Archive: June, 2010
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
ESPN The Magazine is out with its annual "Ultimate Standings."
The series measures every professional franchise in the four major sports based on the following criteria:
Bang For The Buck: Wins during the past three years (regular season plus postseason) per revenues directly from fans, adjusted for league schedules.
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
Every day when I walk to the subway stop around 6:45 a.m., I check my Blackberry for e-mails I received overnight.
Today, I was saddened by the one from reader Dave in Boulder City, Nev. informing me of the tragic news that Randall Cunningham's 2-year-old son, Christian, had drowned in the hot tub at the family's home.
Don't know what to say at this time other than that thoughts and prayers are with Cunningham and his family.
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
It's only late June, but that hasn't stopped the national media from making predictions about the 2010 season.
Here's a roundup of links and what they're saying about the Eagles.
NFL.com's Vic Carucci predicts division winners and has the Cowboys taking the NFC East. He says the Giants will be Dallas' strongest competition. What about the Eagles?
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
Earlier this offseason, we took a look at 2009 performances by Jeremy Maclin, LeSean McCoy and Brent Celek.
Next up is DeSean Jackson.
Jackson was one of the best big-play threats in the league a year ago, catching 62 balls for 1,156 yards, while averaging 18.6 yards per reception.
Four players last year caught at least 60 balls for at least 1,000 yards, while averaging 16.0 yards or more per catch: Jackson, Miles Austin, Vincent Jackson and Greg Jennings.
Over the past five seasons, 15 receivers have reached those marks. Here's the list:
| Year | Player | Rec. | Yds. | YPC | YAC |
| 2009 | DeSean Jackson | 62 | 1,156 | 18.6 | 6.3 |
| 2009 | Miles Austin | 81 | 1,320 | 16.3 | 6.9 |
| 2009 | Vincent Jackson | 68 | 1,167 | 17.2 | 3.4 |
| 2009 | Greg Jennings | 68 | 1,113 | 16.4 | 7.0 |
| 2008 | Steve Smith | 78 | 1,421 | 18.2 | 5.6 |
| 2008 | Greg Jennings | 80 | 1,292 | 16.2 | 4.8 |
| 2008 | Lee Evans | 63 | 1,017 | 16.1 | 4.0 |
| 2007 | Terrell Owens | 81 | 1,355 | 16.7 | 4.4 |
| 2007 | Braylon Edwards | 80 | 1,289 | 16.1 | 3.9 |
| 2006 | Roy Williams | 82 | 1,310 | 16.0 | 3.9 |
| 2006 | Joey Galloway | 62 | 1,057 | 17.0 | 4.8 |
| 2005 | Santana Moss | 84 | 1,483 | 17.7 | 7.3 |
| 2005 | Plaxico Burress | 76 | 1,214 | 16.0 | 4.2 |
| 2005 | Terry Glenn | 62 | 1,136 | 18.3 | 3.6 |
| 2005 | Eddie Kennison | 68 | 1,102 | 16.2 | 5.5 |
| 2005 | Randy Moss | 60 | 1,005 | 16.8 | 2.9 |
The number that really set Jackson's season apart was yards per catch (18.6). In the past five seasons, only two other receivers have had 60+ catches for 1,000+ yards and averaged at least 18 yards per catch: Steve Smith in 2008 and Terry Glenn in 2005.
Two other things that stand out that are related. Here's a height comparison for the players mentioned above:
| DeSean Jackson | 5-10 |
| Miles Austin | 6-3 |
| Vincent Jackson | 6-5 |
| Steve Smith | 5-9 |
| Greg Jennings | 5-11 |
| Lee Evans | 5-10 |
| Terrell Owens | 6-3 |
| Braylon Edwards | 6-3 |
| Roy Williams | 6-3 |
| Joey Galloway | 5-11 |
| Santana Moss | 5-10 |
| Plaxico Burress | 6-5 |
| Terry Glenn | 5-11 |
| Eddie Kennison | 6-1 |
| Randy Moss | 6-4 |
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
Over the years, we've seen how rare it is for teams to get back to the playoffs in consecutive years.
While the accepted rule is that about 50 percent of the playoff teams will change every season, I took a look at the exact numbers over the lasat five years.
Since the 2004 postseason, 27 out of 60 (45 percent) teams have gotten back the following year.
In the NFC, that number is lower. Eleven of 30 teams (36.7 percent) have returned to the postseason. In the AFC, it's 16 out of 30 (53.3 percent).
The Eagles made the playoffs four times during that span. They were a playoff team in 2004 but did not return in 2005. They were a playoff team in 2006 but did not return in 2007. They were a playoff team in 2008 and did return in 2009.
So the question is: Will they get back in 2010?
Which brings us to some links and notes to round up.
* Mike Florio, writing for The Sporting News, names the six teams that are least likely to return to the playoffs in 2010. The Eagles are one of them:
When the Eagles made Kevin Kolb their first draft pick (at the top of round two) in 2007, they laid the foundation for April's decision to dump long-time starter Donovan McNabb. And while Philly has plenty of faith in Kolb, he'll soon be facing more scrutiny than he ever could have dreamed. The offensive line has plenty of question marks, and the defense regressed significantly in the first year of the Sean McDermott era. To succeed, the Eagles need to clamp down on opposing offenses and display patience when in possession of the ball. It won't be easy, especially in a division that includes the Cowboys, the Giants, and McNabb.
* Got a press release last week about DeSean Jackson's football camp, which will be held at Moorestown Upper Elementary School this week. Per the release, Kevin Kolb, LeSean McCoy and Jeremy Maclin are among the teammates expected to attend.
* I've taken some heat for my post on Brent Celek last week so wanted to clarify my stance. I was not handing Celek the title of Best Tight End in Modern Eagles Franchise History. I was simply looking at the numbers and suggesting that if he reaches his potential and continues on the path he's on, he could certainly earn that title. I know he's only had one full season as a starter. But the title of the post was What is Celek's ceiling? And I stand by what I wrote - it's extremely high.
* ESPN.com names the 1960 Eagles as the best team in franchise history. The 2004, 1980 and 2002 teams received honorable mentions. Readers agreed, giving the 1960 team 42 percent of the vote. The '04 team received 35 percent.
* SI.com caught up with a couple ex-Eagles last week to get their take on league-wide issues. Jeremiah Trotter was asked about a potential 18-game season.
"As a businessman, when my guys work overtime, they want overtime money," Trotter said. "It really all comes down to the money. It has to increase significantly for that to be worth it."
And Hollis Thomas weighed in on the Albert Haynesworth situation.
"There are two sides to every story," Thomas said. "He was promised that he was going to play in the 4-3. Nose tackle in the 3-4 is not fun."
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- Poll: Will the Eagles make the playoffs in 2010? (1716 votes)
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
Reports have surfaced today about a shooting outside a nightclub in Virginia Beach, Va. where Eagles backup quarterback Michael Vick was having his birthday party Thursday night.
Reports have varying degrees of detail, but here's a roundup of what we know, and what we don't know at this point.
One of Vick's lawyers, Larry Woodward, says Vick was neither involved nor present when the shooting occurred, according to the Associated Press. A police spokesman told the AP that a man sustained non-life-threatening injuries after being shot around 2 a.m. outside the club Guadalajara.
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
DeSean Jackson is the Eagles' best offensive player.
Trent Cole is the Eagles' best defensive player.
That's how I see it. That's probably how you see it. And while that might be how the national media see it, that doesn't mean Jackson and Cole are considered elite players around the country.
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
Some links to pass along today:
* This one from ESPN.com's Matt Mosley caught my eye.
Mosley writes about the Cowboys' left tackle position. Flozell Adams, who started all but 10 games there since 1999, is gone. But who will replace him? The assumption was that it would be Doug Free, but Mosley says that might not be the consensus around the league:
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
At this time last year, the Eagles' tight-end situation was considered a question mark.
L.J. Smith was let go after six seasons here. And the Eagles did not select a tight end in the draft until the fifth round when they picked up Cornelius Ingram.
That meant the Eagles were going into the 2009 season with Brent Celek in the starting lineup. A fifth-round pick in 2007, Celek was coming off a 2008 campaign where he started seven games and totaled 27 catches for 318 yards (not including a strong showing in the postseason).
All Celek did in his first full season as a starter was pile up 76 catches for 971 yards and eight touchdowns, while averaging 12.8 yards per catch.
At 24 years old, he's now turned the Eagles' tight end situation from question mark to pretty much a sure thing.
I wanted to take a closer look at Celek's receiving performance in '09 to see how it compared to some of the game's elite tight ends.
First, the numbers. Here are the top 10 tight ends in terms of receiving yards last season:
| Rec. | Yds. | YPC | TDs | Plays of 20+ | |
| Antonio Gates | 79 | 1,157 | 14.6 | 8 | 18 |
| Dallas Clark | 100 | 1,106 | 11.1 | 10 | 11 |
| Jason Witten | 94 | 1,030 | 11.0 | 2 | 11 |
| Brent Celek | 76 | 971 | 12.8 | 8 | 16 |
| Vernon Davis | 78 | 965 | 12.4 | 13 | 13 |
| Kellen Winslow | 77 | 884 | 11.5 | 5 | 5 |
| Tony Gonzalez | 83 | 867 | 10.4 | 6 | 4 |
| Zach Miller | 66 | 805 | 12.2 | 3 | 9 |
| Heath Miller | 76 | 789 | 10.4 | 6 | 8 |
| JerMichael Finley | 55 | 676 | 12.3 | 5 | 9 |
I chose the categories I did to show that Celek is not the kind of tight end you might remember growing up, or even the kind of tight end we saw earlier in the Andy Reid era. He's a big-play threat. Among the top 10 tight ends, only Gates averaged more yards per catch. Celek's eight touchdowns were tied for third in the NFC and fourth overall among tight ends.
And he had 16 catches of 20 yards or more. Think about that. On average, you could count on Celek to make a play of at least 20 yards once a game during the regular season. What a luxury to be able to get that type of big-play production from the tight end. Only Gates had more (18) plays of 20 yards or more.
In terms of yards after the catch, I found some conflicting stats. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Celek averaged 6.0 yards after the catch, which put him at second among tight ends who had at least 50 receptions (behind Gates).
But according to Yahoo Sports, Celek averaged 5.1 yards after the catch.
The other aspect I wanted to look at was Celek's third-year numbers compared to third-year numbers of some of the other tight ends mentioned above. Here's how those stack up:
| Rec. | Yds. | YPC | TDs | |
| Brent Celek | 76 | 971 | 12.8 | 8 |
| Tony Gonzalez | 76 | 849 | 11.2 | 11 |
| Antonio Gates | 89 | 1,101 | 12.4 | 10 |
| Jason Witten | 66 | 757 | 11.5 | 6 |
| Dallas Clark | 37 | 488 | 13.2 | 4 |
Not bad, huh? More yards than Gonzalez in his third season. A higher average per catch than Gates. More receptions than Witten.
And keep in mind that Celek had only 11 starts under his belt going into his third season. Gonzalez had 16; Gates 26; Witten 22; and Clark 23.
So what's the point of all this? To show just how impressive Celek's growth has been. Celek, the Birds' personnel staff and the coaches deserve a lot of credit for that.
The Eagles were wise to lock him up to an eight-year, $34M deal last season. Granted, he's only done it for one year, and he has to stay healthy and continue to improve, but it's not a stretch to suggest that Celek could finish his career as the best tight end in modern (Super Bowl era) Eagles history.
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
Every week leading up to Eagles training camp, we'll go position-by-position, previewing what to expect from the Birds at Lehigh and during the 2010 season.
This week's video with Noah Coslov of Cinesport focuses on the wide receivers.
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