Sunday, January 24, 2010

Championship Sunday

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The AFC title game is a pretty tense affair. I don't like Peyton Manning or Mark Sanchez, so it is hard for me to get excited about either team. I'll pull for the NFC team in the Super Bowl, so it doesn't really matter to me who wins.

The big question in the NFC title game is how Minnesota plays on the road. This year they were great at home, but mediocre on the road. If they can bottle up what they did last week they'll go to the Super Bowl.

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Nothing really going on in Eaglesville. The coaches and scouts are heading to Mobile, AL for the Senior Bowl this week. This is the most important non-game week of the year. Careers are made in Mobile. Donovan played lights out for Jon Gruden's North Squad back in 1999 and that helped elevate him to the #2 spot. Had he struggled we might be having Daunte Culpepper or Cade McNown arguments. I'll be writing stuff all week on ScoutsNotebook. I will post Eagles-related stuff here.

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ANSWERS

RE: DE discussion

I'll definitely be doing a post on the best available DEs. We need to see the Senior Bowl practices/game to have an even better feel for the situation. I'm still watching tape of the players. Some underclassmen I know. Others I only know a little about. I love Jerry Hughes. I like Brandon Graham quite a bit. Everson Griffen isn't my cup of tea.


RE: LB

We do like to take DEs and turn them into SAMs. I assume part of that is because those players know how to take on blockers and fight at the point of attack. You have to teach them how to cover, but honestly...a lot of college LBs have to be taught how to cover.

We like big MLBs just because that is the way we use our MLB.

We like to convert "normal" sized MLBs to WLB. We seem to really like a physical, tough guy at the WLB spot.

I don't agree with everything we do. I wish the team would be more aggressive at OLB. We haven't had an outright "good" OLB in a long time. We've got some players who show potential, but haven't truly emerged. I loved the Gocong and Matt McCoy picks, but neither one worked out as hoped. Gocong still could turn into a good SAM. McCoy just wasn't ready for the professional nature of the NFL.
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27 comments:

Tommy Lawlor said...

How weird is it to see the decline of Lito? He was a star in 2006. Wasn't so great in 2007. Got benched in '08. Got traded in '09 and then benched by his new team.

What a waste of talent...

Cliff said...

Agreed. At one point he was a hero to Eagles fans. I'm channeling that Cowboys game where he intercepted a Romo pass in the red zone and ran it back for a TD.

Tommy Lawlor said...

The Vikings dominant DL isn't so dominant away from home.

Cliff said...

Geezus, has anyone from Minny not fumbled tonight?

They should be embarrassed. 9 minutes to go in the game and that's their 6th!

Pitmanite said...

minny defense has played their asses off tonight. the offense has had 5 turnovers compared to 1 for new orleans.

i really hope the vikings lose bc i think i'll go crazy w/ full 2 weeks of endless fawning over favre from the media.

arby said...

Can't believe Farve keeps making those dumb mistakes. Reminded me of Donovan there being afraid to run.....

Tommy Lawlor said...

Favre should have run, but he's been a chance taker his whole career. We'll see if this costs him.

Myron said...

Cue flashback to 2007 NFCCG where untimely Favre interception leads to Lawrence Tynes field goal in OT to send the Giants to the Super Bowl.

Hey Eagles fans, it could be worse. You could be a Minnesota Vikings fan!

Tommy Lawlor said...

The 3 best teams in the league this year were IND, NO, and MIN. You could see that today.

Congrats to the Saints for finally making it to the big game.

Myron said...

Oh btw, Tommy, Jerry Hughes looks amazing in clips but aren't you concerned with a guy of his size playing 4-3 DE in the NFL? He's relatively tiny (6'1"-6'2" 250ish) for that position. Alot of people on draft sites are saying that he'd only be fit to play OLB in a 3-4 if he wants to succeed at the next level.

Cliff said...

Myron, Trent Cole is 6'3" 270lbs. Scout.com I'm sure he wasn't that "big" as a rookie. Likewise, Dwight Freeney is 6'1" 268lbs.

I feel like NFL scouts and media guys declare every undersized college DE as an OLB these days, a la Trent Cole coming out of Cincinnati.

Chris said...

How do you see Hughes vs. Brandon Graham? I've only seen those few clips of Hughes but I have seen Graham when Michigan played OSU & Iowa. He had very good games against both and those schools produce a lot of pro linemen.

The Iowa game I'm pretty sure he went against Bulaga (who most pundits are projecting as a first rounder) and Graham won that matchup. He led the nation in TFL and had 10.5 sacks even though the rest of Michigan's D is bad and he was playing against some good lines.

Unknown said...

Someone should assemble a compilation of all of Brett Favres critical game breaking interceptions in the playoffs. He's got to have like 5 of them now.

3 I can think of off the top of my head, tonights, the 2007 one against the Giants, and the 2003 one against us.

Unknown said...

Don't know if you've mentioned him Tommy but what would you think about Sergio Kindle at SAM? Would he be a bit too Gocong the 2nd?

Cliff said...

Quintin Mikell and McNabb were added to the Pro Bowl roster today.

According to my count, approximately 73% of the NFL has now been selected to play in the Pro Bowl game.

Unknown said...

http://www.nfl.com/seniorbowl/story?id=09000d5d815ee2f1&template=with-video-with-comments&confirm=true

Pretty interesting rankings, plenty i didn't expect in that from what i've read/seen.

Jason Pierre-Paul as the top DE? Didn't expect that. I'd say he was mental if he wasn't right so often.

Adam S. said...

LOL @ Cliff, I was thinking the same thing about the probowl. What a joke this year's has become. They almost all deserve an * next their probowl counts.

Chris said...

@Edward

Those rankings *are* interesting. I've never seen anyone rated higher than Suh (though I had seen a mock draft put Clausen 1st for the Rams as he's a QB) let alone another DT. I'm surprised Bradford is rated higher than Clausen too.

Cliff said...

Looking at Mayock's prospect rankings from the link above makes me wonder... Tommy, what mock drafts and prospect rankings do you think do a good job?

I usually look at NFLDraftCountdown.com (by Scott Wright). Not because I think it's any more accurate than anyone else, but because the presentation is good. But I always wonder the site has merit or not.

Unknown said...

http://www.thehuddlereport.com/Free/top100scoring.shtml

Not many places rank better than here and none of the others have Tommys sense of humour! Haha

Pitmanite said...

@Cliff
I was actually just added to the pro bowl roster as a CB for the NFC, so include me in those stats. i sent in a highlight tape from that eagles academy day for fans, which showed me doing various athletic maneuvers such as backpedaling, jamming an imaginary receiver, cutting in & out of breaks, etc. it desperate times for the nfl right now to fill spots.

Boyboy said...

So, does anyone else get irate when they see Colts fans in their comfy dome with turtlenecks under their jerseys? It bugs the crap out of me that we're going to have two teams with fair weather fans in the Super Bowl. At least the Saints fans are rabid when they do show up (i.e., when the team is winning).

I think I've got this insane jealousy that fans who aren't as deserving as Eagles fans get to watch their teams in the SB. And it will probably take years of therapy for me to come to terms with my disdain/respect for Peyton Manning. Can anyone out there help me? =)

BTW, I hope it's a good game, but I do think the Saints D is going to have trouble stopping Manning. Dude is just that good. Brees is brilliant too, so hopefully he can keep pace.

Unknown said...

Watching Senior Bowl practise, i've got a man crush on Kyle Wilson (CB) after two 1 on 1 drils. I think thats enough to make a decision.

Eddie said...

@Edward
Yeah i liked him alot also but i also like brandon Gramham i like he will be good at LE right off the bat.

Unknown said...

ESPN has a rumors article of McNabb being traded to the Vikes.

Chris said...

First items in from the Senior Bowl:

Tim Tebow is having problems getting snaps from center (non-shotgun) and having issues with accuracy.

Brandon Graham measured 6'1", 263 - same weight he was listed at Michigan but 1 inch shorter.

Joe said...

How do you not like Peyton Manning? I can see not liking pretty boy Brady...