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This Is Good News

Curtis' injury maybe not that bad (from DN):

Talking to reporters for the first time since his surgery, Curtis said, "Fortunately, I don't think I'm going to miss too much of the season."

While he was a little vague on the specifics of his surgery - "I don't know what exactly the procedure was, but they had to go in both sides and fix them" - he said he was told by surgeon Dr. William Meyers that his injury wasn't nearly as bad as the sports hernias suffered by teammates Donovan McNabb and L.J. Smith.

"He told me not to compare this to other injuries because they're completely different," Curtis said. "Both Donovan and L.J.'s were a lot more extensive and [had] a lot more damage. I wouldn't expect it to take as long as they took to get back."

Evaluating the Curtis Situation

Note:  As I mentioned earlier, this has been a crazy week at work.  Generally, my job gives me the opportunity to be pretty flexible (as you may note by the posting times), but when it goes, it really goes.  So things like the video rewind from last week, etc., are on hold for a couple days.  I'll get to them eventually, once I'm no longer working past the baby's third wake-up time.

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So.  Kevin Curtis is hurt. 

Which is only funny in the sense that an injury to a guy most fans weren't all that thrilled about acquiring last year and who many would like to see be no more than the #3 option on this team is causing one hell of a mighty meltdown in this city.

As well documented by Jason.

Four things to keep in mind here while we're hyperventilating:

1)  This isn't Brian Westbrook.
2)  It isn't Donovan McNabb.
3)  It isn't Trent Cole.
4)  Kevin Curtis isn't that good.

Now because I'm super concerned about making sure we don't read about how Kevin Curtis was really "hurt" by what the bloggers said about him while he was out, I want to be very clear on that last point.

Kevin Curtis is a very fine wide receiver.  He is the best route-runner of the Andy Reid era, he's quick, has good hands, and is -- despite all the screaming to the contrary -- a legitimate number one wide receiver under any definition other than "the only guys who count will some day get Hall of Fame votes." 

With that said, he's not remotely as important to this offense as Westbrook, McNabb and quite possibly Tra Thomas or Jamaal Jackson.  (Yeah.  Jackson.  Tell me you're totally comfortable with Scott Young holding down the middle and making all the protection adjustments in a year when the whole league is going to be me-tooing the Giants' defensive schemes.  I'm not.)

It's going to be a hit that he's out.  There's no question about that.  Especially since it's not just a one or two week deal.  But the idea that the offense is going to somehow be decimated by the loss of a guy who's only somewhat better than Reggie Brown, who himself will be replaced by someone only somewhat worse than he is, is simply crazy. 

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Second issue.  I'm not going to argue that this injury makes the Eagles better in the short run.  It doesn't.  But it is going to force a shakeout at the wide receiver position that is long overdue. 

Reggie Brown is a good player.  Many of you will laugh at this statement, but you need to factor in his run-blocking when you're talking about his production.  Westbrook wouldn't be nearly as effective in those long downfield runs if not for the solid blocking of guys like Brown, Baskett and Avant. 

But Brown has also plateaued a bit in his career.  He's at that point where we don't know if he's going to take a next step or if this is all that's ever going to be. 

Right now, with Curtis injured, Reggie becomes the guy.  He's in his fourth year in the league, he's had a fully healthy QB for more than a year -- there really are no more excuses.  Now is his time. 

Which is important, because behind Reggie Brown are two guys I'm convinced can be players in this league.  Neither Baskett nor Avant is as physically gifted, but they both bring something to the table (respectively: size, leaping ability and physicality, hands).  Just as now is the time to find out if Reggie can be the man, it's also time to find out if these guys are content being career special teamers or if they're going to demand more. 

Of course, they better move quickly, because the training wheels just came off for the guy zooming right up behind them, DeSean Jackson.  I think it's fair to argue that one of the flaws of this coaching staff is that they generally don't use rookies in spot duties with packages that are intended for them to succeed.  If the guy can't do everything, he stays nailed to the bench until he can.

Not so much now.  Jackson's going to get out there soon.  It's going to be in a big way (unless Baskett is far better than even I can imagine).  And the rookie is going to develop much faster than he would by just practicing and studying.

So assume for a minute that the Eagles can get through the non-Curtis part of the season all right.  What that means is that by the end of this year, the Eagles will have a much deeper, better and most importantly thoroughly understood receiving corps that will only get better with Curtis' return.

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Speaking of the scheduIe, if the Eagles have an easier portion, it's the first half.  Only two division contests, no games against the Giants, and at least four games against teams that aren't that good (STL, CHI, SF, ATL).  If Curtis is going to make it back this season, he's missing the part we'd want him to miss.

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A few words about Boldin now.

Look, I would like to see the Eagles trade for him too.  This isn't a Jason Taylor type of thing where you're renting a short-timer out of desperation.  Boldin is young, talented and would immediately improve this team.

It's not going to happen.

Here's a good exercise.  Whenever you come up with a potential trade you're mad the Eagles haven't offered because you know the Cardinals would take it if only we weren't so stubborn, run it by a friend who's not an Eagles fan (they exist) to see what they think.  Chances are, they have a more realistic sense of our guys' value than we do.

The other problem with Boldin is that he'd be coming in virtually cold, not knowing the offense and without a defined role.  I'm not saying he'd be a bad pickup, but it's probably going to be a year before he's really feeling comfortable with what he's doing here.  He's more a long-term investment and less a short-term fix.

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I think it's interesting that people are jumping on Andy Reid for saying: "It won't be a threat to what we do. Other guys will have to step up for the time (Curtis) is out."

Isn't that pretty much what McNabb said about TO back in 2004?  Wasn't losing TO a much bigger deal than losing Kevin Curtis? 

Didn't that playoff run work out just fine while Owens was out?

What do you want Reid to say?  "We're screwed and I told Tammy last night we should probably start looking at moving companies." 

Geez.  Man up, guys.

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Finally, why don't the Eagles send their players to this doctor in Germany?  They send everything else to James Andrews, since he's the recognized authority on so many other orthopaedic issues, why not the world's foremost authority on sports hernias?  I'll tell you what, if it were my body, I'd be going to see Dr. Muschaweck.

Oh This Isn't Good

"Sports hernia" has replaced "plantar fasciitis" as the innocuous-sounding injury we should most be afraid of. 

And it's back:

Wide receiver Kevin Curtis will "be out for a while" and will undergo surgery Thursday for a sports hernia, head coach Andy Reid said Wednesday. Reid had no specific timetable for Curtis' recovery, other than that he expects Curtis back with the team during the regular season.

Curtis suffered the injury during last Friday's game against Carolina, and tried to play through it.

"We're trying to not wait and do that whole thing," Reid said. "We're trying to get on it. We've identified (the hernia) as the problem, and we're trying to get it taken care of."

Guys, we're not going to get Anquan Boldin.  Ain't happening.

Hank Baskett, your moment is on line one.  Please pick up the phone.

It's Not Curtis

Paul Domowitch gives us a little more of that sweet "how stupid are the fans" lovin' today:

Curtis caught 77 passes, which was the fourth most by an Eagles wideout since the league went to a 16-game season in 1978. He had 1,110 receiving yards, which was the seventh most by an Eagle since '78. And he averaged 14.4 yards per catch, which was eighth among NFL receivers with at least 60 receptions this season.

But while Curtis might have long ago earned the respect of Dawkins and his other teammates, the rest of Eagles Nation seems to be a little slower in coming around.

They've been showing their appreciation for Curtis' impressive season by calling the talk shows and/or sending out e-mail missives to the media clamoring for an upgrade to the wide-receiving corps.

Welcome to Philly, Kev

With the possible exception of Hank Baskett and/or Jason Avant, there's no one in Philly who wants to get rid of Curtis.  He had a very nice season here adjusting to a new offense and playing with a rusty and at times ineffective quarterback.  (Although let's not pretend that 77 rec / 1,110 yards / 6 TDs is putting anyone on the road to Canton.)

But there's a line there, between "very good" and "dominant," and we shouldn't kid ourselves about which side the Eagles are on.  Adding a solid veteran receiver to help move the chains on third down wouldn't be a bad move, but it's a far cry from bringing in Moss, Stallworth and Welker to re-shape your entire offense. 

We don't want to replace Curtis, just to give him some help.

Two more points about something else Domo wrote:

Curtis is one of just five white starting wide receivers in the league. But the notion that he's slow is a fallacy. He ran a 4.41 40 at his predraft workout in 2003. That's faster than Javon Walker (4.43), faster than Deion Branch (4.51), faster than Bernard Berrian (4.59), faster than Reggie Wayne (4.55), faster than Larry Fitzgerald (4.52), faster than many receivers who are considered more dangerous vertical threats than the Utah native.

First of all, notice that he didn't include Donte Stallworth in that list.  For a reason.

And secondly, the question isn't: "How fast is he?"  It's: "Can he beat guys deep?"  And the answer -- for whatever reason -- is: "Not often." 

This isn't to take anything away from Curtis.  He's a fantastic intermediate threat, he runs some of the best routes in the league, and he's very effective in this offense.  But the Eagles tried many, many times to throw to Curtis running 'go' routes down the sideline against single coverage and we never saw him gain a step on the corners.  Even that incredible one-armed catch he had earlier this year came on a play where the coverage was right there, he just made a great play and beat the guy.

Maybe it's because he just timed well at the combine, maybe it's because he's a smaller guy and so it's easier to slow him up at the start of his route -- I have no idea.  All I know is that we've seen Todd Pinkston and Donte Stallworth running the exact same routes against the exact same coverage with the exact same quarterback, but Curtis wasn't able to get the deep separation that forces teams to put safeties over the top to protect against the bomb.

It doesn't hurt to have one of those guys around.