Quick Hit: Demeco Ryans! (Cap)

The Eagles did what everyone said they needed to do - the Eagles landed the veteran linebacker that they needed to stabilize a defense that (frankly) needed help.

They have traded the Houston Texans  a 4th-round pick in this year's draft and swapped 3rd-round picks for Pro Bowl Lineback Demeco Ryans.

God Bless America... and Demeco Ryans

For many reasons, the twins are jacked about this move, and we'll tell you why.

The man has all the tangibles, stats, and accolades that you'd want in your starting linebacker.

      - Six-year veteran from the University of Alabama (Second round pick)

      - 2006 Defensive Rookie of the Year

      - Two-time Pro-Bowl linebacker

      - All-time leading tackler in Houston Texans' history (636 tackles, 479 solo)

      - Durability (missed a total 10 games in his six-year career from one achilles' injury in 2010)

      - 6'1" 247 pounds!

Now, take all of that and throw it out the window. Let's talk about what really matters - his intangibles.

We can sit here all night and rattle off stats to make a man sound impressive on the football field, but what this defense really needed (and what it got) was a leader. This man is widely known in the locker room as 'Cap' to show the respect that he deserves as a leader on and off the field for the Houston Texans. He was a defensive captain and was very influential for the Texans. He helped lead a team to its first Division Championship in 2011, and a defense to a second overall ranking (4th in scoring defense).

You can say what you want about last year's defense, but it was not short on talent. What it was really short on was leadership and a guy to pull them all together.

This defense has been looking for a guy to take the reigns like the incomparable Brian Dawkins ever since his departure. Now, we're not suggesting he's the second-coming of B-Dawk, but for all of our sakes, let's hope that he is (or at least a guy that will do the trick).

Andy and the boys made a great move today. Well done.

Last Laugh for Personal Friend-of-the-Blog Andy Reid? Let's hope so... 

Demeco, welcome. Get ready for a Super Bowl run. 

P.S. For those of you twitter people - Here's the newest person you should be following... @DRyans59

Turkeys and Things to be Thankful for this NFL Season as an Eagles’ Fan

Turkeys:

After this year, these guys should be cooked. (Funny)

           Juan Castillo

Yeah, we've been scratching our heads, too.

This should come as no surprise to most of you because everyone (as always) is in an uproar about the Eagles. This time it just happens to be about the defense. Normally, the blogging twins are very patient about our coaches and personnel, but this time we are a little tired of this coach. Now, don’t get us wrong, we don’t blame Juan for everything…

Should Andy have named him defensive coordinator? Probably not.

Are the players on the defensive side of the ball playing to the best of their capabilities? No way.

We understand the guy’s passion and enthusiasm for coaching, and that is all fantastic, but he could have done that with the offensive line. It is just clear that the guy is in over his head, and maybe he shouldn’t be the one tweaking the defensive schemes of a good number of over-priced, big-headed defensive players that are struggling to find their way.

You have to know that there is a problem with where a team is headed defensively if a head coach (who just put a whole heap of faith in making you his defensive coordinator) is talking about hiring a ‘defensive consultant’ a few weeks into a season for help. Andy basically created a new position to fill a gaping void.

Yes, the defense has definitely played better over the past few weeks, but can we really say that this is scheming or is it finally just top quality defensive players playing up to their paychecks?

A big test will be this Sunday against a Patriots’ offense that will require more than just talent to stop. It’s going to require a good game plan, and we’re going to see if we’re going to get it.

            Kurt Coleman

Weird, it looks like he knew how to tackle in college... Wonder what happened?

Is anyone seeing a trend here on the defensive side of the ball for the Eagles?

Listing Kurt Coleman here should get one of two reactions.

1.     Kurt Coleman, why? He is in no way important enough to get a turkey distinction.

2.     Now that I think about it, he has been pretty awful.

Our thought process is following number two in the above reactions.

Go back through the Eagles’ games this year… How many times do you remember yelling at the TV (maybe the yelling part is just in our house) about how Kurt Coleman took a bad angle to a ball carrier, or couldn’t wrap up a tackle, or blew pass coverage and had you ripping your hair out? Our bet is that even if you didn’t realize it before –you are realizing it now.

This was even more apparent earlier in the year when backs like Michael Turner, Stephen Jackson, and Frank Gore were running free in the secondary with no one around to wrap anyone up.

For a guy that went to THE Ohio State University, shouldn’t we expect a little bit more?

Michael Vick/ Darryl Tapp

We really have nothing to complain about with these two guys. Michael Vick has not played as amazing as he did last year, but its not exactly easy to play an MVP caliber season every year. He was bound to ‘disappoint’ some people this year because it is hard to duplicate the year that he had in 2010.

Darryl Tapp has also been highly productive for Jim Washburn’s defensive line this year. He has 2.5 sacks in a reserve role and has a total of 17 tackles (11 solo). Since coming over in a trade from Seattle, he has proven to be a valuable asset for depth at the defensive end position.

So you may be asking yourself… why are they turkeys? HOKIES BABY! In case you are unfamiliar, these two played their college ball at our Alma Mater “Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University” which is more often called Virginia Tech. They have to be turkeys… that is what they were in college. Go Hokies! (#5 BCS)

Things to be Thankful for:

Brian Rolle

Such a handsome young man.

We bet you didn’t see this coming… A defensive player on the ‘Thankful for’ list?

This is one Ohio Stater that has lived up to his school’s billing.

Brian Rolle came into the outside linebacker role a bit later than he probably should have this year, but he has been a big part of turning around a defense that was hurting big time. He has been a factor in the running game which has solidified itself after the early going, and he has definitely been an impressive option for shutting down a pesky TE or two in the passing game that has plagued the Eagles in the past. We really haven’t had too many games this year where Brian Rolle was in charge in which the TEs went crazy against the Eagles.

Brian has had 33 tackles this year, 8 assts, 3 passes defended, and 25 solo tackles. While these numbers aren’t staggering in themselves, there are no stats for the amount of times he has been in the right spot to stop a runner or occupy a blocker – allowing someone else to be freed up for a tackle. He has been a pleasant surprise for a team that came into the year assuming that Casey Matthews was going to be its starting linebacker.

Not to mention that Brian is still very young. He is 23 years old and still has time to develop to become even better. Even if you’re sitting there saying that this season is over (which we don’t buy yet), there is still something to look forward to with this defense – we still have young players to build on.

Thank you, Brian. The city of Philadelphia should gather around their Thanksgiving day tables and say thanks for you.

Andy Reid

You Beautifully Jovial Man

Stop right there. We are sure that there are a bunch of smart comments coming out of everyone’s mouths about how crazy we are and how Reid needs to go.

If you’ve read this blog before, you know we completely disagree.

Andy has been a great thing for the city of Philadelphia and its beloved Eagles.

Don’t use the argument that we haven’t won a Superbowl under his tenure as our head coach because we can play that game too. There are plenty teams in the NFL that haven’t won a Superbowl under their current head coach’s tenure.

You know what else we can do?

We can name a bunch of teams that have turned over coaches year after year and have not been nearly as competitive or as well run as the Eagles. The Birds have been perennial favorites to win the division for years and have had Chris Berman pick them to win the Superbowl almost every year for the past 6 or 7 years.

The reason is the stability that Andy has brought into Philadelphia.

We’ve made this argument before, but the players love Big Red. Even when he has to hand out orders (for example, benching Desean Jackson), he has kept a great rapport with the players and they want to perform for him.

Can things be said about his inability to manage a clock? Sure.

Can things be said about his penchant for throwing the ball too much? Yup.

Is it possible that we need a change at the head coach position? Sure.

But right now, he IS the head coach of this team, and his contribution to our team over his tenure is immeasurable. So, sit back and give thanks for Big Red and just enjoy.

The Washington Redskins

We admit, on the surface, this looks like an odd addition to the ‘Thankful for’ list.

But think about it.

No matter how disappointing our year has been – our little buddies to the south always outdo us with disappointment. They started with such a bang this year and then slowly but surely declined to their old forms in the NFC East (actually, it was a pretty sharp decline right as they played the Eagles and we embarrassed Sexy Rexy).

It’s nice to have the stability and familiarity of those Redskins being awful.

Not to mention, we are almost assuredly going to be heavy favorites against the Redskins on Sunday, January 1^st at 1 PM on Fox (even if we are still lower than them in the basement of the NFC East).

Thank you, Washington. Your consistency in stormy weather has been a lifeboat for this football town. 

Jason Babin to the Rescue

 Before we set the scene and explain our thought, let us just say that by this we mean “Jason Babin to the Rescue… For Juan Castillo”.

I was worth the money. Thats for sure, Nnamdi...

Let’s set the scene appropriately here.

The Eagles just finished an 18 play, 80 yard drive that spanned 8 minutes and 51 seconds for a go ahead touchdown strike from Vince Young to the unlikeliest of heroes, Riley Cooper. A once maligned defense was coming back on the field to try and do what they had not been able to do so many times the rest of this disappointing season: hold a 4^th quarter lead. However, on this day, there seemed to be a different feeling in Philadelphia. After the way the midnight green defenders had flown around the field for the last 47 minutes and 15 seconds of game time, the fans held on to a thread of hope that the defense could come through where they had failed so many times before. After a couple of completed passes by Manning, the Giants faced a third and 3 from their own 32, and this is where the dream evening almost became a nightmare. After the Eagles pass rush had generated a lot of pressure on Manning and his subpar offensive line all evening, Juan Castillo made an almost fatal mistake. He decided to try and catch the Giants off guard with a cornerback blitz from Manning’s left. Instead of surprising him, the only thing that happened was he exposed our defense and left Victor Cruz wide open. He took that pass 47 yards to the Philadelphia 21, and put the Giants in prime position for the tying touchdown. The next play Superman, AKA Jason Babin, saved the game for the Birds and Juan Castillo by doing what he has done so well all year, never stop hustling. The rest, as they say, is history. The Eagles rode the legs of their workhorse, Lesean “Shady” McCoy to another victory without Jeremy Maclin or Michael Vick.

Now that the scene has been set, lets break down the problem with this scenario: the blitz. It has been a play that has been largely forgotten because of the heroic effort of Jason Babin on the very next play. But what if Jason Babin hadn’t made that play and the Eagles had lost? We would have been questioning that call up and down, but the final result should not blind us from the call that almost cost us a victory. Up to that point in the game, the defense had pressured Manning and really shut down the entire Giants’ offense. Aside from the abysmal 29 yards rushing they had given up, the ferocious front four held Sheli to just 18/35 for 249 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT. Along with this, our boys had recorded 2 sacks and 10 QB hits. Those numbers are impressive considering how well the G-Men have played offensively this year. So with all of this defensive success, why did Juan Castillo go against what had made us successful and decided to blitz? We’re not even sure that he knows why. He took a chance that should never have been made and could have cost us the game. He chose to put us in a bad position and it cost us in a big way, but because of the talent that surrounds him, Jason Babin and the Eagles defense saved him (Of course we shouldn’t forget the solid coverage downfield that made him hold the ball and have to scramble).

This brings up two questions:

1.     Does he really know what he is doing or is he just guessing?

The second one which may be even more heart wrenching and important is this:

2.     What may this season have looked like if we had a different defensive coordinator leading our group of talented defensive backs and lineman into the season?

We may never know the answer to either of these questions, but it does not stop the intrigue that goes into these questions. The season may never be regained, and because of that reason, we may be left wondering the universal questions until 2012: What if?