Jags Win On Amazing Last Second Hail Mary; Gus Johnson Loses His Mind Screaming.

Remember when Gus got the amazing hail mary finish last year? Yeah. Good times. If I'm a Bills or a Bengals fan, I'm buying a defibrillator for next week.

Eagles Week 3 Recap: Vick-tory

I came up with that pun all by myself.  Why do you ask?

Onto the bullet points...

• Good teams beat the shit out of bad teams.  The Eagles beat the shit out of the Jaguars.
• It's been awhile since I was this comfortable watching the 2nd half of an Eagles game.  I missed the feeling. 
• LeSean McCoy carried the ball a grand total of 11 times this game and was not injured.  In the middle of the 3rd quarter with the Eagles up 21-3 and driving, he had seen 6 carries, averaged 5 yards per carry, and was not featured on the drive.  That's unacceptable.
• On a 4th and 1 at the Jags 31, the Eagles decided to go for it on a pitch to the outside.  They gave the ball to power back Mike Bell.  Predictably, they did not get the 1st down.  Andy Reid apparently never heard of a "Vick option" or a "pitch to Shady McCoy,"  2 play calls that would have been much more ideal if you are going to the outside.
• Andy Reid, bad timeout management.  Bad timeout management, Andy Reid.  
• Ron Pitts has not done an Eagles game since the 2005 season.  If  it is another 5 years before he does another Eagles game, it will be too soon. From "Joseph Avant" to him calling Maclin a "sung hero," I about vomited from the patheticness.  And John Lynch needs to either speak up or show some enthusiasm.  I don't think I understood a word he said all game.
• Reading these last couple bullets you would think the Eagles lost or something.  It is always easier to write about the negatives than try to mention the positives, mainly because, but the latter makes you look like a homerific jerk.  But it was a 28-3 blowout, so here goes......
• I criticized the decision to bench Kolb.  And I still do.  While it will likely be 3 years til my questioning is validated or not, I gotta give major props to Vick.  Vick started out slow, but I would say this was his best performance of the year.  On the 2nd touchdown pass, he was able to ignore a gaping running lane and pass the ball to a wide open Jeremy Maclin.  The result would have been the same if he ran, but Vick is recognizing there are other options besides taking off and running every chance you get.  On the 3rd touchdown pass, Vick was able to successfully look off a safety before (once again) finding Jeremy Maclin who would run the catch in for a TD.  Mike Vick looking off a safety?  Is he becoming a polished passer?  On the 4th TD, well, Mike Vick needs to remind everyone that he is Mike Vick.  It is good he is becoming a better passer, but you always want to keep the running threat available and you always want to keep defenses honest.  Vick dropped back to pass, had a huge hole, and he waltzed into the endzone. for the easiest 17 yard touchdown run he has ever had.
• I have a paper to write for Tuesday so I don't have time to do it now or tomorrow, but perhaps in the middle of the week, I can illustrate with pictures and videos what I am talking about in the above bullet.
• The Eagles defense held the Jacksonville Jaguars to 3 points, MJD to 88 yards on 22 carries, Garrard to 13/30 passing for a miserable 105 yards.  In related news, Stewart Bradley returned and played the whole game at middle linebacker.
• Eagles defense sacked Garrard 6 times.  Playing in his 1st game of the year, Darryl Tapp dominated.  Juqua Parker lost his job as starting DE to 1st round draft pick Brandon Graham.  Parker leads the team in sacks.  Trevor Laws, who is finally coming around after a rough 1st 2 years, added a sack and was a beast all game.  And need I mention that the Eagles also have one of the best DEs in football?  That guy, Trent Cole, had 2 sacks of his own on the day.
• Fact:  The Eagles selected Trevor Laws ahead of DeSean Jackson in the 2008 NFL Draft.
• Donovan McNabb is so good he led his Redskins to a loss to the St. Louis Rams.  Wait, what?  McNabb's numbers were not deplorable, but they were not great either.  And against the St. Louis Rams, they should be better than meh.  19/32 for 236 yards, a TD, and an INT.  Should be better against the Rams, whose greatest improvement from last year has come on offense in the form of Sam Bradford.
• The New York Giants are an embarrassment to football.
• The Texans and the Cowboys exchanged places for a game.
• The Eagles are going to have to beat a good team before anyone can call them Super Bowl contenders, but if they continue to beat bad teams (Washington and San Francisco are next), they will set themselves up nicely for an opportunity.  And when they play Indianapolis later in the year, we will learn a whole heck of a lot more about the Eagles.
• The Phillies lost to the Mets, but as a result of the Padres losing to the Reds 3 hours later, the Philadelphia Phillies have officially clinched a playoff berth.  The Phillies magic number to clinch the NL East is 1.  It is worth noting it is supposed to rain non-stop in DC and Atlanta tomorrow. But if the Phillies get rained out and the Braves do play, then the Phillies could clinch both a playoff spot, the NL East, and the best record in the NL all by sitting on the couch after a rough loss.
• This is my 1st year playing fantasy football.  I am 3-0.  I am clearly a natural at this.
• Get ready for week long talk about McNabb coming back to the Linc.  I will tell you right now, half the crowd will cheer, half will boo, and the other half will be completely indifferent.  The Redskins defense is marginally better than the Jags' and the Lions', their offense is probably on par with that of the Jags, with a QB slightly better than Garrard, an RB lesser than MJD, and WRs about the same.  If the Eagles play like they did tonight, there is no reason they don't leave the Linc next Sunday 3-1 on the year.

2010 NFL Season Week 3 Live Blog: Break

"Break away from everybody, break away from everything. If you can't stand the way this place is, take yourself to higher places."

NFL Week 3 Schedule

Another Vick post coming later tonight tomorrow afternoon. I think I can finally write coherently....even if the content of the post makes me seem like a crazed lunatic.

As always, the games I get are in bold. This is one of those weeks where the 2 CBS affiliates I get are showing different games at the same time. So before you ask or try to correct me, I will tell you that there is no mistake in which games I have bolded. Of course, things are subject to change, but knowing my market, I don't think this is changing.

Map of who gets what Fox game

Dallas Cowboys vs. Houston Texans 1:00 (Fox - Joe Buck and Troy Aikman)
Detroit Lions vs. Minnesota Vikings 1:00 (Fox - Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, and Tony Siragusa)
Atlanta Falcons vs. New Orleans Saints 1:00 (Fox - Thom Brennaman and Brian Billick)
San Francisco 49ers vs. Kansas City Chiefs 1:00 (Fox - Sam Rosen and Tim Ryan)

Washington Redskins vs. St. Louis Rams 4:05 (Fox - Dick Stockton, Charles Davis, and Jim Mora, Jr.)
Philadelphia Eagles vs. Jacksonville Jaguars 4:05 (Fox - Ron Pitts and John Lynch)

Map of who gets what CBS early game

Tennessee Titans vs. New York Giants 1:00 (CBS - Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf)
Buffalo Bills vs. New England Patriots 1:00 (CBS - Kevin Harlan and Solomon Wilcots)
Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1:00 (CBS - Gus Johnson and Steve Tasker)
Cincinnati Bengals vs. Carolina Panthers 1:00 (CBS - Bill Macatee and Rich Gannon)
Cleveland Browns vs. Baltimore Ravens 1:00 (CBS - Don Criqui and Steve Beuerlein)

Map of who gets what CBS late game

Indianapolis Colts vs. Denver Broncos 4:15 (CBS - Jim Nantz and Phil Simms)
San Diego Chargers vs. Seattle Seahawks 4:15 (CBS - Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts)
Oakland Raiders vs. Arizona Cardinals 4:15 (CBS - Spero Dedes and Randy Cross)

Sunday Night Football

New York Jets vs. Miami Dolphins 8:20 (NBC - Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth)

Monday Night Football

Green Bay Packers vs. Chicago Bears 8:30 (ESPN - Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, and Jon Gruden)

This is the 1st time since 2005 that the Philadelphia Eagles are having Ron Pitts do their game. For those that don't remember 2005, that was the year Mike McMahon filled in for an injured Donovan McNabb. Yikes. Come to think of it, I don't even think I've watched a Ron Pitts called game since then. Posters on the506 don't take too kindly to him, but I guess I will have to judge him myself this coming Sunday as he takes his turn in worshiping Mike Vick's Greatness.

Pre-Season Hall Of Fame Game And Week 1 National TV Schedule

For reasons that will be explained later today (some of you already know what it is), I am posting the Pre-Season Week 1 National TV schedule now, even though not all announce pairings have been announced yet. Because I am lazy and do not feel like digging up every team's local broadcast information, I am going to stick with live nationally televised games for the weekly pre-season schedules.

Hall Of Fame Game (August 8)
Dallas Cowboys vs. Cincinnati Bengals 8:00 (NBC - Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth, SR: Andrea Kremer)

August 12
Carolina Panthers @ Baltimore Ravens 8:00 (ESPN - Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, and Jon Gruden)

August 13
Buffalo Bills @ Washington Redskins 7:30 (NFL Network)

August 14
Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Miami Dolphins 7:00 (NFL Network)
Tennessee Titans @ Seattle Seahakws 10:00 (NFL Network)

August 15
San Francisco 49ers @ Indianapolis Colts 1:00 (NFL Network)
Denver Broncos @ Cincinnati Bengals 7:00 (NFL Network)

August 16
New York Giants @ New York Jets 8:00 (ESPN - Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, and Jon Gruden)

If you are interested in any non-local pre-season game not being shown live, NFL Network will at some point or another, re-air every single pre-season game at some point during the week.

Eagles 2010 Pre-Season Schedule

Fresh off the presses! Just announced! It is the 2010 Philadelphia Eagles pre-season schedule. Want to know who the Eagles will in meaningless football games? See below!

Week 1: August 13: vs. Jacksonville 7:30 (ETN)
Week 2: August 20: @ Cincinnati 8:00 (Fox)
Week 3: August 27: @ Kansas City 8:00 (ETN)
Week 4: September 2: vs. New York Jets 7:30 (ETN)

Now as far who the starting QB will be in those games remains a mystery right now. As I tweeted last night, there have been almost daily rumors about Donovan McNabb getting traded. If this was all bullshit and if there really were no plans to trade McNabb, the rumors would have been shot down by now. The Eagles organization would have said something. As of now, the only thing they said on the matter were listening to offers. And as far as the crazy notion goes that this is all somehow disrespectful to Donovan McNabb? Dan Levy as you covered with the rebuttal. Basically (and I agree whole-heartedly with his assessment) none of this is at all disrespectful for McNabb. Read this write-up and listen to his 30-minute podcast on the deal as it is quite refreshing to hear someone intelligent discuss McNabb in Philly.

Colts-Jags Live Blog

2009 NFL Preview: Jacksonville Jaguars

By JFein:

The Jacksonville Jaguars were a team expected to make a run to the Super Bowl last year. Last year was going to be there year to win it all. Eh.....that did not pan out. At all. Instead they placed last in the AFC South and most have them going nowhere special this year. Including myself. Below are essentially the reasons why this year is NOT the year for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

New Uniforms: This biggest story this off-season for the Jacksonville Jaguars is the debut of their new uniforms this year. Yippee! Wahoo! Who is just as excited as I am? In case you have not been paying attention to the Jaguars in pre-season games (and unless your team is like the Eagles and you played the Jags, why would you be?) and have not seen them and/or noticed them, well, here ya go! (credit: Wikipedia)

Quarterback: David Garrard is the starting QB for the Jags. And while last year was not exactly a roaring success, you can't say that Byron Leftwioch would have fared any better had the Jags gone with him instead. The bottom line is is that Jacksonville needs help at quarterback and Garrard, Todd Bouman, and Todd Boeckman are not the answer to that problem. Wait, what? Todd Boeckman? The Todd Boeckman from Ohio State? The Jags actually signed him? HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Backs And Receivers: It must be said: Maurice Jones-Drew is a beast. It must also be said, that aside from an aging, out of prim Torry Holt, the Jags have no one at the skill positions. Just look at their depth chart: Troy Williamson is on it. Whenever you see him on a depth chart, you can bet your bottom dollar that that depth chart is not a very good one at that position. They did get did address the offensive line well in the draft, which may be an upgrade, but I don't think it'll make a big enough impact to elevate Garrard and his team out of the pits of the AFC South. The Jags also need someone to back up Jones-Drew. Seriously, Alvin Pearman? Not to keep piling on them, but this team has epic fail written all over it.

Schedule Aside from having 6 difficult games in the AFC South, the Jaguars also play against all 4 AFC East teams. They do get a lucky break though in that their other 6 games are the NFC West teams, Cleveland, and Kansas City.

Video: Work out with MJD!



Prediction: 7-9, 4th place AFC South. If there is one thing that the Jags are consistent on, it is not performing as expected to. 2 years ago they were an afterthought in everything and they made a decent run in the playoffs, bowing out to New England in the divisional playoff round. Last year they were a lot of people's choice to win Super Bowl XLIII, and they bombed big time. This year, they are the low point in a division that is ranked really highly this year. They will exceed expectations this year, but that will not be enough to get them out of last place in the AFC South.

Jaguars @ Eagles Live Blog And Stream

I've really been enjoying my job, but man, to have the freshmen at general university orientation (which tonight includes a pep rally and BU's 1st ever home night football game; only there is rain in the forecast), I finally have some time for myself to chill, relax, and blog. Michael Vick and Brian Westbrook will play in the 1st quarter today. I can't tell you what to expect, but this will definitley be a good show. Enjoy the game and leave comments and FYI, once game time rolls around, I'll try to embed a stream for you all.



Watch live video from wutitdo_kid on Justin.tv

Michael Vick And Brian Westbrook To Play Tonight

If there was ever such a thing as a pre-season game being must see TV, the game tonight between the Eagles and the Falcons is certainly that. Not only do we have the return of Michael Vick to the football field, but Brian Westbrook seeing his first action as an Eagle since last season's NFC Championsihp game. Via CSN Philly

It’s Michael Vick Night at Lincoln Financial Field. It is also – and, really, more importantly – probably the only night Brian Westbrook will see any game action this preseason.

Vick and Westbrook are the two primary reasons to watch the Eagles-Jaguars game.

But there are others.

The Eagles’ starters are expected to play three quarters. Joe Mays has to prove he deserves to be the starting middle linebacker. First-round pick Jeremy Maclin has to hold on to the ball and second-round pick LeSean McCoy has to hit the hole.

Kevin Kolb will have the fourth quarter to show how much he’s progressed since last season. Kolb, because of a sprained knee, has yet to play this preseason.

I for one have never been as psyched for a random pre-season game as I am for this one. Heck, I'm just curious to see the reaction to Vick now that the dust has settled down a bit and Brett Favre has signed with the Vikings. I'd still expect missed, but maybe 60-40 in favor of Vick.

In all likelihood (and by that, I mean 95% chance) I will be live blogging the game tonight using CiL. In the interest of full disclosure, I had picked this game to live blog to try out CiL with football a month or so ago, before Vick was an Eagle and before I knew that Westbrook would be playing tonight (I knew about Vick tonight, but I just found about Westbrook today; damn I've been out of the loop these past couple days). It should be good times, and even though as far as I know, it's only a local broadcast, I will be inviting everyone anyway (and all are invited to participate). I might even find a Justin.tv or UStream stream of the game and embed it here so even if you're out of market, you can watch the game and comment anyway. Aspeaking of site announcements, you can expect to see the Atlanta Falcons preview in a couple hours. I'm gonna get out and exercise a bit as it is my kind of nice day outside, and then I'll be back with the Falcons.

The Eagles Have Let Another Player Get Away From Them

One thing is for certain when the Eagles take the field next year, the Eagles will be hardly recognizable. Yes, that's right, the Eagles have lost yet another player. Tra Thomas has signed with the Jacksonville Jaguears. From CSN Philly

The Tra Thomas-Jon Runyan era has officially ended for the Eagles.

The Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday agreeed to terms with Thomas, who is expected to sign later in the day.

Runyan, an unrestricted free agent who is recovering from major knee surgery, and Thomas have started a franchise record 134 regular season games together.

Now the Eagles either will move Shawn Andrews or Todd Herremans from guard to tackle or add another tackle – most likely through the draft. Andrews’ brother Stacy most likely will become the starting right tackle.

And while this story is not exactly heartbreaking like the Brian Dawkins was, Thomas will be missed. While not necessarily a great player, Thomas was solid. The thing that kept him from being great was that it always seemed like that he got called for holding at the worst possible times. Good luck in Jacksonville Tra William Tra Thomas!

Fred Taylor Has Been Released

Some slightly surprising news coming out of Jacksonville today, and that is they released their veteran running back, Fred Taylor, thus turning the reigns of that offense of the dynamic Maurice Jones-Drew. From NBC Sports via the Associated Press.

The Jaguars released Taylor on Monday, parting ways with their all-time leading rusher after 11 seasons and continuing the team’s offseason makeover.

Coach Jack Del Rio flew to Fort Lauderdale earlier Monday to meet with Taylor and deliver the news. Del Rio made it clear the team has no plans to re-sign Taylor, who turned 33 last month and was scheduled to make $6 million next season.

“We felt like the best thing for this football team is what it has to be about,” Del Rio said. “We feel good about the talented group of backs that we have ... and as you work through it, it’s difficult to come up with a role that’s going to be acceptable for everybody.

“It makes it awkward. It makes it difficult. We came to an agreement on what the best course of action was as a football team.”

In the end, the Jaguars are a team in disarray and are clearly struggling to find an identity. They had it 2-years ago, but then they went all Jerry Jones and signed big names Joey Porter and Drayton Florence and it completely backfired in their face. As far as I see it, they are the worst team in the AFC South and Jack Del Rio is going to have his head on the chopping block real soon.

As far as Taylor goes, there is a part of me that would like to see him sign with the Eagles and another that has seen this happen before and completely backfire in the Eagles' face. Instead of chancing that Beanie Wells falls to you, Fred Taylor would be a great way to sure up a power runner to compliment Westbrook. But at the same time, Fred Taylor is 33-years old and one has to wonder, does he still have it in him to be a force running the ball up the middle, or will he just end up like Lorenzo Booker did for the Eagles. What's that, you say? Lorenzo Booker was an Eagle? As a matter of fact, he was, brought in to do some power running, only no one really noticed him because not only was he seldom used, he was even more seldom effective.