1529 replies to this topic

[Connecticut Eagle]

FranklinFldEBUpper, on 16 September 2012 - 07:38 PM, said:

And...has anyone noticed that other teams kickers NEVER miss 50+ field goals against the Eagles? It's comical.

McNabb's fault for sure.

[FranklinFldEBUpper]

Brand new stopwatch. Ravens game stuff.

Chas Henry punted five times and averaged about 39.8 yards (line of scrimmage to where the ball was caught, struck the ground, or was marked out of bounds in the air) and 3.69 hangtime. None of his punts had 4.5 or more hangtime. Only one of his punts was hit to the outside of the numbers. Terrible game a week after the best game of his career. The only positive is that his touch-to-toe times were about the same as last week, in the 1.25 range which is fine. He was consistently about a tenth of a second slower last year, so it's obvious he has improved in this area. Through two games, he is averaging about 48.1 yards with 4.14 hangtime, 36% of his punts hitting the 4.5 mark, and 27% of his punts hit to the outside of the numbers.

Baltimore's Sam Koch had a great game, better even than Henry's game against the Browns. He averaged about 49.4 yards with 4.90 hangtime. All five of his punts had 4.5 hangtime or better and four of his punts were hit directionally to the numbers. Brilliant work. Through the first two games, Eagles opponents are averaging about 45.8 yards with 4.71 hangtime, 75% hitting 4.5 seconds or more, and 75% being hit to the outside of the numbers. Obviously Koch got the theoretical individual "win" putting Henry's seasonal mark at 1-1.

Alex Henery kicked off five times and averaged about 74.8 yards (to the back of the endzone) and 4.01 hangtime. Justin Tucker kicked off six times, but one was a squib at the end of the first half and another was a mis-hit. His four timeable kicks averaged about 76.3 yards (out of the back of the endzone) and 4.26 hangtime. Through the first two games, Henery is averaging about 73.3 yards and 4.09 hangtime. Eagles opponents are averaging about 74.0 yards and 4.14 hangtime. These numbers are astonishingly high and will certainly go down considerably as the season drags on and the weather gets colder and windier.

Henery's placekicks were quicker than Tucker's. He got his foot to the ball about a tenth of a second quicker. (One was untimeable, the others were timed at 1.17, 1.23, and 1.27 -- Tucker's kicks were approximately 1.35, 1.36, 1.36, 1.38, and 1.38)  His slowest kick was the game-winning extra point. Perhaps he was just making sure to not hurry such an important kick. And he drilled that one better than his other kicks. Great trajectory and right down the middle.

Needless to say, I want to vomit when I think about how consistently opposing kickers are able to make 50+ field goals against the Eagles. It has just gotten ridiculous. I wish I had been keeping track of this stuff over the years because I would really like to know the real numbers. It can't be my imagination.

Other stuff:

* Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie is going to block a field goal at some point this season. That's my prediction anyway.

* I wonder if Henery tried too hard on his last kickoff looking to get a touchback. It seems as though he might have intentionally kicked it lower than normal, hoping he could line drive it through the endzone. Instead, he got it about eight yards deep but the hangtime was only 3.37, which gave the Ravens returner a better chance at making some positive yardage. Thankfully, he didn't get much.

* The Eagles were lucky on the fake punt. That hole was there but Considine tripped. Kudos to Stanley Havili for falling on him as he stumbled.

* The kick coverage unit did a terrible job on the first kickoff after the Eagles had gone up 7-0. Big return and it gave the Ravens some spirit.

* It's nice to see Colt Anderson out there, fearlessly busting up the wedge on kicks. He's a maniac.

* Brandon Boykin should not return a kickoff from six yards deep when it has 4.32 hangtime. A ball hit THAT high is going to allow the coverage men to get there a lot quicker than normal. I'm still quite unimpressed with him on kick returns. I don't care that he came in with a rep as a dynamic returner. Heck, so did Jeremy Maclin and he stunk at it, quickly proving that it's a different game in the NFL than it was in college. I seriously have doubts that Boykin is a long term kickoff return guy for this team. Too much slowing down and bouncing around looking for creases.

* Obviously fielding a punt at your own 3 yard line is not a good idea. Bad play by Damaris Johnson which set the wheels in motion for the Ravens 56 yard field goal at the end of the half. Subsequent bad decision by the Eagles to snap the second down play with about ten seconds left on the play clock which helped the Ravens even more. And then Henry followed with a lousy punt. Horrible, horrible sequence of events.

[FranklinFldEBUpper]

I've been looking through some record books that I collect for statistical purposes to see if I could find data on long field goals. I have the numbers from 2004 through 2011 on field goal attempts from 50 and beyond. Over those eight seasons, there have been 824 field goals of that distance attempted throughout the league, with 458 successful. That comes out to about 56%. Eagles opponents have hit 18 of 24 in that same time period, which comes out to 75%. So Eagles opponents are hitting significantly higher than the league average. At the same time, Eagles kickers only made 9 of 22 such attempts (Akers 8 of 20, Henery 1 of 2) for a mark of 41%.

So we as Eagles fans have not been imagining it. We've had really, really bad luck on long field goals in recent years.

[Connecticut Eagle]

FranklinFldEBUpper, on 19 September 2012 - 09:18 PM, said:

I've been looking through some record books that I collect for statistical purposes to see if I could find data on long field goals. I have the numbers from 2004 through 2011 on field goal attempts from 50 and beyond. Over those eight seasons, there have been 824 field goals of that distance attempted throughout the league, with 458 successful. That comes out to about 56%. Eagles opponents have hit 18 of 24 in that same time period, which comes out to 75%. So Eagles opponents are hitting significantly higher than the league average. At the same time, Eagles kickers only made 9 of 22 such attempts (Akers 8 of 20, Henery 1 of 2) for a mark of 41%.

So we as Eagles fans have not been imagining it. We've had really, really bad luck on long field goals in recent years.

Nice work.  Thanks for turning the perception into reality.

[cevoice]

This was just the worst game for our special teams all around. I thought Henery was suppose to get better after his rookie year. Dude is still missing easy kicks. Idk but for some reason when the game is on the line and we have to get a field goal to stay in or win the game it seems like dude gets real nervous and its a guaranteed miss.

[FranklinFldEBUpper]

Math geek/Stat nerd time:

As I mentioned earlier, over the past eight seasons, NFL kickers have made 458 of 824 field goals from 50 yards and beyond. Taking out the 18 of 24 for Eagles opponents, it comes to 440 of 800, which are conveniently round numbers which calculate to exactly 55%. So basically the odds of a field goal being successful from that distance is theoretically exactly 55%.

With the successful kick by the Ravens the other day, the numbers are now 19 of 25 for Eagles opponents since the beginning of the 2004 season.

I plugged some numbers into a binomial calculator just to see the odds of this happening. The chart would look like this for an event with 55% chance:

1) 0.00%
2) 0.00%
3) 0.00%
4) 0.01%
5) 0.03%
6) 0.13%
7) 0.42%
8) 1.15%
9) 2.66%
10) 5.20%
11) 8.67%
12) 12.36%
13) 15.11%
14) 15.83%
15) 14.19%
16) 10.84%
17) 7.01%
18) 3.81%
19) 1.72%
20) 0.63%
21) 0.18%
22) 0.04%
23) 0.01%
24) 0.00%
25) 0.00%

So basically the odds that something with a 55% chance occurring 19 or more times out of 25 attempts is about 2.54% (you add up the chances of 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25 happening).

That, my friends, shows how freakishly unlucky the Eagles have been over the past 8+ seasons on long field goal attempts.

[VT_Bassman]

So all we ever heard was that Bobby April was the best ST Coach in the league. How come ever since we got him our ST have sucked? In fact they have been poor ever since Harbaugh left.

[vic92353]

I mentioned this earlier.  Everyone is talking about everything under the sun except this.  Each game they wind up with horrible field position yet the Offense still pull things together for a win.  The Cardinals has a very good special teams and is one of the problems for the Eagles  no one is talking about.   I sure hope they get this fixed soon.  

[Westyis2Underrated]

I personally think our eam is very special.

[VT_Bassman]

Always a smart a** in TATE.

[Kamikrazy]

Exactly, I'm glad you guys brought this up because it's getting little to no attention. We have yet to have a decent return. Everytime the opposing kicker knocks it out of the endzone I say to myself "great play! great play!". I would rather have them kick it out of the endzone then have us return it back and not even get to the 20 yard line and a chance at a fumble.

The punting was amazing in week 1, but in week 2 god it was awful. I hope henry can get his shiznet together and start blasting it up again.

As for special teams coverage, it should get better with colt anderson back in the lineup but i'm not sure if he's going to get back to being himself this quick. I didn't see him get a key tackle like i'm used to seeing in the ravens game. So, hopefully he rebounds in the next game.

[PhillySmoke]

our s/t is inconsistent at best. I agree w you about bobby April. we were told he was the best in the league and he's done nothing but produce a mediocre product on the field. it's not like the guys on s/t are scrubs either. these guys should be tackling better, blocking better, and the returners have been atrocious. I hope it's improved as the season goes along.

[Season Tickets]

Lots of new guys on the field, hopefully they can pull it together.

[PickFoles]

Paging Mr. Anderson.

[54lance]

Our return game is poor at best.Johnson had one decent punt return week one.  But our coverage teams are horrible.  Kick return in particular.  I'm more concerned with the defense having to defend 50 yards or less than with the offense starting with 80 yards to go although both are bad options.

[BigEFly]

FranklinFldEBUpper, on 19 September 2012 - 09:18 PM, said:

I've been looking through some record books that I collect for statistical purposes to see if I could find data on long field goals. I have the numbers from 2004 through 2011 on field goal attempts from 50 and beyond. Over those eight seasons, there have been 824 field goals of that distance attempted throughout the league, with 458 successful. That comes out to about 56%. Eagles opponents have hit 18 of 24 in that same time period, which comes out to 75%. So Eagles opponents are hitting significantly higher than the league average. At the same time, Eagles kickers only made 9 of 22 such attempts (Akers 8 of 20, Henery 1 of 2) for a mark of 41%.

So we as Eagles fans have not been imagining it. We've had really, really bad luck on long field goals in recent years.

So, we're do for a real bad stretch by opposing kickers.  I'm stoked.

[ChimpKelly]

VT_Bassman, on 21 September 2012 - 01:52 PM, said:

Always a smart a** in TATE.

Of ourse!

[Innocence096]

I don't think Bobby April is teaching Damaris to catch the ball inside the five. Sometimes there is only so much you can do and then it is up to the players

[TM8492]

I think they just need to kick the ball deep in the endzone on kickoff so the other team can't return it and then just take a knee when they kick in our endzone. 20 yards is good field position for our offense and defense to work with.

[GroundAttack]

How about a nice kickoff return for a TD. Haven't had one in a while.

[Eagles311]

There's no I in Team.  There's no T in eam.

[ChimpKelly]

GroundAttack, on 21 September 2012 - 07:05 PM, said:

How about a nice kickoff return for a TD. Haven't had one in a while.

Have they ever? I thought I remember one like 3 or 4 years ago but I might have dreamt it.

[ChimpKelly]

Eagles longest kick return last year was 33 yards. That's pretty pathetic. They ranked second to last return wise. With all the speed on the team you'd think they'd do better.

[Vex]

phillyphan754, on 21 September 2012 - 10:44 PM, said:

Have they ever? I thought I remember one like 3 or 4 years ago but I might have dreamt it.

Last one I recall was Brian Mitchell. Has there been one since?

[FranklinFldEBUpper]

Cardinals debacle:

Chas Henry punted five times and averaged (from LOS to basically where the ball was caught or landed) about 48.6 yards with 4.63 hangtime. Two of the five punts were hit to the area of the field outside the numbers. Four of the five punts had hangtime of 4.5 seconds or more.

Dave Zastudil punted six times and averaged (same method) about 47.5 yards with 4.53 hangtime. Two of the six were hit outside the numbers and four of the six had hangtime of 4.5 seconds or more.

Based on my formula, Henry had the better statistical game, the second time in three games. Through the three games, he averaged about 48.3 yards with 4.29 hangtime, with 50% having 4.5 hangtime and 31% being hit outside the numbers. Through those same three games, Eagles opponents have averaged about 46.3 yards and 4.65 hangtime, with 72% having a hangtime of 4.5 or more and 61% hit outside the numbers. So basically Henry has had better distance but not as much height or field accuracy.

Alex Henery smoothly nailed both field goal attempts and kicked off very well. He averaged about 73.0 yards per kickoff with 3.94 hangtime. Arizona's Jay Feely kicked off five times and averaged about 66.2 yards with 3.86 hangtime. Clearly a better job by Henery. Through three games, Henery has averaged about 72.3 yards with 4.02 hangtime while opponents have averaged about 70.8 yards with the same 4.02 hangtime average. This, of course, only includes timeable kickoffs, not squibs or mis-kicks.

Incidentally, I was impressed with the smoothness/quickness of the Cardinals placekicks. Feely was basically getting his foot to the ball in about 1.2 seconds which is good. It's about the same as what we're used to seeing with Henery, who is excellent in this aspect of kicking.

Other stuff:

* I said before the season that I would tolerate one but only one fumbled punt by Damaris Johnson. Well, it didn't take him long. Needless to say it was a terrible, terrible play which seemed to set the wheels in motion for a bad game. I hope the fans who routinely complained about Reno Mahe and his excellent ball security enjoyed watching Johnson fumble. They deserve it.

* I generally avoid this website after Eagles losses because of all the negativity, so I didn't post what I wanted to on Sunday night. And that was that I was very disappointed in Henry's performance for one very specific reason. In the fourth quarter, he had a chance to pin the opposing team deep in their territory -- the Eagles had some degree of momentum at the time and although the odds that they might come back were not good they were still somewhat in the game -- and proceeded to punt the ball only to the 18 yard line where it was fielded and returned by the Cardinals player. This was a HUGE play which flipped the field position badly in their favor. A similar thing had happened in the Ravens game. In that instance, he was punting from near midfield and was only able to hit the ball to the other team's twenty. Contrast that with what other teams are doing. How many times has Damaris Johnson had to field punts inside the ten this year? The reality is that other teams' punters are much more skilled at placing the ball. At the same time, Henry has demonstrated a complete lack of finesse in his game. Based on this, I'm not at all surprised at the subsequent decision to cut him and re-sign Mat McBriar. I'm sure many fans are knee-jerk reacting to this decision and are angry, citing only the fact that Henry has punted well for distance, completely overlooking the other aspects of his game. But I can understand it. I really can. And I'm not at all disappointed. Heck, I was rooting for McBriar to win the job in camp because I know how great the guy had been with the Cowboys. Incidentally, I think the decision to give the job to Henry in the first place was one which was not unanimous. I suspect it was a joint decision between Reid and April with input from Alex Henery. There was something odd about the way that final cut was handled -- even though the story had broke a few days earlier that Henry was the winner of the battle, they waited until after almost all the other cuts had been announced before they got around to releasing McBriar. It just smelled of some last minute indecision.

* One (almost) final point about Chas Henry. The guy had a strong leg but he wasn't special. Punters like him are like appetites. You don't have to wait that long until another one comes along.

* Oh...another point about Henry. In my statistical database, Henry's standard deviation this season was the worst of any Eagles punter since Mitch Berger in '94. His overall inconsistency wasn't just imagined -- the data showed it too.

[jsb235]

I should have posted my anti-Johnson diatribe in this thread rather than starting my own. I thought he looked shaky in the pre-season, and sure enough, he has made two major mistakes in three games, including the fumble that completely changed the momentum in Sunday's game.

IMO, he needs to be replaced sooner rather than later. I don't want to wait for the third strike that could cost the team another game.

[RealCrippler]

I love reading this blog. Thanks Franklin!
I'm curious how Henery responds tonight in a national televised game with a new holder. He's usually pretty calm, but we'll see.

[mattwill]

Miracles do happen . . . Lechler has a punt blocked.

[tysongs]

I am so excited about the win but man tonight it looked like the special teams were going to cost us the game.  Is it possible for Bobby April to make improvements.  If this keeps up, our special teams are going to cost us a game.

[iinvincible]

Henery cant kick the ball far.