Ok seaon's over. Andy isn't going anywhere. But the one benefit of sucking is you get a pretty good pick. It's looking more and more like they will end up in the top 10. It hasn't been too often that the Eagles get a pick that high. Who should they take? I know alot of people want the best LB available, but I think they need a corner too. Asante is gone next year and DRC stinks. I'm also tired of defenses knowing we have 2 players on the field who can't tackle (at least!). The guy I like is Morris Claiborne from LSU. People are saying he'll be the best corner and a top 5 talent in the draft. He has decent size and does literally everything. Press coverage, off coverage, man, zone, you name it. He can tackle and is a beast in run support. I think the Kirkpatrick kid from Bama was ranked ahead of him in preseason because he's bigger, but he got burnt by Alshon Jeffery against South Carolina, and Claiborne has leap frogged him on boards pretty unanimously. His only con is that he plays in a defensive secondary that contains all future pros in college. I mean thats literally it. So the question is:

Should the Eagles pass on a talent like this?

Elton Brand, Lou Williams, Nikola Vucevic and several future picks for Dwight Howard.

Would Orlando take something close to this?

If so and if Dwight is smart, his best option would be to come here and play with this young, up-and-coming squad in which he will be the leader and focal point. Imagine:

Howard-C

Thad-PF

Ig-SF

Turner-SG

Holiday-PG

To me that is an extremely competitive team for possibly the next 7-10 years. Is there anyway on earth this could be remotely possible or am I just completely high on drugs?

I, like all of Philadelpha, was devasted after the loss on Friday night.  How could this team lose in the first round after setting the franchise record for wins?  How was this possible?  This team was built to go to the World Series!  Not be content to be bounced out in the first round! Then the devastation turned to anger.  Team can't score a freaking run for Halladay?!  Are you kidding me?  This is the worst lose in Phillies history!  Changes are needed!  This lineup isn't ever going to take us anywhere!   Amaro better get some hitters in here!  What a fraud!  I don't care how many they won, the goal is to win the world series and they didn't get close!  This year was a complete and utter failure!

As I slowly came out of my depression, like a recovering alcoholic,  I turned to The Good Phight for support.  The sentiment on here seems to be that a disappointing end should not erase six months of the most exciting, fun Phillies baseball we've ever enjoyed.  And for that reason, the season is not a failure.  Although, I don't disagree, this wasn't the proper closure that I seeked.  I live for the playoffs.  I needed a deeper meaning.  So I searched.  I searched and, brothers, I am now found.  I have found solace in the 2011 Phillies season.  I am at peace and I will share with you why.

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Well the Cardinals have managed to steal one in Philly against 1 of the Phillies 2 best pitchers after the close one last night.  This has quickly become a series now and with a loss in game 3 the Phils would be facing elimination (already?!).  I'm a WAR guy so I'll use the 2011 regular season WARs as a point of comparison.  I'll even give Oswalt the benefit of doubt and show his last year's WAR in addition to his injury-plagued 2011.  A quick google search gives me about a 7% dropoff in production for pitchers on short rest so I'll go with that.

Game 4 -  Oswalt (2011 extended to 32 starts / 2010): 3.5 WAR / 4.7 WAR

Game 5 - Halladay: 8.2 WAR

Total: 11.7 WAR / 12.9 WAR

Game 4 - Halladay (Short Rest): 7.6 WAR

Game 5 - Lee: 6.7 WAR

Total: 14.3 WAR

If we assume Oswalt is completely recovered from injury and back to mid season form, it's close but still Halladay has the edge.  If we can't make that assumption, the argument for Halladay becomes even stronger.

Personally, I would feel much more comfortable knowing that the Cardinals MUST go through Halladay again to win the series.  I know Charlie likes to think of them as the 4 Aces and that any one of them is interchangeable, but I'd rather go down with the ball in the hand of the guy who got me there then the guy who really hasn't.

What do you think?

Take a look at Vick's stats for the preaseason:

Vick:  52.8% completion, 219 yds passing, 1 TD passing, 3 ints (should be 4), 2 sacks, 45.9 rate, 27 yds rushing, 4.5 ypc, 1 rushing TD, 2 fum

I know its only preaseason and the sample size is small but every stat is significantly worse than what he did last season, and anyone watching the games can tell you the upheavel in the offensive line is a major cause for it.  The current line configuration has 3 new starters (1 rookie, 1 free agent, and now 1 guy cut from another team I believe) and 1 returning starter playing a new position which as a unit have played 0 season/preaseason snaps together.  I don't doubt Howard Mudd but offensive line continuity has a definite correlation with offensive success (http://www.footballoutsiders.com/extra-points/2010/offensive-line-continuity-scores) and its showing majorly in preseason, as he's been shuffling the line around every game.  I really hope the shuffling stops after Week 1 but that may be too much to ask.  For comparison here is what other top QBs did in preseason this year:

Rodgers: 78.7%, 395 p. yds, 4 pass TDs, 0 int , 6 sacks, 130.1 rate, 18 yds rushing, 6.0 ypc, 0 rushing TD, 0 fum

Rivers:      68.9%, 377 p. yds, 4 pass TDs, 1 int , 1 sacks, 114.8 rate, 0 yds rushing, 0 ypc, 0 rushing TD, 0 fum

Brady:      56.0%, 379 p. yds, 3 pass TDs, 1 int , 3 sacks, 92.0 rate, 6 yds rushing, 6 ypc, 0 rushing TD, 1 fum

Brees: 56.1%, 304 p. yds, 0 pass TDs, 0 int , 1 sacks, 79.7 rate, 0 yds rushing, 0 ypc, 0 rushing TD, 1 fum

Big Ben: 67.7%, 361 p. yds, 4 pass TDs, 0 int , 5 sacks, 146.6 rate, 8 yds rushing, 8.0 ypc, 0 rushing TD, 0 fum

Again I know its only preaseason, but all these other guys look light years ahead of Vick and none of their O-line's are being reconstructed to the extent of the Eagles (every single one of them is replacing 0 or 1 starters) .  I dont ever remember an Andy Reid Eagles line with this much uncertainty going into a season.   Am I overreacting?  Please tell me I am, otherwise this could be a long season for Michael Vick.