well strange is the story your eyes tell me
MNF! Week 15
The Seahawks have lost 4 games in a row for the first time in Pete Carroll's tenure.
Nick Sirianni is the first Eagles head coach to take his team to the playoffs in each of his first three seasons.
Eagles Defensive Coordinator, Sean Desai, was demoted. Matt Patricia, who was calling plays for the Patriots offense last year, is now taking over the play calling duties for the Eagles defense.
Let’s look at some interesting stories about these coaches, as told by their former players:
Pete Carroll
Carroll is the oldest coach in the NFL. The 72 year-old runs unorthadox team meetings such as basketball shootouts for kickers, storytelling, and practical jokes. From this article in the Athletic:
Phil Haynes (offensive lineman): We always get really hype before a special teams meeting, but he got really, really excited and jumped through a whiteboard.
DeShawn Shead (former cornerback, current DBs coach): Out of nowhere he got up — boom.
Wright: He literally does a full-on cartwheel into it.
Riq Woolen (cornerback): But the whiteboard flipped over, and he flipped over with it.
Haynes: I was like, “My God.” We all checked to make sure he was OK, then we started cheering.
Woolen: Good ol’ Pete got right up, and he was like, “That was nothing.”
Malcolmson: The funny thing is, the whiteboard didn’t really serve any purpose. But it was always in the same spot I think as a prop for whenever Pete decided to go tackle it.
Nick Sirianni
Gardner Minshew said his only prior connection to Nick Sirianni was a Colts pre-draft visit. An intense game of HORSE happened, and Minshew needed to remove his shirt. Sirianni won. "I'm back for revenge," Minshew said.
Matt Patricia
Eagles cornerback Darius Slay felt disrespected by Matt Patricia: “He basically just said, ‘You are not in that category yet.’ At that time, I only had one Pro Bowl but now I’m at five, so I want to know how he feels about that now.“
Now that Patricia is with the Eagles, it sounds like cooler heads prevailed.
“We talked about it during the offseason,” Slay said. “[The Eagles] called me, and I was like, ‘It’s cool with me because I want to do what’s best for the organization. I always tell guys, ‘We’re in a rented seat, nobody’s in this seat forever.’ So I said, ‘Y’all got to do what’s best for the organization, and they asked would I be cool with it, and I said yeah."
From there, Slay and Patricia had their personal summit.
“It took a lot for both of us to talk, so we did a great job,” Slay said. “We communicate every day, we talk every day, we’re just trying to build everything going forward because at the end of the day, we want to win. That’s his main goal and that’s my main goal, and we’re going to continue to keep building."
An Eagles fan was protesting outside the NovaCare Complex last week with a “Fire Sean Desai” sign and two trash cans with “No Play Slay” and “Bradberry” labels on them.
It’s unclear if that fan was Patricia incognito.
Slay underwent arthroscopic knee surgery this week and will be out tonight against the Seahawks, but he is expected back by the end of the regular season.
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55: Trevor Lawrence now has as many career passing touchdowns (55), as turnovers (35 interceptions plus 20 fumbles lost).
4.2: Bills RB James Cook was first contacted at or behind the line of scrimmage on only one of his 25 rushes Sunday vs. Cowboys. He averaged 4.2 yards per rush before contact. He’s the 3rd player in the last 2 seasons to average at least 4.0 yards before contact on 25+ rushes.
1: Penei Sewell is PFF's No. 1 OT and it's not particularly close right now. His 91.3 overall grade is followed up by Tyron Smith in 2nd at 84.0.
29: Yesterday, the Cardinals scored as many points (29) against the 49ers as the Eagles and Cowboys did combined. Philly put up 19 and Dallas put up 10 against SF.
20 [TRIVIA]: Who is the first player in NFL history to have at least 20 touches in a game and produce less than 15 yards from scrimmage?
Quotes
“Justin Fields is the quarterback of the future. He's the franchise quarterback. He's been balling. I don't understand why it's anymore questions.”
Chicago Bears wide receiver Darnell Mooney
"I felt like the kid that didn't do anything in the class project and got an A.”
“We don’t like what we’re looking at and the consistency of it.”
Mike Tomlin onMason Rudolph starting this weekend vs. the Bengals
“I think Christian should be MVP. I really do believe that.”
Brock Purdy
"Should've never fucking cut me!"
Jake Browning
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Picks
Monday, 12/18 @ 8:15pm
Eagles (-3.5) at Seahawks O45
The Eagles are getting 67% of the bets and 87% of the money: +20% differential
The Over is getting 30% of the bets and 35% of the money: +5% differential
This late in the season, great teams tend to bounce back after big losses. From Weeks 10 to 15, teams with at least a 60% win rate coming off a 20-plus-point loss are an incredible 40-8 ATS over the last couple of decades, covering an awesome 83% of the time.
Record
ATS: 42-40-4 (-1.78u)
O/U: 29-32-3 (-5.61)
Highlights
Fields’ Hail Mary attempt gets dropped by Mooney and it’s picked off to end the game
Brock Purdy throws a great pass to Deebo Samuel for the touchdown
High IQ play from Cooper Kupp
#73 Dion Dawkins blocks #33 Damone Clark 20 yards downfield
Jacoby throws it up and McLaurin comes down with it for the touchdown