Iggles Blog - Philadelphia Eagles Blog

Oh, Please

I sure hope this letter to the editor was chosen for publication due to its uniqueness, rather than its representation of a commonly submitted view.  Let's take a closer look at an another example of the all-too-common Philadelphia self-pity:

I'm very fired up and broken up about Eagles coach Andy Reid's action to cut Jeremiah Trotter.

Even I have better things to do with my day, and I'm the person who submitted an op-ed to the Inquirer during the middle of the TO meltdown suggesting a way out. 

I believe that Trotter was a very good and reputable team player and that his cut before the season was random.

"Random."  Like Reid and his staff just felt like things were getting stale, so they put all the names up on a dart board to figure out who would get cut.  Or maybe they drew straws. 

It's also kind of funny that even Trotter's most passionate defender can't muster anything beyond "very good" to describe his play.  The guy made four Pro Bowls and once was the heart of the defense, give him some credit.

The team and the whole city of Philadelphia, and Eagles fans all over, deserve an explanation as to why.

It's really not that complicated.  The Eagles thought Gaither was a better player right now and Reid didn't think it would be a good idea to keep Trotter around as just a backup. 

Whether that's because of concerns about how he'd handle the demotion or because he thought Trotter didn't deserve to go out like that is anyone's guess, but in either case it shows great respect for Trotter that Reid decided he wasn't going to air any of the dirty laundry: "No, I'm not going to get into all the reasons. That's not fair to Trott. And, if he does choose to hook on with another team- I don't do that with any of the players. I'm not going to start doing it with him."

I would have loved to see Trotter play with the Eagles and feel as though it won't be the same, especially since he has contributed so much in the past.

Troy Vincent used to be really good too, maybe we should bring him back as well.

It makes you wonder if Donovan McNabb is next in line.

Depends on the dart board I guess.

Thoughts on tonight's Steelers game later.

Are the Eagles Getting Old?

ESPN writer Jeffri Chadiha wrote a post-Trotter column on Thursday where he said this about the Eagles:

They're getting older in a hurry and, to be honest, I really hadn't noticed until this season. One minute they were the undaunted, up-and-coming team that was continually fighting for NFC supremacy. Now they're a team filled with a fair share of thirtysomethings at key positions.

Take one look at their roster and you'll see that some notable players -- including quarterback Donovan McNabb, free safety Brian Dawkins, defensive end Jevon Kearse, recently added outside linebacker Takeo Spikes, and offensive tackles Jon Runyan and William Thomas -- have all left their 20s behind.

What this means is the Eagles are finally facing that same question that hounds every team at some point: How much longer can their window of opportunity stay open if they're going to win a championship with this bunch?

Jason over at BleedingGreenNation jumped on this one first yesterday with a number of good points.  I wanted to add a few thoughts to what he said as well.

The first point to make is that the Eagles are not actually an old team.  They seem old, because guys like Dawkins, Thomas and Runyan have been around forever and McNabb keeps getting broken.  But if you look at the starting lineups for every team in the NFC East, you'll find a funny thing.

The Eagles are the youngest team in the division. 

Check out this table, compiled by grabbing the depth charts off of each team's website and then using Pro Football Prospectus 2007 (and some googling) to get the ages.  A couple notes: PFP07 uses the birth year without worrying about the day, so this is how old these players will all be on the last day of this year.  Also, Jim Finn is out for the season with an injury, but the Giants don't have another fullback on the roster and haven't updated the depth chart, so that's what we have there: 

(Click to get the full-size chart, unless your eyes are really good)

Pretty interesting, isn't it?  And if you believe Michael Strahan will be back to the Giants before the season begins, then the Giants' average age goes up to 28.18, making the Eagles the only team in the division with an average age under 28.

Of course, average age doesn't tell the whole story.  Non-Eagles fans might argue that these numbers are great, but counting McNabb, Kearse and Dawkins, all the good players are old.  That's what Chadiha's getting at when he says: "How much longer can their window of opportunity stay open if they're going to win a championship with this bunch?"

But as BGN points out in his post, the Eagles are actually loaded with young talent.  Imminent force of nature Brodrick Bunkley is 24.  Trent Cole and Shawn Andrews are both 25.  Lito and Reggie Brown are only 26.  And even the relatively veteran Brian Westbrook is only 28. 

So we're really talking about two different windows.  There's the "McNabb Window," which for all practical purposes probably extends for the next four years.  (Cross any commentator who suggests Kolb will challenge for the starting job in 2008 off the list of people who know what they're talking about.)  But there's also the "Eagles Window," which at this point could be open as long as Reid is still in charge of this team -- if he guessed right on Kolb.

As a McNabb fan, and generally impatient person anyway, I'd really, really like to see them win one of these suckers while Donovan is still leading the team.  But if they don't, it won't be because they're too old and it won't be their last shot at a title.

Friday Mailbag

While it was great fun doing the last -- wholly fictitious and imaginary -- mailbag, it's certainly more interesting responding to actual reader questions.  Thanks to everyone who sent in ideas.  If I couldn't include yours, I'll get to it next time around.  With this week's big news, it's not surprising that this will be a very linebacker-focused mailbag.  Also, since I don't have a blanket policy here, I'll just stick with first names for now.

Q: My theory about Trot going is that Reid wanted to bench him and Trot said he'd rather go elsewhere and try and start; Reid had enough respect for him to release him and give him that shot, even if it meant having depth issues in the LB corps.  Thoughts?  -- Ben.

A: It's a good theory, but I'm a big fan of the idea put forward by Daily News writer Les Bown today:

The picture that has emerged over the past few days is of two things happening to produce Tuesday's surprise Trotter departure, one event leading directly to the other. Johnson decided, over the weekend, after watching film of the Carolina game, to make Gaither the starter... Once that happened, Reid made the decision that it would be better to cut the cord cleanly than to try to fit Trotter's dominant, oversized personality into a reserve role, after four Pro Bowl invitations.

We may be over-thinking this whole thing a bit, since that's one thing Philly fans are good at and because Trotter was such a fixture in this organization.  Trotter just didn't have it any more and the Eagles decided to move on, albeit in a classy and dignified way.  When was the last time we saw Trotter make a play like this:

You could argue that Omar only had the chance to make that play because the offensive lineman didn't get there fast enough on his block, but that's the great thing about young speed.  Trot just can't do that these days.

Q: Gaither, Gocong, and Bradley.  Two words come to mind: Talent and Inexperience.  What can we really expect from the linebackers this year?  I am glad Spikes is there to teach, but aren't we still going to see an abundance of mistakes due to lack of experience? -- Andrew

A: Other than Gaither, the two words that come to mind for me on that list are "oh" and "crap."  But since last year we had Dhani and McCoy starting -- aka "crap" and "also crap" -- it's still a 50 percent upgrade.

Gaither will be fine in the middle.  He's not the biggest or fastest guy, but he knows how to make plays.  Look at what a nice job he does ducking his shoulder to attack that block in the clip above.  He should be fine.

I think we have to be a lot more worried about the other two guys on your list.  Gocong hasn't looked very effective in the first two preseason games.  One mistake I made on him early on was assuming that he would do well blitzing the quarterback, since he played defensive end in college and led the nation in sacks.  The thing I forgot is that rushing from a linebacker position isn't the same as it is from the line. 

Brian Dawkins is probably the best blitzer the Eagles have, and it's because he's got great timing and explosive quickness.  Here's an FO stat for all the people who think Jim Johnson's blitz scheme no longer works:  "The Eagles defense forced seven intentional grounding passes, or one-quarter of all intentional grounding passes in the entire NFL.  No other defense forced more than two... The Eagles defense ranked third in sacks listed as Rusher Untouched, behind the Steelers and Jets." 

What that tells us is that the scheme is still springing guys for free runs at the quarterback.  The problem is that in those situations, what matters most is acceleration and quickness -- two things with which Gocong doesn't seem to be overly endowed. 

Gocong should keep improving, and the Eagles are going to give him every chance to do so, but if he doesn't, we still haven't seen enough of Bradley to know whether he's a future Gaither or a Gardner.  Which kind of leads to the next question...

Q: How good does Kevin Kolb have to be to justify not picking Pozluszny? -- Jon

Very, very good.  Pos has looked outstanding in the preseason.  He's leading the Bills in tackles and was involved in two crucial stops last week on third-and-goal and fourth-and-goal from the one yard line.  He has made the NFL adjustment just fine and is going to be a very good player for a very long time. 

With that said, he obviously plays a more replaceable position, so do you gather the best talent possible for the last few years of the McNabb window ... or do you start planning for the day that window closes?  I would have chosen option #1, but you can certainly see their point.

Q: As an Eagles blogger, you showed some interest in Joe Savery, a pitcher drafted by the Phillies from your alma mater the University of Houston. On a similar note, I'm a Phillies blogger who is quite interested in the progress of Eagles draft pick Akeem Jordan, since he went to my alma mater, James Madison University... What have you heard or seen about him, particularly in light of the release of Jeremiah Trotter?" -- Tom

A: So first of all, let's clear up the college reference.  Savery and I both went to Rice University, which is also in Houston, but otherwise entirely unrelated to Cougar High.  And any time you can draft a power pitcher with a history of shoulder problems, you have to make that pick. 

Tom runs the Phillies blog Balls, Sticks and Stuff, which I highly recommend checking out if you are a Phillies fan with a strong stomach that can handle all the terrible injury news.  Personally, I'm amazed Tom didn't go into hiding after the Cole Hamels thing came out.

As for Jordan's chances ... they don't look good.  The Eagles may not even keep seven linebackers this year, let alone eight.  So far he hasn't done enough in the preseason to suggest he's got anything other than a shot at the practice squad.   

Q: I have a little exercise for you: Project the 45 active players on Sundays. I know, it's way too early, but I think actually trying to do it goes a long way toward explaining the Trotter cut. I took a couple minutes and got to about 47 before absurd scenarios started to creep in. ("Come on, do I really need more than one reserve offensive lineman?") Whether or not Trotter could contribute wasn't the issue. Of course they'd be a better team with him. It wasn't his contract either. There just wasn't a spot for a one-position, situational, non-special-teamer. Gaither with a sprinkling of Bradley/Roper (i.e., Bradley) at Mike makes a whole lot more sense than, say, not activating Hunt, or choosing between Avant and Baskett, or diminishing the DL rotation. Plus, someone has to bust the wedge (do you risk Gocong? Bradley? Whom, then?), and two guys have to be the gunners. It's very sad, but it's also very simple. To oversimplify: blame Dorenbos.  -- Name withheld by request.

A: And Bloom.  The Eagles are looking at carrying two guys this year who really only fill special teams roles.  That's going to be a squeeze.  If I had to guess right this second, I'd say:

QB - McNabb, Feeley
RB - Westbrook, Buckhalter, Hunt, Tapeh
WR - Curtis, Brown, Avant, Baskett
OL - Thomas, Herremans, Jackson, Andrews (please), Runyan, Cole, Jean-Gilles
TE - LJ, Schobel, Celek

DE - Kearse, Cole, Howard, Thomas
DT - Bunkley, Patterson, Reagor, Ramsey
LB - Spikes, Gaither, Gocong, Bradley, McCoy, Daniels
CB - Sheppard, Brown, James, Hansen (at first)
S - Dawkins, Considine, Mikell, Gaddis

ST - Akers, Rocca, Dorenbos, Bloom

...which is 47 46 players [evidently I can't count].  Wow, that does get kind of tricky.  Even if you bench guys like Greg Lewis and Ian Scott -- and make Kolb the "emergency QB" -- it's still pretty tough. 

If you want to keep the defensive line rotation intact, you really only have a couple of choices.  Can you really keep three tight ends here?  Maybe not, but then who gets benched, especially with LJ's injury risk.

Hmmm. I guess I'd go with Gaddis and or Daniels as the final two guys on the pine, at least to start out while Gaddis is still learning the system.  That could leave the team awfully thin in the secondary, but if LJ isn't 100 percent I think you need the reinforcements.  If Celek's magic holds up during the season, maybe the birds give Schobel some weeks off.  Although Schobel is the emergency kicker...

Last question:

Q: If the Eagles cut Sav Rocca, will you spin off an ancillary blog covering the man himself?

Absofrigginlutely.

Another Look at Celek's Great Blocking

We've seen the guy play maybe 30 snaps, so there's no point in getting too excited about him just yet, but rookie tight end Brent Celek did make outstanding blocks on both of Tuny Hunt's short touchdown runs against Carolina.

Partly because a picture is worth a thousand words, but mostly because I just figured out how to do this video thingamajig, here's a quick video recap of those two blocks:

That's a defensive end he's blocking, not some linebacker.  Also, on the slow motion look it's pretty clear Max Jean-Gilles was the reason Tony didn't just walk in for the first touchdown. 

OK, So It's Not Just the Newspapers

I spend all that time this morning jabbing the old media folks with a stick and then look what happens ... ProFootballTalk comes out with the looniest theory yet on why Trotter was released:

"There is some suspicion that the release of Trotter was driven by coach Andy Reid's desire to justify keeping linebacker Matt McCoy, a second-round pick in 2005 who has been unable to stay in the starting lineup. If Trotter had stayed, McCoy could have been the odd man out. McCoy currently is listed as a backup at the weakside linebacker position."

Right.  It wasn't that Trotter isn't effective any more, it's that Andy Reid -- who couldn't care less about what fans or reporters think about the way he runs the team -- is so concerned with the perceived fallout of cutting Matt McCoy that he had to resort to roster shenanigans just to keep him on the team. 

On the stupidity scale, that's maybe just above Mike Vick showing up at the Humane Society to adopt a puppy right now.

Good Move by the Redskins

Washington has traded a mid-round 2009 draft pick to the Jets for disgruntled guard Pete Kendall. 

That article mentions "Three NFL executives who scouted the Redskins over the weekend all came to the same conclusion about Washington's issues at left guard," but you didn't need to be an insider to see that Washington had problems at that position.  During the Redskins and Steelers replay last night on NFL Network, fill-in LG Mike Pucillo just looked lost.  I was already wondering if the Eagles might consider flip-flopping Bunkley and Patterson to take advantage of him.

I'm actually a little worried about the Redskins this year.  Assuming Jason Campbell's injury isn't serious, I have a feeling he's going to be the second-best QB in the division this year.  And he's got plenty of weapons to get the ball to.  If Gregg Williams can whip his defense back into shape, I think there's a good chance this team is going to surprise people.

And They Blame the Blogs?

It used to be WIP. 

Whenever Eagles management did something controversial, or a player got on the wrong side of the fans by making one too many boneheaded plays, you would always end up with three sides to the argument.  The team's (or player's) perspective, the foaming crazies on WIP, and the sweet, gentle voice of reason: the ink-stained wretches who were still print reporters because they hadn't yet left to work for ESPN.

The typical Inquirer story would go something like this:

Joe Smith understands how the fans feel. 

"There's no excuse for a move like that in that situation," said the Eagles nickel linebacker, referring to the play during last week's game when he pulled a gun out of his waistband and shot Dallas quarterback Drew Bledsoe in the groin.  The resulting 15-yard-penalty gave Cowboy's kicker Mike Vanderjagt a chance at a 45-yard field goal, which he converted as time expired.

What surprises Smith is the extreme fan reaction.  "Look, it was one mistake in the heat of the moment.  I'm sorry I screwed it up."  That apology isn't buying him much slack on sports talk radio station WIP, where morning host Angelo Cataldi is running a contest asking listeners how Smith should be punished by the team for his infraction.  "Cut off his trigger finger," suggested Jim Buford of Voorhees.

The battle lines thus drawn, the writer would then go on to explain how both sides were wrong and that the real answer could be found somewhere in the middle: "We expect our athletes to be perfect out there, but the truth is mistakes happen..."   

Sports talk radio isn't really fashionable any more, though.  We're all going 21st-century in our media choices -- which means the Internet, specifically message boards and blogs. 

And reporters reeeeally don't like message boards and blogs:

"IS THERE A LINK between the hegemony of Starbucks, the melting of the polar ice cap, and the proliferation of the blogosphere, that vast Internet stew of advice, opinion, venom, reverie, hot air?" (link)

"Web space has a much lower talent bar than print or broadcast media. Anyone with a half a thought and a digital spasm can set up a blog or post on someone else's." (link)

"Perusing Internet message boards the last few days, I'm disappointed in one thing: I think Eagles fans have met or exceeded expectations in venting their spleen at Andy Reid, but I can't find anybody who blames the New Orleans loss on McNabb. I think the haters just aren't trying hard enough. Surely there is a way to make this McNabb's fault. You people have a reputation to uphold." (link)

"Listen to the radio, read the e-mail, scan the message boards and you will be stunned -- stunned! -- at how many games the Eagles have managed to win in spite of their head coach and franchise quarterback." (link)

And those are all just from the Philly papers.  That last one is from January, so you can see the transition was still in progress.  I also happen to think the spleen point is pretty funny.

But if the Internet is the source of all evil, and the old line media are so comforting and rational, why is it that both local papers are risking hernias by straining so hard to fan the itsy-bitsy little spark of McNabb's comments yesterday into a full-fledged controversy?

Stunned McNabb seeking answers about Trotter
By Ashley Fox

Answers. The quarterback wanted answers.

The ones Donovan McNabb got were unsatisfying and unsatisfactory.

Just why did the Eagles shed one of their veteran leaders, Jeremiah Trotter, on Tuesday morning, mere weeks before the season begins? Why was the four-time Pro Bowler, and one of the only linebackers on the roster with meaningful starting experience, cut when the Eagles supposedly are trying to make a Super Bowl run? Why couldn't some sort of arrangement - a pay cut, a backup role, something - have been negotiated?

"I'm shocked," McNabb said. "I'm truly shocked."

McNabb not leaving Trotter behind
By Les Bowen

DONOVAN McNABB made it pretty clear yesterday that he and the rest of the Eagles' leadership group could have done without the grenade Andy Reid lobbed into their midst this week, when Reid made the surprise decision to release Jeremiah Trotter.

"I was shocked," McNabb said, after answering a couple of perfunctory questions about his right knee and the Birds' offense at McNabb's weekly Wednesday news conference.

"Grenade"?  "Supposedly"?  What is this, a message board?

Now look, we all know what McNabb is doing here.  For years he was the company man.  It worked, it helped him be the face of the franchise, and he managed to avoid a lot of potential controversy.  But it's clear that it also cost him something with his teammates, and for a guy who's so big on the "leadership" thing, that must have stung.

So McNabb gets to go before the cameras, put on a nice little show and maybe change some minds in the locker room and the city.  If it weren't such a trivial issue we could call it his Sister Souljah moment.  That's what I meant yesterday when I said he was triangulating on the issue.

But acknowledging that reality would make all this just a one-day -- or zero-day -- story.  So what the papers want to do is try to gin up some real controversy.  Maybe play it up really big, and then hope they can get some other players or even someone in management to say something dumb today in response.  Then the fun really begins and we get to dance around the molehill for a couple of days pretending it's a mountain.   

The thing is, I thought the flame-fanning stuff was supposed to be my job.  Aren't the irresponsible bloggers, message board lunatics and Howard Eskin devotees supposed to be the ones making a big deal out of insignificant issues? 

Maybe next time there's some controversy with the team, I'll start out my post by writing, "If you listened to the hotheads in the Inquirer newsroom, you might think this is the team that hasn't made a good decision in 10 years..." 

It might be going a little far, though, to quote someone from WIP as the voice of reason. 

McNabb Triangulates on Trotter

If nothing else, the newly unleashed Donovan McNabb gives more interesting interviews...

Now This is Really Cool

You may have noticed that the NFL recently launched a redesigned version of its website.  Being philosophically opposed to change -- particularly when it means all my existing links no longer work and I have to figure out where to find everything again -- I wasn't initially a big fan of the new look.  I liked the embedded video, but the rest of the changes seemed designed mainly to increase ad revenues and screw up Google's database.

But then I found something really, really, really cool.  Check out the team statistics page for the Eagles.  Notice anything interesting?  There's a dropdown menu where you can select the season you want to view.

And it goes all the way back to 1933.

Now that's really cool.  In the past, the web stats didn't go back before about 2001.  But now, if I want to see how the team stacked up in 1940, I can.  How cool is it to see that seven different guys punted the football that year?  Why are we even bothering with this Rocca vs. Johnson competition?  Just stick a different guy back there every week and see how it plays out.

Or how about the last time the Eagles won a championship, in 1960?  Did you know that Norm Van Brocklin did the punting for that team?  I didn't.  (And he wasn't that bad, either.)

You can even check out the postseason stats for the '49 team.  Guess how many passes Tommy Thompson attempted ... not that many.  Although if you're throwing interceptions on 22 percent of your throws, maybe handing off to the Flying Dutchman every play isn't such a bad idea.

Speaking of the great Van Buren, here's his career.  And you can't tell me that isn't one sweet picture.

And I know he was a raw talent, but how on Earth did Randall Cunningham get sacked 72 times in only 281 dropbacks?  That's one out of four.  Amazing.

Mailbag? Mailbag!

Since this worked so well last time, and since I've actually gotten a few questions emailed in since then, I thought it might be time to pop open the mailbag again.

I fully expect your questions and requests to come pouring in (here's the email address).  As before, imaginary questions will be treated with the same respect as real ones. 

Real questions from imaginary readers will be looked at askance.