Billy Vargus apparently hasn't been paying attention
by JasonB on Jun 21, 2010 12:14 PM EDT
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I stumbled upon this article penned by local sports TV anchor Billy Vargus on PhillytoPhilly.com, a site known for great articles such as "Philadelphia Eagles Spit In The Face Of DeSean Jackson With Avant Signing."
In the particular article I came upon, Billy V waxed poetic about how great the Flyers franchise is run and how they try so hard every offseason to get better. He also says the Phillies are well run.. But we care about the Eagles here so let's skip to his comments about how the Eagles handle their offseasons.
At times, the Eagles have been very aggressive in trying to address their needs, making the first and biggest splashes in free agency, such as when they signed Jevon Kearse in 2004 and Asante Samuel in 2008. (That Kearse never played up to his previous level isn’t the point; it’s that the Eagles made a bold move.) At other times, such as last year and this, the Eagles have done almost nothing in the off-season.
Let's address two points. The first being an incredibly stupid one and the second being just factually untrue.
Point 1 - "That Kearse never played up to his previous level isn’t the point; it’s that the Eagles made a bold move."
Are you kidding me? "That Kearse never played up to his previous level" is EXACTLY the point! Teams who sign high priced, big name free agents who fail aren't well run teams. They're poorly run. They made bad moves. They don't deserve credit for bad moves. The worst part is Billy V knows this and he basically says so in his comments about the Sixers.
"The 76ers aren’t even in the discussion" he says
Why not? They went out and made a "bold move" by giving huge money to big name Elton Brand. Don't they deserve credit for that, since it apparently doesn't matter that the move was a total failure? In the next breath, Vargas heaps praise on Ed Snyder for his "bold leadership" of the Flyers, seemingly forgetting that Snyder also runs the Sixers and has done a terrible job.
Point 2 - " At other times, such as last year and this, the Eagles have done almost nothing in the off-season."
This is the one that blows me away. He says the Eagles have done "almost nothing" in what most if not all Eagles observers say is the most momentous offseason in the past decade. Trading Donovan McNabb wasn't a bold move? Trading halfway up the first round to get Brandon Graham wasn't a bold move? Making numerous changes in the coaching staff, installing a new quarterback, parting ways with a legend like Brian Westbrook count as doing "almost nothing?"
You may not agree with what the Eagles have done... but you can't say they haven't been bold and have done nothing. I don't know if I can think of an offseason where more major moves have been made.
Hate to say it Billy V, but you might want to stick with reading from the teleprompter.
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You sound like me ragging on GCobb.
I agree, his points are stupid. But I can see why he mentioned Kearse, although the move sucked monkey butt, they really went out on a limb to sign him.
If you think about it, Eagles have made a ton of splashes in free agency.
This is just off the top of my head, so don’t kill me for it.
Owens, Kearse, Samuel, Darren Howard, Stacey Andrews etc have been all considered top 5 free agents during their prospective years. Samuel and Kearse where both the cream of the crop of those FA classes.
We almost signed Randy Moss, we made an offer to Jason Brown, and we were all over Peppers.
Lets not forget about the trades, anyone remember those Fitzy rumors, which turned into Boldin Rumors. What about Javon Walker (thank goodness that fell throug). We traded for Jason Peters, and the year before, we were ready to sign Jordan Gross if Carolina didn’t sign him.
Over all, many people talk about how passive the Eagles are during the offseason, and how we always trade down from the draft. We are viewed as a vanilla team, ran very conservative, but if you look at the moves, they have been very agressive, definately not vanilla.
In Kolb we trust
that said, Billy V sucks.
In Kolb we trust
by yophillybro on Jun 21, 2010 12:33 PM EDT up reply actions
Point No. 2: This is the biggest load of bullshit I’ve read all season. The Eagles owned the headlines this off season because of the “bold” Mcnabb trade. The drafting of 13 players and the releasing of many veterans including Westy were big deals as well.
The Eagles also owned the headlines last offseason(with Favre of course). Michael Vick signing? Jason Peters? Stacy Andrews? WR for the 19th pick? Dawkins to Denver?
Wow, Johnny Doofus needs to lay off whatever he’s been smoking.
Jim Johnson(RIP). Brian Westbrook(36). Donovan Mcnabb(5). Brian Dawkins(20). Sheldon Brown(24). Jeremiah Trotter(54).
Thanks for the memories...
by Route36 on Jun 21, 2010 12:55 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
I think he needs to start smoking what I got.
^Nights Of Cabiria
by RadioheadbeatlesEagles on Jun 21, 2010 3:17 PM EDT up reply actions
Was Kearse really that bad?
He didn’t put up the sack numbers, but the Eagles didn’t just have him line up and attack the QB as the Titans did. They asked him to drop into coverage quite a bit. I thought he was pretty damned dynamic until he blew out his knee and couldn’t recover.
answer:
NO
The year he got hurt in week 2 on a freak collision with a fellow defensive end, he was off to a rediculous start and was well on his way to a great season. Nonetheless he got hurt and was never the same.
^Nights Of Cabiria
by RadioheadbeatlesEagles on Jun 21, 2010 3:19 PM EDT up reply actions
vs. Expectations, yes he was
From my recollection, the birds did ask the Freak to just go get the quarterback most of the time. Two problems: 1) He only had one move – a combination swim/bullrush to the outside, which didn’t work when he lost even a half a step and when the opposing tackle was trained to block him at an angle that would divert him around behind the QB 2) He had lots of injuries before the career-ending legwhip with his own teammate- hand, arm, toe, other hand – a speed rusher is always going to take shrapnel, so one that isn’t resilient/durable doesn’t fit the job
Put together, never worth close to what they paid for him, and made them put off drafting for another top-quality pass-rusher. That is pretty bad in my book.
by PrincetonGreen on Jun 21, 2010 3:21 PM EDT up reply actions
This year was different, too...
What were there, like 2 free agents? The really good players that would have been free agents were screwed by the uncapped season, which made them restricted free agents. This clown could have written this article for just about every NFL team, with the exception of the Bears.
Formerly Bye, Dawk :(
glad I don’t check in on that site…. what a moron.
^Nights Of Cabiria
by RadioheadbeatlesEagles on Jun 21, 2010 3:20 PM EDT reply actions
what a moron.
Just this year, ernie sims is a huge trade. Trading up for a DE and trading our franchise QB. And we were after peppers.
2010-11 Predictions:
Kevin Kolb will go to the probowl and complete >65% of passes.
Jeremy Maclyn will have more receptions than Miles Austin & Steve Smith
Graham will have the starting LDE spot tied up by week 5, win ROTY, and have >10 Sacks
11-5 finish.
by corn on the kolb on Jun 21, 2010 4:01 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
That’s the point. You can say everything the Eagles did was ill advised or dumb if you like.. but you can’t say they did nothing. There were major moves galore this offseason.
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So the only way a team can actually “do something” in the off season is if they sign a big name free agent?
"He wasn't an astronaut, he was a tv comedian! And he was just using space travel as a metaphor for beating his wife!"
Bold in Draft As Well
Do not forget that the Eagles actually only drafted one player with a pick originally alotted to the Eagles—the moved up and down the draft board aggressively bringing in more draft picks than ANY other team in the NFL. That is hardly “vanilla” or “complacent”.
OPINIONS
Unfortunately, you don’t have to know what you’re talking about to have one. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Billy seems to forget significant free agent signings like John Runyan, Troy Vincent, and Terrell Owens over the years. Signing Shawn Barber in 2002 was somewhat bold. Wasn’t last year’s trade for Jason Peters fairly “bold?” I don’t know if signing Leonard Weaver would qualify as bold, but it was certainly a very good signing. Trading for Ernie Sims seemed fairly bold too. Plus you have to give them credit for finding some nice undrafted free agents like David Akers, Quintin Mikell, and Jamaal Jackson.
Point is, the Eagles have made their share of “bold” moves. Yea, I’ll agree that the Eagles can come off as a bit arrogant at times, but you can’t say they aren’t well run.
Oh, and haven’t the been on a quest to find a big game goaltender since about 1989?
Sometimes it's just fun to take the family for a spin around the lake in the old boat. Even if it's not your family or your boat, and they're screaming for you to stop.
by Baron Dainer Von Tresvant on Jun 21, 2010 10:46 PM EDT reply actions
You can’t compare any of the other Philly teams to the Flyers, because they are run completely differently. Ed Snider, while I appreciate it at times, absolutely refuses to rebuild and it has cost him plenty. All the other teams (mostly) realize that you have to rebuild from time to time through the draft or trade popular players for picks.
The Eagles are not just a few pieces away here; they need to find out what they have with their relatively young core. Big name FA signings are not something necessary for this team right now.
"Tortorella’s got it all wrong ... Gaborik shouldn’t be messing with our skilled player." -Peter Luukko
Pwned
JasonB > BillyV
Secretary of State for BGN aka "Most diplomatic man on this site," as appointed by Talon Talent
Still waiting for the Eagles to Bring It Home For Jerome
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