Preseason Picks

Congratulations on the baby on the way!

I wish I could share your optimism about the Eagles. I'm not sure what to think as preseason tells you nothing. My biggest worry is McNabb and his head as well as his health and that Shawn Andrews is really fit to play. Also with Feeley breaking his hand, that puts Kolb as the #2 QB, at least temporarily. That scares the crap out of me.

The Eagles did make one feel-good move that surprised me when they brought back J.R. Reid to return punts. Reid was the last Eagle cut last year, and took the news hard. He worked so hard to overcome a devastating injury. From what I saw of Bloom, the explosiveness wasn't there and he just didn't look like he could take a bone crunching hit. Cutting him for Reid was probably a smart move.

You have a good assessment of the NFC East. I've followed all NFC East teams for years and agree that there's not much competition. A below .500 season will cost Gibbs and Coughlin their jobs. I agree with your assessment of Phillips, the other team I'd suffered with for years was the Bills. Phillips was the worst coach in the league then and the worst coach now. Putting Phillips in charge is having a puppet run the team...Jerry is pulling all the strings.

I do think New England is going to have a kick ass year. Brady must be like a kid in the candy store with all his new toys. After winning the Superbowl, Indianapolis as nowhere to go but down.
I'm an LT fan and would like to see San Diego have a good season. Thanks for the optimism with the Bills, although I'm not so sure JP Losman is their QB to bring them above .500. I think we're going to see New England return to dominance in the AFC.

Jason Campbell is not garbage, neither is Romo. Both those teams are going to be good. How can you not like what you saw at the end of last year from JC? Both those guys are better then the quarterback of your AFC representative for the Super Bowl. I think Boller is better then McNair. Seattle is the second best team in the NFC by the way. I do like alot of your other predictions though. Miami is just horrible, and so is Green Bay.

How the hell does Buffalo win 9 games and the Jets only 7?

JJ, thanks man, can't wait for the baby.

As for the Eagles, Andrews worries me, but I'm operating on the assumption he'll be playing, and at full speed by week 2 or 3. If that isn't the case, it changes things, but I'm going to be optimistic. As for Feeley, the third preseason game told me all I needed to know, Kolb is this team's #2, and the kid looked good in the last two preseason games. I like J.R. Reid, but I don't think he returned punts for the Eagles, wasn't he strictly kickoffs?

I keep hoping something bad will happen to Tom Brady, just because life can't be that good for anyone for an extended period of time. I'm thinking Randy Moss may just be the bad thing I was waiting for. I liken the trade for him to the trade for T.O. to Philly, and I'm hoping for the same results down the road. Actually, I think his cancer spreads a little faster.

Rickhouse,

Campbell didn't show me anything last season, and Romo showed me even less. I think w/ a bad QB AND a bad coach, no matter what Dallas' defense does, they aren't making the playoffs. The Skins could surprise.

Mike,

You know the answer to that question. Buffalo has a QB who can throw the ball more than 5 yards.

a few quick comments:

aj feeley did break his hand, but it was his non-throwing hand and is the #2 QB to open the season. i believe he was quoted as saying something like "it's no big deal, i'll be ready to go."

the big kid (shawn andrews) said he would be ready to go and was not listed on the eagles injury report. he also admitted he was hyping up the fans when he made his comments a few weeks ago.

i expect the eagles to hit the ground running and get a W in week 1.

romo was awesome then turned to garbage and should fall somewhere in between the two this season. having a nice line, a great TE and 2 of the best WRs in the league will do that to a QB. i think he has talent, but def will not be the class of the NFC QBs.

campbell, on the other hand, could be very good for similar reasons. he was brough along slowly and really picked it up at the end of the season last year. if "south east jerome" can stay healthy and create that 1-2 combo with ladell betts, watch out for campbell to have a good year managing that offense.

check out our Philadelphia sports blog if you get a chance. there's not a lot of good news to post, but then again, i did say it was a Philadelphia sports blog, so you could have gathered that.

check us out:

www.poorsportsblog.blogspot.com

GO EAGLES!

Ugh!

"Buffalo has a QB who can throw the ball more than 5 yards."

Oh, I never tire of that line.

Poor sports, thanks for the comment, you gave the wrong URL for your site though, it's http://poorsportsblog.blogspot.com/

As for Romo, if he had an up and down run, with on games and off games, I'd think he might be legit, but he was hot right out of the gate, then he was just horrible. I think he was playing over his head at the beginning, and playing to his abilities at the end. His fumbling is probably the biggest concern.

Mike,

Pennington is a joke, I might even take Eli over him. You don't have to have the strongest arm in the world to be a quality QB, but you can't have the worst.

I used to love the Bills, but if it were me, I'd pick them to go 7 - 9 or 6-10 and the Jets to go 9-7. The Jets are the better team. No one respectable wants to be a Bill anymore, and that hurts.

And I might be in the minority, but I don't think Chad Pennington is all that bad. I'd take him over at least a dozen other QBs starting on other teams, even with a weak arm.

As for Eli, he reminds me of Winnie the Pooh's Eyore. He must be wishing by now that he'd agreed to play for San Diego. Unfortunately he has one of the most overrated offensive players in Jeremy Shockey to deal with. His mouth far exceeds his level of talent and it almost makes me feel sorry for Eli.

Campbell might be a decent QB under another coach/offensive system, but then I thought the same of Patrick Ramsey. Romo isn't as bad or as good as his haters/lovers claim him to be. All in all, a healthy McNabb is head and shoulders above the lot. The question is, is McNabb healthy and ready to last out the season mentally and physically?

Here's a question for you... if all goes to hell, how soon before we see Kevin Kolb thrown to the lions? And what is the current timeframe for him as a starter... two years, four years, five years? Does anyone think McNabb's play will be effected always looking over his shoulder? What happens if the boos start everytime he takes the field?

I think Kolb's development and ascension depend solely on McNabb's health. If McNabb is healthy, there's no debate and no pressure here. He's never underperformed, and I don't think this is a situation where he's playing for his job, I think this is a Joe Montana/Steve Young situation (I realize that's an extreme example). Kolb is here to develop into McNabb's replacement, but that may be 2 years down the road, it may be 4 years down the road. It'll be sooner if McNabb has another serious injury, it'll be later if he bounces back and stays healthy.

I don't see McNabb getting booed any time soon. When healthy, he's a top five QB, and he'll perform as such.

It scares me when so many expect the Eagles to be a contender. To me, they seem to do best when everyone counts them out. Maybe that's just the Philadelphia in me coming out from years of torment from the Eagles/Phillies/Sixers/Flyers.

No matter what, I cheer for the Iggles.... Even did so when Doug Pederson was the QB. If you could cheer for them then, the here and now looks pretty bright. Guess it's all a matter of perspective.

On another note, who of the following young guns will be the best... Alex Smith, Matt Leinhart or Vince Young?

Young/Smith (neck and neck), not sold on Leinhart at all.

i think the eagles will win the east, but with more like 10 or 11 wins. if qb success depended on arm stregnth, frank reich would be the greatest qb of all time. pennington has one of the highest completion rates in history. ditto mark bulger. saying you might take eli over chad is tantamount to a sane person liking george bush. i'm no pennington lover, but not having the strongest arm doesn't make you a bad qb. look at joe montana. or me.

I said I might take Eli over Pennington, it'd be close. His completion percentage is so high because he never throws the ball more than 10 yards down the field. Montana's arm was at least average for an NFL QB, Pennington probably has the weakest arm of any QB of my lifetime.

You don't have to be able to make all of the throws, but you should at least be able to make 50% of them. Having him under center basically means opposing defensive backs don't have to worry about the deep ball.

Dude, the Eagles are a three win team. Their QB is a cripple and their coach is running a crack house at home.

You can write this down; Eagles 3-13. Skins 12-4

Ahh, the return of the chirping Skins fan. I'll take that bet, my friend.