SB Nation User Blog: Bye, Dawk :(

Vinny Cerrato steps down as Redskins' executive vice president of football operations

Bye, Dawk :( — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:33:24 -0000

Vinny Cerrato steps down as Redskins' executive vice president of football operations

Champagne corks are popping all over the greater Washington DC area.

Playoff Generator

Bye, Dawk :( — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:28:09 -0000

Playoff Generator

Pick the remainder of the 2009 games (Weeks 14 through 17), and see how the playoff seeds fall into place.

Who thinks the Eagles will win the NFC East? Vegas.

Bye, Dawk :( — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:29:08 -0000

Who thinks the Eagles will win the NFC East? Vegas.

...and me. In other betting news, we're 1 point dogs this week.

Looking back at the preseason - Should we have traded for Tony Gonzalez?

Bye, Dawk :( — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 15:43:06 -0000

This past offseason the rebuilding Kansas City Chiefs were auctioning off their best player, Tony Gonzalez, to the highest bidder. The highest bidder turned out to be the Atlanta Falcons, who surrendered their 2nd round pick in 2010. At the time, I felt the Eagles made an enormous mistake by not making a more aggressive move to obtain Gonzalez, but the emergence of Brent Celek has softened my stance a bit. Since we're playing the team that outbid us for Gonzalez's services, let's take a look back and analyze if the Eagles should have traded for Gonzalez or not...

Before we get into it lets first take a look at Tony Gonzalez's credentials...

- Age - 33

- 10 consecutive Pro Bowl selections from 1999 through 2008

- 6 First-Team All Pro selections

- 3 Second-Team All Pro selections

- Career stats (through 2008 - not including this season) - 916 catches, 10,940 yards, 76 TD. Over 12 seasons in the league, that averages out to 76 catches, 911 yards, and 6+ TD's per season.

- This season so far - 61 catches, 666 yards, 5 TD (projected over 16 games that's 89 catches, 969 yards, 7 TD, which is better than his career averages)

- Amazing durability - 12+ seasons, 201 games played, a grand total of TWO games missed.

- Mistake-free - 6 career fumbles, 1 in the past 10 seasons.

- Widely regarded as an exceptional leader and teammate.

- In my opinion, despite some TE's having better statistical seasons (see Antonio Gates) he's still the best TE in the league, and easily the best TE in the history of the NFL.

The Age Concern...

"He's too old. He only has a few years left."

Without question, 33-year-olds typically start to see a decline in their games. However, in Gonzalez's case, I just don't see any evidence of him slowing down at all. Is he bound to slow down eventually? Sure, but it hasn't even come close to happening yet. His past 5 seasons...

2005 - 78 catches, 905 yards, 2 TD

2006 - 73 catches, 900 yards, 5 TD

2007 - 99 catches, 1,172 yards, 5 TD

2008 - 96 catches, 1,058 yards, 10 TD

2009 - 89 catches, 969 yards, 7 TD (projected)

The argument could be made that Gonzalez has continued to get even better with age.

Why would Gonzo in Philly have made sense?

- Philly's Red Zone and Short-Yardage Woes - You can probably count on one hand the number of skill position players you'd rather have on your team in the red zone or in short yardage situations over Tony Gonzalez. Not to oversimplify it, but when you're a team that struggles in 2 very specific areas that a single player can drastically help fix, it just makes sense to go get that player if he's available, right?

- The ages of our "future" at the WR and TE positions - Jackson (turned 23 on Tuesday), Maclin (21), Avant (26), Celek (24). A guy like Gonzalez could have been an outstanding role model for the kids.

- This is a team that can win... right now. If you're the Cleveland Browns, you're not trading for a 33 year old. But if you're Philly, a team that is already very young and very talented, you absolutely consider any option that will improve your chances of winning a Super Bowl.

How valuable are 2nd round picks?

Well, you can get this...

But you can also get this...

So let's assume a 2010 2nd round pick would have gotten Tony Gonzalez, maybe also having to add something like a 6th rounder if the Chiefs felt that the Eagles would most likely be picking later than the Falcons in the 2010 draft. Doing this of course assumes Atlanta wouldn't just continue to up their offer, but for the sake of debating this, let's just assume a 2 and a 6 gets Tony Gonzalez.

With that established, let's take a look at all of the (15) 2nd round picks in the Andy Reid era, and decide if you'd rather have that player for X number of years, or 3-4 years of Tony Gonzalez.

2009 - LeSean McCoy - McCoy

2008 - Trevor Laws - I'll be kind to Laws, and call this one "To Be Determined."

2008 - DeSean Jackson - Jackson

2007 - Kevin Kolb - Debatable. If I'm a GM, I'd take the promise of Kolb.

2007 - Victor Abiamiri - I think at this point, it's fair to say Gonzalez.

2006 - Winston Justice - Really tough call here. Let's call this "TBD."

2005 - Reggie Brown - Gonzalez

2005 - Matt McCoy - Gonzalez

2003 - LJ Smith - Gonzalez

2002 - Michael Lewis - Gonzalez

2002 - Sheldon Brown - Brown

2001 - Quinton Caver - Gonzalez

2000 - Todd Pinkston - Gonzalez

2000 - Bobbie Williams - Gonzalez

1999 - Barry Gardner - Gonzalez

In recent years, 2nd round picks have been very productive and/or show a lot of promise, but historically, it's an understatement to say that you're certainly not assured to get a quality player.

- (9) Gonzalez - Of the (15) 2nd round picks of the Andy Reid era, anyone would clearly take 3-4 years of Tony Gonzalez over 9 of those players.

- (3) The pick - In only 3 cases (Jackson, McCoy, Brown), the clear decision would be to keep the player.

- (3) Close call - In 2 other cases (Kolb and Justice), it's debatable, and in one case (Laws), I'm being kind and saying "TBD."

The emergence of Brent Celek

2009 - 54 catches, 601 yards, 5 TD, projected over a 16 game season, that's 79 catches, 874 yards, 7 TD

Celek has exceeded anyone's wildest expectations, has put together a Pro Bowl worthy season so far, and earned a shiny new contract extension worth $11 million in guarantees and up to $33 million should the Eagles retain his services for the duration of the contract. Questions to consider regarding Celek though...

The bad question...

- Could the presence of Gonzalez have stunted Celek's growth?

The good questions...

- How could teams defend an offense that could put weapons such as Tony Gonzalez, Brent Celek, Leonard Weaver, Westbrook/McCoy, and Jackson on the field one play, and then a combo of Jackson, Westbrook/McCoy, Maclin, Avant, and Gonzalez the very next play? The mismatches an Offensive Coordinator could create would be endless.

- How much of an upgrade would Gonzalez be over Celek? How much of an upgrade would Celek be over Alex Smith?

- Celek's dedication to watching tape of Jason Witten was highly publicized after having signed his contract extension. How would Celek benefit from watching the best TE in the history of the game in person every day?

Poll

Looking back, if you're the Eagles' GM, would you have traded our 2010 2nd rounder for Tony Gonzalez?

DeSean Jackson - "I don't think I can go. I blacked out."

Bye, Dawk :( — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:51:36 -0000

DeSean Jackson - "I don't think I can go. I blacked out."

Looks like DeSean Jackson will be sitting out against Atlanta. It's probably the smart move, especially with Atlanta missing Matt Ryan and possibly Michael Turner.

Things I like so far in the 2nd half of the season, things I don't.

Bye, Dawk :( — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:04:47 -0000

With 5 games to go, the Eagles look to be in a great position to go back to the playoffs as at least a wildcard, with an excellent chance to win the division. A road win against a bad Bears team and a home win against an injury-depleted Redskins team may not look great on paper, but they were both the type of games that Eagles fans have been programmed to expect to lose in recent years. With that said, let's take a look at some positives and negatives leading into the home stretch...

Things I like to see so far in the 2nd half of the season...

Donovan McNabb - Finally... some grit. Keep it up Donny.

LeSean McCoy - His 2-point conversion was incredible. Had McCoy not somehow stayed on his feet and scored on that 2-point conversion play, we probably don't win. He's been fantastic as a rookie in Westbrook's absence.

Jason Avant - I wrote a piece on the Eagles 1st Half Report Cards a few weeks backs, and here's what I said about Avant...

Jason Avant - D+ Are there other people out there that are disappointed that Jason Avant has pretty much been invisible? We saw some nice steady improvement every year so far out of Avant, but he has leveled off this season.

At the time (through 8 games), Avant had 15 catches, 198 yards, and 1 TD. In the 3 games since, he has had 17 catches, 276 yards, and a TD, including 2 HUGE catches in the tying drive vs. the Redskins.

Jeremy Maclin - Keeps quietly getting it done. His last 3 games - 6-76, 6-64, 5-63. And he's going to keep getting better.

The Weave - 6 more carries last week, 44 yards. In the first 6 weeks, he had 4 carries. Let me repeat that again - 4 carries. What the hell was going on there? In the 5 games since, 27 carries, 163 yards. This guy is a bona fide player, and needs more touches. Frankly, 6 carries per game still isn't enough. Leonard Weaver needs to touch the ball at least 8-10 times per games.

Trent Cole - Sure-fire Pro Bowl bid this year. I'm going to make a bold statement here - Asante Samuel had 2 interceptions against the Redskins, but Trent Cole had a far bigger effect on that game.

Asante Samuel and Sheldon Brown - We've given up a slew of big games to opposing TE's, but anyone out there want to venture a guess how many WR's have had 100 yards against us this year? NONE. Zip. Zilch. This is the best cornerback tandem in the NFL, period.

David Akers - (Knocking on wood) He's been outstanding lately.

Our Depth - The depth of this team has truly stepped up big-time this season. Stewart Bradley, Shawn Andrews, Donovan McNabb, Brian Westbrook, Todd Herremans, Cornelius Ingram, Omar Gaither, Ellis Hobbs, Victor Abiamiri, Stacy Andrews, Chris Gocong, Kevin Curtis, Akeem Jordan, and so on. Honestly, how many teams can sustain this many injuries to this many good players and still be 7-4?

The trend of locking up good young players long-term - Kudos to the Eagles FA for getting long-term deals done with Brent Celek and Winston Justice.

The Cowboys schedule - December is here. Is another collapse in the works? Well, it won't be easy for Dallas. Their next 5 games...

- Week 13 - @ Giants - NFC East rivalry game in the Meadowlands -never easy.

- Week 14 - Chargers - In case anyone else is like me and isn't paying much attention to the AFC West, the Chargers have rattled off 6 straight wins, including a blowout in Denver, and impressive wins against the Eagles and Giants.

- Week 15 - @ New Orleans - Best team in the NFL, and it isn't close. The Saints will still need this one, too, since the Vikings are still lurking with one loss and home field will still be in question.

- Week 16 - @ Washington - The Redskins dominated the Cowboys a couple weeks ago. Yes, dominated them. If the Redskins' kicker makes an easy chip shot FG, the Eagles are tied for the division lead right now.

- Week 17 - Philadelphia - Gotta love the football gods.

Tony Romo's trip to Vegas - In case you missed it, Tony Romo went to Vegas this weekend with Miles Austin for a "charity event." Still, it's Vegas, and thoughts of Romo's trip to Cabo before their playoff game in 2007 immediately comes to mind. So it was a "charity event," right? No big deal. Dallas fans will look to swiftly sweep it under the carpet, but this a legitimate indication of how Romo is wired.

Was Romo in Vegas for a charity event? Yes. Did he do any partying while he was out there? I don’t know, I wasn’t there, but there’s certainly no shortage of things to do there if you’re a 29 year old male. Frankly, whether he found time to have fun in Vegas or not is kind of irrelevant.

See, here’s the thing… Whether the "charity event" was in Las Vegas or Des Moines, Iowa, he’s still missing extremely valuable time preparing for a huge showdown against an NFC East rival. Would Peyton Manning sacrifice valuable preparation time to be in Vegas for a charity event during the season? Quite simply, no, he wouldn’t. Romo has a history to go along with the reputation that he may not be as committed to winning as some of the other great, elite QB’s in the league, and this is just yet another example.

Vegas (and whatever Romo’s charity is) will still be there in February, will they not? Why lose valuable time and further feed the perception that you don’t care about winning before a HUGE game in December, which, oh by the way, historically hasn’t exactly been your best month? It’s stupid. If the Cowboys lose, watch this story become larger than life.

The Giants look horrible - Really not much more to say here. They're playing some really bad football.

Things I don't like to see in the 2nd half of the season...

The Coaching decisions continue to amaze me (in a bad way) - I don't care if the Redskins weren't ready for an onsides kick, and I don't care how good of an idea it looked like when they saw what they saw on film. When you're playing a 3-7 team that is missing Albert Haynesworth, Chris Cooley, Clinton Portis, Chris Samuels, Deangelo Hall, and Randy Thomas, you simply don't try an onsides kick on the opening kickoff. Pure stupidity.

We still can't cover TE's - Let's take a look at how some TE's have played against us this year...

- Jeremy Shockey - 4 catches, 49 yards

- Kellen Winslow - 9 catches, 102 yards, 2 TD

- Zach Miller - 6 catches, 139 yards, 1 TD

- Fred Davis (in limited action after Cooley got hurt) - 8 catches, 78 yards, 1 TD

- Kevin Boss - 3 catches, 70 yards, 1 TD

- Jason Witten - 7 catches, 43 yards

- Antonio Gates - 7 catches, 78 yards

- Greg Olsen - 7 catches, 42 yards (and several plays in which he was wide open but Cutler missed him)

- Fred Davis - 4 catches, 43 yards, 1 TD

That's consistently awful. I don't have any suggestions on how to fix it either, which is equally troubling.

Our pass rush - Wait, we're 6th in the league in sacks, with 31, what's not to like? Well, aside from Trent Cole, nobody, and I mean no-bo-dy is getting to the QB. I love Brodrick Bunkley and Mike Patterson in the run game, but fellas... Can we get at least a little bit of penetration up the middle on pass plays? I'm not even asking for you 2 guys to make the play on your own - Can you guys please just get enough of a push to clean up the sack after Cole has forced the QB to step up? We're consistently giving up plays when opposing QB's are able to step up cleanly in the pocket, take an extra second, and find a RB or TE open as a safety valve. As for the left side, Juqua Parker, Victor Abiamiri, and Chris Clemons have been bad. Parker may have 5 sacks, but he never sees a double team, and has too many opportunities not to be making a bigger impact. They have to get more production form that spot.

A first round bye is pretty much out of the question, by any stretch - There's just way too much ground to make up on the Vikings, not that we should really even be considering it in the first place right now. We're pretty much guaranteed an extremely difficult road through the playoffs, should we be fortunate enough to make it to the tourney yet again.

Anything else you like/dislike so far in the 2nd half of the season?

1st Half Report Cards

Bye, Dawk :( — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:21:18 -0000

8 games down, 8 to go. If the season ended today, the Eagles would be in the playoffs. I'm trying to decide if the first half of the season so far has been disappointing. On the one hand, we lost extremely winnable games to Dallas and Oakland, but on the other, we had 5 very convincing victories. Let's grade the majority of our players one at a time...

Before we critique each player, let's first note that this team has been flat-out rocked by injuries. We've already put the following players on IR...

Stewart Bradley, Shawn Andrews, Omar Gaither, Cornelius Ingram, and now Ellis Hobbs. NOTE - If you've been IR'd, you won't be a factor again until next season and therefore won't get a grade, although I made an exception for Shawn Andrews.

And the following starters have missed at least one full game...

Donovan McNabb, Brian Westbrook, Todd Herremans, Victor Abiamiri, Chris Gocong, Stacy Andrews, Kevin Curtis.

Injuries happen in football, but that's just ridiculous.

Anyway, moving on to the first half report card based on preseason expectations...

OFFENSE

Donovan McNabb - C+ The inconsistency just kills me. From game to game, you really have no idea what you're going to get. He was outstanding against the Giants and Bucs, and played well enough against the Redskins and Panthers, but was terrible in the 2 losses to Oakland and Dallas. Andy Reid on several occasions has called Donovan the best QB in the league. He's not even close. Guys like Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, etc, will their teams to win. I keep waiting for McNabb to show that quality, but if the outcome of any Eagles game is within 7 points, there's a good chance we didn't win.

Kevin Kolb - A- First of all, don't let the A- vs. C+ for McNabb fool anyone. McNabb is the QB of this team (as he should be). But 2 starts, 718 yards, 4 TD, NFL offensive player of the week, and he was the first player in NFL history to throw for 300 yards in his first 2 career starts. I don't hear anyone chirping that we should trade him anymore.

Michael Vick - C I still like the acquisition. He really hasn't been a distraction, which is a credit to the Eagles' PR people, although he's basically done nothing for the team so far. Still, can anyone name a better 3rd QB... ever? And if he nets us a draft pick in return at the end of the season, it's a brilliant move.

Brian Westbrook - D+ Brian Westbrook is one of the best players in the history of this franchise, but it's pretty simple... Injuries and a seemingly sharp decline in ability has led to 327 yards from scrimmage through 8 games. This is a far, far, faaarrrr cry from the Brian Westbrook of years past.

LeSean McCoy - B- Needs a ton of improvement picking up blitzes, and I have a heart attack every time he carries the ball through the hole a foot from his body, but he's shown that he can definitely be a playmaker in this league. I hear experts say that the Eagles don't miss anything when Westbrook is hurt, which may be true of the 2009 version of Westbrook, but he's nowhere near the talent of the Westbrook we've all grown to love... yet.

Leonard Weaver - B+ He got 8 carries against the Giants, and 8 carries last week against Dallas. That's exactly the right amount of use for The Weave. In the 6 weeks before that, he had a grand total of 4 carries - Totally unacceptable. What the hell took so long, guys? Let's hope Andy and Marty keep at it.

DeSean Jackson - A This would be an A+ if he didn't hire Drew Rosenhaus. But that aside, this is the best offensive player (non-QB edition) in the division, period.

Jeremy Maclin - B+ Had DeSean Jackson not had a spectacular rookie season last year, I think Maclin would be receiving a lot of attention as a real up-and-coming great player. In his first 5 starts... 19 catches, 291 yards, 3 TD. Average that over 16 games and you're looking at 61 catches, 931 yards, 10 TD. He's only going to get better.

Kevin Curtis - Inc. Hasn't played

Jason Avant - D+ Are there other people out there that are disappointed that Jason Avant has pretty much been invisible? We saw some nice steady improvement every year so far out of Avant, but he has leveled off so far this season.

Reggie Brown - F We can't cut him because it'll be a huge cap hit, and we can't trade him because nobody wants his salary, not mention that he, um, isn't good. His stats so far this season - 1 catch, 4 yards. Hooray!

Brent Celek - A Not including last night's Niners/Bears game, where does Celek rank statistically among NFC TE's? 3rd in catches (40), 1st in yards (486), 5th in TD's (4), 1st in receptions gaining 20+ yards (7), and tied for 2nd in receptions resulting in a 1st down (23). Brent, book your tickets to Hawaii (oops, Miami).

Alex Smith - Um, C, I guess Moving along.

Jason Peters - A Peters has been phenomenal this season. I'm going to spend some time on this one, so buckle up. OK, for anyone that disagrees that he should get the same grade as DeSean Jackson and Brent Celek, put yourself in Peters' shoes...

- You come to a new to a team and have to learn a new style of pass blocking, a new offense, and new teammates.

- The starting LG (more specifically, the guy next to you on the line) has been out pretty much all season, and you’re trying to get on the same page with a backup while picking up some of their slack.

- You’re one of only 2 starting OL that has remained healthy, and have therefore had virtually no opportunity to develop any kind of legitimate continuity.

- You get no help whatsoever… NONE… because the RB’s and TE’s are almost solely helping on the right side of the line.

- Your responsibilities (again, in mostly one-on-one situations) so far have included Julius Peppers, Will Smith, Richard Seymour, Andre Carter, Osi Umenyiora, and DeMarcus Ware. If you're counting at home, those 6 guys have a combined 15 total Pro Bowls and over 300 combined career sacks.

- Your team passes 65% of the time, and the defense knows it.

All that said, I can think of 2 bad plays this season where Peters was responsible - Just 2... a sack-fumble by Andre Carter, and a sack-fumble by Osi Umenyiora. He's done an absolutely remarkable job, and is easily the most irreplaceable player on this team (see the Oakland game for reference).

Todd Herremans - Inc. Missed most of the season so far, but played well in his first 2 games back. Huge boost to this offense if he can stay healthy.

Jamaal Jackson - C The interior D Lines for Oakland and Dallas wore him out, although he's played well otherwise. He's becoming a bit of a concern.

Nick Cole - B- See Jamaal Jackson. Really nice backup, but he's not an NFL starting caliber guard.

Max Jean Gilles - C I like his talent, but he's sort of a bad fit for this team and the kind of offense we run. He'd be much more valuable in a smashmouth style offense.

Winston Justice - B+ Personally, I had completely written him off, and was even a little annoyed he made the final roster. Oops. My bad, Winston. He gets a lot of help from the RB's and TE's in pass protection, but he's been an extremely pleasant surprise. The Andrews brothers have done everything in their power to completely destroy the right side of our line, but Justice has held down the fort admirably.

Stacy Andrews - F--- 6 year, 38.9 million contract, and he doesn't even play. Awful. Not wasting any more energy here.

Shawn Andrews - Z- Bye. You don't deserve to wear an Eagles uniform.

DEFENSE

Trent Cole - A I've typed this over and over again, but Trent Cole is the best defensive player on this team, and one of the true elite DE's in the game. The lack of national recognition is astounding.

Mike Patterson and Brodrick Bunkley - A- Apologies to Mike and Brodrick for lumping them together, but they're pretty much the same guy. The Eagles give up less than 100 rushing yards per game, which is remarkable, considering the Eagles' linebacker situation. Full credit goes to Patterson and Bunkley. They've been great.

Victor Abiamiri - D He missed 10 games his rookie season, 6 games last year, and 3 so far this year. My patience is waning.

Juqua Parker - C+ 4 sacks in split-time duty... About what should have been expected. Was torn between a B- and C+, but opted for the latter because of his preseason nonsense.

Trevor Laws - D- If anyone has seen Trevor Laws this season, please contact the Philadelphia police.

Darren Howard - C- I don't think anyone was expecting a repeat of his 10 sack season of a year ago, but he's been pretty quiet so far, with only 2 sacks.

Jason Babin - A- Why was he inactive for 4 games?!? He's clearly the best DE on this team right now not named Trent Cole. He has 2.5 sacks in 4 games (of which he saw very limited action). Can we please get this guy on the field some more?

Chris Clemons - C- This time last year, he would have earned himself a solid F, but he picked up his game nicely in the second half of the season. He's been better in the first half of the year so far this year than he was last, but he's still underachieving.

Akeem Jordan - B+ I just really like this kid. 53 tackles, a sack, a couple picks. He flies all over the field and makes plays.

Will Witherspoon - Inc. SPOOOOON! In his first game here, he had 8 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble, an interception, a TD, and a new nickname. Great start, and a monster upgrade over (fill in the blank of any other healthy LB on this team). Too early to give him a grade, although based on those 3 games, I'd lean toward an A-.

Chris Gocong - C Someone recently wrote a good post about Gocong noting the little things that he does (like blowing up the fullback in the hole, and things of that nature). And while I appreciate all of that, he simply can't cover anybody and never makes any big plays. I'm all for role players, but not when they start.

Moise Fokou - Inc. Need to see more of Fokou to make any kind of informed opinion, although he's not off to a good start after a couple killer penalties last Sunday.

Jeremiah Trotter- F I'm sorry. I know this is blasphemy, and I love Trotter, but what purpose does he serve on this team? I just don't get it. The "F" is more on the personnel decision than it is on Trotter himself.

Asante Samuel - A- I hate... H-A-T-E that he can't tackle and doesn't seem to care about that fact, but sometimes it can be overlooked when a guy just make so many HUGE plays. 5 picks in 8 games so far.

Sheldon Brown - A- In my own humble opinion, after Antoine Winfield of the Vikings, Brown is the best tackling CB in the league. This year, he's also making big plays - 4 picks in 8 games so far.

Joselio Hanson - C+ He's played well in nickle and dime back situations, but he's really hurting his team right now with this 4 game suspension.

Quintin Mikell - B Mikell just doesn't ever make mistakes. Rarely ever misses tackles, and allows Sean McDermott to have confidence dialing up blitzes all game. I'd like to see him hang onto a few more balls though - 2 INT drops come to mind.

Sean Jones - B- Jones was a monster in his first start against Washington, and has been solid in his 2 starts since. I've been impressed with his ability to get to the QB on blitzes. He sacked Romo last week, and timed a blitz nicely on Jason Campbell, although Campbell just ducked under Jones when he went airborne, but look to see his role in that area increase in the 2nd half of the season.

Macho Harris - B- What can really be expected of a rookie 5th round pick playing a position he had never played before? He didn't make any big plays, but he didn't exactly kill us either. I'll take it.

Quintin Demps - D Huge disappointment. A few of his quotes prior to Week 1...

- "It’s getting kind of irritating, man," Demps said. "It’s too close to not have a starter already. I just feel like we should already have a starter. I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s getting irritating."

- "Right now, I’m the starting free safety, but there are so many games being played that it’s getting irritating."

- "If I had known it was going to be like this, this late, I would have probably worked extra. It’s kind of been a carousel for me, but I’m just going to go out this last game hopefully and just open some eyes and put it in cement that I’m the starter."

He's too talented to not be contributing more to this team.

SPECIAL TEAMS

David Akers - B I wondered if we should have addressed the kicker position this offseason, but I'm glad we didn't. Yeah, he missed a couple kicks in Oakland, but otherwise he's been very good. His kicks this year...

<40 - 6/6

40-49 - 9/11

>50 - 1/2

PAT - 23/24

Sav Rocca - B He's really not as bad as people perceive. Anyone want to guess how many punts have resulted in touchbacks so far? 2. Punts inside the 20? 15. That's pretty good. You know what the average punt return is against Rocca so far this year? 5.4 yards. He's a little inconsistent, but I can live with the occasional shank if he isn't giving up big returns, keeps the ball out of the endzone, and is good for an occasional bomb.

So that about does it for the major players on this team. If we can get healthy and perhaps get better production from some of our many underachievers, I see no reason this team still can't make a deep playoff run.

Poll

Who is your 1st half MVP?

DeSean Jackson

456 votes

Brent Celek

175 votes

Jason Peters

13 votes

Trent Cole

48 votes

Asante Samuel

10 votes

Sheldon Brown

10 votes

Other

8 votes

720 votes | Poll has closed

Just FYI - Mike Pereira admits the 4th and 1 spot was bad

Bye, Dawk :( — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:55:45 -0000

Just FYI - Mike Pereira admits the 4th and 1 spot was bad

The generic star avatar in the new SB Nation look

Bye, Dawk :( — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:26:41 -0000

The generic star avatar in the new SB Nation look

Can we get rid of the star avatar for people that don't have an original one? I tried to not let it bother me for most of the week, but it's becoming more and more clear that I can't just let it go. I'm as superstitious as they come. For example, my company has blue coffee mugs, and I've refused to drink out of them the past 2 weeks because they're Giants/Cowboys colors. JasonB, are there other optioons, because this star really has to go. Seriously.

Roy Williams criticizes Tony Romo (link to video)

Bye, Dawk :( — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:26:12 -0000

Roy Williams criticizes Tony Romo (link to video)

And maybe even more disturbingly for Dallas fans, he refers to teammate Miles Austin as "Number 2," instead of by name. This is an unnecessary distraction for a 5-2 team heading into an extremely important division game. Stay tuned...