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Tony Hunt Flashback

31 carries, 158 yards

The Problem For Tony Hunt

We get our first Tony Hunt media sighting of training camp today. 

The biggest problem for Tony is that he's not a training camp type of player.  Brian Westbrook -- training camp player.  Lorenzo Booker -- he's a training camp player.  Those are the guys who can run around in seven-on-seven drills and show off how fast they are, how smoothly they catch the football, etc.  That's not Tony's deal/

Hunt needs to hope the third-team offensive line shows up to block for him during the preseason games.

Cowards

IOC agrees to Internet blocking at the Games

INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE

 

By Andrew Jacobs
Wednesday, July 30, 2008

 

BEIJING: The Chinese government confirmed Wednesday what journalists arriving at the lavishly outfitted media center here had suspected: Contrary to previous assurances by Olympic and government officials, the Internet would be censored during the upcoming games.

Since the Olympic Village press center opened Friday, reporters have been unable to access scores of Web pages - politically sensitive ones that discuss Tibetan succession, Taiwanese independence, the violent crackdown of the protests in Tiananmen Square and the sites of Amnesty International, Radio Free Asia and several Hong Kong newspapers known for their freewheeling political discourse.

On Wednesday - two weeks after its most recent proclamation of an uncensored Internet during the Summer Games - the International Olympic Committee quietly agreed to some of the limitations, according to Kevan Gosper, chairman of the IOC press commission, Reuters reported.

Gosper said that he regretted the limitations but that "IOC officials negotiated with the Chinese that some sensitive sites would be blocked on the basis they were not considered Games related."

A government spokesman initially suggested the problems originated with the site hosts, but on Wednesday, he acknowledged that journalists would not have unfettered Internet use during the Games, which begin Aug. 8.

"It has been our policy to provide the media with convenient and sufficient access to the Internet," said Sun Weide, the chief spokesman for the Beijing Olympics organizing committee. "I believe our policy will not affect reporters' coverage of the Olympic games."

Reader Request

It's been many, many years since I've been to Eagles' training camp (I think I still have Mike Quick's autograph somewhere), so I'm not really equipped to answer this reader question:

Can you give me a quick idea of what a day at training camp is like.  I was thinking of going on Friday but wasn't sure about the schedule.  The schedule has practice at 8am and 2pm.
 
It looks like the morning practice is about 2 hours.  So what happens between the end of the morning practice (10am) and the afternoon practice (2pm)?  What do people do during this time?

If you have any advice, pop it into the comments.  Thanks all.

Two Interesting Things Here

Good post on Eagletarian today by Domo, who's finally arrived to help carry the load.  Two interesting points, the first obvious:

Another training camp day, another two practices under the hot late-July sun without MIA right guard Shawn Andrews. Why Andrews isn't here at Lehigh remains a mystery. But at least one of his linemates has a message for him: get your butt in camp.

"It's not helping us and it's not helping him sitting out,'' right tackle Jon Runyan said. "The longer he holds out, the longer it'll be before he gets in there. So it's going to be a tough situation. If you keep giving reps to the guy who's backing you up, at some point, he's going to pass you..."

Asked whether Andrews can miss most of training camp and step back in to his right guard spot and start, Runyan said, "Coach Reid isn't going to let that happen. So I'm not worried about it.''

The second more subtle:

Donovan McNabb never has been a big fan of the fade pass, which is why the Eagles don't throw it much. But he completed two nice fades to wide receiver Hank Baskett and tight end Matt Schobel in 11-on-11 goal line work.

I've never really like the fade down by the goal line that much (unless it's to Plaxico vs. any person in our secondary -- then it can't miss).  It's almost a bailout / coin flip call by the coaching staff, especially when the team doesn't have Randy Moss type leapers on the outside.

On the other hand, defenses have known for years that they didn't really have to respect the fade from the Eagles, which has made it harder to execute the rest of the offense in the red zone since everyone can kind of cheat to the inside.  It wouldn't hurt to see more of this in training camp.

By the way, is it definitively established that it's McNabb who doesn't like the fade and not Reid?  Donovan seems to throw that ball just fine up the sideline. 

There's another side to that coin.

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.

No No No NO NO NO

Todd, man, you're a professional athlete.  This shouldn't be necessary to get a date.

An Embarrassment of Riches

I have to tell you, after five months of having very, very little to write about, the last few days have been information overload.  Wow.  So this is what almost-in-season football is like again.  I had almost forgotten.

Let's start with the special teams.  In yesterday's post, I mentioned the truly awful special teams results for the last few years.  Since it's also special teams interview day for PE.com, it seems like we can probably make some hay here.

First off, I think it's pretty clear at this point that the problems with the special teams can be traced to the same issue that affected so many other areas -- poor drafting.  The Eagles had top five special teams units from 2000 to 2004, then things started to get ugly.

Not coincidentally, the 2003 draft was probably the worst the Eagles have had under Andy Reid.  Compounding that problem was that the 2002 draft was one of the best, at least at the top end.  The three secondary guys and Brian Westbrook would all have made great special teamers, but they were too valuable to use in that role.  The result is that as core ST performers like Ike Reese moved on, there was no one ready to their place. 

In an interesting twist, the Eagles seem to have decided the answer to fixing the special teams isn't the draft any more, which is why they brought in guys like Chris Clemons, Rocky Boiman and (we'll see) Dan Klecko.

And wouldn't you know it, here's ST coordinator Rory Segrest on the unit's leaders:

On who the leaders are: "(LB) Rocky Boiman, (DE) Chris Clemons, you know, Q (S Quintin Mikell) stepped back into the role as he knows the leadership. Last year, he was really focusing on his defensive reps and, this year, I think he feels more comfortable with his defensive reps and he's able to give a little bit more attention back to special teams."

Interesting that the first two guys he mentions are free agent signings.  I guess he really wants to make sure they all (especially Boiman) make the team. 

And since we're on Segrest, it's nice to see there's at least one other person who's not totally infatuated with Stewart Bradley:

On whether he knew last year how good LB Stewart Bradley would be on special teams: "He was a rookie last year. Anytime you've got a bunch of rookies on the field, they're going to make mistakes. Stewart made some mistakes last year, but he obviously, again, he had that physical ability. He got better as the year went along. From a physical standpoint, sure we knew he would be there, but it's just like on offense and defense, young guys make mistakes and that's what occurred last year on special teams a little bit."

The other thing I wondered yesterday is if we could use past special teams performance as a way of seeing who might have the edge in roster battles this year.  Let's take a look. 

I put this table together using the last two Eagles media guides.  Sadly, the older guides don't break out special teams production, so this is as far back as we can go. 

A few things jump out right away:

1.  There was a LOT of turnover on special teams last year.  The top five special teams performers in 2007 were either not on the team the year before or didn't make much of an impact.  Of the top five ST guys in 2006, only one (Joselio Hanson) played a similar role in 2007.  Jason Short was cut, Sean Considine was hurt, and Quintin Mikell and Omar Gaither became starters. 

2.  Rory Segrest is a much tougher grader than John Harbaugh.  In 2006, the Eagles had 161 punts or kickoffs.  In 2007, it was 151.  Small difference, but somehow Harbaugh's guys racked up 95 more "tackles."

3.  Greg Lewis shouldn't get too comfortable.  Lewis has always had a reputation as a standout special teams performer.  Not compared to the seasons Hank Baskett and Jason Avant had last year.  Guess we found our "sixth wide receiver." 

4.  If Nick Cole had 119 points, they must not dock you much for missed blocks. 

5.  Thomas Tapeh has a fair number of special teams points for a guy who "did not play on special teams."

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More later, but for now, one final nugget from PFP 2008 passed along without comment:

"Unfortunately, [Booker's] blocking was so bad and his knowledge of the offense so primitive that Cam Cameron limited him to scout team duty...  Pressed into action as the third-down back in December, Booker responded with several fine games as a receiver.  The trick to using guys like Booker is to focus on what they can do (catch passes, fake defenders out), not what they can't do (block).  The Eagles traded for Booker during the draft.  He'll replace Ryan Moats as the roster's running back least likely to complete a crossword puzzle."

An "Outsiders" Look At The Eagles

Long-time readers know I am fond of using the stats at FootballOutsiders.com when arguing about the Eagles and their opponents.  Their creations are always a work in progress, but I have yet to find a better place for comparing players and teams across the league on a reasonably level playing field. 

In addition to the website, every summer the FO guys put out the Pro Football Prospectus, which really does live up to its billing as the "essential guide to the 200X pro football season."  I like to wait a couple weeks before I start citing numbers from the new edition because everyone should buy this book, but I believe at this point the proper time has passed so that I can share a few things.

First, the other teams in the division:

Dallas

• Mean projection: 8.1 wins.
• Dallas overachieved last season.  Based on the traditional stats, they should have won 11 games.  FO had them at 10.8 games based on their proprietary stats.  The Cowboys, you'll remember, went 13-3.
• PFP is not as high on Felix Jones as, um, I was:  "Warning signs surround Jones: He played as the lesser back in a two-back rotation in college, relied somewhat on a gimmick offense, and at 207 pounds his 4.47 in the Combine 40-yard dash yielded only a 103.7 Speed Score, below the 112-point average for a first-round pick."
• When I did this review of the Cowboys roster a few weeks ago, I noted that Dallas really didn't seem to have much depth at a few positions.  Well, one of the reasons that hasn't mattered much is that Dallas has been the best team in the league the last five years at avoiding missed time due to injuries.  PFP seems to want to argue that this is due to the training staff of the Cowboys.  I think it's more likely luck combined with the noted displeasure of Bill Parcells when guys take themselves out of games.  Either way, it's worth pointing out that the second-healthiest team during that timeframe is the Houston Texans ... who had four good years and then got nailed by the injury bug in 2007.   

Washington

• Mean projection: 6.9 wins.
• Fantastic charts in this chapter about the winning percentage of head coaches by age.  Old is bad.
• New coach Jim Zorn is bringing the west coast offense to Washington.  PFP is bullish on the fit of the personnel for this scheme, with the possible exception of the two starting WRs.  Given how surgically Jason Campbell picked apart the Eagles off three-step drops in the first game last season, I would tend to agree.

New York

• Mean projection: 9.6 wins.  "They should be better than the regular season Giants and not as good as the postseason ones."
• "Week 14: David Akers lines up for a 57-yard..."  Ugh.  Thanks for the memories.
• "Judging Manning's ability based on those [stupendously fluky] outcomes is like crediting your neighbor for buying the one house in the neighborhood that has oil underneath it."
• "Table 4: Giants' Fumble Luck in Playoffs."  I'll say it again, buy this book, if only to use it to shut up obnoxious Giants fans.
• "Eli Manning was hurried on a below-average number of pass plays, but when he was hurried ... he had the worst DVOA of any quarterback with at least 30 passes under pressure."

Philadelphia

And now for the main course:

• Mean projection: 11.7 wins.
• "As easy as it is to lay the blame at his feet, Donovan McNabb was not the problem with the 2007 Philadelphia Eagles."
• "As easy as it is to lay th--"  Oh, you heard the first time?
• "The difference is that [Tiki] Barber spent virtually his entire career without missing time due to injury, while Westbrook has missed time each year."
• Special teams last year were crap.  You knew that already.
• Eagles are projected to have the easiest non-division schedule in the league.

Some statistics:

% runs (all plays):  36%, 29th
% runs (first half): 37%, 26th
% pass (ahead in second half): 59%, 1st

Let's hear again how the Eagles actually don't pass that much if you look at things situationally, please.

Here's some more:

• "No team passes more often from two tight-end sets."
• Another sign the pass rush wasn't that bad last year:  "Philadelphia hurried quarterbacks more often than any other NFC defense..."
• "Seventh-round pick King Dunlap has a first-round name, third-round talent, and 47th-round work ethic."
• Trent Cole actually managed only 11 hurries last year.  That's not a bad number, but it's not elite.  And only one better than Juqua Parker-Thomas managed on the other side.  Cole is amazingly good against the run for a guy his size, though.
• According to the FO stats, Lito was really, really bad last year.  One imagines Joe Banner has this section framed on his wall.
• These special teams coverage numbers are truly awful.  My new roster theory is that there are going to be some low-end surprises as the team shakes up the bottom of the roster looking for better special teams performance.  I should go back and see if I can dig up the ST production stuff from last year.

Final random note from the Giants section:

• Last year, game charters listed Asante Samuel on the right side of the formation 15 times as often as he was on the left.  Yet this season he's going to be the LCB for the Eagles.  I'm confused.

A Time For Happy Thoughts

I had a post all planned out for today about how we can expect teams to try to attack the Eagles' defense this season.  Despite all the obsession attention we give to the offense, I still think the play of the defense is going to be the key to the season.  Not to steal too much from what I have on the issue, but when you're constantly dumping high-round picks and a big name free agent into a unit, you're hoping for something a little better than average.

But I realized this morning my heart wasn't in that post today.  It's the first day of full (minus one) training camp, the hitting starts tomorrow, and I'm not in the mood for critical thought. 

This is not a day for negatives. 

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Looking ahead, I think enough time has passed since the book came out that I can share some of the more interesting nuggets from the Football Outsiders' charting project. 

Preview:  Think the Eagles run/pass disparity washes out if you control for situations?  Think again.

So that's coming next week, along with the defensive thing listed above, a long list of reasons for optimism, and of course the obligatory obsession with the mental state of Shawn "Definitely Not Because Of Money" Andrews.

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Shaheer McBride is looking good for this competition, but Jason has a point about a potential sleeper.

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Finally, this is just extraordinary.  How one even notices that is beyond me.