Manster

Here is my take on the Eagles

WR: For this year you have no true #1 WR. Brown looks good but needs to show he can do week in and week out. The rest or #2 WRs at best, Pinkston is afraid to go aver the middle and with head hunters in Sean Taylor and Roy Williams in the divison who could blame him. Gaffney is another in a in a long line of FL WRs that have not panned out. Bloom should be a good return man but is a few years away from being able to help in the pasing game.

OL: They are solid at OT this year and should be able to Justice and Andrews into those spots when the time comes. Right now Andrews is good at RG and Justice porvides good depth at OT. Herremans is a guy I was high on coming out of the draft last year and should at worst be OK. Max Jean-Gills if he can controll his weight should be good depth and a solid starter when Andrews is moved outside. Center is the only trouble spot I dont like any of the guys that they have here. The OL shows better than any spot about the Eagles ablilty to plan ahead, the two old guys already have replacements line up for their spots.

TE: L.J. Smith has all the that is needed to be a big time TE but has done it for an entire season. YET. If any year he was going to have a breakout year this is it. With the weakness at WR look for the Eagles TE to play a big part in the Passing game. Sholbel was a great addiditon to backup Smith. The other two guys are just there.

QB: MacNabb is coming off one of his toughest season ever as a Pro. He was hurt and played though it and then got hurt even worse. TO well everyone know all about that. The guys they have behind are small weaked arms and either have seen better days or dont have much upside.

DL: Kearse is not what he was but is still effective. I wonder how Howard will respond after getting a big contract, I have neve been a big fan of his. Trent Cole was a find in the fifth round and should get better. McDougle was not living up to his draft status before he got shot and it remains to be seen how he will cope with it. Patterson and Walker should be solid at DT with Bunkley could be something special. After that there is not much else.

LB: Trotter is a force against the inside rush but he still misreads plays sometimes and gets out of postion. Simoneau started off his time with the Eagles strong but has gone down hill every since. Barber was brought back he has had more sucess as an OLB as anyone, though he may not still have the ablility any more after turning 30. Jones I dont think has ever lived up to what they thought they were getting with him. The other are unproven at best.

DB: Everyone knows that 3 out of 4 of their DB's have gone to the Pro Bowl with Dawkins being the best of the bunch. While Sheppard and Brown have good covage skill they are both on the small side of things and Ware is the only on of their backup that has any heights. Considine should be a good backup at the S spot but it falls off after that.

While they have some good starters and solid backup at most of the spots they can no longer make up for some of their weakness by playing in a tougher divison. Yes they can still win the division but it is no longer a shoe in for them like it has been in the past. IMO

Professor

perfect explanation bigboy, I guess that's why nobody responded in many hours, LOL, you quieted everyone.

Professor

you make some good points manster, but you list starters and depth and then say that's it. Yeah starters and depth that is it, you state there is nothing much after that. What do you need after starters and depth, I think they are ok, also you forgot about hood in the db and michael lewis at S, he is a strong player. Not to mention the LB gaither they got in the draft was a sweet late round pickup

Manster

No I did not say Micheal Lewis by name while I think he was over rated coming out of college is has done OK. I do not know that much about Gaither so I chose not to say anthing about him. Same thing about McCoy some said he was a bust others say he just needs more time. Most of the postions you have a solid starter and some depth. WR and C being noticeable exceptions. I pointed out the part after the first back up you dont always have someone else in the wings. Which you have drpth but or not loaded. Dallas of the early 90's, yes I'm bringing that up again, was loaded when ever we cut our last few to get to 53 some other team snatched them up.

bigboy

And you're right we do lack depth at spots like WR and LB as well as DT.

Although I don't see Lewis as overrated at all, some even said that if not for an irregular heart beat he would have been the first safety drafted that year (when Roy Williams came out) but he's not a star in coverage and last year the whole secondary looked bad because of the lack of a pass rush. And IMO it doesn't matter who the DB's are if QB's have all day. McCoy is a wait and see, he didn't get much time last year and mainly played on special teams, he may have a bigger role this year and with 2 rookie LBers coming in he will have to step up. Center isn't as bad as you make it out to be IMO, Jamal Jackson came in last year and did a GREAT job, Fraley was never known for being in shape and in that SB with NE they exposed him and the play of Jackson last year IMO is going to push Hank out if he doesn't take a cut. Now if he does he would make a nice back up IMO, if he does go then you are right there is no depth there right now. DT concerns me more depth wise then center does though, we have Walker and Rayburn who are productive but they get hurt a little too much for my liking and Patterson and Bunkley are young inexperienced players right now and can't be relied on at this point anyway. Pretty much the same thing at WR as well, I know we haven't had stars in the past but if something happens there's not much behind what we have there....JMO

Manster

Every draft pub I read about him had him dropping because of his lack of speed and coverage I never heard anything about his heart.

bigboy

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?n...id=44551&rfi=6

PHILADELPHIA -- Heart disease isn’t something a pro football player puts at the top of his resume with his 40-yard dash and bench press.

Eagles strong safety Michael Lewis is the exception. The NFL players and coaches who voted him into the Pro Bowl last year would say, exceptional.

Lewis, who has a rapid heart beat, graciously accepted the role as Honorary Chair of the 2005 Philadelphia Heart Walk scheduled for Sunday at Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park. He hopes his high profile status can help educate others fearful or even ashamed of their heart disease to let go and live.

"I think you’ve got to open up," Lewis said during a visit yesterday with heart patients at the Heart Failure Unit at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. "It can’t be one of those things where it’s undercover and hush-hush. It’s something you’ve got to get out in the open and get involved with. You’ve got to learn more about your condition, listen to the doctors and do what they say. And you’ve just got to continue to live your life. You don’t have to let it control you. I don’t let it control me."

The 25-year-old Lewis has atrial fibrillation, a disorder in more than two million Americans in which the heart’s two upper chambers quiver instead of beating efficiently. It wasn’t brought to his attention until a physical during his sophomore year at the University of Colorado. That was a jolt for Lewis, who in a matter of minutes downshifted from feeling bulletproof to fearful.

"The doctor said, ‘Something is wrong with your heart. It’s beating at a faster rate,’" Lewis remembered. "At the time, I had no symptoms. I had no fatigue or anything like that. And he was like, ‘It’s something we’ve got to monitor.’ I didn’t know exactly what I was dealing with at the time. A doctor will tell you something but you don’t actually understand what he’s saying to you until you actually do the research on your own. As I found out more about it, I relaxed a little bit and just decided, go out and live your life. God has a plan for you and if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be."

Lewis followed the doctor’s instructions. He takes an aspirin a day and doesn’t drink coffee -- no, not even decaf. Football keeps him in shape. The aftereffects? The Eagles selected him in the second round of the 2002 NFL draft and he earned his first Pro Bowl berth last season. It was well worth the effort.

"I went from having a first-round grade a couple of days before the draft to falling to the second and third round," Lewis said. "And some teams even took me off their draft boards. Which is understandable, because atrial fibrillation is a condition that not everybody knows about. But it’s under control thanks to God. It’s just something I live with."
Lewis thoroughly enjoyed visiting with heart patients at HUP, including Jim Hennigan of Levittown, Pa., who had a heart transplant last November. Lewis autographed an Eagles shirt for Hennigan’s sons, who are big Eagles fans.

"What Michael is doing is really fantastic," Hennigan said. "He’s a great guy giving back like this."

Heart disease is the nation’s No. 1 killer. Lewis won’t be able to make the 6.2 mile walk Sunday that begins at 9 a.m., as the Eagles (1-1) entertain the Raiders (0-2) at 1 p.m. But Lewis would be there if he could.

As long as Lewis has a heart beat, he intends to spread the word about heart disease. In all truthfulness, he gets more out of this mission than some of those he tries to reach.

"It’s just tremendous for me to see their faces light up," Lewis said. "When I found out what I had, I wanted to know if anybody else in the sports arena or engaged in the same kind of activity as me had the same kind of ailment as me. I just want to try to provide hope that whatever condition they have, through research and the American Heart Association and other organizations raising awareness, they will be able to live healthy, normal lives."

Manster

I did not know that about him. I hope he doea well even for an Eagle. There is a list of players that I hope do well for the Eagles just not when they play Dallas. Guys I wanted Dallas to get or thought went to late.

Professor

that's big of you manster, some guys would want the guys they wanted for thier teams to do bad if another team got them. The eagles know how to evaluate talent and a primed for a great season ahead.

Manster

That remains to be seen I said I wanted those guys if it is anything like my playoff bets that is not a good sign at all.