Draft position, Steve Smith and the LBs
Philly.com, Inquirer, and Daily News coverage of the Eagles
Draft position, Steve Smith and the LBs
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
If you missed it from Monday, here's Man Up on the defense. I'll publish the player-by-player review of the offense later Tuesday afternoon.
In the meantime, here are some notes.
DRAFT POSITION
At 5-8, the Eagles would pick 10th overall in the first round if the season ended today. They would also have the 44th pick (their own second rounder) and the 47th pick (the second rounder from the Kevin Kolb deal).
As things currently stand, nine teams have a worse record than the Eagles. Two other teams - the Chiefs and the Bills - are 5-8, but the Birds would pick before them on account of strength of schedule.
Six teams - the Bucs, Panthers, Redskins, Jaguars, Browns and Dolphins - are all at 4-9. In other words, a lot can change in terms of draft positioning between now and the end of the season.
And if you're still wondering about what needs to happen for them to win the NFC East, click here.
STEVE SMITH ERA ENDS
The Eagles caught everyone off-guard back on August 10 when they signed free-agent wide receiver Steve Smith. At the time, Jeremy Maclin's status was uknown, but then again, so was Smith's.
The Giants clearly did not feel that Smith would be ready to play and contribute to start the season, but the Eagles felt otherwise. Yesterday, the team placed him on injured reserve.
Before last week, Smith had been active for every game. Here's a look at his snap count numbers, courtesy of Pro Football Focus:
| Week | Snap Counts |
| 1 | 5 |
| 2 | 19 |
| 3 | 14 |
| 4 | 10 |
| 5 | 4 |
| 6 | 8 |
| 8 | 0 |
| 9 | 0 |
| 10 | 60 |
| 11 | 7 |
| 12 | 8 |
| 13 | 0 |
Initially, it seemed logical to assume Smith would start off slow, but would progress as the season went on and he recovered from microfracture surgery. But that wasn't the case. He played 19 and 14 snaps, respectively, in Weeks 2 and 3. Smith played more than 10 snaps just once after Week 4, and that was because DeSean Jackson was benched against the Cardinals in Week 10.
Overall, he was targeted 20 times and had 11 catches for 124 yards and a touchdown.
Smith was paid a reported $2M in guaranteed money, more than three times what Jackson made this season.
Many have fairly second-guessed whether the Eagles could have better used that money on a problem area on defense, like safety or linebacker.
Rumors have already swirled that Smith could be headed back to the Giants in 2012. That is, assuming he's healthy.
ROTATING THE LINEBACKERS
The Eagles continued their linebacker shuffle Sunday. Here's a look at snap counts from the win over the Dolphins:
| Player | Snap Counts |
| Casey Matthews | 46 |
| Brian Rolle | 36 |
| Keenan Clayton | 28 |
| Jamar Chaney | 20 |
| Akeem Jordan | 20 |
What stands out? Matthews went from a short-yardage role to being on the field more than any other linebacker, as the Eagles played mostly nickel in the second half.
Rolle, who had been demoted in the nickel package, was back in there rotating snaps with Clayton.
And Chaney, who has played more snaps than any other Eagles defender besides Asante Samuel this season, was on the field for only 20 plays.
The Eagles need to figure out what they have with this group, and they clearly need to upgrade the talent in the offseason. Of course, that's been true in previous years as well.
PLAYING THE FAVORITE
The Eagles were underdogs last week in Miami and came away with a 26-10 win.
But they'll enter Sunday's game against the 8-5 Jets as the favorites. The Birds are currently 3-point favorites, according to BoDog.com and other sites.
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Thank you....regards— 2ndNlong- The contact in the facemask was from Moore trying to get out of the way and sort of ducked down to avoid the sack. It's only a foul (which is the correct term, not penalty - foul is illegal act, penalty is the resulting administration of yardage and/or loss of down) if the contact is part of the initial hit and the player being tackled doesn't move or drop down to avoid the hit.
Having said that, the officiating has been awful this season. Cole getting the personal foul for contact to the QB's knees was just about as bad as it gets. He was blocked to the ground and made a tackle by reaching out and grabbing Moore (or maybe Losman, not sure) around the ankle/lower leg area. He didn't drive in to the knees from the front, which is what the rule was written for (and because the precious Tom Brady's season ended from a hit like that).— amg - Sure Jay. Why don't you place a wager.— maurysline
- This city has some of the worst fans.....rooting against your own team for a freakin draft pick? Does it dawn of ANY of you knuckeheads that many draft picks don't pan out???— mjwilliams75
- As long as the mailboy, turned valet is making the picks it does not matter....Expect he will trade down and gather 4th and 5th rounders. And Steve smith was a joke....just money they could have given to DeSean who they lied to.....and Casey Mathews will be gone in a year...they are too embarrassed to cut him this year.....and the LB's and safeties are a joke....Thanks Andy and Mailboy...— nuggett
- The Jets like to ground-n-pound the ball, then pass. They will have great success against this bunch of non-tackling scrubs. Revis on Jackson and Cromartie on Maclin. Avant will have a career day, but the Eagles will come up short 21-17 on a 4th qtr letdown by our "awesome" defense.— NC Eagle Fan
- Looks like the Giants have a better medical staff than the Eagles.— ej610
- Who cares where they draft. The player will get injured or will be off the team in 3 years.— ej610
- Oh great, he will go back to the Giants and be calling out our plays next year....— softballdude
- pray for losses and matt barkley. it's the only way out of this mess -- unless howie doesn't trade down for 36 fifth rounders.— snakeplissken
- Drafting a QB is supposed to guaranty a superbowl. That's pure HOGWASH and delusional thinking. That's exactly the crappy thinking that some people had prior to drafting "Messiah McNabb"--and we had 12 seasons to see how that turned out. How's Norv Turner doing with his "elite QB" this season in San Diego? How many seasons did Peyton Manning come up short--and many questioned IF he'd ever win a superbowl? Jim Kelly in Buffalo? Successful football is much more that a super-star QB. Obviously. Enough nonsense about drafting a QB...as the cure all.— Smashmouth
- Eli, Drew, Tom, Ben...all first rounders except Tommy. — Romus
- Correction...all high picks...Brees was a 2nd rounder. — Romus
- Chaney...20 snaps...tied for lowest....hmmm...maybe he is not the great second coming of Trotter after all....if he can only shed more blockers.— Romus
- Lurie is so cheap that he cannot bring himself to jettison the Land Whale's contract, and that means two more years of bad drafting!! Gaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!— NM Eagle fan
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