Iggles Blog - Philadelphia Eagles Blog

McNabb the Hoopster

This story is worth checking out even if you only go for the picture of McNabb in his high school basketball uniform.  There isn't a direct link, you have to scroll down a bit for the link to "McNabb's hoop story."

(Turn your speakers off before you click the link, they have embedded video that auto-loads.)

Blame TypePad

They're pretty good most of the time, but not always:

Jun 17, 2008

TypePad Blogs
Users may see their blog not loading or loading slowly. We are aware of the issue and working as quickly as possible to resolve it. We appreciate your patience.

Posted at 8:19 AM PDT

So What Sports Dot Com

WhatIfSports.com uses its "simulation technology" to predict the outcomes of both future sporting events and hypothetical cross-generational match-ups.  Right now, the site is in the midst of simming the 2008 NFL season, and I know you're dying to hear how things are shaping up for the Eagles.

Not well.

The site predicts the Eagles will finish fourth in the NFC East with an 8-8 record.  They list the most significant newcomer as Asante Samuel, the biggest strength as Brian Westbrook and the most exploitable weakness as "pass protection."

Meh, whatever, I just want to mention their biggest fantasy sleeper:

Chris Gocong, LB - We would love to say Lorenzo Booker, Brent Celek, DeSean Jackson or Kevin Kolb, but they may have to wait until next year. Gocong, the former Buch Buchanan Award winner (DI-AA/FCS defensive player of the year, like Jared Allen, Rashean Mathis, Dexter Coakley and Ed Hartwell) is in his second full season with the Eagles. In the simulated 2008 season, he leads the team with 93 tackles and also notches two sacks.

Truly MVP-caliber numbers.

So, how'd the rest of the division do?  Well, the site has the Cowboys first, the Giants second and the Redskins third.  Hmmm... that's not very creative.  What about the rest of the league?  Let's see, they've got the Patriots, Colts, Chargers and Browns all winning their division ... the Jaguars making the playoffs ... the Raiders, Ravens and Dolphins all being pretty terrible ... wait a second, that sounds exactly like last year.  Surely they didn't just load in all of last year's statistical performances, tweak a few things here and there and burp out some season results? 

Um, yeah, that actually seems to be exactly what they did.  Give me the Football Outsiders KUBIAK projections any day of the week over this junk, please.

Speaking of banana peels...

Although they did pick the Celtics to win in six.

Oh It's On

I guarantee this'll get the blood pumping for ya:

Rookie first-round pick Mike Jenkins, a cornerback, waxed emphatic when asked about prospects for the Dallas defense.

"I feel like it can be one of the best defenses that ever played the game," he said. "We're filled with talent at each position, starters and backups."

Jenkins said he's sure Browns fans remember Bobby Carpenter, a former Ohio State star who for now is behind veteran Zach Thomas at one of the inside linebacker spots.

Carpenter, a No. 18 overall draft pick in 2006, a backup? That's depth...

Jerry Jones makes sure the world acknowledges his Cowboys, who sent 13 players to this year's Pro Bowl.

We'll let Calvin Hill tell us what 13 stuffed-ballot-box Pro Bowlers buys you in January:

"We thought we were ready to take that step last year," Hill said. "Hopefully the frustration of what happened in that playoff loss to the Giants will keep us focused all year.

What Can We Learn From The Cuts

This is the sloooooow time in NFL land, as minicamps have ended and nothing very much happens for the next month.  Good thing we have the division-leading Phillies, NBA Finals, U.S. Open and (ouch) Rice baseball to see us through the down times.

Blogging at the best of times is pretty much an exercise in tea leaf reading.  Right now, it's more like taking out the trash can, rummaging around the mixed-up coffee grounds, mushy bananas and old corn and looking for something -- anything -- we might have missed the first time around.

I didn't cover the cuts the team made last week in much detail, so there may be some possibilities there.  Let's take a look:

Terrell Golden -- WR -- Rookie
Not a surprising move.  Golden's only real chance of making an NFL roster this year is finding a less talented team where there's room for him on the roster if he plays like a complete maniac on special teams.  Kind of the Sean Morey / Rod Smart approach. 

Casey Hansen -- QB -- Rookie
They kept Kevin Kolb instead?  Amazing.

Gary Butler -- LB -- Rookie
Another courtesy look at a Pennsylvania collegian.  Although the odds are even longer if you come from California (PA) rather than Penn State.  Still nothing interesting here.

Markel Staffieri -- LB -- Rookie
Look at this guy's college stats and explain how he even got a look in an NFL camp.  Oh, he went to BYU?  Ok then.  Chalk it up to just another favor Reid does for some old buddies, and in return they keep giving him inside tips on some underpublicized talent.  Fine by me.

A.J. Schable -- DE / FB -- Second year
Not content with simply drafting bunches of small school players, the Eagles went out and picked up former Division II prospect Schable this offseason.  Schable, like Dan Klecko, was a converted defensive lineman / fullback.  Like Klecko, the conversion didn't take.

Tanard Davis -- CB -- Second / third year
Fun fact:  Davis won a Super Bowl ring with the Colts in 2006 despite spending most of the season on the practice squad, then went to Carolina's practice squad for 2007, from which he was signed by the Eagles the day after Christmas.  He tried to learn how to return punts this year, a task for which much of the local media ridiculed him.  1) I'm not really that cool on dragging down the guys who are just trying to do anything they can to get their shot.  2) If you think returning punts is so easy, go try it sometime.  Regardless, he's gone. 

LaJuan Ramsey -- DT -- Third year
Ok, now here's where it gets interesting.  Why would the Eagles cut Ramsey when there were so many other possible cuts of guys who don't have a prayer of making the final roster?  This move leaves the Eagles with only six defensive tackles on the roster, and one of those guys is Dan Klecko.  I realize Darren Howard is kind of a DE/DT, but that's still not a lot of bodies to have around if someone gets hurt in training camp or the preseason.  And it's not like this was something to see coming, since this article says Ramsey was running with the second team during the minicamps.  Something happened here.

Xzavie Jackson -- DE -- Second year
This is another interesting cut, if only because the coaches seemed to like this kid last year.  The Eagles now have more offensive guards (7) than defensive ends (6) on the roster right now.  Again, this seems strange given the potential for injury at that position.  If he doesn't get picked up by someone else, I wouldn't be surprised to see him on the practice squad again this year. 

Oh look, there's a banana peel... 

Cuts Announced

From PE.com:

The Eagles released nine players on Friday, the most notable being defensive tackle LaJuan Ramsey, and agreed to terms on a one-year deal with veteran defensive tackle Kimo von Oelhoffen.

The other players released were Gary Butler, Jeremy Clark, Tanard Davis, Terrell Golden, Casey Hansen, Xzavie Jackson, A.J. Schable and Mark Staffieri.

A little surprised about Ramsey, but also Jackson.  Heard some good things about the latter.

Sad to see Golden walk, but not that surprising.  Hansen could be right back here in a year.

Reid Agrees

On the biggest problem in these minicamps not being McNabb's shoulder or Lito's non-appearance:

Reid said he was more concerned about Jackson than Samuel's missing time at the Eagles' final spring camp. Both players sat out the final five practices with hamstring injuries.

"DeSean has a lot of work ahead of him both mentally and physically," Reid said. "When you're young like that, you can't afford those kinds of things, because the game passes you by real fast. We were working him into the offense, but he's got to get himself right and healthy. The hamstring isn't something that has bothered him before."

Jackson said he would recover from his injury by training camp.

This is honestly, potentially by far the biggest story since the draft.  Who knows if the rumors about Jackson not being a player who loves to practice are actually true.  What we do know is:

1. It's virtually impossible for rookie wide receivers to master the whole playbook even under the best of circumstances.
2. Missing OTA time with a strained hamstring is not the best of circumstances.
3. A hamstring strain seems like a "conditioning" type of injury that happens to guys who haven't been working hard enough -- especially at his age.
4. A strained hamstring during OTAs is the quintessential prima donna wide receiver injury.  (see Owens, Smith, etc.)

Attacking the Giants

The Football Outsiders guys don't post that much in the offseason -- they're all working on the next edition of the book -- but what they do put up tends to be pretty interesting. 

Case in point: this review of Tampa Bay running back Ernest Graham in the playoffs last year against the New York Giants.  You may not care as much about the play-by-play aspects of it, but about halfway down we start getting into some interesting lessons for the Eagles:

First, why did Gruden abandon the run when it was working? After that first successful drive, Graham only carried the ball 11 more times, and the Giants didn’t have more than a seven-point lead until Lawrence Tynes kicked a 25-yard field goal with five minutes gone in the third quarter. Joey Galloway’s shoulder injury left Garcia without his primary weapon at full strength, and after possessing the ball for almost ten minutes in the first quarter, the Bucs never again had it for more than 6:40 in a quarter, and could barely manage five minutes in the second and fourth quarters. The Giants’ 2007 defensive line will go down as one of the best in recent history, but Graham and his teammates were absolutely making inroads against it.

In the drive at the end of the second quarter after the Giants tied the score, a two-yard run by Graham was followed by eight straight Garcia passes and an eventual punt. Tampa Bay’s next drive saw Graham take the ball on the ground five times for 23 yards. That drive ended when Garcia was intercepted by Corey Webster at the goal line on a pass to Galloway. After that, it was too late.

How familiar does that sound?

Now, none of this is to suggest the Giants don't have a good rush defense.  By yards per game, they were 8th best in the league last year.  By average rush, 4th. 

But, as always, the FO stats are a little more revealing.  They rank the Giants 3rd in overal ALY (definitions are available at that link), 6th in stuffs, but only 17th against power runs and 23rd in percentage of rushes that went more than 10 yards.

Now there are a lot of possible explanations for these stats.  Maybe teams piled up big runs in the second half when the Giants were playing soft and sitting on leads.  Possible, I guess.  More likely, however, is that the Giants are home run hitting defense.  It's all or nothing every play.  They sell out with all their crazy blitzes, and when they guess right -- 6th in stuffs -- the play is over immediately.  But when they guess wrong -- 23rd in 10+ -- they're going to get gashed. 

They're also not great in power situations, which may not be that surprising given the relative undersizedness (ha) of their linemen. 

All of which suggests there could be two really good ways to attack the Giants this year, both of which involve running the football an awful lot. 

- - - - - -

I feel like I'm only scratching the surface here on this one, but it's all the time I have.  It's been kind of a crazy week.  I hope to come back a little stronger on Monday.

He Looks Awfully Concerned

This is definitely the face of a man worried about an injury.

Source:  Jessica Griffin, Philadelphia Daily News.

- - - - - -

From that same article, John Smallwood makes an excellent point about Stewart Bradley:

Sports are ironically funny.

Had Bradley been a first-round pick and started just one game as a rookie, he probably would go into training camp with even more questions about him.

But because his rookie season was one of constant growth that resulted in those final three games, Bradley is being viewed as a potential steal for the Eagles.

Linkage

Frequent commenter Tracer Bullet emailed me last week a story he'd done about the local roller girls league.  It's oh-so-close to out-of-bounds for this blog, but it is a) Philly-focused and b) nominally a sport, so I meant to throw a link up and just forgot when things got a little nuts last week.

The pictures are all pretty tame but the vernacular could be non-work-safe if you have (or are) a somewhat uptight boss.