Predictions

It's that time of the year again where everyone makes a fool of themselves predicting the Eagles season. (See last year.) In the comments make your season long, game by game predictions and whatever notes you might like to add. Also, what teams will be in the AFC and NFC championship games, the Super Bowl, who will win it all, and what teams will be this year's worst?

Sep 9 @ Green Bay 1:00pm
Sep 17 Washington 8:30pm
Sep 23 Detroit 1:00pm
Sep 30 @ N.Y. Giants 8:15pm
Week 5 BYE
Oct 14 @ N.Y. Jets 1:00pm
Oct 21 Chicago 4:15pm
Oct 28 @ Minnesota 1:00pm
Nov 4 Dallas 8:15pm
Nov 11 @ Washington 1:00pm
Nov 18 Miami 1:00pm
Nov 25 @ New England 8:15pm
Dec 2 Seattle 1:00pm
Dec 9 N.Y. Giants 1:00pm
Dec 16 @ Dallas 4:15pm
Dec 23 @ New Orleans 1:00pm
Dec 30 Buffalo 1:00pm

Eagles cuts

From the Eagles website, the real cut list:

Returner and receiver Jeremy Bloom, punter Dirk Johnson, cornerback Rashad Barksdale, fullback Jeremy Cain, wide receiver Zac Collie, linebacker Tank Daniels, fullback Jason Davis, cornerback Dustin Fox, safety C.J. Gaddis, wide receiver Michael Gasperson, safety Erick Harris, center Jasper Harvey, guard Jacob Hobbs, defensive tackle Mauricio Lopez, running back Nate Ilaoa, defensive end Marques Murrell, wide receiver J.J. Outlaw, tackle Jonathan Palmer, linebacker Dedrick Roper, defensive tackle Jeremy Clark, wide receiver Bill Sampy and tight end Lee Vickers.

Well the governor is 0-2. When he was on Macnow's show mid-August in between villifying Vick's cruelty to animals and praising 5 Brothers hamburgers, he predicted Bloom would make a big impact this season. Oops.

I agree with going with Rocca but I hope he works out, because I think he is somewhat of a risk. Wait till it gets freezing cold. I also would have liked to see Jason Davis make it instead of Tapeh. Remember those brainless passes to slow moving Tapeh on 3rd downs in critical situations last year? Davis might have had the quickness to get up field and convert.

How 'bout them Cowboys coaches?

Phils sweep Mets

Most exciting Phillies series since 1993. The fans did not like the Mets. Even the Phanatic got into the act.

Eagles lose

This game was boring and sucked. This game also should have ended with an 11-10 final just like the Phillies game earlier in the day which would have been nicely coincidental, not ironic. But the Jets drove to the Eagles 20 or so in the final minute and won the game 13-10 with a chip shot field goal.

The backup defense actually played better vs. its competition than the starters did last week. The backup offense though muddled around like the starters. They moved the ball but when they got into scoring position blew it. A bad snap and fumbled hold by Rocca, a missed Akers FG and a couple of turnovers added up to a whopping 3 first half points. Special teams as a whole was pretty bad as well. Poor coverage on kicks and Jeremy Bloom had his worst performance yet. I think he'll get cut or sent to the practice squad. Buckhalter will do kickoffs and Greg Lewis, who also isn't any good but is a better receiver, will do punts. One important injury - AJ Feeley broke his left hand.

Anyway, here's the rest:

• I think it's funny the starters have to dress for this stupid game.
• Jason Davis, backup FB, looked good last week in the late stages of the game on a couple or runs and he also broke some tackles and blocked well tonight in his limited chances. I think he has more quickness and agility than Tapeh but Reid will probably keep Tapeh.
• Ike Reese has some nerve busting on Tony Hunt's extra big head.
• Speaking of Tony Hunt, he had a really good game tonight. Can he return kicks?
• Almost every game an Eagle has been destroyed.
  Game 1: Rocca
  Game 2: Jeremy Bloom
  Game 3: Kevin Curtis
  Tonight: Feeley.
• Some refs were wiped out again this week.
• Paraphrased Dave Spadaro: "Celek's red tinted contacts reduce glare and allow him to see in 3D."
• Abiamiri had another decent game and a smart play on a fumble recovery.
• Kolb's dad was all Eagled up and when he was interviewed was funnily harsh on his son's performance so far in the game.
• Reid was 0-2 on challenges.
• Marques Murrell stood out in this game. He's a rookie DE from 1-AA Appalachian State.
• Kolb stood out again, which is good since Feeley broke his hand. His TD pass was a thing of beauty. Ike Reese was getting so excited about Kolb's play I think I heard him tapping his feet.

Hopefully the Eagles can get their crap together in a week and 2 days. Cuts will be announced Saturday. Any shockers/surprises? The Freakerge Egg, expensive and fragile? Darren Howard, another bust? Offseason veteran signee, Ian Scott who didn't play in one game? Bloom? Dirk Johnson? Trotter? Oh wait...

Eagles lose

If you want to worry, you have good reason to. The defense looks just as bad as it did last year. In other words, pathetic. In the first half when the starters were playing, Steelers had 15 first downs, were 4 for 7 on third down, and had 297 total yards. But look on the bright side, by the time Kevin Kolb is starting they might actually be good again instead of the usual defense good, offense weak, offense good, defense weak pattern we're used to. But when the defense was good that was mostly with the old regimes players... The new regime does appear to be able to draft good offensive players as Kolb was the biggest positive for the Eagles in the game - 26 of 37 with alot of drops by players that probably won't be here. He also ran the hurry up offense very efficiently. How about that?

Here are the rest of my notes:

• Did I mention the defense was horrible? Every screen play went for big yards, every misdirection went for big yards. Zero sacks, little pressure except on blitzes. How many plays went for 20+ yards? How bad was the tackling? Where were DEs?
• 3 straight games, 3 straight first plays a pass to Curtis.
• For a game that was supposed to be the most important, the Eagles were really sloppy.
• Akers put some kickoffs into the endzone again and didn't miss a kick for points.
• Avant looks bigger, stronger, and better.
• Reggie Brown sucked.
• First Freakergé Egg limping off the field of the season came with 11:45 left in the second quarter. That was also the only time I noticed him.
• Sav Rocca punted 2/3 punts pretty good, 2 poor. Eagles, and Johnson, didn't punt in the second half did they?
• Bloom doesn't worry me catching the ball, but he's shown nothing that makes me think he can do anything with it afterward.
• Loved how Al Michaels referred to Reid's 22 and 25 year old thugs as "boys" as if they weren't adult criminals and instead were just some kids mixed up in some mischief.
• Nice chaw Roethlisberger.

Axman cut

Eagles let Trotter go today and this time it probably wasn't a mistake. We all watched Trotter age before our eyes last season and I'm sure the Eagles hierarchy noticed too. Instead of just releasing him at the end of the season, they did the right thing and gave him the benefit of the doubt. And then when he showed up in shape and lighter, I'm sure they wanted to see what he could still do. Apparently he could do everything but move side-to-side and cover tightends and running backs because his knees are in worse shape than Mr. Burns. If you remember even no-name tightends had a bad habit of killing the Eagles last year and the Eagles can't leave themselves that vulnerable with Trotter on the field.

I'm sad to see Trotter go as he was one of my favorite players. Trotter was great in his day but unfortunately his body is failing him even if his heart hasn't and hopefully he'll get picked up by a good, non-Eagles-rival team that has a chance. I'm also sad that I'll never have the chance to use "Jeremiah Potter Late Game Magic Saves the Day" headline. I was saving that one up.

Eagles play much better

I only half watched this game so the review won't be that detailed. Overall the Eagles played well and the Panthers, whose straight outta the early 90s, worst in the league uniforms, played as bad as the Eagles did last week. An extra mention goes to Delhomme who was especially awful.

• McNabb looked really good. He looked calm in the pocket and was surprisingly accurate from the start of the game and didn't go through 2 or 3 series trying to settle down. He still missed a couple of throws but mostly they were the ones he makes only 50% of the time anyway, the main one being rolling to his right trying to hit someone running toward the same sideline.
• Kevin Curtis, the new receiver, showed a little of what he can do this game and made me think maybe the Eagles weren't blowing their usual smoke.
• The play of the game was a 40 yard Lito Sheppard interception return. He looked like Westbrook running in the open field, showed great awareness of where everyone was, avoided them, and then when he saw he was going to get tackled took the blow so that he wouldn't put his knee down and made the extra effort to lunge the remaining yard into the endzone. Pro Bowl.
• It was fitting that the play of the game came from the defense since they were so much better than last week. Lots of pressure, several sacks, 3 turnovers, and they even stopped the run effectively.
• Rookie end, Abiamiri played another strong game. Will he break the Eagles streak of drafting defensive linemen in the upper rounds that don't consistently make positive contributions?
• Speaking of that, Bunkley looks like he will see the field this year as he made several plays this game.
• On offense, Celek had another impressive game, especially for a rookie. Not only can he catch the ball, he stays on his feet and gains yards after the catch too, AND he protects the ball when he runs and is hit, AND it looks like he can block too.
• Hunt ran in 2 TDs this game. Both from the 2, and both via good blocking from the right side of the line. See the previous point.
• Both Avant and Baskett should be bigger parts of the Eagles offense this year. Note: I don't believe a word of the more balanced attack. It's going to be the same old pass heavy crap before Garcia.
• Feeley played better and Kolb looked pretty good again. Kolb led a nice drive that was ended by a poor spot of the ball and a blown review of the spot after Reid challenged the call. Otherwise he would have put points on the board too.
• Akers kicked 2 50+ field goals and they were in the game, not pre-game warm-ups. But other than that the special teams was mediocore. Bloom didn't do much on returns and the dueling punters both punted like you'd expect.
• Bloom had more of an impact receiving. On one play he reached way behind him, showing great body control to make the catch, and while totally vulnerable was drilled. He popped right back up though. I'm surprised the announcers didn't attribute his body control to his expertise in skiing. You can bet though that someone will at some point during the season.
• Predicted cut - #68, Pat McCoy. He was brutal on pass protection last week and was equally atrocious this week. He's not a turnstile though, a turnstile would do better.

So a much better effort this week and much sharper performance. I'm sure it helped to have McNabb back, who showed no effects of his knee surgery, and Lito, who didn't practice at all. It seems as long as the star players and starters are on the field, this team can dominate. Still, it is only preseason.

Eagles lose, score is unimportant

The player of the game was Ravens' kicker Matt Stover, who had 20 fieldgoals. That's all you really need to know about how exciting it was. It was almost like you went to a football game and a baseball game broke out.

Here are my notes:

• Eagles defense started right where they left off last year - providing little resistance on a 93 yard first drive of the game touchdown, allowing 3, 3rd and longs to be converted. Glad to see they're keeping that proud tradition alive.
• In case the Linc's turnstiles ever need replacing, the Eagles' D-Line can fill in. I'm sure they can spare a few guys because I keep hearing they're that "deep".
• Broderick Bunkley did make A play this game.
• The offensive line was just as bad as the defensive line. They gave up lots of pressure, 5 sacks, and only had 23 yards rushing.
• FG unit looked weak like last year when it was minus Detmer, All-Pro holder. Notice that the Inquirer neglected to acknowledge the holder in last Sunday's listing of top 3 Eagles players at each position.
• Akers did put the kick-off into the endzone the 2 times he had a chance.
• Celek, the rookie tight end was the Eagles player of the game. Enjoy LJ's last season as an Eagle, if he makes it onto the field.
• Looks like Moats made the team this game by getting hurt bad with a broken ankle and locking up a spot on IR.
• QBs: Feeley was weak, Holcomb was pretty good, Kolb was pretty good. Kolb has a terrible dirt stache. He did well but was killed by drops, no protection, and bad turnovers. McNabb, in "street clothes", looked fat. His play of the game was providing comfort and support to Moats as they carted him off the field.
• Punting battle: Dirk Johnson had some good kicks, especially his first. But Rocca was involved in the only emotionally interesting play of the game. He started slow with 2 weak 30 something long punts. Then he had a chance to kick from the endzone. First kick went 56 yards but there was an illegal man downfield. Second kick went 65 yards and while he was jogging upfield watching the play, 40 yards away from the action, a Ravens' scrub (#50) totally cheap shotted him. The hit was helmet to helmet and sent Rocca and his helmet flying. Of course there was no penalty on the Ravens player but Gasperson of the Eagles came over and shoved the guy and got a 15 yard personal foul call. Ridiculous. Rocca got right up though and was seen smiling about it on the sideline afterwards. I'd keep Rocca on the team for that play alone. Especially considering the dramatics kickers go into when they're brushed during a block attempt.
• Bloom was pretty good for most of the night with some decent returns and good receiving as well. He was decisive and often made the first guy miss.
• Tony Hunt showed me nothing. He's too slow and was terrible trying to block on a blitz.
• JJ Outlaw gets the "corny tats award" for his capital Js in a star, one for each forearm.
• Rookie linebacker Bradley was pretty good.
• Matt McCoy, up till now bust linebacker, was also pretty good.
• Ike Reese was the best part of the broadcast. The play-by-play guy sucked and even admitted it. At one point he even blew the call of the best dressed fan award announcing a father and son tandem when it was a father and his daughter. "Spuds"/crackhead Dave was busy all game on the sidelines kissing the fans' asses for going to training camp/skipping out of work in large numbers.
• That Turkey Hill Touchdown Sundae ice cream is pretty bad, trust me.

Overall a poor effort by the Eagles, especially defense. The offense will probably be fine when the season starts, the so-called "improved" defense I'm not so sure about. I didn't see it in this game. Hopefully this Friday against Carolina they'll do a better job.

Talking 'bout Practice

I guess I am the only true fan paying attention to what is happening on the frying tarmac up Lehigh. In case you missed it, the Eagles are dropping like flies with injuries. Since the season is still like 6 weeks away, it is not that big of a deal. Of course Mr. Glass, Correll Buckhalter and the Freakergé egg, Jevon Kearse are sidelined by bunions or some such nonesense. But Sean Andrews has a busted foot. All pro Lito Shephard is out. L.J. Smith reinjured his sports hernia. Rookie sensation Tony Hunt also went down and Brian Dawkins ain't never been right. What does the coach think about this?

"It's not a problem," Reid said. "This is the way it happens every year, so we're fine here."

Big Red has had a rough summer, so I will give him a bit of a break. But Reid would say the same thing in November if Westbrook or Mcnabb were injured and out for the season. In other training camp news, Max Jean-Gilles is confused and thinks he is competing for Todd Fedoruk's roster spot. There is quite the epic battle for punter between Sav "The Puntypus" Rocca and Dirk's Johnson. Be sure to keep an eye on that one Monday. Plus all the injuries will really give the Eagles an opportunity to show their depth, says Chef Kool-Aid.

10,000 losses

The most pathetic of our pathetic, non-championship winning teams finally got their 10,000th loss and of course they couldn't even do that right. Going into the bottom of the 9th trailing 10-0, which would have been the perfect, poetic final score, stupid Michael Bourne hits a meaningless homerun to make it 10-1. Michael Bourne will have like 5 homeruns in his career. Then Utley hits a double to score another run to make the final 10-2.

Anyway, congratulations to the greatest losers of all time, you earned it.

Free agency news

Flyers made the moves today that we all expected. They signed 29 year old center Daniel Briere to an eight-year, $52 million deal. (The Flyers official site though hasn't reported the numbers as of this posting) Supposedly other teams offered him even more money but he apparently loves the Flyers.

“In past few weeks, even when I was thinking about it, Philly came up at the top of my list,” said Briere on a conference call with local reporters on Sunday night. “There’s a lot going for Philly and a lot of it is interesting to me.

“They are just so committed to winning and that impressed me. I wanted to be a part of a winning team, not just for the next year or two or three, but for awhile. I’m signed for a long time and glad to be part of a team that’s on the upswing.”

As the cliche goes, there's nowhere to go but up and hopefully Briere's 32 goals and 63 assists will make that happen.

The move that I'm even happier about though is getting rid of Pitkanen. They traded him, Sanderson, and a 3rd round pick to the Oilers for right wing Joffrey Lupul (23) and defenseman Jason Smith (33). Lupul was part of the Pronger trade with Anaheim and was seen as an up and coming talent but he fell off big time last year in Edmonton, going from 28 goals and 25 assists with the Ducks to 16 goals and 12 assists with the Oilers. Smith is on the old side but is a defensive defenseman with grit and he was second in the league in blocked shots - 228 and had a bunch of penalty minutes.

So far in the offseason the Flyers have gotten somewhat younger and more talented on offense and older and on paper, better on defense. With Timonen and Briere they probably vastly improved their powerplay. They also got some character and leadership with Briere, Smith, and Timonen all being team captains. So the Pitkanen sucking problem is finally solved, up next is the Rathje, Hatcher, Gautier problem. Hopefully Rathje will retire and they figure out something to do with probably Gautier. Do we still need a shutdown center? Handzus is still available... but he is coming off a torn ACL.

In other news, the Rangers signed both Drury and Gomez.

Flyers Draft news

Believe it or not these dudes are not members of the hot new emo band that will be headlining this years Warped Tour. No, they are Flyers second round draft pick Kevin Marshall and 5th rounder Mario Kempe.

The big news of course was that Flyers used the #2 overall pick to select "the young John Leclair", NJ's James Van Riemsdyk. Van Riemsdyk was highly rated and excelled at the world juniors, but as a product of the US Developemental program has not faced the grind of a actual season like a Canadian Junior player. He will play next year for the University of New Hampshire.

The Flyers actually traded up (draft pick) to select Marshall, a stay at home defensemen from the QMJHL who is known for getting under his opponents' skin. Marshall was completely stoked to selected by the Flyers. And while Holgrem likened him to Danny Markov, I am going one better in the reminds-me-of-this-former-Flyer match-up game and dub him the next Moose Dupont. Or maybe Davy Havok

In a bit of a shocker, Paul Holgrem selected Garrett Klotz in the third round.

"He's tough and aggressive," Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said.

Translation: 2 goals and 107 penalty minutes. While I endorse the drafting of a goon/potential power forward, did it have to come in the third round?

The Flyers had no fourth round pick, their next selection was Kempe. Kempe is a Swede who plays in the QMJHL. Supposedly this guy is a great skater and stick handler who doesn't pass and hates to get physical. Sort of an anti-Flyer.

In the 6th round the Flyers chose Patrick Maroon (US Juniors- yeah this league really exists) and Jonathon Kalinski (Minnesota State- this really exists too). Maroon may turn out to be a great pick. This guy scored 95 points and recorded 155 pm in 57 games. He is going to Ferris State (again, not fictional) next year.

Finally the Flyers selected goalie Brad "Slim" Phillips (US National Program) in the 7th round. Phillips has had some success in international competition. He is a Sean Bradley like 6 ft 2, 163 lbs. More detailed ananlysis here. Flyers brag about the Phantoms of the future here.

Flyers make move

The Flyers traded their late first round draft pick back to Nashville for Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell. Timonen was excellent last season for the Predators, and is an immediate upgrade on the blue line, especially on the power play. Hartnell, who the Flyers probably overpaid, is a power forward with okay numbers, both in points and PM.

The moves are basically free agent pick-ups, with the Flyers trading the pick to get first crack a these guys (much like they did last year did with Marty Biron.) The signings leave Flyers with little cap room to pick up the top “play making center” who disappeared from the team when Peter Foresberg’s feet went south last year. Obviously the Flyers will trade Robert Esche, and maybe Ron’s boy Joni Pitkineen may be moved to free up some cash. The next big event for the Flyers is the draft (Friday), which you can watch with them over some crab fries .

Here is some further information on the trade.

Various

The Stanley Cup finals once again features a team from a place where water doesn't naturally freeze or stay frozen long enough to skate on it, a place where they couldn't care less about hockey. And Anaheim is currently up 2-1 with Ottawa finally showing up to play in game 3. If Anaheim does win, it would be the continuation of a terrible trend and one of the many reasons hockey is losing fans and viewership.

On a related note, during last nights game Pronger gave a nice elbow to the head of Ottawa's Dean McCammon and was suspended. Of course if he had done the same exact thing with his shoulder and the full weight of his body behind the blow it would have been just fine and totally legal and praised. I really fail to see the difference since both is a hit to the head, a concussion risk, and the reason many players have had their careers shortened. All the while all minor bumps and stick chops are automatic 2 minute minors.

After Pronger's hit, for which he wasn't penalized during the game, things got "chippy". Mike Emerick announced that finally some emotion and dislike had been created between the 2 teams. But what do you expect when every minor bump and stick chop is an automatic 2 minute minor? This is the main reason NHL hockey is losing fans and viewership - the loss of hatred and rancor, the loss of rivalry. While the UFC is a growing "sport" and wrestling is still really popular - I bet it easily beat the Stanley Cup finals which preceded it on NBC last night - the NHL has eliminated from its game the things that make the the UFC and pro wrestling popular. People love violence, even if it's staged, and people love rivalries and good guys and bad guys and revenge. People still talk about the Flyers vs. Montreal pregame brawl from the 1987 playoffs. The 2007 Stanley Cup finals? Nobody is watching.

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Speaking of the UFC, I was flipping around and saw the end of a match. For 5 minutes the guy celebrated his victory with blood streaming down his face and it wasn't wiped off for his post match interview either. If you watch boxing they clean all that up right away and patch all the cuts. In the UFC they deliberately leave it on.

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As of this posting, the Phillies have 16 more losses to go before they reach 10,000 for their history. I predict it will come on July 4th because it just seems appropriate.

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So there appears to be a little bit of justice in the NBA. The Celtics tanked their season and only got the 5th pick. Of course the Sixers didn't tank but weren't rewarded for it by the basketball gods - they're located in Philadelphia that's why. But even better is Cleveland eliminated Detroit and Chris "I stole millions from the Sixers" Webber will still not have a championship to his name.

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So McNabb and Reid will both be on WIP's morning show tomorrow. Questions I would ask McNabb:

• Do you know when they booed at the draft they were booing the Eagles, not you? And even if they were booing you, why do 30 drunks booing once trump 55,000+ (not counting the thousands more watching at home) cheering repeatedly? And who do you think buys all those McNabb jerseys?
• When are the Eagles going to win a Super Bowl?

Questions I would ask Reid:

• How did you lose to Tampa Bay in the NFC championship game? How?
• Were the Eagles' receivers good enough?
• If your QB is hurt with a sports hernia and whatever else why would you pass the ball 70% of the time?
• When are the Eagles going to win a Super Bowl?

Various sports stuff

Have you heard about the McNabb trade rumour? McNabb to Chicago for Lance Briggs as talked about on WIP as reported by Don McKee as told to him by "one of the area's most sage football observers," someone that works for the NFL.

I actually heard this idea when I was listening to Mark Eckel's show the week following the draft when a caller suggested exactly the same thing. I guess it's only news when an "NFL insider" tells Don McKee his delusion and the Inquirer prints it. And what's weird is that Eckel was on the WIP morning show Monday and they asked him about the trade rumour and he didn't mention the call although he gave pretty much the exact same answer he gave a couple weeks ago - Eagles would never do that because they are competing with the Bears to go to the Super Bowl.

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Stupid NBC. I was enjoying game 5 of the Eastern Conference championship between Buffalo and Ottawa which went into overtime. Instead of staying with the game NBC went to the Preakness pre-race show which was incredibly banal, pointless, and boring. Instead of showing Alfredson scoring the winning goal which sent Ottawa to the Cup finals for the first time we got incredibly interesting insights on the brief rain showers in Baltimore and were informed that Street Sense was the favorite to win the Triple Crown this year.

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So the Phillies won 7 out of 10 during their homestand but actually lost ground to Atlanta and the Mets. They have no chance.

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So why all the moral outrage over dog fighting as it relates to Michael Vick? Sure the dogs were brutalized but lots of other animals are treated equally as bad or worse for human food and fashion (If I listened, I'm sure Eskin is condemning Vick while completely obvlivious to his hypocrisy.) Is it because the dogs were maltreated for entertainment? What about circuses and numerous low budget zoos then?

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The "Best of the Nest" series that Macknow thought up was OK. The results of many of the games were questionable with highly improbable plays determining outcomes. Reggie White with no sacks? Dorsey Levens with long runs around the edge? The 2004 Eagles calling a sweep with 1 second left in the half from the 17 yard line - and scoring a TD on it? Also, the program that was used to play the imaginary games seemed to heavily weight offensive stats. What made the series though was Joe Conklin's game recreations, his impersonations, and his clever jokes and insults. I'll laugh everytime he does Mike Quick. If not for Conklin, I would have been bored.