Game 4 Thoughts

egad, what a hideous loss. the birds threw away an eminently winnable game tonight. they were the better team, but some key mistakes and a slow start by the defense left the eagles in catch up mode all night. they would have completed the comeback if not for the o-line's inability to gain that last yard on the ground.

yes, akers missed the kicks. yes, the defense had a terrible first half and allowed a first down at the end. yes, the eagles were generally sloppy all night. you simply have to score from the 1. it is unacceptable to not score there. gah!

the play of the game was the stop on buckhalter at the goal line. big red finally gave everyone what they've been craving by running the ball all four times. my question is why andy never calls a sneak. QB SNEAK! why no f-ing QB SNEAK! why give the defense time to penetrate? QB SNEAK! i want to stab myself in the eye with a sharp stick. QB SNEAK!!!!!!

not having westbrook hurt, but the game was the eagles to lose and lose they did.

some thoughts and observations:

- the defense played well in the second half, but they absolutely sucked in the first half. 3 TD passes by kyle orton? completely unacceptable and it could have been much worse. the bears offense missed two other big plays by inches -- forte down the sideline with gaither trailing and hester on a deep cross with sheppard trailing. jj seemed to make adjustments at the half as the birds played much better, but they had to make that stop on 3rd and 4 at the 6 and they came up very small. gah! how did they lose this freaking game?

- what was with the field tonight? i haven't seen so much slipping in a long time -- mcnabb slipped on his double pump early in the game, reggie brown slipped on a cut in the first quarter, jackson may have slipped a little on his muffed punt, booker slipped on a cut during a run in the second half, avant slipped on a catch late in the game

- buckhalter did a fine job in replacing westbrook. he didn't have any big plays, but he was more than adequate in there.

- akers has been a below average kicker for 3 seasons. so the question that pops into my head now. was akers a product of koy's perfect holds or is sav rocca just not cutting it as a holder? seems like the former rather than the later. if akers hit either of the two kicks he missed tonight, the birds could have kicked a field goal for the lead.

- the linebackers had an up and down day -- pretty good against the run and when attacking the line and pretty bad in coverage. still, they made a number of positive plays tonight. some that stick out to me: drop forte for a 2 yard loss sweeping right when bradley jumps over garza and gocong takes on and slides around kruetz, gaither made a couple of tackles behind the line but the best one was at the goal line when he shed mckie and stuffed forte in the hole, gocong running hester out of bounds at the 4

- hank baskett deserves to start. this was probably the best defense that the eagles have faced so far this year, but reggie brown dropped 3 catchable balls tonight. baskett has better hands and makes plays.

- why didn't the eagles get to keep the ball on the roughing the kicker call? didn't the nfl pass a rule last season indicating that a personal foul penalty overrides any offsetting penalties of lesser yardage? seems like the eagles should have gone back on offense rather than punting.

- brent celek made a play tonight that may have been better than any lj has made during his career. celek catches a pass on a short out pattern, absorbs a hit from tillman, throws him aside and rumbles for 5-6 more yards... while protecting the ball against his body the whole time. i like it!

- desean jackson played well early in the game, but he disappeared completely once he lost his swagger. that muff really seemed to affect him. some key mistakes by desean today: the muff, catching a punt on the 5 rather than letting it bounce for a touchback, not catching a punt on the 20 letting it bounce to the 3. he's got to keep his head in the game after a mistake.

- mcnabb had an ok game. he showed some very nice touch on screen passes tonight and made an unbelievable throw over urlacher for the first TD. the pick may have been jackson's fault. at least that's what interaction between mcnabb and jackson seemed like.

- i love when bunkley gets down in a four point stance, it's not something you see too often in the pros

- madden and michaels went on and on about olsen TD, but it seemed like a clear touchdown to me. i wouldn't have challenged that either.

it's going to be a terrible week. blech!

Game 3 Thoughts

how fragile is winning and losing in the nfl these days?

the patriots go from undefeated/"greatest team ever" status to getting blown out by the dolphins -- after losing one player.

the eagles go from perennial contender to a mediocre, middle of the pack kind of team during a 3 year period where their QB was dealing with various injuries.

the colts look worse than they have in years, seemingly because their QB spent the offseason dealing with an infection in his knee.

it's certainly not like it was in the 80's -- when joe gibbs treated QB like a mix and match game --- it's a QB driven league now and having a healthy QB is critical to winning.

well, the season almost ended for us on consecutive plays (last play of the 1st quarter and first play of the 2nd quarter) when mcnabb and westbrook were injured. fortunately, the mcnabb appears to be a bruised sternum (like the one he got in atlanta to start the 2005 season and kick off his 4 year injury sabbatical). unfortunately, his injury was serious enough to take him out of action for part of the game and definitely seemed to hamper his throws in the 2nd half. hopefully it's not something that lingers and affects him all season.

we don't know the severity of westbrook's injury, but i think it could be a positive thing if the eagles don't try to rush him back. the birds are past the toughest part of their schedule already and have the easiest schedule in the nfl from this point forward. i'd like to see them be ultra-conservative with westbrook and keep him out until he is completely healthy. the eagles can get themselves into the playoffs without westbrook, but we absolutely, positively need him to be healthy for the playoffs.

some thoughts about the game:

- the defense was unbelieveable today. i've seen plenty of steelers games (having lived in pgh for 8 years), but have never seen a pittsburgh o-line manhandled like they were today (and despite the loss of alan faneca, this is supposed to be a good one). the defensive line dominated the run game and jj sent the defense into full-time attack mode. wow. by the end of the game, i was feeling a little bad for ben roethlisberger. it reminded me of the aikman 12 sack game and could have easily eclipsed 12 sacks with a less mobile QB as the target.

- how about the ball skills of asante samuel? we haven't had a cornerback who could make a play like that on the dead run since probably eric allen.

- i hate it when westbrook submarines into a pile. as often as not, he takes out the legs of one of his own linemen (and is exactly the kind of play on which shawn andrews broke his leg during his rookie season).

- great start to the game by mcnabb, unbelievably sharp. converting 3rd and longs, making lots of stick throws and a couple of long touch throws, making good decisions. threw a bad interception when he got hit by timmons as he was throwing that gave the steelers 3 points at the end of the first half.

- yikes is tony hunt having a rough time in the pros. he looks shaky and unsure of himself.

- stewart bradley took one hellacious block on a roethlisberger scramble to the right. reminded me of the keith byars/pepper johnson block

- newsflash -- lj smith stinks. one thing i noticed was that it seemed like hank baskett ran many of the routes you'd typically see a TE run for much of the game.

Hooray for Professional Journalists

while i was sitting in dallas yesterday taking my lumps from one of my cowboy fan clients, the staff at the daily news was digging up some actual stats on donovan's comebackability (copyright scrapplelog 2008)

here's what they found (as written in rich hoffman's column):

This year, last year and the year before, there have been six games in which McNabb found himself in the same position as on Monday night in Dallas: trailing by one score (that is, by eight points or less) and with possession of the ball in the fourth quarter.

Six times. And in three of those six games, he has left the field for the final time with the lead. That is a fine percentage, much better than the league average - not Tom Brady or John Elway, for sure, but really not bad at all.

Because he really does win his share - and deserves to win even more. Twice in the last 2 years, McNabb has engineered fourth-quarter comebacks - against Tampa Bay in 2006 and Chicago in 2007 - only to have the team lose the lead again before he could get back on the field. That knocks down his overall numbers.

Even then, he has converted comebacks 39 percent of the time. The Web site footballoutsiders.com did a 10-year study of these kinds of comebacks a little while back and determined that the NFL average was 41 percent. If you give McNabb those Tampa Bay and Chicago games, he's at 45 percent. The point is, he has the average pretty much surrounded.

He does not stink.

He is not deficient.

In comebacks, he is typical.

Dallas quarterback Tony Romo has had a much shorter career. He is at 37.5 percent so far.

The sainted Peyton Manning? He is at 41 percent for his obviously successful career.

Brady, out now with a knee injury, might be having the greatest NFL career ever. He is at an astonishing 66 percent in coming from behind in these fourth-quarter, one-score situations. He is clearly the best.

But McNabb is right there with the rest of them.

Game 2 Thoughts

the birds threw away a game they should have won, but man, what an entertaining game. even if you didn't have a rooting interest, that was the most entertaining regular season game in years. playoff intensity from the opening kick, lots of big plays on both sides, lots of huge mistakes on both sides, and one play that will forever be linked to a player.

i come away from this game both very encouraged and very concerned, and the two biggest topics today are:

1) mcnabb looked great again, and physically, he looks to be just about back to where he was 4 years ago before all the injuries started. as a passer, he looked sharp and was getting the ball out with great timing. he's going to take a lot of heat from people about the last drive, but it doesn't make sense. mcnabb is the only reason they were even in that game at all. yes, he should absolutely take heat for that stupid fake he pulled while handing the ball off, and he has admitted that he is 100% to blame for that.

i hope people don't lose sight of the fact that he only had 12 incompletions yesterday and five of them were drops. not "he should have caught that tough ball" drops. clear, hit them in the hands in stride drops. seven bad throws on 37 passes. that's not just good accuracy, that's insane accuracy. at the end of the game, the pass to lewis was well in-bounds and he took two full strides while bobbling it. during the last two drives, the dallas defense took it up a notch and the eagles offense did not respond. that's not necessarily mcnabb's fault -- you have to get protection and guys have to get open. he's not completely without blame, but to lay this loss on mcnabb just doesn't make sense. he's the only reason they were in the game at all.

2) the defense played like ass. brian dawkins is a liability. it's sad to say, and we knew it coming into the season, and he's among my favorite eagles ever, but man, he is d-u-n, done. he simply cannot play in pass coverage anymore. he's not just "not the same brian dawkins", he's a below average nfl safety. that's a big problem when your other coverage safety is sean considine.

hopefully the safety position is not going to be an achilles heel for the defense, but it very well may be. i hope demps is able to pick things up quickly, because they're going to have to get at least decent safety play for the defense to play well. all those corners are going to be useless if they can't be aggressive because the safeties stink.

-----

i think everything else pales in comparison to those two issues. if mcnabb is healthy, the eagles will score points, no doubt about it. if the offense scores 37 points, there is no way in heck that the eagles should lose the game, it's as simple as that. you can find things to nitpick donovan about just like you can about any player's performance, but to lay the blame on him (or andy) when the offense put up 37 points makes no sense to me. the defense lost that game.

... but i still leave last night with an overall positive feeling. i have not seen a better team in the nfl so far this season than the two teams that played last night. this bodes well for the season overall.

Quote of the Night

"westbrook is so short, the only place they can grab him is his facemask."

- my wife

Game 2 Preview

don't have too much time today, but did want to get this onto the record:

i believe the eagles are going to win today

some of the reasons why:

- mcnabb is healthy

- i know the cowboys went 13-3 last season, but the reality is that they haven't won sh*t. they're walking around and *more importantly* woofing like they're 3 time defending superbowl champs. it's not a tangible reason, but i feel very strongly that they're due for a rude awakening.

- jim johnson seems to have gotten a feel for how to attack romo, but more importantly, if jj wants to take away a receiver, jj takes away that receiver. previous encounters with randy moss and me-o should provide plenty of evidence.

- mcnabb is healthy

- i think desean jackson is getting a little overhyped already, but he does give the birds an additional playmaker that the cowboys need to be worried about. it may open things up for westbrook.

- terence newman probably will not play. even if he does, he'll be hampered

the player i fear tonight is felix jones. that guy is fast!

my prediction: eagles 20 - cowboys 17

Troy Aikman on WIP

from troy aikman on wip this morning:

- the home team should win the game, if this game was in philadelphia, he would expect philadelphia to win the game. since this game is in dallas, he expects dallas to win the game.

- dallas is the most talented team in the nfc

- outside of playing quarterback, coming in as a rookie wide receiver is the toughest position to succeed

- (when asked how important it is to have a number one wideout) i think it's important to have someone on the offense that the defense has to scratch their heads and game plan against. on the eagles, that guy is brian westbrook.

- if the eagles are going to win this game, it has to be a low scoring game

- i enjoy coming to philadelphia, the fans are passionate about their team. sometimes they are very courteous, sometimes they tell him to get the heck out of the stadium.

when i was playing, when we traveled to philadelphia, i would be hoarse from yelling because the crowd was so loud.... that's not the environment in dallas. i like being in philadelphia and seeing the passion of the fans... i know they're going to travel well to dallas. there are going to be a ton of philadelphia fans for that game.

Vince Young Should "Go Play Something Else"

am i the only one who is finding this vince young situation incredibly ironic?

remember that firestorm last season when mcnabb said that black quarterbacks are judged more harshly than white quarterbacks? well vince young was asked for a quote during that media frenzy and said (essentially) that he thought mcnabb wasn't mentally tough enough to play quarterback and that don should stop whining.

here is his full quote:

That is his opinion. I really feel like myself, black or white quarterbacks, we all go through something because that is the life of a quarterback You have to be able to handle all the pressure and you have to be able to handle the losses and you have to be able to handle the media saying this about you. If you can’t handle it, then you have to get off that position and go play something else.

well it seems like donovan has been handling his pressure a wee bit better than some others. poor vince is so distraught that he's been getting boo-ed that both his mom and the titans team doctor thought that he was going to hurt himself and called the police.

His mother told The Tennessean that Young was tired of all the negativity and the boos. Felicia Young said her son needed people to give him space and to pray for him.

"It is hard, all he is going through right now. He's hurting inside and out," she said.

But it was just a few boos and one lousy game — which the Titans went on to win. What happens if things really go south for Young?

Is a pro athlete with enormous skills and a contract that could bring him $58 million so mentally fragile that it could be dangerous for him to go on the field and perform?

how's that for a big karmic kick in the pants? i wonder how mr. mentally tough quarterback is going to deal with the fact that fisher just announced that he lost his job and will have to earn it back?

it's a shame, i think vince has all the tools to be a superstar in this league, well except for his inability to "handle the pressure" i guess.

Wednesday and Thursday Links

nothing like cowboys week to keep the football stories going. here are some interesting links from the last two days:

- lots of re-hashing of eagles-cowboys memories from eagles beat writers of the past and delcotimes, among others

- todd archer of the dallas morning news notes that tony romo seems to have had a tough time figuring out jim johnson's defenses. gcobb thinks jj is in romo's head.

- john smallwood is seeing what a lot of us are -- the old mcnabb is back

- micah warren on gcobb.com has excerpts from nate newton on the michael irvin show

-The Cowboys just don’t have anyone to cover Westbrook. That pretty much is what it is. They have to control him some how.

-The Cowboys can’t let Donovan go overboard. He isn’t a typical high-end QB because he doesn’t have that one WR (T.O.) to keep going to. Donovan will spread the ball around early and often, using those short patterns to draw the Cowboys in. If Donovan gets it going, it will be a long (he emphasized “loooong”) day for Dallas.

-Andy Reid is a top two or three head coach in the NFL. Andy Reid continually does more with less than anyone else in the league. If you look at his history, he continually gives Dallas fits. The game hinges completely on Reid.

-The Cowboys looked great against Cleveland, but that was Cleveland. The Eagles are a much tougher opponent.

-Andy Reid is a great coach that makes sure to focus on his inside guys more than his outside guys. Trent Cole is an excellent defensive end and the Eagles also have a huge offensive line.

- the cowboys seem to be doing a lot of yapping considering a) it's so early in the year and b) they haven't won a single playoff game since 1996. for what it's worth, the birds and mcnabb seem to be doing a good job of keeping quiet.

- one cowboys newspaper is bitching about the cowboys inability to draft o-linemen. the other is calling the o-line a "blockbuster"

- the cowboys didn't draft a wideout this year because they thought there were no impact receivers in the draft

- reuben frank notes that the birds are 13-5 against the cowboys under andy reid, but have started a season 2-0 only once in the last 14 seasons. he also notes that kevin kolb had a nice game in mop up duty and that his career passer rating is now 103.5, and that hank baskett is one of only 5 receivers in nfl history with 3 catches of 85 yards or more (and the only one with 3 catches of 87 yards or more).

- gcobb thinks that two keys to the game are blocking demarcus ware and covering jason witten (he thinks the best way to take witten out of the game might be to have demps cover him).

- rick gosselin thinks brian westbrook is the best back to ever play in the worst coast offense

Will Westbrook Stay Happy?

one of the things that has been nagging at me a little after the ram's game is whether mcnabb being seemingly back at full strength will have implications on team dynamics. during the last two seasons, mcnabb has either been out injured or playing at reduced effectiveness and brian westbrook took over the mantle of team alpha dog -- even to the point of coming out in the media and saying (more or less) that it was his team now and he was the best player and leader.

i'm more than a little curious to see how he reacts to being second fiddle again. will he be happy if the eagles are winning but he isn't getting 2000 yards from scrimmage? i'm not so sure he will be.

Tuesday Links

it's dallas week!

- that fat curmudgeon don mckee says the cowboys are now the favorite to win the superbowl.

So who's the Super Bowl favorite now that the New England Bradys are done?

How bout those Cowboys?

The Boys dusted off Cleveland (a supposed playoff contender) with alarming ease on Sunday.

They looked, ahem, almost as good as the Eagles.

don, adds that last sentence in because he predicted the eagles to suck this year and the two reasons would be: "donovan mcnabb and andy reid."

- michael strahan also thinks the cowboys will win the superbowl

- dallas morning news' tim colishaw reminds us that it's still only week two

There's something unwise about settling NFC bragging rights on a Monday night in the first quarter of a season.

but closes with an acknowledgement that the game does have some importance

At a time when NFL experts are always telling us that the Sunday night game has replaced Monday's as the league's showcase event, figure on the final Monday night game from Texas Stadium to be one that could last in the memory banks for awhile.

- igglesblog says this is a must win game... for the cowboys

- the cowboys expect marion barber to play on monday night

- terence newman may be back for the game

- jennifer engel of the star-telegram says the eagles and cowboys are among the nfc's best

- kevin curtis may be returning sooner than originally expected (the effects of having a productive backup possibly?). also, don reclaimed the lowest interception rate in history crown.

Monday Links

- garry cobb is all over lj smith (and rightly so). lj was the only real negative yesterday. i'd really like to see what celek could do with the first team.

No more excuses from L.J. It's put up or shut up time for Mr. Smith. Do you hear me, L.J?

Tell me L.J. why are your carrying this ball with one hand? Get it together dude.

amen!

- holy moly. dallas opens up as a 7 point favorite for the monday night game. very strange line.

- rick gosselin points out something interesting in his column today that i think helps to explain why mcnabb is looking sharp so far this year, and why he wasn't as sharp the last couple of seasons

Last off-season was his first since 2004 that he has not had to rehabilitate an injury. That allowed him to focus on his game, not his body, and club
insiders said McNabb delivered his best training camp in years.

- i'd forgotten that the rams drafted howie long's son this year. except for a couple of times when he made don step up into the pocket, he had no impact on the game.

2008 - Game 1 Thoughts

except for the short hop throw by mcnabb in the second quarter (which i'm sure infuriated half the stadium), you really couldn't ask for more from a season opener... or any other football game really. i'm trying to temper my enthusiam because it was against the lowly rams, but all eagles fan should be ecstatic right now. the game plan was terrific as was the execution and the in-game management.

- welcome back donovan mcnabb. don't know why, but it's too easy to forget how good you are/can be when healthy and confident. too bad you short hopped that ball in the second quarter. if you hadn't done that, eagles fans might start to appreciate you. you should try to work on your accuracy.

- that asante samuel is pretty darn good, no? wow. not only was he playing tight man coverage all day, his anticipation and ability to jump routes is better than i expected, much better than i expected. i wasn't that excited about the samuel signing because i wasn't sure how his skills would translate to the eagles d -- since belichick employs such a different defensive scheme (predominantly zone coverage vs. predominantly man coverage). time to get excited i guess. definitely excited to see how he handles me-o. this secondary could be awesome. i'm still concerned about the safeties, but the set of cornerbacks are unmatched in the nfl. i'm excited to see what demps can do on defense.

- stewart bradley really stood out today among the linebackers. he took on blocks really well and plays very fast. very instinctive. gocong and gaither played ok, but bradley was great.

- the offensive line gave don all day to throw today -- not that he needed it as he was getting the ball out quicker than just about any game i've seen him play. they got a slow start in run blocking, but i attribute some of that to the rams crowding the line of scrimmage early in the game daring the birds to throw. once the game was in hand the o-line was able to grind it out nicely.

- who says an old dog can't learn new tricks? big red took mcnabb and westbrook out early! i'm not complaining, but what gives? why the change in philosophy? must be the same line of thinking as his new "over-30 club".

- d-line played very well. there was a darren howard sighting -- this is the best game he's played as an eagle. patterson and bunkley were their usual disruptive selves. klecko and laws played well. cole played pretty well.

- desean jackson is the guy that everyone is talking about, and rightly so. he is a difference maker as both a receiver and a punt returner. how is it possible that he caught onto the worst coast offense so quickly? not only does cal not run the worst coast offense, their head coach jeff tedford is infamous for producing stud college qbs who suck in the pros. i've seen speculation that the reason why his qbs don't make it in the pros is because of the offense he uses and the way he coaches qbs to read defenses -- they're both very different than pro-style offenses. doesn't make sense for desean to look so comfortable in this offense. i didn't see a single play where he was on a different page than donovan, whereas freddie mitchell ran a different route than donovan was expecting on like every other play. he's going to be entertaining to watch. i hope he doesn't turn into the typical superstar wideout --> jackass.

- kicking the field goal to break up the shutout was a BS move by linehan. they were down by 38 points with 9 minutes left in the game. the only chance they had was to score touchdowns. you have to go for it there.

- about the only negative i can think of right now is that lj smith wasn't that great. he dropped at least two passes that hit him in the hands. same old littlejohn.

bring on the cowboys! what a week this is going to be.

Bumble Thoughts

posted by bumble in comments:

The truth about the Birds lies somewhere far away from these turds. I generally agree with the Birds approach:

1. Don't leverage the future for the present-trading 2 first rounders for Boldin is assinine. the only player you even consider doing that for is a QB in his prime-Brady.

2. Be fiscally responsible-pay guys worth paying.

3. Value QB, OT, DE, and CB. Every other part is interchangeable.

4. Draft best talent available. If no first round talent matches the level you'd get in round two, trade it and get more in round two and pay less for it.

5. Be consistent in your coaches and message. The longevity of familiar faces builds trust.

6. NEVER publicly throw players or any member of the organization under the bus.

All of these core tenets are great and admirable. Where I scratch my head and get down on them stems from some of the following:

1. You throw the ball 70% of the time, yet your WR stink. The one year you had a stud WR, your offense was untouchable and your QB had a career, hall of fame type year. Your QB is supposedly your best player and most valued player, why constantly give him Torrance Small, James Thrash, Reggie Brown, Na Brown, Hank Baskett, and Todd Pinkston to throw to? I feel bad for McNabb because of their unwillingness to get an elite WR who could elevate him to the player he can be. Brady has Moss, Romo has TO, Manning has Wayne and Harrison, Young had Rice, Aikman had Irvin. I realize that you may not get one of those all time WR, but you can't do better than starting the season with Jason Avant, LJ Smith, Hank Baskett, and a rookie? That makes zero sense to me.

2. Big Red is stubborn. Stop with the arguments. the man IS stubborn. how else do you explain the terrible game day adjustments when your game plan clearly doesn't work. Yumeniora made his season sacking Don 6 times. Reid never chipped and helped out on him because "that wasn't the game plan". When his plan works they succeed, but he cannot adjust on the fly.

3. Reid is a piss poor clock manager 10 years in. he will undoubtedly blow a time out or two tomorrow because he cannot get the play in or has the wrong personnel package. that either means your plays require too much thought and verbiage or your personnel packages aren't flexible enough. I am sick of this every game after 10 years.

4. Reid makes some awful draft/free agent decisions that he does not admit and amend. Justice sucks. I don't want to hear how the coaches must see something. He was moved to RT and he can't block. My eyes tell me he sucks and if he ever plays a snap, they are in trouble. Admit the error, cut him and move on. Why keep his roster spot from a betetr athlete? Mahe fit this bill as did Pinkston and Parry.

5. The organization doesn't know how to hanle controversy well. TO kileld that season, now Lito and dickheadhaus are popping off, how can that be good? At some point you knew both issues would blow up and you did nothing. Cut the player or trade the player, but you cannot keep malcontents.

I expect this year to be 10-6, but this team is not of championship caliber. All of the sabermaticians forecasting big things for them just need something to kick up dust. The team lacks big play people (aside from 36) and needs long sustained drives to score. They also lack playmakers at DE who can change the passing game. Their special teams are so-so. That is not a championship team. Donny will will them to 10 wins, but there is too much age at OT and not enough studs int eh stable for a deep run.

I am a realist, not a sheep. This team does some great things and some head scratching things. On the whole they're better than most teams, but not in the upepr echelon of teams. I think that is a fair assessment.

i'd like to discuss some of your closing thoughts one at a time:

1. You throw the ball 70% of the time, yet your WR stink.

see that's the thing, they don't stink. there's no true number one wideout on the team right now (though jackson could develop into one), but how many true number ones are there in the league? 6? 7? i think this wideout corps is fine as long as donovan gets protection.

the real problem is that people are fixated on the notion of upgrading the wideouts and for some reason people think that andy *doesn't want* better wideouts. why would andy not want better wideouts? that's just silly. he wants to have the best wideouts possible on the team, but he can't throw his current wideouts under the bus. he says "we can win with the wideouts we have". this is a true statement.

the bottom line is that actions speak louder than words. every time a true number one wideout has become available or possibly available -- except for randy moss to the patriots -- the eagles have been involved. the patriots were the only team interested in randy moss when he was moving out of oakland. recall there were rumors that he was done at the time. aside from that, every time a number one has become available the eagles have been active. this offseason they made a run at randy moss, roy williams, larry fitzgerald, and anquan boldin. none of those guys changed teams.

true number ones rarely change teams unless they are truly insane. how many number ones have changed teams recently? i miss how explosive the eagles offense was with me-o too, but you can't make teams trade you their players.

2. Big Red is stubborn. Stop with the arguments. the man IS stubborn. how else do you explain the terrible game day adjustments when your game plan clearly doesn't work. Yumeniora made his season sacking Don 6 times. Reid never chipped and helped out on him because "that wasn't the game plan". When his plan works they succeed, but he cannot adjust on the fly.

is he stubborn or too methodical? it seems to me that you're accusing him of both things in the same paragraph. i believe it's the latter. stubborn implies that he sticks with something that he knows is not going to work. andy has his philosophies and he's proven right more often than not. that's not stubborn. that's believing in yourself. i definitely agree that his in game management is not quite what you call nimble, but that's not due to stubbornness. he's just not a quick thinker.

3. Reid is a piss poor clock manager 10 years in. he will undoubtedly blow a time out or two tomorrow because he cannot get the play in or has the wrong personnel package. that either means your plays require too much thought and verbiage or your personnel packages aren't flexible enough. I am sick of this every game after 10 years.

agree, but this happens to every team. the colts blew their timeouts in both halves tonight.

4. Reid makes some awful draft/free agent decisions that he does not admit and amend. Justice sucks. I don't want to hear how the coaches must see something. He was moved to RT and he can't block. My eyes tell me he sucks and if he ever plays a snap, they are in trouble. Admit the error, cut him and move on. Why keep his roster spot from a betetr athlete? Mahe fit this bill as did Pinkston and Parry.

every analysis shows his drafting is well above average in the nfl. no team is infallible. everyone makes some bad picks. justice is a backup. why cut him if you don't have someone better on the roster or who's available as a free agent? you're assuming there are better athletes out there who are available to replace them at that moment. not always true.

5. The organization doesn't know how to hanle controversy well. TO kileld that season, now Lito and dickheadhaus are popping off, how can that be good? At some point you knew both issues would blow up and you did nothing. Cut the player or trade the player, but you cannot keep malcontents.

the eagles aren't alone with disgruntled players. should every team just be dumping these guys for pennies on the dollar just because they complain?

2008 Season Outlook

if you listen to the local media and some fans, the eagles are on the downside and will be looking up at the cowboys all season.

- awful offseason!
- keep trading away first round draft picks!
- lito sheppard!
- no wideouts!
- andy reid keeps saying they're good enough at wideout!
- why is andy so "arrogant"!
- why can't the eagles admit their mistakes!
- the eagles can't draft!
- why are the birds so cheap! go ahead and trade 2 first rounders for anquan boldin!

the wip sheep continue to bleat about how the lack of a big time receiving threat means that the birds have no chance of winning -- as if football hinges on that one position.

i've been doing my best to ignore it. i've definitely been busy, it's true, but even if i'd had the time, i would have had no interest in participating in that nonsense -- and it is nonsense.

compare that to some of the things being written about the birds by outsiders:

- in addition to the birds being projected to be the second best team in the league based on projected DVOA, one of the writers at footballoutsiders.com thinks the birds will win the superbowl

- at sportsillustrated.com, more than half of the writers think the birds will win the division or gain a wildcard spot. one of them picks the birds to make the superbowl, and another picks them to make the nfc championship game.

- over at espn.com, they have 16 writers making season predictions and they have one picking the birds to win the division and 11 picking them for a wildcard. meanwhile at the same site, the sports whiner says this about the birds:

This seems like a good time to mention the Patriots, Cowboys, Eagles and Jaguars might be the four most talented 2008 teams. Anyway, I see those four forming a reliable upper class along the lines of the glorious 2004 gambling season, when New England, Indianapolis, Philly, San Diego and Pittsburgh finished 63-12 in the first 16 weeks and you could throw any three of them into a 10-point teaser without even blinking. It's New England, Jacksonville, Dallas and Philly, then San Diego and maybe Green Bay, and then everyone else.

as i've said before, i think the whole season comes down to the health of mcnabb -- not whether they are able to get a true number one receiver (though obviously if they get one i'd be ecstatic). if mcnabb and westbrook stay healthy, i think they go at least 11-5 and have a shot at the division title. all bets are off if one or both get hurt.

i'm keeping my fingers crossed and predicting 11-5 for the season.

W - St. Louis
L - @Dallas
L - Pittsburgh
W - @Chicago
W - Washington
W - @San Francisco
W - Atlanta
L - @Seattle
W - N.Y. Giants
W - @Cincinnati
W - @Baltimore
W - Arizona
L - @N.Y. Giants
W - Cleveland
L - @Washington
W - Dallas

Football Outsiders Love the Eagles

is there some sort of cosmic connection between andy reid and DVOA? something about the way footballoutsiders.com analyzes football (comparing each play's actual result vs. the expected result for that situation) lines up tightly with the way andy reid builds and runs his football team.

the eagles are usually a darling in the DVOA system and this year appears to be no different. footballoutsiders.com projects the birds to be the 2nd best team in football behind only behind the new england patriots.

some of that is based on schedule strength -- second easiest in football, behind the new england patriots who have the easiest schedule -- but how great would it be if this was an accurate prediction?

they project the birds to have:

- 3rd best offense in football (behind only patriots and colts)
- 5th best defense in football
- 24th ranked special teams

that's better than i think they'll be. i hope they're right! i'll post a season preview tomorrow.

Thoughts on 53 Man Roster

the 53 man roster for 2008 as it stands today after final cuts and an initial free agency move:

QB - 3 - mcnabb, feeley, kolb

RB - 3 - westbrook, booker, buckhalter

FB - 1 - hunt

WR - 6 - curtis, brown, avant, baskett, d jackson, lewis

TE - 3 - lj smith, schobel, celek

OL - 9 - thomas, runyan, andrews, herremans, j jackson, justice, mcglynn, jean-gillies, cole

DL - 10 - cole, parker, abiamiri, howard, clemons, b smith, patterson, bunkley, laws, klecko

LB - 6 - gocong, gaither, bradley, jordan, mays, daniels

CB - 4 - samuel, sheppard, brown, hanson

S - 5 - dawkins, mikell, demps, reed, considine

ST - 3 - akers, rocca, dorenbos

-----
some initial thoughts:

- in addition to inciting a lot of (ironic) consternation among eagles fandom, kevin curtis' sports hernia injury had a cascading effect on the roster: a) it ensured that greg lewis made yet another roster and b) it made keeping jerome mcdougle hard to do. mcdougle was surely the hardest cut for the birds considering they have multiple picks and millions of dollars sunk into him. too little too late i guess. it sucks big time that he's moving to the hated giants now that he showing the first real glimmer of life.

- blocking at fullback is a concern, but stashing tony hunt there is more important than people think. i've seen some speculation that the birds will jump at a competent fullback if one becomes available in the free agent market. i don't believe this will happen. the birds only kept 3 halfbacks. two of them already have significant injury history and the third back's size makes me worry about his ability to stay healthy as well. they need hunt to be effective at FB because it saves them a roster spot at RB.

- i really like the two set of lines. the offensive line will be starting the jackson five for the third straight year -- a huge advantage at offensive line. i can't quite remember where (pro football prospectus perhaps?), but i think i've seen research that shows that the continuity of the offensive line (number of games started together) has a higher correlation with offensive line performance than almost any other factor (including how high the individual linemen were drafted). thomas and runyan continue to play effectively (despite their age), andrews can be a stud when he wants to be, and jackson and herremans are more than adequate.

the defensive line is young and good -- potentially the best group of the andy reid era. while the cole and parker may not be as good as the 2004 team (douglas, burgess), patterson and bunkley are probably more effective overall than simon and walker -- the development of bunkley as a companion to patterson makes this d-line more effective against the run than they have been in years (7th vs the run last season). in addition, this line has depth at both positions that the 2004 team did not.

- keeping 5 safeties is unusual, but given dawkins age, recent fragility, and declining performance, keeping only 4 safeties would have been risky. i'm excited as heck about demps.

- i understand that continuity is a key to special teams' performance, but dorenbos' inability to play any other position is a liability and increases the importance of being able to stash guys like hunt at FB.

- i'm not too surprised about IR'ing dunlap, since it would have been risky to put him on the practice squad. he seems to be the new heir apparent at LT, not too shabby for a 7th rounder.