Game 16 Thoughts

this was a win and it's always good to win, especially with a 'c' performance like today. the offense was carried by the two playmakers and the defense played a little worse than the 9 points they allowed.

- mcnabb at the end of the season looks like a completely different player than mcnabb at the start of the season. in hindsight this probably should have been expected and the unrealistic expecations on mcnabb's performance heading into a season just off ACL surgery was a big cause of fan discontent. not sure how those expectations could/should have been tempered coming into the season, but clearly there was some expectation setting that should have been done but was not. i think phil sheridan correctly identifies reid's strategy coming into the season in his column today:

Reid and his staff clearly thought the team could hang in there while McNabb worked through the early part of the season, then peak in time for the playoffs as the quarterback got back to form.

That plan looked better on paper than in practice. Ultimately, that strategy was doomed by the muffed punts in Green Bay and the defensive collapse in the final minutes against Chicago.

i don't think this is a bad strategy on the surface, but i do wonder whether most of the mcnabb uproar could have been avoided altogether simply by playing aj to start the season and letting don get healthier before jumping onto the field. i think the mcnabb we saw the last couple of games was much closer to the 'old' mcnabb and still gives the birds the best chance to win. i heard that some minnesota newspaper was speculating the the vikings would be willing to give up two first round picks for mcnabb. if that's the offer, i think it's too hard to turn down, but barring an offer of 1st round pick plus another first day pick, i think you stick with this guy for at least one more shot at a title.

- in order for that to happen, the o-line needs to improve. starting with the jailbreak they allowed on the first play, the o-line had pass protection issues for much of the day. even though mcnabb has historically had issues with holding the ball too long, this was not one of those games. the ball came out on time with great accuracy all game. if it hadn't this could have been a 5+ sack day. justice had some rough patches, but overall he looked athletic and got his hands on people. they do need to get him on "the good vitamins" however. he looks pretty weak and cannot handle a bullrush. jamaal jackson didn't play very well this season. while he is a physical upgrade over honeybuns, it seems like he's making the wrong block or the wrong call several times a game.

- celek already looks like an upgrade over LJ. i'd be completely comfortable going into next season with him at TE. he's a more fluid athlete than LJ, catches the ball more naturally, and doesn't carry the ball like he's afraid to have it touch his torso. little john is a fumble waiting to happen, goodbye and good riddance.

- the young linebackers had an up-and-down game and were most responsible for the uneven defensive performance. bradley took a stupid roughing penalty and he also got eaten by a blocker on the long marshawn lynch run (so did gaither). gocong made a huge hit on someone early, but then took a horrible angle on a swing pass and let lynch get by him for a long gain. still, i continue to be optimistic about their future. these guys are physical, active, and don't appear to be dummies. hopefully, we'll see them continue to develop and make fewer mistakes.

- abiamiri looked pretty good. he had a few decent pass rushes and seems to be pretty good at hand fighting.

- jr reed keeps laying the wood. i've always liked this guy.

the birds have some holes, but my understanding is that they had very little free cap space last offseason but they have a lot of free cap space this offseason. also, they do a good job at drafting and have their usual bevy of draft picks. i'll post my thoughts on what they need for next season in a few days.

Game 15 Thoughts

christmas kicks off with an eagles win, never a bad way to start the holidays.

- stewart bradley looked terrific. the patriots and steelers were supposedly targeting him in the draft and it's easy to see why. he's pretty big, but he plays very naturally and was able to find the ball consistently (especially when he was playing in the middle). those two stops bradley made at the goal line were impressive -- most notably the one on karney, who is a load. the eagles young linebacker corps has a shot to be one of their better trio's in a while.

- mcnabb played his best game in a while and only good comes out of him playing well. it's either a sign that he has a shot at being the player he once was or it solidifies his trade value. i'm not looking forward to the sucking that will likely happen at the start of the kolb era, but if it's going to happen, the birds need to maximize what they can get for don. they won't be able to get a herschel walker package for him, but they can probably get a first day pick or two. i'm still hoping for one more shot next year. mcnabb looked pretty darn good today, sticking the ball in tight places and escaping trouble when necessary.

- the defense is playing pretty well and i think they have a shot at being dominant again with just a few additions. bunkley and patterson are monsters. cole is pro-bowl caliber. thomas is solid. the linebackers look promising. sheldon and lito are borderline pro-bowl. reed and mikell are solid. he's my favorite eagle, but b-dawk is done.

- tra thomas doesn't have much left in the tank. he's always had more trouble with power rushers than speed guys, but he simply cannot handle guys with a decent bullrush.

Game 13 Thoughts

- andy and marty went heavy on the run today, which was good, but alas, the running game we've all been begging for was heavily involved in causing the loss today. a costly fumble and repeated inability to grind out tough yards factored heavily in the loss. questions: 1) didn't the eagles draft a short yardage back this year? can't seem to remember his name it's been so long since we've seen him. 2) don't we have a more powerful backup averaging 5+ yards per carry? why only give him 2 carries today? westbrook looks like he gained 10 lbs. in the offseason (probably with some lenny dykstra-style vitamins and mostly in his arms and shoulders), but he still has trouble grinding out tough yards.

- i wish i had access to the coaches tape. i'd really like to know whether there were open receivers and mcnabb was just not pulling the trigger or whether the coverage was just good or whether the birds were playing max protect and only sending 2-3 receivers out on pass patterns. 30 attempts for 179 yards isn't great. it's certainly better than 3 or 4 picks, but it's not great. wasn't able to make the game today due to basement leak in the house, so was limited to the tv view. moose johnson repeatedly stated that there was nobody to throw to, but it would be nice to see if that was really true or not.

- question: how can this defense be so successful (relatively) covering randy moss yet be so pathetic at covering plaxico burress? doesn't matter who we use to cover him, he consistently looks like a hall of famer against the birds.

- time to seriously cut down the workload for westbrook. playoffs are out, no reason to be wasting his touches playing out the string. running backs have a limited number of uses, time to conserve.

- i know last week i was proposing to shut down mcnabb and let him heal up for next season, but after today's game, i'm not so sure that's the right move. i think this team needs to find out if mcnabb still has it. he needs to get his timing or mojo or whatever back by the end of the year, or at least continue to show progression. not too excited about 2008 if this is the mcnabb we're going to get next year.

The King is Dead

billy king is finally gone. here is a scouting report on ed stefanski:

So they've turned to Stefanski, a Philadelphia native who played basketball at Penn. He teamed with Rod Thorn to reshape the Nets and is known as a sharp talent evaluator. Stefanski also served as New Jersey's director of scouting for four years and helped bring Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson to the Nets.

sharp talent evaluator. that'll be nice.

billy king drafts (this is not a joke)

2007
1 - Thaddeus Young - Georgia Tech University
1 - Daequan Cook - Ohio State University
1 - Petteri Koponen - Finland
2 - Kyrylo Fesenko - Ukraine

2006
1 - Thabo Sefolosha - Switzerland

2005
2 - Louis Williams - South Gwinnett High School

2004
1 - Andre Iguodala - Arizona

2003
2 - Paccelis Morlende - France

2002
1 - Jiri Welsch - Slovenia
2 - Sam Clancy - USC

2001
1 - Samuel Dalembert - Seton Hall
2 - Damone Brown - Syracuse
2 - Alvin Jones - Georgia Tech

2000
1 - Craig Claxton - Hofstra
2 - Mark Karcher - Temple

1999
2 - Todd MacCulloch - Washington

1998
1 - Larry Hughes - Saint Louis
2 - Casey Shaw - Toledo

1997
1 - Keith Van Horn - Utah
2 - Marko Milic - Slovenia
2 - Kebu Stewart - Cal State Bakersfield
2 - James Collins - Florida State


billy king trades (again, not a joke)

2006
Acquired Andre Miller, Joe Smith, and two first round draft picks for Allen Iverson and Ivan McFarlin

2005
Acquired Rodney Rogers and Jamal Mashburn from the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for Glenn Robinson

2005
Acquired Chris Webber, Matt Barnes and Michael Bradley from the Sacramento Kings in a six-player deal that sent Kenny Thomas, Brian Skinner and Corliss Williamson to Sacramento

2004
Acquired Corliss Williamson and an undiclosed amount of cash from the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Derrick Coleman and Amal McCaskill

2004
Traded Eric Snow to Cleveland for Kedrick Brown and Kevin Ollie

2003
Acquired Glenn Robinson from the Atlanta Hawks and Marc Jackson from the Minnesota Timberwolves in a four-team deal that sent Keith Van Horn to New York and Randy Holcomb, along with a future-protected first-round pick and an undisclosed amount of cash to Atlanta

2002
Acquired Kenny Thomas from the Houston Rockets in a three-team deal that sent Mark Bryant and Art Long, along with a future first round pick to the Denver Nuggets

2002
Acquired Todd MacCulloch and Keith Van Horn from New Jersey for Dikembe Mutombo

2001
As part of a three-way deal, acquired Derrick Coleman from Charlotte for George Lynch, Jerome Moiso and Robert Traylor, as well as Corie Blount and Vonteego from Golden State for Cedric Henderson and a conditional first round pick

2001
Acquired Dikembe Mutombo and Roshown McLeod from Atlanta for Toni Kukoc, Nazr Mohammed, Theo Ratliff and Pepe Sanchez

2000
Acquired Toni Kukoc from Chicago as part of a three-way deal that sent Larry Hughes and Billy OWens to Golden State and Bruce Bowen and John Starks to Chicago

1999
Traded future 1st round draft pick to Atlanta for the draft rights to Jumaine Jones

1999
Traded Tim Thomas and Scott Williams to Milwaukee for Tyrone Hill and Jerald Honeycutt

1998
Traded future No 1 draft choice to Utah for Nazr Mohammed

1998
Traded Terry Cummings to New York for Herb Williams and Ronnie Grandison

1998
Acquired Joe Smith and Brian Shaw from Golden State for Jimmy Jackson and Clarence Weatherspoon

1997
Acquired Eric Snow from Seattle for 2nd round pick

1997
Acquired Theo Ratliff, Aaron McKie, and first round draft choice from Detroit for Jerry Stackhouse, Eric Montross and a 2nd round draft choice

1997
Traded No 2 draft pick (Keith Van Horn), Lucious Harris, Michael Cage and Don MacLean to New Jersey for No 7 draft pick (Tim Thomas), No 21 draft pick (Anthony Parker), Jimmy Jackson and Eric Montross

1997
Traded Clarence Weatherspoon and Michael Cage to Boston for Dino Radja (nullified)

What Now?

the playoffs are basically a pipe dream now, but i don't think it's all bad. as bad and heartbreaking as this loss was, there were some good things that happened today.

chief among them is the fact that the eagles would have won this game easily if they had gotten anything close to mediocre qb play. that's a good thing. while they obviously did not come out with the same fire as they did for the new england game, they controlled the game most of the time and only game up 14 points not gifted to them by qb picks. they ran the ball effectively, played decently on defense, and had a good day on special teams. all of this was masked by the horrible performance of feeley.

biggest concerns for me were in the secondary: lito's worst day as a pro and dawkins continued decline. not sure how it looked on tv, but lito looked like he was high out there. he was not his usual instinctive self and he was shying away from contact. he was either trying to hide an injury or he was on drugs. i've never seen him so uncomfortable out there. bumble mentioned that we may be overvaluing him, but i don't think that's the case. lito's not ever mentioned as an elite corner. he's a good corner with a penchant for the spectacular play. today's bad day doesn't necessarily change that. i really think there was something wrong with him today. he didn't look right.

more concerning for me, since he's my favorite eagle, is that brian dawkins doesn't seem like he can play anymore. he's s-l-o-w. this is a problem. mikell and reed have been the two best safeties on the team this season, but i don't think they'll make a good tandem -- while both are good tacklers they have limited coverage ability. safety is probably the top area to address in the offseason.

at 5-7, the birds are pretty much out of the mix for the playoffs, but i think there is a potential silver lining in today's loss. while i'm sure andy will take this opportunity to reinsert mcnabb into the lineup, i'm not sure that's the best decision. maybe what would be best is to regroup and gear this team up for a run next year. since there is little to be gained by putting mcnabb and westbrook at risk this season, maybe it makes sense to sit them and play feeley and buckhalter/hunt? i know "you play to win the game", but you also have to try to win a title. this team is not going anywhere this season, even if they make an improbable run to 9-7 and sneak into the last wildcard spot. why not try to get your qb as healthy as you can, and try to make one last run with a mcnabb/westbrook combo?

brian isn't getting any younger and his chronic knee problems aren't going anyway, he probably only has 1-2 good years left. if you switch to the kolb era now, westbrook will be done by the time he's ready to play. gotta maximize your chances while brian is still on the roster, and (a healthy) mcnabb is your best shot. take one more shot next year and then blow it up.