Yep, Birds Are Young, All Right
The Philadelphia Daily News - Eagletarian
Yep, Birds Are Young, All Right
Les Bowen, Daily News Staff Writer
Several things on the docket today, as your Eagletarian wonders if he'd have run Broad Street faster Sunday with a cop chasing him, pointing a taser.
First, this New York Times blog takes an interesting approach to figuring out the youth of a team's roster, beyond just the average overall age or the average age of the starters. Its conclusions from 2009 are that the Eagles' offense was already the youngest in the NFL, even before replacing Donovan McNabb with Kevin Kolb and Brian Westbrook with LeSean McCoy. The Eagles were sixth-youngest overall, with the defense coming in right in the middle of the pack, at 16th. Of course, changes have been made there, too, that will make this unit younger in 2010 -- no more Jeremiah Trotter, Darren Howard or Sheldon Brown, all of whom were 30-plus.
Also, Bleeding Green Nation has a pretty good take on the Eagles' right cornerback situation, which could be the biggest question to be answered this spring and summer. As the blog notes, management is making Ellis Hobbs the leader going into the competition, but that's hardly written in stone, and Joselio Hanson definitely thinks he should be in the mix. Jose, a valuable role player until last year's banned substance suspension, after which he seemed out of sync, probably will get his shot. Can't say I see him as a 16-game starter, but as a competitor, there's no doubt HE should see himself that way. I wouldn't be shocked to see Macho Harris work into the picture there, either.
Iggles Blog has an absolutely perfect juxtaposition, that doesn't need any elaboration from me. Hope they're ready for the anguished e-mail from "who me?" Florio.
Finaly, a rite of passage in the NFL in 2010: Eagles rookie linebacker Ricky Sapp has changed his Twitter account from @Sapp7, his Clemson number, to @Sapp94, the number he'll wear for the Birds.
Comments (40)
I'm so glad that Andy turned this team over for the youth movement. McNabb was holding this team back because he had a wife and kids and couldn't be a good teammate when the young guns wanted to go club hopping and woman hunting. Now with a natural born leader in Kolb this team will connect better. It's also nice to see that this whole team is not only young but have expiring contracts close together which will bond them even closer as they go through contract negotiations together. Maybe it's just me but when the Eagles traded McNabb I could have sworn that I saw the sky open up and a bird fly down. It sure is good to have a real All-American as the face of the franchise now.
Kolb is also married and has a child or two, so that theory flies out the window.— simplefreedom- Lonewolf once again comes through w/wonderful insights. Talk about mashed potatoes between the ears...— somertonspartan
- lonewolf 10 kolbs got a wife & kids!! u are the biggest kook ever to post. congrats my man— first down
- simplefreedom, let me introduce to sarcasm.— RicketyCricket
- so you are saying KK is an all american and McNabb was not? Maybe cuz he's not white?— Tom Man
- "It sure is good to have a real All-American as the face of the franchise now." Are you kidding here? What does this mean? McNabb somehow wasn't all American enough for you?— MDFAN
- At what point is this paper going to cover the LT story ?— Anthony77
Comment removed.- ...have expiring contracts close together which will bond them even closer as they go through contract negotiations together... If u cant c that as a JOKE then u r pretty stupid— Warhound
- LT and Plaxico will make that prison a helluva football team.— P Even
- Comment removed.
- Like the rest of you I can't dig the All American comment, but Tom Man you got to get a life. Racism is a funny thing. If you go looking for it you can always find it, real or imaginary.— obergruber
- DooDooFresh I think I want whatever you are on man. You are out there.LOL— obergruber
- who cares about crackhead LT. Now he can add rapist to his list of achievements now. If we crack the playoffs with this young a roster then its gravy going forward, will be nice to see. I just hope Kolb is decent. Im ripping bronco fans over on espn, so fun to get them all worked up over tebow.— peteike
- Comment removed.
- Cold hard facts are cool with me, but what were you trying to say??? Say something I can understand. I migt even agree with you.— obergruber
- I'm optimistic about Kolb, skeptical about Macho Harris, Quentin Demps, Ellis Hobbs, and even Asante Samuel. I think the Eagles are weak at CB. It will be interesting to see how this season winds up with all these new faces though. It's been a long time since we've watched such a young Eagles team. The key is Kolb. If Kolb doesn't play well, this organization will be in a real tough spot. Finding a top-flight QB ain't exactly easy.— p-diddy
- I agree with everything you said Pdiddy, Im not so sure about our CBs, lets hope we get more pressure on qb to help them. And hope we can stop the run on top of that.— peteike
- DooDoo...just had it tuned your airness— Joe Funk
- Lonewolf10...are you the REAL Lonewolf...or some imposter smoking the most mind-bending dope ever grown!— lalaw9833
- Lonewolf 10 has finally confessed his problem to the blogging world. Like so many who spend countless hours trying to convey their truest feelings while blogging, our minority negative Philly fan base is behind the times. Whether it was Randall Cunningham, Rodney Pete or Donovan McNabb neither of them fit the criteria of those people like lonewolfe 10 or his fellow cronies. Without literally saying they struggle with people in leadership roles or position of authority that do not look like them have made it a point to throw the proverbial racial rock and hide their hands or prove to be the cowardness` they really are. This silent minority of bloggers have given this city a blackeye. We need to expose these people for who they really are and regain our image as the "City of Brotherly Love" and not the "City of Brotherly Bigots".— thetruth1960
- thetruth1960 I agree with you wholeheartedly. After today the lonewolf 10 moniker is officially dead. I created this account 2 months ago to show how much nonsense the original "lonewolf" was and his merry band of mischievous misfits.
- A lot of insight on here......— Fat-Andy
nizzies, can Rae Carruth play too? Ray Lewis can make a cameo appearance.— tpizza- Way to go lonewolf, I'm convinced that you post idiotic comments just for attention.— BCRock
- LW10 needs to be tazed.— bigphillydad
Is there anyone who thinks the trading of McNabb is a lot like the trading of Abreu?- calm weather, interesting take. You just may be on to something. Let's hope our young guns follow in the steps of the Phillies core group.— The Reddgie
- Mgmt has no choice regarding Hobbs. They wasted picks with a 3-for-1 Graham deal, and he won't even play every down. They should have filled holds like corner and center/guard, as well as safety and/or DE. Now there are stuck cause Roseman F'd-up. Later he drafted more receivers and a TE in the 4th rd! Theam had 3 TEs only uses 1-TE 99% of the time, but he goes and selects a 4th TE ignoring OLine and Dline players in 4th round for some other team to select. Does Roseman even have a clue that he ruined the Eagles chances to solidify/fill all those holes. The Eagles are just screwed, and have taken a step back! Oh all this youth is for money reasons, a majority of late round players lowers the payroll. Roseman and Banner are connected at the bottom-line. Laurie is happy and Eagles fans screwed. They will cover up the next season's poor record by laying on Kolbs and the team's youth. You heard it here 1st. MONEY-MONEY-MONEY and an incompetent GM....— lerze77
- I visit sites regularly in Dallas Washington and NY and knuckleheads like LW10 post there too. It's not just Philly and there's no black eye. It's the same all over...nuff said— Grazman
- Somebody shoot the wolf and doodoo, they are not Eagles fans.— VegasEagleFan
- Comment removed.
- Harris or Hanson seem like the most likely starters at right corner, though they'll give Hobbs the job if he earns it.— tacklinjoe
- Would like to point out that the Birds offensive scheme is built on receivers catching the ball in stride and picking up yards after the catch. Kinda hard gaining yards after the catch from your knees. McNabb's throws had more worms on them than a Long John Silver's fishing boat... McNabb was above average throwing deep patterns which is not a large percentage of this offense. Not until DJax started burning defensive coverages did McNabb's statistics jump. Throw Kurt Warner in this offense several years ago and the Birds would have won a SB by now. Kolb is going to be a Warner clone. Sit back and enjoy.— shoedaman
- "Jose, a valuable role player until last year's banned substance suspension" ... "will get his shot". You gotta see some humor in that!!— bamaphillyfan
- This is a strange string of comments...— dsh129
- Its not about youth its all about SPEED. Younger guns means faster bullets. If Kolb is just above average the Eagles will be fine - they should be right there for a wild card if Dallas takes the division. If they get a bruising back to gain 600-800 yards this year then they will be good.— cheesefry
- Comment removed.
- Eagles had a stale product with Reid/McNabb. It was going nowhere. With "youth" hope springs eternal--and will buy Reid a couple extra seasons before fans are finally tired of his act,too. Appreciate that Eagles are financially successful, but wish they'd be more aggressive at trying the win the big one. Banner clouds team image with great deals on mediocre players ( usually re-habbing a serious injury) instead of trying to acquire proven talent and picking up the tab for quality. Are Eagles CHEAP? Not so much as constantly trying to outsmart everyone...especially the fans.— Smashmouth
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Eagletarian is your home for comprehensive coverage of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Les Bowen
Daily News Staff Writer
Paul Domowitch
Daily News NFL Columnist
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