I love this-- this should be posted in the locker room and be mandatory reading for all players at least once a week.
This lack of respect should provide some fire.
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Few pick Birds for playoffsOnline, in Vegas, and at newsstands, Birds are counted out.
By Bob Brookover
Inquirer Staff Writer
Expectations for the Eagles are at a 21st-century low as the team opens training camp today at Lehigh University.
It's not that the Eagles don't believe they can rebound from the disastrous season in which they tumbled from the top of the NFC to the bottom of the NFC East. It's just that few people outside Philadelphia believe that the Eagles are going to regain their status as one of the NFL's elite teams.
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In recent years, the Eagles went into the season as the overwhelming favorites to win the NFC East and were picked by many to win the NFC championship.
At least a few publications also picked the Eagles to win the Super Bowl.
This year, no national publication expects the Eagles to win it all and few expect them to even find their way back to the postseason.
Five of the better-known magazines - Athlon, Lindy's, Pro Football Weekly, Sporting News, and Street & Smith's - pick the Carolina Panthers to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. Only Lindy's picks the Eagles to win the NFC East. The Dallas Cowboys are the choice of Athlon, Sporting News and Street & Smith's. Pro Football Weekly picks the Washington Redskins.
Las Vegas odds?
According to Vegas.com, the Eagles are an 18-1 shot to win the Super Bowl, which makes them the longest shot on the board among NFC East teams.
Power rankings?
According to ESPN.com, the Eagles are 18th among the NFL's 32 teams. The three other teams in the division are ranked among the top 11.
CBS SportsLine.com has the Eagles ranked 11th, with the Cowboys and New York Giants in front of them and the Redskins three spots back.
Only Foxsports.com seems to think that the Eagles can bounce back. It has them ranked ninth in the NFL, ahead of the three other teams in their division.
SI.com says that Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb is a falling star, which means its expectations of the team can't be too high, either.
"It really doesn't matter where they predict you to finish," Eagles cornerback Sheldon Brown said last month. "The bottom line is they can't predict injuries and they can't predict team chemistry. They don't know what's going to happen over the course of the season. They just look at that paper and see what guys have done statistically, and those stats don't carry over into the next season, so it's a bunch of bull."
Brown said it was impossible to look at the Eagles on paper and say that they are a last-place team, even though that is what the standings said at the end of last season.
"Everyone is trying to evaluate us on last season, but I don't recall one starter being healthy the whole year on the offensive side of the ball, so how do you really get a true evaluation of that?" Brown said. "On paper, how can you say we're a last-place team? But it's not for me to say whether we are or we aren't. We have to go out and prove what we are."
One of coach Andy Reid's favorite sayings at the start of each season is: "Every year is different." He said it before the start of last season and, boy, was he right. It doesn't get much different than the story of the Eagles' 2005 season.
The Eagles are convinced that this year is going to be different, too. Even the team's newcomer seems to believe that good chemistry and better health will do wonders for a team that went bad a year ago.
"A lot of times when you don't have a lot of discipline and you don't have a lot of continuity on your team, that's what can win and lose football games," defensive end Darren Howard said. "It's not always the talent that wins. A lot of intangibles go along with it. Every year is different."
Nobody knows how the Eagles or any other team will fare on the injury front, but team chemistry has been a primary theme since that day last November when wide receiver Terrell Owens was banished by Reid.
The message reached every corner of the locker room.
"There's 11 men on the field, and you have to be able to look at the next man on the field and depend on him to do his job," Brown said. "If everybody isn't on the same page every single Sunday, then it isn't going to work. That's why chemistry is important. And it doesn't necessarily come from the head coach. It comes from the veterans who establish what they want to get done, and it trickles down."
What the Eagles want to accomplish is obvious but not simple. They want to be among the best in the NFL again, even if a lot of people outside Philadelphia don't think it's possible.
Off the Radar
Here's how some of the top pro football Web sites rate the Eagles this season in their power rankings:
Espn.com 18th
Cbs.sportsline.com 11th
Foxsports.com 9th
Footballfutures.com 18th
Footballabout.com 18th
NFC East
Here's who the some top magazines pick to win the division:
Dallas: Street & Smith's, The Sporting News; Athlon.
Washington: Pro Football Weekly.
EAGLES: Lindy's.
Win It All
Here are bodog.com's odds to win the Super Bowl:
Seahawks 9-1
Steelers 11-1
Cowboys 11-1
Giants 14-1
Redskins 15-1
EAGLES 18-1
This lack of respect should provide some fire.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Few pick Birds for playoffsOnline, in Vegas, and at newsstands, Birds are counted out.
By Bob Brookover
Inquirer Staff Writer
Expectations for the Eagles are at a 21st-century low as the team opens training camp today at Lehigh University.
It's not that the Eagles don't believe they can rebound from the disastrous season in which they tumbled from the top of the NFC to the bottom of the NFC East. It's just that few people outside Philadelphia believe that the Eagles are going to regain their status as one of the NFL's elite teams.
Post a Comment
In recent years, the Eagles went into the season as the overwhelming favorites to win the NFC East and were picked by many to win the NFC championship.
At least a few publications also picked the Eagles to win the Super Bowl.
This year, no national publication expects the Eagles to win it all and few expect them to even find their way back to the postseason.
Five of the better-known magazines - Athlon, Lindy's, Pro Football Weekly, Sporting News, and Street & Smith's - pick the Carolina Panthers to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. Only Lindy's picks the Eagles to win the NFC East. The Dallas Cowboys are the choice of Athlon, Sporting News and Street & Smith's. Pro Football Weekly picks the Washington Redskins.
Las Vegas odds?
According to Vegas.com, the Eagles are an 18-1 shot to win the Super Bowl, which makes them the longest shot on the board among NFC East teams.
Power rankings?
According to ESPN.com, the Eagles are 18th among the NFL's 32 teams. The three other teams in the division are ranked among the top 11.
CBS SportsLine.com has the Eagles ranked 11th, with the Cowboys and New York Giants in front of them and the Redskins three spots back.
Only Foxsports.com seems to think that the Eagles can bounce back. It has them ranked ninth in the NFL, ahead of the three other teams in their division.
SI.com says that Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb is a falling star, which means its expectations of the team can't be too high, either.
"It really doesn't matter where they predict you to finish," Eagles cornerback Sheldon Brown said last month. "The bottom line is they can't predict injuries and they can't predict team chemistry. They don't know what's going to happen over the course of the season. They just look at that paper and see what guys have done statistically, and those stats don't carry over into the next season, so it's a bunch of bull."
Brown said it was impossible to look at the Eagles on paper and say that they are a last-place team, even though that is what the standings said at the end of last season.
"Everyone is trying to evaluate us on last season, but I don't recall one starter being healthy the whole year on the offensive side of the ball, so how do you really get a true evaluation of that?" Brown said. "On paper, how can you say we're a last-place team? But it's not for me to say whether we are or we aren't. We have to go out and prove what we are."
One of coach Andy Reid's favorite sayings at the start of each season is: "Every year is different." He said it before the start of last season and, boy, was he right. It doesn't get much different than the story of the Eagles' 2005 season.
The Eagles are convinced that this year is going to be different, too. Even the team's newcomer seems to believe that good chemistry and better health will do wonders for a team that went bad a year ago.
"A lot of times when you don't have a lot of discipline and you don't have a lot of continuity on your team, that's what can win and lose football games," defensive end Darren Howard said. "It's not always the talent that wins. A lot of intangibles go along with it. Every year is different."
Nobody knows how the Eagles or any other team will fare on the injury front, but team chemistry has been a primary theme since that day last November when wide receiver Terrell Owens was banished by Reid.
The message reached every corner of the locker room.
"There's 11 men on the field, and you have to be able to look at the next man on the field and depend on him to do his job," Brown said. "If everybody isn't on the same page every single Sunday, then it isn't going to work. That's why chemistry is important. And it doesn't necessarily come from the head coach. It comes from the veterans who establish what they want to get done, and it trickles down."
What the Eagles want to accomplish is obvious but not simple. They want to be among the best in the NFL again, even if a lot of people outside Philadelphia don't think it's possible.
Off the Radar
Here's how some of the top pro football Web sites rate the Eagles this season in their power rankings:
Espn.com 18th
Cbs.sportsline.com 11th
Foxsports.com 9th
Footballfutures.com 18th
Footballabout.com 18th
NFC East
Here's who the some top magazines pick to win the division:
Dallas: Street & Smith's, The Sporting News; Athlon.
Washington: Pro Football Weekly.
EAGLES: Lindy's.
Win It All
Here are bodog.com's odds to win the Super Bowl:
Seahawks 9-1
Steelers 11-1
Cowboys 11-1
Giants 14-1
Redskins 15-1
EAGLES 18-1
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