Looking Back – 2005

Posted: July 3rd, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 71 Comments »

Sorry I’ve been a bit quiet recently. I was wrapping up a couple of long pieces for The Eagles Almanac. I wrote a draft review and a piece on the 2005 season.

While doing some research on 2005, I stumbled across all kinds of wild info.

* The total number of players who kicked a ball for the Eagles that year…9. Stop and think about that for a second. Nine different guys either punted, kicked off, tried an extra point or field goal. Insane.

Test yourself. How many of the 9 can you name? Answers will be below.

* Think about how good the Safety depth chart looked at one point.

FS – Brian Dawkins …  JR Reed
SS – Michael Lewis …. Quintin Mikell

Reed got hurt in the offseason and the Eagles drafted Sean Considine to replace him.

Don’t look at the current depth chart for a while or you will get depressed

* LS/TE Mike Bartrum had more TD catches (2) than starting WR Greg Lewis (1).

* Reno Mahe actually did a good job on PRs. He averaged 12.8 yards per PR that season. He wasn’t a home run threat, but that’s a good average.

I don’t want to get into too much because I want to keep so many other of the crazy stories for the piece in the Eagles Almanac.

* * * * *

While looking back at 2005 stuff, I stumbled across some notes on a young Buffalo Bills player I watched in the preseason.

* Jason Peters – TE/LT…comes off the ball very well…good feet…good job of extending his arms…looks alert/smart…uses hands well…beaten wide by KGB, but recovered and rode him deep past the QB…very good at mirroring the DE…excellent hand punch…very disciplined…good wide base…needs to get better push on DL in the run game…pulls okay, but room for improvement… missed block that led to TFL…adjusted well to stunts…good STer…took out 2 guys on long KOR vs GB

You might have heard of that young man.   

* * * * *

Answer to the kicking question.

P Dirk “Diggler” Johnson
P Reggie Hodges
P Nick Murphy
P Sean Landeta
K David Akers
K Todd France
K Jose Cortez
LB Mark Simoneau
LS Mike Bartrum

Crazy.

_

71 Comments on “Looking Back – 2005”

  1. 1 Joe Minx said at 6:09 PM on July 3rd, 2015:

    I only got 6 of those kickers. Completely forgot about Nick Murphy, Jose Cortez, & Landeta. Him I’m sorry I missed but I don’t remember the other two in the slightest.

  2. 2 Insomniac said at 6:58 PM on July 3rd, 2015:

    This was our backfield in 2009

    Brian Westbrook
    Lesean McCoy
    Leonard Weaver (never forget Weave)

    Now imagine that with Chip instead of Andy. Luckily we also have quite a trio this year.

  3. 3 Mitchell said at 7:36 PM on July 3rd, 2015:

    I would’ve let Weaver eat crackers in my bed. He was such a unique talent. A shame he got injuries. The best memory was a dumb pass from McNabb that went for 45ish yards. Great stuff.

  4. 4 MediaMike said at 7:48 PM on July 3rd, 2015:

    Weaver was the man. I was going to buy his jersey the week after the opener in 2010…………glad I held off. That injury was so bad. His knee basically exploded due to some poor blocking up front.

  5. 5 SteveH said at 11:04 PM on July 3rd, 2015:

    I don’t even have to watch… It is forever etched in my memory clear as day. That was the most gruesome injury I’ve seen live on TV.

  6. 6 Media Mike said at 7:50 AM on July 4th, 2015:

    It makes my leg twitch every time I see it.

  7. 7 Sb2bowl said at 9:38 AM on July 4th, 2015:

    At least your leg still twitches

  8. 8 Media Mike said at 9:57 AM on July 4th, 2015:

    I can’t imagine what Weaver’s knee anatomy looks like now.

  9. 9 Joe Minx said at 11:20 PM on July 3rd, 2015:

    Scrolling through here quickly I didn’t catch the author of this comment.

    Read the last part, instantly knew who it was.

  10. 10 wee2424 said at 11:12 AM on July 4th, 2015:

    Lol

  11. 11 Sb2bowl said at 9:30 AM on July 4th, 2015:

    I was at the game that day, the pile up was on our end of the field. I remember the crowd couldn’t figure out what had happened…. Until they showed the replay on the big screen. We realized we had just witnessed the end of a great mans’ career.

  12. 12 Media Mike said at 9:58 AM on July 4th, 2015:

    Yeah, brutal. And the updates that kept rolling in that season kept making the news worse.

  13. 13 wee2424 said at 11:11 AM on July 4th, 2015:

    That’s being a bit hard on Jackson. He was a solid center for us for a bit. Every OL whiffs on a block at one point.

  14. 14 Media Mike said at 4:17 PM on July 4th, 2015:

    I don’t think it is even close to hard enough on Jackson. His whiffed block was directly responsible for ending the career of one of my favorite guys on that team.

  15. 15 wee2424 said at 7:46 PM on July 4th, 2015:

    That’s sports.

  16. 16 Media Mike said at 9:32 AM on July 5th, 2015:

    So when can I expect a similar hit to happen on Eli Manning?

  17. 17 wee2424 said at 10:28 AM on July 5th, 2015:

    Lol. With the way he is playing it might be best that he stays in.

  18. 18 wee2424 said at 11:09 AM on July 4th, 2015:

    The one handed catch he made going down the middle of the field? Yeah, it really sucked when he got hurt. He just got the biggest contract ever handed to a FB too. He could really move for such a big guy.

  19. 19 Michael Winter Cho said at 6:14 PM on July 4th, 2015:

    Really sucked, I loved that guy.

  20. 20 wee2424 said at 11:42 PM on July 4th, 2015:

    Yeah, seemed like a real leader on the team too. Brought some fire. Apparently was also a really good guy off the field as well. Wonder what he is doing nowadays. I think he was a minister or something along those lines when he was with us.

  21. 21 iceberg584 said at 8:45 AM on July 5th, 2015:

    Umm…can’t believe you are leaving out Eldra Buckley…

  22. 22 Jamie Parker said at 7:04 PM on July 3rd, 2015:

    I always said that if we had Reno as our punt returner in ’07, we would’ve made the playoffs instead of the Giants, and the Patriots would have completed the perfect season. At least Reno could catch the punt, unlike Greg Lewis. Catching punts, especially in a game, is not an easy thing to do.

  23. 23 Mark F said at 10:17 AM on July 4th, 2015:

    good ‘ol GLew, lol…

  24. 24 wee2424 said at 11:07 AM on July 4th, 2015:

    Idky, but you sort of had to like him for some reason.

  25. 25 iceberg584 said at 11:42 PM on July 4th, 2015:

    Well, he’s one of only four Eagles to ever score a Super Bowl touchdown.

  26. 26 wee2424 said at 10:29 AM on July 5th, 2015:

    True, depressing but true.

  27. 27 Jamie Parker said at 7:25 PM on July 3rd, 2015:

    Todd France did a pretty good job. I don’t remember Jose Cortez at all. I do remember Mark Simoneau’s ugly PAT’s.

  28. 28 MediaMike said at 7:59 PM on July 3rd, 2015:

    Simoneau popped into my head right away. I wasn’t even close on the other guys.

    My friends and I went to the Eagles / Panthers gam
    e in Charlotte in 2003, I couldn’t believe in-person how small Simoneau was for a guy playing LB. The whole Eagles team walked into the hotel past where we were hanging in the bar. Simoneau being listed at 6 foot 245 is comical.

    Other highlights of that trip were drinking with D Gunn at the hotel bar and seeing a VERY drunk Don Tollifson drunk in the hotel elevator with definatley not Mrs. Tollifson

  29. 29 wee2424 said at 11:05 AM on July 4th, 2015:

    It would show when he had to try and stop the run. Pretty much the whole reason Trotter got the nod in 2004.

  30. 30 iceberg584 said at 10:18 PM on July 4th, 2015:

    Yeah, his signature moment as an Eagle was getting run over twice on one play by DaShaun Foster in the 2003 NFC Championship.

  31. 31 wee2424 said at 11:31 PM on July 4th, 2015:

    Don’t remember that thankfully.

    I remember him most by a play where he did really bad and good at the same time. He was covering Eddie George and George burnt him on a bomb. Somehow he managed to catch up and just grab the ball away from George. I think it was the same game McNabb ran around in the back field for 10 years before he unloaded that 64 yard bomb to Fredex.

  32. 32 MediaMike said at 7:47 PM on July 3rd, 2015:

    Reed got hurt in the offseason and the Eagles drafted Sean Considine to replace him.

    http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2009637

    And got stuck with Sean M-f-ing Considine. Brutal.

  33. 33 Sb2bowl said at 9:40 AM on July 4th, 2015:

    Jumped a fence in the offseason to get his dog who had gotten loose…. Caught his Achilles on the top of it, sliced through every necessary tendon for running, and he was never the same.

  34. 34 Media Mike said at 10:00 AM on July 4th, 2015:

    Yeah, I remember when that story broke. Truly tragic. He was a real spark, especially on kickoff returns.

  35. 35 wee2424 said at 11:04 AM on July 4th, 2015:

    Yeah, very explosive on KR. Remember when he laid Randy Moss out? Shame that happened to him, I think he could have been a good player for us for awhile. Definitely a fan favorite.

  36. 36 MediaMike said at 8:00 PM on July 3rd, 2015:

    WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH THIS JERKOFF VIDEO AUTOPLAYING AND MAKING THE WINDOW JUMP UP TO IT?

    This is really annoying. I cannot type on here in peace without having to reload the window.

  37. 37 Dave said at 9:53 PM on July 3rd, 2015:

    Install Google Chrome and the Adblock and Popup Blocker extension…it changes your browsing experience tremendously

  38. 38 Media Mike said at 7:51 AM on July 4th, 2015:

    Thank you. I really don’t mind the ads in general, but the “jumping” of my screen back to some video that interrupts my typing was the blow that killed father.

  39. 39 eagleyankfan said at 8:33 AM on July 5th, 2015:

    I didn’t return to this site for awhile because of that issue. very annoying.

  40. 40 Dave said at 9:28 AM on July 5th, 2015:

    I hear you both. I don’t mind ads in general but for Pete’s sake, using flashing ads, pop-up ads, automatically-loading videos, super slooooow loading websites due to advertisement overloading, etc. makes it so frustrating I won’t even go to some websites on certain devices. Sports illustrated is probably the worst on my tablet, gave up on that site a few months ago.

  41. 41 SteveH said at 11:02 PM on July 3rd, 2015:

    I got to David Akers and then ran out of answers on the test.

    I’m sleep deprived, don’t judge me.

    Edit: I should say I got David Akers and then ran out of answers, not got to. I would have impressed myself if I remembered Reggie Hodges and Nick Murphy.

  42. 42 Ben said at 2:22 AM on July 4th, 2015:

    I just finished listening to an interesting interview with Kelce on WIP.
    He spoke about Weatherford in the beginning, which wasn’t anything special, but he also talks about Chip and our teams culture in the second half of it.
    It’s only an eight minute interview, but I know some of us are in dire need of anything Eagles.

    Enjoy.

    http://cbsloc.al/1IvBlLf

  43. 43 Media Mike said at 7:54 AM on July 4th, 2015:

    Thanks for linking. I tend to avoid CBS (6ABC guy for life here), so it’s good to see some links from there.

  44. 44 T_S_O_P said at 4:04 AM on July 4th, 2015:

    Quintin Mikell wore #46, was Sheldon still wearing #39

  45. 45 OldDocZOMGamazeballs said at 9:21 AM on July 4th, 2015:

    Reggie Hodges was abysmal. I’ve no memory whatsoever of Cortez or Murphy.

  46. 46 The Answer is Fo' Fo' Fo' said at 1:38 PM on July 4th, 2015:

    I remembered Dirk, Akers, Simoneau, and Cortez the “kickoff specialist”. Upon seeing the list, I only remembered Landeta. The rest I have no recollection of in any way shape or form. JR Reed would have been a great kick returner without his injury.

  47. 47 ACViking said at 2:44 PM on July 4th, 2015:

    Re: Happy Birthday Wishes (or not) to Players born on July 4th

    Here’re the only two Eagles:

    * Elbert Foules, CB . . . Remembered best for playing at least 5-7 yards off opposing WRs on 1st and goal from the Birds’ 2-yard line.

    * Marvin McNutt, WR . . . The next Billy McMullen? Yes.
    __________________

    Here’s a few former NFL players from other teams:

    * Floyd Little . . . HOF RB for the Broncos — and part of line of fantastic Syracuse RBs of the late ’50s and ’60s: HOF Jim Brown ’57, Heisman Winner Ernie Davis ’62 (who died before he could play in the NFL), AFL great Jim Nance ’65, HOFer Little ’67, and HOF Larry Csonka ’68.

    * Erich Barnes . . . longtime great CB for the Bears, NYG, and Browns, who played in 4 straight NFL title games (’61-’64), winning once with Cleveland —
    and who held the record for the longest INT return at 108 yards (until tied by the Ravens Ed Reed in a 2008 game against the Birds and QB Kevin Kolb).

    * Emerson Boozer . . . the fine NYJets HB in SB-III — part of a great group of offensive skill players that included: HOF QB Joe Namath; the great Ohio State and NYJets All Pro FB Matt Snell; HOF WR Don Maynard; All Pro WR George Sauer, Jr. (who dominated the Colts DBs in SB-III); and TE Pete Lammons.
    ________________

    BUT no list would be complete without:

    * Bob Bruenig, Dallas MLB . . . whose only relevance is he succeeded the notorious SOB Cowboys MLB LeRoy Jordon — the bastard who cheap-shotted Eagles HB Timmy Brown (knocking out 7 teeth), starting the Eagles-‘Boys rivalry back in ’67 which remains red-hot almost 50 years later.
    _______________

    Here’s a list of all past and current NFL players born on July 4th.
    http://www.pro-football-reference.com/friv/birthdays.cgi?month=7&day=4

  48. 48 Media Mike said at 4:14 PM on July 4th, 2015:

    Not to quibble with you (merely an observation about “HOF” players), but Floyd Little was an embarrassing addition to the HOF. His career number are trash and the veterans committee should be ashamed of itself for putting him into the HOF. Little’s pedestrian career numbers were one of the main reasons it was more difficult to rightfully keep that overrated Pittsburgh (and Notre Dame) piece of human excrement Jerome Bettis out of the hall of fame.

    But all things being equal, thank you for posting the historical players from July4th list!

    http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/L/LittFl00.htm

  49. 49 Michael Winter Cho said at 6:23 PM on July 4th, 2015:

    OT: Lamarcus Aldridge says he’s going to San Antonio. I have mixed feelings. The Spurs don’t screw up too much, but LA has poor advanced stats. Doesn’t board or defend too well and is a volume shooter who specialized in long two’s, the worst shot in basketball. Well, we’ll see how it works out.

  50. 50 Avery Greene said at 10:30 PM on July 4th, 2015:

    Definitely a better situation than LA. With the Hibbert trade they are still not a playoff team. Barring a blockbuster trade, I’m figuring they are somewhere around 8-10. Even more laughable are where the Kings are going to be.

    I’m glad for the Spurs, because Duncan only has a couple years left. Classy organization.

  51. 51 FairOaks said at 11:35 PM on July 4th, 2015:

    I’m guessing that “LA” == Lamarcus Aldridge in his post, not Los Angeles. We’ll see on the fit; I think though that even max contracts signed this year will be mid-level in a couple years, so he could be relatively “cheap” even if he does not work out.

  52. 52 Media Mike said at 9:35 AM on July 5th, 2015:

    No, I think he means the situation in Los Angeles (due to Kobe being an over the hill gunner and rapist) is terrible.

  53. 53 Michael Winter Cho said at 11:45 AM on July 5th, 2015:

    8-10 in the East maybe.

  54. 54 Avery Greene said at 12:03 PM on July 5th, 2015:

    I think the current Lakers team is playoff worthy in the East.

    I’m not liking the East as much, but there should be improvement this year. Cleveland still is the team to beat, especially when they’re healthy. Atlanta is still a good team, but they don’t excite me much. I think they are a superstar away from being legit. The only other teams that I think are top-3 worthy are the Bulls and Raptors. Problem is that Rose can’t stay healthy and the Bulls live or die on his game. Raptors are like Atlanta, but still think they are a superstar away from contending with the Cavs.

    After that I think every spot is up for grabs. Billy King is doing the usual and the Nets are getting progressively worse. Wizards lost some firepower and think they’ll be 5-6 this year. Indiana may or may not make improvements depending on George’s recovery.

    We shall see, and your point about advanced statistics is noted. Portland had a decent team this year, but Aldridge won’t have to carry the load in SA. That may improve his game by giving him closer looks to the basket. He’s got enough people around him to give him more 1-on-1 coverage.

    Duncan should retire this year, and if they win it all – I could see that happening.

  55. 55 Michael Winter Cho said at 6:25 PM on July 5th, 2015:

    I agree that Cleveland, Atlanta, Toronto, and Chicago are the top East teams. Cleveland will be number one with a bullet, especially if LeBron returns to form–his efficiency numbers took a dip last year. It’s funny, when he begins showing signs of mortality and taking bad shots is when the media really begins to fawn over him; when he was putting up godlike efficiency numbers and always making the right pass, they attacked him mercilessly.

    Chicago will be fine. Stupid to get rid of such a good coach. Rose is also overrated–haven’t you noticed they do just fine without him? It’s this fallacy you need someone on the team who scores 30 points a game. You really don’t, you just need enough talent (see Detroit 2004, SA 2013).

    I don’t know about Atlanta and Toronto, but those are two teams doing it right. Another team that does it right is Houston. They just quietly get good players and take their shots, not trying to skip steps and tank their way to a ‘ship.

    It’s too bad Portland is dumping the rest of their team, because I really would have liked to see how they did with just subtracting LA. He is pretty far down the list even on their team by the numbers.

  56. 56 TypicalDouche said at 12:30 AM on July 5th, 2015:

    Are you going to preach the same advanced analytics and statistics thing over and over?. He is a top 5 player at his positron plain and simple. SA just got there heir to Duncan and it is a good signing.

  57. 57 Michael Winter Cho said at 11:44 AM on July 5th, 2015:

    “Yay points” means the average fan extremely overrates guys who take a lot of shots and thus accumulate points, even at the expense of the team winning.

    Aldridge scores a lot, but the Spurs’ players are better at it than him. He will need to change his game to contribute. He is nothing like Duncan, who shoots efficiently, boards like a mother, defends and blocks shots even being one step from the shuffleboard court. If a 30-year old overrated dude is our heir, we are in trouble. Actually the future is already on the team and a much better player–name of Kawhi Leonard.
    Leonard WP48: .287
    Aldridge WP48: .122
    Duncan WP48: .284 (at 39 years old!!)

    The one thing LA does well is create his own shot, which will help when things get chaotic and the offense isn’t running smoothly. Probably Pop will find a way to use him.

    The most concerning thing for the Spurs is health, of course. Parker has been injured 2 of the last 3 postseasons and has been a weak link. I wonder if Pop would have tried to replace him if someone good had become available.

  58. 58 eagleyankfan said at 8:39 AM on July 5th, 2015:

    Since we’re looking back — in my marina, there’s a huge ass boat with a green hull named ‘Post Season 42’. Has an Eagles emblem too. Not a new boat. I knew some Eagles in the past liked to fish but not recalling a number 42. Any thoughts?

  59. 59 A_T_G said at 9:02 AM on July 5th, 2015:

    In 1942 the team finished 2-9, so that probably isn’t it.

    The only classic #42 I can think of is Ronnie Lott, and I am pretty sure I would remember if he had soent time on the Eagles.

  60. 60 Media Mike said at 9:34 AM on July 5th, 2015:

    Here is who wore 42 at various points

    http://media.philadelphiaeagles.com/media/151249/eaglesbyjerseynumber.pdf

    Swede Hanson, Bud Jorgenson, George Mulligan, Ray Hamilton,
    Raymond George, Bob Hudson, Bob Harrison, Aaron
    Martin, Dennis Morgan, Steve Wagner, Calvin Murray, Keith
    Byars, Angelo James, Eric Everett, John Booty, Mike Reid,
    David Whitmore, Dialleo Burks, Rashard Cook, Jack Brewer,
    Jason Davis, Kurt Coleman, Chris Maragos

    If the boat belongs to Kurt Coleman, I’m sending the GPS coordinates to Somali pirates.

  61. 61 Avery Greene said at 12:20 PM on July 5th, 2015:

    I guess Ray Diddy is on the radio saying CK told him Kendricks isn’t starting this year?

    My buddy just sent me an angry text to let me know. A quick backstory here, my buddy hates CK and I defend him. So we go back and forth about every move and news story about CK. He thinks he’s ruining the team and he doesn’t like good players. I of course don’t think that.

    So, with that out of the way. What’s the deal with Ray Diddy reporting this?

  62. 62 Joe Minx said at 12:33 PM on July 5th, 2015:

    Not sure how he would know that as I don’t think that can really be decided until we get through the preseason & see if everyone’s still intact. But it’s not that shocking. Most of the talk after DeMeco’s extension seemed to indicate this might happen. We also can’t rule out Kendricks being traded before the season.

  63. 63 Avery Greene said at 12:50 PM on July 5th, 2015:

    This is true, especially if there’s a LB injury that a team needs to recover from.

  64. 64 anon said at 4:21 PM on July 5th, 2015:

    there’s a reason CK never gave him the headset last year. That said You gotta think Kendricks and kiko tandem would be too good to keep off the field. I think there’d be more rotations at ILB, OLB and the DB positions, we tried to do that more in 2013, but the roster was terrible in 2014

  65. 65 Ken Jomo said at 12:35 PM on July 5th, 2015:

    Adam Caplan reported the same thing before the draft. Said Kendricks will be more of a nickel LB this year if he wasn’t dealt

  66. 66 Avery Greene said at 12:50 PM on July 5th, 2015:

    I wonder why he is a bit sour on Kendricks if this is the case.

  67. 67 Jernst said at 3:37 PM on July 5th, 2015:

    It’s weird. Kelly admitted that the defense was a lot worse without Kendricks. And, Ryans, for all his leadership and ability versus the run, isn’t a big playmaker to begin with and is coming off his second Achilles rupture as he’s turning 31. I just think it would be foolish to think he’ll come back at 100% to start the season less than 9 months removed from the injury.

  68. 68 SteveH said at 4:32 PM on July 5th, 2015:

    I’m starting to wish Chip would just get on with the purge if that’s what he wants. Just move Kendricks and Boykin already, they’re obviously not part of the plan, and you could probably get some return in the form of late rounders for both of them I’m sure.

  69. 69 wee2424 said at 5:29 PM on July 5th, 2015:

    I think that was more speculation then CK coming straight out and saying it like Diddy alleges though.

  70. 70 wee2424 said at 5:16 PM on July 5th, 2015:

    I like Diddy, but am I the only one that thinks that CK wouldn’t come straight out and tell Diddy how he is going to use his personal before TC even starts?

  71. 71 Ben said at 3:31 PM on July 5th, 2015:

    In my search of anything Eagles, I came across this Evan Mathis interview and it went into some of the details of his release.
    I felt that his agent led him astray.
    Take a listen and see if you come away with the same feeling.

    http://975thefanatic.com/2015/06/19/former-eagle-evan-mathis-joins-harry-mayes-rob-ellis/