Eagles in the Super Bowl??
I know, for the vast majority of you, "another football post??" Feel free to skip this, I am not offended. It's mostly for me and if there is one or two others who might be half way interested, then that's a bonus.
A lot of the so called experts have the Eagles going to the Super Bowl this year. They were close last year and had a great draft and big off season signings. Maybe a month or two ago I would have agreed. The Eagles, if things go well, will be in the mix. But this team has some serious issues. They've had the single worst training camp I can remember. And I'm worried.
Let's start on offense. They spent A LOT of time and money making big changes to the O-line. They used to hve two of the best tackles in the league. John Runyan and Tra Thomas. Pro-bowlers, the both of them. They simply let Tra go to jacksonville and didn't even make a serious offer. Runyan is old and had major surgery. So, they signed Jason Peters to a huge contract. They guy had one GREAT season in Buffalo and made a name for himself that year. And Stacy Andrews from Cincy and is brother to Shawn Andrews. They made Peters the left tackle and moved Shawn Andrews to right tackle. Well, Stacy Andrews was coming off surgery and has been hurt, Peters has been hurt and looked bad. Todd Heramans, the guard broke his foot. And Shawn Andrews missed last year due to depression and now has a bad back. It now looks like he will be out for a long time. The offense line hasn't had a single snap together, the starting right tackle going into the opener, Justice, played one game and let up 6 sacks in that one prime time game to the Giants. It's so bad, they are looking into bringing Runyan back. I see a lot of running around in McNabb's future.
The Qb situation is needlessly messed up by signing Vick. Vick will mostly likely have very little impact. He's never done the Wildcat stuff, he's been away from football for a long time and looked awful in the preseason. There's a big waste in practice doing this wildcat stuff, when the team does better by simplifying the offense. Vick is on the exemption list, so he isn't even practicing. And the idiot fans who hate McNabb still want to see Vick play and will call his name out during games, pissing off McNabb. I've disliked Vick prior to his disgusting crime and always thought he was over-rated.
The tight end situation is bad. Celek is pretty good, but after that you have nothing. Pretty stupid since the Eagles could have had Tony Gonzalez last year for a 3rd pick. At least the picked Alex Smith as a backup, who should be fairly servicaible. The receivers are the best they've had in a long time, which is sort of sad. They're pretty good, but not great. Jackson is undersized, but explosive. Curtis is pretty reliable when healthy. I don't expect much from the hyped Maclin though. Very talented. but missed a lot of training camp due to contract holdouts, and came from a simple spread offense in Missouri. Jackson did well his rookie season due to injuries and his offense in college was a more of a pro-style offense in Cal.
The defense may be worse. The great Jim Johnson passed away, leaving us with an unexperienced coordinator. Tough, supposedly, but untested. They let Dawkins leave and I think they under estimate what his motivation and leadershio brought to the team. He was a bit of liability in coverage recently, but was a sure tackler. Hell he was defensive player of the month in December last year. His replacement of Demps and possibly Sean Jones (signed away from Cleveland) have not impressed. In fact, they were so under-whelmed that rookie cornerback Macho Harris will start at free safety. A position he has never played. Brilliant.
They lost their best linebacker, Stewart Bradly, during a stupid fan event. Which means that Omar Gaither is mostly playing MLB- he's been ok and has done it before. But he's lost that starting job before, but with no better options he's there. he's ok in coverage but liability against the run. Joe Mays, the back up, is good at stopping the run, but can absolutely not cover anyone in coverage. Which means Gaither will play more. With so much inexperience, teams will run and throw the ball at the middle of the eagles D, all game long.
The corners are actually great. And the D-line does seem to be pretty solid. So that is positive at least. Special teams isn't though. Coverage has been terrible throughout preseason. Rocca has some great punts one minute and then shanks it the next, he's very inconsistent. The return game seems to be good, though.
I am worried, I could see this team self destructing. The good news is that there isn't a whole lot of competition out there. Most of the good teams have had equally bad preseasons, too. the Giants had a rash of injuries and no go to WR. THe Cowboys did nothing to make themselves better this offseason, and the Giants have had a rash of injuries. I would peg Green Bay as the most likely to win the conference, Giants second, followed by the Eagles and then the Bears, and then the Vikes behind them.Arizona will step backwards and Carolina has had a bad preseason. Although I have a feeling that they'll beat the Eagles Sunday. Very worried, if the o-line and defense come together, they'll be fantastic. But honestly, those are some decent sized "if"s.
A lot of the so called experts have the Eagles going to the Super Bowl this year. They were close last year and had a great draft and big off season signings. Maybe a month or two ago I would have agreed. The Eagles, if things go well, will be in the mix. But this team has some serious issues. They've had the single worst training camp I can remember. And I'm worried.
Let's start on offense. They spent A LOT of time and money making big changes to the O-line. They used to hve two of the best tackles in the league. John Runyan and Tra Thomas. Pro-bowlers, the both of them. They simply let Tra go to jacksonville and didn't even make a serious offer. Runyan is old and had major surgery. So, they signed Jason Peters to a huge contract. They guy had one GREAT season in Buffalo and made a name for himself that year. And Stacy Andrews from Cincy and is brother to Shawn Andrews. They made Peters the left tackle and moved Shawn Andrews to right tackle. Well, Stacy Andrews was coming off surgery and has been hurt, Peters has been hurt and looked bad. Todd Heramans, the guard broke his foot. And Shawn Andrews missed last year due to depression and now has a bad back. It now looks like he will be out for a long time. The offense line hasn't had a single snap together, the starting right tackle going into the opener, Justice, played one game and let up 6 sacks in that one prime time game to the Giants. It's so bad, they are looking into bringing Runyan back. I see a lot of running around in McNabb's future.
The Qb situation is needlessly messed up by signing Vick. Vick will mostly likely have very little impact. He's never done the Wildcat stuff, he's been away from football for a long time and looked awful in the preseason. There's a big waste in practice doing this wildcat stuff, when the team does better by simplifying the offense. Vick is on the exemption list, so he isn't even practicing. And the idiot fans who hate McNabb still want to see Vick play and will call his name out during games, pissing off McNabb. I've disliked Vick prior to his disgusting crime and always thought he was over-rated.
The tight end situation is bad. Celek is pretty good, but after that you have nothing. Pretty stupid since the Eagles could have had Tony Gonzalez last year for a 3rd pick. At least the picked Alex Smith as a backup, who should be fairly servicaible. The receivers are the best they've had in a long time, which is sort of sad. They're pretty good, but not great. Jackson is undersized, but explosive. Curtis is pretty reliable when healthy. I don't expect much from the hyped Maclin though. Very talented. but missed a lot of training camp due to contract holdouts, and came from a simple spread offense in Missouri. Jackson did well his rookie season due to injuries and his offense in college was a more of a pro-style offense in Cal.
The defense may be worse. The great Jim Johnson passed away, leaving us with an unexperienced coordinator. Tough, supposedly, but untested. They let Dawkins leave and I think they under estimate what his motivation and leadershio brought to the team. He was a bit of liability in coverage recently, but was a sure tackler. Hell he was defensive player of the month in December last year. His replacement of Demps and possibly Sean Jones (signed away from Cleveland) have not impressed. In fact, they were so under-whelmed that rookie cornerback Macho Harris will start at free safety. A position he has never played. Brilliant.
They lost their best linebacker, Stewart Bradly, during a stupid fan event. Which means that Omar Gaither is mostly playing MLB- he's been ok and has done it before. But he's lost that starting job before, but with no better options he's there. he's ok in coverage but liability against the run. Joe Mays, the back up, is good at stopping the run, but can absolutely not cover anyone in coverage. Which means Gaither will play more. With so much inexperience, teams will run and throw the ball at the middle of the eagles D, all game long.
The corners are actually great. And the D-line does seem to be pretty solid. So that is positive at least. Special teams isn't though. Coverage has been terrible throughout preseason. Rocca has some great punts one minute and then shanks it the next, he's very inconsistent. The return game seems to be good, though.
I am worried, I could see this team self destructing. The good news is that there isn't a whole lot of competition out there. Most of the good teams have had equally bad preseasons, too. the Giants had a rash of injuries and no go to WR. THe Cowboys did nothing to make themselves better this offseason, and the Giants have had a rash of injuries. I would peg Green Bay as the most likely to win the conference, Giants second, followed by the Eagles and then the Bears, and then the Vikes behind them.Arizona will step backwards and Carolina has had a bad preseason. Although I have a feeling that they'll beat the Eagles Sunday. Very worried, if the o-line and defense come together, they'll be fantastic. But honestly, those are some decent sized "if"s.