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SEE more like this in the PHOTOS section.
SEE more like this in the PHOTOS section.
SEE more like this in the PHOTOS section.
Courtesy of NFL.com
DAMN Evan! Some will want to argue that Evan Mathis shot himself in the foot by demanding his release after the Eagles didn’t give him a raise over the 5.5 million he was set to make for this season.
Many laughed at how long he sat without getting a serious offer, saying he wouldn’t find any takers for even what the Eagles were paying him.
Well it seems that he found a taker for that much, but he turned them down to take less money to play for a team with a shot at winning a championship.
There’s a pretty significant message in there and you’d have to be blind to miss it. If he’s willing to play for 4 million for a shot at winning, why wouldn’t he take our 5.5 million? That is….unless…. Unless he didn’t see this team as having a shot to be a legit contender.
If the Bronco’s refurbish their interior Offensive Line with Mathis and the Eagles don’t go at least as far in the playoffs, it will mean that Mathis was smart for leaving and finding a contender to play for. And god forbid we miss the playoffs again and the Broncos even go as a Wildcard.
We now HAVE TO make the playoffs. Anything less is embarrassment added to failure.
FANS are talking a lot about the hit that QB Sam Bradford took to his left knee from Ravens LB Terrell Suggs. Many actually felt a sense of relief that after the hit, because Bradford’s knee held up. Allow me to let you in on a secret. The hit he took isn’t the real test of his knee. In fact there is no real TEST. It’s actually several tests.
If you want to know what the first real test will be, take a few seconds to do a 3-step drop (or just open your stance like you’re in the Shotgun or the Pistol), and then pretend to throw a football.
If you’re right-handed (and Bradford is), you’ll notice that your plant leg (the leg in front when you released the ball), is your left leg. The left knee is Bradford’s bad knee. In 2013 the Eagles averaged 31.7 pass attempts per game. In 2014 that number jumped to 38.8. So basically in this system we throw the ball a little over 35 times a game. That’s a lot of time spent planting and throwing off of that knee.
Here’s a sports science fact that many of my readers are already familiar with. The majority of ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) and Achilles tendon injuries are non-contact injuries. That means they occur without direct contact or from being hit. The injury is more often caused by the foot getting caught on the ground during a sudden change of direction, or as the knee twists sharply. Again that’s most of those injuries. By the way, neither of Bradford’s two ACL injuries were a result of any direct contact to his leg whatsoever.
If his injury was the result of a hit, I could see that first hit helping him past a psychological block, or the inner question of “Will another hit hurt me again?” However since a hit didn’t hurt his knee, he likely had no such demon to slay, and wasn’t worried about that. If he wasn’t worried about it, then neither was I.
So during the preseason game vs the Ravens, I wanted to see how much he was going to be asked to bootleg wide, and was even more curious about how often he’d be used as a (back door) decoy to help the (front door) run game. What I saw was an Eagles Offense that looked very different when Bradford was in, as opposed to when any of the other three QB’s played.
While Bradford did move around out there, you’d have to be Ray Charles not to see a difference in how mobile he was asked to be, vs any other Eagles QB that took a snap. That makes me wonder about what our regular season Offense will look like.
I’d like to see him play at least a half in the next preseason game. I don’t want to make a big deal of the few snaps Bradford was allowed last week, but to this point our starting QB has all of FIVE pass attempts in a game situation. He needs more reps at game speed. Particularly at Eagles game speed. It would also be nice to see if he can pick up any yards with his feet, and if he can (or would try to) hook slide to avoid hits.
The remaining real tests of his knee will be how long it can stand the wear and tear of him doing his job. (Remember that plant leg?) It’ll be how fast he can be ready to practice after 30-40 attempts in a game. It’ll be about how little time he spends with the trainers in pain management, vs how much time he spends working out with his teammates. It’ll be about whether his knee also lets him lead off the field; or if it opens the door for back-up QB Mark Sanchez to step in for him in that capacity.
One more thing. The fans may also want to get ready for the season.
I’m noticing days later, that many fans are still pissed over the Suggs hit. If that hit still bothers you, you may want to sit this season out, because you can expect much more of that coming and there won’t be many flags to follow it. Our play-action/read-option fools not just opponents but referees too. As a result Bradford will absorb a lot of hits that won’t draw yellow.
DEAR READERS,
If you’re used to getting my stories through links on Facebook, you may have noticed that I’m sort of quiet right now. That’s because FB has decided that my account needs I.D. verification, and they’ve suspended the account until they get it. So I’m in talks with them now to get the issue resolved. By “in talks” I mean that I’ve sent them two e-mails and the verification they requested, but I haven’t heard dick from them yet.
So I wait.
In the meantime if anyone asks you, “Hey, what’s up with Eagle Maniacal?” You now have an answer, and even a link to an explanation if they want one.
If it’s not resolved by Sunday, you can always look for me here.
BACK me up on this Eagles fans! We should TOTALLY get the Pope to bless the team this year. The last time a pope (John Paul II in 1980) blessed the Eagles, we went to the Super Bowl. Since he’s already going to be in Philly this September, maybe he could give the Eagles a holy fist-bump before he leaves.
Think of how much pull that would give the Eagles with Catholic referees and league officials when it came to judgement calls on things like late hits, illegal hits, and whether or not there’s enough evidence to reverse a call in instant replay. Even if we don’t get any divine intervention, it helps as far as politicking.
I know, I know. The Catholic Church does not believe in using its position to influence things. So fine. We’ll just ask for a quick blessing, have a cracker, kneel-stand-kneel-stand-kneel-stand, have some wine, and see what it gets us. Perhaps we should ask Arian Foster for suggestions.
THE Eagles franchise has made news for the third year in a row over the notion of racism. Of all the things the national media could choose to talk about surrounding our team, this is what they chose to focus on last week. Former Eagles CB Brandon Boykin (the “source” of this latest story), had to clarify an earlier statement that the press ran with, billing it as an accusation of racism against the Eagles current head coach.
The press practically invented the story; but once Boykin had clarified his statement, the national media merely shrugged its collective shoulders and went elsewhere looking for blood a story. No retraction. No apology to the team. The story was dismissed and they moved on.
However, here amongst Eagles fans, the issue didn’t drop so readily. Fans debated (in some cases hotly) about whether or not the coach is in fact a racist. Some fans feel that there’s enough evidence to say that the claims against the coach are true. Other fans defend him vehemently and say that he’s not at all a racist.
This has had the effect of sharply dividing the fan base. That divide (as you could predict) is generally drawn along racial lines. These are some quotes from one of over a dozen Facebook Eagles groups (this one is BirdGang Bangers) that I’m a proud member of. This is just a sample of what I’m seeing:
In all truth it really doesn’t matter what the coach believes in his heart. It’s actually 100% beside the point. Look, even if the coach is a racist, it changes nothing. He’ll still be the coach until he quits or until the team fires him. Does it matter if he invites no Blacks to his home poker table, or Puerto Ricans to his B-B-Q’s? No, it really doesn’t. It’s not like we were keeping tabs on it last year, so let’s not pretend it matters to us now.
What’s truly disconcerting (and this is what BGBer Jason Holman up there was getting at), is the fact that the Eagles organization has in no way, shape, or form come out to address any of this, acting like it will blow over. While it may lie dormant for a season, it seems to take less and less to drag it back up. This now annual smear on the team allows for every offhand comment about the Eagles to be given immediate national attention, so long as it’s tied to race.
Think about it. Riley Cooper using the word ‘nigger’. LeSean McCoy suggesting that his trading was racially motivated. Boykin’s offhand comment. Each of these incidents is less inflammatory than the last, yet the national media flocked to each successive one faster than they did the one before.
When it’s found to be nothing, we get no apology. No retraction. The nation just hears “Oh yeah, the Eagles are bigots” and then the story just drops for a bigger one; leaving behind yet another uncorrected and mistaken impression of this team.
And I’m sorry to break this to you, but who roots for bigots except other bigots? That means us, fellow Eagles fans. While most of us may not be bigots, our nation is getting a more and more warped view of who our team and who our fans are.
I hate to say this, but the Eagles organization is doing us no favors by not publicly weighing in on this issue. In the meantime, we fans rip at each other; either in defense of what we don’t know, or in the process of not getting to the bottom of a meaningless question. That meaningless question being: Is the coach a racist?
Whether or not the head coach likes minorities is beside the point. Halting the smear of shit being dragged across the reputation of the organization, the team and the fans, is what should be of utmost importance here. We’ve been on this ride for three years now. Enough is enough.
(I want to give thanks and much respect for BGB members Jason Holman, Damen Jeffery, and Antonio Soto for allowing me to use their quotes in this article. Without your help this article isn’t possible. Thank you.)
IF you bought a Mychal Kendricks jersey, you may want to either see if you have time to return it, or you may want to buy some of those vacuum storage bags and some potpourri to toss in them. Apparently rumors of Kendricks being traded are just rumors. Or so we’re being told.
Remember the morning of 2014 December 29th? On that Monday morning, on WIP radio, our team’s current head coach told anyone listening “I want LeSean back”. Then, once given full carte blanche of personnel, that same head coach traded LeSean McCoy, then basically said that McCoy wasn’t a good fit for the Offense despite 2,900 yards rushing over two years.
Spin that anyway you like, (financial decision, character issue, system fit, change of mind, etc.) facts is that the coach already knew what McCoy cost, who he was, and how he fit BEFORE he said that he wanted him back. If the coach truly wanted McCoy back, when Owner Jeff Lurie gave the coach the juice to make it happen, all he had to do is do it. He didn’t because he really didn’t want McCoy back. When he said that he did…he was lying. And if you bought it shame on you, because I’d already told you what was going on.
Even after I told the world that DeSean Jackson was leaving, our head coach called him and made him think he was staying. WAIT! I have proof! HERE’S THE LINK! Oh well. If DJax read my articles, he’d have known about his future.
And who could forget our “QB for the next 1,000 years”? That statement didn’t even get a year old, before we traded Nick Foles for what’s left of Sam Bradford. (And this is coming from a guy who was never crazy about Foles!)
Now we’re being told that Kendricks isn’t going anywhere. And people actually buy it! There are fans who are 100% reassured by the statement the coach released. Which is HILARIOUS considering that Kendricks himself has no idea of what his Eagles future holds.
I’m not a betting man, (especially on sports), but if I had to bet the homestead on whether or not Kendricks is still here in September, the first thing I’d do is take a sharp look at how DeMeco Ryans looks coming back from his knee injury. If Ryans looks good, expect Kendricks to be dealt to make room for grooming players like Jordan Hicks and/or Jordan DeWalt-Ondijo.
If Ryans is less than he’s expected to be, the LB shuffle will have to be played by ear. I doubt that even a psychic could predict that one, so I won’t bullshit you and pretend I have the first clue as to how that scenario would play out. When I have answers, YOU get answers; but I’m not above saying “I don’t know”.
In any case, I hope you didn’t buy a Mychal Kendricks jersey yet. If you did and he’s traded, put yours in storage. He’s a good player and the jersey could be worth something if he ever wears a gold jacket. It’ll be worth more because it’ll be rare, since idiots will burn theirs when they decide Kendricks is traitor for being traded. Luckily my followers aren’t idiots, so I’m sure you were already making plans to store yours.
EAGLEMANIACAL.com 