Misc Eagles News
Posted: May 9th, 2012 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 51 Comments »3 more players have signed: Vinny Curry, Dennis Kelly, and Marvin McNutt are now officially Eagles. No Bryce Brown? He’s clearly holding out. I knew that guy was trouble. Send Rocco and Tony over to his house to encourage him to sign on the dotted line.
I’m joking of course. As Sam pointed out in the previous comments section, there is no reason to worry about rookie deals until the summer. When I said that I wanted Brandon Boykin signed ASAP…I guess I didn’t intend people to read that as a literal thing. Poor wording on my part. I was simply trying to point out that he and Kendricks are the most important rookies and getting them signed is a good thing. Even though there isn’t a specific time crunch, my attitude is always going to be “the sooner, the better” when it comes to contracts.
* * * * *
I put up a post at ScoutsNotebook yesterday morning. I talked about an interesting column from Greg Cosell, that involved the Eagles. I also talked about Shanny and RG3 and what an interesting situation they’re in.
* * * * *
I’m curious to see what Mardy Gilyard can do this summer. He played for the Rams in 2010 and had 6 catches for 63 yards. That’s not real impressive to be sure, but their passing attack was small ball at its finest. Gilyard did average 22 yards per KOR. He could be an interesting slot receiver and RS for us. He’s faster than Chad Hall. Gilyard has to show that he can pick up the playbook quickly and that he’s hungry to make the roster. I think being on a stable roster with talented players will be a big help to him. I don’t know if that will be enough for him to earn a spot.
* * * * *
The Eagles put in a waiver claim for DB Akwasi Owusu-Ansah. Unfortunately, Dallas is ahead of us and they also put in a claim. AOA was a 4th round pick for the Boys back in 2010. He struggled with a shoulder injury and they cut him last year. He played some for the Jags, but then was recently cut.
AOA played his college ball at Indiana (PA). He is a CB/S tweener with good size at 6-0, 210. He also has KOR ability. I’m not sure if the Eagles liked him as a press corner or potential SS candidate. He’s nothing special, but is an interesting guy.
* * * * *
Stephanie Stradley is a Houston Texans fan and good writer/blogger. She had an interesting column recently that ripped NFL.com. Apparently someone at the site had a post up with pictures of players wives/girlfriends and asked readers to comment on them. You can imagine that some crazy things were said.
Stephanie wasn’t real happy with the NFL for having content like this on the front page of NFL.com. I don’t blame her. I enjoy looking at gorgeous women as much as the next guy, but is that really the level of content I need from NFL.com?
Back in the mid-90’s I used to talk to my buddy Bob about how awesome it would be if we had a football only network. We both loved watching ESPN’s NFL coverage, but that just wasn’t enough. The internet existed, but not to us. Who could afford a $2000 computer? We got news updates by watching the scroll at the bottom of ESPN2. I can’t tell you how many nights we watched the World’s Strongest Man competition and chugged beer while waiting for new NFL news to pop up on the scroll.
Here we are some 15 years later. We have NFL.com. We have the NFL Network. I rarely use either resource. I love Rich Eisen and Mike Mayock and Alex Flanagan, but far too much of the NFLN is Jamie Dukes saying dumb things or Michael Irvin and Deion Sanders mistaking volume for quality in regard to their comments. I remember watching Combine coverage last year where it was Steve Wyche and some former player. Wyche was supposed to just be the host/info guy, but he had a better feel for football than the player. Put Wyche on the air more often. So what if Jamie Dukes played in the NFL? Wyche is smarter, more fun to listen to, and has a better feel for the game.
NFL.com has its share of idiots. A friend mentioned to me reading something by Bucky Brooks prior to the draft. My response? “Why the F did you do that?” Bucky is an idiot. The fact he once played in the league and served as a scout just depresses me.
There is some good NFL.com content. Albert Breer and Jason LaCanfora provide good information. Mayock is great, when he’s on there. I love the fact that NFL.com is now providing old Combine info. The site does have its merits.
Unfortunately the site panders way more than it should. That means crap on Tim Tebow. It means pictures of players wives. It means stories about Ochocinco or whoever the hot dog of the moment is.
I am not a prude that wants NFL coverage to be totally boring. It is, after all, entertainment. I just wish that NFL.com would do less of that stuff and also mix in some smart content. Mix in Football Outsiders type of stuff. Have lengthy articles explaining the Wide-9 scheme or how the 4-2-5 Nickel works. Chris Brown of SmartFootball wrote a brilliant piece prior to the Super Bowl on the Pats and the way they mixed the 4-3 and 3-4 at the same time. That one post had more wisdom than NFL.com does in a 6 months (or more).
C’mon NFL. There are smart fans out there. Give us some quality content and we’ll start coming to the site a heckuva lot more often.
And please find something for Jamie Dukes to do that involves polar research or a long trip to somewhere that has no microphones.
* * * * *
Rams fans have had a tough go of it for a while now. That doesn’t mean they’ve lost their sense of humor. One smart fan and blogger put together his ideas on how the playbook must have looked. Very funny stuff indeed.
Amen to your thoughts on Dukes, Brooks, Irvin, Sanders, etc., those guys are lugnuts, and are actually the reasons why I don’t have NFL Network. Mayock and Wyche should have their own show
I think there is a certain level of monotony that comes with a 24/7 network devoted to one subject, especially when that subject is in the dead midst of its off-season. I agree that branding material like players’ girlfriends to the front page is pretty sophomoric, but there’s gotta be a sizable amount of dead air to fill most of the time. Hence the amount of content over-lap on the nightly programs like “Total Access.”
I do really love their NFL Films work, and any of the big annual programs like the current “Top-100” list they’re doing right now. When they devote themselves to the content(especially when they have NFL Films doing the heavy lifting), it can be a really great network. And hell, you’re never gonna see me complaining about a network that only plays football. That would be sacrilegious.
You are correct about NFLN having a lot of time to fill and needing some lesser quality stuff to fill some voids. I have no issues with that.
My beef is that there is too much programming aimed at the casual fan and very little aimed at those of us who love the game in a more serious way. Imagine if they had a show dedicated to OL play for 30 mins a week. I’d love to know more about the top OGs in the league. I don’t have the time to study every single interior OL. I know OTs since they are easier to see, but even then my knowledge is limited to those guys I’m able to really watch.
Path to the Draft should be on 52 weeks a year. Problem is that they debut it in March. Then they spend 2 weeks talking about Luck, RG3, who the rest of the world has already talked about for weeks. Ugh.
I’m glad NFLN exists. I just wish it was a better product.
Thats why I love the show on PE.com with Caplan and Cosell.
PS. Vincenzo Curry, FTW!
If the eagles are going to have a 6th reviever I think it is between Gilyard and Demarius Johsnon since Jackson, Maclin, Avant are complete locks. I expect that Cooper and McNutt will make the team because of their possesion and hieght. I would put Johnson on practice squad and gilyard as 6th WR. Obviously this is without me really seein how the WRs after Avant play during the presesason. Is it a good idea to have 6 WRs if the eagles will have 3 TEs. As some of us know Harbor and Brackett played WR in college.
Agree whole heartedly….less of the Deions, Dukes and Irvins….more of the guys who actually sound intelligent about the game. More substance, less schtick.
The pe.com site really loves McNutt on its transactions announcement:
Agreed to terms with second-round pick WR Marvin McNutt, fifth-round pick OT Dennis Kelly and sixth-round pick WR Marvin McNutt
Another hint from the PE.com guys? McNutt is so good, he’s like 2 WRs on the field at once. Or just a typo.
In my view, Sanders is better than Irvin on TV by a long shot. He could actually be a great broadcast analyst guy. Anyone remember the game NFLnet broadcast some years back (featuring Vick still at ATL) where Dick Vermeil lost his voice and Deion stood in for him?
I think producers for the studio shows can make anyone look like an idiot.
I think it was Marshall Faulk that stepped in.
Edit: Just looked it up, we were both semi right:
Faulk added game analyst to his versatile resume in 2006, with an impromptu appearance in the broadcast booth during Cowboys vs. Falcons on NFL Network with Sanders, filling in for Dick Vermeil. Faulk and Sanders returned to the NFL Network booth in 2007, providing color analysis for Bengals vs. 49ers and Steelers vs. Rams, and again in 2008 for Ravens vs. Cowboys.
You are correct to a certain extent. The producers want Sanders, Irvin, etc. to say bombastic things that are over the top.
I’ve heard radio interviews with Irvin where he is insightful and entertaining. Really surprised me. Deion can be very good at the Combine as he talks about football. I hate his NFL analysis. He goes into his rants and won’t shut up.
I know both guys are doing schtick to a certain extent…do they have to do it so well (and so loudly)?
Steve Mariucci aka Mooch also annoys me when he just seems to get all excited about something and raises his voice to the point of almost yelling… then he returns to normal speech like nothing happened. Deion Sanders is just hilarious at times.
My problem with NFL .com isn’t the content, probably because my expectations are so low. Sites like that and ESPN are good for general stuff (preseason Power Rankings!) and breaking news, but that’s about it. I don’t expect more, because they’ve trained me not to.
My problem with NFL .com is the site design. On game day, it’s the best place to go for both game info and score tracking. It blows ESPN and Fox Sports away. But it’s not great, and every time they change it, it gets worse. It either won’t load the data properly or blows out my speakers with loud, unstoppable video (The same 30 seconds of ads over and over, and then Jamie Dukes yelling! Yay!).
Given their track record and tendency of websites towards change for the sake of change, I shudder to think what it’s going to be like by the time the season starts.
I agree. I only visit their website for their archive of game highlights. I appreciate that they have highlight tapes of every game from the past 6 years.
get used to:
* Cowboys going through re-tread safeties;
* Cowboys being ahead on the waiver wire.
Nice. I like where your head is at.
i think it’s safe to say If T Law was on the NFL network we’d all be subscribers
NFL net would easily (and probably inexpensively) be 100% upgraded if they elected to pay the best blogger of each of the 32 teams to generate content for their website and their tv station. Could you imagine Tommy going toe to toe on say a once a week half hour show vs. the other NFC East bloggers. That would be awesome.
Although I, and I’d imagine the vast majority of readers, would agree with you on the content issue, I’d also imagine that NFL.com and ESPN spend a lot of money tracking what gets visited and what doesn’t.
Until people are interested less, even in a train wreck kind of way, about what the players wives look like or what next episode by the player currently trying to get thrown out of the league entails more than they are interested in how a SAM LB functions differently behind various DL alignments, the content won’t improve.
And seeing what prime time televisions shows are flourishing, I won’t be holding my breath.
When I rule the world, expect a much different NFLN.
Couldn’t agree more about Dukes and Sanders. They’re almost worse than the ESPN clowns, all of who (as you say) subscribe to the theory that saying something loud and emphatically increases its importance and truth. Poor theory and I wish it would die. Along with it’s adherents.
Just because you played a sport doesn’t mean you can (or should) announce or commentate on it. Sure, you can probably bring up things that I wouldn’t see or know. But with, for example, Dukes, he’s just saying stupid shit that anyone who watches the sport could say. He’s adding “commentary” based on whatever the general consensus is in the sports media about whatever topic is up for discussion. He’s not basing his statements on his own observations, only regurgitating the status quo. Why do I need a guy yelling at me with crap I can already read myself? If you add nothing to sports coverage that I can’t get from the three drunk guys at the bar down the street, you should be fired.
And Deion’s entire presentation makes me want to violently vomit. He talks to us like children, with a smug look on his face, oh so polished, except what’s coming out of his mouth is a stream of turds. That I could also get at the bar down the street. Why should I pay DirecTV to have Deion feed turds into my brain?
Sorry, touchy subject.
The NFL Network/.com lost all credibility when they let Schefter go. Not that he has great football insights, but nobody breaks stories as consistently as he does. Letting him go signified that they were only interested in bringing in casual fans with popular former players and fantasy football.
The biggest thing for the NFL Network has always been getting people to subscribe. Die hard football fans that are interested in detailed analysis are going to sign up no matter what they broadcast. As sad as it is, Deion, Irvin, and Sapp are more likely to bring in casual fans than Mike Mayock.
Think of it like an election. Obama/Romney aren’t going to aim for the extreme left/right. They’re going to aim for the meaty part of the bell curve
Mardy Gilyard. Bearcat. Nuff said.
Cole, Kelce, and Celek need to give him the red pills so that Mardy can start dominating for us.
Dear Mr. Godell,
This statement is the author’s attempt at Matrix-referencing humor. The site’s authors do not, repeat do NOT, have any knowledge of Mr. Cole, Mr. Kelce, and/or Mr. Celek using any performancing enhancing substance, red or otherwise, currently or in the past. Any correlation to on-field performance is coincidental. Please do not assume this comment warrants investigation of these gentlemen or any members of the organization.
(can’t be too careful).
Goodell probably still scrambled some black copters to your general vicinity, just to be “safe.”
There are 2 guys in full length leather coats on my porch. Is that bad?
I was at the Pitt/Cincy game a few years back when Gillyard single handedly beat Pitt for the Big East title.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_YU0dXOkFs
Tommy, did you see Babin on NFL Live Tuesday. He was explaining the intricacies of the 9-technique. It was good stuff. I agree that NFLN should do half hour specials on stuff like that. I tried to find a link for the video, with no luck.
Wow he has been on espn a lot recently. Cant find a link to it. But will be searching everyday until i do.
Cant find nothing about NFL live but. ESPN 1:45 mark talks about 9 technique. This was uploaded onto youtube Tuesday May 2. This past tuesday was not the 2nd. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i228OfwFWZ8
I’ve seen that clip as well. He was on NFL Live with Hoge and company. They went on the set and lined up in the 9 technique and he talked about defending the run and pinching the tackle down. It was interesting stuff
Again at 1:40 mark he will be running of the bulls in palpona http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAlqDr-TIh0
A world with less Michael Irvin is a better world.
I would love for the NFL to take on a campaign of educating their casual fans. I think the most interesting articles I read on here and other football sites are ones that explain offensive/defensive philosophies.
Tommy or Sam, if things get slow during the offseason, do you think you guys could post more “educational” type posts? For example, maybe explain the different techniques that defensive linemen play or the evolution of the shot gun offense, stuff like that. Or am I the only football dork that likes that kind of thing?
You are not.
Don’t want to seem creepy but I am curios as to the women these athletes date. I’m pretty sure we’ve all stared at Tim Tebow’s girlfriend’s boobs for at least 5 minutes.
However this content shouldn’t be on nfl.com. Their front page should be dedicated to breaking news, player interviews, highlight videos, and articles from sports analysts. They should however have a separate page and feature columns from fans. They could also use that page to put in funny articles or pictures of NFL girlfriends
Yeah, I’m not a prude. It is one thing to post some pics, but to feature it up front and then solicit comments? That’s like rattling the cage of the angry creature. Nothing good will come of it.
Unless you distract the angry creature, allowing the bloodied victim to drag himself to safety.
I’m not quite sure how that translates in your metaphor, but there we are. I’m pretty sure it involves players’ wives and a pit of chocolate pudding.
Another example of the NFL’s hubris. They know they can just keep throwing crap in the trough and all of us little piggies will keep slopping it up.
I swear; most of the football stuff I hear and see coming from the NFLN, ESPN, etc. makes me feel dirty about being such a big football fan. I have to come to sites like this and Football Outsiders just to make myself feel better.
Tommy, I just recently turned 21 and today I was able to purchase my first Pabst Blue Ribbon. I bought it on the golf course and it was the best $3.75 I ever spent. Just had to to share that with you.
Well done, young man. You clearly have a bright future.
Wait until you try a beer that won an award this century! Or last century…
nfl.com? i go to three sites. this one, BGN and BtB. through these sites, i get all of he info i need
I`m in love with Alex Flanagan, that smile is just something amazing. The thought of Alex getting some air time will get me through at least 4 hours of Irvin, Sanders and Dukes.
I didn’t read through all the comments so I apologize if somebody already said this. I have been telling my friends for 5 years about how the NFL is trying to cater to women and the casual viewer and that’s why they put out all this fluff. The hardcore fans will always be there so they want to expand their market. That’s why we have to deal with sit down interviews and feel good stories instead of football analysis during pre-game shows. That’s why we have to watch crappy pop artists perform during halftime of playoff games. I watch Edge matchup and the NFL playbook show and that’s about it. Get most of my news from tommy, r-diddy, and Florio over at PFT.
Thanks for mentioning the targeting of female fans…We just assume that a story featuring hot wives is for horny old men wanting to get an eyeful, but it’s just as much for the women who love finding out about the off field stuff and wanting to see what players wives wear and what they are like etc. After all, women buy all those awful gossip magazines which are full of bikini shots etc. and I haven’t heard too many complaining that celebs on the beach are exploited or objectified (apart from the celebs themselves…) So Stephanie Stradley is more than entitled to her opinion, many women share it – and I kinda agree too, but just as many women are happy to click on that article and check it out because of our society’s fascination with all things gossip, fashion, celebrity etc.
Hmmm…interested to hear your reasoning on exactly why Bucky Brooks is an “idiot”. I’ve read and listened to him some, and he seems about on par with other draftniks in terms of his presentation–nothing over the top in terms of flashiness or grandstanding. I can’t reference a long history of his success at prognosticating draft picks, but who really remembers most of these guys prognostications, anyway? I believe this year, he was advocating Vinny Curry over Nick Perry. He was also a fan of Coples, even after his name cooled off.
I do agree that draft talk and coverage is too top-pick-centric. Considering it’s a seven round process, spending 60% of your time discussing the top 2 picks out of 200 something seems a bit out of order.
Different strokes for different folks. IMHO Bucky comes up with some pretty whack mock drafts.
It would be amusing if NFL.com would make their writers commit to a “mock” say… a week before the draft and then revisit those mocks to review the results at the 3 and 5 year marks to see how the players have panned out.
That would make for a few interesting articles each year after the draft.
Yeah, I can appreciate some people just rub others the wrong way, I was just curious about specifically what makes Brooks an “idiot”. Seems a strong term that devalues the facts that he was a player in the league that went through the draft process and a professional scout for at least a couple (i think) organizations. Like I said, I remember him being a big Coples supporter, and favoring Curry over Perry, but it wasn’t like he was championing Dontari Poe as the #1 overall pick in the draft or anything really outlandish.
I like your idea about accountability in regards to draft projections. I think it would be fairly easy to figure out what kind of success rates certain talking heads have, if you had access to the actual archived data of who they thought would be setting the league on fire, or who would be a bust.
[…] All Access – Meet the Plastic Cup BoyzFunny Or LameAt-Home Alternatives – 04.30.12Iggles Blitz […]