The Linc - Former NFL player will shave one eyebrow if the Eagles beat the 49ers

New York Jets v Philadelphia Eagles — Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images

Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 9/18/21.

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links …

Bart Scott Promises To Shave Off Eyebrow If 49ers Lose To Eagles – TMZ Sports
An Eagles victory this weekend could be VERY costly for ex-NFL star Bart Scott … ‘cause the former linebacker guaranteed he’d shave off one of his eyebrows if Philly beats the 49ers!! The 41-year-old made the promise during ESPN’s “Get Up” show on Thursday … saying he’s that confident San Francisco will come away with a win over the Eagles on Sunday. “Can we have a one-shot on me and [former NFL player Damien Woody]?” Scott asked during a fiery segment breaking down the Eagles vs. 49ers matchup. “Listen, I bet you that if the 49ers lose to the Philadelphia Eagles, I’ll shave my eyebrow off. What say you?!”

An interview with Eagles legend Brian Dawkins – BGN
There’s a saying that you shouldn’t meet your heroes. I never knew how to feel about it. Would I really want to meet and shoot the breeze with Bruce Springsteen? Dawk? Does it ruin the perfect image you have of them in their head? Well, it didn’t for Dawk. He was, predictably, electric. As Eagles fans saw for more than a decade in Philadelphia, he oozes personality and when speaking with him, it becomes infectious. I felt myself getting amped up. I couldn’t run through a wall while conducting a video podcast interview, but, hey, maybe I could after.

Eye On The Enemy #66: A look ahead at the Eagles-49ers matchup with Rob “Stat” Guerrera – BGN Radio
On this week’s episode Johns Stolnis is joined by SB Nations Niners Nation’s Rob “Stats” Guerrera to preview Sundays matchup between the Eagles and 49ers. John also ranked Nick Sirianni’s debut with the 8 other Eagles head coaches since Dick Vermeil.

49ers-Eagles game preview: Five questions and answers with the enemy – Niners Nation
Hurts was pretty impressive against the Falcons. Now, granted, Atlanta’s secondary is pretty trash, and they don’t have much pass rush outside of Grady Jarrett. Even so, it was a really encouraging outing by the second-year quarterback. He finished Week 1 as PFF’s second-best graded quarterback with an NFL-high 90% adjusted completion percentage. He never really put the ball in harm’s way and regularly did a great job of taking what the defense gave him. He looked poised, confident, and in command out there. He was smart about picking his spots to run the ball as opposed to relying on his mobility too often. The big thing to watch moving forward, obviously, is his consistency. Can Hurts replicate this success? He’s probably not going to be able to go through the entire season and thrive with the lowest average intended air yards in the league as he had in Week 1. He’s not going to be able to rely on the Eagles leading the league in YAC every week. Defenses are going to try to take away some of the easier stuff and challenge him to throw the ball down the field. I don’t worry about Hurts when it comes to the deep ball. Through both game and practice settings, he’s demonstrated good touch while airing it out. The question is if he can work the middle of the field in the intermediate passing game. If I were DeMeco Ryans (shoutout to Mufasa!), I’d be looking to make Hurts prove he can beat the 49ers in that regard.

Eagles mailbag: How many games look more winnable now than they did a week ago? – PhillyVoice
Teams I now think the Eagles have a better chance of beating than they did before the season began: 49ers, Week 2: They’re very banged up, as the final injury report will show later today. Cowboys, Weeks 3 and 18: Dak Prescott had a great game Week 1, but he can’t run, and his arm strength did not look the same. Also, Zeke is cooked, and their best defensive player will be out for roughly half the season. Washington, Weeks 15 and 17: Their offense has been about what I’ve expected. Their defensive line has not been a force. Maybe we overrated that group a bit.

The Cinderella story of how the Eagles discovered Jordan Mailata and trumped the rest of the NFL – Inquirer
Stoutland relayed this information to Howie Roseman. But to be safe and to account for other possible suitors, the Eagles general manager traded up 17 spots to land Mailata. Stoutland’s instinct, just like his evaluation of the mammoth would-be tackle, proved to be correct. “I later talked to the [Steelers] coach,” Stoutland said, “and he goes, ‘Son of a bitch!’” It’s likely that Pittsburgh isn’t the only team to regret missing out on Mailata. Of course, the same could be said of many unheralded prospects who drift under the radar, for whatever reason, only to flourish once in the NFL. But Mailata’s Cinderella journey from football neophyte to draft pick to the Eagles’ $64 million starting left tackle, in just 3½ years, is unique to the NFL. So, too, was his discovery, although the process was in ways the standard front office collaboration that is often needed to identify talent. It took a willingness, though, to turn over every stone in the minefield that is player evaluation. And a vision to project Mailata as a bona fide prospect. It started with a scout’s unearthing, a coach’s confirmation, and ultimately leadership pulling the trigger. “I think every team was trying to find out, ‘Who is this guy? What’s he all about?’ Is he really any of these things?’” Stoutland said to The Inquirer. “But they missed out on the workout.

When will we truly know how good the Eagles are? – NBCSP
There’s nothing like the feeling in Philadelphia the week after a big Eagles win. The whole city is on Cloud Nine, fans pull out their favorite old jerseys from the back of the closet and even stuff like a I-95 backup from Columbus Boulevard up to Cottman, an endless SEPTA delay or a block full of broken parking kiosks can’t ruin the city’s vibe. It felt euphoric in Philly this week as the realization sunk in that, hey, the Eagles might just be onto something here. Everybody was feeling it. Not only did the Eagles open the season with a blowout road win, they really validated the Sirianni hire, and that means fans aren’t just thrilled with a win but are actually allowing themselves to be optimistic about the future. I hate to be that guy, but … it won’t always be like this. There will be ugly losses. There will be blown leads. There will be turnovers and dropped passes and disappointing performances at the worst time. Not being negative, that’s just the nature of football. But those moments will be just as important as that 32-6 win in Atlanta because we won’t really, truly find out what this 2021 Eagles team is all about until it faces adversity.

Eagles’ Nick Sirianni makes wise decision; NFL’s top five route runners – NFL.com
While there was a lot to like about the Eagles’ performance, they will need to target the left side of the field more often than they did in Week 1. As a right-handed passer, Hurts will more naturally throw to his strong side, but defensive coordinators will quickly adjust and force him to make throws to the back side. Hurts will need to be aware of his tendencies and adjust accordingly. That said, the Eagles should not make major adjustments and tweaks to their offense until the rest of the league catches up to their tactics. The collegiate-style offense is working well for Hurts thus far, and his comfort should be the team’s top priority. Sirianni has made it a point to build the Eagles’ schemes around the talents of his best players, and I wholeheartedly applaud him. I know we’re only one game into the season, but after receiving his share of criticism in the offseason, Sirianni deserves props from the broader football world for helping his young QB1 get off to a strong start.

Week 2 WR/CB Matchups: Who to target and avoid in DFS lineups – Fake Teams
Shout-out Deebo for his opening week exploits! Samuel, part of an offense in which Jimmy G had pretty much two viable targets (Deebo and Kittle, only players with 5+ targets), just had to be there to rack up passes, receptions, yards, and eventually end scoring a touchdown. The 31.9 PPR points were delightful if you rostered Samuel, and definitely a frustrating outcome if you opted to fade him. Perhaps the fact that the Detroit Lions were at the other end of the field helped Deebo, though, as he torched whoever happened to be covering him on any given play. The Eagles will bring Darius Slay to Deebo’s table this week for most of the plays they’ll both be on the field. It is probable that Samuel dodges Slay’s coverage on a fair amount of snaps as the WR can play off the slot (44%) and off both sidelines (56%), but this matchup will definitely take place throughout this weekend’s game (PFF projects 24 man-coverage battles between these two). Just in case you missed it last Sunday, Slay went on to murder Atlanta’s offense. Matt Ryan targeted Slay 8 times for some reason, of which he only allowed 4 passes to connect for 27 yards and no touchdowns. Slay was one of only eight CBs with 8+ targets on the day, yet he finished second in FP/Tgt surrendered (0.84) only to Carlton Davis (0.83) league-best outing when targeted.

Fantasy Football 2021: 5 WR/CB matchups to target and 5 to avoid in Week 2 – PFF
WR Brandon Aiyuk, San Francisco 49ers vs. CB Steven Nelson, Philadelphia Eagles. This may not be easy to hear for those who drafted Aiyuk early, but he’s an early candidate for bust status because his diminished role doesn’t leave much room for upside. Aiyuk ran only 13 routes in the first game and was not targeted. Head coach Kyle Shanahan has him in the doghouse and allowed Trent Sherfield to run as many routes for no apparent reason. That should be enough to avoid Aiyuk until he or Shanny prove otherwise, but the matchup isn’t great regardless, as the Eagles clamped the Atlanta Falcons to open the season. They allowed only 164 passing yards and the fewest yards per attempt (4.69) among the league’s defenses in Week 1, limiting Calvin Ridley to only 51 receiving yards in the process.

NFL Week 2 fantasy football questions and answers: 32 reporters give advice on Nelson Agholor, Brandon Aiyuk, QBs, more – ESPN
Will Jalen Hurts make a huge leap in completion percentage in 2021? Yes. His 77% completion rate was 25 percentage points higher than his rookie average (52%). This offense was designed to maximize his strengths and is largely about the quick passing game, whereas the Eagles last year led the league in vertical routes run. Hurts has a firm command of the scheme and will prove to be far more efficient in it relative to last year.

D-line shoulders the responsibility to win against tricky 49ers scheme – PE.com
The way Cox looks at every week is that the onus of responsibility is on the defensive line. It is a mantra he has repeated for years and years: “It’s on us. We’re the engine that drives the defense.” So true. The Eagles have invested heavily in their defensive line for a very significant reason – when the Eagles win at the line of scrimmage, they win games. That’s why Cox and Brandon Graham and Derek Barnett were first-round draft picks. That’s why Hargrave was a premier free-agent signing in 2020. It’s why depth has been bolstered through free agency by the signings of Ridgeway and Ryan Kerrigan. Additional draft capital has been used to select Josh Sweat (fourth round, 2018), Milton Williams (third round, 2021), Marlon Tuipulotu (sixth round, 2021), and Tarron Jackson (sixth round, 2021). It’s why the Eagles have 10 defensive linemen on the 53-man roster and played all 10 of them against Atlanta, with snap counts ranging from 41 (Cox) to two (Jackson) from the defense’s 72 total snaps. “Every week I feel it’s on us,” Graham said. “We all feel that way. It starts with us up front.”

49ers vs. Eagles game picks, best bets for Week 2 NFL season – DraftKings Nation
Pick against the spread: Eagles +3. This might be a case of extra caution as a 49ers fan wanting to avoid going with my heart. But San Francisco is banged up on defense in a big way. I think we’re going to see a breakout season from Jalen Hurts this season, and I don’t know that this 49ers defense is going to be able to sufficiently contain him to secure a big win. On the 49ers offensive side, while Elijah Mitchell finished with 104 yards last week, 38 of them came on one run, leaving the rest of his day at 3.67 yards per carry. The X-factor could be a combination of Trey Sermon and Brandon Aiyuk, but it’s hard to project anything at this point after one week of non-usage. I’m not inclined to put money down on this game at +3, but if you can find Eagles +3.5, jump on it.

How a cancer survivor selling ‘DAWG Culture’ attire aided Nick Sirianni’s message to Eagles – The Athletic
The meaning behind Hill’s “DAWG Culture” is a bit different than the exact way Sirianni presented it to the team. The idea came to Hill after he beat cancer and wanted to channel the spirit he adopted after a doctor told him he should go on a cruise because he didn’t have much longer to live. He created an acronym: The DAWG stands for desire, attitude, will and grind. But Hill, who played football and adopted the mentality as a player, sees parallels between the way he uses the expression and Sirianni’s message. “You may have days when you might miss the mark, but that doesn’t mean it affects tomorrow, it doesn’t mean that it affects the next situation that you’re in,” Hill said. “Just like with football, you have to have that memory that says, ‘OK, this play might not work in my favor, but because I know who I am, I’m going to use what just happened.’ Take the lesson from it and apply it in the next place. So that’s like the dawg mentality: It doesn’t matter what happened, all that matters is right now.”

Chiefs Go for the Early KO; Cowboys at the Crossroads – Football Outsiders
Carson Wentz’s high Time to Throw (2.92 seconds), below average Aggressiveness Index (13.2%), and low Air Yards to the Sticks (-3.2) from Next Gen Stats suggest that he was both holding the ball too long and not taking enough risks, a very troubling combination. But Wentz did his own research and determined that he was just fine.

Colts Injury Report: RT Smith and CB Rhodes OUT While 7 More Are Questionable – Stampede Blue
Right tackle Braden Smith has been ruled OUT for Sunday’s game against the Rams with a foot injury. With Smith unable to play it will likely be either Julian Davenport or Matt Pryor that will replace Smith in the starting line up. Cornerback Xavier Rhodes has been ruled OUT for Sunday’s game with a calf injury. Rhodes hasn’t managed to practice yet in the regular season and will miss his second game in a row. TJ Carrie will likely replace Rhodes in the starting line up.

Bills vs Dolphins 2021 injury report for Week 2: Will Fuller out, Star Lotulelei questionable – The Phinsider
Miami Dolphins wide receiver Will Fuller will be waiting at least another week to make his team debut as he has been ruled out Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills, following a league suspension forced him to miss last week’s season opener. Officially listed as “Not injury related – personal matter” on the Friday injury report, Fuller was not with the team practicing on Thursday or Friday, though there is no indication as to what the issue is.

Cowboys at Chargers game preview: Five things to watch – Blogging The Boys
No DeMarcus Lawrence, and no Randy Gregory, but does that mean no pass rush? It is going to be a tall task for this Cowboys defense to face a young quality quarterback in Justin Herbert in any scenario, but add the fact that neither of your two best pass rushers will be suiting up it leaves nothing but question marks as this team heads into week two. The Cowboys will lean on Dorance Armstrong and Tarrell Basham to bare the brunt of the load at defensive end Sunday. Look for Bradlee Anae to get his most extensive work as a pro as well, however it is safe to say the Cowboys will need to get creative in how they attack Herbert and his tough offensive line. You will want to keep your eyes on Micah Parsons and Jaylon Smith as they work both of them in a variety of different ways to try and drum up pressure as well. No matter how they do it, the Cowboys will want to get in Herbert’s face and effect his comfortability in the pocket. This will be a massive test for this defense and it isn’t a stretch to say how this unit preforms Sunday afternoon will be a huge indicator of how far this team can go this year.

4 takeaways from Washington’s win over the Giants – Hogs Haven
I said it before yesterday’s game: My concern with Taylor Heinicke was not whether he had the capacity to play well in the NFL, it’s whether he has the capacity to stay healthy over most of an NFL season. Mercifully, Heinicke didn’t put himself in harm’s way, and the offensive line didn’t get him placed in traction. He showed us exactly what he showed Old Dominion fans in college and what he showed us late last year: He’s a gamer. He’s exciting. He leaves every bit of himself on the field to try to win the game. He also showed that, once he settled down a bit, he’s quite capable of harnessing the talents of his offensive weapons and giving them the opportunity to make their own plays. Terry McLaurin had a great game as Heinicke’s security blanket, but JD McKissic, Ricky Seals-Jones, and Adam Humphries were all threaded effectively into the team’s offensive game plan. Even if Washington had lost the game, Heinicke did enough to win it. When he threw an ill-advised pass for an interception late in the 4th quarter, he quickly got the ball back, and – unfazed – drove the team down for the game winning field goal in the closing seconds.

Big Blue View mailbag: Jason Garrett, defensive concerns, Kadarius Toney, more – Big Blue View
Garrett didn’t run an imaginative offense a year ago, or on Sunday. There were some signs of improvement Thursday. There are still plenty of issues. Saquon Barkley still isn’t 2018 Barkley, may never be 2018 Barkley, and his tendency to run sideways when he should take a yard or two will always drive everyone crazy. Kadarius Toney isn’t a productive part of the offense. Evan Engram hasn’t played. Two-fifths of the starting offensive line, that many didn’t think would be good enough to begin with, is on IR. A third piece of that line, Matt Peart, is buried on the bench. It’s not just Garrett. You have to block, run and catch, too, and the Giants have to prove they can do those things. Everybody is frustrated. Everybody is edgy. I get it. There are 17 games to go. It’s either going to get fixed and the season will turn out to have an upbeat feeling, or it won’t and at least some heads will likely roll.

Cole Beasley is enabling an anti-vax stadium tour of the NFL – SB Nation
One of the most effective tactics employed during medieval sieges was to launch diseased livestock inside enemy castle walls in an effort to spread illness prior to a frontal assault. Bills players Cole Beasley and Reid Ferguson appear to be enamored by the tactic. The Bills announced this week that fans would be required to show proof of vaccination to attend home games at Highmark Stadium, the fourth team in the NFL to require fans to follow such guidelines. In response anti-vax Bills fans have said they’ll travel to away games to see their team, rather than head down the street to a Walgreens and get a shot. Now they’re being enabled by Beasley and Ferguson, the two most outspoken critics of the vaccine on the team, who say they will buy the tickets of unvaccinated fans who travel to see them play.

NFL Reacts #7: Judge’s Giants, NFL Reacts Polls, and Week 2 sleepers – The SB Nation NFL Show
Welcome to another edition of NFL Reacts! Stephen Serda, Kate Magdziuk, and Justis Mosqueda discuss the magic of Washington quarterback Taylor Heinicke after they pull off a big win over the Giants. Joe Judge continues to prove that he has no business being an NFL head coach and it’s ruining the Giants’ overall fantasy value. We’ve got a fresh batch of NFL Reacts polls with shocking numbers on Justin Fields being the Bears starter and some NFL MVP risers. Before we take off for the weekend we’ve got our favorite fantasy sleepers and best bets of week 2.