Revisiting the Eagles' best offseason move
Following up on my post from Saturday, there appear to be three nominations from MTC readers for what the Eagles' best move of the offseason was.
Revisiting the Eagles' best offseason move
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
Just got back from D.C. to see 90 comments and several e-mails about Saturday's post that focused on the Eagles' best offseason move.
There appeared to be three moves that MTC readers thought warranted consideration:
1. The trade for LB Ernie Sims
As I said when they traded for him, I have seen very little of Sims during his four seasons with the Lions. But many of you seem to like what you've seen, read or heard about the Eagles' new linebacker. As I've mentioned before, I thought Akeem Jordan was very good at the WILL linebacker position early last season before he got injured. I'll have to get a good look at Sims before agreeing that dealing for him was the Birds' best offseason move. But since I'm projecting Brandon Graham and Nate Allen, it's fair for you to disagree and project Sims.
2. Shaking up the coaching staff
This was an interesting one. I'm not sure anything could better illustrate what an unusual offseason it's been than many of you nominating the additions of secondary coach Dick Jauron and special teams coach Bobby April as the best offseason moves. Don't get me wrong. I like those additions too. April has a great reputation, and I don't think it ever hurts to add an assistant like Jauron with head coaching experience. But given the dramatic roster turnover, I couldn't go with this one. If Jauron's able to get this secondary to overachieve, and if April's special teams unit is responsible for a couple wins, I'll admit I'm wrong.
3. Handing the keys over to Kolb
Thought I explained this one the first time around. While I thought the Eagles made the right move in beginning the Kevin Kolb era, they did not receive overwhelming compensation for Donovan McNabb. That's why I did not choose this one. And although I'm comfortable with banking on Kolb's potential, he's a relative unknown with just two starts under his belt. It's impossible to argue otherwise.
By the way, having spent the weekend in D.C., I got plenty of questions about McNabb, and I think they led to some moments of clarity. I'll share more on Monday.
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EaglesBleedMoney, you are right that it isn't always about stats, but that usually involves championships. Dan Marino had some of the best individual passing stats in the history of the game, but at best he is viewed as an equal of the likes of Steve Young, Troy Aikman, etc because they have rings and he doesn't. Until such a time as #5 starts winning rings, it is going to be about his stats, and his stats do not cement his status as a great yet.
Hey Dan you can spin your argument anyway you want, the point is that if all you are worried about is making "Celek and Jackson seem happier" than good for you. Quite frankly I could care less how happy they are as long as they win a Super Bowl...I could care less who is the QB of this team, whether it's McNabb, Kolb, Vick, Mike McMahon, Koy Detmer, Ty Detmer, Bobby Hoying, whoever...just win the Super Bowl.— EaglesBleedMoney- EaglesBleedMoney...I just want a Superbowl also....and the parade to end all parades. That 2008 WS parade will seem like a family gathering compared to when the Eagles finally win it all. I was just trying to say that a happy Eagles team plays harder than an unhappy Eagles team, which increases the odds of getting a Lombardi trophy.
- Mcnabb is McDone..... Mediocre QB who choked in the playoffs..... VERY overrated......— kramer65
- Fair enough - I respect your thinking. Let's just hope we show promise this year, with an extremely tough schedule and a very young team.— EaglesBleedMoney
- Look, the Eagles were terrible pre-McNabb and I will never forget that. When McNabb was young he had the ability to take over games. Don was the size of Linebacker but with the run ability of RB. Lest we never forget the one of his best qualities was he was a winner and waa a true professional athlete. He made the FO alot of money and he made Jeff Lurie a Billionarie Franchise owner. Now, I do believe it was the right time to move on from Donovan also. Can he still get the job done for some aspiring team? Absolutely, but we want a SuperBowl and that wasnt going to happen. McNabb needs a killer defense for him to succeed. McNabb excels in stretching the field, not short and intermediate passing. Never a true West Coast offense QB. Eagles have one now but lets see if Reid can make him a star. I have high hopes for the Birds this season and especially for seasons to come. I think this past year's draft will determine alot about future success.
- Drafting Kafka realizing that Kolb is a mistake waiting to happen was the best offseason move.— TYMcNabb
- Drafting Kafka realizing that Kolb is a mistake waiting to happen was the best offseason move.— TYMcNabb
- TKIM.. Mcnabb has never ...repeat NEVER... thrown for 4,000 yards. 11 years not once. Look it up. By the way, Aaron Rodgers eclipsed every McNabb stat for one season last year. In fact, 5 was the 12th most productive qb in the nfl. Just sayin— 1st and goal
- McNabb lead the eagles NO WINS against teams that made the playoffs in '09.— 1st and goal
- All u guys spittinn out stats sound.crazy the game is played before your eyes if u ever watched elway play you know stats dont tell the whole story u never saw "the drive" or in the super bowl against green bay when they needed the first down and he went out and got hydroplaned, got up spiked the ball and broke the will of the vaunted green bay defense ? you never saw that? YOU never seen 4tds on a broken ankle,or 4th and 26?From 5-5-1 withZeRO run game and rookie wide receiver to NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME UP 27-26? GREATNESS IS ON THE FEILD.I hope kolb can come in and do good job and give andy what we need to eventually win a super bowl but stop dissin mcnabb he was very good for a long time and if u think hes not going to make washington competitive then u been payin to much attention to the stats and not whats goin on the feild— bigALtheone
- Ummm.. TKIMS, isn't 3500 yds less than 4800 yds? I know he missed a couple games, but that looks like a decline to me...— schmoo
- mcnabb is great at the escape and create plays to sustain drives. Hes a bit older and can still make a play a bit longer but not as well as he used to. We just hope Kolb and a quick release in a west coast system will have more consistent drives. The jury is still out on whether he has the skills to complete those last minute drives that determine so many games.— peteike
my man— wolf 4- Dan, I am just saying that a QB rating of 86 is very different than 80. Look at career rankings of QB's 17 players have had a QB rating better than McNabb, 53 better than Elway. In other words, 36 QB between McNabb to Elway. In the playoffs, McNabbs QB rating dropped off 6.5 pts, Elways .2 points. However, Mac5's was still slightly higher. That said, it isn't about stats it is about wins. McNabb was 9-7 in playoffs Elway 14-8. McNabb's reg season winning percentage was higher. All that said, loser a probowl player for an unknown shouldn't be considered a good off season move. At his worst McNabb was average. There are a half dozen below average positions on the Eagles, Punter, FS, CB, OLB, Guard, Center,. In my opinion, fix those positions and let McNabb and Kolb fight it out for starting QB. Having two good QB is critical and Vick is only a spot player.— pking222
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