Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Eagles and More

Posted June 24th, 2023 | Comments Off on Eagles and More

I could write another piece about Christian Elliss or Cam Jurgens, but decided to roll the dice and write a mixture of stuff. Some of this will be football, some will cover other sports. Why limit a great mind like mine?

I think Dallas did improve their roster. They have a lot of talent.

They also have Mike McCarthy as coach. And he wants to focus on running the ball. I do not get that in 2023. Running is important, but shouldn’t be the foundation of an offense that has a good QB and talented skill players. Beyond run vs pass, McCarthy isn’t optimizing his personnel.

It is hard to get a handle on Dallas because of McCarthy. They went 12-5 last year. Two of the losses came in OT and one came with the backup QB playing against the Eagles. When things click, Dallas looks good. Then we have the end of the loss to SF in the 2021 playoffs. That was bizarre, if we’re putting a positive spin on it. Last year Dallas lost to SF in the postseason again. They were beaten by a rookie QB and only put up 12 points in the game.

You just can’t trust Dallas.

But they are talented.

*****

I didn’t realize the Eagles were this good.

A lot of those came in the 2nd Qtr. What a wild year. It really will be interesting to see what the Eagles do this year. Defenses will adjust, but so will the Eagles.

Games almost felt scripted. The Eagles would start slow and then explode in the 2nd quarter. They would be inconsistent in the 2nd half, but do enough to put the game away.

As fun as that made things, it is fair to wonder if that hurt them in the Super Bowl. Once again they had a good lead. But this time they couldn’t make enough plays to put the game away. Playing on an ice rink didn’t help. Still, the team probably wasn’t as tested as you would like. Playing in back and forth games builds a toughness in teams. The Chiefs have that for sure.

*****

I completely forgot about this slice of Idiot QB History.

Kirk Cousins is special. So very special.

*****

Can’t say I’m a Swiftie, but this is pretty cool.

I might go buy one of her cassettes.

If we find out she was on the EMB, I’ll buy all her stuff.

*****

Did you watch the NBA draft? I watched a decent amount, but can’t say I enjoyed it all that much. Every player is an elite athlete or an explosive athlete. Everyone has a good wingspan. And they all seem to shoot 35 to 40 percent from 3-point range.

I love the NFL draft. I wish I enjoyed the NBA draft the way I used to, but the game is so much about 3-pointers that all the players feel similar. And the coverage feels more like a talk show than draft talk. Maybe it’s just me.

*****

The Saints have been involved in some crazy plays over the years. The wildest is the Minneapolis Miracle of course, but don’t ignore some other great moments.

https://twitter.com/BackAftaThis/status/1340895983585124352

The radio announcer is so good at the end. He’s just devastated.

*****

Some of you know I’m an Orioles fan. They’re having a terrific season and it sure makes a ton of difference to have a fun baseball team to follow.

The O’s were dreadful from 2017-2021. Last year they managed to go 83-79. They are 45-29 this year with the second lowest payroll in the league. And they have the best farm system in MLB. There are no guarantees that all the prospects will pan out and the team will keep winning. I’m going to enjoy it as long as it does.

I started following the Orioles about 1978. They won every year and went to the World Series in 1979 and 1983. I assumed they would keep winning. Oops. There were some lean years in the late 80’s and then a huge dry spell from 1998-2011. You have to enjoy the good times when they come around.

*****

I have no idea what to think of the Sixers offseason. I get many of you wanting to be rid of James Harden. He’s an odd player who can be both mesmerizing and incredibly infuriating.

But Joel Embiid isn’t getting any younger. If you let Harden go, there isn’t a great replacement for him next year. Do you “waste” a season of Embiid’s prime and then add a star the next year?

I get incredibly confused by the NBA and their free agency rules. The NFL is so simple by comparison.

Just go sign Marc Ivaroni and Clint Richardson and we should be all set.

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A Fun Exercise

Posted June 22nd, 2023 | Comments Off on A Fun Exercise

There isn’t any hard-hitting Eagles news to cover right now. No one is hurt. No one has been arrested. No one quit to become a Canadian firefighter. That’s probably the scariest scenario of all.

So let’s turn our attention to this.

https://twitter.com/Eagles/status/1671654229872885760

QB Jalen Hurts – $3

RB Ricky Watters – $2

TE Brent Celek – $2

WR Terrell Owens – $5

WR AJ Brown – $3

It is hard to compare Hurts to the other QBs because he’s so young. We have to guess what he’ll become. I expect him to continue to improve. He got to the Super Bowl in his second year as a starter so I think he’s got a good chance for more postseason success in the future.

Watters is an underrated player. He was big enough (6-1, 220) to be a good inside runner. He was fast enough to be a good outside runner. Watters was a gifted receiver. He caught 467 career passes and was better than just a dump-off option. You could scheme to get him the ball in space.

Watters was overly emotional and had his issues, but he was a terrific player. He put up good numbers despite playing behind a mediocre OL in Philly. I would love to see what he could do in this offense behind this OL.

If you have playmakers like Hurts, Watters, Owens and Brown, you can take a good but not great TE like Celek. He developed into a good blocker and would help the run game. He was also a good receiver and wouldn’t need Hurts to feed him a ton of passes.

Owens is the most difficult pick for me. He is one of the best receivers I’ve ever seen and immediately transformed the Eagles offense upon his arrival in 2004. But I can’t stand all his drama and nonsense. He split the locker room and attacked a teammate. You just don’t do that. Since this is just a fun exercise I decided to overlook that and focus on his ability. TO was special.

https://twitter.com/SSN_Eagles/status/1671508746596413442

As for Brown, I loved him going back to his Ole Miss days. I enjoyed watching him with the Titans. I was ecstatic when the Eagles traded for him and suddenly had their best big, physical receiver since…TO. It was cool to see the team trade for a player I loved and then to have that guy be even better than I hoped. Really excited to see what he does in the coming years. Brown and Hurts make a dynamic duo.

*****

If we forget trying to build the best roster and go with players that would be fun to watch…

QB Randall Cunningham $4

RB Brian Westbrook $4

WR Fred Barnett $1

WR AJ Brown $3

TE Chad Lewis $3

Cunningham is one of the special talents in the history of the league.

Westy was a brilliant talent who had some amazing moments. If only his knees held up longer…

I talked about Brown already.

Lewis wasn’t great, but might have had a better career if he got more consistent QB play. As McNabb got better, Lewis was aging out of the league.

Fred Barnett. One of my all time favorite Eagles. Arkansas Fred had outstanding speed. He also could go up and get the ball. From a purely aesthetic standpoint, I loved watching his mannerisms. Barnett had a distinct way of running and catching the ball. He was just fun to watch.

Put Barnett in the black shoes and he’s ready to be displayed in The Louvre.

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