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-Jamie Brown

Savage, as you no doubt know by now, was hired as a Player Personnel Consultant.

What we can gather from this is:

a.) Howie & Sean are getting some veteran support to help them in their early front office years.

b.) In case Howie and/or Sean don’t work out, there are some easy-to-choose replacements, so there is no time without a GM or DC.

c.) These guys were brought in to apply a lot of pressure to the Howie & Sean duo, essentially telling them “you are expendable, so you better do well”.

d.) The Eagles are hiring guys that are overqualified for the job and hope to finish with a ring this year… Not that that isn’t top priority every year.

e.) The Eagles know something we don’t about the potential lockout next year and just want to blow all their money this year and go all-or-nothing for a Super Bowl championship.

You can decide which is true for yourself, I’m just saying this has “conspiracy” written all over it.

When you think about it, that fella on the ten dollar bill looks an awful like Lurie. And it seems that Andy Reid has his face on the hundred…

Stay vigilant folks, I might have said too much already.

If I don’t have an article written by the end of next week, you know why.

But being in the game for a long time doesn’t exactly mean you are good at what you do. It might just mean you were in the right place at the right time.

For a while that is exactly what I, and many other people, thought. As a head coach Jauron has only once pushed over the .500 hill, and that was when he was leading the Bears in 2001 when they finished 13-3 and made a short playoff run. Actually they lost to the Eagles. And Jauron was named COY.

But with QBs like Jim Miller and Kordell Stewart, it is no wonder he got fired after failing to go 8-8 the next two seasons.

The he landed a head coaching job for Detroit after Steve Mariucci got fired. Jauron lasted exactly 5 games before losing his job at the end of that season. His record? 1-4.

Then he made it to the Bills, and skipping to 2009, billboards were going up stating, in so many words, “Jauron needs to be fired.”

He of course did get fired and now is the Eagles secondary coach.

But, through all these rough years, it never fails to baffle me that this guy still has most of his hair.

And, through all these tough years, there may have been doubt in his head coaching skills, but the pure respect players showed him shows that this guy knows how to lead and get players motivated. And when it comes down to it, isn’t that what makes a winning football team?

When Jauron was coaching the Bills, their defense was purely motivated. Even though most of their players were under-sized, under-appreciated, and overly-injured. The defense always seemed to leave it all on the field, and even though they may not have been skilled enough to stop offenses, they never said die.

Maybe, if Jauron brings that same spark to Philly and is able to make Asante want to tackle someone or can help push Sheldon through a hamstring injury (not that he really needs it) maybe this defense can go back to what it once was…The Beast in the East.

With a little help from the draft and some nice grabs in free agency, I don’t see why the Eagles can’t be a number one defense in the NFC.

As always you can  contact me via email: JamieBrown@thePhillyLinc.com

This is the email address where I will take questions which I will answer in my articles, as well as any requests you may have.

My Twitter is @thePhillyLinc

Or directly on Facebook: Facebook.com/thephillylinc.JamieBrown

Hurry up and do it!

It really baffles me why this should even be a topic of conversation instead of just getting it done.

DeSean was the best receiver the Eagles have had since T.O., and the best punt returner in the league. He made so many plays in the playbook accessible and he made defenses double team him or at least play off him. He has the potential to be the greatest weapon in the screen game in the last decade… maybe even of all time.

Plus, he’s really, really fast.

But, the Pro Bowl isn’t a way to judge DeSean Jackson.

As you may or may not know, the rules of the Pro Bowl are a bit one sided:

No blitzes.

No more than 4 DBs on the field at once.

No press coverage, except for inside the 5. The DBs must play 5 yards of the receiver.

The defense must run a 4-3 defense at all times.

And for some reason the NFL prohibited the WildCat during the Pro Bowl.

Pro Bowl = Lame

Sure DeSean racked up crazy yardage, but the bubble screens that were so effective thanks to the 5 yard DB rule, and the 4-3 defenses where a LB would have to try and cover him weren’t exactly fair.

Don’t get me wrong, he still played like a beast. But those emails that I got that used the Pro Bowl as an example as to reasons why he should be resigned. Nah, maybe next year the Pro Bowl will give the defense some chance.

When he was speeding down the field and making all those guys miss after he caught that screen pass I was wondering if they made a “no tackling” rule.

Is exactly what I thought to myself when first learning the news that some guy that looks like he is 16 would be the GM of the Eagles.

This article is for those of you that sent me emails over the last few days simply asking, “Who is Howie Roseman?’

To begin, I have no idea if this guy has an eye for talent like Tom Heckert did, and really this guy has been more on the paperwork/business side of the team. He started out in 2000 as a salary cap assistant to Joe Banner, then in 2003 he was bumped up to director of football administration.  He got promoted again in 2006 to VP of football administration, then in 2008 he became the new VP of player personnel and now he is GM.

Sounds like a pretty good decade to me, starting out as some accountant then cruising on to became GP? I need to grab myself a calculator and a resume and start learning how to plus and minis numberz…

Is that what math is?

Anyway, we all know this is Andy Reid’s team. From top to bottom he runs it, and he will have final say on any signings that Roseman decides to look into. So, I don’t think that there will be that much changing besides the name with the title.

But, I still think that Andy Reid doesn’t exactly have a lot of time on his hands during the season to be scouting NCAA players, so the change could be noticeable in how the Eagles draft in the future.

Really, this Howie Roseman guy seems to have some sort of football knowledge to be promoted so violently through the ranks of the Eagles, and he will have his hands full looking for a DE, LB, RB, OT, safety, maybe a QB, and perhaps even a wide receiver.

I think his football/scouting prowess should be able to be judged pretty quickly depending on how this off-season is handled.

As always you can  contact me via email: JamieBrown@thePhillyLinc.com

This is the email address where I will take questions which I will answer in my articles, as well as any requests you may have.

My Twitter is @thePhillyLinc

Or directly on Facebook: Facebook.com/thephillylinc.JamieBrown

The list,  and some very iffy predictions, are below:

TAKE ALL PREDICTIONS WITH A GRAIN OF SALT, please no emails saying “blah blah, how do you know who will win, blah blah, it isn’t even the draft yet…”

I am doing this based on last year’s results for each team, how I think the draft will go, and the rest is just guess work. For all I know Detroit will go undefeated next year and the Colts will have 2 wins on the season.

As always you can  contact me via email: JamieBrown@thePhillyLinc.com

This is the email address where I will take questions which I will answer in my articles, as well as any requests you may have.

My Twitter is @thePhillyLinc

Or directly on Facebook: Facebook.com/thephillylinc.JamieBrown

Brookshier is the 7th Eagle to have his number retired, and this got me thinking…Which Eagle from the past decade deserves their number to be retired?

McNabb immediately came to mind. Sure, he hasn’t won a Super Bowl, and he probably won’t, but he has plenty of other achievments to make a solid debate with. The arguments for and against 5′s chances are both compelling and viable.

On one hand he did bring the Eagles to their first conference championship game since 1980. Actually he got them there 5 times so far. He has the lowest INT percentage of any QB ever, and he consistently throws for over 3,000 yards per season.

On the other hand, he is 1-4 in championship games, and 0-1 in Super Bowls. He isn’t exactly what you would call “clutch”. Sometimes he seems to be in it purely for the money, and he buries the football into the turf more often than Andy Reid runs the ball.

Personally, if he does get his number retired, I don’t think it will be done in any less than 20 years after McNabb hangs up his helmet for good. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was compared to the Peyton Mannings and Tom Bradys of the league after he quits football.

Brian Dawkins is shoo-in, he has to be.

I can’t believe that anyone would think otherwise. The heart and soul of a defense, probably even more so than Polamalu in Pittsburgh, or Ray Lewis in Baltimore. If Dawkins deserves anything, it is a bust in Canton and 20 retired.

36-West is up in the air as well. As incredible as he was during the last decade, I don’t know if Lurie would want his number retired. That is just my thought, I would like to see his 36 never worn again, but I just don’t see it happening.

So what do you think? Should their numbers be retired? What other players do you think should have their numbers in a frame and never again on the field?

As always you can  contact me via email: JamieBrown@thePhillyLinc.com

This is the email address where I will take questions which I will answer in my articles, as well as any requests you may have.

My Twitter is @thePhillyLinc

Or directly on Facebook: Facebook.com/thephillylinc.JamieBrown

The thing is, I think the Eagles need him, not as a cornerback/nickleback, but as a kick returner.

If you can remember back to that Broncos-Eagles game in week 16, you would remember two fumbles on kickoff returns. One was lost, the other was pounced on by an Eagle. Both of them came from Macho Harris. His competence returning kicks is still unknown to me. He has good games and then he has bad games. It is hard to tell with him whether those fumbles were flukes, or if they were a disaster waiting to happen.

Quintin Demps isn’t bad at returning kicks by any means, he just isn’t great at it either. He has one return for a TD in his career (over two seasons) but this year he only had one return 40+ yards. And only four for 20+. These numbers are average for kick returners, but without Hobbs he would be the most experienced return-man on the field for the Eagles.

Over 5 years, Ellis Hobbs has had three kicks returned for TDs, and  averaged 27.2 yards per return for all 5 seasons. The biggest numbers are really in the returns for 20+ yards… In 2006 he had nine, in 2007 he had 24, and in 2008 he had 33.

Ellis has much better return stats across the board for his career than any current Eagle, and he even broke a 60+ yard return this season.

Maclin should be out of the question as a KR, he is a starting WR and him getting injured would leave a hole that would inevitably be filled by Reggie Brown. Not good.

For your convenience, I created a table with some stats to compare Philly’s kick returners this season:

Who do you think should be the starting return man?

As always you can  contact me via email: JamieBrown@thePhillyLinc.com

This is the email address where I will take questions which I will answer in my articles, as well as any requests you may have.

My Twitter is @thePhillyLinc

Or directly on Facebook: Facebook.com/thephillylinc.JamieBrown

The one exception is that the Eagles’ front office are actually making good decisions…

This year, however, the criteria for wideouts needs to change. A guy that can catch a ball over the middle and not get shaken up would be ideal, plus the redzone threat factor is non-existent for the Eagles’ passing game. As much as I wish it could, not every play can be a 50-yard bomb to Jackson.

Getting rid of one of the more pedestrian receivers (read below) would be a great place to start.

First off, Reggie Brown.

9 receptions for 155 yards? This guy is a Todd Pinkston without the three good seasons.

Kevin Curtis isn’t looking like the 1,000 yard KCurt of  2007, and he really does need a haircut. Plus, he has some injury problems and , I have to say, the speed he had a few years ago is long gone.

That means there are only two reliable possession receivers on the team, and one of them is a tight end. Brent Celek and Jason Avant.

Avant came up big in San Diego, as well as racking up some nice catches against Denver, and he definitely doesn’t get the credit he deserves. #81 is perhaps the only shining star in Philly’s backup wideout category.

Filling holes in the team’s roster is what the draft is for, and Danario Alexander is probably the best fit for the Eagles’ passing offense right now.

Alexander is 6-5 and weighs  221 lbs. and has “redzone threat” written all over him. Weighing 221 would make him the Eagles’ heaviest receiver, not to mention the team’s tallest. From the highlights I’ve seen of him, he would actually make a pretty good threat over the middle and definitely a go to guy inside the 20. He isn’t all that fast, but he has great route running skills and I don’t think I have seen him drop a ball once all season.

Coming out of Mizzou’s spread offense, the Eagles offense shouldn’t be too hard to learn. Maclin adjusted very well and seem to have no problem remembering his routes.

But, Maclin didn’t weigh 221, nor is he 6-5.

Alexander is a bit slow  when it comes to changing directions. During his time with Mizzou he would run routes that didn’t require him to stop and go, or turn, very often. This may sound like a huge negative, but it isn’t that bad. He would be ideal for running slants, streaks, and fades. He would also be hard to cover man-to-man.

His long strides also make him a viable deep threat.

Alexander finished the season with 113 receptions and 1,781 yards. Tack on 14 touchdowns and you have yourself a solid senior year.

He is expected to go somewhere in the third round, (most mock drafts are putting him on the 49ers with the 79th pick, but some scouts see him going somewhere in the 5th) combine results pending. If the Eagles do in fact get rid of a QB, and a draft pick is had for whichever one it may be, they should definitely look for this guy after they address their defensive problems.

I can see Alexander fitting into this team well, and at the same time filling the need for a big threat over the middle and in the endzone.

As always you can  contact me via email: JamieBrown@thePhillyLinc.com

This is the email address where I will take questions which I will answer in my articles, as well as any requests you may have.

My Twitter is @thePhillyLinc

Or directly on Facebook: Facebook.com/thephillylinc.JamieBrown

Alrighty, so I still have a few questions that I haven’t answered and I am ready to strike two of them off the list:

The first is from Amadeo M.

Mikell leads the team with 122 tackles, what do you think about that?

Tackles as a statistic is stupid. What merits a tally in the tackle column on the stat sheet? We know what a catch is, we know what a safety is, but there is no line to what a “tackle” really is.

You see each NFL team pays a stat crew for each game. Their general job sounds simple enough: tally up the rushing averages, passing yards, INTs, tackles, etc. of each player during the game.

The thing is, only 28 teams take the stat crew’s findings as official. The four that do take the findings as official are Seattle, Oakland, Houston, and

Usually, after the game, a defensive coach sits down and watches the game footage again, and then he adds up the tackles that he sees for each player, and that number is the one that sticks.

Remember back when Patrick Willis got DROTY, and had 226 tackles…well that’s why. And Ray Lewis’s stats, I think, have been a bit inflated at some points, and for the 2008 Colts defense, I have this quote from Rick Gosselin of DallasNews.com:

“The Indy defense was on the field for 980 snaps last season. But there were no tackles on 199 of those plays because they were either incomplete passes, interceptions or offensive touchdowns.

That left 781 defensive snaps that involved a tackle – and the Colts’ coaching staff awarded a league-high 1,416 tackles. That’s an average of 1.81 tackles per play. The Indianapolis staff awarded 891 “solo” tackles in those 781 plays. Figure that one out.”

So, even though different places had different stats for Mikell’s tackle count, (NFL.com gave him 69 solo tackles and 90 gang-tackles, and Pro-Football-Reference.com gave him 73 tackles) I wouldn’t take either number too seriously.

Amadeo also posted this on my Facebook page just minutes ago:

Trade McNabb for Young: Who Agrees?”

Not me buddy. While Vince Young (I hope that is who you are talking about), looked very good last season, it is only because of his 2,000 yard rushing pal Chris Johnson. I can guarantee that without a running back that actually runs the ball, like if he was on the Eagles, he would be passing like he did in his sophomore season.

9 TDs and 17 picks I think it was.

Marvin P. asked:

Taylor Mays and the Eagles seem like a nice fit. Do you think that we will draft him?

I wouldn’t mind seeing him in the midnight green, but I don’t know if he will fall that far in the draft.  The Steelers need someone to back up Polamalu, the Seahawks need a safety, and they have two picks in the first round both before Philly’s.

But if he does fall to the 24th spot, he may just be the next Weapon X. Plus, if needed, he can play linebacker which would really confuse QBs.

As always you can  contact me via email: JamieBrown@thePhillyLinc.com

This is the email address where I will take questions which I will answer in my articles, as well as any requests you may have.

My Twitter is @thePhillyLinc

Or directly on Facebook: Facebook.com/thephillylinc.JamieBrown

Super Bowl picks:

If it is raining, the Saints take the win easily, the Colts offense is nothing without Peyton passing. If it isn’t raining, it will be close, but I still see the Saints being able to hit Peyton as much as they hit Favre.

I hope it is raining, remember how incredible the first half of the Bears-Colts Super Bowl was?