the pinjockey

I voted McNabb obviously. Brady has his rings and Vick is the underdog and going on the road to face a better team, so he can afford to lose. Roethlisberger has some pressure, but nothing like having the weight of three consecutive title game losses on your back.

So help me god PK, if they end up bringing in a football style scooter ::shakes fist:: And at least this is more limiting than the skycam to the point where they know they can't use it during live play, so I don't have a problem with it. Pointless, but harmless.

Yes, he was a very good/borderline elite QB that year as he did not turn it over and had the passing stats to complement the running game. I see Vick as McNabb from a couple of years ago. He has the same problems with completion percentage that McNabb did, he has the same ability to take over the game with his feet that McNabb did, and he has shown he is capable of taking care of the ball (but he needs to get back to that, whether it was the new system or not there was too high of an Int%). I think he can end up much better than McNabb, because McNabb has this mindset that he does not want to be seen as a running QB, so that holds him back somewhat. Vick does not appear to have this same attitude, so once he develops the passing game he may end up far beyond McNabb.

Look at his attempts and his Int% before saying he "only" had x amount of interceptions. His interception rate is around 3.7% compared to the elite which are around 1.8%.

Going into Lambeau, at that time, and being a dome team beating the almighty Favre and the Packers was/is/always will be a big deal. Regardless of what has happened to the team since then. And it shows he is not going to fall to pieces in the cold. And I agree MiB, that the snow does help the Falcons more. The Eagles are a timing offense and that will be affected more than the Falcons style. Also, one of the big strengths of the Eagles, is their secondary and defensive backs always end up falling all over the place in the snow as it is harder to react than act.

Do I have to go back and find the post where you said you love the Chiefs as well? This is the problem I have, if you just say "hey, I am an Eagles fan" good for you. But you claim to be die-hard and then say things like "well if they lost to the Chiefs I would be upset, but not as upset." There is no but if you are a die-hard fan of a team. And when you say you are not fair-weathered, but then say I liked watching the Eagles during Randall Cunningham's days (when the Eagles were good), then stopped watching football (during the Kotite-Rhodes era), and then poof you are back (in the Eagles have won the most games since 2000 era), how does that not look fair-weathered?

Admit it Czech, you just made that last post as an excuse to swear.

How can having pride in the team and being a fan of the team not be related? If you have pride in the team in the idea that they represent you, obviously it is going to affect how big of a fan you are of the team.

I'm in again. One of these years I'll pick decent for the Eagles.

No real surprise there for the Eagles as DE is pretty obvious for round 1. RB is possible, but there is such depth there they can wait for round 2. And for Detroit: Williams, Jones, Miller and if Rogers can stay healthy that can be a pretty potent offense with remotely competent QB play.

I don't have a problem with that deal as it would have been at least that in arbitration anyway. At least now some of it is tied into incentives, some of which may not come to pass with Utley as the starter now.

nl, I read him regularly and I thought this was the most annoying thing he has ever written. I understood his three months of just Red Sox writing, I get a little irritated at his of-late attitude that anything done different from New England must be completely idiotic but I can live with it, but to throw a complete hissy fit because people picked against your team is the stuff reserved for the lowest level of fans.

This Eagles team is better than the one in the NFC title game last year. The receivers are better (anything is an upgrade over Thrash), the line is better (Tra Thomas sucked a fat one last year, this year he has returned to form), last year Westbrook did not play in the playoffs (and he is certainly an upgrade over Staley, and the defense is much better being completely healthy and better against the run with Trotter back.

Holy christ, Ripper just prompted me to read Simmons' column (Mortensen looks to be Insider which I don't have, but the brief summary looks amusing) and he is being such a little bitch to the point where I hope the Steelers fucking romper stomp them this week just to shut him the fuck up. Wah, people thought a defense with Earthwind Moreland might have a hard time stopping this offense, how dare they?!?

I don't think I can recall the Eagles using a safety on a TE all year, so I doubt it will start now. And I really don't want to be messing with Kearse, I want to keep him in his usual game plan as there will be no pass rush without him. My thinking is that you let Kearse do his thing and either the LB or S can fill the gap, if one is left by him. If Kearse's typical style gets messed with I worry that Vick will have forever and a day to sit back there and either a receiver or a running lane will eventually open up.

What I see happening is the Jim Johnson having either Dawkins (more likely as he is the smartest defender and will see what is happening quicker) or Michael Lewis in the box a majority of the time and sort of bracket Vick with the safety and a LB. That should corral Vick somewhat and if you can reign him in a little bit they will be forced to go to the air more and that is certainly where you need him. For all of the talk about stopping the run, it is going to be big on the Eagles secondary to play well and allow the safety to be moved closer to the line.

While Kearse may equal Rice, Trotter does not equal Brooks, which will be a sizeable difference. Even with how great Trotter has been playing, he does not have the speed Brooks does. They will have to scheme more than the Bucs.

I wonder how many fights the UFC gets out of the "six figure contract", I have to think they at least get five fights out of that. And am I the only one thinking it is a little absurd for Bobby Southworth to be in this as he has competed in a Pride event?

MiB, I agree with you to an extent in the idea that they are not going to have a magic plan fall out of thin air. But at that time, film was still limited on Roethlisberger (3rd or 4th game?) and since that point the Jets have played well and had to have shown things. Belichek will also know, now, what the defense runs that does not work against Ben and will eliminate it. I don't see him shutting down Roethlisberger, but I do see him coming up with something to slow him down which combined with Dillon coming back could be enough to pull off the win. Another thing, that I don't think can be discounted, is the appearance that Roethlisberger may be hitting the rookie wall. He is far beyond the schedule he is used to playing and the 4/7 TD/Int ratio in his last four games may be evidence of that.

Pitt still had games with Baltimore (the team that gave them their one loss) and Buffalo (who was one of the hottest teams in the second half of the season), so I would hardly call it an outside shot that they could have lost one of those games.

What, prior to the injury, gives you the idea that he "probably" would have made a big play? His receivers were giving him nothing, Westbrook was not there as an outlet, and the Carolina D had him clamped down.

I thought this idea had been put to rest over the past 2 1/2 months. Pats: Two reasons here 1. ) They are the defending champs and I was stupid for not picking them against the Colts as I always stick to the idea to pick them until they are beaten. 2. ) Belichek is seeing Roethlisberger for the second time and I have to think after looking at the Jets games he will have a gameplan to create turnovers, from which they will create points unlike the Jets offense. Eagles: Jermaine Mayberry owned Kevin Williams today and I don't see a reason for that to change with Rod Coleman. The secondary should be able to shut down Price and Finneran. Crumpler will cause some problems if they look to him, but they will need more than that through the air. They still have the best kicker in the game in Akers, so a close game the edge will lean toward the Eagles. And al has already brought up the point statistics.

They weren't exactly lighting it up before he got hurt.

The Rams game they weren't ready (plus Troy Vincent was not healthy, big problem against that offense) and the Bucs game they just got spanked by a better team.

Getting thrown around by Ricky Manning Jr.?!? A close loss where they tried but couldn't pull it out, then I would just say Carolina was better and that's that. But they got thrown around all game, which is inexcusable. Plus they played stupid, with receivers breaking off routes left and right, which led to a couple of the picks.