This Is Getting A Little Ridiculous

Bob Brookover does a good, sound review of LJ's snap-by-snap performance last game to show that the Eagles' tight end hasn't suddenly morphed into a huskier Todd Pinkston:

Sometimes you can look at the box score and learn a lot about the player. Sometimes you can't. Smith had zero receptions Sunday during the Eagles' 15-6 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, but that doesn't mean he had a bad game. He did not.

Smith was on the field for six offensive series and 41 plays. He missed the fourth quarter because of lower-back pain. His assignment on 25 of those 41 plays was to block a defensive lineman or linebacker. With the exception of one play in the third quarter, he performed those blocking assignments well.

In fact, the only time he whiffed on an assignment, Correll Buckhalter got loose for a 7-yard gain anyway.

The point is that 61 percent of the time, the Eagles asked their tight end to block, which greatly reduces the chance for him to make the kind of receiving impact that Jason Witten has had with the Dallas Cowboys this season.

Smith ran pass routes on 16 plays against the Steelers, but the ball was thrown in his direction only twice. There were other times when he was open, but quarterback Donovan McNabb opted to go elsewhere. Often, McNabb made a good decision because his other option was a receiver open deeper down the field.

Straightforward, convincing.  But why is this even remotely necessary? 

LJ's been here for six years.  We know exactly what he brings to this offense.  We know that while he might not be Jason Witten, he definitely brings something to the table each week.  His blocking has steadily improved as he's been in the league.  And after all this time in the offense, he even rivals Jason Avant in his ability to catch McNabb's off-target rockets.

LJ Smith is not Brian Dawkins, a veteran player well on the wrong side of 30 whose every small misstep makes us wonder if he's finally going to play to his age...

Nor is he DeSean Jackson, a rookie who's played all of three games in the NFL, with a future that's completely unknowable at this point...

He's also not Chris Clemons, a free agent acquisition who has to adjust to the Eagles system, has been fighting through injuries, and doesn't even have all that long of a track record to go by...

What kind of idiot says to himself -- "You know, LJ Smith only has one catch in his last two games, that must mean he SUCKS!!!"  Unless you've only become an Eagles fan in about the last year, there's really no excuse for such lazy analysis. 

- - - - - -

Here's why this really bothers me, though.  LJ had more than one reason to try to play last year.  We know it wasn't just about trying to help the team win.  But the guy battled his guts out -- almost literally, in fact -- to get on the field last year with the same injury that has knocked out guys like Donovan and Curtis for months.  You could see the way he moved that everything he did on the field was causing him pain.  And yet every week he busted his ass to be out there. 

Now, here we are, one year later, and the howling jackals are out there screaming about how he's a "wuss," he "sucks," and he's "stealing money."

That's ridiculous.

Comments

[BallHawkDawk]

fair enough. but if he "doesn't suck", then he sure as hell isn't good either. i say let him walk after this year if he wants a fat contract.

[shlynch]

Sure, LJ is doing what is expected of him. But right now, is it better than, say, Celek (a superior blocker by all accounts) would do? The point is that LJ was sold to the fan base as an athletic TE who could stretch the field and be a huge receiving threat. Analysts have pointed out how much better his numbers have been with McNabb, and if the two could only be healthy in the lineup at the same time, LJ would be a pro bowl caliber TE.

It isn't that LJ is doing anything wrong. It is that he is once again proving that he isn't anything special and probably is never going to be anything special. And that is well below expectations.

[IgglesWings]

Isn't the most interesting part of the article to point out the fact that LJ is required to block significantly more than Witten is?

Does this say something about the superiority of the Cowboys O-line or am I missing another piece of information?

[Derek]

Yeah, but I don't think Brookover was totally clear there. Seems like most of those blocking assignments came on running plays. LJ doesn't stay in to pass protect all that often.

No one's saying LJ is an elite tight end. But go back to the 2006 season, when he was healthy. Among tight ends, he was 10th in receptions, 12th in yards and 7th (tied) in TDs. That doesn't make him Antonio Gates, but it suggests he's probably around the 10th best tight end in the League.

Ripping a guy for that, especially after the way he gamely try to gut things out last season, is crazy. Especially when the argument relies on a two-game sample size.

[Derek]

As for Celek, he's three years into his second season and still has eight catches to go to match the 27 LJ had his rookie year (when Smith was behind / splitting time with Chad Lewis).

I like Celek as a player too. Much stronger run blocker this year. But how many games has LJ missed due to injury the lass season plus? And in all that time has Celek once done anything to make us think he's going to be some kind of stud?

He still has time to develop. Obviously I'm rooting for him to do so. But I'm still waiting for him to step up and grab one of these opportunities.

[Eric]

Go read PE message boards. There must be a thousand threads this season already about how LJ sucks and how the Eagles should have drafted Witten.

It's sad, but that's the way people seem to think.

[Derek]

Oh yeah, we definitely should have drafted Witten. Just like 20 some odd teams should have drafted DeSean Jackson.

Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't.

[shlynch]

Why does Celek have to be a stud, when you yourself say that Smith is perhaps as good as the 10th best TE in the league if healthy and playing his best (and other TEs in the league are allowed to be hurt, as they were in 2006)? Doesn't he just have to be adequate? Because that is what Smith is. He is a middle of the road player. That's fine, as you say, but fans have been hoping and expecting that he would develop into far more than that -- and the team certainly has encouraged that belief.

Look, if Smith, at best, is a middle of the road starter, which is what he is, then he should be happy to play for $2-$3 million a year. Otherwise, give me a cheaper Celek and a draft pick who could actually develop into being a top end TE someday.

[Derek]

There's a pretty big gap between adequate second tight end -- which is what we at least know we have right now in Celek -- and 10th best guy in the league.

I'm not going to be all broken up if LJ leaves after this year. The team was clearly ready to see him go last year. It just worked out that a) LJ's injury blew up and b) the backup plans didn't really show many signs of awesomeness, so both team and player decided to stick together another year.

But bottom line:

1) He doesn't suck.
2) It's dumb to argue (which you're not, but others are) that he DOES suck based just on a couple of games when his track record goes back much further.
3) I sort of feel as a general rule that it's uncool to go so over the top in jumping on a guy when he spent an entire season fighting through a serious injury to stay on the field.

Bash the hell out of the "for who, for what" guys, but be a little more respectful of the gamers, is all I'm saying.

[Derek]

And truthfully, should probably add a point "c" above, which is that it wasn't a great draft for tight ends.

[shlynch]

I think the gap between an adequate second TE and the 10th best TE in the league on his best days is mainly opportunity. I doubt the difference at the end of the day is material.

But setting that aside, I agree that LJ doesn't suck, he isn't hurting the team, he isn't stealing money, and he has never seemed like a guy who was unwilling to play through pain. And I do think that keeping him for a year under the franchise tag was a good move for both sides.

I also think that the driver for fan angst is valid, which is that he should be more than what he is. We have seen that in flashes during his career. We haven't seen it this year, and quite frankly, it is pretty surprising that we haven't given the opportunity that he has been presented, with the top 2 WRs out, a clean bill of health for him and the QB, and a contract year to motivate him. I think fans are correct to be tremendously disappointed. They go too far in their criticisms as a result, and don't appreciate what he does do, but the disappointment is well-founded. He has 13 games to turn it around, but at some point, he is what he is.

[FrankJ']

Okay, but I'm unclear on two things: 1.) Why isn't LJ's number getting called more often? and 2.) Why isn't McNabb trying to get him the ball more often?

[Eric]

Even if he is around the 10th best TE, he's getting paid like the top 5 TEs.

[since1961]

Excellent blog, Derek, I always look forward to your new postings. Hard to take the unserious blather on a lot of the others. For LJ, keep trying to work him in, spell with Celek. Whether he's willing to sign for appropriate money at year end or walks, draft a TE fairly high (to replace Schobel). Next year, they're gonna need a safety, an OL, probably a DL, and a TE. Possibly a RB. That's rounds 1 - 4 assuming no FA's. Should be doable.

[Eric]

No WR?!?!?

I guess I'm an idiot.
To me the first game of the season was the story of his career.
Inconsistency.
He is just not worth the money.

[Eagles Fan in San Fran]

As often happens in these cases, a lot of different factors come into play.
- First and foremost, as others have suggested, LJ was overhyped by the Eagles coming out of college - thus, we were expecting Keith Jackson, not the 10th best TE in the league (I also think they overhyped Celek as well, although not nearly to the same extent as LJ).
- Not living up to the overhype is compounded by having followed in Chad Lewis' footsteps. Now Chad of course didn't have the numbers LJ has put up, but, as an undrafted player, he certainly overachieved and, with that classic, linebacker-like look and mentality, he was a fan favorite. Thus, LJ looks bad in comparison.
- The fact that the NFC East has been a beast when it comes to TEs - Witten, Cooley and Shockey have all been well within the top 10 the last few years - again makes LJ look bad.
- The fact that the Eagles D has been relatively weak defending against seemingly all TEs for awhile now makes LJ look bad in comparison ("Their guy got x, while LJ only got y")
- LJ's best year was 2005 - a year we'd all sooner forget (Mike McMahon, anyone?).
- LJ downplayed the injury and surgery last year, to his ultimate detriment. Also, I could be very wrong on this, but did he not delay having that surgery until a month before camp?
- While, yes, he has been relatively healthy in his career, in the NFL, once you've had that "major injury," anytime anything else happens, someone's going to label you - rightly or wrongly - "injury prone."
- The perceived superiority of Celek as a blocker begs the question - if LJ's not catching many passes, why do we need him?

Bottom Line IMO: He'll be OK if he just does one thing: Be productive in the red zone. That's where we need him most. If that doesn't happen, however, he won't be back next year and will be viewed - rightly or wrongly - as having been an underachiever.

[TM]

Ok so doesn't suck, but he certainly isnt good either. Top 10 TE in the NFL? I have to challenge that. He is middle of the pack. Which I guess is fine but as mentioned by others he is pushed as a top TE who stretches the field and is a key weapon in the red zone. His absence was a big reason the Eagles were so bad in the red zone last year or so we were told. Where has he been this year? Sure it is a small sample size, 3 games, but it is almost 20 percent of the season. So how long do we have to go before we can say he sucks? If he has 12 catches after 6 games is it then ok? At some point he has to produce. We as fans are not at practice so we have no idea what is going on there. Maybe there is a reason McNabb doesn't throw to him?
And we had Reid talking about how Pittsburgh was playing so deep that he couldn't be that aggressive. Smith should have had a field day underneath then no? Why didn't he? What are we missing?
And who would have thought his back hurts again. Yes he plays in games but it does always seem like he is hurt.
Oh well, he is from Rutgers. How much can be expected of him? I was excited about them drafting him. Then I remember being at the first game at LFF and seeing him drop that pass on the fake FG. It was a metaphor for his career. So much promise but just can't seem to capitalize on it.

[bigmyc]

Man, how can we so miss the obvious simply because fair rationale should give L.J. the benefit of the doubt. L.J. is a "flasher." He shows flashes of brilliance but that's all that's ever been ushered forth from him...along with the tough guy thing, of course. But, I don't think that Celek is any kinda cupcake. He doens't have to be a stud, just, "studlike." You do that by gutting out the smaller injuries and and making plays when asked to do so...not carry an offense. TEs should compliment an offense capably if they aren't talented enough to be a focal point.

..and Celek made perhaps the biggest offensive play of the season last year by converting that late game first down. That shows me plenty for a rookie. Need I mention that it was Dallas?

[Derek]

"NOT: TE L.J. Smith. He dropped a pass in the end zone, hurt his back and finished with zero catches against the Steelers."

Surely we're not counting that short-hopped burner from McNabb as a drop now. Was there some other play I'm not remembering?

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/20080926_Eagles-Bears_scouting_report.html?page=3&c=y