My Trial By Erosion Of Words

The Mac is Back.

If Michael Vick doesn’t get killed tomorrow when we play the Steelers, we might be okay.

18 August 2011 • Jeremy Maclin Philadelphia Eagles

The Anatomy of a Facebook Comment

Before I say anything, I’m sure that MOST New York Giants fans aren’t like this loony individual.

For those of you that don’t know, the Philadelphia Eagles signed Steve Smith, a free agent wide receiver that was a beloved New York Giant. He was on the team that won the Super Bowl and he went to the Pro Bowl in 09.

Anyway, I was made aware of his Facebook page and that many Giants fans are upset. Rightfully so. It sucks losing a beloved member of your organization to your bitter rival.

Little did I know. There were comments saying they hope he breaks his legs into pieces and some saying that they hope he breaks his neck. These aren’t actually all that shocking. People are stupid. Especially on the internet.

But one comment in particular stuck with me.

“i am going to kill your first born child.”

Let’s take a step back here and try to evaluate this persons thought process leading up to these events.

He’s probably sitting at home. Maybe he’s watching ESPN, or listening to WFAN in New York, or maybe he’s on Facebook or Twitter. Suddenly he see’s that Steve Smith has signed with the Philadelphia Eagles.

So what is the first thing he does? What is the first thing that comes to this persons mind? Go to Mr. Smith’s Facebook page and threaten to kill his first born child.

Can you imagine being SO upset about a player on your team signing with your rival, that you would go on his Facebook Fan page and threaten his first born child? I’m a Penguins fan, and yeah, Jagr and Talbot going to the Flyers sucked. But I got over it in like two seconds. Maybe I’m just a rational human being. I don’t know.

Clearly this person doesn’t know that making such threats is illegal. Hopefully he gets a surprise visit from the police telling him to cut that shit out.

It’s football people.

Plus, the Giants suck anyway.

Fly Eagles Fly

10 August 2011 • New York Giants Philadelphia Eagles Steve Smith Crazy People

Thinking About The Eagles

Wow.

What a weekend to be an Eagles fan.

Nnamdi Asomugha. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Cullen Jenkins. Jason Babin. Man.

Cowboys and Giants fans will tell you that these moves don’t mean much. Building your team via free agency (which the Eagles aren’t doing) isn’t the way to go about things. It’s doomed to fail.

They’re all in denial.

Are the Eagles now the team to beat in the NFC as some are saying? No. The Packers still have Aaron Rodgers and that steroid freak Clay Matthews, not to mention a plethora of great young Wide Receivers. They’re still the gold standard at the moment. But are the Eagles close behind them?

You bet your ass they are.

With the moves the Eagles have made in the last few days, anything less than a Super Bowl is a failure.

So here are my thoughts on what has transpired thus far concerning the Eagles:

I was as shocked as the next person that the Eagles signed cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha on Friday. Even though I mentioned it in my end of the season post in January, I certainly didn’t expect it to happen given that the Eagles got Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (DRC) in exchange for Kevin Kolb, but they swooped in and got him even after New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan had Adam Sandler call him.
Just how good is Nnamdi? He’s given up one touchdown in the last three seasons. One. And he does loads of charity work. Nnamdi is a better human being than you’ll ever be. Praise Nnamdi.
What does this mean for Asante Samuel? Time will tell I suppose, but it wouldn’t shock me if they traded him. I’d like for the Eagles to keep him though. The guy is still one of the best corners in the game, but it’s a matter of how well he fits into the Eagles new defensive system under Juan Castillo. Asomugha and DRC are press coverage guys. Asante is more of an off-corner that tries to bait the quarterback into throwing his way. I do believe that if the Eagles were going to make a run at the Super Bowl, Asante Samuel needs to be part of it.
On the Kolb trade: I love what the Eagles received. They got a starting cornerback (DRC) and a second round pick for a guy that they now value as a back-up. The Eagles front office (Joe Banner and Howie Roseman in particular) did a great job of not blinking when they supposedly “lost their leverage” after the Seahawks signed Tavaris Jackson.
The influence that Michael Vick has had on these signings is huge. Guys want to come play for the Eagles because of Vick. He brings an energy to the team that is unreal.
They also want to come because the Eagles have money. I’m not that naive.
I like the Cullen Jenkins signing as well. Yeah he has a history of injury problems, but the guy is a great pass rusher, which the Eagles desperately needed.
Ditto on Jason Babin, who had a breakout season last year under the tutelage of Jim Washburn (now with the Eagles) and the Tennessee Titans.
Not too worried about DeSean Jackson’s hold out. The guy is grossly underpaid and deserves a new contract. I just wish he had gone about things a bit differently. He’ll get his money.
On that note, I imagine once the Eagles extend Michael Vick’s contract and re-structure his deal, DeSean will quickly get a new contract. Vick is owed $16 million this season under the franchise tag policy- a number that will surely go down once he receives an extension.
I really wish new backup QB Vince Young hadn’t made his “dream team” comment. I think it is being blown out of proportion, but he shouldn’t have said it. As if the target wasn’t already placed squarely on the Eagles back after they got Nnamdi.
While the Eagles certainly have great defensive backs, the group of linebackers that are currently on the team is still a big question. Jamar Chaney is good, but he only played in a handful of games last year. Moise Fokou wasn’t very consistent last year. The biggest question mark will be rookie Casey Matthews, brother of the aforementioned Clay Matthews. He is currently the starting middle linebacker, which scares me. You never want your middle linebacker, essentially the quarterback of the defense, to be a rookie. While I think Casey Matthews will be a solid player, it is easy to forget that he was a 4th round pick in the draft and there is probably a reason for that. It wouldn’t shock me if the Eagles brought in another MLB, just in case Matthews isn’t ready. I suppose I just have to trust Juan Castillo and the other coaches on defense.

So how far can this Eagles team go? I’d be lying if I didn’t say they had potential to win the Super Bowl, but I also know better than to say these free agent signings put them over the top. Nnamdi, DRC, Jenkins, and Babin are nice, but this team will only go as far as Vick takes them. Near the end of the year, Vick struggled. Part of that was due to offensive line play (something that probably improves with Jamaal Jackson returning), but there were times when he made some bad mistakes. If he continues his progression as a true QB, he can lead the Eagles to the promised land. Obviously the linebackers are a huge concern, as are the health of guys like Cullen Jenkins.

It’s going to be a fun year though.

Fly Eagles Fly.

1 August 2011 • Philadelphia Eagles Nnamdi Asomugha Praise Nnamdi Michael Vick DeSean Jackson

He has arrived.

(Picture shamelessly stolen from @jeff_mcclane on Twitter)

31 July 2011 • Praise Nnamdi Nnamdi Asomugha Philadelphia Eagles

Michael Vick Endorses Anti-Dogfighting Bill

What a human.

What a role model.

Every professional athlete should take note.

While other NFL players are off doing whatever during the lockout, Michael Vick is using his time to make the world a better place.

One of my favorite stories of the last year or so has been the tale of Michael Vick’s redemption and what he is doing to try to restore his image.

Coincidentally, one of my favorite things to do is bother everyone that says he should still be in jail.

We can all learn something from this great human being walking among us.

19 July 2011 • Michael Vick Philadelphia Eagles Suck it crazy animal people

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First of all, I’d like to say congratulations to the Green Bay Packers fans that follow me. I can only imagine how you feel right now.

With that being said, when I watch the post-game ceremonies for the Super Bowl every year, I get a little bit sad.

It reminds me of that fact that my team, the Philadelphia Eagles, have never won a Super Bowl and I’m not sure that I will ever see them win one.

It takes me back to February 6, 2005, when I was in Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, FL watching the Eagles take on the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX. The Eagles lost that game 24-21 and I told myself that they’d be back very soon with the core of Donovan McNabb, Brian Westbrook, and Terrell Owens.

Everyone knows how that turned out. T.O. was gone by the middle of next season and McNabb and Westbrook lasted five more seasons, only making it as far as the NFC Championship in the 08 season.

That was the thing that hurt the most about McNabb getting traded. The Eagles hadn’t and weren’t going to win a Super Bowl with him at the quarterback position. I would have bet all of the money I had that they would have.

When I think about the Eagles and their chance to win a Super Bowl, it makes me sad because I just don’t see it happening soon. I love Michael Vick and I do hope he is the QB next season and beyond, but do I see him leading the Eagles to a Super Bowl? Maybe, but probably not. Certainly this season and being unable to make it out of the first round wasn’t Vick’s fault. The blame mostly goes to the defense. But I don’t see the Eagles getting the issues on defense corrected while Vick is still in Philadelphia.

There are only two occurrences in sports that could make me cry tears of joy: The South Carolina Gamecocks winning a National Championship in college football and the Philadelphia Eagles winning a Super Bowl.

For some reason, mostly because it is the more likely of the two happening, seeing the Eagles win a Super Bowl is what I want the most.

If the Penguins won another Stanley Cup- great. If the Mets won a World Series- awesome. If Carolina wins another National Championship in baseball or happens to win one in basketball- amazing.

But I want that Super Bowl.

That loss in February of 2005 gets more and more worse as the years pass by. When it happened, it wasn’t nearly as bad as the three NFC Championship losses that had happened in the three previous years, but it has definitely surpassed the 02 loss to the Rams and the 04 loss to the Panthers. I’d still argue that the 03 loss and the eventual 08 loss was much worse, because the Eagles would have won the Super Bowl had they made it those years. You can’t convince me that the Eagles wouldn’t have beaten the Raiders (the Bucs easily beat them) or the Steelers (the Eagles dominated them that same year in the regular season).

Then again, a few more years without a Super Bowl and that loss could surpass those two games.

7 February 2011 • Super Bowl Philadelphia Eagles

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Philadelphia Eagles- 16
Green Bay Packers- 21

And just like that, it’s over.

I didn’t expect the Eagles to win today. It was hard to find reasons that the Eagles could legitimately beat the Packers. The Packers are a better team, maybe even the best in the NFC (guess we’ll find that out next week).

That still doesn’t mean that this loss doesn’t hurt.

I should be used to the Eagles losing in the playoffs. Hell it happens every year. But that doesn’t mean it is easy to accept.

I mentioned last night that no matter what happened, I can say that it has been fun watching this team. I still believe that. I’m probably more sad that the ride is over, more so than I am that the Eagles lost this particular game.

No Eagles fan can tell you that they honestly thought this was a team that could contend for the Super Bowl. After last season, there were simply too many flaws on this team. No way free agency and the draft could have fixed that in one year, especially the defense.

Someone compared this loss to the loss to the Rams in the 2002 NFC Championship Game by saying that, while this loss hurts, the future is bright. Well, I can sort of agree with it. The window of opportunity is still open, but not as much as it was after that particular loss. This is a young team, they’ll only get better.

So here are some actual thoughts on the game/season:

The defense was bad today. Really, really bad. Yeah, the Packers only got 21 points, but the defense couldn’t get off the field when they needed to. The third down defense was atrocious as it usually is. The run defense isn’t usually this bad, but the Packers surprised them by giving it to some guy named James Starks who had the game of his career. Again, the defense was just really, REALLY bad.
I was excited when the Eagles traded for Ernie Sims. I thought he’d provide that edge that the Eagles were missing from their linebackers in 09. I was wrong. Sims was simply fast and that’s about it. He missed too many tackles and by the end of the season, was taken out in third down passing situations. The Eagles need to revamp their linebacking core. Jamar Chaney has potential and Stewart Bradley provides solid play when he is healthy. But other than that they are expendable.
Not going to say a bad word about David Akers. If anyone does they are simply either some sort of fanboy/fangirl or just don’t know anything about the Eagles. Akers is probably the second best kicker from the current era behind Adam Vinateri. It’s a contract year for Akers and I pray like hell that once an agreement on the CBA is reached that the Eagles re-sign him.
Not going to blame Michael Vick either. Without him, the Eagles aren’t in the playoffs. The guy deserves a long term extension.
I actually thought that for the most part, the Eagles handled the blitz well. Vick had time to throw, but give credit to the Packers defensive backs for not allowing the Eagles wide receivers to get behind them.
Yet again, the Eagles couldn’t get pressure on the QB. The Eagles need Brandon Graham to recover from his ACL tear and become more consistent when it comes to getting to the pass rusher. Trent Cole is one of the best defensive ends in the league, but without a true pass-rushing threat on the other side, he’s going to see double and triple teams all the time.

Maybe I’ll give you some thoughts as to what the Eagles need to do to improve. Maybe. The only thing I can say right now is sign Nnamdi Asomugha.

One last time: Fly Eagles Fly

(Photo Courtesy of Yahoo Sports)

10 January 2011 • Philadelphia Eagles NFL NFL Playoffs

(Maybe) A Final Thought Before Tomorrow’s Eagles Game

We may not win tomorrow.

Hell, my head is telling me the Packers will win, my heart is telling me the Birds will pull it out. Take that for what it’s worth.

But I’m damn proud to be a fan of this team.

This has probably been the funnest season to be an Eagles fan since the Jeff Garcia season (08 when we went to the NFC Championship Game didn’t get fun until the very end).

Coming into the season, I figured the Eagles would be 7-9 or 8-8 at best. We surprised a lot of people this year.

Maybe we can surprise a few more tomorrow.

Fly Eagles Fly

9 January 2011 • Philadelphia Eagles Green Bay Packers NFL NFL Playoffs

Philadelphia Eagles vs. Green Bay Packers

So here we are.

Before the season started, I figured that just making the playoffs would constitute a good year for the Eagles who had just gotten rid of franchise players Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook.

But here we are. Division Champs and hosting a first round game in the playoffs.

Obviously the Eagles exceeded expectations and by doing so, the stakes only got higher. Just making the playoffs isn’t good enough for this team now. It’d be nice if they could win a couple of games while they are there.

In case you haven’t heard, the Eagles went from Super Bowl contender to probable one-and-done in the playoffs. The Eagles were the darlings of the media and after a loss to the Vikings, everyone jumped off of the Eagles bandwagon.

Pardon me if I’m not on the ‘Eagles will be one-and-done’ bandwagon. I was certainly never on the ‘This team is a Super Bowl contender’ bandwagon. I learned that lesson the hard way last season.

But the Eagles are a dangerous team, especially on offense. The Packers are the same way. The difference is the Packers defense is better than the Eagles.

With that being said, I think that the Eagles can put up points on the Packers.

It isn’t any secret what the Packers defensive philosophy is: Blitz Clay Matthews from one side and Charles Woodson from the other. They’ll send those guys after Michael Vick and try to throw him off of his game, just as every other team not named the Washington Redskins (suck it!!!) have done.

Basically, the key on offense is protecting Michael Vick and giving him time to do his thing. Easier said than done of course. If I knew how the Eagles could do such a thing, I wouldn’t be writing on some blog that no one reads.

The only thing that I can think of is that LeSean McCoy needs to be a big part of the game plan this week. If they can get Shady going on the ground game, it should slow that blitz down a little bit.

The biggest concern for me in this game is on the other side of the ball. How does the Eagles secondary stop Aaron Rodgers from picking them apart? It is when I think about this aspect that I start getting worried and feel less confident about the Eagles chances.

Dimitri Patterson is going to have to play the game of his life. At some point in the game, Brandon Jennings is going to try a double move to get Patterson to bite and burn him deep. It’s going to happen. Patterson can’t let Jennings get behind him. Jennings will probably do the same to Asante Samuel just to test Samuel’s knee.

The thing that I don’t get about the Packers offense is that three times this year, they scored ten points or less. One of those times was against the Lions when Rodgers got hurt, what is the excuse for the other two?

In their defense, the other two were against the Bears and Jets, both of which have great secondary’s. But they also only managed to score 13 against the Redskins.

Again, not sure how that happens when they have such a high-powered offense.

So it’s all a matter of which Packers offense shows up. I expect the one where Aaron Rodgers looks like he’s John Elway to show up, although I’m hoping for the one where Aaron Rodgers looks like he’s Clint Stoerner.

So here are some Predictions (none of which will be the score):

I will call Clay Matthews a dicktoucher at least 20 times during the game. I will say it out of respect, since he’s the best defensive player in the NFL, not named Troy Polamalu
Ok, now onto more serious predictions: The game is going to come down to which defense makes the most mistakes. I know, hard hitting stuff right here, but what I’m saying is, if DeSean Jackson gets behind the Packers defense or Eagles cornerback Dimitri Patterson plays like his usual self, it could be the difference between winning and losing for either team.
That dicktoucher Clay Matthews will make a huge play. I don’t know if it will be a strip-sack or a forced fumble on Shady McCoy, but it’s going to happen. He’s that good.
Michael Vick will have a huge day as well. The first couple of series will be rough, but after that he’ll settle in.
Aaron Rodgers will be compared to Brett Favre at least a hundred times by the announcers. Of course that happens every game.
Shady McCoy will have over a hundred yards of total offense. Going with the common theme, it will mostly be from the passing game, but I think he’ll get a few rushing yards as well.
Both DeSean Jackson and Brandon Jennings will make a play that goes for 50+ yards.
There will be a ton of points scored.

To sum it up, the Eagles need to find a way to protect Michael Vick on offense and limit the big play on defense. Dimitri Patterson and Kurt Coleman will have to play the game of their lives if the Eagles are going to win this game.

Go Birds

Fly Eagles Fly!

6 January 2011 • Philadelphia Eagles Green Bay Packers NFL NFL Playoffs

Dallas Cowboys- 14
Philadelphia Eagles- 13

Who cares.

Not even going to pretend like this game mattered. The Eagles played their 9th string defense and their 8th string offense.

No point in analyzing Kevin Kolb’s play with a bunch of backups.

If you do in fact care, just know that the Eagles only played two regular starters on offense: Wide Receiver Jeremy Maclin, who was nearing 1,000 yards receiving so I guess Andy Reid was trying to get him to that milestone (didn’t happen- Reid pulled Maclin in the first quarter) and offensive lineman Max Jean-Gilles who got hurt in the first half but should be ok.

The defense played only one starter, Dimitri Patterson, who had a surprisingly good game… of course the quarterback for Dallas was Stephen McGee.

You knew that this wasn’t an important game to the Eagles when they lost to the Vikings this past Tuesday and had already locked up the three seed in the playoffs.

You REALLY knew it wasn’t important when you have a white guy at defensive back (Special Teams hero Colt Anderson… Hooray for racial jokes).

Either way, the Eagles play the Packers on Sunday. We already saw these guys in Week 1. Should be a good game. Maybe I’ll give you my thoughts and prediction later in the week.

Maybe.

Fly Eagles Fly

(Photo Courtesy of Yahoo Sports)

4 January 2011 • Philadelphia Eagles NFL