DMN Blog: Gosselin: The defending NFC East champions

28 Joker

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Yes. The Eagles wanted to draft Brandon Meriweather and play him at FS.
I like Reggie Brown as a WR. He could have a break-out year. I would put Newman on him. L.J. Smith is good at TE. They have good corners. Omar Gaither (LB) is for real. I saw him play in college. He is a playmaker! Spikes is older and had the leg injury. Is he the "old" Spikes? Trotter has trouble in coverage now that he is older, but attacks the line strong. Gocong was a DE in college. He is green. Brodrick Bunkley is the key to their run defense. He is green. Ian Scott, the DT they signed from the Bears, is pitiful. He played at Florida, and he is easy to move out and run all over. He can't pressure the passer at all. They have to have Bunkley to stop people from running all over them this year. Kearse is coming off a severe knee injury. Trent Cole only played exceptional against Dallas. Could we please block him this year! McNabb is coming off the ACL. The tackles have major age on them, but they played well again for them. The center and Andrews are really good. Their line is huge, and it is one of the best in the league. However, when will the tackles finally show their age? They have the guy from USC waiting in the wings. Westbrook is great. Tony Hunt isn't fast, but they don't need him to be. He's a bruiser.

The Eagles are no lock. They have questions just like everyone in the division.

:star:
 

Nav22

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Ya know... about McNabb, everyone mentions that he's gotten hurt the last 2 years.

What most people DON'T mention is that in the games he DID start in the last 2 years, he has a LOSING RECORD of 9-10.

He started 9 games in '05... and lost his last 3.

He started 10 games in '06... and lost 4 of his last 5.

Philly is still the team to beat, but don't kid yourself into thinking they're sitting high atop their perch and the rest of the division is fighting for a wildcard spot.

The East can be had, and I like the Cowboys' chances at being their top challengers.
 

Doctor32

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Angus;1571952 said:
The defending NFC East champions

On the sixth day of my training camp tour, I finally saw some meaningful contact on the practice field. The defending NFC East champion Philadelphia Eagles staged about a 20-minute scrimmage in their first full-scale practice of camp Wednesday morning. It was full contact with defenders tackling the running backs -- not holding and hugging them as they run through the line.

Quarterback Donovan McNabb took all the snaps with the first-team offense but was moving around gingerly as he continues to recover from a knee injury that ended his 2006 season in November. He's wearing a knee brace for the first time in his career on his right knee but still had plenty of zip on his passes.

Philadelphia has the best quarterback, best offensive line and best set of cornerbacks in the NFC East -- and this may be the deepest I've ever seen the Eagles, especially along the offensive and defensive lines. The one big question mark is strongside linebacker, where Chris Gocong is lining up with the first team. He was third-round draft pick in 2006 who spent his rookie season on injured reserve. He's from a small school (Cal Poly) and he's learning a new position, having played defensive end in college.

Posted by Rick Gosselin at 12:14 PM

http://cowboys.beloblog.com/

Credibility gone. Sad thing really. This jack hole gets to stand up before the NFL Writers / Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Commitee and present the cases of Dallas Cowboys that he covered. Awesome! The anti-Cowboys bias doesn't reside in the North East region of the country - not at all.
It's here in the Metroplex, it writes for the DMN and it gets over-hyped by Norm throughout the football season.
Zoners: e-mail this Dork and let him know what you think.
 

Doomsday101

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Doctor32;1572926 said:
Credibility gone. Sad thing really. This jack hole gets to stand up before the NFL Writers / Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Commitee and present the cases of Dallas Cowboys that he covered. Awesome! The anti-Cowboys bias doesn't reside in the North East region of the country - not at all.
It's here in the Metroplex, it writes for the DMN and it gets over-hyped by Norm throughout the football season.
Zoners: e-mail this Dork and let him know what you think.

When the Cowboys start winning the East and making noise in the playoffs we will see the credit being given to this team until then Dallas needs to go out and earn it. They don't play football on paper so while we may think we are the better team the players need to take care of business on the field and beat teams like Philly. Until then Philly is going to be looked at as the class of the NFC East.
 

Jarv

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41gy#;1572351 said:
Oh no, it's the "great" Goose. If you want to pick the Eagles, fine. The Eagles' corners are not better than Newman, Henry, and Glenn. Brian Dawkins makes that secondary go, not the Eagles corners. Lito Shepherd is good, but he's not as good as Newman. McNabb is coming off a knee injury. Will he be able to run and move as well?

You know what "Goose", if you want to crown their birdy... crown them. Let's just not play the two Eagle games. Dallas doesn't have a chance.

"Goose", don't give the Titans an "A" on the draft again next year.

How many Super Bowls has McNabb and Reid won together?

Zero!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lito is Terry Glen's B!tch...

They do have a very good O-line tho.

If McFlab starts this season he will not finish it, I've seen some footage and I don't think he's ready, if he push's it to start the season he will re-agravate his injury IMHO...
 

joseephuss

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Nav22;1572686 said:
Ya know... about McNabb, everyone mentions that he's gotten hurt the last 2 years.

What most people DON'T mention is that in the games he DID start in the last 2 years, he has a LOSING RECORD of 9-10.

He started 9 games in '05... and lost his last 3.

He started 10 games in '06... and lost 4 of his last 5.

Philly is still the team to beat, but don't kid yourself into thinking they're sitting high atop their perch and the rest of the division is fighting for a wildcard spot.

The East can be had, and I like the Cowboys' chances at being their top challengers.

The Eagles can be beat. Dallas had good chances to beat them last year as well. They didn't. Until they do, I expect more Eagles mania by the media. I hope Dallas does beat them this year and wins the East. That will shut a lot of media up.
 

Doomsday101

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joseephuss;1572947 said:
The Eagles can be beat. Dallas had good chances to beat them last year as well. They didn't. Until they do, I expect more Eagles mania by the media. I hope Dallas does beat them this year and wins the East. That will shut a lot of media up.

Exactly. Philly went 5-1 in the East and Dallas went 2-4 in the east, you’re not going to get a lot of great predictions until this team goes out and changes this. Goose is calling it as he sees it and I don't see where he is all that wrong at this point, I don't want a fluff piece or him blowing smoke up the reader’s backside just to make fans happy. The Cowboys need to take care of business then we have more than enough reason to come down on these writers and TV announcers
 

Stash

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Doomsday101;1572953 said:
Exactly. Philly went 5-1 in the East and Dallas went 2-4 in the east, you’re not going to get a lot of great predictions until this team goes out and changes this. Goose is calling it as he sees it and I don't see where he is all that wrong at this point, I don't want a fluff piece or him blowing smoke up the reader’s backside just to make fans happy. The Cowboys need to take care of business then we have more than enough reason to come down on these writers and TV announcers

My problem isn't in him stating that the Eagles are the NFC East champs - they are. They won while the Cowboys blew it.

My problem lies in his inaccurate assessment of the team's talent.

To state that McNabb is hands down the division's best QB is lazy reporting.

He has as many question marks surrounding him as Romo or Manning do at this point. His own organization openly questions whether he's still the guy or not.

And Goose's statement about the Eagles' defensive line is just plain wrong.

The defensive line was an underachieving disappointment last year. The Eagles obviously felt that way since they made significant changes during the offseason.

As for his corners talk?

I'll let this season show whether he's right or wrong.

His prior predictions don't look so hot.
 

Doomsday101

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stasheroo;1572993 said:
My problem isn't in him stating that the Eagles are the NFC East champs - they are. They won while the Cowboys blew it.

My problem lies in his inaccurate assessment of the team's talent.

To state that McNabb is hands down the division's best QB is lazy reporting.

He has as many question marks surrounding him as Romo or Manning do at this point. His own organization openly questions whether he's still the guy or not.

And Goose's statement about the Eagles' defensive line is just plain wrong.

The defensive line was an underachieving disappointment last year. The Eagles obviously felt that way since they made significant changes during the offseason.

As for his corners talk?

I'll let this season show whether he's right or wrong.

His prior predictions don't look so hot.

That Philly defense gave up less points than we did and McNabb is a lot more seasoned and has produced over a period of time and done so without a lot of big name WR. I don't like defending what Goose is saying but I'm not going to put my head in the sand and until Dallas can start showing themselfs as the class of this division once again I'm not going to kill the messenger just because I don't like the message. Each year over the last last few season fans complain about the media and what they are saying but in the end we have not won Jack in 10 years so I don't see much to complain about as far as what they are writing or saying.
 

Stash

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Doomsday101;1572999 said:
That Philly defense gave up less points than we did and McNabb is a lot more seasoned and has produced over a period of time and done so without a lot of big name WR. I don't like defending what Goose is saying but I'm not going to put my head in the sand and until Dallas can start showing themselfs as the class of this division once again I'm not going to kill the messenger just because I don't like the message. Each year over the last last few season fans complain about the media and what they are saying but in the end we have not won Jack in 10 years so I don't see much to complain about as far as what they are writing or saying.

Check McNabb's recent history.

The team wins more without him than they do with him.

He took the Eagles to a .500 record last season against a cupcake schedule.

Again, you point to the Cowboys winning the division.

They certainly have to do that, but that doesn't mean that Goose's talent evaluations are close to being accurate.

I think last year's Cowboys team had more talent than the Eagles did. I feel they were outcoached last year.
 

joseephuss

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stasheroo;1573008 said:
Check McNabb's recent history.

The team wins more without him than they do with him.

He took the Eagles to a .500 record last season against a cupcake schedule.

Again, you point to the Cowboys winning the division.

They certainly have to do that, but that doesn't mean that Goose's talent evaluations are close to being accurate.

I think last year's Cowboys team had more talent than the Eagles did. I feel they were outcoached last year.

Recent history shows McNabb threw for 354 yards and 2 TDs in a win against Dallas. Andy Reid changed his offense once McNabb got hurt. He started featuring Brian Westbrook more, which he should have done when McNabb was healthy. Also the Eagles defense started playing better the second half of the season. Not everything wrong in Philly is always McNabb's fault although the does deserve some blame when they do lose.

If Dallas was outcoached last year, then that is kind of scary because Wade Phillips has never shown himself to be a great coach and Garrett is a rookie OC. Dallas has a lot of players that needed maturing and maybe they will be more mature and knowledgeable this season. Maybe they will win more of those close, important division games this year. The only close one they won last year was at New York. It was impressive, but at the same time some of the luster was off that game because the Giants were in a big tail spin of their own.
 

Doomsday101

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stasheroo;1573008 said:
Check McNabb's recent history.

The team wins more without him than they do with him.

He took the Eagles to a .500 record last season against a cupcake schedule.

Again, you point to the Cowboys winning the division.

They certainly have to do that, but that doesn't mean that Goose's talent evaluations are close to being accurate.

I think last year's Cowboys team had more talent than the Eagles did. I feel they were outcoached last year.

McNabb still put up 18 TD passes to 6 ints. Yes they did win when Garcia was put in but allot of that had to do with Reid changing how they would run the offense. Reid has taken some knocks that he relies way too much on the pass and so when Garcia took over Philly tried to use a bit more balance in their offense and had success doing so and I expect that will be something they will continue to do even with McNabb this season. As far as Goose evaluation goes Philly had more ints than we did, they had a better pass rush than we did and they played better football then we did. I want that to change as much as anyone but those are the facts regardless. Winning takes care of what ails you and it also takes care of what people have to say about you as a team
 

Stash

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Doomsday101;1573032 said:
McNabb still put up 18 TD passes to 6 ints. Yes they did win when Garcia was put in but allot of that had to do with Reid changing how they would run the offense. Reid has taken some knocks that he relies way too much on the pass and so when Garcia took over Philly tried to use a bit more balance in their offense and had success doing so and I expect that will be something they will continue to do even with McNabb this season. As far as Goose evaluation goes Philly had more ints than we did, they had a better pass rush than we did and they played better football then we did. I want that to change as much as anyone but those are the facts regardless. Winning takes care of what ails you and it also takes care of what people have to say about you as a team

Reid's best move was handing playcalling to Mohrnengwig (sp?). That gave the offense some balance and let their quality offensive line tee off on people.

A better pass rush? They had more sacks overall, but Ware had more sacks than their starters did by himself. Adding Ellis and Spencer to Phillips' more aggressive scheme should do wonders for sack totals.

The Eagles got gashed by the Saints in their playoff loss and were helpless against the run. They trade Walker and Rayburn for Scott and Raegor. Not sure I'd call that an upgrade yet.

But you're right that down the stretch they played better football than we did (who didn't?).
 

burmafrd

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If they run as much as they did under Garcia, Westbrook is looking at 320-350 carries for the year, plus a lot of touches as a receiver on 3rd downs and such. I question his ability to handle that kind of load for a full season.
 

Doomsday101

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stasheroo;1573053 said:
Reid's best move was handing playcalling to Mohrnengwig (sp?). That gave the offense some balance and let their quality offensive line tee off on people.

A better pass rush? They had more sacks overall, but Ware had more sacks than their starters did by himself. Adding Ellis and Spencer to Phillips' more aggressive scheme should do wonders for sack totals.

The Eagles got gashed by the Saints in their playoff loss and were helpless against the run. They trade Walker and Rayburn for Scott and Raegor. Not sure I'd call that an upgrade yet.

But you're right that down the stretch they played better football than we did (who didn't?).

All I'm saying is until we prove it on the field it is hard for me to complain about what some writer thinks. Our Starting CB combined did not get more ints than Sheppard, overall sacks Philly got more. I want that to change as bad as anyone and I see things to make me think it will but I also understand I'm a fan and have some bias towards this team. These reporters don't. It is like when JJT was asked a few years ago about some of the harsh things he had written about the Cowboys and some one asked him how he could write something like that and be a fan? He said easy I'm not a fan I'm a sports writer.
 

Doomsday101

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burmafrd;1573071 said:
If they run as much as they did under Garcia, Westbrook is looking at 320-350 carries for the year, plus a lot of touches as a receiver on 3rd downs and such. I question his ability to handle that kind of load for a full season.

I agree and that means Buckhalter and the other RB's has to take more of the work load. I do think Reid will go back to what he was doing with Garcia at QB though and try to run a bit more balance on offense.
 

28 Joker

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It's not like Dallas can't beat the Eagles. We beat them twice in 2005. The first time they had Owens and were coming off a big win at K.C. "Goose" makes it sound like we have no chance to beat them. We led them in the fourth quarter at Philadelphia last year. If Hoyte doesn't whiff on his guy on 4th and goal, Barber scores, and the game would have been on last Christmas.
 

jazzcat22

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stasheroo;1571962 said:
Goose should do everybody a favor and just move to Philadelphia already.

:scram:

I was thinking the same thing as I read that. And how his love fest with the Iggles continue. He should just stick to ranking players in the draft, and forget about the NFL scouting reports.
 

joseephuss

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stasheroo;1573053 said:
Reid's best move was handing playcalling to Mohrnengwig (sp?). That gave the offense some balance and let their quality offensive line tee off on people.

A better pass rush? They had more sacks overall, but Ware had more sacks than their starters did by himself. Adding Ellis and Spencer to Phillips' more aggressive scheme should do wonders for sack totals.

The Eagles got gashed by the Saints in their playoff loss and were helpless against the run. They trade Walker and Rayburn for Scott and Raegor. Not sure I'd call that an upgrade yet.

But you're right that down the stretch they played better football than we did (who didn't?).

The Giants.
 
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