Re: NFL Preseason Thread
Hey Cody,
What do you think Ugoh's transition to the NFL will be like? My thinking is that on one hand, Manning's ability to read coverages/blitzes and assign protection will help, but at the same time the Colts run such a complicated offense that I can see Ugoh really struggling. What is the track record (if any) for rookie O-Lineman in the Manning offense? Are they going to start him at LT?
Ok here's my shot at the offseason thing:
Philadelphia
Last Season: A-
On one hand, the season was extremely frustrating. McNabb went down, again, and the latest injury could really hurt his future. What started out as a promising season quickly fell apart due to the injury, some bad play and terrible luck.
But the revilval under Jeff Garcia was an immensely enjoyable ride. The season seemed dead after the Colts game, and suddenly the team sprung back to life. For the past several years, I have expected the Eagles to win, every week. Blowouts were fun, close wins were not good enough and losses were disasterous. But this past year, each win became an unexpected thing to savor. It was fun.
Long-term, Andrews has emerged as perhaps the NFL's best guard and the offense re-discovered the running game. With a healthy McNabb and a healthy Westbrook running behind an awesome O-Line, the offense should be fantastic this year.
The Draft: B
Personally I think Kolb will be a good NFL quarterback and like the pick a lot more than most people. I joke with my friends that when Kolb leads us to back to back Superbowls in 2012 and 2013 I'm going to tell them all "told you so." But this is a team that can win the Superbowl now, so why think about 2012? And we could have gotten Kolb later in the draft, so in that sense it was bad value.
Other than that, I think they drafted fine. I've heard good things about Abiamiri.
The Offseason: A
The loss of Stallworth was offset by the signing of Kevin Curtis. We got Takeo Spikes. Added depth on the D-Line with Reagor and Ian Scott. Freak is healthy.
But by far the most important thing this offseason is McNabb's health, and he is ahead of schedule. That alone makes it an A.
Season Outlook
If McNabb is 100% by week 3 or so and stays healthy, they should win the division fairly easily. I see the Eagles as roughly equal to the Saints and Bears, as they were last year, and those three should be there in the end in the NFC.
If McNabb goes down or isn't the same the Eagles are a wildcard team, maybe.
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