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Offseason Review: QB's & RB's |
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Written by James Centifonti on Saturday, 16 January 2010 23:11
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Each week I'll have a brief blog about the positions on this team and possibly what I see them doing as a franchise going forward.
Donovan McNabb: Numbers wise he had the best year of his career as a professional. That being said when push came to shove throughout the season he didn't get the job done. Now I know it is not all his fault, he had basically a make shift line in front of him all season. For the most part that line once they settled on the starting 5 they did a good enough job to give him the time and space he needed. What the team will need to do is figure out if they will stick with him in the last year of his deal or see what offers are out there and take the best one in return. Possible locations Carolina, Cleveland, Arizona (should Warner retire), Denver are some possible landing spots. I mention them because Andy Reid when he was asked right after the loss to the Cowboys that McNabb was his guy onto to turn around a few days later saying he would re-evaluate each position as the team went through it's off-season review.
Michael Vick: As a person who was out of the game for his role in dogfighting was probably very happy to be given some shot to get back with a team and involed in football. A few questions will have to and soon be answered. First question will they hold on to him rather then pay large bonus he is due as of March 5th and then try to deal him. Will they try to deal him before they and let the team who lands him rework his deal while adding a few years. Last would be do they just release him out right. I'd hope they get something for him even if it's a mid-round selection.
Kevin Kolb: In his only 2 games of the season in which he started and saw significant game time he was very impressive going 1 - 1. Kolb became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for 300 yards in his first 2 career starts. The issue here is as with McNabb his contract is also up after this season. Kolb is scheduled to make a bargin of $550,000. With a team that is so tight with money you can hear the eagle scream on the quarter one would have to wonder how or would they extended him to a larger deal not knowing how he can perform over an entire 16 game season. Time will tell as we go deeper into the off-season.
Now we go onto the running backs.
Brian Westbrook: Really it was a lost season for him. In a season that saw him have 2 concussions he never got himself going and once he came back from the 2nd concussion he was rarely used after his 1st game back and really didn't factor into much of what they did in any part of the season.
LeSean McCoy: In the limited amount of reps he handled the ball he has some very good touches. But at least with the type of offense used with the Eagles he often saw less then 10 carries a game and in those carries had a tough time getting his game going. What really hurt him and this team was his limited ability to pick up a blitz and inability to be able to catch the ball out of the back field. The latter really hurt the team because when he was in the game teams could gear up against the run knowing the odds were in their favor to commit more men to the line of scrimmage. It will be an area him and the team really need to work on for next season.
Leonard Weaver: For the 1st time under Reid since they had Jon Ritchie the Eagles has a fullback on their roster. Weaver was a true blessing in that he was a perfect fit for the type of offense used here. He could run effectively when asked, he could catch the ball out of the backfield while gaining positive yardage, he could open up holes as a blocker, & if needed pick up the blitz giving McNabb just enough time. I just hope they don't let him go and extend him for around 3 years.
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A Bird is leaving the nest; Heckert to be Browns GM |
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Written by James Centifonti on Saturday, 09 January 2010 20:07
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It was going to happen at some point. Tom Heckert the Eagles figure head GM is expected to be named GM of the Cleveland Browns on Monday according to a ESPN
Heckert has intervied for a few other teams and recently Andy Reid said they felt he was ready to go to another team and be in control of a teams personel matters. This in the grand scheme of the Eagles will end up really being a minor bump in the road as Reid has full say over anything with his coaching staff and team personel matters.
Best of luck turning around the Browns going forward. It will be a good task for Heckert.
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Written by James Centifonti on Thursday, 07 January 2010 23:49
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In 2 games this season against the Cowboys the Eagles could only muster up 1 offensive touchdown while struggling to find ways to shutdown the Cowboys on defense.
It's happened 19 times NFL's history teams that have swept a season series and played for a 3rd time in the playoffs. In those 19 games the team winning the season series has won the 3rd game 12 times. Not numbers "Big Red" and company care to hear and they finish up game prep this week.
With a win or starting your off-season preperations at stake I sure hope they bring something to the table this Saturday other then a bunch or "almost's", "could have's", & "should have's" if they have any hopes of moving on to the divisional round.
Coach Reid says his team will be ready to go and be able to make the right adjustments. I hope he does because I have a few things I am going to write in this blog that I noticed in the game on Sunday that might need some improvement.
- Pass rush. All game long they couldn't get any pressure on Romo. If they wish to help out the back 7 they will need to get some of this on their own without having to dial up a blitz
- Blitz effectively. If they can find better spots to blitz and hide them effectively this might help cause Romor to rush some passes and maybe get lucky with a turnover or more.
- Better pass coverage. I understand the Cowboys are using more of a college style spread offense to counter the Eagles pass rush, however you can't give Witten, Austin, & company 10 yards of free space to run a battery of routes. Let's not forget to not bite big time on the pump fake.
- Running the ball. Never one thing the Eagles ever care to do unless they have a big lead and even then it's not much. With the talent they have to use why only use it in one form. It's wasted talent if you don't use it.
- McNabb. This has been a running joke here that he needs to be a more accurate passer. And after 11 years it's still a topic that eats up a good chunk of the sport talk shows and sports sections of the papers. He wasn't off bad on Sunday but it was enough that they couldn't get anything going in the passing game.
- Route running. In order to get open and even give McNabb a good target they will need more then just Celek to run good routes and catch the ball. Even if they ball may not be going to them they still need to sell it as if it is just to throw off possible double coverages.
Now I know this is a lot to work on in a short week and I could probably add more but after all that everybody should get the idea they have a lot to get sorted out and I didn't even mention the shuffling offensive line.
I hope they fix enough to keep Dallas from winning a playoff game. Time will tell as the hour approaches.
*noted Andy Reid has never lost a opening round playoff game 7 - 0.
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Written by James Centifonti on Friday, 25 December 2009 22:43
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With 2 games left in the season and the NFC is playoff race is in full swing. Should the Eagles win out they could finish as high as the #2 seed but if they slip up they could slide all the way to the #6 seed.
They will enter their final home game welcoming back my personal favorite player ever to put on a Eagles uniform in Brian Dawkins as well as Correll Buckhalter. Now I do not believe anybody on this team will let emotions get in the way of the task at hand, but it's been a point of conversation with the local media this week.
Keys to this weeks contest:
- McNabb take what's available to you while trying to take a few shots down the field. Denver has the #2 rated pass defense so things might prove difficult.
- How will they use Brian Westbrook and how may touches will he get in his return from multiple concussions.
- As always is the case with this defense they will need to put pressure on Orton. If they can do that getting pressure against the run could fall into their laps.
- When special teams is called upon they must come through. Putting them in the best possible field position will go a long way in forcing the Broncos hand offensively.
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