Mike Vick Goes for Two, Maclin Loses to Mono

The voting for the Madden '12 cover has come down to a final four battle. On one side, the number three seed, Eagles quarterback Mike Vick, is taking on the number nine seed, Vikings running back Adrian Peterson. On the other side, the number one seed, Packers QB Aaron Rodgers, is taking on the number ten seed, Browns RB Peyton Hillis. If Vick wins the overall voting, he will be the first player to be on the cover of Madden twice, and in two different uniforms. Vick appeared on the cover of Madden 2004, and fell victim to the Madden Curse, breaking his leg in a preseason game. While some Philly fans have been wary about voting for Vick due to concern for the curse's reach, Vick pointed out on his Twitter account that there is no curse for being on the cover twice. Others argue that an injury would be negated by the lockout, should it extend into the regular season. Whatever your position on the curse, it would be good to have an Eagle on the cover of the newest Madden game. The last Eagle to grace the title's cover was Donovan McNabb on the Madden 2006 game. McNabb was later injured in a game against the Dallas Cowboys, and was replaced by backup QB (and Rutgers alum) Mike McMahon. The Eagles ended with a 6-10 record that year, so vote as your superstition dictates.

Meanwhile, wide receiver Jeremy Maclin is currently recuperating from an illness similar to mononucleosis. Though he lost 15 pounds, the receiver says he's gained about half of it back, and plans on joining Michael Vick and other key Eagles players in southern New Jersey for Vick's informal practices, meant to keep the team sharp. Let's hope it doesn't aggravate anything, or cause any injuries, especially while locked out of the team health plan.

Could the Lockout Hurt the Eagles?

As we wait and watch the NFL and NFLPA drama play out in court, there are a few perspectives on the labor dispute, old and new. Former Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski discussed the current lockout in terms of the 1982 players' strike. According to Jaworski, the strike, which stopped the season for 57 days, crippled the Eagles. Hot on the heels of the franchise's first Super Bowl appearance in the 1980-1981 season following a dramatic few playoff years, Jaworski assessed the team as "explosive." Jaws attributes the failure of this explosive offense's production to the dwindling numbers at workouts and practice as the strike prolonged. Jaws' biggest concern is for current Eagles QB Mike Vick, still relatively new to the Eagles' offense, and hopefully will have an improved, though new, offensive line to work with. Without the summer training program and preseason activities, as Jeff Offord points out will likely be missed, a new O-line could be disastrous. Even if the work stoppage were to end just before the season begins, and assuming all the players stick with their exercise routine, they will not have worked as a full team, or with the coaching staff, in months. While this problem of time will be the same for all teams, it will not affect all teams equally. Teams whose quarterbacks have been established for years, like the Steelers, Packers, or even Jets, and who have low-prospect of player movement will clearly come out above teams missing quality players at key positions, like the 49ers' lack of QB or the Bengals' struggles both at the QB position and on the offense in general. Teams like the Raiders, who have recently parted with their head coach, will face other difficulties all together. Not that next year's playoffs (if they happen) will look exactly like this year's by virtue of strength of previous year. Not at all, point number one being the NFC West. Last year it was literally anyone's game, and if each of the teams in the division struggle, it could be this year as well, though it is likely one will learn from last year and be stronger this (possible) season.

On the other side of the glass, Eagles president Joe Banner has strong feelings about the lockout, and is not shy about showing his frustration at the stop in negotiations. Unlike many who have discussed anger regarding the talks, however, he is mainly frustrated with the players union. Banner thinks the players walked away from a good deal and said that the owners' final offer proved how much they were willing to give up to keep the game going. The players union executive director DeMaurice Smith contests Banner's assessment, saying that the financial data sought by the union was not given, and breaks down the cap changes significantly differently from Banner. While Banner was making his comments regarding the negotiations, the Eagles emailed an open letter to fans on the Eagles' mailing list from Banner and Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, as well as publishing it on the team website. The letter discussed the management's faith in the federal mediation process and talked about the "long-term health of the league." It also reaffirmed the Eagles' commitment to winning a Super Bowl and that planned offseason events would still go on as scheduled. The letter met criticism from the fans, though it would be interesting to see an event at which coaches and players were both committed to attend. In this case, the players would likely not attend, but it would be fun to watch them act like a divorced couple, forced to be at the same event, though not allowed to interact. To be a fly on that wall.

In former Eagle news, Donovan McNabb is serving as an analyst for Comcast's NCAA Tournament. McNabb, who played two years of basketball at Syracuse, is expected to be traded from the Washington Redskins once the labor dispute is over. The former Eagles QB will have options, depending on when the dispute is over. Let's hope none of them include Kyle Shanahan or Rex Grossman.

The Lockout Gets Justice, Vick Decides Against Oprah

This week Eagles offensive tackle Winston Justice has become a hub for NFLPA news, telling teammates on Twitter to follow him for updates and giving information about players meetings, like this tweet:

This kind of leadership from individual teams is what the players need to avoid a lockout. I don't like taking sides on things, especially when I could potentially cover them, but this blog is also for opinions, and I for one hope that the owners can somehow be reasoned with to avoid a lockout. I'll save my points for why I support the players for comments, so feel free to post your views on the quickly looming lockout.



Mike Vick was slated to tape an interview with the almighty Oprah on Wednesday, but canceled for "personal reasons." T.J. Walker of Forbes gives some good insight on why it would have been in Vick's PR interests to do the interview, but others believe the Eagles were behind the cancellation, largely due to the fact that Oprah is a dog-lover. Some reports were that PETA was prepping Oprah to give Vick tough questions, the kind that would be not be comfortable to answer, while others say it was the talk of current owners of dogs Vick used to fight being in attendance. Vick may not have pleased Oprah, seeing as the interview won her a bet with Piers Morgan (who hardly seems rich enough to gamble in Oprah's league, but a win's a win, right?) that she would get to talk with Vick before Morgan did. Tom Weir of USA Today seems to think that Vick has angered Oprah by canceling, but I really think she has better things to do than smite someone who is trying to rehabilitate his image. If the interview is rescheduled, I hope to be able to attend; so that I can report back to you the feeling in the room, and to support my team's newly franchised quarterback.

In other news, Mark Buehrle has backed off of comments he made regarding Vick getting injured, to a degree. I think the best thing that could happen would be Vick sitting on the third baseline as the Phillies beat the White Sox in the World Series. But pitchers and catchers just reported the other day, so it'll be a long season. Hopefully Rangers' second baseman Ian Kinsler's comments about Vick's and Desean Jackson's lack of attending practice is not a sign of things to come. His comments make even less sense due to the fact that there was no news of either Eagle missing practice through the 2010 season. I think he's just mad we got Cliff Lee. Had to work that in somehow. Anyway, no Phillie has said anything about anyone in any other sport. They make the news with wins. Sorry, forgot this was an NFL blog for a moment there.

Finally, to mesh former Eagle news with Andy Reid news, Joe Banner went on WIP and criticized (I feel rightly), the Redskins' benching of QB Donovan McNabb. I was and am a McNabb fan, despite all the negativity, and benching him for Rex Grossman (especially making him a third-string QB) was wrong. Banner also made an open-ended remark that if the Eagles organization ever felt Reid couldn't get them to the Big Game, they'd be open to changing team leadership. Interesting remarks coming so soon before Reid's contract is up. Kinda makes you wonder.

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The Wait Is Over

After three weeks of speculation and turmoil, the Eagles finally have a defensive coordinator. Andy Reid hired the Eagles' offensive line coach, Juan Castillo to take over the defensive reigns nearly a month after firing Sean McDermott and just days after interviewing the Bears' Jon Hoke. The reactions from the Eagles' defensive squad was mixed. Fans and Eagles analysts were surprised by the move, with many arguing that Castillo's hiring was foolish since his last defensive experience was at Texas A&M and Kingsville High School from 1982 - 1989. The move is very interesting, given the coaches they have interviewed or considered thus far.

One hint at the decision's logic came in the hiring of Howard Mudd, the Colts' former offensive line coach. This hiring seems comparable to the hiring of Jim Washburn on defense. Mudd's name is legend in the NFL, capped off with his final run with the Colts in 2008, ranking second in the league in sacks allowed. Mudd will definitely bring improvements to an offensive line that has struggled since the days of Donovan McNabb. If Mudd is still half the coach he was two years ago, the O-line should be able to offer Michael Vick more protection from the increasingly difficult defensive lines that began to visibly chip away at the quarterback this past season. We can only hope that Castillo will be able to pick up the defense again after 20+ years.