Articles

Mocking the Eagles with Mayock and Machiavelli...

Written by Thomas Jackson on .

Our special guests on the eve of Draftmas are NFL analyst and home-grown talent Mike Mayock...and the scheming prince himself, Machiavelli.

For those last-minute MACH 10 ballots, you're going to need the inspiration and strategy of both our guests.

               

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                   

 

 

GK Brizer turned us on to a nice little 2-hour feature on the Eagles draft which Mayok taped for NFLN.  It may give some late MACH 10 Challenge entrants a little extra juice.   Machiavelli offers some nuggets which are more about the actual gamesmanship involved in beating out your MACH competitors--- many of whom may have basically similar ballots.

Here's Mayock on the Eagles draft with some excerpts courtesy of CSNPhilly.com:

   " OK, where's the value at 4 ? And my whole premise is less about having to plug a particular position and more about making sure I get an All-Pro if I'm picking in the top 10."

"Take a quarterback? I don't see that at all. They signed Dennis Dixon. They've now got three quarterbacks, and I think Chip Kelly's going to be pretty smart with how he handles that thing. I think it's too early to be taking a quarterback given the fact that they've got three right now." [EYE note: the Iggles really have 4 QB's on the roster right now, counting G.J. Kinne]

Dee Milliner (CB, Alabama) at 4? "I happen to think No. 4 is a little high for Dee Milliner. I really like him. I think he's a heck of a football player and I think he'd be safe. But I don't think he's that explosive 4.35 kind of 40 [-yard dash] guy. If they took him, I'd be OK with that because he's a solid football player, but I think it's a little high for him."

How about a Safety?  "I think the Eagles are going to get a chance to get a safety in the second or third round, and that's important. They need a safety badly. They could also use a corner."

Offensive line? "You've got to decide with your offensive line how comfortable you are with all those guys coming back from injury (Jason Peters, Todd Herremans, Jason Kelce), and I think there are some questions there. So you've got to look at the top offensive lineman in this draft. I don't care if it's outside at tackle or inside like Chance Warmack, you better be looking at those two guys."

Linebacker? "If you're looking at a 3-4 outside linebacker, most people are all over Damontre Moore, either at the 4-3 end or a 3-4 outside linebacker. "I kind of like Dion Jordan, who I think is two years away from being an Aldon Smith-type player. He's only about 240 pounds, but he's 6-foot-7. He's got frightening athletic skills, and he's a year away. He would be a situational pass-rusher year one, and if he puts 20 pounds on I think he's going to be a perennial All-Pro. I really like the kid. But, again, that's a little bit of a risk-reward. You're betting on this kid two years from now."

"That's why I wouldn't want a top-10 pick this year. I think the fifth pick in the draft and the 25th pick in this draft are very similar."

What is a greater need for them given their current personnel: Nose tackle or 3-4 defensive end (five-technique)?

 "I have trouble saying that a five-technique should go with the fourth pick in the draft."

"I think the five-techniques, you can probably get them later in the draft. So when you start talking about what kind of nose tackle prospects you're looking for, John Jenkins, the 350-pounder from Georgia, you could get him with the fourth pick in the second round, I believe. That's about where his value is going to come into play. "

"Brandon Williams, I like him a lot. He's got some upside to him. I think Jenkins and Williams make a ton of sense even in the second or third round. "

"If they transition to the 3-4 as they seem to be doing, what don't the Eagles have? What do they need that you would look at first to make that transition? My first question would be: Is Antonio Dixon going to be my guy at nose tackle? If he's healthy and has gas in the tank, I think he could be at nose tackle. So that's my first question. How do I feel about him?"

"And you look at the outside linebacker, and you're looking at guys like [Brandon] Graham, Trent Cole.. Vinny Curry to me would be better in the 4-3. He could probably do it, though, same with Phillip Hunt."

"So I look at those things that you have to make the decision immediately at nose tackle. And how comfortable are you that you could pressure the cornerback with those former defensive ends coming off the edge as rush linebackers? Probably, finally, DeMeco Ryans really didn't like that transition. Is he going to like it any better in Philly?"

"And to be honest with you, they better find a safety at some point, because all the rest of it isn't going to matter if they don't get help from the back end."

Machiavelli then brought up the question of "Trading Down"...








 

 

 

Mayock: ""Yeah, somebody might fall in love with (Philadelphia native) Sharrif Floyd or Jarvis Jones. Somebody might love Damontre Moore. I don't. But a lot of people do. So there could be some people looking for those kind of guys, or the Eagles can sit there and say, hey, we think that Dion Jordan or Damontre Moore or any of these guys can fit what we do. And Sharrif Floyd could play the five-technique. I don't think it takes advantage of what he does best. But he's got explosion and quickness."

"If they played the 3-4 like the Houston [Texans] do, which is different than most 3-4s, Floyd would be a natural guy at number four. I bang the table for him. But it all depends from a scheme perspective how they go about doing it, because you can play it different ways."

Mayock admits he is "fascinated" with the Eagles draft this year, partly because there's so much value to be had in the later picks of the 1st and 2nd rounds.

Machiavelli has a few more cryptic points to make about outwitting your fellow MACH 10 competitiors:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


Let the MACH 10 balloting proceed until GK Brizer decrees cut-off time, which I currently assume to be 4:00 P.M. EST on Thursday, April 25th.... I shall make corrections as necessary to that deadline.

 

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MACH Steady...Eagles Draft Challenge approaches...

Written by Thomas Jackson on .

Just two more sleeps, as Harry from Canada would say, and we're drafting Round 1 live from New York City....

Post your MACH 10 Challenge entry in the Comments section below. If you're having trouble accessing Livefyre today (particularly with phone or tablet), you may have better luck by accessing this article through the 2013 Archives section above.

 

 

 

 

1969 Ford Mustang MACH 1 in metallic grab-green...

Draft talk surrounding the Eagles has hit the crazy noise level. Sal Paolantonio of ESPN has even put it out there today that the Eagles are considering acquiring WVU receiver Tavon Auston (5-8, 175, 4.3 '40) with their first round pick...either at #4, or by leveraging #4 into a #12 or lower...

That's just crazy. I love the idea of Tavon Austin in a "Double Peanut" formation, but I was just being silly when I said it. I hope Sal Pal didn't take me seriously.

I don't think it's going to be a crazy or exotic surprise kind of draft for the Eagles. GM Howie Roseman has come around to the pick-the-best-player-available philosophy of drafting. So look for an offensive lineman, a defensive lineman, a cornerback and a safety to be among the team’s early picks.

“What they’re looking for, at least what I think they’re looking for, you can get in this draft,” one NFL personnel man said. “This is a pretty good year on both lines and in the secondary.” [Quote source: Mark Eckel, Newark Times].

There's been a lot of talk here about the trade value of that #4 pick in the 1st Round.

Brozer had some nice comments about trade value. If I read Broz correctly, he thinks trading a #4 back to a #12 in the 1st should get you an extra pick in the second round...at #12.

That equation seems in line with the Jimmy Johnson Draft Value Chart, which has been around for 20 years now...It's been altered on a team-by-team basis to better account for rule changes and individual beliefs, but it's still around.

Jordan Raanan of NJ.Live and NJ.com has inside knowledge of the Eagles Draft Value Chart.

So what is the Eagles' No. 4 pick worth? The traditional chart says the fourth-overall pick in the NFL Draft is worth 1,800 points. That's the equivalent of the overall 12th (1,200 points) and 31st (600 points) selections.

It's highly doubtful the Eagles can get two first-rounders for No. 4 right now. The Eagles may want to make a bunch of moves happen from the existing power of the 4th overall pick.

That means moving up or down. The chart says up would be costly.

" Say the Eagles wanted Dion Jordan, who played for new coach Chip Kelly at Oregon, really badly and needed to trade with the Jaguars at No. 2 in order to land him. According to the chart, it would cost the Eagles the No. 4 pick, their second-round pick (No. 35) and their third-round pick (No. 67). Mark it down, that is not going to happen."

Somewhere along the line the Jimmy Johnson trade value chart has lost touch with reality. There is no way the San Diego Chargers, at #11 overall, no matter how desperate they are for an offensive tackle, are going to trade their first, second and fourth-round picks for the Eagles' No. 4 selection. That's what the chart says that pick should be worth.

More likely the Chargers would trade the No. 11 overall selection and some mid-to-late round picks to jump to No. 4.

What seems to be happening is, due to the new NFLPA agreement,  the value of the top picks in the Draft has actually decreased due to a rookie pay scale now in place. Ironically, the value of later round picks has actually increased--- since those earlier round picks are no longer the cash-sapping liabilities they used to be.

So if the Eagles do trade out of that #4 spot, as Broz says, it's likely to be for another1st-rounder--- and an extra second-rounder---or a bunch of mid-to-late round picks thrown in.

Updates to follow....

 

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Why Revis trade by Jets to Tampa Bay might make sense...

Written by Thomas Jackson on .

Our resident boy-genius Blasphemizer was the first here to condemn the trade of all-star CB Darrelle Revis to the Tampa Bay Bucs by the Jets as a ridiculous move by the Floridians...

The Bucs signed Darrelle Revis to a new six-year, $96 million contract that makes him the highest paid defensive back in NFL history in terms of annual average, but contains ZERO guaranteed money.
 
The Jets received (only?) the No. 13 pick in this year's draft and a conditional 2014 fourth-rounder that can escalate to a third-rounder based on whether Revis is on the Bucs' roster on the third day of the 2014 league year.
 
The fact that Revis accepted NO guaranteed money is shocking. The compensation isn't quite what we anticipated either, making the Bucs the clear early winners of the Revis trade. Revis is obviously confident in the health of his reconstructed knee, so much so that going on age 28 he's willing to gamble on himself, accepting a pay-as-you-go contract with large but non-guaranteed annual salaries of $13 million with $3M in bonuses each offseason. The Bucs could cut him as soon as 2014 if his recovery goes afoul.
 
I get where Blasphemizer is coming from---you don't gamble on a reconstructed ACL.  But if Revis is truly healthy again, it's a case of  fantastic maneuvering by Bucs GM Mark Dominik.
 
That's because the Bucs have had almost no success in pass defense the past two years---in a division where Matty Ryan and Drew Brees live--- so in effect the Bucs traded #13 in their first round for a cornerback who, if healthy, is better than anything they could have drafted at #13.
 
It's a possible win-win for the Jets and the Bucs.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Darrelle Revis, CB, 5-11, 198, 7th year out of Pitt (drafted 1st round, 2007)
 
This story is relevant to the Eagles only because so many Philly fans have clamored for the Birds to bring Revis here.
 
This just illustrates what a crap-shoot the NFL is when evaluating proven talent coming off injury, as well as unproven talent coming through the draft...
 
Blasphemizer is right on one point--- why gamble a fairly high 1st round pick on a 28-year-old talent that may or may not be totally healed from an ACL surgery? Sure, Revis may say the knee feels great, but what about when it comes down to planting and cutting when the season begins?
 
The move marks arguably the biggest trade in Jets franchise history.
 
"The New York Jets were unbelievable," Revis said on Twitter shortly after. "I put my body on the line everyday and did everything could to help the team win. I experienced a lot and learned a lot. The memories I had in New York I will keep dearly to my heart. I want to thank all the Jets fans for making me feel welcome."

Tampa Bay emerged as a favorite early on and remained the most aggressive suitor throughout the Jets shopping process, according to multiple people with knowledge of the situation.

Without seeing exactly how he will rebound from a torn ACL suffered early last season, the Buccaneers forked over two picks that will further aid the Jets in their rebuilding process. New Jets general manager John Idzik, saddled with the burden of deciding Revis' future on his first day, described the draft as a lifeline for the fledgling franchise.

He has now bet the house on it.

The Jets now have eight selections in the draft, including the No. 9 overall pick and the No. 13 overall pick from Tampa.

Revis flew down to Tampa on Sunday to take a physical, leaving Morristown just before noon. Right around 2:30 p.m., head coach Greg Schiano was there to pick Revis up at the airport. Two hours after that, Revis' business manager was passing photos around Twitter showing the former Jets star signing a new contract.

It was not too long ago that Revis' legacy was established in New Jersey. Ryan, boisterous and without constraint, announced that he had the best cornerback in football. He lauded Revis for shutting down an entire half of the field amid his scheme that highlighted man coverage skills.

In 77 starts from 2007-11, Revis had 18 interceptions, 94 passes defensed and three touchdowns, including a 100-yard interception return for a touchdown against the Dolphins in 2011.

Analytical site ProFootballFocus.com ranked Revis one of its best cornerbacks each year since 2008, the first season they began tracking such statistics. Between 2008-11, Revis allowed an average opponent completion percentage of just 43. He never let up more than three touchdowns in one season.

Former general manager Mike Tannenbaum lists trading up for Revis in the 2007 draft as one of his proudest accomplishments.

Revis, backed by his hard-line agents Niel Schwartz and Jonathan Feinsod, held out before his first training camp, and again before the 2010 season before reaching a four-year $46 million deal.

The second agreement, though, was thought of as no more than a band-aid and set up an offseason showdown in 2012-13 that Tannenbaum would no longer be around to officiate.

Word of a potential trade broke just moments before Idzik took the podium for the first time as general manager. Though Idzik reached out to Revis soon after to calm the waters, the cornerback was clearly unhappy, taking to Twitter, YouTube and the NFL Network to air his frustrations.

During the NFL combine, a time where teams typically sit down with impending free agents, the Jets did not meet with Revis' camp, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. Revis' representatives never requested a meeting, though.

The saga hit another peak when the Jets forced Revis to report to voluntary off-season workouts, which began on April 15. Despite the fact that the team could excuse a clause in Revis' contract that required him to report in order to recoup a portion of bonus money in his deal, they decided to pluck the cornerback out of his private training facility in Arizona and have him continue his rehab under the watchful eye of team doctors.

Revis begrudgingly arrived at the facility a few hours after the first voluntary workout ended, zipping past a horde of reporters in his silver Mini Cooper on his way to speak with Idzik. It was one of his last actions as a member of the Jets.

As Conor Orr of the Newark Star-Ledger tells it:

"So ended a stalemate that lasted up until Sunday, the day Revis is no longer in green and white. Over the years, Revis always maintained he wanted to remain with the Jets for life. He was a strong voice in a sometimes-conflicted locker room. He was quick to take younger players, like Kyle Wilson, under his wing. Coaches say he served as an example for a rotating cast of players behind him, a clinic on how to thrive on preparation. "

"He defined an era of Jets football with the lifespan of a cheap firework — loud, booming and bright — before it fell to Earth. Back then, when the Jets were coming off a second straight AFC Championship game appearance, losing Revis would have been unimaginable. Owner Woody Johnson, who, according to multiple people with knowledge of the deal, did not want to pay Revis a long-term contract, was once sold on the idea that Revis would retire a Jet and take the team with him to the Hall of Fame."

Somewhere in all of this is a lesson for Eagles front-office folk and for fans alike. You should never assume a lifetime marriage with your fave players---even if they're realy, really good players. And---trading a disgruntled or injured veteran for a 1st round draft pick is never a bad idea.

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Our esteemed GK Brizer has announced the winner of the World's Best Brewery portion of the International Beer Poll conducted among Eagles fans here--- it is  the Guinness Brewery, still consistently cranking out predictable standards of goodness after 400 years....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Pro Football is not pretty---ask Danny Watkins...

Written by Thomas Jackson on .

If there were any doubt among us, NFL football is far from a glamorous sport...

It is about a small window of opportunity... and that window is framed by heavy lifting, a lot of running up hills with weights attached, severe diet control, and incredible confrontation with heat and physical abuse... and that's just the entry point of qualification for training camp.

And if you survive all that noise, your best bet of a career is 5 years... that will get you an NFL pension, which is a meaningful reward for a youthful investment of your sweat and pain into a game we armchairs love to watch.

Hopefully you will still be able to walk and talk coherently at the age of 50...

And the pressure to survive in the NFL is huge. What other sport can you cite where it is routine for players to vomit before a game?

This is all a prelude to the saga of Danny Watkins, the former #1 pick from Baylor of Andy Reid's Eagles just a few years ago...

 

 

 

 


Jordan Raanan of NJ.com reports:

"Last season went so poorly for Danny Watkins that four months later, he still doesn't want to reflect about what went wrong. The third-year pro is trying to pretend the forgettable year never happened. He won't even touch it with an extra-long firefighter ladder. "

Watkins didn't want to even mention the difficult season as the Eagles began practicing this week at the NovaCare Complex. The moment last year was discussed, Watkins quickly became at a loss for words.

"I'm not ... well ... I don't want to," Watkins stammered.

There's good reason for his reluctance. The 2011 first-round pick started just six games. He was inactive for five, including the final two of the season when he was a healthy scratch. There is also some doubt about whether he was actually injured to the point where he couldn't play in three others.

From start to finish, it was a disappointing year for the player and team that drafted him so highly. Watkins was the 23rd-overall pick in 2011.

Still, there remains an opportunity for redemption. The Eagles have a new coaching staff in place, including a new offensive line coach in Jeff Stoutland. He replaced Howard Mudd this offseason, and the refreshed and recently-married Watkins doesn't seem too disappointed by the change.

"Howard had a very untraditional pass set and coach Stout has a more traditional pass set. That is first and foremost," Watkins said. "[Stoutland and I have] spent a lot of time together. He's a coach you can relate to and you kind of look up to him and work hard for him and do the best you can for him."

Watkins and Mudd never seemed to mesh. The aggressive and demonstrative Mudd sent his young (in football years) lineman into a shell. Watkins, 28, never came out of that shell to play in 2012.

Without Howard Mudd in the picture, this is Danny Watkins' last chance to shine.

If Watkins wants a bona fide shot at an NFL pension, he's got to impress a whole new coaching staff that he's the real deal.

Uneven rookie season... disastrous sophomore year... Watkins is on the verge of being cut.

Hopefully for the beleagured Watkins, the change in coaching staff will give him a fresh start.  I always believed in Watkins' native ability. He has what it takes mentally and physically to be a great guard in the NFL. Certainly Andy Reid saw that in him. And Reid knows offensive linemen.

Watkins was disheartened and disinterested at the end of last season. Getting bumped down to the inactive roster will do that to a guy.

Howard Mudd gave up on Danny Watkins. Now it's Jeff Stoutland's turn to bring out the best in Watkins.

It's just another curious wrinkle in the fabric of a ground-breaking season about to unfold in Philadelphia football history.

 

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Testing 1-2-3----We got 'em in Boston, so back to Eagles football...

Written by Thomas Jackson on .

I feel guilty about playing off a national tragedy to test a website...

But gosh darn it, I promised our Bored members a real test of this site... I'll keep this short.

First the incredible saga of the two weirdo brothers is over...

It's sad on so many levels...

Got to admit this boy put up one hella fight... But now it's time for him and his bro' to rot in hell...

I don't get why anyone in their right mind would go down this path... But I've got to take a side on the innocent victims of this deluded fraternity of losers...

Life is weird and sucks sometimes...

Now I got my own problems...

Livefyre is acting up. Once the saving grace of our forsaken Eagles Nation after the big bomb hit at OTI, it is now driving our followers away into the desert.

This is a personal disgrace for me. I've got to perk up and salvage this exodus.

But alas, I am not a programmer. And I can't afford to pay our resident programmer Spiffo to fix it...

So I (and we by extension) are at the mercy of a lovely lass named Dharia...and a tough-hearted Swede by the name of Derek at Bloguin.com....

They either get together and fix us... or they don't.

So this is kind of a test blurger...

Let's pick a quick Eagles topic to make it real...

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, Trent Cole (DE) and where does he fit into the new defense?

Trent Cole went from his usual double-digit sacks to just 3.0 last season. He was injured. Pretty badly from what Cole described to reporters on Wednesday after the second day of Eagles voluntary minicamp.

Cole claims he originally hurt his right wrist during the 2011 season. He says the tendon tore and it broke some time during the 2012 season, when he appeared on the injured list just once — Week 4 — with a shoulder injury.

"It was an injury I had two years ago but I kept playing with it. It finally snapped in half," Cole said as he sported tape on both wrists. "I played through the season with it and I had to get surgery. I tore tendons and everything. I snapped the bone right off the joint."

Cole wouldn't use it as an excuse. He admitted to being disgusted by his performance and vowed to bounce back with a vengeance.

"In this game, there are injuries that happen all the time," Cole said. "I can tell you about injuries you wouldn't believe I played through. There are a lot of other guys who have been through tough injuries and still played."

Cole, 30, underwent offseason surgery on the wrist in February. He was ready for the first day of practice earlier this week.

Now, he's out to redeem himself after the lowest sack output of his career. Cole had reached double-digits in sacks each of the three previous seasons. He managed just 3.0 in 755 snaps last year.

It may be difficult for him to reach that mark again considering he's changing positions. With the Eagles switching to a 3-4 defensive scheme, Cole is expected to play outside linebacker. He'll be asked to be a stand-up rusher for the first time since high school.

Okay---there's the hook--- Trent Cole was playing injured, and so is Livefyre...  Maybe we both can rehab and come back strong? I hope so...

 

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The 2013 Schedule...Livefyre troubles...and other Eagles concerns...

Written by Thomas Jackson on .

I'm very upset about our Livefyre engine being on the fritz these past few days... I'm also worried if it doesn't get fixed by the time of the Draft next week, this site will be toast.

After all, nobody comes here to listen to me talk... in fact, I come here to listen to our esteemed posters do THEIR THING... and if they can't get in with their smarticles, I am irrelevant.

All right, there are no guarantees in relationships or life, so I'll just have to hope for the best.

Now, we finally have our NFL schedule...

 

 

 

 

 

The Eagles 2013 schedule was announced on Thursday night, and the team's first game of the season will be a Monday night showdown against the defending NFC East champion Washington Redskins.

This is just the second time in franchise history the team has started the season on Monday night. The Eagles will kick off at 7:10 that night, meaning they are the first game of the traditional double-header on Monday night to start the season.

Despite kicking the season off in prime time, the Eagles have only two nationally televised games this year- a drop off from the amount they used to get. The Eagles second prime time showing will be on Thursday night in Week 3 when Andy Reid returns to town with his Kansas City Chiefs.

Kelly, who has spoken at length about his love of practice time, can't be happy with the way the schedule breaks down. It begins with the team playing three games in the first 10 days of the season. The team also doesn't get their Bye Week until Week 12, the latest it has been since 2000. That means the first 11 weeks of Kelly's introduction to the NFL will be a fast and furious indoctrination.

The Eagles home opener is Week 2 vs. the San Diego Chargers, but they spend the majority of the early part of the season on the road. Four of the team's first six games are on the road.

The toughest part of the schedule appears to be Week 4 thru Week 8, when they travel to Denver, to New York for a matchup with the Giants, then a visit to Tampa Bay, and then home to face the Cowboys.

Here is the full schedule, with home games in bold:

Monday, Sept. 9 at Washington Redskins................7:10 pm
Sunday, September 15 vs. San Diego Chargers......1:00 pm
Thursday, September 19 vs. Kansas City Chiefs.....8:25 pm
Sunday, September 29 at Denver Broncos.................4:25 pm
Sunday, October 6 at New York Giants....................1:00 pm
Sunday, October 13 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers......1:00 pm
Sunday, October 20 vs. Dallas Cowboys..................1:00 pm
Sunday, October 27 vs. New York Giants................1:00 pm
Sunday, November 3 at. Oakland Raiders...............1:00 pm
Sunday, November 10 at Green Bay Packers.........1:00 pm
Sunday, November 17 vs. Washington Redskins....1:00 pm
Sunday, November 24............BYE WEEK
Sunday, December 1 vs. Arizona Cardinals.............1:00 pm
Sunday, December 8 vs. Detroit Lions.....................1:00 pm

Sunday, December 15 at Minnesota Vikings...........1:00 pm
Sunday, December 22 vs. Chicago Bears...................1:00 pm
Sunday, December 29 at Dallas Cowboys..............1:00 pm

Weeks 11-17 are subject to flex scheduling.

Jordan Raanan of NJ.com actually had a very nice piece on the culture changes happening in the Eagles organization right now.

"There's plenty of reason for excitement as the Eagles begin to unveil the Chip Kelly way. It's new, it's fresh, it's not Andy Reid. That in itself may have rejuvenated the previously stale NovaCare Complex."

"Still, there's more. The Eagles have only practiced two days, but already the differences are evident to even the most untrained eyes, even more so than the expected fast pace and blaring music. There's hurdles and heart monitors on the field, personalized shakes and Kashi bars lined on tables inside the practice facility and sleep monitors that players are wearing in the comforts of their own home."

Say whaaaaaa?

These are just some of the obvious alterations at the NovaCare Complex. Surely there are plenty more changes hidden deep in the hallways and meeting rooms. And according to Brent Celek, they'll all take a backseat to the real game-changer Kelly is bringing to the NFL.

"I think from a communications standpoint, I was saying it earlier, it's going to change the league," Celek said. "I'm not going to tell you guys how.... but it will. "

Okay. In mid-April, I'm a believer. Let's re-evaluate in mid-October...

Flash cards? Really?...

 

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Back to Eagles football...

Written by Thomas Jackson on .

Pre-draft minicamp is underway for the Philadelphia Eagles. The guys are in shorts and shells. It's a unique opportunity for a new head coach and his staff to get some decent film on players and basic formations. Teaching moments and skull sessions will follow.

 

 

 

 

 

Chip Kelly's minicamp sessions are closed to the public and the media, so I'll just give you a quick rundown ripped straight from the Associated Press wires:

Michael Vick, Nick Foles and Dennis Dixon each took reps with the starting unit when the offense took the field Tuesday for the first time since Kelly replaced Andy Reid as the head coach. [No mention of QB G.J. Kinne in the AP report...]

"There wasn't one set guy that just went with the ones the entire day," Kelly said. "All those guys got an opportunity to roll through."

"It's April 16, so we're not playing until next September. We're going to use the full available time for us to make a full evaluation of what it is. I think it fosters competition. I think those guys love competition. That's why they're in that position, and they know it."

The former Oregon coach compared his depth chart to a "seating chart." He said it's way too early to determine starters at several positions and this pre-draft camp is all about getting players familiar with his system.

"I think our guys really understand and I think everybody right now knows where they stand, and that's a big thing for us," he said. "There's not a lot of gray area. It's everybody knows we're all going to get a lot of reps. We want to get film on tape so we can teach. Really sometimes the only way you can teach somebody is they've got to make a mistake. You can coach off of it. What did you see here? What was going on in your mind when you made this decision. Do you understand we have to make this decision, and our coverage dictates us going one way as opposed to another way? You can talk about that all you want, but until they do it, that is the biggest thing for us."

"We'll find a way no matter who our quarterbacks are to put a game plan in where they can be successful," Kelly said. "Sometimes there's a misconception of what I'm looking for in a quarterback. I'm looking for a quarterback that can help us score points and win games. If we have to throw it 50 times, we'll throw it 50 times."

Speaking of quarterbacks, it turns out Trent Edwards had actually asked for his release.

The Eagles' third-stringer last year was granted his wish and waived earlier this week.

"Trent actually asked us, 'could he get an opportunity, could he fit in somewhere else?'" Kelly said. "We helped him out with that more than anything."

I still think Edwards will find a job as a backup in a west coast offense somewhere in the league. I doubt we've heard the last of him. There was a point of no return for Edwards when Andy decided to go with Foles when Vick went down. Then Kelly was hired and the "mobile quarterback" became the flavor du jour.

Finally, a salute to a guy who was not only a good football player and a great TV announcer, but who was also Tom Brookshier's best friend:

 

 

 

 

Pat Summerall, 1931-2013

 

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Tragedy in Boston puts Eagles' hopes for catching lightning in a bottle into perspective...

Written by Thomas Jackson on .

In the end it's just a game. We tend to gravitate toward our favorite sports to get away from harsh reality...

But there's no escaping the cruel truth that one or more nutjobs tried to blow up the Boston Marathon. This kind of tragic reality justifiably defers the focus of football fans who were just getting into the OTA's and the Draft itself.

At least 3 dead now and over 150 injured... what kind of sick mind really thinks they did good work on Patriot Day by blowing apart a bunch of innocent kids and their attentive elders?

It was the somewhat amateurish execution of a terroristic act that leads me to believe it was really the sick action of one or more local nuts. Although police and the FBI are now denying it, an unexploded trash can is revealing intricate clues to identify the perpetrator(s) as we speak. Hard to believe it was anything more than a crazy crime committed by one or two ego-crazed individuals out to establish a false sense of control in a dramatic way. There's probably something surviving in that little unexploded bomb kit or a remnant of the blast that will finger the predator---and expose the wildcat criminal mind of the idiot who designed and executed this madness.

 

 

 

 

 

This is not the kind of "catching lightning in a bottle" the 2013 Eagles had in mind...

But carry on we must.

It's time to focus briefly on the latest Eagles Mock Draft, this one provided by Rant Sports.com:

1. Star Lotulelei, DT, Utah
2. E.J. Manuel, QB, Florida State
3. Terron Armstead, OT, Arkansas Pine-Bluff
4. Phillip Thomas, S, Fresno State
5. Lavar Edwards, DE, LSU
7. Terry Hawthorne, CB, Illinois
7. Michael Williams, TE, Alabama
7. John Boyett, S, Oregon
7. Brandon Sharpe, LB, Syracuse

Seems like the national draft experts are getting more in line with solid-value picks like the ones above, and less in line with the more spectacular names out there, like Geno Smith.

I hope you caught an obscure interview with Chip Kelly's very first QB, Ryan Day, who played for Kelly when Chip was OC at New Hampshire.

Day, now the offensive coordinator at Boston College under previous Temple coach Steve Addazio, was a three-year starting quarterback when Kelly first took over as the Wildcats’ offensive coordinator from 1999 to 2006.

Kelly’s spread offense and schemes were in the embryonic stages when Day was at New Hampshire.

 

 

 


“That was Coach’s first year as a coordinator and that was my first year starting, but yes, that was the beginning stages of his offense and that’s one of the things Coach does a great job with, moving and adjusting,” Day said. “He doesn’t have a lot of blocking schemes, but window dresses his offense for defenses. They’re basically the same plays with different looks. When he was at UNH, we were a little more exotic, changing the offense every week. And every week, it created problems for a defense."

"Coach is a great teacher. He’ll do a great job of teaching it with the Eagles. The way he explains things makes a lot of sense. He gives players the things they need to understand, and he can conceptualize things. That’s where he’s done a tremendous job.”

Day admits he didn’t have the mobility of Colin Kaepernick during his playing days at New Hampshire. In fact, Day even hinted that what Kelly brings could be a nice fit for Nick Foles, who’s far from Kaepernick himself.

“Coach Kelly is a master of playing really, really fast, which has become an edge for him,” Day said. “Going into my senior year, he told me in the off season to lose some weight. I wasn’t super mobile. We ran zone option, side to side. From there on, his quarterbacks have run a little bit. But I wasn’t Colin Kaepernick by any means. I was able to run the offense, and I wasn’t running by too many people in the secondary. The best thing I can say about Coach is that he’s always been able to adapt his offense to the personnel that he has. He was like that at UNH and then at Oregon. But coach Kelly’s offensive background is in a lot of things, the run-and-shoot. He has backgrounds in the pro passing game, the spread, and read-option."

“He’ll take the best things the Eagles can do and he’ll use them. One of his greatest strengths as a coach is he’s a great thinker on his feet—that’s accurate. His players love playing for him. I played for him 10, 12 years ago and he’s one of my closest friends in college coaching. I can thank him for everything in football that I’ve had. He leaves an impact on people’s lives.”

Day recalled the spring breaks at New Hampshire. Everyone associated with the football program, players and coaches alike, spread out everywhere, going away, going home. Kelly would go off to other colleges to visit their coaches and continue to learn.

“That’s him, that’s Coach,” said Day, who obviously speaks about Kelly in deep reverence and speaks to Kelly at least once a month on the phone. “He’ll keep working and working and working. Football is his love and his passion. He’s a super competitive person. He loves to coach and teach football, and he lives to win. He’ll be doing this his whole life. He’s going to do everything he can make it happen to win a Super Bowl for Philadelphia.”

[This interview first appeared back in January of 2013 in CBS Philly.com, and was conducted by Joe Santoliquito...]

 

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Chip Kelly's emphasis on blocking and tackling...

Written by Thomas Jackson on .

It's a day of transition. Akeem Jordan, the free agent (UDFA 2007) ILB and ST-eamer  from James Madison, has left the nest to sign with his old mentor, Andy Reid in Kansas City.

More importantly, the mother of our good friend JB-Sage-Lion has passed away at too young an age. Our thoughts go out to JB and his family.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Even in the transition from Coach Reid to Coach Kelly, there are still truths which we hold constant:

1. You usually need to win 2-out-of-3 games throughout a season to make the playoffs;

2. To win 2-out-of-3 games, you need to tackle and block well.

All indications are that Chip Kelly will emphasize the fundamentals of tackling and blocking when OTA's and training camp really get underway.

Kelly was never known for a multitude of blocking schemes in his offense, but he sure emphasized the fundamentals of downfield blocking.

He also did plenty of tackling drills while he was at New Hampshire and Oregon, but he was usually more forgiving of a missed tackle than a missed block.

"Sometimes the other guy makes you miss on a tackle," Kelly once said at Oregon. "You've got to understand that a great running talent can do that. But there's really no good excuse for missing a block."

So from that quotation I am taking the cue to predict: we will be seeing a lot more emphasis on Eagles downfield blocking and technique in 2013.

What improvement in technique exactly does "blocking" require to make a difference in the NFL?

I had to go back to some basic concepts of blocking to even consider the issue. There are actually football schools around the nation that teach blocking. Many of them can be accessed at Football Plays and Drills.com ....

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Types of Blocks:

1) Drive Block---  You'll hear a lot of arguments about whether to shoulder block or to use the hands when executing the Drive Block.

Let's start with the shoulder football blocking technique. Begin in a proper stance with the head up and the eyes on the defender's number. The lineman's first step should be with the foot on the same side of the body as the shoulder he'll use to make the block.

As the player explodes forward, be sure the eyes are focused on the target. They can't hit what they can't see, right? After the initial step, the blocker should drop the opposite knee so their base remains low and they can charge "upward" and into the defender. Keep the head up, eyes on the defender's middle, then slide the head to the side as contact is made with the shoulder.

You may want to employ the drive blocking technique on quick hitting plays or on short yardage and goalline plays, since your blockers don't need to maintain their blocks as long.

Now for the hand football blocking technique. This might be a blocking scheme to use when you need your offensive linemen to maintain contact with the defenders longer. The difference here is that when the blocker explodes out of the stance, they'll slam their hands up under the shoulder pads. The fingers should point outward, wrists close together as the palms make contact with the defender's chest.

The blocker must stay lower than the defender, gain the proper leverage on contact, then explode the legs up so the defender is thrown upward and back. Remember, the idea behind the drive block is to get the defender moved off the line and, if possible, knocked to the ground.

2) Trap Block---  This block requires a lineman, usually one of the guards, to pull behind his linemates across the formation.

Your pulling guard should pass the lineman blocking the inside of the hole, then seek out the defender located outside the hole. To make the trap block effective, it's extremely important for the pulling guard to keep his head between the defender and running back as he makes contact with the opposite shoulder.

As far as the fundamentals of the "pull", let's say your offensive lineman is pulling right. Teach him to swing the right arm back as he turns the right foot in that direction. The left foot pivots right and the head swings right so the blocker sees where he's going. He then needs to move swiftly parallel to the line and find his defender to demolish.

3) Scramble Block---  Start the scramble football blocking technique by stepping out of a proper stance just like the drive block. However, the aim of this football blocking technique is to get your linemen into the defender lower and a bit more quickly.

Players should make low contact, with the head placed on the outside of the defender's play side thigh. As the inside shoulder explodes into the defender, the head and eyes should remain up and the opposite hand should be on or just above the ground. Maintain contact and "scramble" (bear crawl on all fours) to move the defender away from the play

4) Cross Block --- This is where one blocker "crosses" in front of a teammate as the teammate "pulls" behind. This can be used between a tight end and tackle or a tackle and guard, etc.

The outside blocker goes first for this football blocking technique by moving toward the defender (usually a lineman or linebacker) positioned in front of his teammate. The inside blocker then pulls behind his teammate and blocks the next defensive lineman out. It is emphasized to the outside blocker how important it is to explode out of his stance quickly to keep his defender out of the backfield.

Those are the four basic techniques of blocking. I expect Kelly and his offensive and special teams staff members to be doing a lot of drilling on the various blocking fundamentals. It will be presented to players as a "refresher course", I'm sure. And in that vein, it wouldn't hurt for Kelly and staff to review for their team the three biggest No-No's of blocking:

  1. No player on offense may assist a runner except by blocking for him. There shall be no interlocking interference.
  2. A runner may ward off opponents with his hands and arms but no other player on offense may use hands or arms to obstruct an opponent by grasping with hands, pushing, or encircling any part of his body during a block. Hands (open or closed) can be thrust forward to initially contact an opponent on or outside the opponent’s frame, but the blocker immediately must work to bring his hands on or inside the frame.--- Note: Pass blocking: Hand(s) thrust forward that slip outside the body of the defender will be legal if blocker immediately worked to bring them back inside. Hand(s) or arm(s) that encircle a defender—i.e., hook an opponent—are to be considered illegal and officials are to call a foul for holding.....Blocker cannot use his hands or arms to push from behind, hang onto, or encircle an opponent in a manner that restricts his movement as the play develops.
  3. Hands cannot be thrust forward above the frame to contact an opponent on the neck, face or head.

 

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Checking out "42" for Eagles fans...

Written by Thomas Jackson on .

The main problem with all sports movies is the usually inaccurate depiction of the sport itself... Hollywood has a problem with getting the background athletics and their nuances just right...

This is not a major offense of "42"---the Jackie Robinson story. They do the base-running scenes pretty well. Football fans may not know it, but Jackie Robinson was a runner---he played QB and running back at both Pasadena Junior College and UCLA. He was also a world-class long-jumper.  In fact, baseball was his "worst sport" in college.

The way he ran the bases was maybe the biggest part of his calling card to getting signed to the major league baseball organization in 1945 by the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The movie is true to this important biographical fact. For that alone, I say it's okay to buy a ticket to see "42" in its premier theatrical run...

 

 

 


I went out to see "42" expecting the worst. And yes, there are mawkish moments when the soundtrack music swells up and the camera points up at Jackie and we are basically being told "Take off your hats, this is a heroic moment and a heroic man"... Oh I hate those contrived moments and phony musical soundtracks!

But allowing for those few maudlin insanities, it's a pretty good sports movie...

My biggest problem will be somehow apologizing to the masses for the fact that one of the biggest racial tormentors of Robinson when he broke into the big leagues in 1947 was the Phillies organization, led by Negro-hater and southern redneck Ben Chapman, the Phillies' manager at the time.

Chapman's Phillies were not the only NL team to oppose integration – several Dodger players had allegedly tried to petition management to keep him off the team  – but during an early-season series in Brooklyn, the level of verbal abuse directed by Chapman and his players at Robinson reached such proportions that it made headlines in the New York and national press. Chapman instructed his pitchers, whenever they had a 3-0 count against Robinson, to bean him rather than walk him.

Chapman's attempts to intimidate Robinson eventually backfired, with the Dodgers rallying behind their teammate, and there was increased sympathy for him in many circles. The backlash against Chapman was so severe that he was asked to pose in a photograph with Robinson as a conciliatory gesture when the two teams next met in Philadelphia in May. This incident prompted Robinson's teammate Dixie Walker to comment, "I never thought I'd see old Ben eat shit like that."

Robinson went on to stardom and a ten-year career, a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and a revered position in American sporting and civil rights circles. Chapman's baseball career, however, was coming to an end. He survived the 1947 season, but the Phillies fell to seventh place. In July 1948, with the team still in seventh, Chapman was fired and eventually replaced by Eddie Sawyer. He would surface one more time in the majors, as a coach for the 1952 Cincinnati Reds.

Chapman's career major league managing record was 196-276 (.415). He died of a heart attack at age 84 at his home in Hoover, Alabama.

And so it went down, and so it goes...

Brent Lang of Yahoo.com had a concise review of the film which matches what I saw:

"42," the new story of how Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color line, is connecting with critics.

"The film, which stars Harrison Ford as executive Branch Rickey and newcomer Chadwick Boseman as the man himself, debuts Friday, and has earned strong notices. "42" received a solid 73 percent fresh rating from critics aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with many reviewers singling out Boseman for particular praise."

In TheWrap, Alonso Duralde faulted the film for "soft-peddling" the uglier side of America's post-World War II racism, but said overall the film is an inspiring portrait of one of the sport's seminal moments.

"'42' is a fairly slick confection, but it wisely avoids hagiography, mostly sticking to the facts in telling a compelling story about a truly extraordinary man," Duralde writes. "It's by no means the final word on the subject of Jackie Robinson (or baseball, or race relations), but it's a dazzling celebration of genuine daring."

For Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly, "42" is an old-fashioned story, but one that doesn't suffer from sticking with a traditional approach to storytelling. He was quite taken with Ford's work, noting that it was a departure for the action-movie icon.

"As Rickey, a stogie-chomping grump with a heart of gold, Harrison Ford seems to have reinvented himself as an actor," he writes. "He gives an ingeniously stylized cartoon performance, his eyes atwinkle, his mouth a rubbery grin, his voice all wily Southern music, though with that growl of Fordian anger just beneath it."

A.O. Scott, writing in the New York Times, faulted the film for ironing out some of the pricklier historical details in the service of making Robinson's story more accessible. Yet he did note that the film remains an entertaining and vital lesson for fans of the sport who may be unfamiliar with Robinson's heroism.

"In other hands - Spike Lee's, let's say, or even Clint Eastwood's - '42' might have taken a tougher, more contentious look at the breaking of Major League Baseball's color barrier," Scott writes. "But Helgeland, whose previous directing credits include 'Payback' and 'A Knight's Tale' (and who wrote 'Blood Work' and 'Mystic River,' speaking of Clint Eastwood), has honorably sacrificed the chance to make a great movie in the interest of making one that is accessible and inspiring."

Rex Reed of the New York Observer groused that the film was overly slick, but still found much to admire beneath the polished veneer.

"It's a good enough biopic to make you wish it were a better motion picture," Reed writes.

Dana Stevens was not a fan of the sanitized heroics on display in the film. In her review inSlate, she griped that films like "The Help" and "42" continue a troubling trend of having white filmmakers depict painful moments in black history.

"I don't mean to impugn the motives behind those who make films like '42': There's no problem, in principle, with a white filmmaker making a movie about a black cultural hero, or vice versa," Stevens writes. "But if we're going to have a conversation about race in America, I'd rather it revolve around the awkward, even offensive Brad Paisley/LL Cool J collaboration 'Accidental Racist' than around the sanitized pieties of a movie like 42, which tiptoes so reverently around its subject it leaves no room for accidents at all."

Like Stevens, Variety's Scott Foundas lamented that "42" comes gift-wrapped in hagiography, with nary a trace of Robinson's private demons or tortured relationship with his barrier-breaking legacy.

"A movie about Robinson isn't obliged to be dark or edgy, but for all of '42''s' self-conscious monument building, the cumulative effect is to render its subject markedly smaller and more ordinary than he actually was."

Hmmmmm....

All I can tell you is the book is better, but the movie ain't all that bad... it's better than the average sports hero biofilm because of the athletic realism and the authenticity of period background details...and while Chadwick Boseman obviously worked out hard to be in top athletic shape to play the part of Robinson, Harrison Ford steals the show as GM Branch Rickey. Who knew Ford would evolve into a great character actor?
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Unlike the Phillies, the Eagles never had a real "color issue" with bringing in talented young players. But it wasn't until 1952 that the Eagles signed their first "Negro" player.. A case could be made that Jackie Robinson's success in breaking the color barrier in modern-era baseball made it a lot easier for the NFL to begin signing African-American talent without fear of reprisal from white fans en masse...

Ralph Goldston of Youngstown State was the first black player for the Eagles in 1952. AT 5-11 and 195, Goldston played both running back and defensive back. He was a number 125 overall pick in the 1952 Draft.

He played four seasons for the Eagles.  Goldston then played nine seasons for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Canadian Football League. He helped the Tiger-Cats to two Grey Cup wins in 1957 and 1963. He was a 4-time all-star with the Ti-Cats, intercepting 32 passes and returning them for 416 yards. Goldston finished his career with the Montreal Alouettes in 1965. . After retiring as an active player, Goldston spent 30 years as a college coach (Harvard and Colorado) and finally a scout for the Seattle Seahawks.

 

 


  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goldston died in 2011.
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General manager Howie Roseman and new coach Chip Kelly have options. They have plenty of them when combining the uncertainty of this year's draft with the current roster at their disposal.

"Going into free agency and hitting on some needs, some areas that we thought we needed to address, leaves us open to hitting on the best player with the fourth pick," Roseman said.

The Eagles have been adamant about picking the best player available (BPA). Roseman and owner Jeffrey Lurie admitted that is where things went wrong at the end of the Andy Reid era.

This year the BPA could mean an offensive lineman. It could mean a quarterback. It could mean a pass rusher, defensive lineman or somebody in the secondary. The Eagles could use players just about everywhere, but don't need players anywhere in order to field a respectable team this season.

Of course, there are some positions where their first-round pick would slide directly into the starting lineup or play larger roles. Here's how NJ.com currently reads the biggest opportunity job openings for the 2013 Eagles:

Offensive Guard/Offensive Tackle
Right now Danny Watkins appears to be the Eagles' starting right guard by default. Julian Vandervelde and Dallas Reynolds sit as the other options with Todd Herremans still presumed as the right tackle. Watkins is the same player that lost his starting job to a veteran off the street (Jake Scott) and was inactive the final two games of last season. Herremans is coming off a serious and "rare" injury. Left tackle Jason Peters (Achilles) didn't play a snap last year. So the Eagles have no right guard and two tackles coming off injury. They don't currently have a single proven commodity waiting in the wings. Even King Dunlap is gone. He signed with the Chargers this offseason. Whether it's a veteran in free agency or a top prospect in the draft, the Eagles need an infusion of talent and depth on their offensive line. It doesn't matter whether it's at guard or tackle. They need a strong contingency plan so a repeat of last year (48 sacks allowed, fifth-worst in the NFL) doesn't happen.

Defensive End
The Eagles are switching to some sort of 3-4 defensive alignment. That's been obvious ever since Chip Kelly's arrived. It became fact when they signed nose tackle Isaac Sopoaga at the start of free agency. With Fletcher Cox penciled in as one of the starting defensive ends, there's a gaping void on the other side. The options appear to be Cedric Thornton and Vinny Curry, who is attempting to bulk up and play the foreign position after being a pass-rushing end throughout his college and pro career. The Eagles tried to sign Desmond Bryant and Ricky Jean-Francois in free agency to start at defensive end opposite Cox. Both were deemed too expensive. Now the options are to find a suitable player in the draft or sign a veteran (players like former Patriots and Raiders DE Richard Seymour are still available) on the secondary free-agent market next month.

Quarterback
This is really the biggest and most important need to the Eagles if they want to be Super Bowl contenders with Kelly as their coach. They need a quarterback to build the team around. It's obvious Michael Vick, 32, is not that player long-term and there are concerns about Nick Foles' operating in Kelly's offense. Roseman admitted after the dismissal of Reid the two most important jobs for the organization were to find a coach and quarterback that could lead the franchise. The coach is in place. Now it's time to find that quarterback. And since they aren't going to find that type of player in free agency, it's up to the draft for Kelly and the Eagles to land their future franchise quarterback.

DDD's Reader Poll: What Is Best Option For Round 1? (278 respondents)---
Stay at 4, take best on board  65.47%
Move down, get more picks  29.5%
Trade pick for veteran player  4.32%
Get out of first round entirely  1%
Try to trade to top of draft  0%

All of this intrigue will play out soon enough.

 

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