but there's this Hashmarks entry about one of the sidelights of the Rookie Symposium.

Throughout the three and a half days of the symposium, rookies were asked 32 questions based on presentations and NFL trivia. They registered their answers with electronic keypads and their scores were compiled as individuals and as a team.

Their scores were tallied and in the end Jason Jones a D-lineman for Tennesee walked off wit a 32 inch flat screen - in second place, King Dunlap and in sixth Mike Gibson. 

Woo Hoo!  When does the real football start anyway?  Holy Crap.

GCobb has a couple of notes up today about the Bird's defense.  In one, he reminds us that the Eagles were last in the league in turnovers last year.  In the other, he takes a look at the defensive assistants.  I've spent some time considering the defense recently myself and noticed some things about Jim Johnson's defense last year compared to years past that seemed oddly incongruous.

At first glance the Eagles defense last year seemed to be pretty good.  They were 9th in the league in points allowed, 10th in total yards, 7th against the run and 18th against the pass.  They even were tied for 9th in the league in sacks.  The thing is though, when you compare the Eagles to the rest of the league they look pretty good, but when you look back and compare the Eagles last year with Jim Johnson's defenses of years past...

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The Boston Herald today ran some remarkable statistics - ostensibly the article was about the NFL's environmental initiatives, but much of the article was dedicated to the Laurie's Go Green program started in 2003. 

As part of the Go Green program, the Eagles have:

Offered to compensate organization employees the cost difference in using wind power versus conventional power at their homes. Participating employees are eliminating 24 tons of carbon dioxide each year.

Installed a solar electricity generation system at NovaCare Center, the team’s training complex.

Replaced an estimated 20 tons annually of additional plastic, foam and paper flatware with sustainable-source alternatives.

I've got to say, that for my part at least, the Eagles organization's dedication to sustainable practices is something quite refreshing which I greatly appreciate and I hope that the Eagles continue to find ways to minimize their impact on the planet.  Take a look at the article to see what else the Birds are doing and have done.

Recently there have been several notes about the Eagles Defense.  Mark Eckel wrote this weekend about the linebacking corps, Igglesblog had an interesting take about the defense's supposed speed and Tommy Lawlor had a nice homage to Buddy's 46. 

I personally find it easier to come up with defensible things to say about the offense because that is the side of the ball which gets emphasized during network broadcasts.  Prior to the snap the camera is focused on the offense and afterward it follows the ball.  It's only during shows like NFL Matchup where we get to see any coaches tape showing the whole field.  

NFL Network recently rebroadcast last year's Cowboys victory and I rewatched their highlight reel a couple of times.  Several plays stuck out.  Three of the Eagles eleven interceptions on the season came in that game.  Unfortunately one of them resulted in an immediate turnover (screw on your head before buttoning your chinstrap Quintin), the second, Lito Shepard's pick before halftime, led to the games only TD, and and the last, which turned into Brian Westbrook's infamous knee, was Dawkins' only pick of the year.  Certainly you can't generalize based upon a sample size of one, but this example sure seems to say something about turnovers.

These plays were great, but one play - a 9 yard pass reception by Jason Witten - was the one that really got me thinking.

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from USA Today:

Andrews modeled his game by watching Larry Allen and Will Shields, both likely future Hall of Famers, and the Eagles are reaping the rewards. A starter the last three seasons, Andrews has made the Pro Bowl in his last two campaigns and the Eagles have fielded one of the NFL's top six offenses both years. RB Brian Westbrook has been particularly good over that period, crafting both of his 1,000-yard rushing seasons and producing an NFL-high 2,104 yards from scrimmage in 2007.

Shawn's in the company of Bruce Mathews, Larry Little and Gene Upshaw (he used to play ball you know), not entirely inappropriate if you ask me.  Let's keep Shawn healthy, what'd'ya say?

USA today is doing a running column on the best players of today versus the best players of the "Superbowl Era" which I assume means since the NFL and AFL started playing each other to figure out which was the best league.  It's an interesting serial which brings a new postion every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, giving us 3 more weeks of stuff to discuss.

In their discussion of the Cornerbacks of today and yesterday Asante Samuel shows up as the #3 corner presently and he scores high enough to rank him in the top 5 of the Superbowl Era.  I'm not sure that he really deserves to be ranked higher than Michael Haynes, but I'm not really sure that the two can be compared.

via assets.philadelphiaeagles.com

I look forward to the upcoming ranking of Running Backs and Quarterbacks.  It'll be interesting to see where Westbrook shows up and whether or not Donovan McNabb gets any votes...