Is everyone picking the Eagles?
To quote the great George Costanza after he ate the mango, "I'm back, baby!"
Is everyone picking the Eagles?
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
To quote the great George Costanza after he ate the mango, "I'm back, baby!"
Some of you have e-mailed or commented, asking why MTC was missing from the Eagles page on the new philly.com/sports redesign. No MTC promo, coupled with the fact that I wrote less this week than usual, led a couple of you to ask if the blog was done.
The answer is no. We will be around from now until eternity. The truth is that we didn't know how to properly feature three blogs on the Eagles page, since we only have two on most of the other sections. So we launched the new site with just Eagletarian and Birds' Eye View there.
But now we're back on the Eagles page right next to them.
I apologize for not writing as much this week. My day job is to manage the sports content on philly.com so I was swamped getting the new site ready (plus that whole NLCS thing). We're excited about our new look and have some big things planned.
I'm anxious to hear what you think. What do you like? What don't you like? And so on.
But anyway, it's time for our weekly look at who's picking the Eagles against the Raiders (hint: everybody). We'll also sprinkle in some other links. My picks will come Sunday morning. And we'll live chat the Raiders game Sunday at 4.
All eight espn.com experts like the Birds.
Accuscore, one of our new features, predicts a 26.7 to 12.5 Eagles win.
The Daily News' Les Bowen goes with the Eagles, 30-9.
SI.com's Peter King has the Birds in a 35-10 win:
A buddy of mine Tweeted this week and asked if there was any hope for his Raiders. Told him I'd get back to him. Still haven't. I don't know what to say. What's the stage beyond pathetic? The body language of JaMarcus Russell last week at Giants Stadium said to me, I wish I was anywhere but here.
SI.com's Don Banks has the Eagles seventh in his power rankings:
With their next two games at Oakland and at Washington, look for the Eagles to keep right on rolling and maybe do their part to get the Raiders' Tom Cable and the Redskins' Jim Zorn canned by midseason. Other than in the second half of a home loss to the Saints in Week 2, no one has remotely stopped Philadelphia's offense yet.
ESPN.com also has the Eagles seventh in its power rankings.
ESPN.com's Bill Simmons has the Eagles covering the 14.5-point spread:
A textbook "They Can't Make This Line High Enough" game. I wouldn't have blinked at 24. By the way, the Michael Vick cameos have been even more awkward than when they tried to work Shannen Doherty and Tori Spelling into the "90210" remake. Hold on, we promised them they could have three scenes. It's so hard to get back into game shape after being in the joint. It just is. Remember how bad the food and sleeping conditions were in college? Quintuple it. And add a hard bed and showering with other dudes. Yeah.
All six FoxSports.com experts have the Eagles winning.
FoxSports.com has the Eagles fourth in its power rankings.
Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com goes with the Birds, 38-14:
How low can the Raiders go? Just watch. They can't score on anybody and they can't stop anybody. Now they get an Eagles offense that is getting into a groove. JaMarcus Russell's head will be spinning trying to figure out all those Eagles blitzes. This one will hurt Raiders fans worse than getting pushed out of chair by Tom Cable.
Prisco has the Eagles seventh in his power rankings:
They will score a lot, so the key for them will be that defense. It seems to be getting better, but some of the offenses they've played are dreadful.
Pro Football Talk has the Eagles in a 41-10 win:
The Eagles have been firing on all cylinders, and the Raiders are like a yard-sale lawnmower with a loose spark plug. This one will be ugly on the field, and the stuff coming from the stands at the Black Hole could be even uglier.
Matt Bowen of the National Football Post goes with the Eagles in a 34-9 win:
Donovan McNabb has enough playmakers on offense to have his choice of options every time he drops back to pass, and I don’t expect that to change out in Oakland. The defensive line for the Raiders was keeping them in games, but after last week in New York, they present just another issue for a team that can’t put together a complete game. JaMarcus Russell will be pressured early and McNabb could see some rest in the second half. I am taking Philly to roll.
Sheil...I love MTC and never realized your larger role in Philly.com. Outstanding upgrades...Well done!— tjpup- Upgrades are fine. But my opinion is that content is first and MTC content is the most interesting to me. If your employer was smart they would get you an intern to handle some of the details of the content managing and let you write.
- Good stuff SK. The upgrades aren't too bad. Keep the Eagles tidbits coming.
- Sheil, is there any way for the video blog to not start automatically ( its usually the same one) every time I clink on a different page link? It gets annoying real fast.— attcbf
- Plus the auto video will get a few people fired. Gotta fix that— Joe Funk
- I agree thatt the video updates automatically starting up on every page is quite annoying. On an unrelated note, the Eagles are set up for this to be like the Cincinnati game last year. They're playing a team they should dominate and there is a good chance that they'll come out flat because of these expectations.— catnameddomino
- Any given Sunday.... don't get complacent. Any team can win.— FloridaBrian
- Raiders 13 Eagles 13— brewgrass
- Completely agree that the video should start manually. Phillies.com did the same thing initially. Now they have a link to 'enable autoplay' so people can choose. There is absolutely no way the Eagles don't win by at least 20. Put the next mortgage payment on it.— djack10
- Only other thing I could add is why doesnt the font stay the same as I go from page to page on the website? There really isnt anyway that the Eagles lose this weekend. Play down to the comp? Sure; but, not that low.— Master Dreamz
- hard not to pick eagles but this if PRO football and we see upsets throughout the season. penalties and that funny ball bounces strange ways plus the east coast to west coast trip. eagles always seem to have trouble with oakland. still, it's hard to lose when your opponent cannot score.— JACK V
- hard not to pick eagles but this if PRO football and we see upsets throughout the season. penalties and that funny ball bounces strange ways plus the east coast to west coast trip. eagles always seem to have trouble with oakland. still, it's hard to lose when your opponent cannot score. PLEASE GET RID OF THE VIDEO.— JACK V
- Don't stop the music, but please kill the video!— Trifecta
- Joe Funk, not to mention possibly wake the wife up, oh no:)— BADMOTHERUPPER
Have to say I dislike auto-video play. As does my wife at 1 AM when I'm checking the box scores and it starts blaring out of my laptop right next to her. As for the upgrade, Philly.com needs to improve its navigation system for the sports section.— verve- Looking forward to another big Eagle win Sunday. McNabb to throw for 400 plus, J. Russell will throw for 30 yards, 6 picks. EAGLE WIN!— jeffmacnow1234
- Yes, get rid of the video or allow us to decide whether we want to view it or not.— camtheman
- Love the new design. Hate the automatic video. Go Birds.— Johnnie NoDie
- I miss the symbols (on the headlines) that denote is its an Inquirer (INQ) or Daily News (DN) article. I know that content is content. But I liked this in order to try to find certain writers (and avoid others). Also, I think the Phils deserve the left-most heading-- until the Birds win a Super Bowl.— randy_w
- Hmmm...looks like all the experts were WRONG!— Phillyrussian7
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