The Philadelphia Eagles Offseason - Part 1.

The NFL Offseason has officially begun with teams franchising players and teams cutting dead weight. The Eagles have started by tagging TE L.J. Smith for what looks to be a 1 year/$4.5M a year contract. When the free agency period begins on Feb. 29th the Eagles will be about $17.17M under the cap. The cap in 2008 will be raised to $116M, up from $109M in 2007. The Eagles don't have a lot of money to play with this offseason which isn't all that bad cause there really isn't much out there. Asante Samuel, Lance Briggs, Randy Moss head the list of big name free agents. Randy Moss almost surely will be hit with the franchise tag so you can stop wishing for him right now. As far as the Eagles go, they really don't have a lot of players hitting the free agent market. And most the guys that they are losing, will still be on the free agent market come September. Most notable free agents, Reno Mahe, JR Reed, Jasello Hanson, and William James. Are you losing sleep over losing any of those guys. Didn't think so. Below is a list of important dates for the offseason.

February 7 - Commencement of 15-day designation period for Franchise and Transition Players

February 20-26 - NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Indiana

February 21 - Deadline for teams to designate Franchise and Transition Players

February 28 - Deadline for submission of Qualifying Offers by teams to their Restricted Free Agents whose contracts have expired and to whom they desire to retain a Right of First Refulsal/Compensation

February 29 - Start of Free Agency and Trading period

March 17 - Begin Offseason Workout Programs

April 18 - Deadline for signing of Offer Sheets by Restricted Free Agents

April 25 - Deadline for old team to exercise Right of First Refusal to Restricted Free Agents

April 26-27 - NFL Draft in New York City

May 19-21 - NFL Spring Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia

July - All teams begin Training Camp

Coming next, Part 2:

Looking at the Eagles needs, and who they might target in free agency.

The Benchwarmers: The Story of the Eagles 2007 Class.

With the draft being about 78 days away, I think its time to reflect on last years draft picks, and in the coming weeks look into the future. With the Giants having their rookies making big contributions during the playoffs and a lot of rookies getting major playing time this past season there has been a lot of talk about the Eagles philosophy to not play rookies a whole lot. There are a lot of people that are acting like this is something new from the Eagles, but this has been a common theme in the Reid era since the beginning. They are stubborn in their ways from top to bottom. From not negoiating with players who want to redo contracts to there inability to admit a mistake. From the same boring press conferences where Reid reveals nothing about anything to them signing medoicre unproven players to 7 year deals. Do I need to go any further?

Its the same song and dance every friggin year, and this is coming from someone who actually likes Andy Reid. He just needs to be a little less selfish and maybe rely on some outside help sometimes. Maybe shake things up a little bit every now and then. Maybe lets say, let your rookies get some playing time so you can determine whether you A) have somebody who could be a starter or B) be a bust. Like right now, the Eagles as usual, need another DE. For a team who preaches every year that games are won on the line, they sure do a horrible job of making a good line. So, Jevon Kearse's career is pretty much over. Darren Howard has been average at best. We know that Trent Cole is solid but after that, there is a clear question mark. Now last season they draft Victor Abiamiri in the 2nd round. Now you would think with the question marks that you have in that area, and the fact that you are not going to the playoffs, which they knew in about week 13 or 14, wouldn't you give the kid a shot for at least 1 game or more, just to see what you have. Abiamiri ended the season with 3 tackles and did not play a full quarter worth of time the entire season. What is the logic behind this? If you can tell me please do? What would it hurt to let the guy play. You could have the next Clyde Simmions, but you'll never know cause the coach does not give his player the oppourtunity to prove himself. I don't want to hear that the playbook is difficult or any other lame excuse that Reid brings to the table. Thats bull. Your team was not going to the playoffs and DE is not the hardest position in that defense. Its not MLB. I can name at least 5 guys who had the same level of talent as Abiamiri, that started games, played in playoff games, and had huge impact's in games this season. Did they make mistakes, sure, but their good plays out weighed their bad plays. And now those teams know what they have.

The Giants, just for example. They know that they have found a back to compilment Jacobs with Ahmed Bradshaw. They have a new solid possession reciever in Steve Smith. They now know that Jeremy Shockey is espendable. They now know they have a solid shut down CB in Aaron Ross, and a decent Safety in Michael Johnson. Do you see where I'm getting at. Going into this years draft, and free agency, the Giants have a lot questions answered for them by playing young players. Back to the Eagles. Next up to bat, Tony Hunt. I'm sure you were as happy as I was when I heard that the Eagles drafted a big back who can pound the rock. But we won't know if he can pound the rock in the big league cause Reid refused to let Hunt play. Hunt had 10 carries for 16 yards on the season. 10 carries. 4 carries came late in that blow out game vs. the Lions. I mean are you serious. Brian Westbrook is the Eagles offense but I think I've seen enough of Correll Buckhalter. We know what he brings to the table, and no offence to Buck, its not much. He has heart and a good motor.

But again how are you going to know what you have if you don't give guys the oppurtunity to play. Hunt did not even get one carry in the last 7 games of the season. Hunt, we thought, was going to be the big back we've waiting for, false. Again if I hear that the playbook is complex I'm going to smack somebody. YOU ARE NOT GOING TO THE PLAYOFFS. Here's the play. McNabb calls hike, he hands Hunt the ball, the O-Line blocks, Hunt runs. Wow, hard. Next up, Stewart Bradley. We saw at the end of the season that it looks like he could be a good player. If it wasn't for the lack of depth at LB we would not even be talking about Bradley. I don't have much to say about him, except he should be competing for a starting job next season. Next, Brent Celek. Celek got a lot of playing time but did not get many looks from McNabb. He has potential, but with the franchise tagging of L.J. Smith, that tells me that Reid doesn't love what he sees. I'm not going to go into the Kolb situation cause thats a whole different topic. So as excited as I am about this years draft, I always get sucked into thinking that this year will be different and that the Eagles rookies will actually get some playing time. And every year I'm sadly disappointed.

Eagles put Tag on L.J. Smith.

The Eagles have decided to put the Franchise Tag on L.J. Smith. The Eagles currently have a question mark at the Tight End position with Smith coming off a injury plagued season, and second year TE Brent Celek still being very much an unproven player. There was a clear hole at the TE position last year that needs to seriously be addressed. As far as tagging Smith it is a win-win situation for both parties for the 2008 season not so much the future. The Eagles will not have to pay Smith much and in return if healthy, he will be the starter and add depth. Smith on the other hand will get another chance to market himself after the horrible season he went through in 2007. If L.J. Smith is offered a contract by any team this season the Eagles have the option to match the offer or if they lose Smith get two first round draft picks in return. Now, if the Eagles do not make smart decisions this off season at the TE position it will haunt them down the line in 2009 and the years after. It took the Eagles about two seasons to bring Smith along when he was drafted. So they need make a decision and find out if Celek is the TE of their future or draft another this spring. Which probaly won't happen cause that would take the Eagles management admitting that they made a bad decision, and we know how much they like admiting mistakes. With that there is some talent at the TE position in this years draft. They should take a long look at USC's Fred Davis, and Texas A&M's Martellus Bennett.

Its a Philly thing. Sixers box office woes.

In case you haven't noticed, which I really don't expect anybody to, the Sixers are hurting bad with attendance. The Sixers are in the bottom of barrell ranking 27th out 30 teams. As of now they have not had a single sell out, and the biggest attendance they've had thus far was on opening night getting about 19,000 to attend. I knew the Sixers were going to be hurting with attendance this season when I was approached the Saturday before opening night. Here's how it went down and how desperate the Sixers were and still are. This young woman approaches me and my soon to be wife at the time. She's staring me down from about 10 ft and it was a little awkward. I was like, dude I'm with my chick. With this bubbley, ditsy voice she starts giving the cheeseist pitch ever. "Hey, Do you like sports?" I was wearing an Eagles hat, so yes I obiviously like sports. Yes I do. "Well theres this little team, the Sixers, have you heard of them? It was just so awkward. She was actually asking me if I have heard of the Sixers. I really couldn't believe what was happening. I thought I was being Punk'd. "Yes I know who they are." Then she hands me a stack of about 300 tickets. "Check'em out." Wow. These are tickets to, what did you call them, "the Sixers." "We are having a great deal right now, buy one get one free lower level seats." Any other time I would have jumped on that but I was getting married in 2 weeks and just didn't have the time to squeeze in a Sixers game. So I told her no thanks and tryed to hand the tickets back but she refused to take them. "what you don't like basketball?" She was questioning my fanhood, in front of my lady. What the fuck? No I love basketball, then I proceeded to tell her that I was getting married, and with this smurk and fake laugh she say's, "oh I'm sorry to hear that." Now mind you, it didn't bother me so much, but that shit was not flying with my wife. I for sure thought this chick was going to get punched "What did you say?" my wife says to the Sixers chick. The Sixers chick sensed the danger quickly,"I was just kidding.", grabbed the tickets and bounced. So what I got from this was that the Sixers must really be desperate to send out some lame ass chick with the worst sale pitch ever. So as of right now the Sixers are struggling to get people to come to games, they are hitting the promotions hard. Some are okay, but most are just lame. If you haven't seen the commercial for the Guys Night Out deal, man, I'm rushing to get in on that deal. I mean you do get an autographed Sixers Dancers poster, thats got to be worth, like a dollar or two. I would frame it, and hang it up in my living room. My wife would love that. Family Fridays (4 tickets, 4 hot dogs, 4 sodas for $99) - Got kids? Not such a bad deal. All You Can Eat (upper-level ticket, all the hot dogs, soft drinks, popcorn, chips, and salsa you want for $31) - They'll keep you busy eating, cause you won't be seeing the game from where your sitting. The last sign of the desperate times, the Sixer will most likely be playing a game in the Spectrum. According to a report that first appeared in Monday's Delaware County Daily Times, the Sixers are thinking about moving their March 22 game against the Nets across the street from the Wachovia Center, which opened in "96, to the Spectrum. Not such a bad idea. They will be knocking the Spectrum down probablly within the next year and this would be one last hoorah. Well not really hoorah. More like a hooahhhh. The Sixers are just that bad. Oh well, here's to the future.

Some other great promotions that you really should think about getting tickets for.

Guys Night Out (4 lower-level tickets, 4 domestic beers, 4 hot dogs, 4 Holt's Cigar passes, and 4 autographed Sixers Dancers posters for $149). - They stole this from the Heat. Probably the best deal, but I'm not rushing out to get in on this horrible promotion. Are you?

Prom Night. The only thing that would make this Prom Night promotion good is if at halftime they brought the team out to center court, then dumped buckets of pigs blood on them. Then have the

Wachovia Center burst into flames. If you've got a taste for terror.....take Carrie to a Sixers game.

Sci-Fi Night. Great combo. Basketball. and Sci-Fi. Rigggggght. Oh, and remember: next Friday... is Hawaiian shirt day. So, you know, if you want to, go ahead and wear a Hawaiian shirt and jeans. That'd be nice. Thannnnks.

2007-08 Promotional Schedule

Thursday, Feb. 7
Miami Heat
Gatorade Battle of the Bands

Saturday, Feb 9
Los Angeles Clippers
Teddy Bears Scout Night

Monday, Feb. 11
Dallas Mavericks
Magee Spokesman

Wednesday, Feb. 13
Memphis Grizzlies
Mr. Potato Head Giveaway courtesy of Gatorade, '83 Tribute Night, Dollar Dog Night
Mark Iavaroni and Franklin Edwards will be honored

Wednesday, Feb. 20
New York Knicks
"Gamble & Huff's Sound of Philly" Anthem ,Clash of the Choirs,
Musiq Soul Child will be honored.

Wednesday, Feb. 27
Orlando Magic
La Liga Gatorade Battle of the Bands

Friday, Mar. 7
Seattle Sonics
Faith and Family Gospel, Read for Ronald

Monday, Mar. 10
Boston Celtics
Rally Towels Giveaway, '83 Tribute Night, Dollar Dog Night, MASH Theme

Saturday, Mar. 15
San Antonio Spurs
Prom Night

Wednesday, Mar. 19
Denver Nuggets
Rally Rackets Giveaway courtesy of Chevy

Saturday, Mar. 22
New Jersey Nets
Sci-Fi Night, Filippino Heritage Night

Friday, Mar. 28
Phoenix Suns
Book Drive, Gatorade Battle of the Bands

Saturday, April 5
Atlanta Hawks
Kids Appreciation/ Hip-Hop's Birthday, Gatorade Battle of the Bands

Friday, April 12

Indiana Pacers
Faith & Family Post-game ,Christian Rock Concert, Tribute to Dance, Sixers Neighborhood Basketball League,
Singer Jeremy Camp will perform after the game.

Monday, April 14
Cleveland Cavaliers
Fan Appreciation Night
All Giveaway All the Time; Jerseys Off the Back

I really like the MASH theme. Umm, MASH. It's 2008 right. Okay just checking.

Pat Gillick is the worst GM; Schilling re-signs w/BoSox

I'm going to start by saying, I hate Pat Gillick. Always have and always will. I never liked him, even before he came to the Phillies. He's a primitive GM. He's stuck in the 80's with the way he thinks about building a baseball team. He's a caveman. Thank god this will be his last season as GM, cause I can't take another 3 years of this crap. My feelings for Gillick erupted after I read the Philly.com article this morning. "I don't know that [third base] is going to be addressed," Pat Gillick said as the annual general manager meetings got under way yesterday at the posh Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress resort. "We'll go with [Wes] Helms and [Greg] Dobbs. Because we're going to concentrate on pitching. If we go in any direction, we're going to concentrate on pitching.'' Greatttt. This numb nuts can't figure out a way to get a little bit of an upgrade at 3B. That's his job. Instead we get another season to watch that bum Helms fumble around third base. This just boggles my mind. I understand the need for pitching but, there is an immediate need at 3B also. And at this point do you trust Pat Gillick with making any trades or signings for this team. He was handed the team that we have right now. All the good things* you like about the Phillies come from Ed Wade. Not Gillick. He's a smug old fart. We need some new blood in the front office. Someone along the lines of a Theo Epstein or Billy Beane type. That will think outside the box, not some old hack GM who is 15 years past his prime. But we all know that the job probably will be gift wrapped and handed to Ruben Amaro Jr. Another thing, Curt Schilling re-signed with Red Sox for $8M. Schilling said he was contacted by several teams and at the time would not specify who they were. Today we found out who didn't contact him. And guess who did not make the effort to talk to Schill. You got it, Pat Gillick.

Q: Have you heard from Pat or Ruben?
A: I have not, no.

Schilling Interview.

This is what bothers me. Schilling was in Philadelphia for 2 days this past weekend. He hosted a golf tournament, he watched the Eagles-Cowboys game with Jeffery Lurie and Gillick didn't give any effort to reach out to Schilling. As much as he says he wanted to stay in Boston, Schill liked the idea of being on the Phillies. At least make the effort. They did not even call him to see what he was looking to get. The Sox signed him for $8M. You can't tell me, if Gillick had offered him $11M with some bonus' totaling $2M-$3M, he wouldn't sign here. That's crap. Just try, give some damn effort.


*Except Aaron Rowand. Doesn't matter cause he will not be in Philly this season.

The Philadelphia Eagles: The Abusive Spouse

It's good when they win, but man is it bad when they lose, especially to the Cowboys. But those are the rules of being a fan. You have to stick by rou team through thick and thin. When McNabb was throwing 5 TD's on a broken leg he was a god, when he's having a bad season or a couple of bad games, images of Bobby Hoying and others come flooding into your brain. I will say, McNabb is not the only thing wrong with this team right now. As Andy Reid said in his press conference today, everybody has a piece of the pie when it comes to the Eagles awful play, not just the QB. It is hard to watch an end of something great. That's truly what this is. It's probably one of the greatest runs of any Eagles teams, and sadly its almost over. What makes it harder is that everyone knows its the end, except for the people its actually happening to. And if you don't think its the end of an era, you're in denial. Which I honestly have no problem with. But its Reid, the management, and most of the players that just don't realize it yet. That's not their fault though. They actually think if they tinker with this and adjust that, poof, they will be on their way to the playoffs. In the word's of Ross Perot via Dana Carvey, "Not gonna happen." The team is getting older with every passing minute. I never thought I would say this, but I honestly think Brian Dawkins should be a back-up at this point. I love Dawk, everybody loves Dawk, but his play is in a tailspin. Missing tackles, out of position defending the pass, and last night he just seemed to disappear. It's all very sad. And it is hard to cut your loss' sometimes, but at the end of this season, its time to snip away. The only problem with what this team is doing right now is if the Eagles win next week when they play the Redskins, there will be some who will believe that the season still can be saved, but they will continue to be disappointed. Being an Eagles fan the only way I can think to describe this relationship is that of an abusive spouse. The spouse who gets smacked one day, then told that they are loved the next. Then the next week, smack. At this moment we are currently being smacked, and if the Birds win next week everybody will get their hopes up thinking they'll never be smacked again only to be disappointed with a sudden kick to the shin. At the moment I'm seperated. I love the Eagles but will not fall into the trap. To me its over and time to start the rebuilding. Now how and where do you start, I don't know. But I know having a top ten draft pick sure would help.

Eagles vs. Cowboys Preview.

As this weekends game approaches all the talk has been about how the Eagles might be able win, I'm not totally sold yet but I am leaning towards the Birds, and more or less about Tony Romo's contract. Add in Andy Reid's family problems, and there has been little T.O. talk. Not that he isn't trying to get the attention. He has said this week that him and Donovan have cleared the air, which Donovan confirmed, and that he's looking forward to playing in front of Philly fans again. As far as the game goes, I really am starting to believe that the Eagles can beat the Cowboys. The Cowboys have been getting a slow start in games this season but Tony Romo is red hot in the third quarter, which I will show in later on in this preview. The Eagles have to get going early, keep the Cowboys offense cold, and create turnovers. Bottom line, create turnovers. If the defense can contain Romo in the pocket and not let him roll out and create plays, the turnovers will come to them.

Philly Fans do the T.O (OD) Chant. You might not have heard it if you were watching on TV, but it was a classic moment.



Some stats and stuff I found to be interesting. NFL Rank in parenthesis.

Cowboys Pass Def. : 208.9 ypg (13)
Eagles Pass Def. : 210.3 (15)

Cowboys Run Def. : 87.0 (5) , 3.6 ypc
Eagles Run Def. : 90.4 (8) , 3.7 ypc

Cowboys PPG Allowed : 22.6 (21)
Eagles PPG Allowed : 16.7 (7)

Cowboys Int. : 10 (6), Forced Fumbles : 8 (13)
Eagles Int. : 5 (25), Forced Fumbles : 3 (30)

The Cowboys and Eagles are really close defensively, except when it comes to turnovers. The Eagles have only 5 picks, and have forced only 3 fumbles the whole season, 3rd worst in the NFL. I did hear on WIP that the Eagles were practicing stripping the ball all week during practice so hopefully that pays off this Sunday.


Now I will put my attention on Tony Romo and Donovan McNabb. They will be the keys to winning this game. More Romo then McNabb though. I will start with the generic, Romo has 9 ints this season which is bad compared to McNabb's 2. But Romo takes more chances kind of like Brett Favre. McNabb will not make a throw unless his WR is open. The Eagles allow the 2nd most sacks in the NFL with 27. The Cowboys are the second highest scoring team in the NFL scoring 32.4 ppg.

1st half QB rating : Romo: 78.6
1st half QB rating: McNabb: 107.4

2nd half QB rating: Romo: 118.8
2nd half QB rating: McNabb: 72.8

QB rating inside the opp 20: Romo: 85.1
QB rating inside the opp 20: McNabb: 84.8

QB Rating away: Romo: 75.3
QB rating home: McNabb: 106.1

3rd & 8+yds : Romo: 24%
3rd & 8+yds: McNabb: 18%

Basically after looking at this it shows McNabb plays very good at home. It also shows he has poor second half's though. As for Romo, he struggles a little bit on the road, but at halftime seems to make the right adjustments to come our firing. Now here is the part that blew me away.


Tony Romo's 3rd Quarter Stats

39 of 62, 612 yds, 65% completion percentage
15.7 YPP
8 TD passes. First in the NFL.
0 Interceptions. First in the NFL.
152.1 QB rating. First in the NFL.

The Cowboys are probably the best 3rd quarter team in the NFL right now, so the Eagles need to come out after halftime and contain Tony Romo.