SB Nation User Blog: yomjoseki

Five predictions for the Giants

yomjoseki — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:15:11 -0000

Coming off a victory in DC, the Eagles have a chance to take control of the NFC East for the first time this season if they beat the Giants next Sunday. The Giants have now lost two in a row and are showing kinks in their armor. Don't make the mistake of believing they're in a position of weakness.

Tom Coughlin is a smart coach, and he doesn't want to lose 3 in a row, especially against a division opponent. The Giants are going to be fired up, and they're going to be hungry. I have a feeling the two losses will serve as a strong motivating factor for the Giants.

What do I expect to see? It's going to be a very physical, defensive game. The Giants are 1st in yards allowed per game, and the Eagles are in the top 5.

1. DeSean Jackson will be a non-factor. The Giants are well-coached and don't give up big plays. I think their number one priority is ensuring DeSean Jackson does not get open for the big play down field. Of course, it only takes one misstep by a defender for DeSean to get wide open, and if he does, that could prove to be the difference in the game. All this isn't necessarily a bad thing. With DeSean Jackson receiving so much attention from the defense, Brent Celek will have another big game, and LeSean McCoy and Leonard Weaver will more involved than they were in previous contests.

2. Eli Manning will be harassed. Sean McDermott learned the art of the blitz from the late, great Jim Johnson, and he sure loves to bring the pressure. The Giants have a very good offensive line. As the game goes on, however, I expect the Eagles defensive line rotation to wear down the Giants linemen. I don't think Eli has the resiliency to keep getting up and lead his team downfield. I think he will show frustration and have that confused look he always seems to have on his face.

3. The Eagles are going to show us something we haven't seen before on offense. So far this season, the Eagles have displayed a pretty vanilla playbook. Sure, they show the Wildcat formation quite a bit, but they haven't been using any exotic plays. I think Andy Reid has been saving and preparing for the Giants, the toughest and most important game so far this year. I think we see 2 "gimmick" plays. If the Eagles do get a big play off, it comes from a play we haven't seen before.

4. The Eagles will lean more on their running game. If Brian Westbrook can't go, look for LeSean McCoy to get around 20 carries and 5 or so by Leonard Weaver. For the Eagles to win, they're going to have to sustain drives with a running game and short passes. Brent Celek will be the favorite receiving targets this weekend. Donovan McNabb ends up spreading the ball pretty evenly amongst everyone that's not Celek.

5. The game will come down to one big turnover that leads to a score. Hopefully, that turnover goes to the Eagles. I think an Eli Manning sack and fumble in Giants territory turns into a TD.

The Eagles won't be able to get by with a win if they continue playing offense the way they have the last two weeks. I think it's going to be a nail-biter, and I have the Eagles coming out on top, 20-16. What's your thoughts?

Attention: Eagles fans.

yomjoseki — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:18:43 -0000

Thanks for supporting the Eagles. I know there's not a lot of us, but it's cool that there's actually people that support the team, even when we do stupid crap like lose to the Raiders. The ones that recognize that we have one of the best coaching staffs in the league, starting with one Andy Reid. The ones that know Donovan McNabb is a franchise QB. The fans that don't freak out after every tiny little setback.

I'm not talking to you, Mr. Bipolar Fan. You know who you are. You're the guy that will be the first to talk smack to another team as soon as we win, and you'll be the first to scream Bloody Mary when we're losing by 3 in the first quarter.

I'm not talking to you, Mr. Negative Nancy. Nothing would ever be good enough for you. We could win a game by 17 points, and you'll whine about the 3 and out we had in the 2nd quarter. We could win a Super Bowl, and you'll gripe that we couldn't win one while Dawk was with the Eagles. Jeff Lurie could mail you a $100 bill, and you'd complain about how it was folded.

I'm not talking to you, Mr. Bring In The Guy That's Backing Up McNabb This Year. Yeah, you're the guy with the A.J. Feeley, Jeff Garcia, Michael Vick, and Kevin Kolb jerseys. The one who pitches a fit every time McNabb throws one in the dirt. Because everyone knows Tom Brady and Peyton Manning never throw incomplete passes.

I'm talking to the real Eagles fans. The ones who realize that only one team can win a Super Bowl each year. The ones who know that they are fortunate to have a team who consistently wins and wins playoff games. The ones who know that as great as they are, Brett Favre has only one Super Bowl ring, John Elway lost three Super Bowls before he won two in a row at the ripe young age of 37, and Dan Marino never got one.

There's no accountability here or anywhere. If we're lucky enough to win a Super Bowl with Reid and McNabb, or Reid and Kolb, or whatever, I don't wanna see you at the party unless you stuck with the team. Calling for Jeff Lurie to bring in another coach because you think he'll be able to magically guide us to a Super Bowl victory is not supporting the team. Saying that Reid and/or McNabb are incapable of winning a championship because they've yet to do so is not only illogical*, it makes me want to punch you in the throat.

Supporting the team means supporting every player that suits up for us and every coach employed by the team as long as they are with the Eagles (and Brian Dawkins forever, assuming, of course, he is not playing the Eagles). You don't have to wish them well in their personal life, but you better want, with every bone in your body, for them to be able to do what needs to be done to win, or else you don't bleed green.

So to everyone supporting the Eagles, thanks. Nice to have you here. Everyone else can go to hell.

*because according to that logic, no one would be capable of winning a championship ever

Eagles to unleash Cerberus against the Bucs

yomjoseki — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 12:57:03 -0000

"This week we're going to introduce a new formation we've been working on. It's called the Cerberus, and it will involve 3 QBs on the field during a play." Coach Andy Reid said during a press conference Saturday, the night before the Eagles are set to play the winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-4).

"I'm just trying to put my guys in a position to make plays and score points. It's my job to maximize the potential of each player's particular skill set. Everybody knows that the quarterback is the most dynamic and the most important position on the football field. If I'm not putting as many of them on the field as I can, then I'm not doing my job."

"We've had a lot of success rotating offensive and defensive linemen. We think it'll benefit the QBs if we rotate them in a similar fashion. Cerberus optimizes the particular skills each of our QBs offer and allows us to keep the quarterbacks on the field that can make the most out of each play. Look at it this way: If the workload is spread out more, they'll be fresher and more focused. They'll be able to give each play 100%. Look, we've got Donovan McNabb. We've got Kevin Kolb and Michael Vick. We'd be stupid not to have them each on the field."

"The goal is to create confusion. They'll have no idea who it's going to, because they'll still be trying to figure out where it's coming from. Hell, sometimes I won't even know what's going to happen. We've actually designed a few that Jamaal Jackson will choose the QB he snaps it to, so unless Belichick can figure out how to read minds, even he won't know what's going to happen."

DeSean Jackson thinks it will work. "Yeah, it's definitely a crazy formation. If they throw it to me, I'll do my best to catch it, but don't be alarmed if I have a look of surprise on my face. It just means I didn't know they'd throw it to me."

Coach Reid understands that this is a significant departure from the more traditional one quarterback formation. He's not scared of the potential backlash from fans.

"I know there's going to be a lot of guys saying 'This guy is an idiot. What the hell is he doing?' I just gotta ignore that. I know Jeff Lurie and Joe Banner have my back. They support me 100%. That's all I need. The fans may not understand it and some might never like it, but I'm going to show them there's more to football than just snapping the ball and running with it or throwing it to some guy. I love the fans, and I wish I could make them all happy, but my job is winning football games. If this works... I mean, when this works, we'll be winning football games and the fans will be happy again."

Then there's starting McNabb, who has often been portrayed as a sensitive person in a city that's difficult to please. When asked about the Cerberus formation, the Eagles superstar QB said the following: "I have no idea what Big Red's up to. I've never played in an offense that asked so much from their quarterbacks. Then again, there's going to be 3 of us on the field, so I guess it evens out a little. But I don't think he's stopping at three."

The last comment from McNabb piqued the interest of the members of the media on hand, so I asked the Eagles head coach if he would put more than 3 QBs on the field at once. "It's a possibility... OK, I'm definitely working on 4 and 5 QB formations, but we don't have the personnel. Right now we have a lot of our scouts invested in looking at QBs so we can start using the QQ (Quad QB) and the Cinco beginning next year."

Old but I never saw it. I love how he flinches as if he's not wearing a football helmet.

yomjoseki — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 02:05:44 -0000

Old but I never saw it. I love how he flinches as if he's not wearing a football helmet.

Something important to know regarding Kolb

yomjoseki — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:04:49 -0000

There's a million fanposts about Kevin Kolb right now, and instead of posting this in every one of those topics, I thought it deserved a fanpost of its own.

The Eagles don't have to decide if they want to re-sign him or trade him this year. Yes, next year is his fourth year, and normally he would become an unrestricted free agent, but when the owners opted out of the collective bargaining agreement, all that changed. Players at the end of the 2010 season will need 6 years in the league to be eligible to become an unrestricted free agent, and Kolb will not qualify. This means we can tender him as a restricted free agent, all but guaranteeing his Eagledom.

This is, of course, assuming there is no new collective bargaining agreement in place before the 2010 offseason. However, most people get the feeling the two sides will NOT be able to come to terms before 2010 because of the lack of the sense of urgency.

This isn't to say the Eagles won't make a decision before then, but Kolb would be a maniac to extend right now, and I just can't see the Eagles fully committing to Kolb unless the wheels completely fall off our boy, #5, Donovan McNabb.

That being said, the Eagles have to be happy right now. They have two quarterback with which they are comfortable playing, and that's never a bad thing. They will not walk away empty-handed when they decide which quarterback will depart.

What do I think will happen though? Honestly, I think if McNabb plays well enough, and there's no reason to think he won't, they keep him and trade Kolb for a couple of draft picks (maybe a low first and third). McNabb's only 32 and he could very well have another 4-5 years in the tank, which is plenty of time to develop another quarterback the same way we groomed Kolb. It's all too early to speculate now, but that's how I think things will shake out.

*edit: Players need 6 accrued seasons in order to become an unrestricted free agent. I could've sworn I read somewhere it was 5 years in 2010 and 6 in 2011 but everything I looked at today says 6 seasons, so we'll go with that because I'm sure that's right and my memory sucks.

Tidbits from Sunday

yomjoseki — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 23:53:52 -0000

- 2009 is not 2008. The Titans are 0-3. The Jets are 3-0. The Broncos are 3-0.

- The Bengals are one freak play away from being undefeated, but currently stand at 2-1 after defeating the Superbowl champion Steelers.

- Cedric Benson doesn't suck?! He ran for 76 yards and a TD against the Steelers, a team who gave up 29 rushing yards to Matt Forte and 57 rushing yards to Chris Johnson. He's averaging 98 yards a game.

- The official name of the color the Seahawks wore today is "Brain Hemorrhage Green"

- The Ravens are winning through their dominating... offense?!

- Kevin Kolb is the first QB in NFL history to throw for 300+ yards in each of his first two starts.

- Mark Sanchez is the only QB in NFL history to go 3-0 as a rookie.

- Today the Titans played the Jets, with the Jets wearing Titans jerseys, and the Titans wearing Oilers jerseys.

- Today was the first day since 1996 that Terrell Owens played without recording a catch.

- The Browns have been outscored by a league worst 66 points by scoring a league worst 2 touchdowns (one on offense, one on a punt return). Ridiculous.

- And of course, we can't forget to congratulate the Lions on their first win since December 20, 2007. New coach, new logo, new QB, new season. Hell, for all we know, they could finish 14-2.

Go Eagles! Today was a real exciting day. Even though we played the Chiefs, we got an exciting glimpse of what the future in Philadelphia could hold, and it looked good. Kolb, McCoy, Jackson, Maclin, and Celek? Wow. Find a better set of young skill-position players in the league. They could be downright scary.

Baskett Released

yomjoseki — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:49:39 -0000

The Philadelphia Eagles have released Hank Baskett in order to make room for Michael Vick to come off the exempt list and begin practicing with the team. Everyone say goodbye to Kendra. This is per Adam Schefter's Twitter account. Best of luck Hank, to you and whoever you drop passes for in the future. Although you were a good special teamer :/

This ends the speculation that the Eagles were going to trade him, because no one was willing to part with any Slim Jims.

Like it or not, Kolb's the man.

yomjoseki — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:23:56 -0000

Alright. Week one is over, and our beloved Philadelphia Eagles slaughtered the Carolina Panthers. Whoopdeedoo. It still only counts for one win. There's 15 more games to play, and now Donovan McNabb cracked a Donovan McRib. Kevin Kolb is coming in, because he is our backup QB. We'll probably sign someone (possibly A.J. Feeley) to play backup to him this week.

Despite the obvious fact that the Eagles cut Feeley, some of you are saying he should be signed and start. Kolb's not good enough. Really? Are you sure? Sure, he has done a decent job in the past, at times, but he's not good, and there's no reason he should play over Kolb.

Feeley's career passing stats? 55.9% completions, 6.1 YPA, and more career INTs than TDs. That's not someone whom we should trust with the fate of our team.

Kolb is young, and he's seen action in TWO WHOLE NFL games. Those aren't games that he had a week of preparation with the first team, either. Those are games he came in for McNabb. This is our first TRUE look at Kolb.

Unless John Madden is browsing our site, I really doubt any of you know more about football, quarterbacks, and talent evaluation than Andy Reid. Andy Reid has a huge amount of faith in Kolb. Kolb will have a whole week of preparation and he's armed with the knowledge that he will be starting, instead of entering a game cold and at a moment's notice. He's facing a porous New Orleans Saints defense that wouldn't be able to stop the Florida Gators from scoring.

A lot of you ready to give up on Kolb are guys that gave up on Winston Justice. I'd say he played pretty damned good today. Trust our front office, trust our players, and give them a chance. Why? Well, for one, you don't have much of a choice :)

OK, maybe you don't like him anymore or respect what he's done the last two years, but you gotta...

yomjoseki — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 23:45:35 -0000

OK, maybe you don't like him anymore or respect what he's done the last two years, but you gotta love that the guy can make fun of himself.

Pats ditch Greg Lewis

yomjoseki — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 23:30:19 -0000

Pats ditch Greg Lewis

omg we gotta jump on this