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.
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
ESPN’s Len Pasquarelli takes a look at the surge in contract extensions in the wake of the new CBA and cites the Eagles as one team that has traditionally done these type of deals (a key part of the team’s success, Len notes) – and have done it again with Shawn Andrews.
He’s got the details of the Andrews deal and it is worth quoting at length (below). What is most striking about the deal is that this year will be the biggest cap hit the Eagles will take on the Andrews’ contract. That is simply amazing and a potential steal given the real possibility that Andrews could be a pro bowler for the next ten years. They’ve locked up a cornerstone of their offensive line for what is essentially $4 million a year over the next 7 years. Even now it looks like a bargain and probably a
“
As part of the extension, the Eagles rewarded Andrews with a $5 million signing bonus and a $5 million roster bonus, meaning he'll earn $10 million more than the $600,000 in base salary that he was scheduled to bank this season. And the Eagles will carry a salary cap charge for Andrews of $7.779 million.
But consider this: That is the highest salary cap charge for any season of the contract. In 2007, the charge drops to $4.71 million, and then after that, it dips under $4 million until 2013. And the cap charge doesn't rise to over $5 million until the penultimate year of the contract, in 2014. By then, of course, the odds are that the two sides will have reworked the contract. But for a long time, the Eagles will enjoy short salary cap charges for a young player they regard highly.
The Eagles will pay Andrews base salaries of $2 million or less until 2011 and of less than $3 million until the 2013 season.”
Just in time for football season.
“Invincible” the true story of Vince Papale.
Opens August 25.
Hopefully the movie will be as good as the trailer. Click on one of the two links below.
Trailer:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1541623623935212086
http://movies.aol.com/movie/invincible-2006/25912/main
as a casual b-ball fan i was always under the assumption that fouls were
like holding in the nfl. if you wanted to, a player could be whistled
every play, but it was the refs job to cite the most egregious examples,
keep everything fair and from getting out of hand.
so how is it that Dwayne Wade can shoot as many free throws as the
entire Dallas team in game 5 and then shoot only two less than the
entire Dallas team in game 6?
Did anyone see the foul called on Nowitzki with 26 seconds left to go in
the game when Wade drove into him with his forearm? Or the final Dallas
shot where Gary Payton is seen grabbing Josh Howards jersey right in
front of the ref, a tug so blatant that it untucked his shirt?
i asked about conspiracies yesterday, but after reading the sports guy i
guess it is just a much more basic question of why the NBA doesn't grade
its refs and assign the best to the champinoship round. how can that be
in this day and age?
"Howard's seven RBIs were the most for a Phillie since pitcher Robert
Person
had seven RBIs against Montreal on June 2, 2002, at Veterans Stadium.
Person
hit a grand slam and a three-run home run in that game."
Only on the Phillies could their all-star slugger tie a hitting record
set
by their pitcher.
Peter King graded the 2001 draft now that 5 years have passed and you can more accurately measure the players’ successes. He gave the Eagles a “C.”
I don’t think he gave enough impact to the flop Caver was. The heir apparent to Trotter, if Caver pans out than do we see Levon Kirkland as an Eagle? The disastrous play of “starter” Barry Gardner? Probably not. If Caver is half the middle LB Trotter was do we beat the Bucs in the championship game? Maybe.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/peter_king/06/19/mmqb/2.html
17.
Peter King has some very reassuring opinions about the ability of the Eagles to bounce back in 2006 in his Monday Morning QB column.
King nails it as far as offensive output with and without TO – and the utmost importance of B. Westbrook to the offense.
Still, a friend has this interesting perspective (and calculations about making up for TO’s lost yardage and TDs):
He writes: I agree with everything King says - the Andy Reid line that there isn't too much difference among the '02, '03 and '04 Eagles offenses in terms of output.
BUT, there is one MAJOR difference between the '03 offense and the '06 offense: no Duce Staley, no Buckhalter.
Remember that 3-headed monster? All 3 rb's in '03 ran for 500-plus yards. I think they combimed for almost 20 tds (including 36's returns for td).
In '04, they replaced Duce and Buckhalter with TO - effectively giving up ground game for high-powered passing (TO's 1,200 yds and 14 tds in '04 almost identically matched Staley and Buck's output combined in '03).
However, looking ahead to '06, we have a massive glaring whole offensively. I agree with No 5's assessment that we can win the division, and I think we will, but we are no longer the prohibitive favorite to win the NFC and go to the Super Bowl because we've lost 1200 yds and 14 tds on offense from '03 and '04, and I don't know how we make up those yds and points.
interesting to get Heckert - the silent GM -perspective on the Eagles'
picks.
http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/story/9411240/1
