RedImperator wrote:Well isn't this interesting. The Eagles are now officially out of excuses if they don't make the Super Bowl this year (barring McNabb breaking his leg).
Prehaps, or prehaps you have to consider the fact that without a Ray Lewis around no one is going to keep T.O. in line. Do remember T.O. helped wreck an entire team, poisoned two coaching staffs against him, and drops quite a few passes. Undoubtably, he'll be a great threat for a short time at least, but Andry Reid to me (I may be wrong here) doesn't seem like the kind of guy who will be able to keep Owens in line, and if the past repeats itself the Eagles have given themselves the kiss of death.
And now onto the AFC East.
GOD DAMN YOU HERM! SIGN SOMEONE, ANYONE! All we've got now are two good linebackers, two half decent Corner Backs, a almost washed up running back, a good quarter back, and a good potential prospect at D-line. Meanwhile around us the Divison gets tougher and tougher, Miami now looks like they will have no chance of being left out of the play-offs. Buffalo looks good now that they got rid of their crap old Offensive Coordinator (who got punched out twice by Buddy Ryan,) and nothing needs be said that hasn't been about New England. Meanwhile we're stuck with absolute crap, and another year with Hacket.
'After 9/11, it was "You're with us or your with the terrorists." Now its "You're with Straha or you support racism."' ' - The Romulan Republic
'You're a bully putting on an air of civility while saying that everything western and/or capitalistic must be bad, and a lot of other posters (loomer, Stas Bush, Gandalf) are also going along with it for their own personal reasons (Stas in particular is looking through rose colored glasses)' - Darth Yan
Now that it's a done deal, I'll jump in. (OK, I admit it - I just hadn't seen the thread yet.)
I don't actually think that TO will win over Andy Reid in the war-that-is-looming-ever-nearer.
Sure, TO has the ability...er....ego to mess up entire teams and entire staffs, but Reid's Eagles work together so smoothly that I think he'll be more of a bump than a bomb.
As McNabb was nearly gloating about today, TO has great energy and drive: what he needs to develop is a little respect.
I know that the consensus is that he's a total headcase, egomaniac, etc, and we'd be more likely to win the superbowl without a quarterback than teach him any respect, but it's just so *easy* for us normal people to respect what Reid's done with the Eagles that I can't give up hope.
I usually stay out of pre-season wanking, though. I usually formulate opinions based on first games. teams always are fresh and play their hardest in preseason and first games. People competing for jobs and so forth. This year will be interesting, needless to say. you all watch, this is going to be a year of "What the FUCK?" in the NFL. I guarantee it.
We still have unrestricted free agents to go, plus the draft.
After that there's the hold outs and finally we have to wait an see who gets seriously hurt in preseason or in the first couple real games of the season.
How many teams have been hot and ready to go just to have one of their star players (usually a quarterback) get creamed during either preseason or game one or two of the year?
Personally, I hate preseason game except to watch players that I recognized from college teams I follow as they try to make a team. Otherwise the games are boring as hell, mostly because they don't count.
By the pricking of my thumb,
Something wicked this way comes.
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks.
The sour grapes coming from the Bay Area press is just incredible. If you believe the columnists out there, the Eagles have already imploded, Andy Reid has had a massive coronary, and the fans are dragging TO down Broad Street to tar and feather him in front of city hall then throw him off the top of William Penn's hat.
Christ, we've dealt with AI for seven years. We can handle TO.
Any city gets what it admires, will pay for, and, ultimately, deserves…We want and deserve tin-can architecture in a tinhorn culture. And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed.--Ada Louise Huxtable, "Farewell to Penn Station", New York Times editorial, 30 October 1963 X-Ray Blues
RI, you know better than to give any creedence to columnists. Especially hometown. They're just pandering to the jaded masses, not the hardcore eagles fans such as yourself. I get just as sick reading miami hearald columnists demolish my 'phins right before ricky trounces some poor team's D-line. they lament the lack of air attack, pass rush, etc. etc. etc., while rabid fans such as myself only lament it AFTER the game. Predictions are bunk this early on. the columnists ANALyses are just that. But, It's REALLY fun when they're wrong!
Remember, the difference between your team going to the playoffs and simply flopping is an ACL away.
Meh, the Chiefs haven't made too many changes so far. Lost the chance for Vincient but resigned and picked up a couple DB's.
Ver better do more for his defense if he wants to beat up the Pat's this year.
They say, "the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots." I suppose it never occurred to them that they are the tyrants, not the patriots. Those weapons are not being used to fight some kind of tyranny; they are bringing them to an event where people are getting together to talk. -Mike Wong
But as far as board culture in general, I do think that young male overaggression is a contributing factor to the general atmosphere of hostility. It's not SOS and the Mess throwing hand grenades all over the forum- Red
RedImperator wrote:
Christ, we've dealt with AI for seven years. We can handle TO.
Maybe you can help the Bay Area out by sending AI to Golden State?
I don't know if the Sixers trade Iverson, despite all this nonsense going on right now. The guy can still get 20,000 people to pay to watch a sub-500 team lose to the likes of the Memphis Grizzlies, and as big a pain in the ass as he is, the team goes straight into the toilet without him and everyone knows it. And there's no way they get value for him. It would be like the Charles Barkley trade--the one that made the Sixers the laughingstock of the NBA for years.
<sigh> I want to smack Larry Brown for not drafting Paul Pierce and giving Dikembe Mutumbo a 30 year, zillion dollar contract. Those two bonehead moves right there have probably guranteed us at least half a decade of suckitude.
Back to football: the columnists can suck my asshole (though it should be noted most of the Philadelphia writers think the trade is a good idea). Bottom line is, since McNabb came into the league, everyone has said he's a great talent with no weapons. Now he has one, and if Westbrook stays healthy and LJ Smith lives up to his potential, he'll have three, plus a bunch of good roleplayers. This move gives the Philadelphia Eagles the best offense in the NFC, and I don't give a flying fuck about TO's personality and neither does anyone else. The Forty-Niners can congratulate themselves on their great personality while they fight Arizona for third place.
Any city gets what it admires, will pay for, and, ultimately, deserves…We want and deserve tin-can architecture in a tinhorn culture. And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed.--Ada Louise Huxtable, "Farewell to Penn Station", New York Times editorial, 30 October 1963 X-Ray Blues
Knife wrote:Ver better do more for his defense if he wants to beat up the Pat's this year.
I don't see THAT happening by any stretch. I only hope the pats don't go 17 straight. Then I'll have to deal with uber wankeration by col crackpot.
The only difference between the two teams last year was a defense. Pats had one and KC didn't.
They say, "the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots." I suppose it never occurred to them that they are the tyrants, not the patriots. Those weapons are not being used to fight some kind of tyranny; they are bringing them to an event where people are getting together to talk. -Mike Wong
But as far as board culture in general, I do think that young male overaggression is a contributing factor to the general atmosphere of hostility. It's not SOS and the Mess throwing hand grenades all over the forum- Red
Alright, having watched more of the off-season and researched a little more in depth I'm going to talk about the impression I've gotten so far.
Firstly the Eagles, the eagles seem to have gone out of their way to pick up a bunch of big name and bigger ego guys, with no respect for future salary cap and or age of players. Secondly I think this is going to expose Donovan as not being the singular all-star QB that he is made out to be. He looks good, and is a good sportsman, but a great QB? The patriots prove that a good QB does not need to have exemplary Wide-outs to win and I personally think the former back-up (and now Miami starter) was a better passer, and thus more desirable as a QB. Also the two greatest running quarterbacks were Fran Tarkenton and Jonh Elway, these two men used to drop back, run around in pocket, relying on their decent or good recievers to get open, and then would pass. Whereas Donovan McNabb (and all the other current running QBs) tend to drop back, and then try to scoot if they don't like what's happening down field. THough, if everything goes well for the Eagles I must say they are looking really damn good talent-wise.
Secondly the Redskins, Ignoring the problems they're going to have with the salary cap in the years to come (big white elephant) it must come as a question to anyone what Gibbs is trying to do. To use just one example, they traded a decent quality defensive back to Denver to get a Denver runningback. Ignoring the history of denver running backs who were absolutley spectacular under Shannahan's (sp?) system of the best possible O-line ever just coming and failing miserably with other teams. Further more, going from what I know (though I don't know as much as I would hope) of the other signings I am begining to think that maybe Gibbs isn't a wizened old man coming back for fun, but rather a senile old man coming back for the attention of the game. Though he does have one really big plus on his side, that being his coaching staff which has enough unquestionable talent in it to put a pee-wee team into the NFL play-offs. All in all, however, I am not that impressed.
One last thing that I feel I must say, the colts have signed their own death wish by inking the deal with Peyton Manning, and putting off the cap hit on it so far back that I think, and I may have gotten this wrong, they'll have a $20+ million hit in a few years. Not a pleasant thought for those of you that want long term competition from the colts.
'After 9/11, it was "You're with us or your with the terrorists." Now its "You're with Straha or you support racism."' ' - The Romulan Republic
'You're a bully putting on an air of civility while saying that everything western and/or capitalistic must be bad, and a lot of other posters (loomer, Stas Bush, Gandalf) are also going along with it for their own personal reasons (Stas in particular is looking through rose colored glasses)' - Darth Yan
The Eagles could be hurting themelves further down the road but it's hard to say. In the past they just kept letting people leave via free agency. Picking up TO and Kearse doesn't seem like the best move IMO but if they help put the Eagles over the top this season it might be worthwhile as long as they can can them before they have to shell out all the bucks promised to them.
I totally agree about the Redskins. Clinton Portis is not going to be as productive at Washington as he was in Denver. The Redskins would have been better off trying to get Mike Anderson from Denver since he is a bigger guy who might be able to do more without a great blocking system than I expect Portis will be able to do. Truthfully, I just don't see a Gibbs system working without some sort of "bruiser" or at least part-time bruiser (someone who can pound it well when necessary) in the backfield. Portis isn't going to be that guy, neither is Trung Canidate or Ladell Betts.
I saw that the JETS are working towards putting a stadium in Manhatten. I don't know what the people in the are feel about it but I'd like to see the Jets have their own stadium again. It would also have to be a plus having it back in New York City again. Then ESPN won't be able to call them Jersey B anymore. The will also be able to rag on the Giants for being the New Jersey Giants.
I'm still getting a kick out of Ty Law's whining. I agree with him that the NFL is a business and all that but he's just had a bad attitude about this the whole time. He's been with the Patriots for a long time and won two Superbowls with them. You would think that he'd be interested in staying even if they appeared to short change him a little. He's so worried about "respect" and making the last possible nickle he can from them that he seems to forget how much money he is making and has made. Certainly all of the arguments he's put forward make sense but it just looks more and more like he's playing football for the money and that's it.
I'm looking forward to Warren Sapp not doing squat to help the Raiders.
I'll also be interested to see if Bill Parsells can get Keyshawn Johnson to shutup and just play.
I'd like to see John Lynch do well with Denver. I would have rather he gone to the Jets but I think he has a better shot at returning to the Super Bowl before he retires by playing with the Broncos.
By the pricking of my thumb,
Something wicked this way comes.
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks.
OOOH, New Stadium in the city, tweenty minute walk away from my house, fun. (if it ever gets through our horrible City Council)
BTW, you Bengals Fan!
You know if this new logo change is going to change the uniform in anyway?
'After 9/11, it was "You're with us or your with the terrorists." Now its "You're with Straha or you support racism."' ' - The Romulan Republic
'You're a bully putting on an air of civility while saying that everything western and/or capitalistic must be bad, and a lot of other posters (loomer, Stas Bush, Gandalf) are also going along with it for their own personal reasons (Stas in particular is looking through rose colored glasses)' - Darth Yan
New uniforms are on the way. Don't know too much about them yet. All I know is they won't be to different but are supposed to be more "modern" and will include black panst, white pansts, black jerseys, white jerseys and orange jerseys in whatever combo. They're supposed to be shown april 22., oh yeah the helmet is staying the same.
Kyle wrote:New uniforms are on the way. Don't know too much about them yet. All I know is they won't be to different but are supposed to be more "modern" and will include black panst, white pansts, black jerseys, white jerseys and orange jerseys in whatever combo. They're supposed to be shown april 22., oh yeah the helmet is staying the same.
That's good. The old helmet that just said "Bengals" on the side was pretty weak. It was like someone took the Brown's uniforms and just stuck a stencil on the side of the helmet.
By the pricking of my thumb,
Something wicked this way comes.
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks.
Kyle wrote:New uniforms are on the way. Don't know too much about them yet. All I know is they won't be to different but are supposed to be more "modern" and will include black panst, white pansts, black jerseys, white jerseys and orange jerseys in whatever combo. They're supposed to be shown april 22., oh yeah the helmet is staying the same.
That's good. The old helmet that just said "Bengals" on the side was pretty weak. It was like someone took the Brown's uniforms and just stuck a stencil on the side of the helmet.
That was the idea, because the first GM, owner, and (I think, not sure) coach was Paul Brown (prehaps the single best football coach ever, blows Vince right out of the park IMNSHO) who had previously coached the Browns, hence the idea to have a sort of new browns in the AFL....
'After 9/11, it was "You're with us or your with the terrorists." Now its "You're with Straha or you support racism."' ' - The Romulan Republic
'You're a bully putting on an air of civility while saying that everything western and/or capitalistic must be bad, and a lot of other posters (loomer, Stas Bush, Gandalf) are also going along with it for their own personal reasons (Stas in particular is looking through rose colored glasses)' - Darth Yan
In the days following the official news that wide receiver Terrell Owens joined the Eagles, the reaction has been very positive from Eagles fans and the media in general.
The Eagles, the consensus is, did themselves right by acquiring Owens.
But there are some things that have been written and said that have me very, very puzzled.
It has been suggested, for example, that there is "more pressure" on Donovan McNabb now that Owens is in the house. I beg to disagree.
There is an equal amount of pressure on McNabb and on every player to assume the responsibility that is his job. McNabb's level of expectation will neither rise nor fall because Owens is here.
The Eagles started each of the 2001-2003 seasons expecting to go out and win the Super Bowl. They'll have the same expectation in 2004.
As for McNabb, the fact that Owens is here merely means he's got another weapon at his disposal. There is no added pressure on McNabb to get the ball to T.O. a prescribed number of times. If Owens is open, it's McNabb's job to find him. If the play is designed to go in Owens' direction, hey, execute the play.
The pressure is the same as it's always been. Yeah, it's enormous pressure. Do you think McNabb has had a single moment where he hasn't faced pressure? Do you think he's been given an ounce of slack since he's been in the NFL?
He's a franchise quarterback with a franchise contract and the nature of that combination is that there is no breathing room with the public and the press. It is what it is: win or it's your fault.
I'm not saying that's fair, but that's the way it is and McNabb, to his considerable credit, understands that.
Nobody doubts that having Owens makes the Eagles potentially a more potent offense. But just his presence doesn't guarantee anything. The complicated world of an NFL offense still much work with precision -- the line must block, the receivers and McNabb must be on the same page with what they're seeing from the defense and the play-calling must be sound. Same as before. It's all about execution and timing.
I happen to think McNabb's production will increase this season. I think his completion percentage will be higher by two to three points. I think his touchdown numbers will go up. I think his rushing numbers may be down because he'll have more quick-drop, quick-release plays and get the ball out of his hand.
For me, the addition of Owens is an unexpected bonus for the off-season. I would have told you before free agency began that the Eagles would likely add a receiver to the mix, but that the improvement for 2004 would have to come from the likes of Todd Pinkston and Freddie Mitchell and James Thrash and Billy McMullen and Greg Lewis.
Having T.O. changes a lot of perspectives about this offense. The pressure McNabb and Andy Reid and Brad Childress and every player has remains the same.
The other irritating notion is that there are now "no excuses" for the Eagles because they've added Owens and defensive end Jevon Kearse.
Excuse me, but has Reid ever made an excuse? Have the Eagles ever blamed anything or anyone other than themselves for not reaching and winning a Super Bowl in the last four glory-filled seasons? (OK, maybe I'm going overboard on the "glory" thing, but the four years have been great fun, haven't they?)
Bottom line: I can't remember anybody making excuses.
I guess there's an outside perception that this football team is locked and loaded and the team to beat in the NFC. Nobody here is looking at it that way. There is a considerable excitement and high level of expectation, but that's simply the culture around the NovaCare Complex. You can't help but feel the excitement around here.
Should the Eagles come out of the gates and win in September of this season, the reaction will be that "THIS TEAM IS GOING ALL THE WAY!!" Not for me, it won't. I won't think the Eagles are going all the way until they go all the way. I've learned my lessons the hard way these last three seasons.
There seems to be a fairly stark division between perception and reality regarding this Eagles team. Don't get me wrong, the Eagles look to be a very good team on paper right now. The front office has done a wonderful job in this off-season. Acquiring Kearse, Owens and Dhani Jones deserves kudos.
But at the same time, it's only March. I said it last year when the Eagles took so many knocks for bringing in Mark Simoneau, Jon Ritchie and Nate Wayne: the season starts in September. Let's see how it looks then.
More pressure? Heck, no. Less pressure? Oh man, trust me, the pressure is always the same. In the NFL, if you don't feel the heat, you get trampled by an oncoming train.
That article makes a good point. The Eagles themselves have never made excuses and considering some of the hard luck they've had and how they usually lost more players in free agency than they gained, they've done pretty well.
I still think they would do better if they had a big time running back.
By the pricking of my thumb,
Something wicked this way comes.
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks.
Okay, I'm not a big Skins fan and I don't particularly like Arrington but I have to give him a little more credit because of this statement.
"The more I think about it, and the more I just look around, I really don't want to be anywhere else," Arrington told reporters after Saturday's practice. "I really love the fans. For $6.5 million, it's not worth [spoiling] my relationship with the fans. I don't want that to be the legacy that I leave behind. I really want to reconcile whatever differences there are."
I only give him a little credit because his total contract is$68 million so it's not like he's going to starve but I think this statement shows that he certainly has a better attitude about the game and his team's fans than Ty Law has shown with the Patriots.
By the pricking of my thumb,
Something wicked this way comes.
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks.
(if it ever gets through our horrible City Council)
