Eagles draft positioning, playoff dreams

Earlier this week, in our Monday Eagles chat, I got several questions about the draft, even though April is still about five months away.

But since you asked, if the season ended today, the Eagles would have the ninth overall pick. To put that into perspective, there are only six teams in the entire NFL that have a worse record than them. Eight teams are tied with a 4-7 record. The tiebreak is strength of schedule.

In addition to their own second-round pick, the Eagles get the Cardinals' second-rounder too. Arizona is currently 4-7.

But there will be plenty of time to talk draft in the coming months. Surely, some of you are still holding out hope that this team can make a miraculous run, right?

Anyone?

Just to humor you, the Eagles would need to make up three games to beat out the Cowboys for the division. That means even if the Eagles go 5-0 the rest of the way (quite the task for a team that has won back-to-back games just once all season), the Cowboys would have to go 2-3 or worse. In that scenario, both teams would finish 9-7, and the Eagles would win the tiebreak. The Giants would have to go 3-2 or worse also.

Earning a wild-card berth would be even more difficult. The Bears (7-4), Lions (7-4), Falcons (7-4) and Giants (6-5) are all currently ahead of them. The Bears and Falcons own the tiebreak over the Eagles also, based on head-to-head wins.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING...

On Tuesday, I posted What they're saying about the Eagles, but here are a few more links to pass along.

Michael Silver of Yahoo Sports writes about the altercation between Jim Washburn and Marty Mornhinweg on Sunday:

Witnesses said the confrontation began when Mornhinweg, pacing along the sideline, refused to yield to an animated Washburn, one of the assistants hired by Reid after last season, and escalated when Washburn questioned the offensive play-calling. One player called it "the most unprofessional thing I've ever seen in my life" and said that on Monday Reid rebuked his assistants and told them they'd embarrassed him.

Silver also believes that the Eagles should bring Andy Reid back:

The second reason is that, though this year is likely a lost cause, I don't think Philly's roster is deficient. If Vick regains his 2010 form, or even approaches it, in 2012, and the intrasquad vibe improves, a title run seems entirely plausible. If I were Lurie, I'd look to another NFC East rival, the Cowboys, for inspiration. Dallas was the league's most disappointing team in 2010, a perceived Super Bowl contender for whom things got ugly early. After a midseason coaching change from Wade Phillips to Jason Garrett – yes, I know, I'm advocating for the opposite here, but this was a different situation – there were signs of improvement, and Garrett was retained.

Good video breakdown on Boston.com that explains what happened to Nate Allen on Wes Welker's touchdown last week. Not only did Allen fall for the play-action fake, but Welker's stutter step drew him up as well.

Gil Brandt of NFL.com did a re-draft for every team. He's got the Eagles taking Raiders offensive lineman Stefen Wisniewski out of Penn State, instead of Danny Watkins:

Wisniewski's been a big surprise. He has blocked well in both run and pass and is one of the reasons why the Raiders have the second-ranked rushing attack. He's a strong, tough football player and has more experience than Watkins.

And finally, in case you missed it, I took a shot at evaluating Vince Young's performance in my earlier post.

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