While commenting on Andy Reid's overhaul of the defensive coaching staff, former Eagles linebacker Seth Joyner told me he'd "be thrilled to come back and coach" the young linebacking corps currently in Philadelphia.

"If granted the opportunity, I would love to come back to Philly to coach and pass on my linebacking knowledge to this good group of young Eagles LB's," Joyner writes after saying he agrees with Reid's decision to move on from Sean McDermott as the defensive coordinator.

If Joyner is serious, it's an offer Reid (and the yet-to-be-named new defensive coordinator) should consider. The team already has former Eagles Mike Caldwell on the staff as an assistant linebackers coach, but bringing in another guy (and a guy who had much more success than Caldwell) certainly wouldn't hurt.

In his 13-year career, the first eight with the Eagles, Joyner had at least one sack in his first 12 years, and at least one interception and forced fumble in his first 11 seasons. He also had a six-year stretch from 1988 to 1993 where he had over 110 tackles.

In total, Joyner started 172 of the 195 games in which he played and accrued 52 sacks, 24 interceptions with two returned for touchdowns, forced 26 fumbles, recovered 12 and returning three for touchdowns to go along with over 1,000 tackles.

As a result, Joyner went to three Pro Bowls during his career ('91, '93, '94); the first two coming as an Eagle, and the third as a member of the Arizona Cardinals.


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Patterson will be the starting right corner Sunday.


After two very good games from Dimitri Patterson that included 11 tackles, two interceptions, and one touchdown, Ellis Hobbs finds himself on the outside looking in as head coach Andy Reid announced Wednesday that Patterson would continue to be the starting right cornerback.

"Dimitri is [the starter]," Reid said. "Ellis, we're going to ease him back in and he's going to be out there. You'll see him returning a little bit and we'll see how he does with that. We'll just see how he does this week. He's a little better this week than he was last week. He's feeling a little bit better than what he has. So we'll just ease him in and see how he does."

At this point in the season, it's the right move. Like Michael Vick taking over for Kevin Kolb or Antonio Dixon taking over for Brodrick Bunkley, Patterson proved his worth when given the chance and, at least in the short-term, is an improvement.

Not being afraid to make the tough call is what makes an average team good, or a good team great, and Reid has shown he's not willing to bend to football clichés and will in fact stick with an injury replacement.

The big question now is whether or not Patterson can keep up his stellar play and keep Hobbs on the sideline, or if he'll tail off and eventually give way to the average but mostly consistent Hobbs.

In other injury news...

Reid also announced that Ernie Sims has a slight ankle sprain but will practice, as will starting free safety Nate Allen. Max Jean-Gilles is also going to be practicing and Reid said he could rotate with Nick Cole this Sunday against the New York Giants. Running back LeSean McCoy and defensive end Juqua Parker both got the day off.

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How much blame does Sean McDermott truly deserve?


Akeem Jordan is definitely not the most talented linebacker in the league, or even the most talented on the Philadelphia Eagles' roster, but he has been the most consistent for Sean McDermott and his defense.

Stewart Bradley is constantly caught in the wash and taken out of the play and Ernie Sims gets bullied whenever a blocker can engage him. Jordan won't be seen making any spectacular plays, but he is capable attacking the play and forcing it back inside for Bradley to get his stats.

Or, as has been the case more recently, for the defensive tackles and Bradley to get completely washed down and watch the running back gouge the defense right up in the middle.

Sure, Jordan gets caught in the wash and bullied as well from time to time, but more often than not he's doing what he needs to be doing, ableit unspectacularly.

But it seems as though Eagles defensive coordinator Sean McDermott would rather point to Jordan as the scapegoat and sit him on the bench in favor of Moise Fokou rather than correcting the things he's doing wrong as the man calling the shots.

Instead of recognizing that he needs to blitz more often when the situation calls for it and, when he does blitz, make sure the call is not completely predictable, he's going to reverse a decision he made in Training Camp to bench Fokou in favor of Jordan.

If he didn't think Fokou could get the job done back in camp, what makes him think he can get the job done now?

It could be that he doesn't, and is just looking for a way to divert the attention away from him and his deficiencies as a coordinator. Or, he could be completely oblivious to the fact that there's not an offensive coordinator or quarterback in the league that can't tell you exactly where his blitz is coming from and make sure they go the opposite direction.

Andy Reid has never been great drafting linebackers (see: Barry Gardener, Matt McCoy, Quinton Caver, Joe Mays, David Bergeron, Andy Studebaker, Tyreo Harrison and Chris Gocong), but the three starters the team has right now is good enough to get the job done.

It's McDermott's job to make the best of what he's got, and it feels like he's not only making the best of what he's been given, but he's holding back the unit as a whole with his predictable blitzes and uninspired schemes.

If this defense doesn't pick it up very soon not only will the team continue to lose games, but McDermott could be on the hot seat. There's a guy very capable of taking over as the defensive coordinator currently coaching the secondary in Dick Jauron.

I believe Jauron was brought in just in case the season started to go this way, and Reid likely wouldn't have to think too long before hiring his buddy to run the defense.
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How do the Eagles finally stop opposing tight ends?


Since the Ernie Sims trade went down, the talk of the Eagles' defensive woes against opposing tight ends has come back to the forefront. Many are hoping Sims can be the guy to stick with the multiple great tight ends in the NFC East, but Sims is a WILL linebacker -- the SAM is usually the one covering the tight end.

However, there's still an incredibly easy solution to the problem. A solution so easy that it's incredible a great defensive mind like Jim Johnson couldn't figure it out, and now neither can his protégé Sean McDermott.

If you watch the Eagles' defense pre-snap, they always have the SAM lined up a good five yards away from the tight end. When the ball is snapped, all the tight end has to do is run at the linebacker, whomever it may be, and cut one way or another -- leaving said linebacker in the difficult position of having to cover ground and regain position on the tight end.

It happens game after game after game after game, but nothing is changed. The linebacker stays in the same area, and that's precisely the problem.

All McDermott has to do is tell that SAM linebacker to get up in the tight end's face and give him a shot coming off the line. That way, the 'backer is the one with the position, and not the tight end. The shot knocks the tight end off his pattern and can create that half-second of hesitation that will lead to an extra half-second for the front four to get to the quarterback.

This will all-but eliminate the big plays we consistently see against the Eagles' defense, so I'm not sure why this hasn't yet occurred to anyone on the Eagles coaching staff.

I've been preaching this solution for a couple years now, but yet and still the Birds continue to get burned by tight ends week in and week out. And, until they figure this out for themselves, they will continue to have issues.

Perhaps they feel like giving the linebacker a cushion will help him gain position on the tight end, or perhaps they don't trust any of their linebackers to be that close to the line of scrimmage, or perhaps there's simply something I don't understand, but something needs to be done because the way they cover the tight ends now is going to continue to lose them games.

And if McDermott can't figure out a way of his known of fixing the issue, it might be time for the Eagles to look elsewhere for 2011.
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For now, Akeem Jordan is the Eagles' starting WILL.


I said in an earlier article that I thought the newly-acquired Ernie Sims might be thrown into the mix at SAM linebacker, but given his size (6'0, 230) that seems unlikely. Quite frankly, there's probably no shot of that happening and I'm not quite sure what I was thinking.

Sims is about the same size as the Eagles' other two WILL linebackers -- Akeem Jordan (6'1, 230) and Omar Gaither (6'2, 235) -- but gains his advantage with his speed.

He was drafted to play weakside in a cover 2 defense, so that should give a clue as to what the Lions thought of his ability to drop back and cover in space. He wasn't afforded that opportunity as the Lions changed their defense almost immediately, but it could be something to give him a slight edge over Jordan heading into offseason camps.

Right now, Jordan will be the starter heading into the offseason workouts. He has been the guy here for a couple seasons, and Sims will have to uproot him if he wants to start.

Gaither has had his chance to start and was only average. He is playing on a one-year deal after being a restricted free agent; Otherwise he would most likely be playing elsewhere as the Eagles were unlikely to retain him had he been an unrestricted free agent.

And there's even still a chance Gaither gets moved this Thursday.

But even with Jordan as his only competition, there's no guarantee the former ninth-overall pick will be a starter in Philadelphia. The Eagles think very highly of Jordan and would have a hard time sticking him on the bench without being absolutely positive that Sims is the better choice.

So not only will Sims have to play well, he will have to make Jordan look like a scrub if Sean McDermott and Andy Reid are going to feel comfortable turning away from Jordan.

Both Sims and Jordan are playing on one-year deals, so whomever is put on the bench will most likely not be back next season. Both guys know that, so it's going be some quality competition all season long to see who stays and who goes.
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Can the Eagles tap into potential the Lions didn't see?


In the Eagles fifth offseason trade, they acquired linebacker Ernie Sims from the Detroit Lions in a three-team trade that also included sending a fifth-round pick to the Denver Broncos. The Broncos, in turn, sent tight end Tony Scheffler and a seventh-round pick to the Lions.

"I'm just real excited, looking for a new beginning ... I'm ready to jump in," Sims said in a conference call with reporters. "I'm like a sponge right now."

Sims' role with the Eagles has yet to be determined, but it's possible he could play either WILL or SAM linebacker. Sims told reporters that he didn't have a set position in Detroit as they mainly played left or right outside linebackers, as opposed to weak or strong side.

Sims also said that he has and can cover tight ends, an obvious weakspot amongst the Eagles current linebacking corps.

"Ernie Sims is an impact player at the linebacker position," said head coach Andy Reid. "He brings a lot of energy to our already energized defense. We are looking forward to adding him to our team."

My immediate reaction is that the Eagles got a great bargain in this deal. They get a guy who was a first-round pick in 2006 because of his incredible athleticism, but who was probably misused and lost in the shuffle in Detroit, for only a fifth-round pick.

A pick, by the way, that the Birds acquired from Cleveland in the Sheldon Brown and Chris Gocong trade (137th overall).

The Lions' new regime has been looking to move Sims for a little while now, so it's not a surprise that they decided to pull the trigger now when given the chance. Their move to acquire Scheffler, however, is a bit more perplexing considering they drafted Brandon Pettigrew in last year's draft.

But, we'll leave that to the Lions faithful to debate while we in Philadelphia get to feel good about pulling off a great trade for a guy with unlimited potential.

Sims is only 6'0, 230 pounds, so it's likely that he challenges Akeem Jordan at WILL, but it wouldn't be surprising to see them throw him in at SAM and hope for the best. It will definitely be a training camp scramble to keep an eye on.
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