Sports

[teganslaw]

Eagles fans are difficult to please. They were booing their team in the second quarter; maybe it was all the penalties or the fact that they had no offensive game. Or they wanted Wentz back. At least the Eagles ended up winning. 

The fans also booed Cris Collinsworth as he took the field after the weather cleared. It's just not them; accordfing to different message boards, Collinsworth is disliked as a commentator. He clearly favored the Patriots in the Superbowl, and Eagles fans don't forget things like that.  I'm wondering what the reaction will be for Frank Reich when the Colts go to Philadelphia. I'm thinking it might not be favorable. 

[Spurt]

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@nun ya wrote:

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@teganslaw wrote:

Le'Veon Bell is still a no-show. He hasn't signed his tender and it's not known whether he will play the first game. However, the Steelers aren't concerned as they've been through this scenario before. They have other players who can take over when needed. 

I'm wondering if Bell will eventually leave Pittsburgh. He doesn't seem happy with the contract and doesn't want to play under the franchise tag. Maybe it will go down to only two "Killer bees." Have to see what happens. 

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At this point, I'm sick of him. 

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@nun ya

I can empathize with you, I went through that with my Redskins and Kirk Cousins and with my NBA Spurs and Kawhi Leonard...........All I can say is GOOD LUCK!

[Spurt]

Congrats to the Eagle fans!  Boy that was a sloppy game with so many penalties.  And yes @teganslaw  I thought that was funny how the Eagle fans at the stadium quickly turned on their team and started booing .....

[gardenman]

@Spurt

The Eagles' players were happy with the boos. They said afterwards it was good the fans were still expecting more from them. The players weren't happy with their performance either. Hopefully the team will play better each week. With the shorter preseason and fewer practices, the first three to four weeks of the regular season are kind of messy.

[gardenman]

My favorite part of the Philly Philly play was watching Beasley when Foles went running by him. He had one of those "Oh, no!" moments when he realised he'd lost Nick. He took off in pursuit, but he knew he'd been beat and was disappointed in himself. He'd probably seen the Philly Special a hundred times and now found himself being the fall guy as Foles zipped by him. As a defender he'd likely told himself that would never happen to him. He'd maintain his coverage and shut down that play, then it came at him and he blew it. He won't be happy watching the film.

The Eagles should come up with a fake Philly Philly play where Foles goes out on a route and the whole defense converges on him, only to have the guy with the ball throw it to the other side of the field.

[yellowBeetle]

Of the 26 total penalties last night, read that Atlanta had 15. But certainly 11 for Philadelphia is very unacceptable too. 

Both offenses looked lackluster ... until the Philly Philly play in the 3rd quarter. After that it was like a switch was flipped on! After having scored just 3 points, the Eagles then went on to score 15 more! 

In the pregame show they showed Wentz out on the field doing some warm-ups, etc. Rodney Harrison was saying that he does not think Wentz looks nearly ready to come back yet ... he actually said Wentz looked awful out on the field! He was mentioning how Wentz was favoring his left knee in the warm-ups, etc. Harrison had an ACL tear but not the LCL too ... was giving his opinion based on his own experience. Kyle Brandt on GMF said that the talk now is that Wentz could be out another month ... even possibly two. Brandt and the others thought Wentz should be given the maximum time necessary to heal. 

Zach Ertz was certainly not himself last night. Hopefully he will be back to his usual stellar self next week! 

It was definitely not a perfect game or a pretty game! But again, on GMF, the group said that many if not most regular season games are kind of mish mashes like this! Some good stuff ... some bad ... but overall, lots of fun!

[gardenman]

NFL teams officially are allowed to keep ten players on the practice squad. The Eagles kind of tweak that rule a bit by over-paying practice squad guys and then rotating them onto and off the practice squad. They end up with twenty or more practice squad guys this way who stay loyal to the team (more or less) even when they're not officially on the squad. They just rotated three guys off the practice squad this week and will fill those slots with new guys. They'll do this pretty much every week all season and have nearly a whole spare 22 players in the area. Now the players could sign elsewhere, but the Eagles overpay them and let them know their time off the practice squad is temporary, so the guys view it as a short vacation then rejoin the practice squad when a new rotation takes place. It's a very clever tactic. The players get paid like they're on the practice squad even when they're not, and the team ends up with twenty or more guys in reserve ready to step up when needed.

[LonestarBabs]

Getting ready in Chiefs Kingdom!!!!!!!!  WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gardenman]

It's gameday! Locally we'll be getting the Jags/Giants, Cowboys/Panthers, and tonight the Bears/Packers. I want to see how that Giants offensive line holds up against the Jags. If the reports of how shaky the right side of the line looks are right, Eli Manning could be in big trouble. I kind of expect to see the Giants struggle. Some are saying they'll be really good this year, but losing JPP on defense and with their issues at DB I just don't see them being that competitive.

I have no idea what to expect from either team in the Panthers/Cowboys game. The Panthers are hot and cold, while Dak Prescott ended last year playing poorly. Cam Newton can be great, and he can be mediocre. You just never know which version of Cam will show up. The Cowboys have a makeshift receiving corps this year. I expect them to focus on receivers in next years free agency and the draft.

The Bears/Packers game should be fun. Aaron Rodgers is pretty fiesty and I'm still not sure how good Trubisky will be. The Bears have surrounded Trubisky with talent, so he should play pretty well. I'd like to see the Pack sign Dez Bryant to give Rodgers a big target. Dez isn't great these days, but he's still a weapon and Rodgers could use more weapons.

[gardenman]

The Eagles are reportedly signing Braxton Miller, the former Ohio State QB/WR, to the practice squad. He's a smart and athletically gifted player who was drafted by the Texans in the third round a while back, but never developed. Word is that the coaching/mentoring in Houston wasn't the best and the Eagles hope to fix that in Philly. Alshon Jeffery serves as an onfield coach and off-field mentor to our young receivers. The Eagles also have high caliber receiver coaches. Guys with the physical tools and smarts of a Braxton Miller aren't all that common, so if the Eagles can groom the kid, he could become something special. He'll have to want to become special, but the potential is there.