DeSean Jackson Y'all

Desean Jackson was not too thrilled about a question during a recent radio appearance:



Good to see that Cal-Berkeley education in action.

http://deadspin.com/5819135/www.DCFanatic.com

Eagles Week 15 Recap: Miracle At The New Meadowlands

The perfect Christmas card for Giants fans.

On to the bullet points of one of the greatest comebacks I've ever seen in football.

• That just happened.
• Joe Pisarcik/Herm Edwards.  Jeff Feagles/Brian Westbrook.  Matt Dodge/DeSean Jackson.  The last of the three may be the most improbable of all.
• But for all the talk about the Jackson punt return, the Eagles were trailing 24-10 in the 4th quarter when DeSean Jackson caught a pass and took it to the 40 yard line.  After being touched by Goff, Jackson fell down, the ground caused a fumble, and the Giants recovered.  Clearly, Goff had touched Jackson and before he hit the ground and the ball came out after Jackson hit the ground, but for reasons of pure idiocy, Andy Reid did not challenge.  The Giants proceed to drive down the field for a touchdown.  8 minutes left, 31-10 Eagles.  Game over, right?
• Wrong.  Next drive, Vick to Celek.  One of the best onside kicks ever executed.  Vick making plays with his legs.  QB draw.  QB touchdown.  Just like that it's 31-24 with the Giants having never touched the ball.  Giants get the ball.  Eagles get a stop.  With the ball at their own 88 yard line, Vick makes plays with his legs and his feet again.  Eventually, inside the Giants 20 Vick finds Maclin who breaks a tackle and scores a TD to incredibly tie the game with less than 2 minutes left.  Giants get the ball back.  They go 3 and out.  The last play of the drive was a sack.  Clock ticking.  Giants call timeout with 12 seconds left, right before the play clock expired.  Then Matt Dodge punted the ball.  DeSean Jackson bobbled it, picked it up, and the rest is history.
• So, how did this happen?  How does a team that is completely dominated for 52 minutes, come back and win the game in 8 minutes?  And how does a team up 21 with 52 minutes left completely collapse in the last 8?  I'll give my take on the Jackson return in a second, but the comeback in general was started because of one man, Michael Vick.  All game long the Giants had been blitzing and getting to Vick, largely taken advantage of the astoundingly awful King Dunlap.  To counter said blitz, you need two things:  a).  a screen game.  Or b). an athletic QB who can run.  The Eagles opted for option b.  For the first 52 minutes, no QB draws were called and for the most part, Vick was not taking off and running with the ball.  In the final 8 minutes, that changed.  Vick eluded pressure and took off when he saw daylight in front of him.  Outside of make shift scrambles, QB draws were called as well.  Vick had 94 rushing yards in the 4th quarter!  There were other factors, but if you are searching for an anatomy of this comeback, it was Mike Vick running the ball.  That's what changed.  The Giants never adjusted.  And that's how the Eagles scored 21 points in 7 minutes.
•  To the 8th minute and the final 7 points.  I may have a screen-by-screen breakdown later, but for now, I'll just describe what happened and what I saw.  Tom Coughin reportedly told Matt Dodge to punt it out of bounds, the smart move.  It would not kill all 12 seconds, but it would force either a hail mary attempt or the Eagles would just take a knee, satisfied to take it into overtime.  Instead, the snap was high, Dodge believed that because of that, he did not have enough time to angle his punt out of bounds as needed.  His hurried punt forced a line drive that went right to DeSean Jackson.  What happened next was the key to everything.  DeSean Jackson bobbled the punt.  While an accident, this allowed for two things to happen.  The Giants defense collapsed around Jackson and the Eagles special teams unit were given 1 or 2 more seconds to set up their blocks, including Omar Gaither blocking a Giant into two other Giants causing a domino effect taking them all out.  This allowed Jackson to find a seam up the middle.  A block from Jason Avant at the 45 cemented the return from the speedy Jackson.
• Before Jackson crossed the goalline, he ran diagonal into the endzone, in what was a feeble effort to kill the clock.  I say feeble because the clock had already expired, but Jackson may not have been aware of it as he was reading the defense and running full speed on a game-winning punt return touchdown, the first ever in NFL history.  Because of the unnecessary nature of the extra running, many will see what DeSean Jackson did as show-boating.  But trust me, when DeSean Jackson showboats (a.k.a. last Sunday in Dallas), you know it.  That was intended as a heads-up football play that ultimately was not needed.
• Most media outlets have already named this the "Miracle At The New Meadowlands."  Seeing as it's the last Sunday before Christmas, I was hoping someone would name it after the street New Meadowlands Stadium is on, a la Miracle On 34th Street.   But good luck with "Miracle On New Jersey Route 120" ever catching on.
• Not to be a Debbie Downer now, but 52 other minutes were played in this game.  And during those minutes, the Eagles lost 2nd round draft pick Nate Allen to a petallar tendon injury, effectively ending his season.  And in the span of less than a week, the Eagles have lost their top 2 draft picks from the 2010 draft.  Your starting full safety will now be 7th round draft pick Kurt Coleman.
• BREAKING NEWS:  King Dunlap is terrible.
• Dimitri Patterson had a nightmare.  Eli Manning picked on him all game long.  The re-addition of Samuel was a boost, but it can only help so much if other QBs continually pick apart Patterson like Manning did today.
• Enough negative nancy shit, that was one of the greatest comebacks in Philadelphia Eagles history, and perhaps even one of the top 10 in NFL history.  Seriously, amazing.  The Miracle At The New Meadowlands.  And Giant fans thought Herm Edwards and Brian Westbrook were bad.  And this was less than a week after the Phillies came out of nowhere to sign Cliff Lee out from under the noses of the New York Yankees, and a day removed from the Flyers putting a solid 4-1 beatdown of the New York Rangers.  Now not every Yankee fan is a Giants and/or Rangers fan, but to steal and modify a joke Grant from McCovery Chronicles made on Twitter a month or so ago when FC Dallas lost the MLS Cup off the heals of the Rangers losing the World Series:  there must be some guy in the New York metropolitan area who is a Yankees, Giants, and Rangers fan.  And he's in a dark, dark place right now.
• At the end of the game, Tom Coughlin went haywire on his punter Matt Dodge.  While Dodge had no business ever kicking that to Jackson regardless of how high the snap was, Matt Dodge did not blow a 21-point lead with 8 minutes left.  That burden should belong to Perry Fewell and Tom Coughlin for not making adjustments, and for the Giants players for being out of position and/or whiffing while trying to tackle Vick.
• I am working all day tomorrow, so either tomorrow night or Tuesday, I will have more on this game and this comeback.  
• Lastly, the epic win probability graph. (advancednflstats.com)

Eagles Week 14 Recap: DeSean/LeSean

Onto the bullets!

• There was a lot to like and dislike about that game against the Cowboys.  What there is to dislike:  Injuries.  What there is to like:  The Eagles beat the Cowboys!
• The injuries:  Stewart Bradley suffered a gruesome elbow dislocation and is likely done for the year.  Brandon Graham suffered a knee injury and could potentially be done for the year, depending on the results of the MRI.
• The Eagles have depth at defensive line so while Graham has played well this season, it is not a be all to end all loss.  On the other hand, Stewart Bradley has had a good year, especially in the last few weeks.  And his back-ups are the always dependably bad Omar Gaither and rookie 7th round draft pick Jamar Chaney.  I prefer Chaney.  He did not totally suck coming in for Bradley tonight, so there is hope.  Kinda.  Sorta.  Maybe.  
• Get well soon, Asante Samuel, though the main culprit of defensive blunders this game was Dimitri Patterson with two critical penalties giving Dallas a 1st down on what appeared to be 3rd down stops.  And Dimitri Patterson is the Eagles starting CB anyway.  The combo of suck that is Hanson/Lindley was not particularly dreadful tonight, but getting Asante Samuel back will be a major upgrade regardless.
• Get well soon, Winston Justice.  King Dunlap is just.....bad.
• Offensive lineman Todd Herremans caught a TD pass tonight, the 2nd of his career.  That catch also gave him one more reception than the Eagles tight end Brent Celek, who spent most of the night compensating King Dunlap's awful blocking with some awful blocking of his own.
• DeSean Jackson had perhaps one of the Eagles highlights of the year when he turned a short and simple out route into a 91-yard touchdown.  Much will be made about DJacc's celebration.  The cons:  It was unnecessary, inappropriate and drew a flag from the referees.  The pros:  It was hilarious to watch considering the opponent and venue, and it was not technically a penalty.  Excessive celebration only occurs after a play ends, and technically, the ball had not crossed the endzone at the time of DeSean Jackson's dive.  Therefore, by rule, what DeSean Jackson did is not a penalty.  As hilarious as it was, I am not going to pretend like it is the most respectful or appropriate thing to do in that situation, it most certainly was not, but by rule, that should not have been ruled a penalty.
• That penalty ultimately did not cost the Eagles, as the ensuing kick was only returned to the 22.  Furthermore, the 1st play of the drive was an INT from Kitna to Dimitri Patterson.
• DeSean Jackson had 210 receiving yards tonight, 3rd all time in Ealges history behind Tommy McDonald (237) and known physical specimen Kevin Curtis (221).
• After an Akers field goal to make it 30-20, the Cowboys responded with a TD of their own with over 4 minutes left.  To top off the momentum, Jorrick Calvin got a dumb unnecessary roughness penalty on the ensuing kickoff to pin the Eagles at the 10.
• The Cowboys would never touch the football again, thanks mostly to LeSean McCoy.  McCoy was outstanding, rushing for 63 yards on 9 carries to milk the clock and win the game for the Eagles.  Michael Vick, who still had 3 TDs despite this not being one of his better games, also had a carry for 9 yards.  Have I ever mentioned how awesome Shady McCoy is?
• I am not sure I understand Andy Reid's fascination with using Chad Hall as a tailback in redzone situations.  The Eagles have 3 running backs, LeSean McCoy, Jerome Harrison, and Eldra Buckley, a fullback in Owen Schmitt, all of whom are healthy, and yet, the Eagles are lining up former Air Force WR Chad Hall out of the backfield.  To the unsurprise of most, none of these plays have resulted in touchdowns.
• Michael Vick continues to get little protection from the referees.  After Reid explicitly complained to the League last week about the lack of late hit/unnecessary roughness calls on some questionable hits on Vick, Vick was violently shoved as he was going out of bounds and the refs stood idle not throwing a flag.  The answer to what it takes to draw a flag was answered later in the game when Vick received not one, but two helmet-to-helmet hits on a single play.
• After the game, Tashard Choice approached Michael Vick and asked him for an autograph.  For some context, Tashard Choice is from Georgia, went to school at Georgia Tech, and presumably grew up a big Vick fan.  That may explain why he asked Vick to autograph his game gloves for Choice's 3-year old nephew.
•  Win probability chart (advancednflstats.com)  

• Lastly, and most importantly of all, I would be remiss if I did not extend my well wishes to fellow live blog comrade James Craven who has been absent the past few weeks.  Saturday afternoon he sent me an e-mail saying he had undergone heart bypass surgery to remove a blood clot from his heart.  We have had our disagreements in the past, however, a person's health is above all petty disagreements.  The good news is he eventually plans on returning.  I wish him a speedy recovery and nothing but the best for his future health.  He titled his email "Zipper Club Member."  Glad to see his sense of humor is still with him.

2010 Philadelphia Eagles Preview

Seeing as I am about to get into some seriously heavy packing and preparation to go to college in the next week, I figured now would be the time to put up an Eagles preview and write the NFL one once I am settled in at school next weekend.

The Philadelphia Eagles are coming into the 2010 season as an incredibly young and different team. Donovan McNabb is a Washington Redskin. Sheldon Brown has been exiled to Cleveland. Brian Westbrook is going to attempt to play a game he thinks is football in San Francisco. Kevin Curtis is off the team. Jeremiah Trotter is yet to sign his yearly contract with the Eagles. In their place, Kevin Kolb is the unquestioned starting QB. Unless Kelley Washington does the unlikely and survives the final cuts, Jason Avant and Hank Baskett, the first of whom was drafted in 2006 and the second of whom signed as an undrafted free agent in 2006 are the oldest WRs on the team. LeSean McCoy is the unquestioned starting running back. Brandon Graham will complement Trent Cole nicely at DE.

They Are Young, But How Good Are They? Even though I mentioned young players in general in the last paragraph, this section is going to focus the Eagles WRs. DeSean Jackson is entering his 3rd year with the Eagles and has already proven he is one of the quickets WRs in the NFL. Jeremy Maclin took a few weeks to get going, but once he did, he proved he can be a starting WR. Jason Avant is the team's most polished WR and arguably the best WR; underrated does not begin to describe Jason Avant. Tim Tebow's former roommate Riley Cooper has been the hands down Eagles Training Camp darling (and not just because he is incredibly good looking). The question can they stay healthy throughout the season? If they do, these WRs, combined with underrated TE Brent Celek, will be a menace to opposing defenses everywhere.

Corn On The Kolb: When Andy Reid drafted Kevin Kolb in the 2nd round of the 2007 Draft, every draft pundit and their brother thought that Andy Reid and the Eagles FO were idiots on crack for selecting not just selecting a QB, but for a selecting this QB, Kevin Kolb, with the likes of John Beck and Trent Edwards still on the board. I have already discussed this QB draft class at length and won't get into it again, but the fact of the matter is Kevin Kolb's passes are crisp and accurate. He may have only started 2 games and came in relief in a close game once, but Kolb has loads and loads of promise. If he plays in the regular season like he has in Training Camp this year and thus far in the pre-season, Kolb is going to be mentioned among the league's top QBs in a short time.

D-FENCE!: Last year the Eagles defense was their major weakness. The Eagles realized that in the off-season and made considerable changes, including trading Sheldon Brown, drafting Brandon Graham with their top pick in the draft, drafting Nate Allen to replace Brian Dawkins, and finding loads of other potential defensive playmakers in the later rounds. Sean McDermott is also entering his 2nd year as defensive coordinator. McDermott took over following the tragic passing of the great Jim Johnson shortly before Training Camp began. To make matters worse for McDermott, the defense was ravaged with injury, with the most notable one being Stewart Bradley injuring his knee at last year's inaugural Flight Night, placing him on the shelf for the entire season. Now that the Eagles have their middle linebacker back, things can only go up from last year. Granted injuries could happen elsewhere, but I really can't stress how key it is to have Stewart Bradley back in the line up.

Wild Dog: Michael Vick is the uncontested back-up QB and will once again likely be asked to contribute to "wildcat" formations and other Andy Reid gadget plays. Last year, the Vick experiment was not a rousing success. This year, Vick is back in football shape. When the Eagles signed Vick, it has become doubtless that this is the year they wanted him for, not 2009. This is the year Vick will have a chance to be an effective part of the offense with gadget plays. He is looking more and more like the pre-prison Mike Vick with each passing day and if Andy Reid uses him right (big if, by the way), he can be a menace for opposing sides.

Is This "The Year?": No. This year is not "The Year." The Eagles will not win a Super Bowl this year. 365 days from now, Andy Reid will still be the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. I expect this year to have ups and downs. Kevin Kolb will do a fine job but at the same time he will be prone to rookie mistakes. After all, he has only started 2 NFL regular season games before. Mistakes will happen. This Eagles team is young, but I fear they are too young to compete with the likes of Indianapolis and New Orleans. Get back to me in a year, and the answer will likely be yes, yes they can compete for the whole thing. But this year, while I think the playoffs are a possibility, I am not putting my eggs in a championship basket.

(Coming up sometime in the next 2 weeks: Full NFL picks, including my pre-season stab at a Super Bowl champion)

Stewart Bradley Sticks Up For His Teammate

Donovan McNabb's passive aggressiveness has somehow landed DeSean Jackson in the WR diva role because McNabb is McNabb and the media eats up everything he says. Eagles middle linebacker Stewart Bradley has had enough of it and took to Twitter to stand up for his teammate and WR.

It is good to see that the Eagles have each other's backs like this early in the season. The first part of contending as a Super Bowl is coming together as a team and if Bradley's tweet about Jackson is any sort of microcosm of how the rest of the team feels, the Eagles are off to a good start.

Donovan McNabb's First Eagle Controversy In The Post-Trade Era

Well you knew that this one would be only a matter of time. Donovan McNabb engaging in a war of words with another Eagle.......yeah, this is not one bit of surprising.

But alas, it is happening and McNabb is resorting to the pity card in his response to comments DeSean Jackson made a month ago when made this extremely hurtful, offensive, and downright degrading personal attack on McNabb. Are you ready to read vitriol the likes of which your eyes have never seen before? Okay. Here is what DJacc said about the Eagles team a month ago.....

"I don't think we lost anything, even with McNabb being gone."

O.M.G., right? I know. I am blown away and incredibly offended that a Philadelphia Eagle wide receiver would express such confidence in his team and the direction they are going in. It is incredibly evil of him and I have now lost so much respect for DJacc because he dared to express confidence in himself, Kevin Kolb, Jeremy Maclin, Brent Celek, Andy Reid, the Eagles Front Office, and the Eagles new (and hopefully improved) defense.

But, one month after the quote, Donovan McNabb felt the need to respond to such classless remarks on the part of Jackson. Get ready to read the words of a leader who always takes the moral high road and commands respect from everyone in the NFL.

"It's so wild when people get to talking when you're not there, but when you're there everybody loves you. So I guess people will go deeper into it than I will. I'm a Redskin, no longer an Eagle. I had 11 great years and I'm moving on with my life, so whoever may say things when I'm gone, more power to them, but it's not making you look like a bigger man."

AN AMERICAN HERO! After those words from that mean and nasty Eagle, it is so good to see someone in this country finally take the moral high road in responding to such mean, nasty, hurtful confidence.

Okay, sarcasm and snark aside, this is not a big deal. ESPN and the rest of the media are trying to turn this into a big feud so people because it is the off-season, Brett Favre is not making a ton of noise, and they want people to watch.

Stop. Just stop. No one said anything particularly evil here and this is not a big deal. DeSean Jackson expressed confidence in his team, McNabb may have took his words the wrong way, and that is that. This is not a big deal. This is not a big blow up. This is not McNabb vs. Owens Part II. This is something the media is trying to make into a much bigger feud than it actually is. So can we cut this crap out, not make this McNabb's showdown with his former team in weeks 4 and 10 into a bigger national nightmare than this needs to be? Thank you.

Giants Fans Do Not Appreciate DeSean Jackson Walking Backwards Into The Endzone

First off, what a game that was last night. Certainly one of the most entertaining 3 and a half hours of regular season football that you could watch no matter who you are.

Mike Vick is finally starting to have a positive impact on the field in this Eagles offense (surely much to the chagrin of the 1 fan out of thousands is sticking to their threatened boycott of the Eagles after the signing), and DeSean Jackson is a mother fucking beast. He seriously has more than take over the role of Brian Dawkins as my favorite Eagle. The guy is just awesome and last night, he proved once again why Brent Musburger deemed him the "Wizard of Returns".

Aspeaking of DeSean Jackson, there was an incident last night and I am not talking about his 2 spectaular touchdowns. Well, actually, yes, I'm talking about the one, but not because of anything he did. Rich Hoffman of the Philadelphia Daily News made a rather interesting observation following his 60-yard TD catch in the game.

With outrageous protection from the offensive line, McNabb waited and waited and watched Jackson run completely clear. The 60-yard touchdown was accomplished with Jackson running effortlessly (and backward) into the end zone. There, he did a "Riverdance" kind of thing as celebration and was greeted by two launched beer bottles from the stands in reply.

Again, this is not to say that Philly sports fans are perfect angels, but if this was a Philly fan that did this to Hakeem Nicks or Mario Manningham, it's a national headline and the New York Post will cry of our foul depravity. Oh wait, they do that anyways.

Regardless, do you get my point? Granted maybe there has not been enough time for this story to develop, but why is this not gaining the national attention it would if it were an Eagles fan throwing a bottle at Nicks? It's the point I've been making all along, Philly being a sports hooligan town is only perceived that way because of the past reputation from booing Santa and cheering an unconscious Irvin that whenever an incident occurs at a Philly game, there is a national outcry along with national headlines, yet, when shit like this happens elsewhere, it just gets buried in a blurb in a Philly article summarizing the game. Don't take me out of context here, I'm not saying shit does not happen in Philly games, I'm just saying it happens elsewhere and people only care when it is occuring at Philly games.

Here is the video of the TD, and I type this from a lab with a horrible screen so I can't make out much of anything, other than a guy in a white shirt catches some brown thing and scores a touchdown and Al Michaels uses the term "street ball", but here it is anyway for your enjoyment.



Enough of my soapbox rant and now onto more videos of this great game.

The highlights of the game featuring the great Merrill Reese calling the big Eagles play, including the touchdown from above, Jackson's big punt return, and another Vick TD.



Remember the last time the Eagles played the Giants and DeSean Jackson tried to bump Andy Reid? Yeah, the result of that is now my Blogger profile pic. Well, they tried it again this week and here is how it went down.



DJax is my hero. End of story.

If This Day Was Any Worse For The Eagles, An IR Placement, Steroids, And Drew Rosenhaus Would Have A New Eagle Client. Oh, Wait....

It may be Veterans Day today, but that does not mean not necessarily make it a good day if you are the Eagles. For the Eagles, this has been the day from hell and then some. As if it was not bad enough that CB/kick returner Ellis Hobbs had to put on IR, solid back up Joselio Hanson is a 'roid user, and if that was not bad enough, a certain favorite Eagle of mine has decided to ditch his old agent and hire Drew Rosenhaus. Say it ain't so, DeSean! Via All Things Philly Sports

First, let's deal with the injuries. Cornerback and primary kick returner Ellis Hobbs was placed on IR today with a spine injury, a move that ends his season. Hobbs had been an effective kick returner as well as a contributor in nickel and dime packages on defense, so this is definitely a blow to the Eagles. To replace Hobbs, the Eagles signed free agent CB Ramzee Robinson, who had played in 19 games in two seasons with the Lions in his career.

Later, more news came out about another pair of Eagles who are injured. RB Brian Westbrook and LB Akeem Jordan both sat out of practice as they each dealt with injuries. Westbrook is being held out due to his ankle injury but the Eagles still think he will be able to play against the Chargers on Sunday. Jordan, on the other hand, appears very likely to miss this weeks game, a move that further weakens a questionable linebacker group.

The Eagles also learned today that they will be without nickel corner Joselio Hanson for a month due to an unspecified reason. The early speculation is that Hanson did something to violate the NFL substance-abuse policy, a move that would force him out of 4 games. To replace Hanson, the Eagles called up CB Jack Ikegwuonu from their practice squad.

Finally, and possibly the worst news of all, Eagles WR DeSean Jackson has ditched his current agent and signed on with Drew Rosenhaus. Yep, that's the same Drew Rosenhaus who helped drive T.O. out of town a few years back. A move like this means that Jackson is going to want a payday sooner rather than later, and we all know how the Eagles feel about renegotiating contracts. This could get ugly.

In defense of Rosenhaus, sort of, he currently represents CB Jack Ikegwuonu and Shady, and they have not caused any problems so it may not be all bad, but if D-Jack does ask for a raise, the Eagles better be willing to give it to him. As I alluded to, D-Jack is my favorite Eagle and he is a very rare talent that Andy Reid unbelieveably picked up in the second round. It would be a shame to see a fallout this offseason over money when DeSean may be a huge piece to the puzzle that is keeping this Eagles organization on top for many years down the road.

Is This The Best The Eagles Wide Receivers Have Been For Quite Some Time?

Obviously, statistically, it is way too early in the season and in the careers of DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin to answer that question with a sure-fire yes, but things certainly seem to be looking that way. With Kevin Curtis on the injury, Jeremy Maclin got his chance to shine, and boy did he shine, with 6 receptions for over 100 yeards. Which does beg the question, is this the best looking group of wide receivers the Eagles ever had? From the Philadelphia Inquirer

Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb said Maclin's emergence resulted from Tampa Bay's coverage on Jackson.

"They rolled the coverage a lot to his side, and you want to get your weapons going," McNabb said. "Teams are going to try to take someone in this offense out of it. They're trying to take DeSean out, and when you give [other] guys an opportunity to make plays for you, I have full confidence that they will."

Jackson may still end up being the featured weapon in the Eagles' offense, but this is the first time in recent years that we've been this far into the season without knowing exactly who will be McNabb's go-to guy.

During the Eagles' 2004 run to the Super Bowl, Owens was the main man, and ever since then it has been running back Brian Westbrook. Teams tried to stop both men, but usually couldn't.

Now, the Eagles have Jackson, Maclin, Westbrook, and tight end Brent Celek, not to mention Michael Vick, rookie LeSean McCoy, and this thing called a Wildcat offense.

Although the Eagles have averaged 31.8 points per game - second best in the NFL - every aspect of the offense hasn't always worked. Sunday, for instance, the Eagles averaged only 2.4 yards per carry on 19 designed rushing plays.

"We need to be more efficient when we do run the football," Reid said.

Westbrook, at least through four games, doesn't appear to be the same force he has been the previous five seasons. He had just eight touches against the Bucs, and it's strange not to see his name among the league leaders in rushing yards and yards from scrimmage. McCoy actually had one more touch than Westbrook.

Long gone are the days of Andy Reid settling for mediocrity at that position by starting guys like Hank Baskett, Greg Lewis, and Reggie Brown who all were a sure fire bet to drop half the balls thrown their way. And even though Jackson and Maclin are doomed to make some mistakes and have some bad plays just because of their age, for once we can say that the potential at the wide out position is there and we may be looking at a couple of Pro Bowlers, a term that has not even come close to describing an Eagles wide receiver since Terrell Owens was here. And while Maclin only got the start because Kevin Curtis was injured, you can bet that if he keeps playing like this, he will be starting on a regular basis soon enough. Also, while Curtis has proven that he is a decent, not great, starting wide receiver, I think he is most dangerous as a 3rd guy, when teams are not paying him much attention. And don't forget about Jason Avant. McNabb likes throwing to him in clutch situations and more often than not, Avant can make the play.

It took him awhile, but Andy Reid has woken up and has finally figured out how to draft offensive players, just look at the running back position as well. Sure, the Eagles have Brian Westbrook, but in the past the Eagles relied on him way too much, and the result is the beaten and broken down man that you see now. This is not the same Westbrook that we saw a 2, 3 years ago, and if I'm a betting man, I don't think that he will ever regain that form. He is not a 30 carry-a-game back, he never was, and the Eagles trying to make him that all but ruined his career. Sure, he'll come in and make a big play every once in awhile, and while I see him as a great change of pace back, I think that in little time, we will be seeing more and more of Shady McCoy, another great find and great draft pick by Andy Reid. Sure he is a little Westbrook-esque, but unlike Brian, Shady is more groomed to be an actual running back, instead of some random dude like Westbrook who lines up out of the backfield, but if more effective catching the ball and bouncing it to the outside rather than running the ball.

And forgotten in all of this is perhaps one of the most underrated tight ends in the NFL, Brent Celek. Eagles tight ends have never gotten any national credit or spotlight, but perhaps if Celek keeps making plays like the one in the video below, he is surely going to get the national recognition he deserves real soon.



It's not everyday that you see someone leapfrog Ronde Barber. And speaking as an Eagles fan, that was just so sweet to watch as countless times in the past, when the Bucs played the Eagles, Ronde Barber has made a big, ginormous play against us that kills our momentum.

Bottom line, regardless of who the quarterback is, if the Eagles can play defense like they know how to play defense, and if Maclin, Jackson, and Celek really emerge as the big go-to targets and stay free of injury, this Eagle team will be in the hunt for the Super Bowl for many years looking down the road. And now just ask yourself, were we really ever saying this about the Eagles during the era of Lewis, Baskett, and Reggie Brown?