The Franchise
McNabb is traded and the Phillies sign their super slugger to a monster contract extension.
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.
McNabb is traded and the Phillies sign their super slugger to a monster contract extension.
A thumbnail description of the Eagles' draft picks courtesy of the NFL's evaluators. Warning: the following list contains numerous references to special teams and back up duty.
Congrats to the Flyers for beating the hated New Jersey Devils in the playoffs...10 years too late.
D'oh!
Andy picks a 6th round sleeper...in the 3rd round.
From Moving the Chains:
In his series with the Daily News, NFL Network's Mike Mayock had Te'o-Nesheim listed as a sleeper:
A 4-3 end /outside linebacker. He's a hustle guy. A core special-teams guy. I think it's going to be difficult to cut him because he works so hard. He's a little quicker than people think. I think he's a good player and makes a team.
However, that can be a little misleading. Mayock had him projected as a sixth- or seventh-round pick. He was saying that Te'o-Nesheim would surprise some people by making a roster. Expectations are different when a guy is taken in the third round.
The one thing to worry about the Graham pick is that it has all the hallmarks of those infamous Andy Reid reaches or too smart for his own good.
A friend and Michigan alum writes about Eagles' first round pick Brandon Graham:
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Digging deeper, let's say the NFL pressed the reset button, made every QB a free agent, then held a QB lottery for the 32 teams. The top 12 order of preference would look something like this: Peyton Manning (picked first overall); Tom Brady (sixth round); Drew Brees (second round); Philip Rivers (fourth overall); Aaron Rodgers (24th overall); Ben Roethlisberger (11th overall); Mark Sanchez (fifth overall); Matt Ryan (third overall); Eli Manning (first overall); Tony Romo (undrafted); Joe Flacco (18th overall); Matt Schaub (third round).
it can't be a good sign for either the Flyers nor the NHL that playoff tickets are still available for Flyer home games in this series, incredibly for game 3 - particularly since they are playing the hated Devils (who should be a good draw and whose fans are close enough you might expect them to buy any excess tix and make the short drive down to watch their team at the Wachovia Center).
Gonzo comes to the defense of vilified Philly fans after the latest national attention to boorish behavior at a sports event -this time a Phillies game.
Funny, though. In citing other cities' instances of bad fan behavior Gonzo doesn't actually mention that a Phillies fan was MURDERED outside of the Citizens Bank last year.
Um, do Ripken and Gehrig know about this?
Jimmy Rollins is listed as having played in seven games this season, which is technically correct even though he didn't see a pitch or report to a single position for even one batter in Monday's home opener. The reason: Once the lineup card was turned in, which was before he suffered the calf injury that landed him on the disabled list, he was technically in the game and therefore unavailable to pinch-hit or go in as a defensive replacement. So, logically, he has to be listed as having been in the game even though he didn't actually play.
Essentially this is a PSL for a bar seat near Fenway Park. And yet, the line between genius and madness is very thin indeed.
Near Fenway, a $500 View of the Bar TV - NYTimes.com
It's hard to overstate how much the McNabb trade permeated the environment at the Phillies-Nats game today. Everyone -- and I mean everyone -- was talking about it. Inside the men's room, in the beer lines, walking to/from the game.
"Hey, Giants suck," some Phillies fan chirped to my buddy as we walked into the stadium, him wearing an NYG t-shirt.
"Get a quarterback, you losers," his brother Jack shouted back at the Phils' fans.
They had no rebuttal.
All that being said, I've never been to a game like that where the road team's fans sooooo utterly dominated the volume throughout the game. It was a little ugly at times (our fans were yelling "sucks" after each National was announced at the start of the game, including guys who were assistant bench coaches and didn't even wear a uniform).
All in all, I'm now at peace with what the Eags did. It was the dumbest thing any team I've cheered for has done, sure. But I'm moving on.
Today, guys, we put on the field the greatest Opening Day roster in the history of the Philadelphia Phillies. A lot can still go wrong, and a lot might go wrong.
But if we stay reasonably healthy, we're easily the best team in the National League. Easily. I personally suspect that we'll fall victim to a bunch of injuries this year, as we've been really lucky avoiding major injuries.
But on paper, wow, this is like the '77 Phillies, except with all the experience possible.
Wow.
Amazing crowd. Given the fear of Obama and Secret Service, I'd guess 30,000 folks were in the park before noon, which was a good thing, because if you waited till normal times to try to get in, you were screwed. SS closed down S. Capitol to move POTUS, so it was a nightmare on the streets outside.
But I got into the park before noon. Between the national anthem and the First Pitch, there was an odd 10-min delay. They filled the time by honoring Zimmerman's Golden Glove and Adam Dunn's Silver Slugger award.
It made me worried that there was some sorta Obama delay -- was he taking a crap, was he not warmed up and fearful of throwing a bad pitch, were the Lerners soooo stupid and ignorant that they delayed the president's pitch 10 mins so they could honor the only 2 players worth their weight from last year's terrible team?
As presidential pitches go, it was a strike. He pitched from the rubber, he got the ball to the plate, it didn't hit the dirt. Strike one.
The really big thing about our game yesterday was the top of the lineup. JRoll looked great. Line drives. That's the key to his game, not pulling off trying to hit homers and ending up with weak flies to the outfifeld. Polanco made GM Ruben look like a genius.
The 3-7 All Stars looked like All Stars. (Does anyone else in baseball have 5 consecutive All Stars in the heart of their lineup?)
The thing to know about great pitchers is, the 2nd time through the lineup, they get stronger. They've noticed a hitter's tendencies, and they take advantage. Doc looked great from the 3rd inning on.
The thing to know about bad pitchers is, they get rocked the 2nd time through the lineup.
Hence: The Phillies 5-run 3rd inning.
My guess is, Lanan probably through Howard the same exact first pitch he started him on in the 1st inning. So he just ripped it outta the park.
Our defense looked great. We turned double plays. Howard dug balls outta the dirt.
There's simply no weakness anywhere in that lineup now.
With Polanco at 2, Werth hitting 5 and switch hitting Victorino hitting 7, they now have the solution to the overloaded lefty situation in the lineup.
Setting aside obvious pitching concerns -- is Cole back, the closer situation, Blanton's oblique -- there should only be 2 worries: Polanco's glove and Raul's bat.
Raul is old, and he might start falling off. We accepted the 2nd half fall off last year as an injury thing. Truth is, that's what he's done his entire career, been incredibly hot and then incredibly cold.
Now, he's a year older. We'll see.
I've said all along that McNabb's history and reputation closely tracked John Elway's (great QB, couldn't win the big game). Elway always had lousy RBs. McNabb has had lousy WRs.
McNabb has the 20th most wins in NFL HISTORY.
He is 9 wins from the top 10. without injury he'll get to top 6-7 regardless of where he plays, possible top 5 if he plays with good team.
Of the top 47 QB's (in wins - used 47 because that's where drew Brees is ranked at moment) - here are the players with a better win % -
Favre, Manning, Brady, Bradshaw, Stabler, Steve Young and Staubach.
7 players with better winning percentages. SEVEN. Problem obviously is they all have rings. The other problem is that 3 of 7 are conmtemporaries and everyone always points to him not being Manning/brady - yes, he's not them - almost nobody has been in the entire history of the NFL.
92 wins. He averages 10.4 wins per season (.651 win % times 16 games).
The guy wins - that goes for Andy too. Say what you will about his playcalling and his stubbornness, but the guy gets it done. Reid has 11th best win % in NFL history.
There is.
A couple different themes:
1 there is no more "rebulding". You can go from 5-11 to 11-5 in one year with sked fornat (worst play worst) and savvy acquisitions. Jeff has already made this point for several years but analysts still treat these huge improvement teams as wonders and flukes tho it happens every year.
2 THERE IS NO MORE SALARY CAP. Has anyone adjusted to this fact yet? The notion of any concern for mcnabb's $11 million salary in 2010 is pointless.
More to the point. Why aren't the cards willing to give up on leinart? There's no salary cap hit for cutting him. Do they think he can start? If so why hasn't he already.
With no cap you can carry 2 quality qbs on your team all the time.
Under this scenario and for a team like the rams, mcnabb can serve like doug pederson while they groom bradford - only mcnabb is a pro bowler and will win games so you haven't wasted a season or two getting bradford ready and are totally competitive. Heck, you can even franchise mcnabb so you get him for two seasons. He's also insurance in case bradford turns out to be more ryan leaf/tim couch than carson palmer.
I think the roethlisberger/flacco situations have fooled some where 1-3 year qbs aren't asked to do much and awesome D stifles opponents and this system is seen as as a good and replicatable model - which it isn't.
Finally, maybe we (and the eagles) are overestimating mcnabb's ability. But objectively he is still a top 12 qb in the league. Why the 20 teams with worse qbs aren't interested is beyond me.
Is there something we're missing in all this? Remember a few yrs back when GMs decided RBs weren't very valuable? That's when GMs decided/realized that most RBs were a function of their system and their O line. Denver produced 4 or 5 different Pro Bowlers in 6-7 yrs. Didn't matter if it was Terrell Davis, Mike Anderson or Clinton Portis running the rock.
Herm Edwards brought up that the Niners should trade their 1st (one of them) for Brandon Marshall and their 2nd for McNabb and still have a 1st round draft pick (13 or 16 whichever they don't trade to the Broncos). Then they are the clear favorites in the West and legitimate shot at playoff run. The 2 problems are 1) Alex Smith 2) spending the money on McNabb and Marshall. How as a Niners fan are you not clamoring for that. Your skill players are –McNabb, Marshall, Crabtree, Vernon Davis, Frank Gore. Your D is pretty good and Patrick Willis will be making run at NFL D player of the year soon. You would instantly be in the conversation with the Saints/Vikings/Cowboys – I mean instantly. Think about it –automatic 1 home game as division winner and by going 6-0 (that team would go 6-0) in division you would have legitimate chance at bye.
very nice summary of the situation by Clayton. One point i think needs to be made in defense of the Eagles and their "high" asking price is that some of the onus has to be put on the teams that declined to trade for him. I mean, if you have a playoff contending team - or even perhaps a super bowl worthy team - why in the world wouldn't you spend a little more to get McNabb. Why in the world would you opt for such failed talent as Derek Anderson - who got benched in favor of Brady Quinn. Why would the Browns then turn around and put their faith in Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace!! for gosh sakes.
And here's Clayton's brilliant Donovan analysis, make sure to read to the very, very end, because he makes the point that Jeff has been making about Rogers and I've been making all along about riding out the great QB for as long as is possible:
McNabb suitors limited from the start
By John Clayton
ESPN.com
Apparently, the Philadelphia Eagles, one of the NFL's smarter organizations, didn't study enough history before trying to trade Donovan McNabb.
Even though pro football revolves around the quarterback, it's hard to handle quarterback trades like auctions, particularly for quarterbacks in their mid-30s. McNabb is 33, not a bad age for a quarterback. He's still in his prime. Compared to Brett Favre, he's still a kid.
But the team that would ultimately trade for McNabb must be a only quarterback away from contending for a Super Bowl. The top teams have their quarterbacks, so finding the right trading partner is a little trickier than the Eagles expected, and that's why you have yet to see McNabb move to a new home. The teams the Eagles targeted were the 49ers, Cardinals and Vikings. Minnesota didn't bite because it expects Favre to come back. The asking price of a first-round pick plus the $11 million-plus salary scared off the Cardinals enough that they made other moves, signing Derek Anderson. The 49ers signed David Carr. Unless both teams are willing to give up on their former No. 1 picks -- Matt Leinart in Arizona and Alex Smith in San Francisco -- those two NFC West teams can be scratched from the list.
History has shown that an aging quarterback with elite ability can add five to six points to an offense. Favre added 8.6 points to the Jets' offense in 2008 and 5.7 to the Vikings' offense last season. Steve McNair added 5.5 points a game to the Ravens' offense in 2006. A 37-year-old Jeff Garcia added 7.7 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offense in 2007. Favre turned the Vikings from a 10-win team to a 12-win team that went to a conference championship game. McNabb could have kept the Cardinals at the 10- to 11-win level and maybe taken the 49ers to the same, but the price was too high. Favre went to the Jets for a second-round pick. McNair went to the Ravens for a fourth. He was the same age as McNabb.
So why wouldn't other teams jump at the chance to add five to six points to their offense? The answer: expectations. To make a bold move on McNabb for a first- or second-round pick, the team making the trade must be thinking about going to a championship game, not just being a wild-card contender.
Which brings us to the Oakland Raiders, who have been buried in a four- to five-win funk seemingly forever. WithJaMarcus Russell at the helm much of the season, the Raiders averaged only 12.3 points a game in 2009. There is no doubt McNabb could make a major impact on the Raiders. He's a 60 percent thrower, so you figure he would add a lot of efficiency to the Raiders' offense. But the Raiders' offensive line has problems, so McNabb might be sacked 45 times instead of the 35 he had in Philadelphia last season. Still, McNabb would give the Raiders about 231 net passing yards a game. Compared to the team's 159.8 yards a game last year, McNabb's presence should be worth three to maybe four more wins.
Unfortunately for Raiders fans, three to four wins may not make enough sense for the team to give up a second-round choice for a chance at an eight- or nine-win wild-card run. The move would not be similar to the Rich Gannon signing of 1999, because getting McNabb might not be a long-term solution. The Raiders signed Gannon when he was 33 to a four-year contract. McNabb wouldn't want to sign a long-term deal with the Raiders. Sure, Davis could franchise McNabb in 2011 if there is a franchise tab, but McNabb wants to play only for the Eagles unless the Eagles find a trading partner that appeals to him.
Where the Eagles might have blown it is by letting the Cleveland Browns get away. Had the Eagles come to the Browns with an offer to give up McNabb for a third-rounder and maybe a conditional pick in 2011, Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert might have been intrigued. The Browns instead signed an aging Jake Delhomme and traded for Seneca Wallaceand are now out of the market. At the very least, keeping the Browns involved might have started a bidding war that could have netted the Eagles a second-rounder.
Back to the Raiders: Gannon did in his first year what McNabb could probably do, completing 19 of 32 passes a game. Still, the Raiders finished 8-8, but at least Davis knew he had three more years of Gannon. With Gannon, the Raiders became contenders until he retired. Unlike Gannon, whose offense averaged 24 points a game in 1999, McNabb might be able to get only 20 points a game out of the current Raiders offense. Getting 20 points probably points to a seven- to nine-win season, not good enough for Davis to hand over a second-round choice.
The other history lesson the Eagles might not have studied is what happened to the Packers after trading Favre. Aaron Rodgers was a star sitting on the Packers' bench. I'm not sure Kevin Kolb can be as good as Rodgers, but let's say Kolb can be pretty good. The Packers traded Favre out of the NFC to the AFC, not totally blocking a chance for Favre to return to the NFC North. In his first year as a starter, Kolb can expect to lose the close games like Rodgers, who threw for over 4,000 yards in 2008 as a first-time starter but couldn't prevent the Packers' win total from dropping from 13 to six.
Under Kolb, the Eagles might drop a couple of games. Favre ended up back in the NFC North with the Vikings, who have now won back-to-back division titles over the Packers. Let's say McNabb goes to the Raiders and leaves after a year. Where do you think he goes? You got it. McNabb could end up with the Vikings in 2011 as Favre's replacement, and if Kolb becomes good enough to keep the Eagles playoff contenders, McNabb may have the edge over the Eagles if they meet in the 2011 playoffs.
History shows it's often better to ride your once-in-a-generation quarterback until he retires.
John Clayton, a recipient of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's McCann Award for distinguished reporting, is a senior writer for ESPN.com.
My brother and friend had a long email conversation over the weekend leading up to the blockbuster trade sending the best, most successful QB in Eagles' history to a division rival. The following entries are excerpts from that back and forth.
just heard John Clayton on Mike and Mike talking about McNabb and trade. Gives chance of Raiders' deal at 20%. Said Raiders are in no rush to do this deal. Says Asomongue (sp) was never part of deal - Raiders want to keep him. Says Eagles asking price has been too high, suggested that some teams were interested - Cleveland - but were thinking more of a 3rd rounder for McNabb. Says asking price for Kolb is even higher - a first and a third. Seattle inquired but price was too high for Kolb. Says Rams were never really interested in McNabb
Says Eagles really want to deal McNabb before May 5 when they have to pay him $6 million roster bonus. If they pay it are most likely to keep him for season. Not sure what that means for who is the starter.
I don't understand this either. The Bears gave up 2 1st rounders and a 3rd, plus their starting QB (kyle orton) for Jay Cutler. Really, the only think Cutler has over McNabb is he age - he is 7 years younger, other than that McNabb is a better QB all-around.
The lack of interest in McNabb gives lie to the notion of team's desperately interested in franchise QBs.
I find it incredible that no team but the Raiders is interested in getting McNabb. What team wouldn't part with a 1st rounder to be assured of having one of the top 12 QBs in the entire league - immediately - for the next four years. Is the NFL becoming more like the NBA, where value is assigned more on your potential than, you know, what you are actually doing during the game?
It is a sad end to an era. The Eagles have willfully given away their franchise QB - or as the Washington Post describes Donovan McNabb "Philadelphia's all-time leader in wins, pass attempts, completions, yards, and touchdowns" for a second round pick and a 4th rounder (maybe a 3rd if he plays well) next year.
Are the Phillies a dynasty? Not yet, but they're getting national coverage asking the question like this Washington Post story. A third consecutive NL pennant may be the clincher. A second World Series title? Definitely.
Philadelphia Phillies are in their prime, yet the window is closing on their chance to be a dynasty - washingtonpost.com