WhitewalkerInPhilly

It's a fair point that we should wait, when did Rex beam about Wood? Believe me, I have every expectation Wood will start. But I'm hearing a lot of positives about Glenn, Incognito, Miller and Kouandjio (and some Henderson). Less so with Wood. Yeah I thought the same thing.

Believe me, I'm keeping it in mind. But seriously from what we've been hearing both Incognito and Miller are sounding strong. It's telling that Rex confirmed Glenn and Incognito but not Wood.

I like the idea, but with Bryce Brown. Brown has some upside and I don't think he got a fair shake here but I don't think there's space for him here between a legit superstar in LeSean, team captain and locker room leader Freddy, short yard special teamer Boobie, and the cheap one cut runner of the future Karlos.

I like the idea. By then they'll have had today off to review the tape. They'll be at the end of the second group of practices, so they'll all have had some time to get acclimated. It's like Rex is scripting a game show. No one cares who wins the first round of jeopardy, it's who runs away with it in double jeopardy

OK....THIS is why on this board we like to take stock in reports from our distinguished members. Right now Joe B has this play down as "the play of the camp" which is helping to fuel the TT hype machine. It's good to hear the whole story. It's scary to hear that Wood might be the weak link. He's been so good for so long.

"I'll take Backhanded Compliments for $1000 Alex" "I'm impressed you read the category correctly"

Kevin Massare @KevinMassare EJ Manuel has been great today. Sharp and has waited for his read. Nice find with Chris Gragg. Well of course! How else will he help is trade value?

WHAT?!? THIS IS NO TIME FOR LOGIC, I HAVE TO OBSESS OVER EVERY DETAIL!

Yeah, it is. Sadly, whenever Philly is used as a setting everyone sounds like they're from Brooklyn since they can't get the accent down.

I know. It's nice to talk about, you know, football rather than the latest rumor about whether Brady's jock strap is deflated.

I already got that from KDS73

Well, I guess that ended about as well as could be expected. No jail time for Kromer, he's present for the installation of the blocking schemes for most of training camp when it's important he be there, and the Pegulas avoid scandal with a punishmental they worked out with the league. I won't say anyone "won" in this debacle, but it looks to be over.

When word first broke, the word was that the trade would be Foles for Bradford and a 2nd round pick. That made sense as rumor was Chip was trying to trade up for Mariota, and Bradford, the 20th pick and 2 second round picks would have been a nice package. Then word came down that it was Foles AND a second round pick for Bradford. *headdesk*

Hmm, that does give me am idea. Are you familiar with the Big Nickel, where you put in 3 safeties instead of an extra CB? I could see taking Duke, who is a quintessential box safety and subbing out a LB like Lawson. It looks like our nickel, but then you bring in Duke as the WLB and A. Williams as SS. Similar effect as the normal 46, but you have some coverage flexibility.

I'm not trashing the guy, but I think it's ludicrous to think that he's exempt from scrutiny. I'll take on the other points one at a time. 1) I don't blame Chip for not cutting Cooper, or not benching Cooper after the incident. I blame him for letting the issue linger to the point where there is resentment three years after the fact. That's a locker room issue and he is responsible. 2) You're really going to tell me that the Eagles cut a WR coming off a Pro Bowl year, and Howie Rosman had absolutely no input from Chip, with whom Jackson had a bad relationship with? That it was completely a football decision? Suuuuure it was. 3) Last season, Vince Wilfork asked to be released fron the Patriors. He's now sitting with a 2014 SB Championship ring. Players ask for it all the time as negotiating tactic. The thing is, the teams hold all the power. Chip had no obligation to grant it, and unless you honestly think Mathis would not play rather than collect 5.5M dollars all you've done is create dead cap and lose a excellent player in a position of need. 4) you're right in a way that we won't know how his moves will shake out yet. But every indication so far is that he's acting like it's a college program, and the NFL is a business. Right now I'm looking at a team with a starting QB who hasn't played a full season in three years, a hurry up offense that has gaping holes at guards, no clear #1 receiver and a secondary with one decent proven safety and one decent proven CB. We'll see but I certainly think he's made plenty of miscues so far.

Ok. Who would you sub out for nickel and dime packages if we have a 46 base?

Even if we aren't, I can see Rex trying to be. Having his dad hold a legacy for a defense in the conversation of GOAT has to be a part of Rex. If Rex just cared about winning, he could have gone to the Falcons or hung around for a year to find a team with an offense in place that just needed a boost on defense to win a title. Instead he came here, where he has the pieces to maybe, maybe, build a historic defense.

Well, I think no one is able to run it in its pure form 100% of the time anymore. The second the offense hits the 46 with a 5 receiver formation... But as OC pointed out, we might have the personnel to use it effectively in a lot of situations (2 TE 2 WR 1 RB, 2 WR 1 TE 2 RB, maybe 3 WR and the Balco formations like Roman uses)

Re:OC IN BUFFALO Do you think that Rex would use a modified version? As much as I love Dareus and Mario, Dareus really isn't a zero technique player and Mario isn't a 3 technique player. Would they maybe shade Dareus at the 1 and Mario at the five?

Maybe both? Because of its weakness against speak attacks and no huddle, the 46 would almost certainly be a subpackage, or at least build in adaptations for 5 and 6 DBs right? It would be interesting to see how it fits with our base personnel and then ask who might get rolled in. I could see maybe rolling Carrington to the 3 or 5 technique while having Hughes act as SLB.

To be fair, Chip is good at scheming the offense and drawing up plays. And they have a strong front 7. But their DB group as a whole is a weak link. Agholor has drawn comparisons to Woods: a very polished route runner with decent size and speed. But you don't build an offense around him, like we did with Sammy. They'll probably pile points on teams with bad defenses (especially bad secondaries) but you cab only go so far doing that. Their brutal losses were against Seattle, Arizona and San Francisco because those defenses shut down the offense. And when you go 3 and out doing the no huddle... I'm actually a fan of Gargano on the mornings.

To be honest, I think Innes might be worse. I don't like Cataldi, but his crew usually makes up for him. Innes tends to scream a lot and shuts down anyone he disagrees with. He's so bad that he drove legitimate broadcaster Tony Bruno into retirement from radio.

I'm just thinking, if this is something Rex would be trying to do frequently that would explain some of the comments we heard from Mario and Hughes in the offseason that seemed contradictory. Mario said things were rather similar while Hughes said that things were different. In the 46 Mario's role would be identical while Hughes would be moving from the 7 or 9 technique to the 5.

There is a very good article to read if you have time: http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/guide-to-n-f-l-defenses-part-6-the-46-defense/?_r=0 To sum up, it's what Rex based a lot of his scheme on, as in a 4-3 hybrid. You have the personnel of a 3-4 line, where you have a nose tackle and 2 three technique players. Then, you have a DE on the weakside 5 tech and have the strong side and weakside linebackers lining up on the strong side while the Strong Safety comes into the box to act in place of the WLB. I believe Rex was doing a modified version with Dareus shading at the 1 and Hughes playing 5 tech. The end result is that you have incredible pressure to bring on the QB and very strong run D. The reason you don't see it as much is that you need a pair of shutdown corners since you have only one safety back to help. West Coast offenses shred it, and you need to sub players for 3 and 4 wr packages.

Did I miscommunicate? I meant that, other than QB, Whaley has had a rather good track record