Eagles Notebook
Posted: July 24th, 2013 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 39 Comments »There isn’t one overwhelming topic this morning so let’s talk about a few things.
Yesterday Jeff McLane wrote a piece asking who has final say – Kelly or Roseman. The Eagles really don’t have clear-cut situation. Both guys have a lot of power. As far as I can tell, Howie runs free agency and the draft. He brings the players in. Chip then will have final say on who makes the team.
This is the way it should be. The scouting staff should be tasked with finding outside talent for the team. The coaching staff should then figure out which guys are worth keeping. They coach the players on a daily basis and develop relationships. They know who has the right work habits and has the best shot to make it.
It is also crucial that the two staffs work together. The coaches must tell the scouts the type of players they are looking for. Coaches will also watch tape and share their thoughts. When it comes time to make cuts, Howie Roseman and the scouts will offer their two cents to the coaches. There are times when coaches will get too close to players and lose some perspective.
The key here is that Kelly and Roseman get along right now and share a vision for the Eagles. As long as that is happening, disagreements are likely to be at a minimum.
* * * * *
FakeWIPCaller has a new column up. Brilliant as usual.
Yes, we all loved the moves the Sixers made on draft night. But how much more fun would it have been if we as fans had seen it coming in advance? Imagine if Hinkie had gone on the morning show a few days before and told Angelo that yes, we’re willing to trade Jrue Holliday and yes, we’re only going to do it if we can have Nerlens Noel and a future first-round pick.
Hinkie could have shown us, the greatest fans in the world, that he trusts us, and given us all kinds of excitement coming into the draft. It would’ve been Sixers fans’ little secret, and all the more exciting when it finally happens.
We need a real GM in this city, someone who’s willing to talk to the fans about his moves and trust us in advance with his draft and free agency strategy.
I know I could have kept those plans a secret. You?
* * * * *
SalPal had gone a while without saying anything too dumb, but he took care of that yesterday. Tim McManus has the details of an interview that SalPal gave 97.5.
“Chip Kelly has to start getting this team solidified,” said Paolantonio during an appearance on 97.5 The Fanatic. “You can’t say in July, in the National Football League to professional football players who have been out there for months, that the depth chart is written in sand. It’s just the wrong approach. It’s a college approach. That’s not the professional approach. It doesn’t work.
“The quarterback situation is the most unsettled in the league. It can’t happen like that. You don’t have 90 guys you can plug in and out. You don’t have guys that are interchangeable like that. There’s a big dropoff between starters and substitutes in the NFL. You don’t have the same dropoff in college. It’s ‘Welcome to the pros.’ I think he’s making a big mistake by stringing everybody along.”
Chip should already have figured out who needs to play where. Based on 2012 tape study. Or what he saw in the OTAs. Or what he thought after eating some magic pixie dust. Maybe Chip ought to have Marcus Vick just fill out a depth chart. Or my 5-year old nephew.
Ugh.
If this was August 24th and Chip was still going on about wanting to see more, SalPal might have an argument. This, however, is July. The players have not had one second of live action. No blocks. No tackles.
Either Sal is stirring the pot or he’s just dumb.
The Eagles went 4-12 last year. I’m really not concerned about players being comfortable with their situation. Go play. Go earn a spot. Simple as that. Why let coaches decide the depth chart when the players can do it themselves? We’ll start to get some answers soon enough. I just hope Sal can stand to wait that long.
* * * * *
If you’ll look over on the right, I’ve made some changes. I took out the link for the H2H site. I changed the Blogging the Beast link to Jimmy’s page over at Philly.com. Down a few links is Bleeding Green Nation.
In the last couple of weeks I added and removed some sites. Check them all out and see what you think.
* * * * *
Remember the Eagles Almanac (no, not the Alamo, the Eagles Almanac)? It is now available for download.
For $10 you can read a ton about the Eagles. Go here for the details.
Here is a clip from one of my 3 articles.
“The Eagles…”
Good stuff, huh? I’m the king of cliffhangers.
* * * * *
Sheil Kapadia, who contributed to the Eagles Almanac, wrote a good piece this morning on TE James Casey.
Last year, according to Pro Football Focus, Casey was used as a lead blocker in the run game 55 percent of the time he was on the field. That number figures to take a mighty dip now that he’s with the Eagles. While Casey is quick to point out that he’s a team player and will do whatever the coaches ask of him, the sense is he’s expecting more opportunities as a receiver.
Casey is going to be so interesting to watch. He can catch. He can make plays after the catch. He can run. Casey had 4 Red Zone TD catches last year. He is one of those guys who will do different things from week to week, and sometimes within a game. I don’t know if he’ll post huge numbers, but he can be an impact player strictly due to his versatility.
* * * * *
Is this Paul Domowitch’s car? I’ll let you decide.
Les Bowen shared his thoughts.
How he rolls. Bet rims are Baller RT @AmyDomowitch: You didn't tell me u got a new car @pdomo #domo #sweetride #pimp pic.twitter.com/F7hv5SkYxe
— Les Bowen (@LesBowen) July 24, 2013
See what you miss if you’re not on Twitter?
_
“Either Sal is stirring the pot or he’s just dumb.”
Why can’t it be both?
It almost always is. Other times, it’s fatuous too.
Mo’ like smokin’ the pot
Anal Piano Stool
Best kind of piano stool. And a better use of the letters.
Limited edition. Available from the Sharper Image as part of their Elton John collection.
Something tells me Chip Kelly has read this study: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1469029210000750
Domo a huge fan and member of the Bo Wulfpac I see.
Bo Wulfpac hahahahaha
Nice.
My sincere hope is that JimmyK’s meteoric rise to the top will include a dramatic unseating of Sal Pal, broadcast on ESPN. A public shaming and humiliation the likes of which hasn’t been seen since the days of the stocks.
Then, of course, Jimmy will start writing the pot-stirring articles, but we’ll be too distracted by the stick figures to notice.
“Buccaneers receiver Mike Williams has signed a six-year, $40.25 million contract that ties him to Tampa Bay through the 2018 season.” I heard it was 15 million guaranteed.
I guess Howie just got some leverage for Maclin’s contract negotiations. Williams has about the same production as Maclin and that’s disregarding Maclin playing one more year than Williams.
That’s a pretty fair contract all around; it seems like the owners really tightened up their pockets this offseason, and it’s being felt by the players.
This is likely the best thing for Maclin’s career as an Eagle. If Williams got a monster deal, I don’t know if it’s the agent or the player, but the rest would want to scale to that. If Maclin and his agent can see a reasonable contract as “fair” now, it serves all parties for the best
Contract issues aside . . . in the 2010 draft, I liked Williams a lot coming out of Syracuse because of his size as compared to the Eagles WRs under Reid. He definitely had issues at Syracuse. But not too much of a problem in the NFL.
Heck, the kid beat-out the Bucs 2nd-round pick in 2010 for the starting job . . . A-Benn, who’s now in green.
well done T-Law. take the rest of the day off and enjoy some pbr.
“I’m the king of cliffhangers.”
Really, Tommy? I think THIS guy is the king of cliffhangers…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSSFQEzCfOw
Or perhaps, THIS guy…
Where in god’s name did you find this!? Well I am left with more question than answers, much like a cliff hanger.
I’m not sure if this is awful or brilliant.
I hated it at first, but when the dead guy got up and went to the bathroom to fix his gunshot wound, I realized there was more to this than I thought.
Awful or brilliant? Try “awfulliant.”
“Trapped in the Closet” is a must-watch. I dare anyone to NOT watch it all the way through once you start. Then, doing it all over again with commentary only makes it more awfulliant.
Chapters 9 and 10 will really make your mind explode.
I wasted my sophomore year second semester with trapped in the closet. We had a projector set up in the dorm hall, and essentially had 4 floors worth of kids singing along.
Thanks for the memories.
And to this day, I still check my closets for midgets
I have to say I completely disagree with Sal Paolantonio.
“You can’t say in July, in the National Football League to professional
football players who have been out there for months, that the depth
chart is written in sand.” = Even though you still have absolutely no idea about how your players perform in pads or when they go up against another team in a game, you can’t tell them that they need to perform well in order to make the team, otherwise their bad performance will result in some else making the team instead of them.
This is how I interpret Paolantonio’s statement. I may be wrong.
I do not see how Chip’s approach is the wrong approach. I think Chip’s approach is just…the logical approach for a first year HC, and one that I’m sure many other new head coaches would take who were previously NFL coordinators and not college coaches. Maybe they are taking the same approach right know, for example it is entirely possible (even though I have no idea about it) that Gus Bradley in Jax preeches competition and that the players make the depth chart the same way as Chip, we just don’t hear about it, since the national media is a lot more interested now in the Eagles, than in the Jaguars (no offense to Jags fans, I actually like Gus Bradley and I think their team deserves the attention just as much as any other team).
Correction: I did not just mean “making the team” in the post above, but determining players’ positions on the depth chart in general.
Not only has Kelly not seen them in pads, but many of them are being asked to perform in new schemes which are being installed on both sides of the ball. So the coaches honestly don’t know how these guys will perform at full game speed.
I think Kelly’s approach here is equal parts motivational coaching strategy and a true need for more evaluation.
Sal is dumb, he is just trying to get some attention.
Re: FakeWIPCaller’s column is gold, I commute quite a distance for school and work both so I end up listening to WIP a bunch and some of the hosts are so personally offended that Sam Hinkie doesn’t take time out of his day to tell everyone that there isn’t anything to tell.
RB William Powell picked up off waivers, Shot across the bow, Mr Tucker.
Yep.
“Roseman was asked if the addition of Powell had anything to do with the failed conditioning test of rookie running back Matthew Tucker. “Well
I think coach said it’s an important part of our program, (you have to)
be able to pass a conditioning test to be able to play in the NFL, but
for us we have to press our guys and have competition,” said Roseman”
Fire! Fire! Fire!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XchwE9zVdnw
simply not enough beavis and butthead references in today’s world. *sniff* beautiful.
Tommy, do you think the conditioning test is a little tougher due to the expected pace of TC? The Vet’s test tomorrow right? Do you think there might be a few failures?
Seriously, go get the Eagles Almanac if you haven’t already. @BountyBowl’s fanfic piece featuring manic-depressive Danny Watkins is worth the price alone.
Tommy,
You have got to set up a live video H2H Show @ The Linc with Sal and Chip Kelly as your guests.
Jimmy Bama “Chip how do you feel about Sal saying basically you suck and you don’t know what your doing?”
It gets good from here…
This a bit of a cliffhanger. Maybe the intro music could use a bit of a cliff head banger… NSFW… A couple F words at the beginning. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_HmN4cHkvk
Looking forward to an elaborate analysis of The Thin Man in connection with the Eagles new RB.
well who didnt see this coming lol
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000220512/article/chiefs-go-all-pass-plays-in-first-two-camp-practices
Louis Vuitton Outlet…
“fast internet and phone connections to billions of people in far flung corners of the earth.”…
Louis Vuitton Outlet…
Cannot believe the naive comments. You go and visit these places and you will see exactly what having this sort of communication means to the community. Alerts for all sorts of disasters…