Eagles Blog

I don’t go read other game reviews until after I’ve finished mine. I don’t want comments from other writers to impact my thoughts. Now that my Detailed Game Review is posted, I’ve read some others. Here are good links.

Sheil Kapadia on the offense.

Sheil on the defense.

Geoff Mosher focused on 5 players that impressed him and 5 that didn’t.

Jimmy Bama did a piece on the speed of the offense.

He also wrote a post right after the game, with his initial reaction to the performance.

Jeff McLane did a “What Did We Learn” piece with some good info.

I don’t agree with everything these guys wrote, but all the pieces are worth reading so that you get a variety of informed opinions on a very subjective event.

Bills FS Jairus Byrd remains unsigned. Former agent Joel Corry took a look at the situation and why there has been so little progress in getting a deal done. It isn’t just money. Byrd could also be focused on clauses.

The two-time All-Pro could be insisting on a clause that would prohibit the Bills from using a franchise or transition designation on him in 2014 (i.e.; a prohibition clause) or a larger one-year salary than his franchise tender in order to end the contract dispute. Minimizing risk of injury during the preseason, especially in light of the rash of serious injuries that have occurred since camps opened, may be enough justification to Byrd for his absence aside from any legitimate negotiating purpose.

I don’t think he’s getting traded any time soon, but until he signs a deal there is always the possibility of something happening, even if it is a longshot.

WR Greg Salas makes his Eagles debut tonight. Salas has had a terrific Training Camp and really opened some eyes. He is a legit threat to make the roster. CSN took a look at what he’s done this summer.

“He’s bounced around, but he’s done a really good job for us in camp,” offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said. “He’s got a good feel for running routes, he’s very competitive at the line of scrimmage and he does a good job of catching the football. He’s showed up very well in this camp. … I think he’s like a lot of guys who have a good feel for the game, and that gives them a good chance to make plays. There aren’t very many guys who are going to run right by people, so you make up for it by being able to catch the ball in traffic and run good routes, and he’s been doing that.”

Interesting note here. Who did Greg Salas catch his first NFL pass against and who made the tackle?

He caught a pass late in the Eagles blowout of the Rams back in 2011. And none other than tackling machine Jarrad Page chased him down. I know many of you think this must be a lie since Page making a tackle seems so unlikely, but archaeologists have discovered some paintings from a cave wall that depict the play. See below.

Looks real to me.

Former Eagles scout John Middlekauf said something interesting on Twitter that may give you an idea how coaches and scouts see things differently.

Chad Hall: Scouts: Slow, Small, Not dynamic, avg athlete Coaches: Quicker than fast, Gets open, tough, High character.

— John Middlekauff (@JohnMiddlekauff) August 9, 2013

Coaches take a player and put him in their system. They find specific ways to use the player. They spend time working with the player in the classroom.

The scout is judging the player against other players he’s scouted. Obvious weaknesses such as size, speed, strength and things like that tend to stick out more and make it tougher for the scout to like the prospect.

CB Brandon Boykin has had a great summer for the Eagles. In fact, there is now serious talk of him starting at CB.

One concern with people is size. He measured in at the Senior Bowl at 5-9, 183, which is the exact size he played at while at Georgia. Is that big enough for the NFL?

Derek from Iggles Blog thinks so. He uses a variety of pictures and videos to show just how athletic and explosive Boykin is. He’s only 5-9, but he can jump. Derek, as you would imagine, makes a compelling case.

My one concern would be overall size. Boykin weighed 183 at the Senior Bowl, but he was rocked up. His muscles had muscles. There wasn’t much room for growth on his frame. He’s not a guy that can beef up to 195. I think he’ll always play in the 185 range.

That can be a factor when covering Dez Bryant (220 pounds), Hakeem Nicks (210-215 pounds) and guys like that. Short, successful CBs like Antoine Winfield and Sheldon Brown were physical, tough guys that weighed in the 190-200 pound range. Boykin isn’t shy of contact, but he’s nowhere close to their class in terms of hitting and tackling.

We know Boykin can jump, but can he play “big” and deal with physical receivers at the NFL level? It would be great if he’s able to show that he can do that.

A writer for SB Nation got hold of a “secret document” from Roger Goodell that outlined plans for sending teams to new homes around the world. This is creative, original and hilarious stuff.

Here are some examples of who is moving where and why.

Oakland Raiders -> Somalia. “Bloodthirsty, lawless and remorseless.” These were the terms the Somali pirates used to describe Oakland’s fan base, but we have assured them this behavior can be toned down.

Green Bay Packers -> Israel. That first Lambeau Leap over the Wailing Wall will be part of the Sunday Night Football montage for years to come.

Cleveland Browns -> North Korea. The regime’s history of media fabrications means we are the closest we will ever be to a “BROWNS WIN SUPER BOWL” headline.

Houston Texans -> Poland. In every military simulation NATO ran, J.J. Watt was the only countermeasure that consistently prevented the occupation of Warsaw.

And our beloved Eagles? They are the only team in the entire NFL that isn’t required to move.

RELOCATION NOT APPLICABLE

This office has compiled 1,733 doomsday scenarios which would require implementation of the above geographic redistribution. In all of them, the doomsday event was caused by the Philadelphia Eagles and/or their supporters.

Hilarious. If you enjoy this kind of crazy humor, follow @celebrityhottub on Twitter. He will make you laugh pretty hard at least once a day, especially if you’re a college football fan.

DirecTV has a new ad out for football on your phone. This is a music video parody with Eli and Peyton. Eli is the funny one. Peyton is stiff, which is odd since he’s shown that he can be funny.

Love the joke about the milk and the blouse. Great.

You can like this for the next month, then you have to go back to hating Eli.

No wait, not FOX News, but rather some news on FOX. They’ve made some changes to the broadcast teams for 2013.

1. Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Pam Oliver

2. Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, Tony Siragusa

3. Thom Brennaman, Brian Billick, Laura Okmin

4. Kevin Burkhardt, John Lynch, Erin Andrews

5. Chris Myers, Tim Ryan, Jennifer Hale

6. Dick Stockton, Ronde Barber, Kris Budden

7. Sam Rosen, Heath Evans, Molly McGrath

FOX paid hundreds of millions of dollars for the rights to NFC games. And this is the best group of announcers they could come up with? Yikes.

I pray the Eagles aren’t awful this year. The thought of getting stuck with groups 6 and 7 is simply torturous.

I’ve also got my fingers crossed that group 4, which is new, does well.

Peter King stopped in Philly to check out the Eagles on Sunday. He wrote several pieces for MMQB on the Eagles. Honestly, I was a bit disappointed. The material was good, but it wasn’t new. This was his first Chip Kelly practice and many of his thoughts were on what that was like, something Eagles fans have read about for months. The stuff is worth reading, but there isn’t much new insight.

King also did a segment with Dave Spadaro on PE.com. Good stuff.

Sam Farmer of the LA Times wrote a very good piece on Matt Barkley. Matt is disappointed that he hasn’t gotten more of a chance to play with the starters.

“With Pete [Carroll, then USC’s coach], it wasn’t like it was given to me,” he said. “He throws you in with the 1s. ‘Let’s see what you can do.’ So I was kind of thinking that would be the same here, at least to get a shot just to see what you could do. But that hasn’t been the case yet, so hopefully that will come soon. It’s just different.”

Everyone remains impressed with how polished Barkley is.

Former Eagles quarterback A.J. Feeley watched a recent practice and came away impressed with Barkley’s ability to place the football in the right spots, and some current Philadelphia players echo that.

“I heard some knocks on his arm strength, but he throws the ball pretty well,” receiver Jason Avant said. “He’s had a tight spiral, pretty nice ball, so I was trying to figure out where those comments came from. I like his ability to direct traffic.

“Like today, he missed a throw to me low, and he said, ‘The reason I missed it is because I wanted you to go straight, and you were going flat. You don’t always see that from a rookie, usually you know more than a rookie. But we’re all coming in on equal footing because this offense is new to everybody.”

No comments from Heather Mitts? Disappointing.