Scrapplelog on Vacation

scrapplelog is on vacation for a few days due to a combination of the holidays and catastrophic computer failure.

Happy Holidays!

hope everyone has a happy and healthy holidays!

Tony Dungy's Son

it's always sad to hear about the death of someone's child. i don't know the man personally, but i do wish mr. dungy and his family well and pray that they'll be able to cope with this tragedy.

however... at the risk of seeming insensitive... and i've been waffling back and forth on whether or not to post this... i think it's a little ridiculous to read all the stories about what a good father and family man tony dungy was/is.

football coaches are notorious workaholics, and given tony's track record of success, i highly doubt mr. dungy was any different. i'm sure he's as good a person as they say and i'm sure in his mind he does put faith, family, and football in that order and perspective, but when you're putting in the hours in the office and on the road that anyone involved in professional sports does you are *not* putting family above your job. good intentions and being a good person do not raise your kids. being an active and constant part of their lives does. i'm not saying that tony is at fault for this tragic event and i'm certainly not saying that it could have been avoided if tony had not been a football coach, but i am saying that to some degree tony picked his career over his family. maybe he didn't in terms of intent, but he certainly did in terms of time.

Bernard Hopkins - Roy Jones Jr - II

a few years late, but better late than never

Something Going on With Forsberg?

not sure if there is anything to this, but i don't think forsberg is right. maybe it's just part of the season grind, but he doesn't look right to me. he's playing pretty well, but i'm seeing little things that concern me in the last couple of games like whiffing on pucks, simply losing pucks while he's trying to stickhandle without being pressured, and last night he pulled a john leclair special and just fell on his ass. he was preparing to jockey for position on the puck, but the ottawa player hadn't really touched him. peter just fell on his can just like johnny used to do. hopefully, these are unrelated or maybe he just caught a cold or something. i hope they're not symptoms of some sort of equilibrium problem or something.

Friday Links

- sheldon hopes to play on his injured knee against the cards. my question is why? why risk such an important player for such a meaningless game? i hope andy shuts him down and gets him healthy and ready to go for next season.

- jason whitlock of espn.com feels the same way i do about eli manning and opines that pocket toughness is the only real advantage that tom brady has over brother peyton. i agree with whitlock 100%.

- a year after sending 10 players to the pro-bowl, the birds are only sending axeman this season. imo, dawkins probably deserves to go more than trotter. on tuesday, mark eckel had predicted that the birds would only send dawkins.

- flyers took down the league leading senators last night, hanging on for a 4-3 win after taking a 4-0 lead. everyone played pretty well, including nittymaki again. does esche have a prayer of getting the number 1 goalie job back when he returns from injury? should he? at this point, i have much more confidence in antero. tonight the flyers start an 11 game road trip in pittsburgh.

- shavlik randolph is a pleasant surprise. simon, i thought you told me he sucked? he looks like the second coming of scot pollard. maybe he'll entertain us with some of those wacky scot pollard haircuts too.

- john smallwood is right. if everyone on the last olympic basketball team had AI's attitude about the olympics, they would won the damn thing.

- phils are moving the AAA team from scranton to allentown

Sidney Vows to Keep On Diving

dismayed at being left off the olympic team, the penguins sidney crosby louganis vowed to just keep working toward that perfect 10.0 dive. if he keeps working hard and keeps increasing his degree of difficulty, he'll eventually get an invite to dive for the gold, just like his hero greg.

flyers fans will get to see him fling himself all over the ice tomorrow night.

Wednesday Links

- bill conlin on the long and glorious history of phillies pitching

- eagles have spent the 8th most on player salaries the last 3 seasons

- bruce perry may finally be getting a shot at playing. if he's being phased in over lamar gordon, the birds won't have any backs bigger than 5' 9" and 190 lbs.

- shocker! hitchcock doesn't like shootouts.

Tuesday Links

- les bowen is one of my favorite local writers as he seems more concerned about presenting a fair view of things and less concerned about making a name for himself. today, he takes on the mc-critics.

The Eagles aren't about to go off in another quarterbacking direction, but if they did, the odds say they'd likely end up with an Akili Smith or a Tim Couch. Precious years would be wasted figuring out that the developing quarterback wasn't developing. Then they'd start over.

Quarterback is the most important position on the field, and the Eagles have a talented one, who has tried to conduct himself with dignity and restraint. I don't buy the idea - pitched mostly by people who have never seen the Eagles' locker room except in the background of interviews they watch on TV - that McNabb has somehow lost some of his teammates in this bewildering mess of a season. But if he has, maybe the Eagles need to lose those teammates, and find some who understand what a privilege it is to play with a franchise QB.

- flyers lost in a shootout to buffalo yesterday. the article seems mostly upbeat and considers last night a moral victory because of how many injuries the flyers have. what i got out of last night's game is that the flyers need to avoid shootouts like the plague. they just don't have the skill players necessary to win more shootouts than they lose. after forsberg and maybe pitkanen, who is shifty with the puck? nada. that's who. the last three buffalo shooters were so shifty i thought nittymaki was going to hurt himself. he had no chance against any of those guys.

- on a positive note, derian hatcher is starting to play *much* better these days due to some combination of adjusting to the new game and getting healthier. if he can become the force he used to be and we can get desjardins healthy, the flyers will have a formidable top defense pairing come playoff time. working through all these injuries might, in fact, be the best thing for desjardins and the flyers. rico has a history of wearing down during the regular season and being ineffective in the playoffs. if these injuries allow him to be fresh for the playoffs and hatcher rounds into shape, i think the flyers might make some noise.

- sixers have outrebounded their opponents in 5 of their 7 games since cheeks brought moses to town to work with the team. dalembert in particular seems to have gotten the most benefit.

Adios firedrewrosenhaus.com

a moment of silence for our friends at firedrewrosenhaus.com

the site's been down for a couple of days and i've been hoping it was because they just failed to renew their domain registration or something, but no such luck. the site is down and all emails to firedrew@gmail.com just bounce back. looks like that turd took some legal action against them.

well, whatever you guys are doing now, good luck! you'll always have friends in philadelphia! if anyone from the site reads this, please shoot me an email and let me know how you guys are doing.

Andy Reid's "Arrogance"

i hear this from people all the time, but i've never really understood where it comes from. what exactly has andy reid done that makes people think he's arrogant? it's crossed my mind from time to time, no doubt, but it gets squashed quickly every time i sit down to think about it.

where does this "arrogance" manifest itself? is it primarily because he won't change his plans or his program based on what *you* think? (you meaning all eagles fans) is it because he won't do what the radio morons are constantly bleating? is it simply because he has a plan and believes in it?

is that arrogance? what would people have him do, exactly so he appears less "arrogant"?

should he *not* think he has an idea of how to run this team? should he just start doing what cataldi wants him to do?

shouldn't we want someone with confidence that they know what they are doing?

I Hate Peyton Manning

first, a little background info. i've always thought peyton manning was a bit of a media-darling fraud. he puts up terrific numbers, he has great bloodlines, he says all the right things, and boy he sure does look like a quarterback, but there has always been something lacking when the pressure is on.

this is not to say that he's not a good player, he is. really this is about whether or not he's a winning type player, and i don't think he is or has been -- to use a phillies analogy manning is the football equivalent to bobby abreau.

- in four seasons at tennessee he never beat florida

- in four seasons at tennessee he never won a national title despite heading into the season as favorite several times

- in four seasons at tennessee he never won the heisman (despite being the preseason favorite in three of those seasons)

- the year after peyton left tennessee, the immortal tee martin led tennessee to the national championship with a team that lost jamal lewis and peyton manning

- he has a losing record in nfl playoff games

- he is also a bad guy, despite what the media portrays him as. he lost two lawsuits to a female trainer at tennessee whose face he sat and then farted on as she was working to help work out some problem he was having, one lawsuit for the assault and one for defaming her after the assault in his autobiography

this past weekend, something that was merely "thinking that he was overrated" moved into full blown hatred. i traded for him in two of my fantasy football leagues and his pathetic performance yesterday is basically going to knock me out of the playoffs in both of them.

peyton manning, i f*cking hate you, you rotten bastard. i wish you nothing but ill for the rest of your nfl career -- assuming i can trade you in the offseason that is, if not you can continue pumping up your numbers against bad defenses, but i still hate you nonetheless.

Game 14 Thoughts

the philadelphia eagles pulled out a close one against temple today. phew. it would have been embarrassing to lose to a college team, but al golden looks like he has them headed in the right direction.

- that 81 on temple looks pretty good. he'll make a nice pro some day.

- hope herremans ankle injury isn't too bad. it didn't look too good.

- it'll be nice when we get our redshirt QB back next season.

Artest Trade Offers

laughed out loud while reading this article about artest trade offers. here is the passage that made me guffaw:

Many league executives say Artest might only be a good fit for a coach with a proven track record of working well with players needing extra guidance. Three that fit that mold include Phil Jackson of the Lakers, Pat Riley of Miami and Larry Brown of the Knicks.

larry brown? does this chris sheridan, mr. "espn insider" actually watch any basketball? who has the devil ever developed or "guided"? seriously? all mephistopheles does is bitch about people to the media. he doesn't develop them. yes, yes, satan is one of the best x's and o's coaches of all time, but it's well known that he doesn't develop young players and greatly prefers working with veterans who already know how to play. he doesn't have the patience, the temperment, or frankly the integrity to "develop" a headcase. by the time he leaves, the players know him for the weasel he is. they work with him every day. they know that everything non-basketball related that comes out of his mouth is complete bulldung. you never, *ever* hear an ex-larry brown player pining to be reunited with that turd. even danny manning (old cloven hoof's all-time favorite player) was once mortified at the thought of being reunited with lucifer. if beelzebub can't handle minor headcases like marbury or iverson, how's he going to handle artest? what a ridiculous notion. ha!

by the way, if i were the sixers i'd be more than entertaining the notion of sending igoudala to indiana for artest. i know everyone is high on iggy's future, but his upside maxes out about where artest already is (or even a notch below where artest already is). artest has already made his bones and gets away with things that igoudala is still getting called fouls.

despite what screamin' a opined the other day, i believe that adding artest would make the sixers a much, much better team and put them 4th in the conference behind detroit and miami and only slightly behind cleveland.

what i would do then is start:

pg - AI
sg - salmons
sf - artest
pf - webber
c - dalembert

now *that's* a team that could play some defense. korver becomes your sixth man, coming in for instant offense at the 2 or 3. that's a team i could get excited about.

Friday Links

- JJ doesn't come out and say it, but basically he's admitting that the eagles d won't get better without some personnel upgrades. it all starts with the lack of pass rush.

- my only question is, why has it taken this long for a teammate to come out in defense of donovan?

The veteran defensive tackle said that the entire saga might be starting to wear on the quarterback, who recently hinted that he may have lost the faith of some teammates.

"I don’t know why he would say (he may have lost the locker room)," said Walker. "Maybe all the attention has started to take a bit of a toll on him. I have told him in person and through the media that he has my support. Publicly, people should know that No. 97 supports No. 5."

Walker also believes that he was speaking for the rest of his teammates.

"I think so," he said, whether his opinion mirrored his teammates. "Anybody that doesn’t (support McNabb) needs to look at themselves. Donovan has does nothing to cause anybody to dislike him. He has done nothing but been a leader and an outstanding member of this team."

Thursday Links

- yeeesh. this leaves a bad taste in my mouth. will the stench of TO never go away?

- the eagles players who went to the TO "bash" didn't think it was a big deal. even though lito rated the party an 8 out of 10, it was supposed to be a big flop. first, someone on espn reported that zero hollywood types showed up and the biggest star that actually showed up was probably jevon kearse. second, apparently the party was cash bar. are you kidding me? that's pathetic.

- in the middle of this fluff piece on the flyers comes this nugget of truth that hopefully isn't also an omen of doom

Hitchcock said. "Like a lot of us, I thought the next step for the Eagles was inevitable.''

And yet Hitch lived his own version of this back in 2000, after his defending Stanley Cup champion Dallas Stars were upended by the New Jersey Devils in the Stanley Cup finals.

"We lost in Game 6 and I was physically sick for a month,'' he said. "I've never had a worse feeling in my life. And I've never had a greater challenge trying to get a team up and running again like we did in '01.''

Like the Eagles, the Stars seemed to have "50,000 problems,'' to quote Hitchcock.

"It wasn't a physical thing, it was an emotional thing,'' he said. "The tank was empty. And the hardest thing to do was fill it back up. I remember we got into all kinds of discussions about this. And finally the GM there [Bob Gainey] said, 'Look, let it fill up. I know this is going to be hard for you, but stop fighting it and let it fill up by itself. You can shorten up practices, you can skate them hard, you can sit guys out, you can change all the lines you want. But until they decide they want to get on as a group, you're going to have to drift along with them.' ''

Hear that, Andy?

Hitch, of course, never got them to the Cup finals again, and eventually was fired during the 2001-02 season.

- sixers escape with a win last night against the awful, but athletic hawks. c-webb's box score line looked pretty good, but he didn't have the energy he had the other night against garnett. where the heck did shavlik randolph come from? if dalembert played with half the interest that randolph does, dalembert would be a force in the middle. alas, he pretty much just mopes through the game as if he's too busy counting his money.

- mixed bag of sports thoughts

- screamin' a says the sixers shouldn't bring in artest. why not? i'm sure he'd be "black" enough for elmer j mondesire.

- mark d'onofrio coming to town as defensive coordinator of the owls. i remember him as a talented headcase of a linebacker at penn state. wonder what he's like these days?

Reminder of How PSU Got Jobbed

this pisses me off. a reminder of how the 94 penn state team, you know, the one that went undefeated yet didn't win a national championship and the best college football team i have ever seen, got jobbed in the polls.

it's appropriate that espn lists that team as one of their top ten college teams ever, but serves as more proof that we need a playoff system in college football instead of relying on stupid redneck poll voters.

Plans for Next Season

based on just two factors -- the healthy return of donovan mcnabb and the benefit of a last place schedule -- i firmly believe the eagles will win the division again next season. however, in order to become a true championship contender again, i think they need to upgrade the roster at key positions.

offense

QB - obviously the key here is getting don phyically and mentally prepared for the season. having 5 healthy and primed for successful season automatically makes them the favorite for the division. he's still the best player in the nfc east when he's healthy, and a difference maker. mcmahon and detmer have proven themselves to be incapable of carrying the load, but if the rest of the team were playing up to par these guys would be good enough to keep the seat warm. i go back and forth on the backup QB issue. sometimes i think they need to have a good backup just in case don goes down again, and sometimes i think that money spent on backup QBs is wasted money better spent on upgrading depth at positions that actually play. this team's not winning anything without don anyway, no matter who they bring in to back him up, so i'd like to see the focus on keeping 5 healthy by keeping him out of harm's way and upgrading the o-line rather that worrying about what to do if he goes down again. i'm ok with going into next season with mcnabb, koy, and mcmahon as the QBs.

RB - there are lots of opinions on the westbrook signing. for good or bad, he's going to be here for a while. i think it's clear that moats has some talent and is very much the same type of player that westbrook is. this probably provides big red some opportunities to play them at the same time next season and involve westbrook even more in the passing game. moats seems to be faster and a better runner, while westbrook has few peers as a pass catching back. with no true no. 1 receiver on the roster right now, i think big red actually sees brian as the number one receiver now. what the running back corps is lacking is someone to get them the tough yards. none of these guys can break tackles and get them any tough yards. lamar gordon isn't the answer and you all know how i feel about mahe. duce will likely be cut by the steelers this offseason. how would everyone feel about duce coming back to town? i know i'd welcome him and he would be a nice complement to moats and westbrook as the power back, and he could probably be had on the cheap at this point in his career. for next season, i'm looking for westbrook, moats, duce, and a draft pick with similar skills to buckhalter (it's possible the birds view tapeh as this type of player).

FB - this is a huge area of need. they *have* to upgrade this position. i don't know who will be available in free agency, but if they don't upgrade this position then mcnabb is going to get hurt again. i'd rather see warrick dunn playing fullback for the eagles than see josh parry again. at least i've never seen dunn get steamrolled on pass protection. parry spends too much time on his ass. maybe ritchie will be healthy by then? ritchie may have been the best blocking fullback the birds have had since i've been watching the team. give me a lorenzo neal type player. tony richardson may be a free agent. i'd take him in a heartbeat.

TE - this is also an area of need. despite his ball protection issues, LJ is a serviceable pass catching tight end. he drops too many balls, but he's good enough. what they are lacking is someone who can block. LJ is a horrible blocker. chad lewis had worked himself into a decent blocker by the end. stephen spach cannot block and cannot run. i have no idea what he's doing on this roster. next season, i'd like to see LJ, bartrum, and a jason dunn type player via free agency or the draft.

WR - i'm really starting to like reggie brown. i'm not convinced that he's number 1 wideout material, but i like his competitiveness and especially his blocking. he laid out a couple of guys on running plays yesterday. most people probably feel like the eagles need to bring in a top tier wideout, but i disagree. i think what they need is 4 wideouts who can all play. you don't *have* to have a number 1 wideout to win a superbowl. you just need to have guys who can all get open and catch the ball. i heard a stat a while back that said no team that had a receiver who finished in the top 3 in receptions or yards on the season has ever won a superbowl. logically, this makes sense to me. if you funnel too much of your offense through one player, the team becomes easier to gameplan against. this is the same in every sport, and is the lesson that michael jordan eventually learned before he started to win titles. reggie brown has proven to me that he can play. greg lewis may be fine as a 3rd or 4th wideout, but personally, i'd cut him just because he was so close to TO. getting pinky back will be big. as much crap as he's taken from eagles fans (me included), he's a professional wide receiver and he can play in this league. mcmullen hasn't shown me enough to warrant more than a 5th wideout spot. i'd be fine if they went into next season with brown, pinky, mcmullen, while adding one guy who has a track record of being a decent nfl wideout -- antwaan randle el, david givens, joe jurevicius, or someone similar -- as long as that guy has good hands. then add another young guy with some potential -- michael robinson would be interesting in that role. whatever you do, don't break the bank for reggie wayne, unless he's going to be fine with not getting 100 catches a season.

OT - tra thomas hasn't been good in a couple of seasons, he's gone imo. however, i'd re-sign runyan. he's had one of his better seasons and shows no sign of slowing down. despite what everyone seems to think, i do not believe that shawn andrews can handle the right tackle position at this point. he's too heavy and he's getting out quicked by interior linemen right now, there's no telling what outside guys are going to do to him. i think herremans has potential and seems to be able to man left tackle competently. move artis back to tackle and have him back up the two tackle spots. artis is not physical enough to be an interior lineman. herremans, runyan, and hicks man the tackle spots.

OG - shawn andrews needs to lose some weight and become the player he was flashing last season. he was mauling people in the opening game last season before breaking his leg. maybe adrien clarke can play. i haven't seen enough of him to form an opinion one way or the other. personally, i'd like to see them bring in a vet to replace artis. they don't need to be a star, just a good, proven, nfl guard in the jeff hartings mold. i'd like to see andrews, new guy, and clarke as the guards.

C - jamaal jackson has proven to be an upgrade over fraley. i have no problems with them going into the season with jackson as the starting center. i don't think it's worthwhile to keep fraley as a backup because he's not physical enough to play guard. since center is his only viable position, it may make sense to replace him with someone a little more versatile.

defense

DE - this is the least productive set of ends the eagles have had in a long, long time. the year after hugh left via free agency was bad as well, but i remember them getting more pressure than this year's group. that group didn't get a lot of sacks, but they did get a lot of mamulas. the mcdougle shooting was a big hit as this was supposed to be his year. hopefully, he'll recover and be a productive player. he has plenty of time left on his contract so the eagles still have time to get some production out of this guy. then again, he is a rosenpuke client, he could ask for a renegotiation at any moment. cole looks like he can play, but isn't ready to carry the load at this point. he'll be fine as a backup. i hope they spend some money and upgrade kalu. darren howard and kyle vandenbosch are both supposed to be free agents this season, i'd *love* to see them pick one of those guys up. kearse, mcdougle, cole, howard, and a draft pick at the defensive end position. i don't want to see them break the bank and go after john abraham. he's the same type of high reputation, inconsistent production player as kearse. he's a turd just waiting to shut himself down.

DT - mike patterson is their best tackle right now and truck driver is good enough to be in the rotation. hollis and darwin haven't been very good. JJ benched them both to send a message last game, but i'm not sure if that's going to make them play any better. i'd be ok if we kept all of them as long as we added a young stud in the draft. spend the likely top ten pick on a tommie harris/marcus stroud type player to pair up with patterson. that would give them one of the better starting tackle tandems in the league with rayburn and walker spelling them and thomas as an extra body.

LB - trotter is an obvious keeper. mccoy will hopefully pan out better than barry gardner and quinton caver, but he hasn't had a chance yet. dhani jones is a serviceable player, but is not suited to playing the strong side. he's a much better fit on the weak side where he won't have to take on as many blockers, which he doesn't do very effectively. simoneau is a very good backup. as long as he doesn't have to play too many downs, he's very productive. bullet is a special teams player, i'd keep him for that role but not as a starter. they need to bring in someone in the emmons mold to play the strong side. there aren't too many of those guys around, but they haven't been able to effectively replace him and covering TEs has been a problem ever since carlos left. i don't know who will be available -- julian petersen is supposed to be a free agent but san fran is expected to tag him -- but they have to upgrade the strong side linebacker position. trotter, jones, simoneau, mccoy, adams, new guy will be fine as long as new guy can really play.

CB - last year at this time, this position looked pretty set with two up and coming stars (lito and sheldon), a solid nickel corner (hood), an athletic prospect (wynn), and a tall guy (ware). i haven't seen anything from ware that tells me he'll ever be a starter, but then again you could have said the same thing about lito before last season. i think they'll be ok here once they fix the pass rush issue. i'd think about replacing wynn with draft pick, but there really isn't much you can do at the corner position. lito and sheldon are your starters. hopefully ware can develop as someone who can cover the big wideouts in the league, because the rest of them are pretty damn short.

S - when jr reed went down last offseason to kick off the season of bad karma, the primary focus was on his loss as a return guy but the safety position took a big hit as well. reed had shown himself as a playmaker in the secondary and the heir apparent to dawkins. certainly he wasn't of dawkins caliber, but he was going to be a pretty good player i thought. since it's doubtful that he'll ever play again, the birds drafted sean considine to be the young free safety they're grooming to replace dawkins. ray didinger loves sean considine, so i'm hopeful that he'll become a productive player. michael lewis, who i think is a free agent after next season, had his worst season by far. he missed a lot of tackles and generally played a step too slow all season, however, since next season is his contract year i suspect he'll have a much better season. dawkins hasn't had his best season, but he's still been pretty good IMO. he's still an enforcer back there, is still among the best safeties in coverage, and is a pretty mean SOB to top it off. it's saying something about the standard he set in past seasons that people are looking at this season as an off year for him. i'd still take this year's dawkins over most safeties in the league. quinton mikell is a free agent. i wouldn't count on him coming back as he'll probably be looking for an opportunity to start. i'd look for them to draft another young safety to groom for the future. dawkins, lewis, considine, new guy... that's not a lot of experienced depth at the safety position. i'm concerned about that.

KR/PR - hood is decent at best as a kick returner. dexter wynn showed promise as a kick and punt returner before he got hurt in the preseason. maybe he's the answer, but i don't think he's at jr reed's level. upgrade needed here.

K - akers and johnson are good. hopefully johnson comes back healthy and ready to go.

according to BJ's eagles salary cap page, the birds are about 7 million under that cap and i heard they are planning to carry it over into next season. apparently, they figured out some loophole in the cap that allows them to add "unlikely to be earned incentives" into players' contracts that count against this year's cap, but when they aren't earned it gets "refunded" into next year's cap. this means they'll have more flexibility than most teams out there.

use the high first rounder on a stud d-tackle, spend money to bring in a stud defensive end, sign a decent wide receiver, tight end, fullback, strong side linebacker and offensive guard, re-sign duce staley, and consolidate their draft picks for next season into fewer but better picks.

Game 13 Thoughts

another loss, but a very heartening game, at least for this philadelphia eagles fan. i saw enough good things yesterday that i continue to be optimistic about andy's ability to turn things around.

- the eagles B side should have won this game and would have with even an average nfl QB (and would have easily won with a healthy mcnabb). mike mcmahon continues to prove that he does not belong in the nfl.

- the defense played with a lot of heart and showed me that big red hasn't lost the team, but they could not get off the field. no pass rush = lots of time for manning to sit in the pocket = many third down conversions. this has to be the top priority for the personnel guys this offseason. if the eagles had strahan and umenyiora, instead of kearse and cole this would still be a playoff team.

- mugsy bogues (moats) is freaking fast! he wasn't quite as effective in the second half because the giants adjusted for him (he takes everything outside like westbrook does) and andy decided to run play action bootleg off the moats sweep. unfortunately, the giant ends were impressively disciplined on each of those bootlegs. i think they ran it 4 times in the second half and there was a defensive end in mcmahon's face every time he turned around.

- i'm starting to think that greg lewis is tanking on purpose. it's well known that he was TO's best friend on the team. by my informal count, he's caught 1 out of the last 10 passes that hit him in the hands. if he's not tanking it, there is something odd going on with him.

- did anyone else notice something odd with the opening coin flip? gerry austin said "the call is heads," then flipped the coin and announced "it's tails," then gave the ball to the giants. everyone in my section heard the same thing. did anyone watching on TV notice this?

- i have always thought, and continue to think that eli manning will amount to nothing more than a journeyman nfl quarterback. the eagles had 3 picks yesterday and could have easily had at least 3 more. he has some things going for him, don't get me wrong. he has a good arm and it seems like he can make good throws when he gets time, but i don't think that's all you need to succeed as an nfl QB. i continue to think that his demeanor and general sourness are going to be a problem for him. case in point, giants have second and one at the 4 in the third quarter (i think this is when it happened) and one of the offensive linemen false starts. manning throws the ball into the ground and starts flailing his arms like he's pouting. his teammates aren't going to put up with BS like that for too long. maybe i'm reading too much into it, but i've never been a big fan of his body language. the other problem he has is that he's not tough in the pocket. the eagles had no rush on him for most of the game yesterday, but whenever someone got anywhere near him, he got *very* skittish. he won't stand in and take a hit to make the throw and a couple of times, he just chucked it up for grabs while moving backward.

- how about that hit by sheldon on shockey late in the 4th. wow.

- who the heck is donald strickland?

- coughlin negated a strahan sack by accepting a holding penalty. i didn't see exactly where the ball would have been spotted, but it seemed like it was an 8 yard sack. i'm not quite sure why coughlin chose 1st and 20 over 2nd and 18, seemed like a mistake to me.

- mahe takes a lot of heat from me, but he was productive yesterday. of course, "the sure handed mahe" fumbled on one of his punt returns yesterday, but at least he didn't have any drops.

- parry got pancaked several times (what else is new), but he did have a nice kickout block on the first moats touchdown.

- thankfully, i don't recall seeing spach on the field.

bottom line, i was entertained, they showed that the giants aren't anything special, and they continued moving toward a good draft pick.

Soriano Says He Won't Move

i hope the nats pull a TO on him. i can't stand when players pull crap like this. if the team needs you to move, then you f*cking move.

he's eligible for arbitration after next season? sit his ass and see how much he gets in arbitration then. f*cking turd.

The New Three Headed Monster

stop the presses! big red is going back to a three headed running attack in an effort to save the season!

watch out, baby. not many teams can roll out a starting backfield that includes:

- a guy who got cut by a team that went 4-12 last season
- a guy who is a better greeter at chickie's and pete's than a football player
- mugsy bogues in a football uni

egads

Snowday Links

- bravo john smallwood!

- even jeff feagles has fond memories of those buddy ryan eagles

- pat gillick struggling to clean up the mess that "the head" left

- rich hoffman sounds like he needs someone to talk him off the ledge. hey rich, i think scott adams wrote today's comic just for you







- paul domowitch thinks the birds purposely haven't kept a good backup QB on the roster because of the cataldi contingent of eagles nation

- this palmquist guy should be executed. though i must admit that the article made me chuckle. (link found on footballoutsiders.com)

"It's kind of mind-boggling, but there were some warning signs that something wasn't right," Pew said. "They were pretty big guys. One had a beard, one had a thick goatee, and another had sideburns that went halfway down his face."

NFL "Hooligans"

i read this article and wasn't going to comment on it because i find the subject matter annoying, but phil thinks it's worth a link (found on footballoutsiders.com)

Blinkered America is Already Among the Thugs

personally, i find the subject of philadelphia sports fan conduct very overblown and waaaay too embellished, but it is what it is.

if you want to come watch your favorite team come play the philadelphia eagles, just be respectful and you won't have anyone hassle you. you'll definitely have people yell things at you, but no one will hassle you if you follow some simple rules of thumb:

- if you choose to wear your team's colors, be prepared to be called an *sshole for the entire time you're within sight of the stadium complex. do not respond to this, you instigated it by wearing the colors. this is the standard response. walk by and ignore it. if you respond in any way, it is a retaliatory move and therefore will cause escalation.

- if your team scores, you are allowed to clap and cheer for a few seconds. any longer than a few seconds is disrespectful and will be met with a response. do not raise your arms above shoulder height while doing so. raising your arms is disrespectful and will be met with a response. definitely do not turn around, point your finger at anyone, or say anthing directly to any eagles fan. that is *really* disrespectful and will be met with a forceful response.

bottom line, it's all about respect. you don't go into someone else's house and be disrespectful to them. you respect the rules of thumb and you'll be fine, which is very different from european soccer hooligans -- who travel around like roving packs of dogs looking to beset unsuspecting fans.

FireDrewRosenhaus.com

finding this site made my day. it's very entertaining and worth a read, especially if you are an eagles fan trying to come to grips with this lost season.

firedrewrosenhaus.com

Thursday Links

- all this talk about westbrook may be irrelevant because the timetable for his return is unknown. i hope it isn't too long, because one thing i will agree on is that the eagles offense functions better with him in the lineup.

- phils may turn madsen into a starter and pursue braden looper to replace him in the pen

Bud Carson Passes Away

a moment of silence to honor bud carson. while we didn't get a chance to watch his work as long as folks in other cities did, i'll always have fond memories of watching the 91 eagles defense at work. they were the second best defense i have ever seen -- behind the '85 bears and ahead of the '00 ravens. if randall hadn't gotten hurt, there is no doubt in my mind that they would have won the superbowl that season.

bud, we'll miss you!

Regarding Westbrook

from behan:

Edge James has alot of miles on him already. He has more touches in his career than backs who have been in the league longer than he has (Tiki, Stephen Davis, Priest, similar #s to Corey Dillon). Three of those guys are already breaking down. And Edge has a history of knee problems, including one major injury. I doubt Indy gives him anything longer than a couple year deal (based on signing bonus, not the "length" of the contract).

It's hard to call Westbrook a "third-down" back when he averaged over 5 YPA when he had a) a FB, b) a change of pace back, c) guards. Most successful backs have at least two of the three, for the past two seasons Westie's had none, unless you count Dorsey, and his coach hasn't shown any committment to the run.

The reason I like signing West is he's the best receiving back in the league, and if this team is going to go 60/40 or worse, they need a guy like him the D can't match up with. He was the best player on the O during the playoffs last year, in all three games the NFL films crew caught the other team talking about how they have to look for 36. I don't expect Andy to go 50/50 next season, so for now Westie's the best the Birds can get.

you make a lot of great points, and don't get me wrong, i enjoy watching westbrook play. i think he's incredibly exciting and a threat to go all the way every time he touches the ball. however, that doesn't eliminate the fact that he does have holes in his game that other true franchise backs do not have.

qualitatively, these are the problems i see:

- he tries to bounce everything outside. the patriots game planned him perfectly in the superbowl. with the nose tackle eating honeybuns alive all game, westbrook bounced almost every run outside where brushci, vrabel, and harrison were waiting for him. bill belichick basically called him dave meggett in the days leading up to the superbowl, and he game planned for him as such.

- he cannot break tackles. he can make people miss, but once defenders get their hands on him, he's done. this means you really cannot use him on short yardage downs or other instances where you need someone to get you some tough yards.

- he is not durable. he's been injured every season. you cite the major knee injury that edge suffered. well, that's true, but westbrook had one of those in college *and* he's also had a mysterious sternum injury, a tricep tear, a bunch of ankle injuries, and now a lis franc injury. you can't give him more than a few touches per game if you want to have him available for the playoffs. edge has a lot of mileage *because* he's been durable. do i think edge has 5 good years left in him? probably not. do i think he has 2 good years left in him? yes, absolutely.

i think it's probably safe to assume that everyone agrees that last season was westbrook's finest as a pro (and IMO likely the best season he's ever going to have). well, footballoutsiders.com puts his running back success rate at 43% for last season -- which is "measured by successful running plays (the definition of success being different based on down and distance) divided by total running plays". that ranks him as the 37th best running back in terms of keeping drives alive. in their proprietary "defense adjusted points over replacement" valuation system (which includes pass catching), westbrook only ranked as the 18th best running back in the nfl last season -- just ahead of tatum bell (a part time player).

in 2003, when duce staley was still here, westbrook had a success rate of 45%, ranking him 32nd in the league. duce, with the same blockers, had a success rate of 57%, ranking 3rd in the league.

again, i don't say any of this with any sort of anti-westbrook agenda. i love watching him play, but i have to be honest in analyzing what this team needs to win. he is not a complete back, and the team should not be paying him like one. at least not if they cannot now afford to go out and get themselves a good power back to complement him.

Tom Modrak

ho, ho. our old buddy tom modrak in the news (from profootballtalk.com)

Our suggestion that Tom Modrak might succeed Tom Donahoe as the G.M. in Buffalo has drawn a harsh reaction from one league insider.

"He is one of the biggest frauds in the league," the source said of Modrak. "All he is is an extension of Donahoe. Can't think for himself but he sure knows how to bullsh-t and he may be stabbing Donahoe in the back.

"He is also a very lazy scout," the source opined. "Never does his research. Looks at one tape and forms an opinion. In my view a total joke, but then again, Ralph Wilson has a history of hiring jokes to be his G.M."

The source also predicts that former Modrak colleague Bobby DePaul would not go to work for Modrak, since Modrak once fired DePaul when they both were in Philly.

Tuesday Links

- westbrook out for the season... again. it's always something with this guy. the eagles caved to the pressure and gave this guy money that, truthfully, he doesn't deserve. he's a third down back. a great third down back, but a third down back nonetheless. he doesn't get you tough yards. he doesn't break tackles. he's constantly injured. they should have stuck to their guns in this lost season and spent the money on edge.

- john smallwood agrees that it might be a good idea for andy to give up GM responsibilities.

- backup qb situation is pitiful to say the least. i thought it was a good signing last offseason. i thought mcmahon had gotten a raw deal in detroit in getting moved out because harrington was such a high draft pick. as it turns out, he probably got moved out because he stinks to high heaven.

- bob ford says andy has two choices for the rest of the season -- play all out and risk getting blown out or play not to lose to keep the score down. i choose option c) tank the season and draft matt leinart (just kidding).

- who wants to bet that the team who showed up to honor reggie wouldn't kill the current eagles?

- flyers win in a shootout last night. is it me or are the refs basically going back to calling the games like they used to? is it possible that after all the talk about clutching and grabbing being an emphasis, it lasted less than 20 games?

- cole hamels got some sand trapped in his p*ssy and might be out for a while

- pat gillick working on deals. so this is what it's like to have a real GM. it's been too long.

- moses in town to teach the sixers how to rebound. how can you get to the pros and not know how to rebound?

- desjardins on the shelf. forsberg on the shelf. pitkanen on the shelf. by the way, is there an epidemic of sports hernias these days? what the hell are people doing to themselves that they're shredding their abdominal muscles so readily? it must be something in their training regimens, no? all the recent focus on "core strength" likely has something to do with it.

More Andy Defense

from dave barr:

I’d love to have you add a quote from a famous man that really sums up why the cheesesteak eating, beer swilling, WT Philly fan needs to have faith in Big red. “He’s big, he’s fat, he’s got a mustache”. In looking at Red, the fans should see themselves. He could just as easily be that overweight Wissahickon guy pummeling grease and hops in the 700 level. The man has had an off year, but like so many of us, he deserves the benefit of the doubt and the belief that he will in fact rise again, like so many out of work warehousing forklift drivers who move from job to job on the docks just waiting for a chance at redemption.

thanks dave, i couldn't have said it any better. the best part? the wise man who once said "he's big, he's fat, he's got a mustache, what's not to like?"... our own "big dog"!

Angelo Cataldi = Public Menace

tuned into WIP this morning for a couple of minutes and heard some jackass member of cataldi's dirty thirty calling for the eagles to draft matt leinart. his reasoning? mcnabb can't get over things. he should be able to brush things off and move on. his example? mcnabb still hasn't gotten over getting boo-ed at the draft. his solution? reassemble the dirty thirty and go up to the draft again to convince the eagles to draft leinart.

it's too bad we've evolved to the point where natural selection doesn't really affect us. this guy (and his kind) need to be eliminated from the gene pool.

Andy Reid Should Stay

from pete barr:

after so many embarrassments this year, I think it's a time for this organization to go in a different direction coaching-wise...how can you get credibility back....

Are you happy with the total embarrassments that we saw this year? It comes from the top and the top is now an incompetent. Whoever doesn't see this now is fooling themselves.

this season hasn't been a success, there is no denying that, but it's not as simple as whether or not you are happy with the embarrassments of the season. at least i don't think it is. everyone is upset with the way the season has been going and we are all justified in feeling frustrated, but please remember that andy has given us a lot of success and in return we owe him the opportunity to fix what has gone wrong with this team.

- teams have ups and downs. even if the eagles are entering a downcycle, then andy has earned the right to try to fix it.

- the rest of the league seems to have caught on to what JJ and big red are doing. andy has earned the right to try to make adjustments.

- this team made some strategic personnel errors (counting on buckhalter, not re-signing burgess). give them a chance to learn from their mistakes.

if you are saying that the "top is now incompetent," then you are basically saying that the last 4 years were luck. it seems more reasonable to consider this season as the fluke than the last four seasons, no?

Game 12 Thoughts

sorry for the lateness of this, getting bombed at work.

last night was so bad it was compelling -- like watching a car accident or when that girl forgot the words to the national anthem at the trailblazers game. the eagles B team offense was simply overwhelmed. we see stuff like that happen all the time in the preseason when one team leaves their starters in and the other team starts subbing, but we've never seen it in a game that counts.

i can't remember a time when the eagles played with less emotion. maybe the last few games of the ray rhodes era, but even then there were some proud players playing pretty hard (troy, young dawkins). there wasn't a single eagles player that had a good game, or even played with fire for that matter. is that an indicator that andy has lost this team? i hope not. that team just layed down and got ass r*ped repeatedly last night. pathetic.

literally no one on the eagles played well. not the d-line, not the linebackers, not the secondary, not the o-line, not the backs, not the receivers, not the QBs. akers didn't even need to dress for the game, and landeta sucked too. JJ was outschemed (seattle came out throwing and the birds looked like they were geared for the run). i can't comment on the playcalling because the execution was so bad, who knows if the play would have succeeded or not? just an old fashioned ass kicking.

where do they go from here? i know that lots of people are going to be calling for andy's head. i don't agree with that. don't the last 4 years count for anything? shouldn't we give him the benefit of the doubt? shouldn't he get a chance to work through this? hasn't he earned this by now?

i do think there are going to have to be some hard decisions made in the offseason, however.

- andy needs to give up GM responsibilities at least. by being both coach and GM, he cannot continue to command respect in the locker room while dinging the players on contract negotiations at the same time.

- andy needs to give up playcalling responsibilities, for reasons discussed in detail here previously.

- they have to upgrade the offensive and defensive lines

- they have to get a power back. madden mentioned that andy thinks moats is their best pure runner. boy he certainly didn't look like it last night. he looked hesitant and confused, and you already know that westbrook cannot get you *any* tough yards.

- they have to get don mentally and physically healthy.

my hope is that andy will assess the damage and come up with a plan to correct the problems. my fear is that he has lost control of the team and it will take an upheaval of the roster to effect change. if it's the latter, we're in trouble.

Favorite Teams - NFL

christopher suh, posed an interesting question over the weekend via email, "who are your favorite teams?" namely, who do you root for, who are you indifferent to, and who do you root against? that's information that everyone probably has in the back of their heads but probably few have ever explicitly thought about before (i know i haven't).

here is my breakdown of NFL teams (not in any particular order):

Root For

Eagles - obvious

Chargers - always liked the don coryell chargers. dan fouts, kellen winslow, charlie joiner, john jefferson, chuck muncie with those goggles.

Browns - always liked bernie kosar. the brian sipe teams were entertaining. "the drive" and "the fumble" games were heartbreaking for them. cleveland fans have suffered just as much, if not more, than philadelphia fans.

Cardinals - i root for them because they are so pathetic. this is easier now that they aren't in the same division as the birds.

Raiders - always liked john madden and the characters on the raiders. of course i rooted against them in the 80 superbowl, but i always liked lyle alzado, lester hayes, mike haynes, howie long. bo jackson was amazing. al davis is the man. they were an easy team to root for.

Chiefs - i didn't root for them until dick vermeil took over, and i'll stop rooting for them when he leaves.

Bengals - similar to the cardinals, i used to root for them because they were so bad for so long. now i root for them because they are entertaining to watch.

Root Against

Detroit - two words. lomas. brown. shutting that fat f*ck up was my favorite moment of the ray rhodes era. 4th and 1 was probably a bigger moment emotionally, but the lomas brown game was a playoff game. i feel sorry for barry sanders as he had to play his whole career for this pitiful organization. any competent team would have geared their offense around barry and he'd have retired the all-time leading rusher by a wide margin. hey sh*theads, how about getting a fullback or tight end on your team to block for the best running back you've ever had?

Buccaneers - i used to like them back when they were back markers, but i'll never forgive them for stealing a superbowl win that was rightfully ours. i hate this team.

Chicago - i enjoyed watching the 85 team, but the fog bowl game was complete BS and all the chest thumping that bears fans after their fluke 13-3 season a few years ago turned me off. of course, i did enjoy how they disappeared completely after getting an ass kicking from the birds in the playoffs.

Ravens - ray lewis turns me off. yes, he was a great player in his day (though i think it's complete nonsense for him to be considered the best middle linebacker of all time), but his shtick gives me a headache. plus, he's been an average linebacker at best for more than 2 seasons. ed reed is like a young brian dawkins, but that's not enough to offset the lewis factor and the billick factor.

Packers - i am so sick of hearing about brett favre. he hasn't been good in 3-4 seasons. why do i constantly have to hear about him? i liked them when reggie was there, and they'll probably move into the indifferent category when favre retires, but until then i can't stand them.

Broncos - shanahan is a fraud. elway is *not* the best QB ever. they cheated on the salary cap to win their superbowls. their o-line plays dirty (though i wish ours did as well).

Giants - obvious.

Colts - manning is annoying and overexposed. i didn't like how irsay moved the team to indianapolis.

Patriots - bandwagon fans, just about the whole lot of them.

Cowboys - obvious

Falcons - sometimes they refer to themselves as "the birds." please.

Redskins - obvious

49ers - this is where the west coast offense started. i hate them for other reasons too, but just that one fact is enough.

Indifferent

Jets - used to like the jets a lot as a kid as they were the "other green team". my interest in them peaked with the ken o'brien, wesley walker, al toon, freeman mcneil team that started off 10-0 and finished 0-7, but really stopped dead when they hired kotite. after that, i haven't really been interested in them much.

Seattle - liked curt warner and steve largent when they were playing. other than that. meh.

Carolina - they beat the birds in the championship game a few years back, but that was more a function of the birds injuries that season (entire d-line and westbrook). they are insignificant.

Rams - enjoyed watching kurt warner and marshall faulk in their primes. they haven't been good in a while.

Dolphins - dan marino was entertaining but otherwise a dull franchise

Texans - they should call a do-over and start the franchise from scratch again. they'd be better off.

Steelers - i used to like the steelers from the 70's, but i got steeler-ed out after living in pittsburgh for 6 years. i know he just retired and all, but i think myron cope was one of the most annoying football announcers ever. i'd rather listen to fingernails on a chalkboard than listen to that guy again. most annoying myron cope moment ever: myron spent half a game correcting the play-by-play guy about the pronunciation of marvcus patton (then of the buffalo bills) -- incorrectly i might add. every time the play-by-play guy would call "mar-cus" patton, myron would jump in and bleat "no, that's mark-vis patton, it's pronounced mark-vis" oh my pain.

Titans - i liked earl campbell a lot, but other than earl and the fact that they were the whip-ees in the "house of pain" game ("you bring the house, we'll bring the pain"), this franchise has been non-descript.

Jaguars - i have no opinion of this team other than fred taylor is a fantasy team cancer

Saints - i have nothing to say about this franchise

Buffalo - a bunch of chokers.

Minnesota - moss was entertaining. having randall make a comeback there was entertaining. other than that, nada.

Monday Links

- monday night football! too bad the season went to sh*t or this could have been a huge matchup with home field implications for the playoffs. too bad i won't be able to attend tonight's game. reggie was one of my all-time favorite players.

- plans for tonight's reggie white tributes.

- phil sheridan on reggie.

- andy's mentor went back to balanced football after flirting with a pass happy attack. hopefully, big red will come around as well. apparently, spach is the backup fullback on this team. wow, i don't think the eagles have ever been worse at any position since i started watching the team. seriously, have they ever had a starter and a backup worse than the josh parry/stephen spach combo at any position?

- rich hoffman laments the lost season after watching the mediocre performances by the giants and cowboys yesterday.

- eagles tell TO that they want their $2

- pat gillick is targeting pitching at the winter meetings. go pat! i'm starting to really like him.

"Here's the thing," Gillick said. "I think, if you call a player an employee, and you're treated the same as the other employees, then I think you're willing to accept what the policies are of the company. Now, if you walk into the clubhouse and you know that everybody in there is on a three-year contract and nobody is being treated any differently, that's easier to accept as opposed to knowing there's a guy on a five-year [contract] with a no-trade [clause]. I don't believe in no-trades, and I don't believe in preferential treatment. The only preferential treatment I think a player should get is on the first and the 15th [when he is paid].

- phil jasner says the sixers need more talent. who's going to get it? billy king? phhft

- flyers had their first shootout over the weekend (a predictable loss BTW, it was so anticlimactic i can't believe i've been waiting so long to see it). ed moran talks about the shootout in his article today, but the more interesting part was the results of his sidney crosby nickname challenge. his favorite was "fling crosy"... mine is "sidney louganis."

- esche may have a sports hernia, so here is nittymaki's chance to take the job

- oh, the genius that is screaming a

bernard hopkins was in a fight on saturday. did you know they stage fights on tv? it's the darndest thing. they wear these puffy gloves on their handses. then they try to hit each other. there's a third guy in the ring too, but i can't really figure out what he's there for. is he there as an injury replacement? i thought he was there as an injury replacement, but sometimes he tells each guy to sit in the corner for a few minutes like he's giving them a time-out for hitting. i've never really watched this before, but since i'm a columnist i guess i should write something about it.

Friday Links

happy friday everyone! wasn't able to post too much this week... damn work...

- mark kram on when reggie white first joined the eagles. i remember that buddy ryan (i think in his first training camp with the eagles) declared that reggie white was/would be the greatest defensive lineman to ever play pro football. the bears d-line, especially dan hampton, went apeshit when they heard that. considering how little reggie had accomplished up to that point, it's amazing that buddy would say that, but boy was buddy right about it.

- great analysis of dink and dunk passing at footballoutsiders.com

- the eagles game at st. louis on dec 18 is now a 1 pm game

- a good challenge coming up for trent cole. incidentally, walter jones is considered to be the "best tackle in football" all of a sudden. i've only watched him play a few times, but imo if he's the best tackle in the biz then we must have a bad crop of tackles in the nfl these days. he's good, but he's no all-timer.

- as expected, the phillies signed tom gordon to be their closer. his numbers look pretty good, but i can't believe he's still playing. the phillies tried to get him for von hayes, what, 15 years ago?

- phils claim abreau is not going anywhere. i'd give him to boston for manny if they were interested...

- hopkins/taylor II this weekend. remember when you could actually watch boxing on TV? those were the days. even ali was on TV back in the day. i think the switch to pay per view is part of the problem with boxing. since fewer people watch boxing now or even get to watch boxing now, fewer kids choose boxing over the other sports. that's a big part of the reason why you have such a mediocre product now.

- screaming a had a really great column yesterday

blah blah, bluh bluh blah bluh. blah blah bluh blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah. bluh bluh blah blah. blah! BLAH! BLAH BLAH BLAH!!!! BLAHBLAHBLHALBHALBHAHBL! BLAH BLAH!!!!!