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.
“League MVP Shaun Alexander cracked a bone in his sore left foot and will be lost to the Seattle Seahawks for at least a couple of weeks.
Alexander has had soreness and a bone bruise in his left foot since the season opener at
From a Dodgers web site:
If
If
If
If San Diego and Los Angeles finish tied ahead of Philadelphia, San Diego would be the NL West champion and Los Angeles the NL Wild Card.
If all three teams finish tied,
Bottomline, if the Phils are involved in a wild-card playoff tiebreaker, the game's at Citizens bank.
Not only is it as Citizen's bank, but it will be held on Monday, October 2. And since the two most likely teams to play the Phils - the Dodgers or the Padres - are west coast teams, the game will likely be played Monday evening given the travel considerations of going cross country.
Which means that the Phillies would be playing for a berth in the post-season, while across the parking lot and at the same time the Eagles were thrashing the Packers on Monday Night Football.
I have no problem with Andy's play calling Sunday (save the empty-house backfield on that one 4th down, and yes I have checked with Ross, who loves the Giants but is still apoplectic over that call).
The problem was with the execution of the plays that were called and the inability - is it unwillingness? - to execute a power running game when it is needed.
It is impossible to play in the NFL without being able to kill the clock with a lead - that is the essence of the West Coast offense, what Madden so eloquently described circa 1982 as the Bill Walsh theory of throwing early in order to run late, which was revolutionary at the time. All great west coast offenses have had the pounde - roger craig, ahman green.
I didn't feel like we went conservative late in the game, we just didn't - couldn't - execute.
Been thinking about that loss Sunday and I guess I'm not the only one
that's been thinking back to the similarities to the Tennessee opener in
2002, when the Eagles blew a 14 point lead after Reid started calling a
lot of running plays in the 2nd half (that were working, just that the
RB fumbled). Reid then promised not to make that mistake again and since
that time we've seen 75% pass, 25% run calls (or so it seems). Also,
some defensive breakdowns, etc.
Granted, it was on the road rather than at home, but still a collapse
against playoff caliber teams.
Below is what the philly paper had on the Titans game. Hopefully we can
bounce back and not come out flat against the Niners. Very encouraging
that for 3 quarters we dominated the Giants and moved the ball at will.
But then...
What he meant: "Hey, remember the season-opener in '02 when we blew a
14-point, second-half lead to the freaking Titans? We ended up winning
12 games that year and making it to the NFC Championship Game. And we
had James Thrash and Todd Pinkston as our starting wideouts and
320-pound ocean liner Levon Kirkland playing middle linebacker that
year. Things could be a lot worse."
Driving back to DC yesterday, one of the pick me up things my friend and I were looking forward to was the skewering the Redskins were going to take on sports radio – hey if we are miserable after that terrible loss at least we can wallow in similar misery with skins fans.
Didn't happen. Didn't really bother with the Redskins radio network, not going to get any good negativity there, but was astounded that 980 with Zaban and Pollin did NOT cover the Skins at ALL. After I dropped Pk off at the metro, these guys spent 15 minutes talking about what the Nationals needed to do in the offseason. It wasn't until 11:49 am, I checked the clock, that they made their first Redskins reference - and that was to Peter King's column about Brunnel and why Portis should have played in a must win game. Then they said Brian Mitchell would have more at noon during his show.
I'm guessing these guys came on at 8 am, or maybe even 6 since they went off at noon, but cannot believe they weren't talking Redskins. Is this a directive from the station since snyder's got his own network now? Are they able to get interviews and stuff with Skinns players, or has Snyder prohibited contact with the competition?
BTW, Zaban today called
Man, this Reggie Bush thing seems like it could be very, very ugly. This has the potential to be one of the biggest college sports scandals since SMU got the death penalty.
This is really damaging to Bush as a person — there’ve been way too many Christ-like comparisons for the kid, as if he’s the savior of New Orleans — and also will hurt Carroll’s credibility.
I also find it kind of funny that Yahoo! Sports is breaking this investigative story – a story that has blockbuster potential.
First, the home is the worst, but at least Bush had a claim of plausible deniability there (as Pete Carroll put it, how many college kids know how their parents pay the mortgage?). Not a good argument, but plausible. Second, you need to read the Yahoo! Sports article. There is much, much more than what you cited. Including stays for Reggie at the Venetian in Vegas, $1,500 a week payments to his parents ($1,000 to dad and $500 to mom) and a pimped out Chevy Impala to Reggie.
Of interest to me is how the ncaa prohibits payments/loans from sports agents to players but somehow allows players, as in the case of Bush, to intern in sports agencies. Talk about temptation.
Think about the potential widespread impact this could have. Hell, it may already be the reason
and those are just the obvious starters.
Eags have proven nothing. Even if they beat the giants it may not prove a whole lot depending on how the game is played. Only saying that if he Eagles are to be contenders they need to beat their division rivals at home (especially since they have that brutal stretch in December playing them all consecutively on the road.). And that if the Eagles win it will be a very good start in division.
Regardless of play, maybe most optimistic thing is that Skins lost at home to a team many probably had them beating. Giants lost at home but many had that a toss up at best. For Cowboys, the good news is that they lost to playoff team on road.
Did the patriots ploy of allowing deion branch to seek a trade with other teams blow up in their faces? Expecting no team to match the Pats’ offer – to say nothing of Branch’s exorbitant demands – it now appears that 2 teams – jets and seahawks – will show him the money. But now they have to work out a trade with the pats – who are asking for a #1 and middle round pick. Ridiculous request and now the pats are in the worse negotiating position. Trade him for less, pay him what the jets would or not trade and not pay – with branch not playing.
I’m beginning to think the stallworth trade wasn’t about pinkston’s abilities so much as gaffney’s play (or lack thereof).
Bowen -- “The logjam at wide receiver might be the most interesting one needing to get sorted out before tomorrow. Let's assume Reggie Brown, newcomer Donté Stallworth, fourth-round rookie Jason Avant and undrafted rookie Hank Baskett are on the team. There probably are six spots. If Reid's words yesterday and other indications recently are any guide, you can make Lewis the fifth receiver. That means either Darnerien McCants or Jabar Gaffney is out of a job tomorrow.
Gaffney has a much more impressive resume, 171 career catches vs. McCants' 58, but McCants is a strong special-teams performer. Eagles special-teams coordinator John Harbaugh said this week that Gaffney hasn't had a special-teams role with the Eagles, and it didn't sound as if he was going to be getting one.”
Couldn’t the Browns and Eagles make a deal. At this point, Lee Suggs seems like an excellent option for the Eagles. A guy with tons of potential, can be an every down between the tackles back and also has the speed and hands to be a third-down back and fill in for Westbrook. Seems a perfect fit for the Philly offense. The Browns could use some depth at CB and Andy Reid seems to have some expendable young talent at that position. Just seems like a deal should happen here.
Suggs is about 6 feet, 210. He is big enough to fill the Eagles’ big back role/need. He runs hard and can carry the load as an everydown back. He is not Duece Staley size, but I think at this point in the seasonthe Eagles are not going to do much better (when you also factor in the low cost and perfect fit for the offense). The talk in NY is that the Jets failed Suggs on purpose b/c they thought they had a better deal lined up for TJ Duckett or Kevan Barlow.
Amazing that this was published before he’s ever played a game!!
“If the Cowboys release Terrell Owens before the start of the season, they could save $5 million and possibly use that money to make a run at disgruntled Patriots receiver Deion Branch.”
-- Fort Worth Star-Telegra
Iron Clad Lock of the year - tonight is the worst College FB game of the year.
I have to think that this is a first. The 2 worst ranked teams in College FB (
The Bisons (-6) tonight, but the golden era of
What this kid is doing isn't just cool and great, we're now on the verge of talking about it being one of the single greatest homer seasons EVER by someone so young. I can't even sleep I'm so blown away by what No 6 is doing (never thought I'd ever type/say those words and not be referring to Dr J).
A quick check of baseballreferencecom shows that there are only a hanful of young power performances that compare, in terms of age.
Arod at 26 - which has been Howard's age all season - hit 57 homers. Jimmie Foxx at 24 hit 58. Griffey Jr at 26 hit 56. Mantle at 24 hit 52. Hank Greenberg at 27 hit 58.
Then, the best ever: Ruth at 26 yrs old in '21 hit 59 and Maris at 26 hit 61.
(The 'roid crew - Luis Gonzales, sosa, mcgwire, bonds - all did their damage in the 30s, a sure sign of drugs.)
Yet some of these guys who accomplished so much so early had played several to many seasons by the time they were 26 - such as Arod's 26 in '00 or Ruth's 59 in '21.
This is Howard's 1st full year.
If he hits 58 homers, this is the greatest season EVER for a young slugger.
And 58 is basically now about what I expect.
It'll be nice to have a 2nd NFL receiver on the team
Avant looked good on Friday night. The man can catch a football.
If only LJ had his hands.
Perhaps the most horrifying thing in this video is that the guys 2 friends (brothers?) continue to play after he hurts himself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjtPkDdvkBU
Year Team G/GS Rec. Yards TD
Avg. Long
2002 New Orleans Saints 13/7 42 594 8 14.1
57
2003 New Orleans Saints 11/3 25 485 3 19.4
76
2004 New Orleans Saints 16/10 58 767 5 13.2
45
2005 New Orleans Saints 16/13 70 945 7 13.5
43
Career 56/33 195 2,791 23
14.3 76
From the new Orleans paper. 10 questions about saints season. Check out these questions.
QUESTION 7: Can these linebackers play?
ANSWER: This remains an even bigger concern, as the Saints continue to mix and match even more.
They traded a seventh-round pick to Dallas for weakside linebacker Scott Shanle last week, then immediately installed him as the starter for Saturday's game against the Colts.
The Saints also are continuing to explore a possible trade for San Diego Chargers veteran middle linebacker Donnie Edwards. If San Diego is willing to accept a fourth-round pick for the All-Pro, a deal could be done before the season starts. If not, the Saints are hoping second-year pro Alfred Fincher can continue to step up and develop into that role.
QUESTION 9: Who will drop the ball?
ANSWER: The battle at wide receiver has turned into one of the most fascinating -- and positive -- story lines in training camp.
While Joe Horn has looked as strong as ever, the next 10 guys behind him are in a free-for-all for the remaining roster spots.
It appears as though veterans Donté Stallworth and Devery Henderson will win jobs based on their track records, while youngsters Marques Colston and Jamal Jones will win jobs based on their outstanding training camp performances.
We're kind of thin at lb - even if no one likes simoneau. They must be
really high on omar gaither.
Do you think he starts immediately?
I think Gaffney makes the team. Can't believe they signed him as FA only
to cut him.
I think Pinkston gets put on PUP. And lewis and mccants fight for the
last spot.
It's a conditional 4th round pick. Have to pass physicals.
Stallworth was the 13 pick overall in 2002!!
6 ft. 196 lbs.
Stallworth recorded career-bests in receptions and yards and became the
most dependable wide receiver in New Orleans last season. A speedster
who can stretch defenses and make plays after the catch, Stallworth
should benefit from the addition of Drew Brees in an offense that has a
chance to be explosive
It pains me to watch him swing, pulling off on every single pitch, then desperately extending/flailing his arms out because at the very last second he's realizing -- oh no, not again! -- that it's a low and away slider, desperately trying to just make contact with the ball.
The other favorite Burrell picture is the a$$ stick out on the inside strike. It's uncanny how many times he gets rung up looking and the a$$ stick out is always there
