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2014 FINAL ROSTER PREDICTION

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/08/25
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Front Office (F.O.), Offense, Players, Roster. Tagged: , , . 17 Comments

the big bird

KEEP in mind I’m a fan. I have no more inside information that you do, I just have a kick-ass record of being right about these things.

This Final Roster Prediction is just a guess based off of what Chip Kelly did last year. Imagine you and I were having a beer and giving our take on the roster. That’s all this is. So don’t be an asshole if I don’t nail all 53 of these.

 

Special Teams: (3)
K: (1) Alex Henery – There just isn’t enough known about the other Kickers on the roster. Foolishly one wasn’t allowed to kick in any game, and the other was brought over so late, there’s no way of knowing if he’s better or worse.

P: (1) Donnie Jones – He’s the only Punter on the roster.

LS: (1) Jon Dorenbos – He’s the only Long Snapper on the roster.

 

Offense: (26)

QB: (3) Nick Foles, Mark Sanchez, Matt Barkley – Foles is your starter and Sanchez has demonstrated a quick command of this system. If he isn’t traded to the Rams, he’s the #2. If he is then Barkley has a leg up on anybody they could bring in.

RB: (4) LeSean McCoy, Darren Sproles, Henry Josey, Matt Tucker – I’m thinking 4 because last year Kelly went with 4. I’m thinking Josey because all he did was make plays. I’m thinking Tucker over Chris Polk, because Tucker has been solid while Polk hasn’t played a down this preseason and has trouble staying healthy.

WR: (6) Jeremy Maclin, Riley Cooper, Jordan Matthews, Josh Huff, Damaris Johnson, Jeff Maehl – I doubt Johnson makes the roster if Huff still isn’t hurt, but if he still is we need a KR. Maehl went to Oregon.

TE: (3) Brent Celek, Zach Ertz, James Casey – Rookie Trey Burton is more versatile and a better fit in this offense, but cutting Casey carries too much of a Dead Money penalty to justify over a 3rd string player.

OT: (5) Lane Johnson, Jason Peters, Allen Barbre, Dennis Kelly, Matt Tobin – Last year we kept 4 but Barbre was listed as a Guard. Aside from that this is the exact same group.

G: (3) Evan Mathis, Todd Herremans, Julian Vandervelde – Vanderveld is listed as Center on the EAGLES roster, but he was a Guard in college, and this preseason has lined up at Guard when the back-up Center has been in.

C: (2) Jason Kelce, David Molk – There’s wiggle room all over the O-line as some players have no hard positional designation. That’s a strength among 3rd stringers, not 2nd. Molk on the other hand is a Center. Period.

 

DEFENSE: (24)

DE: (4) Cedric Thornton, Fletcher Cox, Taylor Hart, Brandon Bair – Kelly flat out let Hart know he’d made it. As much as I’d like Vinny Curry to make it, the deck has been stacked against him.

DT: (2) Bennie Logan, Beau Allen – Allen hasn’t shown anything that says if he has to step up, he can. But the coaching staff likes him and they get to make the call.

LB: (8) Trent Cole, Connor Barwin, Marcus Smith, DeMeco Ryans, Mychal Kendricks, Bryan Braman, Casey Matthews, Emmanuel Acho – The last 3 will stick for Special Teams.

S: (4) Malcom Jenkins, Nate Allen, Earl Wolff, Chris Maragos – Kept 6 last year, but CB offers some flexibility so 6 aren’t necessary now.

CB: (6) Cary Williams, Brandon Fletcher, Brandon Boykin, Nolan Carroll, Curtis Marsh, Jaylen Watkins – Many want Marsh gone, but when you read his bio on the EAGLES site and compare it with the one of Roc Carmicheal, it tells you what the organization thinks of each man.

 

So there it is. Again it’s just a guess. Injury or trade however, could change any of this.

Just a bit of gossip: As of this moment  (8:07 a.m. Monday 8.25.14), Sanchez hasn’t been traded to the Rams and has said he doesn’t want be. I (like most of you), am hoping we don’t do it. But if we do, hopefully we get our grubby mitts on QB Shaun Hill as part of the deal.

THE FIRST WAVE OF EAGLES CUTS

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/08/24
Posted in: Coaching, Front Office (F.O.), Players, Rants. Tagged: , , , . 3 Comments

chippah!

 

LOT has happened in the 24 hours. For one thing I haven’t slept yet.  Oh yeah, and then of course, yesterday 14 EAGLES players learned that their dreams of playing in the NFL may be totally dead, when they were cut from the roster in the first of two waves of cutdowns (August 26th and August 30th).

None of the guys who were cut were big losses for the team, but there’s something about these cuts that’s really irritating me. Most of my followers already know what it is.

It’s the Ducks.

No! You know what? It’s not the Ducks. It’s the blatant favoritism shown by Chip Kelly towards the Ducks (his former players). It’s not production that has kept them here, so let’s not delude ourselves into thinking this is a “comfort level with the system” thing. In fact, let me get you some examples.

Of the players cut here’s how they matched up against their Oregon counterparts who still have jobs:

 

WR:

STAYED:                   CUT:

Jeff Maehl                  B.J. Cunningham

Will Murphy                Kadron Boone

 

DE:

STAYED:                   CUT:

Brandon Bair            Frances Mays

Taylor Hart               Alexandro Villanueva

.                                Joe Kruger

 

LB:

STAYED:                   CUT:

Josh Kaddu                 Jake Knott

 

Knott was cut due to a numbers crunch and an upcoming 4 week PED suspension, but in each of these cases, the guys cut out performed at least one of the Oregon guys who got to stay. This wrong. merit is not deciding these battles. 

Maybe it’s the caffeine talking, but if you add to this the continued benching of Vinny Curry (just because DC Bill Davis keeps underestimating him), it feels a lot like we may not be putting our best guys on the field. If we can do that and manage to still win the division, hey who am I to argue? But if we fall short this year with all of these iffy players on the roster, Kelly shouldn’t be allowed a 3rd year here.

 

CAN MARCUS SMITH BE REACHED?

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/08/20
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Draft, Players. Tagged: , , . 13 Comments

NFL: Preseason-Philadelphia Eagles at New England Patriots

CHIP Kelly says that rookie OLB Marcus Smith needs to be more productive. Despite playing more than 70 snaps against the Patriots, Smith logged only 1.5 tackles. While Smith wasn’t brought here to fill up a boxscore, spending a first round pick on him means they need to get him to make plays sooner rather than later.

Soon after this year’s Draft, Kelly pooh-poohed the idea that Smith might have been a reach. However with Smith so far playing like the early 3rd rounder he was projected as, you wonder if Kelly may be rethinking that stance.

I said in this week’s Breakdown: “Chip Kelly is about to learn the value of having elite talent at this level”. Specifically because his rivals have added some and he hasn’t.

So far in the last two Drafts we’ve shied away from adding any top shelf talent to the Defense and it’s showing. Defensively the last two Drafts look like: (2013) Bennie Logan, Earl Wolff, Joe Kruger, David King, (2014) Marcus Smith, Jaylen Watkins, Taylor Hart, Ed Reynolds, and Beau Allen.

You see any earth shakers there? Me either. In fact, all I see is one starter.

It is waaaay too early to call Smith a bust, or to even start that conversation; and NO that isn’t what this is. That is not being said here, so let’s not go there.

What is being said here, is that Smith was a reach who was graded where he was, (late 2nd -4th round) by most teams for a reason. His lack of production is indicative of that. Particularly because even with such a low grade, he was selected early despite plans to switch him from DE to OLB. (He was a rush LB in 2011, and DE in 2012 and 2013). Even by itself that switch-up is enough to classify him as a project; and you don’t take a project with the 26th pick.

Sadly, Marcus Smith is doing exactly what he should be doing under the circumstances. He’s struggling. I hope for his sake that he’s able to figure things out, before the “B” word starts dogging him, simply because someone else reached.

“YES, WE HAVE TONY ROMO!”

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/08/18
Posted in: Coaching, Front Office (F.O.), Players. Tagged: , , , , . 9 Comments

henery miss

REPORTS out of EAGLES practices say that rookie Kicker Carey “Murderleg” Spear looks bad compared to veteran Alex Henery. This could be why Spear has so far not gotten an opportunity to swing his leg during live action so far.

I call bullshit on that.

Before I go into it, let me say that I’m not surprised that Henery has won this job. I said he would (SEE HERE). I wasn’t happy about it when I said it, but I could see the handwriting on the wall; and when I see something coming, it’s my job to share it with you whether I like it or not.

I thought that Spear would at least get a chance to lose the job. Instead it looks like Chip Kelly is fine with releasing a guy who he hasn’t even looked at in live fire. I mean if Henery can look good in practice but suck in games, why not take a chance that Spear may be better when the lights come on? It’s unlikely, but that’s partly what preseason is for, right?

Of course if Spear out-shined Henery, the Kicker position would suddenly be a decision that has to be actively weighed amidst a bunch of others. This may be drama that Kelly would rather avoid. However as far as most of us fans are concerned, Kicker has been a decision worth actively weighing for years now; because while Henery’s career percentages are stellar, he never fails to fail in big moments.

The idea of a Kicker who only misses important FG’s is terrifying. You want a Kicker who’s clutch, but we don’t have that. Currently we have the Tony Romo of Kickers. Yes, we have Tony Romo! The guy who statistically should be the answer to your prayers, but who in clutch moments is the biggest liability on the roster. Yeah, we have that guy.

My hope was that Spear would push Henery, and that through mentoring Spear, Henery would go back to doing the little things. That didn’t happen. In fact if there was anything for Henery to take away from this, it’s that no matter how many times he fails us, there will always be a home here for Tony Romo.

THE TRUE MEANING OF PRESEASON

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/08/17
Posted in: Coaching, Fans, Players. Tagged: , , . 1 Comment

santa akyroyd

HO HO HO!  I bring you the gift of Knowledge! 

Mostly because the Win/Loss record doesn’t count; and in part because players are shuttled in and out, lots of fans are under the impression that the preseason doesn’t mean anything. You get people coughing up hairball wisdom with statements like:

 THEY RUN VANILLA SCHEMES SO THEY DON’T GIVE ANYTHING AWAY.

Yeah. BOTH teams do that. Actually, all teams do that. You know if these people listened to what they had just said, they’d be MORE concerned instead of less. If both teams are playing vanilla (basic) football, then what you’re seeing is player vs the player. It’s skill for skill. You vs me, without all the trickery. If your guys are getting beat at basic football, your team has a problem.

THE STARTERS ONLY PLAYED A SERIES OR TWO.

For players part of the point of preseason is to shake off rust. The other part is to get comfortable with any improvements or changes over what they did last year. In football more reps is better. Fewer reps only mean more miscommunications and bad reads when the games count.

WE ONLY LOOKED BAD BECAUSE THIS GUY OR THAT GUY DIDN’T PLAY.

Holding out players for precautionary reasons is part of preseason games. If that exposes a lack of depth, teams know to make moves to shore it up. If they see they have a glut of players at one position they have trade bait. You can’t find that out without playing these games.

IT’S NOT LIKE THESE GAMES COUNT.

Ask Curtis Marsh if these games don’t count. Ask former EAGLE Kurt Coleman if these games don’t count. Coaches across the NFL use these games as an evaluation tool to determine whether or not a man can make his living playing NFL football. If your job hinged on your boss evaluating less than 4 hours of your performance, would you say those 4 hours were meaningless? I highly doubt it. Every time you watch one of these “meaningless” games that’s exactly what’s going on.

Any fan who thinks of the preseason as a preview of the regular season is likely one of these:

  1. Under 13
  2. New to the sport
  3. An absolute idiot

 DO NOT assume that a good preseason means a good regular season. Quite often it means the exact opposite. Step back and just do what the coaches are doing: Look at the players.

By the way, did you see my letter to MY HATERS? That shit is delicious!

MY DEAREST HATERS,

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/08/17
Posted in: Conversations, Fans, Rants. Tagged: , , , . 1 Comment

HatersBall

WHEN I don’t like a food, I don’t eat it. When I don’t like a place, I don’t go. I also don’t support artists who I think are mediocre. Why? Because I’m a grown ass man.

Every day I get at least a few responses from whiny little bitches, who claim to hate my work, but who never miss a page of it. Seems to me if it was so bad, they’d find something else to do. Right?

But that would be too much like not being full of shit. So everyday it’s the same handful of tubesteak-eating ass-hats, who read me HERE, and then drag their raggedy asses elsewhere (Facebook, Google+, etc.) to complain that they hate today’s article as much as all of my other ones.

It’s usually some bumpkin from Never Heard Of It, Pennsylvania, or Not Even On A Map, New Jersey. Places that don’t understand Philadelphia, it’s fans, OR it’s football. Places with populations of 300 to 1,000, where the gene pool is so shallow that it’s less of a pool, and more of a sidewalk puddle. Which I guess explains what appears to be a pandemic of low-level mental retardation amongst these hate-filled hillbillies.

The sane and smart thing to do, would be to simply stop reading my articles. Lord knows I wouldn’t miss the clicks that these cousin-riders generate, because they represent such a small number of my daily views. Also I don’t make a dime off of per click ads. Never have.

Notice that you don’t see outside ads on Eaglemaniacal.com? (In fact, right now even my ads are off temporarily). My followers and I don’t have to tolerate these mouth-breathing, idiots because this site doesn’t chase high volume. It’s designed to not need it. It’s why I sell custom fan gear. It’s why I can aggressively take down blatantly offensive, and/or disrespectful comments on here. It’s also why you’ll see complaints on other sites from chicken chokers who had their asses tossed and were blocked from posting here. They can still read articles and buy all the merchandise they like. (And a couple have.) Why shoot myself in the foot, right? (Funny how the ‘191’ jerseys never got a single complaint during their run. Guess I’m not all bad.)

Look around at the comments and you’ll see everyone here can spell and has some class. This place is exclusive, because I keep it that way. Some people are flat out not good enough to be on here, and I don’t mind saying so.  

I’m sure some of you were expecting to come on here and see some drama. See some names dropped, and dragged through the mud. Maybe an argument or two. That’s not how I do things on here. 

What I will do is say to my haters,  THANK YOU. Over  these last few months some of your comments have drummed up far more attention than I could have ever done on my own. Some of that has helped generate sales for me, and (MAN, do I want to name names here), a couple of you have even made purchases yourself.

So keep it coming haters. As you can see, I’m doing me on my terms, and a couple times I’ve done it literally at your expense. So either walk away and never look back, or keep on working for me for free. I’m good either way. In the meantime, my loyal followers and I will continue to enjoy our EAGLES fan-site for classy and intelligent grown-ups

And now for: THE TRUE MEANING OF THE PRESEASON

I GET SCHOOLED, YET AGAIN

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/08/15
Posted in: Conversations, Fans. Tagged: , , , , . 3 Comments

article regular-fans

 

WALKING into the bar I noticed the bartender tap Rhodie on the wrist and gesture to the door. Rhodie sees me, gets up and hugs me. HUGS ME. I’ve been friends with this guy since 2009, and he’s never hugged me before. It’s cool because I’m a hugger. I’ll hug anybody, but I’m not used to Vietnam vets just grabbing me.

Firstly, he liked the way I wrote about him in a couple articles I sort of built around him. He actually had his daughter print them out and put them in frames. I was moved to have that kind of impact on him. Or anyone for that matter.

Secondly he loved my article where I said that Donovan McNabb was the Greatest EAGLES Quarterback of All-Time.

“It’s about time you used that bully pulpit! I seen you do it in here, and I hear that you did it other places [online]. It’s about time you just told people what was what, instead of asking people their opinions. With the McNabb thing, you just laid down the law, and from what I hear, cause I ask [his daughter] to check it sometimes, NOBODY has challenged you about it. People get that you know your shit and, now you get that you know your shit.”

Then he ordered me a Special. Not a “Virgin Special”. A Special.

And then…

“But you did leave something out. Not only did McNabb win a lot of games, he won a lot of tough games. Since the EAGLES kept having winning records they had tough schedules every year. The fans are crazy over this new coach with those 10 wins, but he got a bunch of puff ball teams to play last year. Andy Reid put down real contenders. We’re about to see if this Chip Kelly guy can do the same thing.”

Looking forward to seeing it.

MAYBE EAGLES FANS KNOW.

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/08/14
Posted in: Conversations, Fans. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Cheer: Philadelphia-Eagles-Logo

OFTEN I take off and don’t post on Thursdays and Fridays. This was going to be one of those days, but then this happened:

I was out of coffee creamer so I went CVS to grab some since this Wawa is being remodeled, and the supermarket wasn’t open yet. I strolled in and a guy from my old neighborhood is in the CVS, holding a basket with some stuff in it.

Six in the morning and he’s halfway across Philadelphia, wearing that Redskins sweatshirt that he’d cut the sleeves off of sometime in the 1990’s. I never thought I’d see that shirt again. It’s almost pink now.

“Still like them pigeons, I see.” He said referring to my Eagles jersey, as he offered his hand. “You mean the division champs?” I responded as I shook his hand. He shook his head like he had some inside information.  “Not this year. You see how scared your boy Foles looked last week? 2014 gonna be a nightmare.” (I could have asked why he’d watched an EAGLES game, but I decided not to. Haters need their fuel, right?)

(From here on, I have to paraphrase some of this, because I didn’t have my recorder on me.)

“We got y’alls DeSean. That’s why Foles is scared. How y’all gonna stop us now? We gave y’all a run for your money back when y’all had him and we didn’t. Now we got him and y’all don’t.” Then he said it. “I see a couple blowouts being served up to the pigeons this year.”

I couldn’t just let that go, so I responded. “Maybe, but we should be able to make up that ground when we destroy the Redskins twice this year. So who do you see those blowouts coming from?” The he says either “Oh you got jokes?” Or “So you got jokes.” One of them. And I just said “Naw. The Redskins got all the jokes. Dan Snyder, Bobby G3, DeSean and the gang…”

At this point I almost laughed in his face, because when I said the last bit, he actually covered his mouth. I have no idea why. But watching a grown man recoil like that over just words, was hilarious. He must have sensed I was going to laugh, because this man who had just shook my hand, simply walked off  without uttering another sound. Then he got in line for one of those self-checkout things.

It’s been almost 2 hours and I still can’t figure out what set him off. Any ideas?

FEELING DEFENSIVE ABOUT VINNY CURRY

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/08/13
Posted in: Defense, Players, Rants. Tagged: , , , . 5 Comments

card-vinnycurry

EAGLES Defensive Coordinator Bill Davis told the world that Vinny Curry doesn’t have what it takes to start in his 3-4 system. Or put better, that Davis doesn’t think that Curry at only 278 pounds, can be very good there.

Citing Curry as being under-sized, Davis said that Curry wouldn’t be able to handle the job of playing the run, and essentially said that he is strictly a pass rusher.

Remember last year when Both Davis and Chip Kelly said that the Defense wouldn’t be a 3-4 or a 4-3, that it would be “Multiple”, that it would be a “4-3 Under”?

WELL WHERE THE FUCK DID THAT GO? Because I sure as hell haven’t been seeing it!

Now we’re being told that career underachiever Bill Davis can’t find a way to get what could be our best lineman, out on the field.

This despite Curry’s dedication to get better. This despite the fact that any time Curry is out there, he makes his presence felt. Meanwhile there’s a role enough for drafting 281 pound Taylor Hart? With his 16 sacks in 4 years of COLLEGE? What the fuck is that all about?  If 278 is too small to be a regular contributor, why draft that small at all, let alone reach to do it? Every player is an injury away from starting, right? Why stick yourself with a little guy, if you don’t believe in them on principle? Something doesn’t add up here.

So on top of being lied to about what we’re running (run whatever system you like, but don’t LIE to fans about it), we’re now being told that putting out tour best guys isn’t how this system works. Seeing as how it only yielded 39 sacks and finished dead last against the pass last year, I’m thinking that maybe it wouldn’t hurt to re-evaluate that aspect of our system.

HERE’S WHY WE’RE BETTER THAN YOU.

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/08/12
Posted in: Defense, Offense, Players. Tagged: , , , . 2 Comments

the big bird

WE’RE better than you, and I can prove it.

Our QB NICK FOLES isn’t a turnover machine like Thee Lie Manning. He isn’t held together with scotch tape and crossed fingers like RG#. Unlike Tony Oh No! who isn’t worth a dollar, you can get 4 quarters out of Foles. Face it. We’re better than you.

Our RB LeSEAN McCOY can also catch a football unlike the guy in Washington. He’s not a career back-up brought in as a n insurance policy for an underachiever who was too fragile for the game. He can be trusted with the ball to close out games. I’ll be nice and not even mention DARREN SPROLES name. Wait. I just did didn’t I? Learn to deal. And again, better than you.

At WR Dallas and Washington have more proven game-changers than we do. But Dallas being so dependent on one guy makes them predictable and helps contribute to some of those picks. Washington may give us a run, but New York…half the time Rueben Randle can be counted on to run the wrong route (I suspect he’s retarded); and you saw what became of Rico Suave without a legit WR on the other side. At worse we’re as good at the ‘skins. So again we’re BETTER.

At TE in BRENT CELEK and ZACH ERTZ we have twice as many TE’s as New York does. Washington has a good one, but if the guy brushes his teeth too hard, he gets a concussion. Dallas has a HOFer playing for them now, but he’s relegated to a blocker because their focus is getting the ball to the toddler. Flat out better here.

We sent the left side of our Offensive Line to the Pro Bowl. Meanwhile New York and Washington have just shuffled their units. Dallas gets to spend a year hoping that Doug Free doesn’t get “OW! My Back!” killed out there this year. This is no contest. Us: Mount Everest. You: Grab a shovel.

 

Our Defensive Line was Top 10 against the run last year and everybody came back. New York and Dallas both gave away their best linemen. Washington ran out and grabbed a guy we threw away in Clifton Geathers. When your rival goes rummaging through your garbage like some damned raccoon, it’s clear that even THEY think you’re better than them.

Our Linebackers? Put it this way: Name a New York LB. Me either. Dallas’s LB’s? He’s at home. Washington matches up well with us at OLB, but we have the edge in experience at ILB. We win again!

Secondary? We have the best CB’s in the division. In fact we’re like 3 deep back there. Right Dallas? The Giants match up favorably at Safety though. I’ll say they’re better in the middle of the field, but not as a unit. Us for the win!

 

So suck it. Suck it until my ass cheeks cave in. Suck it until your wisdom teeth pop out. Suck it until my forehead softens, and Michael Sam fathers six kids.

Dear division rivals, you’ve had it. Run while you still can. Because WE are better than YOU, and we, are coming.