Considine Out For Season

The Eagles placed strong safety Sean Considine on the injured reserve list Wednesday due to a shoulder injury suffered Sunday night against Dallas. To replace Considine's spot on the 53-man active roster, Marcus Paschal was promoted from the practice squad.

The Eagles made two changes to their practice squad. In addition to Paschal's promotion, defensive end Marques Murrell was signed by the New York Jets. Strong safety Erick Harris and defensive end Xzavie Jackson were signed to the practice squad.

In his third season, Considine had started in all eight games and ranked sixth on the team with 47 tackles and an interception,

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Well you hate to see injuries, but Considine's play has been very poor this season. Quintin Mikell on the other hand has played very well in the absence of Brian Dawkins, and will start the remainder of the season at Strong Safety. If Mikell continues to play well, this could become a more permanent move. Considine has one year remaining on his contract, and could be gone after next year.

Marques Murrell must be feeling great. If you remember he had a monster game against the Jets in the pre-season. The Jets remembered that, and when they needed a pass rusher, they signed Murrel. Good to see him get a chance.

A third guy who gets a big shot is Marcus Paschal. Granted it will mainly be on special teams for now, but in the NFL you are only one hit away from starting.

McNabb Still Confident

Donovan McNabb is the first to admit that in the first five games of the season, the Eagles have dug themselves a pretty big hole. Sitting at the bottom of the NFC East and having already dropped games to division rivals Washington and New York, some might say it is time to start thinking about the Wild Card.

Not McNabb.

"I think one thing that people tend to forget is - the NFC East championship comes through Philadelphia," he said yesterday. "We have to protect our territory and we have enough time to do that."

While the situation could undoubtedly be more favorable, McNabb fully believes that until someone officially knocks them off, the Eagles remain the kings of the NFC East. Yes, Dallas is 5-1, New York is 4-2 and Washington is 3-2, but McNabb feels as though if the Eagles take care of their business, anything can happen.

"I think at this point, it's hard to say where anybody is. You may start out 5-0 and you could tail off," McNabb said. "The Giants started 6-2 last year and then they kind of fell off. Nobody ever remembers September and October, they always remember November, December."

No matter how well the Eagles play, they will need some of their division rivals to - as McNabb put it - tail off. Dallas has been especially hot in the early going, and New York has won four in a row. Washington's defense has been one of the best of the league, ranking third.

In addition, all three have favorable matchups this weekend — Washington hosts injury-riddled Arizona, the Giants host sliding San Francisco and Dallas hosts inconsistent Minnesota — but McNabb stressed that unless Philadelphia remains focused on the task it hand, it will not matter what other teams do.

"We can't worry about what other teams are doing," he said. "We can only focus on what we need to do here."

McNabb is not necessarily a rah-rah type of motivator, and his strong words on Wednesday were encouraging to some of his teammates.

"We definitely know that if Don is all in, and with a statement like that, we're all in," wide receiver Jason Avant said. "We don't want to let him down in any kind of way. That's how he feels and that's the way we feel."

McNabb also said Wednesday that he thinks the offense specifically is getting closer to returning to the form it displayed in previous seasons. Still, even his teammates on the other side of the ball appreciate the vote of confidence and share his enthusiasm.

"It makes me feel really good. That's our man. That's our leader," safety Quintin Mikell said. "If he has that much confidence in that, it gives us that much confidence. I think we are on to the right track right now."

Some players also said that while McNabb's declaration is encouraging, the team never wavered in its belief even throughout the slow start.

"We had confidence already, we just need to go out and perform. It's obvious that victories aren't going to come easy. We have to go out and earn them," safety Sean Considine said. "It's a lot of hard work during the week so we can go out and hopefully perform well on Sundays."

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Eagles Tame Lions

Birds Route Detroit 56-21

Eagles bounce back in a big way. With their backs against the wall, wearing the ugliest jerseys ever, the Eagles offense came to life. Except for a few bad play from Will James, and the Matador tackler, the Eagles defense was pretty solid.

McNabb Was Awesome:

A good mix of run, and pass was one reason the offense flourished, but the biggest key was that Donovan McNabb was outstanding. I really believe that taking the knee brace off, is the difference between the McNabb of last week, and the McNabb that threw for four TDs today. He was able to get full use of his knee, that gave him much better footwork, and resulted in very accurate passes. Donovan also seemed much quicker without the brace, and more like his old self. If he continues to play like this in coming weeks, everybody might forget that he even had a knee injury.

Donovan took a lot of heat this past week from fans, and the media nation wide. I think a lot of people are just impatient, and need to really shut up when it comes to Donovan McNabb. He is the best QB in Eagles franchise history, so cheer, and enjoy him while you can.

The Ultimate Weapon:

Brian Westbrook shows once again that he is such a big time play maker, as he gets 110 yards rushing, 111 yards receiving, and 3 touchdowns. The offensive line gets a lot of credit, for paving the way for Brian, but once he got in the open field, he shows why he is one of the best players in the NFL. Eluding tackles, and bowling through others, Brian just always seems to make guys miss tackles. I know this is the Detroit Lions defense, but he does this to every team.

Westbrook was snubbed from the Pro Bowl last year, but maybe this year he can get in.

Hat Trick:

That's right, three touchdowns for WR Kevin Curtis. Curtis had the biggest day of any Eagles receiver since TO. His biggest catch, was the first touchdown of the game where he put a great double move on the corner, and beat him for a 68 yard bomb.

That play started everything off, and the offense just opened up, as Curtis finished the game with 11 catches for 221 yards.

A lot of people ripped the signing of Kevin Curtis, and cried about the departure of Donte Stallworth. Well now I wonder how they feel about this move. Curtis just exploded today, and Stallworth has not done much in New England.

Sack Attack:

The Eagles brought heavy pressure on QB Jon Kitna, and surprisingly a lot of it came without blitzing. Trent Cole lead the way with a huge day, getting three sacks, and forcing a fumble. Cole is having a great season, and continues to get to the QB.

Jevon Kearse has done nothing over the last two games, but his backup Juqua Thomas had 2 sacks, and a forced fumble. Juqua has been a great pickup, and he also continues to get a ton of pressure on the QB.

Brodrick Bunkley had 2 sacks as well, and Quintin Mikell had a nice sack on a blitz. Mikell did an excellent job filling in for the injured Brian Dawkins, and he again proves how valuable he is to this team.

Sean Considine had a great interception, tip toeing in the back of the end zone, right before halftime. Great to see Sean make a big play.

Will James sucked again. He repeatedly got picked on, and exposed as a slow almost useless player to even have on the team. Shaun McDonald blew past him on the quick slant that lead to the Lions first TD. James also let Roy Williams catch the ball, and never even layed a finger on him, as he just kept on running to the end zone.

Joselio Hanson also had a shot at Williams, but of course he was unable to make the tackle. Hanson also dropped what should have been a interception for six the other way.

I am not sure which is worse, a corner who can't run, or a corner that can't tackle. I guess at this point, they should just bump Hanson up, because while James is like a traffic cone out there. Please get well soon Lito.

Jerseys Are Still Ugly:

There are a lot of superstitious people in the world, who think a teams jersey color could change the outcome of the game. For example, many people think the Eagles alternate black jersey is bad luck. Well I don't care that the Eagles blew out the Lions in these hideous rags.

I never want to see the Eagles wear this Jersey again!

The only people that the jersey looks good on is the Cheerleaders.

J.R. Reed to return again?

Rumor has it, that the Eagles are going to sign S/KR J.R. Reed, and it will be announced today around 10. After having both Brian Dawkins, and Sean Considine leave the game with injuries, the Eagles probably feel it is not a good thing to only carry three safeties on the roster. I just pray to god they never put him back out as a punt returner again.

UPDATE:

It has been a roller coaster past couple of weeks for safety J.R. Reed.

The Eagles re-signed Reed on Wednesday only eight days after they released him. The Eagles had claimed him off waivers after Reed spent eight days as a member of the New York Giants at the end of training camp.

The Eagles claimed him to utilize his experience as a kickoff returner against the Green Bay Packers, where he averaged 22 yards per return on three attempts. However, it was a muffed punt late in the fourth quarter that was recovered by the Packers and led to the game-winning field goal. Reed handled punt return duties for the first time in his NFL career in the second half after a muff by Greg Lewis, also in his first game as a punt returner, was recovered by the Packers in the end zone for a touchdown.

The Eagles signed veteran Reno Mahe to return punts last week and released Reed. In Monday night's loss to Washington, free safety Brian Dawkins suffered a stinger injury and cornerback Lito Sheppard sat out with an MCL sprain. While the status for both players for Sunday's game against Detroit is unknown, neither practiced on Wednesday, the Eagles re-signed Reed to provide some insurance. Originally a fourth-round pick of the Eagles in 2004, Reed knows coordinator Jim Johnson's scheme.

To make room on the roster, the Eagles released tackle Pat McCoy. A rookie free agent signee of the Eagles last year, McCoy impressed the coaches during training camp and made the final 53-man roster. A Division II All-America selection at West Texas A&M, McCoy was inactive for all 16 regular season games last year and both contests this season.

The Eagles also tweaked their practice squad by releasing tight end Lee Vickers and adding tackle Jonathan Palmer. A rookie free agent signee this year, Palmer spent the entire training camp with the Eagles and was released during the final roster cuts on Sept. 1. Vickers was an intriguing prospect, who learned the tight end position after playing at defensive end at North Alabama and in Steelers training camp last year.

>>PhiladephiaEagles.com

Thoughts on the Pre Season

The pre-season is winding down, and I thought I would give some of my honest opinions about some players on the team. Outside of the two turnovers forced, the Eagles defense did almost nothing right against Pittsburgh. Jim Johnson's aggressive blitzes, seemed to get destroyed by screen plays. Overall I think the team has been average during the pre-season, and they need a lot of things to come together for this season to be a success.

Things that worry me:

Chris Gocong- He had a terrible game against the Steelers. He took bad angles, missed tackles, did not move well laterally, and just seemed very lost at linebacker. This is very disturbing to see, because he is expected to be a starter, and Jim Johnson has praised him all camp. Maybe he just had a bad game, and he can work some things out for the regular season, but right now he is making me very nervous. I also don't like the fact that his backup is a rookie. They could move Takeo Spikes to SAM, and possibly start Matt McCoy at WILL.

Sean Considine- Did anybody ever explain to Sean how to wrap up, and tackle? I keep seeing this guy jumping on opponents backs, and be taken for a ride. That was terrible, and so was that wimpy hit on tight end Heath Miller. It looked like he hurt himself, more than he did Miller. To his credit, he did have two nice blitzes, one that caused an interception, and the he tipped a pass on the other. I heard all this talk, of Sean bulking up, but it does not seem to make a difference on the field. Every time I even look at him out there, I remember Duece McAlister running him over in the playoffs.

Mike Patterson- Mike got pancaked on that Willie Parker touchdown run. A lot of guys were at fault for Parker to go untouched into the end zone, but it all starts up front, and you can't get pushed around that easily. They paid Patterson a lot of money last year, and I think they may have jumped the gun on this one. Not only has he been a liability against the run, but I have not seen much pressure on the QBs from him. Time to step it up.

Jeremy Bloom- After a good game at Baltimore, Bloom has not played well since. Reports are that he is slowed by a toe injury, and John Madden proclaimed that Bloom "did not belong on the field". Ouch. Rumor is that Andy Reid is fed up with Bloom, and he is on the way out. It was a very bad sign for him, to see Greg Lewis returning punts, and Correll Buckhalter returning kickoffs for the entire first half. Bloom had better do something great on Thursday, or he is out of here.

Deep Threat?- Where is it on this team? Kevin Curtis has looked fairly good so far, but he, and McNabb have not hooked up deep yet. I also have not seen Curtis get any big separation, on any of the deep routes he has run. Reggie Brown has had a very poor pre-season. It almost seems to me like he is disinterested. Jason Avant has done a good job, but he is a possession receiver. The only deep pass, has been that big play to Matt Schobel. I wonder if maybe losing Stallworth is a huge loss for this team. Even though he was injured some of the time, and caught only 37 balls, you always had to respect his speed on the outside. So far I have not seen anybody on the team show they can do that.

Shawn Andrews- How bad is this injury? Are the Eagles just taking the cautious approach? I definitely know that the offensive line has looked really bad without him. Scott Young has looked really bad, and Nick Cole did not seem much better. Right now if Andrews could not go, I would feel best with Max Jean-Gilles in his spot.

Things I am glad to see:

Donovan McNabb- Five is healthy. I don't care if he says he is 75%, or 85%, he looks fine to me. He is throwing fairly well, he is moving fairly well, and most importantly he seems to have no problem planting that right leg. It was also good to see him bounce right back up from getting hit. While the national media may focus in on Donovan's health being a major issue, I think there is nothing to worry about.

Brodrick Bunkley- Despite the defensive woes, Bunk has been impressive. He made yet another tackle for a loss, and got passed All Pro Guard Alan Faneca. I think now that he has his head on straight, we will start to see a big impact from Bunkley on this defensive line.

Takeo Spikes- Some People have ripped Takeo Spikes, but I think he has played really well. I've seen him shed blocks to make tackles, he forced a fumble at the goal line, and has been the best linebacker the Eagles have so far. It is also great to see that he looks 100% healthy, and is running full speed all over the field. I think Spikes is going to be a play maker for this team.

Young Guys Who Have Impressed:

Kevin Kolb- He has really come a long way in such a short time. The kid is accurate, seems very poised, makes smart decisions, goes through all of his reads well, and spreads the ball around. I have have come a full 180 with Kolb. At first I hated the pick, and did not understand. Now I see that whenever Donovan McNabb's time comes, they will have a good QB follow him. I would like to see Kolb connect with somebody deep, but really no receivers have been able to do that so far this pre-season.

Brent Celek- This guy seems for real. Every game he makes some nice grabs, and he has now been running with the first team offense. Celek has made the team, and should be rotating in every now and then with the starting unit this season. This pick falls into the Eagles history of taking risks on late round draft picks, on guys who have a lot of potential. Well this pick looks like it will be paying off big time. I wonder how this will affect L.J. Smith's contract negotiations. Will this be the leverage the Eagles need to get him signed, or is Celek good enough to make the front office just let Smith walk?

Punting Dual:

I am officially on the Sav Rocca bandwagon. The Aussie can just flat out boom the football. Dirk has played very well this pre-season, but Rocca has just been better. He barely even knows the rules, and he seems to be learning very fast. I heard that the winner of the punting job, will get all of the punting duties this Thursday. So if you see Sav out there, then you know he won. I feel bad for Dirk, because no matter how great he does, it seems like fans will hate him, if he wins this job. Andy Reid said it the other day, that no matter what Rocca will have a job in the NFL. If the Eagles cut him, somebody will definitely pick him up.

Birds Defense Rebuilt

Chris Gocong glanced at an old photo the other day and couldn't believe what he saw.

“I was at home and picked up last year's linebacker team photo,” Gocong said. “And it was unbelievable. I'm looking at guys and thinking, "Oh yeah, I remember him.' ''

Shawn Barber? Jason Short? Greg Richmond? Dhani Jones? Jeremiah Trotter?

Gone. All of them.

“And that was just last year,” Gocong said. “It just goes to show you how quickly things change in the NFL. Year to year and day to day.”

How quickly things change? With the Eagles' defense, change is constant.

None of last year's starting linebackers are starting anymore. Only one is still here.

No linebackers remain from the 2004 Super Bowl season.

Only one defensive lineman remains from 2004

And only four starters from the 2005 opening-day defense are still Eagles.

“That really is amazing,” defensive coordinator Jim Johnson said. “That is something.”

The 2004 Eagles weren't bad. They won 13 of their first 14 games to clinch the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs, they won the NFC Championship Game and they lost by three points to the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX in Jacksonville.

From that starting defense, only defensive backs Brian Dawkins, Lito Sheppard and Sheldon Brown and defensive end Jevon Kearse are still Eagles.

“It is pretty crazy,” said Quintin Mikell, now entering his fifth year with the Eagles as a backup safety. “I still consider myself a young guy and I look around and a lot the guys I came in with are gone.

“But that's how the league is now. Guys can make more money somewhere else and they're going to take it. The thing is, we have good schemes here, and you can find guys who fit the schemes. Not to be rude or negative, but we lost the Super Bowl, so obviously we needed to get better. If we won, maybe more of those guys would still be here.”

..Continue Reading at the Burlington Times>>

Kolb Inked

• All of the Eagles draft picks are in, now that Kevin Kolb has signed. Check out Kolb's interview. Great to have all the picks in before the start of Training camp.


• Sheldon Brown made the cover of Sports Illustrated.


• Sean Considine has been hitting the weight room hard.


• Micheal Gasperson hopes to make an impact in camp.


• There may be a roster spot open at WR.


• Brad Childress is content with his QBs. So much for that Kelly Holcumb trade.


• A new Holcumb destination rumor has surfaced. Pat Kirwan says Atlanta might be interested.


• Mike McMahon can't even cut it in the CFL. Why did the Eagles ever sign this bum?


• Will James is ready to start at CB. HUH?!?


• Reuben Frank has a lot of questions about the D. Ten of them to be exact.


• Takeo Spikes is ready to be a leader for the Birds.
  
  

Meriweather could give Considine a run at safety for Eagles

By BOB GROTZ, bgrotz@comcast.net

04/28/2007

PHILADELPHIA -- When the NFL draft begins at noon today, the teams that have spent the past few months blowing smoke must put up or shut up. Even casual fans can see through the camouflage and decipher the spin when players come off the board fortifying positions of need.

The fiscally prudent Eagles don’t pour a ton of money into the draft to waste picks on guys that have no shot of pushing for a starting job.

How do the Eagles really feel about their safeties, cornerbacks, linebackers, defensive ends and the rehab of quarterback Donovan McNabb?

The draft, like the eye of the camera, doesn’t lie.

"We don’t want to draft a guy we don’t think has the ability to start in the
NFL," Eagles general manager Tom Heckert said. "We don’t want to draft a guy as
a backup. Now, you do have late-round guys. But since I’ve been here I think
we’ve drafted maybe two guys that we had worse than a fifth-round grade on."

All of that said, Heckert’s vision of a wheeling-and-dealing first round appears to be on the mark. Draft buzz was at a frenzy all of Friday.

The Oakland Raiders control the board. With the first pick, they have made full use of their leverage by conducting preliminary negotiations with the agents for quarterbacks JaMarcus Russell and Brady Quinn as well as wide receiver Calvin Johnson. The reward for taking fewer dollars, of course, is being the first overall draft choice. What’s a few million in Monopoly money anyway?

The Raiders also put the word out that franchise wide receiver Randy Moss can be had for the right price, according to a source.

If the Raiders bypass Russell to draft Johnson, widely viewed as the top player in the draft, the wake could swamp other draft boards because Russell has been almost everyone’s choice to go first. Several teams are interested in trading up and down, according to reports.

Elsewhere the Washington Redskins still are trying to ship the sixth overall pick to the Chicago Bears for franchised linebacker Lance Briggs, according to a source who feels the deal is close to happening.

The source also said the Denver Broncos desperately want to trade up and land middle linebacker Patrick Willis of Mississippi.

The buzz surprises even longtime NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock, a 10th-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1981 who later played defensive back for the New York Giants and settled in Newtown Square.

A few restless hours after getting to bed early Friday morning, Mayock tore up the mock draft he had meticulously crafted for months."This is the most interesting draft I’ve ever seen," Mayock said. "My gut still tells me JaMarcus Russell will go first but if the Raiders try to move Moss they’re doing it for a reason; probably for Calvin Johnson. There are a lot of things that can happen, a lot of variables all the way through."

In a wild first round the Eagles could benefit when draft boards are adjusted for some players almost certainly will drop during runs at such positions as defensive back and wide receiver.

If the Eagles stand pat, Mayock suspects the draft will unfold to the point where they draft safety Brandon Meriweather of Miami, off-the-field warts and all. Mayock thinks Meriweather is more than talented enough to take a starting job from Eagles safety Sean Considine, Heckert’s unending praise of his 2005 fourth-round draft pick notwithstanding.

Reggie Nelson, the athletic safety out of national champion Florida, would also be a consideration if available, according to Mayock, although he has the Gator going to the New England Patriots a couple of picks earlier.

"I think the Eagles’ position stays the same," Mayock said. "They’re fortunate in that their needs line up with the positions that figure to be there when they pick. They can upgrade with a safety like Meriweather and if he’s not there they take a corner like Chris Houston or Aaron Ross."

The Eagles also could trade out of the first round for picks either this weekend or next year, and land a serviceable cornerback in the second round. They entertained Marcus McCauley (6-1, 201) of Fresno State, once a first-round type of talent who ran a 4.39 at the combine and has safety size.

The Eagles could fortify the middle linebacker position in the second round with a prospect like David Harris (6-2, 245) of Michigan, the second-rated inside ’backer. The Birds visited with inside linebacker Desmond Bishop (6-2, 240) of California, considered more of a second-day pick.

Running back/fullback Brian Leonard of Rutgers is a late second-round possibility for the Eagles according to a team source.

The Eagles visited with hulking wide receiver Roy Hall (6-2, 229) of Ohio State, who ran a sizzling 4.49 in the 40-yard dash at a personal workout to vault into first day draft contention.

Likewise wide receiver Jacoby Jones (6-3, 210) of Lane College is a sleeper first-day pick, a Kevin Curtis-type late bloomer who also excelled at basketball and track. Jones visited with the Birds after running a 4.50 at his pro day.

Finally, don’t be surprised if the Eagles come out of the draft with another quarterback. They like John Beck (6-11/2, 215) of Brigham Young University and Kevin Kolb (6-3, 220) of Houston, among others, having visited with both.

A pack of quarterbacks likely including Trent Edwards (6-3, 225) of Stanford and Drew Stanton (6-3, 226) of Michigan State likely will come off the board in the first day, possibly somewhere in the second round.

For Jeff Garcia fans, the Eagles worked out Jared Zabransky, the Boise State quarterback that reminds scouts a lot of Garcia.

Zabransky (6-2, 219) most recently led BSU to a Fiesta Bowl victory over Oklahoma. Like Garcia, he’s also deadly accurate and mobile.
©DelcoTimes 2007