***
The Supplemental Draft is coming up on Thursday. There are several guys in the draft, but only one who is a sure thing to be picked. That is DE Jeremy Jarmon of Kentucky. I've written about him before. Jarmon seems like a good kid who got caught up in bad circumstances. He took a banned substance in the offseason and lost his Senior year because of that.
He played LDE at Kentucky. That just happens to be a spot where the Eagles would like to improve. The question then becomes if they'll pull the trigger and go after him and how early they would do that. I don't have a great feel for the situation. Jarmon makes a lot of sense in some regards, but not in others.
The case for taking Jarmon is that he does give us another true LDE. Jeremy is 6'3, 278. That's good size for the left side. Victor Abiamiri is bigger than that, but our other guys over there are in the 250-260 range. Also, we'd like someone to come in and really push Victor. Everyone feels he should win the LDE job this year, but you'd love good competition to keep him from getting complacent. Juqua Parker has his moments, but isn't meant to be a full-time starter.
The Eagles liked several DEs in the draft, but passed on them for one reason or another. The only body they added was Josh Gaines as a UDFA. He's not exactly competition for VA.
Jarmon is a good 2-way DE. He is a solid run defender. He'll take on blockers when the play comes at him and he'll chase plays that go away. He had 26 solo tackles, a solid total for a LDE. Jarmon has some playmaking ability, but he's not a force off the edge. He had 4.5 sacks last year and 10 TFLs. He did have 9 sacks back in 2007. There is some potential.
The case against taking Jarmon is that he's more of a prospect for the future and doesn't offer the kind of immediate help that a team with Super Bowl aspirations might be looking for. Again, we'd want him to come in and push VA. How likely is that? Jarmon would be joining the team just before Training Camp. He wouldn't have any knowledge of the scheme and would be trying to catch up in that area. Jarmon has been training for the NFL now for about 6 weeks or so. That's not the same as normal prospects. Those guys play in all star games. Then they train for the Combine. Then they train for their Pro Day. They have a break before the draft, but then quickly report to team camps and get right back in the flow of things. Jarmon hasn't been part of a team since January or early February. He could be a little rusty.
Let's take a look at the current group of DEs that is likely to make the roster:
RDE --- Trent Cole ... Bryan Smith
LDE --- V. Abiamiri ... Juqua Parker ... Chris Clemons
Misc --- Darren Howard
We have 6 guys for 5 spots as it is. The only way to take Jarmon is to do some shuffling. We could move Darren Howard to strictly DT. We then could cut Parker (or trade him). That eliminates 2 players and opens a spot for Jarmon. Do you take a chance of disrupting chemistry like that for Jarmon? Only if he's a player you really like and feel is worth it.
The other X-factor in all of this is the other 31 teams. We're deep at DE, but most teams are not. I can see any number of teams making a move for Jarmon before us. I could see 3-4 teams being very interested in him as a DE. There are several squads moving to the 3-4 that might see him as pretty valuable. DEN or KC might really like a young DE to add to the mix. Heck, the Steelers might be interested in him. 4-3 teams will also be interested. If Washington truly does move Brian Orakpo to SAM then adding Jarmon would help their DL. The Lions could use a young DE to develop for the future. The Colts might like some more DL help. Buffalo could use another young DE.
I think the Eagles are interested in Jarmon, but I'm not sure that they'll spend as high a pick as other teams. I think the Eagles see Jarmon as a luxury, a player to develop for the future. Other teams will want him to step into the mix immediately. I'm guessing that Jarmon goes in the 4th round or somewhere close. He had the potential to go higher with a good Senior season. He won't slide too far because teams are always looking for DL.
Without the normal pre-draft process, I haven't been able to develop a strong feel for Jarmon. He isn't a player I covet, but he's not the typical Supplemental Draft type. Jarmon is a quality prospect. I'd be happy if the Eagles got him for the right price, but I'll be disappointed if they spend a 2nd or 3rd round pick on him. We need those so we can trade up for Eric Berry next April. I know I'm delusional, but let me have my dreams.
_
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
New Column
***
In this column I wrote about Gang Green's offense.
http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/news/Story.asp?story_id=17934
On good days, that group was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, they came up way short when it counted in the postseason. In playoff losses from 1988-1992 the team scored a total of 35 points. Ouch.
RE: Alex Lewis
He's a backup LB and good STer. Let's not overstate his ability. The Lions are a rebuilding team with a good set of young LBs. Alex is older. Why not give his spot to a younger guy to develop for the future? I think Jim Schwartz realizes that the Lions aren't likely to compete for a playoff spot. He wants to fill the team with young players or his guys wherever possible. The Takeo Spikes analogy is somewhat similar, except we're talking about a backup instead of a starter.
RE: Reggie Brown
We can easily keep 6 WRs on the roster. I referred the other day to whether we would have 6 active receivers on gameday. Huge difference. I don't doubt that Brown could be kept on the roster. I just wonder if he has any chance of regularly playing in games, without someone else getting hurt.
WR: Brandon Gibson
He's an ideal Practice Squad candidate. He's not the kind of dynamic player that is likely to be picked up by another team. I'd love to keep him on the PS for a year and then add him to the mix in 2010. Reggie may not be back. Both Avant and Baskett are FAs. We might need Brandon at that point.
_
In this column I wrote about Gang Green's offense.
http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/news/Story.asp?story_id=17934
On good days, that group was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, they came up way short when it counted in the postseason. In playoff losses from 1988-1992 the team scored a total of 35 points. Ouch.
RE: Alex Lewis
He's a backup LB and good STer. Let's not overstate his ability. The Lions are a rebuilding team with a good set of young LBs. Alex is older. Why not give his spot to a younger guy to develop for the future? I think Jim Schwartz realizes that the Lions aren't likely to compete for a playoff spot. He wants to fill the team with young players or his guys wherever possible. The Takeo Spikes analogy is somewhat similar, except we're talking about a backup instead of a starter.
RE: Reggie Brown
We can easily keep 6 WRs on the roster. I referred the other day to whether we would have 6 active receivers on gameday. Huge difference. I don't doubt that Brown could be kept on the roster. I just wonder if he has any chance of regularly playing in games, without someone else getting hurt.
WR: Brandon Gibson
He's an ideal Practice Squad candidate. He's not the kind of dynamic player that is likely to be picked up by another team. I'd love to keep him on the PS for a year and then add him to the mix in 2010. Reggie may not be back. Both Avant and Baskett are FAs. We might need Brandon at that point.
_
Saturday, July 11, 2009
NFC East Item & Comments
***
I was thinking the other day about what player in the division has the most pressure on him. You immediate think of Donovan and Eli Manning for the Eagles and Giants. I honestly couldn't think of a Redskin with a ton of pressure on him. The obvious guess is Jason Campbell, but because the team tried to replace him this year it is almost as if he can fail and not get blamed (by other teams). They'd see that the Skins weren't committed to him.
The Cowboys are the team with a ton of pressure on them. Conventional wisdom is that Tony Romo is the key guy. I'm wondering if WR Roy Williams isn't even in a worse situation. Romo has carried that team on his back at times. He's won games with late games heroics. He's a career overachiever that other teams would kill to get their hands on.
Roy is basically the opposite. He was a Top 15 pick by the Lions and has been a career underachiever, save for the 2006 season. The Cowboys then traded 1st and 3rd round picks for him. They booted Terrell Owens and gave his job to Williams. The Cowboys are expecting Roy to go from underachiever to key player on a winning team. Heck, a team that has Super Bowl aspirations.
Romo still has Jason Witten to throw the ball to. He has young TE Martellus Bennett to throw to. Patrick Crayton should be even better. There are 3 good RBs. I fully expect Romo to post good numbers. Williams is the guy who will be judged against TO's numbers.
Check out Roy's 2 best seasons:
2006 - 82 - 1310 - 7
2007 - 64 - 838 - 5
TO's worst 2 seasons as a full time player:
1997 - 60 - 936 - 8
1998 - 67 - 1097 - 14
Here are his 3 years in Dallas:
2006 - 85 - 1180 - 13
2007 - 81 - 1355 - 15
2008 - 69 - 1052 - 10
Do you see the picture that is being painted? TO at his worst is about the same as Roy at his best. The easy thing to say is that TO has played with better QBs and on better teams in his career. That is partially true. However, doesn't TO get credit for helping a no-name guy like Jeff Garcia blossom into a star QB? Owens made his QBs better. He had a definite impact on McNabb. Roy hasn't made his QBs better. If anything, he may have made them worse.
And how is Roy going to respond to the pressure of being a Dallas Cowboy? He never had pressure in Detroit. All he had to do was catch his 60 passes and make vaction plans for January. The first key drop in Dallas will cause a major firestorm.
As always, things in Big D ought to be interesting this Fall. I'm hoping for the best...and by that I mean worst, of course.
RE: Alex Lewis
The Lions cut him because they are trying to rebuild that organization. He was going to make more money than they wanted to play a role player. They've got a nice collection of LBs right now, mostly young.
RE: Avant
I probably need to write a long post on him at some point. He really is perfect for the slot. His 3rd down catches in the playoffs had a huge impact in our 2 wins.
RE: Reggie
I'm not sure what to think of Reggie Brown and us. I think his primary value for us is as an insurance policy. He would go from Inactive to Starter. Weird, huh? I'm projecting DeSean and KC as the starters. Avant is the slot. Hank and Maclin are role players that get mixed in on the outside. That is 5 WRs. Would we keep 6 active on gameday? Not likely. That's the problem for Reggie.
Also, remember that the offense got in a nice rhythm when we dialed back some of the WR packages and focused more on the starters, with role players mixed in.
_
I was thinking the other day about what player in the division has the most pressure on him. You immediate think of Donovan and Eli Manning for the Eagles and Giants. I honestly couldn't think of a Redskin with a ton of pressure on him. The obvious guess is Jason Campbell, but because the team tried to replace him this year it is almost as if he can fail and not get blamed (by other teams). They'd see that the Skins weren't committed to him.
The Cowboys are the team with a ton of pressure on them. Conventional wisdom is that Tony Romo is the key guy. I'm wondering if WR Roy Williams isn't even in a worse situation. Romo has carried that team on his back at times. He's won games with late games heroics. He's a career overachiever that other teams would kill to get their hands on.
Roy is basically the opposite. He was a Top 15 pick by the Lions and has been a career underachiever, save for the 2006 season. The Cowboys then traded 1st and 3rd round picks for him. They booted Terrell Owens and gave his job to Williams. The Cowboys are expecting Roy to go from underachiever to key player on a winning team. Heck, a team that has Super Bowl aspirations.
Romo still has Jason Witten to throw the ball to. He has young TE Martellus Bennett to throw to. Patrick Crayton should be even better. There are 3 good RBs. I fully expect Romo to post good numbers. Williams is the guy who will be judged against TO's numbers.
Check out Roy's 2 best seasons:
2006 - 82 - 1310 - 7
2007 - 64 - 838 - 5
TO's worst 2 seasons as a full time player:
1997 - 60 - 936 - 8
1998 - 67 - 1097 - 14
Here are his 3 years in Dallas:
2006 - 85 - 1180 - 13
2007 - 81 - 1355 - 15
2008 - 69 - 1052 - 10
Do you see the picture that is being painted? TO at his worst is about the same as Roy at his best. The easy thing to say is that TO has played with better QBs and on better teams in his career. That is partially true. However, doesn't TO get credit for helping a no-name guy like Jeff Garcia blossom into a star QB? Owens made his QBs better. He had a definite impact on McNabb. Roy hasn't made his QBs better. If anything, he may have made them worse.
And how is Roy going to respond to the pressure of being a Dallas Cowboy? He never had pressure in Detroit. All he had to do was catch his 60 passes and make vaction plans for January. The first key drop in Dallas will cause a major firestorm.
As always, things in Big D ought to be interesting this Fall. I'm hoping for the best...and by that I mean worst, of course.
RE: Alex Lewis
The Lions cut him because they are trying to rebuild that organization. He was going to make more money than they wanted to play a role player. They've got a nice collection of LBs right now, mostly young.
RE: Avant
I probably need to write a long post on him at some point. He really is perfect for the slot. His 3rd down catches in the playoffs had a huge impact in our 2 wins.
RE: Reggie
I'm not sure what to think of Reggie Brown and us. I think his primary value for us is as an insurance policy. He would go from Inactive to Starter. Weird, huh? I'm projecting DeSean and KC as the starters. Avant is the slot. Hank and Maclin are role players that get mixed in on the outside. That is 5 WRs. Would we keep 6 active on gameday? Not likely. That's the problem for Reggie.
Also, remember that the offense got in a nice rhythm when we dialed back some of the WR packages and focused more on the starters, with role players mixed in.
_
Friday, July 10, 2009
Random Thoughts
***
RE: Curtis
Kevin Curtis was brought here to be a starter, not the slot guy. They paid him good money. Also, you could see how aggressive Donovan was at trying to get him the ball in the 2007 preseason. They were trying to create chemistry between them in a hurry, something Donnie has done well over recent years. He quickly got Donte Stallworth and DeSean Jackson acclimated to the offense. He also "nurtured" Hank Baskett and Reggie Brown. You could see at Training Camp that McNabb knew he had to speed them up because of a need at WR.
Back to KC. He could end up in the slot in the future, but don't count on that. Avant is a perfect slot receiver. He's tough and physical. He can be effective, even when he only catches 35-40 passes in a year. Plus, Avant is a good STer. Kevin isn't as likely to be joining our STs unit. We'll see how it all plays out. This is a very fluid situation, now and in the future. Nothing is set in stone. We could have an injury shake things up. Somebody could have a career year. All kinds of stuff can happen.
What we see on the field in 2009 will determine the fates of these guys. We sure have come a long way since the days of Charles Johnson, Torrance Small, and Na Brown.
RE: Washington's Training Camp Policy
I agree that Jim Zorn is making a mistake by letting his veterans go home for evenings. TC is only 2 1/2 weeks. Keep the guys together. Build some cohesion. It isn't like these guys will develop permanent relationships by staying together, but I do think it helps form some kind of bond. All you need is for the guys to get on the same page for a season. Everything starts anew the following offseason when players come and go.
RE: Backup SAM
The Lions this week cut SLB Alex Lewis. I've been a fan of his since he played in college. He once put the West Va QB in the hospital with a big hit in the season opener. That's my kind of LB.
We still don't have a clear cut backup SAM. I'd love for us to add Lewis as a backup and STer. Have him and Tracy White compete for a spot. I haven't heard anything about the Eagles being interested. I've just been a fan of Alex's because I enjoyed watching him when he was a draft prospect and he would fill a potential hole. And he is a good STs player.
_
RE: Curtis
Kevin Curtis was brought here to be a starter, not the slot guy. They paid him good money. Also, you could see how aggressive Donovan was at trying to get him the ball in the 2007 preseason. They were trying to create chemistry between them in a hurry, something Donnie has done well over recent years. He quickly got Donte Stallworth and DeSean Jackson acclimated to the offense. He also "nurtured" Hank Baskett and Reggie Brown. You could see at Training Camp that McNabb knew he had to speed them up because of a need at WR.
Back to KC. He could end up in the slot in the future, but don't count on that. Avant is a perfect slot receiver. He's tough and physical. He can be effective, even when he only catches 35-40 passes in a year. Plus, Avant is a good STer. Kevin isn't as likely to be joining our STs unit. We'll see how it all plays out. This is a very fluid situation, now and in the future. Nothing is set in stone. We could have an injury shake things up. Somebody could have a career year. All kinds of stuff can happen.
What we see on the field in 2009 will determine the fates of these guys. We sure have come a long way since the days of Charles Johnson, Torrance Small, and Na Brown.
RE: Washington's Training Camp Policy
I agree that Jim Zorn is making a mistake by letting his veterans go home for evenings. TC is only 2 1/2 weeks. Keep the guys together. Build some cohesion. It isn't like these guys will develop permanent relationships by staying together, but I do think it helps form some kind of bond. All you need is for the guys to get on the same page for a season. Everything starts anew the following offseason when players come and go.
RE: Backup SAM
The Lions this week cut SLB Alex Lewis. I've been a fan of his since he played in college. He once put the West Va QB in the hospital with a big hit in the season opener. That's my kind of LB.
We still don't have a clear cut backup SAM. I'd love for us to add Lewis as a backup and STer. Have him and Tracy White compete for a spot. I haven't heard anything about the Eagles being interested. I've just been a fan of Alex's because I enjoyed watching him when he was a draft prospect and he would fill a potential hole. And he is a good STs player.
_
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
More on Curtis
***
Sorry for the lack of activity. I took a short vacation and actually was away from the computer more than I had planned. I hope everyone enjoyed their July 4th weekend.
Kevin Curtis is a tough subject. His numbers look pretty good initially. We have to focus on TDs and clutch plays to really see the differences in productive players and very good players.
Kevin has 8 TDs as an Eagle.
* 3 came in a blowout win over the Lions
* 1 came on a missed tackle that turned into a 75-yd play vs the Jets
* 1 came in a loss to SEA
* 1 came in a comfortable win over the Saints, a lousy pass defense
* 1 came in a blowout win over Cleveland
* 1 came in a close loss to the Giants
In 10 division games he has 1 TD catch. The Lions game sounds great, but you have to keep that in context. That was one of the worst defensive performances I've seen in the last 5 to 10 years. They were beyond dreadful. The Jets TD was huge. We might not win that game without it. Kevin had good speed to take advantage of the sloppy tackle. Still, it was a missed tackle.
I guess my question is this...is Kevin the kind of player who beats defenses or is he the guy who takes advantage of of certain situations? Does that make sense?
I know he can make some clutch plays. He's come up big on some 3rd downs. He made a terrific catch in the late season win over the Giants that broke open the game. I'm not trying to discount that stuff. But I also can't overlook the 4th down drop vs the Redskins early in 2007 or the 4th down play vs Arizona in the NFC-CG. Those were plays where the game was on the line. Neither pass was ideal, but isn't that when you need a big time receiver to help out the QB?
Remember, the question isn't whether Curtis is talented. He is. He's a good player. The question I've been trying to get at is "how good"? We're making a serious run at the Super Bowl this year. You need guys to step up in those years. I fully expect DeSean to improve, but we'd also benefit greatly from Kevin coming up big. Think about how clutch the Steelers and Cardinals receivers were. I'm obviously not directly comparing our guys to Larry Fitzgerald. What he did was freakish last January/February. We do need our guys to be clutch and to make key plays.
RE: Future at WR
I didn't bring up the subject of KC because Jeremy Maclin is on pace to start ahead of him or anything like that. The only reason to compare those two is when thinking of the future. Assuming Kevin is fully healthy, I'm expecting him to start this year. How he plays in 2009 will determine the future. If he catches 75 passes and has 10 TDs the team will have a difficult decision. If he catches 45 and 4...get ready for the Jeremy Maclin show in 2010.
I do hear the team is very excited about Maclin, but as we've discussed he has a tougher transition to the Pro Game than DeSean did. Think of him as a talented role player for the time being. We'll see how this summer goes. If he shows he can handle the pro game the team won't be afraid to mix him in. I'm curious to see what he does at Lehigh and in the preseason.
Reggie Brown is the X-factor in all of this. How nuts would it be if he actually outplayed Curtis and won the starting X-receiver job? My sources haven't told me squat about Brown. Dave Spadaro has said a lot of good things about Reggie this Spring, but that could be a PR stunt to boost his trade value just as easily as it could be legit praise. We don't know. I'm certainly not expecting Reggie to do much, but sometimes oddball guys like him play a role in a title run. Just think about the Steelers makeshift OL.
RE: LeSean McCoy
I'll write out some more thoughts on him in a later post. I need to do some checking to get more info.
_
Sorry for the lack of activity. I took a short vacation and actually was away from the computer more than I had planned. I hope everyone enjoyed their July 4th weekend.
Kevin Curtis is a tough subject. His numbers look pretty good initially. We have to focus on TDs and clutch plays to really see the differences in productive players and very good players.
Kevin has 8 TDs as an Eagle.
* 3 came in a blowout win over the Lions
* 1 came on a missed tackle that turned into a 75-yd play vs the Jets
* 1 came in a loss to SEA
* 1 came in a comfortable win over the Saints, a lousy pass defense
* 1 came in a blowout win over Cleveland
* 1 came in a close loss to the Giants
In 10 division games he has 1 TD catch. The Lions game sounds great, but you have to keep that in context. That was one of the worst defensive performances I've seen in the last 5 to 10 years. They were beyond dreadful. The Jets TD was huge. We might not win that game without it. Kevin had good speed to take advantage of the sloppy tackle. Still, it was a missed tackle.
I guess my question is this...is Kevin the kind of player who beats defenses or is he the guy who takes advantage of of certain situations? Does that make sense?
I know he can make some clutch plays. He's come up big on some 3rd downs. He made a terrific catch in the late season win over the Giants that broke open the game. I'm not trying to discount that stuff. But I also can't overlook the 4th down drop vs the Redskins early in 2007 or the 4th down play vs Arizona in the NFC-CG. Those were plays where the game was on the line. Neither pass was ideal, but isn't that when you need a big time receiver to help out the QB?
Remember, the question isn't whether Curtis is talented. He is. He's a good player. The question I've been trying to get at is "how good"? We're making a serious run at the Super Bowl this year. You need guys to step up in those years. I fully expect DeSean to improve, but we'd also benefit greatly from Kevin coming up big. Think about how clutch the Steelers and Cardinals receivers were. I'm obviously not directly comparing our guys to Larry Fitzgerald. What he did was freakish last January/February. We do need our guys to be clutch and to make key plays.
RE: Future at WR
I didn't bring up the subject of KC because Jeremy Maclin is on pace to start ahead of him or anything like that. The only reason to compare those two is when thinking of the future. Assuming Kevin is fully healthy, I'm expecting him to start this year. How he plays in 2009 will determine the future. If he catches 75 passes and has 10 TDs the team will have a difficult decision. If he catches 45 and 4...get ready for the Jeremy Maclin show in 2010.
I do hear the team is very excited about Maclin, but as we've discussed he has a tougher transition to the Pro Game than DeSean did. Think of him as a talented role player for the time being. We'll see how this summer goes. If he shows he can handle the pro game the team won't be afraid to mix him in. I'm curious to see what he does at Lehigh and in the preseason.
Reggie Brown is the X-factor in all of this. How nuts would it be if he actually outplayed Curtis and won the starting X-receiver job? My sources haven't told me squat about Brown. Dave Spadaro has said a lot of good things about Reggie this Spring, but that could be a PR stunt to boost his trade value just as easily as it could be legit praise. We don't know. I'm certainly not expecting Reggie to do much, but sometimes oddball guys like him play a role in a title run. Just think about the Steelers makeshift OL.
RE: LeSean McCoy
I'll write out some more thoughts on him in a later post. I need to do some checking to get more info.
_
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Kevin Curtis
***
I don't really know what to make of Kevin Curtis. Look at his numbers in 2 years as an Eagle:
2007: 77 - 1110 - 14.4 ypc - 6 TDs
2008: 33 - 390- 11.8 ypc - 2 TDs
Those numbers from '07 are pretty darn good. Then again, take out the Detroit game and they aren't as good. Remember that day? Kevin caught 11 passes for 221 yards and 3 TDs. He was constantly wide open in the Lions secondary.
I'm not trying to rip Curtis, but rather just figure out how good he is. He only has 20 career TD catches so clearly he's not a weapon. At the same time I do think he's more than just a slot receiver. We know he has good hands. We know he has pretty good speed and very good quickness. He missed the early part of the '08 season because of his groin injury. He should be all the way back for 2009.
This is the year that should tell us how good Kevin truly is. He fully knows the offense. He and Donovan have been together a couple of years. He should be healthy. And he'll have a weapon across from him in the person of DeSean Jackson. Kevin has everything set up for him to have a really good year.
I don't like talking about numbers, but we do need some goals for the year. I'm hoping Kevin can catch 60 passes and 6 to 8 TDs. There are a couple of x-factors. If Cornelius Ingram or Jeremy Maclin really shine that could cut into Kevin's touches. At that point I'm not going to complain. The goal is to have an explosive passing attack. Where all the numbers come from isn't vital. I'm not expecting either rookie to have huge numbers, though. That should allow a lot of passes to come Kevin's way. And we need him to come up big.
RE: The Blind Side
I read that a few months back. Outstanding book.
_
I don't really know what to make of Kevin Curtis. Look at his numbers in 2 years as an Eagle:
2007: 77 - 1110 - 14.4 ypc - 6 TDs
2008: 33 - 390- 11.8 ypc - 2 TDs
Those numbers from '07 are pretty darn good. Then again, take out the Detroit game and they aren't as good. Remember that day? Kevin caught 11 passes for 221 yards and 3 TDs. He was constantly wide open in the Lions secondary.
I'm not trying to rip Curtis, but rather just figure out how good he is. He only has 20 career TD catches so clearly he's not a weapon. At the same time I do think he's more than just a slot receiver. We know he has good hands. We know he has pretty good speed and very good quickness. He missed the early part of the '08 season because of his groin injury. He should be all the way back for 2009.
This is the year that should tell us how good Kevin truly is. He fully knows the offense. He and Donovan have been together a couple of years. He should be healthy. And he'll have a weapon across from him in the person of DeSean Jackson. Kevin has everything set up for him to have a really good year.
I don't like talking about numbers, but we do need some goals for the year. I'm hoping Kevin can catch 60 passes and 6 to 8 TDs. There are a couple of x-factors. If Cornelius Ingram or Jeremy Maclin really shine that could cut into Kevin's touches. At that point I'm not going to complain. The goal is to have an explosive passing attack. Where all the numbers come from isn't vital. I'm not expecting either rookie to have huge numbers, though. That should allow a lot of passes to come Kevin's way. And we need him to come up big.
RE: The Blind Side
I read that a few months back. Outstanding book.
_
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Miscellaneous Items
***
LeSean McCoy signed with the team earlier in the week. That is great news. We need him to be ready to play. There won't be a holdout or any delays. McCoy can now concentrate on learning the playbook and being ready to play.
It is going to be interesting to see how much McCoy plays this year. Big Red let Buck go, which opened a spot for McCoy to be the backup RB. McCoy is signed. He played in a pro style offense. The learning curve won't be huge for him. Everything points to McCoy being an integral part of the offense. If Reid doesn't use him that is going to drive a lot of us crazy. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
RESPONDING TO COMMENTS
RE: Gang Green
My memory is that Chris Berman came up with that name for the defense during the 1991 season. He was talking about how great the defense was and said the only thing they lacked was a nickname.
Since Chris grew up a Jets fan I can't imagine he'd have used the Gang Green nickname if it was tied to the Jets. The nickname stuck with some Eagles fans, but not football fans in general. I'm not sure who started referring to the Jets as Gang Green.
RE: seeing those teams live
I did not get to see those guys live. I attended my first Eagles game in 2004. I saw the MNF game against the Vikings in Week 2. I regret that I never saw a game at The Vet.
RE: Byron Evans
I think Buddy loved Byron. Mike Richenbach was already in place when Buddy took BE. Richenbach knew the defense inside out, but simply lacked the athletic ability needed to be the MLB in the 46. It did take Byron 2 years to become the full time starter. The 46 was very complicated for the MLB. I think Byron just took time to learn the scheme. Once he got the job he was great.
I'm going to write a full post about the current defense and areas that need improvement and possible trouble spots.
_
LeSean McCoy signed with the team earlier in the week. That is great news. We need him to be ready to play. There won't be a holdout or any delays. McCoy can now concentrate on learning the playbook and being ready to play.
It is going to be interesting to see how much McCoy plays this year. Big Red let Buck go, which opened a spot for McCoy to be the backup RB. McCoy is signed. He played in a pro style offense. The learning curve won't be huge for him. Everything points to McCoy being an integral part of the offense. If Reid doesn't use him that is going to drive a lot of us crazy. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
RESPONDING TO COMMENTS
RE: Gang Green
My memory is that Chris Berman came up with that name for the defense during the 1991 season. He was talking about how great the defense was and said the only thing they lacked was a nickname.
Since Chris grew up a Jets fan I can't imagine he'd have used the Gang Green nickname if it was tied to the Jets. The nickname stuck with some Eagles fans, but not football fans in general. I'm not sure who started referring to the Jets as Gang Green.
RE: seeing those teams live
I did not get to see those guys live. I attended my first Eagles game in 2004. I saw the MNF game against the Vikings in Week 2. I regret that I never saw a game at The Vet.
RE: Byron Evans
I think Buddy loved Byron. Mike Richenbach was already in place when Buddy took BE. Richenbach knew the defense inside out, but simply lacked the athletic ability needed to be the MLB in the 46. It did take Byron 2 years to become the full time starter. The 46 was very complicated for the MLB. I think Byron just took time to learn the scheme. Once he got the job he was great.
I'm going to write a full post about the current defense and areas that need improvement and possible trouble spots.
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