Here We Go, Joe! Here We Go, Joe! So What, So What, So What’s the Scenaro?

With the Eagles turning the page on old players who have been with the team since the Ray Rhodes era, what's next? Where the hell do we go from here? Drafts of the past that were supposed to cement replacements for when this day came, have yet to pan out. The plans that the Eagles used when trading away first round picks, and using later round picks to get mediocre talent, are just not working. Using that fluke at the end of last season, and the fall ass backwards way of getting into NFC Championship game as the platform to say that this team is among the best in the league, isn't cutting it. We fell for the banana in the tailpipe trick far to many times to know how this is going to turn out. So what is next? What do the gold standard capologist's do to get this team in a position to win the big game. The answer, more of the same.

Well let's start with, who else, Brian Dawkins. I fall into the I'm sad to see him go, the Eagles should have tried harder or just TRY to get him back, but I understand to a point why he isn't here. Lets face it, he is older, but he still brought something to the defense that you can't measure with a stop watch or look at on film. He was the soul of that defense, bottom line. When you have guys almost coming to tears over the loss of Dawkins, that says something. But to Banner, it does't mean shit. To Banner, Dawkins is a walking, talking, headhunting, 35 year old cap number. Its a business, as Dawkins, Runyan, and Tra have all said in the last week. It is what it is, expect nothing more and nothing less.

So where is the soul now. Will Sheldon Brown or Stewart Bradley or Sean Jones step into that role? I don't know, you don't know. But what we do know, is that if the Eagles did sign or franchise tag Dawkins, you wouldn't be hoping that someone will be there to fill that void. The Eagles secondary is still a good secondary, but the defense as a whole lost something when Dawkins signed with Denver, and more importantly, the people who pay good money year in and year out for this product lost something.

When Tra Thomas first heard that Dawkins signed with Denver his response to his wife was, "Honey, pack your bags, we're movin' up outta here." Not in the sense that he was mad that Dawkins was shown the door but because he knew if they didn't sign Dawkins, they weren't going to sign any of them (Runyon, Dawkins, Thomas). That should tell you something about the disconnect between an Eagles player and the front office. The Eagles like to throw Banner on the radio and have the Burger King throw him softballs, and have Joe remind everybody how smart the Eagles are with using the cap. Guess what? It doesn't mean shit if you don't win a Super Bowl. You can be the most consistent team that always makes the playoffs and is always competitive but in the end, that means absolutely nothing if you never win a championship, nothing. Also don't think that there isn't a bigger motive to them not signing more free agents this season. Banner is always scheming, and he knows that losing Runyon, Dawkins, Tra, LJ, Buckhalter and then not signing more players, will in turn give the Eagles more, better compensatory draft picks in the 2010 draft. Its them scheming and planning to stay consitantly mediocre for as long as possible. So keep pinching pennies, and trading away first round picks so you don't have to pay first round salaries on players and eventually it will bite you in the ass.

Just look at the offensive line. This is a great example of how they've managed the salary cap and the draft right into a disaster. You have guys like Winston Justice and Max Jean Giles, who both were picked to be the future of this o-line. Not so much anymore. Justice was a high second round pick and after 3 season hasn't developed into anything more than a blocking dummy for others to practice on. You have an average center who disappears in games like the invisible man. You have Nick Cole who is currently listed as the second string guy in 3 out of the 5 offensive line positions. And then you have the biggest headache of them all. A Pro Bowl Guard who can't decide whether or not he really is committed to his job as an NFL player and turns a back spasm into a potential career ending injury, a year after getting his big payday. So now you need to coddle a 25 year old kid, and in turn sign his big brother, who is coming off a broken leg, to baby sit him. The writers from Armageddon couldn't write a bigger disaster. This is a 4-12 season waiting to happen. And you know where it starts, the Draft.

The Eagles could be the worst when it comes draft day. Not that they draft horribly. They are batting around 40% which is very good in the NFL. But the way they mismanage picks and draft high on some players is astonishing ,and their long term planning abilities are very suspect. Not to mention the long contracts they give these guys before they are proven.

This whole mess with the offensive line could have been fixed starting in the 2007 draft. The Eagles were sitting with the 26th pick in the first round. Now the year before, the Eagles drafted Winston Justice in the early second round. By 2007, it was known by people who saw Justice practice and play that there was little chance he would live up to his second round billing. One former Eagle, *cough* Hugh Douglas, said that he is a puppy and that he doesn't have the bite of a dog in him. Add to that, Justice has been heard in the past saying he doesn't really like football and this is just a job for him. Right there, I've heard enough. So knowing this with the 26th pick in '07, what do you do. What you should do, is draft the best available player, maybe Anthony Gonzalez or Greg Olsen. Or you could draft a position that you regard at the highest, offensive line. You had Joe Staley, Tony Ugoh, Ben Grubbs, Justin Blalock, maybe Ryan Kalil out of USC, regarded as one of the best centers to come out in the last 5 years. So what do the Eagles do. The Eagles trade the pick to Dallas and drop down to the 36th pick. Christ almighty, whats next? Trying to be optimistic I'm thinking: Okay, still a good position, you gained some picks, what now? Oh and look, Ugoh is still out there, so is Blalock and Kalil too. Nope the Eagles draft Kevin Kolb, QB, University of friggin Houston. He comes from the same mold as, David Klingler and Andre Ware. Now that's great company. Add Kolb to the short list of QB's from UH, who couldn't read a defense to save their lives. Honestly it's pathetic. You have Donovan McNabb, like him or not he is a good QB, and you draft a QB in the second round. Dumb as they come. So here is the long term strategy as of '07. McNabb is gone by '09 at the latest. Now me, being from the future, I have the ability to tell you that in 2009, McNabb is still HERE, and you wasted the 36th pick on a back up, bravo. "Good draft picks? Where were going, you won't need good draft picks."

So the '06 and '07 draft didn't go well for those in the business of planning a long term future for the Philadelphia Eagles. After all this is a business. With Lurie and company, they just happen to being running a team in one of most starved for a championship cities in the last 25 years, till now. Time is running out for them. But luckily, every year like clockwork, the Eagles get another chance to make a brighter future only to dim the hopes of 99% of their fans.

So what do you do this year. It's '08, you have just witnessed the Giants win a Super Bowl with the help of....are you ready........rookies. Look at that, a team who actually plays rookies succeeded. And to think we sat around this whole time making rookies sit for two years to "develop" and "learn the system", again, pathetic. Here it comes, the 19th overall pick, the Eagles select.....there has been a trade. See, I forgot that the Eagles had just won the 2007 Super Bowl and were in no rush to get an immediate impact player. Silly me, I slept through last winter, my fault. With the 19th pick the Carolina Panthers select, what do you know, a offensive tackle, Jeff Otah. It turns out, Jeff Otah had a Pro Bowl caliber season in '08 and was an instant starter. Isn't that friggin peachy. Now the Eagles could have taken Otah or maybe, since they were so secure with Tra, Jon, and the rest of the bunch, maybe draft, the best available player. Maybe someone like, Sam Baker, another stud offensive tackle, or Felix Jones or Rashard Mendenhall or Chris Johnson or Dustin Keller or Kenny Phillips or Eddie Royal or Matt Forte. You know, any of those random players. But no, they ended up having their first pick be, Trevor Laws. Specfriggintacular. Now they hit right on with DeSean Jackson, I will give them that. But they could have had any one of the players above instead of Trevor Laws and still ended up with DeSean.

So they also got Carolina's first round pick in'09, but they were banking on the Panthers having a rebuilding season and that being a high pick. Turns out the Panthers were very good all along and now that maybe 9th overall pick or 15th overall pick, is just an okay 28th overall pick. The value of that pick plummeted over the course of the '08 season. It back fired bad. So instead of getting immediate help in '08 or maybe future tackle like Baker or Otah. You get Trevor Laws and hopefully something good with the 28th pick. Good luck with that. Knowing your history I'm sure well end up with something wonderful.

Check me out on Twitter.

I will now be talking Eagles on Twitter. Its an easier faster way to talk about the Philadelphia Eagles.

Check me out: http://twitter.com/EaglesTalk

Don't have a Twitter account. Its easy to sign up, come join.

http://twitter.com

2009 Philadelphia Eagles Draft Preview.

The Eagles aren't even out of the Playoffs yet and my mind is already wandering to what moves need to be made this off season. It doesn't help that the NFL draft is my single favorite sporting event of the year. I've always loved the draft since I was kid, and to this day when January/February rolls around I start getting hype.

So with that said, over the next couple of weeks I'm going to highlight 10 Players I would love the Eagles to target, even knowing that they probably won't draft one of them.

First on my list,

RB Knowshon Moreno,Georgia - 5-10 / 210.

Brian Westbrook isn't getting any younger and his durability is becoming an issue week in and week out. It's to the point where he isn't even practicing during the week. Correll Buckhalter has been a good back up when healthy, but also has had multiple serious knee injuries during his career and is pushing 31 this year. Lorenzo Booker is well, mediocre at best. When picked up this year we were led to believe that Booker and Westbrook would see a lot of playing time together. Not the case. Barring a significant change in Booker's ability, he won't be on the roster come next season.

The Eagles need to draft their RB of the future and Moreno fits the mold of what Andy Reid loves in a RB. In the '05 draft the Eagles used a 3rd round pick on a player some called a "Westbrook clone(Sports Illustrated)" , Ryan Moats. They couldn't have been more wrong. But with Moreno, you are getting a guy is very similar to Westbrook and could be a better inside runner making him even more valuable. With his speed, vision, and natural play making ability, he is the "Westbrook clone" that the Eagles have been seeking since '05.

Moreno is currently projected by most "experts" and mock draft websites to go some where in the mid 1st round. The 2009 Draft Class is not deep at RB so a team with a serious need at RB might take a reach on Moreno around picks 14-22, a'la the Cowboys with Felix Jones in last years draft. It also doesn't help the Eagles that a couple of high profile underclassmen that were projected to be drafted in the 1st round have decided to return school. Moreno's stock seems to be rising with each passing day. With a stellar combine, Moreno could crack the top 10 but is more then likely to be a mid 1st rounder. So the Eagles have to either pray that he falls to 28th or trade up. Time will tell.

NFC Championship Preview.

The Eagles have been able to do the unthinkable in a very short amount of time. After the horrible performance versus the Bengals and then the Ravens McNabb debacle, Nostradomus himself couldn't have predicted what the Eagles were able to do in the last two months.

The Eagles now have a serious shot at going to the Super Bowl, and possibly winning the Super Bowl. I know, slow down. One game at a time. With that I truly believe that the Eagles are the only team that can beat the Eagles this week. The recipe is pretty simple to beat Arizona, put pressure on Kurt Warner and you might as well put an Eagles jersey on him. It's that simple. The popular thing to say this week is that Larry Fitzgerald is going to be the key and he can't be stopped. Again its simple. You can stop Larry Fitzgerald, by putting pressure on Warner. If Warner isn't given the time, you could have my grandmother covering Fitzgerald, it won't matter. I'm going to go more in depth about what needs to be done exactly to get the win, but my main point will be, put pressure on Warner and he will hand you the win gift wrapped. With that, lets get into some more things that will make the Eagles day a little easier.

1) Control the clock: Slow the game down.

The one thing you absolutely can not do with the Cardinals, is let them get out to a fast start. What the Cardinals do a lot is stretch the field quickly and score quickly. When they do that, they sometimes force you to get away from your game plan. If they are up 14-0 or 17-0 in the second quarter, you might start to press a little and start getting away from what you do best. When this happens, mistakes are made, which leads to my next point.

2) Do not turn the ball over.

This is the biggest key to the Cardinals recent success. In the Panther first 7 possessions, they scored a TD, they punted 3 times, and they had 3 turnovers. If any team has that bad of a start, you will never stand a chance to win that game. The Cardinals scored 17 points in the first half off of turnovers. That's the game right there. You either have to be Tom Brady or a miracle worker to come back from that. And Jake Delhomme is far from being either of those two. Now with the score being so lopsided, instead of running the ball which they do well, they had to rely on Jake Delhomme to get into a shootout with Kurt Warner. Ten times out of ten Delhomme loses that battle. So either credit the Cardinals defense for stopping the run and forcing turnovers or give credit to the Panthers for making it easy for the Cardinals. In the first half, the Panthers ran 25 plays in 7 possessions, 8 were runs. The first 2 possessions of the game each had 3 running plays. One of the possessions led to a TD. So for the next 5 possessions they ran the ball just 2 times. They deserved to lose.

3) You can't play a zone, and only rush four men against Kurt Warner.

I don't have to worry about this with Jim Johnson being defesive cordinator. He's going to have guys on Warner all day. I just got done watching the replay of the Panthers/Cardinals game on NFL Replay. And you could see why Warner was carving up the Panthers defense. They were rushing their defensive linemen and thats it pretty much the whole game. They had the occasonal blitz but for the most part Kurt Warner could have been bagging groceries and he still would have had time throw against that defense. It was pathetic. The Panthers sacked Warner 1 time last Saturday, thats it. Again, you deserved to lose. Moral of the story, if get pressure on Warner you will win the game, end of story.

Questions, Questions, Questions.

Will Brian Westbrook holdout? No.

Is Westbrook crazy for asking for $10M a year? Yes.

Will Lito Sheppard be traded? No.

Will McNabb get injured? Yes.

Is this McNabb's last season with the Eagles? Yes.

Will Kevin Kolb see any playing time this season? Yes.

Will Greg Lewis be on the roster come September? No.

Will Lorenzo Booker be Westbrook's back up? Yes.

How will the LB's perform? Above Average.

Will Asante Samuel be worth the money? Yes.

Who will start, Lito or Sheldon? Sheldon.

Can Stewart Bradley live up to the hype? Yes.

Will Trent Cole be better then he was last season? No.

Will Brian Dawkins break down again? No.

Will Desean Jackson help the offense? Yes.

How many TD's will Jackson score? 9

Who keeps a spot on the roster by getting hurt, McDougle or Moats? Neither.

Will the Eagles make the playoffs? Yes.

Many, many questions going into this season.

Where to start?

Wow...Its been so long I don't know where to start. Since the last time I posted the Sixers made the playoffs, and exited shortly after. The Flyers did more then anybody could have imagined. If you say you predicted them making the Eastern Conference Finals, well, you're a liar. Liar. The Eagles drama has continued. McNabb has shoulder problems, oh my god. This couldn't be more blown out of proportion. Desean Jackson is very confident for someone who hardly saw the field during the recent mini camp. I just pray he's not another Freddie Mitchell. "I'm a special player, I wanna thank my hands for being so great." To bad his mouth was writing checks his hands couldn't cash. Apparently he's still bitter about the 2004 season and has been trashing McNabb and Hugh Douglas. Lito Sheppard is still an Eagle. Which is a little surprising. I do like it though. What else, what else. Oh yea the Phillies. Wow. What a start. Utley has been killing it. The bullpen is the best in baseball. Never thought I'd live to utter those words. But as I write this the Phillies are getting their doors blown off by the Angels. Adam Eaton has returned to earth giving up 12 hits and 3 walks. Very nice. Oh, and Chase Utley is battling through a bad slump right now. 0-22. I think that covers everything. I'm going to try to write more. Don't know if it matters cause I really don't know how many people actually check out this blog. But I'm going to write anyway cause I like to do it. I'm pissed at myself for not writing for the last 3 months. Oh well. Is anybody out there? HEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLOOOO?? No. Okay.

The Best Draft Picks in the Andy Reid Era.

Originally posted on March 15, 2007: I have to say after looking at the drafts from 99-06, it was harder to narrow the best draft picks then the worst draft picks. I had a hard time picking 5 bad picks. Could of I put Na Brown or some other 5th round draft pick on the worst list, sure. But making those 5th round draft picks into really good NFL players is not easy. The Eagles have been able to do that on a few occasions. The best picks include 3 players that are already solid Pro Bowl caliber players and 2 that are on their way to being very good NFL players and look like they have a great future with the franchise.

Top 5 Best Picks

5) Lito Sheppard, Florida, DB, 1st Round(26th Overall) Sheldon Brown, South Carolina, DB, 2nd Round (59th Overall): Remember 3 or 4 years ago when the Eagles decided to let Bobby Taylor and Troy Vincent go at the same time. What the hell were they thinking? That they had Lito Sheppard and Sheldon Brown to replace them. Well, they were right. The Eagles DB's didn't flinch. Out of the two I'd have to go with Lito as the better. He's a solid DB. He made it to the Pro Bowl in 2004 and would have made his second trip to Hawaii had he not gotten injured in the Playoffs.

3/10/08: That was then, this is now. I still think Lito was a great pick. He is currently sixth on my list. In 2007 it was just the same old thing with Lito. He got injured in the first game of the season, and missed key games vs. the Redskins and Giants, both of which the Eagles lost. He played from week 7-15 and only had 2 picks. So this year it came down to Sheldon and Lito again. So I looked closely at both guys career stats and ended up going with Sheldon. Sheldon Brown is a good corner who doesn't get as much credit as he should cause he doesn't get a lot of picks. The thing that sticks out most to me is that he has played in every game since his rookie season in 2002. 96 straight games he's played in. He has started every game since taking over the starting RCB in 2004. That's impressive. Lito on the other hand has played in 77 games since 2002, 19 less then Sheldon. Now Lito has more picks than Sheldon with 17 for his career. Compared to Sheldon who has just 13. But again that's not what Sheldon does well. Sheldon is a great tackler and has good coverage skills. He breaks up a lot of passes but again, doesn't get a lot of picks. Sheldon's biggest problem is the fact that he can not cover Plaxico Burress. Now to his credit, Sheldon has one of the best hits ever in the history of the NFL. Of course you remember the playoff game vs. the Saints when Sheldon almost killed Reggie Bush. So this year I moved Sheldon up. Could Lito be here, sure.

4) Trent Cole, Cincinnati, DE, 5th Round(191st Overall): The fifth was hard to choose. You have guys like Sheldon Brown, Corey Simon, and Derrick Burgess. You could make a case for any of those guys to be in this spot, but I went with Trent Cole. It is still a little early to gauge how good Trent Cole will be, but as of right now, he is looking like he could be the Eagles future starting DE. Is there anyone who doesn't think he should be starting over Darren Howard. Cole had 5 sacks his rookie year and 8 sacks last year. He had 8 sacks basically splitting time with 3 guys. Not bad. Right now, I can say that for 191st pick in the draft, Cole is pretty good. The Eagles have locked up Cole up for pretty much the rest of his career barring a trade of some kind.

3/10/08: Trent Cole is slowing climbing up the board. I don't ever expect him to crack the top two, cause with McNabb and Westbrook there, it would take a lot. But if continues doing what he has been doing he could pass Shawn Andrews. Trent Cole had another stellar season in 2007 posting 12.5 sacks, 70 tackles and 4 forced fumbles. Cole also made the Pro Bowl. In his first three seasons Cole has seen action in 47 out of 48 games. Very impressive for the 191st pick.

3) Shawn Andrews, Arkansas, G, 1st Round(16th Overall): The 2004 Draft. I remember it like it was yesterday. The Eagles had traded up to the 16th pick. They were finally were going do it. Draft a RB or LB in the first round. Sitting there were, DJ Williams and Steven Jackson. Which one do I like better? I like both so much, which would I like to be Eagle more. Then with the 16th pick, the Philadelphia Eagles select: Shawn Andrews, G, Arkansas. Shawn Andrews, what the hell? Well in hindsight, it turned out to be a good pick. Would've Jackson or Williams be great for the Birds, sure, but we have a offensive lineman that could be one the best in the NFL in the near future. Made the All-Pro team this past season. His first season as a starter. Great Pick. Start 15 games in 2008.

3/10/08: Nothing more to add still a great pick.

2) Donovan McNabb, Syracuse, 1st Round(2nd Overall): I really don't think I have to go into great detail on why McNabb was a great pick. Looking back, the 1999 draft had some stars in the rough, but also had a lot of land mines that the Eagles could have easily tripped over. Um, Ricky Williams, Akili Smith, and David Boston to name a few. Overall the Eagles made the right decision and I don't think there would be much argument that Donovan is in the top 3 players to come out of that draft class.

3/10/08: Donovan had a rough year in 2007. He struggled after coming back from his torn ACL a couple of months early. I will McNabb a mulligan for last season, but even without it he still deserves to be here.

1) Brian Westbrook, Villanova, 3rd round(91st Overall): Going into the 2002 draft, if someone told you Brian Westbrook was going to be in the top ten best RB's in the league, you would have said they were crazy. Well, they weren't. The Eagles had high hopes for Westbrook and so far so good. He has had an injury here or there, but he is the key to the Eagles offense as it stands today. 91st overall, best pick Andy Reid has ever made. RB's taken before Westbrook: William Green, TJ Duckett, Clinton Portis, DeShaun Foster, Maurice Morris, and Ladell Betts. Clinton Portis is the only one worth mentioning in the same breath as Westbrook.

3/10/08: Ummmm, Westbrook is a top 5 Running Back if not top 3. There isn't much more to say then he continues to perform on a higher level year in and year out. One of the best draft picks in the NFL in the last 9 years.