Tag: NFL

Brian Dawkins-An Eagle Forever

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Last week, Brian Dawkins‘ number 20 was retired by the Philadelphia Eagles during their game against the New York Giants on Sunday night Football. As many of my readers may recall, my role model has been Brian Dawkins throughout my entire life. He’s the number one reason I play football. He has acted as someone that I strive to be everyday. This past Sunday was the final act in Dawk’s storied career.

The Friday before the game, my cousin went to Lincoln Financial Field to join in the celebration with the rest of the Eagles personnel. The team, coaches and alum were celebrating Dawkins’ career and my cousin decided that he wanted to get involved. While not to the extent of myself, my cousin also has a strong admiration of “Weapon X”.

My cousin then made his move and did something that I will always appreciate and never forget. He decided to surprise me by getting Dawk to call my cell phone and talk to me. I almost had my chance.

EXCEPT I WAS AT FOOTBALL PRACTICE!!!!

However, Dawk left a voicemail that I consider almost better. I can never replay a conversation that I have over the phone, but I can always replay the voicemail. He didn’t even have to say too much. He just told me to “Make sure I ball out every play”. For those that don’t know, “ball out” means to play every play like it’s your last. I’ve been living that way since day 1 of my football career, and Dawk’s words have resonated throughout my mind, body, heart and soul since the first Eagles game I ever went to.

That voicemail has meant the world to me. I have played it every night since I’ve received it before I go to bed. Finally, I have a piece of the Wolverine that I can share with everyone.

Eagles-Giants/Don’t get much better!

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Well that was really disgusting.

Honestly, I was very concerned about this game going in. The Eagles and Giants squared off tonight in an epic battle for the division. Man, it really wasn’t pretty.

The entire first half was scoreless until the 2 minute warning where Michael Vick connected with DeSean Jackson for a touchdown pass. Then the Giants quickly made their way down the field to notch a field goal of their own.

7-3 at the half. Advantage Eagles.

Fast forward to the last 15 seconds, the Eagles could have completely screwed themselves out of a victory.

But they didn’t.

Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes lined up for a game-winning field goal. The score is 19-17 and Tynes has a 54 yard kick to give the Giants the W.

He misses wide! Game over! Eagles win!….NO!!!!!!

There is a popular occurrence in the NFL known as “Icing the Kicker”. This act is when a head coach calls a timeout right before a kicker is about to make his kick. However, the timeout is used exactly as the long snapper snaps the ball to the holder. The kicker will then take the kick, yet it will not count.

Unfortunetly, Mr. Fatass…i mean Reid gave Tynes a second shot.

Thank God Tynes screwed it up again. This time, he didn’t put enough into the kick, and it fell about 3 yards short.

This time, the Eagles really did win.

I’m not going to go into a lot of detail about this one. There weren’t a lot of stats that really stood out to me.

I’ll explain more next week. I’m just freaking out that Tynes sucks. That’s all!

Next post, I’m going to discuss something completely amazing. Brian Dawkins is finally gone, and he deserves his own post. Till next time, I’m going to do Spanish.

Adios!

What am I gonna say this time?-Worst Person 23 and 24

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This is going to be more of just me talking but I’m gonna throw a worst person in there too for a little bit. But there’s a lot I wanna talk about.

First off, for anyone that plays fantasy football, I want to advise against one thing for any league you do in the future. Try to avoid family members. It just never ends well. I’m in a league that is only my family and it’s really been something. I’m going to offer a few nonexistent yet hilarious “awards” today.

First award goes to the best sleeper draft pick. A sleeper is a player that no one really thought was going to do that great but had a lot of potential. This player wasn’t highly sought after during the draft, but was stilled picked up. Usually sleepers are taken with late picks like the 10th or 11th round. This year, my mother of all people decided to pick up the biggest sleeper in the 4th round.

That player is Reggie Bush.

I’ll be honest. My mother was talking about drafting Reggie Bush the whole time. I’ll also tell you that if I got to the 8th round and he was still there, I was taking him. With the exception of my mother and I, no one saw his potential on a Dolphins team with no other weapons. My only issue with this is that 1) I’m playing against my mother this week and 2) she took him WAAAAY too early and missed out on bigger name players. However, that’s coming from someone that is 1-1 after the first two weeks. She’s 2-0.Read More »

Worst Person 22-Jay Cutler

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This is brand new, and I’m talking a few minutes. The Bears and Packers faced off this evening in a battle of epic proportions. The teams looked ready and raring to go after last week. The Packers were beat last week, but that just got them more ready. The Bears had a great game last week using the power of Jay Cutler‘s arm to hurl the ball down field to Brandon Marshall. This was supposed to be a great matchup.

One problem though.

Jay. Cutler. SUCKS!!!!

What’s wrong? Did I hurt your feelings? Dude, you don’t know pain until you’ve been sacked by Clay Matthews.

Oh wait. THAT HAPPENED 2.5 TIMES TONIGHT!!! (For those that don’t know, when you combine with another player for a sack, you get .5)

Scary, huh? Well Mr. Cutler, that’s no excuse to ALSO throw FOUR interceptions. Ya, the Pack have a solid passing defense. But you’re supposed to be an elite quarterback. My cousin was fooled this week by ESPN to play Cutler instead of Peyton Manning for his fantasy team. Cutler would have ended up with negative points had it not been for a late touchdown.

Jay, I never believed in you. I don’t know why coaches and analysts keep giving you the BOTD. I see right through all that bad passing. You can’t blame Marshall. You had him in Denver and now you got him again. You can’t blame your running back. He got hurt. You CAN blame your line. Yes, they played poorly. But that doesn’t happen every game. You have games like this all too frequently.

You know, come to think of it, maybe I shouldn’t have made Jay Cutler the worst person.

Maybe I should’ve given the honor to my cousin for drafting the useless “gunslinger.”

WELCOME BACK WORLD!!!-Worst Person #21-New York Jets

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Well Dang its been a while. Tons of time has passed. Summer came and went and here I am back at school and everyone has that look of excitement to begin the new school year. To start us off on the right foot, I’m bringing back everyone’s favorite series, “The Worst person in sports”. Whether it be a team, owner or player, there’s always some sense of athletic mediocrity. This year, we will start with the New York Jets.

There’s a lot I can say. I never addressed it last year but Tim Tebow going to New York was just dumb. There was no reason. I thought Mark Sanchez was quite overrated, yes. But Tebow is NOT an upgrade. And that’s only the beginning.

In the preseason the Jets did not score a touchdown until their final game. The funniest part? The quarterback that threw for the touchdown was Greg McIlroy. That’s gotta be embarrassing.

Now a little recap of…MY EAGLES WINNING THE SEASON OPENER TO…….cleveland. HAHAHAHAHAHA

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Worst Person in Sports #20-Juan Castillo

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As many of you readers may recall, I spent an awful lot of time trashing Juan Castillo, defensive coordinator of my beloved Eagles, last season. Now, he’s back with an even more atrocious act than simply calling the wrong formations.

First round pick Fletcher Cox was criticized by Castillo during the team’s rookie minicamp. I’m not talking about a playful criticism or a little teasing to haze the rookies. I’m talking full on cursing him out. The kid is brand new to the squad, and you’re gonna start yelling at him? Probably not the right approach.

Honestly, Cox handled it like a seasoned pro, only responding with “Yes sir, I’m gonna correct it, sir.” and “I know sir, I apologize.”

Class act for a rookie, if I do say so. As an athlete myself, I should explain that when a coach gets hard on you, it’s nothing personal. It’s for an athlete to recognize a mistake and correct it themselves.

My one massive issue with this was that Cox had no idea what he did wrong, and apparently Castillo failed to explain it. That’s just bad coaching. I always appreciate when a coach has something to criticize about my style of play. I always welcome that kind of criticism. But tell the kid what he did wrong, Juan!!!!

It’s the only way he’s gonna be able to get any better. There’s a lot of pressure that comes with being a team’s first round pick.

The NFL Draft-Let’s take a look

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Well, the NFL Draft has come and gone with a lot of solid performances by some already powerful teams. The New England Patriots added some strong defensive depth, adding Chandler Jones and Donta Hightower in the first round. The Baltimore Ravens were able to add even more depth to their linebacking core, drafting Courtney Upshaw. Even the Philadelphia Eagles had a strong draft, picking up Fletcher Cox, Vinny Curry and Brandon Boykin, just to name a few.

I am very excited for the new season to begin. I gotta wait until August to see them in action, since that’s when the preseason games start. I can’t wait to watch these teams go at it.

But of course, as is the case with every draft, there is always one just BAD selection.

That, my friends, was the Seattle Seahawks and Bruce Irvin.

Irvin, which I will take as my worst person #19, went into the draft as the number 99 overall player. He was taken in the top 15.

Even if Bruce Irvin turns out being this incredible football player, he would have been available in the second round and maybe even the third. Seattle shouldn’t have reached this far. Probably going to be a huge mistake for them.

Anyway, I’m pumped up, despite the Giants having a solid draft as well.

We are ready this year. I smell a Super Bowl for Philly!

Either that, or I smell the bust factor of Bruce Irvin.

Brian Dawkins-The reason I am who I am

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I will cover the NFL Draft this coming week. But, being as my childhood hero just retired for the NFL, I feel obligated to discuss the retirement.

Brian Dawkins was a model football player. He was a leader on the field for his team and off the field for his dedication to the communities of Philadelphia and Denver when he signed with the Broncos.

“B-Dawk” as many refer to him, was one of the most loved athletes in the city of Philadelphia maybe only behind Rocky, who wasn’t even a real person. Brian Dawkins was the heart and soul of the Eagles for over 10 years. As long as I have been watching football, Dawkins has played. I was about just one year old when Dawkins made his debut in the National Football League.

My first memory of Dawkins is during that season, believe it or not. His rookie season, “Weapon X”, another popular nickname for the homicidal safety, made a successful open field tackle against a running back that I think you maybe have heard of, Barry Sanders.

Ya, you read that right. A rookie took down the great Barry Sanders in the open field. That was when the city began to believe.

I’d now like to share some of my favorite moments of Brian Dawkins.

I remember in an NFC championship game against the Atlanta Falcons, where the quarterback was still Michael Vick.

The Falcons were the fastest team in football with players like Warrick Dunn, Vick and Alge Crumpler.

One play in that game set the tempo early.

Vick dropped back and fired a dart about 40-50 yards down field.

Alge caught the ball. Dawkins caught Alge.

Dawk met Crumpler with a MASSIVE hit which left him down on the field for a couple minutes. While he wasn’t injured, the Falcons became demoralized, which led to an Eagles’ Super Bowl appearance.

There are so many Dawkins moments that I could dissect. But, I will randomly provide the readers with other Dawk moments as my blogs continue to come.

Thank you, Brian, for your years of service to this great game. You are the reason for my random yell into the air before every quarter of football or lacrosse that I play. You are the reason why I hit with such intensity. You are the reason that I strive to compete every second I’m on the field. Most importantly, you are the reason I have embraced a leadership role wherever I go. You taught me to be a leader. I couldn’t have asked for a better model.

And there he goes, ladies and gentlemen!

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After my previous posts of Asante Samuel being traded by the Eagles, the deal was finally finished today.

Yes, that’s right. Asante Samuel has been traded to the Atlanta Falcons for a 7th round pick.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

The sad part about that laugh is that even though from a distance this looks like a terrible deal for the Eagles after the Lions were rumored to be offering up to a second and third round pick for Samuel last year, I was laughing at the Falcons for a few different reasons.

Number 1 is that now the Eagles have the freedom to spend some money to resign DeSean Jackson. Oh wait, we already did that didn’t we? Joke’s on Atlanta. We will probably use the money to resign running back LeSean McCoy to a massive long term deal.

The second reason I laugh at Atlanta is because of the huge price they pay, literally. Their core of cornerbacks looks very similar to the Eagles last season except for one big piece.

Last year, Asante was worth about 10 million dollars, Nnamdi Asomugha was worth 12 million and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie about 4 million, which is a huge amount of money.

Now check this out.

The Falcons, this coming year, must pay Asante 10 million (being as his new contract won’t kick in immediately) Dunta Robinson is worth about 10 million and Brent Grimes just signed a 10.5 million dollar contract. Thats about 30 million dollars at one position and also the most amount of money at the cornerback position by one team in NFL history.

Will I miss him? Yes. Am I really all that upset about it? No.

I remember when the Eagles first signed Asante. I was home sick from school on the first day of NFL free agency that year. I was really excited because I heard that a few teams were talking to Samuel, one team being the Eagles, considered the favorite to sign him. My mother told me point blank, “John the team always screws us. It’s not going to happen, and I think you know that. The team is run by idiots.”

While I agree with the last part of that, Asante Samuel was signed about one hour later. I was watching in my bed with some soup on my table.

“Breaking news, the Philadelphia Eagles have signed cornerback Asante Samuel to a 6 year, 60 million dollar contract.”

“MOM! THEY SIGNED HIM! OH MY GOD THEY GOT HIM YES! I FREAKIN’ TOLD YOU MA!”

While he was an Eagle, he was one of my favorite players. I love him. I still have his jersey in my drawer at school.

I will miss you, Asante. The Eagles play the Falcons this coming season, so I’ll watch him again, just from the wrong side.

Good luck, Asante. I’m sure you’ll make the Falcons a real contender. Keep stuntin’.

Worst Person #18-Ryan Leaf

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A while back, I discussed Jamarcus Russell being a massive draft bust in the NFL, and possibly the biggest draft bust in NFL history. However, if any one player could challenge Russell for that title, it’s Mr. Ryan Leaf.

Leaf was the number 2 overall selection in his NFL Draft, one pick after NFL legend Peyton Manning. In fact, he was such a good player that the Colts originally wanted to select Leaf over Manning in that draft. However, his off-the-field issues turned the Colts off, and man, was that a blessing.

Now, Leaf finds himself in trouble with the law. Today, Ryan Leaf was arrested for burglary and possession of dangerous drugs.

I mean yea, athletes sometimes find themselves in less than positive situations. It could happen to anyone. But, this arrest was the second arrest in two days. Leaf was arrested for burglary over the weekend as well.

After being signed to such a large contract, and being highly sought after during college, Ryan Leaf has disgraced himself and the game he played. The NFL is a better place without him.