EAGLES - ...and on to the Giants

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.

The blog is back!

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.

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

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.