Like the Eagles, it is pretty easy to find positive articles about the Sixers right now. They have won 5 straight games and are sitting solidly as the #5 seed in the playoffs.
Sixers: Joel Embiid has entered the MVP race – If Joel can stay healthy, I think this is his year to win the MVP award. He is carrying a team that should not be the #5 seed. His two-way play is simply amazing.
The Eagles are in the playoffs and rising a three game win streak. It was pretty easy to find positive articles this week. My favorites for the week are below.
Eagles fans should be thankful to have Jeffrey Lurie as an owner – This is my favorite article of the week. It is easy to poke at owners and complain about what they do. Lurie’s success is easily quantifiable. Roob’s best quote is “Only the Patriots, Packers, Steelers and Colts have had more winning seasons than the Eagles since 1995, and all were led by at least one Hall of Fame quarterback.”
Greg Ward epitomizes the Eagles’ team-first mentality – Greg Ward is a team first player. Players like Ward fill in the gaps, do what the team needs, and keep things positive. He is one of many unsung heroes on this years squad.
My favorite part about this title is that we could be talking about either the Sixers or the Eagles. The Eagles have clinched a playoff birth and have won three straight games. The Sixers have won four straight games and are currently the 5th seed in the Eastern Conference. They also have a bunch of winnable games ahead of them. It is a fun time to be a Sixers and Eagles fan as both teams are overachieving.
The Eagles were supposed to be in a rebuilding year. They had a new head coach and a new quarterback. Vegas had odds that they would win 6.5 games. The team fought off a 2-5 start and have come together with a string of 3 straight wins. NFL teams are often so close in skill, confidence can be the difference between winning or losing. This win streak is showing the younger players that they can win. I do not see this team winning big in the playoffs, but they are young and have three first round draft picks for next year. This early success is a great foundation for what could be a strong team for the next few years.
The Sixers are in a completely different place. Coming into this season, they were a team with championship aspirations. Joel Embiid is one of the top 5 players in the NBA. Ben Simmons was a 3-time all-star and one of the best defensive players in the NBA. Tobias Harris was a borderline all-star and a great fit as a #3 option for a winning team. Unfortunately, Ben Simmons decided he wanted to be elsewhere. Losing such an integral part of the team would sink most teams. Fortunately for the Sixers, Joel Embiid has shown he can carry a team. He was the player of the month in December, and he has really done it all. Joel is still posting up and scoring, but he is also leading the break and setting up others to score. Joel has more triple doubles this year than he has ever had. In addition, each night a different player steps up. Tyrese Maxey came up big against the Nets. Tobias Harris was huge against the Wizards and the Raptors.
At this time, the Sixers are not ready to challenge the best teams in the NBA for a championship. Daryl Morey knows this and is taking advantage of this strong start to drive a hard bargain for Ben Simmons. As long as the Sixers can stay in the playoff hunt, they can wait until the last minute to make an impactful trade and bring in someone like Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal, or Jaylen Brown.
Win streaks are fun and we need to celebrate them more than worry about who is playing well and who is not. Let’s hope these streaks continue through the weekend at least.
The Eagles clinched the playoffs with one game remaining. This is an incredible accomplishment that we should all take a minute to appreciate. The Eagles began this season with
A first year head with no head coaching experience
A first year defensive coordinator
A second round pick quarterback who was in his first year starting
A team coming off a 4 win season
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
How did this happen? They started 2-5 and were considered a mess. Nick Sirianni stayed positive and preached keeping together and improving 1% every day. Many of us laughed at his cliches and his unusual anecdotes where he compared the Eagles to a flower. The leaders on the team did not. They bought into Sirianni’s passion and care for the team. They continued to fight and when the schedule got easier the Birds started winning and gaining confidence. Now they are 9-7 and in the playoffs. What were the key things that got them there? My thoughts are below.
Sirianni’s willingness to adjust. The coach wanted to do a lot of run-pass option plays. He thought the combination of Jalen Hurts legs and his quick receivers would be too much for teams to handle. It didn’t work. Hurts is young and needed more time to get to know the speed of the NFL. Sirianni reviewed what was happening and turned into a run first team. It worked. The Eagles had a string of 7 straight games with over 175 yards rushing. Hurts got better because he was asked to do less. The line got a chance to bully other teams and got better as well. Most importantly we saw that our coach is willing to adjust. This bodes well for him in the long term.
This team has great leadership. They have made the playoffs 4 out of the past 5 seasons. Players like Jason Kelce, Fletcher Cox, Rodney McCleod, and Lane Johnson know how to win and remain calm when things aren’t going well. Their leadership is a huge part of the reason this team continues to excel. While many of these players are older, there is a new generation of calm leaders coming up. Jalen Hurts and DeVonta Smith have that same quiet confidence. DeVonta could have another 20 catches this season on a team with a pass first offense, but he is not complaining. He is happy to win. Jalen Hurts is never flustered. Every team has ups and downs during a season. Great teams and great players remain calm win or lose. As Barry Sanders used to say “Act like you’ve been there before.”
Finally, this team was built the right way. Both lines are the heart of the team and they are both very good, if not great. The bad teams get early draft picks and select skill position players. They look good when things are going well and get the fans excited. Good teams build lines that can last for years. The Eagles have not gotten every draft right, but they invest in the right places and that is why they keep winning.
This team is probably not a super bowl team, but they are fun to watch. They have a lot of young talent and a number of draft picks for next year. Let’s enjoy the ride this year and see how quickly they can turn this strong foundation into a true super bowl contender.
The best Sixers news and articles from the week ending 1/1/2022.
League executives expect Sixers acting on Ben Simmons deal at deadline – Could a deal for Ben Simmons happen this season? Morey is going to wait for the best possible deal. Hopefully, that happens before the end of this season so that we can see where they might end up. Adding a player like Bradley Beal or Jaylen Brown could make this team a real contender.
Doc Rivers believes Georges Niang is the perfect player for Sixers – Georges Niang has been a great addition to the team. He is shooting nearly 40% from three and really helps open up space for Joel. He is replacing Mike Scott and as much as I liked Mike Scott, Niang is a HUGE upgrade at an inexpensive price.
Sixers take care of business with win over Wizards in D.C. – A big win against a team that has a star who may want to play for a real championship. Beal wasn’t playing so he had lots of time to see what it would be like to play with Joel.
Film study: Tyrese Maxey continues to dazzle, channeling his inner Steve Nash, Tony Parker – Tyrese Maxey is playing way better than we could have asked of a second year player learning a new position. His 25 points and 5-8 three point shooting was key in the big win over Brooklyn. This article does a great job explaining some of the more impressive play that he has had.
Hurts soaking up knowledge from 2 worthwhile sources – Good franchises surround their young players with people that help them get better. There is a reason teams like the Eagles nearly always win while teams like the Washington Football Team never seem to get it right.
Can Hurts take lessons from playing with ankle injury? – Hurts has been playing with a bad ankle. This has limited his best trait which is his running. It is forcing him to improve in other areas, which could be a good thing long term.
Bradley Beal, Jaylen Brown, and Demian Lillard are my top three choices for the Ben Simmons trade watch. Daryl Morey has been patient and that patience may be starting to pay off. The Wizards, Celtics, and Trailblazers are all struggling this season.
The Wizards started the season 10-3. They are 8-14 since that hot start. Beal is a free agent next season and the Wizards are not looking like they can become a real contender. He would look awfully nice playing with Embiid, Harris, and Maxey. Beal’s outside shooting and ability to create his own shot would make a huge difference in the Sixers half court offense. Sixers Sense is all over it with their article Philadelphia 76ers should have Bradley Beal as Prime Target.
Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images
The Celtics are another team that is struggling and may need to make a change. They are 16-19 and 10th in the Eastern Conference standings. This is the second year in a row where the team is just not clicking. Watching them play you can see that Tatum just does not trust his teammates. Their offense is stagnant with a lot of one-on-one plays that end in low probability shots. Even their fans are thinking it may be time to consider a change. SB Nation’s Celtics Blog asks the question Should the Celtics consider trading Jaylen Brown for Ben Simmons?
Finally, the Trailblazers are openly talking about blowing things up and starting over. They have a veteren laden team that is just not good enough to compete in the Western Conference. They are 13-21 and way out of the playoff race. There are younger teams that are just plain better than the Blazers. Ben could play there and be the cornerstone of their rebuilding process. It is never good when the teams bloggers are posting Keep or Dump articles mid-season.
Hopefully we will have a good resolution within the next month.
The Eagles have had a number of questionable recent draft picks. It seems like that is all we hear about. I thought I would recap the top 10 draft picks of the past 5 years. It is a solid list with a ton of potential.
Lori M. Nichols | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
#10 Quez Watkins. Quez is a sixth-round pick who is extremely fast and has shown an ability not only to get open deep, but to pull down catches in traffic. His teammates regularly talk about how good he looks in practice. His stats this year were good, but not great. As Jalen Hurts starts to see the field better, Quez should see more catches.
#9 Miles Sanders. Miles has incredible talent. He averages over 5 yards per carry for his career and has shown the ability to gain yards in traffic and break long runs. If he were able to stay healthy, he would be much higher on this list. As it is, I have put him at #8 because I think there is a good chance that the Eagles do not resign him and he will have played less than three seasons with the Birds.
#8 Isaac Seumalo. Seumalo has been a multi-year starter and a solid if unspectacular guard. Any time you draft a lineman in the third round that is a multi-year starter on a very good offensive line, you have done well. Landon Dickerson is likely a better guard at this point, but Seumalo can move to center to keep the line intact for the coming years.
#7 Josh Sweat. Josh Sweat was a fourth-round pick back in 2018. He was highly rated coming out of high school, but had a couple of injuries while at Florida St. He has had 6 sacks each of the past two seasons and seems to be getting better every season.
#6 Landon Dickerson. Landon Dickerson is only in his first season, but he is a second-round pick who looks like a complete steal. Dickerson is a mountain of a man whose move into the starting line-up has been one of the keys to this year’s incredible rushing totals. Dickerson and Mailata should make the left side of the Eagles line dominant for years. He has the potential to be a regular pro bowler for years.
#5 Jalen Hurts. In his first full season as a starter, Jalen Hurts has proven himself to be a quality starter in the NFL. We do not yet know if he can be the franchise quarterback that the team is looking for or he would be higher up on this list. As is, Jalen is a great leader and person who makes plays with both his arm and his legs. Jalen continues to get better each game. For now, his legs are his greatest weapon and teams need to game plan how to stop him from running. His 10 rushing touchdowns is an Eagles record and there are two games left in the season.
#4 Carson Wentz. Carson Wentz did not finish the season in 2017, but his play is the reason we were the #1 seed and eventual super bowl champion. When he was at his best, Carson was one of the most exciting quarterbacks this franchise has ever had. Unfortunately, we all know what happened. Carson struggled in 2020 and then asked to leave the team because he was going to have to compete for his job. I hated including him on this list, but it would not be a real list if we ignored what he accomplished while he was an Eagle.
#3 Dallas Goedert. Dallas Goedert is finally getting his turn as the number one tight end and he is making the best of it. Goedert has always been a great blocker and he has shown glimpses of being an elite receiver as well. Since Ertz was traded, Goedert has been special. He has two games with over 100 receiving yards and has shown an ability to break tackles and get extra yardage.
#2 DeVonta Smith. DeVonta Smith is still in his first year, but his potential is off the charts. It seems like every game he makes an incredible catch showing body control that is just amazing. Merill Reese was asked about DeVonta early in the year. He described him as different and special. Merrill has been around this team for over 30 years. When he says a player is special, that says something. Chad OchoCinco has followed him for years thinks he the It factor.
#1 Jordan Mailata. A seventh-round pick who had never played football before. A freak athlete with incredible size, strength, and quick feet. Jordan Mailata has the potential to be the best left tackle in Eagles history. Other players watch him and marvel at what he can do. He is still learning, but he gets better every game. We often talk about Howie’s bad first round picks. We need to also give him credit for picking Jordan Mailata. Mailata has the potential to be the best value draft pick in Eagles franchise history. The Eagles go from Tra Thomas to Jason Peters to Jordan Mailata. That could be 30 years of dominant left tackles. We may not be a quarterback factory, but we are certainly a left tackle factory.
The Eagles are now over .500 for the first time since the start of the season when we were 1-0. They already have 8 wins with two games remaining in the season. We all thought this was going to be a rebuilding year and the Birds are now on pace, not only to exceed expectations from before the season, but also to make the playoffs. All of this from a team with a new head coach, defensive coordinator, and what is really a first-year quarterback. It is time to give some credit to a number of people that deserve it.
Nick Sirianni is a first-time head coach who many of us had never heard of. He was the offensive coordinator under Frank Reich and a surprising pick from Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman. Sirianni started slow with a horrible press conference to begin the season along with being way to pass happy at the beginning of the year. He has turned it around in a way that is very encouraging. Sirianni did some self evaluation and realized that the team would be better off running the ball. Now the Eagles have the #1 running team in the NFL and a 6-2 record in their most recent games. The Eagles are likely not a Superbowl team at this point, but they have a young coach who connects well with his players (they never gave up on him) and has shown that he can adjust to the talents of his team. This is a rare trait and one that should have Eagles fans excited for the coming years.
Howie Roseman has had an up and down tenure as a GM. He made a number of great moves to help the Birds win their first Superbowl back in 2017. He then had a series of horrible free agency and draft choices that were responsible for a 4 win season in 2020. While I am still not sold on his draft selections, he has been much better recently. Sometimes it takes a 4 win season to re-evaluate what you are doing. This year’s draft is looking excellent so far.
DeVonta Smith – The best wide-receiver on the roster since DeSean Jackson. Has the potential to be a regular probowl receiver.
Landon Dickerson – One of the best second round picks in the entire draft. He has the potential to be an all-pro guard for many years.
Milton Williams – A defensive tackle with a crazy draft measurables that were comparable to Aaron Donald. He is not likely to be Aaron Donald, but he sure seems like a solid starter and great d-linemen for a number of years to come.
Kenneth Gainwell – A very solid running back with great hands. He has not been getting a lot of time lately, but that is likely more because of the new offensive approach then limitations.
Tarron Jackson – A sixth round defensive end from Coastal Carolina. Tarron is outplaying his 6th round draft position. He is a rotational player who is getting better each game and has a sack and 14 tackles to his name. Check out Bleeding Green Nations write-up on him in the Washington Game (bleedinggreennation.com/2021/12/22/22849652/eagles-rookie-report-card-win-washington-devonta-smith-kenneth-gainwell-tarron-jackson-football-team).
Howie still has a way to go, but this year has to be viewed as a positive change from some of the more recent draft classes. Also, he has set us up with three first round picks for next year.
Lastly, Jalen Hurts has shown both promise and progress as a quarterback prospect. He is a second-year player who is really in his first year given the mess that was 2020. As a runner, Hurts is elite. He already has 10 rushing touchdowns with two games remaining. The all-time record is held by Cam Newton at 14 touchdowns. While unlikely, that number is within reach. He remains up and down as a passer, but he has been good enough to lead the team to 7 of their 8 wins. Hurts does not have an elite arm, but he has made all of the throws you need from a quarterback. His biggest limitation is the way he sees the field. This is concerning, but it also is something that is pretty common among young quarterbacks who are still getting used to the NFL. We do not yet know if Hurts can carry the team in the playoffs, but he has shown that he can be a very solid starter and maybe much more.
The most important areas for success in the NFL are coaching, QB play, and the front office. I would say that all three are trending positive at the moment.
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Posidelphia 