Eagles Blog

Former Eagles scout John Middlekauf is now trying to get into the media side of things. He is doing some writing and TV work. He wrote a column on some 7th round picks that can contribute in 2013. One of his choices…CB Jordan Poyer.

Poyer is a player who had a  breakout senior year with seven interceptions and did an excellent job playing  the nickel corner. While he is not the most explosive athlete, lacking ideal  speed for the position – he has the size (6’0) and physical nature desired from  the new staff. Kelly also wanted players who LOVED football– which was evident  by the Eagles 2013 draft. While visiting Oregon State this season, Head Coach  Mike Riley could not have been higher on Poyer in terms of his intangible  characteristics and his makeup as a football player. I expect Poyer to give  2012 4^th round pick Brandon Boykin (5’9) a run for his money for the 3^rd corner job. At the end of the day I  won’t be surprised if Kelly goes with a player he was involved in drafting, and  knows well from college.

Good stuff from Middlekauf. The whole piece is worth reading.

Be sure to follow John on Twitter.

You have to work car jokes into all Nnamdi stories, right?

Former Eagles CB Nnamdi Asomugha recently married actress Kerry Washington.

While Nnamdi will go down as one of my least favorite Eagles of all time, he is a good guy. Congrats to him and his new bride. I wish them all the best. I just hope Kerry can be happy while married to such a vicious, physical football player.

No word on if the reception was held in the front seat, back seat or if they popped open the hatchback on his 1987 Ford Escort.

The whole offense suffered in 2012 due to the poor OL play. Shady McCoy’s numbers took a big hit. His YPC fell to just 4.2.  He ran for a career low 2 TDs. McCoy has got to be looking forward to running behind Jason Peters, Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson, 3 players who weren’t there last season.

If you look at McCoy’s numbers even further, I think you can see how he missed the OL last year in one specific area.

2010 – 207 carries for 1080 yards … 5.2 ypc
2011 – 273 carries for 1309 yards … 4.8 ypc
2012 – 200 carries for 840 yards … 4.2 ypc

The OL play was sloppy in both 2010 and 2012. The OL played very well in 2011.

You see this when you look at his runs of 20 or more yards.

2010 – 7
2011 -14
2012 – 7

Shady had a bunch of runs that covered 40 or more yards back in 2010, but I think that had a lot to do with the explosive passing attack and just some sheer luck. Think about where the long runs come from. Shady reverses field and makes one defender miss, then he’s off to the races.

20 yard runs are more about blocking. You hit the hole and get upfield ASAP.

In 2011, Shady had 14 carries of 20 or more yards, but only 2 of those covered 40 or more yards. I think the consistently good blocking led to fewer plays where Shady was making crazy cuts and reversing the field. One stat would help this theory a lot…negative run plays. I haven’t found a site that lists negative runs by player. You can find them by team, but you don’t know how to sort out QB kneel downs vs 1st Qtr run stuffs vs backup RBs playing late in a blowout (W or L).

3rd round pick Bennie Logan just helped LSU alum Jacob Hester run a football camp for kids. The interesting part is that both guys went to LSU and came from the same part of the state, they have never met. Hester used Twitter to get Logan’s help.

And it sounds like Logan had a blast.

“I don’t mind doing anything for the kids, because I used to be in their shoes,” said Logan, a third-round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in April’s NFL Draft. “I used to be that guy who wanted an NFL guy to come and help and do something for us. Being in the position I’m in now, to be able to give back to the kids, is something I always dreamed about.”

Logan’s character was one of the reasons the Eagles picked him. He genuinely seems to be one of the good guys. Let’s hope he plays like a mean jerk on Sundays.

Jordan Poyer had a fantastic career at Oregon State. He was chosen as the school’s Male Athlete of the year for 2012-13.  Congrats to Poyer on the award.

Poyer might have fallen to the 7th round of the draft, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have a great 4 years in Corvallis. He made the most of his time at OSU. The next challenge is to make the most of his time as an Eagle.

In case you wondered, Makayla Stambaugh won the Female Athlete of the year award. She is 5-5, but I don’t have any results on her vertical leap or bench press.  Stambaugh is a gymnastics star.

Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie said some interesting things in an interview with his hometown newspaper. This nugget may grab your attention. Find out why he signed with the Broncos.

“They told me about my flaws. Nobody had done that, and it impressed me,” Rodgers-Cromartie said Friday, wrapping up his three-day basketball camp at the Palmetto Boys and Girls Club. “They told me what I needed to work and how they would get me better instead of telling me about what I could do.”

Say what?

“Nobody had done that (told him about his flaws)”.  I find that very hard, if not impossible to believe. A better explanation is that DRC had never listened.

DRC has spent 5 years in the NFL. There is simply no way that he hasn’t been confronted about his issues. His play has been highly erratic. Andy Reid called DRC into his office in December and threatened to bench him if DRC didn’t play better. DRC did respond to that. Are you telling me that Reid didn’t talk about some flaws in that meeting?

Bullshit.

I say it over and over. Players are the worst source of information. Some are liars. Some are idiots. Some shoot you straight, but they are in the minority for sure. Most players either can’t handle the truth or just don’t want to face it.

The Eagles tried to trade back into the 3rd round to get QB Matt Barkley. Didn’t happen. As soon as the 3rd round was over, GM Howie Roseman got busy working the phones. He wanted to move up in the 4th round.

As it turns out, that was a good thing. Reportedly, the Raiders were set to take Barkley. They had the #3 pick in the 4th round. The Eagles had #4, but traded to get the opening pick of the round.

Jimmy Bama has some more details.

The Body Bag Game is one of the things Eagles fans love most. The team beat the crap out of the hated Redskins and knocked 7 players out of the game. And this happened on Monday Night Football. The nation got to watch as Buddy Ryan’s team destroyed the Skins, literally and figuratively.

Here is a long story on the Skins, the Body Bag Game and the fallout from it. This is from the Washington Post so they don’t focus on the good guys (Eagles), but it is still a very good read.

I didn’t know that game was a huge source of anger for Joe Gibbs. It forced him to make changes with how the team practiced and the Skins used the loss as motivation for the next year and a half. At the end of that time, they were Super Bowl champs.

The Skins got revenge on the Eagles when the teams met in the playoffs in January of 1991, which would be Ryan’s last game. Gibbs had a simple and clear message for his team.

“If you lose this game, Buddy Ryan is going to call you a bunch of fat asses like he did last time. If you don’t mind being called a bunch of fat asses, that’s your business.”

Gibbs rode his team hard and let them know the Eagles had humiliated them on the scoreboard, by knocking players out and with endless taunts.  The players didn’t really need to be reminded. The Eagles comments weren’t the kind you soon forget.

Worse than the defeat were the accompanying insults. As the game wore down, an Eagle reacted to one injured Redskin lying on the turf by yelling, “Do you guys need any more body bags?” Another time an Eagle shouted, “You guys are going to need an extra bus just to carry all the stretchers!”

After the game it was even worse. The Eagles publicly poked fun at the Redskins, with Eagles defensive tackle Jerome Brown telling reporters, “They acted like they didn’t want to play us anymore.”

That Monday night was Eagles ecstasy, but payback, as we know, was a bitch.

Here is some of the game, definitely an all-time Eagles classic.

_

No, but Eagles rookies did take a picture with it.

@Eagles rookie class with the Lombardi trophy today in Canton at the pro football hall of game pic.twitter.com/TeDDciGG7h

— Zach Ertz (@ZERTZ_86) June 29, 2013

Let’s hope this picture is taken in Philly next time.

The Sixers had a good draft, based on what the experts are saying. Yahoo gave them the only A+ of any team in the NBA.

Philadelphia 76ers

Grade: A+

Haul: Nerlens Noel, Michael Carter-Williams, Arsalan Kazemi.

Philadelphia wasn’t going to be doing much of anything this year, they didn’t do much of anything last year, and unless you count a fluke run to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semis in 2012 as “something,” they haven’t done much despite making the playoffs with a mediocre outlook in previous seasons.

It’s true that Jrue Holiday, at age 23, was young enough to be a factor in his prime when the 76ers finally turned the corner on a rebuilding project, but new GM Sam Hinkie wanted to start things his way, with his guys. And he’s grabbing Noel, the once-thought-of top overall pick and total rebuilding project, along with a long and lanky guard in Michael Carter-Williams (who sounds like he should be the third lead on a procedural drama). And Kazemi is a beast of a rebounder who should make the team.

Meanwhile, the team will have two lottery selections (thanks to New Orleans weirdly sending over their first round pick) in next year’s far more impressive draft.

All it cost Philadelphia was Andre Iguodala, a year of paying for Andrew Bynum’s rehab, and Jrue Holiday. Philadelphia will stink next year, but they’ll finally be stinking with a front office worth getting behind.

I don’t know enough about the NBA or these players to have a strong opinion. I am just happy that there is a long term plan in place. Hinkie seems smart.

Noel is a risky player, but has great upside. I don’t mind rolling the dice on a player like him.

* * *

The Sixers won the NBA title 30 years ago. Writer Patrick Sauer recently took a look back at that team and just how good they were.

Being a Sixers fan was a lot of fun in that era.