Monday Stuff
Posted: November 21st, 2011 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 83 Comments »Life is just so much sweeter after an NFC East win. We are now 3-1 in division games. We still go to Dallas and host the Skins. Those will be big games.
Last night the Eagles won the line of scrimmage and that is what won the game. The Giants came into the game with 30 sacks and a big reputation. Their DL had one sack, but that was a coverage sack. The official gamebook credits us with 10 QB hits and the Giants with just 1. Vince Young had tons of time. Heck, I’m surprised he didn’t take up knitting while sitting there in the pocket. He had the time and it certainly is a worthwhile, productive hobby.
The Eagles weren’t going crazy with max protect. TEs and RBs certainly helped, but the O-line had a very good night. Those guys came up big in a critical game.
The Giants O-line was quite the opposite, although I credit us more than I blame them. Cullen Jenkins played a great game. You can see the impact a disruptive DT has when he’s got his A-game. Jenkins was credited with 3 tackles and half a sack, but that doesn’t come close to showing the impact he truly had. Jenkins was credited with 3 QB hits. There were several other plays when he pressured Eli. Jenkins drew at least one holding call. Haven’t finished reviewing the game so there could be another. He stepped up in a big way.
The whole DL played well. Darryl Tapp was the other guy who really flashed. He had half a sack and a couple of QB hits. Seemed like the Giants relaxed when Trent Cole left the game. Bad idea. Tapp had good burst and worked his tail off on every snap. Babin, Landry, Laws, Parker, and Cole all had some great moments.
I think we have to give Derek Landri special credit. He was going to scoop and score with the fumble late in the game, but then it occurred to him that Shady hadn’t run for 100 yards yet. Landri selflessly went down so that Shady could pad his stats. Derek Landri is the Mother Teresa of DTs.
Vince Young was clutch. Check out his stats breakdown from Reuben Frank:
1st half: 8-18-89, TD, 2 INTs, 38.7 rating
2nd half: 15-18-169, TD, INT, 103.2 rating
That is really impressive. Vince was slow to get into things, but that’s what happens when you’ve only played a handful of snaps in a season. Most guys can’t step in ready to go. Mike Kafka looked good in Week 2 partially because he was just 2 weeks removed from playing a ton in the preseason finale. Players need reps. Once Vince got his timing, he played well.
Now to the subject of DeSean Jackson. I got mad at him on the early punt return when he lost 6 yards. Stuff like that drives me crazy. Then he got the taunting penalty after the long catch. We lost a 50-yard gain. That sent me off the deep end. I was very critical of him with some comments I made on Twitter.
A bit later DeSean had the long PR that set up the TD pass to Steve Smith. A few of DeSean’s fans came back at me questioning my earlier comments.
Here’s the thing with DeSean. I want him to do well. I want him to be a great player for us. I want the Eagles to give him a big contract. I love the playmaking ability he has and the dynamic presence he brings to the offense.
BUT…
I cannot accept his idiotic behavior. Last year he ran along the goal line before going into the endzone. That made me furious. People said “Tommy, if he runs back punts for TDs why do you care?”. I care because stuff like that matters. DeSean dropped the ball at the 1-yard line vs Dallas as a rookie. He had the play last night. What if there was a penalty last year in the Giants game? We had guys going wild as they thought he was headed into the endzone. When he delayed by a few seconds, we got lucky that nothing disastrous happened.
I want DeSean to celebrate. I want him to have fun. He needs that stuff to be at his best because that’s the kind of player he is. I can live with that. But he’s got to be smart about it. Celebrate AFTER scoring. Don’t make the celebration part of the TD. Don’t flip the ball to an assistant coach from the other team. That’s dumb. And DeSean has done crap like this in high school and college.
The guy has great talent. He should be one of the great WRs in the NFL. In order to do that he has to focus on his game and quit doing knucklehead things like this.
I hope…I really hope that he learned a huge lesson from last night. At some point the light has to go on. I’m not saying he has to be Larry Fitzgerald and all business. If celebrating is important to you, go do it. But make sure it fits within the framework of what is good for the team.
The ultimate celebration isn’t falling backward into the endzone or running along the goal line before scoring or taunting the opposing sideline. The ultimate celebration is lifting the Lombardi Trophy. And you don’t do that until star players eliminate dumb mistakes like what we saw from DeSean last night.
* * * * *
Couple of quick topics…
Vick should start when he’s healthy. Vince played well in the 2nd half, but we still scored just 17 points and the short passing attack benefited greatly from the Giants bad LB play. Had we tried that stuff vs the Bears…uh, not so good.
Last night showed the importance of practice. Last week the gameplan was built on DeSean. He and Vick practiced all week. Then he got deactivated and we threw Steve Smith, Riley Cooper in there. Sometimes players can step up, but that’s tough for WRs. They needs reps to work on their timing with the QB.
I’m not gonna start thinking about winning streaks and playoffs until this team gets back to .500, should that ever happen. For now, just deal with each week as it comes along. After that, we’ll see. It is fun to have a sense of hope again. That was gone at this time last week.
How the hell does a dead ball penalty offset with a live ball penalty? That is a garbage rule and needs to be addressed.
Also I know I’m not the only one who thought your son was paying tribute with his TOMMY gun celebration.
It’s a dumb rule that I think will get changed next season. He made the penalty after the play was dead. The Giants had a penalty during the play. We should have had the ball at the 35.
Terrible rule that needs to be changed.
DeSean is a victim of bad luck to be sure, but he still shouldn’t have done what he did.
Have we even had confirmation that it was interpreted correctly? Because I have never seen that before. I still think the ref screwed up.
This is how PFT explained it. Apparently the refs got it right.
The process gets started at Rule 14, Section 1, Article 9: “If there has been a foul by either team during a down and there is a dead ball foul by the other team in the action immediately after the end of the down, it is a double foul, and all rules for enforcement of double fouls apply (see 14-3-1).”
Regarding double fouls, Article 14, Section 3, Rule 1 provides as follows: “If there is a double foul . . . without a change of possession, the penalties are offset and the down is replayed at the previous spot.”
Mike Pierera tweeted that the rule was interpreted correctly. He didn’t really elaborate (apparently he was boarding a plane), but the call was correct. The rule clearly needs to be changed.
Yeah, I just don’t understand.
If both penalties had been against the Giants – hands to the face and unnecessary roughness after the play for example, we could have declined the first and tacked on the second, right?
But if there were no penalty on the Giants, the taunting penalty would have been enforced at the end of the play. How does that make sense? The Giants benefit because of their penalty?
i posted this elsewhere, BGN i think…but i’ll ask it here too.
what would have happened IF
there was no live ball foul on the giants. Then, desean gets the catch and the dead ball foul.
if i am a player on the giants, can i just go up and shove somebody, draw a flag, and now offset the penalties to re-do the down?
No that would be offsetting dead ball which means the play stands no harm no foul. It has to either be live/dead or live/live.
cool, thanks man!
With the leagues stand on showboating etc it would actually not surprise me if they didn’t change the rule
‘I’m not gonna start thinking about winning streaks and playoffs until this team gets back to .500, should that ever happen’
You mean when they get to 8-8 on the last gameday of the season?! *jk
Great win and best defensive performance of the year. If they only could repeat this against the Bradys next Sunday…
As negative as I am, and as much as I expected the 4th quarter collapse….I think I enjoyed last nights game, and can live with that effort, even if it ends up in a loss.
That was a team that was trying. That was a team flying to the ball. If they had blown it, it would be been disappointing, but that was a team I felt was fighting. Most of this year I think that has been missing. They’ve been lazy on the field. No gang tackling. Just one on one, and missing. I enjoyed last night. I want more effort like that.
strangely, i agree with you. maybe it was just my tempered expectations, but that was some fun to watch. still infuriating at times, but it was fun to watch the defense just play ball.
Although I agree that DeSean’s taunting penalty and goal line fumble against Dallas were moronic, I’m still convinced that he was ensuring that the clock had completely run out on his walk-off punt return last year. When Brandon Stokley did nearly the same thing for the Broncos in 2009 he got nothing but praise for making a “heads up” play.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I74BG0YFKUc
Double standard?
Happens all the time in Rugby. If only Westy had done that against the Buccs that year when they replied with hardly and tics and booted a 130 yard field goal. He learned too, remember when he gave up 6 for time against the ‘Pukes?
Big, big, big differences.
Stokeley’s play was snapped with 28 seconds left on the clock. Brandon knew that there was going to be time left on the clock. That wasn’t the final play of the game.
DeSean’s play happened with 14 seconds left. You know the punt will take 3 or 4 seconds. If you run it back, that’s going to eat up basically everything. There is no reason to play with fire.
Also, Stokeley has no reputation as a hot dog. DeSean just the week before had run to the GL and then turned to face the defense while he fell backward for the TD. There was nothing in his track record to show that he was truly thinking of eating off time. I am 100% convinced he was showboating, no matter what he says.
Had DeSean’s play happened with 28 seconds left, then that would have been smart. That wasn’t the case.
I loved the spin-and-fall celebration.
Good points, especially about how his reputation has colored perception. And yes, time had run out when he got to the goal line, but I’m sure lots of players lose track of their internal clock during plays like that. I’ll allow that there is a very good possibility it was pure showboating, but my first thought, as it happened, was the Stokley play. I’m still not 100% convinced that I’m wrong to think it was the same kind of play.
That said, I’m still mad as hell when he does something certifiably stupid in a game.
Yea, I had the same initial reaction when it happened. To me, 14 seconds is a lot of time. Going into the play, I remember thinking, “Ok DeSean gets a short return and leaves us enough time for one extra play.” My guess is the message he got from the coaches was something similar. Make sure to get down with time left on the clock unless you can score. So once he broke free and knew he was going to score, the thought about the clock became important, so he ran sideways a bit to make sure the time ran out. Of course, I don’t question that there was a bit of showboating involved with the decision. That is certainly part of DeSean’s personality and he has a history of showboating, so I don’t necessarily disagree with Tommy, but I think it was a mixture of showboating and trying to run out the clock.
To be fair, DeSean is REALLY fast. In his own mind he is probably much, much faster. He probably estimated that 14 seconds was enough time to run to the end zone, back to midfield and then to the end zone again. We should consider ourselves lucky that he didn’t test that theory.
Honestly, the taunting stuff bothers me most of the time. I’ll forgive the backpedaling while smiling at Landry because of the back story. I’ll forgive the Nestea plunge against Dallas, because it is Dallas and I’d imagine there were some comments to him when he hurt his ankle.
Ideally, I want more Brian Westbrook toss the ball to the official and jog to the sideline. I realize that isn’t realistic because of the varying personalities on a team. More than the touchdown celebrations, the first down celebrations drive me nuts. Converting a 3rd and 5 is not worth jumping up and doing a super-exaggerated first down point. A few years ago, I was hoping Brent would stop that, instead everyone else started.
And, finally, as dumb as the taunting was, the enforcement was worse. That didn’t occur until the play was over, that is how it should be enforced.
But if you watch the replay, he’s looking around seriously- not trying to show off. He’s looking for the clock.
I bet he thought he was so fast that there is no way the clock ran out.
Everything that you said about DJax is so spot on. I shake my head sometimes when he has the ball and does that little jump step like that is going truly fakeout an NFL player. Just run and get the most yards you can. What also makes me mad is that this guy is so good that there is nothing he can’t do to be productive. Teams are taking two of their players to take him out of the deep game. The guy can play in the intermediate game, screen game you name it. There are times where he does not show up when he should. Some of that has do with the playcalls but man I wish he had the mentality of “its on me, regardless of whether it is deep balls or taking the short stuff, I will make the other team pay.”
* Not to be one that poops upon parties, but while the OL did do a good job in pass protection, they didn’t seem to do nearly as well run blocking. Shady was seemingly getting hit or dodging guys right after getting the ball. Were the Giants run-blitzing or stacking the box?
* DeSean is DeSean. You can live with it when he makes the big plays. The punt return aside, this year he just hasn’t really made plays. Until he starts doing so, I can’t imagine him getting a huge payday (at least from the Eagles).
* I’d like to believe this is game changes things. They played tough and physical despite injuries and mistakes. They made plays when they needed to. They finally win instead of lose in the 4th quarter, hopefully breaking the curse. I’d love for them to be a team that finds ways to win instead of lose. But they aren’t getting me so easily, not like after the Dallas game.
Instead, I’m just going to enjoy the week, and rather than think about running the table and making the playoffs, I’ll just think about the Manning-face.
http://i.imgur.com/S1FRn.png
In answer to the last asterisks point, this is what Shady said after the game
“I think we’re capable of big things,” McCoy told me. “I think once we get — if we get to the playoffs — we’ll be a lot to handle. Teams know we’re a good team.”
That scares me. That is not 1-game at a time mentality. I just wonder whether #36 wouldn’t have been a better off-season acquisition over Ronnie Brown. We need some veteran ‘Reid’ player leadership.
Those comments are less than ideal. We’re not good. We’re talented. And 4-6.
This is the biggest problem with this team….they think too highly off themselves…and I was hoping they would have fallen down to earth by now…does not look like that
On your first point considering we had our starting QB out and have the league’s leading rusher it’s possible they schemed to stop the run, I’m not watching the tape though so I can’t tell for sure
I haven’t watched the tape either, but I was thinking the same thing. Even beyond “scheming to stop the run,” I think with Vick out, they didn’t have to scheme for Vick. Young is a mobile QB, but he is not nearly the athlete Vick is. With Vick out, the defense has one less player to worry about running around them which makes things a lot easier.
To address your first point, the Giants made it a point to contain the Eagles’ running game. I saw 8 men in the box on numerous occasions. I also suspect that Perry Fewell drilled his players on the importance of taking away the cutback lane for McCoy.
What is taunting? Every player feels the need to celebrate after a play, from jumping up and signalling first down with a chopping motion, pretending to massacre the crowd with a tommy gun and even strumming an air guitar. That also shows that some players are more creative or better at it than others, some are consistent with their signature move while others have a full repertoire and the latter in both cases are ones who tend to get flagged.
Where does celebration end and taunting begin? Is it clear? In Association Football, if you remove the shirt or lift it over your head, that is deemed excessive. Are there equally clear boundaries in the no fun league?
When you flip the football at the opposing team’s assistant, you cross the line.
But basically, whenever you single out a player and celebrate, you will get called for taunting. The other celebrations aren’t considered taunting since they aren’t targeted at a certain individual.
Anyway, I am sick of all of the celebrations. An NBA player doesn’t celebrate each time he scores a basket, gets a steal, or has an assist. An MLB player doesn’t celebrate each time he gets a strike or make a hit. The biggest home run celebrations other than game winners is usually just a point to the sky.
I don’t understand why NFL players have the need to celebrate each time they get a TFL, sack, first down, interception, or a forced fumble.
Because, unlike the things you mentioned for the NBA and MLB, those things don’t happen every game.
First downs are rare enough to necessitate jumping up, running to an open spot, squatting, giving a double head fake, pausing for dramatic effect, then flashing the super-crazy-exaggerated first down point?
The others I can live with, that one is just silly.
Oh yeah. I agree on first downs. There is no need to celebrate that. I didn’t even pay attention to that. TFLs, FFs, sacks, INTs make sense to celebrate to me.
Flicking the ball directly to an opposing coach is 100% taunting. Then DeSean made a gesture to the Giants players/coaches to let them know how awesome he was.
When you directly “target” the opposing team with your celebration, you are taunting them. If you are doing your thing with your teammates or to the fans, that is celebrating. Not real complicated.
College is much more complicated because they have excessive celebration rules. That’s a whole other story and every game is wildly different.
How would he have celebrated had he caught the ball on the other sideline? Had Perry Felwell been standing 10 yards up field and no coach been present, would his celebration of changed? It certainly wasn’t premeditated or all that alarming.
It seems to me taunting is part of football period! The 2 scraps in the 1st quarter at the bottom of the pile, I’m sure they weren’t the result of over politeness. A year back when Andre Johnson and the DB from Tennessee got in to it, was a result each taunting each other. Any of that called? Players pass each other and sound off all the time, when they should be able to exert more control. A shirt on his sleeve player that is jacked after catching his 1st big play for a team that has NO interest in resigning him, in a huge divisional game certainly has more motive and adrenaline.
Additionally, when a player celebrates a 1st down, which is just crazy anyway, they nearly always run forward of the spot, i.e. into opposition territory to celebrate! That is not celebrating with your team, it is showing off your own personal achievement. Further, if in doing so the player accidently contacts another player then usually taunting is called. If the NFL want to clear it up, then go the college ball way, but they don’t. They (the NFL) run a feature every week 21st and Prime and if you do the Neon dance your in. They promote it! DeSean Jackson is great for the game of football, and I will be justifiably mortified when he leaves! Screw Banner and Roseman!
Really, you condone what Jackson did? I’m a huge Eagles fan, not the biggest fan of Jackson I admit it. But what he did was stupid and childish! It’s like Barber getting two yards on a carry and he jumps up like he saves a baby from drowning.
What Jackson did was childish and moronic. All he had to do was catch the ball (which is a job in itself with Jackson) and jump up and go back to the huddle. Sure punch your chest I don’t care. But don’t do it while pointing flipping the ball at the opposing bench. THAT is taunting and just stupid.
That is Jackson’s biggest problem, he’s not a rookie anymore and I’m sure a ton of people have talked to him about this. But he just doesn’t learn, he’s immature and can’t handle “wins” like that catch was. So instead he hurts the team instead.
If these are the type of players you like, that is fine. But we will never win anything wiht players that get stupid penalties because they are too immature to control themselves.
I’m not condoning, I’m just not damning. I’m saying celebrating, condoned by the NFL, can easily turn into taunting. Check how many time he taunted after his NFL equalling 8 40+ TDs 2 years ago? Taunting goes on all the time, but the only time the refs call it is with excessive celebration. They don’t flag trash talk and I’m sure they hear it on a regular basis. Which is worse and why?
When Vick ran for a long gain against the ‘Skins he kicked a ball and nearly took a cheerleaders head off, I don’t condone that, but suggest that had he of hit her or worse a palyer or coach some foul, probably taunting, would have been called.
All stupid heat of the moment celebration that is probably controllable, which is why none of scream and rant when watching the game!
Well something has to be called. Trash talking isn’t necessarily taunting, it’s what it is, trash talking.
Yes something would need to be called if the football Vick kicked hit someone and it should have been flagged anyway, probably flagged and ruled Unsportsmanlike Conduct. Kicking a football after a play is just that.
http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/multimedia/videos/Spudcam-Another-Meadowland-Victory/02f92552-13c3-4e8b-9e30-98f70f5f8514
Is that Drew trying to get some man-love from DeSean at 7.40 mark? I wish we could ban him from coming anywhere near the Eagles.
The Eagles are 2 games out of first with 6 left to play and one of those is against the leader. No more, no less. We’ll see how it works out.
Nice thing is, all these new players and coaches have a lot to work for regardless of record this year. Even if we miss the playoffs, everyone has lots to prove yet.
Very true.
There is reason for hope. I’m just hesitant to get too excited after the CHI and ARZ games.
I’m not excited, I’m just trying to enjoy the ride. A couple years ago we stopped getting into the playoffs automatically and started having seasons like this, and i don’t mind seasons like this.
I’d love to win the SB or go back on a tear and dominate the division for 5 years or so, but you’re just not always gonna have the team that does that. You have to be able to enjoy the season anyway, without expectation and pre-disappointment, otherwise you’re just wasting a perfectly good year of football.
Just wanted to share this gem for all the readers here. I thought it was pretty insightful.
http://www.threadless.com/profile/458966/Eddiemx/blog/195382/QB_101_by_Rex_Grossman
(Not for the easily offended.)
That was taken from the Kissing Suzy Kolber site (in 2006): http://kissingsuzykolber.uproxx.com/2006/11/f-k-it-im-throwing-it-downfield.html
It’s a great site (again, if you’re not easily offended). Their weekly breakdowns of Peter King’s column are hilarious. The latest was posted today: http://kissingsuzykolber.uproxx.com/2011/11/peter-king-invents-fictional-british-correspondents.html (written by the same guy that originally wrote the Rex Grossman piece)
Too bad we cannot swap #11 for #94..
I know I should get this, but I’m drawing a blank.
Steve Smith for Kwinuka (sp?)
Thanks. Still don’t have Smith’s number memorized so that didn’t make sense to me. Does now.
So after the TD, he’s back to cap S?
AC was right, apart from the spelling. Kiwanuka was having a monster game against the Eagles. Just imagine him alongside Chaney and the little ball of hate. Super bowlzzzzz. 😉
Hey Tommy, whatever happened to the guy in this article (real interesting read btw) http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1015141/2/index.htm. His name is Aaron Gibson and the article makes him sound like a cross between Refigerator Perry and Jonathon Ogden. Sorta a super sized Jason Peters. How did this guy not work out in the nfl? He sounds like a true once in a lifetime freak of nature.
Also, New England plays tonight, is it wrong of me to hope that maybe Brady breaks a pinky or something so he can’t play next week? Their defense is super banged up so it will be interesting to see if any teams can really capitalize on that. I think an offense like Green Bay would hang a ridiculous number of points on them.
Its probably because I’m a complete glutton for punishment, but I fully 100% want Brady in there on Sunday. We’ve never beaten him. We finally got to Peyton last year. Now its time to get Brady.
(Full disclosure, I’m putting good money down that we lose on Sunday. But I digress.)
if 1 more loss wasn’t almost like an automatic elimination for us I’d be right there with you but this seems like the kind of season where we’re going to need to catch a couple lucky breaks to get in.
Tommy…..looks like BWest’s career is done…any chance the Eagles brass get him to come in as a consultant to the RB’s….BWest is a class act in this age of prima donnas…and he taught Shady – why not use him to teach Dion Lewis and whoever else we have….and hopefully he can teach Desean some humility
Creative. Isn’t Duce Staley already here though? We could make Westbrook a ST coach so he can be a direct mentor to both DJax and Lewis
I’d make him the defensive coordinator since he’s such a hard worker.
i see what you did there
Going on to the Pats game….Brady must be licking his chops anticipating going no huddle with this defense…meaning we cant substitute our DL very often….I hope Castillo and Reid game plan extensively for this
I heard the Eagles were granted an additional 10 time outs by the league.
The Wide 9 – Eagles version seems to depend completely on how the DTs are playing.
Also, why is it now that every game — or so it seems — Trent Cole jumps offside while staring at the ball? Very frustrating.
Babin made a great hustle play last night.
But before that — as with the past few games — I wondered what happened to him. His production on the pass rush seems to have dropped noticeably.
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Painful to see JASON Pierre Paul get a sack (regardless of how it happened).
What’s interesting in looking back to the 2010 draft is that the word around Philadelphia is that while JPP was the better athlete, he didn’t have the “football experience” that Graham had.
Then in the 2011 draft the Eagles grab a guy who’s not only lacking “football experience,” but who’s also 27 now.
Weird.
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Beating the Giants beats beating the ‘Boys. Why? Because the Cowboys are all about Jerry Jones. Watching him stay in his man-cave all game is great.
But beating the Giants is about beating every guy on that team . . . like Usi, Eli, Victor Cruz and Aaron Ross (who both are making HOF careers out playing the Eagles), Boley, Grant, Snee, Jacobs.
At this point, besides Dez Bryant (whom I’d love to see lose no matter what team he was on), I just feel like beating the Giants involves more emotion.
Remember, though, watching Jerry stay upstairs as the clock ticks down is highly satisfying.
I know what you are saying about Babin, but considering he has the 3rd most sacks in the league, I would say that part of his “drop” in sacks lately is because he was on a crazy pace early on. I’m more than happy with his 10 sacks right now.
10 sacks is a pretty good season really, for almost any DE. I’m happy with where he’s at right now.
So can we trade Kafka to the Bears for their second rounder? 😉
I like where your head is at, but I think we can hold out for a 2nd and Lance Briggs.
I know you’re joking, but we’re over a month past the trading deadline. It’s a shame, because it would be the perfect time to trade Young.
Not sure if this was brought up before, but it’s interesting that Jordan is now the starter at SAM. I know Fokou was being overaggressive at times and not maintaining proper gap control, but it never really seemed as if his job was in jeopardy.
Absolutely prefer Jordan in as a starter to Fokou. All year Fokou has been out of position due to over pursuit. It’s literally killed our run defense, which, when the players all maintain gap integrity, has been pretty solid (i.e. Washington game, last night v. Giants). Jordan is probably not the athlete Fokou is but is more sound, and you HAD to love his stop of Jacobs on 3rd and 1.
I rewatched the game today and came away impressed with this team. They had a hunger & fire in them. They played like a team. Case in point- the Meadowlands March. That had everybody coming up with clutch plays. I wasn’t expecting much from Young, but he impressed me as he improved with each quarter.
As far as DeSean- I’m okay with the stupid things. I’ll take things like that to get things like walk off punt return TDs. Which BTW- running along the goal line wasn’t showing off- he was making sure the time ran out.
Meadowlands March! The thing that impressed me on that drive were the 6 (I believe) 3rd down conversions.
Tommy- first thing…great celebration you taught your son Brian Rolle. The machine gun was epic.
2nd – how about our oline especially our two bookend tackles. Peters is thriving in Mudds system. Osi wasn’t within 10 feet of VY.
3rd- Marsh or Hughes this week for the Pats 4 wide sets? Looks like Reid said DRC is gonna miss another game. I’d love to see nmamdi locked on gronkowski, Hanson on welker and Asante on branch. Gonna need a big body in their to muscle Hernandez too. DLine has to come up huge again and not let Brady sit back there all day.
I confess I have a real blind spot for Desean. For thing, he’s just so good! After all the years of slop we fielded at the WR position, it’s hard for me to let go of how excited I was to finally root for a player who had transcendent, immediately apparent skills.
Desean is like my little brother. I get mad at him when he’s being stupid, but I can’t help loving the guy.
I love his passion for the game, even when it manifests itself in poor sportsmanship and bone-headed decisions. He plays football the way I think I probably would if I were 12-years old and fast enough to glide by any defender in the NFL. Mentally Desean probably IS about 12, but he just reminds me of a kid on a playground. A little mischievous, sure. But totally harmless.
In a related topic, I think “class” is overrated in professional sports. At the Pop Warner level, sure. But guys like Barry Sanders I just find a little joyless. I confess I love it when Desean laughs in the faces of our rivals.
Realize I’m definitely in the minority here and am probably a terrible person.
You’re not in the minority, my brother.
I agree with you on Jackson. I’ve been saying this all year over at BGN. As good as Jackson is his immature acts are wearing thin on me. He can break a game wide open, but he can also put the team in a huge hole as well, with stupid punt returns – you never run backwards on punt returns!!!
He is all about himself, look at this season, Young called him out. He’s not playing 100% or even practicing 100%, he’s crying about not having a contract. Does he really think playing less then 100% will help you get that huge contract. I hope he doesn’t get one from the Eagles, I’m ready for him to move on.
I fully agree that he is not playing at the same level this year, but saying “he’s crying about not having a contract” is simply not true. DeSean has avoided talking about his contract since training camp, and frankly, his silence about it is impressive. He is probably getting questions on a very regular basis and nothing has come out about his contract. He has flat out refused to talk about it.
As for the punt returns, his numbers are certainly down this year, but he has always ran backwards on punt returns to try to break a long one. When he does break a long one, losing 5 yards is relatively insignificant compared to gaining 60 and a TD. To me, as long as he maintains good average on returns and doesn’t fumble the ball, I don’t mind if he runs backwards at times. The one he fumbled is worth getting frustrated about, but if you’re going to celebrate his long returns, you have to accept the fact that on a lot of those returns, he takes a risk by running backwards to get around the coverage.
I’m not trying to defend DeSean no matter what. He obviously has some plays that make you want to hit him. The times those errors cost us, like the taunting penalty or the dropping the ball at the 1 against dallas, those type of plays are boneheaded plays that are signs of him not being focused, but I can’t stand fans making up stories just to fit with their complaints about Jackson or fans complaining about the type of player he is on one hand while celebrating the exact same thing on the other. He is a high risk-high reward type player. That’s ultimately what it comes down to.
As much as I hate Deseans antics, he has a legit beef….He is grossly underpaid. He pretty much got the Eagles in the playoffs himself with that punt return. He is making a lot less money than Steve Smith and Vince Young, and Ronnie Brown!!! Who is more important to the team?!?
On the flip side, he is not worth top 5 money, not even top 10 money…I am thinking 6-8mil a year.
I do think he deserves more, but not even as much as you’re saying. I’m thinking 3-4 mil a year. He’s not build to play another 8 years. He’s too small and his only advantage he has on anyone is speed. That will be the first thing to go on him is his speed. After that he is useless. He has bad hands, runs bad routes and isn’t big enough to out jump anyone. So after his speed leaves he’s nothing to this team.
If they resign him, which I hope the don’t, I say maybe a 3 – 4 year contract tops. That’s all I’d be willing to give him. If he doesn’t want that, we can always draft another fast receiver……they come out every single year.
I don’t cheer Jackson really at all. I think he has way too many bonehead plays. Like the negated 50 yard completation that he had because he acts like a child when he catches a ball. Or fumbling a punt against the Bears at a VERY critical time in the game. We just got momentum on our side before halftime and he does a stupid play like that. Running backwards on a punt return and then fumbling.
There are times you can do that. Not deep in your territory just before halftime when you have the momentum. Against the Giants last season, would be a good time for it. We are on full comeback mode and needed it with basically no time left on the clock. About maintaining a good return average. Yeah, I could live with him losing a few yards now and then IF HE HAD A GOOD AVERAGE THIS YEAR. But he doens’t I think before last game it was at like 2.9/return. I don’t know about you but I consider that pathetic.
So I’m not making up stories about Jackson at all. I’m just stating the facts. I could live with his childish antics the first few years. He’s not a rookie anymore, he needs to grow up and stop hurting the team with dumb mistakes like tossing the ball at the other teams coach, when really all year you’ve done nothing for the team.
No he hasn’t cried about his contract, but Young basically spilled the beans on him. Until this past week he hasn’t played hard or practiced hard. So that is him being selfish and hurting the team…..Jackson is a team player and a player that thinks he’s really better then what he is.
Ooh, lookie here: The ESPN NFL Playoff Machine:
http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/machine
If things shake out the right way, the Eagles could end up with a #4 seed, even with a loss to the Pats or the Jets. Not that I’m looking ahead or anything.
You are a bad person.
Don’t tell me stuff like that.
I also probably shouldn’t tell you that, according to my projections, the first-round matchup would be hosting the Cutler-less Bears.