One Tough Guy

been busy with work, so haven't posted in a few days...

this new mcnabb injury (and his subsequent decision to play through it) got me thinking about how his toughness is somewhat underrated. it's weird how some players are lauded for their toughness, while other guys are known to be tough but not lauded for being so. with mcnabb it's assumed by the fans and media that he'll play through things. i suspect that same assumed toughness image extends to the refs too. imo, don draws fewer roughing the qb penalties than most qb's, yet gets hit as much as anyone. when's the last time he got a call for getting knocked in the head? that call happens all the time in the nfl -- even if a defender just touches the qb's helmet with his hands -- but referrees seem reluctant to make that call when mcnabb gets hit in the same manner. case in point, chad lavalais leads with his head and lays into mcnabb as don is throwing and bruises don's sternum. the umpire is looking right at that play, and doesn't throw the flag. the play ultimately draws a fine from the league, but gets no call from the ref. do they make that call if it's against favre? definitely.

in my mind, the best example of mcnabb's toughness is still the game against arizona when he broke his ankle in the first quarter. when michael vick broke the same bone in his ankle, he had to be carted off the field writhing in agony. mcnabb not only didn't get carted off the field, he played the rest of the game on that broken ankle and threw 4 TDs. that's pretty damn tough.

i hope his decision to play through the hernia does not have a lasting impact on his career. good luck 5!

Monday Links

- great article about b-dawk on si.com

- TO mouths off again (thanks for the link steve bowers)

- an outsider's view of the eagles organization

Game 3 Thoughts

well, a win is a win and i'll take it, but all is not well in eagles land today. there are significant performance and injury issues on the team right now that don't seem particularly easy to resolve.

- mcnabb looked awful for large stretches of the game. his limited mobility and flexibility made him a sitting duck back there, and you could tell that he was in a lot of pain. the eagles are worried that he has a sports hernia, which is not a good thing -- a sports hernia pretty much ended mikael renberg's career (yes, he did play for several seasons after the sports hernia, but was never the same player again). maybe the surgical techniques have improved since then -- dirk johnson had one in the offseason and he's back punting already -- but dirk doesn't have to avoid michael strahan or dwight freeney. i am *very* concerned about this -- at least 10x more concerned than about the kicking situation.

- TO took a couple of licks and held onto the ball, but i thought he did a lot of loafing frankly. early in the game (first series i think?) on the reverse pitch to greg lewis, i thought TO did an ole job on the block against a guy who ultimately made the stop 3 yards short.

- LJ is a fumble waiting to happen. he protects the ball worse than any player i can remember. he juts his elbow out every time he tries to make an athletic move or is about to be hit. it exposes the ball to anyone coming from the backside. i find myself screaming "don't fumble" every time he makes a catch.

- the defense got no pressure on collins all game. did our d-line play yesterday? did robert gallery eat jevon kearse? seems like they did a lot of double-teaming inside knowing that their tackles could handle our ends. even their blitz pickups were terrific. i can't remember a single guy getting a free run on collins. mike patterson, who got the start due to darwin walker's injury, was effective early and then disappeared when they started to pay more attention to him. great job on run defense by the d-line though, oakland was not getting any push at all.

- not sure what they're going to do about akers. can you afford to carry two kickers for a large portion of the season? according to all accounts, akers was booming them from 55-60 yards in practice during the week and up to 5 minutes before the game. seems like there wasn't a way anyone could have predicted what happened. then again, is jeremy thornburg (who was inactive anyway) worth the risk of what happened? personally, i'd cut parry but either one of them can go IMO.

- o-line did a nice enough job considering mcnabb was so immobile... except for artis. is artis fighting some sort of injury? artis didn't play well and even allowed that fat f*ck sapp to make a few plays.

- for most of the first half, the offense looked like they were playing in mud. except for westbrook, no one seemed to have their usual quickness or "burst". even TO looked slow (maybe it was his groin injury rather than loafing, but he did look slow).

- westbrook played great and was the difference in the game. i think it's about time to pay the man...

- charles woodson played a great game. sheldon and lito are good, but woodson is a difference maker. he was very physical all game and never seemed to be more than a step away from any receiver he covered.

- josh parry cannot play.

- i think trent cole has potential, but he doesn't know how to play right now and JJ doens't trust him. a couple of plays to highlight: a) game 1 against the falcons vick bootlegs left and cole stays home to get in front of him. vick gives him a pump fake and cole jumps. next thing you know vick is 10 yards downfield. cole hardly sees the field again. b) this game, the longest run of the day by jordan was cole's fault. play is a sweep right so cole takes off straight down the line. jordan cuts back and the whole left side is open so he runs for 12. cole hardly sees the field again.

Imagine if this happened in Philadelphia...

Way to be classy giants fans... (link found on profootballtalk.com)

"One guy even said he was glad our city was under water. ... I have had to sit here for FOUR YEARS and listen to all the New Yorkers complain and expect sympathy from the world [because] of 9/11 and this is what we get in return?"

this would be a huge national story if an eagles fan did this.

Aikman

watching the triplets go into the cowboys "ring of honor" last night got me thinking about how good aikman is perceived to be. madden said that aikman was the "most accurate passer ever" last night. i know you have to take everything he says with a grain of salt, but when you look at aikman's numbers they really aren't that impressive. he had a career completion percentage of 61.5% with 165 TD and 141 INT and 81.6 rating. those numbers are hardly overwhelming. ok, so he did have a tough start, getting thrown in as a rookie on a horrible team and he did have a terrible finish after his brain was turned into pudding from the concussions, but even if we only look at his peak seasons (1992-1999) his numbers aren't that great 62.5% with 127 TD, 81 INT, and approximately an 87 QB rating.

mcnabb's career numbers (even including his not so great first season) are 58.4% with 124 TD, 58 INT, and 84.7 QB rating. ok so, aikman's accuracy appears to be better... however, when you factor in the fact that aikman was playing behind an all-world o-line, playing with the all-time leading rusher in the nfl, and his receivers were michael irvin and jay novacek for most of his career, i'm not sure that the completion percentage difference between the two is significant... especially when you factor in mcnabb's receivers during most of his career (small/johnson/lewis, thrash/pinkston/lewis)?

i recognize that numbers aren't everything and that troy did in fact bring some intangibles to the table, but i think you have to at least wonder if mcnabb would have won more superbowls playing on that team than the three that aikman won. that team proved it could win without aikman or irvin for the short term. they were never able to win without emmitt. it's possible donnie wouldn't have won as many as aikman, but i doubt it.

Game 2 Thoughts

- the last two games reinforced something we already knew. protect mcnabb, they win. don't protect mcnabb, they have a tough time winning.

- defense looked terrific. they plugged up the run really well and got decent pressure on rattay all day.

- shawn andrews went out with shoulder injury. hope it's not serious. i also hope this isn't an indicator that he's going to be fragile. he's a heck of a talent.

- mcnabb looked really sharp and made some great throws. none better than the touch pass he made to westbrook in the corner. that's a throw he couldn't make a couple of years ago.

- kearse was a non-factor again, and it didn't really appear to me that san fran was doubling him that much. this is a concern. kalu had a good game though. he had at least 3 mamulas that i counted and he finally did get a sack midway through the third.

- mike patterson played another solid game. don't know if he's going to get credit for a half sack on the first eagles sack of the game (with darwin walker), but he probably should. reggie brown got a couple of catches. it's pretty impressive for a rookie wideout to be playing so much. andy must like him a lot. nice drafting by the birds to snag those two guys.

- lito got the pick, but sheldon had the better game. sheldon broke up several passes and almost had a couple of picks himself. don't know whether the niners were targeting him over sheppard, but it seemed like he got more action. pick your poison i guess, but if i was an opposing coach, i'd target lito who at least is prone to giving up the big play now and then (like when he got burned by lloyd on a double move in the endzone that rattay overthrew). sheldon hardly ever makes a mistake.

- lito got caught by a fat guy on his pick.

- dawkins and michael lewis are flat out mean. every tackle has just a little extra at the end. on the dawkins sack he made sure he got an elbow in rattay's ribs. on a barlow sweep to the left, lewis came in at the end and threw him to the ground even when it was evident barlow was falling down anyway.

- lj had his best game as an eagle. he was involved all day and did a good job of catching the ball. he's been prone to fumble so far in his career so i'm still concerned that he doesn't protect the ball very well (especially when he's trying to evade tacklers), but he's definitely the most athletic TE the birds have had since keith jackson.

- no short arms from TO. great catch as mike rumph popped him in the head. not sure why they picked up the flag on that.

- i'm not sure if he has buckhalter's long speed, but lamar gordon can play. he's pretty shifty and broke a couple of tackles.

- hicks wasn't much better than the last game, but i saw fraley pancake a couple of guys.

- i get frustrated with the lack of a running game, but i've come to the conclusion that andy doesn't run the ball because he knows the eagles aren't good at it right now. the o-line doesn't create holes, parry can't block, and westbrook isn't durable. i think if gordon proves himself to be at least as good as buck was, then we could see the birds run more and more as the season progresses. history has shown that when he has horses he is willing to run (the season when staley, buck, and westbrook were all going strong they were in the top 3 in the league in rushing), so he must have his reasons for not runnning right now. andy's not dumb and he wants to win, so he must think that passing is their best chance for success.

Karma

i'm not one to chuckle at other people's misfortune, but this just reeks of karmic justice. kevin mathis (previously known as the guy who set up trotter) blew out his knee and is out for the season.

Wednesday Links

- phil sheridan points out that qb's have a hard time passing if they're getting knocked on their ass all game

- there's a chance donnie may sit against the niners

- andy singles out pass protection and 3rd down performance as key factors in the loss

- atlanta, a team that has never had back to back winning seasons, stepped up to defend their "powerful franchise" from the eagles pre-game ritua

- a better mix of running and passing might be easier if you had some better runners andy. brandon jacobs was available when they took considine.

Offensive Line Concerns

i heard various people say today that it's ok that the o-line played like ass yesterday because atlanta has one of the best d-lines in football. i agree atlanta's d-line is a good one and is a major reason why the birds o-line looked so shabby last night. the fact remains, however, that once you get into the playoffs you can expect almost every d-line to be good. the teams that win protect their qb against the good d-lines, not just the bad ones.

our vaunted d-line, got nary a finger on tom brady in the superbowl. that's the kind of protection mcnabb needs to have in order to "play to his potential" (to steal a phrase from ed wade). switch places last superbowl, and i'm sure brady doesn't look quite as "cool under pressure" as he did.

i'm no chicken little here, but my main concern all offseason was the quality and depth of our offensive linemen and last night's game didn't help address any of my concerns. they'll still have a successful season and win their fair share of games, but i'll have a concerns about their ability to win the big one without a major improvement in the offensive line play.

Game 1 Thoughts

- losing trotter was huge. labinjo is a nice player, but not a difference maker. in the end though, the defense didn't lose this game.

- rod coleman is a good player, but artis hicks made him look like an all-timer. the center of our o-line continues to be a weakness with hicks next to honeybuns. really our whole o-line played poorly (that's too bad games in a row). too much pressure up the middle and little success opening holes on running plays. hopefully it's not an omen of what's to come. can't we go out and get an alex gibbs disciple?

- mcnabb needs to start looking at his other receivers again. he can't keep throwing every other pass at owens.

- that pre-game fight was an indicator of how pumped both these teams were for the game. it had the intensity of a playoff game.

- eagles showed nice resolve in scoring the first TD after going down two scores.

- relative to his position, parry is the worst player on the roster by far. he's just awful... can't block, can't catch, can't run. he played LB in college for a reason. the packers cut nick luchey last week. i'd like to see the birds pick him up.

- jevon kearse is no dwight freeney. freeney shows a variety of looks and uses several different moves to rush the passer. combine that with a great motor and he's a pass rushing "freak". "the freak" on the other hand doesn't seem to have a follow up move if an o-lineman is able to stymie his initial thrust. that's two games in a row with no impact.

- the birds have lots of talent on the d-line, why aren't they able to control the run better? they did a better job of it in the second half... wish i had the coaches view.

- with all the hype ed reed's been getting, it's easy to forget how good brian dawkins is... in a word, wow.

- mike patterson tied for the lead in tackles among d-linemen. a nice debut by him.

- all in all a pretty tough loss. not surprising considering all of the turnovers, missed field goals and penalties, but tough nonetheless. it's going to be a miserable f'n week.

Birds Season Outlook

am i deluded in thinking this could be the best offense that the eagles have ever had and the best defense since the 91 team? is that possible? if so, is it just our luck that we're playing at the same time as a team contending to be the best ever?

thoughts on offense:
- lewis and brown are going to be better than pink and fredex
- moats is going to add more speed and versatility to the offense
- mcnabb is going to be better
- o-line and TO's 5 year old mentality are concerns
- gordon can play
- lj should be an upgrade at TE

thoughts on defense:
- playing the bullet over simoneau as a starter is an upgrade
- d-line is deep and good
- secondary could be the best in the nfl
- patterson is going to be a difference maker in the nfl

thoughts on special teams:
- akers is 2nd best kicker in the league
- johnson is very good when healthy
- coverage teams might be shaky
- wynn is more than serviceable as a return man

Simon's Loss More Acceptable

(picture from profootballtalk.com)

seems like the nickname "little dumpling" is more appropriate than ever :)

based on his performance in last night's game (or lack thereof), i think the eagles probably made the right choice in letting him go rather than keep him. he looks more out of shape than ever, and couldn't get off the line or run more than 10 yards.

It's the most wonderful time of the year

eagles season starts today! this is better than any other holiday on the calendar.

football links and thoughts:

- is it possible that this whole thing was a way for TO to get the team to admit how much they need him? is it possible that he's that insecure?

- an analysis of whether or not champ bailey is in fact a "shutdown corner"

- did you see how big "little dumpling" was last night? he may have the biggest ass in the nfl

- i think the eagles win tonight's opener going away. i don't think atlanta has closed the gap much on the eagles, but that will depend largely on the improvement of vick in the passing game. the birds have shown the last two times they played the falcons that they can control vick's scrambling. vick needs to take that next step before they'll be real contenders. my prediction eagles 24 - falcons 10.

Fond Farewell Hugh

it's always sad to see once great players trying to hang on at the end of their career, especially ones you had a real fondness for...

i was watching hugh pretty closely at the last preseason game, and he just can't play anymore. i told my friend phil at the game that i bet the eagles cut hugh douglas, and he told me i was crazy. his logic for keeping hugh is that he's indispensible in the locker room etc. you know what though? he's only good in the locker room if the other players look up to him. when it was all-pro hugh acting crazy, it keeps the guys loose. when it's marginal nfl player hugh douglas, i'm not sure how much impact it has on people. fare well hugh douglas. philadelphia will always love you.

by the way, trent cole looks like to me like a carbon copy of derrick burgess. i hope he can stay healthy.

WIP is terrible

i listen to them from time to time. it's hard not to, but you have to realize that half the time they don't even believe what they're saying. they just need to stir up controversy to get ratings. agreeing with the front office doesn't make for good radio. cataldi and missanelli are the worst offenders. i can't believe they put him mike miss back on the air. he's the most disingenuous of the bunch.

the facts are that andy reid has rarely been wrong about a personnel assessment. that's a fact.

if the radio morons had their way, we'd be dealing with the ricky williams fiasco instead of watching our franchise qb.

if the radio morons had their way, we'd have watched our first round bust travis taylor for 5 years instead of a good to very good corey simon.

if the radio morons had their way, we'd be watching our old corners disintegrate before our eyes with a salary cap out of control, unable to replace them.

you can go on and on about how wrong the radio morons have been, but they have no accountability to anyone but their own wallets. they do a disservice to the sports fans of this area by riling people up and fomenting discord with little or no basis.

i recognize that the front office isn't infallible -- they have a tough time drafting wideouts and linebackers e.g. -- but no one is (well maybe belichick is...). however, every analysis i've seen on team drafting success places them in the top 2 or 3 teams in the nfl. combine that with the fact that they've been right *every* time they cut someone loose, and i think people need to cut them more slack. they're doing a good job.