Are you ready for some football??? da sticky

[Living-In-Clip]

Originally posted by PSX_J
Meh, didnt realise you were an Eagles fan Quddus...guess it\'s natural for you to hate tha\' Boys then.  Give us a couple years and we\'ll be back to serious contenders, then the ol\' rivarly will mean something again.

Get rid of Vinny Testical-vertie,  and you may get somewhere...

Missed the MNF game - but I am still surprised that The Packers beat Carolina. Highlights make it seem like it was a good game tho\'.


Question: How many of you have been to a pro game? I have the chance to get decent seats for the Colts vs Vikings (MNF - 11/8) game, but I\'ve never been and I\'ve received mixed opinions. Some people I know say it\'s more fun to watch it at home and other\'s say it\'s more fun to see it in person. What\'s the general opinion on the board?

[Viper_Fujax]

BAHH. Steve smith got injured pretty badly and is out at least a month. Dont know wether to start jimmy smith (vs Broncos); Booker (vs. Cinci); Toomer (vs Wash). Smith has to deal with Bailey so i doubt ill start him. Booker doesnt have a QB and Washington looked good this week. Leaning towards Toomer though. Its a small league which is why i have a good amount of starters.

Also had Charles Rogers in another leauge so basically week 1 sucked @ss fantasy wise.

But the broncos did well. Just need more consitency from Plummer and using the TE more.

Get rid of Vinny Testical-vertie, and you may get somewhere...

You mean the one that threw for over 300 yards the other day?  Besides he\'ll be around for a year and then he\'s gone.  He\'s just going to be with the team untill either Henson develops or we draft another quarterback.  Hopefully Henson develops, he is really good for being out of football for a couple years.

Originally posted by Viper_Fujax
BAHH. Steve smith got injured pretty badly and is out at least a month. Dont know wether to start jimmy smith (vs Broncos); Booker (vs. Cinci); Toomer (vs Wash). Smith has to deal with Bailey so i doubt ill start him. Booker doesnt have a QB and Washington looked good this week. Leaning towards Toomer though. Its a small league which is why i have a good amount of starters.

Also had Charles Rogers in another leauge so basically week 1 sucked @ss fantasy wise.

But the broncos did well. Just need more consitency from Plummer and using the TE more.

You don\'t have a TE that\'s worth throwing to. The Chiefs secondary is, in a word, overworked, and when you have to put 8 in the box to stop the "vaunted" Jake Plummer bootleg along with Quentin Griffin running the ball for 10 yards a pop, it\'s not too hard to whoop the Defense\'s ass. The Chiefs bit on every play action fake during the game, and got their shit burned.

The fact that the Broncos only won 34-24 was actually pretty amazing for the way they were simply outplaying the Chiefs the entire game.

See Yuz.

Originally posted by Living-In-Clip
Question: How many of you have been to a pro game? I have the chance to get decent seats for the Colts vs Vikings (MNF - 11/8) game, but I\'ve never been and I\'ve received mixed opinions. Some people I know say it\'s more fun to watch it at home and other\'s say it\'s more fun to see it in person. What\'s the general opinion on the board?

I went to my first NFL game last season and it was a blast.  Went with like 4 other guys I work with to the Ravens vs. Seahawks game, and it ended up being the biggest comback in Ravens franchise history.  Many Ravens fans are fairweather ones, but we stayed even though they were getting blown out.  And when they were coming back the place was twice as loud half empty as it was sold out.  

We had terrible seats too, like 15 rows from the very top of the upper deck... but I was amazed at how well I could see what was happening on the field.  I always knew where the ball was and didn\'t need binoculours like I thought I would.

In short, I think it\'s much more fun to see the games in person if you have someone to go with you.  Going to a sporting event alone sucks (i imagine).

And i\'m possibly going to the monday night game in a few weeks when the Chiefs come to Baltimore... got some distant relatives with season ticks.

(crosses fingers)

Originally posted by ROL Jamas

The fact that the Broncos only won 34-24 was actually pretty amazing for the way they were simply outplaying the Chiefs the entire game.

See Yuz.

When the quarterback throws it left handed that\'ll happen.

Haha, yeah, that was pretty badass.

Jake Plummer - as overrated as the Missouri Tigers

*cheap shot*

See Yuz.

No matter what seats you have, watching the game on t.v. just doesnt compare to actually being there.  The excitement in the air and atomosphere are enough to make a fan go crazy.  LIC, you\'ll see what I mean when you actually go to a game...you\'ll problly become a season ticket holder afterwards.

at least that left handed throw went right into the hands of Shawn Barber... but plummer pissed me off all night with that roll out shit.  Chiefs fell for the fake EVERY time.

I went to a Jets preseason game last year. My friend Mel\'s family has season tickets and I went with them. I wish they would of invited me to a regular season game though . It was still amazing though and they had really decent seats. I think we were on the 20 yard line and about 30 rows back.

[Living-In-Clip]

That settles that - I will end up picking up the tickets, goin\' to take my father, as he\'s a Colt\'s fan.

Originally posted by shockwaves


1) The running game.  There is one RB on this team that can do anything, and that\'s Westbrook.  The man has about 180 career carries and 800 career rushing yards.  That\'s not a lot of work to go off of.  If he flounders or gets hurt, the Eagles offense turns one dimensional REALLY quickly.

Westbrook is a beast, no question about it.  He\'s magic whenever he gets the ball, on the ground, out in the flats, or on a return...he makes magic happen.  He averaged 5.2 YPC last season, and had a 9.0 recieving average.  Buckhalter went down, which hurt, no doubt.  But, we got Levens.  And I know you, being a Giants fan, scoff at that, but I think the guy will work well for us.   Some players just fit well into certain systems...Levens had one of his best years with the Iggles two years ago, rushing for 5.5 YPC and catching 19 passes for 124 yards.  So long as Westbrook stays healthy, our running game is excellent.

2) The passing game.  McNabb is overrated.  I hate to say it cause I like him, but it\'s true.  He had a QB rating under 80 last year.  He had only one passing TD a game.  That\'s a very low number...3rd to last of all QB\'s that were starters all season.  His TD/INT ratio was very high.  His sack number sky rocketed from the year before from 28 to 43.  That\'s 2nd most among QB\'s, which shows holes not only in his pocket movement, something that wasn\'t a problem earlier in his career, but also in the offensive line.  

McNabb is not over-rated.  If anything, he\'s underrated.  Sure he posted a 79.6 QB rating last year, but he had a horrible start.  He went through a rough patch, got over it, and hasn\'t looked back.  In fact, this is a stat I don\'t know where to find, but wasn\'t he the highest rated QB in the NFC the second half of the season?  Here\'s something I got from a Len Pasquerelli article at ESPN.com that i also found interesting...

McNabb\'s 43-21 record, in fact, gives him the best winning percentage among all active quarterbacks with at least 60 starts. And his interception percentage, with just 49 pickoffs in 2,117 attempts, is second best in NFL history.

So...he wins.  That\'s the most important stat...the wins.  And hey, he has a low completion percentage (or has over his career)...but I\'d much rather see him throw it out of bounds than to a defender.  The quarterback position is strong, with great depth behind McNabb.  Jeff Blake brings a lot of experience.  That\'s key.  Meanwhile, Detmer knows the West Coast offense better than most in the NFL.

3) The secondary, as already mentioned.  They relied on it, and they had 2 Pro Bowl corners.  Now they lost both in the same year.  No matter what you say, that hurts.

That hurts, but not as much as the media makes it seem.  Lito and Sheldon started 9 games together last season...of those 9, they won...9.  Of course, that\'s not indicative of solely how they played...but still...if they\'re garbage, those games aren\'t victories.  They were slightly below average NFL corners last season.  Now, practicing against a top 5 WR in Terrell Owens...they\'re average, if not slightly above.  That unfortunately won\'t cut it against teams like Minnesota, Indy, etc...but CB\'s aren\'t the only part of a secondary.  I believe it was James that said the safeties were mediocre.  That shocked me, honestly.  Dawkins is, well, Dawkins, and Michael Lewis is turning into a spectacular strong safety, already one of the best in the league.  Again, much like the running game...as long as there\'s no injuries, our pass defense is above average.  And that\'s speaking solely on talent, you can\'t forget who the defensive coordinator is.

4) The thing no one talks about...this defense really wasn\'t that good.  They couldn\'t rush the pass, and got Kearse, sure, but what does Kearse do against the run?  Pretty much nothing.  And the Eagles run defense last year was pathetic.  22nd in the league, allowing 130 ypg.  Nothing was done to improve that.

The run defense wasn\'t great last year, I\'ll give you that.  But the injuries along the defensive line can\'t just be ignored.  Sure, injuries are a part of the game, but assuming they don\'t play a *big* role this season, the Eagles run defense should be close to a top 10.  Cory Simon...Darwin Walker...Jevon Kearse...Derrick Burgess (who will be replaced by hugh douglas as the season goes on IMO.  No matter what happened in jacksonville, there still seems to be some fire there)...that\'s one of the best defensive lines in the NFL.  Linebackers?  This is something I can\'t really give much positive towards but, they are not nearly as bad as everyone makes them out to be.  They were 22nd in run D last season, but again, you have to factor in that decimated d-line.  Heck, before the line started wearing down, Mark Simoneau was NFC defensive player of the month.  Nate Wayne played acceptably last year...but Dahani...well...I\'ll save judgement for him.  I must point out also, that in the Giants game, the Giants put up some yards on the ground, no question.  170 yards for the opposition isn\'t something a top team should have...but don\'t forget that the Eagles had a guy who, outside of his special teams play, is, putting it bluntly, garbage.  Keith Adams is not an NFL OLB, not at all...but he was put in the role for whatever reason.  Also in that game, we held the giants to 94 yards on the ground in 57 minutes of gametime...that\'s acceptable.  That 76 yard run was put up in garbage time, we may have even had backups in (wouldn\'t surprise me with our injury history).

And finally, if teams start running wild, we have Jeremiah Trotter to plug the holes, who is much better at doing such than Simoneau.

Westbrook is a beast, no question about it. He\'s magic whenever he gets the ball, on the ground, out in the flats, or on a return...he makes magic happen. He averaged 5.2 YPC last season, and had a 9.0 recieving average. Buckhalter went down, which hurt, no doubt. But, we got Levens. And I know you, being a Giants fan, scoff at that, but I think the guy will work well for us. Some players just fit well into certain systems...Levens had one of his best years with the Iggles two years ago, rushing for 5.5 YPC and catching 19 passes for 124 yards. So long as Westbrook stays healthy, our running game is excellent.

First of all, you cut Levens.  So that right there puts a big damper on the arguement.  Second of all, it\'s a lot easier to put up good averages when you don\'t have a lot of carries, which Westbrook didn\'t last season.  We\'ll see how he holds up when his carries sky rocket.

McNabb is not over-rated. If anything, he\'s underrated. Sure he posted a 79.6 QB rating last year, but he had a horrible start. He went through a rough patch, got over it, and hasn\'t looked back. In fact, this is a stat I don\'t know where to find, but wasn\'t he the highest rated QB in the NFC the second half of the season? Here\'s something I got from a Len Pasquerelli article at ESPN.com that i also found interesting...

McNabb\'s 43-21 record, in fact, gives him the best winning percentage among all active quarterbacks with at least 60 starts. And his interception percentage, with just 49 pickoffs in 2,117 attempts, is second best in NFL history.

So...he wins. That\'s the most important stat...the wins. And hey, he has a low completion percentage (or has over his career)...but I\'d much rather see him throw it out of bounds than to a defender. The quarterback position is strong, with great depth behind McNabb. Jeff Blake brings a lot of experience. That\'s key. Meanwhile, Detmer knows the West Coast offense better than most in the NFL.

Where to start.  First of all, McNabb\'s career winning percentage is not solely because of him.  He has won in the regular season cause he\'s always played with one the NFL\'s best defenses.  Then he gets to the playoffs and chokes every year in the title game.  His QB rating last year in the NFC championship game was under 20.  That is about as bad as you can get.  He also had QB ratings of about 70 or lower 2 of his last 3 games, so don\'t get in your mind that it was just a beginning of the season thing he shook off, and that he "hasn\'t looked back".  

As for the career stats, I\'m not talking about his career, I\'m talking about now.  Early in his career he caused havoc with his legs, and that made him a lot better than his QB rating showed.  That\'s gone, due to injuries.  He is still mobile, but not game breaking.  People remember him from those days, and that\'s not him anymore.  He has gone downhill.

That hurts, but not as much as the media makes it seem. Lito and Sheldon started 9 games together last season...of those 9, they won...9. Of course, that\'s not indicative of solely how they played...but still...if they\'re garbage, those games aren\'t victories. They were slightly below average NFL corners last season. Now, practicing against a top 5 WR in Terrell Owens...they\'re average, if not slightly above. That unfortunately won\'t cut it against teams like Minnesota, Indy, etc...but CB\'s aren\'t the only part of a secondary. I believe it was James that said the safeties were mediocre. That shocked me, honestly. Dawkins is, well, Dawkins, and Michael Lewis is turning into a spectacular strong safety, already one of the best in the league. Again, much like the running game...as long as there\'s no injuries, our pass defense is above average. And that\'s speaking solely on talent, you can\'t forget who the defensive coordinator is.

I\'m not saying the corners are bad, but there is no way that you can lose two pro bowl caliber CB\'s and have it not hurt you a lot.  They went from possibly the best to average, and that\'s a huge hit.  Plus, they have to have depth beyond the top 2.  The 3rd CB is very important.  They used to have that depth.  Not anymore.  And I don\'t think you are above average.  I think the pass D is average, and the run D is below average now.

The run defense wasn\'t great last year, I\'ll give you that. But the injuries along the defensive line can\'t just be ignored. Sure, injuries are a part of the game, but assuming they don\'t play a *big* role this season, the Eagles run defense should be close to a top 10. Cory Simon...Darwin Walker...Jevon Kearse...Derrick Burgess (who will be replaced by hugh douglas as the season goes on IMO. No matter what happened in jacksonville, there still seems to be some fire there)...that\'s one of the best defensive lines in the NFL.

Jevon Kearse is a pure pass rusher.  He will get burned all day long by the run.  Douglas is over the hill.  You just are well below average at run stop.  Above average at pass rushing, but NOT run stopping.

Linebackers? This is something I can\'t really give much positive towards but, they are not nearly as bad as everyone makes them out to be. They were 22nd in run D last season, but again, you have to factor in that decimated d-line. Heck, before the line started wearing down, Mark Simoneau was NFC defensive player of the month. Nate Wayne played acceptably last year...but Dahani...well...I\'ll save judgement for him. I must point out also, that in the Giants game, the Giants put up some yards on the ground, no question. 170 yards for the opposition isn\'t something a top team should have...but don\'t forget that the Eagles had a guy who, outside of his special teams play, is, putting it bluntly, garbage. Keith Adams is not an NFL OLB, not at all...but he was put in the role for whatever reason. Also in that game, we held the giants to 94 yards on the ground in 57 minutes of gametime...that\'s acceptable. That 76 yard run was put up in garbage time, we may have even had backups in (wouldn\'t surprise me with our injury history).

And finally, if teams start running wild, we have Jeremiah Trotter to plug the holes, who is much better at doing such than Simoneau.

Trotter is also over the hill, and won\'t do much for you.  But the fact is you let the Giants run for 170 yards on you.  The Giants.  The worst offensive line by far in the NFL.  Ron Dayne looked like a quality back against you guys.  I mean, come on.  There is no question this is gonna be a huge problem for you this year.

Originally posted by Living-In-Clip
If they manage to beat The Vikings, then I\'ll be impressed.

Why is that?

Originally posted by Viper_Fujax
BAHH. Steve smith got injured pretty badly and is out at least a month.

It sucks when someone gets hurt but I can\'t stand Steve Smith. Way too cocky for someone that is just slightly above average.

We cut Levens originally to make room for 7 LBs, since we had injuries riddling the LB core.  We re-signed him yesterday I believe.  And really, I don\'t know how many more carries Westbrook will be getting.  Bear in mind, this is Andy Reid\'s offense, they\'re going to be passing most of the time.  Dorsey\'s going to get the ball in short yardage/run the clock situations...and the FO is really high on mahe, so he and westbrook will split carries.  I think he\'ll be fine health-wise.

He lead the Eagles to an NFC best 12-4 season last year with basically the defense we\'ve got now, minus Kearse.  That secondary wasn\'t healthy at all last year.  He also doesn\'t choke in the title game.  He played MAGNIFICENTLY against Green Bay.  He was on target with his passes...and he broke the scrambling record in that game (so that also pushes his apparent lack of a scrambling threat).  

Carolina...come on man...you CAN NOT put that game on his shoulders.  Carolina\'s CB\'s were absolutely MUGGING the Eagles recievers....and when they actually could get off the line, they\'d drop it, or just not make a play towards the ball.  It\'s not even an issue as far as that game is concerned.  Our WR\'s were bitch slapped.  Thankfully, Todd Pinkston beefed up a bit, and with TO on the other side things should open up for him.

As for the under 70 QB ratings...as I said...that Carolina game doesn\'t hold much substance here...and I don\'t recall the other game, but it\'s irrelevant.  Over that stretch, McNabb was playing the best football of his career.  He is FAR from going downhill.  If anything, he\'s reaching his prime.  And with the talent he\'s got surrounding him this year, don\'t be surprised to see him finish tops in the MVP voting, if not win the award.

And the secondary.  Again...BT and Troy Vincent played sparingly last season, along with Brian Dawkins.  I think Vincent might have a few years left, but Bobby was on the decline, fast.  Honestly, I don\'t think that our secondary is much worse than it was last year.  I will agree with you on this though....Lito or Sheldon goes down...we need a trade...or we\'re in shit.

Douglas and Trotter...we have to wait and see more of them through the season to decide if they\'re over the hill or not.  They had great success here...left...didn\'t do as hot...have come back...and have thus far impressed.  But, again, that was against the Giants.  I don\'t see run defense being a problem...so long as everyone stays healthy.  Nate Wayne will be back in the mix against the Vikings I believe...if he is, that\'s more indicative of how we\'ll play the run.

I\'m really anticipating this Vikings game.  They will not put up 350 yards of offense against us.  You heard it here.