#and his performance as jekyll was stellar

[currentlyonstandbi]

Ewen Leslie and Matthew Backer as Dr. Henry Jekyll and Gabriel Utterson in Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

[19-falls]

jumbled thoughts on crash landing on you (2020).

ㅡ this is nowhere near what you’d call a ‘review’.

spoiler alert!

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First of all, I might need to say that I initially had no plan on watching this show. It’s pretty understandable considering that I recently lost interest on being the avid drama watcher I was, and now shifting more on films & books. You see...if you watch too many dramas, it’s totally normal to get bored of it (i mean the overused tropes???typical plot???) and just staying away from it. It’s not helping that recent shows I’ve watched are lackluster at best, and I haven’t been able to found a good one in a while. But I was just recently subscribed to Netflix, and this pops up more than I’d want it to, which brought me to mindlessly clicking the first episode due to boredom I’ve had for not watching any shows in MONTHS and the rest is history. I wasn’t that excited for starting this one to be frankly, due to endless spoilers I’ve gotten from twt and I had been mad over it. I was in a state where I knew how this’d end, but goes for it anyways because I have nothing to do.

The scriptwriter for this particular show is also the one who wrote You Who Came from the Stars (2013) and Legend of the Blue Sea (2017), and I wasn’t exactly a big fan of her writing. And the very troupe that I immensely dislike on the afore-mentioned shows was included on this drama as well. This scriptwriter seems to have a huge liking for putting out thriller-like tone on a romance drama, and it didn’t sit well for my preferences. If you’ve watched these three shows, you’d know all the leads are ALWAYS having dangerous encounter with villains and near-death experiences you’d rarely see in romcoms. It bugged me off how much she seems glued to this troupe and constantly having it on three representative shows she’s writing for, and these are honestly one of my ultimate reason for not doing rewatches for her dramas (I think CLOY could be an obvious exception due to the stellar casting choices for the leads; i’ll explain this later). Not a lot of people could do a well-written thriller-romance, and hers weren’t ones of those. It takes a fair and well-balanced tone to make it work, but in these shows, it just feels like constant fillers and a complete try-hard to make this unpredictable, when all we know that it’s nearly impossible to kill the leads (which I might be wrong while making this seamless assumption but okay).

The biggest downside for the writing style for these shows (bcs I’m not just talking about cloy ㅡit applies just the same for ywcfts and lotbs) is the very inability of Park Ji-eun scriptwriter-nim to write at least a DECENT ending for her shows. And that, my friend, is why I wouldn’t give this perfect score despite my unlimited praises in terms of acting, when I knew how good it’d be if she just let go of her obsession for making the ending ‘impactful’ (which seems to be horribly received by the audiences), and just write a proper ending for ONCE. It’s a big shame it didn’t happen on this drama (*disappointed but not suprised*), but I won’t stop hoping nonetheless. She has a knack for writing witty & entertaining script with great cast ensemble, and that’s why despite my dislike for some of the traits of her shows, I still watch them anyways.

Aside for the poorly-written ending, while I found the editing for first half of the show a lil bit tacky sometimes (especially when it needed CGI), Crash Landing on You also suffers from unnecessary lengthy duration (mostly because it hit big domestically and internationally and the creators get greedy which is never a good thing) that could have been made effective if they weren’t spent so long on shallowly written villainous role which seems to be written for the sake of unpredictability (and was acted wonderfully by Oh Man-suk with its limited character background given). It happened as well on YWCFTS and LOTBS, and again, if you’ve seen those two shows, you’d know how similar the pattern for the plot of CLOY compared to them. If you love them, then it’d work out good for CLOY as well, and if it’s not (like me), then you’d know what kind of writing style Park Ji-eun’s best at along with her worst features on the shows.

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DO THESE LISTED-DOWN FLAWS MEAN I’M NOT ENJOYING THE SHOW?

NO.

In fact, I’m enjoying it a whole lot more than I did with ywcfts and lotbs.

What ultimately sets cloy apart from the two shows is the leads’ acting compability. With ywcts and lotbs, it’s no doubt and much obvious to see that Jun Ji-hyun greatly overshadowed her acting opponentㅡplaying on roles she’s best at, be it as a spoiled popular actress and clueless mermaid. She’s just that good on playing roles that doesn’t have any calmness to it; and more like crazy and freeing women who knows no boundaries. Although her emotional acting was very much in good quality, as well. And because of this very fact, both her costars couldn’t have the equal amount of spotlight, mostly because the characterization for her character (and how she added flavor to that) is much stronger compared to what could be expected from the male leads who, most of the time, don’t share similar traits like hers. I still say that Kim Soo-hyun’s performances on ywcfts are definitely good enough to pair up with Jun Ji-hyun, but I couldn’t say that he’s on his best role despite it prolly being one of his widely known ones.

On this show, Hyun Bin and Son Ye-jin could be said on a similar level for acting capability. Though Son Ye-jin wins out more because of the scriptwriter’s tendency on making her female lead stood out due to their strong characterization, it worked okay because Hyun Bin does match her energy and it just contributed to the fact that he’s a visually good looking actor but still manage to be very damn good at acting as well. And it’s rare to see actors like that on dramaland, you know. Most of widely popular actors seems to stick on one role and never grows from that, but despite his flopped works (yes I’m still bitter on how ineffectiively used he was on Hyde Jekyll and Me) before he started to hit big again after Memoir of Alhambra, ones that had paid attention to his works would know that Hyun Bin, is indeed, good at acting, especially on showcasing his detailed expressions added to the role he’s given. His performances on Secret Garden still awes me to no end, and I’m happy to see that powerful raw acting capability again while he potrayed Ri Jeong-hyeok in this show. 

And Son Ye-jin?This show is just another valid proof that she’s more than a “Melo Queen” people seems to have loved her for. The bratty, spoiled and even brazen acting she’s showed on the drama was incredibly well-acted. Her chemistry with her co-stars were fantastic. Of course, I shouldn’t have to say anything about her acting qualityㅡshe’s just THAT good.  And I love her more on roles like this; where she could  freely show off her capability as an actress on a broader spectrum, rathen than her usual melancholic roles in most of her films. I thought she was a lil bit wasted when she chose to play on Something on the Rain, so thank god she accepted the offer for this show!

And their chemistry is totally off-the-charts, fyi. I might have recently added them on my personal top list for being the most visually good looking couple I’ve ever seen on kdramas with explosive chemistry which I greatly appreciate, and YES I have seen a lot to know that their magnetic presences for each other is like no other. A lil bit biased but okaayyy.

From the leads alone, this is just an absolute must-to-watch show. It’s incredibly rare to see such good performers to helm a show on romance dramas these days. And the most suprising thing is how they doesn’t lose out to the second leads. Seo Ji-hye and Kim Jung-hyun were great on their own feet, but Hyun Bin and Son Ye-jin were just so good on this show that I ALMOST couldn’t care less about the second leads. They grew on me though, and THAT ENDING HURT ME.

And the rest of the casts???Just pure goodness. Everyone has their own color, from the neighborhood moms, the clueless & silly team but still one of my favorite bits to watch, to the villainous role. Everyone’s just doing so great on their role that I couldn’t pick on anything about them. All the characters are the the life of this show. If you’re more of a character-driven drama person, you’d enjoy this immensely.

And it’s so fascinating how they could maintained the light-heartedness of the show to the very end albeit a couple of finale episodes getting so dramatic & hits more emotional beats than usual. I mean, THIS SHOW FEELS LIKE A COMICAL TYPE OF DRAMA SOMETIMES BECAUSE IT WAS THAT HILARIOUS T.T One of the best traits from Park Ji-eun’s scriptwriter, if I might add. Not to mention, the soundtracks!My favorite is Davichi’s by the way :)

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I still have a lot of praises for the acting part, because it feels refreshing to see such a well-acted drama while getting so much popularity at the very same time. With dramas like Descendant of the Sun, Goblin, and more internationally well-received kdramas out there, I still find it hard to choose a drama that has leads with equal amount of respect, trust, and purely in love just as much as they are to each other like this one. Most of romance dramas heavily relies on either the woman or man to be a lil bit more in love with their respective partners, but it wasn’t the case with this one. And that is why despite my constant rant & nitpick for the show, I still consider this as one of my great watch in recent years (not that I have many that I had watched lol).

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Watch it for you’re in for witty dialogues, constant hilarity between the characters, and explosive chemistry & well-acted performances from the leads & the rest of casts. 

Do not watch it for you’re not prepared for the flaws I’ve listen down, and how this is not directed for ones that seek a realistic watch. Ultimately, Crash Landing on You is best watched if you’re not using your brain for it. 

[septembersung]

“This Could Have Gone a Completely Different Way”

I just rewatched the first five episodes of TVD and had to get this out of my system before I can go on. 

First of all, two things: 1) I was extremely correct when I said before that the show turns on the theme of coming to life. “There’s a whole other Elena that you have yet to meet.” - and it takes us four seasons to get her. 2) Not only is vampirism explored as a metaphor for lust, which is par for the course, but it’s a really good take on the split personality, monster-within-us, humanity-in-the-monster trope: the early show sets up how performance is everything. Personalities and relationships turn on performance. It’s like Jekyll and Hyde if Hyde could be turned on at will.

Stefan tries to be who he thought Katherine was, originally. Damon tries to be who he - and Katherine - think Katherine actually is. None of them are right, the Salvatore brothers have lost themselves utterly in her, and Stefan is absolutely still crippled by Katherine’s loss. He is SO CREEPY. He has no idea how manipulative and gross he is. And Damon - Damon is oblivious to himself. Far less self conscious, he just blazes. He’s on fire. He’s metaphorically-literally burning up from the inside out and everything that he touches lights up with him. Fire is good and fire is bad - even tame fire is never truly safe, and Damon is out of control. Vampirism is living death - damnation - for him in a way it’s not for Stefan - he burns and is not consumed and it is hell. 

Ian’s acting is spectacular. It literally took my breath away when I realized what I was seeing this time around. Of course going in they didn’t know how the show was going to play out, so there’s other motives and reasons for for how he plays three - yes, three - distinctly different Damons, but the differences are still stellar and they fit perfectly into the narrative that develops. All the more so for how subtle they are. The audience isn’t given a reason to appreciate it the way we are when we know Nina Dobrev is playing both Katherine and Elena. (Not that she isn’t spectacular, because she is, but we’re looking for that kind of amazing performance, whereas we aren’t with these early Damon scenes.) The three Damons are: Damon performing for himself, Damon performing for his brother/everybody else, and Damon himself. 

Damon performing for himself is exemplified in how he hunts people in the opening of the episodes - the drivers, the campers. He is full of drama. Also, the way he stalks Elena in the first episode, lugging his fog machine and pet bird around. He has a great flair for showmanship and an eye for the dramatic. It’s all an in joke for himself (and for Katherine.) Also this shows up in how he is with Caroline, though that bleeds into: Damon performing for his brother and everybody else. This is mocking, big-plan, in-charge, two-steps-ahead Damon. This is Damon doing his damnedest to be Katherine. 

Then there’s Damon himself. It’s a dramatic difference; absolutely stunning. I’ve always thought it takes Ian about three episodes to really get into the character as we know him for the rest of the show, and no doubt on a real life level that’s there, but some of that, what read to me as awkwardness at first, that was visible to me even on my very first watch through, is deliberate, and we know it’s deliberate because it contrasts so incredibly sharply with the other scenes. 

First-meeting Damon - where she comes to the house and Stefan isn’t there - and Friday Night Bites at the car scene where he tries to kiss her - SIMILAR. So similar. So who is this Damon who helps Elena clean up the kitchen after the dinner party?? One of these things is not like the other. PERFORMANCE. 

Speaking of the car scene: she shook him. For the first time he tries the performance on her directly - and she shakes him up. He swallows hard right before he goes in for the goal. Then her slap physically rattles him, which ought to be impossible. (Consider when she lashes out at the Halloween event after the Vicki ordeal.)

So compare the scenes: Damon in the kitchen with Elena - the first actual #impossibly soft eyes moment - the scene leading up to “You lost her too.” Compare that with the scene where he tries to kiss her. That’s the difference between Damon himself and Damon performing, and once you see it, you can’t unsee it, and it’s all over in other key scenes.

Such as at the Founders’ party. “i hope you can work it out,” Elena says. “Me too.” Sincerity? In my season one Damon? It’s more likely than you think. And just look at the framing: those up close and personal face-framing shots. Stefan gets to narrate but this is not his show and it never was.

“Of course they are, they’re whatever I want them to be, they’re mine for the taking.” Possession. Obviously, vampirism = lust, but Damon specifically: possession, intimacy. He can’t have it so he mocks it viciously.  “And I will do with your little ~*~cheerleader~*~ whatever I want because that is what is normal to me.” He only mocks Elena in performance mode - when he’s being who his brother thinks he is. (Thought, there’s a whole other conversation branching off from moments like this about his understanding of vampirism vs. Stefan’s - related, but, another post.) 

We’ve definitely remarked on this before, but I am always blown away by how Damon’s advice is always actually good advice. Even when he’s performing for Stefan, he gives him good advice, and he literally invites himself to Elena’s dinner party for Bonnie and Stefan just to get her alone in the kitchen and continue their conversation from their first actual meeting. Damon is the one, consistently, who speaks to what Elena wants and needs, even when he’s the “big bad.” Whereas Stefan... well. Another post.

And - notice the passion in the “switched!” dream that Damon puts into Elena’s head, prior to trying to kiss her. That’s not Stefan. It just isn’t. Later Stefan and Elena have their actual first passionate scene, and it’s not nearly on the same level.

 “It didn’t have to be this way,” Stefan says to vervained-Damon locked up in the basement. “This could have gone a completely different way,” Damon says to Caroline. Choice, performance, and the living stuck in death. No wonder this trash vampire show is so good.

@itspileofgoodthings, @catefrankie, @iamfitzwilliamdarcy, @motleysaint tagging you because the catholic vampire renaissance really is now lol

[acsversace-news]

Rather than offering standard gore and merely giving us the willies, The Assassination of Gianni Versace, Ryan Murphy’s second installment of American Crime Story on the FX channel (now available on Amazon Prime Video and ITunes), is one of the rare serial killer dramas genuinely interested in sexual mores, complex character, spiky history, and salient issues of class. Demanding, sometimes confounding, but nevertheless searing and absorbing, the series piles on layer after layer of pain, irony, and god-awful coincidence, its counter-clockwise structure designed to take us deeper and deeper into a human abyss.

Andrew Cunanan, the elusive Minotaur at the heart of this real-life ’90s labyrinth, is a deadbeat on the lam, a name-dropping, designer-obsessed social climber. On a tried-and-true procedural-thriller level, the limited series, chronicling the curly-haired monster sacré’s notorious murder spree and suicide, sheds light on the largest failed manhunt in U.S. history—a fascinating botch, the whole law enforcement fiasco resulting from rampant homophobia and pure incomprehension regarding “a gay parallel universe,” as Vanity Fair reporter Maureen Orth labels it in Vulgar Favors, her juicy recounting of the roller-coaster case. Another key factor is the homicidal young con man Cunanan’s startling ability to evade the cops. A wizard at blithely rearranging his Filipino-Sicilian heritage to suit his gold-digging needs, Cunanan could blend with chameleon ease into different communities—Italian, Greek, Latino, Asian, etc.—as “a multi-purpose ethnic.” Since the fugitive Cunanan had never been arrested, the only fingerprints to be found were on his California driver’s license.

The series is set in 1997—a pivotal year in LGBT history, as it marked the discovery of a viable treatment for AIDS, so the dread disease was no longer an outright death sentence. The show’s backward historical movement is a strategy that illuminates the beleaguered gay world of the period and ably avoids a Psychology 101 approach to motive and pathology, creating a dramatic and poignant memorial to the fleshed-out lives of Cunanan’s victims: we get the appealing, even ecstatic early moments of Cunanan’s relationships after we’ve witnessed the desperate, unraveling scenes and harrowing murders, and the effect is unsettling and difficult to shake.

As the far-reaching series spins further away from Versace’s sumptuous life in South Beach, “the pleasure capital of the gay world,” and from the spirited realms of high fashion, its trajectory and intent become a little puzzling, but the last few riveting episodes suggest Murphy’s main focus is to plumb Cunanan’s lethal mix of unhinged aspiration and greed and to link Versace’s well-documented life as a lauded fashion king, an openly gay man (challenged by AIDS-related illness), with the accomplished lives of Cunanan’s other gifted gay victims. Protean Andrew, a glad-handing, money-flashing teller of tall tales, functions as a soul-crippled shadow version of the flamboyant Italian designer. It’s primarily the last two episodes, “Creator/Destroyer” and “Alone,” that underscore the genius of Murphy’s overall design.

In his native Calabria, the child Versace, shored by his seamstress mother’s approval, sketches and discovers his interest in fashion, developing his métier, despite cruel bullying by his Catholic teachers and classmates. In contrast, Cunanan is raised, in neurotic, almost farcical fashion, to be a petulant Filipino-American prince by his dictatorial, cock-of-the-walk father, an embezzler and reflexive con man, so it’s clear Andrew’s propensity for around-the-clock deception is a direct result of his appalling daddy’s over-the-top spoiling, with a pinch of his Sicilian-American mother’s religious mania and mental illness added to the stew. Andrew is flimflam Pete’s and frail MaryAnn’s Frankenstein child. What we see of Cunanan’s shaky upbringing also clicks with his penchant for hooking up with “beaucoup-bucks” johns and well-heeled patrons: just as his father gave him the best and biggest room in the house, Cunanan lives and moves, for the most part, from one gravy train to the next.

Facing jail time for financial crimes, Cunanan’s dad flees his wife and children for good, but later an unusually determined Andrew tracks him down in Manila. In a savage moment, in what amounts to a 180-degree turn from his previous paternal adoration, Pete slaps and spits on Andrew, calling him “a sissy boy with a sissy mind.”

On Murphy’s hit series Glee, Darren Criss had the heart-on-his sleeve emotionality of a young Streisand or Garland, gradually emerging as the most expressive musical talent on the show, which was praised for—beyond its weekly ebullient songfest—its groundbreaking emphasis on “baby queers” and high school bullying. It seemed enough that the dynamite Criss could sing. In The Assassination of Gianni Versace, he gives a prismatic performance as Andrew Cunanan: he’s voluble, sly, strung-out on drugs (even shooting up between his grubby toes) or he’s coolly, scarily detached—a crystal meth Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. As the series progresses, we get to follow Andrew-in-a-social-whirl scenes (frankly a relief after the brackish murder segments) and to observe: the precocious, nose-in-a-book child reading Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited; the attention-grabbing, boundary-less teen sneaking off in cars with married men; the deluded, self-loathing bon vivant; the facile, coke-fueled charmer, with a geisha’s skill at entertaining rich men; and a relentless operator (with an IQ of 147), lying through his teeth, working the upper echelons of the gay community.

In several of its telltale social scenes, the show resembles John Guare’s Six Degrees of Separation, a drawing-room tragicomedy about a similarly adept gay con artist, and Anthony Minghella’s elegant 1999 film version of the Patricia Highsmith classic, The Talented Mr. Ripley. I remember watching Ripley when it first appeared and actually being reminded of Cunanan: what is it about the prospect of losing the good life that unhinges once-struggling or working-class people and sometimes drives them to murder? Is the luxury and the freedom money brings really so hopelessly addictive?

Melding rock with rebel fashion and, according to Orth, “a diehard infatuation with rank and power that smacked of new money vulgarity,” Versace’s brash, innovative work was “inspired by antiquity and sadomasochism.” In revealing counterpoint, Andrew Cunanan, an outcast aiming for an A-list life with a kind of “If they could see me now” fury, keeps his S&M habits, sideline drug dealing, pimping for the rich and closeted, and serious crystal meth use on the down low, so as not to scare away his upper-crust friends, lovers, and patrons. A bondage scene in the first episode, set to Phil Collins’s breezy “She’s an Easy Lover,” is the sort of libidinous freak-out Ryan Murphy has been serving up since the late seasons of Nip/Tuck;Criss does an impromptu, preppy-trying-to-be-wild dance before his duct-taped john that’s so perfect and right for the era that I almost laughed. He’s his own demented go-go boy.

Criss gives a tour-de-force turn as Cunanan, but the moving supporting performances are also stellar: Edgar Ramirez (as Versace); Ricky Martin (as the designer’s longtime partner); Jon Jon Briones (as wily Pete Cunanan); Cody Fern (as Cunanan’s dream man, a wheat-haired Midwestern Apollo); Mike Farrell and Michael Nouri (as Cunanan’s classy, wealthy, older lovers); Finn Wittrock (as a decent, brave but disconsolate Navy man caught up in Clinton’s swampy Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy); and the always-reliable Judith Light (as the blinkered wife of one of the murder victims, a honeyed Home Network purveyor of perfumes, cosmetics, and folksy advice). Penelope Cruz gives one of her most ferocious performances as Donatella, the world-weary fashion insurgent; Cruz uses the trademark Donatella snarl and swagger in such a creative way that it becomes almost lovable, suggesting the impassioned, caring sister underneath all the come-hither leather and glamorous packaging.

Despite some initially mixed, even dismissive reviews, this second installment of American Crime Story recently garnered 18 Emmy nominations, six of which went to the risk-taking actors. Murphy has, in the past, been all about shock and showmanship, but Assassination represents a newfound candor, fraught complexity, and daring in his work: he’s gone for something deeper and subtler here than his dynamic crowd-pleaser, The People Vs. O.J. Simpson, 2016’s most lauded show, or even his affecting, Emmy-winning TV version of Larry Kramer’s AIDS drama, The Normal Heart.

Just as the emboldened right has renewed its predictable attacks against the LGBT community, Murphy’s piercing, intricate series delves into the tyranny of the closet—the toxic effects of suppression, bigotry, and mainstream rejection. I’ve never admired Murphy’s bold, baroque eye and vision more.

[bonesmakenoise]

All of this news about the shitty Netflix Death Note movie makes me want to spam everyone with the Death Note musical written by Frank Wildhorn (of Scarlet Pimpernel, Bonnie & Clyde and Jekyll & Hyde musical fame). 

There are 2.75 versions of this musical. There are the English New York Demos, which are hard to find nowadays, and I don’t know if all of the show was released that way.  In that cast, we had Jeremy Jordan as Light and Jarrod Spector as L. The Japanese versions had Kenji Urai (Tuxedo mask in the second stage Sailor Moon musicals)/Hayato Kakizawa (Light in the Death Note live action films) as Light and Teppei Koike (my beloved indie pop singer and j-drama actor) as L. Finally, the Korean version had Kwang-ho Hong (particularly famous for playing Thuy in Miss Saigon in West End in 2014) and Junsu Kim (of JYJ/South Korean stage musical fame) as L. 

Not gonna lie, some of the songs are pretty great. Maybe not the whole show? But some are pretty awesome.

Here are some highlights across the versions:

“Death Note”, performed by Kwang-ho Hong, with English Subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8Tv23T8Hi8

“Kira”, performed by Eric Anderson as Ryuk, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJkStbBypkQ

“Stalemate”, performed by Jeremy Jordan, Jarrod Spector and Adrienne Warren: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_suH_DOG6E

“Stalemate” (or “The Game of Death” in the Japanese version), performed by Urai Kenji and Teppei Koike: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGgzH4m_2qc

“Playing his Game”, performed by Jeremy Jordan and Jarrod Spector: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4Xg_vGfKl8

“Playing his Game” (called “Into his Head” in Japanese and Korean), performed by Han Jisang (a different Light, apparently!) and Junsu Kim, english subtitles in annotations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OdU1TMwO38

“Honor Bound and Bound by Honesty”, performed by Michael Lanning, playing Light’s father: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aCWMmXFKKU

Now, I’m not claiming it’s a good musical, but it is fun, and it’s a HELL OF A LOT better than the movie. Especially if you’re a Junsu fan, it’s worth checking out! There are a lot more songs than what I’ve listed here, and I wouldn’t even say they’re all worth listening to, but these are pretty fun. (Kwang-ho Hong’s version of Death Note is absolutely STELLAR compared to any of the other versions.) Have fun!

[citizenscreen]

Only a handful of movies have been announced for the 2018 Turner Classic Movies Film Festival (TCMFF), but excitement builds anyway as tickets are scheduled to go on sale in just a few days. The 2018 festival is scheduled for April 26 – 29 and many of us have been waiting for 2018 passes since this year’s event concluded. It’s a vicious cycle we enjoy perpetuating. In any case, mark your calendars for 10AM ET. on Tuesday, November 7 if you’re a Citi member for the exclusive pre sale and for 10AM ET. November 9 for the public sale. Get all of the details you need at TCM. You’ll note, by the way, that passes for this festival are not cheap and overall expenses can be prohibitive, but if you’re a classics fan and have never attended TCMFF it’s a sacrifice worth making at least once. You can read any number of posts about past experiences by many bloggers to know why. Now to 2018…

Along with the anticipation of the festival itself is the yearning for our favorite movies to be screened. I’ve yet to be disappointed with a screening in the five years I’ve attended the festival, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have ideas about what I would love to see. This year is no different. The chosen theme for TCMFF 2018 is Powerful Words: The Page Onscreen, which is intended as a “celebrating the representation of the written word on the silver screen.” When you consider that all movies start out as written words the possibilities for screenings are endless. That said, I still have had specific titles swirling around in my head since the dates and theme were announced and I’d like to share those recommendations with you. I should mention that I planned the list to contain 10 suggestions, but as you’ll see I failed miserably at limiting the list to so few. In fact, it was a strain on my heart to keep it at a svelte 21.

These are not listed in order of preference and I also did not take into account whether any have been screened in previous festivals. I don’t think that should necessarily be a deterrent. You’ll also notice my choices are from varied eras, allowing for the greatest number of guests possible. I’ve highlighted the guests I’d like to see in a few instances to make it easy for TCM to know who they should extend an invitation to. You’re welcome! Also, while I don’t mention the inclusion of writers they would no doubt enhance any presentation. Here we go…

My TCMFF 2018 Recommendations

Powerful Words: The Page Onscreen

Alan Crosland’s The Beloved Rogue (1927) starring John Barrymore and Conrad Veidt gets the most votes in my mind. This film, about French poet François Villon, had been thought lost for decades. According to legend, The Beloved Rogue is the John Barrymore movie the star watched with a large audience who didn’t know he was in attendance. The story goes that Barrymore was standing at the back of the movie palace and, dissatisfied with his own performance, said, “what a ham…”

It would be fun to have Drew Barrymore introduce this movie with Tom Meyers of the Fort Lee Film Commission. Tom and his team have several Barrymore-related projects in the works in Fort Lee. The Barrymores have strong ties to America’s first film town. I believe the TCMFF crowd would appreciate some early film history added to the introduction of the great Barrymore in a silent movie.

  Another movie I am really rooting for is William Dieterle‘s The Life of Emile Zola (1937). This movie has a memorable supporting cast, but it’s the film’s star, Paul Muni, who would make this special. He was my father’s favorite actor, which means a lot to me right now. Plus I’ve never seen him on a big screen. This biopic of the famous French novelist, which won Best Picture of the year, would be the perfect opportunity for me to do so.

  Rouben Mamoulian‘s 1931 screen adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson‘s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is another one I’d love to see. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde stars Fredric March, who won the Oscar for his portrayal of the main character(s), and Miriam Hopkins who is always enjoyable to watch.

  Curtis Bernhardt‘s Devotion (1946) starring Ida Lupino and Olivia de Havilland as Emily and Charlotte Bronte should be a strong contender. The movie also stars Paul Henreid, which means Monika Henreid can be on hand to introduce the movie. Monika has just completed Paul Henreid: Beyond Victor Laszlo, a documentary focused on her father’s career.

  Based on John Steinbeck‘s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, John Ford‘s The Grapes of Wrath (1940) is as essential as it gets among book-to-film adaptations. It would be terrific to have both Jane Fonda and Peter Fonda on hand to introduce this movie, which features one of the greatest performances from their father’s legendary career.

  Based on a collection of stories titled The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling (1894), Disney’s 1967 animated classic of the same name directed by Wolfgang Reitherman should be considered a bare necessity. (Pa rum pum.) But seriously folks, wouldn’t it be fun to watch this animated classic together?

  Norman Taurog‘s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938) would be an enjoyable screening. This movie features a stellar cast and we can have the added attraction of Cora Sue Collins in attendance to discuss the making of it. Cora Sue plays Amy Lawrence in the movie and she is sure to enchant the TCMFF crowd with her stories.

  The perfect vehicle to follow Tom Sawyer is Irving Rapper‘s The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944). This movie is not without its flaws, but it’s no throw away second feature either. After all Twain, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was one of – if not thee – greatest humorists the world has ever known. His story deserves the kind of actors cast in this picture including Fredric March, Alexis Smith, Donald Crisp and Alan Hale leading a terrific list of supporting players. To introduce this one we can have any number of Mark Twain Prize winners including Carol Burnett, Carl Reiner, Billy Crystal, Tina Fey, Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Whoopi Goldberg and on and on. Just sayin’.

  Sidney Franklin‘s The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934) starring Norma Shearer and Fredric March focuses on the difficult early family life of poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning. This is another one I’d love to see with the TCMFF audience. The cast alone is worth standing on line for.

  The lovely Barbara Rush should introduce The Young Philadelphians (1959) in which she co-starred with Paul Newman. Directed by Vincent Sherman, the movie is based on a 1956 novel by Richard Powell. Plus, I happen to be very fond of it and its terrific cast, which includes Alexis Smith, Brian Keith, Robert Vaughn, Billie Burke and a few other classic greats of note. I’d have Illeana Douglas interview Barbara Rush, by the way.

  Rob Reiner’s Misery (1990) is memorable thanks in large part to Kathy Bates’ extraordinary performance as the fan from hell. The fact that the movie is sure to chill even the most ardent horror fan is a side benefit. With Reiner, Bates and James Caan, (who’s also great in the movie) in attendance the experience would be absolutely unforgettable. Jot that down!

  Based on the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (1847), William Wyler’s 1939 movie of the same title would be a treat on the big screen. I have to admit I’m not a huge fan of this movie because of what I think is a sell out ending. However, I also think it would be an immersive experience watching Wuthering Heights with a TCMFF audience.

  Lumet’s criminally underrated Fail-Safe (1964) starring Henry Fonda, Walter Matthau and another impressive list of players is one of the greatest thrillers of all time. Directed in the style of 12 Angry Men, Fail-Safe is based on the novel by Eugene Burdick. With an ending that leaves one speechless this is sure to be a hit with the TCMFF crowd. Again, the Fondas could introduce it along with Charles Matthau.

  Phil Karlson’s Scandal Sheet (1952) starring Broderick Crawford and Donna Reed is a fantastic film noir choice. I know Reed’s daughter, Mary Owen, does appearances for screenings of her mother’s films. It would be great to have her introduce this movie, which tells the story of a newspaper editor who commits a murder, alongside Eddie Muller.

  George Cukor’s version of Louisa May Alcott’s novel would be fantastic to see on the big screen. Little Women (1933) features an impressive cast any number of which can be well represented for an introduction. To name just two ideas – Tom Meyers would do a swell job of representing the Fort Lee-born Joan Bennett and Wyatt McCrea can discuss the movie and Frances Dee’s career.

  Fred Zinnemann’s Julia (1977) is based on the story by Lillian Hellman and both of the film’s two stars, Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave, deliver affecting performances. It would be a huge attraction to have them both in attendance for a screening of this memorable film.

  Peter Brook’s 1963 adaptation of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is a must. I had to read the book in high school and I will never forget the effect it had on me. The same goes for Brook’s naturalistic and truthful telling of the disturbing story. Any member of the cast and/or the director in attendance to discuss the making of the movie would be great.

  Charles Vidor’s Hans Christian Andersen (1952) starring Danny Kaye is my favorite of his movies. Beautiful to look at, wonderful to listen to and with all the charm of its star, Hans Christian Andersen reminds us fairy tales can come true. Who doesn’t want to share that with like-minded classic movie fans?

  An Odets/Lehman screenplay based on a Ernest Lehman novel – that’s what big money screenings are made of. Oh yeah plus Lancaster, Curtis and a memorable supporting cast. That’s what makes up Alexander Mackendrick‘s Sweet Smell of Success (1957) and its cynical world. I would love to see this introduced by Jamie Lee Curtis and Eddie Muller.

  Any number of movies based on the writing of W. Somerset Maugham would be treats at TCMFF. For personal reasons, however, I’m going with William Wyler’s The Letter (1940), which is based on a 1927 play by Maugham. Given this movie’s power of seduction (who can look away after that opening sequence) it deserves an introduction with serious clout. My plan would be to ask either Susan Sarandon, since she narrates the TCM original documentary, Stardust: The Bette Davis Story, or Meryl Streep who narrates the terrific Tribute to Bette Davis on the network. Both of them in attendance talking about Davis before we watch one of her greatest films would be a dream.

  I was going to end my recommendations list with Wilder’s Sunset Blvd. because what better example of writing for the screen is there? But then I couldn’t in good conscience include Wilder’s masterpiece and leave out the movie that beat it at the Oscars, Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s All About Eve (1950), which I also love. Of the two I had to admit Mankiewicz’s movie is the better choice due to the fact that the writer of the short story, The Wisdom of Eve, on which the movie is based does not get screen credit. TCMFF 2018 is the perfect occasion during which to honor the writer’s work officially this many years later. Of course either Sarandon or Streep would do quite nicely introducing this movie alongside Ben Mankiewicz.

Mary Orr’s The Wisdom of Eve was originally a 9-page short story that appeared in Cosmopolitan magazine in May 1946. Orr later expanded the story, in collaboration with Reginald Denham, into a successful play. 20th Century Fox later paid Mary Orr $5,000 for all rights to The Wisdom of Eve. What resulted is one of the all-time great motion pictures, which also deals with the importance of writing to a star’s career – stage or screen.

  Those are my 21 choices. I know acquiring all of the movies I mentioned is not possible and I know that some may not even be in good shape, but maybe I made note of a few that hadn’t occurred to anyone before. If not, then at least I enjoyed giving serious thought to how I would schedule the festival myself if I had great powers. Also, in case anyone’s interested, I have quite a few ideas for panels and Club TCM presentations. For instance, Illeana Douglas can moderate a group discussion about Pioneering  Women Screenwriters and Victoria Riskin can discuss her father Robert Riskin’s many contributions to films. Let me know if you want to hear more of those ideas and what your movie recommendations would be. Here endeth my post.

Hope to see you at TCMFF 2018!

  The Page Onscreen: Recommendations for #TCMFF 2018 Only a handful of movies have been announced for the 2018 Turner Classic Movies Film Festival (TCMFF)

[buenosairesnews]

Player Ratings for Argentina’s Friendlies vs. Italy and Spain

Outside of a couple of individual performances, there aren’t too many positives to talk about for Argentina. Jorge SAMPAOLI’s team has shown nothing to provide confidence going forward, and his player selections were hit-or-miss in this round of friendlies. Let’s see how his squad selections fared against Italy and Spain.

Willy CABALLERO, GK

CABALLERO was arguably the man of the match against Italy, making various acrobatic stops in order to keep a clean sheet. His great work was relatively undone against Spain, when he came on as an injury substitute and proceeded to give up five goals, though a few of them weren’t really his fault. Rating: 7/10

Sergio ROMERO, GK

Was subbed off due to injury after 22 minutes against Spain, following a collision with Diego Costa on a save attempt. Hopefully he’s okay, because Argentina will need him to come up big at the World Cup with the defense looking all out of sorts. Rating: N/A

Nicolas TAGLIAFICO, LB

In addition to being an absolute tank in defense, TAGLIAFICO consistently got forward dangerously and helped in attack, either with crosses or overlapping runs. Argentina has found their left back for the next five-plus years. Rating: 9/10

Nicolas OTAMENDI, CB

The only Argentina player who actually seemed to care when he was on the field, Argentina would’ve given up 15 goals against Spain without OTAMENDI. Rating: 8.5/10

Federico FAZIO, CB

Despite many knocking FAZIO due to his lack of speed, he continually puts in solid performances in defense, and we saw how the back line can discombobulate without him against Spain. He and OTAMENDI need to be the starting center back duo going forward. Rating: 8/10

Marcos ROJO, CB

Being part of a defense that gives up six goals is one thing, but being directly at fault for about half of them is something else. Did absolutely nothing to lay claim to a spot in Russia, let alone a starting spot. Rating: 2/10

Fabricio BUSTOS, RB

Was given a tough task against Lorenzo Insigne and Marco Asensio. Had a few poor touches and was in poor position at times, but that is expected of a 21-year-old against two of the best teams in the world. Much faster and better going forward than MERCADO, but it’s a legit competition for right back. Rating: 6.5/10

Gabriel MERCADO, RB

Only played around 30 minutes in total, and didn’t contribute much. His versatility as a right back or center back will be needed in Russia. Rating: N/A

Giovani LO CELSO, MID

Had a few careless passes lead to counters, but was one of Argentina’s best players in both friendlies. Grew comfortable in games and created two fantastic scoring chances with through passes (BANEGA goal and MEZA). Rating: 8/10

Ever BANEGA, MID

Provided a serious offensive spark in the Italy match even before his goal, but was nowhere to be found against Spain’s ridiculous midfield. That is the Jekyll and Hyde nature of Ever BANEGA. Rating: 7/10

Lucas BIGLIA, MID

Supposedly a “defensive” midfielder by trade, Biglia was too slow to provide any cover for the back line. It���s a wonder he continues to play 90 minutes in every match for La Albiceleste. I guess his short passing in tight spaces is pretty good. Rating: 5/10

Leandro PAREDES, MID

His back pass into the path of Ciro Immobile that nearly led to a goal was nerve-wracking, but PAREDES showed his midfield abilities by winning the ball back at times and springing the team forward with good short and long passes. A shoulder injury kept him out of the match against Spain, where they really could’ve used him. Rating: 7.5/10

Javier MASCHERANO, MID

Can’t start anymore, and probably shouldn’t even come on as a substitute going forward. Played positionless against Spain and didn’t cover for the back line when Spain broke, which was consistently. Cleaned up a few counter-attacks, but that was it. Rating: 4.5/10

Manuel LANZINI, MID

Perhaps the man of the match against Italy, LANZINI capped off a great performance with a stellar finish for the second goal. His ability to take on defenders and track back in defense makes him an invaluable asset. He earned a spot for the World Cup. Rating: 8.5/10

Pablo PEREZ, MID

Didn’t get much playing time, but made a few erroneous passes in his 30 minutes. If he goes to Russia at the expense of Paulo DYBALA or Mauro ICARDI, the world will riot. Rating: N/A

Maximiliano MEZA, Winger

Was Argentina’s best player throughout the Spain match, constantly out-dribbling defenders and embarking on dangerous runs with the ball. Needs to trust his left foot more when shooting. Rating: 8.5/10

Angel DI MARIA, Winger

Was wasteful with every other possession, but DI MARIA was as active as ever and provided fantastic offensive relief down the left flank. Created a few scoring chances, to boot. Would’ve been nice to see him link up with TAGLIAFICO more often. Rating: 7/10

Diego PEROTTI, Winger

Came on for an injured DI MARIA and was dangerous on the left wing, either cutting in and crossing or making things happen on the outside. PEROTTI is experienced and has technical ability that other younger players don’t. He should be on the plane to Russia as DI MARIA insurance. Rating: N/A

Christian PAVON, Winger

PAVON is active, but it’s surprising to see him continue to get playing time ahead of Angel CORREA on the right wing. PAVON’s only contribution outside of a few successful take-ons was a dirty tackle in the waning moments of the match against Spain. Rating: 6/10

Marcos ACUNA, Winger

Only played six minutes, surprisingly. He’s a known commodity and can play on the left wing or at left back, so he will be at the World Cup. Rating: N/A

Gonzalo HIGUAIN, Striker

Was nothing short of awful in both matches. His run and assist to LANZINI was very good, but missed way too many chances and carelessly lost the ball when trying to dribble. Sergio AGUERO needs to be healthy for the World Cup, or Argentina’s offense will be a train wreck. Rating: 4/10

Lautaro MARTINEZ, Striker

Didn’t get enough playing time or service to make an impact. His future is blindingly bright, but Mauro ICARDI or Paulo DYBALA must take his spot in Russia. Rating: N/A

The post Player Ratings for Argentina’s Friendlies vs. Italy and Spain appeared first on Mundo Albiceleste.

Argentina soccer news

[junker-town]

The Patriots will win Super Bowl 52. But here’s how the Eagles could pull off the upset.

Retired NFL defensive end Stephen White has a track record of making uncannily accurate Super Bowl predictions. Here’s how this year’s game will unfold.

The Super Bowl starts at 6:30 p.m. ET, and you can catch the game on NBC. Be sure to follow coverage from SB Nation throughout the day.

I’m not going to beat around the bush -- the outcome of this year’s Super Bowl is going to be determined in large part by how Eagles quarterback Nick Foles plays.

Before his stellar performance against Minnesota in the NFC Championship, I had very little faith in Foles, but after seeing him carve up that excellent Vikings defense, now he has me like *hand on chin emoji.*

Is it possible that Foles could have a repeat performance this weekend in the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots?

Before the NFC Championship, Foles hadn’t exactly set the world on fire since replacing the injured Carson Wentz in Week 14. He had looked pretty shaky at the beginning of the Divisional Round against the Falcons just a week prior. Even though Foles eventually came on and played better against Atlanta, and the Eagles ultimately found a way to win that game, the fact that the Eagles still only managed to score 15 points was definitely cause for concern.

Against the Vikings, however, Foles unleashed one of Elon Musk’s new flamethrowers on their ass.

There are no caveats here, either. The Vikings have a very good defense, one that played better than the Patriots’ defense this year. And Foles torched them.

Repeatedly.

Maybe most importantly, Foles was able to push the ball down the field and hit Torrey Smith and Alshon Jeffery on deep balls. He went from being essentially a game manager to a being a weapon. If that Foles shows up on Sunday, things could get mighty interesting.

That’s a big if, though.

There’s no way to know if Foles will be Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde until after the game has already started, and that’s a little too late for me to be make a Super Bowl prediction.

Therefore, I’m going to lay out what I believe both teams should do along with the things I expect they will do to give themselves the best chance to win. Then, based on my film study and intuition, I will tell you which team I think will be hoisting the Lombardi Trophy this year.

Don’t skip ahead!

What the Patriots have to do on offense.

If the Patriots want to have success against that stout Philly defense, they’ve got to block Fletcher Cox.

They have to keep Cox, my Hoss Of The Week from the Divisional Round, blocked up front. Whether it’s a run or a pass -- especially if it’s a pass -- the Patriots are going to have to know where Cox is lined up at all times, or he will make them pay. The Eagles have a bunch of good players up front, but Cox is the straw that stirs the drink.

If it takes staying on a double team a little longer, if it takes sliding the center his way more often than usual, if it takes chipping him with a back, the Patriots must do whatever it takes to try to neutralize Cox.

Otherwise Tom Brady will be running for his life all game.

Be ready for the blitz and take some shots

The Patriots’ offense will have to be ready for blitzes at all times. Even though the Eagles have an excellent defensive line, they love to send extra rushers early and often. That means everybody from the offensive linemen to the wide receivers to the tight ends to the backs have to be on the same page with Brady when the Eagles bring extra guys. All it takes is one guy not breaking off their route or staying in to help pick up the blitz, and bam -- Philly has an opportunity for a sack or to create a turnover.

The Eagles are going to need to make some big plays on defense to try to help their offense keep up with the Patriots. But blitzing always comes with risks, and I expect New England will try to make Philly pay a steep price for sending extra rushers by taking shots down the field on some of those plays.

Get outside with the running game

I expect the Patriots will try to get get outside with their running game. A play in particular that I think we will see several times is the flip play where the quarterback reverses out while the offensive line blocks in one direction, and the quarterback flips the ball to the running back who is running toward the sideline in the opposite direction. For whatever reason I noticed a couple of teams hit the Eagles with that play for decent yardage, and it makes sense for New England to try to run outside against Philly when they have beasts like Cox and Tim Jernigan lined up inside.

No matter which running plays they use to try to get them to the perimeter, it will be interesting to see what kind of damage James White and Dion Lewis can do. I expect both guys to have big days both running and catching the football out of the backfield.

Chip away with the receivers

Another thing I expect so see from the Patriots is to have their running backs and tight ends chipping the Eagles’ edge rushers before continuing out into their routes.

Sometimes those chip blocks work out well for the Patriots in more ways than just slowing down their opponent’s pass rush. The Patriots still end up getting five eligible receivers out into routes. The delay from chipping sometimes creates more space underneath when the defense is playing zone as the coverage continues to sink with the receivers who got into their routes right away. As a result, a lot of times those chippers have an opportunity to catch the ball a couple of yards past the line of scrimmage, then get up a good head of steam before they encounter their first defender.

With Philly’s pass rushers and the fact that they also run quite a bit of zone, it just makes sense that the Patriots will do a lot of chipping, and it should help them a lot.

Unleash the Gronk ... as a decoy.

As far as a way that the Patriots can attack the Eagles in the passing game, I think there is a way for them to use Rob Gronkowski as a decoy to open up the flat zone to his side.

See, on Twitter last week someone (I can’t remember who) was tweeting about Cover 3 and how defenses have started adjusting their Cover 3 rules specifically because their fear of Gronk repeatedly killing them up the seam. So when you have Cover 3 against a 2x2 formation — a formation with two eligible receivers to each side — whichever safety that is walked down has the curl to flat zone to the side they are lined up on.

The problem is that if both the outside and the inside receiver run verticals to that side, the corner usually can’t cover both. There is nobody else deep except the deep middle safety, who may not even be in the deep middle depending upon the routes he sees on the other side of the formation.

Remember all those times you’ve seen Gronk running up the seam with a defender behind him trying to catch up? A lot of times that was the result of a defense playing by the old Cover 3 rules.

With the “new” Cover 3 rules, the safety that’s walked down still has the curl to flat, except when the inside receiver goes vertical. If the inside receiver goes vertical, the safety carries him up the field. In theory, this adjustment would help to limit Gronk’s production on those seam routes while still allowing the defense to get the safety down in the box for the run.

In theory.

When I went back and watched film, I noticed that the Eagles use these “new” rules with their Cover 3 calls when they are faced with a 2x2 formation. What I also noticed, however, is that because that safety is normally the curl-to-flat player to that side, if he ends up having to carry a vertical route, nobody else tends to cover for him in the flat.

That seems like a problem to me.

So I expect the Patriots to test the Eagles’ coverage by lining up in a 2x2 formation and having both the outside receiver and Gronk, as the inside receiver, to run vertical routes to get the corner and safety on that side to bail out of there. Then they can either slip a running back out to the flat to that side or have someone run a crossing route from the other side that ends up in that flat to see if Philly has fixed that issue.

It should be easy money if the Eagles still haven’t fixed it.

Keep an eye on Brandin Cooks.

Did you know Cooks led the Patriots in yards from scrimmage this season, was second to Gronk in receptions with 65 to Gronk’s 69, receiving touchdowns with seven to Gronk’s eight, and receiving yardage by just two yards with his 1,082 to Gronk’s 1,084? Yet, somehow he still seems to fly under the radar.

Did I mention he also had the highest average yards per reception of his career this season at 16.6?

The dude has been balling!

Even when he isn’t catching passes, Cooks seems to have an uncanny knack for forcing defensive pass interference calls on deep balls this season. That is one way he can have an impact without even having to catch the ball. It’s almost like people keep doubting his speed ... right until he runs right by them.

Cooks is a legit game breaker. I have a sneaky suspicion that with so much attention on Gronk, the Patriots are going to feature Cooks a lot this Sunday. As productive as he has been this season, they damn sure should.

Especially if the Eagles are doubling up Gronk on the regular.

Here’s what the Patriots have to do on defense.

Defensively, the Patriots will come after Foles on third downs, right from the start.

If they have success early, they may not let up all game.

New England isn’t one of those teams that can get constant pressure with just a four-man rush anyway, so you will see extra bodies coming after Foles from all over the place. Foles is going to have to prove, again and again, that he won’t wilt under the pressure on the big stage. If he can’t deal well with that pressure, then the Eagles won’t have much of a shot at all on Sunday.

To even have the opportunity to get after Foles, the Patriots must stop the run.

That isn’t exactly easy when the Eagles have a veritable stable of running backs, with LeGarrette Blount, Jay Ajayi, and Corey Clement, as well as some really good run schemes they use to get those guys going.

If the Eagles can turn around and hand the ball off all day with success, you can be damn sure that’s exactly what they will keep doing. The Philly coaches aren’t fools. They realize the less they have to lean on Foles, the better.

If the Patriots are able to stop the run, it will likely be because their interior defensive linemen like Malcom Brown, Lawrence Guy, and Ricky Jean-Francois had big games stuffing the middle.

Expect the Patriots to put a target on Eagles running back Jay Ajayi.

He had four fumbles in 2016, one of which he lost; three fumbles in the regular season this year, of which two were lost; oh, and another fumble in the Divisional round of the playoffs on the first drive of the game against the Falcons. Atlanta recovered that one and turned into three points.

Ajayi had better find some stickum before the game because you can bet your ass the Patriots are going to be going after that ball every time he touches it.

As well they should.

Don’t be surprised if Ajayi fumbles again on Sunday is all I’m saying.

Side note: Eagles tight end Zach Ertz is not a very good blocker. If he ever has to block James Harrison on Sunday in the run game, there will be some smoke in the city!

The New England defense will also have to try to find a way to defend RPOs.

If there were a magic bullet for stopping them, they wouldn’t be so damned effective. And with how well Foles has done completing passes with RPOs the last couple of games, New England should expect a steady dose of them.

One thing that has had some success against RPOs is having the linebacker to side of the running back blitz the B gap. If the ball is handed off, then either the left tackle or left guard blocks the linebacker and leaves a defensive lineman free, or the offensive line leaves the linebacker alone and he makes an easy tackle for a loss.

If Foles keeps it and tries to throw it and that linebacker is unblocked, that could easily turn into an opportunity for an oooooooo weeeeeeeee hit. I don’t know when they will try it, but if the Eagles have some success with RPOs early, I expect the Patriots to eventually run that B gap blitz to try to slow it down.

Also, when Torrey Smith is in the game the Patriots had better know where he is and back TF off. I don’t know if Foles will be able to hit him on deep balls like he did against the Vikings, but Smith can definitely run by anybody the Patriots put on him. There’s always going to be the potential for a big play if New England doesn’t account for his speed.

The Patriots will have success employing pass rush games against the Philly offensive line when they stick with a four-man rush.

Individually, the Patriots’ pass rushers don’t strike fear into offenses the way the Eagles’ pass rushers do. Working together running those games should pay dividends because while the Eagles offensive line doesn’t have many weak points, it did have a hard time passing off pass rush games in several games this year.

Here’s what the Eagles have to do on offense.

The Eagles have to be able to run the football on offense.

Have to.

That means they’ll have to be able to push the big guys on the interior of the Patriots’ defensive line off the ball. With Stefan Wisniewski at left guard, Jason Kelce at center, and Brandon Brooks at right guard, I believe the Eagles have the personnel to move those guys.

That’s very important because while the Eagles run the ball out of a shotgun a lot, many of those runs aren’t full-on zone runs. Philly likes to get a li’l spicy with it and run all kinds of counters and belly plays out of shotgun as well. Those are power football runs that involve double teams, knocking people off the ball, and the running backs getting downhill fast. Once they get their running backs rolling, that will take the pressure off Foles and afford him the opportunity to take some shots down the field off play action pass.

Look for Blount to have a big day against his former team.

The Eagles have to make protecting the football a priority on Sunday.

I already mentioned Ajayi’s fumbling issues, but did you know that in the six regular season games where Foles actually threw at least one pass this season, he also had a fumble in every single one of those games?

Mind you, in four out of those six games he threw six passes or fewer ...

He was credited with two fumbles against the Falcons in the Divisional Round, too. Fortunately for Foles, the Eagles only lost two of those eight (!) total fumbles, but the margin of error for Philadelphia on Sunday is too damn thin for him to be playing with the church’s money.

In this game even one turnover by the Eagles could be enough to doom them. One way or another, they have to find a way to avoid the interceptions and fumbles on offense. It would be a damn shame if their defense balls out, but the offense keeps putting them in precarious positions.

Yes, the Eagles should try to push the ball down the field a lot against the Patriots.

It may seem weird for me to say this since you can probably tell I still don’t have a whole lot of confidence in Foles. Whether it’s Smith, Alshon Jeffery or even Nelson Algholor, Philly has to take some deep shots if for no other reason than to keep New England’s defense honest. And who knows, you might just get a long touchdown or even a PI out of the deal.

I would be a lot more worried about Foles getting picked off trying to throw something relatively short, rather than on on of his deep balls anyway.

The Eagles have to pay attention to Trey Flowers.

He was my Hoss Of The Week for Championship weekend. Flowers is the one guy for the Patriots who can consistently win one-on-one pass rushes, whether he is lined up inside or outside. Flowers can manhandle your offensive tackle, then slip by your center on the next play.

If the Eagles can get him blocked, then they don’t have much to fear from the Patriots’ four-man rush. For that reason, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them show Flowers some extra attention through the game.

Keep the Patriots secondary guessing.

As for the passing game, I saw on film a few ways that other teams have attacked the Patriots defense that the Eagles will probably try to copy.

One way in particular caught my eye. Several teams had success using the ”oopty oop” (four receivers to one side, one to the other) formation (shout out to Jonathan Moxon) against the Patriots.

I also noticed that the Patriots had some issues in coverage when teams used trips bunch formations (three wide receivers lined up within a yard or so of each other to one side). And wouldn’t you know it, the Eagles just so happen to have a pretty good package of route combinations out of the trips bunch set already. I expect Philly to incorporate both of those formations to try to create some confusion in New England’s secondary, especially with the crossing routes. I’d also expect a screen or two out of those formations as well.

I was reminded when watching film that earlier in the season wide receiver motion exposed some communication issues in the Patriots secondary too. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot of motion from Philly on offense, at least to start the game. The more they can fool the Patriots into leaving a guy wide open, the easier Foles’ job will be.

Last, but certainly not least, I expect the Eagles to use RPOs as many times as possible on Sunday.

As I already pointed out, Foles seems very comfortable making throws off the RPOs. And if he gets spooked for any reason, he always has the option of just handing off the ball off to the running back. I honestly can’t see a downside for the Eagles that would keep them running those RPOs all game.

One twist that I think Philly might try is running a sluggo, or slant-and-go, off of on one of their RPOs. They like to run double slants to one side some times, and if the Patriots get frustrated enough, the safety may start trying to jump those routes. If Smith, Jeffery, Algholor, or whoever, can hit that slant-and-go up the field, that could be an easy way for Foles to take a shot without having to worry too much about having to try to avoid a pass rush or having to go through his progressions. Just put it up and let them go get it.

Doesn’t get much easier than that. And the Eagles need to make things as easy as possible for Foles.

Here’s what the Eagles have to do on defense.

Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, run three-man rush against Brady.

Switching over to the Eagles’ defense, the first thing I want to say is my personal advice is to them, and anybody else it may concern, is that they should never run three-man rush against Brady.

Never, ever?

Never, ever.

Oh, they might get away with it a time or two, but why even tempt fate? Sooner or later Brady is going to take advantage of that extra time you afforded to him with your crappy three-man rush and drop a bomb on you.

For who, for what?!

The Eagles should’ve taken all of the three man rushes notes out of their playbook before they headed to Minnesota and had a bonfire with them.

Just my opinion.

The Eagles are probably going to get off the bus blitzing.

Hell, I would.

Scared money don’t make no money, and if you want to have any chance of slowing down Brady enough to beat New England, you have to get people in his face. Ideally that pressure would come from the middle, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers.

Let me say this too. Everybody says “Well, you have to pressure Brady up the middle. He doesn’t like that.” Uhmm, duh!

Most quarterbacks don’t like to face pressure up the middle, so Brady isn’t exactly unique in that regard. The problem is, as anyone who has faced Brady will tell you, its much easier said than done!

I know folks might not want to hear it, but even when you do get pressure on Brady up the middle, it still might not matter. Brady was sacked a total of 35 times this season. There was only one game all year where he wasn’t sacked at least once and the Patriots still only lost three games. Hell, Houston sacked him five times and still caught that “L” for their trouble.

Just pressuring Brady alone does not guarantee you victory.

But it damn sure helps!

That’s why I expect Philly to send pressure after him on the regular. Even if the Eagles don’t sack him, they can knock him around and try to get him actually feeling like he’s 40 for a change. When they blitz, I expect them to overload one side and try to get free rushers running at Brady to force quick throws. Whether that means Malcolm Jenkins coming off the edge or setting up Cox with a one-on-one in the middle with the center by covering up both guards, Philly will find a way to get quick pressure on Brady.

But, again, it may not matter.

Brady is a damn machine. He stands in there and delivers even when he knows he’s going to get smashed, then gets up and does it again. You can’t just assume that pressure alone will be enough.

When you blitz the Patriots can matter as much as how you choose to blitz them.

They like to throw a lot on first down with play action passes, so I could see the Eagles blitzing quite a bit on first downs.

The Miami Dolphins blitzed on nine out of 25 non-penalized first downs and on seven out of 20 non-penalized second downs in their Week 14 upset. Of the nine first down blitzes, the Patriots gained yardage on six of them, but the longest gain was just 8 yards. There were also three incompletions and Brady was pressured on two of those. I’m not saying that’s the recipe to beat Brady, because I’m not sure that such a thing actually exists, but it definitely worked out pretty well for Miami.

If I were the Eagles I’d also strongly consider checking to a blitz sometimes when the Patriots have the ball on the left or right hashmark and go with an empty set formation with three receivers to the field and two into the boundary.

It’s not 100 percent, but the center tends to slide to the field and the trips side the majority of the time. That means if you have whoever is covering the inside receiver on the two-receiver side blitz from where they are aligned in coverage, there won’t be anybody to block them if you also have two pass rushers on that side of the center like the Eagles normally would. You could send that guy off the edge or in the B gap and Brady wouldn’t have much time to make a decision and get the ball off.

Just a thought.

Oh, and if an Eagles linebacker gets fooled on a play action fake, the best thing for him to do is keep going and rush the quarterback. It is rare that a guy gets caught up into the line of scrimmage and is then able to turn and run and make a play on wherever Brady throws the ball. Might as well try to get a hit on him instead of wasting your effort.

When the Eagles stay with their four-man rush, what I would do would be tell the interior rushers, power rushes only this week.

The Patriots tend to slide their center most of the time away from the back in one back sets when the running back is off-set on one side, or the other. That means the Eagles should know which defensive tackle will have the one-on-one and which will face a double team in those situations.

They should have the defensive tackle to the double team rush the inside half of the guard and try to rip off after he has pushed the guard back a couple of yards. The tackle with the one-on-one can have a little more freedom, but they still need to use some kind of power rush, regardless.

The big thing is to get both guys in the middle pushing the pocket back on damn near every passing play. Patriots offensive linemen want those guys to try go outside and try to get up the field. Those offensive linemen know that Brady doesn’t like pressure right up the middle and that he also likes to step up in the pocket at times to deliver the football. So if they can get a defensive tackle to do, say, an arm over outside, then ride him upfield and past Brady, they can assure that Brady will have a passing lane to step up into inside of them.

If the Eagles defensive tackles can consistently push the pocket into Brady’s lap all game, then their edge guys like Brandon Graham, Vinny Curry, Chris Long and rookie first-rounder Derek Barnett are gonna eat! If Brady can’t step up, he won’t have anywhere to hide when those edge rushers come around the horn.

Power rushing inside should also put those defensive tackles in position to knock some of Brady’s short passes down as well. Sometimes a pass knocked down is even better than a sack.

Not really, but y’all feel me.

If the Eagles take this approach the Patriots won’t be able to handle Cox’s power rushes one-on-one anyway when they only rush four. Cox could have a monster game on Sunday, and frankly the Eagles need him to if they are to have any chance at victory.

I’d also have nose tackle Tim Jernigan in there on passing downs a little more than usual because he’s strong as a damn ox and can definitely get some good push inside, even against at double team.

But that’s just me.

Just tackle Brady, don’t go for the kill shot.

Last thing as far as pressuring him goes, I saw guys miss Brady repeatedly on film because they were trying to go for the kill shot.

At times Brady looked like he’d slathered his uniform in the same kinda Crisco the city of Philadelphia used to line the light poles before the NFC Championship game. He slipped out of the grasp of wayward pass rushers who appear to have him dead to rights. It’s better just to make a sure tackle on Brady than going for the big hit only to end up on the ground looking up at the referee signaling for a first down.

I’m just sayin’!

Eagles defenders will have their chances to take Brady down, no doubt, but they had better make them under control or he will turn them into yet another victim.

The Eagles will be on alert for trick plays all game.

You don’t normally think of the Patriots of having a “gimmick” offense, but they do all kinds of trick plays almost every single week. From double or triple screens to flea flickers to double passes, the Patriots will find a way to stretch the limits of the playbook to try to use the Eagles’ aggressiveness against them.

Every player just has to concentrate on doing their job and not trying to do somebody else’s. I believe the Eagles will be as prepared as you can possibly be for whatever shenanigans the Patriots throw their way.

Keep a safety over the top of Gronk as much as possible.

He is just unfair when he is running down the field. There is no such thing as having good position on him underneath because he is so damn big. If Gronk gets loose, nothing else will matter, so I’m expecting the Eagles to try to mix in some quarters coverage to help them stay strong against the run, while still having someone in position to stay in front of Gronk on any deep pass.

That Cover 3 adjustment I talked about earlier should make a huge difference in limiting Gronk’s big plays. That is, if the Patriots don’t counter by slipping somebody in that flat like I talked about earlier. At the very least, it will give the Eagles a chance to match up with him without having to switch to a different coverage.

With all of the pick plays, motion, and shifts the Patriots can do I wouldn’t think the Eagles would play a lot of man-to-man in this game, but I can’t be sure about that. If they do go man, it will be interesting to see who draws the assignment of trying to cover Gronk.

Here’s why the Patriots will win ... and it won’t be close.

Having said all that, I’m going to go ahead and pick the Patriots to win their second Super Bowl title in a row in a game that won’t be close by the time the clock strikes zero. The primary reason for this prediction, as you may have discerned by now, is that I still can’t trust Nick Foles.

I can’t.

For Brady to play well enough for the Patriots to win would be par for the course for him at this point in his career. Even when he has an “off” day, Brady has the ability to get it going in the fourth quarter and play well enough that the Patriots still end up winning in the end.

Just ask the Falcons.

For Foles to play well enough to win, however, he’ll have to do something extraordinary for him. Even after his strong showing against the Vikings, I just don’t know if Foles will take care of the ball well enough or make enough big throws down the field to give the Eagles a legit chance to win.

I can see a way for the Patriots to win even if their defense struggles, but I can’t see a scenario where the Eagles’ defense is anything less than dominant for Philly to pull off the victory. That’s just way too much pressure for that side of the ball to shoulder for the Eagles. Even for a defense as good as Philly’s. And, one last time, even if the Eagles defense is dominant, there’s still no guarantee that it will be enough.

I do think the Philly’s defense and its running game will help keep the score close for most of the game, but I expect New England to mash the gas and pull away in the fourth quarter.

This prediction may seem a little obvious, but let me say clearly that the Eagles will have plenty of opportunities to win this Super Bowl on Sunday, and if Foles plays like he did against Minnesota, Philly may just pull this one out.

I just don’t think he will.

Sorry, not sorry.

Patriots 27, Eagles 10

[jacobpholton-blog]

Reds win on Thursday completes a historic sweep.

On Thursday afternoon the Reds beat the Marlins and completed a sweep while only giving up 1 run. This hadn’t been done by the Reds at home in a 3 game series since 1926 against the Brooklyn Dodgers. It was a mighty impressive performance over the 3 games they played. The starting pitching was stellar. Luis Castillo, Tyler Mahle, and Sonney Gray pitched a combined 16 innings giving up the aforementioned 1 run while striking out 21. Those are gaudy numbers, and if this trend continues the 4-8 record they have at the moment will continue to get better. The bullpen was just as lights out as the starters. 11 innings pitched no runs allowed, with 15 strikeouts, and only 5 hits. Now let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves; this was all against what will probably be the worst team in all of baseball in the Marlins. Even with that fact, momentum is a real thing and the Reds have exactly that going into their 2 game series in Monterrey Mexico. This will be a very interesting series. The Cardinals started slowly, but have come on strong in the last few games, including a 4 games sweep of the reigning National league champions the Los Angles Dodgers. Let’s talk about the game yesterday. It was a 3rd start for Sonney Gray; he has been a little Jekyll and Hyde. His first start as a Red only lasted 2.2 innings walking 4 and giving up 2 runs. However in his second start it was 6.2 innings strong with 3 hits, 1 run, no walks, and 7 strike outs. Reds fans would be hoping to see more of the Gray from his second start and we did. He came out at the start of the game attacking every hitter and striking out 5 in the first 3 innings. It looked like he would be going deep into the game without any problems. It was surprising that Gray lasted that long, after taking a line drive off of what looked like his left ankle in the second inning. He obviously pitched the rest of the 2nd, and pitch the 3rd and 4th innings, but was removed after that. It really is a shame that he had to come out; Gray as headed for another sparkling outing. His final line was 4 innings, 6 strikeouts, 2 hits, no walks, and no runs. After being forced out by injury he was picked up by the bullpen. 5 innings of shut out baseball. 1 inning from Stephenson, 1 inning from Duke, 2 from Hernandez and the 9th pitched by Wandy Peralta. The total numbers were 5 innings, 3 hits, 3 walks, and 3 strike outs. Offense wasn’t bad either, 21 runs through the 3 games against the Marlins 5 of which came on Thursday. another great offensive day from Eugenio Suarez who had 2 singles and a home run with 2 RBIs. A good day by Joey Votto as well 2 singles and an RBI. Both of these guys starting to hit like they normally do is massive for this team, and it will probably get the other players who started slow out of the gates. This team came together these last 3 games and played just about perfectly. It’ll be interesting to see how things shake out in Mexico against the division rivals, and leaders the Cardinals. 

[plotmoney9-blog]

Pickups of the Week: Rashaad Penny demands fantasy attention

Rashaad Penny finally breaks out

Penny certainly had the look of a first-round running back on Sunday, piling up 108 yards and one score on a dozen carries against the Rams. Check his highlight reel and you’ll see quick feet, excellent decision-making and powerful finishes. Veteran Mike Davis got the start for Seattle in relief of the injured Chris Carson (quad, hip). He out-snapped Penny, 39 to 27, but the rookie was a revelation.

Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll was clearly pleased:

“Today [Penny] busted out,’’ Carroll said. “We’ve been challenging him to get right and to work at the right tempo and find what it’s like to be a pro, just teaching a young guy trying to figure it out. … I thought today he needed it so badly. He knows he’s a great player. He just hasn’t been able to demonstrate it.’’

You shouldn’t need an expert to tell you that a talented rusher coming off a 100-yard performance is a priority fantasy add. Penny is available at the moment in over 85 percent of Yahoo leagues, and he should have a meaningful role in Thursday night’s home matchup with Green Bay. Go get him. Carson is expected to return this week, if Carroll can be believed, but Penny has earned a share of the backfield touches.

Schedule, next three weeks: GB, at Car, SF

FAAB bid ($100 budget): $16

Seattle Seahawks rookie Rashaad Penny delivered his first NFL touchdown and first 100-yard rushing performance in Week 10. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

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Theo Riddick keeps PPRing, hauls in another six passes

Riddick has caught 13 balls for 96 yards over Detroit’s last two games, emerging as perhaps the biggest statistical winner following the Golden Tate trade. He has almost no role as a rusher — in fact, he hasn’t received a carry since Week 5 — but the PPR managers among you don’t really care. Riddick has a well-understood role in the Lions’ offense; he’s likely to see 6-10 targets per week moving forward. If you play in a full-point per reception fantasy format, he’s clearly on the radar.

Schedule, next three weeks: Car, Chi, LAR

FAAB bid: $4

Anthony Miller makes another house call

Miller has feasted over the past five weeks, reaching the end-zone three times while catching 16 passes on 30 targets. He’s coming off a season-best 122-yard effort versus the Lions, a performance that included this long score against remarkably poor defense:

With six teams on bye in the week ahead, Miller should be considered a viable WR3 for fantasy purposes. Add as needed.

Schedule, next three weeks: Min, at Det, at NYG

FAAB bid: $10

Josh Adams can expect an uptick in touches

To be clear, we aren’t simply speculating about an increase in usage for Adams. Philadelphia’s head coach says it’s happening:

Adams has rushed for 108 yards on just 16 carries over Philly’s last two games and he’s averaging 5.7 YPC for the season. He’s not the flashiest runner, but he’s a large human (6-foot-2, 225) who makes good decisions and generally gains every inch that’s blocked. He was plenty effective at the collegiate level for Notre Dame, rushing for 1430 yards (6.9 YPC) and nine scores last year. Next week’s matchup with New Orleans isn’t at all appealing, as the Saints have the league’s stingiest run defense (3.7 YPC, 80.1 rush YPG). But the schedule takes a friendly turn in Week 12 when the Eagles host the Giants.

Schedule, next three weeks: at NO, NYG, Was

FAAB bid: $9

Suddenly, Marcus Mariota can’t be stopped

Mariota opened his season by throwing just two touchdown passes in his first five games, a rare level of ineffectiveness in the modern NFL. But he’s directed wins over Dallas and New England over the past two weeks, delivering a pair of TD tosses in each game and rushing for another score. Over the last four weeks, he’s averaged 8.2 yards per attempt. We’re beginning to see the sort of efficiency for which OC Matt LaFleur is known.

Story Continues

Tennessee has been a Jekyll/Hyde team so far this season, knocking off the Patriots and Eagles yet losing games to the Bills and Dolphins. The offense is rolling in recent weeks and next Sunday’s matchup with the Colts isn’t too intimidating. Indy ranks in the bottom-third of the league in both yards and points allowed. If you’re looking for a bye-week placeholder at QB, Mariota can help.

Schedule, next three weeks: at Ind, at Hou, NYJ

FAAB bid: $8

Marcus Mariota is coming off his second straight multi-touchdown game, and he has an appealing matchup ahead in Week 11. (AP Photo/James Kenney)

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Lamar Jackson, high-upside fantasy stash

Joe Flacco is dealing with a hip injury of as-yet-unknown severity, raising the possibility that Jackson could soon make his first pro start. He’s a thrilling runner who was simply unfair at Louisville. Jackson isn’t a particularly accurate passer by NFL standards, but his rare rushing ability is enough to vault him into the starting conversation in fantasy. Think of him as something like a combination of a QB2 and RB2. Baltimore’s rest-of-season schedule is loaded with stellar matchups, including four of the league’s five worst pass defenses. Get Jackson wherever you can, even if it’s just to keep him away from a future opponent.

Schedule, next three weeks: Cin, Oak, at Atl

FAAB bid: $12

Arizona Cardinals to host the tanking Raiders

OK, so Jon Gruden might still be insisting that Oakland is not, in fact, aggressively tanking in 2018. But c’mon. The Raiders have been a mostly brutal watch. The team ranks No. 30 in scoring (16.3 PPG) and is tied for tenth in giveaways (13). Derek Carr has been sacked 28 times, the sixth highest total in the NFL. Arizona’s defense has been something less than dominant this season, but Oakland is an unusually inept opponent. Expect 8-12 fantasy points from the Cards in Week 11.

Schedule, next three weeks: Oak, at LAC, at GB

FAAB bid: $2

Also recommended: QB Dak Prescott, RB Derrick Henry, RB Frank Gore, RB Elijah McGuire, WR Chris Godwin, WR Josh Doctson, WR Keke Coutee, WR Josh Reynolds, TE Ricky Seals-Jones, TE Jeff Heuerman, TE Jonnu Smith, TE Nick Vannett, TE Gerald Everett

Follow the Yahoo fantasy football crew on Twitter: Andy Behrens, Dalton Del Don, Brad Evans, Matt Harmon, Liz Loza, Scott Pianowski and Tank Williams

Listen to the Yahoo Sports Fantasy Podcast

Source: https://sports.yahoo.com/pickups-week-rashaad-penny-demands-fantasy-attention-202924895.html?src=rss

[mancitynoise]

FootballFanCast.com’s World Cup coverage is brought to you by 5p0rtz.com – try 5p0rtz.com’s World Cup Pool Predictor for free and you could win £1million! Click here to play.

As England produced a real Jekyll and Hyde performance at Wembley on Saturday that questioned their capacity to progress at the World Cup in Russia, there must have been a moment in the second half against Nigeria when Gareth Southgate stood on the touchline and wondered whether he’d put all his eggs in one 3-1-4-2-shaped basket.

Southgate’s steady gearing of his England team towards the unconventional formation has been a lengthy process harking back to March last year, when he fielded the Three Lions in a 3-4-3 against world champions Germany. Modifications since, chiefly the addition of two roaming No.8s who serve a dual role in pushing on from midfield to join the forward line and instigate a high press, have only raised the level of muted optimism surrounding this England side lacking stellar names.

In the first half on Saturday, that muted optimism started to speak with a little extra verve, as England completely dominated a Nigeria team that just couldn’t get to grips with Southgate’s setup. The England players were constantly arriving in space rather than occupying it, and Nigeria’s attempts to cope with the system only pulled their own further apart.

Raheem Sterling manipulated his way into the pressure points to great effect, predominantly fed into them by Dele Alli, and by the interval the Three Lions were 2-0 up. Good value for it as well, with every player seeming to enjoy roles suiting their specific skills sets.

But from Alex Iwobi’s strike in the 47th minute, that optimism quickly began to corrode, once again returning to its state of near-silence. It was clear Gernot Rohr had given his players the hairdryer treatment at half-time, such was their response to the restarting whistle, but Nigeria’s capacity to get into the match wasn’t merely one of an elevated boldness and determination; tactically too, Rohr had created a level playing field by matching up with England’s system.

The statistics tell their own story of how effective that change was. In the first half, England took nine efforts at goal, four of which tested the goalkeeper and two of which found the back of the net; in the second, England managed just three, none of which hit the target. Nigeria, meanwhile, went from five shots in the first to seven in the second, as their possession rose from 35% to 47% – almost reaching parity with the hosts.

The consequential question is as simple as it is gravely concerning, considering how much time and effort Southgate’s devoted to perfecting a system that few other countries – if any – will enter the World Cup with; how can England transform from looking so irresistibly dominant using it against a team playing a different formation, to looking so underwhelmingly poor against the same team when they switch to the same formation? Of course, matching up is a widely used and widely heralded tactical measure.

But England’s team is far stronger than Nigeria’s on paper, and for one tactical switch to completely nullify the precious advantages of 3-1-4-2 that were so obvious and effective just minutes previous represents a glaringly exposable Achilles heel. There is no question scouts from Tunisia, Panama and Belgium – England’s World Cup Group G opponents – will have taken note of how quickly England’s work in the first half was undone by the most basic of directives from the dugout.

And that highlights perhaps the biggest side effect of Southgate’s attempts to hone his side around an incredibly specific formation; at this point, it’s not wholly clear what England’s Plan B is.

Do they modify the system to 3-4-3? Do they revert to four at the back by pushing Kyle Walker out to his natural position and swapping Kieran Trippier for a midfielder? Do they stick on Jamie Vardy to play alongside Harry Kane, whether that’s in a 3-5-2 or a 4-4-2? Southgate’s failure to respond by reshaping his team, or even acknowledge how Nigeria’s half-time matching up had dramatically altered the flow of the match in such a short space of time, suggested he’s not certain what England’s next best setup is either.

Perhaps Southgate can be forgiven because of the nature of the friendly, and because no side has really matched up with England while using that system before. Under such circumstances, he has a right – if not an obligation – to see how his side cope when they’re matched up against, how much it affects their capacity to break forward, and how they respond to the change in dynamics.

That though, is perhaps where the biggest concerns are – just as Southgate stood still on the touchline, England’s players remained decisively passive, forgetting the greatest asset this Three Lions squad has.

Indeed, England’s greatest strength lays in their versatility and adaptability, and yet very few players showed any on Saturday.

Alli and Jesse Lingard are both capable of dropping deep alongside Eric Dier to change the shape of midfield, reversing the emphasis of the engine room triangle, and both are capable of moving up alongside Sterling to create a conventional 3-4-3. Likewise, Sterling could have moved deeper to get on the ball more and create a numerical advantage, just as both wing-backs could have shifted back to change the back three into a five.

In fact, the shifts didn’t even need to be so significant that Southgate’s formation was truly modified into a different system; each player taking a few yards further forward or backward to alter the emphasis in key departments would have been enough to give Nigeria a few new problems.

But pretty much every player stuck to their initial tasks, not just indiscriminate of but seemingly oblivious to how the balance of the game had changed. That’s partly a question of game intelligence and tactical awareness, but also leadership and responsibility – a lack of being amongst the biggest fears about this youthful Three Lions team heading into a major tournament.

Perhaps it will be taken as an important lesson, and perhaps Southgate didn’t change his setup specifically to prove a point. But because of their versatility, Lingard, Sterling and Alli particularly should be disappointed with how they failed to swing the game back in England’s favour after Nigeria’s second-half strike. They take up the freest and most fluid roles in this England team; they have the license to change the shape and dynamics of it.

Their failure to do so in Saturday highlights this Three Lions’ side most disturbing and disappointing flaw – a youthful naivety that seemed to stop every player from taking the second half by the scruff of the neck. If England are to progress in Russia, that mentality needs to quickly change.

[brothermarc7theatre]

"Reefer Madness" show #671

A musical about pot, how could that be? Well, after the unintentionally hilarious dramatic 1936 film, “Reefer Madness” got a musical tongue-in-cheek adaptation to the stage by Kevin Murphy and Dan Studney. The eclectic score pairs well with the charmingly comical plot: a story of two innocent lovers who fall under the spell of marijuana. Ray of Light is currently running a whimsical production of this musical madness with aplomb for comedy and a cast full of talent, a show you’ll enjoy whether high on Mary Jane or just high on life!

(Brigitte Losey (Mary Lane) and Jimmy Wong (Jimmy Harper); Photo credit: Zach Wollons)

When Jimmy Harper and Mary Lane bond over Romeo and Juliet tutoring, the magic of love infuses itself between these high school do-gooders. However, Jimmy, in his earnestness to be a great dancer at the nearby Five and Dime, is lured to a hothouse (of sorts) where he is catapulted into the world of the reefer. Mary Lane urges Jimmy to be the good boy she fell for, but eventually she too succumbs to the weed. Deaths happen, weed is smoked, and Jesus makes an appearance; what more could you want?

 (Front: Leah Shesky (Lecturer) flanked by Cast of Reefer Madness; Photo credit: Zach Wollons)

Phil Wong is an exemplary Jimmy, fulfilling the Jekyll/Hyde demands of a “Gee Golly, Mister” good guy and a horny, sadistic victim of the reefer; his comedic timing and takes to the audience are very well-placed. His vocals are a sterling highlight among a cast of strong singers, especially in his Act One torch number, “Mary Jane/Mary Lane.” When Mr. Wong teams up with Brigitte Losey’s Mary Lane for “Romeo and Juliet” the audience is lovingly introduced to the vocal power and comedic chemistry these two share. Miss Losey is all tender and sweet in a gorgeous turn of “Lonely Pew,” juxtaposing nicely with her Act Two raunchy romp, “Little Mary Sunshine.” Leah Shesky is a perfect casting choice as the Lecturer, a strict narrator of sorts who has chameleon-like abilities to play various townspeople and merchants throughout the production. Miss Shesky’s vocal prowess is showcased well as she kicks off the musical with a mighty “Reefer Madness.”

(Ashley Garlick (Mae); Photo credit: Zach Wollons)

Matt Hammons delivers a great performance as Jack, owner of the marijuana home base where his cronies Mae, Sally, and Ralph reside. Mr. Hammons makes his mark as Jack, but doubles in a two-time scene-stealing turn as Jesus in Act One’s rockin’, soulful “Listen to Jesus, Jimmy” and the Act Two reprise. Christen Sottolano and Adam Nieman are stellar as Sally and Ralph, respectively. Both have bits of time to shine: Miss Sottolano with her sultry demeanor and physicality, and Mr. Nieman in a wonderfully laugh out loud turn with Miss Losey in “Little Mary Sunshine.” Ashley Garlick is a dynamite Mae, exuding a stage presence with which not to be reckoned and a gorgeous voice to boot. Miss Garlick’s belt and range soar in a fantastic “The Stuff,” and every time she slinks on stage the scene is enhanced with her strong acting chops.

(Ensemble of Reefer Madness; Photo credit: Zach Wollons)

Not just a show relying on the principals, the ensemble is a hard-working group of sweet sounding vocalists and excitingly smooth dancers. Alex Rodriguez’s choreography of the opening “Reefer Madness,” the bouncy “Down at the Ol’ Five and Dime,” and the absolutely wacky “Jimmy Takes a Hit/The Orgy” are staged with a knack for comedic moments while showcasing great formations and period-appropriate moves. Highlighted from the dance numbers in the ensemble is the very active Mary Kalita, who doubles as the Placard Girl, adding even more applause and laughs to the concise and consistent bits and staging director Jenn Bevard has sprinkled throughout the script’s chaotic pacing. Miss Bevard has helmed this …Madness with an astute eye for which moment is most important to give attention to and when to set up even funnier moments while making extremely good use of Devon LaBelle’s enormously pleasing set. The varying locales are precise and detailed, and Keenan Molner’s smart lighting design ensures the mood is set whether it be dramatic or energetic. What more can I say rather than there is a whole slew of reefer-based musical madness waiting for you at the Victoria Theater. Go see this show!

Details:

Runs through October 7th

Victoria Theater, San Francisco

www.rayoflighttheatre.com

[junker-town]

The Patriots will win Super Bowl 52. But here’s how the Eagles could pull off the upset.

Retired NFL defensive end Stephen White has a track record of making uncannily accurate Super Bowl predictions. Here’s how this year’s game will unfold.

I’m not going to beat around the bush -- the outcome of this year’s Super Bowl is going to be determined in large part by how Eagles quarterback Nick Foles plays.

Before his stellar performance against Minnesota in the NFC Championship, I had very little faith in Foles, but after seeing him carve up that excellent Vikings defense, now he has me like *hand on chin emoji.*

Is it possible that Foles could have a repeat performance this weekend in the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots?

Before the NFC Championship, Foles hadn’t exactly set the world on fire since replacing the injured Carson Wentz in Week 14. He had looked pretty shaky at the beginning of the Divisional Round against the Falcons just a week prior. Even though Foles eventually came on and played better against Atlanta, and the Eagles ultimately found a way to win that game, the fact that the Eagles still only managed to score 15 points was definitely cause for concern.

Against the Vikings, however, Foles unleashed one of Elon Musk’s new flamethrowers on their ass.

There are no caveats here, either. The Vikings have a very good defense, one that played better than the Patriots’ defense this year. And Foles torched them.

Repeatedly.

Maybe most importantly, Foles was able to push the ball down the field and hit Torrey Smith and Alshon Jeffery on deep balls. He went from being essentially a game manager to a being a weapon. If that Foles shows up on Sunday, things could get mighty interesting.

That’s a big if, though.

There’s no way to know if Foles will be Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde until after the game has already started, and that’s a little too late for me to be make a Super Bowl prediction.

Therefore, I’m going to lay out what I believe both teams should do along with the things I expect they will do to give themselves the best chance to win. Then, based on my film study and intuition, I will tell you which team I think will be hoisting the Lombardi Trophy this year.

Don’t skip ahead!

What the Patriots have to do on offense.

If the Patriots want to have success against that stout Philly defense, they’ve got to block Fletcher Cox.

They have to keep Cox, my Hoss Of The Week from the Divisional Round, blocked up front. Whether it’s a run or a pass -- especially if it’s a pass -- the Patriots are going to have to know where Cox is lined up at all times, or he will make them pay. The Eagles have a bunch of good players up front, but Cox is the straw that stirs the drink.

If it takes staying on a double team a little longer, if it takes sliding the center his way more often than usual, if it takes chipping him with a back, the Patriots must do whatever it takes to try to neutralize Cox.

Otherwise Tom Brady will be running for his life all game.

Be ready for the blitz and take some shots

The Patriots’ offense will have to be ready for blitzes at all times. Even though the Eagles have an excellent defensive line, they love to send extra rushers early and often. That means everybody from the offensive linemen to the wide receivers to the tight ends to the backs have to be on the same page with Brady when the Eagles bring extra guys. All it takes is one guy not breaking off their route or staying in to help pick up the blitz, and bam -- Philly has an opportunity for a sack or to create a turnover.

The Eagles are going to need to make some big plays on defense to try to help their offense keep up with the Patriots. But blitzing always comes with risks, and I expect New England will try to make Philly pay a steep price for sending extra rushers by taking shots down the field on some of those plays.

Get outside with the running game

I expect the Patriots will try to get get outside with their running game. A play in particular that I think we will see several times is the flip play where the quarterback reverses out while the offensive line blocks in one direction, and the quarterback flips the ball to the running back who is running toward the sideline in the opposite direction. For whatever reason I noticed a couple of teams hit the Eagles with that play for decent yardage, and it makes sense for New England to try to run outside against Philly when they have beasts like Cox and Tim Jernigan lined up inside.

No matter which running plays they use to try to get them to the perimeter, it will be interesting to see what kind of damage James White and Dion Lewis can do. I expect both guys to have big days both running and catching the football out of the backfield.

Chip away with the receivers

Another thing I expect so see from the Patriots is to have their running backs and tight ends chipping the Eagles’ edge rushers before continuing out into their routes.

Sometimes those chip blocks work out well for the Patriots in more ways than just slowing down their opponent’s pass rush. The Patriots still end up getting five eligible receivers out into routes. The delay from chipping sometimes creates more space underneath when the defense is playing zone as the coverage continues to sink with the receivers who got into their routes right away. As a result, a lot of times those chippers have an opportunity to catch the ball a couple of yards past the line of scrimmage, then get up a good head of steam before they encounter their first defender.

With Philly’s pass rushers and the fact that they also run quite a bit of zone, it just makes sense that the Patriots will do a lot of chipping, and it should help them a lot.

Unleash the Gronk ... as a decoy.

As far as a way that the Patriots can attack the Eagles in the passing game, I think there is a way for them to use Rob Gronkowski as a decoy to open up the flat zone to his side.

See, on Twitter last week someone (I can’t remember who) was tweeting about Cover 3 and how defenses have started adjusting their Cover 3 rules specifically because their fear of Gronk repeatedly killing them up the seam. So when you have Cover 3 against a 2x2 formation — a formation with two eligible receivers to each side — whichever safety that is walked down has the curl to flat zone to the side they are lined up on.

The problem is that if both the outside and the inside receiver run verticals to that side, the corner usually can’t cover both. There is nobody else deep except the deep middle safety, who may not even be in the deep middle depending upon the routes he sees on the other side of the formation.

Remember all those times you’ve seen Gronk running up the seam with a defender behind him trying to catch up? A lot of times that was the result of a defense playing by the old Cover 3 rules.

With the “new” Cover 3 rules, the safety that’s walked down still has the curl to flat, except when the inside receiver goes vertical. If the inside receiver goes vertical, the safety carries him up the field. In theory, this adjustment would help to limit Gronk’s production on those seam routes while still allowing the defense to get the safety down in the box for the run.

In theory.

When I went back and watched film, I noticed that the Eagles use these “new” rules with their Cover 3 calls when they are faced with a 2x2 formation. What I also noticed, however, is that because that safety is normally the curl-to-flat player to that side, if he ends up having to carry a vertical route, nobody else tends to cover for him in the flat.

That seems like a problem to me.

So I expect the Patriots to test the Eagles’ coverage by lining up in a 2x2 formation and having both the outside receiver and Gronk, as the inside receiver, to run vertical routes to get the corner and safety on that side to bail out of there. Then they can either slip a running back out to the flat to that side or have someone run a crossing route from the other side that ends up in that flat to see if Philly has fixed that issue.

It should be easy money if the Eagles still haven’t fixed it.

Keep an eye on Brandin Cooks.

Did you know Cooks led the Patriots in yards from scrimmage this season, was second to Gronk in receptions with 65 to Gronk’s 69, receiving touchdowns with seven to Gronk’s eight, and receiving yardage by just two yards with his 1,082 to Gronk’s 1,084? Yet, somehow he still seems to fly under the radar.

Did I mention he also had the highest average yards per reception of his career this season at 16.6?

The dude has been balling!

Even when he isn’t catching passes, Cooks seems to have an uncanny knack for forcing defensive pass interference calls on deep balls this season. That is one way he can have an impact without even having to catch the ball. It’s almost like people keep doubting his speed ... right until he runs right by them.

Cooks is a legit game breaker. I have a sneaky suspicion that with so much attention on Gronk, the Patriots are going to feature Cooks a lot this Sunday. As productive as he has been this season, they damn sure should.

Especially if the Eagles are doubling up Gronk on the regular.

Here’s what the Patriots have to do on defense.

Defensively, the Patriots will come after Foles on third downs, right from the start.

If they have success early, they may not let up all game.

New England isn’t one of those teams that can get constant pressure with just a four-man rush anyway, so you will see extra bodies coming after Foles from all over the place. Foles is going to have to prove, again and again, that he won’t wilt under the pressure on the big stage. If he can’t deal well with that pressure, then the Eagles won’t have much of a shot at all on Sunday.

To even have the opportunity to get after Foles, the Patriots are going to must stop the run.

That isn’t exactly easy when the Eagles have a veritable stable of running backs, with LeGarrette Blount, Jay Ajayi, and Corey Clement, as well as some really good run schemes they use to get those guys going.

If the Eagles can turn around and hand the ball off all day with success, you can be damn sure that’s exactly what they will keep doing. The Philly coaches aren’t fools. They realize the less they have to lean on Foles, the better.

If the Patriots are able to stop the run, it will likely be because their interior defensive linemen like Malcom Brown, Lawrence Guy, and Ricky Jean-Francois had big games stuffing the middle.

Expect the Patriots to put a target on Eagles running back Jay Ajayi.

He had four fumbles in 2016, one of which he lost; three fumbles in the regular season this year, of which two were lost; oh, and another fumble in the Divisional round of the playoffs on the first drive of the game against the Falcons. Atlanta recovered that one and turned into three points.

Ajayi had better find some stickum before the game because you can bet your ass the Patriots are going to be going after that ball every time he touches it.

As well they should.

Don’t be surprised if Ajayi fumbles again on Sunday is all I’m saying.

Side note: Eagles tight end Zach Ertz is not a very good blocker. If he ever has to block James Harrison on Sunday in the run game, there will be some smoke in the city!

The New England defense will also have to try to find a way to defend RPOs.

If there were a magic bullet for stopping them, they wouldn’t be so damned effective. And with how well Foles has done completing passes with RPOs the last couple of games, New England should expect a steady dose of them.

One thing that has had some success against RPOs is having the linebacker to side of the running back blitz the B gap. If the ball is handed off, then either the left tackle or left guard blocks the linebacker and leaves a defensive lineman free, or the offensive line leaves the linebacker alone and he makes an easy tackle for a loss.

If Foles keeps it and tries to throw it and that linebacker is unblocked, that could easily turn into an opportunity for an oooooooo weeeeeeeee hit. I don’t know when they will try it, but if the Eagles have some success with RPOs early, I expect the Patriots to eventually run that B gap blitz to try to slow it down.

Also, when Torrey Smith is in the game the Patriots had better know where he is and back TF off. I don’t know if Foles will be able to hit him on deep balls like he did against the Vikings, but Smith can definitely run by anybody the Patriots put on him. There’s always going to be the potential for a big play if New England doesn’t account for his speed.

The Patriots will have success employing pass rush games against the Philly offensive line when they stick with a four-man rush.

Individually, the Patriots’ pass rushers don’t strike fear into offenses the way the Eagles’ pass rushers do. Working together running those games should pay dividends because while the Eagles offensive line doesn’t have many weak points, it did have a hard time passing off pass rush games in several games this year.

Here’s what the Eagles have to do on offense.

The Eagles have to be able to run the football on offense.

Have to.

That means they’ll have to be able to push the big guys on the interior of the Patriots’ defensive line off the ball. With Stefan Wisniewski at left guard, Jason Kelce at center, and Brandon Brooks at right guard, I believe the Eagles have the personnel to move those guys.

That’s very important because while the Eagles run the ball out of a shotgun a lot, many of those runs aren’t full-on zone runs. Philly likes to get a li’l spicy with it and run all kinds of counters and belly plays out of shotgun as well. Those are power football runs that involve double teams, knocking people off the ball, and the running backs getting downhill fast. Once they get their running backs rolling, that will take the pressure off Foles and afford him the opportunity to take some shots down the field off play action pass.

Look for Blount to have a big day against his former team.

The Eagles have to make protecting the football a priority on Sunday.

I already mentioned Ajayi’s fumbling issues, but did you know that in the six regular season games where Foles actually threw at least one pass this season, he also had a fumble in every single one of those games?

Mind you, in four out of those six games he threw six passes or fewer ...

He was credited with two fumbles against the Falcons in the Divisional Round, too. Fortunately for Foles, the Eagles only lost two of those eight (!) total fumbles, but the margin of error for Philadelphia on Sunday is too damn thin for him to be playing with the church’s money.

In this game even one turnover by the Eagles could be enough to doom them. One way or another, they have to find a way to avoid the interceptions and fumbles on offense. It would be a damn shame if their defense balls out, but the offense keeps putting them in precarious positions.

Yes, the Eagles should try to push the ball down the field a lot against the Patriots.

It may seem weird for me to say this since you can probably tell I still don’t have a whole lot of confidence in Foles. Whether it’s Smith, Alshon Jeffery or even Nelson Algholor, Philly has to take some deep shots if for no other reason than to keep New England’s defense honest. And who knows, you might just get a long touchdown or even a PI out of the deal.

I would be a lot more worried about Foles getting picked off trying to throw something relatively short, rather than on on of his deep balls anyway.

The Eagles have to pay attention to Trey Flowers.

He was my Hoss Of The Week for Championship weekend. Flowers is the one guy for the Patriots who can consistently win one-on-one pass rushes, whether he is lined up inside or outside. Flowers can manhandle your offensive tackle, then slip by your center on the next play.

If the Eagles can get him blocked, then they don’t have much to fear from the Patriots’ four-man rush. For that reason, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them show Flowers some extra attention through the game.

Keep the Patriots secondary guessing.

As for the passing game, I saw on film a few ways that other teams have attacked the Patriots defense that the Eagles will probably try to copy.

One way in particular caught my eye. Several teams had success using the ”oopty oop” (four receivers to one side, one to the other) formation (shout out to Jonathan Moxon) against the Patriots.

I also noticed that the Patriots had some issues in coverage when teams used trips bunch formations (three wide receivers lined up within a yard or so of each other to one side). And wouldn’t you know it, the Eagles just so happen to have a pretty good package of route combinations out of the trips bunch set already. I expect Philly to incorporate both of those formations to try to create some confusion in New England’s secondary, especially with the crossing routes. I’d also expect a screen or two out of those formations as well.

I was reminded when watching film that earlier in the season wide receiver motion exposed some communication issues in the Patriots secondary too. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot of motion from Philly on offense, at least to start the game. The more they can fool the Patriots into leaving a guy wide open, the easier Foles’ job will be.

Last, but certainly not least, I expect the Eagles to use RPOs as many times as possible on Sunday.

As I already pointed out, Foles seems very comfortable making throws off the RPOs. And if he gets spooked for any reason, he always has the option of just handing off the ball off to the running back. I honestly can’t see a downside for the Eagles that would keep them running those RPOs all game.

One twist that I think Philly might try is running a sluggo, or slant-and-go, off of on one of their RPOs. They like to run double slants to one side some times, and if the Patriots get frustrated enough, the safety may start trying to jump those routes. If Smith, Jeffery, Algholor, or whoever, can hit that slant-and-go up the field, that could be an easy way for Foles to take a shot without having to worry too much about having to try to avoid a pass rush or having to go through his progressions. Just put it up and let them go get it.

Doesn’t get much easier than that. And the Eagles need to make things as easy as possible for Foles.

Here’s what the Eagles have to do on defense.

Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, run three-man rush against Brady.

Switching over to the Eagles’ defense, the first thing I want to say is my personal advice is to them, and anybody else it may concern, is that they should never run three-man rush against Brady.

Never, ever?

Never, ever.

Oh, they might get away with it a time or two, but why even tempt fate? Sooner or later Brady is going to take advantage of that extra time you afforded to him with your crappy three-man rush and drop a bomb on you.

For who, for what?!

The Eagles should’ve taken all of the three man rushes notes out of their playbook before they headed to Minnesota and had a bonfire with them.

Just my opinion.

The Eagles are probably going to get off the bus blitzing.

Hell, I would.

Scared money don’t make no money, and if you want to have any chance of slowing down Brady enough to beat New England, you have to get people in his face. Ideally that pressure would come from the middle, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers.

Let me say this too. Everybody says “Well, you have to pressure Brady up the middle. He doesn’t like that.” Uhmm, duh!

Most quarterbacks don’t like to face pressure up the middle, so Brady isn’t exactly unique in that regard. The problem is, as anyone who has faced Brady will tell you, its much easier said than done!

I know folks might not want to hear it, but even when you do get pressure on Brady up the middle, it still might not matter. Brady was sacked a total of 35 times this season. There was only one game all year where he wasn’t sacked at least once and the Patriots still only lost three games. Hell, Houston sacked him five times and still caught that “L” for their trouble.

Just pressuring Brady alone does not guarantee you victory.

But it damn sure helps!

That’s why I expect Philly to send pressure after him on the regular. Even if the Eagles don’t sack him, they can knock him around and try to get him actually feeling like he’s 40 for a change. When they blitz, I expect them to overload one side and try to get free rushers running at Brady to force quick throws. Whether that means Malcolm Jenkins coming off the edge or setting up Cox with a one-on-one in the middle with the center by covering up both guards, Philly will find a way to get quick pressure on Brady.

But, again, it may not matter.

Brady is a damn machine. He stands in there and delivers even when he knows he’s going to get smashed, then gets up and does it again. You can’t just assume that pressure alone will be enough.

When you blitz the Patriots can matter as much as how you choose to blitz them.

They like to throw a lot on first down with play action passes, so I could see the Eagles blitzing quite a bit on first downs.

The Miami Dolphins blitzed on nine out of 25 non-penalized first downs and on seven out of 20 non-penalized second downs in their Week 14 upset. Of the nine first down blitzes, the Patriots gained yardage on six of them, but the longest gain was just 8 yards. There were also three incompletions and Brady was pressured on two of those. I’m not saying that’s the recipe to beat Brady, because I’m not sure that such a thing actually exists, but it definitely worked out pretty well for Miami.

If I were the Eagles I’d also strongly consider checking to a blitz sometimes when the Patriots have the ball on the left or right hashmark and go with an empty set formation with three receivers to the field and two into the boundary.

It’s not 100 percent, but the center tends to slide to the field and the trips side the majority of the time. That means if you have whoever is covering the inside receiver on the two-receiver side blitz from where they are aligned in coverage, there won’t be anybody to block them if you also have two pass rushers on that side of the center like the Eagles normally would. You could send that guy off the edge or in the B gap and Brady wouldn’t have much time to make a decision and get the ball off.

Just a thought.

Oh, and if an Eagles linebacker gets fooled on a play action fake, the best thing for him to do is keep going and rush the quarterback. It is rare that a guy gets caught up into the line of scrimmage and is then able to turn and run and make a play on wherever Brady throws the ball. Might as well try to get a hit on him instead of wasting your effort.

When the Eagles stay with their four-man rush, what I would do would be tell the interior rushers, power rushes only this week.

The Patriots tend to slide their center most of the time away from the back in one back sets when the running back is off-set on one side, or the other. That means the Eagles should know which defensive tackle will have the one-on-one and which will face a double team in those situations.

They should have the defensive tackle to the double team rush the inside half of the guard and try to rip off after he has pushed the guard back a couple of yards. The tackle with the one-on-one can have a little more freedom, but they still need to use some kind of power rush, regardless.

The big thing is to get both guys in the middle pushing the pocket back on damn near every passing play. Patriots offensive linemen want those guys to try go outside and try to get up the field. Those offensive linemen know that Brady doesn’t like pressure right up the middle and that he also likes to step up in the pocket at times to deliver the football. So if they can get a defensive tackle to do, say, an arm over outside, then ride him upfield and past Brady, they can assure that Brady will have a passing lane to step up into inside of them.

If the Eagles defensive tackles can consistently push the pocket into Brady’s lap all game, then their edge guys like Brandon Graham, Vinny Curry, Chris Long and rookie first-rounder Derek Barnett are gonna eat! If Brady can’t step up, he won’t have anywhere to hide when those edge rushers come around the horn.

Power rushing inside should also put those defensive tackles in position to knock some of Brady’s short passes down as well. Sometimes a pass knocked down is even better than a sack.

Not really, but y’all feel me.

If the Eagles take this approach the Patriots won’t be able to handle Cox’s power rushes one-on-one anyway when they only rush four. Cox could have a monster game on Sunday, and frankly the Eagles need him to if they are to have any chance at victory.

I’d also have nose tackle Tim Jernigan in there on passing downs a little more than usual because he’s strong as a damn ox and can definitely get some good push inside, even against at double team.

But that’s just me.

Just tackle Brady, don’t go for the kill shot.

Last thing as far as pressuring him goes, I saw guys miss Brady repeatedly on film because they were trying to go for the kill shot.

At times Brady looked like he’d slathered his uniform in the same kinda Crisco the city of Philadelphia used to line the light poles before the NFC Championship game. He slipped out of the grasp of wayward pass rushers who appear to have him dead to rights. It’s better just to make a sure tackle on Brady than going for the big hit only to end up on the ground looking up at the referee signaling for a first down.

I’m just sayin’!

Eagles defenders will have their chances to take Brady down, no doubt, but they had better make them under control or he will turn them into yet another victim.

The Eagles will be on alert for trick plays all game.

You don’t normally think of the Patriots of having a “gimmick” offense, but they do all kinds of trick plays almost every single week. From double or triple screens to flea flickers to double passes, the Patriots will find a way to stretch the limits of the playbook to try to use the Eagles’ aggressiveness against them.

Every player just has to concentrate on doing their job and not trying to do somebody else’s. I believe the Eagles will be as prepared as you can possibly be for whatever shenanigans the Patriots throw their way.

Keep a safety over the top of Gronk as much as possible.

He is just unfair when he is running down the field. There is no such thing as having good position on him underneath because he is so damn big. If Gronk gets loose, nothing else will matter, so I’m expecting the Eagles to try to mix in some quarters coverage to help them stay strong against the run, while still having someone in position to stay in front of Gronk on any deep pass.

That Cover 3 adjustment I talked about earlier should make a huge difference in limiting Gronk’s big plays. That is, if the Patriots don’t counter by slipping somebody in that flat like I talked about earlier. At the very least, it will give the Eagles a chance to match up with him without having to switch to a different coverage.

With all of the pick plays, motion, and shifts the Patriots can do I wouldn’t think the Eagles would play a lot of man-to-man in this game, but I can’t be sure about that. If they do go man, it will be interesting to see who draws the assignment of trying to cover Gronk.

Here’s why the Patriots will win ... and it won’t be close.

Having said all that, I’m going to go ahead and pick the Patriots to win their second Super Bowl title in a row in a game that won’t be close by the time the clock strikes zero. The primary reason for this prediction, as you may have discerned by now, is that I still can’t trust Nick Foles.

I can’t.

For Brady to play well enough for the Patriots to win would be par for the course for him at this point in his career. Even when he has an “off” day, Brady has the ability to get it going in the fourth quarter and play well enough that the Patriots still end up winning in the end.

Just ask the Falcons.

For Foles to play well enough to win, however, he’ll have to do something extraordinary for him. Even after his strong showing against the Vikings, I just don’t know if Foles will take care of the ball well enough or make enough big throws down the field to give the Eagles a legit chance to win.

I can see a way for the Patriots to win even if their defense struggles, but I can’t see a scenario where the Eagles’ defense is anything less than dominant for Philly to pull off the victory. That’s just way too much pressure for that side of the ball to shoulder for the Eagles. Even for a defense as good as Philly’s. And, one last time, even if the Eagles defense is dominant, there’s still no guarantee that it will be enough.

I do think the Philly’s defense and its running game will help keep the score close for most of the game, but I expect New England to mash the gas and pull away in the fourth quarter.

This prediction may seem a little obvious, but let me say clearly that the Eagles will have plenty of opportunities to win this Super Bowl on Sunday, and if Foles plays like he did against Minnesota, Philly may just pull this one out.

I just don’t think he will.

Sorry, not sorry.

Patriots 27, Eagles 10

[brothermarc7theatre]

"The Great American Trailer Park Musical" show #653

What? They wrote a musical about life in a trailer park? Yes! David Nehls (score) and Betsy Kelso (book) created a musical all about those mobile home communities that have such fun reputations. The setting is Armadillo Acres in a Northern Florida town called Starke. This wild ride of a musical is most reminiscent of Little Shop of Horrors, if Seymour cheated on his wife and all the characters were written as rednecks. You have a female trio, a leading man who falls in like with an abused young woman, and an abusive boyfriend who gets high on highlight markers (yes, it’s that similar a plot). This romp of a show has quite the country-esque score though, demanding legitimately fantastic singers, whether in harmony or belting solos. Trey Compton’s apt staging balances poking fun at the caricatures of trailer park residents while only making you care for the characters as long as the song goes. The cast is nothing short of dynamite, making as much of the wacky book logical and funny as possible.

(L to R: Cat Yates (Jeannie), Andrew Berlin (Norbert), Audra Qualley (Lin), Erica Hanrahan-Ball (Betty), Kaitlyn Sage (Pickles), Ellie Wyman (Pippi); Photo credit: Rich Miller Photography)

Ever since Jeannie and Norbert lost their son twenty years ago due to a kidnapping outside of a salon, Jeannie has been crippled with agoraphobia, unable to leave their trailer. Even a promised twenty-year anniversary celebration at the Ice Capades isn’t alluring enough for her to leave, causing husband Norbert to stray when sexy new stripper, Pippi, comes to the trailer park. Pippi is on the run from abusive, off-his-nut, marker-addicted man, Duke, and finds comfort in Norbert’s arms and bed before too long. The trio consisting of Betty (the matriarch of the Acres’ residents), Lin (short for Linoleum, as she was born on the kitchen floor), and Pickles (so-called cause of her constant hysterical pregnancies) provide cameos as various roles, narrations and commentary, as well several kick ass harmonic turns that are sure to please all hearing-abled audience members. A few “surprise” endings, most of which can be seen from several trailers away, help tie up the end of the musical quite nicely, making the intermission-less structure worth the sitting time.

(L to R, Clockwise: Kaitlyn Sage (Pickles), Cat Yates (Jeannie), Andrew Berlin (Norbert), Ellie Wyman (Pippi), Audra Qualley (Lin), Kneeling: Erica Hanrahan-Ball (Betty); Photo credit: Rich Miller Photography)

Andrew Berlin and Cat Yates play leading couple, Norbert and Jeannie, with great candor and lamenting chemistry as Jeannie’s stubborn will draws the characters further apart romantically. Mr. Berlin has a wonderfully-placed calibration on being the bumbling husband who just follows his…ummm…instincts, while never falling into becoming an unbelievable idiot. His vocals are stellar in the exciting opening “This Side of the Tracks,” as well as “One Step Closer” alongside the equally gifted Miss Yates, and a great duet with her in “Owner of My Heart.” Miss Yates lets it all loose in the best-staged musical number, a laugh-a-second “Flushed Down the Pipes.” Ellie Wyman delivers an outstanding performance as Pippi, nailing the vocal demands in “The Buck Stops Here” and in a show-stopping solo turn in the “Finale.” Miss Wyman’s sensuality and presence makes her a believable trailer-park ingénue with fine-tuned comedic deliveries and dance ability.

(Kneeling: Cat Yates (Jeannie), Standing L to R: Erica Hanrahan-Ball (Betty), Audra Qualley (Lin), Kaitlyn Sage (Pickles); Photo credit: Rich Miller Photography) 

Erica Hanrahan-Ball leads the opening number with a positively dominating vocal turn and narration, is hilariously personable as the hostess of “The Great American TV Show,” but outdoes herself with all the notes she gloriously hits in “Storm’s A-Brewin’.” Audra Qualley is a delightful actress who has the comedic timing down pat, and has several moments of belting and wailing in “The Side of the Tracks,” “It Doesn’t Take a Genius,” and “That’s Why I Love My Man” to make her own memorable performance a well-received one. Kaitlyn Sage dons the ditsy face and slow-and-steady cadence of the “innocent” sidekick within the trio, slow playing every laugh line to its juiciest core. Though her upper-range vocals tend to thin out more often than not, the ability she has to transition her timbre and lower register acts as comedic extension of every line and lyric Miss Sage expertly delivers.

(Cody Gerszewski (Duke); Photo credit: Rich Miller Photography)

Cody Gerszewski, without a doubt, steals the show with his adorable, rockin’ travel song, “Road Kill.” His range has no limit in this song, and his facial expressions and “Jekyll and Hyde”-esque demeanor of the crazed boyfriend hits the nail on the head consistently in his performance. Adding to the success of “Road Kill” (and several other numbers, for that matter) is Mr. Compton putting Mr. Gerszewski on an office chair with wheels to act as the car while the ladies sing back-up using flashlights as headlights. Top it off with Miss Hanrahan-Ball in an onesie representing a certain species of road kill and you have the most memorable number of the production.

(Cast of The Great American Trailer Park Musical; Photo credit: Rich Miller Photography)

Complimenting Mr. Compton’s staging and Mike Sali’s extremely creative and captivating lighting design is Michael Kramer’s ambitious set design that is perfect for the East Sonora stage. It makes the usually cramped space appear to be a legitimate neighborly trailer park, providing three functional trailers, each uniquely designed and used for various scenes and songs. Of the thirty shows I have seen at Sierra Repertory Theatre (this includes both theaters), this is the most collectively earnest technical design, and it pays off brilliantly. Armadillo Acres will be taking visitors through August 20th, so jump on the bike, car, tractor, or horse and head straight over to the theater for a gut-busting time with this talented cast.