A Cool Find and a Word About Stats

It's a slow day, but just a couple of quick points.  First of all, I can't believe it's taken me this long to find something as useful as the season-ending Eagles Media Guide.  It's almost a play-by-play of the entire Eagles season, jammed-packed with stats and highlights. 

The stories it tells make PhiladelphiaEagles.com look practically objective in comparison, but you can't knock how much effort went into it.

And check out who's listed as second author...

The second point is related.  NFLPlayers.com -- the official site of, uh, NFL players -- published this masterfully puffy piece on Jeremiah Trotter.  It's got some nice little tidbits:

If Jeremiah Trotter's positive outlook is any indication, the Philadelphia Eagles defense will be much improved in 2007.

(Certainly on my top ten list of reasons why the defense will be better.)

Trotter himself will admit the Eagles defense didn't always do that—go out there and make plays—last year. Though he is only one man and can only make so many plays by himself, he is looked upon for leadership as an established linebacker and star player.

(Yeah, if only everyone on the defense had played as well as Trotter last year.)

Trotter, whose 6-foot-1, 262-pound size, speed and playmaking ability make him one of the NFC's best at his position, is coming off a season in which he led the Eagles with 161 tackles. Topping the 100-tackle mark for the seventh time in his nine-year career is something he has come to expect...

Ding-ding-ding, now we're getting somewhere.  Did you have any idea that Trotter had 161 tackles last year?  That's like a lot, isn't it?  Especially since the writer thinks getting even more than 100 every year is a big deal.

So why does NFL.com claim Trotter only had 112?

It's because teams keep their own stats for games too. And because tackles aren't an official statistic, teams can do all kinds of mischief trying to make guys look better by artificially inflating their numbers.  Check out this chart that compares the NFL's statistics to the Eagles statistics:

The Eagles organization awarded 38 more tackes and 268 more assists than the league saw fit to dole out.  But this "grade inflation" doesn't happen randomly.  It's the "stars" who get the special treatment, as Trotter picked up 49 more tackles and Dawkins got 62.  The biggest losers were Omar Gaither, who lost 15 tackles and Quintin Mikell, who lost 13.

Now let's be honest, every team does this.  The Ravens used to give Ray Lewis a tackle in their stats any time he was on the field when a ballcarrier went down.  It happens.

But what's really weird is why those tackles don't match up.  I can understand assists, since those are bogus and you can claim that someone who jumped onto the pile after the action was over should get an assist.  But shouldn't the total number of tackles kind of have to even out?  How does the NFL get 788, while the team gets 826?

Here's your answer.  It's the rest of the chart:

These are all the guys who were awarded tackles by the NFL.  And yet in the Eagles' stats, not one of them is listed.  Let's see, add 41 to 788 and you get 829, which is within the margin of error for the team's number of 826.

A.J. Feeley, call your agent.  Someone stole your tackle.