Positional Storylines: The End of the Regular Season

Original Post: December 30, 2018
by Eric Marturano

This summer, while we were reveling in the afterglow of the Eagles’ first ever Super Bowl win, we took a look at some of the positional storylines for the upcoming season. After four weeks, at 2-2, we checked-in again. Through eight weeks, at 4-4, we took another look at the team. Most recently we checked in at 6-6 after twelve weeks. And now, the regular season is over. The Eagles are 9-7, the 6^th seed in the playoffs, and set to face the Chicago Bears this coming Wild Card Weekend (kickoff is Sunday January 6^th at 4:40pm). So…what are the storylines headed into the playoffs?

QB

Nick Foles might be “The Future”

The QB storyline this season has been quite the rollercoaster ride between Carson Wentz and Nick Foles. Here’s how they evolved throughout the season in this column alone:

• Preseason: Carson Wentz, the Comeback Kid….or Nick Foles, Football Rocky?
• Week 4: Thanks Nick, but Carson Wentz is back.
• Week 8: Wentz has shaken off the rust, but can he return to MVP-caliber?
• Week 12: The Eagles go where Wentz’s Touchdown Rate Goes

Heading into the year, we wondered whose team it was – Foles or Wentz? At the time (and still for many), Wentz was widely considered the more talented player and future of the franchise. Nick Foles, on the other hand, was thought of by most as a journeyman who got hot at the right time. After this regular season, there might be enough evidence to re-think these narratives entirely.
Here are some brief facts:

• Carson Wentz went 5-6 in 11 games this year, completing 69.6% of his passes.
• Nick Foles went 4-1 in 5 games this year, completing 72.3% of his passes.
• Carson Wentz turned 26 the day Nick Foles, 29, led the Eagles to their second consecutive playoff birth.
• Carson Wentz hasn’t exactly been healthy these last few years – in 2015 (North Dakota State) he missed 8 weeks due to surgery on his throwing wrist, in 2016 he fractured his ribs and missed all of preseason, in 2017 he tore his ACL and missed the entire Super Bowl run, and now in 2018 he is out indefinitely with fractured vertebrae in his back.
• In his last two games, Nick Foles set an Eagles record for yards thrown in one game (471 vs. Houston) and tied an NFL record for consecutive completions (25 vs. Washington).
• It is not a rare occurrence for NFL quarterbacks to bloom in their late 20’s or early 30’s and sustain success into their mid-late 30’s. Just ask Tony Romo, Kurt Warner, Matt Hasselbeck, Jeff Garcia, Steve Young, Warren Moon, Trent Green, Vinny Testaverde, and Rich Gannon.

All of this is to say that Nick Foles may very well be the future of this team. With one Super Bowl MVP already under his belt, he’ll look to gun for another one beginning this week vs. the Chicago Bears.

RB

Adams, Sproles, and Smallwood Getting it Done

While the emergence of Josh Adams’s ground game has been a long-running storyline this season, the injection of Darren Sproles into the running back corps has helped jump-start the Eagles success through the air. With Wendell Smallwood providing adequate spells for both Adams and Sproles in the running and pass-catching game, the Eagles running backs should continue to provide ample support to the Nick Foles / Doug Pederson “RPO” attack throughout the playoffs.

WR/TE

The Deep Ball is Back

Something sorely missing during the Wentz games was an adequate deep attack. Whether by play-calling or confidence, Foles seems unafraid to toss the ball deep for playmakers such as Alshon Jeffery or Nelson Agholor, putting them in positions to win one-on-one match-ups. This has made for some pretty exciting football over the last three weeks. With Zach Ertz, Golden Tate, Dallas Goedert, and Darren Sproles providing ample ability in the now opened-up short passing-game, the Eagles’s talented pass-catching unit is finally peaking…just in time for the playoffs.

OL/DL

Strength in Numbers

Although there have been injuries to both units, depth has been the story of success for both the offensive and defensive lines this season. Offensively, Halapoulivaati Vaitai has adequately filled in for the aging Jason Peters (who is constantly on and off the field with various ailments) and Stefan Wisniewski has been able to step in for an injured Issac Seumalo. Defensively, the only big loss up front this year was Derek Barnett. Now entering the playoffs, the leaders of the Eagles frontlines – Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, Brandon Brooks on offense and Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, Chris Long, and Michael Bennett on defense – are  healthy and poised for a playoff run. I look forward to another Jason Kelce speech atop the Art Museum steps in February 2019.

LB/DB

Getting healthier and figuring it out at the right time

Jordan Hicks is back. Avonte Maddox is covering holes wherever they crop up in the secondary. Rasul Douglas and Cre’Von LeBlanc have developed into positives as defensive backs. Corey Graham has been better at Free Safety. Malcolm Jenkins (SS) and Nigel Bradham (LB) have remained reliable. While pass coverage has been the weak-point of the Eagles all season, things have been getting better. If these units can continue to make stops at key moments in games, there is a roadmap to the Super Bowl.

Special Teams

Can Jake Elliot come through?

Over the last 4 weeks, Jake Elliot has missed two extra points and one field goal. That may not seem like much, but in a league where every point matters, Elliot’s ability to make kicks will be crucial against playoff competition. First up is the Chicago Bears, who boast one of the better defenses in the league. If needed to knock a 50+ yarder through the uprights, will Jake Elliot answer the call?

“No one wanted us. No one liked this team.”

Throughout the season, analysts, pundits, and fans jumped off the defending champs’ bandwagon…and they were continuously wrong to do so. Nobody gave Nick Foles a chance against the Los Angeles Rams. The Houston Texans had too much to play for. A team led by Kirk Cousins would somehow get it done in a do-or-die game and keep the red-hot Eagles out of the playoffs. How many times does this team need to prove people wrong? Give me the Eagles to beat the Bears, beat the Saints, and beat whoever shows up for the the NFC title game. Give me the Eagles to win the Super Bowl and Nick Foles to repeat as back-to-back Super Bowl MVP. Go Birds.

Views from 116: 12/22 vs. Raptors

Original Post: December 23, 2018
by Eric Marturano

Welcome to Views from 116. In case you forgot, this column is a perspective from the stands for the fans. Let’s get to it.
Sixers vs. Raptors – Saturday, December 22, 2018
Yesterday, the 21-12 Sixers took on the 25-9 Raptors. The Sixers won 126-101, improving to 22-12 while the Raptors fell to 25-10.

Pregame:

I walked to meet up with RJ at the Spring Garden subway stop about an hour ahead of the 7:30pm tip. Lots of Raptors were set to be out of the lineup tonight, including Kawhi Leonard and Jonas Valanciunas, so we were hoping that the Sixers could take advantage of a short-handed roster and get a win at home against the current Eastern Conference leader.
We got down to the stadium about 15 minutes ahead of tip and ate some giant pizza from Lorenzo’s. But when we tried to make our way to our seats, we were stopped in the tunnel since the national anthem had already started. This didn’t make any sense since tip-off wasn’t set to occur until 7:30pm (it was only 7:15pm when we got stopped). We thought initially this was just a rehearsal (so as not to repeat what happened last time), but after warm-ups, the proceedings went directly to player introductions. If anyone knows why the anthem didn’t occur at its usual time, let me know! It’s still a mystery to me.
Freddie Mitchell rang the bell and got an unreasonably warm welcome. Good for him for still being able to live off of “4^th & 26” but boy oh boy was he trash for an Eagles team that didn’t win the Super Bowl. Want to win again? Have the only Eagles Super Bowl MVP in history, Nick Foles, ring every bell in the city.
After the bell-ringing and introductions, Mike Muscala wished the crowd a happy holiday season and we we’re off…

First Quarter:

While there was some speculation on whether Kyle Lowry would play or not tonight, he was certainly out there to start, which made me pretty nervous due to the Sixers’ inability to stop above-average guards this year. Also on the court for Toronto was Pascal Siakim, who has become the early-season leader in the clubhouse for Overrated Darling of #NBATwitter. Siakim finished the night with 26 points on 11-21 from the field, 0-6 from 3pt, 17 uncalled push-off fouls, and a plus/minus of -21. At least he’s “fun to watch.”

Other 1st quarter observations:

• Jonah Bolden had his best game of the year and came out strong on both ends of the floor in the 1^st quarter. He was a total burst of energy right away and showed some ability to fill the Covington-sized hole in our help defense. He also had a ton of nice blocks. He was an early difference maker in a game that would turn into a blow-out and felt integral to the team’s success tonight.
• The Chik-Fil-A basketball challenge (layup-FT-3PT-half court) was back, and the fan participant did pretty well to start, hitting the layup, the foul shot, and the 3PT shot pretty quickly. However, this dude actually tried to shoot multiple set-shot jumpers from half court, never adjusting to a running start after many short air-balls. Alas, what started as promising turned disappointing.
• Joel Embiid was the #76ersShowdown dance cam option yet again. I’m beginning to think that the Sixers have stopped making new videos after Dario was traded and only have Joel and TJ left.

• At one point, Kyle Lowry got fouled and took about 2 minutes to shoot 2 FTs after walking up to half court, chatting with the ref, taking his time to get to the line, getting set, chatting with some players, baking a cake, having a cup of tea, shooting one free throw, making a long distance phone-call, lining up his next shot, thinking about it, preparing his tax return, and then finally shooting his second free throw. The Raptors are beginning to reach Celtics-level annoyance for me.
• JJ Redick hit a 1^st quarter “buzzer beater” (ended up being rescinded). After the score correction, the Sixers were trailing 29-30 through 1 quarter of play.

Second Quarter:

Embiid owned this quarter for the Sixers and had 23 points by the end of the half, making a bunch of nice plays along the way. I thought he was headed to 40 tonight (ended up with 27 points in 31 minutes), and perhaps he could have gotten there had it been a closer game (I’m glad it wasn’t). He also got T’d up and wouldn’t be the only Sixer to do so tonight – both Butler and Simmons got technical fouls as well. The officiating crew tonight seemed to be in no mood to tolerate any arguing from players or coaches (Toronto’s coach Nick Nurse got T’d up at one point as well). I found this odd for a game where the teams competing weren’t heated with each other at all (and in a game that ended up being a blowout).

Other notes:

• There was a Simmons-Shamet-Butler-Muscala-Bolden lineup this quarter, which looked pretty good. Bolden was able to provide just enough defensively to support Simmons and Butler out on the perimeter. I would like to see more of this fast-paced lineup, which made me think about the 16 game win streak last year and how comfortable Simmons looked on the run with shooters.
• Between the 1^st and 2^nd quarter there was this very strange 2-v-2 tug of war between 4 elves, officiated by Franklin the Dog. When James Naismith explained to his wife Maude his vision of basketball, I’m not sure this is what he had in mind.

• The Big Head race took place this quarter just a few sections over from me. This the thing where three giant “big heads” of players (tonight, Embiid, Simmons, and Butler) are passed across rows/sections of fans. I actually forget who won because I was distracted by the creepy Betsy Ross and Ben Franklin mascots, so apologies there. As always, my $50 offer stands for anyone willing to take the giant head when it is passed to them and sprint out of the stadium. All I ask for is proof!

• The pop-a-shot contest also took place this quarter. The first kid tonight was pretty bad, only making 8 shots…but the second kid was even worse and somehow lost to that easy-to-beat score. Both were appropriately booed. Man, I love our fans.
• Jonah Bolden got a nice reaction of appreciative applause from the crowd when he headed to the bench near the end of the quarter. I was really happy to see that since he could probably use the encouragement after being brought up to the Sixers/sent back to the Blue Coats quite often this season. I really hope to see more of Jonah in the rotation in the coming weeks – he earned that tonight.
• The Sixers won the quarter 36-29 and went into halftime up 65-59.

Third Quarter:

The Sixers continued their solid play this quarter and held the Raptors to 20 points, despite some free gifts from the refs. There was no greater gift than the hilarious Ben Simmons technical foul, awarded since Ben sat down in a courtside seat in disappointment after a bad call. While I’m sure the letter of the law is something along the lines of “you can’t do that,” it was a pretty funny move on Ben’s part, and I would appreciate it if the NBA looked the other way in humorous situations such as this. The crowd was fed up with the referees by this point and sure let them know it with the timeless “Ref you suck!” chant.

Other 3^rd quarter observations:

• Here’s a half funny, half weird story: I was a tad late getting back to my seat from my halftime meet-up with Jason, Shane, Dan, and Ky so I had to wait for the first stoppage of play with a bunch of other people in my section. As I’m waiting to re-enter, some guy behind me pushes through the crowd as if he’s walking right on in. Partially annoyed, partially trying to be helpful, I say, “Hey, they’re not gonna let you in yet, we have to wait for play stoppage.” He gives me a strange look and then turns to the guy standing in front of me and says, “Hey, I LOVE your show…Just wanted to say Hi!” and then promptly disappears back to the concourse. Wouldn’t you know it, I’m standing right behind Tim Legler of ESPN, who now seemed a bit creeped that out someone tracked him through a crowd.
• The “shoot from your seat” contestant wasn’t very good, and I’m getting a bit tired of this gimmick. It is where someone sits in a series of chairs near the basket and tries to make shots. It seems to either be this game or musical chairs during the early 3^rd quarter block. If that’s really the case, whoever decides this stuff should be embarrassed for not having musical chairs every game. Musical chairs rocks.
• Sixer vs. Sixer was fun, with Joel Embiid vs. Amir Johnson on the topic of ice cream flavors. Amir once again proved his grizzled veteran knowledge by naming 6 ice cream flavors while Embiid, still a young 24, could only name 2 ice cream flavors.

• A less-fun gimmick was the video car-race, where fans are told that “the section that cheers the loudest gets their very own t-shirt toss!” I may need to verify this with a scientist, but I don’t think these video cars go any faster regardless of how loud a section cheers. This game seems rigged at worst and not-transparent at best, so I don’t think it should be played in the Wells Fargo Center. This may sound sarcastic, but I’m not kidding – this gimmick stinks.
• The Sixers were up 91-79 headed into the 4^th, so I surmised that the first team to 110 would win. I was correct, but could have gone lower – the Raptors only got to 101.

Fourth Quarter:

The Sixers crushed the Raptors 35-22 in this quarter, much of which became garbage time. You could tell the Raptors were an injured team on the road on the 2^nd night of a back-to-back. Regardless, I’ll take the win – the Sixers could use every win they can get in a tight race atop the Eastern Conference. Two final notes:

• Jonah Bolden, Furkan Korkmaz, and TJ McConnell played pretty well this game off the bench
• World B. Free dressed pretty well this game sort of near the bench

Sixers WIN 126-101. Say it with me: “Fresh water. $1 pretzels.”
Next time I’m in 116, I’ll share some more views. Until then: 1-2-3-4-5-Sixers!

Views from 116: 12/14 vs. Pacers

Original Post: December 15, 2018
by Eric Marturano

Welcome to Views from 116. In case you forgot, this column is a perspective from the stands for the fans. Let’s get to it.

Sixers vs. Pacers – Friday, December 14, 2018
Yesterday, the 19-10 Sixers took on the 18-10 Pacers. The Sixers lost 101-113, falling to 19-11 while the Pacers improved to 18-10.
Pregame:
My pal RJ met my wife Erin and I for dinner at Bourbon & Branch, a solid bar & restaurant near our home. I decided to switch away from wings for once and try their cheesesteak, which is a food that I always feel a little weird about ordering in an actual restaurant. Thankfully, it did not disappoint.
Once dinner was finished, RJ & I departed for Spring Garden Station to take the subway down to the game, lamenting the disturbing Fultz article from the Washington Post and the Sixers’ general lack of depth. Although Mike Muscala was cleared to play tonight (in hindsight, he didn’t help much), the already-thin Sixers were down one of their best players in Jimmy Butler. With Jonah Bolden back with the Blue Coats and Shake Milton not yet trusted by Brett Brown (3 minutes of action tonight), we sure could use a Markelle Fultz or a Zhaire Smith or even a Justin Patton right about now!
I should mention that as I write this, #NBATwitter is melting down over a potential deal between the Suns, Grizzlies, and Wizards involving Trevor Ariza and Kelly Oubre that fell apart because the Suns and Grizzlies couldn’t agree on “which Brooks – Marshon or Dillon” would be traded. Perhaps the Sixers and their deep pockets of 2nd round picks should get involved for some of these clearly available rotation players? I digress…
We arrived at the stadium pretty close to tip, so we rushed right to our seats. The anthem was played wonderfully on the guitar by Taz Niederauer. Brandon Brooks and Kamu Grugier-Hill of the 6-7 Philadelphia Eagles rang the bell. Maybe if Nick Foles rang it the Sixers would have won.

First Quarter:

Ben Simmons had a hot start, which he seems to do often. The trouble is that he also seems to disappear as the game goes on. I’m hoping that changes throughout the year. While this team will essentially go as far as Embiid can take them, Simmons has All-NBA potential as well, and I’d like to see that continue to develop.
Other 1st quarter observations:

• Embiid and Simmons connected on a nice dish & dunk. Simmons’ vision really sets him apart from other athletic freaks who can’t shoot threes. If he can add shooting to his game, we really could have two legitimate MVP candidates on the roster.
• There was a layup-free throw-3pt-half court contest that a fan failed miserably. Usually, the crowd won’t boo if the contestant can make it to the 3pt attempt, but this fan had such ugly misses for his layups and free throws that by the time he was attempting 3pt shots, he was being booed mercilessly. Gotta love Philadelphia, baby!
• The lack of depth became apparent this quarter, and at one point, Brett Brown ran out a McConnell-Shamet-Redick-Simmons-Muscala defensive eye-sore. The Sixers basically lucked-out this quarter with Indiana missing a bunch of easy looks.
• The Sixers won the quarter 34-24. This, unfortunately, would end up being the only quarter they won.

Second Quarter:

Embiid really broke out this quarter, and it was apparent he was headed for a big night. The Pacers really had no answer for him. They did have an answer for everyone else though, and there were a lot of bad stretches here for the team as a whole – turnovers, lack of offense outside of Embiid…the makings of a home loss.
Other notes:

• They played this new and weird skee-ball game between quarters where a fan contestant has three rolls and gets better and better prizes with each roll they’re able to place into one of the skee-ball tubes.

Skee-ball makes its debut!

• The Big Head race took place this quarter as well, which, in case you forgot, is a thing where three giant “big heads” of players (tonight, Embiid, Wilson Chandler, and TJ McConnell) are passed across rows/sections of fans. The row assigned to TJ McConnell’s head won by a slim margin. As always, my $50 offer stands for anyone willing to take the giant head when it is passed to them and sprint out of the stadium. All I ask for is proof!

TJ McConnell narrowly wins the big-head race

• Another gimmick – the pop-a-shot contest – took place. This is a pretty straightforward contest where two players see who can make the most pop-a-shot buckets. Winner gets to compete in some other tournament, and there’s a league-wide competition going on around the All-Star break. The first kid tonight was OK, but the second kid really showed some speed. He may have the distinct honor of representing our fan base at whatever eventual competition he competes in – and to think, I had the privilege to watch him tonight!
• In-arena announcer Matt Cord has started to do this thing where he stutters while saying Shamet (Sh-Sh-Sh-Shamet!). I usually like the stuff Matt Cord does with players (i.e., the dish from Ish, the feed from Embiid, HEAD COACH IS BRETT BROWN, etc.), but I’m not too fond of this one.
• There was a point in the 2^nd quarter where I thought Embiid was going to get 50. He ended up with 40 and 21 rebounds.
• The Sixers tied the quarter 25-25 and went into halftime with a 10 point lead.

Taz Niederauer plays “Here Come The Sixers” at Halftime!

Third Quarter:

Embiid remained the only offense for an ugly Sixers quarter – one they lost 18-31. This was a rough stretch of game. Luckily, there was some entertaining stuff happening elsewhere:

• The Musical Chairs contest – usually hotly contested! – was a complete sham tonight. This woman in red (who I picked to win!) essentially took herself out of the running in the final round, wandering away from the chair aimlessly to the music. I mean seriously, look at this coward:

This woman in red absolutely forfeited the musical chairs final – PLAY MUSICAL CHAIRS, YOU COWARD!!

• Sixer vs. Sixer was fun, with Joel Embiid vs. Amir Johnson on the topic of cartoon characters. Amir and his grizzled veteran knowledge of figures such as “Mickey Mouse” or “The PowerPuff Girls” got him the easy win.

Amir Johnson knows his cartoons!

• The Price is Right returned once more, but this time I learned that only 2 out of the 3 things I buy at Shop Rite will be higher than the average person would guess. Progress!

Shop Rite – continuing to advertise that they have higher prices!

• This quarter was very discouraging. I wanted someone other than Joel to take over – particularly Ben “Third Star” Simmons…but he didn’t. I think Simmons has benefitted a bit from Markelle Fultz absorbing the early season spotlight. If the team continues to struggle, he may become more of a beacon of criticism than initially expected.
• We lost this quarter by 13 points! Not great!

Fourth Quarter:

The Sixers also lost this quarter, this time by 9 points (24-33). RJ & I had been playing our “first to 100 pts wins” game since about the 2^nd quarter, and the Pacers blew right through that. There were also a few other signs of a home loss that happened in the 4th quarter:

• The Carlton Cam occurred, but I did not get on it (despite great dancing).
• The Fortnite Cam, which stinks, happened. I get that kids love dancing, but it’s the same three dances. Give me the Simba Cam or the Bongo Cam …or think of better Cams!
• The crowd was absolutely dead down 7 points with 4 minutes to go. You could almost feel the anger in the stadium. I was also at the loss vs. the Cavaliers, but this felt worse.

Rather than further re-live a frustrating game, I’ll just say the Sixers lost 101-113. No fresh water. No $1 pretzels.
Next time I’m in 116, I’ll share some more views (and hopefully a win!). Until then: 1-2-3-4-5-Sixers!

Positional Storylines: Checking-in Through 12 Weeks

Original Post: December 6, 2018
by Eric Marturano

This summer, while we were reveling in the afterglow of the Eagles’ first ever Super Bowl win, we took a look at some of the positional storylines for the upcoming season. After four weeks, at 2-2, we checked-in again. Through eight weeks we took another look at the team. Here’s where we’re at with the 6-6 Eagles:

QB

The Eagles go where Wentz’s Touchdown Rate Goes

With 10 games under his belt for the season, Wentz sits at 5-5. Last time we checked in, he was 3-3 and the time before that he was 1-1. Believe it or not, other than the abysmal loss to New Orleans (which very well may have been the worst game of his young career), Carson Wentz has been playing above-average football. Despite a glaringly average record, he’s completing nearly 70% of his passes. His QB rating has even been comparable to his MVP-caliber season last year. The problem is the rate at which he is throwing touchdown passes. Where a league-leading 7.5% of his passes ended in a TD last year, this year, that number is down to a middle-of-the-pack 4.9%. It should come as no surprise then that at the time of his season-ending injury last year, the Eagles were 11-2 with one of the most prolific scoring offenses in the league. This year they’re 5-5 and have trouble scoring more than 25 points on any given Sunday.

RB

Josh Adams is the Guy

Four weeks ago we wondered if anyone would step up from the injured and under-performing Eagles running back corps. I thought Josh Adams had a shot given some early productivity, and it appears as though I was right. After a solid outing in a win against the Giants, Adams has earned coach Doug Pederson’s trust as the lead guy. At a current 4.9 yards/carry avg. on 76 attempts, this bodes well for the Eagles offense moving forward. Add in the return of Darren Sproles and Corey Clement looking better, and this unit might just make something of itself in the final four weeks. 

WR/TE

All You Need is Ertz, All That Glitters is Not Golden

Although they’ve added former Pro-Bowler Golden Tate to the roster, the Eagles have yet to figure out how to best utilize him. While that effort remains a work in progress, Zach Ertz has remained the bright-spot of the Eagles’ pass-catchers. Ertz is leaving the rest of the Tight Ends in the NFL in the dust in terms of receptions and has been a reliable outlet for Wentz. This unit remains loaded with talent, featuring Alshon Jeffery, Golden Tate, Zach Ertz, and Nelson Agholor. It will be up to Carson Wentz and Doug Pederson over the final stretch to get the most out of them as the Eagles fight for their playoff lives.

OL/DL

Unit Cohesion Late in the Season

The oft-injured offensive line has found a new identity with the rushing attack, which has pleased Offensive Coordinator Mike Groh. After his seemingly grim injury against Jacksonville, Lane Johnson only missed the loss against the Cowboys. They’ll certainly need him this week as they look to avoid a sweep against the current division leading Cowboys. Defensively, the depth and hard play of Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, Chris Long, Haloti Ngata, and Michael Bennett has more than covered for the loss of Derek Barnett. Timmy Jernigan may even return this week to further bolster the lone bright spot on the defense.

LB/DB

Do You Know Anyone Who Can Suit Up?

As if the secondary wasn’t bad enough, everyone is hurt! To make matters worse, the injury bug has spread to the linebacking corps (Jordan Hicks), making the Eagles thin enough to kick the tires on Reuben Foster. These injured units may very well be the death of the Eagles’ hopes this season. However, if they can cobble together some passable play, there is a roadmap to the playoffs.

Special Teams

Sproles is Back!

Darren Sproles, kick return extraordinaire, made his return this past week. While he didn’t have a huge impact in the win over the Redskins, Sproles will add some life to the special teams during a crucial stretch of the season.

“And it does not stop with him. It does not stop with him.”

There has been a lot of talk regarding Doug Pederson’s coaching ability this mediocre year. Let me just remind any nay-sayers that the man won the Super Bowl earlier this year on many gutsy calls and interesting play design. The Eagles have struggled this year for sure, but it’s hard to put it all on Pederson – or any one source, for that matter. The defense has been decimated by injury, Wentz hasn’t had that MVP-shine, the running backs have struggled, and the wideouts haven’t clicked. However, the season is not over. With four weeks left and a bad division (and conference!), the Eagles playoff hopes remain alive.  They’ve played .500 ball for most of the year – they’ll need to get to .750 or better during this last stretch to break through to the postseason. Time to Fly.

Views from 116: 12/2 vs. Grizzlies

Original Post: December 3, 2018
by Eric Marturano

Welcome to Views from 116. In case you forgot, this column is a perspective from the stands for the fans. Let’s get to it.

Sixers vs. Grizzlies – Sunday, December 2, 2018

Yesterday, the 16-8 Sixers took on the 13-8 Grizzlies. The Sixers won 103-95, improving to 17-8 while the Grizzlies fell to 13-9.

Pregame:

My pal RJ and I met up at Spring Garden Station to take the subway down to the game, after learning that the Sixers would be a bit short-handed with Wilson Chandler out. We wondered if this would result in more run for Shake Milton, who debuted well in Friday’s blowout against the Wizards (unfortunately, he was a DNP-Coach’s Decision this game). Maybe next time!

Lorenzo’s never disappoints!

Once we got to the stadium, we bought some giant Lorenzo’s slices and watched warm-ups. After the success of last game, Jimmy Butler and Ben Simmons (and even Franklin!) were rocking headbands again. I’m all for it.

Oh and Gillie Da Kid King rang the bell..so I was feeling great about a Sixers win.

First Quarter:

Ben Simmons came out aggressive right away and got the crowd going early. Since Jimmy Butler has arrived, Ben’s played with a different streak, looking to score and get to the bucket a lot more than he did pre-trade. On both sides of the ball, Simmons and Butler are beginning to gel and they connected for a nice alley-oop in a close 1st quarter.
Other 1st quarter observations:

• Embiid had a great chase-down block on Marshon Brooks. I love the Embiid chase-downs so much…you can always see them coming in the building about 3 seconds before they happen, and they’re genuinely exciting every time.
• The Grizzlies play at a slower pace, and you can really feel it. Each quarter resembled a “normal” NBA game from last year, with scores in the mid-20s vs. mid-30s (which seems to be where they end up this year). Grit & Grind!
• Mike “MOOSE” Muscala is really a fan favorite at this point. Having a name that fans can say instead of “BOO” always helps for a “new guy.”

  
  One pair of contestants took the Sixers Skill Challenge with ease!

• Speaking of Muscala, he should exclusively be our backup center. While Wilson Chandler’s injury forced Amir Johnson into action tonight, there really isn’t a place for Amir in the rotation anymore. He’s lost a step on defense and never really had a step on offense. I’m a little bummed since he seems like a great guy – I’m hoping he puts a ton of effort into cheering on everyone else the rest of the season.
• Joel Embiid absolutely tortured Ivan Rabb this quarter, putting 3 fouls on him in 4 minutes. Rabb did not see the floor again after that.
• The Sixers Skills Challenge took place during a break this quarter. It’s a good gimmick – two teams of fans (2 per team) do a relay where a fan dribbles around obstacles, passes through a target, and then hands off to their teammate who dribbles through the obstacles and makes a layup at the opposite end. Fastest time wins. This all comes down to being able to make the pass through the target – tonight, one pair of fans was pretty quick and the other…well…not so much.
• The Sixers won the quarter 26-25.

Second Quarter:

RJ pointed out to me this quarter that the Grizzlies were fighting through every screen (rather than switching). This seemed to give Ben Simmons enough of a first step to blow by whoever was fighting through screens to guard him. I look forward to watching how Ben continues to fare against this sort of defensive strategy throughout the season – I’m hoping he’s able to take advantage of it like he did tonight on a consistent basis. He absolutely owned the first half, which was important since the half (and game) was relatively quiet for Embiid.
Other notes:

• The always fun fast-lane money-grab gimmick happened this quarter. It’s the game where the Pennsylvania Lottery sponsors a fan’s chance to step into a windy phone-booth and catch as much loose cash as possible. The contestant did a reasonable job using her hands but probably would have caught more cash if she incorporated her clothing a little more (some contestants stuff cash up their sleeves, others bucket the bottom of their shirt to catch more). All in all, though, she did pretty well.

  
  Quick! Grab the cash!

• The Big Head race took place this quarter as well, which is a thing where three giant “big heads” of players (tonight, Embiid, Butler, and Simmons) are passed across rows/sections of fans. The row assigned to Butler’s head won by a landslide. Just ONCE I want someone to take the giant head and sprint out of the stadium. If anyone does this and proves to me that they did, I will gladly reward them with $50 cash.
  

• The Sixers really got it going and won the quarter 28-19, up 54-44 at the half. Solid lead!

Third Quarter:

The Sixers played the Grizzlies to a 24-24 draw this quarter and maintained their 10 point lead into the 4th quarter. While there were definitely some nice plays from our guys this quarter, an odd amount of fun for me was happening in the stands and during the breaks:

• The pirate vendor (who I mentioned in the write-up for the home-opener) is a fine purveyor of beer who screams “YARRGH!!” as much as he screams “YUENGLING!”. This man frequents my section often and is always enjoyable – tonight, particularly so. You see, a fan behind me thought he could haggle with The Pirate Vendor and talk him down from $12.50 for a beer to $11.50. The Pirate Vendor was having none of it and also refused to break character, resulting in this exchange:
  • FAN: “Can you do better than $12.50? How about $11.50?”
    PIRATE VENDOR: “No, thar, sorry matey”
• • FAN: “Come on man, help me out”
  • PIRATE VENDOR: “YARGH!”
  • FAN: “You can’t go lower?”
  • PIRATE VENDOR: “YARGH!”
  • FAN: “No?”
  • PIRATE VENDOR: “YARGH!”
  • FAN: “No?”
  • PIRATE VENDOR: “YARGH!”
  • FAN: “OK… $12.50 it is.”

    
    The Simba Cam remains wonderful.

• As usual, the 3rd quarter was a solid stadium gimmick quarter:
  • There was some questionable play during the Musical Chairs game, as the winner kept her hand on the chair for nearly the entire final round. I wasn’t the only one who noticed. Still though, I’m willing to give this woman the benefit of the doubt – she exhibited great box-out form and pushed the other person out of the chair. She simply wanted it more.
    

  • The Simba Cam returned with many people raising any child they could find up into the air. This cam never disappoints and has quietly been the best addition to the fan gimmicks this season.
  • The fixed Golden Nugget shuffle (my offer of a $20 reward to lose still stands) happened and guess what? Can you believe it? The contestant guessed right!
• The Sixers were up 78-68 heading into the 4th.

Fourth Quarter:

This was the only quarter the Sixers lost (25-27), and I wasn’t thrilled with how many minutes Embiid had to play (it felt like he played the whole quarter on his way to 38 min total tonight). I attribute the Sixers’ ability to hold on and win this to two additions, both new this season:

• Jimmy Butler, who has been clutch, clutch, clutch since joining the squad. He came in when the Sixers were up 3 with 9 minutes to go and helped them maintain their lead, eventually pushing them to an 8 point win against a good Grizzlies team.
• This dance cam fan, who has put up just as many clutch performances as Jimmy Butler on the 4th quarter Dance Cam:

  
  Clutch comes in many forms

Sixers WIN 103-95. Say it with me: “Fresh water. $1 pretzels.”
Next time I’m in 116, I’ll share some more views. Until then: 1-2-3-4-5-Sixers!