Post-Game Quotes from the Bills, Week 5 (this is ugly as hell):

"I mean, who didn't know we were going to run the ball? They've been exposed in the run game the entire season." - Stevie Johnson

"I think we thought we’d be able to outplay them physically." - Ryan Fitzpatrick

"We felt our offensive line could move them off the ball and they took that challenge to heart, and they were able to go out and move them off the ball and get beyond the safety every time." - Fred Jackson

"A couple of [Eagles] have been loose with the ball. Carrying it around, hanging it out, trying to make big plays. All week we’ve been focusing on trying to rip that ball out and trying to cause turnovers and things like that. It paid off." - Nick Barnett

(Source: http://www.csnphilly.com/blog/eagles-talk/post/Boastful-Bills-knew-exactly-how-to-beat-?blockID=574808&feedID=704)

I've taken Andy Reid's quotes on every draft pick from the website and placed them below. No analysis here, just the big guy in his own words. It lets you know what attracted us to a specific player and how we intend to use him. Assuming that Reid's not lying of course...and hot damn we had a lot of picks. Enjoy:

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On Brandon Graham: "I haven't been around a lot of players that played harder than Trent Cole…That's the way (Graham) played at that level, at the college level. We'll see what he does here…I put a lot of value in guys who play relentless football and that have the character that you want. So I think he kind of filled all those spots. He had, I also like defensive linemen that do a good job of playing and making plays on the other side of the line of scrimmage and there weren't a lot of them better in college football than this kid."

On Nate Allen: "We ended up drafting Nate Allen, a secondary player…When I say that, he's a safety, but I believe he also can play corner for you. We drafted him in the second round. His strengths are he has a great eye for the ball; ball hawk. He's a very, very good tackler. I think those are two important things when you are the last guy to the end zone. I feel very comfortable with him, he's very intelligent, he's got everything that we like here and we look forward to getting him in."

On Daniel Te'o-Nesheim: "We have another TO in the building; that's the important thing. This TO is a defensive end, he can also play defensive tackle, particularly on pass-rush situations although he did it both ways there. He was the career sack leader for the University of Washington. I believe he had 31 sacks. That's quite a statement in itself. He's very good against the run…He's a very, very quiet guy. Do you know that guy who plays safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers? (Troy) Polamalu. (Sarkisian) said, now he coached both guys here, he says, 'This is what he is except as a defensive lineman. He's very quiet, very soft spoken. When he puts on his uniform, he's a different guy.' When you talk to him and then when you watch some of his highlights, I think you'll get an idea of what I'm saying here and what really his coach said."

On Trevard Lindley: "Lindley has a phenomenal year (in 2008) and then he got banged up (in 2009) ... He had a high ankle sprain and that can kind of put a little damper on a college season. Well that's what happened to him. It happened early and he really never got over that thing but he never really wanted to stop playing, which showed me something. He's a quiet guy, tremendous desire to play the game, loves to play the game so he stayed out there. I had a chance to talk with Rich Brooks, who was the head coach there and is now retired. Rich said that he's one of, if not the best, one of the best corners he's ever coached and the best one that he's ever coached (at Kentucky). So we went off of (Lindley's) junior film ... and it was, the Percy Harvins, there were three big time receivers that he shut down and did a great job against. He's got a lot of potential. We'll see how he does, how he handles this here and I think he's a good football player."

On Keenan Clayton: "I think Clayton can play both the outside positions, both the SAM and the WILL. Right now we have him at the WILL linebacker spot. Again, you're looking at a guy who made the transition from the safety position down into the box to play linebacker and all he did was make plays. He has tremendous speed, range and everything else. He's got a real knack for finding the football, good in pass coverage, somebody that can cover a tight end with his athletic ability, so we feel good about him."

On Mike [Ed: nickname has to be "Franz"] Kafka: "We liked him and so, going into the draft, we had to see how we worked things here ... I can't tell you that we absolutely knew going into the day that we were going to come out with him, but we after we got all these picks together and did everything that we needed to do these last couple days, we were able to do that ... Right now he's a number three quarterback ... The thing I saw, you saw the accuracy, leadership, size, good mobility, strong kid. I mean you can look at the stats. I look at the throwing motion, can he throw with the ball and arm at different angles with accuracy. I think once you meet him, I think you'll get a feeling for a smart guy that has some of the intangible things, the leadership. He's a tough kid, a Chicago kid. He's got a little grit to him; I think that's important when you - you have to be wired right to handle (the Philadelphia media) and play in the city of Philadelphia. I think he's wired right. He likes to compete."

On Clay Harbor: "We watched his tape obviously and we thought he was a good football player even though it's a little bit lower level. He's a good football player and I think what he gives you is he gives you somebody that can, he's big enough that he can work in-line, at the line of scrimmage. And I'm not saying that he's an offensive lineman playing there, but from a tight end standpoint, he can control a defensive end and/or linebacker and he's willing to stick his nose in there and do that. And I think when you see him run his routes, I think you'll see a very skilled athlete."

On Ricky Sapp: "Sapp is a player that can play both ... the strongside linebacker position and defensive end. Whether it's down on third down or on first and second down, he can do that ... He'll start off as a defensive lineman, and then he'll learn some of the linebacker stuff. We have the joker position where he can stand up, like Chris (Clemons) did ... We'll just see how he does. We'll see how he handles some of the linebacker role within that position and then we can work from there."

On Riley Cooper: "Coop is a big, strong, physical receiver. He did a tremendous job in the red zone. He's got great body control and can go up and get the football. He's a tenacious blocker; he's really a tough guy. "

On Charles Scott: "He had a couple long runs, so I wouldn't call him a short-yardage guy. He's a running back and that's what we're going to do with him. He's a big old kid that's got quick feet and likes to play a physical game so we'll let him do that."

On Jamar Chaney: "Chaney can do a variety of things. We felt that he could play all three (linebacker) positions ... (We felt) that he was a smart kid that had a great understanding of their defense there and we brought him up here and we would expect that that would transfer into learning ours once he gets his mitts on it. We know he's a good blitzer. We feel that he's a good cover man. He's able to take on fullbacks. He's good enough and quick enough to get on and off blocks from offensive linemen."

On Jeff Owens: "What you see with Owens is he's very, very strong. I think he bench pressed (225 pounds) 44 times (at the combine). He had a chance to work out with (former Eagles defensive line coach) Pete Jenkins this off-season, before the draft, and so what you see is a guy that has great quickness. Pete taught him all the hand stuff and then you saw that down at the Senior Bowl. He was coming off of an injury this year, made it through and did good. He gives you a little combination of pass rush and being able to play the run."

On Kurt Coleman: "He's a heck of a football player and, again, he loves to play the game. If you watch Ohio State play, you'll see him back there and he conducts it, he orchestrates the whole secondary, talking to the linebackers and he flies around the football. He was a little bit smaller. He's another guy that played corner and played safety and was able to drop down in nickel position and cover receievers. If you watched the Senior Bowl, the one-on-ones there, he had a chance to play against some of the good wide receivers there and I thought did a nice job in one-on-one competitions. I really felt like he was a very, very intelligent football player. And then he's very aggressive. He is a little bit smaller, he's under 200 pounds, but he will add value to our football team."

So with the start of the 2009 Eagles season, I have a modest proposal that I think could make Bleeding Green Nation even better. It started when I was thinking back to when we lost the NFC Championship Game last year and some Giants, Cowboys, Cardinals, etc. trolls quickly made BGN accounts to rub it in our faces that we had lost. So I thought about how we could avoid that situation this year.

On Blogging the Boys they have a smart feature when you try to create a new account: they activate your account only after 24 hours. I'm pretty sure this is the only positive thing the Cowboys have contributed to the NFL in the last 20 years. I kid, I kid.

But I think this is a good feature; it prevents trolls from coming on and creating an account in the aftermath of a bad loss just to talk shit. Also, it prevents people who don't regularly post on this site from creating an account just to blast the Eagles over a recent decision they have made (i.e. how many people did just this after the Michael Vick signing!). In short, preventing the creation of instant accounts would probably stop a lot of dumb posts.

I don't mean to be stepping on Jason's toes here, but I wanted to throw this idea out there and see what you guys thought. It's not a huge deal because trolls and dumb posts are just something you have to live with, but if this little feature could reduce both then I think it would be worthwhile.

Manuel never has been as one-dimensional as he has been depicted. Anybody who has been paying attention would have understood a couple of things. That winning is paramount. And that he's not scared to do what he thinks is best to reach that goal.

Those who don't believe that must have skipped class last year when he benched reigning MVP Jimmy Rollins twice, once for not running out a pop fly and once for arriving late for a game. Or earlier this season, when he took sentimental favorite Jamie Moyer out of the rotation.

From Hagen

I, just as much as anybody, cringed every time Charlie had Brad Lidge trot out there to blow another save over the past few months. But I mean the guy can't win, right? His loyalty is either what we celebrate or what we denigrate. But Charlie has yanked the plug, at least for now. Maybe he deserves a little more credit for his ability to change than we give him?

This was an interesting idea for the NFL proposed in the Boston Globe a while back: the "time-in"

Here's the idea in short, by author Samuel Arbesman:

"If you’ve ever noticed that football games slow to a predictable crawl at the end of each half, the time-in is the rule for you. The idea is simple: When the clock is stopped, for whatever reason, a coach could call a “time-in”, and force the clock to start up again. Think of it as the antimatter version of the timeout."

He further suggests, because of the disruptive nature of this idea, coaches only be given one "time-in" to use per season. What do you guys think of this? I am not sure how I feel. And I certainly don't think our coach, Mr. Clock Mismanagement himself, needs anything else to mess up the clock. But I can't help but be intrigued at the thought of a post-season game coming down to a "time-in" and a hurried play. All hell could break loose, and that's kind of exciting...

The Toronto Star recently ranked the "Best Sport Cities" in North America (excluding Mexico) and our beloved city of Philadelphia came in fourth. Check out the (very small) map:

Indianapolis came in first, Boston in second (bleh) and Vancouver in third. This list considered 37 cities - the requirement was that a city have at least two major sports teams (the Canadian Football League counted). The best cities were determined by:

a.) Winning percentage by teams since 2000.

b.) Bonus points (I'm not sure what the exact methodology was) for teams that made the playoffs and/or won championships.

Check out the article: http://www.thestar.com/sports/article/635370

These are some interesting results. Your thoughts...

Since I live right outside DC I thought I'd trek to the White House this morning to see if I could catch a glimpse of the World F. Champions before they met with President Obama. At around 10:45 they appeared en masse outside the South Entrance. It was quite a sight. Here are just a few candids I thought you guys might enjoy!

Brad Lidge

A little blurry, unfortunately, but Chase Utley and his hot wife.

Hollywood Hamels and Ryan Howard

Dave Montgomery, directing traffic, and his squad.

Check out this quick and easy chart I made about our roster turnover:

Note: Not all of these players are starters. I tried to compare direct roster spots; for example, take Lito Sheppard. He was essentially our 4th CB last year. So I replaced him with whom I project to be our 4th CB this year. It doesn't always work perfectly (i.e. the Greg Lewis spot; that depends on how many WRs we dress, etc.)

When it's put out there like this, it's hard not to be really amazed with the upgrades at almost every single position. The only one that's even debatable to my mind is Sean Jones for Brian Dawkins, but Jones is probably an upgrade in coverage. Also, every single addition is younger.

It's generally pretty tough for teams to lose as many players as we did and replace them in a few offseasons. Give props to our front office for doing it in one.

Note: when googling "Eagles additions and subtractions" (I was looking for a list of outgoing and incoming players) I stumbled upon a similar post on Inside the Iggles so I must give credit where credit is due.

Thoughts? Did I miss anything? You could also argue that Nick Cole and Max Jean-Gilles are being replaced by Shawn Andrews. That makes the deal even sweeter.