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August 30, 2006

Oh No You Didn’t

The Birds trade Simoneau for a WR and cut Pinkston and Detmer? And here I thought they’d gone soft in their old age!

It’s official – Monday through Wednesday of this week have been the best three days the Eagles have had since the week before Super Bowl XXXIX.

Before Monday, I was pretty fired up about this upcoming season. I mean, the team had holes, but I definitely thought the oddsmakers were selling the Birds a bit short, pricing them as the fourth-best team in an admittedly strong NFC East. Sure, the rest of the division had improved, but so had the Eagles, and in lot of the right places. The team’s stars on offense were healthy, and they’d invested heavily in both the offensive and defensive lines. Also, last time I checked they definitely had the best quarterback in their division. Whilst I don’t want to steal the thunder of my Official Season Preview Posting, let’s just say I was pretty confident that the Birds would win more than 8.5 games.

Still, despite my confidence vis-à-vis the over-under for season wins, I wasn’t completely sold on this team. In the face of constant complaints from the blathermonkeys in the local and national media, Andy Reid was sticking with the party line about how happy he was with the wide receivers. Ugh. Not another 2005. Not more Andy Reid needing to be right at the expense of winning games.

Worse still, though it’s certainly crowd-pleasing to give thirtysomething veterans like Jon Runyan and Brian Dawkins contract extensions, those didn’t feel like the sort of moves that got the Birds to four straight NFC Championship games. Unpopular as it might have been with fans and with the players, the Eagles were pretty enthusiastic proponents of the “Don’t sign anyone over 30 rule,” and were willing to let proven performers like Troy Vincent, Bobby Taylor and Duce Staley walk right out the door.

Essentially, I thought they’d gone a little soft.

And then this week happens! First they upgrade the WR position in a big way by bringing in Donte Stallworth from the Saints – and shipping them Mark Simoneau in return. Simoneau, if you remember, was the original “replacement” when Trotter signed with the Redskins. He really wasn’t up to the challenge of all that, and has spent the last two seasons as a backup, with the unspoken “It was a bad move to sign Simoneau” hovering above him the entire time. See ya. The mistake is gone. And we got a starting WR in the exchange. Bee-yoo-tee-full.

But today’s news was even better. A day after the story broke that Todd Pinkston’s agent had been given permission to seek a trade for the cowardly and generally ineffective WR, the Birds flat-out cut both Pinkston and David-Akers caddy/ Mormon mafia member Koy Detmer. (For great juice on the Pinkston situation, definitely check out Pro Football Talk; the guy who writes it is in the midst of an extensive and complicated feud with ESPN.com’s Len Pasquarelli – note, it contains lots and lots of name-calling – and if you can’t get excited about that, then I guess you just don’t like football.)

Pinkston and Detmer were total Andy Reid guys, in the Reno Mahe mold, though they didn’t have the luxury of being a RB on a team with zero-point-zero depth in the backfield. (We’ll overlook the return of A. J. Feeley for now.) And while neither of the cuts were complete surprises – Detmer had been horrific in his preseason appearance, and Dirk Johnson had been holding for Akers in the games – they were still pretty abrupt. Especially with Pinkston, if only because he was recovering from an injury. “Oh, the Achilles is still bothering you? What a shame. Now get the f*ck out.”

That Andy Reid cut them is an outstanding sign – it means the Birds are back to being cold, ruthless jerks. And it sure looks like the teams that act like cold, ruthless jerks do pretty well in the NFL (see Patriots comma New England). Essentially, the old Eagles are back! And I couldn’t be happier about that.

Go Birds.

Posted by thatkid at August 30, 2006 10:43 PM under Philly , Sports

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