NFC EAST HOMERS

Giants -- Preseason Game 1

2009-08-18T14:29:00.004-04:00

I have to say I was pretty happy with how the first game went. I thought our first team offense and defense looked much better than Carolina I also felt that our backup defenders did a relatively decent job against Carolina's backup. The Giants got the win, but that is really not important. It was awesome, however, to see the Giants win their first preseason victory on such a dramatic play.

I just thought I would share my observations on the Giants game. If you want to see a professional's take on the Giants game, you can go to Matt Mosley's blog on ESPN.com.

First Quarter (1st team defense) -- Giants Defense

Like Mosley, I thought Osi Umenyiora looked great, especially on the play where he was able to beat his man for a sack and force a fumble. I also liked the tackle made by Kevin Dockery and Terrell Thomas to stop the Panther's running game on third down. Although, the Giants secondary did have problems making tackles throughout the game. There is definitely room for improvement in the tackling in our secondary (although Aaron Ross and Corey Webster, the starting cornerbacks were not playing). Thomas also made a nice play on the Panther's third drive, managing to perfectly time a pass to Dwayne Jarrett and deflect it, however he failed to get in position on time to make the interception.

First Quarter (1st team offense) -- Giants Offense

Eli Manning and Mario Manningham did hook up for a nice timing play on the first drive, but unfortunately it was called back due to an illegal motion penalty, and the Giants went three and out on their first drive. Not exactly what I was hoping for.

The next drive showed what the Giants offense is capable of, especially on the ground. Brandon Jacobs was his usual self. Jacobs ran hard through the line with power and made just enough cuts to run effectively. His best run on the day was a 22 yard run on the second drive. Jacobs also showed nice hands on a softly thrown, but high, pass from Manning for 13 yards. Ahmad Bradshaw also looked great on his 22 yard touchdown run on the second drive, making a very nice cut to freeze one defender and then powering his way through the last defender to score a touchdown. Bradshaw continued to look good on the third drive, running for 11 yards in traffic, by continually keeping his legs moving and showing remarkable power.

What was also reassuring on the drive was the effective screen pass to Domenik Hixon for 19 yards. It is refreshing to see the Giants run some effective screens, as I felt it was something we often failed to execute consistently last year.

Eli looked effective, but he only threw 4 passes (if you count the one to Manningham that was called back), although he did complete 3 of the 4 passes. I definitely look forward to the future preseason games where Manning gets more reps.

Second Quarter - Carr led offense

David Carr and the Giants offense began the quarter against the first team offense. Carr made two passes in a row, a short pass to Hixon and a nice slant by Sinorice Moss for 9 yards and the first down. After the pass to Moss, the Carolina first string defense came out and was replaced by the second team defense. Almost immediately Bradshaw made a nice catch and run, making the Carolina second-team defense look bad.

I love Ahmad Bradshaw. As much as I liked Derrick Ward last year and his dynamism in the passing game; I think Bradshaw is and will be a better back. I remember what Bradshaw did for us when Ward and Jacobs were injured in the 2007-08 season. Bradshaw was also the most effective runner in the Super Bowl. Bradshaw brings "home run" potential every time he is in there, and that is something Ward did not bring. Bradshaw is incredibly explosive and has surprising power. His only problems have been his fumble tendency (although if there is anything Coughlin excels at, it is teaching running backs not to fumble, i.e. Tiki Barber), and his blocking ability. I think this will be a great year for Bradshaw and I think he will beat Danny Ware for the backup running back slot.

Although I do like Ware, just not as much as Bradshaw. Ware showed what he was capable of on the Giants last drive of the half. Ware caught a screen pass and showed the right combination of speed and agility to score a 36 yard touchdown. Ware had some decent runs beside this, but nothing over 10 yards.

After watching this game, I do not know if Derek Hagan will make the team. In the second quarter he dropped the first of a few passes that were difficult, but definitely catchable. On the play, Carr threw the ball low on a comeback route (I think he had to in order to prevent an interception) and Hagan couldn't hang on as he went to the ground. While I do not believe Hagan dropped easy passes, it does not bode well for a guy trying to make a team stacked with wide receivers of similar or better ability (and younger).

The worst play of the day for the Giants came on special teams. When Jeff Feagles went to go punt the ball, one of the Giants missed his assignment and the Carolina player came untouched and easily blocked Feagles's kick. Feagles made a nice play to prevent a touchdown, but that play should not have happened, and it cost the Giants 2 points.

On another note, offensive tackle William Beatty, one of the Giants' second round picks, looked very good against Carolina's second-team defense. He was holding his own, and even the Monday Night announcers took notice. While the announcers said he looked a little high on his blocks, they spoke highly of him saying that he seemed to be doing a good job holding the defenders back.

Second Quarter -- Defense (2nd team)

The defense, particularly the defensive line, continued to look good in the second quarter. On one play, Anthony Bryant pushed the offensive line back and got his hands up to deflect the pass, and Stoney Woodson, the Giants 7th round draft pick, was right there and alertly grabbed the interception.

Later in the quarter, Maurice Evans, an unsigned draft pick out of Penn State, made a nice move (albeit against weaker competition) and got around the edge to get the sack and forced fumble. De'Andre Wright, the Giants 6th round draft pick, then managed to get the fumble recovery. It appears that the strategy employed by Giants Safeties coach, Dave Meritt, has been working. Merritt has been making the safeties treat incomplete passes as live balls, and this strategy appeared to work, as the Giants recovered 4 out of the 5 fumbles put on the ground. Well done Merritt!

Jerry Reese seems to have done it again. Clint Sintim, Beatty, Barden, Wright, Andre Woodson, and Evans all have been strong in camp and delivered a stgrong perfromance in the first preseason game. And I still expect big things from Hakeem Nicks, but his injury has slowed him down. Reese definitely seems to have done a good job making his picks this year.

Third Quarter and Fourth Quarter Notes

The third quarter began very badly for the Giants. After one first down, Woodson threw an ill-advised pass to Barden as he rolled out of the pocket. The pass was wobbly and was easily intercepted by the defense. Then the Giants defense looked poor, giving up runs of 16 yards and then 14 yards for the touchdown. The Giants secondary missed multiple tackles, Dave Tollefson got schooled by the running back Goodson, and Bruce Johnson was unable to escape his block at the goal line allowing Goodson to score untouched.

Woodson looked bad all game, even on the passes he completed. In addition to the interception, his passes, even the short ones (including a check-down pass to Ware), were poorly thrown. Woodson's passes were often wobbly, overthrown, or were just plain off-target. However, to be fair, it did not appear that the Giants offensive line line was giving him very good protection, as a few times Woodson had no chance to get rid of the ball. Woodson did complete a 20 yard pass to Barden, but even that was not well thrown. But Barden did run a good route to come back to the ball.

Nicks did finally make an appearance in the third quarter. However, he did not look good on the first ball thrown to him. Woodson threw the ball deep along the sideline. Nicks was unable to get any seperation on the play, and then as Nicks turned for the ball, he mistimed his jump and was unable to hold onto the pass. While it was not an easy play, Nicks's timing was definitely off. Nicks did manage to make a nice play in the fourth quarter on a slant from Rhett Bomar. Nicks showed his concentration by being able to bring in a catch that he juggled at first.

After Carolina's first drive of the third quarter, the defense looked good again (at least until Carolina's scoring drive at the end of the fourth quarter). Wright made a good open field tackle on Goodson. Gerris Wilkinson made a great play on a blitz to get to the quarterback and got his hands up to the deflect the pass, the only negative on the play is that he was unable to make the catch. Clint Sintim looked awesome, getting to the quarterback twice. Sintim managed to force a bad pass (even when he was held twice) and was able to force a fumble that the Giants were able to recover. Sintim looks like he will be a solid contributor to the Giants this year. Second year player Jonathan Goff also made a nice play and was able to deflect a pass down at the line.

One not so great play made by the Giants, was on a bad pass by Hunter Cantwell, the Carolina third-string quarterback. Sha'reff Rashad dropped an easy interception that Cantwell threw right at him.

The defense did look bad again when in prevent defense, they gave up a touchdown and 2 point conversion. The Giants failed to get pressure, the secondary missed tackles, and the secondary blew coverage assignments. However, the defense stepped up again on Carolina's last drive, where Leger Douzable managed to knock the ball from Hunter Cantwell's hand, and Tommy Hill was able to catch the fumble and return it for a touchdown.

Overall it was a good game by the Giants. However, I thought the Giants were too conservative on offense when Woodson and Bomar in. The Giants leaned heavily on their running game, making their offense predictable and easily defended. I also think that both Woodson and Bomar need to get their reps and the young

Publish Post

receivers need to be given the chance to show how they are progressing. I think this is especially important considering the Giants need all the evidence they can get, in order to decide which 5-6 wide receivers they are going to keep.

I plan on posting about Eli Manning's contract in a later post.

Giants --Training Camp Notes

2009-08-17T15:06:00.020-04:00

On Wednesday August 12, I got to make my first trip ever to training camp. However, because the Giants were not running full contact practice and there was no tackling, it was hard to really evaluate the defense and the running game. So in making my observations, I mainly focused on the quarterbacks and receivers. Overall, I believe the defense looked better in the live drills, but there were several great plays made by the offense.

The Quarterbacks
In my opinion, Andre Woodson did not look very good. Many of Woodson's passes were off target, including one where he threw the ball with very little velocity right into the hands of a linebacker, who jumped up and easily intercepted the ball. It was a great play for the defense who read Woodson perfectly, but was a very poor decision by Woodson.

Both Eli Manning and David Carr looked very solid. Most of their throws were on target, although there were a few that were deflected by the defense or dropped by the receivers. Rhett Bomar also looked solid, but not particularly memorable.

The Receivers
One of the best catches of the day was made by Ramses Barden. Barden looked very good during the throw and catch drills, catching everything that came his way. He continued his solid play during the live combined offensive and defensive practice. Barden's best play was on a deep ball thrown by Manning. While Barden did not outrun his defender, Manning threw the ball up high and towards the sideline, and Barden turned on the ball perfectly, jumped up to go get the ball and reached over the cornerback's head to make a great catch. The whole crowd gathered at the practice went wild. It was a great looking play. If Barden can make plays like that, I definitely could see him making a strong contribution to the Giants this year.

The next best play of the day was made by Mario Manningham. Manningham made his defender, I believe it was Travonti Johnson (although I could be wrong), look really bad when he made a juke move to the inside and made the defender bite on an inside route. Manningham then sprinted down the sideline for a wide open catch and touchdown. On this play, Manningham showed a glimpse of what a dynamic player he can be.

David Tyree also stood out during the Wednesday morning practice. Tyree made several catches across the middle and ran a few nice comeback routes. He was probably one of the most active receivers of the day. Tyree looked really good at making catches in traffic and looks to have regained his form. Derek Hagan also made a very good catch beating his defender, Terrell Thomas, by sprinting along the sidelines and then running a comeback route, fooling Thomas and making the catch for a large gain.

From everything I have read about the performances of Manningham, Barden and even Tyree during the practice sessions, they have been looking great. My observations of them at this practice supports these reports. I am sure the performances of these receivers this will make Coach Tom Coughlin's decision over which receivers to keep, very difficult. With Smith, Domenik Hixon, Manningham, Barden, Tyree, Hakeem Nicks and maybe even Derek Hagan. Nicks will definitely have a spot on the roster even if he doesn't get much playing time.

All of these developing receivers mean the Giants have significant depth and this will definitely lead to some difficult decisions for Coughlin and his coaching staff. While the Giants do not have a clear #1 or #2 receiver, I think the Giants have several guys who could fill that role. And when you have so many players that could step up into those roles, the odds are that one or more of them will come through. I am incredibly optimistic about the Giants' wide receiver core this year.

On another note, Taye Biddle and Shaun Bodiford were not looking very good in practice. Both of them dropped several balls during both the throw and catch drills and during the live action drills. This is not a good sign for guys who are long shots to make the team.

Plans to Post
I plan to post an entry about Manning's contract and about tonight's pre-season game. But things are definitely looking good for the Giants. We will see tonight if that holds true. This has to be the most excited I have ever been about a pre-season game. I am really looking forward to watching both the first team and the backups play and see how they perform. I will definitely be focusing on the cornerback and wide receiver positions.

(as an aside - Kudos to Manning, Chris Snee, Taye Biddle, Osi Umeniyora, William Beatty, Steve Smith, Michael Matthews, Travis Beckum, among others for stopping to sign several autographs for the many eager fans. (Thanks to Manning, Snee, and Beatty for giving me their autographs)).

EAGLES- The Vick Situation

2009-08-17T09:58:00.009-04:00

Posted by Alli

Well, it's been a longass time hasn't it? But I think the jaw-droppingly humongous news that the Eagles signed Michael Vick fresh out of his stay in Leavenworth Prison is reason enough to blog. Now that I've had a few days to reflect on the past and on the events of the last few days, I've formed a more decisive opinion on the issue.

Michael Vick's actions were flat-out despicable. It literally brings tears to my eyes to think about the things he and his dogfighting cohorts did to those poor animals. While I wouldn't put him up there with the likes of child molesters and rapists, I have a unique sympathy for animals and an accompanying disgust for people who mistreat them. Dogs are completely dependent, to the point of unconditional loyalty, on the people who take care of them; they have no defenses or alternative options if those same caretakers abuse them. I have no respect for someone who beats his wife, but at least she is physically capable of leaving the situation. Thus, any person who mercilessly beats, tortures or murders a defenseless animal is a special kind of disgusting.

Vick served 18 months of a 2 year sentence in Leavenworth for those actions. We can sit here all day and debate the finepoints of the judicial system in this country, but for all intents and purposes Michael Vick has satisfied his punishment for crimes committed in the eyes of the law. It remains to be seen whether he has been rehabilitated, and we may never know whether he is truly sorry beyond mere regret for the death of his career. Nevertheless, given precedent in the NFL to allow other felonious athletes to be reinstated after serving their punishment, my personal repulsion at his crimes does not justify his situation being treated any differently.

Maybe it's just the underlying defense attorney in me, but I believe that once you've paid your debts and served your time, you shouldn't be continually punished by the rest of the universe. Either keep them in jail or let them be truly released from punishment. "But," you might argue, "my job wouldn't hire me back if I committed a violent felony, so why should his?" I understand this argument, as the state bars to whom I must report would certainly not be so forgiving of its lawyers. However, being a professional football player is not a job that inherently requires honesty and morality as does the practice of law or medicine. Whether or not you believe these well-paid athletes should be better role models, their job description is essentially to show up and play ball. Vick is not the first nor the last in an absurdly long line of wifebeaters, sexual deviants, drug abusers, animal abusers, drunk drivers, and general douchebags that play professional sports in this country. As shocking as his crimes were, even more shocking to me has been the uniquely harsh reaction that his return has received compared to these other criminals.

I never in a million years expected Philadelphia to be the city in which Vick would land. However, football is a business like any other, and Andy Reid and Joe Banner are businessmen trying to improve their product. From a football perspective, this may prove to be genius or it may blow up in their faces, but irregardless it is their job to try to craft that football product in whatever way they can. I'm highly disturbed that many fans are treating the Eagles front office as if they themselves were in Virginia partaking in these crimes. Vick may be a horrible person, but he was absolutely going to be signed by some team- it's not like the Eagles plucked him off the streets to give him a second chance that he wouldn't have otherwise had. 99% of the Eagles detractors hadn't said a word about his reinstatement until he came here, which seems a tad hypocritical. I'm hardly saying these former-fans should run out and get #7 jerseys, but it seems rather extreme to abandon a team that they've been following for decades over what essentially boils down to a personnel decision.

I suspect that if Vick pans out on the football field, the complaints will die down- we're Eagles fans for god's sake, we're as faithful as they come. My initial reluctance over this signing was that he can't possibly be worth the $1.6 million pricetag (and the PR nightmare that this decision has proven to be). But frankly, my skepticism is slowly fading as I deliriously think of all of the offensive weapons that will adorn the field this season. Anytime Vick is on the field, he'll be a threat in some way, shape or form, and even used as a decoy that constant looming threat has to at least have some advantage. I'll put my concerns aside and let his performance speak for itself in the coming weeks. After all, the legal system has concluded its judgment, so why shouldn't we?

EAGLES - Fine Like Wine, Baby

2009-01-15T18:20:00.006-05:00

Posted by Alli

"Fine like wine, baby." McNabb is apparently feeling increasingly confident as the Birds plow further into the playoffs, jokingly referring to his improved play as he gets older during a press conference. Oh that Donny Mac, always the media darling, lover of all things Philly.

Just 3 days now til the Eagles' glorious return to the NFC Championship, and to be honest, I've seen a few too many "experts" predicting a Cardinals victory. It's not that I'm overly confident that this is an easy-win, but if I had any inkling a few weeks ago that the Eagles would not only be playing for a slot in the Super Bowl, but that it'd be against.... the Arizona Cardinals!... I'd be feeling pretty good. So while I don't want to take this game lightly, as I'm sure the team isn't, I know that it's one these guys are more than capable of winning, and winning soundly. Anything can happen of course, but I just can't quite figure out why so many people seem to be laying their money on the red-birds.

No matter. The Eagles have now played 1 playoff game as the favorite and 1 as the underdog, so they can handle it either way. It looks like Anquan Boldin will be playing on Sunday, though I suspect that he won't be close to 100%. Nevertheless, like Westbrook for the Eagles, if he's out on the field he'll command some attention. Without Boldin, Jim Johnson would certainly put double coverage on Larry Fitzgerald, especially after watching the gashing he put on the Carolina secondary last week. However, even with a banged-up Boldin out there, I think it's still worth putting an extra man on Fitzgerald. A WR with a bad hammy is just not going to be running his routes and dodging defenders as effectively, and the Birds' D-backs are very good from top to bottom, so I trust that Boldin will not be free to rip them for any huge plays. Interesting note: the last WR to score a TD against the Eagles was Fitzgerald back in week 13.

Here are some keys to watch for, that I think will be crucial in determining the outcome of this game:

Minimize offensive mistakes: I think this goes without saying every week, but as long as the Eagles can keep the TOs to under 2, they should win this game. 2-even? Maybe still OK, but let's not take any chances. The offense should be able to have their best game of the playoffs against a better-but-still-mediocre Cardinal D, and so as long as they don't make any (many?) huge mistakes they shouldn't have a problem scoring the points necessary to trump Arizona- which may need to be 20 or more, as this Cardinals O is going to find the end zone at least twice themselves. The Eagles offense has been slow to get going the past 2 weeks, but unlike in the regular season, McNabb has been able to get past rickety starts to eventually get into a rhythm. That last drive in the 1st half of the Giants game, and the 3rd and 20 drive in the 2nd half, and the 2nd TD drive, were sheer beauties, vintage McNabb style. Not to take away from the Cards' improved defensive play last week, but Delhomme literally threw as many balls to Cardinals players as he did to his top receiver in that game, so I can really only credit so much of that to the D. Anyway, point being: McNabb needs to take care of the ball and keep errant throws at a minimum... no need to give their defense any help, or give Warner and co. a head start down the field.
Pressure Warner: This is obviously on the list of musts of any semi-competent analyst, writer, blogger or fan, but it still needs to be reiterated. Kurt Warner with lots of time in the pocket is lethal. Kurt Warner with persistant pressure on him is a turnover timebomb; the guy is about as mobile as a quadriplegic, so if he's got someone chasing him, he's goin' down and he's goin down fast, often squirting the ball loose in the process. Even if he protects the football, his accuracy plummets significantly when he has to hurry his throws. If there is any anecdote to the force that is the Cardinals passing game, this is it. But, easier said than done of course. The Birds have a good pass rush, but it has been pretty dormant in the sack department so far in the playoffs. However, even though they were never actually credited with a sack in the Giants game, there was heavy pressure on Eli before both of his picks. This is what they need to do again, against an o-line that isn't as big or strong as the Giants' was. I smell at least 1 Asante Samuel INT.
Red Zone efficiency: As their Achilles heel the last 2 seasons, the Eagles seem to hit a brick wall when they get to the 20. FGs were OK against the Giants because that was more of a defensive battle, but it's going to take TDs to beat the Cardinals. This was not a problem last meeting between the two when the Green-Birds scored 6 of 'em; they (hopefully!) won't need that many in this game, but I think at least 3 trips into the endzone will help ensure victory. If they get inside the 20 (which they need to, often) and especially if DeSean Jackson giftwraps them a trip or 2 there on a return, they've gotta capitalize. I don't want to see Akers until the extra point.

These keys are no short order, but they're things that this team is clearly capable of doing. For the first time in the playoffs, I'm no longer really that concerned about the run-pass ratio- whatever works on Sunday is fine with me. Injured or not, I think B-West has a big day and I think Andy & Marty find success with the screen pass again. The offense needs to get rolling more quickly than the last 2 games - once they do they're unstoppable, but they'll need to put up more against the best offense they've seen in the postseason - so early and often please, boys.

All week we've been blitzed with stats and records and facts and numbers, reasons why teams in Philly's situation can and can't win: the Cardinals are the lowest seed to ever host a conference championship, the Eagles were 4-5-1 on the road this regular season, teams that knock off the reigning Super Bowl champs are 0-11 the following week... aside from wondering who really has time to figure this crap out, I just don't care about any of that. At the end of the day, the Eagles have just beaten 2 teams on the road and they can do it again, period.

Wish I could be in Glendale on Sunday, but I suspect that the Eagles will make me proud again. I'm trying to block the first 3 McNabb era NFC championships out of my head- McNabb has matured since then, and I believe he's become calmer, wiser, more introspective... no longer feeling the need to carry the fate of the entire team on his shoulders. Fine like wine, baby.

EAGLES - Back to the NFC Championship!

2009-01-13T11:48:00.003-05:00

Posted by Alli

Wow. Seriously, wow... can we all just take a moment to appreciate what has unfolded for the Eagles in the last 3 weeks? The sheer unbelievableness of the path they took to make their 5th trip to the NFC championship game in the last 8 years is, well... unbelievable. While you'd think the luster of this game would be lost after having been there so many times, there is something special this time around. Where in previous years, a trip to the NFC championship was nothing short of expected, this season finished with an against-all-odds, Rocky Balboa flight into the playoffs, where I don't take a single game for granted.

Don't get me wrong... this team is good. They were good going into week 17, when they needed a handful of miracles and an act of god to make the playoffs, because you just knew that if they could somehow get into the postseason, they'd make some noise. It's saying a lot when a 6-seed is a favorite on the road in the conference championship game. This team is not the '07 Giants, because they've already earned respect despite their Wild Card status, and because they've already beaten 2 of the last 3 teams remaining in the playoffs, and because they've essentially been playing for their playoff lives since week 13... and of course, they're not the '07 Giants because the vast majority of those guys will be watching the remainder of this year's playoffs from their couches.

It's so interesting now that the Eagles will face the Arizona Cardinals as the last roadblock between them and the Super Bowl, in a rematch of that Thanksgiving night thrashing when the Birds pummeled the other birds 48-20. The very game that righted the sinking ship that was the then-5-5-1, nearly playoff-eliminated cesspool of a team that had just tied the Bengals and got beat up by the Ravens. A fitting rematch, no? Make no mistake about it though, the Eagles are not taking this squad lightly, as the Cards seem to have no found new life since they entered the postseason.

Nevertheless, I think Arizona will find that this team aint no Falcons and they aint no Panthers. Frankly, that brutality that took place in Carolina a few days ago showed me more of how bad the Panthers were rather than totally convinced me of how good the Cardinals are. The Cards' newly-improved D will have its toughest test of the playoffs against McNabb, Westbrook & co., and their hot passing game will have to find a way to get past Asante, Dawk, Sheldon & Mikell, no easy task. I think it'll be a tough, much closer game than last time, but I think that it's one that the Eagles can and should win. I'm not discounting how hot Arizona is right now, but we're even hotter. This defense is playing lights-out, and honestly, I think the Cards' D will be a bit of a breather for the Eagles O after facing the Vikes and G-men the last 2 weeks.

Word on the street is that Eagles fans are flying out to Glendale in droves, so hopefully we can look forward to hearing some E-A-G-L-E-S chants on TV this Sunday. I'm hardly counting this game as a cakewalk, but I'm optimistic that Philly has a very good shot at making it back to the Super Bowl. The playoff experience on this team is aplenty, and I think if they can make it to Tampa (same place the Phils started their World Series thumping... just sayin..) they can make something happen there.

Later in the week, I'll take a look back at what went right in the Giants game, and more importantly, look ahead to some factors to watch for in the upcoming game at Arizona. Fly Eagles fly!!

EAGLES - ...and on to the Giants

2009-01-05T13:43:00.008-05:00

Posted by Alli

Well, it looks like I'm the only one posting lately, but then again the Eagles have merited a lot of conversation of late (Unlike, say, the Cowboys? Scratch that, they've merited plenty of attention, just not the kind that Taz is eager to post about). Yesterday in Minnesota, Andy Reid won his 7th straight opening playoff game as the Eagles knocked off the Vikings 26-14. To be honest though, the game wasn't nearly as stress-free as the score might suggest, as the Eagles clung to a miniscule 2 point lead until the last 6 minutes of the game. And the Birds failed to capitalize on a few of the bullet-points that I predicted they would need to do in order to win. Nevertheless, McNabb remained cool and in control throughout the game and made some key passes and 3rd down conversions to keep the Vikings defense on the field and control the time of possession. And in the playoffs, a win is a win is a win, so bring on the G-men!

If Philly plays the way they did in the first half yesterday, they lose to the Giants, in my opinion. It wasn't terrible, but the offense got off to a slow start, settling for field goals for their first 9 points. The surprising thing was that the offense, which has had a tendency to snowball early mistakes into later catastrophes, continued to persevere, and eventually began to pick apart a stingy Vikings D in the 2nd half. They now need to build on that strong second half if they want to take down the Giants at the Meadowlands next Sunday.

Here are a few things that will be key to continuing their playoff run, and how they did on each in yesterday's game:

Stick with the run... at least a little: I give Andy credit here, because the run game went pretty much nowhere all day yesterday, but he continued to stick with it, if for no other reason than to keep the Vikes' D honest and to run down some clock time. That's really all I ask for against the best run D in the league. I would have liked to see Buckhalter used more, especially considering he had the only effective run all day, for 27 yards. They NEED to run the ball against the G-men if they want to stay in the game and keep the offense on the field. In their week 14 victory over the Giants, the Eagles had more runs than pass plays, and Westbrook carried 33 times for 131 yards. The issue now is that Westbrook appears to be very banged up, and struggled yesterday until the huge screen play TD in the 4th. This is where Buck must come in: he NEEDS to get some carries on Sunday, especially with an ailing Westbrook. In case Andy hasn't noticed, Buckhalter has been extremely effective when he has the ball, and is among the league leaders in yards per touch. He also had a great block on that B-West TD, but let's see if he can be the one getting some screen passes this week.
Protect McNabb: This goes without saying every week, but the O-line finished the season strong and had the best sack-to-pass attempt ratio in franchise history. Unfortunately, the line was a little off its game yesterday, allowing 3 sacks and a lot more pressure on McNabb than I would have liked to see. Granted, blocking Jared Allen is no easy task, but neither is the Giants pass rush, so this is hugely crucial in the coming week. The last thing we want to see is McNabb on the ground a lot, or having defenders in his face on every other play. Hopefully the O-line can step it up this week- containing Justin Tuck is a must.
Keep Celek involved in the offense: Brent Celek has done a superb job filling in for the injured L.J. Smith (I'm one of the many fans who has no problem seeing L.J. remain sidelined) and the Eagles O is a lot more effective when McNabb can spread the ball around to a lot of receivers, especially the tight ends. Celek had 6 catches for 56 yards yesterday (Matt Schobel had another for 7) and this was huge in helping the Birds extend their offensive drives. In the 3 consecutive weeks against all 3 NFC East foes (weeks 13-15) in November and December, the Giants allowed a total of 22 catches by tight ends. This is a weakness that the Eagles must exploit this week on offense.
Stop the run: The Giants have the best running game in the league, so Adrian Peterson was just a warm-up for the 3-headed monster of Jacobs, Ward and Bradshaw that the Birds will face on Sunday. The run D actually did a phenomenal job on Peterson on 19 of his 20 carries, in which he only ran for 43 yards or just over 2 yards/carry. Unfortunately, on that other rush he gained 40 yards and a touchdown, galloping nearly untouched (except by the ref) to the endzone. The D MUST shut down the run, or at least slow it down, if they want to get off the field and keep the Giants from the endzone. This means no 7 or 8 yard runs on 1st down, as was too often the case in both Redskins games, and in the first Giants game when Jacobs averaged nearly 6 yards/carry. Fortunately, without Plaxico, teams have learned that they can take the Giants passing game a bit less seriously and stack the box if necessary. If the Giants win, it will be on the shoulders of the RBs, not Eli, so the focus must be on plugging their run game.

This isn't rocket science, obviously, it's the same stuff we've been looking to see for the past month and a half. The Giants game will be no easy feat, and to be perfectly honest, if the Eagles show up and play a tough, hard-fought game (i.e. not the Skins performance) but ultimately lose by a field goal or so, I would consider this season pretty damn successful. Not that I'm OK with a loss, and I think they are more than capable of advancing to the NFC championship and beyond, but I still can't help but be a little in awe of the fact that they've gotten as far as they have, given the inconsistency and disappointing performances that were sprinkled throughout the season. Still, let's see if they can silence the rowdy Meadowlands crowd this weekend and terminate the postseason for the defending champs, and make a return to the NFC championship that used to be so familiar to us Eagles fans.

Finally... here's a little bit of Chris Clemons' latest awesomeness for your viewing enjoyment. Glad to see the offseason acquisitions of him and Asante Samuel are paying off nicely.

EAGLES - PLAYOFFS!!!

2008-12-29T11:56:00.002-05:00

Posted by Alli

Would it be an overstatement to call yesterday the happiest day of my life? OK, perhaps a slight exaggeration, but it was one of the most unbelievable and most amazing days in recent Eagles history. Sure, they've clinched many a playoff berth... but never in such dramatic and such unlikely fashion. The fact is that there is not an Eagles fan out there who was conceivably optimistic about the possibility of a post-season appearance going into yesterday's games.

And yet... miracles can happen.

The Raiders travelled cross-country to pull off an insane upset over tanking Tampa Bay. The RAIDERS... you've got to really take a moment to appreciate the odds of that one. And then, the Eagles caught another break when Houston held on to defeat Chicago. And suddenly, impossible as it seemed a few hours before, the Eagles were back in control of their playoff hopes. AGAIN. Anyone remember that brief period last week when the Bucs lost to San Diego and the Eagles just had to win their last 2? And instead of capitalizing on that, they put up an embarassing 3-point performance against the struggling Redskins... that was nothing short of horrendous. I wasn't even planning to watch much football this week, as the disgusting taste of last week's loss was still festering in my mouth. And then, out of the blue, the stars aligned...

Fortunately, the Birds got the message this time, and quickly started piling it onto Dallas and never looked back. The only thing sweeter than getting massive help to enable a playoff bid was securing it with a monstrous victory over the despised Dallas Cowboys, sending them home to Texas to watch the playoffs from their living rooms. And forcing T.O.'s season to a halt in the City of Brotherly Love, a city that has nothing but brotherly hatred towards Mr. Owens.

The question now is, how will they build on this? How far can they go? The stars and skies seemed to be in Philly's favor yesterday- will this continue? And as someone pointed out: the World Series in Tampa, the Super Bowl in Tampa... the sky's the limit now with a clean, Bengals-tie-less slate in the playoffs. I believe they're as good a team as any in the playoffs this year. But will they play like it?

EAGLES - Post-Cleveland, hopes still alive

2008-12-16T00:52:00.005-05:00

Posted by Alli

Well, at least the Eagles did what they needed to do this week to keep their playoff hopes alive, even if the teams ahead of them didn't. I was hoping that the Falcons would lose quickly so that Philly could grasp control of its own destiny, but the Bucs seemed intent on shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly late in the game yesterday, and allowing the Falcons to eek one out in OT. No matter... now we just need either the Falcons OR the Bucs to lose one of their last 2, which seems doable, especially given Tampa's unimpressive play yesterday without Garcia. Atlanta has the Vikings and Tampa has the Chargers next week, so fingers crossed that they both suck. Update: Apparently one of Minnesota's 2 unrelated DTs named Williams will be out 2-6 weeks with a shoulder injury. If the league drug policy couldn't stop him, apparently his own shoulder will.

Tonight's game was a pleasant surprise in that the Eagles took care of business early and kept my blood pressure rather low, despite what was nearly a horrid dose of deja vu from last week when Brandon McDonald returned a McNabb interception 98 yards to the Eagles' 7 as time ran out in the first half. I have to credit Westbrook's hustle in chasing McDonald down to slow him up before he got to the end zone, but seriously guys... stop giving me a damn coronary at the close of every 1st half! It's worth noting that the Eagles saw 3 different passers throw an interception in that game, but fortunately I'm not overly concerned with 2 of them. Overall though I was very impressed with McNabb- I know Cleveland's D is god-awful, but McNabb threw with unusual accuracy and spread the ball around, and he has been looking better each week since the Baltimore fiasco. Kevin Kolb on the other hand.... not so much. Future of the team, my ass.

A few other guys who merit a quick mention... thank you Asante Samuel for following your dumbass ball-flip a yard shy of the endzone with some quick hustle to pick it up and solidify your TD. Glad to see that you're marginally less stupid than DeSean Jackson circa week 2.

Stewart Bradley finally became the first Eagles LB this season to get a pick. Sure, Ken Dorsey essentially threw the ball right at him, but I'll take 'em where we can get 'em. The linebackers have been doing a good job elsewhere so the lack of interceptions isn't really an issue. Bradley is also super foxy, but that's neither here nor there.

And back to DeSean Jackson... please stop running backwards on your punt returns. I know this probably worked against mediocre Pac-10 teams, but it's obviously not doing anything for you in the NFL. You're a great player, but I have to imagine that sometime during your time at Berkeley you gained a brain cell or 2, so feel free to show that off anytime now.

Around the NFC East...

Is anyone buying this sudden T.O./Romo/Witten BFF bullshit? 'Cause I'm sure as heck not. T.O. is still a giant bag of douche, and I have no doubt that he's got one more tantrum left in his arsenal before the season is over. Probably after the Cowboys lose to the Ravens next week. In fairness though, I would like to see both the Eagles and Cowboys win next week so that they go into Dallas for a ginormous week 17 showdown. Then T.O. can throw a tantrum.

I recently heard some mild speculation that Eli Manning could take the 3rd QB spot in the NFC for this year's Pro Bowl. I realize this is still early and hopefully inaccurate, but I still nearly pissed myself at the thought. I know that when a team does well they tend to send a lot of players to Hawaii (e.g. the Eagles in 04-05), but I'm not sure that I'm prepared to live in a world in which Eli is both a Super Bowl MVP and a Pro Bowler. Especially when there are about 5 QB's in the NFC with better numbers.

And then there are the Redskins... remember not all that long ago when I said they were the new team to beat in the NFC? Yikes. This team is falling apart faster than TO after a trip to the pharmacist. OK, nothing short of the speed of light is that fast, but you get the idea... they've lost 5 of their last 6. Nevertheless, they could very well still play spoiler to the Eagles' playoff dreams next week, so that game is hardly in the bag.

Let's hope that the Eagles can make this the 3rd straight year that they finish the last 3 weeks of the regular season undefeated... and then get a smidge of help from the NFC South.

EAGLES - Just Sayin...

2008-12-08T02:16:00.002-05:00

Posted by Alli

...the Eagles are 6-0 in weeks 15 through 17 the past 2 seasons.

Sometimes it's too little too late, sometimes it's the December explosion they need to launch into the playoffs. But if the Eagles can continue that late December trend and win out, they're in the playoffs. They control their own destiny against every team but Atlanta, and no way the Falcons win out with Tampa and Minnesota on the horizon.

2 weeks ago I'd have gasped, Jim Mora-style, at the mention of playoffs. I actually had to drag myself to the Thanksgiving game against the Cardinals, figuring it was nearly pointless (and cold weather usually trumps pointless in my book). Yet suddenly they get over an enormous (Giant?) hurdle today and that spark of hope returns. Is the unspeakable suddenly... able to be spoken?

Now, let me quickly add that I may very well be eating my words next week, as it would hardly surprise me if the Eagles followed up 2 huge wins against worthy division leaders with an embarassing performance against another dismal Ohio team. But breaking it down week-by-week, the playoffs (and a respectable 10-5-1 record) are within reach.

Next week's game against the Browns, on Monday Night Football, is a must-win obviously. Yes, we know that the Birds tend to crap the bed on primetime, but if they can't beat the Browns, they don't deserve to be in the hunt in the first place (sure, the same could be said for the Bengals tie, but why rehash old news now when it goes against my point?) So let's just assume for a moment that they win next Monday, putting them at 8-5-1. The Redskins, frankly, are getting shittier by the minute, but even if they win next week they're still sitting a half-game behind the Eagles. The Cowboys are only occasionally competent and will probably lose to a now-pissed-off Giants team, nestling them a half-game behind them as well. The Falcons have Tampa, a very tough divisional matchup, and if they lose, all of a sudden.... wait for it, wait for it... the Eagles are sitting in the number 2 wild card spot- just like that!

Even if the Falcons win, the Eagles are only a smidge behind them- however this would bring up the crushing memory of our head-to-head win over Atlanta (in the event of a tiebreaker) that will never happen thanks to our ugly third-wheel digit in the tie column. Nevertheless, I just don't see talented-but-still-learning Matt Ryan knocking off vets Jeff Garcia and Gus Frerotte in consecutive weeks. Point being, the Falcons don't win out. And at the risk of sounding overly confident, I don't think our final 2 games against the Skins and Cowboys are as daunting as they seemed a few weeks ago, thanks to their sudden inability to not suck. Not that beating both would be an easy feat by any means, but it's definitely doable. I think the Cowboys might actually end their season in a cloud of choke before they even travel to Philly, with 2 huge games against the G-men and Ravens coming up, but it'd be interesting to have a rematch of that week 2 epic where it really means something to both teams.

Anyone remember 2006? Where 5-6 became 10-6, can 5-5-1 now become 10-5-1? They knocked off all 3 divisional opponents, AWAY, in 3 straight weeks in December '06- their remaining task this season is actually an easier one, with 2 of the last 3 games at the Linc.

Not saying it's going to happen, but logically speaking it's a very real possibility. Just sayin...

EAGLES - Forever Underachievers?

2008-11-22T14:45:00.003-05:00

Posted by Alli

Despite my earlier optimism, the 2008 Eagles season is starting to look an awful lot like 2007. We seem to have the pieces, and yet we can't execute. I mean seriously, a tie against the BENGALS??

Last season, the Birds finished in the top 10 in total offense AND defense, yet with an 8-8 record in the cellar of the NFC East. Currently, this season they're ranked 6th in total offense and points scored, 7th in total defense, and yet here they are with a measly 5-4-1 record. The fact that their record now requires a third space is also just plain annoying, although to be fair they would have been near the bottom of the heap of 6-4 teams in tiebreakers anyway so the tie isn't quite as damaging as one would think. It's really more the cold, hard truth that a team that can't beat the Bengals surely shouldn't deserve to be in playoff contention down the stretch.

The only minor relief was that the Birds' failure to win this one really had little to do with their ineptitude in short-yardage situations. After single-handedly losing the Bears game on goal-line incompetence, and having failed 3rd and 1's heavily contribute to the losses against the Redskins and the Giants, it was at least refreshing to find a new area of patheticness in that last debacle. One has to wonder how bad this season is really going when Donovan McNabb, the man who literally owns the best interception-to-pass-attempt ratio in NFL history, throws 3 picks against the Bengals defense. At least now the Philly fans have no qualms about loudly vocalizing their desire to ship McNabb on the next train out of town- unless of course Kevin Kolb ends up starting his career in a similar fashion to AJ Feeley's 2007 Seahawks performance, reminding us fans that maybe McNabb wasn't so bad after all.

Anyway, regardless of the reasons, the overall fact remains that the Eagles cannot (and continually have not) won the close games. Their 4 losses have all been by less than 1 possession, and a total of 19 points (or less than 5 points a game), while their 5 wins have been by an average margin of 18 points. They are a lousy 1-10-1 in their last 12 games decided by 6 points or less (the sole win coming in that December game against Dallas last year, when the Eagles' season was already over anyway), which perhaps says it all about this team. A team that wins 1 of its last 12 close games can never be a contender for anything other than a high draft pick. So just like last season, where 6 of their 8 losses were lost by a TD or less, this team continues to lose games in the final minutes.

And isn't that the most frustrating way to lose? To know that your team was capable of winning and then failing to do so, time after time after time? How many times do we have to shake off the inclination to say "but we should have won", knowing that "should" doesn't mean jack in this game. If you can't finish games, you're really just in the same boat as the Lions or the Raiders or... yikes... the Bengals.

Giants - Will the Giants finally get respect?

2008-10-26T20:09:00.004-04:00

First, I must apologize for not posting in a while, it has been busy with my new job but that is not a good excuse, and in fact is the kind of an excuse a Cowboys fan would give, so again I apologize.

Now to the substance ...
Coming in to this week, if you went on to any of the Espn boards or anywhere else, the Giants were continually being called "overrated", particularly by Cowboys fans, Eagles fans, and Steelers fans, among others. These naysayers predicted that the Steelers would stomp us out. Just look at Espn.com, where the 5 out of the 8 "experts" picked the Steelers (and I could swear Mortensen originally picked the Steelers), and where three Sunday Countdown personnel picked the Steelers (3 picked the Giants, but one included Mortensen who was double counted). But most importantly 60% of US picked the Steelers in Sportsnation.

And if you look at some of the fans comments in Espn's Rapid reaction, there are Steelers and Cowboys fans trying to blame this on injuries and bad calls. First, injuries are part of the game and if you cannot overcome them, then that is part of your weakness. More than any other sport, depth is key to winning a championship in football. And depth is exactly the reason why I believe in the Giants so much this season. At Running back, we have three very good backs in Jacobs, Ward, and Bradshaw, at Wide Receiver, we have very solid starting 3, Burress (our star), Toomer (a great route runner and master at the sideline catch), and Smith (master of the slot route), but then our depth provides even more support with Domenik Hixon, Mario Manningham, and Sinorice Moss, all of whom I have liked when I have seen them play. And this is just a few positions. I would say the only positions where we really lack depth are linebacker and cornerback.

Also, many Steelers fans most often cited the injury to their long snapper, which led to James Harrison throwing the ball over the punter's head and leading to a Giants safety. Keep in mind Steelers fans, Cowboys fans, and other Giants haters, we were about to get the ball back anyway, and just as we drove the field after the free kick we probably would have done so anyway even if the Steelers got the punt away.

And to those who would cite bad officiating or miss calls, I have many responses.

First of all, as my wrestling coach once told me, if you leave your fate in the hands of the officials, you will lose. If you want to win you must take control of the match (game) and make sure there is no doubt.

Second, I did not see one missed call against the Giants, but I will admit I am biased.

Third, I did however, see plenty of bad calls or missed calls that went against the Giants. First, in my opinion Jacobs crossed the plane on 4th down at the goaline (though I understand it was questionable and hard to overturn on replay). Second, I saw a play where on a long third down, Steve Smith just missed catching a ball, but during his route the cornerback blatantly grabbed his jersey and a defensive holding should have been called, yet there was no call. Third, on one of our many field goals inside the redzone, Burress's jersey was also held on a second down throw, in a throw that was just past his reach. Again that should have been defensive holding and an automatic first down.

But fourth and most importantly, the Giants dominated the Steelers offensive line. Yes the Steelers ran for a total of 95 yards (though 32 of that came on one play), which is a respectable 4.52 yards a carry, but if you take away the one touchdown play by Moore (which you cannot completely discount but helps show how we did for most of the game), then the Steelers only managed a weak 3.1 yards a carry. We also sacked Roethlisberger 5 times, and most importantly knocked him down about 16-17 times out of 33 dropbacks. That is phenomenal pressure. Oh, and the Giants also had 4 interceptions. Basically with the exception of two bad plays (which again you cannot ignore) we shut them down.

On offense, we did not do that well against their superb defense. We only ran for 84 yards and passed for 199 yards (though that was the most against the Steelers all season). However, even though the Steelers did a remarkable job of stopping us in the redzone, we easily could have scored 4 touchdowns given how many times we marched down the field and got into the redzone in the first place, or had our defense and special teams get us there.

With the exception of the Browns game, the Giants look to be a very good football team. And even though we lost to Cleveland, every team loses a game, with the exception of the 18-1 Patriots who remarkably did not manage to lose a game during the regular season (which was only the second time ever, and then they lost the most important game anyway). So even great teams lose to teams they are better then (I remember the undefeated Broncos lose to a much inferior Giants team a few years ago). So for all you Giants haters, you cannot say the Giants are not a good team because they lost to the Browns and now you have no claim that we have not beaten any good teams.

Now in the eyes of many, the Giants cannot really win next week. If they lose, Giant haters will say, wow Brad Johnson beat you, just imagine what happens when Romo comes back. If the Giants win, haters (mostly Cowboys fans) will just say, oh well, when they have Romo back the Cowboys will beat the Giants. It is just too hard for some to admit the Giants are a damn good team.

On another note, I just have a little Arm-chair quarterbacking to do. Why oh why will we not run Bradshaw? I love Jacobs and the way he runs over linebackers, cornerbacks, and safeties, but sometimes he is not effective. He does not have alot of vision and it seems whenever there is a man in front of him he just lowers his shoulders and for the most part does not try and make a man miss. I also love Ward, who has much more vision and the ability to make man miss but while he is faster then Jacobs he does not have electric speed. Bradshaw, on the other hand has explosive speed, good vision, and the ability to make people miss.

For some teams the big back will work better (particularly teams with faster, but smaller linebackers), but against the Steelers who are big and pretty good speed, it is going to be hard to run over them, and so a back like Bradshaw might be more effective. They should have tried to put Bradshaw in a few plays to see if he could do anything especially after Jacobs wore teams out a little (this is the reason Jacobs should always start because he pounds defenses), but we need to put in Bradshaw more.

But it is hard to question Coughlin, Spagnuolo (especially him), and Gilbride as they have the Giants 6-1.

Now to switch gears.

I have to ask, what are the Cowboys doing????

You add Roy Williams, one of the biggest me-first, whining, prima-donna wide receivers to a team that already has one of the other big me-first, whining, prima-donna wide receivers in Terrell Owens. They do this after already having made a failed gamble on perennial trouble maker, Pacman Jones. Basically they now have two wide receivers who complain they never get the ball enough, how can this possibly work in the long run?

Second, the Cowboys need serious defensive help with Williams, Jones, and others out. Now while they shutdown a moderate offense in Tampa Bay, I just do not see a team who got run over by Stephen Jackson and the Rams as well as the Cardinals the week before, being able to stop strong offensive teams. I cannot see them beating the Giants, Redskins, or even the Bears or Eagles for that matter. They should have traded for some secondary help.

Third, they gave up three draft picks to make this move, including a first round pick. See what happens Detroit when you get rid of Matt Millen? You make the first move on your long way to recovering as a team.

As a Giants fan, I love this move, especially considering what they had to give up (1 1st round pick along with two other picks). I just hope that we run them over last night and take them out of contention in the NFC East.

But hopefully the Giants get some respect and that the naysayers and Giants-haters shutup because they lose all their usual Giants hating talking points. Until next week.

The Travis Henry I Remember

2008-10-22T20:48:00.002-04:00

Posted by Geoff

Less than a month ago, Travis Henry was arrested and charged with trafficking cocaine.

I remember watching him play with broken ribs when he was with the Bills. Between possessions, he would come to the sideline and take off his shoulder pads so that the trainer could wrap duct tape around his midsection before he went on the field again. He never complained, never took a day off even when the Bills were out of contention. He would just come to the sideline, add another layer of tape, and head back onto the field. He was incredible between the lines.

It was off the field that Travis Henry struggled. Of course, we never saw it in Buffalo… not the illegitimate children, not the problems with drugs, not the mental anguish. Only the commitment of a man playing through daily pain. Only the talent that kept him in demand in the NFL. Only the athlete we admired from safely outside the lines.

People talk about Travis Henry like he’s a story that has already been told. The fall from greatness: Michael Vick, Marcus Vick, Rae Carruth. The incredible athlete whose talents were overshadowed by off the field problems: O.J. Simpson, Maurice Clarrett, Adam “Pacman” Jones. The troubled star: Jamal Lewis, Ray Lewis… The list goes on, longer than I care to recite. Long enough that it stops being novel. Long enough that it stops being about a person and starts being about a stereotype.

Of course, Travis Henry isn’t a stereotype. He’s a person, just like you or I. A person with friends and a family. And for those four years he was in Buffalo, he was a man among boys between the lines. He was a player’s player. He was a fan’s player. He deserves more than being a punch line to a bad joke, more than being cast aside lightly as another example of a life wasted. His fans deserve more.

But we don’t always get what we deserve. When people look back on Travis Henry, if they look back on Travis Henry, it will probably be more for what ended his career than what composed it. At least for now, I still cling to the Travis Henry I remember, the man between the lines. The player we longed to be like who never knew how much we believed in him. The player I still long to be like. So tonight, as I lie down to sleep, I mentally pull a roll of duct tape around my memories of Travis Henry rushing down the sideline. My spirit aches; I lower my shoulder and hit the pile. I try to remember the Travis Henry I knew, and try to forget the Travis Henry everyone else knows.

Links I find amusing

2008-10-12T10:15:00.004-04:00

Posted by Taz:

One of these days, I'll actually write something about the Cowboys. But until then, here are some more links.

Tony Gonzales can be had for as little as a third. The Giants and Eagles are interested.

ESPN won’t tell us why Kellen Winslow is in the hospital. PFT will. Is this because ESPN is trying to respect Winslow’s privacy, or because ESPN and “investigative journalism” do not go together? And is Winslow’s injury better or worse than Terence Newman's?

For anyone who wants to learn how to run the Wildcat Offense.

Something not NFL: another reminder why the BCS is the hands-down dumbest way of determining who plays for the national championship.

The NFL lets you create your own team highlight film. What I find more amusing than the ability to play executive producer is mocking the cuts because of 1) the inability to write one sentence at a 3rd grade level and 2) content (I see that Brett Farve fans are keeping busy).

In the “how the heck do these people get jobs writing for major publications” category, Dennis Dillon earns his paycheck by telling us that LT needs to do better. Wow Dennis, what amazing insight you are providing to us dumb NFL fans. What next? That the team that scores the most points wins?

I wonder if this was the key concession that enticed Farve to play for the Jets this year.

Brady Quinn tries to stay in the spotlight. Either that, or he is trying to turn his backup quarterback gig into one of those cushy federal jobs in which he can use our tax dollars to buy this girl lingerie and "light refreshments."

Links I Find Amusing

2008-10-06T22:01:00.006-04:00

Posted by Taz

So I'm finally getting settled in from moving and starting work. I'll post in the next few days, but for now I'm going to leave you with some links.

Only the Lions could seriously believe that someone who puts up these stats are worth 1 DeMarcus Ware or 2 first round picks.

Of course, getting Roy Williams for DeMarcus Ware would be much better than trading for this former Bills running back.

While the above statement is true, you probably thought I was talking about him.

Ok fine… here's the article you expected about a former Bills legend at running back getting in trouble with the law.

In case you approved of Brett Favre trying to single-handedly take over ESPN’s football coverage over the course of the last two months, here's some more footage, complete with inspirational music and subtitles.

Then again, results like this remind me that Favre is more than just a male diva.

ESPN has an interesting in-depth look at the sack record prior to 1982.

In the “Captain Obvious writes for the Dallas Morning News” file, Tim Cowlishaw thinks that Tony Romo needs to cut down on mistakes. It’s on par with other such insightful observations as “St. Louis is a bad NFL team” and “the loss of Tom Brady had a major effect on the Patriots.”

EAGLES- In Deep Shit...

2008-10-06T12:01:00.004-04:00

Posted by Alli

UGHHH.

There is really nothing for me to say right now other than to spit out some bitterly incoherent grunts of frustration. Not that I won't still yap on for several paragraphs as I'm prone to do (just ask my roommates). To think how things have taken a turn for the worse since my last post! It's hard to decide where to even begin in discussing/lamenting the last 2 games, particularly this most recent ridiculous pig-slop of a performance versus the Redskins. The offense was terrible; the defense was miserable. The lone gem in an otherwise revoltingly nauseating game was DeSean Jackson's punt return TD in the 1st quarter. I recall my enthusiasm after the Rams game in week 1 that we finally had a legitimate punt return threat, and my apparently-naive optimism in comparing the punt return game in week 1 of the 2007 vs. 2008 seasons. DeSean Jackson may be one hell of a punt returner, but when the rest of the team plays as atrociously as they did yesterday, it's totally wasted effort. Hell, the Eagles could rarely even force a punt in the first place for the last 3 quarters of the game.

I had the misfortune of being at the game yesterday, and the circulating fury towards Andy Reid's playcalling (and his generally being outcoached by rookie head coach Jim Zorn) was astoundingly evident in the crowd throughtout the second half. And no, I don't want to be reminded that the Phillies beat the Brewers to advance to the NLCS. Yes, I like the Phillies. No, their win does absolutely nothing to alleviate the pain and misery of the Eagles' loss yesterday. Too many things about this season are beginning to resemble last year, when you couldn't shake that feeling that they were a better team than their 8-8 record suggested, and yet that doesn't really matter at all when you find yourselves at the bottom of your division. AGAIN. Les Bowen of the Philly Daily News wrote an article today to that effect, highlighting all those unsettling things that are forming lumps in the throats of every Eagles fan, after our team once again starts division play 0-2 in a division we once owned.

Perhaps the most mind-boggling aspect of yesterday's loss was the run defense. I couldn't say enough good things about the league's top run D, even after the Birds' loss to Chicago. How does a team that was only allowing 2.6 yards per carry (against the likes of Marion Barber, Willie Parker and promising young rookie Matt Forte) give up a whopping 203 rushing yards to the 'Skins? Can that front 7 recover from such a devestating blow and rebound next week against Frank Gore and the Niners? Was I premature in buying my brand-new Stewart Bradley jersey? So many important questions now exist about the future of this team (and the future of my #55 jersey), both for the duration of this season and in coming years.

Truthfully, I have a better feeling about next week's game at San Francisco than I did going into this one, which probably has a lot to do with the fact that the Redskins of late appear to possibly be the best team in the NFC. Sure, the Eagles almost never win their last game before a bye week, but if the last 2 weeks weren't the kick-in-the-ass that these guys need, then nothing is. Maybe it's a little early to be talking about must-win games, but if yesterday's game wasn't one then this next one surely is. The 49ers aren't a terrible team, but they're a team that the Eagles must be able to beat handily if they want to remain a contender in the division.

The offense NEEDS to make a statement this week, because the only apparent statement they've made since the Dallas game is along the lines of "we can't score for shit in the red zone". McNabb started the season strong but has been faltering since. Reggie Brown and L.J. Smith were both back yesterday, so the excuses for not throwing the ball more effectively are growing thin. Brian Westbrook, the team's far-and-away most important weapon, played yesterday after sitting out last week with an ankle strain but then broke 2 ribs during the game. Frankly, if he doesn't play next week against the Niners, it could be anyone's game given the recent play (or lack thereof) on offense. And when, dear god, is Shawn Andrews coming back?

And while I'm ranting about how the Eagles are sucking at nearly every area, what in the hell is wrong with David Akers? Scratch that- I don't actually care what is wrong with him. I don't care if it's his leg, his psyche or anything else. I just know that he is absolutely worthless beyond 40-45 yards these days. Was I the only one cringing when they brought him in to attempt a 50-yarder yesterday? Was I the only one who would have bet their life that he was going to miss? Was anyone else praying Andy would just punt the ball and try to pin the Redskins inside their own 10? I'd actually rather see the Eagles go for it on 4th and, say, 20, than have Akers try a FG from beyond the 30 (or heck, maybe even the 25). The minute he stepped on the field, I knew the 'Skins would momentarily be given the ball at the 40; sure enough, he missed, and Jason Campbell proceeded to drive the team down to the Eagles' 23 where Shaun Suisham kicked a 41-yard FG. And then just in case us Eagles fans didn't get the point, he eventually kicked 2 more, of 48 and 50 yards, reminding us how nice it used to be to have a reliable placekicker. Oh, those were the days...

Since I've done nothing but whine the entire post so far, I will end with some optimism: I do see things going up from here, although whether it's too little too late is yet to be determined. I should also note that my optimism springs more from the Eagles' upcoming schedule far more than from my optimism that this team will suck less down the road. True, we still have 4 division games in the second half, but 2 of those are against the Giants- although I have no doubt that both will be hard-fought, tough games, I feel better about playing the Giants than I do the Cowboys and Redskins. The Cowboys-Steelers-Bears-Redskins stretch was by far the hardest chunk of the season. And who do they have left to play outside the division? 49ers, Falcons & Seahawks are the next 3... I'm already salivating over that stretch of games. Then later they've got Cincy, Baltimore, Arizona and Cleveland. Not to say that they'll go 7-0 in those games, but the Ravens and Cardinals are the only 2 teams that really pose much of a threat, and the Eagles are more than capable of beating both of them. Therefore, if they can at least somewhat boost their level of play, hope still remains. And let's not forget that Kevin Curtis, who had over 1100 receiving yards last season, will be back either this coming week or after the bye.

Let's just hope the Birds play well on at least one side of the ball next week.

REDSKINS- An Inside-the-Beltway Perspective

2008-10-06T10:20:00.001-04:00

Posted by Geoff

I saw a street walker in downtown D.C. on Friday wearing a Redskins cap with feathers sticking out of it every which way. Who knew that the hat would be so prophetic of the Redskins’ out-and-out assault on the psyches of Eagles fans in a game that should have easily gone to the home team?

The way the NFC East has shaken out thus far just doesn’t make sense.

The Eagles are a better team than the Redskins. The Eagles offense should be able to rely on Donovan McNabb, Brian Westbrook, and DeSean Jackson to put up 35 points every week.

The Cowboys should be able to blow out the hapless Cincinnati Bengals. That bears repeating…the Cowboys should be able to destroy a winless team that barely scraped by the Cleveland Browns.

The Redskins shouldn’t be able beat any of the teams in their division. The Redskins certainly shouldn’t be able to beat the Eagles if Santana Moss is held without a catch all game.

Eli Manning isn’t ready to lead his team to victory on a consistent basis. The Giants shouldn’t be able to overcome the loss of the their two best defensive lineman to retirement and injury.

Here’s how to make sense of the year so far. Go back and reread the last four paragraphs and add these two words at the end of each sentence: “on paper.” That’s the thing about the Cowboys and Eagles…they’re better on paper than they will ever be on the field. And the reverse is true for the Redskins and Giants. We could attribute this to coaches. We could attribute this to luck. But what it really boils down to is killer instinct. The Redskins and the Giants have it; the Cowboys and Eagles don’t.

Of course, the news isn’t all bad for the Cowboys and Eagles. They still have two of the best teams in the NFL. They just need to find a way to play the rest of the season on paper.

This & That, Week 3

2008-09-23T17:10:00.005-04:00

Posted by Alli

When I wasn't agonizing over Eagles injuries and admiring the defensive handiwork, I noticed a few other things around the league and the NFC East in particular.

Let's start with the recent obsession with the NFC East. Holy God, every football site I go to is giddily pissing themselves over how strong the NFC East is. To be fair, the division certainly makes an argument for being the juggernaut of the NFL thus far. Dallas is clearly the best team in the NFL, the Eagles' only loss was a close one to the 'Boys and they then dismissed the AFC's then-best, the Steelers. The Giants are the defending champs and are undefeated so far, and the 'Skins are looking stronger each week with an impressive Jason Campbell at the helm. And the 4 teams are 8-0 in games outside the division.

I'm just not totally sold on the Giants yet. This certainly stems out of my dislike for the G-men, and the painful offseason I had to live through with Chris gloating about his semi-crappy Giants team that played their 4 best games all season at just the right time. Even if they had their entire team back, I would see them going 10-6 at best, but the Strahan retirement and the loss of Osi Umenyiora take away - or at least significantly reduce - their biggest weapon, that mighty pass rush. The Giants beat the Redskins in week 1, who admittedly are a decent team, but played terribly in week 1. Next they beat the Rams, who, let's not forget, were only down by 7 points (albeit briefly) early in the 4th quarter. The Giants didn't dominate that game until the very end, and this was against arguably the worst team in the league. Finally, last week, they needed OT to finish off the Bengals. Yes, a win is a win, but in predicting future succees, I just don't see it for the Giants this season. But then again, I said that about them last season, so what do I know...

I understand all the hype for this division though, especially considering how other former powerhouse teams around the league are tanking by the second. What irritates me to no end is all of the fans of NFC East teams on message boards and blogs that LOVE to talk about how great this division is, like they take personal pride in it. Why?! I could care less how strong the rest of the division is, and I'd actually prefer that they all sucked. I don't want these teams beating up on each other 6 games a year; I'd rather have the easiest road possible to the playoffs. The shittier the division competition, the better. I mean, it's an NFL division, they don't need to earn respect. It's not like a college team playing in, say, the WAC or MAC or other semi-obscure conference, who might want to support one another to gain legitimacy. I had no problem with the good ol' days when the rest of the NFC East was miserably awful and provided us with 6 easy wins a year. And also... I hate the Giants and especially the Cowboys, and I don't care for the 'Skins. I'd like to see them all go 5-11 if I had my way. I don't want to see them glorified. What's with all this intra-divisional love all of a sudden? Pardon my French, but... suck it, NFC East.

I'd like to issue a special thank you to Ronnie Brown for making my fantasy team so awesome this week, as I was able to steamroll over Taz despite losing my top pick, Westbrook. And to think, Ronnie, I almost benched you for DeAngelo Williams! It was also nice watching you manhandle the Patriots D. Now what am I gonna do this week for your bye?

It was good to see the Chargers finally get a much-deserverd win this week after the Ed "I can't control my over-muscled jaw from inadvertently blowing my whistle" Hochuli situation. I don't see that game (or the ugly last-second loss to Carolina in week 1) keeping them out of the playoffs or the top of the division, but it was a very frustrating way to start their season. They may not yet be in the discussion for who the cream of the AFC is, but given the way the AFC teams have been stumbling each week, it's only a matter of time. They're a good team that got off to a slow start, but they'll be a big threat throughout the season.

EAGLES - 3 Weeks In...

2008-09-23T15:18:00.007-04:00

OK, so I never got around to finishing/posting my analysis of the Cowboys game. But after reviewing what I had written so far, particularly some of my concerns about the game and what I was looking to see in week 3 against the Steelers, these 2 games are really worth discussing together, especially given the totally opposite defensive play in each game.

Unsurprisingly, the bulk of my criticism of week 2 was on the defense. I mean, what the hell was that? I know Romo and the Cowboys have a strong offense, but damn, they dismantled our D. I do believe, however, that the Cowboys will be hands-down the best offense that the Eagles will face this season; it's also unlikely that the 2nd meeting in Philly in Week 17 will actually be a meaningful game for one or both teams. Accordingly, I figured things HAD to look up for the D coming out of that MNF performance. Truthfully though, I was absolutely surprised at just how well they rebounded in week 3 against the Steelers. I actually feel like I should go back and delete the entire blog post that I began to write last week because nearly all of my criticisms have become moot. As Phil Simms aptly noted, how in the hell did the Cowboys put up 41 points on THAT defense?!

The Steelers O-line obviously did an inadequate job of protecting Roethlisberger, and I have heard the name Winston Justice come up in more than a few comparisons. Nevertheless, the Eagles front 7 were absolutely masterful. They literally could not have done things any better as far as I'm concerned. They were not only responsible for 8 of the 9 sacks against Pittsburgh, they were a brick wall in the face of Willie Parker, who was held to 20 yards on 13 carries. Through 3 games, the Eagles lead the league in run defense, allowing a mere 45.7 yards per game. And it's not like they've been up against crap RBs either; Steven Jackson, Marion Barber and Willie Parker are some of the best in the NFL. And more amazingly, despite giving up 8 trillion points to Dallas, the Eagles overall D is 4th in the NFL.

Last week, though obviously annoyed about losing to the freaking Cowboys, I was impressed that they had put themselves in a position to win against what will probably be their toughest opponent all season. I was energized by the offensive performance (at least through 3 quarters) and felt they deserved respect after putting up 75 points in 2 weeks. Now following the win against the Steelers (which really felt like a much bigger domination than the score suggests), they've gotten that respect. ESPN and NFL.com both have the Birds ranked #3 in their power ranking... not that that matters for anything considering the NFL still employs standings rather than opinion polls like college football. But I am very curious to see how the Eagles live up to the recently heightened expectations that have now been laid out for them. We've seen what they can do, and I'm no longer satisfied that they can "hang around with" the best. I want to see them BE the best.

Along that vein, I think the Eagles are living up to that well after week 3. The Cowboys game reminded me of the Pats game last year, both a "moral victory" of sorts if such a concept exists. However, the Birds followed up that Pats 3-point loss with a flat performance against a medicore Seahawks team, and I was afraid something similar would happen this week against the Steelers, especially with having the short practice week. (To be fair of course, the disastrous Seahawks loss may have had a litttttle something to do with AJ Feeley's 4-interception shitfest.) If anything, the 2008 Eagles in contrast took the MNF loss and built on it, plugging the holes that clearly existed in that game and making vast improvements in the proceeding game. This is the first time in a long time that I haven't felt like the Eagles were taking themselves out of games mentally. Where last season they seemed to dwell on poor past performances and continue to underperform (Green Bay, anyone?), this season they seem to have only used it as motivation.

Now that I've finished gushing about how awesomely wonderful our squad is... I've gotta at least address the offense, at least their last 5 quarters compared to their first 7 of the season. First, I don't blame McNabb for the Cowboys loss, and neither should you. McNabb had a stupid fumble at a bad time, but for the love of God people, the defense and special teams gave up 41 points, there's only so much you can ask of your QB, he's not a freaking miracle-worker. And to say that he can't finish games is absurd. I love my fellow Eagles fans, but some of them are so quick to forget the MANY times that McNabb has led them down the field to 4th quarter victories and only dwell on the times he's come up short. My absolute favorite thing about the Cowboys game was how mobile McNabb looked. It helped that the O-line gave him good protection, but he looked like vintage McNabb, didn't he?! He was using spin moves, side-to-side moves, I mean he looked seriously confident on foot and I am really looking to see how that benefits him this season.

Yes, the last drive on offense was ugly. Yes, McNabb should never have taken that DeMarcus Ware sack. But it would be unfair to only focus on the 4th quarter, when the QB and O-line played a very, very good game the rest of the night- prior to the last drive, McNabb was only sacked twice against a vicious pass rush, and I was impressed how much time the O-line gave him in the pocket. So despite the lackluster last few drives, I still give the Eagles offense and particular Donovan McNabb an A for the Cowboys game.

The O in the Steelers game is a little more confusing to dissect. First, the Steelers were far and away the best D we've faced so far. And second, Westbrook left the game one play into the 2nd quarter. There are really almost no words to describe how utterly crucial and indispensable B-West is to the Eagles, even more so than McNabb in my opinion. Buckhalter did a noble job of replacing him after he left the game, but there is no one else who commands the coverage that Westbrook does, which is what makes him so valuable. Fortunately, as far as injuries go, this one sounds like it could be worse, and Westbrook has been walking without crutches. I'll be curious to see whether he plays this Sunday night against Chicago, but I'm far more concerned with his health down the stretch. And... it's just the Bears, right?? Anyway, my overall conclusion on the Eagles O against the Steelers is that we shouldn't be worried. Reid admitted that he and Marty Mornhinweg were conservative with the play-calling in the second half, given the spectacular defensive play and the fact that the Eagles were opening a make-shift ER on the sidelines to handle the offensive players going down by the dozen. The Birds face another tough D in the Bears this week, but I'm confident that they'll be OK offensively.

And finally, how could I possibly discuss the O without a word about DeSean Jackson? That word is... IDIOT. Yes, I believe he is and will continue to be a very good receiver and I'm glad we have him, especially with the injuries to Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown (Brown was in for a few plays but had no catches on Sunday). Nevertheless, for an otherwise smart guy who went to Berkeley, he's an idiot. And I worry that he's got some TO/Ocho Cinco crazy-in-a-destructive-way in him. In fact, I was all set to buy myself a shiny new DeSean Jackson jersey, but after this past week wisely changed my mind and went with Stewart Bradley (which I will hopefully be debuting at the Redskins game at the Linc in 12 days, but who's counting?) But anyway, the immeasurable arrogance displayed by Jackson when he casually flipped the ball behind him a YARD before reaching the end zone against the Cowboys speaks for itself. And for those of you who missed SportsCenter and Jackson's similarly moronic swan dive a yard shy of the end zone in high school, I encourage you to check that out here. Jackson's idiocy was sealed in my mind this past Sunday when he caught a pass late in the 4th quarter when the Eagles were trying to drain the clock and he ran straight for the sidelines, stopping the clock. IDIOT. But whatever, he's a great receiver, blah blah blah. Just use a minimal amount of common sense from here on out, buddy.

COWBOYS - My two cents on the Eagles win

2008-09-13T14:08:00.005-04:00

Posted by Taz:

IT WAS JUST THE RAMS YOU PLAYED...YOUR VICTORY MEANT ABSOLUTLY NOTHING!

EAGLES - And the season is off and running...

2008-09-08T18:55:00.008-04:00

So it’s obviously been a while since I’ve updated, but now is as good a time as any as the Eagles have their first game under their belts. And wow, what a way to start off the season, even if it was against a struggling Rams team. It’s impossible not to be excited anytime the offense puts up 38 points, no matter who the opponent, but I was even more impressed with the defense. The Greatest Show on Turf the 2008 Rams are not, but Marc Bulger and Steven Jackson are still a legitimate threat when the O-line is healthy, and I expected the Rams O to put at least a pair of touchdowns on the board. The Eagles’ defensive line put pressure on Bulger early, and the young linebacker corp did a great job of stuffing the run. I’m really anxious to see how they do against Marion Barber next week, but I’m feeling extremely optimistic at this point.

Frankly, as much as I wanted to dropkick the TV every time Asante Samuel and co. dropped an interception, I was happy that they were making big coverage plays. I’d rather see the drops in games like that when we didn’t need the turnovers, so that hopefully they can come up with a few against the Cowboys or Steelers in the next two weeks. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one feeling major déjà vu watching one blown-interception after another yesterday, but if the shaky hands of the defensive backs is the biggest concern coming out of week 1, the Birds are in great shape. Now let’s just hope that they can turn those near-misses into huge plays in coming weeks.

And speaking of week 1… obviously the season-opener has not been a forte of the Andy Reid era, seeing as how they were 3-6 under Reid before yesterday. But looking back to this same Monday afternoon last season- holy shit what a difference a year makes. To be fair, I’m not ready to proclaim the Eagles legitimate Super Bowl contenders just yet, but how can you not notice the extraordinary difference in special teams between yesterday and a year ago? The crappy punt returning (or more accurately, the crappy decision-making by the coaches to not put more thought into the punt return prior to week 1) in the 2007 season opener against the Packers was easily one of the most depressing incidents I’ve ever witnessed. I know that I personally threw at least 3 breakable objects across the room over the course of that game before my roommates attempted to sedate me. I still believe that if the punt return disasters sprinkled throughout that Packers game hadn’t occurred, not only would they have certainly won that game but also they might have sucked less in later games, including that depressing Monday Night loss to the Redskins in week 2 where it just felt like the Birds were playing flat the entire game. Once they went 0-2, they spent the entire season unsuccessfully struggling to get above .500, losing one heartbreakingly close game after another.

This year, DeSean Jackson made a big statement for the positive in week 1 punt returns. He may not have broken away for his first regular-season return touchdown just yet, but watching him maneuver down the field yesterday left me with no doubts that he’s going to be a huge force this year, whether it be on special teams, offense or both. He literally got better and more impressive with each punt return, starting out slow in the first quarter and eventually dazzling the crowd with returns of 18 and 60 yards in the third quarter, the former of which he was one tackle-from-behind from finding open grass all the way to the end zone. So yeah, the punt return is only one element of the game, but if last year taught us anything, it’s that this one little element can make or break a season. On the other side of special teams, the return coverage units did their job spectacularly; the Rams’ best starting field position all day was their own 25, and they were twice pinned at their own 2. The potential of specials this year, led by Jackson, combined with the fact that McNabb looked like vintage, healthy, pre-Mama-McNabb-blogging-escapades Donovan McNabb, set a much different tempo for this season.

And for those of you who think this game is nothing different from the misplaced optimism we took from the Detroit blow-out in week 3 last season – which, lest we forget, was followed up by the excruciating shit-show of a loss to the Giants the following week, including the 12-sack Winston Justice fiasco – I hear ya, cause it crossed my mind too, but I truly believe this time will be different. For one thing, despite putting up 56 points against the Lions in that game, I bet you remember that queasy feeling you had somewhere in your stomach about the 21 points we gave up in the first half. Yesterday, on the other hand, the D shut out the Rams for 3 quarters before eventually conceding a lone field goal. The defense also allowed a mere 166 yards all game and did not give up a single third-down conversion, which is about as stingy as a defense can get. Sure, it would have been nice to see a freaking turnover, but in a game where the D didn’t let the Rams into the red zone all afternoon, it’s really just unnecessary whining on my part at this point. Nevertheless, if the defense fails to hang onto an interception or force a fumble in the next couple weeks, I’ll be back to bitch about this.

Next week’s Monday night showdown against the Cowboys in Texas Stadium will obviously be a lot more telling about how much the Birds really have improved since last season. Of course, we did beat the Cowboys in our last meeting there, and there are no major holes that I can feasibly identify in the Eagles’ play thus far, so I’m thinking positively. I’ll even go so far as to say that I could potentially handle a loss to the ‘Girls, so long as McNabb and the O remain potent and the defense gets pressure on Romo. But I think we’ve got a fantastic shot next week so I’ll be eagerly counting down to MNF for the next 7 days.

This and that…

Back to the Cowboys- truthfully, although I was really hoping for a total Cowboys suck-fest yesterday against the Browns, they looked excellent to kick-off their season, and I think they will definitely (though unsurprisingly) be the team to beat in the NFC. The o-line was strong, the defense was solid, and Romo has 3 excellent receiving options in TO, Witten and Crayton. On the other hand, the Browns looked pretty terrible so as with the Eagles-Rams game, it’s difficult to tell how much of the win was on the Cowboys’ own merits versus how much of it was the Browns sucking. Next week will be a very important game for both Philly and Dallas.

I used to be a fan of Brett Favre, but after his predictably short-lived retirement, I’m getting a little bored of him. The veteran’s leadership of a squad of young but talented players was a feel-good story last year, but this year, the media’s ongoing felatio of Favre is just played out. While Favre and the gang masterminded a 6-point victory over the colossally craptacular Miami Dolphins, I was unimpressed with the geriatric QB in what I saw of the game. The commentators gigglishly fawned over him in the 2nd quarter on 4th and 13 when he chucked a “pass” into the air in a seizure-like motion in the general direction of the end zone that, by some miracle of God, WR Chansi Stuckey came down with in the end zone. It also didn’t hurt that any Dolphins defensive back within a 10-yard radius of Stuckey appeared to be filing his nails or generally running in the opposite direction of the ball. “Favre doing what Favre does best,” they feverishly gushed on TV. I can’t argue there; there’s nothing Favre does better, or at least with more frequency, than blindly heave passes in the air. I’m calling it now… 20+ interceptions for Favre this season.

I can’t skip over the opportunity to comment on the Ocho Cinco situation. Last spring, I was eager about the possibility of acquiring the receiver formerly known as Chad Johnson in a trade. I’ve always believed that he’s a less destructive version of TO; I enjoyed his river-dance and I figured he was goofy but harmless. Now I wonder. It’s not that the act of changing one’s name is such a big deal (albeit to something as stupid as Ocho Cinco, which isn’t even Spanish for eighty-five but rather for eight five, though I’ll concede that it’s catchier than Chad Ochenta y Cinco). It’s more the idea of, what idiot actually takes the time out his life to run to court to get it legally changed? Even king of the dumbasses himself, Terrell Owens spends less time than that thinking up lame touchdown celebration dances. Chad just took it too far. Jokingly pasting “Ocho Cinco” onto his jersey was funny. Legally changing his name to Chad Ocho Cinco is disconcerting. I’m now one of the growing mass of people who no longer cares who he gets traded to, so long as it’s a team that already has a #85, preferably one who refuses to switch jersey numbers. Oh, and I hope he doesn’t have any touchdown dances planned out just yet considering Carson Palmer couldn’t find the end zone if he river-danced into it. It looks to be a bad year for the Bengals.

GIANTS - Finally A Post from The Giants Fan - Umenyiora, Strahan, Lost Players and Draft Picks

2008-08-25T12:22:00.020-04:00

For those who are under a rock, the recent breaking news for the New York Giants is that Osi Umenyiora is out for the season due to a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee. Umenyiora's Injury. My first thought, is that we are done this season. How can we overcome losses of Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora? Strahan and Umenyiora are probably the two best players on the Giant's Defense (actually, check that, they are the best two) and two of the best leaders on the defense, other then maybe Antonio Pierce. Matt Mosley, in his NFC East Blog discussing Umenyiora's injury and Strahan's possible return, stated: "of all the players the Giants couldn't have afforded to lose, I think Umenyiora ranks right behind quarterback Eli Manning," and I think Mosley hit the nail head on. Giants 101 seems to believe that although losing Umenyiora is a big loss, the Giants will still be a good team. The article focused on how Reese got praise because of the depth he built and that the Giants success was not completely dependent on Umenyiora or Strahan. He has a good point, but I am not sure if we could lose so much depth from the defensive line (which was an area that was so good they covered for the Giant's shortcomings in other areas, like the secondary).

My second thought was that Strahan might come back. But I was not the only one thinking this. ESPN, smelling a story, included in its article about Umenyiora's injury a discussion between Coughlin and Strahan, though Coughlin said his conversation with Strahan was only about his new network job. But while watching Sportscenter this morning, there was a new story about Michael Strahan claiming that Strahan would consider coming back to the Giants. The article basically says that Strahan would be willing to come back for $8 million and Co-owner Steve Tisch said he would absolutely consider bringing back Strahan and Tom Coughlin said they were considering all options. Matt Mosley discussed whether Strahan would consider coming back. In his article Mosley states that Strahan, in his previous statements, has not sounded like a man having second thoughts about retirement. Mosley also stated that the Giants asking Strahan to play would force him to change his legacy of going out after winning a Super Bowl. Mosley also added that asking him to come back would put Strahan in an uncomfortable position as some fans would see him as disloyal if he didn't come back after being offered $8 million and if he does come back he could affect his legacy. However, Mosley finished by saying the Giants should do it because the situation "is not any worse then the one the Giants are in now."

Should the Giants bring Strahan back? How do they replace Umenyiora especially with all the other losses?

The biggest problem appears to be Strahan's stated high price tag and the fact that it is not clear Strahan has been working out or staying in shape, like he had in 2007 when he held out through the entire pre-season. Looking at fan comments made on ESPN's article about Strahan possibly coming back, it looks like Giants fans are divided, some think it is too much money to bring him back especially since he is out of shape, while others think it is the only way to save the season. Fan Comments on Strahan's Possible Return

My opinion is that we absolutely need to bring him back. I think the Giants cannot win any playoff games (and maybe not even make the playoffs) if we do not have either Umenyiora or Strahan. $8 million seems like a cheap price to pay to save the Giants' season. He may be out of shape, but he will probably be back to form after about 4 weeks; I'll take Strahan any day, any way. First, Strahan was third on our team in sacks with 9 (it will be hard to match that production, especially since we are moving Tuck from a role where he prospered by taking advantage of slower offensive guards and moving him to DE where he will face more athletic tackles); second, Strahan's sack total doesn't even state his full contribution on pass rushing, as he would constantly draw double teams; third, he still had a great ability to stop the run (he was seventh on the team in tackles and he has so much football awareness. Just yesterday I watched the Bucs-Giants playoff game, and noticed Strahan perfectly read a delayed running back screen to stop a possible first down. Fourth, and most importantly, his leadership on the field cannot be replaced.

But there is another reason to bring Strahan back, and that is what we must do if we do not bring him back. We lost several players from last year, mostly from our defense. From last year, our key losses would be Jeremy Shockey (TE), Reggie Torbor (LB), Kawika Mitchell (LB), Michael Strahan (DE) and Gibril Wilson (SS).

When the Giants lost these players, there were articles talking about these "huge" losses to the Giants, though most held that Strahan and Wilson were really the only big losses. (Giant's Defense Raided but not enough to slow it down and Giants Still have the best front four)

I thought all of these guys were replaceable other than Strahan. In the first round of the draft we picked Kenny Phillips, which I thought was a great pick. As I stated in an earlier post, there were debates whether the Giants should take Kenny Phillips or Tyrell Johnson with both Scout Inc's Pick by Pick Draft Analysis and Mel Kiper's Draft Grades and Analysis stating that they thought the Giants should have selected Tyrell Johnson (giving the Giants only a C+ largely because he thought we picked the Second Best Safety in the draft). But I think Phillips will be more then enough to replace Wilson. I liked Gibril Wilson, but he could not hold onto an interception for his life and his coverage skills were not that good. He is a hard hitter and is good against the run, but his inability to make interceptions and lacking in pass coverage makes him very replaceable.

While there have been a lot of comments about the Giant's weaknesses at Linebacker, especially with the Giants losing both Torbor and Mitchell, I didn't see it as a big deal and neither did many Giants fans. Torbor was a backup at best and only played due to injuries to Mathias Kiwanuka. Also as for Mitchell, the Giants really like Gerris Wilkinson and he was expected to take over for Mitchell. We also picked up Danny Clark from the Texans as a free agent. I thought Kiwanuka's return and Wilkinson and Clark were more then enough to replace Torbor and Mitchell.

And as for Strahan, even though I thought he could not be replaced, Justin Tuck proved last year he was ready to step into a role as starter at Defensive End (though there have been some questions about whether he would have as many sacks against more athletic Offensive Tackles then the Offensive Guards he lined up against), and with Spaugnolo calling the plays, he would get Kiwanuka involved at Linebacker as a pass rusher and the Giants just have incredible depth on the Defensive Line even without Strahan.

However, things have changed as a result of injuries, with the key injury being Umenyiora. First, starting with the injuries to minor players: First, Jonathan Goff (LB), our 5th round pick fractured his back and it is not clear how long he will be out or if he will be placed on the injured reserve. Goff's Injury. Second, Gerris Wilkinson started the year on the Physically Unable to Perform List and has not played many snaps, and he lost his job to Danny Clark. Wilkinson's Situation. Danny Clark was solid for the Texans last year with 51 tackles in 13 games, but was nothing special.

The injury to Umenyiora has forced the Giants to act, and barring the Giants signing Strahan, the Giants have already decided to move Kiwanuka back to the line. The NY Daily News printed an article discussing how Kiwanuka is ready to move back to the line if the Giants need him and Giants.com stated as Breaking News that Kiwanuka has officially been moved back to Defensive End. As the Daily News Article states, Kiwanuka would help ease the lost at Defensive End, as that is his most natural position and where he is most comfortable. Although as some commentators stated on Sportscenter, even though it is the most logical move top move Kiwanuka back to Defensive End, it would require taking a player who had finally adjusted to his new position at linebacker and puts him back to his old position and undoes all the progress her made. Next year, when Umenyiora returns there will be serious questions about what to do with Kiwanuka.

As one commentator stated, while Kiwanuka and Tuck are not as deadly a combo as Strahan and Umenyiora (combined Tuck on Third Down playing as Defenseive Tackle), but the Giants could do much worse. But the key loss will be at Linebacker. Right now if Kiwanuka does move to the line, that leaves Zak DeOssie (who has only played regular season games as a long snapper and special teams player) as first in the depth chart at Strongside Linebacker with 4th Round Pick Bryan Kehl as the backup, although Kehl has started a few snaps at Linebacker during the preseason when Kiwanuka was hurt. And on the weak side, the Giants only have a mediocre Danny Clark, and Gerris Wilkinson who has been hurt all year and so far has not been able to beat Clark for the starting job. This is not a great situation for the Giants linebacker corp.

Strahan coming back would either give us more depth at Defensive End, if Kiwanuka moved there, and this might be smart considering Strahan will not be at 100% for the first few weeks; or it would allow Kiwanuka to stay at Linebacker where we could use some help. So there are 5 really good reasons to Sign Strahan. I say sign him.

I will finish analyzing the draft, which I should have done ages ago, as well as their performance in training camp and pre-season games in the next post. I will also catch up on all the Summer Giants and other NFC East news.

The blog is back!

2008-07-25T20:51:00.005-04:00

Posted by Taz

So the living hell caused by studying for the bar has not ended yet (the exam is next Tuesday to Thursday), but my head hurts from studying, so I'm going to give a few updates on things going on.

Cowboys: Why I'm fine with cutting Terry Glenn

In case if you have not heard, this happened today. Terry Glenn is finally cut. Jerry is claiming that he wants the young receivers to develop. This would probably explain why there has been little movement on the front. Unlike the rest of us, 1 million doesn't mean too much to Jerry if it gives him a better shot at the Super Bowl, so it's probably the explanation why there has been so much foot dragging on this issue.

Personally, I'm fine with it. While a healthy Terry Glenn is better than everyone's favorite split personality wide receiver (no one ever seems to think that TO could just be a complicated man...instead we are shocked when athletes do not have dumbed down personalities that any moron can relate to), it seems like his knee is going to go out. The fact that the team was pushing for microfracture surgery AND he refused has to say something. Do you know how serious microfracture surgery is? If you follow the NBA, you know how many times this surgery has ruined a career (Penny Hardaway...and lil' Penny, Chris Webber, Antonio McDyess, and Darius Miles...assuming a NBA career consists of having one skill [athleticism], while having no other pertinent skills [work ethic, desire, shooting ability] and averaging 10 points a game while using racial slurs on your ethnically identical coach).

Terry Glenn is an injury waiting to happen, meaning we are going to have to depend on the young guys anyways. You might as well let these guys get extra reps, and then call Glenn up if you need the help. I somehow doubt someone is going to claim him off waivers, thereby getting the right to pay him $1.7 million this year for his salary for a receiver who might suffer a career-ending injury at any moment in time. Regardless if you agreed or disagreed with the fact that the Cowboys didn't draft a receiver in the draft, the reality is that these young guys are going to have to step up and we might as well fund out sooner than later

Eagles: Is the Eagles' method of spending ever going to catch up with them?

Check out profootballtalk.com's report and this from philly.com that discuss Shawn Andrews' being MIA for the day. Is this a contract holdout, or something unrelated to money? No one knows for sure, but I'm more interested in a trend that I have seen for years: the tightwadness of the Eagles. In previous years, the Eagles have signed their core players to long-term, high signing bonus, low yearly salary contracts, and play hardball with players who try to hold out. Smart financial sense, but I wonder if it makes players more nervous or less willing to play for Philly. In fact, I predicted years ago that it would lead to an overall decline in their team. While their team has not been doing as well, you can blame that on better division rivals and the chronically injured McNabb.

But why am I so against the Eagles' method? First of all, the perception may be off. They seem to pay well for players who generally are top tier, such as the massive extension for Donovan McNabb, and good salaries for Asante Samuel, Jevon Kearse, and Darren Howard. These moves always seem to make sense at the time (though Kearse and Howard eventually became busts, at the time they were pretty good players). Moreover, the players they do choose not to pay, such as Jerimiah Trotter , Bobby Taylor, Troy Vincent, and Corey Simon, seem to go off somewhere and suck. So obviously, they are doing something right.

I think I base this opinion off the T.O. incident, which I still believe could have been averted if the Eagles just threw a couple million more at him. But maybe they are smart and won't overpay/extend older and second tier players like other teams will. I guess I'm more sympathetic to teams that are aggressive spenders like the Redskins and Cowboys. Then again, I've never seen a team throw money at second tier free agents like the Redskins (no one would know Randal-El if he wasn't throwing 2 point conversions with the Steelers), and the Cowboys have not won a playoff game in over a decade. So while I am a bit skeptical about being fiscally conservative with spending, it's worked for the Eagles, who before last year owned the NFC East for the past decade. Several years ago, I predicted that it would eventually catch up with them. So far, it hasn't.

Giants: Justin Tuck is not happy that the Giants are getting zero respect

Tuck made some comments the other day about the Cowboys "trying to buy" a super bowl. While his comments may not be totally accurate (considering the Cowboys spent a ton of money extending players they already had the rights to, traded for Adam Jones, and signed Zach Thomas), his point is loud and clear. The Giants hate the fact that no one is talking about them. Look at any preseason rankings. ESPN has the Giants as 6th, behind the Cowboys and Jaguars, and if you look around at other preseason predictions, many have the Cowboys winning the division. So I don't blame the defending Super Bowl Champions for being annoyed.

But they really shouldn't be suprised, since they have been disrespected since their Super Bowl run. This lack of respect originates from last year, when everyone thought the Cowboys and Packers were by far the two best teams in the NFC. The Giants were considered to be a step below, yet in the playoffs beat both of them, and the juggernaut of a Patriot team. Objectively, they beat 3 of the top 4 teams in the NFL to the Super Bowl. But perceptions remain for various reasons. They lost to all three of those teams in the regular season. Eli Manning didn't start playing well until the end of the year, and the team began to click then. Plus I think people don't like the Giants for various random reasons (Jermey Shockey, they are from New York, Eli seems to be the most boring person ever). So instead of people thinking that the Giants were legit, people thought that they were the 3rd best team in the conference.

(And for the record, I'm still not sure which class of 2004 QB I dislike the most. Ben Rothlisburger I feel is overrated because he has a pretty good team around him and by all accounts is an arrogant prick. I still find Eli as a weinie because of the stunt the Mannings pulled with San Diego during the draft. And every time I hear about Philip Rivers, he seems to be talking smack to just about anyone, despite the fact that his team is no higher than third best in their conference. Then again, 2 of them already have won Super Bowls, and San Diego is a threat to win it all each year, so they are doing pretty good for themselves).

Anyways, in the offseason, they lose Michael Strahan to Fox TV, along with a couple other contributors who seemed to be the beneficiaries of being on the team who won the Super Bowl (Gibril Wilson is this year's "Dexter Jackson/Larry Brown Award" winner for cashing in on a performance that the Giants fans I regularly talk to seem to call nothing more than average). Plus, the Cowboys seem to get more stacked, along with New England, Indy, Jacksonville, San Diego, and Green Bay not going away. It should be no suprise that the Giants are getting disrespected.

So Justin Tuck has to live with it for a few more months. If the Giants can come out and show that last year was not a fluke, then he can taunt everyone who was wrong. Until then, he should probably stay away from football websites and sportcenter.

Redskins: I'm not a big fan of the Jason Taylor trade

Yeah...if my team lost two defensive ends in one practice, I would be on the phone making a panic trade as well. But leave it to Danny Snyder to turn a panic trade into one of the biggest splashes of the offseason.

What I don't like about the move is that the Redskins seem to be in transition this year. Between hiring Jim Zorn (who I swear could be the name of a Bond movie villian), overhauling the reciever unit, and still having to deal with the ramifications of the utterly tragic Sean Taylor death, I don't see the Redskins contending for the title this year.

As you know, the problem is that Taylor is near the end of his career, and giving up a 2nd and 5th round pick is a lot for a one year rental. If I'm the Giants and lose Justin Tuck, or San Diego and lose Shawn Merriman, I would call up Miami and make this trade in a heartbeat. But for a team that is probably a year from contending in the ultra-competitive NFC East (wow...three years ago I would have called this division "Eagles and Friends"), I see this as wasting a couple of picks that could help down the road for a stop-gap solution.

Hiatus Until August

2008-06-05T12:46:00.003-04:00

Posted by Taz:

So if you have not figured out, we are on a bit of a hiatus. Everyone is studying for the impending bar exams we have in late July, which makes it a bit hard to devote more than fleeting attention to the blog (and the NFL for that matter). So we are going to start posting again in mid August, when all of the bar exam pain is done (a word to anyone who is thinking about going to law school - I can't even begin to describe the pain of the bar. You pay $3,000 for a bar review course, which teaches you the law that law professors failed to teach in class because they were to busy going off on random tangets. You do one class in about 3-4 hours, and then have to study it and do practice tests. Then repeat this for about 15-20 subjects. Think long and hard about if you want to voluntarily subject yourself to this pain)

Anyways, we will be back in August. So to everyone, have a great summer and we will see you in August

Links I Find Amusing

2008-05-14T11:36:00.003-04:00

Posted by Taz

Profootballtalk.com goes after Todd McShay and the rest of BSPN’s draft experts. While I wouldn’t be surprised that BSPN’s draft talent evaluators are failed scouts, I think it is a little too much to give BSPN responsibility for misleading Woodson, since they have no duty to tell him where he will be taken into the draft.

What is stupider than making power rankings in the middle of the summer when NO ONE knows how a team’s roster is going to shape up? Doing in-depth analysis of this exercise in futility. See here, here, and here. Even the fans can get involved here and here.

Thankfully we have nothing to do with James Hardy, especially since Jerry said he was #1 wide receiver on the Cowboys’ draft board

Everything you ever wanted to know about the process of random urine screenings.

Hopefully this is true. Then again, a month and a half ago they were secretly married, so who the heck knows?

Parcells and physical conditioning.

COWBOYS - What to do with Roy

2008-05-13T22:56:00.004-04:00

Posted by Taz:

I think most of you have heard about the latest Roy Williams controversy. In case you have not, then see here and here for a general summary of what was said. Most people seem to be interesting in using it as an excuse to bash Roy, or point out the obvious fact that Roy and coverage do not go together (see the picture to the right for an example of what happens to opposing players when Roy blows coverage and is making a last ditch effort to avoid giving up the big play). If you want a good disucssion of these problems, Mickey Spagnola’s article sums things up pretty nicely. But, I’m not interesting in Roy bashing (check your usual message board for such comments). Instead, I’m more interested in looking at the effect on the team. What does Roy’s general decline mean for the team?

It is obviously a problem. Despite the fact that there are eleven people on the field at once, it just takes one person screwing up to mess up a team (remember Santana Moss's 2 play, 2 touchdowns in 2005, induced by the secondary)? You can’t really throw extra corners out there and hope that it somehow makes up for Roy. The pass rush can compensate, but even if it does so, at some point, Roy is going to have to cover someone. Also, if you bench him, who replaces him? Do you trust Pat Watkins or Courtney Brown to be the starter? It also doesn't help chemistry. Teammates aren't going to be happy if a starter is constantly hurting the defensive effort of the other 10 players on the field. They have to compensate for this, and even worse, have to deal with the millions of media questions about this.

So now that I have spent a paragraph restating the obvious, there are several things that can happen by the end of this year.

1) Roy gets better at coverage – I don’t see this happening, even though it probably would be the easiest solution. Maybe he will unregress and not become a coverage liability. Or maybe he will somehow learn to fit into the system. I don’t know, but I just don’t see it happening at this point in his career. Maybe Dave Campo can work some magic into him to the point where we do not have to cut him. Don't hold your breath.

2) Position change – we could move him to linebacker. He did play linebacker on the nickel defense last year. Of course, this assumes a) that he would be effective at stopping the run as a 3-4 linebacker, and b) he would be starting, because you aren’t paying “pro bowl safety” money to a backup linebacker. I somehow don’t see him being able to take on guards (as inside linebackers do in the 3-4) or supplanting Ware or Ellis/Spencer at OLB. So I see this less likely than the first option.

3) Trade him – I know Cowboys fans want to do this. In fact, if you read message boards, they are probably wondering if we can send him and Bobby Carpenter for Boldin, Roy Williams the WR, Chad Johnson, or any other fantasy trade that fans seem to make that disregard the salary cap implications and the fact that any GM not named Matt Millen would trade quality players for a guy who is getting $4-6 million safety who fears coverage. Don't see this happening either.

(And before you complain that I do not have the accurate number, it’s not the easiest thing to find. I searched all over the internet and even looked through Dallas’s media guide, which does not mention cap figures. Instead, it contains such priceless information, such as mentioning that Richie Cunningham was the NFC kicker of the year in 1997 (page 195), Ken Hamlin was in National Honor Society in high school (page 93), Jason Garrett is a resident of Dallas (page 15), and that former General Manager Tex Schramm helped create the quarterback ball spike to stop the clock (page 347). I saw in an article it was $4-6 million, but I’m not sure (blogging isn’t my day job). So correct me if I am wrong. The only website I could find gave Roy’s base salary for last year, but no incentives. It did also tell me that Bobby Carpenter made $5 million. No comment. But if anyone knows where the heck accurate salary info is, please comment below).

Anyways, I don’t see us trading him for anything higher than a mid-round draft pick, but then again Matt Millen is still inexplicitly employed, so you never know if he finds a “WR Roy Williams for SS Roy Williams” trade amusing enough to pull the trigger on.

4) Cut him – I think this is the most likely. We play him this year, see if he improves to the level of serviceable, and then cut him at the end of the year, when the salary hit is more palatable. It may not be the most ideal outcome, and there is no guarantee his replacement will not cause more problems. But the problems we currently have will probably force the team to make such a change.

5) Deal with it and keep him through his contract. – well, we can just keep him on the roster and deal with it. This is probably the one thing that fans don’t want to see. I don’t think this will happen, since the Cowboys will want to upgrade the position at some point for someone younger, cheaper, and possibly better. But you never know.

UPDATE: I found Roy's actual salary cap hit here

COWBOYS - Tony Romo tries Jessica's line of work

2008-05-12T20:29:00.003-04:00

In case if you have been living in a cave for the past three days, and the first thing you did after got out is come to this website.
http://ballhype.com/video/tony_romo_seventh_inning_stretch/

Links I Find Amusing

2008-05-10T21:54:00.002-04:00

Posted by Taz:

Here is ESPN’s Ultimate Standings – an “objective” measure of fan satisfaction with their team. I’m not convinced how accurate a system is where Dallas is ranked above the Giants in fan satisfaction, yet in the last decade, the Giants have two super Bowl appearances and a Super Bowl win, while the Cowboys are still looking for a playoff win.

Some media writer actually cares about offensive linemen (or it is a really slow week in the news department).

The Eagles Cheerleaders care about the environment. (Actually, I wanted an excuse to post this picture).

The O.J. Simpson story just gets crazier.

The last place I want to be in is the middle of this.

Power polls in the middle of the offseason, when NO ONE knows how good any of the rookies will do are fairly annoying, and trying to liven it up with superhero quotes doesn’t help.

COWBOYS - Rookie Mini Camp

2008-05-09T08:51:00.007-04:00

Posted by Taz

By now, I bet most of you Cowboys fans who have been starving for football news in the start of football's "dead zone" have been hearing a bit about rookie mini camp. Because I am football starved as well, I've been reading 15 different journalists write the same 3 articles about a couple days of practice between rookies and last year's practice squad.

So what do we know from minicamp? Absolutley nothing.

How can we know anything after one minicamp? First of all, these are rookies going up against other rookies. I'm not too impressed that they can beat up on other rookies. I'll be more impressed if they can block the Giants' boatload of DEs or cover Washington's plethora of #2 receivers. Second, in two weeks, they went from college students to being thrown into a NFL minicamp, in which they were given a ton of new information and forced to play against competition equal or better to them, (somthing they probably did not experience too much of in college). So, there may be a bit of an adjustment period, in which they look like utter morons.

(On a random aside, I really hate when every year, college football mediots take that year's "Greatest College Football Team Ever" and say that they could beat the worst team in the NFL. How stupid is that, considering that few players from these college teams go to the NFL and become productive players? And of those college players who will go to the NFL, they still are undeveloped college players at this point. Yes, LSU/USC/Oklahoma can run it up against Northcentral Rhode Island State PolyTech, but how woud they fair against the Miami Dolphins, whose practice squad players are probably better than 95% of those on that college team?)

Ok, back to rookie camp. The problem here is that we all want information if our draft picks are busts and if "undrafted WR we think got shafted in the draft will make the team so we spend the season bitching on message boards about how we think he should start over Patrick Crayton" will actually live up to his potential.

But we don't know that information. No one does. We won't know until the end of training camp, if not later in the season. Which sucks because now we are going hear about the Felix Jones v. Rashard Mendenhall debate until we see both of them play in real games (and then still probably hear about it some more). Or about how undrafted Danny Amendola is going to be the next Wes Welker (or other productive NFL player). Just like Sam Hurd before him, and Patrick Crayton before him. And Randal Williams? Remember how we all loved him because how he was so quick and had so much potential? Remember when the Eagles decided to do an onside kick to start the game, he took it back for a TD? Stupid Eagles. Remember how he had one reception as a Cowboy? Remember Woody Danzler? He also had a memorable return, and yet is in the Arena League at this moment. You get the point.

Go look on a Cowboys message board and you will see a ton of man love for Amendola. Never mind that the deck is stacked against him because the Cowboys are returning their top 4 receivers from last year, there is a possibility that Glenn will come back (I don't beleive it myself), and the coaches want to see what Stanback can do. There is also the fact that Texas Tech receivers usually are labled as system receivers and do not make it in the leauge (Welker is the exception). I love it when 7th rounders and undrafted rookies make it onto a roster. But you can't expect it. We all had man love for these guys listed above, and so far, only Patrick Crayton has shown that he will be a player in the NFL. There is a reason these players were undrafted. While I would like to see these people make it, there is a good chance it does not happen.

Unfortunetly, it will be three months of speculation before we can start knowing.

And this is why I hate this summer (in addition to the fact that I have to spend the next two months relearning all of law school so I can pass the bar and not be fired from the job I recently stumbled into). So unfortunetly, we have to have patience.

COWBOYS- Chris Henry?

2008-05-07T09:26:00.002-04:00

http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/05/06/did-the-dallas-cowboys-free-chris-henry-from-house-arrest/ I hope this isn't true...but if it is.

Right now, all of us are in the middle of law school finals...so next week, we will be posting more draft analysis, random links, and I'll rant on the Cowboys' bad luck charm (Jessica Simpson).

REDSKINS - Links to Draft Pick Analysis

2008-04-29T22:21:00.003-04:00

Posted by Taz:

Since I am still trying to learn enough about the Redskins roster (and I really need to study for finals), I'm doing the lazy thing and posting some Redskin links reviewing the draft.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/redskinsinsider/2008/04/draft_review.html - Not the most uplifting thing, so don't read if you want to feel good about the draft.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/20316-Washington-Redskins-2008-Draft-Review-did-They-Win-or-Lose--280408 - Good pick-by-pick analysis.

http://www.hogshaven.com/2008/4/27/462013/2008-redskins-draft-recap - Has a bunch of stuff, but when I tried to open up the links, it opened it about 27,000 times. So open those links at your peril.

2009 Mock Draft Up Already?

2008-04-29T21:15:00.002-04:00

Posted by Taz:

One would think that Todd McShay of ESPN can at least take more than 24 hours off from draft analysis; instead of hanging out with his family and friends, he did a mock draft for 2009. Maybe it's the fact that he has no time to see family or friends that makes him so angry when Mel Kiper questions his mock draft.

Post Draft Links I Find Amusing

2008-04-28T15:13:00.003-04:00

Posted by Taz

MJD on the good and bad of the draft.

Maybe the reason I have trouble winning at fantasy football in the last 3 years is because I am not planning out my 2008 Fantasy picks a week before the 2008 NFL Draft.

Martellus Bennett is already talking about Romo’s girl (scroll down to find it). I find it amusing the Cowboys called him the next day to tell him to shut his mouth. This makes me ask 2 questions. 1) When TO talked about Jessica Simpson on the radio, did the Cowboys call him as well? Or did they not say a word, fearing that TO would go on some sort of rant that involved questioning Romo’s manhood while doing situps in Wade Phillips' driveway? 2) Does Romo have that much pull in the organization that he wants no one to talk about Jessica? And if so, does this mean that come training camp, Martellus is going to get the crap hazed out of him by Dallas’ starting O-Line?

The Jets show us how to take the bargaining power away from a player complaining about his contract. And all it costs is 2 roster spots, a second and fourth round pick, millions in new contracts, and a ton of locker room disharmony. Matt Mosley’s two cents.

Apparently ProFootballTalk’s concern that USC players may possibly be too soft because they like the SoCal lifestyle was not a concern to those spending the money of their billionaire bosses.

COWBOYS - Quick Review of the Draft and Giants/Eagles bashing

2008-04-28T11:54:00.005-04:00

Posted by Taz:

So by now, you have read the whinefest below by Chris and Alli about how the Cowboys draft sucked. If these were Redskin fans, who had a great draft, then I could understand. But these are the Eagles and Giants talking. Their drafts were nothing special. They seem to ignore that numerous experts seem to think our draft was pretty good. John Clayton says we were a Day 1 winner, and the Giants were a Day 1 loser because they are too stupid to realize that the Saints aren’t going to trade too much for the overemotional bitchfest known as Jeremy Shockey. Tony Pauline of SI says that Mike Jenkins was a steal while he calls the Eagle’s 3rd round pick for the positionless Brian Smith a reach. Charles Robinson at Yahoo! gave us higher grades than both their teams (including comparing this year’s Eagles draft to their worthless 2006 draft class). Clifton Brown of the Sporting News also graded us higher than the Giants and Eagles. Mel Kiper gave us the highest grades in the division. What does he know? He only spends 364 days a year evaluating talent. And look at this…Eagles writer Paul Domowitch gave us higher grades than the Giants (he has to give a decent grade to the Eagles otherwise the citizens of Philadelphia will probably hunt him down and throw cheesesteaks at him).

I don’t know about you, but that is positive notes from ESPN, the Sporting News, Yahoo!, and Sports Illustrated. Apparently, Alli and Chris are so homerish, they have to bash my team because they can't really be happy about their crappy drafts.

Let me tell you what I think about their drafts (I’ll discuss the Redskins in a separate Redskins only post)

Eagles – Apparently someone forgot to tell Andy Reid that size might matter in the NFL. Their first three picks were all undersized at their position, including Desean Jackson, this year’s winner of the Reggie Bush “I look fast because I can outrun college players” bust award. They also spent a pick on a CB who will not play next season because he is injured and has a couple of legal issues. Moreover, they have Lito Sheppard still dangling out there as trade bait. They seem to be offering him to everyone for legit players, and everyone keeps turning them down. Does this say something? Alli thinks he is a great trade asset, but who wants to send a #1 receiver for a chronically injured player who is angling for a contract extension? My main question is outside of Desean, who is a starter coming out of this draft? I will give them props for fleecing Carolina. Next year’s draft may look better, and this year’s may develop down the road. But right now, it doesn’t seem like a great draft.

Giants – Their draft was well, blah. They filled some needs in the first two rounds, and added depth on defense. Plus they gambled on Manningham. Their draft wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t anything to write home about. The bigger issue is that they failed to get rid of Shockey. As much of a pain in the ass he is in general, you think he is going to be happy that he wasn’t traded? He’s probably heard enough about how addition by his subtraction from the team helped Eli become a non-s***ty QB. So he is probably pissed and will cause an even bigger headache.

Ok, enough bashing of those two teams. Let me discuss Dallas now.

1) I think people are annoyed about the Felix Jones trade because we did not take the better player overall. But I think that misses the bigger point. We made this pick because of the ability for Felix to bring a skill set badly needed to the team. Has anyone seen our return unit lately? Exactly. Our special teams suck, and we need some help. Jones should contribute there immediately. What about providing a compliment to Barber’s punishing running style? Jones can do that as well. You can line up Jones in the slot…that adds versatility as well. What I am saying is this: who cares if the other guy rushes for more yards. I want players who will add another dimension to this team. Felix Jones will do that to this team; Mendenhall will be good, but will only help out on 10-15 plays when Barber is on the bench. Jones will make more of an impact for this team, both in what he can do when he is on the field, and with playing time. Moreover, I think the Tashard Chance pick gives us a great backup if Barber gets injured or Drew Rosenhaus convinces his client that the best way to get money is to throw a fit and not show up to camp.

2) I like that we drafted two corners. I love the Jenkins pick, and I heard the other corner we got was supposed to be a late 2nd rounder that we found in the 5th. I feel much better about corner this year than last. Hopefully it allows us to fix some of our glaring secondary problems.

3) The only pick I didn’t really like was the DE/OLB in the 6th round, but it is the 6th, so what can you do?

4) I like the Bennett TE pick because it is like the Jones pick – he gives us flexibility to do different things. He can block, line up as a receiver, or play TE. So we can put so many more formations and movement on the field. I like this draft because it gave us that in Jones and Bennett.

Overall, I think this draft went very well for Dallas. While we did not fill every need, we did fill several and ended up with an extra 3rd and 4th for next year.

COWBOYS - Glimpse of Dallas' War Room

2008-04-27T22:04:00.005-04:00

Posted by Taz:

Take a somewhat edited look at Dallas' war room here. I am assuming that Dallas' war room does not have some sort of techno music constantly playing in the background, mainly because I don't see Jerry allowing it. But then again, who knows what type of music Jerry likes in the background. I always imagined they would be playing Wagner's "Flight of the Valkyries" in a constant loop while he stands on a tall podium at the center of the room while making superfluous dramatic gestures.

What I find amusing is the random cheering once a pick is announced. Is that also mandated by Jerry, or do people get so excited that the Cowboys exercised their right to get the rights to an employee? I wonder if people do this in other jobs. Like for example, when Ernst and Young hires accountants coming right out of (fill in the blank Ivy League Business school), does their hiring committee start clapping when they make the final decision? What about when someone hires a bus driver? Or cafeteria worker?

EAGLES - Post-Draft Thoughts, NFC East Grades

2008-04-27T17:44:00.016-04:00

Posted by Alli

Well, the 2008 draft is now over, and Mel Kiper has already run off to start compiling his 2009 predictions. Only time will tell what kind of impact these new guys will have on the team. However, despite some of my earlier gripes, and the trade-downs that made sure I didn't get to witness an Eagles pick for almost 5 hours, I'm generally pretty optimistic about these draft picks. Here are a few quick thoughts:

1) O-Line - My biggest concern - aside from the whole #1 WR thing - was the o-line; despite failing to address this in the first 3 rounds, the Birds picked up 3 OLs in rounds 4-7. What remains to be seen is whether any of them will be the next Runyan or Tra Thomas- we need quality over quantity here. 7th round OT King Dunlap apparently had some problems throughout his senior year that lowered his draft value. The other 2 OL picks are listed as guards, but 4th rounder Michael McGlynn has decent tackle experience, so it should be interesting to see whether these guys are worthy of eventually joining Shawn Andrews in maintaining what has consistently been one of the NFL's best offensive lines.

2) DeSean Jackson (pictured above) - Unlike my friend Bob, I'm not yet running out to grab a DeSean Jackson jersey (which, to be fair, I could use considering the miserable shape of my well-worn Westbrook and McNabb jerseys); nevertheless, I can't help but get excited about this pint-sized little guy. I also can't help but constantly think of fun new words to describe his height impairment (I apologize to any midgets I have or will continue to offend, including Chris who ironically is a "Giants" fan...just kidding, Chris isn't THAT short...). ESPN Scouts Inc. takes note of Jackson's size and his need to improve his route-running, but they also acknowledge his ability to stretch the field which is certainly something the Eagles could use. Plus, I hardly need to stress the importance of the Eagles finding a return man. Jackson has ridiculous speed and explosiveness... is it too soon to use his name in the same sentence as Devin Hester's?

3) Lito Sheppard - He still hasn't been traded. On a related note, neither has Chad Johnson. To reiterate, I'm not opposed to keeping Sheppard- I believe he's one of the top CBs in the league when healthy. HOWEVER... he has not been healthy in the past 3 seasons, and he is not happy with his current contract, so if the Eagles were to keep him (assuming they do not agree to rework his contract, which they won't) he wouldn't be a happy camper. Of course, the fact that he hasn't been traded yet suggests that the Eagles haven't gotten any decent offers, meaning Sheppard's value is not as high as he (and the Eagles) think, so maybe he can be humbled into complacency. One other thing to consider, before I shut up about the Chad Johnson thing for the time being- the Eagles obtained an additional 2009 1st round pick from the Panthers via their 1st round trade-down; is it possible that the Eagles are thinking about packaging that pick with Sheppard (or other '09 picks) for a trade? Just a thought.

4) Lorenzo Booker - The Eagles traded a 4th round pick to Miami for RB Booker. Is this the end of Tony Hunt? Or Buckhalter? Even though Booker is not a big, short-yardage RB like Hunt, the Eagles didn't seem too inclined to use Hunt last year which makes me wonder if they're not crazy about him. I think he's got some nice potential, but as a Penn State alum I may be biased. He was drafted to give us that much-needed bulldozer of a 3rd and short/goal-line back, yet was rarely utilized. Don't get me wrong, Westbrook has done an impressive job of somersaulting over the pile in those short yardage situations, but considering he's getting somewhere in the neighborhood of 8,000 touches a game you'd think Andy and Marty would have thrown Hunt out there more often. I actually thought Buckhalter did a solid job last year after missing 2 entire seasons before that, but he didn't get a lot of playing time either. It might have something to do with his total inability to block, as was shown during the first Giants disaster/game.

NFC East Grades:

Skins: Yeah, they drafted 3 receivers as their first 3 picks (2 WRs and a TE) but I like this decision. TE Chris Cooley and RBs Clinton Portis and Ladell Betts were seemingly the only ones who could catch the ball this season (particularly in the endzone) so they definitely needed some fresh WRs. Yes Randle El, we're so impressed that you played QB in college and can throw the ball once in awhile, but why don't you catch something for a change? Anyway, 2nd round WRs Devin Thomas (Mich St) and Malcolm Kelly (Oklahoma) should be great additions, and 2nd round TE pick Fred Davis (USC) should be a good back-up to Cooley. Grade: A-

Eagles: They didn't get the big-name 1st round pick I was hoping for after trading out, but I can't be too upset considering that 1st round pick they got for next year. I also like the DeSean Jackson pick despite my earlier concerns about drafting a WR too high. The Eagles seem very excited about the Trevor Laws pick up, and he should be a good addition to the DT rotation. And they addressed DE and OL, but did they wait too long? Grade: B+

Giants: Mel Kiper thought Arkansas State's Tyrell Johnson was the best safety in the draft, but I like their Kenny Phillips (Miami) pick-up in the 1st round and it was definitely the position they most needed to address. And despite Mario Manningham's character concerns, he was still a good deal in the 3rd round. Will he be a problem off-the-field? I'm not sure whether USC's Terrell Thomas was the best CB available at the end of the 2nd round, but he's got good size. Grade: B

Cowboys: RB Felix Jones should be a good back-up to Marion Barber, although I agree with Taz that Mendenhall would have been a better pick. Jones appears to be yet another Cowboys RB who can't carry the workload himself, but he'll be a good number 2 for now. I like their decision to trade up a few spots to pick up CB Mike Jenkins, and his ability to play safety is a bonus considering how crappy Roy Williams is, no matter how many Pro Bowls he goes to. ESPN says that TE Martellus Bennett was a great value pick in the late 2nd round, but I'm not sure whether I agree with their decision to use this pick on a TE even though they did trade Anthony Fasano. Grade: B

REDSKINS - A Cowboy fan blogging on behalf of your team???

2008-04-27T15:53:00.010-04:00

Posted by Taz:

So for now, I am doing double duty as the Redskins blogger. I know, I know – you probably think I am the most unqualified person you can find to blog on the Redskins. And that may be true, but on this blog I am the most qualified by default. Chris can’t do it because he spends all his free time writing a short novel’s worth on the Giants (see below only if you have 15 minutes to kill). Alli can’t do it because she only cares about other teams to the extent she can make fun of them. Right now, all her energy is focused on complaining about the Eagles' draft (why do they trade picks for the future? It's not like they have no holes that a 1st rounder could not fix). And did you see that I just used 3 negatives in one sentence? I really shoud be posting as little as possible. But unfortunetly, all 6 of you readers will be stuck reading my inane posts until our Redskins guy grows a pair and starts posting.

This whole “blogging on behalf of the Redskins” thing is somewhat weird. Not just because I am a Cowboys fan, but because I truly do not know that much about the Redskins. Doing this actually makes me realize how little I know about the NFL. I mean, I can pretty much name the whole roster of the Cowboys and discuss them at length. I once named half of the Seahawks offense in a vain effort to impress a girl (she ended up hooking up with a former roommate, something I did not find out until the next morning when she appeared in my room partially dressed in his clothing, but that's really neither here nor there). And I know that Drew Brees is from Austin, TX because in high school I watched his team of rich white boys destroy my high school team of rich white boys in the Texas state football quarterfinals.

What I realize is that my NFL knowledge is selective. I know a bunch about some things, but not a bunch about most things. So I look at this as an opportunity to learn about another team.
In case if you are wondering – here is what I know about the Redskins: 1) Dan Snyder seems to find a way to ruin a proud franchise; 2) at this point in this career, Joe Gibbs seems to be better at owning a racing team than coaching foobtall; and 3) the Redskins have some good players.

I mean, if any team in the NFC East seems to be overlooked these days, it is the Redskins. The Eagles have had a recent run of success before last year’s debacle of a season (note I am defining “run of success” as losing in 3 NFC championship games and 1 Super Bowl – something expected for the one team in the NFC East that doesn’t have a Super Bowl win when the rest of the division has at least 3 Super Bowls on their resume). The Cowboys had a 13-3 season plus Jessica Simpson to get everyone’s attention before their usual playoff flameout. And the Giants somehow won a Super Bowl with a ton of DEs and a QB who finally jumped from the “liability on offense” level into the “bus driver” category.

But there is some talent on this Skins team. Jason Campbell looks better every time I see him. The defense is pretty solid, and there are some offensive weapons that are pretty good (Portis/Betts and Cooley). There certainly are issues (age of many of the starters, the long-term effects of Sean Taylor’s tragic death), but they are a team that could do some damage in the NFC East and the NFL as a whole.

I think the rest of the NFC may overlook them, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this team gets 10 or 11 wins. Here are a few things I think will be key issues next year:

1) Jim Zorn – besides the fact that his name sounds like an imitation Bond supervillain, there are a couple of legitimate questions. First, he has never been a coordinator, only a QB coach. How will this work out? Second, how will Jason Campbell adapt to the West Coast offense?

2) Receivers – it took until week 10 for a Redskins WR to get a touchdown. Will Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly solve this problem?

3) Dan Snyder – can he keep his paws off the team enough to let his football guys do what he pays them the big bucks for?

GIANTS - Comments on NFC East Day 1 picks

2008-04-27T13:34:00.012-04:00

This was a very enjoyable draft. I loved watching the faces of my Eagles and Cowboys fan roommates, which were filled with disbelief and confusion over their teams draft pick.

Washington Redskins (the one NFC East team for which I didn't get to gauge a fan's reaction)

They may have had the best draft day of all the NFC East teams, as they traded down and got additional picks and still got to address one of their biggest needs, WR, with Devin Thomas out of Michigan State, who is considered to be one of the best WR in the draft. ((Mel Kiper's Top 5 by position) and (Scout's Inc. Position Rankings)) In fact, he was the second WR drafted, after the Rams' odd pick of WR Donnie Avery, who many thought was a huge reach. Scout's Inc. Round 2 Analysis saying biggest reach and Fox Sports stating no one saw Avery as the first receiver picked.

The Redskins used the rest of their Day 1 picks to pick a TE, Fred Davis out of USC, and a WR, Malcolm Kelly, out of Oklahoma. So the Redskins picked up two of the top WRs in the draft and picked up a solid TE, I guess to back up Chris Cooley. This should help the Redskins' biggest weakness, their offense, though I think they do need to address their defense at some point, which they did not do till the 4th Round. Mel Kiper also felt it was a good move for the Skins to address their offense and give their young quarterback some weapons, a move that the Titans did not make for Vince Young. Mel Kiper's Good Calls and Bad Calls.

Although I respect Kiper and like to look at his analysis, I think his draft grades for NFL teams are suspect. I think he gives bad rankings if a team goes against the grain or doesn't do what he thought they should do. For example, Mel Kiper gave the Giants a C- last year, 2007 Mel Kiper's Draft Grades, which is now seen as a great draft. However, most of the "experts" did not believe the Giants made good picks last year, again because these experts wanted the Giants to do something else (2007 Consensus Draft Grades). I feel like many times they don't look at the players they pick, but instead emphasize that it was something different then the expert liked or they felt they should have picked value over need. Not to mention this year, in which Mel Kiper did not give a team drafting a cornerback in the first round any higher than a B. This does not make sense to me, I understand questioning some of the first round CB picks and saying some were a reach or that there were better players available, but not giving one CB pick over a B? Especially considering that teams like the Cowboys and Bills were in desperate need of CBs, and the ones they got were among the best in the draft.

Dallas Cowboys:

My Cowboys fan roommate, Taz, whined about several moves. First, he thought they should've drafted Rashard Mendenhall over Felix Jones, although many scouts thought this was a good pick, as Jones is a speed back who will be a good complement to Marion Barber. John Clayton's Day One Winners and Losers and ESPN's Draft Tracker, Kiper giving the Jones pick an A and the Mendenhall pick a B. I think that when you have a chance to pick a quality RB who can be an every down back, he is the better pick. I think it is better to pick the quality every down back over a guy who will only be a speed back/3rd down back. This is because if Marion Barber ever gets hurt - and given his style of running, this is a strong possibility - Jones will not be able to step in and take over. Taz fears that Felix Jones will be another Julius Jones, namely, a RB that runs a few yards and falls over the second there is any kind of contact. I for one see a distinct probability that this could happen, and he just happens to have the same last name as Julius(though this probably means nothing). Even though RB was a need for them as they got rid of Julius Jones and another running back, I think they should have looked to their defense first. But with two 1st round draft picks, the Cowboys had the luxury of picking both an offensive and defensive player in the 1st.

The Cowboys' second pick was to trade up and make sure they could get CB Mike Jenkins. This was one of the Cowboys biggest needs and Mike Jenkins was seen as one of the best cornerbacks in the draft. (Scout's Inc. has him as #2 CB in the draft) This was a good pick for them. Unfortunately this pick did not fulfill my Wish that the Cowboys ignore their defense. Amusingly, he apparently also has character issues, adding to a locker room of other nutjobs, such as Tank Johnson, T.O., and Pacman Jones. Although John Clayton seems to like the Pacman trade, I think it was a bad move. There is no question he is a very good cornerback, but this is a guy who cannot stay out of trouble. Here is a guy waiting to be reinstated and I don't think he is capable of staying out of trouble, so he will not be worth it for the Cowboys. They fulfilled my Wish.

Their last Day 1 pick was for Marellus Bennett, TE out of Texas A&M. This had to be one of the funniest moments of the draft. Just yesterday, Taz went on a rant about the Cowboys move before the draft of trading Akin Ayodele and TE Anthony Fasano for a 4th round pick from the Dolphins. He thought this trade was terrible as 2 years ago the Cowboys traded up to get Fasano in the second round and then went on to trade him for only a fourth round pick; once again they picked up another TE in the 2nd Round, and he will only be a backup to Jason Witten anyway, not to mention the presence of TO, who demands a certain number of passes a game, and the other Cowboys WR in the mix.

Again, they addressed their offense with 2 out of their 3 day one picks- I like it.

Philadelphia Eagles:

The Eagles picks were another source of draft day fun for me, especially seeing the increasingly depressed look on Alli's face. After trading their 1st round pick in 2007, Alli pleaded that they do anything but trade down again. And what happened? The Eagles once again traded down. Although this was a great trade in terms of value for the Eagles, Eagles Draft Day, getting the Panthers' 2nd and 4th round picks this year and a 1st round pick next year, I dont think it was a good move- neither did Alli apparently. First, they were in need of an OT, especially with Winston Justice as their current tackle of the future who recently got schooled by Osi Umeniyora, soJeff Otah would have been a big help. Also, with McNabb not getting any younger and Kevin Kolb unlikely to do much in the future (though I may be wrong on this), I think you need to worry about your team now, and not keep pushing away your 1st round picks.

Then came the 2nd round, where the Eagles once again traded down several spots. This happened right after a "they better not trade down again" from Alli. They did this to upgrade from a 5th to a 4th round pick this year. They just gave up all picks until the 47th pick, and I think lost the chance to really strengthen their team. I do think their actual picks were good in DT Trevor Laws and DeSean Jackson. Of course, Alli did not like Trevor Laws because "Defensive Tackle is not a 'sexy' pick", but he was a guy I was hoping the Giants might look at. DeSean Jackson is a speedy receiver from Cal, but is very small and weak, and I could easily see this being a bust, but for now it looks like a solid pick.

I will analyze the Giants draft in its entirety after the draft is complete.

REDSKINS - Quick Update

2008-04-27T13:16:00.007-04:00

Posted by Taz:

We are supposed to be suckering in a Redskins blogger soon (unlike Alli and I, he is studying for finals). So to fill the void, I will post a Redskins analysis of the draft. Then all of you can make fun of a Cowboys homer trying to pretend to be a Redskins homer.

COWBOYS - Day 2 Update

2008-04-27T13:06:00.006-04:00

Posted by Taz

So now that we have completed about eight billion trades to stockpile 2009 picks (anyone thinking that we are going to throw a 1st and two 3rds for a WR?), and I spent about 3 hours in anticipation about what we are going to pick, we finally made a pick for a......

Running Back.

Didn't we just draft one of these yesterday?

Despite my confusion (and the fact that Alli and Chris made fun of me for it again), I'm fine with this, because it's not like there is any position that we really need to replace (you can gripe about Roy Williams, or the #2 WR spot, but we aren't finding the replacement in the 4th round anyways). We also have only one RB on the roster who has not been the starter in the NFL and is represented by Drew "I think I am Jerry Maguire" Rosenhaus, who will probably find a way to cause a problem in these negotiations for a long-term contract.

The only problem I have is the fact that we have two rookies (one who had a knee injury last year) backing up Barber. I know that RBs are quick to adapt to the NFL level, but you never know about rookies.

EAGLES - Draft Day 2 (comments & complaints)

2008-04-27T10:52:00.008-04:00

Posted by Alli

The 3rd round is underway, although it somehow seems less prestigious now that it's been lumped with 4 thru 7 on day 2. Nevertheless, the Birds have about 120 picks in these 5 rounds so it's important that they make some good decisions and fill in their various gaps. And some of us (i.e. me) might still be secretly hoping that we decide to throw a chunk of those picks into a package with, say, an injury-prone CB that we can't seem to unload on another team, and magically trade for an elite WR. Hey, it could happen. Surely the Bengals will come to their senses eventually, considering Ocho Cinco's inspiring dedication to whining incessantly.

Anyway, since the Eagles seem to have given up on acquiring an OT anytime soon, I'm looking for a defensive back... preferably a safety but the pickins are slim there (sure, we could have picked S Tyrell Johnson in the 2nd round, but the Birds seem to have a recent propensity for trading down when exactly what they need is left on the board... seems like a wise strategy.) I was thinking maybe a CB, but in the spirit of never choosing what I was actually hoping for, the Eagles took DE Bryan Smith from McNeese State. Fair enough though, we could always use another DE, especially after finally getting rid of the decreasingly productive Kearse. I don't have the slightest clue where in the world McNeese State is, or if it's an actual college or just an online degree program, but I'll trust the Eagles' judgment here for the time being. Sure, they drafted DE Victor Abiamiri in the 2nd round last year and I've yet to see any sign of life there, but they also drafted Trent Cole so I'll call it even for now.

I'll update/complain more in the 4th.

Update: 12:23 p.m.

I guess I should have been more specific when I asked for an OT from Pittsburgh. But on the plus side, we did finally get a much-needed tackle, right after I decided the Eagles weren't going to draft one this year. Shows how much I know. Anyway, I'm going to hope that Pitt had a monster o-line last year and that Mike McGlynn is somewhere in the remote vicinity of Jeff Otah-level talent. At this point, anyone better than Justice is OK in my book.

Update: 1:02 p.m.

And there's our safety, UTEP's Quintin Demps. I don't know a whole lot about Demps, but I do know that we needed a safety so we'll see how he pans out.

On an unrelated note, Chris has been unbearably homerish this afternoon in his glorification of Eli Manning. I'm sure I'm not alone here in my ongoing agony over the fact that I had to witness Eli Manning winning a Super Bowl, something I didn't think I'd ever have to see in my lifetime. Surely god hates me, because this remains the only feasible explanation. Even 3 months later, every time I make a jab about Eli, Chris can always throw his being Super Bowl MVP back in my face. It doesn't matter that Eli only performed well about 25% of the time last year, or that he'll probably suck the rest of his career- he still has the same number of Super Bowl victories as Peyton. Do you ever get the feeling that Peyton is secretly really pissed about the Giants' win?

OK another Eagles pick coming up, I'll update shortly.

COWBOYS - Thoughts on Day 1

2008-04-26T22:03:00.006-04:00

Posted by Taz

So day one of the draft has come and gone, and I just spend the last 6 hours watching the NFL Draft. While this year's draft is much shorter than last year's, it still feels like ages between Cowboy picks. So here are my thoughts.

Pick #22 - Felix Jones

About 90% of mock drafts in the last month seemed to have us picking him. So either all these people had enough smarts to figure it out, or it was one of the worst kept secrets in the draft. Apparently, even though it was absolutly no suprise, I still found it amusing that he fell into our laps. That either means 1) that it was so obvious that people did not believe it would actually happen, or 2) no one tried to get him early because no one wanted him that high. Hopefully, it is the former (and I wouldn't be suprised with all the overthinking that happens before the draft).

At first I was annoyed about this pick because I really wanted Rashard Mendenhall. But then I realized that this fits better for us. It gives us a change of pace back and a person who can do returns. So I'm decently pleased with this pick, despite my earlier whining.

Pick #25 - Mike Jenkins

When I realized he was available (around pick 20, when I realized that everyone and their mother was going to ignore every other position so they could reach for offensive linemen), I got really excited. More corners mean we can move Anthony Henry to saftey and Roy Williams to the bench. But then after 22, I was worried that he wasn't going to make it. Lucky for us, we were able to trade up for the 25 pick by giving Seattle the rights to two guys they probably will cut in training camp.

This guy was projected to go really high, so the fact that we were able to get him at 25 was exciting. He was the corner I wanted (at least until I found out that Rogers-Cromartie was missing a kidney), so the fact that we pulled this off was great.

Round 2 - Martellus Bennett

If you read my previous posts, you know my view on the Fasano pick from 2006. I remember screaming at the television, then calling my friends and bitching about it for days. Then a couple of writers started mentioning that the Cowboys would start using two tight end sets as the base set, which would make the second tight end a necessity, and not a wasted pick. So I conned myself into thinking this whole scheme would work decently. I didn't need it to be the greatest NFL innovation ever, but just enough to be worth the second round pick. I think last week's trade of Fasano tells you how sucessful this pick was.

So as you can guess, I went off the deep end when they announced this pick. Chris and Alli pointed and laughed and me for this pick. I would have pointed and laughed at myself if I wasn't a Cowboys fan. I thought the team was just trying to screw with us Cowboy fans.

After a cooling off period and a bit of internet research, I feel a bit better about this pick. First, it looks like Mr. Bennett is a bit more versatile than Fasano. While he is not the most athletic person ever (though he did play college basketball for two years), he looks to be a decently good pass catcher. Plus he can be lined up all over the place, and not just off the line. So this pick may not suck, but ask me later, after I see this guy play.

What I would like to see tommorrow:

1) More trading down by the Eagles - it makes Alli go nuts
2) Draft another CB. I just want to make sure we can at defend in our dime scheme without having to rely on either Mr. Strip Club or the 90 pound Alan Ball being our 4th corner.
3) Draft a QB in the lower rounds - we definetly need to start developing a decent backup to Romo.
4) No more tight ends! One is enough for one draft, especially when we only have 3 picks left.
5) I would like Early Doucet if we take a WR, but I dont see him falling to us.

EAGLES - Draft Day Has Arrived

2008-04-26T14:08:00.009-04:00

Posted by Alli

Well here it is... Draft Day 2008, or as we like to call it in our apartment, Christmas. But instead of a new iPod, the top of my wishlist includes 340 pounds of Pittsburghian offensive tackle. Hopefully Santa doesn't disappoint this year.

Quite a few drafts have us picking WRs Devin Thomas (Mich St) or Limas Sweed (Texas). Growing up an Oklahoma fan, I'm inherently skeptical of Longhorn product Sweed, but my concern about such a pick goes beyond that. Frankly, I don't trust the Eagles' ability to draft a WR, particularly in the first round. Freddie Mitchell, anyone? And I'm still not sure how well Reggie Brown (2nd round, 04) will ultimately pan out. The most productive Eagles WRs over the past several years (T.O., Kevin Curtis, Stallworth in the 12 minutes that he was healthy) have all been acquired as vets, via trades or free agency, and so I'm not inclined to start trusting our luck in drafting a WR this year with the 19th overall pick (or higher if we trade up). So I'd like to see the Birds wait till at least the 2nd of 3rd rounds to draft a WR- but still keeping my fingers crossed for an unexpected mid-draft Chad/Roy/Anquan Boldin trade.

I'll update this post throughout the draft with my thoughts and cynical commentary.

Update: 5:23 p.m.

We traded out of the 1st round? Again? I've been waiting patiently for over 2 hours to see who we pick, but the Eagles apparently enjoy inflicting mental anguish. With Jeff Otah on the board, we handed him off to Carolina. OK, so we got a lot out of the trade (Carolina's 2nd and 4th and next year's 1st round) but... seriously? Runyon and Tra Thomas are each approximately 87 years old... but oh yeah, we've also got... Winston Justice. Oh sweet Jesus we're f*cked. Let's hope the Eagles address this ASAP.

And then there's still the Lito mystery... where will he end up? Any interesting trade packages in the making?

Update: 8:04 p.m.

And they traded down again! Those sneaky bastards! But, after driving me within an inch of my sanity, the Eagles finally made 2 picks. I was lamenting right before the picks how I really really would prefer not to see them pick up a DT here- I mean, surely after drafting Patterson and Bunkley in 05 and 06, the Eagles wouldn't draft another DT this early? And the Eagles select... Trevor Laws? Who the f is that? Another DT, good god was that necessary?

But then the Eagles somewhat made up for this by picking up a 1st round-caliber WR in DeSean Jackson. Despite being 3 foot 9 and medically classfied as "hobbit", the guy appears to have some serious speed. And we are in desperate need of a good return man. As a quick memory refresher, we had Jeremy Bloom whom we sunk 2 entire offseasons into developing before promptly cutting him without bothering to secure a marginally non-crappy backup, and then proceeded to use 2 guys who had never returned a punt in their lives who then fumbled 2 punts that single-handedly cost us the Packers game. So this is a nice addition, even if he does weigh less than Karen Carpenter.

COWBOYS - Dallas trying to trade for McFadden!

2008-04-26T12:40:00.003-04:00

As per the Philly Daily News. And yes, we checked with our source on this one and it is true (FYI - we actually have a source. It's one source, but hey, it's better than nothing).

COWBOYS - Starting LB + 2006 2nd round pick = 2008 Fourth Rounder

2008-04-26T09:47:00.004-04:00

See here. Another reminder that we completely blew the 2006 draft (anyone remember Skyler Green)?

On a random note, I seem to be hating a bit too much today (see the post below). Hopefully I'll be satisfied with us drafting a player that I probably don't know a thing about and have to wait three years before I truely know if he is a bust or not.

COWBOYS - Dale Hanson still bitter about being fired for being a s***ty announcer

2008-04-26T09:17:00.005-04:00

See the video here. In case if you are wondering, Dale hates on everything related to the Cowboys. As he mentions in the video, he was fired by Jerry Jones as team's radio color analyst, and if you ever see anything he writes or discusses involving the Cowboys, in involves a lot of Cowboy hating.

Despite all the hate, I do agree with some of the things stated in the rant. It is obvious that Jerry Jones is not worried about character. It is also obvious about the hypocracy of the treatment of Pac-Man by fans (ie, we want him to play for our team, but would not hire him ourselves). My main problem with the rant (besides the lame-ass laugh track in the background) is how Dale throws in Senator McCarthy and Bin Laden comparisons. he makes it seem like the world is going to end because the Cowboys sign an irresponsible idiot to play CB. Guess what Dale? This is football, not something more serious. Pac-Man is a dumbass, and there is no doubt about that. And he certainly has caused harm to individuals (see the "making it rain" incident). But he is not a man bent on destroying western civilization as we know it, or some idiot Senator on a dumbass crusade against communism. Allowing Pac-Man to play football or allowing the Cowboys sign players with criminal charges is not going to destroy America. I love football, but I also realize there are more important things in the world, and this idoitic comparisons by mediots just shows how wrapped up their are in their own world.

Links I Find Amusing

2008-04-25T15:05:00.006-04:00

Posted by Taz

Here are some more random weblinks to somewhat distract you from going to BSPN and reading their 39 mock drafts (none of which will be correct).

Great article on all sorts of factors that will cause your favorite team to ignore common sense during the draft.

This bothers me just because the last troubled NFL player to get help from Jim Brown was Maurice Clarett. And what did that do for him? Now he is hanging out in federal prison because he had to buy a bunch of illegal weapons to protect himself from the Israeli mafia (and no I did not make this up – see this).

Ever wondered what would happen if Matt Millen was drafting for every team?

Despite the fact that Brett Favre retired, he will not go away. Exhibit 1 Exhibit 2

Video of Drew Rosenhaus, whining like a little girl. Watch him plea with the Bengals to release his client because their “relationship is not working.” Note how Mr. Rosenhaus ignores that fact that the relationship is not working because Chad Johnson is throwing a temper tantrum. Despite the fact that Mr. Rosenhaus went to the #12 ranked law school in the nation, he apparently did not learn that when you sign a contract, you cannot get out of it by whining like a little bitch about how your client is unhappy.

COWBOYS - We Signed Pac-Man for a 4th?

2008-04-23T20:23:00.005-04:00

Posted by Taz

As you all probably saw in this story, we now own the rights to a suspended cornerback. Fourth rounder and another pick based on performance. While this trade isn't what I wanted (scroll down - I wanted to give up nothing more than a 5th), I can live with this. The question isn't if Pac-Man will do something stupid, but when he will get suspended. If we can get two good years out of him, I consider the trade a success. But realistically, I see him getting suspended before Thanksgiving.

UPDATE: Is this new information going to make this trade look really dumb, or did the Cowboys (and the NFL) already know this?

GIANTS - What My Rivals Should Do (or what I wish they would)

2008-04-19T22:05:00.017-04:00

Posted by Chris

Going into this season I have a lot of hope in the Giants. I feel like both the offense and defense were really clicking at the end of last season. On offense, Eli Manning started to play really well and maybe is on his way to being the franchise quarterback I always believed he was, plus Carr now gives us a good backup. We have 2 great running backs (Bradshaw and Jacobs) and Ward will be returning from injury giving us a good 1, 2, 3 punch. Hedgecock is a solid fullback. Not to mention Burress, who is playing like a top 5-10 receiver, Toomer, a very good possession receiver, Shockey and Boss, good receiving tight ends, and Steve Smith who has begun to develop. We just need Sinorice Moss to become a quality fourth receiver.

I was one of the few Giants fans or anyone for that matter who still believed in Eli Manning, which led to me getting tons of crap from my Homer roommates. But I remember the day of Dave Brown, Kent Graham, Danny Kannell, and even though he was a huge upgrade from the latter 3, Kerry Collins. Eli, even when he was playing poorly was better than all 3 (plenty of scoring, and 3 straight playoff appearances). But now he is really showing what he can do.

I don't even need to get into the defense which played phenomenally in the playoffs, and were the major reason we won the Super Bowl. All we lost was Reggie Torbor, a solid backup LB. We also lost Gibril Wilson, a good safety, but frankly there are only a handful of safeties in the league (Ed Reed, Brian Dawkins, the late Sean Taylor, LaRon Landry, Bob Sanders, and a few others) that really make a difference. Gibril Wilson was not one of them. I mean, Roy Williams made the Pro Bowl, and frankly his pass coverage ability was a huge liability for the Cowboys. My point is basically that Wilson is replaceable. We also lost Mitchell who as a good starter, but we do have others like Gerris Wilkinson, Kiwanuka, and a draft pick that could replace him. So besides Strahan's possible retirement, our defense will be just as good if not better next year.

I am not going to get into who we should draft because frankly, I lack the knowledge on each of the college players listed in mock drafts to speak intelligently for the Giants. The main guys I have seen are Jerod Mayo (if he falls to us), Kenny Phillips, Tyrell Johnson, Dan Connor, and others. You can go to another blog, Giants 101, where Rich O'Callaghan's latest post states that the Giants should pick Tyrell Johnson over Phillips and possibly even consider trading down. Sean O'Sullivan is the only one I have seen suggest Reggie Smith. Or you could go to ESPN's Safety Rankings , which ranks Phillips over Johnson (Connor is an ILB and not ranked against Mayo). Or you could go to Mel Kiper's and Todd McShay's Side by Side Mock Drafts, where they have picked Tyrell Johnson and Kenny Phillips respectively. Or there's Nfl.com's Vic Carucci , who has the Giants selecting Jerod Mayo (though I don't believe this draft because I don't think Keith Rivers will get picked 30, or Mayo 31), and Nfl.Com's Kirwan , who has us picking Kenny Phillips, or Sportsnation, Sports Nation vs. Kiper and McShay, who has us picking Dan Connor.

My point is that I can't add much to the debate; I haven't watched film or seen these people play. So I will not decide which Pick the Giants should make (I just hope they pick a Safety or LB), or mock analysts (too much) who decide what the Giants need. I think making a pick adds nothing, and I also trust Jerry Reese, who had all but one draft pick play in the Super Bowl (7 of 8), 4 of which who were serious contributors (Bradshaw, Boss, Smith, and Ross). I won't be one of those bloggers (there are tons for every team) who think they know better than these "experts" and post how Kiper or McShay are idiots and they know better because they saw a few games or film of a few players. Of course they get things wrong, but I bet if any of these bloggers or posters in ESPN.com's comment area had to make the amount of picks these guys make, they would be just as wrong, if not more so. The key is they bring support to their arguments and put in the necessary research. I will not be one of those people. I respect the "experts" and I believe that they offer valuable insight.

So after my long rants, I will go on to my point: my Top 10 list (in no particular order) of what stupid mistakes I hope the NFC East Rivals make:

1) The Redskins do what they have done every year: throw lots of money at over-priced free agents, even though year-after-year it hasn't done jack.
2) The Eagles draft another Quarterback.
3) The Cowboys waste a high draft pick to get Pacman Jones (who will hopefully not be reinstated till at least mid-season), and then have a locker room with Tank Johnson, T.O., and Pacman Jones; exactly the kind of locker room I want!
4) The Redskins give up on their franchise quarterback, Jason Campbell; he may not be that good, but when you don't have a set quarterback, things do not work out well.
5) The Eagles trade Donovan McNabb (he is a very good quarterback and they would be foolish to get rid of him).
6) The Cowboys keep letting Jessica Simpson (or fill-in-the-blank high-profile Romo girlfriend), come to the stadium with camera shots of her twice a quarter.
7) The Cowboys add more firepower to their offense and ignore their main weakness, their crappy defense
8) The Eagles don't draft a WR, a position where they're in desperate need of a #1.
9) The Cowboys don't draft a WR. I know this contradicts #7, but I think they need to address this at some point later in the draft, as T.O. is getting old (in more ways than one), Glenn never returned to form after injury, and Crayton is a #3 receiver at best.
10) The Patriots let their team get older and older, especially on defense. I know the Patriots are not an NFC East Rival, but I dislike them as much, if not more, than the other East Rivals. As a Yankee fan in Boston, I obtained a real dislike for Boston sports, especially New England, where most fans are not true fans as they only rely on the Pats to feel good when the Sox were not good, and whom they expect to win. It is trull obnoxious. My dislike increases when the Red Sox play and the traffic around Kenmore Square (vehicular, pedestrian, not to mention the crowded T) becomes unbearable.

Links I Find Amusing

2008-04-19T18:07:00.006-04:00

Posted by Taz

Michael Silver explains why in three years, there will be a 70% chance you will be disappointed with your first round pick.

Keeping the above article in mind, does it then make sense to trade the NFL’s sack leader for a first rounder and something else?

Why do people think stuff like this is socially acceptable?

It seems like Sal Paolantonio’s new book (excerpted here, here, and here) involves a bunch of hating.

Apparently teams other than the Texans do not need their draft picks to make progress.

EAGLES - 85 Things I'd Like to See From the Eagles on Draft Day (actually, just 3)

2008-04-19T13:52:00.015-04:00

Posted by Alli

You’d think after all the T.O. shenanigans, all the times we had to see Drew Rosenhaus’ weasely little mug sprawled across the TV whining about how his client needs more money, and the entire season it took the Birds to recover from the ongoing train-wreck known as Terrell Owens, that there’d be no way I’d be receptive to a Chad Johnson trade. And yet, here I am, silently praying that Andy & co are secretly working on some Lito Sheppard-esque package to dangle in front of the Bengals between now and the draft.

First, to be clear, it’s not that I want to get rid of Lito. I fully recognize that Lito, Asante and Dawk would make a beast of a secondary. However, aside from Lito’s nagging injury concerns, I think we have a bigger hole to plug. I’ve spent the last couple of months trying to convince myself that, now that McNabb is fully recovered and L.J. Smith is back and Kevin Curtis is doing better and Reggie Brown occasionally doesn’t suck and if Westbrook stays healthy, that maybe those guys can get the job done on offense. Riiiiiight. Just can’t get those images of the 2007 season and the god-awful red zone performance out of my head. I’ve been trying to believe the crap that the Eagles keep feeding us that they’ve already got the guys they need on offense to make it back to the playoffs. But I can’t seem to ignore that pesky little voice in my head wondering whether Ray Charles could have done a better job finding the end zone than McNabb in recent games. Or that Christopher Reeve-sans-wheelchair could have run more impressive routes than Reggie Brown or Greg Lewis. Whether it’s the fault of the QB or the receiving corps or both, the Eagles receivers can’t catch jack inside the 20, and we all know how much that sucked to watch last year.

Maybe I’ve just convinced myself that, despite occasionally running his mouth and taping “Ocho Cinco” onto his jersey, Chad Johnson is still not nearly the breed of pain-in-the-ass that T.O. is. Or maybe I just think it’s worth the risk given the current state of affairs. Regardless, Chad is essentially worthless to the Bengals at this point, and because Cincy’s defense is nothing short of horrendous (with the secondary being an entirely new stratum of monstrosity), I see an ideal trade opportunity for both squads. The future suddenly looks glorious with a solid number one receiver on the roster. Westbrook already demands double-coverage; add a healthy McNabb, Johnson, Curtis, L.J. Smith (and OK even Reggie) to the mix and you’ve got yourself a nearly unstoppable offense.

And oh yeah, as for the actual draft… For the love of god, I pray the Birds don’t try their luck with a 1st round WR that may or may not ever pan out. Yes, I realize that if they don’t pick up a veteran, they absolutely need to draft a WR somewhere along the line. No, I do not want that to be in the first round. Yes, I know that the Eagles need some major help in the return game. No, once again I do not want that to be in the first round. Very obviously, we DO need an offensive tackle, and we need one now. Runyan and Tra/William/Tra Thomas have been invaluable and yet it’s no secret that they’re getting old. And if you watched the first Giants game last season, you’d rather see Todd Pinkston come back to Philly and play tackle than possibly think about throwing Winston Justice in the starting spot anytime in the foreseeable future. Accordingly, I wholeheartedly agree with the Delco Times that the Eagles should consider trading up for a top-10 to 12 spot in the first round to go after a top o-lineman. After all, as good as the offense can be, the Birds can’t allow them to be hamstringed in coming years by failing to shore up an aging and banged-up o-line.

And finally, there are the safety concerns. Dawkins swears he’ll be as tough as ever this season, but his injuries are a major source of unease. And then there’s the strong safety spot, where we’ve learned that Sean Considine will never be more than par. Quintin Mikell and J.R. Reed did a great job of filling in last season but the fact remains that the Eagles NEEEEEED to pick up a safety. So maybe Andy & co couldn’t foresee so many safeties going so quickly in the first round last year, but they absolutely cannot neglect to draft a safety by the end of the first day this year. And I don’t care what happens, if the Eagles trade down in the first round to the benefit of the Cowboys or any other stupid NFC East team again this season, I’m going to gouge my eyes out. Long story short: GET A FRIGGIN SAFETY, AND GET ONE EARLY.

And there you have it… here’s hoping for no more Kevin Kolb caliber surprises in 2008.

COWBOYS - 5 Things I Don't Want to See on Draft Day

2008-04-19T12:30:00.010-04:00

Posted by Taz

So any moron can write about what a team should pick up with their draft picks. In fact, pick a sports website, and they will be going off about who should pick what. I prefer the opposite. I’d rather tell you what I do not want. I don’t do this in some lame attempt to be different. I do this to keep my sanity. See, if I did what every other Cowboys fan did, and obsessively fixate on a player, I would be disappointed when we picked someone else. Like you know, in 2004 when we decided to ignore drafting Steven Jackson, and ended up with Julius Jones. Or two years ago, when I hoped we would not use one of our first two picks on a tight end. Lo and behold, we ended up with Anthony Fasano. Apparently it’s too much to hope that your team will not spend their second round pick to back up your starting pro bowl tight end.

So instead of being disappointed we didn’t end up with (fill in name of player from your undergrad school that will be a bust in the NFL), I just want to be thankful that we don’t do something so dumb in the draft, that I get made fun of by my anti-Cowboy friends.
So here are my five things I do not want to happen on draft day:

1) We draft a linebacker in round one

It’s not the fact that we spent our last 3 first round picks and a second round pick on linebackers. It’s not the fact that of those four players, three are backups. It’s not the fact that now everyone views Carpenter as the player that is included in every idiotic trade idea by people who post on message boards. You know…we offer Carpenter and a sixth rounder for Anquan Boldin, Chad Johnson, Jason Taylor, the rights to Brett Farve when he unretires, etc. (I never understand these people – if we think that Carpenter sucks, why would NFL personnel people think he is great. Do these people think that the only people who watch games in the NFL are them and not GMs of other teams)? It also isn’t the fact that in the last three years we have signed 2 linebackers to be starters, and converted Greg Ellis to OLB. It definitely is not the fact that the majority of the league would trade their linebacking corps for ours. Or the fact that we have more pressing needs (like having a backup running back who wasn’t on the practice squad last year, or last’s years 7th rounder as our #3 corner).

It’s the fact that if we pick a linebacker, it will mean that the Giants don’t get that player. This means that I will have to hear Chris whine about not getting a linebacker in round one. This whining will increase when the Giants look at their board, realize their best player on it is Joe Flacco (you know, the guy who had to transfer from Pitt because he was stuck behind a player best known for this), and not care that he will be spending the majority of his Giant’s career holding a clipboard and keeping Jared Lorenzen from stealing all the post game food spread in their locker room. I know this because it was exactly like last year, when I had to hear Alli whine about the fact that instead of ending up with a safety in round one, they ended up with Kevin Kolb. In fact, Alli still complains about it, and I want to avoid having to hear the same from Chris.

2) Trading up for McFadden

You do not want to know how afraid I am of trading up in this draft. It’s one thing if we trade up about 3-4 picks and lose a 4th rounder in the process. It’s another when we package both our first rounders and a pick next year to move to the 9 spot so we can pick up McFadden. Don’t get me wrong; I would love to have him. But I would also love to have Tony Gonzales backing up Witten, or love having Romo backing up Brady. It’s a freaking luxury; something that is stupid to go after when we can use the exact same picks to fill our holes.

This whole trading up thing also bothers me for more than just being a luxury. First, we are going to be subjected to trillions of articles written by Mediots and posts by idiot bloggers like myself. Second, we have a bunch of key players to extend such as Newman, Barber, Canty, etc. And then there is DeMarcus Ware, who is going to cost so much to extend, it is not funny. Adding a huge contract in the draft doesn’t help this, something the Mediots will point out. Third, how much playing time is he getting? Who is sitting when the game is on the line, Pro Bowler Marion Barber, or top 10 draft pick McFadden? Do you really want to have BSPN’s talking heads debate this on Sportscenter three times a week for the entire season? Fourth, by using our top two picks to fill a luxury, we do not fill actual needs. What’s the use of having McFadden when we have to spend the second half of games watching Sam Hurd and Miles Austin drop pass after pass because our 3rd corner gave up 3 touchdowns in the first half and we can’t throw to TO and Witten because they are each double covered? Then we will end up with tons of articles by Mediots talking about how useless the McFadden trade was.

Actually, I think this bothers me for one reason – my quality of life is going to suffer if every time I turn on the TV, I have to hear Woody Paige, Jim Rome, Skip Bayless, Steven A. Smith, or some other loud-talking BSPN moron screaming at the top of their lungs about how they are right. Note how much I detest the fact BSPN analysts seem to think that yelling makes their idiotic point more valid, and the fact that BSPN seems to think that yelling is a perfectly acceptable form of journalism.

3) Try to get a Bengals Receiver

Yeah, I don’t want Chad Johnson. I understand having TO and Chad on the same team works great in fantasy, but in real life I don’t see that happening. If we ended up with Randy Moss opposite TO, at least he only takes off plays when things don’t go his way. If we had Chad, either him or TO would be perpetually throwing childish tantrums in the media while the other was complaining that Romo was only targeting him only 68% of the time. Plus the amount of money we would have to throw at Chad would probably somehow bite us in the ass when we have to resign Barber, Newman, or Ware.

I don’t want Chris Henry. It’s not the fact that he is a one man crime wave (as declared by the Ohio Judiciary), or the fact that he apparently doesn’t have a clue how much of a moron he is. It’s the fact that he once was arrested while wearing his own jersey. Wearing your own jersey? What the hell is up with that? Did he run out of clothing that day? Or did he want to make sure people knew that he was on the Bengals, somehow forgetting that any person with $400.00 to spare and who can navigate here on the internet can do the exact same thing?

4) Show footage of the Cowboy’s draft room during the draft

Every time they show a live shot of the draft room, you see Jerry Jones right in the middle of the camera in the middle of a long monologue to a group of his underlings. Do you think I want to see this? Hell no! I don’t want to be reminded that the man running the Cowboys is the same guy who once traded two first round picks for Joey Galloway. And picked Quincy Carter in the second round. And signed Ryan Leaf to be our starting quarterback. And does more commercials than any other Cowboys player. I don’t want to remember that the only way to remove him as GM is to charge him with some sort of tax fraud, insider trading, or something else that has a long jail sentence under the federal sentencing guidelines. I want to at least maintain the fiction that somewhat credible football people are having some input into who we draft.

5) Trade anything above a 5th round pick for Pac Man Jones

The fact is that the amount of leverage we have here is about as much as you can get. The player in question has done so many dumb things, that he is a public relations nightmare. The team has publicly vowed to get rid of him. The only person bidding for his services are the Cowboys. Heck, Pac Man won’t even apply for reinstatement until after he gets traded - so the Titans cannot even play him if they wanted.

The Cowboys keep saying that this will not affect their draft strategy and that he is a luxury. This should mean that the Cowboys should say “we are offering nothing more than a 5th, and if you don’t like it, why don’t you trade him to someone else? Oh wait, no one wants him, and the moment you cut him, he is signing with Dallas anyways.” Frankly, I am afraid that because these trade talks have been going on for a while and because they are so public, Jerry has convinced himself that he has to have Pac Man, and decide that it’s ok to trade a 3rd and a 2009 conditional pick.

I’m not only going to be pissed if we overpay for Pac Man, the fact is if we overvalue his services in a way that makes us pay too much compensation for him, we will start relying on him too much. And just wait until December, when he finds a way to do something stupid in front of another strip club and Goodell kicks him out of the league. I feel that it is only a matter of time.

Welcome

2008-04-19T12:16:00.001-04:00

Posted by Taz

Welcome everyone. This is the first post of our new blog, NFC East Homers. The idea is that we are going to have 4 bloggers (one for each NFC East team). Right now we are still in the process of bouncing off ideas and figuring out how we will be writing this blog. So hopefully we will be ready for the 2008 Football Season. Keep checking back to see more posts - we will be posting several items each week.

NFC EAST HOMERS

Giants -- Preseason Game 1

Giants --Training Camp Notes

EAGLES- The Vick Situation

EAGLES - Fine Like Wine, Baby

EAGLES - Back to the NFC Championship!

EAGLES - ...and on to the Giants

EAGLES - PLAYOFFS!!!

EAGLES - Post-Cleveland, hopes still alive

EAGLES - Just Sayin...

EAGLES - Forever Underachievers?

Giants - Will the Giants finally get respect?

The Travis Henry I Remember

Links I find amusing

Links I Find Amusing

EAGLES- In Deep Shit...

REDSKINS- An Inside-the-Beltway Perspective

This & That, Week 3

EAGLES - 3 Weeks In...

COWBOYS - My two cents on the Eagles win

EAGLES - And the season is off and running...

GIANTS - Finally A Post from The Giants Fan - Umenyiora, Strahan, Lost Players and Draft Picks

The blog is back!

Hiatus Until August

Links I Find Amusing

COWBOYS - What to do with Roy

COWBOYS - Tony Romo tries Jessica's line of work

Links I Find Amusing

COWBOYS - Rookie Mini Camp

COWBOYS- Chris Henry?

REDSKINS - Links to Draft Pick Analysis

2009 Mock Draft Up Already?

Post Draft Links I Find Amusing

COWBOYS - Quick Review of the Draft and Giants/Eagles bashing

COWBOYS - Glimpse of Dallas' War Room

EAGLES - Post-Draft Thoughts, NFC East Grades

REDSKINS - A Cowboy fan blogging on behalf of your team???

GIANTS - Comments on NFC East Day 1 picks

REDSKINS - Quick Update

COWBOYS - Day 2 Update

EAGLES - Draft Day 2 (comments & complaints)

COWBOYS - Thoughts on Day 1

EAGLES - Draft Day Has Arrived

COWBOYS - Dallas trying to trade for McFadden!

COWBOYS - Starting LB + 2006 2nd round pick = 2008 Fourth Rounder

COWBOYS - Dale Hanson still bitter about being fired for being a s***ty announcer

Links I Find Amusing

COWBOYS - We Signed Pac-Man for a 4th?

GIANTS - What My Rivals Should Do (or what I wish they would)

Links I Find Amusing

EAGLES - *85* Things I'd Like to See From the Eagles on Draft Day (actually, just 3)

COWBOYS - 5 Things I Don't Want to See on Draft Day

Welcome

EAGLES - 85 Things I'd Like to See From the Eagles on Draft Day (actually, just 3)