night. But who are we kidding?: Tonight’s game against the Carolina Panthers is all about Mark Sanchez.

Every step he takes, every move he makes, we’ll be watching him. Every throw. Every decision. Can Sanchez ably lead the Birds for the six to eight weeks that Nick Foles is expected to be out with a broken collarbone? If so, is he the quarterback on which we should hitch our trailers for an even longer stretch of time? If Sanchez can avoid the turnovers that became an all-too prevalent part of Foles’ performance this season and turn in a series of consistent performances, the answer could be yes. But those are big “ifs”. Sanchez has his own history of turning the ball over to overcome. Since entering the league in 2009, the former USC quarterback has thrown for more interceptions (71) than touchdowns (70) in his career.

Evan Mathis’will return to the o-line just as Todd Herremans exits for the season due to torn biceps. The Eagles have finally found some footing with their running game and would do well to take advantage of the 131.9 yards the Panthers have allowed on the ground each game. With a healthy Chris Polk added to the already powerful mix of LeSean McCoy and Darren Sproles, the Birds could have a dynamic game on the ground tonight. The run needs to be a prevalent part of tonight’s game to allow Sanchez time to adjust to the role of signal caller for Philadelphia.

There is another important story to watch as the Eagles take the field at the Linc tonight and for the remainder of the season. How will Philadelphia fill in for the loss of DeMeco Ryans? Defensive coordinator Bill Davis plans for Casey Matthews and Emmanuel Acho to take over Ryans’ middle linebacker responsibility as far as making calls. On the field, the defense will use a combination of Acho, Matthews, and Mychal Kendricks to make up for the loss of Ryans. It’s a similar solution as to when Kendricks was sidelined for several weeks, Davis said last week.

“[Linebackers] Coach Rick Minter does a great job of teaching the concepts of both so we can move multiple guys to the MIKE or the WIL depending on what we need”, Davis said. “Whether we’re in dime or nickel or anything like that. Right now it’s the same rotation as when Mychal [Kendricks] was down. It’ll be [Emmanuel] Acho and Casey [Matthews] handling first and second down duties at the DeMeco spot instead of the Mychal spot. They’re cross-trained and they’ll be fine.”

While the Panthers defense features Luke Kuechly, last year’s Defensive Player of the Year at MLB, it is struggling this season. They have already given up 236 points this season. They gave up only 241 in all of 2013. They are missing Pro Bowl DE Greg Hardy. Their struggles will be a nice complement to an Eagles team adjusting to key losses on both sides of the ball.

Cam Newton and the Panthers’ offense aren’t doing well on any front this year, putting up just 19.7 points per game, 25th in the league. By comparison, the Eagles average 29.2 points per game (5th in the NFL). Newton is completing just 57% of his passes, and Carolina’s receiving corps’ top producers are Greg Olsen, Kelvin Benjamin and former Eagle Jason Avant. Love Avant as we do, that is hardly a stellar lineup. The Panthers are also putting together just 94.7 rushing yards per game, which leaves them with no clear answers for getting points on the board.

A Panthers team with significant issues facing an Eagles team adjusting to key losses on both sides of the ball may make for a more competitive Monday night matchup than we’d like to see. But the Eagles will still prevail.

Prediction: Eagles 24, Panthers 14

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Brandyn Campbell of Philly Sports Muse, for War Room Sports

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Mark Sanchez takes the keys of the Philadelphia Eagles offense for 6-8 weeks after Nick Foles injury

Tuesday, November 4th, 2014

by Brandyn Campbell

Brandyn Blog

 

 

 

 

 

Mark Sanchez, you now have the keys to the Eagles offense. (Image via Brian Garfinkel, Philadelphia Eagles.)

Mark Sanchez, you now have the keys to the Eagles offense.
(Image via Brian Garfinkel, Philadelphia Eagles.)

Significant injuries have unfortunately overshadowed the Philadelphia Eagles’ 31-21 victory over the Houston Texans on Sunday. The leaders of both the team’s offense and defense went down with injuries, with Nick Foles suffering a broken collarbone and DeMeco Ryans suffering a season-ending ruptured Achilles.

Foles will not require surgery for his broken left clavicle. However, he will be out of game action for an estimated 6-8 weeks. With his unsteady performance in the 2014 season, many are more than ready to hand over the keys of the Eagles offense to Mark Sanchez to see how he fares.

In his debut for the team, Sanchez went 15/22 for 202 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in three quarters of play. He already has Chip Kelly’s full confidence.

“I feel great about Mark. I thought he’s done a great job in our system. I thought he played outstanding in the preseason and showed no rust or anything when he got in there against Houston yesterday.”

Indeed, the Monday morning buzz around the NFL, both locally and nationally, was about how the Eagles may not be in the worst hands with the transition to Sanchez. Foles is tied with Geno Smith for the second-most interceptions in the NFL, at ten each.  Only rookie Blake Bortles has notched more INTs this season, with a league leading 13. Unfortunately, Foles’ play this season has been more of a liability than an asset to the Eagles offense much of the time.

So it is Sanchez’ time to try to lead a team for the first time since being released by the New York Jets. While no one expects miracles, if he can solidly utilize the many assets in the Eagles’ offensive toolbelt to their best ability, we may, once again, have a quarterback controversy in the city of Philadelphia.

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Brandyn Campbell of Philly Sports Muse, for War Room Sports

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DeMeco Ryans is done for the season

Tuesday, November 4th, 2014

by Brandyn Campbell

Brandyn Blog

 

 

 

 

DR

Linebacker DeMeco Ryans, leader of the Philadelphia Eagles defense and all-around team leader, has been placed on injured reserve. He is done for the season.

Ryans ruptured his Achilles during Sunday’s 31-21 win over the Houston Texans. Since the injury, a number of Eagles players have commented on the poor condition of the field at NRG Stadium, with LeSean McCoy saying it’s the worst on which he’s ever played.

While Ryans was a stout player for the Birds’ D and will be difficult to replace in that respect, it is his leadership that will be irreplaceable. Said safety Malcolm Jenkins,

“You can see the respect that not only the guys on our team have for him but from the other team. It’s a big blow. A lot of people care about DeMeco and it just shows you the type of person he is and the type of impact he has on the room and the team. That’s a big blow.”

Chip Kelly called Ryans the Eagles’ “Mufasa”. Geoff Mosher of CSNPhilly noted on Twitter that the entire Eagles sideline emptied as Ryans was carted off the field from Sunday’s game. Some players noted that they saw tears in the eyes of their teammates after seeing their leader go down. The experience was particularly hard for Connor Barwin, who was there in 2010 when Ryans also suffered a season-ending Achilles injury, on the very same field, when the two were teammates on the Texans.

Casey Matthews will “fill in” for Ryans at middle linebacker, but trying to replace Ryans’ on-field efforts will require every member of the Eagles defense to step up and play harder for their fallen leader. As injuries in the NFL are inevitable, it’s got to be next man up for the Birds as they continue their push to the playoffs. But the downing of this particular man will be a hard reality to overcome.

In a corresponding roster move, safety Chris Prosinski was added to the team, who worked out for the Eagles in October. He was originally a fourth-round pick of the Jaguars in 2011 and was released by Jacksonville on September 23.

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Brandyn Campbell of Philly Sports Muse, for War Room Sports

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3 Bright Spots from Philadelphia Eagles’ 30-22 Loss to the Carolina Panthers

Tuesday, November 27th, 2012

by Brandyn Campbell

 

 

 

 

His name is Brown. That’s what they call him.
(Image via the Philadelphia Eagles)

The words are more difficult to come by with each loss.  What more is there to say?  The nightmare that is the 2012 season for the Philadelphia Eagles continues.

In a season with not much positivity, I can’t bear to write another somber account of yet another Eagles loss.  At least not at the moment.  There were a few bright spots from the Philadelphia Eagles’ 30-22 loss to the Carolina Panthers to highlight, so let’s have a look.

1. They made it a game.  This could be both a positive and a negative.  We expected a blowout after Carolina scored two touchdowns in quick succession in the first quarter, but the Eagles made it a game and went into halftime with a 15-14 lead.  Perhaps that glimmer of hope made the unraveling that happened later in the game, something to which we’ve grown far too accustomed as of late, that much more painful.  Or not, as we just don’t expect much from this team anymore.  But we saw that there is still some life and fight in this Philadelphia team, something we haven’t witnessed in weeks.

2. Bryce Brown.  His two fumbles cost the game.  But the Birds were right to trust their instincts when drafting Brown,  who had 178 rushing yards in his first NFL start, averaging an incredible 9.4 yards per carry and running in both Philadelphia touchdowns.  Brown set an Eagles rookie record for most rushing yards in a single game.  He must be sick about his fumbles and how they impacted his team, and Brown will remember that feeling and learn to hang on to the ball.

3. DeMeco Ryans.  The defense continues to be a perplexing mess but think how much worse it would be if the Eagles hadn’t acquired the middle linebacker in the offseason.  He led the D with 10 total tackles and made plays when no one else would.  Or could.  He is one player whose fight you can see each and every week.

There’s so much not-so-positive from the game to discuss it’s hard to know where to start.  But  that will be coming at you soon.

Want more Philly Sports Muse? You can find me on Twitter at @sports_muse and on Facebook.

 

Brandyn Campbell of Philly Sports Muse, for War Room Sports

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Inside the Players-Only Meeting: Will it Save the Philadelphia Eagles?

Sunday, November 4th, 2012

by Brandyn Campbell

 

 

 

 

On three!
(Image via sportsphotographymashup.com)

With each loss, the issues grew more pressing for the Philadelphia Eagles: where was the leadership?

In the first loss following a bye week in the Andy Reid era, the team accomplished the appalling feat of getting worse instead of better.

Where was the leadership?  Players hung their heads in shame and vacated the locker room quickly.  But there was a strange detachment to the third consecutive loss on the part of Eagles players, it seemed.

LeSean McCoy came out and said what every fan and casual observer alike was thinking.

“How we played, how the game ended, I didn’t see any pride.  I didn’t see any heart.  This is the whole team, myself included.  We didn’t get it done today.”

Three straight losses and no fire.  A new defensive coordinator and no improvement.  An embattled head coach and yet they continued to show little fight.  What could save this Eagles team?

For the first time this season, a players-only meeting was held on Wednesday.  According to Yahoo! Sports,

“meeting was productive even though it was not always pleasant.  Players implored each other to talk amongst themselves, man-to-man, rather than go straight to the media.”

Which, of course, meant that an unknown player on the defensive ran to the media to give his perspective on the meeting and the team’s situation.

“Mike ain’t the problem.  Look, we all know he’s struggling.  That ain’t some secret.  But we’re not helping him and that’s the problem.  The defense isn’t helping him, the offensive line isn’t helping him.  None of us.  We all gotta help each other and that’s what we talked about.”

The unnamed player continued,

“This ain’t time to be throwing people to the street.  We already had that with [Castillo’s firing] and that didn’t work,” the defensive player said, referring to a 30-17 home loss to Atlanta in the first game after Castillo’s dismissal.  “We gotta hang together.”

Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie didn’t hide behind anonymity.  Typically a quiet presence in the locker room, he felt that the meeting was an important opportunity to speak up.

“Yeah, because I don’t really say much.  I’m not into the talking game.  I just believe in going out and playing ball, regardless of what goes on.  Not a lot to be said.”

DRC knows that times are serious and that his teammates needed to hear his voice.

“It was a team thing.  I’m part of a team.  So I felt like if I speak, guys would listen.  I didn’t speak on much; I just said, ‘Let’s just play ball and see where that gets us.’”

Other players who reportedly spoke up in the meeting were Vick, Trent Cole, Jeremy Maclin, Cullen Jenkins, DeMeco Ryans and Jason Avant.

Will the meeting and the man-to-man discussions make a difference on Monday Night Football in New Orleans?  For a Philadelphia team all out of answers, it must.  With the level of dysfunction on this team, if the record falls to 3-5 things will be torn apart at the NovaCare – including a change at the quarterback position – and the chances for victory will diminish even further.  Half the season will remain, but the outlook is bleak if the Birds don’t even up their record at the Superdome.

Perhaps now isn’t the time to throw people on the street, to paraphrase the unknown player, but with a loss in New Orleans it will happen again.  The Philadelphia Eagles are playing to save their season, their quarterback and their coach.  Is the burden too much to bear?  We’ll find out on Monday night.

Want more Philly Sports Muse? You can find me on Twitter at @sports_muse and on Facebook.

 

Brandyn Campbell of Philly Sports Muse, for War Room Sports

 

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Lions-Eagles Preview: Taming Detroit’s Roar

Sunday, October 14th, 2012

by Brandyn Campbell

 

 

 

 

 

 

What happened to last year’s Detroit Lions team?  You know, the one that seemingly came out of nowhere to finish the season with a 10-6 record and make it to the playoffs?

That team is now 1-3 and are seeking an answer to that question themselves.  More importantly, they want to stop giving people reason to ask it.

For the second week in a row, the Philadelphia Eagles will face a team coming off of its bye and seeking to reclaim its season.  The Lions have arrived in Philadelphia rested and ready to roar, and it’s up to the Eagles to quiet their bite at the Linc.

The Lions are third in the NFL in total offense, averaging 412.2 YPG  but have little to show for it in terms of their record.  Detroit is averaging 25 points a  game, though, as compared to Philadelphia’s next-to-bottom of the league 16.  Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford has struggled this season, notching more interceptions (4) than touchdowns (3) with 1,183 yards after coming off a 2011 season where he tallied 41 TDs and 16 INTs for over 5,000 yards.

While we are all wondering what happened to all of the sacks we expected to see out of Philadelphia’s defensive line (they haven’t had a single one in two games and only have 7 this season), they have done well with the pass defense and have held opposing QBs to an average rating of 67.1.  Expect them to continue with the pressure but it would be nice to add some good, old-fashioned quarterback sacks to the mix.

Calvin Johnson, has 29 catches for a total of 423 yards this season but only has one touchdown, which interestingly did not come from Matthew Stafford but rather backup quarterback Shaun Hill.  The  elite receiver is still trying to find the chemistry to match the magic of last year with his quarterback and the Eagles must ensure that that does not happen on their watch.

It’s been no secret this season that the Eagles have struggled mightily in covering the best receivers of the game (I don’t even want to mention the Cardinals and Larry Fitzgerald, lest you have flashbacks.)  Megatron is as good as they come, matching physicality (he’s 6’5 and 236 lbs) with speed.  The Eagles have not gone into detail about their plans for covering Johnson but going one-on-one should not be an option.  All hands need to be on deck to limit the damage that Megatron can inflict.

The Lions have struggled to find a consistent running game this season with RB Jahvid Best out of action.  Mikel Le Shoure, however, is a significant threat,  running for 100 yards and a touchdown in his Week 3 NFL debut.  He was quiet the following week with just 26 yards but his potential is there and needs to be stifled.  MLB DeMeco Ryans and DT Fletcher Cox have been very successful at stopping the run and their efforts should be helped by the return of Akeem Jordan to the weakside.

The Eagles offense will see a similar look on the Lions defense, as Detroit also utilizes the Wide-9.  One of the team’s standouts on defense, tackle Ndamukong Suh, has recently received heavy criticism from an unnamed GM in the league for being overhyped, and it’s true that Suh has not dominated as he has in previous years.  He is still a force and the Eagles will face a pissed-off and slightly embarrassed Suh due to the comments and yet another off-field incident from Thursday.

I’m hoping he doesn’t get mad enough to stomp somebody again.

Detroit middle linebacker Stephen Tulloch has helped the Lions to limit the traction of opponents’ running  games, keeping them to 4.1 YPC this season.  LeSean McCoy had just 53 yards on 16 carries in Pittsburgh but the Eagles have tried to use the run steadily the past few games (hurray!).  For Shady to have any success the Eagles o-line has to find a way to fight a boy named Suh up front, meaning that he will keep Evan Mathis and Dallas Reynolds’ hands full all day.

It’s been well-documented what Vick needs to do today in order to lead the Eagles offense–hang on to the ball.  If he can do that and get the ball to playmakers like DeSean Jackson, Brent Celek, and perhaps Jeremy Maclin will want to make some noise in an otherwise quiet season, we will see an end to the low number of points the Eagles have been able to tally this season.  The offense needs to strike first and strike often to show that they’re being all they can be.

Like Philadelphia, Detroit is struggling on special teams, with the Lions’ unit having allowed 2 kickoff and 2 punt returns for touchdowns already this season.  Will the Eagles decide to shake things up on their own return game and finally oust Damaris Johnson in favor for Jackson on punt return duty?

A young  Lions team on the road facing a mountain of criticism from folks ranging from their fanbase to executives of another team faces another young team in Philadelphia that seeks to start its bye with a 4-2 record that makes it harder to question the possibilities for their long-term success.  The Eagles last home game was a rousing win against the Giants and the fans will be hyped.  Prediction: Eagles 33 Lions 17

Want more Philly Sports Muse? You can find me on Twitter at @sports_muse and onFacebook.

 

Brandyn Campbell of Philly Sports Muse, for War Room Sports

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