Fans

THE RETURN OF MICHAEL VICK

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/05/15
Posted in: Conversations, Crazy Talk, Fans, NFL, Offense, Players, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , . 9 Comments

mv2

SAM Bradford has a great arm, but his durability is an issue that most fans can’t seem to overlook. And while Mark Sanchez played well in relief of Nick Foles after he had his collarbone broken last year, Sanchez was far from dynamic and showed no real ability to be a game changer, even momentarily. Our 3rd string QB is either Tim Tebow or Matt Barkley. Considering all of that, and given his familiarity with our system, how would you feel about the return of Michael Vick?

Hold on! Understand, this is just us fans talking. Nowhere have I heard that the Eagles were one of the handful of teams kicking the tires on Vick. The NFL’s website however does mention (HERE) that some teams are. I just thought I’d bring it up, since it’s the offseason and we have time to chew the fat and say “Hey man, what if…”

I’m talking about this purely as a back-up. Vick was never a 16 game starter even when was supposed to be, so I don’t see the point of trying to project him out as such now. What he could be if he were forced to start a few games though, is a guy who forces teams to throw away what they learned about this system with less mobile QB’s running it.

While opponents caught up to this offense with Foles running it, they did so at the expense of almost always leaving the backdoor wide open so they could stop the run. When Foles went down they did the same with Sanchez, because neither man could exploit it and make them pay. That’s not the case with Vick.

Vick isn’t the guy that the Falcons selected number one overall, but three years after he retires he’ll still be more of a running threat than Foles, Sanchez, or Bradford are today. With Vick as the back-up everything teams assume that they know about successfully defending against the Eagles, goes right out the window the second Bradford goes down.

Look, Sam Bradford may surprise us all. Chip Kelly could put him on a steady diet of Orange/Peanut/Spinach smoothies and Bradford might start every game as a result. However if Bradford goes down again, somebody has to start in his place for however long he’s out. Considering what’s on the roster today, the return of Michael Vick might not be such a bad thing.

AN EAGLES FAN’S FULL ATTENTION

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/05/10
Posted in: Defense, Fans, NFL, Offense, Players, Rants. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

tony romo

I’M sick of Cowboys fans whining every time a rival fan mentions their team that we’re “closet fans” or, “talking more about their team than our own”. Since my website here overwhelmingly disproves those statements, I felt comfortable taking a day to indulge our rivals. So they can know what it REALLY MEANS to have an Eagles fan’s full attention focused on their team.

They can’t win the division again this season, because they simply don’t have the tools.

Last year they leaned heavily on Philadelphia Eagles RB DeMarco Murray to carry their team and keep their QB upright. They don’t have him this year. Delusional fans have convinced themselves that replacement Darren McFadden can pick up where Murray left off. I won’t even argue too hard against that one, since I’m going around collecting screenshots of Cowboys fans who are piking McFadden up as being able to do what Murray just did.

Last year Tony Romo had the best year of his career while our RB set their franchise rushing record, and STILL while maxing out like that, they only won the division by a SINGLE game. Just one.

True, the Cowboys were 12-4 to the Eagles 10-6. Had we won that second game, we’re both 11-5 and the Eagles hold the tie-breaker. Since we lost that game, it was a moot point. Fact is however, the entire season turned on that ONE GAME. Just one. We did 10-6 with a plethora of injuries, and they maxed out to get to 12-4 on the swing of one game. Hardly the cream of the crop.

Last year on defense they couldn’t get within a $50 cab ride of a QB, so they went out and added some firepower. Only question is, will it ever see the field? One guy has become synonymous with domestic abuse and likes making 9/11 jokes as he appeals his 10 game suspension; and another guy can’t handle the rigors of May heat in shorts and no pads. The killer DT they were depending on, has all but retired. That front seven is a mess, and anyone who disagrees is probably the sort of fan that Cowboys defensive coaches hate. (That tweet has been since taken down.)

They picked up some O-line help, but from what I keep reading, the Cowboys line was already perfect last year, so I guess this will make them…“perfecter”?

While Cowboys fans like to talk smack about Sam Bradford‘s injury history, at least our back-up is Mark Sanchez. Meanwhile the Cowboys are still just one good hit away from starting this guy at QB:

 brandon weeden

Speaking of which, just how good are the current RB’s at blitz pick-up?

MY 2015 DRAFT TRIP

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/05/06
Posted in: Draft, Fans, NFL. Tagged: , , , . 2 Comments

 THESE are just a few of the pics from my trip to the Draft this year.  

Grant (sim)

Had to show my squad some love!

13. Draft Town (the day before) 4.29 (1)

They actually put “DA DRAFT” on a building. God bless those crazy people.

15. Who will wear number 15... 4.29.15

 The day before they opened Draft Town. We weren’t allowed to pass the “guard”, (who was freezing.)

29. Eagles fan tent 4.30.15 (2)

Fans posted inspirational messages here. See the one near the top….

30. Eagles fan tent 4.30.15 (3)

YEAH BABY!!!

31. The map! 4.30.15 (1)

This map cannot convey the utter sea of humanity that showed up.

Draft (sim)

They came out in FORCE in Chi-town, let me tell you!

25. Michigan and Jackson (My first Chicago hot dog) 4.30.15

Got my first Chicago hot dog at Michigan and Jackson. 

16. ++++ takes my pic outside of Draft Town (the day before) 4.29.15

But the best part of the trip by far, was the company.

37. Leaving Chicago Flight 1464 5.1.15 (2)

Had a lot of fun. I’ll be back Chicago. Count on it

2015 EAGLES DRAFT REVIEW

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/05/04
Posted in: Draft, Fans, NFL, Players, Reviews, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , . 3 Comments

Who will wear number 15... 4.29.15

NELSON AGHOLOR (WR) 1st round – I have no idea how to feel about this pick. We replaced a polished, bonafide NFL player, with a younger, cheaper version who we hope will be at least as good. I’m not knocking the kid himself, it seems like he has the tools. I just feel like we spent  our top pick trying to mop up a spill we created.

ERIC ROWE (CB) 2nd round – This was my favorite pick of the Eagles Draft class. I don’t see him as a CB, but he may end up there since I don’t have a coaching contract. I have a sinking feeling he’ll end up being wasted as the SS in this Single-high coverage system. I PRAY the Eagles shock the world and switch to a base Cover Two.

JORDAN HICKS (OLB) 3rd round – I don’t get this pick. He’s smaller than the OLB’s we use in this system, has an extensive collegiate injury history, and comes from a 4-3 system, which means that he’ll have to learn 3-4 OLB, or (if he’s slid inside) he’ll have to learn ILB. That’s a big deal seeing as how his game doesn’t seem to include taking on Offensive Linemen.

JACOREY SHEPHERD (CB) 6th round – If he sticks maybe he’s a Nickle/Dime Corner. I like his aggressiveness to the ball. However, due to that aggressiveness, his poor tackling, and lack of raw speed, I’d rather have a Safety playing over him. I don’t see him on the edges vs the WR’s in this division.

RANDALL EVANS (CB) 6th round– Seems this guy has a better shot as a reserve FS than as a CB.

BRIAN MIHALIK (DE) 7th round – I don’t get this pick at all. I don’t see the point of an underpowered and lanky (6’9”) lineman.

 

On the whole it feels like Kelly was a husband picking up the groceries his wife told him to. There were no major errors, but he got too much of one thing and completely forgot another. Still, the only way to have major issues with this draft is if you’re completely unreasonable.

Last year we had a bad draft, this year was sort of “Meh”. There were no big gambles, and if none of the bottom three picks stick, it’s not a big deal; but if any two of them do, it’s a high quality draft.

There are a couple of head scratchers here though.

  • Three CB’s but NO Offensive Line help? Especially after last year?
  • Who is Hicks here to replace?
  • OMG, So we’re really going with Sam Bradford???

Now that this one is in the books, it’s time to see how it all shakes out.

 

 

THE EAGLES REBUILD: AN EARLY LOOK

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/03/09
Posted in: Conspiracy Corner, Draft, Fans, Front Office (F.O.), Players, Rants, Roster, trade. Tagged: , , . 9 Comments

flooded

LET’S get an early look at the Eagles rebuilding effort. Getting rid of talented players has so far proven easy for head coach Charles Kelly. WR DeSean Jackson was outright cut last year. This year RB LeSean McCoy was traded, and then they cheaped out on WR Jeremy Maclin as well. (Since fans are 50/50 on it, I won’t officially add CB Cary Williams to this pile, but for my money, they’re giving away talent again.)

Look, why do teams sign Free Agents? To add the most talent, right? They try to move up earlier in the Draft for the same reason, right? It would seem that NFL teams place a premium on amassing the most or the best talent.

So if they’re going to shed talent at this rate, shouldn’t they be replacing it just as fast? If not faster? Wouldn’t it be a shame if Kelly was less and less successful, the farther he got away from having Andy Reid’s roster? Especially now that all of the personnel decisions require him to sign off on them.

In this league when you shed a bunch of key veterans it’s called “rebuilding”. Problem is, rebuilding requires draft picks. High ones if you’re going to do it right. However if they trade away multiple high picks to draft a single QB, it’ll be years before they can get that QB any significant help. Unless of course we get lucky and they suddenly start drafting better than they have been.

If they’re rebuilding around Nick Foles (haha NOPE!) or some other QB that they DIDN’T trade the farm to pick, then we’re not in such a bad spot, right? Seems simple, but not so fast.

To make a rebuild work, we’d have to start sucking really soon, because a rebuilding team who’s drafting 20th – 24th in every round, every year is doing itself no favors. The problem is now the “In Chip I Trust” gang is dependent on those 10 win seasons. Those wins are their proof that he knows what he’s doing. Sliding back now would just make it seem like he needed the players he jettisoned. So he HAS TO keep winning now, just to save face.

Kelly no longer has the luxury of a fallback position. He had that when he first got the job, but he wanted to prove that “his way” worked. Blessed in 2013 with a last place schedule and a system no one was used to, also run in a way no one was used to, Kelly certainly “showed them”. The 2014 season was sort of the same thing, where he got fat on bottom feeders, and fell to contenders. Except in 2014 the locker room grumbled early, and as the team collapsed down the stretch, Kelly himself seemed without answers.

Now we’re a decidedly less talented team that trumpets things like signing 32 year old Frank Gore and his ailing hip. Under Kelly we draft poorly, trade stupid, and cheap out on our last resort, while signing racists to extensions that even their Madden characters could never rightfully earn.

Hey, don’t get mad at me! That’s what happened. I’m just the guy with the balls to say it. At present this is a 4 win team again. I don’t mean a team that underachieves to 4 wins, like under Reid. This is a team that even if the engine were gunned into the red, would max out at 4 wins. (Let me ask you, how do you think Gore’s hip will respond to Kelly’s practices?) We’ll see what else happens with moves this offseason, but my gut say that fans may want to temper their expectations.

If they don’t trade the farm to move up in this Draft, and then we tank in 2015, the team still has the picks to rebuild over the years and the position to do it. All it would cost is Kelly eating a little crow. But if he continues to be a smug, chubby, little bastard and blows a bushel of our picks on his pet project, then we’re dead in the water for years to come.

BYRON MAXWELL AS AN EAGLE

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/03/06
Posted in: Defense, Fans, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Players, Roster. Tagged: , , . 8 Comments

seattle-seahawks-cornerback-byron-maxwell

THERE is no way I could say the Eagles shouldn’t pursue Free Agent CB Byron Maxwell, without being shouted down. He’s got the size teams covet, and having played in the “Legion of Boom” he has a reputation that teams will at least show respect to at first.

He says he likes the Man-Press/Cover Three scheme that we play, because it’s similar to Seattle’s. Perhaps it is as far as the way the Secondary players are utilized. However because of the fact that Seattle plays a 4-3 and rushes their 4 down linemen as a rule, the result is that they play their OLB’s very different from how we play ours.

Then again maybe it’s too much to ask to expect a 6th round draft pick with just 17 career starts to look at such “subtleties”. Oh you didn’t know about the 17 starts? Or the 6th round selection? Or WHY he fell so far? But you DO think the Eagles should pay this guy 12-13M$ a year.

Fine. I won’t argue with that. What I will say though, is that if we sign him and Bill Davis doesn’t change his coverage scheme; the same fans who clamored for him will be calling Maxwell overpriced by Thanksgiving, and for his head by Christmas.

REAL TALK: THAT BRIGHT LIGHT

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/03/03
Posted in: Coaching, Conspiracy Corner, Fans, Front Office (F.O.), Offense, Players, Rants, Roster, trade. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

bright light

THE offseason is a marathon, not a sprint. The season is a marathon, not a sprint. REAL TALK? If you go around knee-capping your own roster, you won’t win any marathons OR sprints. Anyone waiting for that bright light at the end of the tunnel, is going to be interesting to talk to when they find out that it’s a train.

Understand, I’m not shocked about RB LeSean McCoy being traded. I was the first person anywhere saying that he might be last year, because I see what coach Charles Kelly is doing. In his mind he can win in the NFL by treating it like it’s the Oregon program he coached. So he’s going about making that transformation.

Fans who say they’re  “Gonna wait to see how this turns out” amuse the hell out of me. If the Cowboys lost Dez Bryant or DeMarco Murray we would say they were in trouble. When the Giants lost Ahmad Bradshaw and Victor Cruz, we were quick to point out that they were in trouble. When RG3 went down for the Redskins, same thing. So these folks CAN see that you need talent to win in this league.

I’m not sure where the bright spot in giving away talent is supposed to be; but in MY experience when you’re the least talented team in your division, you end up at the bottom of the division. But for everyone who was thrilled that Kelly gets the final say now, you’re seeing the birth of who the Eagles are going to be under that regime. In Kelly’s first major move we’re a team that trades a Pro Bowl RB for a some guy rehabbing his SECOND ACL injury. Yes. Second.

In any case we have to make the best of it now.

So now the discussion shifts to who we replace McCoy with. No one on our roster fits the bill. Technically yes, we could line anyone up back there, but I mean who else will give you 1,300 yards in an off year? We have 50M$ in cap space, but every RB out there now is either a bad scheme fit, a huge question mark, or a poor man’s version of what we just gave away. Meanwhile McCoy and Bryce Brown are both in Buffalo. LOL.

Anyone care to discuss the QB situation? You know what. We’ll let that rest until Kelly actually makes a move. No need to borrow trouble, right? Who knows, the next move could be pure genius! We could end up with Darron Thomas at QB next year.

DT

BTW: If Thomas is an Eagle next year, remember who had it before anyone else on Earth.

 

 

 

 

FANS STRICKEN WITH FOLESEOSIS

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/03/02
Posted in: Conspiracy Corner, Crazy Talk, Fans, Offense, Rants. Tagged: , , . 1 Comment

card-nickfoles

 

DO you have Foleseosis (Foles-EE-Oh-sis)?

  • Do you find yourself screaming “But Foles is 14 – 4 under Kelly!” almost daily?
  • Are you exhausted from screeching “7 touchdowns against the Raiders!” as if that mattered?
  • When Foles 2014 season sends you mail, do you leave it in a drawer, unopened?

If you answered YES to any of these questions, you my friend may have a mild case of Foleseosis. It’s a condition that manifests when a fan is 120% behind a player that the Head Coach won’t publicly back, and the Owner has already thrown under the bus.

Unfortunately it can and it does get worse. Full-blown symptoms include:

  • An inability to notice that Foles is hampering the run game
  • Inventing excuses for pass after pass thrown off his back foot
  • Making excuses for why he plays poorly vs good teams
  • Conveniently forgetting performances like oh, I don’t know…Jacksonville maybe?

With full-blown Foleseosis, it’s not that you can’t stand up, it’s that you keep standing up for the wrong thing. Namely Nick Foles being the Eagles starter.

But there is HOPE my friends! Wait…No there isn’t. If Foles as the starter is your ideal situation, then your heart is about to be shattered. That possibility exploded when Foles broke his shoulder against Houston. That popping, snapping, breaking noise Foles heard, was his chance to make 12M$ or better per year. He is a journeyman QB in waiting now. All he’s waiting for is the day the Eagles shake his hand and carry his shit outside in a Hefty bag. And it could come sooner than you care to think.

FOR FANS OF THE PHILADELPHIA EAGLES

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/01/14
Posted in: Fans, Players, Rants. Tagged: , . 10 Comments

fans

IS Nick Foles a franchise QB? This time last year, some fans of the Philadelphia Eagles said “YES!” while others said “NO!”. For my part, I said I’d let the evidence of at least 15 starts in 2014 make the case. Foles did not start 15 games. Instead he was injured for a 3rd straight year. That has to be a knock against either Foles’ durability or our Offensive Line’s ability to keep him healthy. 

Personally I’ll take either since I’m not as high on our O-line or our QB situation, as some are. Last year I wanted us to draft a Guard. We didn’t. How’d that work out? Here’s how it worked out: We lost studs and had to replace them “just some guys”. Some upper level talent on the interior line would have been great. But what can you do?

And THAT fellow Eagles fans, is pretty much what we’ve been reduced to. Step back for a second and look at what’s going on with us:

Today we argue about whether or not a 3rd round QB (drafted as a project), who’s been up and down his whole career, is our long-term answer. Used to be a time when we would have demanded consistent high level performance from year to year. Now we’re arguing over, and willing to settle for, mere glimpses of intangibles while trying to ignore massive faults.

Those who aren’t arguing for Foles, are arguing for Mark Sanchez. Once upon a time either one of these guys as OUR guy would have been unacceptable. Sanchez played great for a back-up, but hitching our wagon to him would be an act of desperation.  

We have back-up O-linemen who can’t even run block, yet nobody (except me) made any noise on the subject. Once upon a time Eagles fans demanded toughness from our players. Today the idea of linemen who can be pushed around, barely raises an eyebrow among fans.

After being stuck with Jeremy Maclin and Riley Cooper, instead of DeSean Jackson and Maclin, people are actually applauding Chip Kelly getting more say. (Somewhere in my head the words “All he does is catch touchdowns” is echoing.)

Our best pass rushing Defensive Lineman is a back-up. Yet for all the ire it raises, he may as well play for another team.

In an off year, our starting RB LeSean McCoy still put up 1,319 yards, logged 314 carries and played every game for a second year in a row. This despite the enormous workload he’s had over that period. But the Eagles won’t commit to bringing him back, even though he’s willing to restructure his contract. I’ve been being largely mum on this point to see how many of fans would SPEAK UP on this subject. The only thing I’ve heard on it so far have been crickets. Meanwhile all signs point to second year in a row of  losing an All-Pro talent with no one to fill his shoes when he goes.

How many times do we get slapped in the face before speaking up again? It’s YOUR money that fuels that organization. It’s YOUR passion. It should be YOUR standards that they have to meet. Instead you’re settling for theirs.

We used to have higher standards. What happened to us? What happened??

FELLOW FANS:

YOU pushed Andy Reid into getting us a WR. The result of listening to us was a Super Bowl appearance. Then management fucked that up. Probably because we were quiet.

YOU pushed Jeffery Lurie into finally firing Reid. The result was a division win and a playoff berth.

Here is something that you all need to understand: THEY NEED TO HEAR FROM US! Not just me. US! When we shut up, they fuck up.

Make your voices heard. In Philadelphia of all places, the words “We The People” should mean as much as they can anywhere on face of God’s Earth.

We aren’t just the audience for the Philadelphia Eagles, we’re the FANS of the Philadelphia Eagles. And it’s high time that we remembered what that means.

R.I.P. STUART SCOTT

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/01/04
Posted in: Fans, Rants, Uncategorized. Tagged: . 4 Comments

stuart

TO be clear, I’ve lost one of my heroes today.  This morning I learned that Stuart Scott, long-time sportscaster for ESPN had passed away. After 8 years of battling cancer on and off, he finally succumbed today at the too young age of 49.

I discovered Stuart Scott in my late teens. There was a period where things were thin and we couldn’t afford cable anymore. Not being from a sports family, I’d never bothered trying to watch ESPN before then. One day I had the idea to try an use the cable wire as an antenna to get picture as sharp as cable, so I ran the old cable wire into the IN on our living room VCR. Just to see if I could get anything. My younger brother sat by watching. And hoping.

We still had one of the old VCR’s that had the UHF/VHF/UF tuner gears, and I found if I twiddled with them I could get a weak signal through the VCR. I didn’t have to fish long before I got something. I twiddled more to get a better picture. What I ended up with was a few cable channels. They came in grainy and in black and white, but there they were.

And one of those channels was ESPN.

In my experience sportscasters were people like Big Al Meltzer and Howard Eskin. But ESPN had these guys Dan Patrick, Keith Olbermann. They also had this awesome duo of Rich Eisen and Stuart Scott. They transformed how I saw sports. The way they talked about it made me want to hear about it and learn about it.

They spoke about each sport like they were fans of it. If you did something awesome, they cheered it. If you got taken, they clowned you. Their delivery was as much about them and their take on the sport, as it was about the sport itself. I adopted the style of “This Is My Take” and now I tell my perspective even if the world disagrees. As a result, the duo of Eisen and Scott is in the DNA of every word you’ll ever read from me.

To be clear, I’ve lost one of my heroes today. Not only for the early days when I first stumbled across SportsCenter, but also for the way he continued to do what he loved even as he battled for his life. Thinking he’d beaten this thing and then having to do battle with it again.

In 2006 I lost my grandfather to cancer, it started in his lung and then went everywhere. In 2012 I lost a friend who was like a brother to me at the age of 34 to pancreatic cancer. That monster leaves its mark on survivors, but when it claims someone it’s nothing short of brutal as it takes people away from you a piece at a time. Reducing them to shadows before turning out the light. Yet Stuart battled it. He kept going. He kept living. He stayed as cool as the other side of the pillow.

And again, to be clear, I’ve lost one of my heroes today.