Random Eagles notes: Super Bowl contingency plan, Cutler-Romo December woes, and the best Eagles beards
Jay Cutler and Tony Romo, the Eagles' final 2 opposing QBs, have a combined W-L record of 102-64 (.614) before December. They have a combined W-L record of 30-41 (.423) in December and beyond:
I hadn't realized this until today, but Jay Cutler has only been to the playoffs once in his career. He's 1-1 in the playoffs, after 7 full seasons in the pros. He was drafted 11th overall in 2006.
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The NFL has a contingency plan to move the Super Bowl to Monday or Tuesday in case North Jersey gets a few feet of snow dumped on it before the game. Not that the Eagles are likely to go to the Super Bowl, but wouldn't it just be soooo Eagles for that to happen if they made it? "Super Bowl Tuesday" would bring back memories of the Ghost of Joe Webb on Tuesday Night Football.
Then again, it could also bring back memories of the Phillies' World Series clincher that was delayed, but ultimately won by the Phillies. So maybe it wouldn't be the worst omen after all.
Also, if you're super cool and get to go to the Super Bowl (like me), you'll be treated to free "gloves, hand warmers, ear muffs, chap stick, tissue, and other cold weather amenities."
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I had a nice, long chat with Bennie Logan a few days ago, and just as I was about to type up an article on him, I saw that Jeff McLane had already covered most of the stuff I had gotten. Gahhh!
However, one thing Jeff didn't get was Bennie's rankings of the top 4 beards in the Eagles' locker room. Hack.
See if you can guess how Bennie ranked them. The answer will be at the bottom of this post.
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Brandon Boykin was cleared to play after suffering a concussion. Boykin is such an important player to the Eagles. He's probably their best cover corner, and the only player on the team you can trust to play the slot. He has also been great on the punt coverage team.
We got a glimpse of life without Boykin against the Vikings last week. On the Vikings' first TD, they came out in a 3-WR set. The Eagles stayed in their base D, which forced Patrick Chung to cover Greg Jennings man to man in the slot:
Chung had help over the top on that side of the field from Nate Allen, and he had help over the middle from DeMeco Ryans, but what this defense didn't account for was for the slot receiver to run 50 yards down the field and all the way across it to make a catch. For that to happen, the QB would have to have a boatload of time, and because Matt Cassel was able to step away from pressure from Trent Cole and Fletcher Cox, Jennings had time to blow right past Chung.
Look at how open Jennings got against Chung on the play. This is a solid 2+ yards of separation:
Ideally, you would like for your safeties to be able to run with slot receivers, but most can't. Chung can't cover slot receivers one on one, and probably shouldn't be asked to do so.
Brandon Boykin had not been hurt yet when this TD occurred. #22 should be on the field against 3-WR sets, not here:
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I was asked in my chat this week if the Eagles would be NFC East favorites next season. That got me wondering what the Eagles' schedule looked like next season. If they win the division this season, they would face a first place schedule next season.
Here is the Eagles' 2014 schedule if the season ended today:
NFC East: Cowboys x2, Giants x2, Redskins x2
NFC West: Seahawks (home), 49ers (away), Cardinals (away), Rams (home)
AFC South: Colts (away), Titans (home), Jaguars (home), Texans (away)
Remaining two division winners in the NFC: Bears, Saints
Going by 2013 records, the Eagles would play both the toughest division in the NFL (the NFC West) and the worst division in the NFL (the AFC South).
The combined record of the teams on the Eagles' 2014 schedule if the season ended today?
105-119 (.469)
It's tough to look ahead to future schedules and know what teams will be good and what ones won't. There are teams that go from worst to first and vice versa almost every season as a result of the league's parity. However, it's not completely useless to peek ahead, as there are absolutely some perennial winners and perennial bottom feeders.
The NFC East may be developing a few of the latter.
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And now, to answer the question above...
Bennie Logan's top 5 Eagles beards:
1) Jason Kelce
2) Bennie ranked himself here.
3) Jason Peters
4) Allen Barbre
I had originally asked Logan for his five best beards, but he only thought that those above 4 were worthy of a mention. Logan even went as far as to dismiss Connor Barwin's beard. I guess he didn't want it tainting his list of beards.