During the lockout, if you wanted football news that did not have some sort of legal jargon mixed throughout, the only thing to look at was draft news.

Mock drafts, big boards, and all other sorts of stuff that usually proves worthless when all is said and done was the only thing to give us our fix.

Unfortunately, as is the case most years, I'm left pulling out my hair wondering how and why the guys with journalism degrees think their opinion should be taken seriously.

Then I get the urge to dive off a bridge when their opinion actually is taken seriously and regurgitated by some fans.

It happens every year in Philly without fail.

This year, the "expert" opinion that has my head spinning is all the talk about what a huge need right tackle is for the Eagles.


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According to Geoff Mosher of the Wilmington News Journal, Philadelphia Eagles right tackle Winston Justice had successful knee surgery Tuesday under the care of Dr. James Andrews in Alabama.


The surgery is being labeled a success because, according to reports, Andrews found nothing else wrong with Justice's knee and was not forced to perform microfracture surgery.

Microfracture surgery, as mentioned Monday, would have been career-threatening.

Instead, Justice is looking at just under a month of rehab time and should be back to full strength in short order with no ill effects on his 2011 season. The news also means the team can, and should, target much more pressing areas of need in April's draft.


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Winston Justice's disappointing game against the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card round of the 2010 playoffs could be his last game for quite some time, and possibly ever.

Justice is currently on his way to Alabama, where he will have knee surgery done by Dr. James Andrews. Andrews is regularly regarded as the very best at such procedures, but even his expertise and talents might not be able to save Justice's career.

The surgery scheduled is an arthroscopic procedure to clean up a bone chip in Justice's knee -- something the Eagles incorrectly diagnosed as a hyper-extended knee in the team's Week 13 34-24 win over the Houston Texans -- but could turn into something much more serious.

Dr. Andrews says he won't know until he is inside Justice's knee, but if the injury is severe enough Andrews could be forced into performing microfracture surgery -- something that has been known to severely diminish or even end NFL careers.


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Recency Effect [ˈriːsənsɪ] (n) - The tendency for individuals to be most influenced by what they have last seen or heard.

For instance, if I give you a long list of words, you're most likely to only remember the final handful of them because that's the most recently stored data. After all, the brain's short-term memory can only handle so much.

The same could also be true that after watching a player's entire career, or even just a season, filled with great plays and moments, that a poor showing at the end could leave a person with a negative impression of said player because that's the first thing the brain is going to recall.

And unfortunately, this is what a lot of Eagles fans have fallen victim to when recalling the names of David Akers and Winston Justice.

It's certainly no secret that both players royally messed things up in the Eagles' Wild Card loss to the Green Bay Packers. Akers missed two very makeable field goals that would have, had he made them, put the Eagles out in front and likely given them the win.


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Aaron Rodgers torched a susceptible Eagles defense.


As a fan, this was tough to swallow. As an objective observer, it wasn't too terribly surprising.

To win in the playoffs it takes a strong running game and a strong defense. A superb passing game can help to make up for a strong running game as the Eagles have shown in the past, but there is nothing that can make up for a poor defense and, unfortunately, that's exactly what the Eagles fielded Sunday versus the Green Bay Packers.

The same problems that plagued this team in the regular season unsurprisingly carried over into the playoffs: a complete unwillingness to stick with the run, lack of hot-reads for Michael Vick, and a defense that continued to show why it recorded historically bad red zone numbers in the regular season.

On the Packers first touchdown drive, Troy Aikman made the statement that it was a "foregone conclusion" that Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense would score once they got within the 10-yard line. I wanted to scream and yell obscenities at the former Dallas Cowboy, but he was exactly right.

As has been the case all year, Sean McDermott's calls inside the red zone were head-scratching at best and atrocious at worst. He still wants to play man coverage and refuses to blitz when he should -- and even when he does blitz shows time and again that he's incredibly predictable.

Outside the red zone, the calls were just as bad. At one point in the game Joselio Hanson came clean on a corner blitz and gave Rodgers a pretty good shot. It clearly rattled Rodgers as his next few passes were off the mark, but McDermott didn't blitz again for the rest of the drive.

Rodgers got comfortable again and went back to tearing up the defense.

On the other side of the ball, Marty Mornhinweg and Andy Reid continued to show why they're the worst play-callers in the league. Dom Capers sent them an engraved invitation to run the ball with the way he was aligning his linebackers, and they still refused.

LeSean McCoy, arguably the best play-maker on the team, finished the game with 12 carries, and Jerome Harrison had one right at the start of the game. Vick had eight carries, but maybe three of those were actually called runs. The rest were scrambles because Reid and Mornhinweg refused to give him any check-downs or timing patterns for most of the game.

Instead, they wanted to pass, pass, pass, and pass some more. It didn't matter that Vick was getting knocked around because this team still has no guards and Winston Justice picked one hell of a day to have a let-down, apparently they thought if they just kept passing things would get better.

Then, just to top everything off, the always-clutch David Akers decided he would miss a couple field goals so Justice and the defense would feel better about themselves.

It's fun being an Eagles fan.
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Justice missing this game could mean big problems.


Asante Samuel, who has missed three consecutive games with a sprained knee, Winston Justice, who has missed one game with a sprained knee, and DeSean Jackson, who suffered a foot injury in the Eagles' win over the Dallas Cowboys, have all been listed as questionable heading into Philly's biggest game of the season against the New York Giants.

Even though all three are officially questionable, Samuel and Jackson are expected to go. Justice, on the other hand, looks to have about a 40 percent shot at suiting up. It's more likely that King Dunlap, who took most of the starting reps, will protect Michael Vick's blind side.

The only positive for Justice possibly playing is the fact that he made the trip. That at least says that head coach Andy Reid is still keeping the option open -- something he wouldn't do if the prospects of Justice playing were any worse than about 40 percent.

Jackson appears the most likely to play, declaring himself healthy on Thursday. Samuel, on the other hand, remains a question mark. He will practice one day, sit out the next, say he's ready to go, and wind up missing a game.

There's no telling with him. Jackson is likely to play, Justice is not, and Samuel is going to be a last-minute, 11:29AMEST decision.

If Samuel is unable to go, Joselio Hanson will get the start for the fourth straight week. Hanson has been very up and down, but the secondary has found a way to make it work for the most part by platooning him and Trevard Lindley, as well as giving safety help over the top.

Jason Avant and Riley Cooper would see a lot more time if Jackson is sidelined, but that doesn't seem to be much of a concern.

Beating the Giants is going to be difficult enough, but doing it without all three of these guys is going to be damn near impossible. The Giants are a little banged up too, but they're healthier now than they were the first time when the Eagles barely beat them.

If even one or two of these guys can go, it should mean another close win for the Eagles. If I had to rank order of importance, I would say hope for Justice to play, then Samuel, then Jackson.

Hanson and the secondary showed last week they can handle their own and I have enough faith in the offense's other weapons (Jeremy Maclin and LeSean McCoy specifically) that not having Jackson doesn't worry me all that much, even though they're obviously much better off having him on the field.

Justice, however, is the key guy here. Dunlap has played well and it's good to know they have him at least, but Justice is a guy who I think is very underrated. Let's not forget that he's been protecting Vick's blind side all season long. Teams have been rotating their best pass-rusher over him and he's handled himself very well.

And if there's one thing the Giants have, it's highly-talented pass-rushers.

Vick is getting sacked and hit a lot, but most of that comes up the middle and over the highly overrated Todd Herremans and Nick Cole/Max Jean-Gilles and not from Justice.

All inactives must be reported an hour and a half before kickoff, so we'll get a much better sense of how this game will play out come 11:30AMEST.
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Samuel missed practice Friday and is questionable.


The general rule of thumb for Andy Reid and the rest of the NFL head coaches is that if a player does not practice on Friday, he generally does not play on Sunday.

The Eagles' injury report came out Friday afternoon and, much to everyone's dismay, starting right tackle Winston Justice and Asante Samuel were listed as questionable after not practicing once again.

For Justice, it was his third straight missed practice. It was Samuel's second missed practice this week as he also missed Thursday.

Listing them as "questionable" means that both have a 50-50 chance at playing, but that's probably being generous. Justice and Samuel did some light running, and Samuel was even a limited participant in practice on Wednesday, but neither took any real reps and are Reid would not even commit to either player traveling to Dallas.

Samuel, however, claims he does not need to practice in order to be able to play.

"I really don't [need to practice]," Samuel said. "I really don't need any practice reps. My main thing is being healthy, but the more practice the better."

Samuel answered a handful of questions, but was clearly aggravated at the situation as he danced around most questions in a fashion that would make Andy proud.

Right now, King Dunlap is expected to start at right tackle and Joselio Hanson is expected to start in Samuel's place, although he would likely rotate with Trevard Lindley in nickel packages.
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Losing Justice leaves Vick's blind-side less protected.


Right now, the Eagles control their own destiny. If they win out, they will win the NFC East and could even be looking at a first-round bye.

But that's much easier said than done. The Eagles face a hot Dallas Cowboys team twice, including this upcoming week, the New York Giants one more time, and the Minnesota Vikings -- a team that would love to play spoiler at this point in the season.

And now, with the news that Winston Justice and Asante Samuel missed practice Thursday, it's looking like closing the season out on a high note is going to get even harder.

Justice hasn't practiced all week because of a hyper-extended knee he suffered in the Eagles' win over the Houston Texans last Thursday night. He was at the NFLPA's One Team Tour in Philadelphia this past Tuesday walking around, so there could be some hope that he'll heal up between now and Sunday night.

Whether or not he practices Friday will be a big indicator -- as always -- as to whether or not he is suited up. If he cannot go, head coach Andy Reid has already said that King Dunlap will fill in for him, as he did when Justice went down during the Texans game.

As it stands, no one seems too optimistic that Justice will be available to play.

Samuel is a bit harder to peg. He looked to be on pace to return last week as he was doing a little bit of running and getting treatment up until the last minute. Limited lateral movement during pre-game warm-ups forced Reid to sit him, but the feeling was that, with 10 days until the next game, Samuel was almost certain to play.

Samuel was limited in practice Wednesday, but at least he was practicing. It was a good indicator. But Thursday, Samuel watched practice for about 30 minutes and left -- likely in order to get more treatment.

As with Justice, whether or not he's able to practice Friday will be telling. But after suffering what must have been a set-back in his recovery, Samuel's status remains as shaky as ever.

It's looking like neither Samuel nor the team truly knows the severity of the injury.

If Samuel is unable to play, Trevard Lindley and Joselio Hanson will likely platoon at left cornerback opposite Dimitri Patterson.

The team tried playing Hanson exclusively on the outside against the Chicago Bears (the first game Samuel missed), and that was a complete disaster. Against the Texans (the second game Samuel missed), Lindley seemed to be playing more on the outside with Hanson kicked down to his natural spot in the nickel.

CB Jorrick Calvin (back), G Nick Cole (knee), WR Riley Cooper (knee), DE Juqua Parker (hip), and QB Michael Vick (quadricep) were also listed on the injury report as full participants and are expected to play Sunday.

Parker had missed the previous two games, and Cooper missed last week's game.
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Smith will be an integral piece of striking a new deal.


Save for the hulking presence of Philadelphia Eagles' offensive lineman Winston Justice, last night's NFL Players Association One Team Tour event at Philadelphia's Water Works restaurant could have easily been confused with your typical Teamsters' rally.

Flanked by current and former NFL players, members of the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO, and other local labor leaders, NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith made an impassioned plea in support of the players, as negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement with NFL owners - and commissioner Roger Goodell - may soon threaten the start of the 2011 season.

"I don't think either Roger or I are out there to try to send any messages to each other," said Smith. "It's important for both of us to get a deal done as quickly as possible."

One of the goals of last night's event, whether stated or otherwise, was to gain support from fans across the country - many of whom dismiss the negotations as one group of millionaires doing battle against another.

"We're all in this together," said Eagles' cornerback Ellis Hobbs, who is currently recovering from a career-threatening neck injury. "What I want to try to do is to show the fans that what you see on TV is not who we are. We're just like you: we work hard, we play hard, and we just want the type of justice due to us."

In the eyes of the NFLPA, that justice would come in the form of a new collective bargaining agreement that's fair and equitable to both sides. In a sport where the average career is only three and a half years, it is hard to fault the players, who are simply seeking financial security for the impact that the game has on their bodies.

"We want to play games, but we're the ones out there playing, and we just want a fair deal," said Winston Justice, the Eagles' NFLPA player representative. "We want to be out there more than the fans do, but we just want to be treated fairly."

With less than 90 days remaining before the current CBA runs out on March 3, both sides are bracing themselves for the very real possibility of a labor stoppage.

In a one-page letter dated December 1, Smith advised players to save their last three game checks of the 2010 season in preparation for a lockout. "The deadline has now passed," Smith wrote. "It is important that you protect yourself and your family."

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello responded to the letter by saying: "It is disappointing and inexplicable, especially for fans... We are ready to meet and negotiate anytime and anywhere... One side can't do it alone."

One of the major points of contention is the owners' desire to expand the regular season to 18 games by reducing the preseason from four games to two. However, with the recent spike in concussions and other serious injuries, the NFLPA is strongly opposed to any changes to the 16-game schedule as it stands now.

"Given our current system, two extra games means a shorter career... exposes us to more injuries," said Smith. "That's not moving forward - right now, that's moving backward."

"I think it's ridiculous," said Hobbs. "Me alone, to go through injuries time after time, day after day, the injury that I just suffered - now you're adding two more games onto the end of that... I really don't see it making sense."

It's been 23 years since the NFL last faced labor discord. Back in 1987, the NFLPA went on strike for 24 days, but nearly 90 players crossed the picket lines, and the union quickly lost any leverage it had against the owners. Now, almost a quarter of a century later, the players' union realizes that they need to stand to together in order to achieve their ultimate goal.

"We're facing a lockout," said Smith. "Our players understand what the stakes are, and I've been brutal with them. If the players lack solidarity, we lose."
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Aaron Rodgers at the "One Team Tour" in Green Bay.


The NFLPA (National Football League Players Association) is coming to Philadelphia as part of its "One Team Tour," and 2 Minutes to Midnight Green is giving YOU an opportunity to win a pair of tickets to this special event.

The event is to be held at the spectacular Water Works restaurant in Philadelphia on Tuesday, December 7th from 6-730PM. Guests will include Winston Justice, Ellis Hobbs, other current Eagles who will be named closer to the time of the event, head of the NFLPA DeMaurice Smith and other NFLPA executives will be on hand as well.

There will be a free tailgate-style happy hour (food and drinks), gift bags for those who attend, and door prizes that will be an assortment of autographed Eagles gear.

(Attendance is limited only to this with tickets for this exclusive event.)

Right about now, I know you're interested. How do you win the tickets, you ask? Easy.

The point of this event is to thank NFL fans around the country and, most importantly, thank the greatest fans in the world in Philadelphia. Those who attend are expected to come decked out -- head to toe -- in Eagles gear.

So, with that said, here's how you can win the tickets:

1. Send me a picture of you (or you and some friends) in your wildest Eagles get-up. It can be from a game you've gone to, or something you think up on the spot to win the tickets. But if it's the latter, you'd be expected to wear that same get-up to the event! (A shirt with our name on it might not hurt either. We like suck-ups and walking billboards)

That is the easiest way, but there is a second option if you don't own a camera. It's not going to be as easy to win the tickets if you go with option No. 2, but it's still there to consider:

2. Send me your wildest Eagles story. Whether it's something you've done just to be able to see an Eagles game, something you've done at a game, if you've beaten up a Giants fan just because you were having a bad day, etc. Some sort of verification of your story will help you out, but we'll be running on the honor system.

Send your picture and/or story to me at 2minutestomidnightgreen(at)gmail(dot)com (you may direct any questions here as well).

The winner will be chosen by me and contacted Sunday afternoon after the early games. I encourage everyone to send in a submission as this event is definitely worth going to and something you'll likely never forget.

Also, ALL submissions will be reviewed.

We have two pairs of two tickets to give away, so that means there can be two winners who can then pick a buddy to take along.

To recap:

• Free food
• Free drinks
• Meet some Eagles players
• Win some autographed gear

If you haven't sent in your submission yet, I'm not sure what you're doing.
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Justice will be the most important Eagle on the field.


Most of the time, the left tackle is an offense's best pass-blocker. For the defense, the right defensive end is usually the best pass-rusher. This is likely due in part to the fact that most quarterbacks in the NFL -- and really any level -- are right-handed, meaning the left side is their blind side.

It would make sense for a defense to put it's best pass-rusher on the quarterback's blind side simply because the quarterback will have a more difficult time seeing him coming.

But when there's a southpaw taking the snaps, like Michael Vick will be doing for the Eagles this Sunday, the roles are clearly reversed.

Now, instead of Jason Peters protecting Vick's blind side, it's going to be Winston Justice.

But before you get worried, don't forget that Justice has done this before. He was the right tackle at USC while Matt Leinart, a lefty, was the starting quarterback. Clearly this was not by accident and he was placed there because then-USC head coach Pete Carrol felt Justice was his best pass-blocker and the guy he trusted most to protect Leinart's blind side.

Playing right tackle at USC is what gave the Eagles the confidence to move him to left tackle in the NFL, thinking his ability to protect Leinart from the right would carry over in a transition to the left side.

But, of course, we all saw how well that worked six sacks later. So scratch that.

At first I just thought his footwork wasn't quite good enough, but he's displayed excellent footwork while playing on the right side again. This would lead me to believe that he just wasn't comfortable with the left side, which threw off his timing, rhythm, and footwork.

It will be interesting to see how the Detroit Lions attack this. They could move Kyle Vanden Bosch, their best pass-rusher, to the left side in an attempt to attack Vick's blind side, but that would leave either Turk McBride or the rookie Willie Young matched up against Peters.

With Cliff Avril out it's essentially a lose-lose for the Lions and they will likely have to rely heavily on the blitz to get any kind of pressure.

So even if Peters has a bad game, Vick should be able to see the pressure coming and be able to escape it. But if Justice regresses and has a bad game, it could mean a total disaster for Vick, the offense, and the entire team.

Justice should be just fine, but it's definitely something to watch for on Sunday. That is, if you can take your eyes off of Vick for a second.
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How poorly did Jason Peters actually play last season?


The dead days of June have come and gone. July 26th marks the beginning of Training Camp for the Eagles and, essentially, the beginning of the football season. But with camp and the new season comes a lot of questions at every position.

First, we'll be looking at the offensive line. Despite what anyone might tell you, it's the most important position on the field -- yes, even more so than quarterback, because even the best quarterbacks don't complete many passes from the turf.

And for the Eagles, there's going to be a lot of questions facing this front five. For example, who is going to make up the front five? Who will be the most improved, who will struggle, and will the five guys on the field be able to perform well enough for what is essentially a rookie quarterback?

Let's discuss.

Key Battle: Center (Nick Cole vs. Mike McGlynn vs. A.Q. Shipley)

This was fairly obvious not only because of the attention the battle has received since starter Jamaal Jackson tore his ACL late last season, but because it's the only true battle along the line.

Personally, I believe the battle is really going to come down to McGlynn vs. Shipley because of the way Cole played at the end of the 2009 season while filling in for Jackson.

Donovan McNabb catches a lot more heat than he deserves (what? in Philly?) for the dreadful display put on by the Eagles' offense in back-to-back losses to the Dallas Cowboys. If we're going to pick out someone to blame, it should be Cole.

Or Jackson's knee, however you want to look at it.

Cole, frankly, was lost. His calls were wrong for a good portion of the game and it led to a lot of blown assignments -- especially along the interior of the line. And one on one with Jay Ratliff, Cole was beaten nearly every snap. And because he couldn't hold his own, Todd Herremans and Max Jean-Gilles were caught trying to bail him out.

The extra effort the had to expend on Ratliff left the B-gap wide open for any blitzing linebacker or safety and it caused fits for McNabb all day long.

For me, putting Cole back out there to run the line would be one of the biggest mistakes Reid has ever made. The extra reps in camp could obviously result in better play, but he's shown the he's simply not strong enough to handle a noseguard and doesn't grasp the system well enough to run the line.

Whether or not McGlynn or Shipley can do what Cole couldn't is yet to be seen, but it's certainly worth a shot. Let those two battle it out and use Cole as the backup at all three spots along the interior of the line.

Result: It's difficult to opine the result of a battle between two unknowns. However, I'm guessing McGlynn is the guy who gets the nod because he's a guy Reid drafted in the fourth round, and he's been around the offense for a couple years.

The experience, however slight, should be enough to give him an edge over Shipley, who is most likely frantically attempting to master a brand new offense.

From there, short of a stint on the PUP by Jackson, it's likely Shipley loses out on a close numbers game.

Who Starts at Right Guard?

Stacy Andrews will be the starter. I don't have any doubt in my mind about that. Reid loves Cole, but Andrews is going to get the first crack at the starting spot and, barring an injury during camp, it's an opportunity I expect him to take.

Saying Andrews was a disappointment last season would be an understatement, but the talent is there and a year removed from knee surgery and entire year to learn the offense should make him the clear favorite.

What Should Be Expected of Jason Peters?

He's being paid like the best left tackle in football, and the Birds gave up a king's ransom to get him, so nothing but an absolute shut-down season should be expected of Peters.

His play last season wasn't as good as it should have been, but he also wasn't nearly as bad as people would claim.

Take for instance, the false start penalties. It seemed like Peters was always getting called for a false start, but a lot of those were the fault of the center.

When the defense jumps over into the neutral zone, it's up to the center to snap the ball and take advantage of a free play. However, regardless of who was playing the position, it never happened and it was missed opportunity after missed opportunity.

So Peters, seemingly knowing the rules better than anyone else along the line, decided he would try to draw the penalty instead. So when the defense would jump into the neutral zone, he would flinch in an effort to force a neutral zone infraction on the defense.

But for whatever reason, the refs didn't give him the call he deserved most of the time. There are times, however, that Peters' plan works and the offense is being marched up five yards. All in all, it probably comes out to a wash.

And also, if you go back and watch the tape, it becomes very clear that Peters is being blamed for sacks that truly are not his fault.

Just because the end was lined up over him at the beginning of the play and eventually made the sack does not mean it was his fault, although that's how most keep track of that stat.

In the NFL, most teams will use a zone-blocking scheme on pass plays. It simply means that every lineman is expected to pick up any guy who comes within their wing-span. So if the end loops around from the C-gap to the A-or-B-gap, he no longer becomes Peters' responsibility.

So while Herremans or Jean-Gilles or Cole were left chasing tail of a man fleeing their zone, the end was allowed to come in free and clear.

Peters most certainly did not play up to par last season and a lot more should be expected of him in 2010, but the criticism is vastly overblown due to the writers doing the criticizing who don't fully comprehend what they're looking at when they're watching the games.

Bold Prediction

Winston Justice will, at the very least, be in talks as a Pro Bowl player. He might not make it because of the broken system the league uses, but at the end of the year he will be a real contender to make the Pro Bowl.

Starting Five Heading into Week One

LT: Jason Peters, LG: Todd Herremans,
C: Mike McGlynn
RG: Stacy Andrews, RT: Winston Justice
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Is Justice ready to take his game to the next level?


With training camp the next big event of the NFL offseason, and not much else going on right now, let's take a look at the issues facing the Eagles for the upcoming season in no particular order.

1. Who starts at right cornerback?

Ellis Hobbs is supposed to be the front-runner heading into training camp, but Joselio Hanson is also seeing some reps with Asante Samuel. Hanson has proven himself to be a very good nickel corner, but probably doesn't have the speed or athleticism to play on the outside.

Hobbs has already played the right cornerback position with Samuel, and played it well, during the New England Patriots' undefeated season in 2007. Hanson, on the other hand, was considered a scrub before he moved inside in the nickel.

In other words, he's probably another Rod Hood -- very good in the nickel, but not great on the outside.



2. Who emerges as the third running back?

Last season it was Eldra Buckley, but he saw limited time as a running back and was mostly a special teams player. This season, however, the Birds have brought in some competition for Buckley in the form of a former league MVP and a sixth-round draft pick.

Martell Mallett, the reigning MVP of the CFL, was signed early in the offseason. He is probably a very long shot to make the team, but signing a guy who was voted as the best player in the entire league, even in the CFL, is worth the minimal amount of money it took to sign him.

Then there's Charles Scott, a sixth-round pick in this year's draft out of LSU. Scott doesn't seem to fit Andy Reid's mold of a running back at all at 5'11", 240 pounds, but there's a lot of buzz around this kid and he's probably the most likely to make the team.

However, if he can't play special teams, he will most likely find himself on the practice squad to make room for Buckley.



3. Who plays center while Jamaal Jackson rehabs?

Currently, there are three candidates for the center position: Mike McGlynn, A.Q. Shipley, and Nick Cole. McGlynn was a fourth-round pick in 2008, Shipley was a seventh-round pick of the Steelers last season, and Cole is a guy the Eagles have been moving around since he came to Philly as an undrafted free agent in 2006.

Cole played center last season once Jackson went down, but was unimpressive, to say the least.

It's believed that McGlynn and Shipley will battle it out to see who mans the position until Jackson is able to return, and it's likely McGlynn wins the job due to his size advantage (6'4", 315 over Shipley at 6'o", 300), and the fact that he was a fourth-round draft pick.



4. How will Jason Peters and Winston Justice progress?

Peters caught far too much heat last season, and Justice didn't get nearly enough praise. Peters, while he didn't play as well as the Eagles hoped, was still their best lineman, by far, and was often blamed for sacks that were actually the fault of Todd Herremans on the inside.

Justice suffered much in the same way Peters did, as several times Nick Cole/Max Jean-Gilles would block the wrong man on the blitz or on a stunt.

I firmly believe another year in the system will help Peters dramatically, he'll play like the best left tackle in the league, and Justice could have a Pro Bowl season if the guy playing next to him is better than last season.



5. Will Stacy Andrews prove to be worth the money?

The Eagles sunk a lot of money into Stacy Andrews last season with no results. Nothing. He played in the season opener, but that was it. From there he was relegated to special teams duty on the field goal team, but even that was taken from him as the season progressed.

He claims it had nothing to do with his recovery from a torn ACL the year prior, but that was obviously the issue as he looked timid moving forward to run-block or planting his leg to dig in and pass-block.

This season, he's got to take the right guard spot from Cole and play well. With a young guy likely to take over at center for the majority of the season, he and Herremans will be counted on even more to man the interior of the line.

If he's unable to play up to the Eagles' expectations, don't expect him to be around in 2011.
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Is Dunlap the answer if Peters were to go down?


We're all aware of the heat Winston Justice received after his less-than-spectacular first start against the Giants and Osi Umenyiora. Really, it wasn't that bad if we look past the record-tying six sacks by one individual and 12 overall.

Outside of that, he was pretty good.

But seriously, the meltdown had to be put squarely on Andy Reid's shoulders. He waited too long to rule Tra Thomas out for that game and threw the rookie into the fire. Then, knowing full-well that most starters struggled against Umenyiora, decided to give Justice no help.

It was a recipe for disaster that came out just the way the Giants had hoped.

Then last season, King Dunlap, through the fault of no one but a freak ankle injury to Jason Peters, was thrown into the Oakland game with the task of blocking Richard Seymour.

It didn't work out all that well, and if memory serves, the kid gave up a few sacks because he blew his assignment, wasn't quick enough with the read, or simply didn't know how to work with his guard.

He did pick things up in the second half and had a pretty solid outing from there, but he played poorly enough initially to have fans calling for his head.

But here's what we need to remember: the kid was a seventh round draft pick in '08, and was almost immediately placed on IR, effectively ending his rookie season. So, essentially, he was a rookie in '09.

Missing an entire year's worth of reps set him back and he had to start all over last season.

So to expect him to come in and be the same type of player that Peters was just isn't realistic. But, again, Reid left him out on an island to get abused by a veteran player who knew how to take advantage of the young guy.

Dunlap is incredibly tall (6'8), even for a left tackle, but is reportedly having a very difficult time keeping enough weight on and can't seem to break the 310 pound threshold.

310 pounds may sound like a lot, but when you're 6'8 your femur weighs about 250.

He's got to work with the new strength and conditioning coaches to find a way to put bulk up and put everything together. He's a guy who's athletic with good feet and has a lot of upside, so if he can gain the weight of an NFL player, and get the reps he needs, I believe he can be a very good backup.

He won't ever be a starter here as Peters will have that locked down (hopefully) for the next eight years or so, but if he learns how to play the game at this level and can bulk up, he's got the natural ability to play in the NFL.
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This isn't the same Winston Justice Osi saw in '07.


Maybe not next year -- because the Pro Bowl voting is ridiculous -- but Winston Justice will eventually be a Pro Bowl right tackle in this league.

I say right tackle specifically because that is now his spot to lose. He won't be switching to left tackle or moving to guard or anything like that. He earned that spot with the way he played in '09 and based on what we saw, I look for him to take it to the next level in a year or two and get serious consideration for the Pro Bowl.

Leading up to 2009, I said that I believed Justice could be the starter, and a very good one at that.

The Eagles' offensive line, as a unit, was shaky throughout the '09 campaign. But through it all, Justice was constantly the most consistent guy on the line. He had some mental breakdowns as the season went on, but that's to be expected of a first-time starter.

The biggest thing for me is that I didn't see a whole lot of physical short-comings that would make me believe that he will him limitations on his career. He seemed able to do it all -- run or pass and even pulling for the screen, he looked like a guy with all the physical tools to get it done.

That's a good start because from there everything is mental. If he will put in the extra hours of game film and work with offensive line coach Juan Castillo, he can be a very good right tackle for this team -- and very quickly at that.

My official guess is that he'll end up in the Pro Bowl in two years. That should be plenty of time to get his mind right and, with very few elite right tackles in the league, there's no much competition there, either.
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Celek's got his deal, but D-Jack's won't be so easy.


First it was Winston Justice, now it's the young tight end Brent Celek. Justice signed a four-year extension last week and Celek was next in line with a six-year extension this week.

Even coming off a poor game was not enough to deter the front office from ensuring that this kid would spend a good chunk of his career as a Philadelphia Eagle. He's a former fifth-round pick out of Cincinnati (sounds like another good player the Birds have) who came in with very little expectations, but has quickly become one of the best young tight ends in the league.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, and with the Eagles, we probably won't know the numbers for quite some time. In fact, we're all still wondering about the numbers for Justice.

Some other players who need resigned, Jason Avant, Leonard Weaver, Sean Jones, and Brodrick Bunkley, have not seen their contracts get reworked and, as far as I know, are not even in talks.

Chris Gocong's contract is also coming to an end soon, but I'm not so sure about resigning him. He's been a pretty decent player during his time here, but it seems like he hasn't gotten any better since day one.

He came in as an average linebacker, and hasn't seemed to get any better since.

The Birds seemed to be trying to lock up young players to long-term deals and below market value, so expect to see a couple others get reworked in the next few weeks and before the season is over.

It's a trick the Eagles have been pulling since this front office was assembled, and it wouldn't be a surprise to have a few unhappy, underpaid players in the next few seasons.
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Two of the most disappointing players this season.


Well, maybe the chopping block.

With Winston Justice signing a four-year extension to keep him in Philadelphia through the 2013 season, the other disappointing Andrews brother (Shawn) finds himself at a real crossroads for the 2010 season.

It's now become unlikely that he will ever play as an Eagle again, and he could just be playing a waiting game until he finds out which one of the other 31 NFL teams wants to be severely disappointed by an immense amount of talent just floating around their practice facility.

The problem the Eagles will run into is finding a trading partner for a guy who has played a total of two games over the past two season. One game per year is not a good enough workload to warrant a trade for any other team.

So, what the Eagles may wind up doing is simply keeping him on the roster and holding out hope. There are rumors that he's embellishing the injury to his back, so maybe having Justice entrenched as the starter will force him to wake up and start playing.

And if he doesn't, the guy is only making $1 million next season, which is cap-friendly enough to keep him as a backup plan.

So far, both Andrews brothers have been extremely disappointing, but at least it appears as though Stacy will be ready to go next year after his knee injury has hobbled him a bit longer than anyone expected.

There you go, NFL, there's a guy on the trading block with as many Pro Bowl appearances in his career as games played over the past two seasons.

Anyone willing to part with a draft pick? No? I didn't really think so.
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Herremans got handled in his first game of 2009.


Jason Peters is a Pro Bowl left tackle, Todd Herremans is a guy who has played on the fringe of a Pro Bowl nod at certain point, Jamaal Jackson came from an undrafted free agent to a full-fledged starter, Stacy Andrews was a high-priced free agent, and Winston Justice was a second round pick.

Sounds like a pretty decent unit to have together, right? Well if you just watched the games this season, you'd be shocked to find out how highly touted these linemen are. Honestly, they've looked like a bunch of scrubs who can't seem to get out of their own way.

Trent Dilfer said it best, and may have pointed out the obvious, when he said on ESPN that he believes if a team can shut down Jeremy Maclin and, more importantly, DeSean Jackson, that the Eagles would struggle mightily.

Dilfer has already been proven correct in his assesment of this offense based on the Oakland game. The Raiders shut down the speedy receivers, and the line completely crumbled on the rare occassion that Andy Reid attempted to run the football.

A lot of the blame could be put on Reid for his lack of running. Many, including myself, would say that it is difficult for an offensive line to get any real momentum going when they don't run-block very often. It's all about the mentality of running the football, and Reid doesn't let them acquire that mentality.

However, their job is to block when called upon. It's really as simple as that. When Reid actually does call a running play, they should be salivating for the chance to move forward and pop someone in the mouth. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen, and instead they throw a half-hearted block or completely whiff on their assignment altogether.

Personally, I would have liked Reid to rip all five of them out of the game last night. If you tear them out of the game and make them watch a series from the sideline while their backups give it a go, maybe they'll decide that they actually want to hit someone in the mouth.

Again, it may be Reid's playcalling that is to blame, but when it comes down to it these guys just have to do their jobs.

And one more thing, Andy, get rid of the right guard rotation. It doesn't work in the NFL. You paid Stacy Andrews a boatload of money, so let him earn it or keep him out completely.
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Big Jon will find himself on a team very shortly, but not in Philly.


Initially I had figured that the Eagles would sign Runyan as a backup because of Shawn Andrews' recent placement on I.R., but apparently the Eagles are comfortable with their backups. Unlike some others, I didn't think Runyan would be the starter because it was easy to be impressed with Winston Justice at right tackle.

Evidently, the Eagles were as impressed as I was with Justice.

While the Eagles may have to do some shuffling along the line if Justice were to go down, they aren't real worried about it. They feel that they can take any lineman, regardless of natural position, and make him a starter anywhere along the line.

Reid doesn't keep linemen unless they're versatile, so it's safe to assume that any of the backups could fill in at tackle if need be. Obviously the Eagles don't plan on Justice getting injured, but if the worst were to happen, they aren't worried about finding his replacement.

As far as Runyan goes, he will probably want to go to a winning team with some line issues. The first team everyone thinks when that's said is, of course, the defending world champions and the Eagles cross-state rival, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Runyan could be a huge help to them, or a team like the Green Bay Packers who appear to be on the rise but could certainly use some help along their offensive line.

Expect Runyan to sign sometime this week, and probably be playing on Sunday.
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Does Winston Justice actually bring a facet that Runyan did not?


I put myself in the camp of still wanting Jon Runyan back with the Eagles. But if you look back at the film from Sunday's game you gotta see it as a good thing that the Eagles have moved on from Tra and Big Jon.

I am still on board with Runyan coming back. But if he comes back he comes as a back-up. I am liking the athleticism of the current OL too much to reach back into the past. With McNabb already injured the Eagles need an effective run game. The OL from Sunday is the most effective group for the run game.

And just wait until Herremans comes back!

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