THINKS THE EAGLES STOLE ONE
In what amounted to a trade of released players, the New York Giants signed Jerome McDougle after he was released by the Eagles Saturday and the Eagles countered this afternoon by claiming linebacker Tank Daniels off waivers a day after he was released by New York.
To make room on the roster for Daniels, the Eagles released Rocky Boiman, who had signed a one-year deal as a free agent in the offseason.
Daniels, 26, started his career with the Eagles in 2006. After signing as an undrafted free agent, he was among the final cuts his rookie season, but was signed to the practice squad. He made his NFL debut in a game at Indianapolis and played in the Eagles' final six games and both playoff games.
After being released by the Eagles last year, he eventually signed with the Giants and was a special teams contributor in their final four regular-season games and all four of their playoff games. He had a key forced fumble at the start of the second half that led to a field goal in the Giants' wildcard playoff victory over Tampa Bay.
Daniels was the first player from Harding University in Searcy, Ark. to make an NFL roster.
Oh, and if you're as worried as some people seem to be about the monumental loss of McDougle, Daniels' one big play in the postseason for the Giants last year was one more than the former first-round pick the Eagles just let go made during his five seasons in Philadelphia.
Apparently it’s difficult to get all our work onto the philly.com web site, so here’s something that didn’t make it. There’s also a story on Donovan McNabb in today’s paper, but Sherlock Holmes would have trouble finding it on the web site.
TEN YEARS TOGETHER
The season begins a week from today and if expectations are high again for the Eagles, the quarterback and the head coach have no one to blame but themselves. Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb have had enough success in their first nine seasons together that nothing short of a Super Bowl title can satisfy the hunger of their championship-starved fans. With that in mind, here’s a look at 10 interesting facts about the coach and quarterback whose 10 seasons together are longer than any other active pair in the NFL.
ANDY AT 50
Reid turned 50 in March and the average age of the coaches who have won the first 42 Super Bowls is 48.9. Only 16 of the 42 winners have been 50 or older with the oldest being Dick Vermeil at 63. Reid was the second youngest coach in the NFL when the Eagles hired him in 1999. Now, there are 16 coaches younger and 15 older than him.
A DECADE WITH THE COACH
Only three head coaches in league history have won their first Super Bowl after spending 10 years with the same team. The first to do it was Hank Stram, who won Super Bowl IV as the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs in his 10th season. Stram, however, had previously won AFL titles as the head coach of the Dallas Texans, who eventually became the Chiefs.
The second to do it was Tom Landry, who won Super Bowl VI in his 12th season as the Dallas Cowboys’ head coach. That was Landry’s first NFL title. It didn’t happen again until Bill Cowher led the Pittsburgh Steelers to victory in Super Bowl XL in his 14th season with the team.
LOMBARDI AND WALSH
The Green Bay Packers’ Vince Lombardi and the
34 OVER .500
Counting his 8-6 playoff record, Reid is 34 games over .500 with a 96-62 record. Only 25 of the 55 coaches who have spent at least 10 seasons in the NFL are more games over .500 than Reid.
GREASY AND ANDY
Reid is only the second of the 20 head coaches in franchise history to make it to a 10th season. The other was Hall of Famer Greasy Neale, who led the team to consecutive NFL titles in 1948 and 1949. In addition to Neale, three other Eagles coaches have spent at least 10 seasons coaching in the league. Two of them – Buck Shaw in 1960 with the Eagles and Vermeil in 1999-2000 with the St. Louis Rams – won league titles.
JOE, NORM AND BERT
To understand how good things have been under Reid, you need to understand how bad things have been in the Eagles’ past.
Joe Kuharich, who spent 11 seasons as an NFL coach, including six mostly infamous ones in
The Eagles still managed to hire some of the worst coaches in NFL history and that doesn’t even count Rich Kotite and Ed Khyat. Marion Campbell, who won a career-high six games with the Eagles twice, finished his nine-year head coaching career 46 games under .500, which is the highest number in league history. Third on the list is Eagles founder Bert Bell, who was 36 games below .500 in six seasons.
TOGETHER FOREVER?
McNabb has started 112 games for the Eagles and Reid has been the head coach for all of them. That total number of games ranks 11th all-time in NFL-AFL history for a quarterback-coach combination.
Here’s the top 11
COACH QB GAMES RECORD ACHIEVEMENTS
Don Shula Dan Marino 184 116-68 1 AFC title
Chuck Noll Terry Bradshaw 158 107-51 4 SB titles
Hank Stram Len
Marv Levy Jim Kelly 153 99-54 4 AFC titles
Don Shula Bob Griese 151 92-56-3 1 SB title
Dan Reeves John Elway 142 89-52-1 3 AFC titles
Jeff Fisher Steve McNair 131 76-55 1 AFC title
Tom Landry Roger Staubach 114 85-29 2 SB titles
Tom Coughlin Mark Brunell 114 63-51 No titles
Chuck Knox Dave Krieg 114 68-46 No titles
Andy Reid Donovan McNabb 112 73-39 1 NFC title
AND JUST BENEATH
Bill Walsh Joe
Bill Belichick Tom Brady 110 86-24 3 SB titles
THE OVER 30 CLUB
McNabb will turn 32 in November. A total of 16 of the 42 quarterbacks who have won the Super Bowl were 32 or older. The average age of the winning quarterback in the Super Bowl has been 30.
EXACTLY 32
Only three quarterbacks in NFL history have won the Super Bowl at exactly 32 years old and they did in three consecutive years. The New York Giants’ Phil Simms won Super Bowl XXI in 1987, the Washington Redskins’ Doug Williams won Super Bowl XXII in 1988 and the 49ers’ Joe Montana won Super Bowl XXIII.in 1989.
The Eagles cut their roster to 53 players today by releasing 12 players, including defensive end Jerome McDougle. They also placed offensive tackle King Dunlap and guard Mike Gibson on injured reserve with injuries the team did not reveal following the team's preseason final Thursday against the New York Jets.
In addition to McDougle the Eagles released cornerback Kyle Arrington, fullbacks Jed Collins and Jason Davis, wide receivers WR Michael Gasperson and Shaheer McBride, guard Scott Young, defensive tackles Montae Reagor and Mike Marquardt, linebackers Andy Studebaker and Justin Roland and tight end Kris Wilson.
Here's the 53-man roster as of right now.
QB: Donovan McNabb, Kevin Kolb, A.J. Feeley; RB: Brian Westbrook, Correll Buckhalter, Lorenzo Booker; FB: Tony Hunt; WR: Kevin Curtis, Reggie Brown, DeSean Jackson, Hank Baskett, Greg Lewis, Jason Avant; TE: L.J. Smith, Matt Schobel and Brent Celek; OL: Tra Thomas, Todd Herremans, Jamaal Jackson, Shawn Andrews, Jon Runyan, Max Jean-Gilles, Nick Cole, Winston Justice, Mike McGlynn.
Specialists: David Akers, Sav Rocca, Jon Dorenbos. NFL teams can begin to establish their eight-man practice squads today at noon with Studebaker, Roland and Arrington all strong candidates to be among the eight.
Safety: Brian Dawkins, Quintin Mikell, Sean Considine, J.R. Reed, Quintin Demps; CB: Asante Samuel, Sheldon Brown, Lito Sheppard and Joselio Hanson; LB: Omar Gaither, Stewart Bradley, Chris Gocong, Akeem Jordan, Rocky Boiman, Joe Mays; DL: Mike Patterson, Brodrick Bunkley, Trent Cole, Juqua Parker, Victor Abiamiri, Chris Clemons, Trevor Laws, Darren Howard, Dan Klecko; Bryan Smith.
The Eagles reduced the roster from 75 to 67 today by cutting eight players.
Released were wide receivers Bam Childress and Jamal Jones, cornerbacks Nick Graham and Jamal Jones, running back Ryan Moats, safety Marcus Paschal, offensive lineman Stefan Rodgers and linebacker Pago Tagofau. Not a surprise in the bunch.
The roster must be reduced to 53 players by 6 p.m. tomorrow.
The two issues that most needed to be resolved as coach Andy Reid and general manager Tom Heckert sat down this morning to discuss the roster were the defensive line and fullback.
The strong feeling here is that Jerome McDougle does not make the team even though he had an outstanding preseason. McDougle will play elsewhere this year, but if your greatest fear is that he'll end up in a New York Giants uniform because the defending Super Bowl champions need help at defensive end, you should relax.
The Eagles will first try to trade McDougle and, rest assured, they will not trade him to the Giants. If he does end up with the Giants, so be it. This is a guy who had three sacks in his first five NFL seasons and the 2 1/2 sacks he registered this preseason weren't against starting NFL tackles. McDougle is a good guy who has been through a lot in such a young lifetime, but it's hard to imagine he's about to become a great player.
As for the fullback situation, if it comes down to Tony Hunt and Jason Davis, the Eagles will go with Davis. But it seems like every year the Eagles fill at least one position with a player who has been cut from another team and that may be the case at fullback this season.
Here's a projection of what it could look like after the Eagles have made their final cuts.
Quarterback: (3) Donovan McNabb, Kevin Kolb, A.J. Feeley. Easy enough.
Running back: (3) Brian Westbrook, Correll Buckhalter and Lorenzo Booker. Easy enough.
Fullback: (1) Jason Davis. The best thing that could happen to Tony Hunt is that he's released so he can go be a tailback again somewhere else.
Wide receiver: (6) Kevin Curtis, Reggie Brown, DeSean Jackson, Hank Baskett, Greg Lewis, Jason Avant. It's really not a bad group, especially when Curtis and Brown are healthy.
Tight end: (2) L.J. Smith and Brent Celek. What do you need a third one for?
Offensive line: (10) Tra Thomas, Todd Herremans, Jamaal Jackson, Shawn Andrews, Jon Runyan, Max Jean-Gilles, Nick Cole, Winston Justice, King Dunlap, Mike McGlynn. If this morning's MRI on Jean-Gilles reveals something more than a sprained knee, Scott Young will make the team. It's possible Young could make it over McGlynn anyway.
Safety: (5) Brian Dawkins, Quintin Mikell, Sean Considine, J.R. Reed, Quintin Demps. The Eagles don't usually keep five safeties, but Demps' ability to return kicks changes the equation.
Cornerback: (4) Asante Samuel, Sheldon Brown, Lito Sheppard and Joselio Hanson. Kyle Arrington lands on the practice squad.
Linebacker: (6) Omar Gaither, Stewart Bradley, Chris Gocong, Akeem Jordan, Rocky Boiman, Joe Mays. Andy Studebaker lands on the practice squad.
Defensive line: (10) Mike Patterson, Brodrick Bunkley, Trent Cole, Juqua Parker, Victor Abiamiri, Chris Clemons, Trevor Laws, Bryan Smith, Darren Howard, Dan Klecko. Clemons can play even though he didn't play much in the preseason.
Specialists: David Akers, Sav Rocca, Jon Dorenbos. Easy enough.
The Eagles reduced the roster to 75 this afternoon by releasing kicker Richmond McGee and placing cornerback Jack Ikegwuonu on the reserve/non-football injury list. Ikegwuonu's designation makes him eligible to return to practice with the team any time between Weeks 6 and 9 of the regular season.
After Week 9, the Eagles must decide if they want to add Ikegwuonu to the 53-man roster or place him on injured reserve. Ikegwuonu, a fourth-round draft pick out of Wisconsin, is rehabilating from surgery after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee while preparing for the NFL scouting combine. It is unlikely that he returns to the active roster this season.
He was the only player on the roster eligible for the reserve/non-football injury designation because he had been placed on the physically unable to perform list before the start of training camp. Rookie defensive end Bryan Smith and rookie defensive tackle Trevor Laws were also on the PUP list, but once they returned to practice they were ineligible.
Receiver Kevin Curtis and defensive end Victor Abiamiri, both of whom are expected to miss at least the first month of the regular season, are not eligible for the same designation as Ikegwuonu because their injuries occurred after the start of training camp.
STARTERS WILL SIT
It was another case of where you had to watch what Andy Reid does rather than listening to what the Eagles' coach said.
Even though Reid said this morning that he hasn't decided whether his starters will play in Thursday night's exhibition game against the New York Jets, you could tell by the way that practice was run they will not.
Donovan McNabb and the first-team offense spent the morning working as the scout team for the reserve defense and the first-team defense did the same for quarterback Kevin Kolb and the reserves on offense.
Reid said he doesn't worry about injuries like the one that cost New York Giants Pro Bowl defensive end Osi Umenyiora his season last week in an exhibition against the Jets, but his actions from the past say otherwise.
"Those things are going to happen," Reid said. "We've had our couple of injuries here, too. That's all part of the game."
The last time Reid allowed any of his starters to play in the final preseason game was 2001 when the team lost starting center Bubba Miller to a season-ending ankle injury.
No surprise here. The Birds cut kicker Richmond McGee and placed defensive back Jack Ikegwuonu on the reserve/non-football injury list. He has a knee injury and could come back to play between Weeks 6-9. The Eagles' roster is down to 75. By Saturday, they have to hit 53.
Jim Johnson provided some stunning news this morning at the NovaCare Complex.
"A guy by the name of Glecko" is going to be the Eagles' fourth defensive tackle, the defensive coordinator said before practice.
Scour the roster all you want, you won't find a guy by the name of Glecko, but we're pretty sure that Johnson just hasn't learned how to properly pronounce veteran defensive tackle Dan Klecko's name yet. That doesn't mean Klecko hasn't caught the defensive coordinator's eye.
"He looks pretty good to me," Johnson said. "He had a good game the other night and he's had a great camp. He's got such great quickness and good football sense and he loves to play. He's a high-motor guy."
Klecko, a sixth-year veteran from Temple whose father Joe was a four-time Pro Bowler with the New York Jets, wasn't the least bit concerned about Johnson's mispronunciation of his name.
"Jim can call me whatever he wants," Klecko said. "He's the boss. I'm not going to call him out on it."
Klecko and rookie Trevor Laws will open the season as the backup defensive tackles behind Brodrick Bunkley and Mike Patterson, but that still leaves Johnson and the coaching staff with some difficult decisions to be made at defensive end before Saturday's final cut.
Seven defensive ends -- Trent Cole, Juqua Parker, Victor Abiamiri, Darren Howard, Bryan Smith, Chris Clemons and Jerome McDougle -- remain on the roster and it's possible they could keep six of them.
CURTIS SPEAKS. Receiver Kevin Curtis made his first appearance in the locker room this morning since undergoing surgery Thursday to repair a sports hernia. He said he is confined to walking in the embryonic stages of his rehab from the surgery and there's no set timetable for his return.
Dr. William Meyers, who performed the surgery, told Curtis he should not compare his surgery or recovery time to other players who have been through the same or similar procedures.
"Each injury is different," Curtis said. "They're not all exactly the same. There are different time frames, so I'm not trying to compare myself to other injuries. I'm going by how I feel and I'm going to get back as soon as possible."
A report that New York Giants Pro Bowl defensive end Osi Umenyiora was out for the season after injuring his left knee in a weekend preseason game against the New York Jets created the natural speculation that Michael Strahan will come out of retirement and return to his role as a starting left defensive end.
"No," Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb said when asked about Strahan's possible return. "He's done."
Tackle Tra Thomas said if he was the Giants he would definitely be on the phone to Strahan.
"Yeah, I would," he said.
Guard Todd Herremans put the possibility of Strahan's return in the simplest of terms.
"Money talks," he said. "Money talks."
ZONT COVERAGE
The Eagles' first-team offense lined up against the first-team defense during a two-minute drill in practice today, but the confrontation was over after one play when a Donovan McNabb pass intended for rookie DeSean Jackson was intercepted by Asante Samuel.
Referee Andy Reid ruled that Samuel returned the interception for a touchdown.
"Don't you know that 75 percent of the world is covered by water and the other 25 percent is covered by Zont?" Samuel yelled at McNabb afterward.
Zont?
"That's my nickname," Samuel said.
As we reported in this morning Inquirer, Eagles' safety Brian Dawkins suffered a strain of his tendon in the right ankle during Friday's win at New England. No structural damage.
Head coach Andy Reid said this morning Dawkins should be ready to go in the regular season opener against St. Louis.
"I just had faith that it wasn't going to be anything," Dawkins said. "Just from my past experience with things like this. I didn't feel anything [after injury] that would tell me differently. I was thinking it was just a sprain."
Dawkins did not practice today but he wants to get back on the field this week do he doesn't lose any game conditioning.
"I like to put myself in tough situations in practice so that when game time comes, hopefully, the game is a lot slower than it is," he said. "I'm a practice guy. I like to practice."
As we reported in this morning Inquirer, Eagles' safety Brian Dawkins suffered a strain of his tendon in the right ankle during Friday's win at New England. No structural damage.
Head coach Andy Reid said this morning Dawkins should be ready to go in the regular season opener against St. Louis.
Reid's Sunday news conference is moments away.
