Jerkle Haze--- a preview of the 2012 Eagles...

From his California dreamin' lifestyle which is the envy of many, to the constant color commentary he provides to this site, Jerky (aka Matt Sumlin) is a guy who really adds adventure and entertainment to my day.  My schedule's not complete until I catch up with Jerky's latest posts and what's going on in his life. So it's a pleasure to bring Jerky on stage today with his original preview of the Eagles 2012 season...


A Jerky Preview of the 2012 Philadelphia Eagles.... by Matt Sumlin

 Coaching:
    Reid took  lot of heat last year for his decision to promote his long time offensive line coach, Juan Castillo, to defensive coordinator. While he had been a linebacker in college, Castillo had never coached defense above the high-school level. The 4-month long lockout surely didn't help out the transition process...
    The defense struggled early and often, and Castillo was slow to to figure out how to use the players he had. But, Castillo's defensive unit finished strong, giving up just 46 points in the last four games.
    Reid also has brought in an experienced defensive coach to help out Juanny Juan this season in Todd "Smoking" Bowles, he should right the secondary ship, so to speak...
    The coaches, all of them, have a lot riding on the line this season. Will they turn this ship around? We'll just have to wait and find out! Do I even have to say anything about Mudd and Washburn?     They both are as solid as they come at their respected positions. We are in good hands with these two, wouldn't you agree?

 Quarterbacks:
    If the Iggles are going to have a shot at a SB in the 2012-2013 season, they need Starship-7 to be better than he was last year, pretty simple.    Vick turned the football over 18 times, including five times in the red zone. He finished near the bottom of the league in third down passing,    fourth-quarter passing and passing against blitzes. His affletic style of play leaves him a bit susceptible to unnecessary contact...
    He suffered a concussion and a bruised hand and missed three+ games with broken riblets. Big Red and Marty have made it clear to Vick that he needs to take fewer risks. Personally, I feel that Mike Vick can do this as evidence in his 2010-2011 season proved that.
    Mike Kafka is the #2 quarterback on the Eagles roster, he looks to have that position sown up as far as the competition some people maybe once thought Trent Edwards was going to give him, lmao. They drafted rookie 6'6" 243 lb Nick Foles from the University of Arizona in the 3rd round.  Foles has prototypical size and is an underrated athlete. As a junior the Wildcat signal caller completed 67 percent of his passes, but he needs to improve his decision-making. More specifically, Foles has a tendency to force passes into coverage
    I see Foles as the definite #3 QB, but that is just one of my lousy opinions.

Running Backs:
    Lesean "Mack Daddy" McCoy,.. AKA "Shadynasty" is one of the NFL's best running backs. He rushed for 1,309 yards and had a league-best 17 rushing touchdowns last season. While he had 48 runs of 10 yards or more, he also has turned into a total beast short-yardage back. In the Iggles final 10 games last year, he converted 29 of 36 situations  of two yards or less. The Eagles also like to use Shady in the passing game, especially on screens. Reid is trying to lighten Shady's workload a bit this season.
    They have a lil dynamo in Dion Lewis just waiting to bust out in the running game, I have high hopes for him this season. Reid also drafted a running back in the last round of the draft named Bryce Brown, a once top-rated recruit for the University of Tennessee that flamed out for whatever reason..    (Kiffin left for a real school...)... We have no clue about him at this point, let's wait for TC to see what we have, shall we? Just putting it out there right now, way out there on a tiny little limb..:
    Shady McCoy will break the NFL's single season rushing touchdown record this upcoming season, book it, Dano!

 Receivers:
    Desean Jackson is one helluva vertical threat. He had 15 touchdowns catches and averaged 20.2 yards per catch in 2009-2010, but pouted last year about his contract situation and had a down year. He should be focused this year after receiving his long awaited (Psshh) new contract. Philly's other starting wideout, Jeremy Maclin, is quite the deep threat that D-Jax is, but is soooo productive. He has 133 receptions the last two years. Slot receiver Jason Avant is a fearless over-the-middle pass-catcher.
    They drafted 6'3" 216 lbs Marvin McNutt out of Iowa in the 6th round (nice value pick) to compete with Riley Cooper for the 4th wideout spot/red zone threat, and McNutt brings nice hands and is tough to bring down once he gains momentum---he will have a fight on his hands versus Cooper in TC, this battle is gonna be fun to monitor.
    The Iggles have not one, but two excellent pass-catching TE's in Celery and Harbor Freight. They used the two tight end sets more than ever in the Reid era. Celek is a load and is very tough to tackle this guy, BEEZ-MODE!! He led all tight ends in yards after the catch last season. Clay "Aiken" Harbor is an affletic guy with 4.5 speed who has developed into an above average blocker.

 O-Line:
    This unit was a big concern going into last season. By the end of the year, it was one of the best in the league. It did a good job of protecting Vick and opening up holes for McCoy.
    Philadelphia was dealt a huge blow when they lost their All Pro starting LT, Jason Peters, with a ruptured Achilles (ouch) tendon. But the Eagles reacted quickly to that horrific incident when they were able to trade for Buffalo's Damatress Bell. Todd Herremans made a seamless transition from left guard to right tackle. Evan Mathis, a journeyman who had started just seven games the previous four years, blossomed under the tutelage of Howard Mudd and had an excellent season, got a nice contract because of it too. Rookie Jason Kelce looked like anything but a 6th round draft pick, as he started all 16 games. First round pick Danny Watkins, who started 12 games at right guard, struggled early in the season but improved as the season went on. Should see even more progress in a non-lockout season... The bottom line is that Howard Mudd is freaking awesome, so really there's no worries when it comes to the O-line, right,... Sunbutts?

Defensive Linemen:
The Eagles have one of the best pass rushes in the League. Jim Washburn is always rotating eight players up front, and they had, as a unit, 46 of the team's NFL-best 50 sacks last season. I think they'll be even better this season considering that they used two of their first three draft picks on defensive linemen
Fletcher Cox and Vinny Curry (my boy!!), and Graham Cracker coming all the way back (18 months removed) from micro-fracture surgery. Babin, who piled up 18 sacks! and Cole, who had a real nice year with 11 sacks should benefit from the addition of Fletcher Cox, who will help form a nice pass rush in the middle with Cullen Jenkins (also, my boy). Mike Patterson has always been rock steady at stopping the run, so my fingers are crossed that his arteriovenous malformation (AVM) procedure was a success. Not for our Eagles so much, but for Mike and his well being. Derek Landri re-signed, again, after filling in admirably for an IR'd Antonio Dixon (torn triceps vs SF) during April on a one year deal. Landri is great depth and a perfect fit in Philadelphia, a blue-collar worker who plays with his hair on fire. If Dixon can come back strong from his injury, he should easily round out the depth. I think Darryl Tapp will eventually be moved. 

Linebackers:
Dun, dun, dun!!!!! (cue scary music)... So this was obviously the Eagles' biggest eyesore in 2011, but! they totally redeemed themselves and upgraded the LB unit. They traded for two-time Pro Bowl middle linebacker DeMeco Ryans, then used the first of two second-round picks in the draft on Cal linebacker Mychal Kendricks. With the acquisition of DeMeco Ryans, the Eagles finally have a true leader on defense, not only a vocal leader but a leader by example, which is something we've been missing since B-Dawk. Mychal spells his name wrong but NBW, he ran a 4.47 40 at the combine and can play all 3-downs. In my humble opinion, he starts at the SAM position right out of the gates, I think he'll hit the ground running, literally. Good cover skills and can blitz with the best of 'em. Jamar Chaney (led the team in tackles), who started the season off last year as the starting SAM before being moved to the MIKE spot, will be fighting it out for the WILL spot with Brian Rolle, who started 13 games at the WILL as a rookie. Rolle's ceiling looks to be a London Fletcher clone, which would be alright by me... Casey "Bloodlines" Matthews had an extremely rocky start to his NFL career when Juan Castillo named him the starting MIKE linebacker without ever seeing him put pads on...That's a ton of pressure on a 4th round draft pick, alas, he lasted 2 whole games before being benched. He was useless as teets on a tomcat for the majority of the 2011 season before he became the Eagles starting nickle-linebacker in week 13, a role he was visibly more suited for. Keep your eye out for Matthews, most fans have already given up on this kid, not me. The rest of the depth is just cannon fodder...

Secondary:
Despite having three Pro-Bowl cornerbacks Asante Samuel, Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie...the Eagles gave up a disgusting 27 touchdown passes last year,.... blech! None of the three really knew how to play in the slot, plus their styles countered each other, which at times was a total disaster. Nnamdi and DRC are at their best in press coverage, Samuel is an off-corner and excels in zone coverage but didn't want any part of playing slot...  So, in April, the Eagles traded Lips to the Falcons so the new guys can do what they know how to do best, press coverage. That also plays into the strength of Washburn's Wide-9 scheme. Joselio Hanson has been a solid slot corner for the Eagles ever since he was discovered at TC as an UDFA, he's definitely making the 53. Fourth round pick Brandon Boykins is expected to put pressure on Hanson for the nickle job. the Eagles didn't address the safety position in the draft, but they did pick up some much needed experienced help when they signed OJ Atogwe in free agency. Nate Allen returns at free safety. Kurt Coleman, OJ Atogwe and 2011 second-round pick Jaiquawn Jarrett will battle it out for the strong safety job. I expect to see Colt Anderson placed on the PUP list to start out the season. There will be an ultimate battle at TC between all the scrubs vying for his job.

Special Teams:
The Eagles gambled last season, getting rid of a veteran David Akers, their long-time FG kicker, and the punter Sav Rocca. They replaced them with two rookies Henery & Henry. Alex Henery did pretty well, hitting 24 of 27 field goal attempts, though he attempted just three of longer than 45 yards. Punter Chas Henry had his ups and downs ( I wasn't too impressed), but did put nearly a third of his punts inside the opponents 20. I expect to see both of them improve in their sophomore season. The Eagles return game last season sucked so bad. Desean Jackson wasn't the same Desean Jackson he was in 2010 when it came to punt returning, and Pion Dion struggled mightily returning kicks. Dion Lewis just isn't a good kick returner, not even close, keep him as a RB only, please? 4th rounder Brandon Boykins will get a chance to win both spots, one of Boykins key assets. I just can't see Reid using Desean as a PR anymore after they just paid him a lot of money, at least on a regular basis. Keep on the lookout for undrafted free agents Damaris Johnson and Cliff Harris in training camp/preseason, both are greased lightning in the return game, they'll both need to show some flashes to make this Eagles club. We Birds fans want to see our return game fixed and back in action,...remember Brian Mitchell? ....those were the days....

Whelp, that was my short, short take on our 2012 Philadelphia Eagles. If I left out any players or coaches/staff members, then I must have not been interested enough to write about them. I'm sorry in advance. 2013 is the year the Philadelphia Eagles hoist up the Lombardi Trophy above their heads for the whole world to see!!!!! Bruzer told me so.


The real Matt Sumlin when he's not playing Jerky in the movie...