Eagles Make Flurry of Moves to Reach 53-Man Roster Limit

Busy day at Eagles headquarters on this Saturday of Labor Day weekend. As teams around the NFL make final cuts to drop down to season roster of 53 players, the Eagles did so with gusto, making multiple surprising decisions in terms of keeps, cuts, and trades that no one expected.

Let’s break it down.

Stacy Andrews traded to Seattle: The Eagles received a 7th round pick for a player they expected to start at right guard this season, if not in 2009. After sticking with last year’s marquee free agent signing through one horrendous season, the Eagles hoped Stacy would finally prove worth the trouble. It didn’t happen. Thus, today the front office cut bait and unceremoniously shipped Andrews to the Pacific Northwest for pennies on the dollar. Some rough math indicates that the team wasted approximately $20 million dollars on the two Andrews brothers over the last 3 years. Good riddance…

Jets at Eagles: The Big Question

However, tonight, when the Eagles take on Rex Ryan’s brash and bold style of New York Jets, we won’t really be able to judge the offensive line, or any other starting unit for that matter — because only second and third team players will be out on the field for this game. So the big question for this week:

Which Player is Going to Make Himself the Hardest to Cut?

Soon enough the Eagles will have to cut down their roster from 75 players to only 53. Many of these decisions have already been made, but this game provides one last chance for bubble guys to prove they belong. Let’s see where there’s still competition…

How Many More Injuries in an 18-Game Season?

One of the biggest question marks surrounding the NFL’s push for an expanded season of 18 games involves injuries. NFL players already suffer far too many injuries, especially gruesome ligament tears, bone breakages, and serious concussions. Adding two more games would seemingly exacerbate this problem.

However, there have been few real studies of injuries that give us any idea of what to expect out of two more games. Plus, just looking at all injuries isn’t very helpful. Every player gets nicked up, and sometimes misses a game or two here or there during the season (think Donovan McNabb circa September 2009). Those aren’t the injuries that people are worried about with two more games on the schedule.

The real question is season-ending, potentially career-ending, injuries. How much more serious risk would the NFL be subjecting these players to?

Bizarre News From the Preseason Weekend

*”Leonard Weaver Day” was celebrated on Saturday at the fullback’s alma mater, Carson Newman College in Tennessee.

*Eagles cast off linebacker Andy Studebaker took down the team’s quarterback savior. Twice. That’s karma for you.

*Macho Harris, he of the cornerback to safety, back to cornerback routine, has been moved back to safety again. Again! Look forward to him getting rotated back and forth for the whole season while he rides the edge of the roster…

Eagles at Chiefs: The Big Question

So going into tonight’s third preseason game against the Kansas City Chiefs, the biggest question is:

Can the offensive line rebound from a miserable game?

Against the Bengals, the Eagles’ first team offensive line had a litany of issues. To start with, multiple players were flagged for lining up incorrectly. That’s just unacceptable. Then, when the play began, the unit ceded complete control of the line of scrimmage…

Charting the Success of the Eagles' Passing Attack

Here’s something interesting. The one year the Eagles broke through to the Super Bowl was also the only year the team completion percentage was above average. In addition, the two worst years in the Reid era — 1999 and 2005 — correspond with the worst completion rates.

There’s no real correlation between completion percentage and Super Bowl appearances when you look back over 30 years, but Eagles fans will see if a bump there from a more accurate quarterback will have any impact.

Net Yards per Pass Attempt was the only statistic we found yesterday to be consistent with Super Bowl appearances. Few below-average teams make it that far. So how did the Eagles do? …

Is the Road to the Super Bowl Paved Through the Air?

Earlier today I posted about the supposedly newfound dominance of passing over running in today’s NFL. Looking at the graphs, we saw that pass-first offenses have been in the majority for almost 30 years.

But if pass-happy attacks have been around for a long time, why has every NFL commentator suddenly picked up the torch to declare this a new phenomenon? The simplest and cruelest answer is that these “experts” don’t actually know anything. But maybe there’s some other factor at work…

Why the Pass First Offense Isn't New

But the NFL today is a pass-first league. 28 out of the 32 teams in the league last year threw the ball more than they ran. And there are a million theories as to why.

Most of these theories, however, refer to some sort of recent phenomenon. Perhaps we’re in a golden age of quarterbacks, or the recent rule changes allow receivers more space, or coaches finally discovered statistics, or even the lineman are “too big.” That last one is an actual theory.

But what if the truth is much simpler than that? What if it’s not some big new change at all? What if the NFL isn’t actually any more pass-happy than it was five, ten, or fifteen years ago? That’s what the numbers say: …