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I was away for the weekend. Sorry for the lack of activity. College football starts this coming weekend and that means I'll be held hostage by my army of TVs and VCRs until December. There were some interesting developments over the weekend.
* Omar Gaither was moved to the #1 MLB spot. He wasn't given the job on a full time basis, but it certainly looks like that will happen. Joe Mays never seemed to have the light go on this summer. He wasn't awful, but he just wasn't playing at full speed and getting to the ball as much as you need.
Gaither isn't an ideal MLB, but he did start there for a defense that finished in the Top 10 in 2007. He is a good leader, a key trait for the MLB. Some people may worry about his ability to stop the run. The DTs are outstanding run stuffers right now and will do a good job of controlling the middle. VA is a very good run defender and should be solid at LDE. Akeem Jordan is a physical WLB. Gaither needs to get to the ball and tackle well. He can do that.
We normally like to attack with our MLB a lot. Omar is okay when blitzing, but isn't good at taking on OL. We have the MIKE normally attack the C quite a bit during the game. We'll dial that down with Omar as the starter.
* Shawn Andrews returned to practice. He only played with the scout team, but this is an important development. Shawn is showing definite progress. I don't know that he'll be able to start the opener at this point, but it is at least a possibility. It's great to get Shawn back on the field.
* We need Shawn to get healthy because Todd Herremans will miss a couple of games. Todd's foot broke and he had surgery. He's expected to miss the first couple of games. We can live without him because of our depth at G. However, there was a thought that he could start at RT if Shawn missed time. Obviously that won't be the case.
* Trade rumors are floating around the Eagles. Reportedly multiple teams are looking at AJ Feeley. The Patriots were specifically mentioned. The Eagles won't be giving Feeley away. It will take more than a 5th rounder to get him. At the same time, teams will be nervous about trading anything too high for AJ. The Dolphins got burned by giving up a 2nd for him back in 2004. The Chargers got him from Miami and then released him. This will be an interesting situation to watch. The x-factor to all of this will be Roger Goodell's decision about whether to suspend Mike Vick or how long to suspend him.
The other spot where teams are looking is WR, believe it or not. A report out of NY says the Jets are checking Hank Baskett and Reggie Brown. Hank is a very good role player. Reggie has been an effective starter. Moving one of these guys would net us a mid to late pick. It would also open up a spot for Brandon Gibson.
We've really turned the corner at WR. We traded Greg Lewis prior to the draft. Now we could move another veteran. We still would have 6 receivers we like. That's pretty crazy. Used to be that we only had a guy or two that anyone was comfortable with.
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11 comments:
I think the Eagles should trade Curtis and Brown and sign Matt Jones. Cut Baskett. Jones makes that fade catch better than Baskett. Your telling me we'll take our chances on a dog killer but not a cocaine abuser? Cocaine abuse is much more accepted than killing dogs.
I think they should make a play for Takeo Spikes.
AJ is like a gold mine in the draft...I say we trade him to NE and then when they cut him after this year, we get him again and go for the trifecta.
Agreed, make sure we land AJ feeley again because he is like a draft pick bonanza for us. Did nobody watch his 3 int performance against NE followed up by his 4 int outing against Seattle? The NE game he at least kept competitive before he took it away from us but that Seattle game was ATROCIOUS. It was like watching some of Joey Harringtons old Detroit games.
Joe Mays has disappointed me quite a bit frankly. I thought maybe he just had the jitters in the first preseason game but he never settled in and started to look aggressive and confident. Those are 2 traits that are important to an MLB imo, you need to trust your instincts and then go full speed to the ball, and then get there in an angry mood.
Omar gives up something against the run no doubt but its true that our DL is better than ever at run stuffing so hopefully it wont be an issue.
I was bummed when Stewart went down. I thought he was a key to our D and I had him on my short list of favorite players. When Mays stepped in I was excited but not psyched simply because we've never seen what he can really do. I'm fine with Omar at MLB. I think he's got some leadership skills and his talents outweigh his shortcomings. The coaches know his strengths and weaknesses and can plan accordingly. He likely isn't a potential Pro Bowl linebacker like Bradley, but playing backups is part of the game.
Now, I hope the coaches take a good hard look at Demps because I just don't see him playing at a very high level.
I'm basically in agreement with Stephen and Prem. AJ Feeley looks good on paper but hasn't consistently delivered in games recently. Thus he shouldn't be valued too highly. The question is how highly do we value Kolb. If we can trade either one of them the other would probably suffice as a backup in the sense that we are not going anywhere near the Superbowl if Kolb or AJ is starting at QB. That is why I think Reid really wants to teach Vick how to play QB. He might have a chance to do something important if McNabb goes down. But if we can turn Vick into a poised pocket passing starter along with his other talents he could bring good value in a trade next off season.
Mays may develop into a good run stuffing MLB if he isn't too much of a liability in coverage and doesn't get fooled too badly in play action. But Mays does just not seem ready to start the season at MLB. Gaither did lead the team in tackles when he played the position and with our DT's he should be adequate. There is also the possibility that Gaither has improved - particularly in his ability to shed the blocks of those big OL's. But it might only take a small improvement in his blitzing to result in many more sacks.
Demps I'm not sure of. I orignially thought that Sean Jones was good backup if Demps didn't work out because he has a history of interceptions as well as an ability to be effective in the box against the run and in blitz mode. But we haven't really seen him do much in the preseason.
Here's hoping that these players get a little bit better every day as the coaches always say. I give McDermott lots of credit for staying patient that his players will develop and confident that he will be able to manage around their weaknesses.
Matt Jones... it's not the crime that's the issue, it's what each player did with their 2nd chance. Matt Jones got his 2nd chance and then got busted AGAIN. We're in the middle of seeing what Michael Vick does with his 2nd chance.
Besides, Matt Jones isn't good enough to merit trading away Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown, then cutting Hank. What has Jones done that has given you such a jones? Compare his career stats against Reggie's or Kevin's or even Hank's. Reggie and Kevin have far better production and Hank's is pretty damn similar.
Cliff statistics comparison is easy. Let's look at last year.
Jones: 65 rec 761 yrds 2 TDs
Brown: 33 rec 440 yrds 3 TDs
Curtis:33 rec 390 yrds 2 TDs
Baskett:33 rec 440 yrds 3 TDs
Looks like Jones had twice as a good year as any of them AND he served a 4 game suspension.
He is faster than any of them. He is taller than any of them. He is heavier than any of them. He has more skill than any of them.
You think the Eagles gave Donovan that money because they knew they were going to sign Vick and they wanted to coddle him a little bit because they knew he would be upset about it.
Donovan is such a little wimp.
The more I think about it, the more I like the Vick pickup. From a personal point of view I am willing to give the man a second chance. From a football perspective, there's numerous positives and a small possibility of failure. Vick and McNabb can play in the same backfield, he is our best bet at backup should something happen to Donovan, and if things don't work for whatever reason he will be great trade bait next year. All obvious, which we all know.
Plus, I started thinking that picking him up may also a good move as it prevents him from playing elsewhere. For instance, I wonder at what point Childress will regret kissing Farve's *** and consider Vick might have been a better choice if he wasn't confident in Jackson. Since the Vikings may be a real contender in the NFC, their lack of consistency at qb through the whole year (my crystal ball predicts) will make them weaker if they make the post-season.
As for Kolb and AJ, I don't have a clue how to make this work out in a big way for the Eagles.
So is VA the starting LDE or not? Everybody is expecting him to be but it looks to me like Parker is still running with the first team.
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