Fan commentary on the Philadelphia Eagles and other Philly sports happenings. "Our capacity for hurt is matched only by our capacity for loyalty." -- Bill Lyon.
Eagles extended the contract of Center Jamaal Jackson. So I guess the expected training camp competition between him and former incumbent Hank Fraley is over before it even got started. I must say, the line play last year did seem to improve after Fraley got hurt and
Got a hit today, making it 32 straight. How does the trade of Abreu effect him and the lineup?
The benefit of opening training camp a week earlier thanother teams is that the media, including out of town media, are more likely to run stories on your team and fill the NFL news hole. Here’s ESPN’s Len Pasquarelli with a feature on the Eagles' WR hopes and savior Reggie Brown (note the Ashley Lelie trade rumor reference again) and two W. Post stories profiling Darren Howard
and the Eagles' WR (notice a media trend there?)
To add to the meme, there’s Rich Hoffman's piece today about the coaching analysis of the WR. Hoffman ends with a killer close sure to strike fear not in opposing defenses but in any Eagles’ fan’s heart….”Pinkston as linchpin, then. Who ever would have believed it?”
The Eagles' WR corps are like a pitching staff with a #3 and a few veteran #4's in the rotation.
Like the Philles -Myers/Brown is the young #3 w/ big upside and then Lidle/Gaffney (innings eater/possession guy), Madsen/Lewis (impressed early, but not much since), Pinky/Wolf (former #2 coming off the injury), and a bunch of young junk (too many Philles to name).
Heck, even Floyd or Hamels w/Avant and Bloom (but most like Ashley Lelie (sorry to be so fixated on him) are top picks w/ high expectations, but at the moment still low on the totem pole.
In yards per catch - Gaffney averages - 11. Possession receiver!!!
Gaffney also has higher passer rating than #5. 1-5, 39 yards, 1 TD over 4 years.
Eagles picked up Redskin castoff WR Derrick Fenner. My Maryland friend's think he could be a good special teamer (and he can room with fellow Terp Bruce Perry.) Guess that means the Lelie trade is just a fading rumor. Too bad. Lelie looks like a younger (healthier) Pinkston on a team that usually leads the league in rushing w/ the Steelers.
For comparison purposes:
Lelie is 6'3" 200 lbs. Pinkston is listed as 6'3" 180 lbs.
Pinkston averages about 15 yards per catch and Lelie around 19 yards per catch (actually a pretty big difference) Best year - Pinky 60, 798, 7TD's - Lelie 54, 1054, 7 TD's
Here’s the backstory. Good friend of mine hates Bobby A. Plain hates him. Thinks he’s the most overrated player in the league and obviously the most overrated player on the Phillies.
Here’s reason #867 why he hates Abreau.
Ok, so now I've spent a couple mins researching Bobby's numbers, and I'm just plain freakin furious. I'm so mad that he's still a Phillie, I think I ruined my weekend. Goddamnit. I'm pissed.
You say Abreu is the best all around hitter on the team?
I say, f#$%ing b@#^*sh*@!^^t.
Utley clearly took that crown last season.
Look no further than the final weekend of the season, 2005. The Phillies were playing their most meaningful baseball games in a dozen years. They were playing what amounted to elimination/playoff-level baseball. They went into RFK needing to win every single game against the Nats.
And Chase Utley, playing his first full season, and Ryan Howard, capping half a season of baseball, carried that team to a 3-game sweep. Yes, they came up 1 game short. That's true. But here's what the kids did for the Phils that weekend:
Utley -- 6 for 12, with 2 homers and 4 rbi. He destroyed the Nats pitching that weekend.
Howard -- 5 for 12, two homers and 6 rbi, including a 4 rbi game on Saturday that cinched his rookie of the year award.
And so there's Bobby Abreu, who by all measures -- talent, an All Star appearance, being the longest serving every day player on the team -- should be the unequivocal leader of the team on the field and in the clubhouse.
How did Bobby respond to that pressure? How did bobby handle the pitching of a Nats team that had already been eliminatd from the playoffs? How did Bobby perform when his team needed him the most?
Abreu -- 1 for 12, 2 rbi. His only hit in the series came in the top of the 9th inning on Sunday, driving in a run with a double when the Phils were already ahead 5-3 and Wagner was already warming up in the pen with the game's outcome sealed.
He STINKS.
the more I think about/see this team, the more I like it. Don't know why most commentators aren't as
high or giving them their due respect.
Especially since the Atlanta Falcons seem to be a very trendy pick right now for "rebound" team of
the year. Seriously, the Falcons collapsed after their NFC champ appearance.
The Eagles did likewise, but we had massive injuries. The Falcons just stunk.
I will say that the NFC east is better(obviously), but the Eagles should more than hold our own.
Does Peter King have the best job in America?
Maybe Peter Gammons rivals him, but that's about it.
He just shows up places for camp, and EVERY coach and player wants to
talk to him, tell him their insights, etc., the GMs all have his number
on speed dial so he knows about every trade rumor and trade factoid,
etc.
I remember once during Baseball Tonight, near the trade deadline this
time of year a few seasons back, and they came back from a commercial to
announce a new trade - because Gammons was fielding calls on his cell
during the commercial break, the GM involved wanted Peter to break the
news and knew BT was on the air at that moment.
Seriously, Peter King and Gammons, the best jobs in the world.
Speaking of the eagle WR's, the Denver Post cited the Eagles as one of
SI’s Peter King reports from Eagles' training camp.
In summary, McNabb laughing off TO, sees no depth at RB, loves LJ Smith, impressed by DL Ed Jasper (sleeper alert! Player most likely to benefit from Bunckley’s absence?), and likes Garcia’s offseason training regimen.
The day after the TO’s book promotion appearance on the John Thompson show, Mike Quick got time to talk Eagles with the DC listening audience. (Not sure if this was some sort of equal time/rebuttal deal or not, but it is interesting that Quick was on the day immediately after TO).
Of course, Quick exhibited why he will never a champion debater. His “defense” of McNabb was as poor as Billy McMullen’s hands. Quick called McNabb the best qb in the “NFC East.” Gee, thanks Mike. Better than well past prime Bledsoe and Brunell and still wet behind the ears Manning. Wow, what faint praise.
Here’s a clue Mike – McNabb is the best qb in the entire NFC conference! Name one better? Not Mike Vick. Favre is way past his expiration date (TO’s opinion to the contrary). Bulger? Warner? Brad Johnson? Simms? Please. The only ones remotely close would be Delhomme (overrated in my opinion) and Hasselbeck. They both share super bowl losses with McNabb, but neither is in his league.
And Quick is the color “analyst” for Eagles’ games? C’mon. get some insights.
TO made an appearance on the John Thompson show last week to promote his book. Thompson’s sidekick, Doc Walker, also joined in the TO “interview.” (For the uninitiated, Doc Walker was a role player on the Gibbs’ Super Bowl teams and has managed to parlay that “fame” into a somewhat successful media career in DC.)
Anyway, Thompson and Walker lobbed softballs at TO for the entire interview. You would hardly have thought there was ever a controversy in
Note to Thompson and Walker: ask TO why none of the offensive players were his allies, spoke up in his defense or attended his birthday party. Why was it only defensive players that said anything positive about him? And putting aside the McNabb angle, why didn't TO get along with his offensive coordinator? Or if TO is such a stupendous talent, and he is, is he playing for his third team in four years?
)
Note
Joe Morgan and Jon Miller said it last night during the Braves-Phillies game. Said the Cardinals had a lot of interest in Burrell and that the assistant to the GM was at the ballpark last night to look at Burrell. (this was several innings after Miller pondered the hometown reaction to Brett Myers, making his first start at home since being arrested for beating his wife. He suggested that Phillies fans, “like fans in all other big league cities, will be cheering him if he wins.” Which, if you step back for a moment, is an incredibly inflammatory and insensitive thing to say about fans and domestic violence (and I also think somewhat erroneous. Philly fans are many things, but one of their positive attributes is a high moral standard. They don’t tolerate hitting women, which is why the whole Myers thing has become the highly publicized and controversial incident it is.)
If A-rod had pressure in NY, imagine the pressure in Philly the first time he goes 0-fer with that $25 million contract.
Gordon is a nice player, but not a must-keep. They can get someone of his caliber this offseason.
The importance is to unload Abreu and Burrell’s contracts (unfortunately, there is no hope of foisting Lieberthal’s $10 million contract onto some sap of a team). That would free up $30 million of salary to go out and remake the roster for next year. They can’t afford to carry Bobby too far into the future cause at some point Howard and Utley will be making far more than their current $500,000/year rookie contracts.
Here’s a link to a story in the
.
“Poker playing becomes an art form at this time. The Cardinals have closely followed the Phillies, believed by many to be the catalyst for next week's madness. Outfielders Bobby Abreu, Pat Burrell and David Dellucci are intriguing. However, their pitching stable includes Cory Lidle, John Lieber and lefthanded relievers Arthur Rhodes and Rheal Cormier.”
Who on the Phillies do you think gets traded this week? Seems like there's a lot of interest in Burrell. Will anyone eat Abreu's contract?
How about Abreu and Lieber to the Yanks. For nothing. They get pitching help in Lieber and in return have to take on Abreu's contract as well.
When I saw that Utley had extended his hitting streak on Sunday night it got me to thinking about Rollins. How is his 36? Game hit streak that came to an end on the 2nd or 3rd game of the season handled? Is it considered the longest hitting streak of the 2005 season or the longest hitting streak of the 2006 season?
Bill Conlin calls Abreu the 2nd best OF in Phillies history.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/15115340.htm
Andy is going to earn his paycheck this year. Giving East teams 3-3 records I have a lot of 9-7. Skins/Cowboys/Eagles (didn’t do Giants).
On the positive side – Cowboys play their presumed “easy” games at home – Texans/Titans/Lions while the Eagles play their “easy” games on road – Niners/Texans/Saints. That’s a huge advantage because we play
Falcons added John Abraham – if we’re excited about Howard then they should be equally, if not more, excited about Abraham (and his 20 sacks over the past 2 years).
The Offense will be the offense – they’ll put up some points in some games when it’s all clicking, they’ll struggle sometimes and more times than not it’ll get you 20-23.
The Defense will decide the season. We were 27th in the NFL in points allowed last year (2nd in 2004). When was the last time before last year that we got torched?? I say Colts at home (at Vet) when Vincent couldn’t stay w/
Last year we got torched by Cowboys, Chiefs and Broncos – all of those were with T.O. and McNabb still playing. I think we gave up about 130 points in those 3 games.
D back to form and we win East.
Here’s a question. Since Burrell was a 3B in college and only moved him to left cause Rolen was there, why didn’t the Phils move him back when the position opened up? Even now, Burrell is a better option than the no hit David Bell. Put Victorino in left. Why didn’t they try this in spring training?
I was watching an NFL network profile of Vince Lombardi that I had Tivo’d from last fall. It was a great show on the
Well, I must have recorded this show during the week of the Eagles-Skins game at DC. They ran a “breaking news” segment about TO being “suspended” for the game. That was interesting itself given our recent conversations about TO,
But the thing that really caught my eye on the crawl was the info on the Eagles-Skins matchup. I simply did not realize, or had forgotten, that going into that game both teams were 4-3. Even with all the turmoil, McNabb’s injury, no pass rush, a billion passing plays, the Eagles were still a contending team. Incredible to also think that given all that, and what we know now about how the Skins were a playoff team – that the Eagles were in a position to tie the game with a minute to go (till McNabb threw the INT on 4th down.).
Anyway, I guess my point – if I have one – is that the nfl season is a tricky thing that can take lots of twists and turns. And two teams with identical records at just before the halfway point can have dramatically divergent fates. That, and even with all the stuff the Eagles went through last year – they were still in it – contending with a playoff-caliber team as it turns out – on the road right down to the last minute --- WITHOUT TO.
…Is out. The Inqy has some excerpts. TO is totally in the wrong and pathological. But it seems to me that there is probably a nugget of truth about McNabb in some of these anecdotes. – Donovan getting tight or in a funk at times. Donovan missing the open receiver. Nothing terribly damning and even some stuff we’ve all thought, but surely some stuff the anti-McNabb haters will jump on to bash him even more – which is probably TO’s intent to begin with:
T.O. remembers being "surprised and disappointed," but decided to stay silent, possibly because he had nine touchdowns after the first seven games. Before the
… And then, against the Giants, anger came rippling to the surface, and the split hit the fans.
On one play, Owens thought he was open and ignored. Stormed back to the huddle and squawked. Said, "I was open ... dude, you missed me."
McNabb, according to Owens, replied, "Shut the bleep up."
T.O. got his leg broken in the second
Q: Why do you want so badly to be with the Eagles?
A: I want to play with Donovan McNabb. With a QB like that, I think I'll have a chance to take my skills and talent to another level. During the course of the playoffs, I saw teams with average receivers and good quarterbacks make a great connection. Good QBs can make an average receiver look great. Imagine what they can do for me.
Seriously, read that a few times. How can there not be trouble in
