The Sports Guy Picks the Eagles Too (I told ya'll )

[Sportsbabe]

To everyone who keeps pushing the whole "there's no division tougher than the NFC East" crap. Dallas is stuck with Drew Bledsoe for another season (to the point that the phrases "QB controversy" and "Tony Romo" came into play last month), as well as mediocre running backs and the inevitable T.O.-Parcells / Vanderjagt-Parcells soap operas. The Skins went 0-4 in the preseason and looked like they were filming scenes for "The Replacements 2." Everyone seems to forget that (A) the Giants completely rolled over and quit on their coach at home in the playoffs last season; (B) Eli had the full-fledged Manning Face from Halloween through the New Year; and (C) their big free agent move was LaVar Arrington (who's good for 6-7 games this season). I don't get it. What's so great about the NFC East?

Meanwhile, everyone's counting out the Eagles, who absolutely REEK of Ewing Theory potential after T.O.'s departure and everyone acting like they were a 6-10 team last season, when the reality was this: Their defense was decimated by injuries; they lost McNabb in Week 7 and Westbrook in Week 8; and the T.O soap opera and residual bitterness from the Pats' Super Bowl destroyed what was left of their season. Well, who has an easier schedule -- @Hou, NYG, @SF, GB, DAL, @NO -- over the first six weeks? With the exception of Dallas and Chicago, who has a better defense in the NFC? Why is everyone so willing to count out a team with a quality coach that's loaded on the offensive/defensive lines? Couldn't they do a reasonable impression of the 2005 Bears, only with a much better QB? I love the Eagles this season.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060906

 

[bobtheflob]

While I find him to be very entertaining at times, he's not exactly the most qualified analyst. I think he's hoping for a TO meltdown because it would give him lots of column fodder.

 

[ghst187]

I wouldn't say "everyone is counting out the Eagles."
There are a lot of people that are trying to be cute and pick against the grain and say the Eagles will win it.
I believe the score to the first Eagles game, when nearly EVERYONE was healthy (Mcnabb and Westbrook were healthy,TO was still a good teammate, etc) was something like 33-10.....and really failed to reflect the utter and complete domination they suffered.
People also tend to forget that although the eagles won 6 games last year, they should absolutely NOT have beaten the Chargers, the Broncos, and probably not the Chiefs or Raiders. TO won at least 2 of those games for them.

 

[flashback]

I like Simmons, and it really bugs me when people slam a guy just for not picking the Cowboys, but I do disagree on a couple of points.

"loaded on the offensive/defensive lines?"

Really? You know, those were the same lines that led the Eagles out to a 4-4 record before McNabb went down, minus Hank Fraley, Artis Hicks and Hollis Thomas, of course. Unlike Mr. Simmons, I've never been particulary impressed with the likes of Tra Thomas, Jon Runyan, Shawn Andrews, etc. I guess I thought if you had a great line, you might be able to actually run the ball. On the other side of the ball, nothing helps out your corners and safeties better than a good pass rush, right? I guess that's why the Eagles were one of the worst teams in the league against the pass last year. They added Bunkley, Gocong and Howard, but I think the jury is still out on that Eagles D.

"Their defense was decimated by injuries" What injuries were those, exactly? I know they lost McDougle to a weird shooting incident early on, and sure, they had an injury report every week just like every other team in the NFL. but what is Simmons referring to here?

Does Mr. Simmons know that even though he only played in 7 games last year, Owens still lead the 2005 Eagles in receiving yardage and TD catches?

I don't think the Eagles will be as bad as they were last year, and I don't think they'll be as good as when they were going to the NFC Championship year after year. They'll be somewhere in between. Probably good enough to beat the last place teams on their schedule, but not good enough to win more than 2 games in the division. I hate predicting exact records, but I'll bite the bullet and call them 8-8 this year, mostly due to that cake schedule.

 

[DallasDW00ds0n]

what is this guy? Mr. Filthadelphia?

 

[jobberone]

Philly should rebound some and could be a playoff contender. But they are thin at RB, their OL isn't dominating, the DL is nothing compared to 2-3 yrs ago, and even their DBs are no longer intimidating to play. They used to have one of the best defenses around but no longer. Andy Reid is a very good arguably great coach and his DC is just as good but they just don't have the personnel they once did.

 

[jterrell]

The problem for the eagles is that they play Dallas, Wash and Giants a total of 6 teams and are not better than any of the 3. Other than that they are great....


Folks want to lay everything on injuries and TO last season but part of it was the inevitable decline of drafting low and being a top 5 teams for 5 seasons running.

The Eags best playmaker is ... Donte Stallworth? Stallworth was only the 3rd biggest playmaker on a gosh-awful Saints team. I guess you could call McChunk the biggest playmaker but is he a threat to run now? He might want to try and stay healthy as opposed to taking off as he did in the past.

 

[Blue&Silver]

They only lost a few guys on that defense. Their problem was they had no depth which wore down that defensive line.

Somebody can correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly sure they lost most of the O linemen as the season went on.

Add Westbrook, Buck, TO, and McNabb that's their O. Man they stunk.

I'm not looking past them by any means. With that skeleton offense they still came a couple minutes away from embarrassing us.

 

[OOTF]

The sports guy's is be funny, not correct. Don't take him seriously

 

[TEK2000]

The reason everyone is picking the Eagles to win the division is because their schedule is a hell of alot easier than Dallas, Wash, and NYG. The Eagles will be winning games against easy teams where the other 3 teams in the division will be facing top NFL teams on nearly a weekly basis.

Look at Dallas and NYG... these 2 teams could wind up 2-4 to start the season while Philly should have it easy and go 4-2.

Philly starts by playing Dallas and NYG as the only decent teams on the schedule... New Orleans, San Fran, Green Bay, and Houston are all crap teams that should easy wins.
Then you turn around and see NYG playing Indy, Tampa Bay, Seattle, Washington, Dallas, and Atlanta.

Tell me there's not a HUGE gap in the quality of competition... THAT'S the reason everyone picks the Eagles to make it to the playoffs. Cream puff schedule to start the season and get a few games lead on the other teams in the division.

 

[Prossman]

The bottom line is the eagles are not as good as they were during there dominant years & the rest of the Nfc east is Far better than they were during that time frame. There defense is not the defense they had then, 28 sacks, they do not scare anyone anymore. Decimated by injuries? Who wasn't/ welcome to the club. We lost flozell, and lost over half of our linebacking corp.
Still we swept the eagles. I'm not saying the eagles are a horrible team, but they will finish in the cellar of the east, fighting the Commanders for last place. Prossman