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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.
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8 comments:
I think Spadaro is feeding you info and you are in front of the curve. WHat you are saying with this post is Curtis is not going to start and Maclin is. You were in front of the curve with Peters too.
That's just the way I see it.
Curtis doesn't have great hands or else he would have made that 4th down catch. Though in the first half he had a great short catch and upfield run.
Tommy your popularity has grown to the point that you have your own conspiracy theorists. Is that a benchmark to celebrate? :)
KC is a good player, I just can't ever see him playing at a pro bowl level. I think we may have overpaid slightly for him, but he was productive for us in '07, and when he got on the field last year he didn't do too shabby. I still want to see a replay showing the feet on the final play of the ARZ Championship game, cuz live it looked an awful lot like Rod Hood got up on him and tangled their feet. It was strange that he dropped it because he is normally a pretty reliable guy with some good hands.
I'm not really sure where he fits into our future but at least for our present I like the idea of him starting alongside Jackson while Maclin learns, and perhaps in the future we shift him to the slot with Maclin and Jackson starting on the outside.
I like Curtis more now than I did in 2007, because of DeSean Jackson demonstrating that we have another WR who can be counted on to make plays.
With that said, I'm crossing my fingers on DeSean. He was very special last season, but any studder in development is going to get a lot of people fired up. Can he handle that pressure? The positive thing is he handled pressure well last season.
Back to Curtis... Stephen commented on Curtis's future with Maclin and Jackson as the future starters. We have to remember that Curtis is getting old. With a ton of young WR's on the roster and Curtis's cap value doubling in the years 2011 and 2012; I'm not so sure he has a "future" past the 2010 season.
I know that's way premature, but at some point there will be a lot of young Eagles to re-sign. Plus, what if a guy like Brandon Gibson emerges in our offense? He's built for the WCO, so why not?
I believe that Kevin Curtis has been consistently under rated:
In his first year as a starter - 2007 - and with a new team he had over 1000 yards. One would normally expect a jump in production in the second year- had he not been injured. He was the go to receiver in 2007 when the eagles did not have another stand out receiver. He has great heart and makes the hustle plays. If memory serves, he had two fumble recoveries for touchdowns in 2007. Both came on plays where he was not the intended receiver but he followed the play toward the end zone and was there to make the play. I believe that those were the only fumble recovery touchdowns for the Eagles that year - offense or defense. I am really interested to see how he does in 2009. Uninjured (we hope) and now knowing the subtleties of the offense I think he will be better than just good.
I think if we use him right and he's healthy, Curtis could be our version of Wes Welker.
I think over the Andy Reid era the best passing offenses have come mostly when we had a speedster who could get down the field quickly taking a defensive back or two with him and thus open up the field for the underneath routes. Sometimes of course, the decoy would be open for a long completion as well. The Eagles were able to use Todd Pinkston and Greg Lewis in this manner effectively. Greg Lewis did it in 2004 when TO was so productive. Pinkston did it to set up James Thrash of all people. But maybe the best year was in 2006 when Donte Stallworth. That year Donte really stretched out defenses and caught some long passes. It was not unusual for the Eagles to have 80 plus yard touchdown drives that lasted two, three, five plays. The Eagles would be leading by multiple scores and the opponents would still be dominating time of possession because the Eagles offense took so little time to score.
I think last year the Eagles intended to use Desean Jackson as that rabbit decoy. However, those plans were disrupted with the injuries to Curtis and Brown as well as the Jackson's surprising rookie polish. Jackson became the go to guy even after Curtis came back and there was no speedster to act as decoy.
This year with Curtis back healthy Jackson could be used to take some defenders long at least once in a while. I do believe that Jackson is just too good to be used exclusively in that role, especially since the early word from the off season camps is that he has improved his route running significantly. In addition his attitude seems to be excellent. However, using Maclin as a deep threat might be a great way to begin his professional life.
There are a lot of unknowns about the Eagles passing tactics this year. We all believe that the Eagles as a group have a top receiver corps and we know the Eagles like to spread the ball around. Beyond that we might not be able to predict where most of the passes will be going or how the Eagles opponents will defend them. I do think it will be exciting and maybe will will see some of that quick strike potential we saw in 2006.
McCoy question:
Tommy, interesting views on McCoy. If I read your comments correctly, it seems like McCoy did very well during the minicamps and OTAs. Reading GCobb, he seems to have the opposite opinion, suggesting McCoy still needs a lot of work on the playbook. Not that these two views are mututally exclusive, but I'm just trying to set my expectations appropriately for McCoy this year. How do you see him contributing throughout the year? Does he get material burn if Westbrook is mostly healthy? Thanks for your insight.
'We all believe that the Eagles as a group have a top receiver corps...."
Izzy, I hope you are right. As a true Eagles homer, I believe Peanut is going to have a stellar year, Curtis is fully recovered and will have another 1000 yards receiving, and Mclin will develop well and play a key role. Add to this a year in which both McNabb and Westy are 100% healthy and take us to the Lombardi, catapulting both into Hall of fame consideration.
On the other hand, the Negadelphian in me remembers how much promise we thought we had in Reggie Brown his second year, KC has never proven he can play at a high level over a sustained period, Mclin is a rookie under Reid, and Westbrook's status I think has to remain a question mark.
In conclusion, knowing I am off the original topic so thanks for listening to my rant, I think the defensive could be dominate and I have a lot of confidence in our O-line, so I'll lean towards the homer in me, predict the Eagles win the NFC East and their experience takes them all the way to the Super Bowl victory.
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