the ski cap debate

Really? It's come to this? Scrutiny of Demarco Murray wearing a knit cap on the sidelines and whether he was ready and able to be put in the game? Please.

is this what passes for "journalism" now in Philadelphia?

yes, Murray didn't play. yes, he clearly is 3rd on the RB depth chart. Yes, he probably should have been in the game on the Eagles fourth down play at the end of the first half. Yes, he hasn't lived up to expectations. Yes, he's got a big contract. No, the size of the contract shouldn't determine your playing time. Yes, he touched the ball 400+ times last year and that has usually meant a decline in production the following year. No, no one ever brings this up, preferring to ignore the physical toll it takes on RBs and preferring instead to suggest Murray isn't a "good fit" for the Eagles. 

Will Murray return to form next year after having a less taxing 2015 season? We don't know. But maybe somebody could at least start asking the question.

Beckham, the NFL and Concussions

Odell Beckham Jr.'s helmet to helmet hit on Josh Norman is one of the most vicious hits of the year.

Beckham dove at Norman. Helmet to helmet. Intent to injure. Incredibly, Beckham was not ejected from the game. In fact, the end result of that play was offsetting personal fouls on Beckham and Norman. It is utterly inexplicable that there was essentially no consequence for what Beckham did.

If the roles were reversed, and it was the defensive player who did what Beckham did to a WR, the DB would have been ejected. An interesting NFL double standard. They're so concerned about protecting the WRs they're gutless when it's the offensive player who is delivering the blow.

I also find it really interesting that having taken a huge helmet to helmet shot to the side of the head - that staggers him (take a look at the replay) - that the NFL's vaunted "concussion spotter" didn't buzz down and require an examination of Norman.

Once again, we see so clearly how unseriously the NFL takes head trauma. The response today will be telling. Will Beckham merely be fined or will he be suspended? Given the NFL track record on this, most likely fined.

Sam Bradford - A Tale of Two Halves

How bad is Sam Bradford in the first half of games this season? And how much better is he in the 2nd half?

My friend delves into Bradford's 2015 splits (courtesy of Pro Football Reference):

Everything is dramatically different in the 2nd half, when he is good, or slightly above average, not great, but ridiculously better than in the 1st half, when he is the worst QB in all of football.

Scroll down quite far and you'll see his 1st/2nd half splits. The most important stats:

1st half completion % - 55.4        2nd half completion % -- 69.9

1st half yards per attempt - 5.2    2nd hafl yards per attempt - 8.1

1st half TD passes -- 3                2nd half TD passes -- 6

1st half INTs -- 5                         2nd half INTs -- 5

1st half QB rating -- 62.9             2nd half QB rating -- 93.4

Look deeper at those stats, and it's really troubling. He's a horrific QB in the red zone -- 40.6% completion percentage, a QB rating of 49, 3 INTs, and worst of all, his yards per pass attempt: 1 yard.

He's also a horrific QB on 3rd down, with an overall rating of 54.0 on 3rd downs, but look deeper, and it doesn't even matter the distance -- 3rd and short, 3rd and long, he stinks.

So, this is the issue, the guy simply cannot perform in the 1st half of these games. He's wretched, beyond bad, horrible, downright putrid.

But in the 2nd half, he becomes a pretty decent QB. Why the hell is that? Why isn't anyone talking about this? Why can't Chip address this issue? Even when they had a bye week, Bradford came out and pitched a disastrous first half against Dallas, in a game when the O-line actually gave him time to throw the entire game.

Headers

Big move by youth soccer to eliminate headers for kids under 10. The ban should probably apply to kids older than 10- to like 12 or 13, but at least it's a start. And an admission by a youth sports league that the play and rules for young kids can and should be different than adolescents and adults.

Next Four Games

A friend writes about the Eagles' November schedule:

Dallas (2-5), Miami (3-4), Tampa (3-4), Detroit (1-7) -- those are the next 4 opponents.

In the previous 2 seasons, I'd expect us to go 4-0 over that stretch. I'll settle for 3-1, which would get us to 6-5 heading into Foxboro. Which leaves us 6-6 afterward, and needing to go 3-1 in the final 4 games after that to win the division.

But, this is a big but, if we go 2-2 over this next stretch of games, leaving us 5-6 heading into Foxboro, the season's probably over.

If in a parallel universe we actually win all 4 of those games, 7-4 heading into Foxboro, we should be in really good shape, as the Giants, now 4-4, play their next 3 on the road, including one in Foxboro.

I would add that we really need the Cowboys game to be one of the wins.  To bury them at 2-6 rather than tied with us at 3-5 (and they get the tiebreaker).  When they get Romo back they will be good again.

We have lost our opportunity to "blow" a game.   We have done that 2-3 times already this year (Washington, ugh.) already.  You just can't do it too many times in a season.  With parity you can lose a few you should win. We have hit our limit.

You need to get to 9-7 at minimum and 10-6 probably avoids tiebreaker.  We are 3-4.   7-2 is a stretch considering at Foxborough and the aforementioned parity.  So if you are going to go 6-3 (which .667 football) then you can't lose tiebreaker and this need cowboys game.    That said - if we lose then we must have Cowboys fall big time so only tiebreaker is Giants and we beat them to end season.

Cheers

Eagles fans the third drunkest in the NFL, new study finds.

Blue Hens vs. Wildcats

Good article on the rivalry. I'm glad there's no more Villanova talk about being a 'national program."

I'm somewhat amazed to realize that Andy Talley is STILL 'Nova's head coach.

BTW, I did not realize Dave Brock was the head coach of the Blue Hens. He was the best friend of mycousin growing up in Moorestown, NJ.

Small world.

Deflate-gate

I gotta say, I'm surprised that the NFL investigation actually came to the common sense conclusions about Pats' deliberate attempts to deflate their game balls and Brady's awareness (and likely encouragement) of it, notwithstanding the absence of a smoking gun video of McNally actually letting air out of the balls.

I just finished reading the report. Reading between the lines, it looks like the Pats equipment guy routinely let air out of the balls while in the officials locker room after the balls were checked and while the refs were out of the room, but that w/ the championship game there were so many people around he had to do it in the private bathroom just inside the tunnel.

I'm still struck by the brazeness of it all. The Pats knew they were under the microscope about the air pressure based on Colts regular season game and the complaints by the Ravens following their playoff loss the week before the AFC championship. And yet they still deflated all their balls - in the conference championship game!

What do you all make of this? Is it a big deal or much ado about nothing? Given the Pats history with spy-gate, it seems like another deliberate attempt to circumvent the rules requires a pretty stern punishment. I'm also pleased//hopeful that Brady will finally have to answer some hard questions.

Hey, at least Goodell didn't classify the report and destroy all the footballs and pressure gauges. So that's progress.

NFL Draft 25 years Later

A devastating look at the toll professional football wreaks on players by the NY Times. But perhaps the most surprising thing in the entire article is to learn that Cortez Kennedy is in the Hall of Fame?

Decline of LL baseball

this story recounting the decline of little league participation was on the front page of today's Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/baseballs-trouble-with-the-youth-curve--and-what-that-means-for-the-game/2015/04/05/2da36dca-d7e8-11e4-8103-fa84725dbf9d_story.html

I have a couple thoughts on this very topic having seen it up close and personal. A lot of my son's friends bailed on baseball after the 9 year old season.

1. The growth in youth lacrosse is hurting baseball because of the scheduling conflicts - spring sports. But i think the growth in lacrosse hurts football more in the long-term.

2. As bad as it is for little league baseball, the decline in youth football is even worse and likely to get worse.

3. Again from personal experience it's not just that single parents can't/don't play catch with their kids. It's that two-parent families don't do it/don't have the time either. When I was coaching I could only work with the kids so much and told the families you've got to throw/catch with your kids on days we don't have practice (which was most days).

4. Baseball is one of those sports very hard to just pick up and you have to have some skill development to be an active participant. Kids don't play pick up games like we used to.

5. I absolutely think the super specialization and how the best baseball kids get creamed off into better teams/leagues is a big impact. The converse is also true. The mediocre kids get shunted aside and aren't given the time to develop or play in a skill-appropriate level. They wind up quitting rather than keeping with it.

It's a shame cause I loved playing baseball as a kid, my kids love playing it, and there is nothing more american than little league.

Huh?

While the McCoy - Kiko trade makes sense upon closer examination (overpaid, overworked RB for an emerging stud LB (albeit with a repaired ACL)), this Foles for Bradford trade is inexplicable - especially now that it comes out that the Eagles are also sending 2nd and 4th rounders to the Rams for a 5th rounder.

A second straight trade where the Eagles trade a skill position starter for a player who missed all of last season with a reconstructive knee injury.

This trade has to have some sort of secret agreement where the Eagles and Rams swap 1st round picks, right? Isn't that the only way it makes sense?

Please someone help me out here!  In 5 days we've gone from a starting trio of Foles, McCoy and Maclin to Bradford, Sproles, and Cooper.

And if the rumors really are true, and Chip Kelly covets Mariota...why not cut out the middleman and just trade Foles and McCoy to the Titans, Jags or Raiders for their #1 pick. They could even sweeten the deal by throwing in the Eagles #1 pick too. Sure you don't get Kiko in this alternate transaction, but you also don't wind up with Sam Bradford's $12 million contract and you get to keep your 2nd and 4th round picks.

This free agent period - Gore backing out of his deal, Jake Locker retiring, Chip Kelly's every transaction -  has taken a turn to the bizarre.

Old School

I'm watching the Ravens-Steelers game and am just amazed that with all the concussion attention, premier announcers like Collinsowrth and Al Michaels continue to show themselves as old school believers of a tougher, former NFL.

On consecutive plays in which Roethlisberger and then TE Heath Miller are taken to the sidelines with possible concussions, Collinsworth is incredulous that the players might be taken out of a PLAYOFF game over concussion concerns. He seems to say that the league is serious about concussions and player safety during the regular season, but will a groggy Ben Roethlisberger really be held out in a Wild Card game?

The answer, apparently, is no as Roethlisberger soon returns after Michele Tafoyar reports that Steelers sideline personnel have treated Big Ben for neck and spine issues. #7 then immediately throws an interception in the endzone and Al Michaels says, with no sense of awareness or outrage, that he thinks Roethlisberger was still a little "groggy" when he came back into the game.

Incredible.

Rivalry

With apologies to San Fran and Seattle, the raven-steelers rivalry is still the most physical in football.

Sam Now?

With the new word that Trent Cole has suffered a broken hand and is doubtful at best for the Skins game on Saturday, it would seem to make even more sense for the Eagles to at the very least take a look at last year's SEC co-defensive player of the year, Michael Sam, as a backup DE/LB to help bolster the Eagles increasingly depleted front seven.

Sam I Am

Speaking of Matthews, I thought it was telling that even when he went out Marcus Smith our 1st rounder still didn't get into the game. 

Whether Matthews can play the rest of the season or not why haven't/why shouldn't the Eagles taken a look at Michael Sam for LB? He played DE in college but i thought the understanding was he would probably have to play LB in a 3-4 in the pros. 

Matthews is 6',1" 245 lbs. Sam is 6',2" and 260 lbs. Maybe Sam was pegged as an OLB but couldn't he help as ILB with the Eagles given his size? Again, at the very least wouldn't you want to take a look especially since your #1 pick looks like a bust. 

Coincidentally, Smith is very similar to Sam: listed as a college DE and 6',3" 251 lbs.

Breaking Right Till Wrong

Things were breaking the Eagles way most of the afternoon - Packers loss and the Seahawks losing to the Niners at the half. Then it all came undone. Seattle winning and the opening kickoff and then blowing the lead late.

They basically would have won the division with a win and now are likely to miss the playoffs. And to add insult to injury, they could easily be 11-5 at the end of the season and miss out.

Ugh.

Matthews Bell Ringer

Since the new emphasis on concussions, I don't think I've ever seen a case like Casey Matthews where the player gets taken into the locker room to be evaluated and actually comes back out and plays! That was shocking.

Fare thee Well

Adieu to the best shortstop in Phillies' history. Jimmy Rollins was a leader and a winner and the straw that stirred the drink of a team that won two pennants and a World Series title. From the moment he uttered the now famous observation "we're the team to beat," the Phillies actually were the team to beat for five glorious seasons.

Finding their religion

Playoff committee excludes both christian schools - TCU and Baylor - from football playoff. Bias? College football worships money over all else.

Why the Wait?

The Washington Post h has a funny piece about the scene at FedEx Field yesterday as the skins went  on to defeat.

What really got my attention was both his report and several of the pictures about the crush of fans trying to clear "security" and get into the game. The Post reporter didn't get in till 1:20 pm.

This seems to be a recurring theme in Philly and Dc (other cities?) about the choke points that needlessly delay fans from entering a stadium.