The Eagles Off-Season So Far

The new just came out that the Eagles signed former Seahawks FB Leonard Weaver to a 1-year "show me" contract. It appears the Eagles finally addressed a roster spot that has sorely lacking and woefully unproductive for the Eagles Offense...they've lacked a real blocking FB since Jon Ritchie, and the guys that have assumed the role, has mostly sucked...(That said, I thought Kyle Eckel did a good job in the second half of last year, and I was more than willing to give the guy a crack at the full-time gig after a full off-season of preparation).

So the Birds have added an OL (Andrews - brother of Shawn), a couple of safeties (take assume the roster spot vacated by Brian Dawkins and Sean Considine.... notice I didn't say replace...Dawk's departure leaves a void no FA can fill), and now a FB.

The thing is - nearly every Eagles player who has become a free agent this year has left the team. The lone exception was Joselio Hanson, but he signed a long-term deal before the FA period started. Everyone else who has tested the waters has flown the nest. And the Eagles has essential made NO attempt to keep any of them. It is quite understandable in the case of Sean Considine and LJ Smith...they've been ready to walk the Green Mile out the door for a couple of years now. And I think the Birds have decided an injection of youth is necessary at the OT position. They did not pursue long-time stalwart LT Tra Thomas at all. The possibility of resigning bookend RT Jon Runyan remains, though it seems quite remote given his ongoing recovery from microfracture knee surgery. If I was a betting man - Runyan will not be back. If the Eagles are willing to let Dawkins go, then you can tell they simply are not going to place much emphasis on locker-room leadership, etc.

And I think that is the thing that burns most of us fans. Letting Dawkins even GET to FREE AGENCY, when the team is literally awash in cap room. Would it really have hurt the bottom line that much to give the guy a decent offer prior to the FA period and preventing his departure from ever even having a chance of occurring? Would it really have been so bad to give the fans that one exception -- that ONE STINKING example of how there is more than just a straight bottom-line to this business that is the NFL, but which has grown to become part of the psyche of all Philly fans? I mean, for Chrissakes, even the Phillies went out this off-season and kept the team together....

Of course I will want the Birds to win, but I want them to win with DAWK, not without him. And the Broncos?? Fuck, the Broncos aren't going anywhere. B-Dawk is going to squander away the last few years of his playing career being part of some "building process" in Denver, instead of trying to get over the hump with the Eagles. That sucks...

Eagles Stay Alive in Playoff Race

Well the Birds didn't get that much help this weekend. Atlanta beat the Bucs and Dallas man-handled the Giants....so the Eagles' path to the playoffs is officially out of their hands. They have to win-out (That means beat the Redskins in Washington and Dallas in Philly -- no small task) and get help in the form of either a Falcons loss or a loss by Tampa Bay....because if the Bucs and Falcons both win-out, they'll be 11-5 (imagine that, three 11+ wins in a single division, and would squeeze out the Birds, as their best possible record in 10-5-1 (oh damn that Tie with Cincy!!)

The good news? The Redskins blew their season on Sunday by losing 20-13 to the aforementioned Bungles...and the Saints? They got toasted by Chicago last Thursday night, so they're out as well...

The bad news? A little strife in "mi casa" because I will rooting for the Vikings beat the Falcons next weekend, which would devastate the division hopes of the Chicago Bears (hometown team of Mrs. Ranter....). I don't like "rooting" for something to happen that would screw with the Bears, but its pretty much how it has to be...The Eagles need some help and I will take it anywhere we can get it.

But what about the Eagles games versus the Cleveland Browns???
They squashed the Brownies 30-10, but it wasn't a complete white-washing. The Eagles scored just 2 TD in 7 trips to the red zone, so its no joke to say the Eagles could (or even SHOULD) have scored 40+ in this game.

The KEY play to the game though came on yet another end-of-half gaffe by the Eagles. Twice this season the Eagles have executed an excellent two-minute drill and gotten within scoring position for a FG. TWICE the opposing team (first the 49ers, then the Giants) have blocked said FG and returned it for the TD. Now the Eagles have some survived those huge momentum swings and won both games, but its an ugly, ugly, disheartening thing.

This game shaped up to have a similarly devastating end: The Eagles drove the ball on the Browns and were looking to add to a 17-3 lead....Westbrook just barely missed the end zone on a run and the Eagles were forced to take their final timeout with :09 left in the half. So on a 2nd and a foot the Eagles tried a fade route to Hank Basket...the problem, it wasn't much of a fade, and the CB snatched the underthrown pass and started streaking up the sideline...the O-Linemen missed him and there was only one man with a shot at preventing another late-half blunder-turned-TD: Westbrook...#36 had the angle and chased the Brown Db down the sideline and made him slow up...the Db gave Westie a pretty decent stiff-arm and broke free inside in the Eagles 30 yard-line, but it gave Basket and TE Brent Celek time to catch up and shove the guy out-of-bounds at the 5-yard line and saved a sure TD.

Why was that important? It kept the score 17-3 for one thing, and with the Browns getting the ball to start the second half, the last thing the Eagles needed was the Brownies going into the half-time only down 17-10 and feeling like they were right in the thick of a game that has no business being in.

Well Westbrook prevented that from happening.

My other star players:
McNabb - precise from the get-go, Dononvan may have thrown that one bad pass, but overall, he threaded some serious needles last night, including an awesome strike to Kevin Curtis for a TD on the Eagles first drive of the game.
Stewart Bradley - he made some key stops in the run game and finally nabbed an INT this season, after closing real close earlier on
B. Dawk. - He played another solid game and my favorite Eagle of all-Time recorded his 181st game played for the Birds - breaking the team record of Harold Carmichael.
Jason Avant - Had a record day for him and he came up with big 3rd down catches all game long.

Birds Still Have Life

I got up at 01:30 Monday morning to "prepare" for the Eagles-Giants tilt today/yesterday. That may seem absurd until you realize it is just 90 minutes before game time here in Japan. Hey, I need time to make some friggin' coffee and wake the hell up, ya know.

Well I am very happy to report that unlike the past few early Monday morning, the Eagles did not play like I feel getting up in the middle ass-crack of the night. They played with a calm, methodical "let's get it done" attitude with a surprisingly patient, and ultimately effective balanced offensive attacks that managed to squeeze out 20 points in a wind-blown Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands. By contrast, the defense played agitated and pissed off, a stark turn around from the relatively meek front that allowed the Giants 400+yards and 36 points just a month ago.

Heck, it is wasn't for a garbage time drive and late TD that made the final 20-14 score seem a lot closer contest that it really was, the Eagles D would've pitched a shut-out. Heck they did for the first 59:45 of the game -- the lone Giants score prior to the last second TD was a blocked FG returned for TD.

And as the game rolled along, I saw some things I haven't seen in a long time: The Eagles give another team a dose of its own medicine - balance offense and stingy D. The Offense was really the key. They actually played an effective, ball control game against one of the better defenses in the league. Case in point: The Giants' blocked FG at the very end of the first half gave them a huge momentum boost going into the locker-room. But the Eagles had played it smart, and would be getting the ball to start the 3rd quarter. The kicker (pun intended): The Birds would have to go against the wind in the 3rd qtr and play with the wind in the 4th...So the Eagles needed to keep the ball away from Eli Manning and the Giants O in quarter number three to prevent NY from capitalizing on its blocked FG and using the good wind to engineer a drive and seize control of the game.

So I, nay we, finally got to see what I am sure many of us wished for countless times this season - The Eagles showing they have to ability to DRIVE the ball when they really need to. The situation didn't call for McNabb to come out slingin' it against the wind, and I was preparing myself mentally for the big let-down and watching 5 throw a flutterball or watching the Eagles simply unable to get that all important first down. And boy, was I happy to be disappointed!!! The Eagles came out and controlled the clock, ramming the ball down the Giants collective throats...YES the initial drive ended in another failed FG attempt against the wind, but it chewed over 7 minutes off the clock and served notice that the Eagles weren't about to let the Giants keep the wind in their sails.

The Giants got the ball at 7:57 (there's that time again) and held onto it for a whopping 3:18 over the course of 6 plays before a punt. Whoop-de-doo. The Eagles took the ball back and kept in the 13-minute mark of the 4th qtr, because that was when Westbrook put a big "fuck you" stamp on the game for the Giants with a back-breaking 40 yards TD reception on a 3rd and 11 play.

The Giants would have one more chance, and it came on their next possession. They drove the ball a little , held onto to for little bit going against the wind in the 4th, but blundered to their 3rd failed 4th down conversion attempt to hand the ball back to the Eagles 4 minutes later. And what happened then. Eagles leading by 10, 17-7, with 9 minutes left in a critical ball game? Well, the way this season has generally gone, I think most of us wouldn't have been surprised to see the Eagles try 3 straight passes and then punt the ball back with something like 7:30 left on the clock and Eli readying the troops for another run at the Eagles D.

But lo' and behold, something miraculous happened. The Eagles RAN THE BALL, actually it was a nice balanced mix, but the Eagles ground out the clock, churning 7 of the final 9 minutes off the clock with the sort of punishing ground game most of us would normally credit the Giants with having and scoff when mentioning the Eagles offense. The drive ended with another Akers FG, giving the Birds a 20-7 cushion.

The Eagles then gave the Giants 70 garbage time yards playing prevent D...yeah it skewed the yardages stats (but heck even with the final 70 the Giants only amassed 211 yards *only 8 more than Brian Westbrook had all by himself!), but it was sacrifice the Eagles were willing to make because they played a yards for time game with the Giants O. The Eagles gave up the middle of the field because it ragged the clock down and refused to allow the quick score. By the time the Giants O managed its first points of the game there were just :15 ticks left on the clock. So while I HATE the prevent D. It did the job today.

So now the Eagles stand at 7-5-1, and you know the strangest thing of all, they are back in the NFC hunt. Sure the Giants won the division by virtue of the Cowboys woeful come-from-ahead loss to the Steelers later in the afternoon, but the Eagles are by no means as out of it as they looked just two weeks ago. Losses by the Falcons (8-5), Cowboys (8-5), Redskins (7-6 and now a half game back of Philly) have created a veritable log-jam. Toss in the 7-6 Bears and 7-6 Saints, and the loser the Carolina-Bucs game on Monday night, and there will be at least 7 teams vying for two spots down the stretch. Whew...holy crap, and the Eagles play two teams they'll have to beat out...plus the NFC will be playing each other...so we'll see who can stand the heat as the weather gets colder.

Eagles Piss Away Another Win and With it - Probably the Season

I have a real hard time blogging after a game like today's.

Where to start?

Well the clamoring for A.J. Feeley should cease. and Yes. For the record, I felt A.J. had done enough to merit a start, to earn a shot. You know the saying fool me once - shame on you, fool me twice - shame on me. This was twice. Many of us were more than willing to delude ourselves after the Eagles' close-shave-loss to the Patriots. They'd played inspired and we thought...well damn, if only A.J. hadn't spotted the Pats 7 points with that stupid "pick-6" interception, we'd have had 'em.

Well folks - if only A.J. hadn't spotted the Seahawks 14 easy-as-pie first quarter scores - this game, like last Sunday night's, would have played out much, much differently.

That's not the only low-light:
- I think A.J. thought the Eagles had signed a new tight-end. Lofa Tatupu. I can't question Feeley's accuracy. He drilled the ball right to Lofa three times. Hell, it looked like Tatupu was the intended receiver on a couple of those (By the way, our actual TE L.J. Smith, caught 3 passes as well)
- Four piss poor interceptions is four too many. These weren't acrobatic defensive plays folks....these were sophomoric, rookie-level, stare-down-the-receiver or throw-it-right-to-the-defender plays. Literally. There were Seahawks players just waiting for the ball in a couple of situations.
- The absolute stone-motherfucking-hands of our Linebackers....The play after Tatupu pretended to be our tight end to start the game....Hasselbeck drills Takeo Spikes in the chest with a pass (musta been the lighting, that wrong uniform this was contagious). The only difference - Spikes drops the ball. Later in the game, Omar Gaither performed a similar favor for the Seahawks QB. Unfortunately, the Seahawks players were not so courtesy (lousy guests).

- The play-calling. What did we have 50 passes? 2 to 1 pass/run on a day of freezing rain/sleet. Gimme a fucking break. Phil Sheridan is right. There were long runs all day. Including long TD run by Buck and Westbrook (and Morris for the Seahawks). Yet the Eagles kept going bombs away. Sigh.

Gut Check Win in Washington

Hoo-boy....had to sweat one out in Washington this morning. Oh jeez. I tell you what


Things I liked:
- Goal-line D....stiffened when it needed to....down 22-20, the Redskins had at least 7 plays inside the 10 and couldn't punch it in. Heck, it was only a spectacular save by Portis that prevented the Skins from coughing up a fumble. Anyway, holding them to a FG was HUGE. Score 25-20 after that, and a couple plays later, Brian Westbrook is taking a screen-pass to the house for a 26-25 lead.

- Brian Westbrook. Best all-round back in the NFL right now. Period. He just tied Thurman Thomas and Wilbert Montgomery for the having the most games (9) with both a rushing and a receiving touchdown. That a Hall of Fame player and the Eagles all-time leading rusher. That is pretty good company. 183 total yards and 3 touchdowns. Not only did he give my fantasy team a huge boost, his performance today may be a catalyst for the Eagles to sustain some momentum. We've got winless Miami next week.
Image courtesy AP
- More aggressive play-calling in the second half. With Carlos Rogers out and Fred Smoot visibly limping around, the Eagles played timid in the first half. And it showed. The Eagles were down 15-7 at the half and looked pretty frickin' bad. In the second half, the Eagles began taking some shots. Not all of them worked, but they don't ALL NEED TO. Its set a tone, it tells the opposition they can't just cluster the line of scrimmage and play the short pass.

What I didn't like:
Donovan McNabb's inaccuracy. Weird to criticize a guy who goes 20/28 for 250 and 4 TDs, but there were critical plays in the game where Don just looked bad. The pass to Celek on the 3rd possession. Wide open TE...could've set up a scoring opportunity - easy - but whoops! Horrible throw and BOOM goes the punt. There were also a few of McNabb's patented gopher balls thrown in there. It may be nit-picking because we won...but seriously....It was very frustrating.

McNabb's almost game-choking fumble, Jeez oh man, another criticism of the QB? Yup...the defense hadn't done DICK. Nothing to stop the 4skins. And with the Skins up 22-20 and driving, the Eagles force a fumble by Ladell Betts at their own 25. Woohoo, Eagles ball and hope springs eternal.

Next play - McNabb scrambling around and coughs up a cheap fumble...To give the ball RIGHT BACK after that shit. DAMMIT. The Defense managed to hold (see above) them to a FG, but I tell you what, that could've been a killer. A real game-killer. It wasn't, but it almost was.

Will James....holy shit dude. YOU SUCK....James boasted about being a starter in the off-season, but it looks more like he's the second coming of Izel "Toast" Jenkins.

Thoughts on Dallas Week and other things

Lots of talk this week about the Eagles season being on the line Sunday Night against Dallas. And to be honest, as much as I hate to say that any game in the first half of the season is a absolute must-win....I have to agree.

The Eagles are 3-4, the Cowboys 6-1 (Giants 6-2, Redskins 4-3)...A loss against the Cowpukes on Sunday, at home, would put the Eagles in a near-insurmountable hole: 4 games behind the 'Boys, with 8 to play and 0-3 (including 2 homes losses) against the NFC East. Even for an devout football optimist like myself...that is a bridge too far (as far as playoff hope goes).

But I tell you what. Dawkins will be back and that alone should give the Eagles an injection of emotion and energy. And another thing, 4-4, just two games back of the front-running Cowboys and Giants, with 8 to play....sounds a whole lot better doesn't it? Dawkins return will allow "Q" to return his special teams captaincy, so hopefully, those teams get a boost on Sunday Night as well. And let's face it - the Eagles will need to bring their "A" game in every facet to prevail in their biggest game of the year (so far). Well to be honest, they need to win Sunday just so that they get to have "big games" later in the season.

In other news:
The Eagles ended the Matt McCoy experiment this week. No big impact there. The idjit decided to level Minnesota's punter in the third quarter last Sunday, just as the Eagles were poised to take-over inside Viking's territory after nice defensive hold that forced the Vikes to punt from their own end-zone. So instead of taking possession at the Vikings 45, the Eagles were pushed back to their own 40. And Dawk was pissed. The cameras followed his raggin' out McCoy and then yelling "FUCK" on the sidelines after the call. Now Westbrook bailed McCoy out by delivering a 25yd+ screen on the next play, but the damage was done. More telling, no one, and I mean NO ONE, came to his defense. Dawkins was on 950 AM talk radio the next day discussing the "message" the coaches were sending. MESSAGE RECEIVED.

Of more concern - both of coach Andy Reid's sons are going to be spending some time in jail now. AR missed practice on Thursday to attend his sons' sentencing. Both got 23-month sentences. And judge laid in the Reid household as well: A judge who sentenced Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid's sons to jail on Thursday likened the coach's home to "a drug emporium" and questioned whether his adult sons should live there, given their drug problems.

Look, I don't give a crap about his private life. But I worry that this is going to be a distraction to the head coach right before the biggest game of the year. I mean, if we get out-coached, out-smarted, and do what we've done in our losses this year (you know the mantra: a stubborn lack of adjustments, poor clock-management, wasted time-outs) - then I don't know how there would be any other conclusion to come to other than: Andy Reid is distracted and perhaps he needs to step aside or shed some duties. The burden must be incredible. But I am not all that comfortable with the idea that my football hopes (as well as those of the greater Philadelphia metropolitan region) rest on a mind troubled by the drug-addled downfall of two of the head coach's sons.

Eagles Already Entering Spoiler-Mode

The Eagles couldn't hang on today, losing 19-16 versus the Bears.

Plenty of sour grapes to go around, and a ton of question penalties (to be fair there were calls on both teams, but I think the Eagles wound up bearing the brunt of the them).

For starters:
- Can't score in the Red Zone.....3 trips inside the 20 and 3 FGs....that's just poor folks. Poor.
- Some gay-ass retard def. holding call in the 2nd qtr. Will James performed a perfect press coverage, clean contact within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage - yet out comes the flag, and instead of punting the Bears get second life and wind up scoring a FG out of it. And it you think 3 pts doesn't matter? On a day when the O was struggling and the game was decided by 3.....
- The most miserable call of the day - a phantom hold on Todd Herremans on a 3rd and 3 with 2:24 left.....Westbrook runs for a first down - and the game is OVER....oh no...there had to be a penalty to call right? Sure thing. The refs whistle up a holding call. Now, I don't know if they called in on the wrong guy, but on the replay, it seems like all Herremans does is let the Chicago LB Briggs fall to the ground with his own momentum....
Well anyway, that call set-up the improbably finish. Instead of watching the Eagles run three plays and rag the clock to zero, we get to see the Bears drive the length of the field and score a TD....

So what now?
The Eagles aren't going to catch the other teams in the NFC East. The Cowboys and Giants have started the season too well. And both are not going to collapse (again). This isn't 2006. 3-3....sure...the Eagles are still within striking distance; but to already have 4 losses by Week 7 - no matter how close the games, there is no special column close losses, this isn't the NHL - it has become a near-impossible hole from which to dig out.

Can they win 10-in-a-row and go 12-4? Unlikely, not with an offense that can't cash-in, and a defense that was oh-so-close today, but just couldn't shut the door. Whatever mojo the Eagles had in the past that would allow them to squeak through these games and emerge on the other side of the season with a double-digit win season is gone. Hell, a 10-6 record would mean going 8-2.....and with the exception of the games versus the Bills and Dolphins, can you think of a game in which the Eagles will be favored? Even factoring in a division split with the NFC East (a tall task since we're already 0-2) that's one loss. Not being able to score above 20 is sure to cause a few more....The way the team is executing - 5 or 6 wins in the final 10 is about as optimistic a prediction as can be mustered. So that's what 7-9, 8-8? That isn't going to do it folks.

The Birds are finding ways to lose the close games they used to find ways to win. Its going be a rough ride for the rest of 2007....I'm still bailing water, though I can imagine the boards will be full of folks bailing out....could be a lonely season for hopefuls like me....

When is the next Flyers game?

A W is a W

PHINALLY! The Eagles pulled one out. Instead of grumbling about an inept offense unable to score, Birds fans got to watch the team fight and scrap - and while wildly, maddeningly inconsistent - and just enough TO WIN.

What I liked the most:
- The offense sealing the win by running the final few minutes off the clock after the defense held the Jets on 4th down inside the 10.
- That key 3rd and 8 conversion to Reggie Brown. Hello there! Are you a wide receiver for the Eagles? Reggie finally showed up today. Anyway, that play, that execution sealed the victory.
- Brian Westbrook stepped it up after that completion, grinding out the first downs that burned the rest of the clock. All total: 120 yards on 20 carries (plus another 36 in the air). Fantasy-wise I wish he could've gotten into the end-zone, but reality-wise, I am quite happy seeing the Eagles able to run the ball when it counts.
- The fact that the Eagles actually adjusted at half-time! The defense went from cut-back run hell, to stuffing the shit out of Thomas Jones. The Jets really only had one good drive in second half.
- Sheldon Brown - he did a heckuva job taking L. Coles out of the game.
- The stand. 2nd and 1 - T Jones stuffed; 3rd and 1 - QB Sneak by Pennington stuffed; 4th and 1 - incomplete pass.

What I didn't like:
- The offensive funk in the second half. What the hell fellas? They moved the ball in the first half, but had precious few answer in the 3rd and 4th quarters.
- Red-zone ineptness. Plenty of drives, too few touchdowns. We lucked out. The Jets suck. A better team would've made us pay for not scoring TDs when we had all those early opportunities.
- The first half run D was non-existent. 96 yards for Thomas Jones in the first two quarters??? Ok so he only had 30 for the rest of the game. Again, we got lucky, T-Jones got the Jets into early scoring range but they whiffed on the FG (but they did get 2).
- Akers blowing 2 41-yard FG into the wind. He seemed to compensate too much, trying to get the ball to go left, he hooked them to the right. The Meadowland definitely has gotten into his head.

Jeers, Goats and Observations from Sunday Night

I don't want to leave Sunday night's debacle just yet

So here are some thoughts, in random fashion, about the game/State of Eagles

- How come when we line-up with a man on the nose and two LB/S covering each "A" gap, and we bring the house...it never works??? Yet on the very first series, the Giants do the same thing and OL parts like the Red Sea and McNabb gets clobbered.

- Lately it seems like all our "exotic" defense stuff just becomes pedestrian. Our D is doing pretty well. I don't think any team has really excelled against us. But on a day like Sunday, when the front four can't get pressure alone, and then the blitzing fizzles....Makes me wonder is at least some teams haven't caught up with JJ. (though to be fair, I am quite sure the Giants were well-schooled in the Eagles basics from former Eagles coach and current Giants Def Coordinator Spagnuolo.

- Do well really miss Tra Thomas that much?
- Quintin Mikell is playing well in place of Brian Dawkins
- Come back soon Lito, Will James may have talked a big game in the off-season, but he ain't backing up that "I'm a shutdown corner" talk now.

- How can the Eagles look so woefully unprepared in 3 of the 4 games they've played?
- Why are the Eagles seemingly unable/unwilling to adjust to what the other team is doing.
This is a big one folks. I mean, we've lost two games out of the first four because our Offense simply did not acknowledge/do anything to counter the gameplan of the opposing defense. Phil Sheridan wrote a good piece about part of that here: the Eagles are passaholics.
Case in point: against the Skins, the Eagles did nothing to counter Washington's press-man coverage (no formations, no motions, no deep balls, nothing). Against the Giants on Sunday, with everyone in the stadium aware that Giants DE Osi Umenyiora was schooling the Eagles new LT Winston Justice, the Eagles consistently called passing plays with blocking scheme calling for one-on-one blocking. Its wasn't until the second half (and McNabb was already running for his life by then) that I saw even the remotest attempt to help out Justice. And even then, it wasn't consistent.

- Sheldon Brown was right. In one of those Sunday Night tippers when the Players faces talk to the audience about what a great game is going to be on display, Sheldon said, the team that executes the best is going to win:
15 penalties for 132 yards, a missed FG, 12 GD SACKS, 3 dropped passes (at least) and so many blown blocking assignments McNabb is probably going to be in training tub for the entire bye week. Hmm, guess what. Sheldon was right.

Now for good news:
- The Birds may have had to play without Tra Thomas and Brian Westbrook Sunday, but the Buccaneers now have to play the rest of their season with their Starting LT and RB as Luke Pettigout and Cadillac Williams were both lost for the season earlier in the day. So things could be worse. Much worse.
- Andy Reid teams come out strong after the BYE. The coach's unflappable demeanor means a lot to the team. They will not pack-it-up and go home. They will keep fighting because they have character

Other thoughts:
- I know the Eagles will keep fighting. But realistically, they need to go what 9-3 the rest of the way? No its not impossible (though it certainly is impossible with the offense in disarray). This team is going to have to fight and scrap and claw just to get within sniffing distance...I fear that even if they do, they'll be mentally worn out by the end of December
- Do we make a bid to bring back Donte' Stallworth? He's clearly a one-year rental for the Pats. And you know they'll have to devote some $$$ for Moss. He wouldn't be the first former Eagles to return to the nest.

Phils Provide the Cheers - Birds the Jeers

How weird is that? A Sunday in October and the Phillies give the fans more to cheer about than the Eagles.

Ok - my frustration level was off-the-charts with last night non-appearance by the offense again.

My thoughts:
- No Westbrook, no Dawk, no Lito, no Tra, no LJ = very vulnerable team
- Anyone else thinking our OL depth might be a little shaky. Winston, my man...what the hell went wrong? And you stupid eff'ing coaches - HOW ABOUT GIVING THE DUDE SOME FUCKING HELP.
- After the first two or three sacks it was obvious that Justice couldn't handle Giants DE Umenyiora. I have no clue why our offense is so stubborn and/or blind that it refuses to recognize these in-game nuances (though nuance is way too generous a term for watching your starting LT get steamrolled every series).
- 10 runs, 20 passes in a 7-0 first half. That's just great. On a night when McNabb usually had about 1.5 seconds to get rid of the ball we keep dialing up passes.....
- No protectee QB - no winee game - idiots
- You know early on, I didn't mind the play-calling - because the plays the Eagles had called WOULD HAVE worked, except for the fact that the Eagles offense executed so poorly. Every series had a dropped pass, penalty, poor throw and/or a sack. EVERY FUCKING SERIES!
- Case in point - First series - pass to Curtis - clang through the hands off the helmet and to the ground. So instead of moving the chains after the D sending Eli off the field with a three-and-out to open the game, the Birds return the favor - not because of what the Giants D did, but with what the Eagles failed to do.
- Early on the Giants scheme was to pressure McNabb up the middle. Every play. How did this not register with the coaches/OL?

I'll add more later.....

Observations from Week 2

Well I got to enjoy a variety of games today since the Eagles don't play until tomorrow.

Think that hits while watching the games today (I got to view the Bills-Steelers, Packers-Giants, Jets-Ravens, Seahawks-Cardinals, and the Chargers-Patriots, with snippets of the end of the Bengals-Browns and Raiders-Broncos).

- How bad is Notre Dame? They looked S-U-C-K-Y Saturday....
- The Steelers have an almost Philly-like philosophy, pass for the lead and grind out with the run. The difference, they still have a team used to power running football so its easier for them to return to the grinding run game.
- I thought J.P. Losman and Lee Evans were pretty good? They were friggin' invisible today at the big ketchup packet in Pitt. Marshawn Lynch looked really good though in a futile effort to spark the Bills offense to things bigger and better things than a FG.
- OMG, is the Giants Defense really that bad? Or is our D ok? The Packers couldn't do shit to us (ok, not going into how we still managed to lose, scroll down) but they ran over, around and through the Giants today. Their D looked disheveled and disinterested today. I mean, Pam Oliver the Fox sideline reporter basically ripped them a new asshole in the 4th quarter by calling out their uninspired limp response both on the field and on the sideline.
- Poor Jared Lorenzen. That motherfucker took a games-worth of beating in the final Giants possession when Coughlin removed Eli to prevent injury in a lost game. The Packers pinned their ears back and just bummed rushed the "Hefty Lefty." within like 3 plays he was limping and after about 6 snaps or so, he was so beat-up the Giants had to put in Anthony Wright to relieve the guy.
- Congrats to Favre for becoming the winningest QB of all-time. Dunno how you did it last week, and I don't know how you'll continue with that cast of misfits your saddled with in Green Bay, but 2-0 is 2-0.
- Then again Detroit is 2-0 as well, while the Chargers are a very poor-looking 1-1. (Note to self: may be time for Kitna to replace Rivers on one of my fantasy teams)
- Hoo boy, the Jets looked bad for 3 qtrs, but came to life and almost came back against the Ravens. And the comeback would have been complete if it weren't for two balls bouncing off or through the hands of Justin McCariens....You my friend are GOAT of the WEEK!
- Is it just me or does anyone else think the Ravens may be a tad over-rated?
- How in the ever-loving fuck is Ray Lewis still playing?
- I thought for sure the Cards were going to once again snag defeat from the jaws of victory. Perhaps their 23-20 triumph over the Div. Champion Seahawks is the start of something.
- Poor fantasy choice on my part, should've started Deion Branch and not Bernard Berrian.
- I thought the Rams were supposed to have a decent team? That's like 2 TDs in 2 games. What gives? (and where did I pick them to finish in the NFC West, note to self, scroll down and check, if anywhere but 3 or 4, surreptitiously edit it)
- Fucking Chargers. Well at least Antonio Gates got me a fantasy TD.
- You know the Pats 38-14 destruction of the Chargers got me thinking. Its the true shame of the whole Belichick cheating scheme. HE DOESN'T NEED TO! The Patriots have a strong squad, always seem to find valuable role-playing depth guys, come prepared. Why Cheat? It needlessly tarnished a decent image. Senseless. And oh yeah he still shoulda been suspended.
- I'll bet BillB's extension takes the sting out of that "unprecedented" fine the NFL just "blasted" him with.
- POOR FANTASY DECISION of the CENTURY: picking up the Bengals D this week and inserting them into the starting line-up because they playing the lame-ass Browns (who got clobbered in Week 1 and traded their starting QB). The Brownies only hung half-a-hundred points on the Bengals, winning 51-45 in a game that will no doubt be characterized as a "shoot-out" in all the major outlets, but for which the term really doesn't do justice. Maybe they OUGHT to furnish the Bengals and Browns with sign-stealing cameras....
- Why are Titans-Colts games always so close? I don't get it. The Titans don't have nearly the D you'd think necessary/capable of shutting down Manning. But they almost did it.
- I'll bet Atlanta fans really regret trading QB Matt Schaub now. The Texans go 2-0 for the first time in franchise history and my choice of Andre Johnson for one of my fantasy teams look like pure genius.

More later.

Is a Loss ever Good?

Interesting question on the forum today. Was losing the Green Bay game in Week 1 a good thing? (The thinking being, the team will realize it needs to focus and perform and not take thing lightly). You know at this point I don't think so. The idea of a "good loss" is a nice salve, but in reality healthy losses (I don't think any losses are good) are few and far between. In 2004, I believe the Eagles suffered a healthy loss, when the Steelers schwacked them in Pittsburgh. 7-0, heads in the sky. POW. Punch in the nose - screw the head on straight for Super Bowl run. It helped.

Sunday's game is nothing like that. Over-confidence may have played a part. The annual slow-start by Andy Reid's teams another. But the Eagles lost because of a lack of execution on Offense, and an incredible lack on focus on the part of the Punt Return teams....That's it. I believe both problems are correctable, and I expect to see a much better performance on Monday Night Football this week versus the Washington Redskins.

Another view was shared expressing the feeling that "these sort of losses" (like the one dorked up to Green Bay) are becoming too commonplace. I think Phil Sheridan did a good article on it the other day (scroll down). Well today I got to thinking - are they?

I mean were losses in 2000-01-02 any less frustrating? We had some pretty good teams back then as well, did those Ls get chalked up simply because the Eagles were worse than the other team or because we beat ourselves? I dunno, but I think the early part of this decade is getting a little glossed over. You see, Philly fans had to deal with some wildly see-sawing Eagles teams (and expectations) in the 90s. From Buddy Ryan never quite getting over the hump to Richie-fucking-Kotite's (AUGH!) bumbling to Ray Rhodes promise and failure - the Birds fielded some really good and some really bad teams.

So when Andy Reid shows up and starts posting consistent double-digit win seasons did we become less critical of the Losses that were registered. And now 9 years into the Andy Reid Era in Philly (the most successful coaching era (total win-wise) in our history, are we now applying a level of scrutiny to Eagles losses that wasn't otherwise merited or applied in years past? I think its at least possible that this is the case.

And hey, you know what? The Birds can do my stress-level a world of fucking good by kicking the shit out the Redskins on Monday Night and putting Green Bay firmly in the rear-view mirror.

Reno 911! Philadelphia

Well, Sunday's debacle has resulted in a circumstance dreaded by many Eagles fans (this one included - for the most part): the phone call summoning safe, secure, and no-threat-whatsoever-to-return-a-kick-for-a-TD Mahe back to the nest. Yes, him, Reno Mahe. The 4-year vet who made us take for granted the ability to catch punts even if he was utterly unremarkable in actually returning them.

Of course, I'd forgotten that he led the NFL in Punt return average in 2005 (12.8 yards) - primarily because I've blocked most memories of that lost season. And prior to 2006, I'd gallantly defended him as a player who "made the smart play" and wasn't as bad folks made him out to be. But after a brutally undistinguished campaign in 2006 and nursing memories of a good return game during our Super Bowl run in 2004, I joined the clamoring hordes who relished the fact that Eagles did not extend a contract to Mahe in the offseason. (hell NO ONE DID).

You know my mind was changed Sunday. I just want someone who isn't going to fuck things up. I don't care if we don't have a Dante Hall-esque guy or a Devin Hester clone. I just want our special to NOT LOSE THE GAME FOR US. And while I think it is utterly pathetic to have such low expectations for our return game - it is reality. Our O will come around and our D looked better than I expected. The O didn't play particularly well, but the D did and we certainly played well enough to escape Lambeau Field with a W instead of a loss, if it hadn't been for a few keys miscues, none larger than those idiotic muffed punts.

Now Mahe hasn't been signed, but he has been called, and I find it hard to believe the Birds who fly him back to Philly if they weren't thinking very seriously about signing him. In fact, he could be just a short-term panacea. A band-aid sort of move until J.R. Reed gets more comfortable in the punt return game. NO FUCKING WAY does Greg Lewis ever line up deep again. NO WAY.

The question being: who would get cut to make room for Mahe? Top candidates have to be Greg Lewis (5th WR), Pat McCoy (our 10th OL) or Pago Tagofau (our 6th LB)....but Lewis/Pago would leave us fairly thin at WR/LB....our lone area of true surplus appears to be on the Lines....you know what, we'll find when/if it happens.

The Day After the Day After

You know what? Screw looking back at the Eagles Sunday afternoon special teams meltdown at Lambeau. They played well enough to win the game in two of three facets of the game, and they blew enough donkey ball on special teams to dork up what should have been a win.

I have that crappy feeling about the Green Bay game. When we're facing a tough game in December and we need to win to ensure we seize the division crown or make the playoffs, we're going to look back at a game like Sunday's and go, goddammit, it we hadn't been so generous in September we wouldn't have this pressure. Phil Sheridan does a good job at doing illustrating those lingering fears that come from dropping a eminently winnable game.

It dropped Andy Reid's opening day record to 3-6
3 win and 6 losses in 9 opening seasons? Can that be right? In 6 of 8 seasons he's posted double-digit wins....yet we consistently start slow in game 1. I don't get that.

You know what I think this means? Bad news the Redskins. We've got them on Monday Night Football next week. And A) The Eagles do very well on Monday nights and B) They almost always bounce back from a crappy showing.

Other thoughts:
Did the Eagles escape from week 1 with the least amount of injury damage in the NFC East? Is that a possible silver-lining. No one was lost for the season? Yes, Lito had an MCL Sprain, but our division opponents all took big hits on Sunday. Spuds talks about it, but I thought it as soon as I heard about the Dallas-NYG game (was too tired to stay up for it, I had been up all night).
The list:
- The Redskins lost their stalwart OT Jon Jansen
- The Cowboys lost their starting NT Ferguson (this one stings, to play a solid 3-4 you've got to have a quality NT to control the interior, not sure where this leaves the Cowboys D)
- The Giants lost QB Eli Manning and RB Brandon Jacobs for a month, and DE Osi Umeniyora for a time (not sure of the extent of his injury).
Heck that's just the division. Orlando Pace (Rams), Mike Brown and Dvoracek (Bears) and Ray Lewis (Ravens) could be or already are out for the season. Yikes!
It truly is going to be the teams that stay the healthiest that make it through to January.

Going On the Record About the NFC

Well my trials and tribulations with my primary PC have not ceased. Are they worse? Perhaps not, but the fucker isn't fixed yet, and it crunched my entire Sunday.

Its just a few hours before Sunday's 1pm Kickoff (that 2am Monday morning here in Japan), so I'll make this brief.

Predicted finish by Division:

NFC North: No team is strong enough to challenge the Bears
1. Chicago Bears - even with sexy-Rexy daring to be mediocre at QB, a helluva defense/special teams will keep the Bears in every game. The question week-in, week-out question: Will the Bears O show up and result rock the opponent or will Bad Rex emerge from the shadows and do his best to F things up.
2. Green Bay Packers - dunno why, perhaps it was little run last year, but if any semblance of a running game appears for the Packers, they should be able to beat out the Vikes and Lions for second best
3. Detroit Lions - so many weapons on Offense, the biggest question: will they be able to out-score their opponents week-to-week. Cause if not, that D is porous
4. Minnesota Vikings - Stalwart Run D, questions everywhere else. Still Adrian Peterson could/should establish himself as the division's Best RB. The problem: who is their QB?

NFC East: Two team race
1. Philadelphia Eagles - dees my boys! I will always pick the Eagles to win. ALWAYS.
2. Dallas Cowboys - Should field a strong team and appear to be Philly's primary competition for the division. Have a couple of players nicked-up early (CB Newman, WR Glenn) so hopefully they get to a nice plodding, slow start
3. Washington Redskins - Ok, for once they didn't go whole hog and splurge like addicts breaking into a pharmacy during free agency (they did make some hefty signing) and an end-of-training-camp youth movement should gives the Redskins some legs during the season. Is Jason Campbell for real? Skins fans better hope so, and this year should tell us a lot. I still see the 4skins as a year or two away though
4. NY Giants - Jeff Lurie, Dan Snyder and Jerry Jones ought to be sending Tiki Barber Halloween baskets, Thanksgiving turduckens and a shit-load of good wishes for Christmas because I have never seen a dude be a big a distraction to team after he left than Tiki...uh, well maybe MEO. The Giants just don't look like a good ballclub right now

NFC South: Talk about yer distractions
1. New Orleans Saints - yeah they got smashed on opening night. But seriously, who is going to challenge N.O.? Tampa? Carolina? It would take a major fall to retreat back to those levels.
2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Garcia is just what Gruden needs. If the Caddy doesn't have a flat (like last year) then the Buccaneers should field a pretty competitive team.
3. Carolina Panthers - don't trust Delhomme, have a feeling we'll be seeing David Carr before too long
4. Atlanta Falcons - injuries, new coach and Michael Vick oh my! Did I mention that Joey Harrington in now "the man" in the A-T-L.....we'll see how that goes over

NFC West: Toughest division to pick, by far, any of the 4 teams seems like they could put together a good season and win it.
1. Seattle Seahawks - I picked against the Seahawks last year and paid for it. I don't see them as that strong, but guess what, until someone proves otherwise - they own the division. I am not picking against Hasselbeck and Alexander or their home field advantage again
2. St. Louis Rams - Jackson, Bulger, Holt, Bruce, Bennett, McMichael. Oodles of weapons to power the O, if the D makes any strides the Rams will challenge Seattle
3. San Francisco 49ers - they just seems poised to put together a good year - don't they?
4. Arizona Cardinals - a chic darkhorse pick in recent years. I still don't trust them

Going On the Record - Micc's AFC Prediction

Okay, I admit it, I should've done this at the end of August, like last year. But I swear, I won't let the Colts impressive debut alter my prognostications. (ed. yeah right)

So without further ado, let me boldly go where, uh, only about 10,000 other Internet talking-heads have gone before:

AFC North: Wow is this a tough division to pick. The Ravens were tough as hell last year and now they've got a good young(er) back in Willis McGahee rather than the Jamal Lewis who rapidly transformed from thundering to plodding.
1. Baltimore Ravens - the addition of McGahee does it for me. I usually would shy from picking a team to repeat with competition like Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, but a running game will give the Ravens that extra-win somewhere that puts them over the top.
2. Pittsburgh Steelers - neck-and-neck with Cincy, but I think the O might open up a bit.
3. Cincinnati Bengals - more like a 2a pick. QB Carson Palmer enters that oft cited "2nd year" back from a Torn-ACL. He alone could trash my entire prediction for this division because he is clearly the best QB in the AFC North (which is usually a pretty good barometer for who has the best team as well)
4. Cleveland Browns - over/under on the beginning of the Brady Quinn era: Week 7. Over/under on the # of wins for the Brownies: 5.

AFC East. The class of the division remains the Pats (though the sheen has come off a little in the past couple of weeks, with injuries/suspensions to Richard Seymour and Rodney Harrison and their best CB Asante Samuel just now reporting to the team (and accepting his franchise designation)
1. New England Patriots - Brady got some scary weapons now. Lots of pressure on Laurence Maroney, but he look good. If he gets injured....well that's an argument that can put on a LOT of teams. The defensive holes could hurt them early, but unless the NY Jets streak out of the gate and the Pats stumble badly, they should have more than enough to win the AFC East tiara.
2. NY Jets - the Man-genius will be the primary competition for the Belichick-led Patriots. Thomas Jones gives the Jets a great option at RB. I don't think the Patriots are used to the Jets actually having a reliable running game the past couple of years (when Curtis Martin was in his last year and then gone in '06). They'll have one this year.
3. Buffalo - the J.P. Losman-Lee Evans combo won't be enough to get this team over the top. Huge turnover on D leaves a lot of questions. No answers yet. Wouldn't completely surprise me to see the Bills do really well, also wouldn't surprise me to see them founder
4. Miami Dolphins - No O-line and stauesque QB in Trent Green. Affording your QB less protection than what some of the girls wear down on the strip spells bad news for Miami.

NFC South - Defending Champs should rule the roost (see I told you)
1. Indianapolis Colts - swear this has nothing to do with their dismantling of the Saints on opening night. They just have too much for their division rivals. Period.
2. Houston Texans - ok, I will take a wild stab and say the Texans' gamble on Matt Schaub pays off. The guy knows the system the team uses and maybe Ahman Green will be the Texans' uncaped crusader for one season. That's the hope in Houston. It won't be enough to make the playoffs, but it could be enough to make some noise that Houston doesn't totally suck.
3. Jacksonville Jaguars - maybe Garrard will be "the man" down in J-town. Maybe the Jags won't recover from the release of Byron Leftwich. I'm down on the Jags because they can't seem to stop the internal roiling that seems to sabotage their season each year. Moreover, Garrard is just the 4th best QB in the division.
4. Tennessee Titans - an odd placement, I know, considering the Titans "remember us, we're still in the NFL" run last year. But jettisoning nearly every weapon Vince Young relied on last year (with the exception of TE Ben Scaife) just doesn't seem like a formula for success in 2007. If some weapons emerge, this pick will look foolish, cause Vince Young is just electric.

AFC West - aiya, San Diego, Denver and uh...oh my the other two should be bad.
1. San Diego - Going with talent alone on this one folks. LT, Philip Rivers, Antonio Gates? An orangutan could coax a 9-10 win season of this squad. They could roll out a wax figure of coach Norv Turner and be just as effective (come to think of it...)
2. Denver Broncos - Travis Henry is next-in-line to get the Shanahan-system-can-make-a-1,000-yard-rusher out-of-anyone. Thing is, Henry is already a damn fine back. He could become a monster in Denver....yea! I got him on one of my fantasy teams
3. Oakland Raiders - from bottom of the scrapheap to what? Mild, somewhat respectability? Perhaps. I just think any team with a defense as good as the Raiders should be somewhat decent. Is McNown the answer? Dunno, I expect Culpepper and his deep-ball ability to take over at some point.
4. Kansas City Chiefs - odd place for the Chiefs, but I just don't trust this team on either side of the ball. O-line is deteriorating and even with Larry Johnson, who is arguably a top 3 back in the league, it hard to see him dominating in a 3-yards and a cloud-of-dust offense. And who is going to be throwing the ball to new WR Dwayne Bowe? K.C. may make me pay for this lack of faith, but that's how I see it right now.

Oof! Colts Stomp Saints

Well, I figured the Colts would score some points. But the Saints must be thinking they just got smashed by Hurricane Ka-Peyton.

41-10? Well, so much for my prediction. Got close with the Colts, but I thought the Saints would be able to score some points. Which is perhaps the scariest part of the game: the Colts D. I mean, the Saints' were supposed to have a strong D, but all they did was dink and dunk and "take what the D gave them" - that was enough to keep the game 10-10 at the half, but it was nowhere near enough in the second half. Manning got rolling, and the Colts just churned out the points.

Moreover, my thoughts in the off-season were: the Colts lost too many defensive starters. Talk about addition my subtraction. I think the replacements are clearly better than the guys from last year. Oopsie....

Fantasy note: Manning scored 23 points in ESPN FF. Great, I'm already 23 points in the hole.

Final note: I wouldn't want to be the team that has to face New Orleans next week (uh, that means you Tampa) because the Saints just got embarrassed on National TV.

NFL is About to KICKOFF!

Colts vs the Saints.
Game is coming up, uh, later today. (Tomorrow morning for me). And I figured I should commemorate this somehow.

Prediction: The Colts bring too much O for the Saints, win by 10, 37-27.

As for the rest of the games. Well to be honest. I just don't know and exposing my ignorance for all to see would be a just this side of ridiculous. So why bother?

I do know one thing: NYG RB Brandon Jacobs may be big, but I think about 50 of his 250 lbs must be lodged in his fat skull. Season hasn't even started and he's giving Dallas bulletin board material, talking about going to Dallas and whuppin' dat ass. I'm sure Amani Toomer is going to be real appreciative of his comments when Roy Williams lays him out at some point in the game.

IN other news.
A decent article by Les Bowen on the situation surrounding McNabb.
Not sure I like this article by El Segundo on GCobb.com, I mean its half-baked and doesn't even bother to analyze the Packers entire defense. If you going to discuss the Packers D, don't tell us how great it is and then leave with the cryptic "And that is, of course, before even looking at the playmakers in their secondary." (Ed. pet peeve: starting a sentence with AND).

Well why the fuck not look at their secondary. Like its stocked with All-Pros....Charles Woodson played fairly well last year. He at least showed he wasn't washed-up. Al Harris is the other corner, but isn't he getting a little long in the tooth to be mentioned with the top corners in the league (I mean, I can probably name a good dozen without pausing: Vasher, Newman, Bailey, Sheppard, Barber, Asomugha (or whatever the fuck his name is, the dude in Oakland), Dre Bly, Asante Samuel, D. Hall, Mathis, Lucas....ok, ran out, sue me...what am I an encyclopedia? Point is, I can't even name the Packers safeties and all of a sudden I'm supposed to be afraid of a pair of, at best, second-tier CBs. Not likely.

What I do respect from the Packers D, is their D-Line, which is underrated and an up-n-coming LB corps. Its going to be the FRONT 7 we have to worry about. Not the back 4.

Analyzing the Eagles D

Well its taken a couple of days for me to get the time. I did my roster analysis of the offense (scroll down) a few days ago. So not to leave out the defense, off we go:

DL (10 total, 5 DE, 5 DT) Brief word before the positions. This is same number of D-lineman we carried last year. However, unlike the O-Line, there are several new faces this year. As usual, expect the Eagles to dress 8 DL each game, and creating alternating DT & DE rotations (They don't usually swap out 4x4, but 2x2 and sometimes 1-to-1.

DE - Jevon Kearse, Trent Cole, Darren Howard, Juqua Thomas and Victor Abiamiri. O.k. so the only "new" face is Abiamiri, our second round draft pick. But Kearse returns after missing 14 games last year with a knee injury. His effectiveness will go a long way to determining how effective our DE rotation will be. The Darren Howard at RE, Kearse at LE combo looked awesome early last season. Then Kearse went out, Howard played out-of-position some snaps and played too many snaps are wore down as the season progressed. This season, provided they all stay healthy, the two elder statesmen of the D-Line should be fine. Matter-of-fact, Trent Cole supplanted Darren Howard as the starter in TC this year, so his snap count should be manageable. Of course, for the amount of $$$ he's making, Howard is over-priced. If he could manage to play to the level of his compensation. We'd could have a monster line. The final member of the regular rotation will be Juqua Thomas (who followed Kearse here from Tennessee). JT has a stellar preseason, and that new contract hasn't slowed the man's motor. I am looking for good thing from Juqua this year - he's going to make it hard for the coaches to keep him off the field. Abiamiri is a spot player this year. He's insurance in case of injury, but it really here to learn the position and then take over one of DE slots that will almost assuredly be vacated by Kearse or Howard (or both) during the 2008 offseason.

DT - Mike Patterson, Broderick Bunkley, Montae Reagor, Kimo Von Oelhoffen, LaJuan Ramsey. Two new faces here. One real new, as Kimo just joined the team in place of the injured Ian Scott (who signed in the offseason but never played a snap in TC or preseason). This rotation gives the Birds a mixture of youth and experience (in Kimo's case, significant experience - he's 36). The bonus as I see it: Reagor and KVO may give up some age/weight to the departed Sam Rayburn and Darwin Walker, but they have both recently been part of Super Bowl winning teams. They know what it takes to get things down, and can teach the young guys (Patt is 3rd year player, Bunk and LaJuan 2nd year, rookie FA Jeremy Clark is on the practice squad) a thing or two and provide a steady veteran presence in the middle. In Kimo's case he'll primarily be called on the stuff the run. Ramsey has been hobbled by a high ankle sprain most of TC and preseason and will likely start the season not dressing for games. Once he's good to go (say a few weeks into the season) expect him to suit up and spell one of the "old" fellas for a few games. This will keep the vets fresh for the long campaign.

LB (6) - Takeo Spikes (TKO), Omar Gaither (OG), Chris Gocong, Stewart Bradley, Matt McCoy and Pago Togafau. Lots of question marks about this group. Obvious TKO is being relied on as our stalwart LB, even though he's brand new to the system. OG is going to good in the middle. He's got the speed Trotter used to have, though not the size. OG is more of sideline-to-sideline guy, whereas Trot had become a tackle-to-tackle guy, or perhaps a tackle-to-hashmark guy if he slanted that way. That said, he's and last year, he played the WILL position. One thing he did flash last year - a propensity to make plays - something our LBs sorely lacked before he showed up. TKO is a play-maker as well, so look for the LBs to contribute a bit more on the batted passes, INT scope. The real question is going to be their susceptibility to mis-direction, screens, etc. Gocong is essentially a rookie and learning the SAM, Stewart Bradley is a more natural SAM, but is a genuine rookie. There's going to be some bumps along the way, but these guys have the talent, its a matter of getting the confidence, being comfortable and just playing. As for McCoy, well, the Eagles like to talk about how well he graded out in the first half of last year, but he's small, quick guy and while he can tackle ok, he hasn't shown an ability to really stick his head in there and knock out a runner or an ability to stay healthy for a season. Since he's not a starter anymore, expect to him dress and play special teams, and also, perhaps join in the certain LB rotation packages when the Birds need a LB to help in pass coverage. As for Pago, no clue fellas. The Eagles had to place him on the 53-man roster because they claimed him off waivers from the Cardinals. He's a fireplug type (5'10", 250), who can run. But can he play? Not sure we're going to find out this year, though he could dress and make an appearance on special teams. I just don't think it will be early in the season - perhaps once McCoy wears out....

DBs (9 total - 5 CB, 4 S)
CBs - Lito Sheppard, Sheldon Brown, Will James, Joselio Hanson, Nick Graham. A bit of consternation in the Eagle-land when the Eagles pulled plug on the Rashad Barksdale (6th rnd pick) experiment in favor of undrafted rookie free agent Nick Graham. Both players flashed some ball-hawk in the preseason, but neither is really going to be counted to play much this year. Will James is our clear #3 CB, even though he boasted about being a starter and going to the ProBowl, he did not do enough (IMHO) to justify playing in front of Sheldon Brown. Lito remains our best play-making CB and has really developed into one of the top corners in the NFL.

S - Brian Dawkins, Sean Considine, Quintin Mikell, J.R. Reed. This group is a bit less steady that in years past. Dawk is going to be fine, as always, and we really need to remain pretty much ageless this year. Last year he responded from an o.k. season in 2005 to a stellar Pro-Bowl-nod-earning 2006. We need that to continue, because the Eagles did not have a chance to draft his replacement this past April. He's one of the best-ever, and my all-time favorite Eagle. Say no more - it will be a sad, sad day when Dawkins hangs them up. I just hope it doesn't happen for a few more seasons - and I can't wait to see him snatch another Brett Favre pass in the opener.

The biggest area of concern is clearly his battery mate Considine. Much was made about him bulking up in the off-season in order for him to be able to stand-up and lay some wood from the SS position. Uh....doesn't look like that is going to happen. He bounces off big TEs and I haven't seen him lay out a single WR. SC simply does not instill any fear in opposing receivers over crossing the middle. None. Quintin Mikell and J.R. Reed both have huge special teams roles for the Eagles. Mikell is our ST captain and J.R. returns after a injury and jaunt around the league to (hopefully) provide our return game that spark its been missing ever since he got injured between the '04-'05 seasons. The primary question in my mind: Can "Q" turn his play up another notch and supplant Considine. One thing Mikell can do is HIT, and it appears that Def. Coord. Jim Johnson is creating some schemes/packages to get Mikell onto the field. With Reed and Mikell both dressing, I practically expect more contribution to the Birds from our back-ups safeties than from our starting SS.

Eagles Cuts Leaked Early?

Evidently the person in charge of making sure the wireless news feed to Eagles subscribers got a little too pro-active and may have dished the dirt on some Eagles cut a day early. Besides the obvious black-eye the front office is going to get should a player get word via the net, instead of in-person, it seems someone is due for a pink-slip of their own.
Now Eagles.com and Spuds won't confirm any of these moves....so there COULD be some changes. Doubtful. But not altogether beyond the realm of possibility.

In case the .jpg doesn't show up clearly: there are a few notable names on the list:
Ian Scott, the big run-stuffing DT they signed from Chicago - he could get on the field with a knee injury, which was good news for rookie FA Jeremy Clarke who really took advantage of his opportunity with a strong camp. Clarke - you isn't on the list.

Jeremy Bloom, I noted this in my blog earlier. Too much shake, not enough bake. He has a little wiggle to him, but the Eagles prospective KR/PR just never seemed to want to run it straight up the field. Not every play can be bust to the outside - ESPECIALLY with our ST blocking.

Dirk Johnson, our incumbent punter apparently lost out to the booming leg of our new Aussie pick-up, Saverio Rocca. Rocca, who was an instant hit with the fans, can flat-out crush the ball. Hell, he "shanked" a kick and he got a 42-yarder out of it. Toss in the a great pooch-punt ability and the propensity to hang ball up in the sky long enough for the coverage guys to make the fair catch, and you have a true special teams weapon. Dirk may be steady, but our Special Teams have been anything but. Having Rocca back there at least gives the punting unit a chance to shine. Now he just need to get that holding thing down. FG do not need to be an adventure. If he and LS Jon Dorenbos don't practice FG snapping and holding for 60+ this week, something is wrong.

Nate Ilaoa, the big Samoan HB from UH couldn't crack the line-up. Well he's project, as evidenced by his 7th round status. I think he lands on the practice squad.