Plax Wants Philly, Philly Should Want Plax

I find it hard to mount any case why the Eagles shouldn’t sign Plaxico Burress. Sure, he’ll be 35 by the time the season starts, and he’s certainly not a role model. But at this point I wouldn’t mind seeing Andy Reid sell a bit of his soul for better red zone production.

2011 was the first year since 2006 that the Eagles have even nudged above average in red zone touchdown percentage. And they haven’t been in the top ten since 2004. That’s a historic stretch of poor red zone play, and it spans three quarterbacks, two running backs, and two generations of wide receivers.

It’s clear that outside of LeSean McCoy, whatever’s going on down by the goalline isn’t working. The speed-beats-all mentality that has made the offense so explosive in the first 80 yards of the field isn’t getting it done where it counts. It’s obvious even by the play calling. Reid and Marty Mornhinweg have long since abandoned the normal offense in the red zone. They’ve resorted to tricking their way into a touchdown with shovels and screens.

The data proves this out. DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin, despite game-breaking speed in the middle of the field, are both below average in scoring touchdowns per target and reception. Even at age 35, Burress is the opposite. He’s a touchdown machine.

With the Jets last year, Burress scored a touchdown on nearly 18 percent of all his receptions. That’s more than Calvin Johnson, and good enough for third in the NFL among receivers with at least 50 percent of their team’s offensive snaps. Eagles fans will remember Burress constantly beating one-on-one coverage in the end zone for Eli Manning, and he could do the same for Michael Vick.

Where all of the Eagles wide receivers become distractions at best and liabilities at worst down in the red zone, replacing one of them with Burress doesn’t just provide a different set of physical strengths (if so, Hank Baskett and Riley Cooper would have filled this role). Plaxico brings the experience of 63 career touchdowns — more than all of the Eagles current receivers combined.

Burress wants to be an Eagle. He did last year too, but the front office picked Steve Smith instead. Time to correct that mistake.

Photo from Getty.

Vick & Burress

Zach Berman, for the Daily News:

Vick’s influence on Burress stretched beyond football. When Burress was first released, Vick said Burress should think “family first and football second.” Burress said Vick maintained regular contact with Burress’ family, both over the phone and in person.

“He went through hell,” Burress said. “Him picking up the phone and calling my wife and checking up on her, seeing how she was doing emotionally. And Mike would spend time with my brother when I was away. Those are things you can’t put a price tag on. That’s just him.”

Whether or not DeSean Jackson is still an Eagle next year, Plaxico has to be near the top of the team’s free agent wish list. Signing Steve Smith instead was a big mistake.

Hot Read: the Beast, Burress, and Cheap Owners

There’s a new blog in town. Friend of the blog Jimmy Kempski (known as JimmyK at Bleeding Green Nation), kicked off his new site “Blogging the Beast” yesterday and it looks great — he’s covering the NFC East better than ESPN.

Jimmy already has some nice posts up, including a breakdown of this Plaxico Burress nonsense, which I completely agree with. The original report on the New York Post doesn’t convince me of any sort of accuracy. There isn’t even an anonymous source quoted, just a reporter shooting the breeze: “I’ve heard that the Eagles will eventually be first in line.”

Taking on a talented but reformed criminal doesn’t strike me as out of the question for the Michael Vick-era Eagles. Burress has made Eli Manning look great so many times that I’m interested to see if the guy has anything left.

But we should also remember that it takes two to tango. Even if the Eagles are interested, they aren’t going to be the most desperate for help. Burress would have to take less money and know that he won’t have an immediate chance to start in Philly — something Vick was willing to do to rehabilitate his image. I’m not sure Plaxico, at age 34, has the time or patience to take that same route.

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Good for Jeffrey Lurie and the Eagles for not cutting their coaches’ salaries immediately after the lockout started. I wonder how much money the rest of the owners are saving with this cheap move over these summer months, and how much less the coaches are really working.

This probably also hints at the catastrophe that could strike the all the coaches and other support staff if this lockout extends into the regular season. We’ll certainly see a lot of layoffs in that case.