IS LEARNING THE PRINCETON OFFENSE
Last week, we told you that Campbell's Chunky Soup had decided not to use an NFL player in its marketing campaign for the first time in over a decade.
Donovan McNabb had not appeared in a commercial for the company recently, and the announcement confirmed it would stay that way.
But fear not. You'll get your McNabb-commercial fix this season.
Terry Lofton of the SportsBusiness Journal reports that the NFL and IHOP have agreed to a three-month partnership, running from August to October.
McNabb and Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald both shot commercials for the campaign last week in L.A. Per Lofton, McNabb is "sacked by an overzealous IHOP waitress." The ads are scheduled to start running in August.
The campaign will push two football-related items: stuffed french toast and QB scramble.
The announcement brings up an important question: How do we feel about IHOP?
I compare it to Edgerrin James during his time with the Colts. It does several things well, but nothing spectacular.
You'd prefer a great diner over IHOP, but if you eat there, you generally don't leave disappointed. The key to a good breakfast place is to offer some kind of special that combines something from Category A (waffles, french toast, pancakes) and Category B (home fries, eggs, and for you carnivores, either sausage or bacon).
I've had the stuffed french toast and enjoyed it, although I'm anti-fruit topping on everything from Category A. My only other problem is the style of hash browns at IHOP. I prefer the potato/home fry option, not the shredded type. Overall, IHOP ranks better as a 2 a.m. stop than a 10 a.m. stop, but it generally does the trick.
I could probably write 500 more words on breakfast places, diners, IHOP, etc., but we'll move on to some links before you roast me in the comments section.
** In his mailbag, ESPN.com's John Clayton says Eagles fans have many reasons to be optimistic this season:
The Eagles are built to win now. They have been aggressive in rebuilding the offensive line. They've tried to get some of the best young receivers in the past two drafts. They've taken distractions away from McNabb by locking him up for two years and removing any challenge to his starting job. I'm not saying they are going to the Super Bowl. They will contend this season. They will contend next season. With McNabb and his five trips to the NFC Championship Game, it's been a great era for them.
** Brian Westbrook and David Akers are among the most underrated players of the decade, according to Football Outsiders.
** CBSSports.com's Pete Prisco is continuing his positional rankings. At center, he's got Jamaal Jackson at No. 10:
He's a physical center who sometimes seems to get out of shape. When he's on, he's good. When he's not focused, he has lapses.
And even though it looks like Shawn Andrews will shift to tackle, Prisco has him as the No. 4 guard.
** I wonder if contract news involving a Drew Rosenhaus client will ever be leaked again. It was funny to see the news pop up on Twitter last night in between Chad Ochocinco's posts. Nice job by the Birds, Rosenhaus and McCoy though to make him the first second-rounder signed. All eyes will be on McCoy when camp opens in a few weeks.
Earlier today, we wrote about ex-Eagle Brian Mitchell and his departure from ESPN 980 in D.C.
The station said they let Mitchell go because of the economy, but the former special-teams ace told USA Today that it may have had more to do with his criticism of Dan Snyder and the Redskins' organization.
Snyder, you see, owns the radio station.
We also mentioned that B-Mitch resurfaced last week as a co-host of Howard Eskin on WIP. But was that a temporary move by the station, or do they have bigger plans for Mitchell?
We reached out to station manager Marc Rayfield to get more information.
"When he became available, we decided to take a look," Rayfield said in an e-mail. "Where we might potentially use him is yet to be determined but the feedback from our listeners has been tremendous."
Mitchell spent three seasons with the Birds (2000-2002) and did a Monday night radio show on WIP.
Rayfield added that he never doubted Mitchell's football expertise, but has been pleasantly surprised about his knowledge of other sports.
For more on Mitchell's comments regarding why he was let go in D.C., click here.
So what do you think? Would B-Mitch be a good addition as a regular on WIP?
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If you tuned in to WIP last week, you may have heard the familiar voice of ex-Eagle Brian Mitchell.
In this morning's USA Today, Mitchell shed some light on why he lost his gig as a radio host in D.C.
He had been working for ESPN 980, a station owned by Redskins owner Dan Snyder. The station said Mitchell was let go because of the economy, but he said his criticism of the franchise might have played a factor in the move.
"If you never discuss any money, or any changes in my money with me, then you already have your minds made up," Mitchell told USA Today. "This didn't have a damn thing to do with the economy."
Mitchell, who was making $150,000 according to the article, said he was willing to take a pay cut, but the station's executives never asked.
B-Mitch spent three seasons with the Birds, from 2000-2002. The first 10 seasons of his career were spent with the Redskins, and he played a year with the Giants in 2003.
Per the report, Mitchell is pursuing another broadcasting job. I'm currently trying to track down details of his situation with WIP and will hopefully have that information later.
In the meantime, some other links to pass along:
** CBSSports.com's Pete Prisco is continuing with his series of rankings. He's released his offensive tackle rankings, and Jason Peters comes in at No. 6:
He didn't play as well last season for the Bills following a holdout, but he remains one of the NFL's best. A new home and a new contract should rejuvenate him.
Andy Reid would disagree. When the Birds traded for Peters, Reid said he was the best tackle in the NFL.
Prisco also ranked defensive ends. Trent Cole got the No. 7 spot:
He's a speed rusher who plays bigger than his size. He's much more than a situational rusher.
** SI.com's Ross Tucker caught up with players at the league's Broadcast Boot Camp, and asked them who their favorite announcers are. Jets offensive lineman Damien Woody said Ron Jaworski.
"He is a student of the game," Woody told Tucker. "Some guys are very opinionated and there is nothing wrong about that as long as you do the homework. Jaws knows what is going on from a football perspective. If he is critical of a player or certain scheme, he shows you why. You can respect him because you know he does the work."
Before we know it, Super Bowl predictions are going to start emerging from publications across the country.
And judging by the national reaction to the Eagles' offseason moves, several of those are going to have the Birds going to Miami.
But one national writer doesn't seem to think too much of the Eagles' individual talent. CBSSports.com's Pete Prisco put together a list of the top 50 players in the league, and no Birds player is listed among the top 48. Donovan McNabb squeezes in at 49:
He bounced back from his benching to have a big season in 2008 and a very good postseason. With a lot of weapons on board now, plus a big line, I think he will be even better in 2009.
The QBs listed ahead of McNabb are Peyton Manning (1), Tom Brady (2), Drew Brees (5), Ben Roethlisberger (10), Philip Rivers (20), Carson Palmer (26; that one I really don't get) and Kurt Warner (29).
No Asante Samuel? No Brian Westbrook? Well, they make Prisco's 'Just Missed' section. Jason Peters doesn't get a mention at all.
CBS' Web site displays Prisco's list from the past three seasons. In 2008, Westbrook was listed at No. 20. Quite a difference a year can make, huh? Samuel was at 37. Shawn Andrews at 38. And Peters, then obviously with the Bills, at No. 27.
In 2007, Andrews was the top Eagles player listed at No. 31. McNabb made it at No. 39. And Westbrook just missed.
And finally, in 2006, it was McNabb at No. 32. Brian Dawkins, otherwise not mentioned, was on the 'Just Missed' list.
***
ESPN.com has named its All-Decade Offense and Defense, and despite the Eagles' success during this recent stretch, they only had one player, Troy Vincent, on either list.
Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson did get recognized in a tie for best assistant of the decade with the Steelers' Dick LeBeau.
In the All-Decade power rankings, the Eagles came in at No. 4, behind the Patriots, Colts and Steelers.
No Eagles players made the list of top 25 players of the decade. If you're wondering about McNabb, five quarterbacks are ranked ahead of him: Brady, Manning, Warner, Roethlisberger and Brett Favre.
I did not catch the first episode of 'The Superstars' on ABC, but judging by how many people read philly.com's story about the show earlier this week, a lot of you did tune in.
So we thought it might be of interest to some of you that Terrell Owens and his partner Joanna Krupa will return to the show after getting kicked off last week.
Per the video below, Jennifer Capriati had to quit because of a shoulder injury, allowing T.O. and Krupa to get back on.
The clips remind me of MTV's Real World/Road Rules Challenge, which is wildly entertaining. So I'll admit that I'm slightly intrigued.
And I don't want to miss my chance to see Owens get cursed at and talked down to by a woman like we saw last week.
So to those who watched the first episode, is it worth me tuning in?
At the sports bloggers conference I went to a couple weeks ago in New York City, they talked about how athletes can use Twitter to interact directly with fans.
Chad OchoCinco, who has a very active account, showed this evening exactly how not to use the social networking tool.
The Bengals' wide receiver, who goes under the handle OGOchoCinco, commented on Michael Jackson's death as the news was unfolding:
Okay, first Mrs. Fawcett now Mr. Jackson, please tell me that this is a mistaken rumor, if not this is just as sad as 9/11
Yikes.
OchoCinco was promptly ripped by several of his 20,495 followers. To his credit, he soon apologized:
okay not as bad as 911, its sad period, both situations my goodness people, they just said he is okay in the hospital,
The 9/11 was a bit over the top, i am just in an emotional state right now, bare with me while i regroup people, be back in 10 minutes
Sorry 85 million times, today sucks man, i still have my jacket with the zippers on it, wow
It wasn't enough for some, who continued to attack him via tweets. I can't rip the guy too much. It was obviously a dumb thing to say and he took it back right away.
Anyway, the YouTube video of Jackson performing at the Super Bowl:
Back in November, we wrote a blog post titled Hopkins rips McNabb (again).
The entry came after Bernard Hopkins slammed Donovan McNabb on Comcast SportsNet, something that has been commonplace in this city over the years.
So the mere fact that he ripped into the Eagles' quarterback once again Wednesday afternoon probably isn't worth writing about anymore.
But this time, there was more -- a theory about where the criticism might be stemming from.
Hopkins joined Howard Eskin on WIP Wednesday afternoon and spoke at length about his constant bashing of McNabb.
When discussing McNabb's newly reworked contract, Hopkins said the fans will have to suffer for two more years. During the interview, he called McNabb a lapdog and a frontrunner, said he has no heart and suggested the team should have given serious thought to replacing him with Michael Vick.
"I think he plays for the moment, whether it's winning or losing," Hopkins said. "I think he plays to win, but I don't think his demeanor and I don't think his personality fits to win tomorrow, to win the next week and to win with any means necessary. There's a difference than wanting to win and showing that you want to win. I think that most athletes go in the ring or in the court, basketball or football, go in there with the intentions of winning until something is different that they feel that they don't want to deal with, understand or just be in the mix. Some people just want to be in the mix, Howard. And if they get lucky and be like 'Oh I can win this' then they'll go ahead and they'll show their swagger. But at the end of the day, you got frontrunners and you got runners, and he's one of the greatest frontrunners I've ever seen in the NFL."
One of the more interesting parts of the interview was when Eskin laid out his theory for why Hopkins always hates on McNabb.
Per Eskin, Hopkins once went to an Eagles practice, and while McNabb said hello to the ex-middleweight champ, Hopkins felt like the Birds' QB blew him off a little bit and has held a grudge ever since.
Hopkins denied Eskin's theory, but when he recalled the situation, it certainly sounded like McNabb rubbed him the wrong way when they crossed paths.
"When I did go to the NovaCare Center with my team, was he like everybody else? Like the rest of the players? Was he giving us respect, giving everybody respect, my trainer, myself and all that, just coming over, sign this, sign that or whatever? No, he sort of ran into a little room and locked the door and came out every now and then to peak his head out to see if we left yet," Hopkins said. "But that just tells you he's not a social guy."
"When a guy is uncomfortable that the light is not actually on him, then you have some people that can't take it," he continued. "And look, the bottom line is if you want the light to be on you, you gotta do what champions do. You win, you win, you win, you win and you win the big one."
Eskin and Hopkins took calls from fans, a couple of whom could not understand Hopkins' stance. One even suggested that if Hopkins feels McNabb lacks the intensity and heart necessary to win a title, why not help him?
Hopkins predicted the Eagles would win seven games this season, and made no bones about the reason why.
"He don't have the heart," he said of McNabb. "He don't want to fail so he don't want to try."
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If you've been anxiously awaiting the next Donovan McNabb Campbell's Chunky Soup commercial, you're fresh out of luck.
The company will not use an active NFL player in its marketing campaign for the first time in over a decade, according to Terry Lefton of the SportsBusiness Journal.
Per the article, Campbell's last year dropped its "Mama's Boys" campaign, which McNabb had been a part of. Last year, the ads focused on LaDainian Tomlinson. Campbell's is not currently part of McNabb's endorsement portfolio, according to his Web site.
I had been debating whether to use a past McNabb commercial or a Soup Nazi clip to attach to the bottom of this post, and settled on the latter. Why? Because I make Mulagatani and porcini mushroom references whenever the topic of soup is brought up. And we all know why.
Enjoy.
And some more Eagles links to pass along:
** ESPN.com named its All-Decade Defense, and Troy Vincent is the only ex-Eagle on the list. That's right -- no Brian Dawkins. NFC East blogger Matt Mosley makes the case for B-Dawk:
The only name that really bothers me not being on the list is Dawkins. I think he's a potential Hall of Fame player, although the voters haven't been kind to safeties. But you could also make a very strong argument for John Lynch. At the start of the decade, he was the measuring stick for drafting safeties.
** NFL.com's Pat Kirwan ranks the best third-down defenses in 2008, and the Eagles come in at No. 3:
The Eagles had 16 different players sack the quarterback last year. That speaks to the creative scheming of the coaching staff and the roster depth assembled by the front office. Philadelphia sacked the quarterback once every 11.9 drop backs and returns every key player in its pass rush group. The secondary lost veteran safety Brian Dawkins, but the addition of Ellis Hobbs on the corner gives Philadelphia excellent nickel and dime coverage groups. Last year, the Eagles were the second-ranked third-down defense, holding teams to just a 32.2 percent success rate. The big question for the Eagles is the potential loss of defensive coordinator Jim Johnson, who is battling cancer. Hopefully Johnson will still have an influence on this great defense.
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Count Charles Barkley among the many who love what the Eagles did this offseason.
Sir Charles joined Howard Eskin and Marc Farzetta on WIP Monday and predicted a Super Bowl for the Birds in 2009.
"Good luck to my Eagles too," he said near the end of the interview. "I think the Eagles are gonna win the Super Bowl."
"And I'm glad Donovan got his contract cause y'all have not been treating him well here Howard," Barkley continued. "You know I've been on your ass all the time. McNabb's the greatest quarterback in Eagles history and y'all have not gave him the love he deserve here."
Speaking of which, let's get to some more Eagles links that we missed while I was on vacation...
** SI.com's Ross Tucker shared Barkley's view on McNabb in a column last week. He wrote more on the topic in a mailbag, where a reader took exception with Tucker's assertion that fans here are too hard on McNabb:
When Donovan McNabb wins three Super Bowls, I think he will get the same respect from the fans as Tom Brady would if he got hurt again. As what happens with most national media, you need to be here week in and week out to know that 80 percent of Eagles fans love the fact that Donovan McNabb is our quarterback. Focusing on the negative 20 percent is more convenient because it is a story you can write. Same as 'they boo, they threw snowballs at Santa, yada yada yada...' Come to Philly and do a poll of people walking the street and find out the facts before you write an article. Don't ask your family either; they must be nitwits not to like him too.
--Craig Hanlon, Wayne, Pa.
[Tucker's response] Judging from my e-mails, it seems like it is more like 50/50 in terms of the Eagles fans and their feelings towards McNabb. I am from near Philadelphia and have a pretty good sense of the arguments both for and against McNabb, I just think the people that want to run him and Andy Reid should be careful what they wish for. And the people in my family actually like McNabb for the most part; it is my friends who dislike his "phony" (their word, not mine) personality and think he comes up small in the biggest games.
However, another reader took the opposite view on McNabb:
The answer to your question is easy. I will take one championship every 12 years and no wins all the other years vs. losing the NFC championship each year. McNabb creates his own problems by being an arrogant, conceited jerk.
--Rod Speiss, Reading, Pa.
[Tucker] Yeah, that is what most people said, and I can imagine if you have never won one that would pretty much be the sentiment. But I'd like to talk with you at the end of those 12 years and see if you really felt that way. Ostensibly, that title would last forever but my guess is by midway through the next season it would be just a thing of the past.
And so the never-ending McNabb argument goes on.
** Tom Curran of NBCSports.com calls the Eagles' offensive additions one of the 10 best moves this offseason.
** This is an old one that I never got to. Scout, Inc's Matt Williamson said the Eagles' biggest weakness is at No. 1 receiver:
To be honest, I had a hard time coming up with something to choose for Philadelphia. Obviously, I am very high on this team and yes, the Eagles are my current pick to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. Of the 32 articles I did about each team's biggest weakness, this one was the last I wrote. I just couldn't really come up with much. That doesn't mean the Eagles are far and away the top team in the league right now, but they are the team with fewest holes.
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Back from my vacation in Portland and getting caught up on some online reading. A roundup of some links of interest:
** Assistant secondary coach Otis Smith was surprised when the Eagles let him go, according to Mike Reiss of The Boston Globe. Per the report, Smith was released on June 12. To our knowledge, the Daily News' Les Bowen, with help from the guys at Iggles Blog, was the first to report the news on June 17. Smith, who played in New England, tells Reiss he plans to coach with another team, although that could be difficult for 2009, given the timing. Bizarre story. We'll just have to see if any more details emerge.
** The Redskins are implementing a new tailgating policy. When first announced, it seemed to create a bit of a stir among fans, but the 'Skins apparently sent out a release announcing they expected to have more tailgaters than ever. I admittedly am not an expert on the issue, so we'll let the folks in D.C. sort things out and then offer an update. I know a lot of Eagles fans head down to FedEx Field annually for that game, although I've never been there. From what I hear from friends and media members, it's a bit of a nightmare to get to the field.
** Some ex-Eagles are feeling confident. Let's start with Dhani Jones in Cincinnati. The Bengals' linebacker is garnering praise from Cincy defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, and thinks the team can have a top-10 defense in 2009.
** Meanwhile, Jevon Kearse is anticipating a big season. "I wasn't injured, but then again, I wasn't feeling like myself," Kearse told The Tennessean about his performance last season. "This year, I feel like I'm back to my old self again."
** And finally, this is from last week, but since we wrote about Artie Lange right after the Joe Buck show, we figured we should at least post the follow-up. It should come as no surprise that HBO will not have Lange on the show anymore, or on any other HBO Sports program at all for that matter.
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