Apparently, Now I'm a Garbage Man

not that there's anything wrong with that. i wear my "proud to be a trash man's son" shirt at least once a week.

got back from sesame place just in time to see this from our friendly neighborhood josh parry advocate (posted 3 times, not sure why):

'FULLBACK' position debate...
For those of you wanting a lorenzo neal or tony richardson why stop there why don't we just fill every position with the top fo the line stars? Be realistic, you cannot have a superstar in every position, you need role players much like hockey.

i'm not asking for a superstar, never have. just someone who can catch the ball and win his share of battles at the line. i have mentioned some of the better fullbacks in the league to counter someone's contention (was it you?) that JP is "one of the best fullbacks".

josh is probably a very nice guy, and i agree that he busts his butt, but his play in the past has very simply not been very good. role player or not, you have to produce, and he has made some bad plays that were very visible to me.

you should also note that since preseason started, i have mentioned JP exactly once: "i must give credit where credit is due, josh parry made a good block on first offensive play, springing westbrook for a good gain."

As for who is available...please spare me, if there were star fullbacks available why would they be available? Now for the fullback position battle with the eagles...
Thomas Tapeh simply cannot block..have you actually watched the film on him, he had a few...and I emphasize FEW decent runs against a 2nd and 3rd team 'D'. However his blocking is horrendeous even by rookie standards. Yeah they may be able to have him run occasionally but what happens when they need decent blocking and his glass jaw and week stance allow a blind sided sack. You really want a guy coming off a serious hip injury covering Mcnabb's ass? Simply stupid. As for whether or not Josh Parry can run the ball...who has seen him run the ball in a game...raise your hands...(crickets) well then how can we comment on how he would do. During training camp he ran the ball a few times and broke the line more than once...more like a goal line smash mouth runner. Now I am not saying he is ready for the pro bowl...don't get me wrong. However if you truly break down the game you will see several very solid blocks from Parry. Will a fullback win every battle..of course not, your dreaming if you think that is the case. However Parry has many more solid plays than bad ones. He is a smarter player than Tapeh as well, when plays break down tapeh becomes a deer in headlights whereas Parry looks to make up ground, does he always manage to execute perfectly..of course not but if he did I am sure the haters would continue to bitch. Understand the game before you comment on the details. The You seem to focus on one play where Parry got knocked backward but seem to overlook several plays where he blew his assignment off the line. Parry is a solid role player who knows the offense and opens up holes more often than not. Fullback is an overlooked and under appreciated position but its seems ironic how high some of you are on Tapeh when he has proven what exactly? that he is not durable, that apparently the coaches do not consider him a first teamer...they must be not paying attention.

first, let me state that i couldn't care less what the ball carrying skills of a fullback are. i believe it is a luxury when it comes to what you want to see in a fullback. unfortunately, the situation with the eagles' halfbacks (lack of size, etc.) sort of pushes that "nice to have" skill more toward the "need to have" category, but still not critical. far and away the most important ability is to block well. (incidentally, one of my favorite sports quotes was from a "running" fullback, leroy hoard, who once said "if you need a yard, i'll get you three. if you need five yards, i'll get you three.)

next, i defy you to show me where i have written anything positive about tapeh's skills. tapeh is an unknown quantity and i have always written about him as such. parry is a known quantity. that is all.

when training camp started, i did write this: "what they did - count on tapeh getting healthy and winning the job from parry. thomas, please win the job!", but you should note that says "win the job", not "be given the job". if tapeh won the job, then it would have meant that he played better than JP. as a fan, i was rooting for that because that meant he played better than JP. hoping he plays better than JP doesn't mean i am rooting against JP necessarily. if JP is the best fullback on the roster (and at this point it seems like he is), then he should be the one to make the team. however, i will continue to hope that he plays better than he has in the past, meaning fewer ole blocks and fewer blocks where he ends up going backwards.

Now for my personal opinion...
You have a player who seems to work his ass off and stays completely devoted to the fans whi in turn berate him because he is not one of the few star fullbacks in the game. Nice...Parry fulfills his assignments and players like Mahe run into his back instead of using the lane Parry has created...i.e. the browns game goal line play.

come on. parry fulfills his assignments? maybe he knows the offense, and maybe he's a smart guy, but he's not a great blocker. we'll have to agree to disagree about that, i guess. i watch him pretty closely when he's on the field and he's just not a good blocker. blocking is a skill where you take heat for the few plays you don't do your job. look how much heat runyan takes every time michael strahan gets a sack -- and that's michael strahan. parry misses more than just one or two assignments every game. maybe not mentally, but the bottom line is that he has not gotten his job done.

If you go back and look at the tape Parry and Ritchie are very similar, Parry does not have the experience built up yet but he is becoming more and more solid, so for those of you who seem to think Parry should be cut for Tapeh or whatever other superstar fullback is sitting at home waiting for a phone call, this is not an allstar team.

i agree that parry and ritchie are similar. they are both fullbacks who play for the eagles and they are both white. on the field, it's like night and day. ritchie was much better receiver and blocker. i can state that with some certainty because i watched ritchie pretty closely after he signed with the birds. i was excited by his signing because i felt about cecil martin (another nice guy and one who i lived around the corner from me in old city) much the same way i do about JP, he just wasn't good enough as a blocker. i don't have to go back and watch the tape. i watched it live and in person.

We have some stars and then we have role players and sometimes you have to look past your own self righteous and obviously ignorant critique of details you have somehow overlooked.

tsk tsk tsk.

Pull up stats and you'll see that McNabb is far below many QBs who you wouldn't trade for even for a waterboy.

educate me then. which QB's exactly? and what stats are you referring to?

Watch the tape not the numbers. watch how many yards westbrook gets behind parry as opposed to Tapeh. I would rather have a full time fullback than a half ass fullback who can carry for a yard or two against first team defenses. I think when the wind blows Tapeh sprains a muscle. Now I am not a Parry Fan club member but ui am an eagles fan and I am sick of toll booth / grocery clerk / doormen spitting on the players who make no demands and just bust their ass for the team and city.

being better than tapeh isn't the goal. being a good NFL fullback is the goal. if JP has improved to the point where he is a good NFL fullback, then i will embrace him. his willingness to "bust his ass" is a good thing. i love that he is willing to do that... but then again there are thousands of guys out there who are willing to do the same thing. you have to combine that with production on the field and to this point parry has not done that.

a month ago, i had to let a guy go at work because he wasn't good enough at his job. his attitude was great, but he just wasn't smart enough to do his job well. i hated doing it because he worked a ton of hours, tried really hard, and was a nice guy. because he had all of those positives, i've been letting him stay on and giving more chances than most. maybe JP won't end up like that guy. maybe he will improve to the point where we can count on him, but "busting his ass" and "busting his ass" alone is irrelevant if he doesn't play better than he has.

Maybe you should give us your work address so we can come and critique your skills lifting the garbage bags into the truck and make comments that there must be a better guy for th job.

Show some pride for the role players who bust their ass and receive no praise for it.

Josh Parry is solid and of course needs to continue to improve but he will and shows durability, toughness, and heart. Eagles fans wanted a superstar wide receiver and so we got owens who in turn shit on the city and fans and you were the ones who praised him. I want a championship the same as the next eagle fan..trust me... but bashing the players who leave their heart on the field for minimun pay and maximum sacrifice is not just classless, it shows a shallow faith in your team.

i'll be glad to have you come and critique my performance as long as you pay admission. JP is an entertainer. i'm sure he understands that (if he doesn't he should). critique comes with the territory.

JP made $305,000 last season. i'd hardly call that "no praise". i'm sure there are thousands of garbage men out there who'd be lining up for mistreatment like that. no one is asking for superstar play (as if there are any actual superstar fullbacks out there) from the fullback position. just someone who makes good blocks. that's not asking a lot.

So for your responses on my post here...lets address the superbowl play where Josh was knocked back or (blown up as you say) You seem to dismiss the fact that Fraley missed his assignment on that particular play. hmmm...But your right Parry should be held accountable for blunders by the O lone.

Sometimes looking beyond the horse blinders actually acentuates the game.

By the way for the wife/mother comment...I am not either nor do I have anything invested in Parry.

fraley's taken plenty of heat from me, yet i don't see you rushing to defend him. honeybuns is another guy who "busts his butt" and makes the most of his abilities. his abilities happen to not be good enough, but for some reason you don't have any problem b*tching about honeybuns' mistakes. in your response, you threw reno mahe and honeybuns under the bus. both of those guys display the same "bust his butt and asks for nothing" attitude as JP, what makes JP so special?

btw - if this is JP's brother, i'm sorry about your foot. your ability to come back from that was an impressive feat.