Eagles Draft Brandon Graham

The Eagles made some noise in the first round of the NFL Draft last night by trading up to the #13 spot to select defensive end out of Michigan, Brandon Graham. By moving up to the #13 spot, the Eagles gave up their own first round pick, and also their 2 third round picks. They still have 2 second round picks for tonight.

Brandon Graham is one of those guys who has played both outside linebacker and defensive end, but projects as a DE for the Eagles. He is undersized as a defensive end, listed a little bit over 6'1" and 270 pounds. Graham describes himself as fast, relentless, and a guy with a high motor. I'm not sure if Graham will start right away, but he does project as a left defensive end, to go opposite Trent Cole. This is a position that we needed, as Trent Cole has really been the only effective defensive end during his time in Philly. Juqua Parker is effective in small doses, but is older now. Victor Abiamiri is always injured, and even when he isn't, has not been very effective. If Graham can be a solid player, he will be the long term starter at the left defensive end position.

The Brandon Graham pick has been praised by some of the so-called experts in Jon Gruden, and Todd McShay. Graham appears to be a DE who can use his speed to beat offensive lineman to the outside, but also has a jab step and is able to fake like he is going outside, and cut back inside on an offensive tackle. Being as small as he is however, you have to imagine he will get pushed around at times by some of the bigger, dominant offensive tackles.

It is hard to say at this point whether the Eagles made the right move or not with Graham, but Reid and Roseman both wanted Graham, so at least they got the guy that they wanted.

6 Eagles Make Pro Bowl

Six Philadelphia Eagles players were selected to the Pro Bowl, which may be the most since 2004-2005. The players selected were Leonard Weaver, DeSean Jackson, Jason Peters, Trent Cole, Asante Samuel, and David Akers. Most are also starters.

Since only 1 fullback is chosen, Leonard Weaver is the starter there. DeSean Jackson also is a starter, and will start opposite Larry Fitzgerald. Jason Peters will be the starting tackle, along with Bryant McKinnie. That is 3 starters on the offensive side of the football.

On defense, Asante Samuel will be starting at the one corner, opposite Charles Woodson. Trent Cole will back up Julius Peppers and Jared Allen at the defensive end spot. David Akers is the lone kicker.

Hopefully the Eagles actually send 0 players to the Pro Bowl. The Pro Bowl this season is the weekend before the Super Bowl, so both Super Bowl teams obviously will not be sending anyone to the Pro Bowl, so the alternates are important. Donovan McNabb is a 1st alternate at QB.

Also, 3 Pitt Panthers made the pro bowl - Larry Fitzgerald, and Darrelle Revis, who were basically locks before the season, and punter Andy Lee of the San Francisco 49ers.

Philadelphia Eagles All-Decade Team

Our Eagles all-decade team was the hardest to come up with of all the Philadelphia teams, mostly because there are more players. We decided to go with 2 running backs, since no fullback is worth being on the all-decade team. This isn’t to say that we didn’t like Cecil Martin, or Jon Ritchie, because we did, and obviously we love Leonard Weaver right now, but the contributions of the 2nd running back were much greater than any fullback in this offense this decade. The 2nd running back was a close decision between Duce Staley and Correll Buckhalter. Ultimately, we went with Buckhalter for his overall body of work, although Staley was a great player.

Another tough call was the 2nd receiver. Terrell Owens gets the #1 receiver slot. Even though he had a short body of work this decade with the Eagles, we all know the Eagles receivers weren’t exactly the greatest this decade. The 2nd receiver came down to Todd Pinkston, and current beast DeSean Jackson. This was the biggest argument we had of any of the players on any team. It is a good argument – Pinkston was on the team longer and thus accrued more numbers, but Jackson is the better player. We decided on DeSean Jackson.

On the defensive side of the ball, there were discussions about the defensive tackles, between Corey Simon, Hollis Thomas, and current tackles Broderick Bunkley and Mike Patterson. We ultimately went with Patterson and Simon. Donovan McNabb gets the team MVP honors.

Check out our full Philadelphia Eagles all-decade team--

Offense
QB: Donovan McNabb
RB: Brian Westbrook, Correll Buckhalter
WR: Terrell Owens, DeSean Jackson
TE: Chad Lewis
OL: Jon Runyan, Shawn Andrews, Jamaal Jackson, Jermaine Mayberry, Tra Thomas

Defense

DL: Trent Cole, Mike Patterson, Corey Simon, Hugh Douglas
LB: Jeremiah Trotter, Carlos Emmons, Stewart Bradley
CB: Sheldon Brown, Troy Vincent
S: Brian Dawkins, Michael Lewis

Specialists

K: David Akers
P: Sean Landeta
Special Teams: Ike Reese
KR: Brian Mitchell
PR: Brian Westbrook

MVP: Donovan McNabb

Coach: Andy Reid

Close Calls: Hank Fraley, Duce Staley, Todd Pinkston, Hollis Thomas, Broderick Bunkley, Bobby Taylor, Lito Sheppard, Quintin Mikell

Eagles Beat Up on Panthers

The Eagles beat the Panthers in the opener on Sunday to start the season off on a good note. The game however might not have ended on a good note with Donovan McNabb suffering cracked ribs when scoring on a touchdown run.

The game started out with a Panthers touchdown drive that basically took up half the first quarter and ended up with an 11 yard touchdown run from DeAngelo Williams. After that point, the Eagles defense would flat out dominate. After Akers kicked a field goal, on the next Panthers possession, Trent Cole busted up the middle and sacked Delhomme, forcing a fumble. Victor Abiamiri picked it up and fell into the end zone for a touchdown. Delhomme's day would only get worse. DeSean Jackson took a punt 85 yards for a score, and forcing the Panthers to turn the ball over all game allowed the Eagles to take advantage of short fields and come away with a 38-10 win on the road.

On offense, the Eagles were forced to do very little. The offensive box score looks weird for scoring so many points, but nothing really was needed from the offense. McNabb ended the game 10-18 for just 79 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT, and a rushing TD. I thought McNabb played well for the most part. The interception was the only real bad throw he had, throwing it to the linebacker dropping back in coverage. The Eagles receivers did have a few drops. The Eagles ran the ball well, Westbrook had 13 carries for 64 yards and a receiving touchdown, and LeSean McCoy had 9 carries for 46 yards. The Eagles leading receiver was Brent Celek who had 6 catches for 37 yards and a TD. Going into future games, the offense needs to play better. I need to see more from the receivers in general. Kevin Curtis in my opinion is really just not all that good. He's an average receiver at best, drops too many passes, and can't get open enough from the outside. He belongs in the slot, but isn't used there. When Kolb came in, the offense didn't do too much, and Kolb continues to struggle when he faces game situations.

The story of the game however was the defense. The Eagles defense held the Panthers to just 169 total yards, which included just 86 yards rushing. The Panthers were one of the best rushing teams in the league last season. Sean McDermott really did well in his first game at defense coordinator. To be honest, after watching the Eagles in the preseason, I was a little nervous about the defense coming into this season. Well, in game 1, they were solid. The ended the game with 5 interceptions, 2 from Sheldon Brown, and 1 each from Asante Samuel, Akeem Jordan, and Joselio Hanson. The defense also had 5 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, and a touchdown. Darren Howard led the Eagles with 2 of the 5 sacks. The Eagles defensive tackles did real well against the run, and the Eagles were in the Panthers backfield all game. If this is the defense that will show up every week, the Eagles will again be one of the best units in the league. I will say that I saw Macho Harris miss a few tackles, which can't happen from your free safety, and Harris needs to get better as the season goes on. It won't be as easy next weekend when the Eagles play the Saints who feature maybe the best offense in the NFL.

As I mentioned earlier, Donovan McNabb suffered cracked ribs in the 4th quarter on a 3 yard touchdown run. Reid said after the game that McNabb would need to be re-evaluated to see if he will play next weekend, but all indications are that he probably will not. This injury to fully heal usually is a 2-4 week injury, but players have come back the next week and played, so we will see how that plays out. Either way, it was a good game, and a good start to the season to get out of the gates, especially for the defense.

Eagles Advance to Divisional Round

The Eagles beat the Vikings in the wild card round to advance to the divisional round of the playoffs to face their division rival New York Giants.

Back to the game at hand, the Eagles pulled away in the 4th quarter in a close game throughout. It felt like the game was 16-14 for most of the 2nd half, and the Vikings were just a field goal away from taking the lead, but the Eagles defense held strong. The Vikings were everything they were advertised to be, a very good defensive line that didn't give the Eagles much room to operate on the offensive end. Correll Buckhalter's 27 yard run was really the only long run the Eagles had all game. The Eagles ended up with only 67 yards total on 23 carries. The Vikings defense was also constantly pressuring Donovan McNabb on passing plays. The Eagles only offensive touchdown came in the 4th quarter, and essentially won the game, a 71 yard screen pass touchdown by Brian Westbrook.

Donovan McNabb played great in this game. He ended the game with exactly 300 yards passing and a touchdown and an INT. He was constantly pressured, and escaped the Vikings pressure well, and was able to hit his check downs a lot, and take what the Vikings gave him. Brent Celek and Jason Avant had some big catches, a lot on 3rd down.

The Eagles defense was also solid, and made sure the Eagles would not give this game up in the 2nd half. The Vikings had two long scoring drives, which both resulted in Adrian Peterson touchdowns runs, but that was all the Eagles would give the Vikings. Overall, the Vikings only ended up with 301 total yards, and Asante Samuel scored on an interception return for a touchdown. We knew coming into this game how good the Vikings rushing attack was, with Peterson, who was the league's leading rusher, and also Chester Taylor. The Eagles did a decent job on both of them, but more importantly, did not let Tarvaris Jackson beat them. Trent Cole, Brian Dawkins, and Quintin Mikell were beasts on the defensive side of the football.

Also, DeSean Jackson's punt returns were solid, and always seemed to give the Eagles good field position. Jackson had over 100 yards on punt returns including a 62 yarder. Also on special teams, David Akers was 4-4 on field goal tries, including a 51-yarder. For a guy who couldn't make a 40+ yard field goal halfway through the season, Akers has really stepped it up in this playoff run. Hopefully it will continue at New York.

It was definitely a nerve racking game, and the Vikings game it their all, but in the end, the Eagles prevailed, and advance to play the Giants next weekend.