McNabb's successor

Don Banks of SI suggests that Donovan’s injury makes it time for the Eagles to draft a QB and begin planning the leadership transition. Interesting.

 

I would take exception to several of Banks’ points – though. McNabb is less of a runner and thus less “reliant on his legs” than is reality. He doesn’t run nearly at all anymore (some say not enough) and only takes off if he is flushed out of the pocket. His acl injury is less serious than Culpepper’s who also tore the MCL, or Palmer’s who shredded three ligaments.

 

 I would also argue that McNabb is just a better QB than Culpepper, injuries or no injuries.

 

Interesting, also, that McNabb’s statistical decline this season coincided with Stallworth’s inactivity due to hammy problems. As I mentioned to PK the other day, watching the Cowboys and Colts, and Stallworth – a solid pro but nothing special – I’ve realized the number of clowns that McNabb has had to work with at WR – Pinkston, Thrash, Greg Lewis, Charles Johnson. Some of these guys, in their best days, would be no better than situational 3^rd-4^th WR on other teams. Yet they all started significant games for the Eagles.

 

To really help McNabb, they need to sign a professional WR free agent – no drafting one and hope he develops, this player needs to be up to speed by the start of 2007, in addition to a big RB, and an LB.

MAC Attack

Out with a bunch of guys on Friday night and we got to discussing nfl qb's and counting which college conference has produced the most current starters. Some surprising results - most notably the MAC has a disproportionate share of starters – Gradkowski, Pennington, Roethlisberger - given its modest Division I status.

 

All of which is background to perhaps explain why the Eagles just signed Bowling Green's Omar Jacobs as the team's #3 QB to fill McNabb's roster spot.

 

here's the word on Jacobs

 

Mike Quick's poor choice of words

Commenting on Andre Waters’ apparent gunshot suicide:

 

"It blows your mind that somebody could do that to themselves,'' Mike Quick said.

Mike Quick's poor choice of words

Commenting on Andre Waters’ apparent gunshot suicide:

 

"It blows your mind that somebody could do that to themselves,'' Mike Quick said.

Messed Up

The Dallas Cowboys have the best QB in the NFC East.  Didn't think at the start of the season that would be the case.

Waters' Pain

Outstanding article by Phil Sheridan on Andre Waters’ death. I also suspected that perhaps the physical pain of post-NFL life may have been too much for Waters. Here’s Sheridan’s take with great points about the side of the nfl we don’t see after the player is gone and cheering subsides.

 

“I played because I loved it," he said. "I'm not looking for sympathy, because it's what I wanted to do. I just don't think people realize the players they cheer for wind up unable to walk or sleep because of pain."

 

What bothered him was that the sacrifice of his body didn't mean anything to the NFL the moment he couldn't play anymore. Jobs in scouting and coaching went to men who spent their 20s working a different career track and networking….

 

Maybe there were other reasons. Maybe something happened recently to drive Waters to suicide. Or maybe the pain - physical and emotional - palpable in his voice just kept getting worse. Probably, we'll never know.”

Answers?

Here’s a question that’s been perplexing me.

 

What are the Eagles?

 

• A true 5-5 team in a league of parity?
• A team that is a couple of plays, one 62 yard field goal, and a torn ACL from being 7-3 or 8-2 right now and the second best team in the conference?
• A below .500 team with significant weaknesses on defense and some questionable offensive skill players whose franchise-QB has helped them overachieve and mask these shortcomings?
• A flawed team in a flawed division and flawed conference that can still compete for a playoff spot at 5-5 even with a backup QB for the remainder of the season given the competition.
• A mediocre team whose entire fortune rises and falls on a single player-- more so than most other teams – the QB?

Missed 3 Cost Competitiveness

Would have been a lot more exciting final 5 minutes yesterday if the Eagles hadn’t botched their FG. An Akers’ 3 there makes the score 24-16 and makes the game a one possession game (with a looming 2-pt. conversion.).

Just a sloppy, sloppy game.

Devastating McNabb Injury

A swirl of emotion surrounding McNabb's knee injury- hopes of the Super
Bowl are out the window-obviously. They might still be able to make the
playoffs, but so what? They're not going to get very far.

With McNabb, anything was possible with this team. Amazingly, 5-5 still
leaves the Eagles in the playoff hunt. And they brought in Jeff Garcia
specifically for this very situation... to have a veteran QB that could
step in for McNabb if the unthinkable happened.

Some of my friends have tried to point out that too bad the Eagles
didn't win the Giants and Bucs game to give themselves (ie, Garcia) a
margin for error and give them a leg up in the playoff race.

Here's another thought: how much more devastating would McNabb's loss be
(if possible) they eagles had won those games and been 7-3 right now?
They'd be the #2 seed in the NFC, looking at a bye for the playoffs.
Losing McNabb in that scenario might have been even worse.

d-line

Eagles must really be pleased with the D-line’s play to extend another player there – this time Trent Cole, 2^nd year budding sack star out of Cincinnati – for 5 years

Eagles Extend Patterson

Guess the Eagles aren’t so disappointed at the play of their d-line, particularly their tackles, not to extend the contract of Mike Patterson for years.

 

http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/homeNewsDetail.jsp?id=58798

 

It didn't take long for the Eagles to realize that they want defensive tackle Mike Patterson to be a keystone of the defensive line for a long, long time.

Patterson signed a 7-year contract extension on Thursday, which will keep him in the midnight green through the 2016 season. We will have more coverage later in the day here on PhiladelphiaEagles.com.

The team's first-round draft pick in 2005, the 31st overall selection, started in seven games last season and led the defensive line with 66 tackles and all NFL rookie defensive tackles with 3.5 sacks. This season, Patterson has started in every game and has 36 tackles, 1.5 sacks and two fumble recoveries, one of which he returned 98 yards for a touchdown against the 49ers.

 

Are You Rah-Rah?

My God. Rutgers will be coming off a bye when they play Louisville, who should still be recovering from their war with W. Va this Thursday.

 

If they were to win that one…..could they be playing W. Virginia in the last game of the season (12/2) to go undefeated and get a BCS bowl berth?!?!?!!?

Our Eagles Beirut Table

Torture

More from Peter King, “I think the Eagles fan, already a tortured soul, must be really feeling it today. Imagine being tied 24-24, tied 24-24 and up 21-20, with 10 seconds left three times in the past month -- and losing every one of those games on the last play of the game.”

B-Dawk Talks the Talk and Walks the Walk

From Peter King of SI, “I really like how the Eagles aren't making excuses. I talked with Brian Dawkins after the heartbreaker in Tampa and he said, "We can't afford to think anything other than this is a bump in the road. We're too good a team not to. We've got to realize if we don't play a 60-minute game, anyone can beat us, and that's what happened to us.''

Down at the 1

In last night’s game, the Giants had one of the best special teams plays I’ve ever seen. They downed a punt at the 1 millimeter line. And the player who did it was careful not to have accidentally stepped on the goal line or in the end zone. So why did the refs then spot the ball on the 1 yard line, essentially giving the Cowboys an extra yard? ESPN’s troika of geniuses didn’t notice the play nor commented on the spot (I doubt even if they had they’d have had a rationale or coherent explanation. Why don’t announcers know the rules?).

 

Anyway, a friend suggests that perhaps on punts the ball is spotted where the downing player’s feet are, not where the ball is. If so, it is one of the few instances in football where it matters where the player is and not the ball.

Sunday Morning Massacre

Pretty good ESPN analysis of the clarke years. Shrewd trader early, not so much late. Always liked size over speed which is death in new nhl. Never got a goalie, which prob. Cost them 1 cup. & no mention of lindros- his greatest trade & nemesis

 

 

Highlights:

 

“As a GM, Clarke did a pretty good job. But, as he admitted on Sunday, he couldn't deliver the Stanley Cup. During his two tours of duty as Flyer GM,

his teams advanced to the Cup finals on three occasions. Each time, the Flyers couldn't get over that final hump.

 

During his long tenure, he made some good trades and some bad ones. He stole John LeClair and Eric Desjardins from the Canadiens in 1995. In recent years, however, the bad deals seemed to outnumber the smart ones. And, despite those many trades, he never could acquire a franchise goalie.

 

In the months after the lockout, Clarke made some bold moves, signing free agents Peter Forsberg, Derian Hatcher and Mike Rathje. Going into last

season, the Flyers looked like a serious Cup contender. But, they were undone by several factors. The club was crippled by injuries, losing 355

man-games (third most in the league) to injury and some of the big offseason signings -- namely Hatcher and Rathje -- proved less valuable in the "new" NHL. By the end of the season, the Flyers seemed old and slow compared to top Eastern Conference clubs the Hurricanes and Sabres.”

 

 

 

TO Reception?

Eric Allen is way off the mark. Hoge might be right, but Schlereth nailed it.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2611669

Questioning a Win

Don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, BUT…..

 

-          Why didn’t Akers attempt the 54 yarder just before the half? That’s makeable for him. Not guaranteed, but doable. Besides, the fake kick call made absolutely NO sense. 1 second left and they run that play? I would think a direct snap to your kicker and then a pass from him to the backup TE is riskier than trying the FG. And if you’re not going to kick it, why even bother calling timeout. Or if you reconsider during the timeout, why not have McNabb hiked the ball, take 3 steps back and take a knee.

 

-          Why didn’t Westbrook play? Hopefully it is because they could beat the Packers without him and gave him an extra weeks rest for the must win game vs. Dallas (must win to get one victory in the division).

 

-          Why doesn’t Moats play more? He is the heir to Westbrook, with his speed to the edge. I understand Bucky is listed as #2 on the depth chart, but he is more of a change of pace back to Westbrook. Moats only saw the field after Bucky fumbled twice, and even then didn’t get a lot of playing time in the 2^nd half. Last year, Moats didn’t see the field for quite a while after Westbrook got hurt. And when he did, he was electrifying, especially in the Giants game. So why doesn’t he play more? He’s a second year guy now. Can’t he pick up the offense? Is he a discipline problem? What’s the deal?

 

 

 

 

 

Defend this House

Hysterical story in yesterday's NY Times about how Giants’ fans got beat up by Eagles fans after the OT loss. Michael Irvin’s comments are too funny (and accurate… yes, Philly fans still hate you).

 

 

From the article: “Michael Irvin, who won three Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys in the 1990’s, listed Philadelphia, Oakland and New Orleans as the rowdiest stadiums he ever played in.

“Philly was just a horrible place to play,” Irvin said. “They’re still cursing me out whenever they see me, and I retired more than six years ago.”

Irvin also said, “Raider fans like to paint their faces and pretend to be crazy; Eagles fans really are crazy.”

Martocci, who has accompanied fellow Giants fans around the country since 1990, said that no stadium came close to Philadelphia’s.

“It’s sad,” he said, “because it takes the whole enjoyment out of going to a game.” “