Trotter to play first and second downs?

I think Trotters best aspect as a linebacker was just totally blowing up the center on blitzes and reeking havoc in the backfield.

I really see him being a complimentary player that provides a different look for the defense, kind of like Mike Vick in the offense.

I could see the Eagles using Trotter on run situations.

Hmm, and I was thinking we brought him in to compete with Hanson for the nickel CB job.

That might work against New York because they really don’t want to put all the pressure on Eli to pass them to victory, and Boss isn’t a huge threat. But against Romo and Witten and to a lesser extent Campbell and Cooley? Trot at this point is essentially Antonio Pierce, assuming Pierce could actually tackle, and we’ve all greatly enjoyed watching Pierce flail desperately behind Westbrook and Celek. I love Trot, but this is a pass-first league and if he can’t cover at least a little, he’s going to get killed.

He hasn’t played a full season since 2006… not so sure that’s what I want out of our MLB. I can’t imagine he’s anything more than a special teamer for now. Maybe they work him into the defense here and there, but he’s high if he thinks they have big, immediate plans for him.

I think we brought in Trot to help with the run since Omar isn’t good against it and yes Omar did have a good game against them but the Chiefs are the 2nd or 3rd worst team in the league. So if he has a really good week of practice I wouldn’t be surprised if he started against Tampa since they are a good running team.

Gaither’s issue is he over pursues and gets lost in traffic, hopefully Trot can help him with this. I’d be shocked to see him get significant playing time but I didn’t see his workout.

I’m looking forward to seeing him blow some people up on Special Teams. Honestly, I think that’s where he can make the biggest contribution to this team. Remember when he came back in ’04? He was a total beast playing on ST before he got his starting role back.

Welcome back, Trot! Can’t wait to see the old 54 out there on Sundays again. (Tracy White has got to be giving up 54, right?)

(see Trotter post) Trotter is not the type that will run his mouth and say bullshit. He said his workout went great and he got signed right after. Gaither is a good backup at best. Carolina’s first drive, Deangelo Williams ran all over the D and scored a td. Both Mikell and Gaither over pursued inside and got burned for the td outside. Carolina lost because of Delhomme’s poor play and the defense looked better than they were. The Saints game, freakin’ Mike bell and Reggie Bush looked like probowl runningbacks. Reggie scored a td on an inside handoff barely being touched. Chiefs are horrible, lets not even go there. Eagles are 15th in rush defense so far and Carolina wasn’t even a factor. That’s bad and i dont think Trotter will be any worse but better than Gaither vs the run.

number one our lbs are not good .. and number 2 gaither is not the problem .. gaither will move to the outside to replace gocong on most downs..u heard it here first

This is essentially EXACTLY what happened in 2002 when the Eagles weren’t satisfied their MLB situation in camp and signed a 33-year old Kirkland in July to provide some more depth/potentially start in place of the forever mediocre Gardner.

Kirkland wasn’t their first chance (they lost out on Hardy Nickerson) but Gardner was so mediocre yet again that Kirkland wound up being the starter by default on 1st/2nd down much of the season and into the playoffs. He had a ton of tackles but the smarter offensive coordinators were able to exploit Kirkland’s complete lack of mobility.

I can see exactly what happened in 2002 with Kirkland/Gardner happening with Trotter/Gaither this year. I was just surprised since Kirkland came out of a season in Seattle where he had been “ok” while Trotter has been out of football for 2+ years now.

Love Trotter but I don’t see this playing out well with Trotter though. Really, Gocong has improved in coverage but he is still just a mediocre player overall. The only guy the Eagles have at LB that can occasionally make a play is Jordan and he is still learning on the job.

This should have been addressed in camp as soon as Bradley went down and instead if has festered for nearly 2 months/forced them to really grasp at straws by signing Trotter.

Hopefully Trotter proves me wrong and is a capable defender on 1st/2nd and short-yard situations including goal-line situations. I don’t doubt his leadership and that is the one thing when people bring up Dawkins that I thought the Eagles would miss the most.

Funny thing is I thought Dawkins would be a liability in the Denver defensive scheme and supposedly he has played at a pretty high level so far including being adequate in coverage although he has not been placed in 1-on-1 much. Harris on the other hand has largely been clueless in coverage and the Eagles have really had to play him deep as a result to protect him/make sure no one gets behind him.