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A PARADE DOWN BROAD STREET

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/07/19
Posted in: Conversations, Fans. Tagged: , , , , . 4 Comments
Courtesy media.philly.com

Courtesy media.philly.com

ONCE the Eagles win the Super Bowl, the organization will receive a replica of the trophy named after Vince Lombardi. The players and coaches will receive rings that they can wear (and brandish) on talk shows whenever they get interviewed. But what will we as fans get? We’ll get a parade down Broad Street. I for one would LOVE that. I’d love both the parade and the electricity that engulfs this city whenever one of our teams gets to the championship round. I’m far more interested in those experiences than I am in a trophy that will never sit in my house, or jewelry I’ll never wear. I can’t get hung up on hardware. Rings, plaques, trophies… Those objects themselves pretty much lack any meaning to me. Especially the Lombardi trophy. The Eagles alone own the man for whom the trophy is named. How big of a deal could an annual replica be, when you can say that no team can ever again pull off the feat that your team did? While winning a title has meaning, being able to show off trinkets does not. Frankly I don’t get why rival fans show off pictures these things. They’ll never wear them or possess them. It’s like bragging about your neighbor’s car. Worse actually, since at the very least your neighbor knows who you are. The parade however, would be all of ours. It would belong to athlete and fan alike. It would be a day and an experience that we all had in common. I have yet to post a single pic of the Phillies trophy, but a 30 minute video I shot of the Phillies parade is still up on my Myspace page (I just checked to make sure). The difference is that you and I own a piece of that moment. We share it. I’m looking forward to sharing another moment with my fellow fans, as well as the athletes who played and won to earn that moment. The hardware on the other hand…they can keep.

DO THE PLAYERS BELIEVE IN SAM BRADFORD?

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/07/15
Posted in: Conspiracy Corner, Offense, Players. Tagged: . Leave a comment

Sambradford ota15

SKILLWISE I like Sam Bradford as our starter. He has very good arm, generally doesn’t take silly chances with the ball, and has a demeanor that players respect. He’s a legit NFL starter, but right now there have to be some questions about whether or not his teammates trust him to be there for 16 games or if (like many fans), they’re just waiting for the re-injury so that Mark Sanchez, can step in.

Bradford has missed chunks of the last two NFL seasons with Anterior Cruciate Ligaments tears to his left knee. Again, that’s two ACL tears to one knee, in two consecutive years. He spent all of OTA’s this year in a knee brace (pictured) that covered not only his knee, but covered portions of his calf and thigh as well for added stability.

To a man, the locker room is going to feed you that “We support whoever starts” BS; but you have to know that at least most of these guys have a favorite. They have an up close understanding of this game and an up close view of what injuries mean in both the short and long term, as well as the week to week management of them. They would be fools not to have some serious questions/doubts.

As Eagles fans we make constant jokes about the fragility of Redskin QB Bob Griffin, but the truth is, Bradford is just as brittle Griffin. What astounds me is how many Eagles fans still see Bradford playing 14-16 games this year.

Personally I would be surprised if we got 8 games out of him. Aside from our issues on the Offensive Line, there’s the fact that the doctrine on how to beat our Offense is over 20 years old. Playoff level teams have been killing us with that doctrine’s chief tenet: Hit the QB. Early in games hit him even if the hit is slightly late, and cheap shots (remember the first Redskins game last year?) are also fine. That doesn’t bode well for Bradford in particular. So I can’t help but wonder what that locker room REALLY thinks about Sam Bradford and the 2015 season.

 

LESEAN MCCOY or DEMARCO MURRAY

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/07/13
Posted in: Conversations, Offense, Players. Tagged: , , , , . 6 Comments

shady v murray

THREE days ago someone on the NFL’s website wrote about an exec who said he’d take former Eagles RB LeSean McCoy over current Eagles RB Demarco Murray “Any day”. The story’s writer dismissed the exec’s evaluation as “silly”, and then proceeded to talk about all the wrong things.

Personally, I agree with the NFL exec. If I were building a team from scratch, had to pick a RB and my choices were McCoy or Murray, I’d take McCoy with zero hesitation. Zero.

The guy who wrote the articles basically said that both RB’s were products of their skills being well matched with with the systems they played in, also saying that neither would thrive in the system the other played in.

That’s complete horse shit.

Could Shady (McCoy) have regularly run through wide open holes? Sure he could have. He can accelerate quickly through a hole and then find a second gear beyond the line of scrimmage. He’s not known for running through tacklers (though he does), but his gift is his ability to set up his cuts well. The guy could make you miss him in a phonebooth.

Could Murray have bounced around and routinely created his own openings? No. Not at all. Murray is a one cut runner who is not known for creating what isn’t given to him before reaching the line of scrimmage. He’s more known for the extra yards he makes after contact, than for being able to salvage a poorly blocked play.

I’m planting this flag now, because we have an interesting opportunity here. The Shady vs. Murray debate isn’t new, but unlike most debates of this nature (which tend to go down as what-if’s), Chip Kelly has made it possible to get an answer. Murray will now get to play in the same system that McCoy played in for the last two years, piling up 2,900 rushing yards in that span. Murray if he’s as good as McCoy, should put up about 1,300 – 1,600 yards this year. If he’s better he should put up more. That is unless, somehow, someway, someone has messed up our Offensive Line since last year.

But (at least for the moment), that’s neither here nor there.

Still for my money, I’m rolling with Shady.

JPP’S COSTLY MISTAKE

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/07/09
Posted in: NFL, Players, Rivals. Tagged: , , , , , , . 3 Comments

JPP

THEY say to err is Human. Well, giants Defensive End, Jason P. ERRED big time. Heading into the 4th of July, Jason Pierre-Paul was in a position to turn his nose up at a 60 million dollar offer from his team that would have certainly included some guaranteed money, which even in the wake of this incident likely would have been his regardless. Oh if only he had had signed.

Having his index finger amputated this close to training camp, just about guarantees that his 2015 is over, even if you only consider the amputation and not the damage(s) that precipitated its necessity. Add to that surgeries, healing time, and occupational therapy. LOTS of occupational therapy.

I have no idea why a guy in his position would be screwing around with something like large fireworks to begin with. With 60 mil hanging from a string, I’d be walking around covered head-to-toe in bubble wrap. Especially if I thought I could refuse that offer for a better one. He however, risked it and it literally burned him. Or blew up in his face. Pick one. (Or share yours in the comments down there.) Now it’s going to cost him at LEAST this year.

I say at least this year, because a hand injury (even a severe one) doesn’t mean his career is over, or that he can’t still play at a high level. I happen to know that personally, since my right hand had to be reconstructed in 1997.

Like JPP it was the result of something stupid, and I put my hand (in anger over a woman) through a plate glass window. Palm-first. Open handed. My fingers were almost cut completely off, hanging backwards against my hand, dangling only by skin. You could actually see INTO my  hand. Long story short my surgeon (Albert Weiss at Hahnemann, much love to you!) was a genius, and I was able to keep ALL of my fingers.

In 2001 I tried out for a semi-pro team. Just a bucket list sort of thing. Long story short, I stuck and I started at Left Tackle beginning that very season. In 3 years of play I never allowed a sack. Of course I wasn’t in the NFL, but neither was my competition. They were on my level. JPP has proven that he’s an NFL player already. His competition is on his level. He’s even been dominant against that competition before. (Talk about irony. I’m typing this and the Dionne Farris song “Hopeless” comes on. My occupational therapist loved this song. It’s why I love this song 🙂 )

Anyway, I wouldn’t count JPP out just yet. Money aside, he’s going to want to come back. Almost need to come back. Pride will drive him. To prove he’s still physically capable, to hold onto his dream, to prove that he didn’t ruin his own life over something so stupid and trivial. Trust me. Been there. Unless he’s not medically clearable in 2016, expect to see him trying to redeem himself next year. In his eyes if no one else’s.

Side note: As an Eagles fan the worst part of this is, it doesn’t change how the NFC East was going to end up anyway, since the giants were already going to suck in 2015. At least the Dallas Cowboys are guaranteed to not end up dead last this year. 

“EAGLES ARE GOING 16-0”

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/07/03
Posted in: Coaching, Conspiracy Corner, NFL. Tagged: , , . 2 Comments

ck

THIS team has made upgrades as far as RB depth, ILB depth, WR depth. We finally got rid of Nate Allen. We brought in free agency’s most coveted CB in Byron Maxwell. Clearly the Eagles are going 16-0.

I would love to mean those words. I really would. It would be amazing to see my team go undefeated during the regular season, but truth is, I doubt that this is even a 10 win ballclub  in 2015, let alone going undefeated. I’m a fan and I love my team, but I’m by no means delusional or willing to lie to myself, only to be pissed that “they got my hopes up again”. I watch some Eagles fans do this to themselves every year and I have to say “If you don’t lie to yourself, you may actually enjoy being a fan.”

There is simply no way to be a dominant team when your QB takes as much abuse as ours will this season. Due to subpar Guards our interior Offensive Line will be weak in 2015. That’s a problem since all of our QB’s that can actually throw a football, are stationary targets for the most part.

You ask: “So we have bad Guards. Big deal. How bad can it be?” My answer: Dennis McKnight and Ron Solt. Their play led directly to the Pat Ryan Fiasco. (For those of you who actually remember the Pat Ryan Fiasco I am SO VERY SORRY for even bringing it up, but there was no other way to make this point.) Due to crappy protection we lost Randall Cunningham in the first game of the 1991 season to a hit by Packers Bryce Paup. Cunningham was in the pocket stepping into a pass and the hit to his knee came from right in front of him. We lost him for the season and would go on losing QB’s to injury that season. We went through a total of five QB’s that year. Yes, FIVE. At one point even RB Keith Byars lined up under Center. When we ran out of QB’s, no one else wanted to come here and play behind our awful line. No one except for one guy: Pat Ryan. I’ll summarize and tell you (who don’t remember it) that Ryan made his Eagle debut on Monday Night Football and proceeded to commit turnovers like it was all he was ever born to do. We paid DEARLY for our inability to protect our QB’s that year. Three words: Sam Bradford’s knee.

But that’s Offense. Maybe the Defense will carry us this year.

During OTA’s I didn’t read word one about how the Defense was changing alignment or introducing a new concept. That says that the scheme from last year is still in place, and that the expectation is that the new players will be the answer to the coverage woes of the last 2 years. Let me go on record NOW with saying “that’s not how this is going to shake out”. Chip Kelly is about to learn a couple of harsh NFL lessons.

  1. In college you can elevate your program by simply grabbing up the top talent and starving out your opponents before you ever see the field. In the NFL stars go to teams that use them poorly all the time. Let me say three words about that: Nnamdi Asomugha (Eagles). Let me say three more: Herschel Walker (Vikings). Three more: Albert Haynesworth (Redskins). Four more: Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (Eagles). I could go on.
  2. Good players don’t mask bad schemes. For two years now many fans have given this Defensive system a pass and chosen instead to lay the blame for its shortcomings at the feet of the players. Well now those same fans have players they like and “all the bums” are gone. So there are no more people to blame after this season except for the coaches if we finish 2015 without a playoff win.

I would LOVE to be wrong and see us win the East. I’m willing to eat crow if we do, and I’ll even publish an “I WAS WRONG” story on this website, with a link back to this very article. If I’m wrong I will stand up and take my medicine. 

But if I’m right, (and I will be)….

Look, I’m not hating on my team, I’m just not willing to bullshit myself. I would love to see us do well this year, and will be rooting for us to do so, week in and week out. I just can’t honestly say that I can see us having a happy 2015. You can’t be this flawed, against this level of competition and have it turn out for the best. That’s just not how the real world works, and Chip Kelly’s late season finishes are proof of that.

Still though, the “Eagles are going 16-0”…it does feel nice to say.

IS THERE PROFIT IN JOHN MOFFITT?

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/06/29
Posted in: Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Offense, Players, Roster. Tagged: , , , . 4 Comments

john moffitt

YOU’LL have to pardon me if I don’t jump up and do the ‘Chicken Dance’ over the signing of Guard John Moffitt. It’s not like we added an All-Pro or Pro Bowl level performer.  The guy is a reclamation project, pure and simple.

After retiring for two years to handle a multi-faceted drug problem (performance enhancing drugs, marijuana, cocaine, and ecstasy), Moffitt is back hoping to show that he can be a contributor in this league.

This despite the injuries that also plagued him. That list includes a blown out knee, elbow surgery, and shoulder damage. Oh yeah, there’s also sleep apnea and “floaters” crossing his vision from all the head trauma he absorbed from over almost  20 years (man and boy) in football. We’ll see what he’s got left, but as a player he wasn’t all that great before he retired. Somehow I’m doubting that two years of sitting on his couch did his game much good.

The signing perplexes me more for another reason though. Chip Kelly says that culture is the most important thing. He says that “culture wins football”, and that “culture beats scheme every time”. So how does the signing of Moffitt benefit the culture here? For instance, what message does it send to Lane Johnson, who was already stung once by a PED suspension last year?

Moffitt has by pretty much any and every account, been sort of fuck-up his whole NFL career. The idea that Moffitt has something meaningful to contribute to this team’s culture, when LeSean McCoy or DeSean Jackson or Evan Mathis apparently did not, is worth a raised eyebrow I think.

The truth is, the Eagles neglected the Guard position, then let go of a player (Mathis) they could ill-afford to lose (just to make a point). Apparently Guards have not shown well during OTA’s and the Front Office has attempted to patch a leaky roof by signing first a college back-up (Jared Wheeler), and now a ho-hum player with a history of what he called “dumb mistakes”.

Put bluntly, I don’t like this signing. I mean be honest, if the Redskins, giants or Cowboys added these guys you’d hound your rival fans about it. I have no idea why we don’t trade for a real Guard if we can’t agree to terms with someone like Gabe Carimi, Nate Garner or even Davin Joseph.

In any case, for the sake of anyone dropping back to pass in an Eagles uniform this year, I hope Kelly is right and I’m wrong about Moffitt. However, if you’ve been reading me consistently over the last year and a half, you know that my track record is more than simply impressive, and the odds that I’m wrong about this, are staggeringly low.

EAGLES WORRIED ABOUT THEIR GUARDS

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/06/29
Posted in: Conspiracy Corner, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Offense, Players, Roster. Tagged: , . 4 Comments

players-o-line440px.philly

THREE weeks ago I took heat from some fans when I said that Guard would be a problem for the Eagles this year. At the time Evan Mathis was still an Eagle, but I said he wouldn’t be for long, and I was right. No miracle there, since the Eagles had been doing everything to make that a reality. Also I’d already said that last year. (Said that about Todd Herremanns too.)

Fast forward three weeks and now it’s clear that “the roster currently has a major problem at offensive guard.”  Oh really?? You don’t f****n’ say.

Look, the point of this article isn’t to say I told you so. Well, it’s not the whole point. The primary point of this article is to brace my fellow fans. Honestly, at this point regardless of anything the Eagles do between now and Week One, the Guard position will still be a problem in 2015. Let me break it down to a point beyond debate.

We’re stuck with bad options: There are better players out there than the guy we’re signing today (John Moffitt), but each of them comes with a drawback that would preclude a wise team from investing long-term in them. Unlike Moffitt who has to prove that he’s back, the remaining players may be reluctant to play just one year in a scheme they don’t know.

All of our depth is bad: Were signing Moffitt today with the hopes that we’re getting a steal. That however only pans out if he starts. That means we have to start him to get any value out of him. Starting him means that we have to sit either Matt Tobin or Allen Barbre. So Tobin will sit.

Hey! Here’s a great question. If you’re willing to bench your starter for a guy who just spent 2 years on his couch, what does that say about your starter? Here’s another question. If you have to sign a guy off his couch instead of elevating someone else on your roster, what does that say about your depth?

GAME TIME! QB Sam Bradford needs a pocket to step up into, right? This is where it gets contentious between me and some fans. Some fans assume that the line will just come together since they’re all professionals. Those fans are pinheads.

The offensive line needs to communicate well to be able to function well. These guys hardly know each other, and their first significant live action won’t come until Week Three of the preseason. Oh, and by the way, the defensive players they’ll be facing are also professionals; and our division is returning mostly intact units manned by players who DO know each other.

We’re already at a disadvantage here both from a time and talent perspective. There is simply no way to catch up in 2015. When the Draft ended without a Guard being selected, the position’s 2015 fate was just about sealed. Now we’re getting signings like Jared Wheeler and John Moffitt served up to us. The pinheads can pretend to like it if they wish, and they can polish that turd to a high gloss if they like, but the truth is unless we trade for some SERIOUS help, Guard is dead weight for our team this year.

GIANT PUTO STEVE WEATHERFORD SPEAKS

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/06/28
Posted in: Crazy Talk, NFL, Players, Rants. Tagged: , , , , . 3 Comments

Until they beat us

THEY GOT MY BLOOD UP! I looked in on some of my Facebook groups only to find that giant puto (giants punter) Steve Weatherford was talking smack about our QB situation. And after what just happened to them at our hands in 2014?!?! Man, I’m just glad I don’t have his nerve in my tooth!

Look here, I don’t think much of our QB situation either, but I’m also not talking smack about a team that by all rights destroyed me last year either.  Look around and you won’t find me talking shit at all about the Packers. People bring up the Pack and I shut up; but when they leave, I be talkin’ again.

But the idea that a guy who plays for a bottom feeder, thinks he can score shots off us in the offseason is crazy. His team started in the basement and then kept digging until they hit RGIII. If not for that, the giants would be at the Earth’s core by now.

This is made worse by the fact that he plays on the same team with the Human Turnover Machine (a.k.a Eli Manning). Aside from being given Super Bowl MVP credit for two miracle catches (on badly placed balls), the HTM leaves his teammates little room to talk about someone else’s QB situation. Yet there was Weatherford with his gums flapping in the breeze.

I guess it was his way of ducking any questions about his own team. You know how haters are, they try to build themselves up, by pulling you down. My guess is that the giant P feels empty inside, and so he hopped on our team to give him that feeling of fulfillment that he isn’t getting at home. Notice how he couldn’t keep us out of his mouth?

But let me rest. Like I said, they got my blood up.

PETERS AND COX, COME ON MAN!

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/06/23
Posted in: Crazy Talk, Defense, Offense, Players, Rants. Tagged: , , , , , . 2 Comments

jason-peters-1

EARLIER this month I was glad that Cornerback Byron Maxwell said he sees the Eagles in the Super Bowl this year. The thing is, Maxwell has been to the last two Super Bowls, so why would he set his sights lower now? Personally I loved the confidence.

But I think a couple Eagles players need to dial down the chest thumping a bit. Specifically I mean Left Tackle Jason Peters, and Defensive End Fletcher Cox.

Peters made news by saying that the Dallas Cowboys Offensive Line “can’t touch” ours. If you’re the sort of fan who gives merit to non-NFL rankings (and I don’t), then you may know that the Cowboys O-line was ranked above ours last year. If you go by NFL stats and standings (and I do), then you may know that our line finished behind the Cowboys in Rushing, gave up more sacks (actually just 2 more), more hits on the QB (64 to 53), and got our starter injured for half the year. Oh, and if you go by wins, we also lost the division to them.

Cox recently said that he believes our front seven should be ranked as the number one unit in the NFL. The Eagles had 49 sacks last year, but then again so did the Ravens, while the Bills grabbed 54. More than that, both teams gave up fewer yards rushing per game than the Eagles (Ravens 88.2, Bills 106.4, Eagles 110.7). That right there is two teams that out-performed our front seven. A solid argument could be made for the Jets, Lions and Broncos having stronger front sevens as well.

I’m all for a guy showing confidence in his team and unit, but you need to have something to hang your hat on when you shoot your mouth off. Maxwell can say that he knows what it means to get to a Super Bowl; but neither Peters nor Cox has ever won as much as a single playoff game between them. Peters has had 3 cracks at it (2009, 2010, 2013) and lost in the Wild Card round, every time. Cox was here for the 2013 loss to the Saints. So the stats nor the wins support their statements.

Look, if you can walk it, you can talk it. You can burn it, if you earn it. However, if all you can claim on your resume are failures, then all that squawking is just bullshit. It’s false bravado. Peters and Cox should be popping off about staying hungry, not imagining fake laurels to rest upon. Leave the predictions, and high-toned mouthing off, to the proven winners. Everyone else needs to be about the business of earning it.

LIKE JARED WHEELER? BACK UP A MINUTE.

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/06/15
Posted in: Conversations, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Offense, Players, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , . 2 Comments

wheeler

THE Eagles released Pro Bowl Guard Evan Mathis this week, and filled his spot with another Guard in Jared Wheeler. By all accounts Wheeler is a big guy coming in a 6’4 or 6’5 (depending on what you read) and 318-319 pounds. Beyond that there’s nothing really impressive here.

Wheeler was an undrafted free agent pick-up after last years Draft and since then he’s been on 4 rosters (San Fran, Seattle, Buffalo and Carolina). Philly makes his 5th stop. Since he was coached for a couple years in college by Eagles Offensive Line coach Jeff Stoutland, maybe that will help him, but I doubt it. In college Wheeler was a back-up player and Special Teamer, playing in 38 games at Miami but only starting 6. All 6 of his starts came in 2013, with zero in his final year. That’s pretty significant considering that that is when teams try to push players that they feel could make some hay at the pro level. Again, Wheeler was allowed to sit.

So what we have here is a career college back-up, who’s bounced onto 5 rosters in just over a year, and been bounced off of 4 of them so far. I get the impression that we are dealing with a camp body here. If we’re gonna be diving for pearls, I’d keep my eye on Cole Manhart. I told you about him already (remember this) . I’m not claiming he’ll be a Hall-of-Famer, but he’s worth a long look at least.