Shawn Andrews Placed on IR

Shawn Andrews was placed on IR today, in order to make room on the roster for the Vick signing. Andrews has basically spent more time on the Injured Reserve than he has playing for the Eagles. It is a shame, because if Andrews is really seriously injured, you never want to see a guy who has chronic pain, especially back pain. It is also a shame that the Eagles spent a first round draft pick on Andrews, and when he is on the field, he is a beast, and the Eagles are definitely not as good a team when Andrews is not on the field.

As much as I hope that Andrews gets better for himself, I am personally sick and tired of his act, as he just flat out seems like he does not care about playing football. Andrews was injured at the beginning of training camp, but then seemed to all of a sudden get healthy and start practicing towards the end of it, and now he is on IR. Andrews act was getting tired last year, was real tired this year, and next year will be a joke if this act goes on again during the preseason. I first said we have to just cut ties with him, but its hard to when he is such a beast on the field.

Unfortunately, I think the Eagles really planned on Andrews playing and being healthy coming into this season. They are left with Winston Justice at right tackle right now, and no one else. I still don't think they should nor will sign Jon Runyan, but they should at least explore that opportunity right now. However, if they feel confident going forward with Justice at right tackle, I would not want Runyan to be brought in. I also think the Eagles should explore moving Stacy Andrews back out to right tackle, which is what he played at Cincinnati. Stacy Andrews has been a solid tackle before, and the Eagles do have some options at guard in Cole, Jean-Gilles, and McGlynn. Again, not sure they should do this, but they should explore it I believe. But for right now, Justice is the long term starter at right tackle it looks like.

In other news today, the Eagles activated Michael Vick from the exemption list, and thus had to cut a player. They cut Hank Baskett. I do not really like this move, and feel like they should have cut Reggie Brown. I actually am a Baskett fan, and thought he deserved to be on the roster this season. He blocks real well for a wide receiver, and at least can catch 1 or 2 passes a game, and both of those things are a lot more than Reggie Brown can do. Even though the Eagles don't throw the fade really, that option is there with Baskett. Again, this is more than Reggie Brown brings to the table, so it doesn't make much sense to me, but I guess isn't a big deal in the long run. Hopefully this move will let Brandon Gibson let on the field.

No Clue What to Expect From Eagles

The OTA's, mini camps, training camp, and the preseason are finally over and the Eagles are ready to kick off the real season Sunday in Carolina. And after following the Eagles throughout all of the offseason camps and games, I still have no clue what to expect when this team takes the field on Sunday. I have never been this clueless as to how the Eagles will perform on the field this season.

On offense, there was finally some turnover on the offensive line this offseason. With Tra Thomas and John Runyan off the team, at least for now in Runyan's case, the Eagles wasted no time taking care of the offensive line by signing Stacy Andrews, and trading for Jason Peters, both solid offensive tackles. It also appeared like they would be getting all-pro Shawn Andrews back, and so the offensive line looked good. Only problem is Jason Peters was one of the worst players in the preseason, Stacy Andrews couldn't make it more than a few series at a time without coming out of the game, Todd Herremans got injured, and Shawn Andrews seems more interested in making stupid videos on youtube than playing football. Honestly at this point it seems like to me that Shawn Andrews is more interested in stealing money from the Eagles than playing. I understand that back injuries are serious, and can start to flare up at any time and take a while to heal, but Andrews is a guy you just can't take seriously at all. The Eagles will open up with Herremans and Shawn Andrews not playing, and question marks as to how Stacy Andrews and Peters will perform.

At the running back position, the Eagles are solid, but Brian Westbrook has yet to play a preseason game, and as recently as yesterday was not able to practice. Not practicing is most likely a precaution for Westbrook at this point, but Westbrook has still never played all 16 games in a season, and is only getting older and more injury prone as his career goes on. The Eagles obviously need a healthy Westbrook to have success this season.

The questions continue on the defensive side of the football. The Eagles last season were the #1 overall defense in the NFC. I believe that to be a good team, the Eagles have to have a great defense. Not even just a good defense; this defense needs to be in the top 10 in the NFL for the Eagles to be successful. At the end of last season, you had Brian Dawkins at free safety, Stewart Bradley at middle linebacker, and Jim Johnson at defensive coordinator. You can't get much better than that at those 3 areas. Now you have Macho Harris at free safety, Omar Gaither at middle linebacker, and Sean McDermott at defensive coordinator. Harris may turn out to be a beast, but has never played an NFL game, and is replacing one of the best players in Eagles history. That is a downgrade right now. Omar Gaither actually was the Eagles starting middle linebacker, and then was replaced by Bradley because Bradley was better. Gaither moved to the outside, and lost his job there as well. Bradley to Gaither is also a downgrade. Jim Johnson as we know unfortunately passed away this offseason, and I believe that Sean McDermott was the correct replacement, and will become one of the best defensive coordinators in the game, just like Johnson. But right now, this will be McDermott's first game as a defensive coordinator, and until he gets some experience, that is a downgrade at that spot as well. Free safety and middle linebacker are the 2 most important positions on the field for making sure everyone knows their assignments, and they are natural leadership positions.

The Eagles have a lot of skill on their team, just a lot of questions as well. It's not as if I expect bad things out of the guys like Jason Peters, Stacy Andrews, and Macho Harris when they are on the field, I am just saying that we have not seen a lot of these guys play in a meaningful game yet, and do not know how they will perform once the games matter.

It's not enough for the Eagles just to be good. We have been good recently, and that is nothing new for us. 10-6 and a first round playoff loss is not good enough for this team, especially when Joe Banner says before the season that the Eagles have the best roster in the NFL. If he believes this, and the Eagles do not get to the Super Bowl, it sounds like it is on Andy Reid's hands for not being able to get the best roster in the NFL to the Super Bowl.

Donovan McNabb has to be very good for the Eagles to be successful. Westbrook, McCoy, and Weaver have to be very good in the backfield. The Eagles really need DeSean Jackson to continue to progress and become the #1 receiver on this team, and a legit pro-bowl caliber player. On defense, the Eagles will need to continue to get solid play from Trent Cole, Broderick Bunkley, Mike Patterson, Asante Samuel, Sheldon Brown, and Quntin Mikell. The NFC is wide open this year, and the Eagles are capable of getting to the Super Bowl.

As far as Week 1 goes, the Eagles travel to Carolina to play the Panthers. The Panthers were 8-0 at home last year in the regular season until they lost at home in the playoffs. Winston Justice will be making his 2nd career start at right tackle in place of the injured Shawn Andrews. Hopefully his 2nd start works out a little bit better than his first. It won't be easy though as Carolina likes to move Julius Peppers around the line and line him up at both defensive end positions to get the best matchups. The Panthers also feature one of the best offensive lines in football, and the best rushing attacks. The Panthers offensive line features Jordan Gross and Jeff Otah, 2 of the best tackles in the game. They run block well and they pass block well. The Panthers will run the ball with DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart who looks like he will be playing in this game after not practicing recently. The Panthers like to run, and then set up the play action pass with the run. Just when you bring 8 in the box to stop the run, the Panthers will go play action, and have one of the best receivers in the league in Steve Smith to pick apart the secondary.

This should be one of the better games of the opening weekend slate of games, and when looking at the Eagles schedule, this is an extremely important game to win. When you are looking at an Eagles team that could finish anywhere from 7-9 to 12-4, you have to win this game against another good NFC team, and get off to a solid 1-0 start.

Time To Worry About the O-Line?

I’ve tried to not worry, and I’ve tried to hold it in, but it is official - I am worried about the Eagles offensive line. With only 1 (Jamaal Jackson) starter on the offensive line healthy enough to make the trip to Indianapolis for the 2nd preseason game this week, I am starting to get more and more concerned as the season gets closer. I understand that teams will hold a player out of a preseason game with a hang nail, but still…. I am worrying.

I hope that my worrying is over nothing, but it seems less likely every day that our revamped offensive line will all be starting the season together. This will be a problem, as the Eagles spend a lot of money and draft picks on their offensive line. Let’s take a look at all the different players on the offensive line, and what they are out injured with.

Starting at left tackle this season, replacing Tra Thomas will be Jason Peters. Peters was paid a lot of money after being acquired in a trade before the draft. He looked horrible in the first preseason game, was having trouble getting the snap count down, and now is out injured with a strained quad. Peters will be replaced by King Dunlap, who is a monster (even by offensive lineman standards).

At left guard this season is Todd Herremans, who has been a starter in the offense for a few years now. It was initially reported that Herremans had a bruised ankle, but now it is listed as a stress condition in his foot. I can’t imagine that is a good thing for a guy that size, especially when offensive lineman tend to take longer to heal when things go wrong with their legs or feet. Herremans will be replaced by Max Jean-Gilles, who has seen playing time with this team before.

At right guard, free agent acquisition Stacy Andrews is slated to be the starter. When the Eagles signed Andrews, he was coming on surgery, and they knew it would take some time to get him on the field. Well, supposedly he is healing just fine, but he has been on and off the field. He doesn’t have any specific injury besides simply healing from knee surgery. Andrews will be replaced by Nick Cole, who started most of last season in place off Shawn Andrews.

Speaking of Shawn Andrews….. the oft injured now starting right tackle is injured with back spasms. Andrews had back surgery during last season, and apparently re-injured the back while running at some point. I have no clue what to make of Andrews, his desire to play, or when he will be back. Andrews will be replaced by Winston Justice. If it turns out Andrews can’t go this season, the Eagles may consider reaching out to Jon Runyan, if it turns out he is able to play this season.

So what does this all mean? Besides Donovan McNabb having to run for his life all night against the Colts Thursday night, hopefully nothing. Hopefully this is all just regular before season injuries and rest, and the starting unit will all be healthy, available, and productive week 1 of the season. There is a big difference between healthy and productive. We need our offensive line to be both this year. If this unit is all together, and productive, it has the ability to be very dangerous, and one of the best units in the game. Let’s hope this is the case, and my worrying is for nothing.

Shawn Andrews to See Back Specialist

Shawn Andrews was not at practice today. He wasn't even in the area to discuss his injury as he did over the weekend... sort of. Andrews spoke to the media yesterday, and said that it is easy to people to criticize him without being in his shoes, and that he is content with where he is at.

Interesting. Well today, we learned that Shawn Andrews flew out to Los Angeles to meet with Dr. Robert Watkins, the doctor who performed back surgery on Andrews last year. What this means remains to be seen, but it is clearly not a good thing.

The banged up offensive line looked poor in the first preseason game. In my opinion, it is officially time to start worrying about the offensive line. The Eagles spent a lot of money to bring in guys to make sure that this unit remained one of the best in the NFL after losing Tra Thomas and John Runyan. Jason Peters can't stay on the field, Todd Herramans in out for the entire preseason, Shawn Andrews hasn't put on pads yet, and Stacy Andrews has a banged up knee, and seems to be in and out of practice each day.

If Shawn Andrews if out for an extended period of time, Stacy could slide back to right tackle, and Nick Cole, or Max Jean-Gilles could play guard. If Stacy remains at guard, Herramans, if he is healthy, could play left tackle, or Winston Justice, who got the start in the first preseason game, could as well. Who knows, maybe we will see John Runyan at some point.

Eagles First Mini Camp Comes to an End

The Eagles wrapped up their first mini camp of the season today, and things are looking good for this team. With lots of new faces on the team, it is important to get these new guys so they can learn the playbook, and start to learn the system. It is especially important for 1st round draft pick, Jeremy Maclin, who has always played in a spread style offense, to get in here, and learn the offense that the Eagles run, as we will need him to contribute.

The young players looked good for the most part. They came out looking eager to learn and prove themselves. It is hard to tell much since there isn't much contact in this first mini camp, and no tackling. One of the few things that is worth watching is the cornerback vs. wide receiver battles. On running plays in these camps, since there is no tackling, the running back just hits the hole and takes off. On passing plays, however, the wide receiver is still trying to beat the cornerback, while the cornerback is still trying to make a play on the ball.

There are some position battles to look at this offseason. Shawn Andrews, while not in a position battle, started the entire camp at right tackle, in his brother's absence. According to Reid, Shawn may end up being the starter at right tackle, and from what Shawn was saying, he wants to be the starter at tackle. Stacy Andrews, and Todd Herramans sat out this mini camp with injuries. Last year's 4th round draft pick Mike McGlynn started at left guard this mini camp. On defense, you have both Victor Abiamiri and Juqua Parker splitting time with the 1st team at left DE, and it should be a good battle to determine that starter all offseason. In the secondary, there are some battles as well. Sheldon Brown, assuming he is on the team will probably start with Samuel, but you also have Ellis Hobbs pushing for a starting position at corner. At safety, Quintin Demps is penciled in at the early starter at free safety. However, you have a lot of guys at safety in this mini camp, with Macho Harris, and Sean Jones trying to get a starting spot.

It was a successful mini camp, and the young guys like LeSean McCoy, Jeremy Maclin, and Cornelius Ingram showed a lot of promise, and look like they will be able to contribute in some way right away. A rookie camp is next which starts on May 20.

Eagles Sign Stacy Andrews

The Eagles signed former Bengals offensive lineman, Stacy Andrews today to help out on the offensive line, pending the results of a physical. Stacy Andrews also happens to be brother of Shawn Andrews. Stacy can play multiple offensive line positions, but will probably be projected as a right tackle on the Eagles unit. If this is the case, the Eagles clearly do not have any intentions on bringing back long-time tackle John Runyan. This will also put the brothers Andrews on the right side of the line for many years to come. Stacy is actually the older brother of Shawn, but is only 27 years old himself. Having his older brother on the team now should really help out Shawn, and get him back to playing at the high level that he does when he is healthy.

It is a little sad to think that John Runyan has played his last game as an Eagle, but we believe this is a very good move, and one that needed to be made in order to help out the depleted offensive line. Stacy Andrews is a great signing, and should be a solid offensive lineman no matter where they line him up. Stacy is a monster at 6'7", and 342 pounds, and can pass block and run block effectively.