Note to Marty

McNabb's back.  We can stop running the Garcia offense.

Update:  Ok, good call to Jackson.  Stay ready for next transmission. 

Second update:  Sneak preview of the video rewind this week:

"Then it rained a lot.  Then they talked about Brett Favre.  Then we saw Jeff Foxworthy..."

This sucks.

Third update:  10-0 at the two-minute warning.  This continues to suck.

Is Reid Easing Up?

A thought just occurred to me.  The starters are supposed to play the entire first half tonight.  Presumably that means they won't be doing likewise in the third game of the preseason, since it's hard to believe a lot of these guys need that much tune-up time.

Is this change part of Reid's approach to trying to have his team a little fresher for the start of the season?  After all, everyone's going to be a little rusty that first week -- assuming they don't play much in game four -- so why not move up the big game to give your guys a little bit more chance to recover and get their bodies ready for the start of the season?

Anyway, it's a thought.

The Expectations Trap

I'll be posting tonight so I'm not putting much up today.  Besides, my previews generally suck anyway.  Last year I was either wildly wrong or just not that interesting on far too many Fridays.

I really have to work on that. 

Anyway, I did want to make one point before things kick off tonight.  Now that we've finally had a chance to see the guys this year, a lot of our perceptions have been reshuffled. The McNabb doubters have gone underground for a little while, for example.  And not spending a first-round pick on a wide receiver suddenly isn't looking like too terrible a move. 

The only problem with this is that now our expectations have been set.  So if there's any variance at all with what we saw in the first game, there's a pretty decent chance we might go overboard in the other direction.

Downside things to watch out for:

• Donovan looking a little bit more like Donovan and not Super Awesome Man.
• DeSean Jackson looking like a rookie.
• The starting offensive line -- with two backups and another guy out of position -- looking a little ragged.

And on the upside:

• Brian Dawkins looking like he actually could beat Shawn Andrews in footrace.
• The starting defense selling out to stop the run early.

Things we'd like to see but I'm worried we won't:

• Some semblance of a pass rush.
• Asante Samuel leaving the field without a limp.
• Sav Rocca punting with his right foot again (only possible explanation I have).

Holy Crap, Booker's For Real

Ok, so we knew he could catch the ball, but on this second drive he has two legit, patient, explosive runs.

Holy crap.  This guy might be for real.

Attacking the Edges

Remember a couple weeks ago when I said I was planning to write about how opposing teams would likely challenge the Eagles' defense?  Then I never got back to it?

Yeah, we're pretty much seeing it.  Attack the edges where those undersized ends are active but not big, then see if the LBs can shut things down behind them.

On this first drive, not so much for the good guys.

Damn I should have posted that.

- - - - - -

Other points, while we're here:

• Attack Gocong and Bradley in coverage
• Go after Mikell at the SS position
• Max protect on the outsides and see if the DTs are capable of getting any pressure whatsoever.

Three Hours...

It's wrong to be this excited about a game that doesn't mean anything.

Oh well.

Why is no one talking about Brodrick Bunkley these days?  Wasn't the guy a #1 pick? 

He certainly played all right last year, but that's a far cry from the dominant force he was in college.  I think we learn a lot about Bunk the next few weeks.

Update:  Does he look smaller to everyone else, too?  (Note to PE.com:  If you all could set up the gallery section so that we can link to individual images, that would be great.)

Eagles Preseason Drinking Game

The Eagles 2008 season somewhat officially begins tonight in Pittsburgh.  To celebrate this momentous occasion -- and to obscure the fact that most preseason football games are mind-numbingly boring after the first 20 minutes -- I propose the following drinking game. 

Please feel free to play along at home.  Some of us have kids, families and blogs to take care of, but for the rest of you lowlifes I would point out that a) it's Friday night and b) there's only one game on, so there's no need to pace yourselves.

Let us begin.

----------------------------------------------------

Take one drink if/when...

... Pittsburgh sends at least five guys at the quarterback.
... Tony Hunt completes a run of more than 1.6 yards.
... "The confluence" appears on screen.
... Max Jean-Gilles looks really, really slow getting outside on a screen pass.
... An Eagles receiver drops a pass (unless it's the #12 guy on the depth chart, in which case no need to pile on).
... A non-Division I-A school is mentioned.
... [TV Edition] Charlie Casserly starts a sentence with "When I was in Houston..."
... [Radio Edition] Merrill Reese talks about how he thinks "Brent Celek really has a future in this league."
... [Couch Edition] Someone in the room points out how small David Akers is now.

Take two drinks if/when...

... Pittsburgh sends at least six guys at the quarterback.
... Lito Sheppard allows a completion of more than 8.9 yards.
... SWMBO asks: "Do you really have to watch the whole thing?"
... The word "vanilla" is used.
... After a blown coverage, two guys in the secondary gesture wildly to make sure everyone knows it was not their fault.
... Donovan makes a really dumb joke during his sideline interview and then transitions with: "Nah, I feel great, my shoulder feels great..."
... You think "Jamie Moyer" the first time Kevin Kolb throws a pass after coming in for Donovan (you know it's gonna happen now).
... [TV and Radio Editions] Anyone uses the words "DeSean Jackson" and "confidence" in the same sentence.

Take three drinks if/when...

... Pittsburgh sends at least seven guys at the quarterback.
... the Eagles manage a kickoff return of more than 35 yards.
... we see a shot of Tra Thomas (or his agent) smiling after Winston Justice blows a pass protection.
... the Eagles call two straight running plays.
... [TV Edition] Dave Spadaro says he thinks the Eagles could keep six wide receivers, eight linebackers or five running backs.
... [Radio Edition] Mike Quick says: "I'm really impressed with the way" and then names a guy who won't be on the team in a month.

Finish your drink if/when...

... Pittsburgh says "F it" and sends all 11 guys at the quarterback.
... Jerome McDougle or Ryan Moats suffers his annual "it doesn't look good but we'll have to see what the MRI says" injury.
... We see my parents in the stands (I'll let you know).

----------------------------------------------------

Please feel free to add your own in the comments...

Making The Leap?

The biggest reason most non-Philadelphians are writing off this year's Eagles squad as a serious contender is because the team just doesn't look all that different from what they've seen the last couple years.  Same quarterback, same all-world running back, same solidly-average starting receivers.  Sure, they added Asante Samuel in free agency, but whoever heard of a cornerback taking a team to the Super Bowl?

On the one hand, of course, these folks are right.  The Eagles have been a remarkably stable organization over the past few (make it 10) years.  They're nobody's flavor of the month.

On the other hand, folks who aren't as intimately familiar with the Eagles as all of us are may not realize just how much turnover there's been.  Compare the starting lineups over the last three seasons with the projected lineup for 2008:

 

Only eight starters remains from that awful 2005 campaign.  Seven positions have had at least three different starters in that timeframe.  The WIL position has had a different guy slotted in to start every single year.  That's plenty of turnover.

Of course, the real question isn't if the names have changed, but if the new players are better than the old ones.  For the most part, the answer seems to be yes:

• Herremans over Hicks
• Jackson over Fraley
• Curtis over Lewis and (grudgingly) Stallworth
• Patterson over Thomas
• Cole over Kalu
• Gaither over all those guys
• Samuel over young Lito

The downgrades:

• Owens / Brown
• 2005 Trotter / 2008 Bradley (presumably)
• 2006 Lewis / 2008 Mikell

And the call-it-evens:

• Fullbacks
• Jones / Gocong
• Bunkley over Walker (very close, with Bunkley ahead against the run and Walker better against the pass)

A lot of these guys were around last year, though, so the difference between '07 and '08 (besides the health of McNabb and the secondary) is going to have to come from younger guys improving the way younger guys tend to do -- for a few years, until they level off. 

Just as a reminder, here's the experience level of the starters we're looking at this year:

So figure once a guy gets to a certain point -- say his second contract -- he's probably done getting much better.  There are always exceptions, but let's only look at the players with five or fewer years of experience.  These are the guys who have a chance to really improve in 2008:

Notice that we're talking about six guys out of the front seven.  (And if Abiamiri handn't gotten hurt, it would be all seven.)  This defense really has a chance to take a major step forward this year.  I'd be surprised if they don't, in fact.

Breaking down the players individually:

• Reggie Brown -- I'm not sold on Brown.  I'm not sure how much is his fault (his numbers when McNabb is hurt are markedly, puzzlingly better), but he's very much in a "prove it" situation this year.  With that said, we're really looking at this position as "starter opposite Kevin Curtis."  What that means is that you get four rolls of the dice here:  Brown, Baskett, Avant and Jackson.  You only have to get lucky once.
• Todd Herremans -- Another interesting position in that he's got a guy nipping at his heels who might even be more talented.  You don't step in at left tackle as a rookie if you can't play this game though, so I think the forecast here is very positive.
• Shawn Andrews -- Capable of being more consistent, but it's hard to see him improving much.  Especially with the circus in town.
• Jason Davis -- No.  Whoever wins this position battle will be just another sub-par role player.
• Mike Patterson -- He made his leap last year.  He'll get more opportunities if all the players around him step up their games, but it won't be because he got that much better.
• Brodrick Bunkley -- Ding Ding Ding.  Watch out for this guy.  He's entering his third year in the league and his second year as a starter, just like Patterson last year.  The light should come on in a big way.
• Trent Cole -- I think he's maxed.  It's a good max, though.
• Omar Gaither -- Absolutely.  And it's entirely because he'll be back in a position where he's better suited to thrive.  I look to Omar to be a big-time playmaker this year.
• Stewart Bradley -- Lot of hype.  We'll see.  First year as a starter, though, which suggests to me that next year is his year to make the jump.
• Chris Gocong -- He should make the leap.  After all, this is his third season and second year starting.  That's the magic point.  I'm just not feeling it.  PFP called Gocong an "inoffensive starter" after last season.  I think he stays there.

Yes, you could say I'm no longer irrationally excited about Chris Gocong.  It's a sad day.

Shawn Andrews On NBC 10

Video interview here.  Haven't watched it myself yet.

Jeff Lurie Reads PFP

Well, actually no, I'm sure he's getting this research firsthand (what I could do with those numbers...):

"I will say that I'm very hopeful that Lito will have a terrific season. (That he will) show us, and the league, that he's back to the old Lito, feels healthy, (that) he's got great playmaking ability and certainly a lower YPA (yards per attempt) and just really perform the way that we know Lito can. I think that's what he's going to do."

In Lito's defense, William James was even worse.

And somewhere, Joe Banner smiles.

Or does the finger-tent "excellent."  It has to be one of the two.