As Eagles prepare for Sanchez and the Jets, we examine Icon Unplugged and the Banned of Brothers...

First the mandatory football post: The New York Jets (8-5) come to Philly on Sunday riding the red hot arm of QB Mark Sanchez, who is getting better and wiser at playing his position.


No longer is Sanchez an automatic out when he plays under pressure from the drop-back mode...

Used to be, the Jets would struggle when Sanchez dropped back into the pocket. Like most young QB's, Sanchez tended to lock on receivers and wait too long to release the ball, often aiming rather than fluidly throwing with a natural motion.  He tended to rush through his progressions without the best reading and diagnosis of coverages, and often threw with anticipation rather than confidence.

That's a big reason why the Jets stayed very committed to their running game during Sanchez' first two years in the league--- as they waited for the 6-1, 220-lb athlete from USC to develop his technique in the pocket, they kept their passing game alive by basing it off the run.  The Jets specifically utilized play-action, movement passes like bootlegs and waggles--- all with the design of moving around Sanchez' launch point.

A lot of that emphasis on mobile launch point is changing, though. At age 25, Sanchez is getting stronger and smarter from the pocket. He is becoming a threat to take over games with his arm by using more pocket presence and more than ever finding his talented receivers downfield.  

The Eagles' current downfield pass rush theory is to destroy a quarterback's protective pocket... Rex Ryan and Brian Schottenheimer may counter by ordering up a lot of Sanchez' old mobile-launch-point plays. It sets up an interesting chess match whereby Sanchez may have to retreat in his progress as an NFL QB with pocket presence in order to win a game on Sunday.

Icon Unplugged and the Banned of Brothers

There's been an awful lot of "banning" going on around PE.com (specifically Dave Spadaro's On The Inside comments section) over the past year. But the issues have not usually involved obscenity or profanity. There have been some great posters like South Philly Ben and Boner and Jerked who routinely used vernacular slang from the street in the context of a constructive or even poetic observation--- but not in a vicious or prurient way. And they got banned...

And then there were guys like XXRoyal Flush from Vegas and the ultra-annoying KILLA from New Orleans.  Flush offended routinely with his anti-Semitic rants and pathetically unfunny "Jewish jokes"... KILLA offended in a different way by dominating literally dozens of page-views at a time with machine-gun spurts of idiocy in all caps.  Neither of these guys ever got banned.

Selective enforcement... a concept that always bugs me.

Now I'm not a huge fan of the man they call ICON, not like I was a huge fan of the man they call DDD... I've had my debates with Icon's ideology about the Eagles and his condemnation of some of my favorite posters like Brizer and JB (among many others) over the years.  But when Icon and DDD attempted to replace the gatekeeper and fan-based chairmen of the Bored at OTI after PE.com and Spadaro blew up the old classic format eight months ago, I had to at least pay attention to Icon.

Ironically, all of Spadaro's loyal fan commenters found themselves "banned" at that time---at least defacto--- due to annihilation of most of our old log-in I.D. data. That's when Brizer in his leadership suggested folks could rest "here" at Eagles Eye until PE.com and Spadaro got their OTI commentary format functional again.

It was then that Icon and DDD formed an alliance to save the union of PE.com. Anyone who dared tread to an alternate site like this one was declared a turncoat rebel traitor. No, I protested, we are just a resting place for Bored commenters until they can log back in to PE.com...

It's a longer story than that with many twists and turns both humorous and tragic. But cutting to the chase: DDD got banned by his own masters at PE.com for an unfortunate reference to the Polish heritage (eventually he was reinstated after a series of written appeals to the Eagles front office)... and now, within the past few weeks, the great Icon has been banned... for remarks allegedly critical of the management of the Eagles, and specifically for a reference to throwing "dung on the dung pile"...

This may surprise you, but I don't think Icon or anyone really deserves to be banned from an NFL team website for criticizing a team in that context of a word or a symbol like "dung"... especially a guy like Icon who, even if misguided in his alliance and allegiance to the cause, tried to save the union...

That was the beauty of the old format at PE.com and OTI... it was basically self-policed according to context and meaning and intent. Sure, the censor-robot was always there, and you couldn't say Dick Allen or Dick Jauron, but the robot never banned you. 

The worst thing that could happen to you was being castigated by Brizer for lack of proper decorum...or being ignored by your fellow posters due to their disdain for your failure to appreciate the necessary balance between enlightenment and entertainment. In other words, you either policed yourself, or Brizer and the Bored would do it for you.

Banning only happened when someone at PE.com or someone in Eagles management got their nose out of joint... a lesbian reference in a tale told by South Philly Ben apparently caught Mrs. Lurie's (or someone else's in the Eagles FO) attenton and disdain...and that was it for Benny Gold.  

I don't think Benny should have been banned for that... and I don't think Icon should be banned now. PE.com would be better served by letting its loyal fan posters police themselves.

Here's ICON in an unplugged interview he gave me this week.. To me he is a fan of 50 years, an honorable man in real life who is a disabled veteran of the Vietnam War... and attention must be paid, despite any artistic differences we may have:

Guess you noticed I've been, "banned," from PE.com. I thought it was a mistake but obviously I hit a nerve with those in the, "Upper Echelons of the Phila. Eagles Management."  Although having defended, "Jeff Lurie and Spadaro," to many posters, my response to the "Banning," was ignored on all channels. As I was angered, "I really let them have it," so there will be no reinstatement. Almost feels as though I threw 50 plus years away. I tried unsuccessfully to re-register but it seems they must have the registration numbers cataloged of my three computers. My purpose was to warn other posters of the dangers associated with the "Spineless People Involved," and corresponding posts. This was the last post I submitted, although the bottom line, "in red," was PE's response.
FYI icontutu
Posted
Dec 02 2011 11:35 AM"Igspots," Shady is a positive and it appears he has a lot of character. I hope it lasts although under the control of Drew Rosenhaus, his agent. We don't want to make this a "one player team," defeating the entire "Team Concept." We've had some unexpected surprises before injuries, a factor that our system seems to foster. (Yes, we can discuss undersized rosters as discussed numerous times before). I can talk about Babin, Peterson, Cole and a multitude of others, but am deliberately trying to avoid doing so, as the breakdown tether's on all facets of our game leading to accountability, responsibility and acumen of the, "Head Coach." We have the players, but don't know yet, how to place them, play them, or to get the most out of them. Can you expect this from a guy that takes twice as long to prepare for a game, has shown us he is slow in making adjustments, or relative elements in the game, that require quick and spontaneous decisions. Enough throwing "Dung onto the Dung Pile," Eagles to the end Icon. Yes and as I've been doing for over 50 years, "I'll be back!" Now we'll get the opportunity to see just how many loyal fans we have.

Enough with the inappropriate comments  
This one proceeded the final:icontutu
Posted
Dec 02 2011 10:33 AMAs I am again repeating myself, "Jeff Lurie," has given the fans and everything this franchise asked for, with the exception of a "New Headcoach." Obviously, some of it was a last attempt to keep his loyalties to his "Old Friend, A/R." I'm sure, if anyone wanted to leave the stadium, last night, with a "Bag over his Head," is Lurie, although he shouldn't. He gave everything, within his responsibility, to his paid delegates and they let him down. I want to thank you Mr. Lurie for everything you've done for us and am asking you to, "Quit dragging your feet and give us the last key piece," a capable H/C, able to salvage some of our talent and as a start, to bring a "winning record," back to your stadium. Please don't blame the fans for this failing... 

PE even stopped me from receiving the, "Bloggers Responses," reference, "On The Inside." Thought you might be interested and as far as your concerned, "You've always been a straight up individual." Do with the material as you will, Eagles to the end, Icon...I am able to read the "Bloggers Responses on my friends computer." To go to this extreme,"Eagles Management is sure getting shaky!"    Later Brothers...

There's a promise kept to Icon, that he would have his say... And strangely, I feel a parallel in this story to the impeachment of our 17th President, Andrew Johnson... who barely escaped a "banning" of his own...