The truth about the Eagles

[dreamcastrocks]

Did you read my post? I was suggesting that the main reason for the noise was that the real fans had the opportunity to get seats. I don't think that is the case this week.

I'm not saying this as anti-Arizona. That's the case with any big conference championship or Super Bowl. Real fans normally can't get as many tickets. Casual fans and even non-fans have more cash and are willing to show up quietly for "the experience."

So what is your opinion, that the Atlanta game was filled with real fans or causal fans? Hosting a home playoff game was like hosting a championship game for us. It has never happened before. Some of us have waited our entire life for a moment like this.

To be honest, I am a little worried about the amount of Eagle fans that might show up. It definitely won't be the 98% Cards fans like we saw at the Atlanta game. I have no doubt however that we won't be as loud, or even louder.

 

[RandomGuy]

So what is your opinion, that the Atlanta game was filled with real fans or causal fans? Hosting a home playoff game was like hosting a championship game for us. It has never happened before. Some of us have waited our entire life for a moment like this.

To be honest, I am a little worried about the amount of Eagle fans that might show up. It definitely won't be the 98% Cards fans like we saw at the Atlanta game. I have no doubt however that we won't be as loud, or even louder.

Real fans for the Atlanta game, for sure. It's insane to be able to actually acquire a NFL ticket for face value. The Eagles have tortured me by selling out all seats in less than 7 minutes for the last 7-8 years running.

Not sure on how to read your final sentence there. Are you saying you're sure that they will be as loud or louder than last week?

I don't think you're going to see a 98%/2% split. Or a 90/10. It's going to be 70/10/20. The 70 and 10 will be loud fans of each team, respectively. The final 20% being people with money who paid insanely high scalped prices for seats who have never been to a football game and aren't fond of yelling. That's just how our big sports work these days for title games.

The amusing part about fans waiting a long time for this to happen is that the Eagles fans feel the same about this season. You will not find a real, honest Eagle fan who thought the team would even make the playoffs a two months ago. And if you find one, who is clearly lying, even that one guy didn't believe that they would actually win even one playoff game, let alone advance this far. No one thought the Eagles might actually have a shot at a SB re-appearance before the current 10-year regime falls apart.

 

[Dawkins2112]

Don't rely on stats like that. When a team gets behind, they have to throw more.

That doesn't apply to us. We throw the ball first and run second, regardless of the score. This has been by biggest beef with Reid.

 

[Dawkins2112]

You mean you do realize the joint will be rocking with lots of crowd noise, and you expect McNabb to handle it better than the rookie? Excellent. That's fair enough. Far smarter than the ignorance of thinking there won't be a crowd noise issue.

There's crowd noise in every stadium, especially during the playoffs. Which stadium is the loudest, is debatable. I have no doubt your joint will be rockin just as I have no doubt it will not be an issue for the Eagles.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Real fans for the Atlanta game, for sure. It's insane to be able to actually acquire a NFL ticket for face value. The Eagles have tortured me by selling out all seats in less than 7 minutes for the last 7-8 years running.

Not sure on how to read your final sentence there. Are you saying you're sure that they will be as loud or louder than last week?

I don't think you're going to see a 98%/2% split. Or a 90/10. It's going to be 70/10/20. The 70 and 10 will be loud fans of each team, respectively. The final 20% being people with money who paid insanely high scalped prices for seats who have never been to a football game and aren't fond of yelling. That's just how our big sports work these days for title games.

Same thing happended for this game. The game sold out in 6 minutes.

I'm sure this crowd will be just as loud when it needs to be. We are going to see more white and green in the stadium than I like though.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

That doesn't apply to us. We throw the ball first and run second, regardless of the score. This has been by biggest beef with Reid.

So do we. It works pretty good for us though.

 

[RandomGuy]

That doesn't apply to us. We throw the ball first and run second, regardless of the score. This has been by biggest beef with Reid.

Mild correction: Pass first, pass second, pass third, run fourth.

 

[football karma]

Real fans for the Atlanta game, for sure. It's insane to be able to actually acquire a NFL ticket for face value. The Eagles have tortured me by selling out all seats in less than 7 minutes for the last 7-8 years running.

Not sure on how to read your final sentence there. Are you saying you're sure that they will be as loud or louder than last week?

I don't think you're going to see a 98%/2% split. Or a 90/10. It's going to be 70/10/20. The 70 and 10 will be loud fans of each team, respectively. The final 20% being people with money who paid insanely high scalped prices for seats who have never been to a football game and aren't fond of yelling. That's just how our big sports work these days for title games.

I dunno -- I am having a hard time with that theory

"Casual" fans generally dont know that at 3 pm the Sunday of the Giants/Eagles game that if the Eagles win, tickets for a NFC Champ game go on sale. Committed fans generally do. It sold out quickly.

I have little doubt that there will be Eagles fans there -- I put the over/under at 10%, or 7,000. I think the vast majority of those will be local transplants vs travellers.

I do agree that there will be some there who are there because of the magnitude of the event. For example, my company has tickets,and instead of giving to customers (as was done during the regular season), two company execs are going (but they are jacked, so who knows). Suns crowds (lower bowl) are the epitome of the "casual"/dont get too worked up type crowd -- but when the playoffs start, they tend to transform.

So, I have no doubt it will be very loud. I dont know if it will impact McNabb so much, but serve to equalize the offenses' snap count advantage. If it makes it difficult to audible as well, so much the better.

 

[Dawkins2112]

Mild correction: Pass first, pass second, pass third, run fourth.

At times, it seems like that. They throw on first probably 90 percent, though that has changed since the end of the season.

 

[RandomGuy]

I dunno -- I am having a hard time with that theory

"Casual" fans generally dont know that at 3 pm the Sunday of the Giants/Eagles game that if the Eagles win, tickets for a NFC Champ game go on sale. Committed fans generally do. It sold out quickly.

True, but in my experience sellouts that go THAT quickly usually mean heavy scalper purchases through various means. Plus additional tickets on brokerage sites when regular season ticket holders start seeing ticket values race upwards.

Good points on the rest of your post.

 

[Dawkins2112]

So do we. It works pretty good for us though.

Your pass to run ratio cannot possibly be close to ours. We throw more than any other team in the NFL.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Your pass to run ratio cannot possibly be close to ours. We throw more than any other team in the NFL.

It used to be. It was 70/30 for quite a few games this year. I think there is one game where we ran the ball like 6 times? They went back to the running game more, when they brought Edge back in there.

 

[Dawkins2112]

It used to be. It was 70/30 for quite a few games this year. I think there is one game where we ran the ball like 6 times? They went back to the running game more, when they brought Edge back in there.

That's interesting. I didn't know that.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

That's interesting. I didn't know that.

A couple of games.

The Carolina (not playoff) game Kurt threw the ball 49 times compared to 14 rushes.

1st Seahawks game was 44 to 20 rushes

I'm not counting the Minnesota/Jets/NE games were we were down early and forced to pass.

We did threw the ball by design for a good part of the season.

 

[Dawkins2112]

A couple of games.

The Carolina (not playoff) game Kurt threw the ball 49 times compared to 14 rushes.

1st Seahawks game was 44 to 20 rushes

I'm not counting the Minnesota/Jets/NE games were we were down early and forced to pass.

We did threw the ball by design for a good part of the season.

That may be but I still expect both teams to attempt to establish some sort of run game. We will try to run the ball.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Blitzing Warner has shown thus far to be dangerous. Warner has the league's best passer rating while being blitzed. He is over 100. If the entire gameplan is Eagles blitzing Warner, I'd be pretty worried if I were the Eagles.

well, that's the eagles strength . . . the blitz. so that means it's strength against strength. eagles' blitz against warner's ability to burn the blitz. know what i like about that mano-e-mano matchup? warner's ability to burn the blitz netted him a superbowl victory. eagles' blitz has not.

 

[Mulli]

Your pass to run ratio cannot possibly be close to ours. We throw more than any other team in the NFL.

That may be but I still expect both teams to attempt to establish some sort of run game. We will try to run the ball.

Just kidding. Both will try to run the ball at least a little.

I am thinking we can all agree on that.

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[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

The crowd noise factor is going to be interesting.

Last week it was nearly a TV blackout until multiple extensions and help from a local pool supply company buying up the leftover tickets.

This week the game sold out in six minutes, scalpers have loaded the online broker sites with seats, and ticket value is high enough for some fans to consider selling at a sizable profit.

The Cards players were quoted during last week's game as chatting about how surprised they were at how enthusiastic the fans were in the dome. They joked that it didn't seem like their usual fans.

One could submit a theory that a majority of "real" non-season-ticket fans showed up last week with available seats at face value and an impending blackout.

I wonder how many "real" non-season-ticket fans were able to get seats for this Sunday. Regardless, it seems apparent that the dome staff will do their best to whiop the crowd into a frenzy with free towels and encouragement from the video boards. It will be interesting to see if the noise level is truly as loud as last week.

first, all "real" or "fake" fans sound alike when yelling. sellout means LOUD. second, if you would take a moment to see all the threads around this place about cards crazies descending on phx for this game you'd understand . . . there are a LOT of fans coming to this game. finally, extended blackout period or not, i was at the wildcard round game . . . and man, i have NEVER heard a crowd like that before. and that's including my time spent on the east coast going to foxboro, giants stadium, and rfk. never.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

The Eagles are already practicing with piped-in noise this week. They have seen their fair share of loud games.

I think Dawkins2112 had a valid point with Ryan. I also think that while crowd noise WILL complicate the play calling for the Eagles a bit this week, it won't be as loud as last week (by the very nature of the huge swing in ticket availability) and it won't have as dire an impact.

where is the noise usually the biggest factor? in the redzone. so really it only has to have a single instance of impact for it to be dire. maybe it results in crossed signals when the eagles are backed up resulting in - ulp - a safety. or maybe in a botched handoff that's returned for a TD. those things can't happen, right? oh wait, they DID in the falcons game. or maybe it happens at the other end of the field where crossed signals may equate to a FG rather than a TD. i like the noise on my side. bring the noise! BRING THE MUTHA EFFIN' NOISE!

 

[RandomGuy]

well, that's the eagles strength . . . the blitz. so that means it's strength against strength. eagles' blitz against warner's ability to burn the blitz. know what i like about that mano-e-mano matchup? warner's ability to burn the blitz netted him a superbowl victory. eagles' blitz has not.

To be fair, Warner did that with BOTH a squad of high end WRs and the best RB in the league at the time. Neither the Eagles nor the Cards can claim both abilities. Warner stepped into a dream situation back then.

You've got the WR core, a decent young RB, a declining RBand a line that needs work in the run blocking. I won't claim to know your pass protection.

The Eagles have a solid RB, a capable backup RB, a young speedster WR, a slew of misc other WRs, good pass protection, and almost no run blocking at the interior.

 

[RandomGuy]

first, all "real" or "fake" fans sound alike when yelling. sellout means LOUD. second, if you would take a moment to see all the threads around this place about cards crazies descending on phx for this game you'd understand . . . there are a LOT of fans coming to this game. finally, extended blackout period or not, i was at the wildcard round game . . . and man, i have NEVER heard a crowd like that before. and that's including my time spent on the east coast going to foxboro, giants stadium, and rfk. never.

I'll disagree right off the bat. Surely you have a few friends who like sports. Surely some of them yell a LOT louder than others. Real Fans tend to yell louder than casual fans by their very nature. No doubt you had a dome almost entirely full of Real Fans last week. The fact that tickets were available for face value made that possible.

This is the NFL. The Eagles are used to playing to sellout crowds in nearly all of their games. Not saying your dome won't increase the volume a bit, but a sellout crowd doesn't add much on face value.

Your dome, any stadium, it doesn't matter. Crowds at these bigger title and near-title games just don't have the same ratios. I think you guys had a perfect storm last week of a sellout of loud, crazy excited fans. And kudos for that. Even the Cards players couldn't believe their ears. But that seems to imply that it was an anomoly, making good sense with my ticket availability theory, and for this Sunday the tickets aren't nearly as easy to come by for the Real Fans.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I'll disagree right off the bat. Surely you have a few friends who like sports. Surely some of them yell a LOT louder than others. Real Fans tend to yell louder than casual fans by their very nature. No doubt you had a dome almost entirely full of Real Fans last week. The fact that tickets were available for face value made that possible.

This is the NFL. The Eagles are used to playing to sellout crowds in nearly all of their games. Not saying your dome won't increase the volume a bit, but a sellout crowd doesn't add much on face value.

Your dome, any stadium, it doesn't matter. Crowds at these bigger title and near-title games just don't have the same ratios. I think you guys had a perfect storm last week of a sellout of loud, crazy excited fans. And kudos for that. Even the Cards players couldn't believe their ears. But that seems to imply that it was an anomoly, making good sense with my ticket availability theory, and for this Sunday the tickets aren't nearly as easy to come by for the Real Fans.

i think you're gonna be shocked at how much crazier the fans are this week than the were against the Falcons. Even if it were just those 50K who bought playoff tickets two months, that place would be louder and crazier somehow simply because the moment will sweep EVERYONE away. It's just the nature of mob-mentality and that's what those 50K fans are in the first place, a ravenous rabid mob who at this point would probably kill their grandmothers just to see the Cards win this game... and with that mob, the other 20K will join in. They'll have no choice but to.

The Rose Bowl in 1997 is the perfect example of this. Me, Ouchie and a huge group of other friends went to the Rose Bowl back to see ASU versus OSU where ASU had a chance to win the National Title... and one of our friends from U of A went with us. Suffice to say, he had no love for the Devils... but in that atmosphere... in a classic game... he got more and more into the game and at one point and on a 3rd down incompletion he just SNAPPED screaming: *********! I JUST CAN'T TAKE THE PRESSURE! There he was, a U of A alum... freaking out over ASU not completing a pass simply because he got swept up in the moment. That's gonna be the other 20K at that stadium.

In the ATL game I think people were just fired up because we finally got a home playoff game... but now... the crowd isn't just gonna be there in a jubilant, bositerous ecstatic to be there mood... it's gonna be there looking for blood. You really have no clue how long this city has been waiting for this which is understandable. You've been lucky to follow a really good team so getting to this point is probably almost old hat to you. But not to us. That place is going to explode on Sunday.

seriously, if you think this crowd's (with 7K extra seats put in) gonna be less tame or the same as the ATL game, you're gonna be mistaken.

 

[RandomGuy]

We'll have to see how this one turns out.

Grant me this, at least: Real Fans know to shut up when the home offense is on the field. Casual fans, if yelling at all, scream the entire game.

Not that it will make a difference in this one.

 

[Cheesebeef]

We'll have to see how this one turns out.

Grant me this, at least: Real Fans know to shut up when the home offense is on the field. Casual fans, if yelling at all, scream the entire game.

Not that it will make a difference in this one.

oh definitely. But there's enough real fans to tell the casual fans to shut their traps once the O is on the field.

 

[BigRedRage]

everyone beases their ideas based off of our regular season team.

In the playoffs, this has obviously a 100% different team.

If we play like we have been no team can come close to beating us "handely"

The eagles at times have been great, at times have been terrible.

We finished the season terrible but what did we have to play for?