It's been a rough season at times, but thanks to the perfect alignment of the stars yesterday and a case of fumbleitis by the Cowboys, the Eagles are in the playoffs and each team is 0-0. I was at the game yesterday and damn was it amazing. It's settled once and for all that God is an Eagles fan and not a Cowboys fan.
It's been a while since I checked in to write something. Other than my "healthy man-crush" on Knowshon Moreno, I didn't have too much to work with and I've been busy over the holiday. I (and our special guest commentator Jay) called for the Eagles to go out and get DeSean Jackson in December 2007 and that worked out pretty well this season.
I'll get busy talking more about the draft down the road, but we can delay that for a while. We're in the F-ing playoffs!!! I wrote this team off about 3 times this season, but we somehow managed to sneak in when our chances of it happening after Week 16 were at about 3%. Thank you Oakland Raiders. Thank you Houston Texans. What does the Raiders win tell you about the NFL? They averaged about 13 PPG all season long and they beat a "top 5 defense" to the tune of 31-24. Well, I'm rambling and over-excited.
When I said the Eagles should draft Knowshon Moreno if he miraculously happens to be available by the time the Eagles pick, some people loved the idea and others criticized it because "no runningback is worth a first-round pick" and the Eagles need a "big back."
Although a "big back" would be nice, an "extraordinary back" would be better. Do the Vikings regret drafting Adrian Peterson? No. Do the Cardinals regret passing on him? Yes.
I'll throw another fact out there. How much do you think Marshawn Lynch weighs? I would guess that he's about 230. At least that's the weight at which he plays. Marshawn weighs 215 lbs. Knowshon is 207 lbs. and only 21 years old. Not a big deal.
Knowshon runs hard! Don't give me the he can't get a 3rd and 1. Knowshon is the next great back coming out of college. Knowshon is the Eagles' Brian Westbrook v. 2.0, not Lorenzo Booker.
The Phillies went out and signed Raul Ibanez, who will essentially replace Pat Burrell. Pat "The Bat" will be missed and I hate to see him go, especially after some big moments for the Phillies on their way to the World Series, but we have a tremendous player in Raul Ibanez. The guy had 110 RBIs for the Mariners last season hitting .293 and joins only four other players to have three consecutive 100 RBI seasons (Beltran, Abreu, Ordonez, and Carlos Lee). The following is from ESPN:
The Phillies have agreed to a three-year contract with free-agent outfielder Raul Ibanez, pending a physical. The deal is believed to be worth $30 million over three years.
The 36-year-old Ibanez will become the Phillies' new
everyday left fielder, and his signing means the Phillies no longer
will pursue their longtime left fielder, Pat Burrell, who is also a free agent.
After the Bengals game, we were about to write off the Eagles chances to make the playoffs, but now they're right back in the mix. Thanks to the Cowboys losing to the Steelers and the Redskins losing to the Ravens, the Eagles have a chance to make the playoffs, but they'll have to run the table.
The schedule benefits them. Next week, Monday Night, at home against Cleveland. That should be an easy win. Week 16, on the road, in Washington. By winning that one, the Eagles can eliminate the Redskins from the playoffs (if they run the table). Week 17, at home, against the Cowboys: if they win this one: 10-5-1. The win over the Cowboys would give the Cowboys 6 losses. The win over the Redskins would give the Redskins their 6th loss.
What else has to happen on the way: the Falcons need to lose a game. We can be pretty sure that the NFC South will grab the first Wild Card since they have two teams at 9-3. That leaves the Falcons, Eagles, and Cowboys competing for the final playoff spot. The Vikings will need to win the NFC North and they could do that by defeating the Falcons (at home), to give the Falcons their 6th loss. The Falcons also have Tampa Bay, which is no easy match.
The Eagles are certainly alive and well. Each week is a playoff game for them at this point and we all know one thing, December is the most important month of football and so far, the Eagles have started on the right track.
QB - Kevin Kolb WR1 - Dez Bryant WR2 - DeSean Jackson WR3 - Kevin Curtis RB1 - Brian Westbrook RB2 - Knowshon Moreno TE1 - Brandon Pettigrew TE2 - Brent Celek OG - Shawn Andrews (Please recover well.) OG - Todd Herremans C - Jamaal Jackson (If under contract, but could possibly upgrade.) OT - Must find Runyan's replacement in draft OT - Must find Thomas's replacement in draft
DEFENSE:
Defensive Line - Keep In Tact Linebackers - Keep In Tact CB1 - Asante Samuel CB2 - Sheldon Brown CB3 - Jack Ikegwuanu CB4 - Joselio Hanson FS - Quntin Demps SS - Quintin Mikell
CUTS:
1.) LJ Smith - Thank you very much for not being worth the $4 or 5 million that we had to pay for you.
2.) Lito Sheppard -- Haha, and this guy wanted a new contract. I'll take Hanson over you and we have a college CB stud (albeit with behavioral issues) that we stole in a late round who can give us added depth.
3.) Reggie Brown -- You've been replaced by permanent playtime from DeSean Jackson and Kevin Curtis. We'll toss in Hank Baskett and Jason Avant when need be and Greg Lewis for his token catch. You will no longer be needed. Plus, I'm still wishing for Dez Bryant to take Brown and Lewis off the depth chart.
4.) Sean Considine -- Why is this guy even allowed on the field? Every time I see 37 on the field, I see a terrible play. I lose it every time I see this guy on the field. He drives me nuts.
HOW TO EXECUTE:
Trade McNabb to Vikings for a 2010 first-round pick and 2009 mid-round pick. With 2009 first-round picks, draft Knowshon Moreno and Brandon Pettigrew. Go nuts on finding offensive linemen in the 2nd and 3rd rounds (go OL, OL, OL, I don't care). In Kolb's first year, he may struggle a bit, but will develop as a QB. I have faith in him that he will be a solid QB one day, but I'm not expecting the next Dan Marino here. In 2010, the Eagles will have two first-round picks to hopefully grab Dez Bryant. In 2010, the players that the Eagles will have offensively will be ridiculous. All they have to do is keep that defense in place and find replacements for their offensive tackles and they're instantly a contender.
That all happening if with a tremendous amount of luck. Let's see where the pieces fall in the draft.
In the 2009 NFL Draft, the Eagles should be getting a pick in the teens (currently #13) and another first-round pick mid 20's pick (via Panthers). After checking a few mock drafts, the top-three offensive linemen could be off the board.
One player I've been keeping my eye on is Knowhon Moreno. The guy is a freak. The three mock drafts that I checked have him going in the range of 14-24. Assuming the top OTs are taken, the Eagles should get a stud at RB. We don't have to draft defense. There's no stud at safety out there to fill Brian Dawkins' shoes in the future and it wouldn't be bad to have two Quitin's in the back of the secondary down the road.
I say the Eagles use their first draft pick on Georgia RB Knowshon Moreno with their first, fist-round pick and with their second, first-round pick, they can perhaps get Oklahoma State TE Brandon Pettigrew or a top offensive lineman.
Knowshon Moreno's Freshmen Highlights:
(You're just going to have to wait until Knowshon is done doing the Soujah Boy -- why don't YOU!!!!!)
Dez Bryant is a sophomore 6'3", 210 lbs. Oklahoma State WR (#1). He's expected to be a top 5 pick in 2010. If the Eagles were to happen to make the switch to Kolb next year and absolutely suck, maybe we have a chance to get him. Those WR's that rock the #1 always turn out to be pretty good.
Any Reid finally got the memo to run the ball and look at what happened. Brian Westbrook had 4 TD's. Of course the Cardinals defense isn't anything close to the Ravens defense, but I'm just saying that Donovan McNabb is only as good as his running game.
I, among most others, threw Donovan McNabb under the bus after the Bengals game. Four turnovers in that game, another three turnovers to boot in Baltimore. That's seven turnovers in seven quarters of football.
Was it all Donovan's fault? No. The playcalling was terrible, the offensive line played poorly, the Eagles had no running game, and the wide receivers were dropping passes and not getting open. That still doesn't take away the fact that Donovan McNabb should have won that game against the 23rd ranked defense. That was the worst game from McNabb that I have ever witnessed. Balls were thrown right to defenders, balls were thrown right into the ground 20 feet shy of a receiver. Balls were thrown 15 feet over receivers heads. Donovan was terrible.
Things didn't improve much the next week at Baltimore and Andy decided to light a fire under McNabb's ass to get him playing better. If McNabb still played at this poor level, there's a young guy that we drafted #1 that we could throw in there.
The McNabb I saw against the Cardinals is someone I haven't seen play all season long. He wasn't the careless player who laughs when he makes a terrible throw. He had a little hustle in his step. Instead of being a statute in the pocket like he has been most of the year, he actually tried moving around a little bit and look at the results. McNabb finally played like his job was on the line. If there's anything positive that came out of the benching of McNabb it's that the pressure of losing his job is making him play with more passion and pride. That's something that should have been in his head from the start.
Do I still want Kevin Kolb as the QB of this team? Let's look at the facts. Yes, McNabb was incredible in 2004, but we can't keep living in the past. It's 2008 going into 2009 and since 2004, McNabb has suffered two very serious injuries, is now 32, has gained a bit of weight, has lost his best asset (his mobility), and hasn't had a single season that's close to earning him a trip to the Pro Bowl.
I'm willing to give Kevin Kolb a mulligan. Andy Reid threw him to the wolves. He had to go in relatively unprepared against the NFL's best defense. If you expected him to go in there and play like Joe Montana, that's delusional. Kolb made two bad interceptions and a critical one in the endzone, but let's give Ed Reed a bit of credit. He is the best safety in the NFL and if I was playing Madden and saw Reggie Brown come across the endzone, I probably would have made the same call. Throughout that drive, Kolb was looking sharp and looked like he had a good grasp of the West Coast Offense. Kolb throws a very nice ball, he's more mobile, but his decision making is obviously poor due to inexperience. I don't think he's going to end up being a bust. Kolb will be a very good player one day.
The Bottom Line: The Eagles are 6-5-1, which is last place in the NFC East, and unless they win every single game on the remainder of their schedule, they will not make the playoffs, something that McNabb has gotten to since 2004. Remember who the QB was the last time the Eagles made the playoffs? That would be Jeff Garcia. McNabb: 5-5. Garcia: 5-1. Garcia clinched a playoff spot, beat the Giants in the first round, and then lost to the Saints in the next round. The Saints loss wasn't Garcia's fault. He played great. The Eagles run defense lost that game. If the 2008 Eagles defense played on that 2006 team, the Eagles could have played the Colts in the Super Bowl.
I'm tired of McNabb costing us a playoff spot season after season. McNabb plays very good at times, but performances like last night are few and far between. Westbrook won that game for the Eagles, not McNabb. Unless McNabb can miraculously get the Eagles a playoff spot, the Eagles need to go in a new direction. I still love McNabb. He's given us many great memories, but let me define insanity to you. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. McNabb hasn't led the Eagles to the playoffs since 2004 and his time is running out. The Eagles need to take a new direction and that means a change at QB and at head coach.
If the above statement were true, then I would have to
conclude that the majority of Eagles fans who wish to have Donovan McNabb
benched are idiots.If you people who
hate on #5 have anything to be thankful about this Thanksgiving, it should be
that you were blessed to have on your team, one of the most revered and
dominant QBs to play in the NFL in the past 25 years.In his 10th season as lead Bird,
D-Nice still throws nearly 32 times a game to horrendous receivers, and until
recently, puts up jaw dropping numbers.What we as true Eagle fans should be doing is orchestrating a coup to
overthrow the Eagles front office and management.I, along with hopefully some of you, have
been kicking and screaming for the front office goons to sign a #1 wide
receiver (or at least a #2) since the beginning of the season.If you as a reasonable, logical and rational
Eagles fan can’t see how the absence of a #1 wide receiver is the single most destructive
variable in the Eagles demise over the past 4 years, then you are nothing short
of delusional.In 2004, with the help of
just one big time wide-out (who will remain anonymous) McNabb was able to pass
for more than 30 TDs on nearly 4,000 yds passing with a ridiculous passer
rating of 104.7.Both Donovan and the anonymous
wide out thrived and put up career numbers since both were the key ingredients
in catalyzing the infamous Eagles heavily pass oriented west coast offense we
still use to this day.
So you see my friends, the problem does not lie with our
franchise QB, it lies with the front office final decision makers.I am insulted that Donovan McNabb was benched
last Sunday, I’m insulted that my friend, colleague, and co-owner of this site
wrote some anti-McNabb article and then went ahead and posted it, and most of
all I’m insulted that the front office of my team stands steadfast to their commitment
to sign players like Greg Lewis year after year, while shutting the door on
available #1 receivers.I don’t buy the,
“We offered him a contract” excuse anymore when I know for a fact that we can
offer/buy any receiver with the shat-load of money the Eagles can currently
allocate.
"GET ME A RECEIVER OR GIVE ME DEATH IN THE FORM OF KEVIN KOLB"
It's been a rough season at times, but thanks to the perfect alignment of the stars yesterday and a case of fumbleitis by the Cowboys, the Eagles are in the playoffs and each team is 0-0. I was at the game yesterday and damn was it amazing. It's settled once and for all that God is an Eagles fan and not a Cowboys fan.
The Phillies went out and 
After the Bengals game, we were about to write off the Eagles chances to make the playoffs, but now they're right back in the mix. Thanks to the Cowboys losing to the Steelers and the Redskins losing to the Ravens, the Eagles have a chance to make the playoffs, but they'll have to run the table. 
Any Reid finally got the memo to run the ball and look at what happened. Brian Westbrook had 4 TD's. Of course the Cardinals defense isn't anything close to the Ravens defense, but I'm just saying that Donovan McNabb is only as good as his running game. 
If the above statement were true, then I would have to
conclude that the majority of Eagles fans who wish to have Donovan McNabb
benched are idiots.
