Counterintuivity

Sounds like a Sting song, doesn't it?

Anyway, some backwards thoughts for today.

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The Cowboys might have a stronger coaching staff this year than last. 

Doesn't seem possible, right?  After all, when Bill Parcells left for Miami, he took with him anything that wasn't nailed down, including a #2 tight end, a spare linebacker, and five coaches (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), four of whom were with the Cowboys last year (QB coach David Lee spent last year with Arkansas).

That certainly seems like quite a hit.  The Eagles lost one guy last year and he ended up playing a big role in the Giants' leap past the Eagles in the division. 

But take a look at the guys Dallas has brought in as replacements (and while you're at it, check out the Jones family gravy train at the executive level):

• Secondary -- Dave Campo, former head coach, long-time assistant in Dallas, Jacksonville and other places where his units have had success.
• Linebackers -- Reggie Herring, college-level coach mostly, worked under Jimmy Johnson at OSU.  Dat Nguyen stays on as his assistant.
• Defensive line -- Todd Grantham, defensive coordinator in Cleveland the past three season.  Fired under strange circumstances, but he has more NFL experience than the guy he's replacnig.
• Offensive line -- Hudson Houck, 25 years of NFL experience, coached the Dallas line from 1993-2001, more recently with the Chargers and Dolphins.

Losing Sparano is certainly a hit, if he's as good as everyone says he is, but three of these four guys easily fall into the category of overqualified for their positions.  The fourth, Herring, is no spring chicken himself and also keeps Nguyen around for help. 

I'm not sure salvation is going to come from poor coaching -- unless you count Wade Phillips.

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Max Jean-Gilles just might win himself a starting guard spot ... playing next to Andrews.

Here's an interesting thought.  The coaches made it pretty clear that big MJG was going to have a chance to unseat Todd Herremans at the left guard spot during this offseason.  But then the big fella stayed a little too big and Herremans worked his tail off to keep his job (or for this?) and by July it was looking like a competition that was set to fizzle.

The problem for MJG is that he wasn't going to get the reps needed to make his case with both Herremans and Andrews doing what they had to to keep him on the sidelines.  But now that Andrews is off scaling Mount Everest for a few weeks, Jean-Gilles is getting all the opportunity he needs.

And consider this ... what if Andrews is out a few more weeks and misses a couple preseason games?  If Jean-Gilles comes in and plays like a monster, are the Eagles really going to send him back to the bench?  I don't think so, which means Herremans could be in trouble (thanks Shawn) OR that we might be seeing the surprise retirement of Jon Runyan, after the coaches move Andrews to the outside to figure out a way to get all three guys on the field. 

I'm not saying it's a foregone conclusion, especially since no one has any idea if Andrews can even be counted on for the full season, but at some point you have to put your five best guys on the field.  We now have a chance to find out if Jean-Gilles is one of them.

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Jerome McDougle might survive again.

This Victor Abiamiri injury doesn't look good.  Here's a good overview.  If he's done for the year, the Eagles are down to five healthy defensive ends, counting McDougle.  Undersized rookied Bryan Smith is still sitting out with a hamstring injury.  Given Smith's status as a project and the verrrrry convenient timing of his injury, you have to believe the Eagles were at least thinking about giving this guy the PUP redshirt year to build up his body and come back strong in 2009.

With VA's status in doubt, things now get a lot trickier.  Do you, um, "rush" Smith back from his injury to try to get him the snaps he needs to be effective when VA might be back in a couple months and then you have roster issues?  I'm not sure you do.  (Nor do we even know if the guy can play at this level.)

At some point, we all have to concede that Jerome McDougle is the luckiest man on the fact of the planet, right?  I mean, it's not just that he somehow manages to magically stay on the roster every year -- the guy got SHOT and it couldn't keep him down.

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By eyewitness accounts, McNabb is looking better than Kolb in camp so far this year.

Wait, this one isn't counter-intuitive at all.  Moving on...

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Did the Eagles actually go get offensive playmakers -- real, effective playmakers -- while no one was looking?

Leaving aside TE Kris Wilson for the moment (whose reported struggles come as no surprise to IgglesBlog readers), the other two significant offseason acquisitions seem to be coming along nicely. 

I think we have to reserve judgment on Booker until the first time we see him make an adjustment and pick up a blitzing linebacker, but you can't teach the ability he seems to have to make people miss.  Same for DeSean Jackson.  The question mark is still his size, but his physical skills seem to be unmissable.

Here's the counter-intuitive part there:  Since first-round receivers so rarely pan out right away, draft one in the second round instead.

Or something.

Comments

[since1961]

Does Andrews have the feet for LT? Justice & Herremans don't seem to.

[Me]

I think Andrews has the feet to play tight end, honestly.

Actually, that brings up an interesting point. If you _are_ going to make the transition, it might make sense to move Herremans to RT and slot in MJG at LG.

The thing about Andrews is that if he's not going to play LT, then you almost hate to move him away from guard, since his strength is really all those downfield chip-and-go blocks he makes on linebackers.

[bsencore]

Jerome McDougle is the luckiest man on the face of the planet? I concede that he hasn't done anything to deserve the big bucks given to him as a rookie, but he's had perhaps the second worst unlucky streak in the the city of brotherly love (obviously the last 25 years is worse). He's had multiple ankle, knee, hip, and rib injuries. He's been diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat. He was shot in a robbery. This is a guy who the Eagles considered a top 15 player in the 2003 draft, and he has barely been able to step on the field. I half expect him to contract the bird flu or something.

[Me]

And yet for all that he still has a decent chance to pull down a cool $1 million over the next five months or so for being not much more than a glorified practice squadder.

Tell me that's not lucky.

[Phil]

Andrews is definitely next in line for the LT spot - but I wonder how much he's losing favor with Reid with this holdout. Or is all forgiven when you're the most talented lineman on the team?

I'm interested to see how Clemons' playing time will be affected by VAs injury (although it's one of those things we'll never be able to test). Who will get leaned on more, Clemons or Parker?

As for McDougle, how much playing time do you think he'll get? I don't remember him getting on the field a whole lot in '06 at all.