Eagles Draft Recap

Not only did the Eagles make a first round pick for the first time in three years, according to all sources, and my opinion, made the steal of the draft, getting a top 10 talent, Jeremy Maclin.  Not only was Maclin a top 10 talent, he was the number one rated WR on over half of the NFL teams draft boards.  Getting him at 19 was the steal of the draft weekend.  Now we are always leery of first round WR choices, but Maclin’s run after catch ability should fit perfectly into the Eagles west coast offense immediately.  If Maclin develops into what he is projected, the Eagles could potentially have the best, WR duo paired together for the next ten years.

In the second round, the Eagles pounced on former Pitt standout RB, LeSean McCoy.  Again, hats off the Eagles for another solid selection. McCoy has been compared to Brian Westbrook, will be great compliment to BWest.  McCoy was regarded as the best pass catching RB in the draft. So he should step in instantly as well, granted that he works on his glaring weakness, pass blocking.

After the Eagles traded out of the 3rd round, the 5th they made even more noise, with a few more solid solid moves.  They drafted Cornelius Ingram, a solid TE out of University of Florida who was out all of ’08 with an ACL injury.  Granted the knee is healthy, this is ANOTHER steal in the 5th round.   The Eagles then drafted Va. Tech DB, Victor “Macho” Harris, who will come right out of Beamer Ball at Virginia Tech and should have an immediate impact on the Eagles special teams unit.

THEN, to cap it off, the Eagles traded a pair of 5th round picks, for a solid starting Defensive Back, Ellis Hobbs.  Hobbs has started all 16 games the past two seasons and is re-united with former Super Bowl starting duo Asante Samuels, and just adds even stronger depth, and potentially opening the door for Sheldon Brown’s move to either safety OR to another team.

Counting the acquisition of Jason Peters, for their other first round pick, the Eagles had an amazing week.  And thankfully I am going to have amazing football betting opportunities this season. It’s amazing too me, how much they’ve rebuilt the offense this off-season. Not just adding bodies, but adding former Pro Bowlers (Peters, Weaver) and highly rated rookies (Macklin, McCoy, Ingram) to go with young and should-be-improved talent (Jackson and Celek).  Not to mention should-be-healthy veterans (McNabb, Curtis and Westbrook). If everything goes according to plan, and the team stays healthy, 2009 should be a very, very good year.

Sixers vs Magic – Game 2 Preview

Tonight YOUUUUUUR Philadelphia 76ers look to come back to the Wachovia Center on Friday with a 2-0 series lead.

Can they do it?

Absolutely.

Will they do it?

Absolutely not.

Dwight Howard will be in the line up tonight even with his blurry eye suffered in game 1, and don’t expect him to miss 10-12 minutes like game 1 when the Sixers went on their run to cut the 18 point deficit into a 2 point deficit.

Look for the Magic to play Howard 40 plus minutes, play determined basketball and unfortunately for our Sixers coast to an easy game two victory and tying the series 1-1.

So You’re Sayin’ There’s a Chance

An amazing comeback, injecting faith into a city, and a superstar FINALLY starts taking steps in full realizing that expectation.  The Sixers came back from an 18 point second half deficit to literally steal game one from the Orlando Magic Sunday night in Orlando.

Andre Iguoladala, who has never been fully accepted as the true superstar status that was projected on him when the other A.I left and he signed the big money contract, finally had his defining moment as the Sixers number one man, hit the game-winning fade away jumper with 2.2 seconds to go, a mere minute after Iggy missed two clutch free throws that would’ve then given the Sixers they’re first lead of the second half, as well as adding more fuel to the fire of doubt that Sixers fans have had since Iggy signed the big money contract.

“We discuss this all the time: We think Andre is a very, very good basketball player, knocking at the door of the All-Star Game,” general manager Ed Stefanski said. “I don’t think the people have embraced him as that kind of player.”

A.I and the Sixers get back to action Wednesday night at 7pm in Orlando for game 2 of the best of seven series.

Oh and in case you happened to miss the final few minutes, Youtube always has us covered, enjoy.

Dear Mr. Lurie

I have put in it a lot of thought, research, stress, and work, but I’ve put this list together for you, I’m HOPING next Friday you can just run down the list and check them off one by one, and I guarantee, Super Bowl XLIV will be money in the bank…

1. Sign RT Vernon Carey (MIA):  He has a real “nasty” streak a la Runyan. PERFECT replacement. Supposedly wants $20 million total, a reasonable amount. O-Line would be: LT Herremans; LG Max Jean or Nick Cole; C JJ; RG Andrews; RT Carey. (Supposedly you are talking with Tra Thomas about returning, though, I would be fine with that too)

2. Sign FB Leonard Weaver (SEA); THE best FB on the market; great blocker, decent runner, better-than-average receiver

3. Sign TE Bo Scaife (TEN): Good receiver, better-than-average blocker.  Combined with Celek, TE would be shored up tremendously.

And then there’s the WR position:

4. Trade for Boldin (1st, 3rd, Justice) OR Ocho Cinco(4th, Reggie Brown)

IF you don’t trade for a receiver, then the draft could then be:

21. Best RB available (Moreno or McCoy)

28. Hakeem Nicks, WR, North Carolina: Reminds people of Boldin; everything I read says he’s the most polished receiver in the draft.  Having him line up on the other side of DeSean Jackson for 10 years??  Could potentially be the best WR combo in the NFL for years with Nicks doing the dirty work underneath and across the middle,

Oh, by the way…the below is confidential; you can’t mention it to anyone until next week, after you read this, we meet and I take over for Tommy Heckert ….shhhh

Thank you,

Your soon-to-be General Manager

Chris

What…..The…… _______________?

The end of an era?  The closing of a chapter in Eagles lore?  Add another one to the, what could’ve been?  Simply embarrassing? All of the above appear to be yes.  In what can only be describe as pathetic, the Eagles TIED the one win Bengals in a joke of an offensive performance, as Donovan McNabb missed on THIRTY OF FIFTY EIGHT PASSES yesterday.

And what is even more embarrassing then the 30 incompletions in one game, even more embarrassing then the fact that McNabb turned the ball over four times (and it easily should’ve been six), what is even more embarrassing then the fact that McNabb didn’t know the game was going to end in a tie at the end of overtime, is the fact that head coach Andy Reid called 58 pass plays, with arguably the best player in football as his RUNNING back, to which he only touched the ball seventeen times, fourteen of them on running plays.

Something needs to change.  Whatever the “philosophy” the Eagles are using is NOT working.  If everyone watching can see it EXCEPT the men in charge, something is wrong. “From watching film, other teams in the league have been successful against them,” said Bengal corner back Jonathan Joseph, “They may have a lot of yards or whatever, but teams have been successful getting them off the field. They have tendencies you can pick up on and you have a good idea of what’s going on….they run those 14-yard curl routes (over and over), they ran them like five times today.”

There is no more proof then that my friends that something needs to change.  The player callers, the game planner, the philosophy, something needs to change, because teams know what the Eagles are going to do before the play happens, how can you win when that happens?

Well, at least you can tie?

Times yours……

A.I. Still Talking ’bout Practice

During Allen Iverson’s introductory press conference to the Detroit Pistons, the Answer still can’t stop talking about practice…..

So Long Patrick

Just in to the 215,  we’ve got word that a recent Philly fan favorite Patrick “Bait” Burrell will not be the Phillies left fielder for the first time since 1999.  We’ve all had our ups and downs with Burrell with his frustrating .257 batting average, but he was always good for a solid 20-30 HRs and 90+ RBIs and that production will be hard to replace.

Burrell reportedly turned down a 2 year $22 million dollar offer and will file for free agency.  That money combined with other departing free agents, could open up the dollars for the Phillies to throw their cap in the Ramirez, Holliday and/or Sabathia sweepstakes?  More to come….

Sixers Season Preview

Yourrrrr Philadelphia 76ers open up a new campaign tonight against the Toronto Raptors (game time has been moved to 6pm due to the potential Phillies Game 5 with high hopes and great expectations coming off last season’s playoff run and off-season moves.

A Brand New Era starts tonight as free agent signee Elton Brand makes his debut.  Brand brings great optimism to the run and gun Sixers off their playoff run last year.  “Anything less then the 2nd round this season is a disappointment” Brand recently said.  Look for Band’s low post ability, more importantly combined with his defensive rebounding to spark the up tempo Sixers into even quicker outlets and fast breaks.  Throughout the season the Sixers will look to wear out teams with running style offense and intense defense.

The Sixers are one of the handful of up and coming teams in the not so JV Eastern Conference anymore.  They are in an Atlantic Division with the defending world champion Boston Celtics, and Toronto Raptor team that also was in last years playoffs, and added all-star center Jermaine O’Neal to form a nice front court tandem with power forward Chris Bosh.

This team has a nice mix of veteran leaders at the right positions, point guard Andre Miller is a floor general, with emerging young starts at other positions.  I feel the Sixers can live up to the pre-season expectations they’ve set for themselves.  While I do not see them beating out the defending champs for the division title, I think the Sixers will be in the 4,5 seed battle all season, advance to the conference semifinals losing to the repeat champion Celtics in a 7 game epic.

Final Record: 48-34, 2nd Atlantic Division, 5 seed in East

Breaking News: Coste It Is

Before manager Charlie Manuel has even written out his line-up he has disclosed to us he will be penciling in back up catcher Chris Coste as the “mystery” designated hitter for Game 1 of tonight’s World Series.

The risk with Coste has been, if Carlos Ruiz has to leave the game tonight with an injury, Coste would be forced into catchers duty and the Phillies would lose the DH spot in the lineup, and the pitcher would have to bat for themselves.

I truly do not see that being a huge issue.  Yes, losing the DH would be a disadvantage, but should not decide the game.  Plus, with the Phillies being the National League they have played all season without a DH.  I trust Manuel would be able to match up with pinch hitters and double switches in the late innings. This is all a moot point, remind you, if Carlos does not have to leave the game with a injury, which is a very slim risk in my opinion.

Red Sox Stay Alive

In an amazing 3 inning run, the Boston Red Sox went from seven outs away from elimination to forcing game 6 in Tampa Saturday night.  The Rays came out and jumped on Boston ace Daisuke Matsuzaka as BJ Upton continues his tear, belting a 2 run home run staking the Rays to the 1st inning lead.  The Rays home run derby they’ve put on throughout the series continued in the 3rd as Carlos Pena crushed one over the monster stretching the lead to 4-0.  In the 5th the long balls continued, this time Evan Longoria hit a solo blast, expanding the lead to 5-0.  In the top of the 7th Upton was once again did more damage with his bat doubling home a couple more runs, the lead was 7-0 and the Boston faithful were heading for home, thinking their season was over.

Then with 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th, Dustin Pedroia got a big 2 out single plating Jed Lowrie, setting the stage for Big Papi, who delivered a 3 run blast down the right field line closing the gap to 7-4, and the rally was on.  In the 8th 215 eternal villain, JD Drew pulled the Sawx closer with a 2 run homer and Coco Crisp finally completed the comeback, tying the game 7-7.  Then in the bottom of the 9th, JD Doosh hit a the game winning single scoring Kevin Youkilis from second, and the Red Soxs somehow forced a game 6 in Tropicana Field Saturday night.