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Updated August 15, 2008 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Updated June 23, 2008 Once again, I find that I have not been updating the site as much as I would have liked to. With that came an issue with a hacker which prompted me to updated the forum software and in turn also update this page. I will strive to do better. Training camp is soon upon us...Just a
month away and I am not sure about you, but I am excited
for this upcoming season. I really want to see how the
rookies pan out and the new vets are going to come in
and show that they are worth what we are paying for
them. Asante Samuel is an obvious lock for one starting
cornerback spot, but what are they going to do about the
other one with Sheldon and Lito still on the squad? The offense will be another story all together...what more can be said then: Donovan needs to be and stay healthy for the Eagles to prosper this season. Most of the starters will be returning this season so that is good but we are entering training camp without that venerable #1 receiver that we so desperately need. Hopefully some of the young guys can break out this year! Westy has got a good backup with Lorenzo Booker now and he can also return kicks and with DeSean Jackson to return punts, our special teams should be improved. I guess we will see how it all pans out in camp. We have some new business cards made up that you can hand out to businesses or people you meet to spread the word about the group. Contact Andy to get some as he has them. I was going to try and organize a trip to one of the Ranger/Phillies games coming up on June 27-29, 2008...but, there was just not enough interest to see about getting a group rate on tickets. I know I am still trying to go on Saturday night to see the fireworks after the game and root the Phils to a victory. If anyone is going, please email me and let me know when you are going and get pics at the game, we can post them on here. Those going on the same night can maybe all hookup at the game too. The Green Legion is not bringing a group to the Monday night game here this season, but we are still looking at a possible tailgate if anyone is interested...Contact Andy on this as well. I am looking forward to an exciting season at AA as well and hopefully we can grow the group even larger this year. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Finally....The Schedule has been released and all I can say is WOW! Just look at all the Primetime games (Dallas, Chicago, NY Giants, Arizona and Cleveland). I have to say I like the schedule, it will not be easy and the fact that we do not have 2 home games in a row is interesting. At Dallas in week 2 on a Monday Night should be a great game here. Hopefully a nice warm tailgate for that! And the 12/28 game against the boys up in Philly could make for an excellent holiday trip. Speaking of trips...Anyone plan on making it to any other Eagles away games? I am really wanting to go to the Chicago game. Hopefully the Green Legion will be doing a trip there this year. My wife and I went to New Orleans last season with them and had a blast. Next up is the Draft on the 28th of this month and it will be interesting to see if the Eagles make any draft day moves or which direction they will go. After that, Training camp...Am I the only one here craving football again? I will be working on the Gallery and getting more pictures uploaded. If you have any pictures you would like to put on the site, let me know and we can figure out how to get them on there. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, we are well into 2008 and the season is beginning to come to life with Free Agency and the approaching draft. The Eagles made a big splash in the free agency market with the signing of CB - Asante Samuel from the Patriots and also DE Chris Clemons from Oakland but have been pretty stagnant since. They did try to make moves for Randy Moss or Larry Fitzgerald to address the #1 WR spot, but those did not work out. There has been some speculation that they might go after Roy Williams (WR- Det) but we will just have to wait and see if they can do that or will just draft a WR in the 1st or 2nd round. The release of Takeo Spikes was a bit of a surprise, but I guess they have confidence in their younger LB corps. The release of Jevon Kearse was more expected. I am anxiously awaiting the schedule to come out so that I can see what games I would like to attend. I know they will be playing the Bears in Chicago and I would love to go to this game, but it depends on the time of the year. If it is in Sept., then I would go. They are also playing the 49ers in San Francisco and that could be a nice trip to take. I would like to take this spot to say goodbye to Kristen who is moving back to PA. We wish her well and hope she will be with us at AA in spirit on game days. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I hope that everyone had a safe and happy Holiday and that you continue that through the New year! As many know, I went to New Orleans with Kathy to go see the Eagles against the Saints along with the Green Legion. We arrived on Saturday and from arrival until late Sunday night, I do not believe we had anything besides an alcoholic beverage to drink. We joined them down at Bourbon Street Blues for the Pep Rally party. It would have been even better had the weather not gone to crap. The cold front moved in along with rain. Awoke early Sunday to a nice sunny day, albeit a little windy and cold and headed down to Razoo's for the Tailgate party with open bar! Needless to say after about 6 or 7 screwdrivers and a Hurricane for the walk over, we were pretty pumped up for the game. The procession over included us from the Green Legion along with many other fans that joined in as we made our way to the stadium. People would stop and stare in amazement at all these Eagles fans taking over the city and singing the Fight Song and doing the EAGLES cheer! It was a blast and cannot wait to do it again somewhere next season. The game was great as well. Just from the first drive that ended in a Fumble Recovery for Kevin Curtis in the End zone for a Touchdown and an all around good game from the Offense (where have they been?) and the Defense (another Goal line stand!). We had all the Saints fans hanging their heads at the end of the game, because they thought they were eliminated from playoff contention, but they still have an outside shot. I am not going to go into full detail about the game, but just wanted to say that I am happy that some of the younger guys are stepping up and playing well, especially on the defensive side of the ball. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FINALLY!!!! Another win! And against the hated Cowboys! What a wonderful victory. I cannot begin to say enough about how the Defense played against one of the top offensive teams in the league. They were shut down. Except for a couple of big passes to Crayton and Witten, the Cowboys could not get anything going. We limited them to only 53 yds rushing and 1 for 13 on third down. We finally were able to get some sacks and turnovers; 4 sacks, 3 interceptions. Awesome game for the defense! What more can be said about the play of Brian Westbrook? Once again leading the team in receptions with 9 and the play to basically end the game by taking a knee at the one yard line. How much more of a team player can one guy be? The front office needs to lock him up to the Eagles for the rest of his playing career at all costs! Mcnabb did not have a bad game, but we did only score 10 points. Granted, we could have had 13 had Akers not missed one FG, but on most days 10 pts. is not enough to beat most teams, let alone one of the highest scoring teams in the league. It was enough yesterday though! Oh, and can we please remove the Flea Flicker from the playbook? For those that did not go to the game, you missed an awesome time at the tailgate party and the game atmosphere itself. It is a joy to watch all the Cowboy fans hang their heads with the loss. And they won't blame it on the poor play of their team, but blame it on the presence of Jessica Simpson who was there cheering on Tony Romo. Whatever the reason they fell flat on Sunday, we will take it. I would like to thank Quimby, Marilyn and the entire Green Legion for welcoming us at their festivities. We got alot of positive feedback regarding the Logo, shirts and the entire atmosphere we generate here in Dallas. I had a great time and will be traveling with them next week to New Orleans to watch the Birds take on the Saints. So, have fun at AA and I will see you all there on the 30th for the Bills game! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am almost ready to throw in the towel. I know we are still one game out of a wildcard spot with 4 games to play, but the Team and Coaching staff do not look like they have a hunger to get there. At least one player does, and that is Brian Westbrook. After doing what he does best and that is making a big play when we need it, the coaching staff falls back into doing what they do best...calling a pass play. That would not be bad if we had a QB capable of making a good decision. AJ Feely is not that QB. I admit, I jumped on the bandwagon last week following the NE game, only to be have that train derail in this game. Why he was constantly throwing into double teams and also making bad decisions in throwing of INT, I will never know. There is a reason he is a back up and should never be a starter for the Eagles, let alone any other team in the League. Even though Feely played like crap, the rest of the team did not have a bad game. The two early INT put the defense in a bad position with SEA getting the ball deep in Eagles territory. There was some missed tackles on the 2 other SEA TDs, but other than those 2 plays it was not a bad effort. They missed a few Turnover opportunities (gotta make that catch!) but had 2.5 sacks, 1 INT and 1 Forced Fumble. Westbrook and Buckhalter both had good days, each with a Rushing TD and averaging over 5 yds/carry between them. BWest also had the punt return down to the SEA 14 with less than 2 minutes to play that could have setup the win. We all know how it ended. The conditions were terrible and yet the coaches decided to pass (59%) more than run (41%). I just don't see why they will not run the ball more?!? So basically, the Eagles have to win out to still have a chance. We play the Giants next, then down here in Dallas, off to New Orleans and then home again against Buffalo. All the games could have playoff implications for all the teams. We need to fight our hardest to win these games. With another loss, I do not think we can make it. 8-8 will not make it into playoffs. So I will take it one game at a time and go from there. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, even though we did not get a win against the now 11-0 Patriots, we put up one hell of a fight! In the 31-28 loss, with AJ Feely filling in for DMac, the team looked good both offensively and defensively. I say AJ played decent and if it wasn't for the the 3 INT he through, we could have won that game. The first one was bad yes, but it was early and we recovered from it. The 2nd one, that sailed over Curtis for Asante Samuel's 2nd of the night was just a horrible pass. We were moving the ball for what could have been at least a tying FG drive using the short to mid passes and then he tried one long ball that did not work. But hey, 27-42 for 345yds and 3 TDs is not bad. Westbrook was slowed as we figured they would key on him. Greg Lewis made an appearance in this game in a big way with 4 catches, 88 yds and 2 TD grabs. I am still wondering why he is on the roster. Someone with more talent could have played in his spot, like Avant or Baskett. The defense for the most part shut down the vaunted NE offensive firepower. They did not give up the big play to Moss. Held Moss to only 5 catches for 43yds and only allowed them to 48yds rushing. The problem was that we had no answer for Wes Welker. 13 catches for 149 yds. Open all night long. Face it front office, our defense needs some other playmakers in the secondary. Our #3 and #4 corners are terrible. We were down to JR Reid as our Strong Safety! We were finally able to make it to the QB for 3 sacks but did not force any turnovers. This defense has done a terrible job at forcing turnovers this season. So now it is back home to take on the 7-4 Seattle Seahawks. They have been playing better of late and we are still fighting for a wildcard playoff spot. I am not worried about our defense against their offense, I am just hoping we can put up enough points to win. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, what is there to say...A win is a win! It was not the prettiest victory over a previously 0-9 team, but we will take the wins any way we can get them at this point. I think everyone thought the season was over when McNabb went down again with a ankle injury. But, AJ Feely came in and once he settled down in the 2nd half, he had a decent game. Luckily, DMac's injury is not severe and he is listed as day-to-day. Brian Westbrook is making a case for league MVP this season, but I think he is too far behind Brady and Favre to win that. But he is having an excellent year so far...with 849 Rushing yds, 518 Receiving yds and breaking his single game rushing record this past week with 148 yds on the ground vs. Miami. He is currently 4th in Rushing in the league with the leader (A. Peterson) possibly done for the year. There is only 76 yds that spots 2 through 4. That would be a great accomplishment for him and for a team that is primarily geared around the pass. There were two major penalties by LJ Smith, one nullified a long Flea-Flicker TD to Reggie Brown and the other was a 15yd Personal Foul after the Avant TD reception. He really has not done much good this season. The defense played alright only allowing Miami 186 total yds and limiting them to only 77 yds. rushing. Miami has had over 100 yds rushing in the previous 7 games. Once again, they also had another Goal line stand and with a big play by new starter Juqua Thomas to end the stand. Jerome Kearse was inactive for this game and appears to be on his last games with the Eagles. His salary and the play of younger DE has made him expendable. Our Special teams play still needs to be improved and until we get a true return man, it will continue to suffer. So...On to this week where the Eagles head up to New England and take on the seemingly unstoppable Patriots. I will admit that I have pretty much conceded this game. I hope they can put up a fight against them and hold there passing game in check, but NE just looks too good right now. It is a Sunday night game and with National coverage, I hope the Eagles do not get embarrassed! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I would first like to take this time to apologize for not updating this page in over 8 weeks. I will be honest and tell you that I have been depressed by the Eagles play this season. Every time I would think about coming on here and updating, it would just make me think about how terrible the team has looked this season. The play calling, the coaching, the lack of effort by some of the players...it all starts to snowball. The only good game we have had so far has been the Detroit game where they were an offensive juggernaut. We have lost too many close games this season and even allowed the dreaded Cowboys to make us look bad! This past week's game against the Redskins gave me a little hope as they seemed to play better; but there is still cause for concern. Our defense has not been playing as well as they should. Why Will James and Greg Lewis are still on this team and actually playing makes me wonder where this team is headed. If it was not for Westbrook, we would be no where close to where our record is now. Our receivers are only mediocre; as has been the case for the better part of the last 5 years. They cannot get separation from the DBs and in turn cannot get open. One of the best offensive lines in football have not lived up to their abilities so far this year, like the way they played towards the end of last season. McNabb is definitely not the player he once was. And I really don't know what to think about Andy Reid and Jim Johnson. Their inability to adjust their gameplans to counter what the other team is doing baffles me. Unless they pull a collective rabbit out of their Ass and get us into at least the NFC Championship game, I think it will be time for them to step down and let someone else take the reigns for a while. Regardless of what happens, I will still be there when I can...cheering the Eagles on! I hope you will too. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------As we take a few moments to remember those lost their lives 6 years ago on this day, please remember that football is just a game and the Eagles are just a team...what really matters is life itself and to enjoy everyday to its fullest. So, not only pray for those families that lost loved ones on this day, also pray for those that have lost the ability to do many other things in life due to this game. I am speaking most recently about injured Buffalo Bills TE Kevin Everett, who might never regain full mobility after the hit he took in week 1. On to the Eagles.... Another season, another heart-breaking loss! Many are going to ponder what the front office was thinking letting Jeremy Bloom go in the preseason. He did not give that spark we needed in the return game, but we certainly took a turn in the wrong direction. With the Greg Lewis muff and the erratic attempt at a fair catch near the end of the game by J.R. Reid, both plays leading to 10 points for the Packers, one can only assume that some changes will be made to sure up both the coverage and return abilities. Many will want Westbrook to return punts, but I am not in that camp. Only under extreme circumstances do I think we should risk BWest on a punt return. We have to be able to find someone who can at least catch the ball! Sav Rocca had a decent game but I feel he needs to get some more hang time as the Packers were able to get some returns started before our coverage team could get to the ball. Our punt and kick teams saved this grade. Special Teams Grade: D- I thought the Defense played very well, even though we lost Lito Sheppard to injury; which also might keep him out for the game against the Redskins on Monday night. We held the Packers to 46 yards rushing and Brett Favre to 206 yards passing with one INT. For a team that gave up alot of rushing yards last season, hopefully this is a sign of where the defense is headed. I thought Sean Considine, Sheldon Brown and the front line (Kearse, Cole, Patterson, Reagor, Bunkley and Howard) played extremely well. We were able to get to Favre and even though we only had 4 sacks, we were able to pressure him pretty good. Favre made some plays to keep drives moves that can only be described as "lucky". We left a few missed opportunities out there on the field though where the defense could have capitalized. Defensive Grade: B+ Now to the Offensive effort. Donovan McNabb is back! Well, kind of... I thought that he looked very tentative out there on the field. Perhaps because of the previous injury. He has lost a step as far as scrambling ability and just cannot seem to connect on some throws that he used to. Hopefully it is just some "rust" and it will wear off. There were some attempts at big plays that just did not work out. Brian Westbrook looked his old self, averaging over 4 yds per carry and over 7.5 yds per catch. But he cannot do it all. Buckhalter was brought in to spell BWest, but I feel we should be using Tony Hunt. I feel his has bigger play ability. Receivers Kevin Curtis and Jason Avant looked good as well, working hard to get open and making catches. Reggie Brown only had 1 catch for 14 yds and did not hear his name called much at all. He was a non factor. LJ Smith had two catches, but I feel they need to work Celek into the lineup more and run two TE sets. The Offensive line did not do a good enough job moving the GB defense like they should, being one of the largest in the league. Overall, not a bad outing against a decent GB defense, hopefully we can improve next week. Offensive Grade: C So, next week is the home opener on Monday Night in the national spotlight against a Washington Redskins team coming off the high of an overtime victory over the Miami Dolphins. Clinton Portis/Ladell Betts will provide a good test for the true abilities of our Defense. The Skins have a decent defense as well, hopefully we can pull it together and get back to true Eagles football! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It has been a few weeks since I updated this Blog of sorts. To be honest, it has been a fairly lackluster preseason for our beloved Eagles. The final cuts have been made to get down to the 53 man roster. There was the one large surprise in the cutting of Jeremiah Trotter, a fan favorite and great guy. His release opened up the MLB position for 2nd year player Omar Gaither. With Spikes at SAM and Omar at MIKE, that leaves Gocong at WILL; which will be interesting to say the least. The Punter job went to Sav Rocca. Dirk Johnson's inconsistency had alot to do with that move. Jeremy Bloom; who was expected to be a huge spark to the kick return game, did not amount to that and was let go. It appears that it will be Greg Lewis and J.R. Reed handling these duties. A few other cuts that I hoped would have panned out were (S) C.J. Gaddis and (LB) Tank Daniels and (DT) Ian Scott. We did sign Kimo Von Oehlhoffen to help out the D-Line a little and signed former Eagle J.R. Reed to help with returns, safety depth and special teams. I have to say that I have been fairly impressed with the play of two rookies, (QB) Kevin Kolb and (TE) Brent Celek. The starters, what we saw of them, looked ready to play. At least on the offensive side. Donavan, Westbrook, new WR Kevin Curtis, all looked ready to go. We did not run the ball very well in the preseason, but Shaun Andrews was out with an injury. I expect them to be able to run the ball with more efficiency in the regular season. The Defense was still giving up rushing yards and missing tackles. That has to improve! The LB crew were over pursuing the plays fairly often. I would hope that the defense would be improved over last year. As we gear up for the game against the Packers at Lambeau Field, I am getting eerily excited for the regular season to begin. To see what the new players can add to the team and see what we have lost in the players we let go. My prediction for the season is that the Eagles will go 11-5, win the NFC East and take another shot at the NFC championship. It is a bold prediction, I know, but I have faith in the coaching staff and the front office. I will be out out watching every game that I can at AA , unless I am at the games. I hope to see all of you there too. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, after watching the first game of the Preseason for the Eagles, I left with a bit of a disgusted feeling. No, it was not from the attempt of a Cheese steak I had at AA! It was the sorry effort the Eagles put up against the Ravens in a 29-3 loss. Even though McNabb was not going to play, I still wanted to watch some of the new players and rookies try and stand out. Although, there were a few bright spots; Brent Celek (TE) had a decent outing, Sav Rocca (P) showed that he can really put some distance on his punts and Jeremy Bloom (KR) showed that he has the speed and moves that could definitely be a help to the return game. The Offensive line did not show up, allowing 5 sacks, plenty of QB hurries, and only gaining 23 yards rushing. The QBs never seemed to have any time to get settled. The 1st team Defense allowed the Ravens to march 93yds on their first possession to score a TD. There was some very sorry tackling. Overall, it was a pretty ugly first effort for the Birds. Hopefully, they will bounce back with a little more enthusiasm on Friday for their home preseason opener against the Panthers. The game is on Friday, August 17th at 6pm CST. I am sure there will be some of us going to AA again to watch this one. Speaking of AA, we had a small turnout but good nonetheless. There were probably about 20 or so of us there to watch the game. There were some people that I did not meet and have not seen them before, so if I did not get a picture of you or get your name, I apologize. I will need to do a better job, but you could just come up and introduce yourself too. We were able to meet our new server, Jamie (sp?) and she seems like she will fit right in. Natalie was also there, so she was able to serve us before being banished to the Steelers room at AA. I guess Brian, Owner of AA, said that there will be a 70" Flat screen installed for the regular season. It was nice that there was no smoking as I did not smell like an ashtray when I got home. Maybe we can get a better turnout on Friday since it is the weekend. I have posted the few pics I took from last night in the Gallery. Rehash some older stuff...The Store is now open, check it out here: http://eaglesnestdallas.com/shop There will also be the special edition T-shirts available soon at AA during the games. We will be doing the raffles again this year with lots of cool prizes and the donations will go to two different charities this year, American Heart Association and The Komen Foundation. More details to follow. There will be information posted in the forums regarding different ticket packages for several games. These packages are brought to you by The Green Legion and we have been in talks with them to get some deals going on games. They will be coming here to Dallas and hopefully many of you will consider joining them for the package they are offering us. Also, packages for the New Orleans game and if you are interested in going up to Philly to watch them play Dallas, there is that option as well. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The 2007 Season is finally here. Actually, I am a little late to update this but training camp started July 28th. McNabb is in camp and he says he is better than 75% healthy. The team has been working on the rookies and some of the new veterans. With some nice free agent pick ups in the off season like; Takeo Spikes (LB), Kevin Curtis (WR), Monte Reagor (DT) and some quality draft picks in Tony Hunt (RB), Victor Abiarimi (DE), CJ Gaddis (S) and Kevin Kolb (QB) we are priming for the future as well. There are many players on the team that did not play last year, but hopefully they were able to digest what they learned and it will pay off this year. Needless to say, I am pumped up for this season. We have been getting quite a few new members signing up on the forums and with Austin Ave. now being a non smoking facility, we could expect larger crowds to watch the games. A few of us went up there last weekend to check it out and meet some new people. It was fun and everyone is excited about the upcoming season. We are trying to get access to view some of the Eagles preseason games at Austin Ave. Stay tuned to find out if we can. We have a nice new banner to hang in our area and rumor has it we will be getting a nice 70" DLP screen to watch the games in HD this year. We have some new shirts and hats that will be available on the website shortly as well as the "Special Edition" jersey that will be made available at Austin Ave. during the games. We will be doing the raffles again this year with lots of cool prizes and the donations will go to two different charities this year, American Heart Association and The Komen Foundation. More details to follow. There will be information posted in the forums regarding different ticket packages for several games. These packages are brought to you by The Green Legion and we have been in talks with them to get some deals going on games. They will be coming here to Dallas and hopefully many of you will consider joining them for the package they are offering us. Also, packages for the New Orleans game and if you are interested in going up to Philly to watch them play Dallas, there is that option as well. |