Thoughts on the NCAA Tournament

After watching the NCAA Tourney over the last few days, I have a few observations. First, as a Villanova fan, I was happy to see the Wildcats make it to the Sweet Sixteen. After struggling against 14th seeded American University, they rolled over UCLA. The amazing thing about sports is how a team can struggle against a supposedly weaker opponent but then completely dominate a stronger one. With the American game, it clearly was a case that Villanova was not ready to play against a smaller (and at least initially) quicker team. That is usually a role that Villanova plays. In the rough and tumble Big East, they are usually the smaller team that relies on their quickness and athleticism to compensate for a lack of size. Fortunately, Coach Wright made some adjustments as Villanova began taking the ball inside and wore down the American players. By the end of the game, American had nothing left and the final score made it look a lot easier than it was for Villanova. As for the UCLA game, more on that later.

Second, my bracket is still in OK shape as all four of my Final Four survived. That being said, I imagine that most people’s Final Fours are in good shape. This is due to the amazing lack of upsets. Sure, there was some excitement in Round 1 when Cleveland State beat Wake Forest and Western Kentucky beat Illinois, but Round 2 was mostly chalk with the higher seed winning almost every game. In two of the regions (East and South), the 1, 2, 3 and 4 seeds all advanced as expected. In the other two, the 1, 2 and 3 seeds all advanced. The only exceptions to the chalk are Purdue and Arizona, and let’s face it, 5th seeded Purdue beating 4th seeded Washington was not a big upset. As for Arizona, while they are a 12 seed, they are a familiar name and they only beat a 13 seed to get to the Sweet Sixteen. For the sake of some excitement and my bracket, let’s hope the chalk does not continue next weekend. My Final Four is Michigan State, Connecticut, Villanova and Oklahoma. In my annual contest against my cousin Craig, he leads by four points, but he lost one of his Final Four. He took UCLA like he always does.

Third observation is just how dominant is the Big East. With five teams in the Sweet Sixteen, they by far have the most representation. As a conference, their winning percentage is .846 (11-2). The next closest conference (with 3 or more teams) is the Big 12 with a winning percentage of .750 (9-3), but in the only two games where the Big East and Big 12 faced each other, the Big East won. As for you supporters of the ACC, they have only two teams in the Sweet Sixteen and their winning percentage is a disappointing .500 (5-5). Can we finally admit that the ACC only goes two teams deep – North Carolina and Duke? Some other winning percentages: Atlantic 10 .600 (3-2); Big 10 .545 (6-5); Pac 10 .545 (6-5); SEC .250 (1-3).

All this makes me wonder, if the Big East is clearly the best conference and it is known for its bruising style of play, then why did UCLA try to play physical against Villanova? Didn’t that play into Villanova’s hands? After playing a grueling Big East schedule and going through the slug fest that is the Big East Tournament, Big East teams are battle tested and ready for physical play. Early in the game, it seemed that UCLA tried to play that game against Villanova, probably thinking that Villanova has some smaller players. The problem with that strategy was that seemed to energize Villanova and they fed off the physical style of play. This allowed them to jump out to a big lead and continue to physically punish the Bruins. Villanova led by 14 at halftime and in most college basketball games, you usually will see a team that’s behind make a run. As I watched the second half, I kept waiting for a run from UCLA, but it never came. Villanova clearly won the first half of physical play and that had completely taken the fight out of UCLA. By the second half, it didn’t seem like UCLA had anything left to make a run. As a result, it became an easy 20 point win for Jay Wright and the Wildcats.

My final observation is a tired, old argument, but it was brought to my attention by Craig as we were watching the games on Sunday. We were remarking on what a great sporting event the NCAA tournament was and he said, “They should have a tournament for football, because then we could watch wall-to-wall football games for a weekend.” Duh. There’s the obvious observation of the century! I may have even made fun of Craig for his statement of the blatantly obvious. Question is: if it’s obvious to all of us, why are the people in charge of the NCAA so oblivious to this? I’m just asking.

Ongoing Free Agent Thoughts

At the end of last week the Eagles made their latest move in free agency by signing safety Sean Jones. Curiously, they only signed him to a one year deal. The last “major” free agent I can remember the Eagles signing to a one year deal was Shawn Barber in 2002. What are the parallels with Shawn Barber? Barber was signed to play linebacker as a stop gap until a younger player was ready. The Eagles had drafted Quinton Caver in the second round of 2001, the year before they signed Barber. Having drafted Caver in the second round, the Eagles expected Caver to be a starting linebacker. Barber was brought in for the one year so they could evaluate Caver’s progress. After Barber’s one year deal was up, he left. Does any of this sound familiar? Most people believe (me included) that Sean Jones is being brought in for one year to hold the free safety position for Quintin Demps, who was a rookie this past year. This will give Demps one more year to mature and learn Jim Johnson’s complex defensive scheme.

If it works, it sounds like a good plan. But what happened with this plan in 2002 when Shawn Barber played one year for Quinton Caver? It turned out that Caver was not good enough to be a starter in the NFL and the Eagles ended up without either Caver or Barber for the 2003 season. As a result, they had to sign Nate Wayne as a free agent to play the WILL linebacker position in 2003. The long term effect was that they have never had one player play the WILL linebacker for two full seasons. In other words, there has been no continuity there. Let’s hope that the Eagles are correct that Demps is the long term solution here. The free safety is much more important in Jim Johnson’s defensive scheme than the WILL linebacker is. We can’t afford to have an ongoing project at the free safety position like we did for the WILL linebacker.

News came out today that Tra Thomas has signed a 3 year deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars. While Tra Thomas has shown signs of aging over the last few years, I am disappointed that the Eagles did not make more of an attempt to bring him back. The biggest reason I am concerned has more to with the fact that the Eagles do not seem to have a real answer at left tackle, unless they have a plan and they aren’t telling us. The simple fact of the matter is that the most crucial part of the offensive line is left tackle. In fact, after the quarterback, it is probably the second most important position on the team. Why? The left tackle protects the blind side of the quarterback (note: for a left handed quarterback, this reasoning applies to right tackles). There are discussions that the Eagles could move one of the starting guards (Todd Herrimans or Shawn Andrews) to left tackle, but that makes me nervous for such an important position. At this time, there are really no free agents left that could fill the roll. The Eagles do have two first round draft picks, so that may be where we find the answer. For now, I’m just scratching my head.

One more aside on Tra Thomas: as I look back at his 12 years with the Eagles, I am happy to admit that I was wrong when they drafted him. I can still remember the that April Saturday in 1998 when I screamed “NOOOOO!” at the radio when I learned the Eagles had drafted another offensive lineman instead of taking a chance on a controversial but very talented wide receiver named Randy Moss. The Eagles drafted Tra Thomas with the 11th pick in the draft while Moss fell to 21st where he was taken by the Minnesota Vikings. While both players have gone on to have good careers and have both made multiple Pro-Bowls, Tra Thomas was certainly the more consistent of the two and was one of the bedrocks on which these great Eagles teams were built. The old adage is that you win and lose football games in the trenches and Tra Thomas was one of the main reasons we were doing more winning than losing these last 10 years. For that, he will be missed.

To TO or Not to TO

For that is the Question. Before anyone asks me, I figured I’d post my thoughts on the controversial wide receiver. Like the rest of the world, I heard yesterday morning that the Cowboys had released Terrell Owens. In a weird way, I was shocked, but not surprised. I was not surprised that the Cowboys released him, but I was shocked by the timing of it. When the Cowboys did not cut him in February before free agency began, I figured that they had decided to keep him. Waiting until a week of free agency had passed seemed belated and indecisive. Sure enough, we learned yesterday that the entire organization wanted Jerry Jones to cut him earlier, but apparently it took repeated badgering until Jones finally relented.

So the question for the Eagles (and all other NFL teams) is whether they should sign Owens. For those of you who are my “friend” on Facebook, you already know that my status for today reads “Karl wonders what team is dumb enough to take a chance on TO,” which pretty much sums up my feelings on him. The simple fact of the matter is that he is too much of a headache to sign. He has now played with three different teams and he has managed to alienate the starting quarterback on each of those teams. Think about that for a minute: of all people on a team, the one person a wide receiver should want to stay on good terms with is the quarterback. Instead, Owens consistently would “throw his quarterback under the bus” when he didn’t feel he was getting the ball a sufficient amount of the time.

In all three cases (Jeff Garcia with the 49ers, Donovan McNabb with the Eagles and Tony Romo with Cowboys), the quarterback was a Pro-Bowl level quarterback. It’s not like Owens was playing with sub-par quarterbacks. It makes me wonder what would have happened had Owens been allowed to play longer at the 49ers with Hall of Famer Steve Young. Would he have criticized him too? Probably.

Before you think I’m just a TO-hater, I actually really liked him when he played for the 49ers. I loved it when he did the dance on the star in Dallas and I had no real issue with the Sharpie incident in Seattle. When he came to the Eagles, I was ecstatic. All his on-field antics have never bothered me. Unlike the NFL (No Fun League), I think they add something to the game and should be allowed (within reason). When he criticized Jeff Garcia, I figured it was just his competitive nature as the 49ers were on a downward spiral at the time. However, he showed with McNabb and Romo that he was willing to be critical even when the team was doing well. That’s when I realized just how selfish he was.

However, it is more than the off-field issues which cause me to dismiss him as an option. Fact is he’s just not the same player anymore. In 2008, he had his lowest yards per game average since 1999 which was when he was still playing second fiddle to Jerry Rice in San Francisco. His ten touchdowns was also the fewest in a season since 2003 when he began his feud with Jeff Garcia. (On the TD stat, I’m discounting the 2005 season when he only played 7 games for the Eagles because they benched him for the second half of the season.) Additionally, he has been in the top three for dropped passes the last few seasons. When you consider all the statistics, Owens clearly is not the same player he once was. This was probably one of the reasons that the Cowboys went out and got Roy Williams from the Lions in the middle of last season. They knew they needed an upgrade at wide receiver.

Teams were willing to put up with all of Owens’ faults as long as he was producing. Now he is not producing at the same level, and with his 35 years of age, his production will only continue to diminish. It will be interesting to see if there are any teams willing to take the risk. Let’s hope the Eagles do not (and I don’t think they would in a million years anyway). Should we page Al Davis and the Raiders? They may be the only team crazy enough to try.

The Unreported Story

With all the attention on Brian Dawkins’ exit to the Broncos, the story that got lost over the weekend was the signing of Stacy Andrews as the new right tackle. With both Tra Thomas and John Runyan being free agents, the Eagles needed to do something at both tackle positions. Prior to the start of free agency, I thought it was a close call as to which of those two guys the Eagles should bring back, although I slightly favored Runyan. With the signing of Stacy Andrews, it guarantees that John Runyan will not be coming back. It still remains to be seen if the Eagles will bring back Tra Thomas to protect McNabb’s blind side.

As for the right tackle, I think the signing of Stacy Andrews is a great pick up. He has started 29 games over the last two seasons for the Cincinnati Bengals. While he did have to have off-season knee surgery, he should be back by the beginning of training camp and a knee injury is not near as big a deal as it is for a player who needs to make quick adjustments like a running back, wide receiver or defensive back.

However, the biggest impact of this signing may actually be the effect it has on Shawn Andrews, who is Stacy’s younger brother. Shawn Andrews is the three time Pro-Bowl right guard for the Eagles. Before last year, he was clearly one of the best young lineman in the NFL. However, during last off-season, Shawn Andrews missed most of training camp as he was suffering from severe depression. Eventually, he was able to come back and he started the first two games before missing the rest of the season due to a back injury. If nothing else, hopefully the signing of older brother Stacy will help Shawn Andrews remain grounded and allow him to stay mentally healthy and ready to play.

Other Free Agent Notes

A few other thoughts about the Eagles and free agency so far:

TJ Houshmandzadeh: I know there were a lot of Eagles fans who were anxious to see the team upgrade the wide receivers by signing Houshmandzadeh. I was not one of them and was just as glad he ended up in Seattle. I think that Houshmandzadeh will suffer from what I refer to as Alvin Harper syndrome. For those who don’t remember Alvin Harper, he was the wide receiver on the Cowboys in the mid-nineties when the Cowboys were winning their Superbowls. He had very impressive stats and eventually left to get out from under the shadow of Michael Irvin and be a star receiver with Tampa Bay. How did it work out? He was not a star. Turns out, Harper was good because defenses were paying so much attention to Irvin. Houshmandzadeh has been playing opposite Chad Johnson these last few years and no doubt did not receive the attention in coverage because of it. Always be wary of #2 wide receivers who try and go to another team to be a star. It rarely works out the way the player and new team would hope it would.

Joselio Hanson: Before free agency began, the Eagles made a bold move in signing Joselio Hanson to a long term deal. You may recall that I really liked the way Hanson played but figured the Eagles wouldn’t be able to keep him as a nickel corner. The fact that the signed him to a long term deal tells me one thing: he is the future for the Eagles at cornerback or at least the Eagles see him that way. This was further played out when Lito Sheppard was traded to the Jets at the start of free agency. Anyone who didn’t see the Sheppard trade coming hasn’t been paying attention as Sheppard has wanted to be out for the last year. That being said, Hanson outplayed Sheppard this year, so it is no surprise to see the Eagles resign the younger Hanson over Sheppard. The real question this raises is what does this mean to the future of one Sheldon Brown? For now, the Eagles will probably be content to have three starting corners on their team in Assante Samuel, Sheldon Brown and Joselio Hanson since they use three corners quite a bit in their defensive sets, but in the long term, I would expect to see Sheldon Brown move on. Of course, Sheldon could also become trade bait now as well. Anquan Boldin anyone?

Shawn Springs: Today the Eagles met with free agent Shawn Springs of the Washington Redskins. Springs has played cornerback throughout his twelve year career, but he would most likely be used as a safety in the Eagles defense. As a veteran presence, he would hold the position at free safety until Quintin Demps is ready to take it on full time. All in all, it probably wouldn’t be a bad deal, but if the Eagles sign him, I’ll be anxious to see how much guaranteed money is in the contract. If they have to pay a big signing bonus or guarantee a lot of money, I think I’ll go nuts because they could have done the same thing with Brian Dawkins. Somehow it always comes back to Dawkins, doesn’t it? I know, I have to let it go.

Brian Dawkins – Who’s to Blame?

It still hasn’t completely sunk in that Brian Dawkins will be wearing a uniform that is not Eagles green for this coming season. If you read my post leading into free agency, you know that I felt very strongly that the Eagles needed to do whatever it took to keep Brian Dawkins. I will readily admit that I have had a hard time being rational about this particular issue, but we have to take a look at who’s to blame.

On one hand, the Eagles let a future hall of famer and the heart of their defense leave their team. However, Dawkins is the one that left the team when the Eagles had made him an offer. He had the opportunity, if he wanted, to stay with the team that drafted him 14 years ago. Instead, he chose to leave a playoff team for a non-playoff team for the money. There’s no way around the fact that the main reason Dawkins left was the money.

However, when I look at everything, I have to say that the blame for this debacle clearly lies with the Eagles front office. First of all, they let it get to this point in the first place. Why not give Dawkins a very lucrative offer in February before the free agency period began? Second, they should have ponied up the extra money to match Denver’s offer. I know there is a lot being said about the fact that he got a 5 year deal and he will turn 36 years old during this coming season. But the money is only guaranteed for the first two years. Over the first two years of the deal, the Broncos are paying Dawkins $9Million and $7.2Million is guaranteed. According to Howard Eskin, who, let’s face it, is a lap dog for Andy Reid and the front office, the Eagles were willing to guarantee Dawkins $5Million. Why not just throw in the extra $2.2Million? It makes no sense.

Granted Dawkins clearly has lost a step, but Jim Johnson had figured out an effective way to use him in taking him out of one on one coverage and bringing him up closer to the line of scrimmage to cause havoc with the other team’s schemes. Additionally, Dawkins was clearly the heart and soul of the defense and in that respect, he will be irreplaceable.

There is one other reason I place the blame for this on the Eagles: they have continually operated by letting their veteran players go when they felt they were getting too old. Think about the following names: Jeremiah Trotter, Hugh Douglas, Duce Staley, Brian Mitchell. The Eagles almost placed pride in the fact that they let these players go a year too early rather than a year too late. For the most part, this approach has worked well for the Eagles. The problem is that the other players take notice which makes them less likely to stay if they don’t feel they will be appreciated. So if you do have someone who would cause you to rethink this rule, it becomes a much more difficult proposition than it needs to be. Given this history, which now includes Brian Dawkins, it makes me wonder how much more difficult it will make things with Donovan McNabb when and if they try to extend his contract.

As for now, I will continue to root for the Eagles, but part of me will be rooting for Denver this year as well. Someone asked me if I would be trashing my Dawkins jersey now. An interesting point to this coming season is that the Denver Broncos will be playing the Eagles in Philadelphia this season. I told him that, no I would be keeping the jersey and in fact, I plan on wearing it to the Eagles/Broncos game as a sign of my disapproval with the organization letting him go.

Say it Isn’t So

I’ll do a more a more “rational” posting with more analysis probably later today. For now (with all apologies to Hall & Oates for misusing their song), I think the following sums up my feelings on Brian Dawkins moving on to the Broncos:

Say it isn't so painful to tell me that you're dissatisfied.
Last time I asked you I really got a lame excuse.
I know that you lied.
Now wicked things can happen...you see 'em goin' down in war.
But when you play in a quiet way that bites it even more.
[Say it]
Tell me what you want yeah
I'll do it baby I promise right now. [Say it]
Who propped you up when you were stopped low motivation had you on the ground.
I know your first reaction you slide away hide away goodbye.
But if there's a doubt maybe I can give out a thousand reasons why.
You have to say it isn't so... [it isn't so].
I say it isn't so [it isn't so]
I say it isn't so [it isn't so].
I say it isn't so [it isn't so]

[Say it]
We like to be the strangers at the party, two rebels in a shell. [Say it]
You like to move with the best of them you know we move so well.
Don't need someone to lean on. I know that there's an open door.
But if I'm faced with being replaced I want you even more so baby say it isn't so... [it isn't so].
I say it isn't so [it isn't so].
I say it isn't so [it isn't so]
I say it isn't so [it isn't so]

[Say it; Say it isn't so]
[Say it; Say it isn't so]
Why you gonna go do you hafta say you wanna go ooh ooh baby say it isn't... [Say it isn't] Say say say it isn't [say it isn't] so [so say it isn't]
Why do you have to say it isn't. [say it isn't] so[say it isn't]
so [so say it isn't]
I know it's so hard for you... [say it isn't] so hard [say it isn't]
Don't say baby.[so say it isn't]
There must be some other way. [Say it isn't]
Don't have to. [Say it isn't]
Some other way. [so say it isn't]
You don't have to say. [say it isn't]
Oh don't you say [so say it isn't]
Oh you know I want to make you...