Philadelphia is a football town.  We are also a sports town, who wants nothing more than a quality product on the field and players who care about winning.  Because really, winning is all we want as well.  Normally we overextend our criticism and generally worry about things that can be corrected or repaired.  With that being said, I think we all love that about the fan base because we can all identify with the fact that we want to win.  As a disclaimer, I am not a basher of the fans, coaches, or players in general.  Most times I give the team the benefit of the doubt but the facts are the facts and when you read between the lines, the answers are there.  I attempt to let the team dictate my thoughts however original or lack there-of. 

Offense:

This, to me, is the most frustrating part of the season.  We all know we have the talent here to win across the board.   I would say that we have top ten players across the board at all the skilled based positions on offense.  You could argue Celek is not there, and you would not get much of a disagreement from me on that one.  I think we all realize that Vick isn’t Brady, McCoy isn’t as durable/physical as some other backs, and Maclin/Jackson are not Fitzgerald or Johnson.  With that being said, at least ¾ of the league is not in that position, with that problem.  We don’t have the most beautiful woman around but she isn’t ugly, insane, or broke. 

Yesterday epitomized what is wrong with the offense.  This again, is nothing new, but Buffalo opened up the game in DIME!  DIME!  They had one LB out there on the field to open the game on defense.  We threw out there our normal formation of multi set WR’s and passed twice to open the game.  Defenses are doing nothing more than daring us to run.  It makes perfect sense because the Eagles don’t run.  From a team that is predicated upon the big play, defenses are in a position to prevent that big play and does nothing but keep the D over the top.  When the field shortens up, we can’t execute but I really don’t think it’s because of the players.  I think it’s because of the offense.  Last week was the first time we had any sort of intermediate offense but I am still not sold that the Eagles have it figured out.  Avant was featured across the middle numerous times and his numbers reflected that.  Again, I don’t have access to NFL films, nor the desire, but to me it sure looked like he was the check down on a majority of the plays.   Of course there is nothing wrong with that assuming that every play isn’t inclined to Maclin or Jackson 20 yards out with LB and safety help.

I am not Didinger, but to me it didn’t seem like the intermediate routes were there all game.  I mean if you are not going to run, at least jam up the middle of the field and get more than Avant available as a check down.  The screen is non-existent, once a staple and the little outs to the blazing WR only happened once yesterday, a DeSean TD.  This is no longer an offense based on timing and precision, it’s predicated on the big play despite the fact that opponents are routinely closing that door.  I don’t want to be a fan that says run the ball more, but if they are not going to do that they at least need to establish the short passing game.  I’m not saying they should run more, I could honestly care less.  I am saying they have no short game at all.  Remember the incessant dinky passes McNabb would throw at everyone’s feet?  Seems like those have disappeared altogether or am I wrong?  The constant philosophy that was our short passes are runs as well. 

For years we lived under the guise that impact WRs would make the offense better.  We have that now and our problems have simply inverted.  Just like the all short game that gave us issues in times of trouble, the all long game is doing the exact same thing.  Think about how productive the offense is with a short field.  The Buffalo Bills opened the game up in DIME.  That still boggles my mind. 

Last but not least, how many times do you think that shuttle pass is going to work?  I mean you score how you score but I am still shocked that works against teams.  Third in the league in yards gained but 11th in scoring. 

Defense:

To me, this is not as frustrating, only because you can see it’s just horrible.  There is simply no sugar coating it, they are built to play with a lead, and they can’t possibly do that.  Any win this year is co-dependent on the offense outscoring the other team.  I mean, when both safeties combine for 24 tackles, you just have to throw your arms up.  Mind you, those tackles were not Brian Dawkins jumping over the defensive line into the backfield.  I am not going to go back and watch the game again, but I would bet that 21/24 were after the offense gained at least 5 yards.  Let’s be honest here, they can’t tackle either. 

I can’t believe it’s already the second paragraph of defense and I am just saying this, but the LB’s are horrible, maybe the worst combination of all time.  As a result, there is no scheming on defense.  There is absolutely nothing they can do.  Put 8 or more in the box to stop the run, we can’t cover a TE let alone a RB.  Bring in RC on the nickel, good luck making the tackle when they check down and run the ball.  Isolate Samuel and Asamouga all you want, no one else is picking up anything underneath.  They could be Deion Sanders and Darrell Green in their prime,  it still would not matter.  Teams have zero reason to throw their way when underneath is open all day long. 

Sadly, it’s so horrible that if Buffalo had ran the ball yesterday on 4th down, outside of a lineman making a remarkable play, game over.  Was it a boneheaded play?  Absolutely, but I can’t blame Parker for all the other shortcomings of this team.  We didn’t stop the run all game. At one point during the game I even thought to myself, if I were coaching against the Eagles, I would go for two after every TD.  Short yardage defense doesn’t exist in South Philadelphia so I would say teams could convert about 75% on their attempts. 

Coaching: 

I have never been one to say Reid must go.  I never stuck up for him either.  Sticking to the facts:  The Eagles lost to Buffalo and San Francisco in consecutive weeks.  Say that twice aloud.  Regardless of the reasons you feel like the Eagles are losing, it doesn’t matter because they are 1-4.  If nothing else, whoever selected the defensive personnel and decided against bringing in another LB needs to head out immediately.  Unfortunately we will never know why that happened, but three 10 year vets would be a lesser liability at this point. 

Moving away from personnel, last week was the first week that the Eagles were not totally outplayed and manhandled in the second half after the other team made adjustments.  Unfortunately, the Eagles were flat out not prepared and gave up too much too early to mount a comeback.  Combined with the offense needing until the second half to gain momentum and the game is over.  This reverts back to scheming and calling the game.  Coming out committed to the pass when a team plays dime to open the game shows a complete and utter lack of insight on what teams did to you.  I guess they assume that gaining a boatload of yards equates to getting the job done.  It’s not playing to the strength of the offense when you don’t have the matchups required to get the job done and especially in the red zone.  With the current state of the defense, the offense can flat out not afford to turn the ball over, fail in the red zone, or put the defense out there any longer than it takes the other team to score.

Conclusion:

This is where we run into catch 22, which happens to be Demarcus Ware separating DeSean Jackson’s head from his body over the middle for a 12 yard gain.  In looking at the games moving forward, I have no confidence or assurance that they will play to their ability on offense.  Let’s face it, there is no bar on defense because they have three warm bodies there at the moment.  With that being said, really the only way I think this team has a shot is with a lead of 28 points or more, provided there is a half of football left.  I know that sounds insane, because it is, but we have seen leads of that caliber  blown twice this season already.  Ultimately, assuming they can sneak out a few wins and have luck in their corner, can this team beat one playoff caliber opponent?  I have a hard time believing so.  Outside of that, if they continue to struggle in the quicksand and we get a solid draft pick, what happens?  Is anyone confident that they will take a player that can make an impact?  Or will the Eagles trade down and out again?  The organization has turned into a Critical Thinking Seminar where minds can’t get out reason’s way. 

I will always be a fan and I long for the days where Sunday is no longer a comical experience.  Without the comedy I would be forced into a lifestyle of sedatives, alcohol, and worship of Joe Theisman.  If you have hung on this long, I commend you because I bored myself.     Thanks and Go Birds. 

From a Flyer's fan, good luck this year.  You are my defacto Western Conference team with Richards, until he retires.  My favorite player by far, and still one of the top 15-20 in the game, easily.  Plays through anything, will hit anyone, and all the guys will love him.  Just ordered his Kings jersey, never in a million years thought that would happen, and the only way I won't root for the Kings is if we meet up.  And if we do, honestly I could not be angry if he carried the cup.  Good luck and I need to work on my insomnia to watch as many Kings games as possible this season. 

First and foremost, I come in peace.   I am a Phils fan but a huge baseball fan in general.  At this point in time, I cannot for the life of me figure out what the hell is going on tonight?  What sense does it make to split up Max and Douglas? 
I am just sitting here trying to figure out what they are doing?  Whose turn was it in the rotation?  Just as a casual fan and observer of the Tigers, I would think given Fister's recent success, he is the guy you want in there game 2/5 no?   

Nothing that I look at in the stats point to Max in any capacity.

Am I nuts or completely missing something?

Hombres, quick question.  What is Stauffer's role the remaining portion of the year?  He pitched fairly well the end of last season and he opened up the season nicely.  Does he get back in the rotation?  I know Adams is out now so that kind of leaves a shortage.

Finally, there is no way in hell that Latos pulled a muscle sneezing.  Not that I disagree, but they really want to watch his innings this year.  With that being said, they also needed the roster space.  Then there was news that stint was imminent, followed by the moronic sneezing story.  Never a dull moment.

Hello A's fans.  Just as a background, I am actually a Phillies fan, born and raised in Philadelphia and surrounding area.  The Phis are my team, but I also love the AL West in general (other than the Rangers), more than likely because I lived in Seattle for two years.  One of those two years was the M's 2001 season.  Also, interested in the historical aspect of the game, and the A's used to reside in Philly which is enough to keep me interested.

Anyhow, I had the ability to see Mr. Taylor on numerous occasions last year.  I work about 5 minutes from the Phils AA affiliate and live half way between the AA and AAA affiliate.  I am not a prospect maven and I will never claim to be, but I do follow along pretty closely.  Here is what I saw from the guy. 

First off, he is absolutely huge.  This is a massive massive man at quite a young age.  At AA he makes others look like kids and he still stands out at AAA as well.  In terms of his bat, he has insanely freakishly quick hands.  I really don't know how he gets the bat around as quick as he does and I think it's more an optical illusion because he is so big.  I don't know if that makes any sense at all, but he turns on balls quickly.  I do know that he can come around on an inside pitch without issue so I would not expect him to be the type of guy who will get jammed.  If he has any issues, I would say it would be with lower pitches and plate discipline, but that's pretty normal as far as I am concerned, especially when someone has power like his.  Also, I have never seen him have a "flukely" hit.  Everything is solid contact, kind of reminds me of Vlad, but obviously he is not Vlad.

The part that I was never sold on was his speed.  There is no way he weighs 250 pounds.  He has to be 265, at least and he does have some speed, I just don't see it lasting.  I know it's a smaller sample size, but you could sort of see the game caught up with him a bit in AAA.  I just have a hard time believing that a man that large will be any kind of force on the paths at the major league level.  If there is one thing that I can impress upon you about Taylor, it's that he is a very large man who can hit like crazy.  He's going to be a big guy with power for you who will not kill you on the paths. I have no idea what he will ultimately hit, but from what I have seen he can really hit for average as well as power.  Just don't expect more than 10 bags a year. 

In terms of defense, can't say that I have much information for you.  He was often not playing the field when I saw him in AA and didn't get much action in AAA.  I really don't know where is arm rates and even if I did, I never saw him field so I couldn't verify that.  In terms of prospects, thus far he is surely my favorite to watch throughout my lifetime.  I love the guy and I think you will too.  Congrats. 

I have been thinking about a way to break this down and justify this in my head.  I guess there are so many facets to this deal, you really cannot just make a blanket statement and run.  While I appreciate the whole payroll consideration theory, that's only a fraction of the deal.  One of the items that just does not resonate in my brain is what Cliff Lee has been traded for.  Check this out, here is his career in trades, which is pretty remarkable.

The Expos traded him to the Indians...

Indians get:  Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips, Lee Stevens

Expos get:  Bartolo Colon, Tim Drew

Indians trade him to Phils

Indians get:  Carlos Carrasco, Lou Marson, Jason Donald, Jason Knapp 

Phils get: Cliff Lee, Ben Francisco

Phils trade him to Mariners

Mariners get:  Cliff Lee

Phils get:  Phillippe Aumont, Juan Carlos Ramirez, Tyson Gillies

I just find his career in trades to be remarkable and bizarre at the same time.  Dealt with some pretty big names and certainly a cautionary tale when looking at throwing around prospects like they are nothing. I don't come from the school of protecting prospects either, but their perceived value to GM's is certainly misconstrued league wide.

I think if we sit back and look at the deals for Halladay and Lee, they are both great.  We all know that we needed Lee and he certainly returned his value for the duration of his time here, thus far.  Now, had we received this upcoming year out of him as well, that would have been even better.  Couple in the Ben Francisco treat, and regardless of the market at the deadline last year, the deal is great.  Provided the market at the deadline last year, and the deal is brilliant.  We have covered this a million times over.

The latest Halladay deal was also not that bad at all.  In fact, it's great on a number of different levels.  At this point, the perceived value of Taylor, Drabek, and D’Arnaud could really not get any higher.  If you are going to trade them, now is the time.  When you get a top shelf player in return, I personally have no reason to complain.  Add in the fact that they are getting money, from the Jays, and it's icing on the cake.  In terms of trading for Halladay from a personnel and monetary standpoint this deal is again, brilliant. To make this even more complete, Halladay is also going to be extended at an absolutely perfect contract length and rate.  It could not possibly be any better in my eyes and you cannot pass up the chance to get Halladay now.

From strictly a deal standpoint, we could sit here and argue semantics all day and it would be fun to do.  I think we would have a hard time gathering a ton of people who did not like any of the deals above.  Again, minor complaints, but these players that we are getting are surely top 5% of their positional tier, if not higher.

Where I think we have an issue is in Amaro's ability to get return for his big chips.  In this case, Lee.  This is not an easy thing to do, but the good GMs can all do this.  There are clearly people who know a great deal about prospects and what projections tend to be.  My issue isn't necessarily the prospects themselves, as much as it is the ability to help the team now.  Obviously, as prospects, they still need development and realize they are not going find room on a ball club that just went back to back series.  Prospects all have perceived value on the market, and clearly the players we are obtaining do not have that same value which hurts the team.  These three guys could turn out to be gems for all I know, but that will most certainly take time to develop as they move up the circuit in their development.  There is still some perceived value in Carrasco and Knapp, although they are both risks as well, but for a different reason that the prospects that the Phillies are obtaining.  

All in all, I really do not understand the urgency in dealing Lee immediately.  If we sit on him, we can just lie back and wait for teams to bid on Lee, Blanton, Werth, or Victorino.  Then there are always the draft picks as well if all else fails.  You cannot tell me that there isn't a better market for Lee, especially this time of year when every team thinks they are a contender.  Randy Wolf just signed a deal and will make slightly more than Lee this year.  I understand not every team in the league can swing that, but there is no doubt that you could swing some better prospects with a higher perceived value.

As I collect my thoughts and in writing this out, the Lee deal is just absolutely horrible.  It really is bad business and I feel like Amaro's biggest issue is that he is trigger happy.  Ibanez and Polanco were both deals that were out there and done too quickly.  I can't fault him for getting his man because clearly Ibanez worked out while he was healthy.  Based on last year's market, Ibanez was clearly overpaid.  Maybe the money he could have saved by waiting the market out last year could have saved us Lee this year?  In terms of Polanco, I don't hate the deal, but I really don't feel like he makes us a lot better.  Is the money justified in that deal?  At the time it seemed alright but we once again don't know the true valuation of the market.  If it's another Ibanez type of deal, we could have potentially just needed to move a small piece with the ability to keep Blanton, Happ, Hamels, Lee, and Halladay.  It's just a thought, but again, I think he moves too quickly for his own good.   

Had he waited this out, the potential suitors for Lee's services could have really driven up his price.  We could have opened up the bidding to the Mets, Yanks, and Red Sox, although it's highly unlikely that we would have dealt to any of those teams.  The Met's don't have anything, Yanks aren't that crafty, but the Sox may have taken him and flipped someone else although they are generally the most stingy on return.  I really think Theo knows how to trade at this point. Outside of that, you already know that Seattle has dropped a ton of payroll this year and it's obvious with this deal if you did not already know.  Anaheim just lost Lackey, are bound to lose Escobar as well, so the need for a one year rental of his caliber would certainly keep them well afloat going into the market next year.  Those two teams alone would drive up the price of the Lee being in the same division.  Regardless, there are five teams involved and there is always the potential for a 3 way deal.  You know, like the one that just happened. 

Outside of the few teams that would be players in the Leepstakes, there is always the potential to send off other pieces. That does not mean that we could have flipped some other players and retained the draft picks at the end of the season.  Bottom line is that you cannot trade Cliff Lee at the deadline.  I can't think of any scenario in my head where they would not be in contention for the Division or Wild Card at the deadline.  And if they were, he could more than likely garner a higher return than those two compensation picks.  Lost in the mix as well is that Blanton is a pretty solid pitcher as well.  Sure he is on a one year deal, but that is going to be another contract that need to be addressed next year as well.  He will command a decent sum on the open market.

Best case scenario.  We fail one of the Mariners on their physical and start over on the Lee front.  Try to move him first and then move down the list.  With the success that they have had, payroll limitations, and age of their pieces, this team is going to have some serious decisions to make.  If you are still reading, thank you for following along and thinking this out with me.