Thursday, January 21, 2010

Early Friday Thoughts

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Sorry for the lack of a Thursday post. I need to answer some questions.

RE: Giving McNabb one more year

This is a really intriguing thought. I'm almost got a battle with different parts of my brain making their case.

FOR --- This is the best set of skill players Donovan has ever had. If the OL is stable the sky could be the limit. There shouldn't be any key rookies involved. If you could take the best of Donovan from 2004, '06, '08 and '09 and get that to show up regularly the offense could be awesome.

AGAINST --- I think David Mamet made my argument well in his most famous writing..."These are the new leads. These are the Glengarry leads. And to you they're gold, and you don't get them. Why? Because to give them to you would be throwing them away. They're for closers." Donovan would win some games with the talented guys, but lose in the end. We average 15 points per game in playoff losses started by him. That's over the course of 7 games. Do you realize the last time Donovan led us to 30 or more points in the playoffs was 2001 against Chicago?


@ Adam S...

Thanks for the thoughts on Mallet.


RE: Timing of things

Couldn't get any better. Donovan is still good, meaning some team should covet him. Kolb is "ready" to play (lots of practice, playbook, and some starts). If we hold McNabb another season all kinds of things could happen. He could be much better or worse. He could get hurt. We'd have to use the Franchise Tag on him and then trade him. That could complicate things. Also, this is a weak QB draft. Not everyone is going to get the guy they want. Someone will need/want a veteran.

I need to write something out about potential landing spots.


RE: changes in the Personnel Dept.

I want to see who we hire before making too many comments. Do know this...Big Red would have fought to keep anyone he felt was irreplaceable.


RE: lack of talent to fill holes on defense / CBA

I am worried about the potential lack of FAs, but that could make dealing McNabb even more crucial. You would almost have to use him to land a starter on D that could really help us.


RE: injury to Jamaal Jackson

Losing him hurt much more than I ever expected. Nick Cole has been the backup C for 4 years. He's gotten on the field quite a lot, although mostly at G. He knows the offense. He knows the NFL. He's gotten plenty of practice reps at C. I figured he'd be fine sliding inside. Nick had some good individual moments, but he also had too many mistakes. Just as important, the overall OL struggled with him as the leader. I can't tell you if he screwed up blitz adjustments or if other guys did. No matter who is to blame...the OL let us down at a crucial time. That hurt us and Donovan.

We need Mike McGlynn to step up this offseason and challenge for the C spot. My confidence in Nick Cole is shaken (at C). I'm also interested to see what Dallas Reynolds can do. Jamaal has a long way to go and a short time to get there (thanks Jerry Reed). I'm not sure JJ will be ready by September.


RE: Kolb

One thing I think too many people lose sight of is the fact that Andy didn't just go pick a QB. Kolb was a guy he'd targeted for a while. Andy really thinks highly of Kevin. Taking him wasn't just about adding a QB. The only way Reid spends that high a pick is if it's on a player he truly believes in.

Kevin may seem unknown to us, but consider a few things. Andy was willing to spend a high pick on Kevin. I bet you that Andy watched 80% of Kevin's passes from his college career. Andy has worked with him for 3 offseasons, 3 summers, and 3 seasons. Kevin has been the scout team QB in practice for 3 years. Keep in mind that the scout team goes up against our starting defense. The coaches and players have watched Kevin "play" hundreds of times. Practice isn't the same as a game, but it also isn't meaningless. The coaches have a pretty good feel for him.

Clearly, you never know exactly how a guy will respond to being the full time starter and all that entails. Kevin started for 3 or 4 years in HS. He did that for 4 years in college. I have to think he's as prepared as he can reasonably be. We'd all love him to have 8-10 starts, but Donovan hasn't been seriously injured. At this time next year there is a fair chance that Kevin will have started a game or two more, but that wouldn't tell us substantially more than we already know.

Making the change from McNabb to Kolb isn't about boredom, at least not for me. I do admit to being frustrated with Donnie. He came up incredibly small in the final 2 games. We got shut out with the #2 seed on the line. The next week he only puts 7 points on the board in the playoffs. Dallas has a good defense, but that isn't the '85 Bears we're talking about. We had plays open. Donovan failed to find open receivers and/or be on time/on target.

The whole point to having an 11 year veteran with tons of accolades isn't so that he can throw TDs on mediocres defenses like the Bucs or Giants. You want that guy at the helm when the division title is on the line or in the postseason. Donovan let us down in both games. He was not the only reason we lost. The whole team had breakdowns. Still...if the guy is a special QB that is when you expect him to step up his game and make some things happen. I wasn't demanding wins, but 1 TD in 2 games? Brutal.

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Couple of misc NFL items to read if you like...

http://scoutsnotebook.wordpress.com/
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18 comments:

Joe said...

RE: Kolb.
What are your thoughts about how KK would handle the scrutiny that comes with being "the man" in a market where the fans/media can be brutal. Personally, I never felt dmac was a great fit here in that respect. I always felt Dmac would have been happier and perhaps more productive in a city where the spotlight isn't quite so hot.

Tommy Lawlor said...

Kevin's dad is a coach. He's tough on Kevin.

Kevin played HS football in Texas, where there is tremendous pressure on kids.

I think he'll handle the pressure of being our starter okay. Kevin has thicker skin than Donovan. The dynamic will be different. Donovan was brought here to be the savior. That was tremendous pressure. He had to carry the franchise. Kevin steps into a terrific offense and only has to do his job. He'll have it much easier than McNabb did.

Cliff said...

I find it ironic that both QB's came to the Eagles as disputed, somewhat controversial draft picks.

The McNabb pick should've never met so much ballyhoo, but the Philly media clowns really wanted Ricky Williams. The Kolb pick all made us scratch our heads, especially when we discovered the draft day trade was to the Cowboys.

It should be noted, though, that this is a good model of QB consistency. Look at the subpar teams around the NFL, none of them have a consistent line from one franchise QB to the next. The Jets and Cowboys may have finally found replacements for Aikman and Testaverde (hell... Namath). Look how long it's taken them.

The jury is obviously still out on Kolb, but at least he looks like he can pick up where McNabb left off.

Prem Prakash said...

Can someone post a link to the Les Bowen article. I haven't been able to find it and I want to find out what's being reflected about our Eagles Blitz fearless leader.

Prem Prakash said...

For those of you who caught my previous post where I called the Kolb draft pick dumb," I thought I'd man up and admit that when Donovan was drafted I was one of the guys who was pulling for Ricky Williams. I was not one of the boo birds, though.

Mikko said...

Matt Mosley from ESPN mentioned your article :)

Cliff said...

Link to Les Bowen article:
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/82258777.html

Link to Matt Mosely article:
http://espn.go.com/blog/nfceast/post/_/id/10382/eagles-taking-over-the-pro-bowl

Tommy Lawlor said...

It is about time ESPN started mentioning me. After the countless hours I spent watching the scroll in 1996-98 waiting for FA news, those guys owe me big time.

Me and a roommate would keep the TV on ESPN2 back in 1997 and just obsess on every little NFL tidbit that got listed on the scroll. We paid little attention to the actual show, which was usually the World's Strongest Man competition. Ahh, the good old pre-internet days.

Myron said...

Tommy, you should get a job as an ESPN analyst. :)

They owe you!

Adam S. said...

Everytime I begin to think about this whole McNabb/Kolb situation my thoughts turn to Green Bay. When they "let Favre go", they were taking a chance on a guy they felt good about but hadn't proven himself yet. Look at Rodgers now, it couldn't have turned out any better for them.

The igglesblog had a great article yesterday about trading McNabb and the potential benefits of such move.

I really don't know which side of the fence I'm on. It's hard to step back and look at things without bias when you've invested so much emotionally into a team/player.

Adam S. said...

Oh and speaking of Igglesblog I owe you a huge thanks for informing me about it. What a great site they have over there.

I work a customer service job and have the freedom to use my computer all day to keep myself entertained. I am pathetically dependant on my favorites tab so having one more site to check is great.

Pitmanite said...

oh oh, tommy's getting all this buzz from the national sector. next thing you know he's going to be on tv battling mcshay & kiper on the draft. it won't be long before he big times us "little people" on eagles blitz and we never hear from him again.

it looks like i'm going to have to start a smear campaign against him as a preemptive strike. maybe i'll start by floating the following info over the internet airwaves: "rumor has it that that tommy lawlor, of eagles blitz fame, may soon be suspended from his "Fan-Demonium" column after reports that he sent a very revealing text message of himself to the Eagles own Dave Spadaro. More details to follow..."

Boyboy said...

Forget being an ESPN analyst. The Eagles need some bodies in their personnel department!

Re: McNabb / Kolb

I don't know if anyone mentioned Kolb's willingness to be benchwarmer again this year as a factor in all of this. If he's told that McNabb is coming back, he could demand a trade, holdout, etc., and things could get ugly. If the Eagles still think Kolb is the QB of the future, they may not want to keep stringing him along and risk losing him for a guy that you may not keep beyond 2010 anyway.

Cliff said...

Last year I felt how Adam S. felt - didn't know which side of the fence I was on. After this season, I'm 100% for trading McNabb.

I don't know why. I think his performance, i.e. inability to be "special" anymore, against the Cowboys in back-to-back games did it for me.

Trade him, get the picks, and move on with Kolb.

My quick list of teams with possible interest in McNabb: Tampa Bay, St. Louis, Oakland, and Buffalo. Seattle could be a target. A lot of people are saying Minnesota could be a possible trade partner, but I don't think Favre will retire.

Unknown said...

One thing to remember about Nick Cole moving to center and the O-line going downhill is that when he moved to center, someone else had to move into his guard spot, so we had the back-up center and 3rd string guard plaing. So not only is the center position weakened, but the guard spot next to him is weakened at the same time. That makes for a greater weak spot in the O-line that happens to be right in McNabb's face.

Adam S. said...

Cliff I'm defintely leaning towards trading McNabb, as I can't see his value getting any higher than it is right now. As they stated in that article at iggles, the return for McNabb coupled with Kolb is greater benefit to the team than McNabb alone. It's just hard for me to outright say "trade McNabb".

I feel like I'm remorsing over losing the love of my life or something lol this is ridiculous.

Tommy Lawlor said...

I will never turn my back on you guys...as far as you know.

Prem Prakash said...

Tommy, I'm really happy you got some much deserved attention. Hopefully it's just the beginning. I would guess that Bowen and others might check in to read your comments. Keep up the great work. When you're a big deal we will brag about reading you when you before the big time discovered you.