NFL Opening Week 2005

[Damaramu 0]

Anyone see Falcons/Eagles developing into a new rivalry much like Colts/Patriots?

These teams seem to always be at it and from what I can tell the fans of each team hates the other team and doesn't think it's worth a damn.

 

Oh and Kevin Mathis was a goon. I can just see Jim Mora in the press conference "I decided to send a goon in!"

[therealworldschampion 0]

Anyone see Falcons/Eagles developing into a new rivalry much like Colts/Patriots?

These teams seem to always be at it and from what I can tell the fans of each team hates the other team and doesn't think it's worth a damn.

 

Oh and Kevin Mathis was a goon. I can just see Jim Mora in the press conference "I decided to send a goon in!"

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Mora did spend time in Philly when he was younger since his dad coached the USFL team there, if he goes after Jon Gruden threatening "I'll kill you!! I'll kill you!!" then we can assume that he's spent time talking to John Chaney.

 

I could see this developing into a rivalry like the Eagles had with the Bucs and Rams a couple of years ago, but the Eagles main rivalries are with the rest of the NFC East.

[Ripper 0]

What ever. Trotter crossed the half field line and pushed him, and mathis punched him, and trotter emphatically grabbed his face mask, which I guess looked like a punch to the refs. There were no goons.

 

And seriously, the Falcons almost lost Hartwell, Brooking, Demario Williams, Hall, and Duckett in the scuffle and the one when the Eagles players were stomping the falcon symbol in the middle of the field and the falcons players came back out on the field. So unless you are saying that the goon work that Mathis did was to get rid of the entire starting Linebacking corps, the best defensive back and the back up running back, it doesn't make sense.

 

And I think you are agreeing with me, but yeah, Corey Simon is really key to Trotter being able to do what he does. He would go untouched last year and would just cause havok on the running game because Corey would take up so much space and so many people at his tackle position. Noone was there to meet Trotter in the hole, because Simon would occupy them. Not saying Trotter isn't a damn good linebacker, but they had a hell of a tackle down there doing that dirty work that often gets overlooked.

 

Plus on all of Atlantas big runs, they had 3-4 blockers to spare. This was just a case of opening night and lack of execution on the part of the Eagles. I don't think the Falcons would have won playing like this in week, lets say, 4, but this was two opening night teams and they both made mistakes. Philly just made more.

 

One thing that did impress me about the Falcons last night was that the first guy made the play everytime. Solid tackling. And Demario Williams is going to be a freak of nature at that linebacker position.

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0]

And I think you are agreeing with me, but yeah, Corey Simon is really key to Trotter being able to do what he does. He would go untouched last year and would just cause havok on the running game because Corey would take up so much space and so many people at his tackle position. Noone was there to meet Trotter in the hole, because Simon would occupy them. Not saying Trotter isn't a damn good linebacker, but they had a hell of a tackle down there doing that dirty work that often gets overlooked.

 

MY GOD! Someone understands the concept of defensive line play!

 

This is the reason why Simon, Casey Hampton, etc. are exceptional DTs and someone like, say, Warren Sapp, is a piece of shit.

[the pinjockey 0]

That isn't Corey Simon, though. Corey Simon was a pass rushing DT, not a gap clogging, take up 2 OL DT. Trotter is better at crashing a line to blow a play up, not necessarily the sideline to sideline player that you have to keep the OL off of him.

 

IMO, the reason they had the extra blockers was, as I said earlier, they were able to put a TE on Kearse. If you can play a TE on Kearse and let you line play against the DTs, Kalu, and the linebackers you can pretty much do what you feel like.

 

There is certainly value in the Casey Hampton's of the world who are big guys that take up space and let the LBs roam. When Simon is taking up space, though, it just means he is fat an unproductive, not a great run stopper.

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0]

...ah, the dangers of assuming someone characterizes a player right.

[therealworldschampion 0]

And I think you are agreeing with me, but yeah, Corey Simon is really key to Trotter being able to do what he does. He would go untouched last year and would just cause havok on the running game because Corey would take up so much space and so many people at his tackle position. Noone was there to meet Trotter in the hole, because Simon would occupy them. Not saying Trotter isn't a damn good linebacker, but they had a hell of a tackle down there doing that dirty work that often gets overlooked.

 

MY GOD! Someone understands the concept of defensive line play!

 

This is the reason why Simon, Casey Hampton, etc. are exceptional DTs and someone like, say, Warren Sapp, is a piece of shit.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

But come on, Simon did look like the fucking Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in that Colts uniform on Sunday night. As shown here:

 

Corey in 2001

 

Corey on Sunday night

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0]

My assumption on Simon was that he's a lardass who plugs the middle and stops the run. Apparently, that assumption was wrong (I was going on Ripper's statement).

 

The observation is probably still valid, though. They need someone like that to let their LBs run free. Kearse sure as hell isn't going to free up any blockers, especially if he can be singled by a TE. Looking at the Steelers, if a team tried to put a TE on Aaron Smith, for example, he'd make soft serve on the guy's chin en route to putting their quarterback out for the year. For the Eagles? Not so much. You've got a pair of smallish pass rushers on the outside, two reasonably stout (but more Sapp-ish) tackles, and a scheme that looks to compensate for a lack of size with relentless blitzing. We saw what happened last year against the Steelers, didn't we?

 

Trotter helps, because he's stout in run defense. However, he NEEDS those fatasses in front, and even had Trotter been in the lineup last night, that's not to say the Eagles wouldn't have still gotten beat up in the trenches.

[Guest Vitamin X]

He didn't get fat, he "added bulk".

[Ripper 0]

That isn't Corey Simon, though.  Corey Simon was a pass rushing DT, not a gap clogging, take up 2 OL DT.  Trotter is better at crashing a line to blow a play up, not necessarily the sideline to sideline player that you have to keep the OL off of him.

 

IMO, the reason they had the extra blockers was, as I said earlier, they were able to put a TE on Kearse.  If you can play a TE on Kearse and let you line play against the DTs, Kalu, and the linebackers you can pretty much do what you feel like.

 

There is certainly value in the Casey Hampton's of the world who are big guys that take up space and let the LBs roam.  When Simon is taking up space, though, it just means he is fat an unproductive, not a great run stopper.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I completly disagree. I didn't say Simon was a run stopper, I am saying it was he that allowed a guy like Trotter to just come through the line and kill people, or meet them in the whole(thus the blowing a play up thing you said) He was able to do this because of fat ass Corey Simon. On running plays, the reason you never noticed him was because he was taking a offesive lineman(or two like last year against the Falcons). Sure, he rushes the QB up the middle, but on once that ball gets handed off, he is a terror on the opposing Centers and Guards. I understand people might not like his lard ass, but that guy frees up linebackers and I think the Eagles are defineately going to see the difference this year.

 

With that said, a guy like Ike Reese will be shown to have been over paid by the Falcons because he also benifited from the DT in Philly which he doesn't have in atlanta. Philly, like atlanta, have two monsters on the Ends that have to be accounted for and the DT that would kill the line. They were destroying Atlantas run game like that last year. Simon not there was very noticeable last night. Guys like Rod Colman get up field and make their own plays AND take out linemen, which is why these guys are coveted.

 

So maybe you watched Corey play more than I did, but everytime I watched Philly play I would watche the lard ass in the middle gobbling up the OL and getting a nice push on the pass plays.

[the pinjockey 0]

An in shape Corey Simon certainly has value, but I think the play of Darwin Walker and Mike Patterson is getting overlooked. Darwin Walker, on monday, was every bit of what an in his prime Corey Simon was and Patterson was only slightly behind. The DTs were a couple of the few players that showed up for the whole game.

 

It is going to be hard to tell until next week, because Mike Labinjo flat out sucks and isn't a 10th of what Trotter is. Sad considering he is supposedly one of Jim Johnson's boys. He can't hit a whole, find a runner, or find his cover responsability to save his life.

 

And Ike Reese's money was insane, because he was barely a linebacker when he was here. He was only the nickel linebacker through process of elimination (read: Simoneau blew). And I can't picture spending that much on a special teams player.