Thursday, August 02, 2007

Various Links

- buried in this column about kevin curtis is a note that donte' stallworth opened up the season on the patriots' physically unable to perform list. i hope all the whiners who predicted the end of the world when stallworth left are taking note. this is exactly why the birds didn't want to invest heavily in him.

- some reasons to hope for a decent year from considine

- as always, sal paolantonio is the voice of foolishness. dave brooks notes on the nj.com eagles blog that it's just sal being sal -- i.e. just sal doing his chicken little routine.

- great article about juan castillo in yesterday's paper. sorry again for having openly doubted you in the past.

- interesting mcnabb/garcia comparison by igglesblog about YAC by birds receivers last season.

- bleedinggreen blog found a story about some eagles fans who invaded cowboys training camp.

- early reports on the new white flash are pretty good. of course, i'm not sure how big red is thinking about it, but i wouldn't necessarily link bloom's development or non-development as a receiver to greg lewis' roster spot like a lot of people are doing. lewis showed last year that he can be a very effective gunner in kick coverage. i don't think you're going to want bloom in that role. greg shows that he's the most effective gunner on the team, he probably can assure himself a roster spot.

- one of these two guys is going to be a opening day strong-side linebacker. hope they can play.

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9 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

good to see you back TMG. Funny, Sal the Pal actually lives across the street from me now. Pretty good guy, let me get a read of his book pre-release and you'll like it as it focuses on over and under-rated players in football history. Needless to say, he crushes many Giants as over-rated, notably Tiki, Shockey, and Sehorn. He also lambastes Reid and McNabb (rightfully) for an atrocious performance and game plan in the Bowl vs. the Pats.

Anyway, I am cautiously optimistic this year, but I don't see this team as a true Bowl contender, just too young and shallow on D. They could be great and Spikes is an upgrade, but it is dangerous to assume the Gocong can play and play effectively before we see him. This guy also sees Whitten, Cooley, and Shockey twice a year and will need to learn to cover TE quickly or else. Bunkley needs to be much better and while the PR campaign about how much better he is may be intriguing, I need to see this guy play with my own eyes. They are also woefully thin at safety with Dawkins who is getting older and slower and Considine who looked light in the ass last year.

On offense, McGimpy needs to prove he can stay healthy and is not emotionally scarred about being injured or challenged for his job. Westbrook must stay healthy and is THE player that cannot miss time for them to win. Hunt looks like a rookie by all accounts thus far, to be expected, but not much depth there. WR took a hit with the loss of Stallworth. To equate him and Curtis as equal is a stretch. Stallworth can flat out stretch the field. He is always hurt, but he added a dimension last year that will be sorely missed this year. LJ is a whiner and a fumbler and won't be back. If there is any position I would've liked to see them address in the offseason, it was TE since it is such a crucial role in their offense. That makes TE the top priority this off season.

In general, I was Ok with the Spikes pick up, not thrilled with the draft on the surface, and am waiting to see how good they really can be. If these young guys can play, watch out because they have miraculously retooled almost entirely post Super Bowl and could be a factor for years. I like Red and will give him the benefit of the doubt, but I need to see them play to feel settled.

On the plus side, the O line is deep and could kill people if Reid lets them. Also, the rest of the division is weak and poorly coached and they should go 5-1 easily. Also, injuries, age and turmoil seem to be plaguing DC, Dallas, and NY.

Bumble

10:25 PM EDT  
Blogger Big Dog said...

I think it's exciting just because no one is hurt yet. Stallworth is on the PUP....it would have been a season of week to week decisions for Donte....I am cautiously very optimistic, but I really need to see the defense gel to get too excited....worst case, even if the defense struggles in the beginning and Don is week to week, they win the East and are a top 5 team in the NFC...best case, Don is relatively healthy, the team for the most part stays healthy, and the defense gels and this team is really, really tough to beat....

7:21 AM EDT  
Blogger Big Dog said...

What game is our annual Scrapple get together this year? Small suggestion, maybe we change tailgate venues to be a little closer???

8:58 AM EDT  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm not sure you can call this D young giving the ages of Dawk, Takeo, Trot, Freak, and our corners. Not necessarily ancient, but not young by any stretch of the imagination.

Too much rests on a healthy 5 for me to be fully pumped for this season. Thank goodness the NFC East looks easier this year, although that probably just means DC and DAL will end up being 2x as good as expected.

I sold off my tickets this year so won't be able to make a tailgate. Would be up for doing/hosting a scrapplelog get together at someone's house.

9:19 AM EDT  
Blogger The Mean Guy said...

i probably should be cautiously optimistic, but i'm not. i'm all-in.

there definitely are valid concerns for this team, but the bottom line i see is that this team has fewer questions than any team in the NFC. it doesn't guarantee a superbowl appearance by any means, but i think they have as good or better shot at winning the NFC as any team in the conference.

10:26 AM EDT  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Phil, that was a horrible thing to do !! As a non-ticket holder, I'm OK with someone's house, unless Pete pulls a swap again for one of the home games. Just let me know. I, too, am all-in !!!!
Where's the bowl this year ??

Captain

8:06 PM EDT  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Phil, I hope that ticket sale was a one year necessity. One waits too long on the list to watch another man just turn the tix over.

Bumble

10:10 PM EDT  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Settle down. I still have the SBL. I just sold off this year's tickets. It's a long time to drop off my son who is 14 months at parents' house and my wife and I enjoy getting down to the game early for the tailgate. Will probably start going back to the games in a couple years.

And I find it funny that people have such a hard time getting season tickets now when we had no problems getting them 5 years ago (or whenever the last year at the Vet was).

4:22 PM EDT  
Blogger SBL PSL for sale (Eagles) said...

http://eaglessblpslforsale.blogspot.com/

It is a blog spot for all interested Philadelphia Eagles fans to grab this rare chance to purchase SBL!!!!!

nick

5:50 PM EDT  

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