Tuesday Thoughts

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A few days back I was highly skeptical of the Jeremiah Trotter reports. We knew he worked out for the team, but that had to be something weird. Couldn't be a legitimate workout of a guy who sat out last year. And yet it was.

The Eagles are going to sign Trot this week. He will not come in to be the starting MLB right off the bat. He hasn't played since December of 2007. He's bound to be a bit rusty. LB is one of those spots where you can shake off the rust in a hurry, though.

The Eagles aren't happy with Omar Gaither's overall performance. He covers well. He is blitzing better than in the past. The problem is physical run defense. Omar must do a better job of defeating blocks and getting to the ball. He was good vs KC, but getting off the blocks of Mike Goff is nothing compared to dealing with Chris Snee or Leonard Davis. We must be able to match the physicality of Dallas and the Giants. The Cowboys prefer to run draws and outside, but their OL is still big and strong. Washington normally gives us fits with their ball-control, pounding attack. A hesitant MLB would get us killed in those matchups.

Look at the situation. Omar covers well and is good enough to play against a some teams that like to run the ball. Tampa and Oakland are next up on the schedule. They are the kind of teams Gaither should be able to handle. Plus both are struggling right now. If we build any kind of lead they'll have to throw the ball. This gives Trot the bye week and a couple of games to get back into game shape. Washington is the next team after that.

Against the Skins I could see Sean McDermott platooning his guys at MLB. Trot plays in most base sets and early downs. Gaither is there in passing situations. Clearly, this isn't an ideal scenario. Teams will look to run vs Omar and throw vs Trot. McDermott will have to pick and choose when to play each guy. Situations and matchups will really dictate things.

We have 6 meetings with NFC East opponents. We must be physical in the middle to win those games. Should the offense build a good lead in any of them we can sit Trot down and give all the snaps to Omar. Should we be in a slugfest, Trot will have to stay in and we'll have to adjust coverages accordingly.

Games against SD, DEN, CHI, ATL, and SF are trickier. All of them can run the ball, but they don't all have the kind of big, nasty OLs that can dominate you. Those are games where Omar may play a lot. If he struggles vs the run we simply insert Trot and then deal with the counter measures from the offense.

The X-factor in all of this is Trot's health. He says that his legs are much better than they were in '06. I hope so. My grandads' legs were in better shape. And both of those gentlemen died in the 1990s. Trot had some surgery last year and he's been out of football for about 20 months. That kind of rest has to help. How much? I guess we'll see.

The Eagles would not add him if he didn't look okay at his workouts. The Eagles cut Trot in the summer of 2007 because they didn't think he could get the job done. Hugh Douglas was cut in 2005 for the same reason. The Eagles are not sentimental with veterans.

This is a strange story. I never thought the Axeman would return. He looked so bad in the playoff loss at New Orleans that it was painful to watch or talk about. He lost some weight to get in great shape for '07, but his legs were still a mess. Now he's on the way back.


NEW COLUMN

My postgame write-up is posted. Most of the info you've already read, but I added some comments about ESPN and their Kevin Kolb coverage. Check it out.

--Link--


MISC STUFF

RE: Maclin as RS

Sometimes the more you know the less you know. Last year I said that DeSean would have a lot more impact at RS than WR. Rookies just don't come in here and make a big splash. Oops. This year I predicted the same for Maclin. Jeremy was a great returner in college. He should be naturally good at that in the NFL. His WR skills needed a ton of work. Now we're almost in October and he's getting better and better at WR, but is still a question mark as the RS. Weird.

Jeremy has got to be decisive and sure on STs. He drops back and he's looking the ball in very methodically. That's too rigid. You have to settle under the ball and then catch it. Get too mechanical and you'll drop the thing. He's also guilty of looking for a wide open running area. Those were available at Mizzou and sometimes in the preseason. They aren't normally available in the regular season. Brian Mitchell needs to teach him. You focus on beating the first defender and getting 10 yards. If you break it long, great. Don't force every PR/KOR to be perfect or you'll be ineffective.