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Let's get to the links...
Bleeding Green Nation Logo T-Shirt - BGN Store
Have you ever wanted to purchase the coolest shirt in the history of the universe? Wait no longer: buy now.
Exclusive: Stripper bares all about relationship with Michael Vick - JimmyK, Philly.com
An adult dancer who claims to be Michael Vick's secret lover has self-published a tell-all book about her alleged experiences with the quarterback that includes sexually explicit details about Vick and his inner circle. While the book has received some media attention, Philly.com has been in contact with the author and we remain unclear of what is fact and what is fantasy. Writing under the pseudonym, Bella Escritor, the author dishes dirt on the once and, quite possibly, soon to be former Eagles quarterback in the book, Quarterback Keeper.
Matt Barkley - Tommy Lawlor, Iggles Blitz
One of the hot topics is whether the Eagles will bring back Michael Vick to be the backup QB. Part of that decision is influenced by what the team thinks of Matt Barkley. In a fantasy world, you would love to have Barkley as the backup and then add another rookie to the mix. That way you would have a good group of young QBs. Depending on how they developed, you could have assets worth trading. The Packers did this for much of the 1990s and it worked very well. Would Chip Kelly and Howie Roseman trust Barkley to be the backup? That player is a "chin strap away" as Kelly likes to say (by the way, I have no idea what that means other than to say the backup must be ready. Chin strap?). If the Eagles expect to be a Super Bowl contender next year, do you really want a 2nd year player as your primary backup? The Packers didn’t have the right backup QBs and they went 2-5-1 without Aaron Rodgers. You can go young or old, but you must have a good backup.
Crystal Ball: Riley Cooper - Birds 24/7
At the risk of sounding like a cold-blooded business tycoon, my take is the Eagles should only consider bringing Cooper back at a relatively inexpensive price tag. The organization has leverage here because of what happened last summer at the Kenny Chesney concert. Does Cooper really want to go into a new locker room with 52 strangers and have to answer questions about that ugly incident once again? Cooper may try to sell the "I finally got an opportunity" argument, but that’s not really the case. Let’s not forget that in 2012, he played over 70 percent of the snaps in the final seven games because of DeSean Jackson’s injury. The results: 19 catches for 206 yards. That’s an average of 2.7 receptions and 29.4 yards per games.
Scrutiny now settling on shaky Browns President - Dave Mangels, SouthernPhilly
What a difference a year makes. No coaching search has been as meandering and bizarre as the Browns’ circuitous trek across America. If you are replacing your coach after one year, you might want to actually have a plan to replace him. Chasing every lukewarm college coach, scrambling to the media to confirm some coaching interviews, obscure others; releasing skewed information about your whereabouts and resorting to day-late spin tactics after being repeatedly left at the altar isn’t going to fly in Cleveland. Not when the entire league knew Rob Chudzinski was praised in middle of the season then fired at the end of it, and not with a nominal general manager, Michael Lombardi, trying to fight a growing perception around the league that he is woefully out of his depth. (Say what you want about the Vikings exhaustive search, but they haven’t been strung out by college coaches who were unlikely to leave campus anyway).
Shrine Game Winners: Day 2 - Tony Pauline, PE.com
Alden Darby/DB/Arizona State: Darby continued the momentum of his terrific senior campaign with a good first practice in St Petersburg. At 5-10, 192, the Arizona State product is not a big safety, yet showed much in the way of quickness, speed and agility. Even on the sloppy surface the West used for practice, he showed the innate ability to quickly break to the ball which resulted in several pass defenses.
Eagles can tackle needs in draft - Rich Hofmann, Daily News
AS THE Eagles watched the NFL playoff games over the weekend, there was not much to learn - other than that the better team advanced in all four cases, which means the goal is to get better, which is obvious enough. Stylistically, though, you have young quarterbacks and old quarterbacks, running quarterbacks and pocket passers, good defenses and OK defenses. There is no obvious pattern here, or formula. So, get better. Some of that has to come internally - specifically with the development of quarterback Nick Foles. You get the sense that there might be a strategic acquisition or two in free agency, but you also get the sense that the Eagles have been so chastened by the way their free-agency lollapalooza exploded on them in 2011 that they're never going to try that again. Fair enough. All of which leaves the draft, and this observation: As long as they don't take a quarterback or a running back with their first pick, they are picking in an area of need.
For Chip Kelly, the real heavy lifting begins now - John Gonzalez, CSN Philly
The first year went well – better than anyone could have reasonably anticipated. But the first year was something different. It was fresh and new – a situation initially observed through a macro-view where anything seemed possible. That’s how beginnings generally go. That’s the fun of beginnings. What follows tends to be more complicated.
Ben McAdoo Hiring Reaction: New York Giants make bold, surprising move - Ed Valentine, Big Blue View
The Giants hired a new offense coordinator and their fans seem pretty excited about it.
Speaking of the Giants...
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Here's a fun stat: Jeremy Maclin, who missed the entire 2013 season, has caught a TD pass more recently than Hakeem Nicks.</p>— Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrandonGowton/statuses/423178128346062848">January 14, 2014</a></blockquote>
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