2010 Schedule Released

Sorry this is a little late, but I was out last night.  Here's what we've got for 2010:

Sept. 12 v. Packers - 4 pm (not starting with the Packers again!  Anyone remember this?)
Sept. 19 @ Lions - 1 pm
Sept. 26 @ Jaguars - 4 pm
Oct. 3 v. Redskins - 4 pm - The Return of Big 5
Oct. 10 @ 49ers - 8 pm
Oct. 17 v. Falcons - 1 pm
Oct. 24 @Titans - 1 pm
BYE
Nov. 7 v. Colts - 1 pm
Nov. 15 @ Redskins - 8 pm (MNF, y'all!  I'll be there, come hell or high ticket prices!)
Nov. 21 v. Giants - 8 pm
Nov. 28 @ Bears - 1 pm (Thanksgiving in Chicago AGAIN?)
Dec. 2 v. Texans - 8 pm (Thursday night games, how you torture me)
Dec. 12 @ Cowboys - 8 pm
Dec. 19 @ Giants - 8 pm
Dec. 26 v. Vikings - 1 pm
Jan.. 2 v. Cowboys - 1 pm


Of course, everything after Thanksgiving is subject to the whims of the NFL, but right now, we have 1 MNF appearance and 6 prime time games.  Someone's expecting good things from the Eagles this year...

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Free Agency Advice - How'd I Do?

Not that anyone in any position of power was listening, but about two months ago, I posted my thoughts about who the Eagles should keep and let go during free agency. So how did it go?

I still can't get over my shock at the fact that we traded our franchise QB, the winningest QB we've EVER had in Philly, to a division rival. Speaking of, you've seen this piece from The Onion, right? Yes, it's a joke newspaper, but you have to wonder how much of this McNabb is thinking but not saying because he always acts with class.

Anyway, moving on....

QB: We did keep Kevin Kolb, who's now the starter (God help him, after only two previous NFL starts and maybe 1-2 full games worth of playing time otherwise), and we still have Mike Vick, who I expected to be long gone by now. Speaking as a marketing professional, I understand that pricing strategies are never easy. But I have a little tip: if NO ONE is biting, you're price is too high. Food for thought, Front Office.

RB: It's sad, but I was right about Westy - we had to let him go, and he's pretty much done, as evidenced by the fact that he's still on the market. Big Red was making some noise about bringing him back as a coach. I think that would be a great move. Anyone listening? Leonard Weaver has a nice new deal. McCoy's going to be the #1. And we kept Eldra Buckley, too, and picked up Mike Bell from the Saints.

Oline: The Big Kid's gone. Such wasted potential. Stacy's still around - at least for the moment - and it's looking like Nick Cole will be the center until Jamal Jackson heals up. Jason Peters is still around, as is Max Jean-Gilles. We need some serious help here in the draft, or we're going to need a new QB by the bye week, because we'll be O-U-T OUT.

WR: Avant got a new deal, which he totally deserved. I'll be interested to see how 4 and Dime works out. We still have Reggie Brown, but Kevin Curtis is done. Injuries bite again. Hank Baskett, Mr. Fade Route, is back from Indy. Welcome home, Hank!

TE: WE dumped Alex Smith and kept Ingram and Rucker. Not what I would have chosen.

Dline: Darren Howard's gone, which we needed to do, as is Jason Babin.

LB: Omar Gaither, Chris Gocong, and Akeem Jordan are all back. Trot, Will Witherspoon and Tracy White are all gone. I would've kept Tracy White if it were up to me. We need some serious draft help here. Edited to add - wrong about Gocong there - he's not back. Sorry about that Eagles fans.

DBacks: Speaking of needing help - oy. Sheldon left - no shocker there - and we let Sean Jones go, picked up Marlin Jackson, also from the Colts, and hung onto Ellis Hobbs. News? None of these people are the answer. In case you forgot the question, it's: Who's going to succeed Brian Dawkins? Keeping my fingers crossed for the draft....Edited to add: of course, Marlin Jackson is a safety. But I'm far from convinced he's the heir apparent to Dawk. Should've been more clear about that.

ST: Oh my God, it looks like we're hanging onto Sav Rocca. Shit. On the up side, he finally seems to be holding properly for Akers. I am trying REALLY hard to look on the bright side here, people.

On to the draft, where we have enough picks to pretty much replace the entire team.

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Still in Shock

With Sheldon gone to the Browns, DMac with the Redskins, Dawk with the Broncos, and Westy gone (but at the moment not to another team, although it wouldn't surprise me if the Redskins came calling any minute), we're officially the rebuilding team in the NFC East. Really officially - we had the youngest roster in the NFL LAST year. Add in dumping 3 vets and 11 draft picks, and we're babies. Can you say "5-11"? I think you can.

A few observations on the shocking trade (hey, if even Clinton Portis used the word "shock" about 10 times in a 30 second interview, I'm allowed to still be shocked):

I was right that the Eagles wouldn't trade McNabb to any team they might face in the playoffs.

Given the Redskins record in the Snyder era with trading away draft picks for fading stars, I think we can all see where this is going. Sure, Big Red is saying all the right things about taking Donovan's feelings into consideration in selecting where to trade, but you don't trade your 10+ year starting franchise QB within the division unless you know something about his playing status that you're not sharing.

Frankly, if the Skins don't fix their O-line ASAP, McNabb won't even make it past their first matchup with the Cowboys. As my friend Eric observed below, they'll be shipping him back to Philly in pieces for his retirement ceremony.

I know the Eagles Front Office doesn't stand on sentiment - hell, they won't even stand NEAR it for a few seconds just in case it's catching - but this is a tough, tough thing to do to a player who, despite taking near constant pounding from the not-always-terribly-well-informed Philly sports media and even worse from ignorant fans for the past 11 years has remained the consummate team player, always grateful to the fans (even when he had to dig REALLY deep to find something nice to say), always supportive of his coaching staff and teammates (even when you know he wanted to say, "When I put the ball on your numbers, CATCH IT! And by the way, why did you call 3 pass plays in a row when we were at 2nd and a short 1?"), and always, always a class act.

McNabb has the most regular-season wins of any QB in franchise history.
He has the most post-season wins of any QB in franchise history.
He has the most passing yards of any QB in franchise history.
He has the most completions of any QB in franchise history.
He has the most TDs of any QB in franchise history.
He has the lowest INT percentage of any QB in franchise history.

And all that while throwing (mostly) to the likes of Na Brown (remember him?), James Thrash, Todd Pinkston, and Freddie Mitchell. Oy.

Unless Kevin Kolb turns out to be the next Peyton Manning/Tom Brady, he has a very tough act to follow in a town that, to paraphrase The Onion from a few years ago, gives QBs 3 weeks to deliver a Lombardi Trophy - in September. Good luck, KK - you'll need it.

Sadly, I believe this move to the Redskins means that McNabb will never get his Super Bowl ring, unless a miracle happens this year or he gets traded to a much *better* team next year. But I still think we'll see him in a Hall of Fame golden jacket some day.

Thanks DMac - this fan, at least, will miss seeing you in midnight green more than she can say.

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End of an Era

Donovan McNabb is now a Redskin. I'm still in shock. I'll write more later when my brain starts working again, but in the meantime, thanks to a player who defines "class" for 10 years of thrilling football.

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2010 Preseason Schedule and the (total absence of) Trade Rumors

The 2010 Preseason schedules are out.

Eagles games include:

Date TBA versus the Jaguars
(Edited 4/9/2010 to add: date now set for August 13)
August 20 at the Bengals
Date TBD at the Chiefs
(Edited 4/9/2010 to add: date now set for August 27)
Date TBD versus the Jets
(Edited 4/9/2010 to add: date now set for September 2)

What does this tell us? Diddly. Also, we'll probably lose all the games, since if the past 11 preseasons have told us anything, it's the Big Red doesn't give a damn about winning preseason games.

Also, do you notice the complete lack of offseason trade rumors circulating on this blog? That's intentional. Know why? They're RUMORS. That change about every 10 seconds. And 99.758% of them are wrong.

Want a rumor? Here's one: Brian Dawkins will be hired as the new head coach of the Eagles next week. Also, Brian Westbrook will be color commentary on Sunday Night Football. Trent Cole's going to be playing for the Texans (Team of Destiny!). And Mike Vick will be the starting QB of the Indianapolis Colts. In the aftermath of his Dancing with the Stars experience, Ocho Cinco's quitting football to try to make it as a Vegas showgirl. You heard it here first.

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Good luck & Godspeed, Westy

Well, it's official - the Eagles have released Brian Westbrook. I'm sad, but not particularly surprised. For his own health, I hope he chooses to retire.

In the meantime, enjoy this great video tribute I found & remember the 3 most exciting words in football for the past 8 years: "Westbrook breaks free!"

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Should They Stay or Should They Go?

Back in early January, Inquirer writer Jeff McLane wrote a piece about who should - and should not - be retained from the 2009 Eagles roster. Seemed a little precipitous to me at the time, seeing as the season wasn't over yet (OK, OUR season was over, but THE season was not over). But I hung onto the link, because I wanted to weigh in with my thoughts about some players:

QB - McLane thinks we should keep Kevin Kolb and get rid of both Mike Vick and D-Mac. I think McLane's on crack. McNabb's not done, and Kolb's not ready to be the starter. But we should trade Vick - I think we can get some good draft picks for him, he clearly wants to start, and there are plenty of teams that need help at QB.

RB - McLane thinks we should keep Weaver and McCoy and get rid of Buckley and Westy. As much as it pains me to type it, I agree. I love me some Westbrook, but after that second concussion, I think he's stick-a-fork-in-him done. Brian, while you still have control of your mental faculties, it's time for whatever you've planned for your post-football life. Thanks for all the great "Westbrook breaks free!" memories.

OLine - Not going to do the full run-down, but I agree that the Andrews brothers need to go. Such wasted potential with The Big Kid, but then again, these things don't always work out. I would get rid of Jason Peters - he didn't live up to expectations - and I don't think Mike McGlynn is our solution at center until we get Jamaal Jackson back.

WR - 100% agreement with McLane. Keep Peanut (OF COURSE), Maclin and Avant, dump Reggie Brown and Kevin Curtis.

TE - Of course we keep Celek. If I thought it were possible to replace all 3 of the others (Alex Smith, Cornelius Ingram and Martin Rucker), I'd say dump all 3. If we have to keep 1, I'd probably pick Alex Smith. McLane pooh-poohs him as a good blocker with bad hands, but I think that's enough for the #2.

DLine - McLane says keep everyone but Darren Howard, Chris Clemons, and Jason Babin. Well, we need SOMEBODY other than Trent Cole who can reliably rush the QB. If Darren Howard can get back in shape, keep him. I think I'd probably dump Victor Abiamiri rather than Howard - or maybe both - and try to get someone to help out #58. I'm not sure I'd keep Trevor Laws, either, much as I love his 'do.

LB - OH MY GOD do we need help here. Getting Stewart Bradley back should be a good start. Fokou and Gaither could both be keepers IF they can bulk up a little. If not, cut 'em both. LOVED the way Tracy White came on towards the end of the season. He deserves more playing time next year. Trot should definitely take over Hugh Douglas's old Bad Assador role in the locker room, but he needs to retire from the field of play. I'm iffy on both Chris Gocong and Will Witherspoon, but we should only dump them if we're relatively certain we can upgrade. Better the devil you know....

DBacks - McLane says to keep Sheldon Brown, and I agree IF he's willing to work with the FO on his salary demands. He seems to want serious money, though, and while I appreciate the fact that he was playing injured, he got beat a LOT at the end of the season. Asante Samuel is another perpetual heart-breaker. We knew he was high risk/high reward when we picked him up, but (and I know a lot of people won't agree) I think the risk is outweighing the reward at this point. I'd get rid of him. I definitely agree with keeping Macho Harris - I think he has potential and with more playing time, could have a breakout year next year. I also agree that Joselio Hanson wasn't the same after his suspension, but I'm not sure if that's because of the time off or because of the supplements for which he was suspended. I'd like to see how he looks in the spring mini-camps before making a decision. We need a replacement for Wolverine. The Quintins (Demps and Mikell) are not the answer. I'm not sure who is.

ST - I agree with McLane that the Sav Rocca experiment needs to end. He's just too inconsistent - I don't think he'll ever fully adapt to the American rules game. The only thing that worries me is that we've seen that it takes Akers a while to adjust to a new holder, and he and Sav were finally clicking this past year. I worry about what another switch in holders will do to his accuracy.

OK, Eagles fans, what do you think? Who stays? Who goes? What are our biggest needs in 2010?

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