Sports

[yellowrose]

HaHa.  I've felt like jumping off the cliff a time or two, but I'm a Cowboy fan for the duration.  True fan have plenty of passion. There are some fans who just want to be rooting for a SB contender - so they better just stay off the Cowboy bandwagon.

We don't need them.  

I hear Sean Lee is looking into maybe trying the behind the microphone gig.

Love the guy, would love to see him on the DC sideline coaching. It would

be interesting to see how he would do as commentator.  Of course he'd

be compared to Romo

[gardenman]

Just thirteen weeks until the first regular season Sunday slate of games!

[gardenman]

MMQB has a nice write-up on Wentz and how he's fitting in with the Colts. I still stand by my belief that in November every coach of a team without a solid QB situation will march into their GM's office and ask, "Why weren't we trying to land Carson Wentz? They only gave up a first and a third for him. Where the heck were we?"

The GM will hem and haw about Wentz having had a bad year, being overpaid, injury-prone, etc. and the coach will stomp out muttering what an idiot the GM is.

No QB in the league would have played well in this Eagles' offense last year. It was a trainwreck. We stopped running the football at halftime. Playcalling fell into predictable patterns. Defenses knew the play calls based on personnel, formation, and down and distance. The offensive line was in a constant state of flux. The coaches benched promising young players and started aging vets who were not playing well. Wentz was being pulled for several plays and moved to wide receiver so they could get Jalen Hurts on the field. That essentially weakened two positions at once. It was just absurd all the stuff that went on last year. 

Not much to report on the Eagles now as they're done until camp. The Giants continue to believe their young o-linemen will be loads better this year. The good news is they can't be much worse. The Cowboys are raving about how fit and ready Ezekiel Elliott is this year. He's got a lot of mileage on him already though and backs tend not to get better with age.

As a rule, the pounders like Elliott tend to max out at around 1800 carries over their career. He's at 1357 carries in the pros and another 592 in college. When those guys hit 1800-2000 carries they tend to fall off a cliff. Very few last until 3,000 carries. The Cowboys seem to know that and have been limiting his carries since signing him to the new six-year, $90 million deal. Backs like him need 20-30 carries a game to wear down a defense though, so the limited carries limit his effectiveness. If they run him hard, he'll be the most effective, but likely break down before his contract ends. If they limit his carries he won't be as effective but might last the full six years.

[teganslaw]

There is a thread on the Colts forum about Wentz. Some people are doubters and think that his problems will carry over in Indy. Others think that the situation in Philadelphia was the main issue, and Wentz will get a new start with the Colts. The second is my opinion. Wentz has talent and working with Frank Reich is going to help. 

Wentz and his wife, Madison, announced that they are expecting another child. Congrats to them! 

NFL Total Access was split on who will win the NFC East. Some analysts are going with Dallas; the rest with Washington. 

The Eagles are mostly seen as rebuilding with the new coaching staff. The Giants offensive looks good, but everything depends on Daniel Jones and whether he can eliminate his mistakes.

[gardenman]

@teganslaw 

All of the NFC East teams have issues. The Cowboys have no defense. The WFT have an interesting situation at QB and depth on their lines (offensive and defensive) could be an issue. The Giants are hoping that their offensive line will suddenly mature into a better unit and Daniel Jones will stop turning the ball over. Both hopes may be wildly optimistic. The Eagles have a new coaching staff and an unproven QB.

I like the Eagles' coaching staff a lot. I don't really have any concerns about them other than our ability to retain them. I suspect teams will be looking to poach our coordinators in the near future.

The QB situation is a bit iffier. One thing in Jalen Hurts favor is he works very hard and wants to be great. The supporting cast around him is better than it's been. Both lines are rock solid and deep. He can make some very pretty throws, but his arm talent is a bit suspect. He tends to need to wind up to throw the ball deep. He's not a guy who just flicks the ball forty yards down the field.

As a whole, offense, defense, and special teams, I think the WFT are on top with the Eagles behind them, then Dallas, then the Giants. If Hurts is the real deal and Fitzpatrick is his normal self, the Eagles might move ahead of the WFT. That Cowboy defense was horrible last year. The best part of their defense was their linebackers so they signed a free agent linebacker and then drafted two more. Their new defensive coordinator was great when he had a great cast of players and mediocre afterward. This is arguably his least talented group of players ever. Not a good omen for the Cowboys. 

[Spurt]

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 @gardenman wrote---

Not much to report on the Eagles now as they're done until camp. The Giants continue to believe their young o-linemen will be loads better this year. The good news is they can't be much worse. The Cowboys are raving about how fit and ready Ezekiel Elliott is this year. He's got a lot of mileage on him already though and backs tend not to get better with age.

As a rule, the pounders like Elliott tend to max out at around 1800 carries over their career. He's at 1357 carries in the pros and another 592 in college. When those guys hit 1800-2000 carries they tend to fall off a cliff. Very few last until 3,000 carries. The Cowboys seem to know that and have been limiting his carries since signing him to the new six-year, $90 million deal. Backs like him need 20-30 carries a game to wear down a defense though, so the limited carries limit his effectiveness. If they run him hard, he'll be the most effective, but likely break down before his contract ends. If they limit his carries he won't be as effective but might last the full six years.

---

@gardenman @teganslaw @yellowrose 

Well folks, according to our local "experts" no need to even watch the 2021 NFL season, the Cowboys WILL win the Super Bowl....🙄 Why just look---Dak is back, Zeke is a lean mean running machine, and what more can one even say about CeCe Lamb,  the reincarnation of Terrell Owens...what about the defense you ask...apparently defense doesn't matter in today's NFL....🙄  Just polish up the Lombardi and hand it to Jerry Jones....  No discouraging word can be heard around here.... (it appears they saved their venom and negative sports talk and aimed it at Kawhi Leonard---LOL).....

I'm not saying all this just to take up the banner on behalf of my WFT ....we got a tough schedule and its no guarantee we will even win the Division, Im a realistic fan, I just see improvement from last year due to the FAs and our draft....But who knows, the Eagles and their young QB, and the new coaching staff may surprise, their defense is already pretty good...Or maybe the Giant's Daniel Jones will figure out how to complete a pass to WR Golladay and Toney....and hand off the ball to Barkley who will run lickety split down the field and pick up lots of yds....and their D will be formidable...Ya never know...🤷‍♀️ But Ill keep my reservations in place about Dallas...the results we saw when Dak was playing last year wasnt enough to win, or they squeaked by a mediocre team...and there's so many unknowns on the D side...it's enough to DOUBT Jerry's and the homer's usual hype!--

[gardenman]

And the Eagles now have a third QB! They signed Nick Mullens, formerly of the Niners. It's not a bad signing. He's played in 19 games for the Niners and has attempted 600 passes and completed 387 for a 64% completion percentage. His TD/interception ratio isn't great with 25 TDs to 22 Ints, but you could do worse for a backup QB. Will he become QB2 or QB3? We'll have to see. It's kind of surprising he was still on the market this late in the offseason. He's not a complete dud at QB. He injured his elbow in December, so that may have been what's kept him in limbo until now.

[Spurt]

CONGRATS to Wentz and his wife on expecting a second child...

The big question with an answer coming Thursday is who will grace of the cover of MADDEN 22--the folks at EA Sports have teased it with a video of two goats, one larger than the other.....some say it will be Brady and Mahomes...STAY TUNED!!!

Levon Bell continues his trash talk about Andy Reid...thats no way to drum up business he's still a free agent.....

Bell explained---“I said what I said & I don’t regret at all what I said,” Bell wrote. “For those who have a PERSONAL PROBLEM with me because of what I SAID, that’s fine. you have your right! just understand I ALSO have MY RIGHT for how I feel about MY PERSONAL problem with dude because of what HE SAID to me.” Bell did not explain what Reid said to him that Bell found objectionable, but he did say that other than Reid, he enjoyed his brief tenure with the Chiefs.

[gardenman]

The reason Nick Mullens was still hanging around was due to his elbow. There had been uncertainty as to whether he needed the Tommy John surgery or a simpler procedure. The simpler procedure was done and he's said to be ready for training camp. Had he undergone the Tommy John surgery, he'd be out for the year. 

I wouldn't be shocked to find the Eagles adding a kid QB at some point to have around as a developmental guy. They may wait until after the final cuts to get a guy, but they could act sooner. As of now though, the roster is full at ninety players.

Brady and Gronk would make sense for the Madden cover. We'll find out soon enough. 

[Spurt]

@gardenman 

A very nice gesture on the part of Eagle fans--This week BGN published a poll in which they asked readers to vote on the question: “Who deserves to be the All-NFC East head coach?”-

Ron Rivera, head coach of the Washington Football Team got 78% of the vote. Keep in mind two things. First, this wasn’t a small sample poll of 64 guys; there were 1,846 votes in this poll. Second, the voters in this poll are all die-hard Philadelphia Eagles fans. These are the guys that are reading about football and voting in polls in early June. They care about the NFL and they love the Eagles.

In a way, the overall respect level for Ron Rivera shouldn’t come as a surprise (though the disrespect shown to Mike McCarthy, the Cowboys head coach, shows the intense rivalry).  Rivera came into Washington under possibly the worst conditions imaginable, and has, in the space of less than 18 months, completely remade the franchise.

It looks like Eagle fans that voted dont think much of Cowboy's Coach, McCarthy nor Giants Coah Joe Judge.....which mirror most of our thoughts here....

CONGRATS COACH RIVERA! 😁