I’m not even going to pretend I wasn’t looking forward to Andy Reid’s opening press conference from Birds’ training camp.  Whilst he may take some grief for being a bit dull in these sessions, um, I kind of like them?  I guess I was even readier than Andy his own self for the start of my favorite TV show (inasmuch as the NFL season has an actual beginning and end). 

(Also, why is Andy lefting his leg in the photo above?  Burrito for lunch?  What’s this about?)

My big takeaways this afternoon:

1.  The moral high ground is very crowded in the Eagles - BWest standoff.  I thought it was pretty interesting that both Brian Westbrook and Andy Reid used a lot of the same language and signifiers in their discussion of his contract dispute.  Both were dropping “fair” and “what’s right.”  I suppose that’s pretty standard — in that everyone thinks their position is the right one — but the use of similar language was pretty uncanny.  I also think it was interesting that they both mentioned that Brian was a “leader” on the team.  Also, we can’t neglect that Westbrook pointed to Reid’s own extension as an example of why he wanted more cash. (Read the rest of this story.)

And here we thought we’d have only manufactured drama heading into camp.

The 36 Chambers of Brian Westbrook has apparently been gently suggesting that he could use a new contract for months, and this afternoon he escalated the negotiation by changing agents.  Move over Lito!  Now there’s something meatier!

Sure, B-West got paid in 2005, but he was probably the best back in the NFL last year, and was certainly the Eagles’ best player (by a lot). 

The catch is that Joe Banner has a spreadsheet, and I would suspect that said spreadsheet has some very untoward things to say about the performance of running backs as they approach the age of 30 (and even more to say about the performance of said pushing-30 running backs immediately following the signature of a fresh contract, a.k.a. the Shaun Alexander corollary).  In B-West’s defense, inasmuch as he’s complained about not getting enough carries over the years, his overall mileage is relatively low — and the Birds know it.  Thus, if they’re keeping track of these things, Westbrook has a decent shot to Get Paid. (Read the rest of this story.)

And so with the annual visit to (and attendant reports from) Donovan McNabb’s pre-training-camp bonding throwdown at his place out in Arizona, as reported by Dunavin his own self via his blog.  Good to know that everyone’s spending some QT together and doing lots of crunches. 

Oh wait, not quite everyone.  Certainly not either of the starting wideouts or the Best Player On The Team.  I’ll speculate to say that the guys who are most interested in staying in 5’s good graces were the ones hopping that US Air (nee America West) flight to Phoenix.  As in, L.J. Smith, Avant, Baskett and Booker.  Certainly L.J. is going to need Dunavin on his side if he wants to have the big year required for him to Get Paid.  And the other guys are jockeying for spots on the depth chart. 

We don’t want to call it sucking up, but we would say that it’s certainly in one’s best interest to have the trust of the quarterback, and if earning that trust includes a four-hour flight and some obsequiousness in re: his cooking, so be it. (Read the rest of this story.)

And the dialectic continues.  I think today’s the day I start calling Derek names.  It’s what Buddy would do.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

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Derek,

So the missus told you that we’ve been a little too needs-and-feelings so far?  (Note that Jason also dinged us for sucking up to each other over at BGN.)  She give you a little a pat on the butt and tell you that as long as you try harder everything will be better next time?

WELL I DIDN’T KNOW YOU WERE WRITING LIVE FROM THE SPORTS GUY MANSION.  Maybe now you’re going to tell me about your dog and your latest trip to Peet’s coffee and how TOTALLY CRAZY things can get in Vegas and how you tended bar in the late 90s and kept it real with some hardcore/ straight-from-the-streets sports knowledge.  Maybe you can have the missus do a guest column with HER Eagles analysis!  That’d be adorable!

(Everyone feel better now?)

In re: your thoughts on the wide receiver position, let me summarize my response by saying: it’s nice to see that you actually have a soul.  That is, it’s comforting to realize that behind your very rational web site and tons of cogent analysis, you believe in magic too.

And by “magic,” I mean “swagger.”  That is, there’s something out there that we can’t measure, but it really matters in re: who’s winning and who’s losing, and we know it when we see it.  It’s the confidence that the team will exert its will over the opponent, and will be the ones who make the plays in the last few minutes to win the game.  With T.O., the Eagles definitely had swagger.  No doubt.

Which makes the current iteration of the Birds so frustrating — because it’s so obvious the swagger is gone.  Are the Giants really that much better than the Eagles?  Hell no.  But they’re convinced that they are.  For example, put a BOUNTY on Antonio Pierce and his big effing mouth for blabbing about how the Giants owned the Eagles last year (even though the Birds had knocked them out of the playoffs the year before).  I fully believe that the Giants have a huge swagger edge over the Birds coming into this season, and that it’s going to take a serious bump in confidence for the Eagles to reclaim that. (Read the rest of this story.)

Remember when we were all moist hoping the Eagles would draft a prototypical goal-line running back?  And then they did?  But we didn’t really care because we all got distracted by the Kevin Kolb pick? 

Yeah.  That was a year ago. 

Let’s fast-forward a year and imagine how we’ll reminisce this week in 2009:

Remember when we were all moist hoping the Eagles would draft a big wide receiver who could return kicks and be a threat in the red zone?  And then they did?  But we didn’t really care because we call got distracted by the [Jason Taylor trade/ Brian Westbrook holdout/ Tra Thomas surprise retirement].

Mostly we have no idea what’s going to actually happen on Saturday (especially since the Birds will likely trade some of those 11 picks) – but sometimes dreams do come true!  Even if it turns out that those dreams were kind of wrong because the Birds already had the best back in football on the roster!  

I’ll admit that I really couldn’t believe the “Brian Westbrook is going to get a new contract” rumors when they first started percolating a couple weeks ago.

Not because the 36 Chambers of Brian Westbrook doesn’t deserve a raise, mind you. My man crush on this topic is amply documented. It just didn’t seem like, ahem, the sort of thing that the Joe Banner administration was in the business of doing. That is, handing out new contracts to players who got new contracts two years ago.

But lo, the rumblings on the radio gave way to speculation in the blogosphere, and pretty soon the salaried classes of blathermonkeys were reporting said rumors as true! Talks have begun, they tell us.

I consider this to be awesome news for the following reasons: (Read the rest of this story.)

I know we’re supposed to pretend that this final win is bittersweet (since the Eagles aren’t going to the playoffs and will finish last in the NFC East), but whatever. It was still a real football game with real NFL players, and thanks to the cruelty of player contracts in the NFL, guys will play hard (with the possible exception of guys who’ve signed contracts in the past 18 months) even if the playoffs aren’t on the line.

And I certainly enjoyed it. This is my favorite TV show, and it brings me much delight when the good guys win. My quick hits from the game today: (Read the rest of this story.)

More real-time goodness from the PhiladelphiaEagles.com staff with a Pro-Bowl-themed splash page honoring Shawn Andrews and Brian Westbrook.

Good stuff — nice to see Dave Spadaro’s boys on the web staff working hard for their 43K/ year.

Link:
PhiladelphiaEagles.com

Thank you, Philadelphia Eagles! You made my favorite television show interesting for one more week.

Though it’s probably just a bump in the road for what is still the best team in the NFC (staring at ground in abject humiliation), it’s never disappointing to beat the Cowboys, especially in Texas Stadium. Some quick bulletpoints about the game this afternoon:

(Read the rest of this story.)

I don’t ask for much in this world. I sat through that hideous first Giants game at the Meadowlands and watched the Birds get pummeled. It wasn’t sweet. In my smaller and more bitter moments, I’d remind Giants fans that they didn’t play all the well that night either (16 points?), but that’s just sour grapes. They beat our team badly.

The thing is, as mentioned here previously, the Giants are definitely my least favorite team in the NFL. Big Blue, freakin’ royalty up there in New York, the darling of the league office (you mean they got the extra home game for the second time in three years? Really? That isn’t a big deal?), no cheerleaders, the geriatric fans, the Scott Norwood miss, Michael Freakin’ Strahan, tell us how awesome and personable you are, Tiki Barber, tell us how awesome and personable you are, etc etc. Really don’t like them. Would very much prefer if they lost horribly today.

There’s a big difference between this week and September 30: the Eagles’ best player will be on the field. (Read the rest of this story.)