Iggles Blog - Philadelphia Eagles Blog

Put This on the Table

Over the next couple of weeks, as we try to get some perspective and understand just what is going on with this team, I want to call attention to other people's good theories.  Here's one today by beat writer Les Bowen (the one reporter Andy consistently refers to by name in his press conferences):

"My latest theory on the strange ups and downs of the Eagles: It's all about Donovan McNabb. Maybe this team is really just McNabb and a bunch of mediocrities, and when McNabb is really good, the team looks viable. When McNabb isn't good, the team looks like what it is - way short on difference-makers, on both sides of the ball."

I think this at least has to be on the table as a possibility.  It occurred to me a couple of days ago that this is a strangely assembled team.  Right now there are nine guys who are either in their first or second years as starters.  (And if things don't turn around soon, that number could soon increase.)

But there are also a fair number of guys who are definitely in the declining stages of their career.  I count Runyan, W. Thomas, Trotter and even Dawkins as guys who aren't quite what they used to be. 

The only guys really in their career primes are McNabb, Westbrook and Smith on the offense and Brown, Sheppard, Jones, Walker and Howard on the defense.  I'll have to look around the rest of the league for comparison, but it almost looks like a team that gets to deal with the inexperience of youth and the declining skills of age all at the same time. 

So when McNabb is out there doing his MVP thing, somehow he makes it all work by lifting everyone else around him.  When things are a bit off, he's suddenly down to Westbrook and LJ and things grind to a halt.

Something to ponder...

Even the Critics Came Out Flat This Week

You know that final, ugly phase of any bad relationship where all the interactions between you and the soon-to-be-ex follow one of a number of well-worn patterns?  When every conversation starts out like a marble rolling along a pointy-peaked hill and you know it's only a matter of time before it plunges off into a depressing, oft-traveled valley?  So a disagreement about lost keys inevitably turns into an argument about one person spending too much money and the other hanging out too often with his friends?

Well that's what sports criticism is like in Philadelphia.  The same lame, tired old critiques come out after every bad loss. 

And there is no critique more lame or more tired than the idea that what's "wrong" with Andy Reid is that he is boring in press conferences, says the same things every time and refuses to call out any underperforming players.

Here's a good example.  And another one.  And here.

Plenty more like that elsewhere. 

Look, I spent most of yesterday afternoon screaming at the TV "Run the @#%^$ ball" (Mom, don't click that link) so I'm certainly not going to suggest that Reid should get a free pass here. 

But enough already with the stupid criticism of his press conferences.  On the list of issues this team has, Reid's performance at the podium is #17,826.  So stop being lazy and come up with some new material. 

The way this season is going, we're gonna need it.

The End of an Era

As the final seconds were ticking down in today's game, there was a knock on the door.  One of my friends had come over to watch the games and ordered some Chinese food.  I grabbed the dog, who reacts to both strangers and the sudden arrival of food with excitement bordering on assault. 

As money was changing hands, the delivery guy said, "Oh, you're watching football, any chance you caught a score for the Jacksonville game?"

Amazingly, I held onto the dog.

The friend ignored my suggestion that we stiff the driver.

And thus ended a perfectly awful afternoon watching the Eagles.

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It's taken eight games, and a string of three progressively worse losses, but I think I have finally figured out this Eagles team.

They're the USA Basketball Team of the NFL.

Talent isn't the issue.  But the chemistry isn't there.  The coaches make some questionable decisions.  The players think they're good enough to coast for awhile and make up any deficits at the end.  They're facing teams that have a plan, stick to their plan, and simply wait for the high-flyers to make mistakes. 

And the games mean much more to our opponents than they do to our guys.

Then after they lose, the players walk around in shock and think, wait, weren't we supposed to win? 

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The sad truth is opponents don't have to beat the Eagles any more.  All they have to do is lock down the game plan, run as much as possible at the Eagles' pillow-soft defensive front, and wait for the Eagles to beat themselves. 

This Eagles team is nothing if not obliging.

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Andy Reid's press conference today was as angry as I've ever seen Big Red after a loss.  Somehow I don't think any players will be leaving the NovaCare Complex tomorrow saying this team should be 7-1. 

That's an important first step.  Given the way this season's schedule was set up, maybe it's a good thing these guys have been exposed over the last three weeks.

The Eagles could easily be 6-2 right now, with just a close loss to the Saints and a "flat" game before a bye week against a desperate Jaguars squad.  The town would be printing playoff tickets and debating the pros and cons of facing Atlanta vs. Chicago in the playoffs. 

Then the real schedule would begin.  And these guys would have been smacked in the face.

IF this team has a chance to make something happen this year, maybe this is the way it needed to go down.  Hit rock bottom early enough in the season that there's still time to bounce back.

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Does anyone really think this looks like a potential Super Bowl team, though?

I sure don't.  It's clear Reid ran a masterful training camp that got his guys off to a great start to the season.  But while every other team was figuring out how to get better, the Eagles were going backwards.  And as of tonight they're chasing both the Giants and Cowboys for the NFC East crown.

The problem isn't the offense.  McNabb has had a tough couple of weeks, but it's gotta seem like déjà vu for him out there, with receivers who don't hang on to the football and no one besides his trusty tight end (formerly Chad Lewis / now LJ Smith) or his running back (Brian Westbrook / Brian Westbrook) to make a play. 

But the offense is really pretty good.  It really only has to avoid the self-inflicted wounds to be even better than that.

The defense, on the other hand, is not good at all.  Right now, it looks to be mediocre to the point of no-better-than-first-round-elimination.

And I'd say that's the ceiling for these guys.

That's the big problem. 

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Sometimes I don't understand professional athletes.  How can you play football your whole life -- a sport that more than any other revolves around the idea that I'm going from this spot here to that spot there and there's nothing you can do to stop me -- and then get to this level and suddenly not mind that your opponent just spent the last three hours whipping your butt?

One thing I think a lot of people underestimated was how much of an impact the lack of experience would have on these guys.  Right now, the Eagles have nine guys (Brown, Tapeh, Baskett, Herremans, Jackson, Patterson, Cole, McCoy and Considine) in their first or second years as starters.  That's a surprisingly young team. 

So maybe it was unrealistic to think all these guys would just step in and play like proven veterans.  But there's still no excuse for just getting physically whipped out there and not seeming to care.

I think we're going to look back at some point in the future and realize that today marked the end of an era for Reid and the Eagles.  This will be the day when he once and for all understood that this team, as presently constituted, just didn't have what it takes.

Now we'll see what Reid does with that information.  Unfortunately, it could get worse before it gets better. 

Eagles / Jaguars Game Preview

Let's hope the Eagles are less sluggish than I was in posting this week's game preview.  They're going to have to be sharp, not just episodically effective, against a Jacksonville squad that is the quintessential "any given Sunday" team: good enough to beat Dallas and Pittsburgh, bad enough to lose to Houston. 

After last week's Polish Rifle debacle, I'm not going to be taunting too many other opposing quarterbacks.  However, this idea that David Garrard is somehow a great quarterback who just can't get past the "lesser" Byron Leftwich is just nuts.  Look at his numbers.  Yes, he went 4-1 filling in for Leftwich last year, but he beat Cleveland, San Francisco, Houston and Tennessee in doing it.  That was #12, #6, #1 and #3 in the draft order this year. 

I'm not saying he's a bad quarterback, but so far he's basically shown that he can play the A.J. Feeley caretaker role.  He's also a bit of a fumbler, putting five balls on the ground in his eight starts.  Look for the Eagles to be swiping at the ball any time they get close to him.

With that said, I don't really love the match-up this week.  Jax has a good running game, huge receivers to convert important third downs, and a defense that played well in four games and badly in two. They are just as much an unknown as we are.  And that's unnerving.

Garrard won't beat the Bird by himself, but IF the running game is working and IF our offense is shooting themselves in the foot again ... then maybe he can make just enough plays to his Brobdingnagian receivers to win.

However, I like the Eagles for two reasons: the game's at home and McNabb was embarrassed last week. This is a bounceback game for him, and that should be enough.  I'm also looking forward to the returns of Rod Hood and Donte Stallworth, although I'm still nervous about Donte not being 100 percent out there.  With the top three cornerbacks healthy and Considine playing more snaps at safety, I think this could be the week the defense starts to turn the corner. 

So, we have too wildly inconsistent teams battling it out in a game that both really need to stay in the mid-season playoff hunt.  And this is an AFC opponent heading into the Eagles' bye week, which historically has not been a good combination.

But I'm going to go with my gut, and say that this immensely talented team has finally learned the lesson it should have learned two times before.  And I'm counting on our field goal kicker to come through today in what are shaping up to be some difficult, blustery conditions. 

Prediction: Eagles 16 - Jaguars 13.

The Perils of Having a Day Job...

... that turns into a late evening job when circumstances interfere.

I'll have this week's game preview up this weekend before the game.  I'm sure this will be a crushing disappointment for your Friday afternoon, so here's an oldie-but-goodie to cheer you up in the meantime: www.johnkalnin.com/passtopinky/

And read the Sports Guy today, because he's great on Philly: sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/061027

Gruden is Evil

This was posted a few days ago, but I just saw it so I want to pass it along.  It's an explanation for the interceptions that McNabb threw last game that isn't "Tiki Barber is a cornerback Jedi."

When the Eagles are in a formation with both receivers flanked out to the same side, they run a double slant when they read a blitz and Donovan hits the outside receiver on the slant route. Well, Jon Gruden knew that so he told his defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin and sure as day when they saw the Eagles come out in the formation with both of the receivers flanked out to the same side, they went to a blitz and had Ronde Barber sucker the Birds.

There's more, read the whole thing.

(Busy couple days for me, I'll be back with more later today.)

Should Reid Send the Team a Message?

My first (printable) thought after this past Sunday's loss was: "Cut McDougle."  My reasoning was that Andy needed to put a little fear into the hearts of players who keep doing way too many dumb things.  Canning the underachieving, former first-round draft pick who handed Tampa Bay 30 penalty yards on one play seemed like a way to start.

But before I threw up a post to that effect, I took a look at both his cap number and our practice squad, to see what we could use to replace him.  The immediate cap hit wouldn't be huge, but with more than $3 million in pro-rated signing bonus left on his contract, it wouldn't be negligible either.  And I'd rather use the space we have available to lock up one or two more of our young players with long-term deals.

The practice squad issue is worse, however.  The only DE we have on the squad is Christian Mohr, an interesting sounding guy whose resume includes that noted college football powerhouse, Sporthochschule College.  In Germany.

That's when I decided maybe we should hang on to McDougle after all...

I bring this up today because of a column by Philly beat writer Paul Domowitch in which he argues that Reid should cut McDougle.  I don't think he's right, obviously, but I wanted to pass along this beauty of a line:

"This team has become careless and complacent, much like a guy who's been married to a beautiful woman for a few years and doesn't think he needs to shave as often or lose the 20 pounds he's packed on. Two-year-old Pro Bowl invitations don't have much cash value anymore."

Well said.

It's Time to Win

This past weekend provided an excellent demonstration of what happens when good teams lose their starting quarterbacks.  Matt Hasselbeck and Ben Roethlisberger were both knocked out of games their teams went on to lose.  Hasselbeck has strained knee ligaments and should be out 2-4 weeks.  Roethlisberger suffered a concussion and his status for next week isn't yet known.

This is why teams with playoff aspirations can't afford to dump games they should win.  Unless the Eagles feel super-confident about going into a must-win game with Jeff Garcia at quarterback, they can't afford to blow any more opportunities.

By NFL quarterback standards, McNabb is a pretty durable guy.  He had the sports hernia last year and the broken leg in 2002, but beyond that he hasn't missed much time.  The problem is that even the most durable player is one helmet-to-helmet hit from spending a game on the bench checking out the pretty butterflies.

This is also the reason this team can't afford to have a "growing up" mentality.  Yes, assuming the veterans don't slide too much, this should end up being an even better team in 2007 once the young guys get more seasoning.  But all it takes is a couple of key injuries (say, McNabb and Westbrook) and suddenly the season is over and now it's 2008 and Pat Gillick has finally finished his three-year rebuilding plan and we're wondering what just happened to our football team.

I said a few weeks ago that I thought this thing was there for the taking.  I still believe that.  There isn't a single team in the league without question marks.  Depth is an issue for every team but Dallas, which has the good fortune of being able to call on two different guys who can throw game-killing interceptions.  What a luxury.

McNabb turns 30 in a month.  Dawkins, Trotter, Runyan, Thomas and even Howard aren't getting any younger.  Which means the Eagles must win now.   

It's not a moment for panic, but it is a time for urgency.

Being Smart With Injuries

Trust me, I'm well aware that I'm in no position to play doctor by diagnosing any injured Eagles players.  But this makes me nervous:

Injury update. Wide receiver Donté Stallworth and cornerback Roderick Hood, who have both missed four games with injuries this season could both be back in action for Sunday's game at Lincoln Financial Field against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Stallworth has missed three straight games and four of the last five with a hamstring strain. Hood has been sidelined the last four games with a right heel strain. When asked if both could play this week, Reid answered, "I think there is a pretty good chance. They are both working out today."

Both Stallworth and Hood came back too soon from these same injuries earlier in the season.  Both guys ended up missing more time because of it.  A healthy Stallworth could in fact have been the difference in yesterday's game.

After Jacksonville this week, the Eagles have a bye.  That means two more weeks for both these guys to try to get back to 100 percent for the all-important stretch run. 

I really hope we're smart with these guys this week.

Prediction Review

Ugh.  The Eagles weren't the only ones who had a bad week.  Time to take my medicine:

1. The Eagles win by at least two touchdowns.  I don't even have a joke for here.

2. Jon Gruden will have his quarterback throwing early and often.  Nope, thanks to the Eagles offensive futility and McNabb's generosity, Gruden was able to just keep calling running plays.  First half ended with 13 rushing and 12 pass attempts.

3. Michael Lewis will start the game.  Well, I could cheat and say I won this one because Fox the Fox broadcasters claimed Lewis started and the terrible camera angle on the first play made it hard to see who was out there.  Unfortunately, TiVo showed (and the game book confirmed) that it was Considine, not Lewis out there on the first play.

4. Eagles linebackers get their first sack of the season.  Another iffy one.  The broadcasters gave a sack to McCoy on a play where Gradkowski stumbled and fell behind the line of scrimmage.  But the official stat trackers claimed that someone else got their first for the cheapie sack.  In my defense, however, the larger point was true.  Johnson had his linebackers attacking the line of scrimmage all day, rather than sitting back and read/reacting.  Unfortunately, the linebackers -- and I -- are still sitting on an ohfer.

5. Within the first two series, McNabb throws at least one pass that travels at least 30 yards downfield in the air.  Sigh.  No.  Although the first pass of the third series was a 41-yard strike to Brown that went about 24 yards in the air.  I would totally have given myself credit for that one.

6. For the rest of the league, start with Oakland, where the favored Cardinals hand the Raiders their first win of the season.  YEAH!! THAT'S RIGHT.  One-for-six, baby.

7. Carolina gets embarrassed by Cincinnati.  Uh no.  Carolina lost by a field goal.  The Eagles proved you can lose by a field goal and be embarrassed doing it, but that wasn't the case in the Panthers game.

8. Washington upends the Colts at Indy.  Moving on...

9. Joey Freaking Harrington outplays Brett Favre.  Well, he matched him in touchdowns and doubled his yards passing, but I don't think any guy who throws three INTs outplayed another guy who had none.  I still think he should retire, though.

10. Vanderjagt costs the Cowboys the game on Monday night.  Here's my chance to go two for 10.  Whoopie.

I'm not sure I'll do this again next week.  I'd rather hold on to my last remaining shred of credibility. 

Which must be around here some place...