Eagles Notebook

Sorry for the late post today.  I was working on my SB Nation Philly column and that went longer than expected.  I’ll post a link when the column is up.  I took a look back at the offseason and all the moves the team made.  Is it just me or does it seem like the draft was ages ago?

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Jimmy Bama and I are working on the podcast.  We did a 1-hour show last night.  I doubt we’ll post it since we’re still working through some of the technical kinks.  I hope we’re posting shows for you guys early next week.  You’ve got to let us know what you want us to talk about.

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Troy Vincent is going to be put in the Eagles Hall of Fame.  Great news.  Troy is one of my all time favorite players.  He was a big corner that could be physical.  He was also athletic and able to cover speedy receivers.  Troy had good hands and could make plays.  He was willing to hit and tackle.

Possibly the best move Joe Banner ever made was signing Troy to an offer sheet in the 1996 offseason.  The Dolphins couldn’t match and we had our star corner.  He helped groom Bobby Taylor and later Al Harris.  I’m sure Troy also was a good influence on that young, punk Safety named Brian Dawkins.  Ah, the good ol’ days.

I can’t think of a single Troy play that highlights his career.  He was just consistently good.

The lowlight was a game against the Cardinals in October 2001.  We had a 20-14 lead with not much time left.  The Cards drove down the field.  Troy lost WR MarTay Jenkins somehow and Jake Plummer hit him for a 35-yard TD to win the game.  That dropped our record to 2-2 and I was bummed.  We then went 9-3 the rest of the way and won our first division title in over 200 years, give or take.

I was heartbroken when the Eagles let Troy walk after 2003.  How do you let that guy go?  It was a hard lesson for me.  The Eagles made the right move.  You don’t want to hold onto descending players too long.  That will hurt the franchise.  I’m glad Troy understands it is all business and he’s ready to be an Eagle again.  Very cool.

Also getting in is Leo Carlin.  He is somewhat of a legend, having worked for the Eagles for 53 years.  I can’t do his story justice so read the PE.com report.

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The Eagles made a couple of cuts, letting go of DT Tevita Finau and P Ryan Tydlacka.  Cutting Finau is no biggie.  I’m surprised to see Tydlacka go.  The Eagles have wanted competition for Chas Henry.  Maybe Tydlacka wasn’t kicking the ball well and the team will look elsewhere.  While Chas Henry finished the 2012 season well, he didn’t punt well enough overall for the team to be completely comfortable with him.  The goal was to challenge him and hope that Henry responded well and kept his job.  Maybe Henry has had a really good spring and the team is now comfortable with him.  I guess we’ll find out.

One note of interest (to wackos like me), Frank Trotter is now listed at DT.  I think he was listed at DE when the team originally signed him.  Trotter is just 6-1, 275, but played mostly DT in college.  He’s built for a 1-gap attacking system.  I don’t project him as anything more than a camp body, but I do like him at DT more that DE.

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Most of you have probably already seen this, but for those who missed it…OL Julian Vandervelde dressed up as Batman and appeared on a local newscast in Iowa to help with the weather report.  Pretty hilarious stuff.

I realize in light of last night’s events anything having to do with Batman is awkward, but this was done before that and is worth watching for those who enjoy cheesy humor.  Very cheesy.

These news people aren’t too bright, referring to Batman’s butler as “Arthur”.  Uh, try Alfred.  Later they tell the weather guy who the person in the Batman suit was…”Julian Vandervelde, American Football League offensive lineman…”.  AFL, huh?  Iowa is a tad behind the times.

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