Monday Morning Mehta 2/14/05

Edition # 106
February 14, 2005

NFL

The Official 2005 Philadelphia Eagles Off-Season Guide Special Sponsored by America On-Line Part 1

Offense this week; Defense next week & Special Teams next

Note: UFA means Unrestricted Free Agent, RFA means Restricted which means his current team has the right to match any offer.

Quarterback
2004 Grade: A-
Donovan McNabb had an excellent season. He showed incredible improvement on his accuracy and cut down tremendously on his turnovers, except of course until the most important game, hence I couldn't give him an A+. Still, there is no need to worry about a QB for at least the next 3 seasons so QB is not something to target this off season. Koy Detmer may be overtaken by Jeff Blake next year as the backup though.
Available QB's (expect Dallas to sign one of these)
Drew Brees
Kelly Holcombe
Matt Hasselbeck
Gus Frerotte

Running Back
2004 Grade: B-
Brian Westbrook was tremendous the whole year. Westbrook (RFA) only missed one game due to injury with an average of 19 touches a game. This is a perfect number for Westbrook. Sign Westbrook long term this off-season, he is worth it. Dorsey Levens had his moments but clearly the Eagles need another RB. I don't think Shaun Alexander is the back either. Alexander is a # 1 RB who will need 25 touches a game. In the Eagles offense, this isn't feasible if they keep Westbrook. Quite frankly, if it's between Alexander and Westbrook, I will keep Westbrook. The player I think would be a perfect fit is Anthony Thomas, the A-Train. Thomas is out in Chicago because of the emergence of Thomas Jones. Thomas would be an excellent short yardage and goal line RB, a mini Jerome Bettis if you will. The Eagles will also need to address the FB position and find out if Jon Ritchie is going to be OK. But, the FB position in the NFL has just about become extinct.
Plan A - A-Train (UFA)
Plan B - Najeh Davenport (RFA, if he doesn't want starter playing time and minutes)
Plan C - Re-sign Correll Buckhalter to a one year deal.
Available RB's (all UFA's unless indicated)
Shaun Alexander
Edgerrin James
Lamont Jordan (RFA)
Chester Taylor
Rudi Johnson
Derrick Blaylock
Anthony Thomas
Najeh Davenport (RFA)

Wide Receivers
2004 Grade: C+
Terrell Owens gets an A but after that nobody really did a thing. It was one thing for Todd Pinkston to stink. It's another to show you have no heart to your teammates. Pinkston did that numerous times this year, the last of which was not playing the second half of the Super Bowl because of cramps, as your teammate is playing with a screw in his leg against doctors orders. Those events will probably make Pinkston a "cap casualty". Freddie Mitchell's mouth will also get him booted out of town. Greg Lewis will step into the role of 3rd WR, which leaves a void at the 2nd WR slot. The big name free agents all want # 1 money and the Eagles have other holes they need to fill to spend too much money here, it is very possible to find a solid # 2 without breaking the bank.
The Plan for the 2nd WR:
Plan A - David Patten (UFA). If you can't beat 'em, take their players. Patten is a solid WR who would make a perfect compliment to Owens. He's 30 years old and shouldn't ask for too much money.
Plan B - Travis Taylor (UFA). This is really a roll of the dice. Taylor, the 10th pick of the 2000 draft has easily been a bigger bust than Freddie Mitchell. But Taylor has never had a decent QB and may turn out worth the risk. You could end up with a stud here.
Plan C - Charles Lee (UFA).
Plan D - Corey Bradford (UFA).
Other Free Agents:
Plaxico Burress
TJ Houshmanzadeh (Steelers?)
Troy Edwards
Mushin Mohammed (already being lobbied by Eagles players at the Pro Bowl)
Jerry Porter
Tai Streets

Offensive Line
2004 Grade: B
The line was much improved against the pass rush this year. Jon Runyan is due a huge salary and the decision will be made whether to keep him, cut him or extend him (which the Eagles rarely do). That will be a huge decision. Jermane Mayberry's stay in Philadelphia may also have come to an end. The Eagles offensive line will probably look like this next year: Tra Thomas, OPEN, Hank Fraley, Shawn Andrews, Jon Runyan....who is the open slot you ask?

Plan A - Marco Rivera (UFA). The Packers have had one of the game's best offensive lines for years now. Rivera is a key part of that.
Plan B - Mike Wahle (likely cap casualty). Wahle is the other guard in the Packers line. They won't be able to sign/keep both, the Eagles need to get one of them ($8 million signing bonus for each is likely)
Other Free Agents
Joe Andruzzi, Pats (UFA) if you buy the can't beat em sign em theory
Tom Nutten, Rams (UFA)
David Dixon, Vikings (UFA) old man can still play

Tight End
2004 Grade: B
L.J. Smith & Chad Lewis form a very solid tight end duo. There are only a handful of really good TE's in the league so getting an upgrade here isn't too likely in the offseason. Chad Lewis (UFA)is always a possibility to be let go, but don't count on it.
Free Agents:
Jeb Prutzier - really came into his own late in the season for the Broncos
Bubba Franks - most of his best days are behind him
Jermaine Wiggins - looked good but probably a product of the offensive scheme
Anthony Becht
Itula Mili - yes this is how bad the core is
Cam Cleeland

Next week we'll do the Defense and Special Teams

Baseball

Thank God pitchers and catchers report this week, I am completely tired of hearing about this
steroid issue. Let's play ball...

NBA - Derreck Sura

- The Sixers went 2-2 over the last week, and had a chance to win both of the games they lost. Philly (25-26) managed to hold on to the 8th playoff seed in the East for the second week in a row. I really like what I've been seeing out of the Sixers over the last 2 weeks. Philly is 6-3 over that stretch, and even though their overall record might not reflect it, I think the Sixers are playing their best ball of the season right now. Much of the credit goes to Allen Iverson, who is averaging 29.7 points (1st overall & his most since '01-02), 7.6 assists (6th & career high), 2.22 steals (3rd), 42 minutes (2nd), and 3.9 turnovers (5th, but down from last season). As loyal MMM reader Joe from New York City emailed me, "It's very possible that this could be AI's best year ever as a team player." I couldn't agree more Joe. This week brings Philly: New York, Detroit, then the All-Star break. It would be real positive for coach Jim O'Brien's squad to head into the break 1 game above .500 and on a 4 game winning streak.

- On Saturday Minnesota Timberwolves' VP of basketball operations Kevin McHale named himself interim head coach for the remainder of the year after firing longtime friend Flip Saunders. Flip was the league's second longest tenured head man (Utah's Jerry Sloan), and compiled a 411-326 record while running the show in Minne for more then 9 seasons. I agree with McHale that a change was necessary to salvage the season. Flip is a good guy, maybe too good a guy for a team with 3 "cancers" in Latrell Sprewell, Sam Cassell, and Michael Olowokandi. I think it was pretty obvious that the team had tuned him out, and no amount of lineup/rotation changes was ever going to remedy it. McHale's explanation was that in "our last 32 games we're 12-20, and just not playing at a level that's acceptable, energy-wise. There have been nights where it has been embarrassing to watch. I have to do what I can do to get guys playing at a more confident level, and I thought I could do that better from the bench and being around them more." The immediate benefit to McHale putting himself in charge is that since he makes all the personnel decisions, he won't be afraid to bench anyone that isn't giving the effort he wants to see. The Wolves (25-27) may be a little too deep, so McHale weeding out the bad seeds, and shortening the rotation, should lead to improved results on the court. This is McHale's main motivation as I see it. Sure he wants his club to make the playoffs, but what he really wants is to get a better handle on who stays, and who he has to ship out in the summer time. Since McHale has made it well known that he does not prefer to coach, I wonder about his desire to learn how to "X and O", work officials, substitute to create mismatches, and generally put in the preparation that it takes to succeed as an NBA head man. Phil Jackson, Eric Musselman, and even Sam Mitchell (see below) have already been rumored as potential permanent replacements in Minnesota.

- On Sunday 41 year old Karl Malone announced, in Salt Lake City no less, that he would be retiring from the NBA after 19 seasons. Even though it took forever for him to decide, I think the Mailman finally made the right decision. There were many people out there that said Malone (along with Gary Payton) was "piggy-backing" Shaq and Kobe to a ring last season. I never bought into that because the Lakers didn't win the title the year before Mail arrived, and his defense on Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett was the main reason L.A. was able to advance past those two teams and make the Finals last year. If Karl would've joined San Antonio, already the best team in the league and the odds on favorites to win it all, after the All-Star break for their final 29 games and the playoffs, the "piggy-backing" talk would've really had some legs. As it stands now, Malone will finish up 1,459 points behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the all time lead. The Mailman is also 2nd in minutes played, 3rd in games played, and 6th in total rebounds all time. Not to mention he was a 14 time All-Star, league MVP in '97 & '99, and has 2 gold medals. I'm sure many will point to the cheap elbow or knee Karl was known for throwing, the lack of a ring, or how he had a tendency to come up small in the Finals as way's to disparage his career as a whole. For me, none of that changes Malone's place as arguably the best PF in the history of the game. He kept his body in great condition year round, was remarkably consistent, came to play every night, and improved many facets of his game throughout his career. He should be a near unanimous selection to the Hall of Fame when eligible.

- On Thursday TNT's Cheryl Miller revealed that this would be her brother Reggie's final season. Reggie is 39 years old, played all 18 seasons for the same franchise, is a 5 time All-Star, an Olympic gold medalist, ranks in the all time top 10 is free throw percentage as well as games & minutes played, has the most 3 pointers made & attempted in NBA history, and is 14th all time in points scored (could end up 12th). Even though no player made the transition from star to complimentary to role player better them him, it certainly was time for Reg to call it quits. Beginning about mid-way through last season, continuing through last year's playoffs, and on into this season, Reggie just did not have the athletic ability to be effective at his position anymore. He had become a defensive liability, and could no longer create enough space to get his own shot off. There were plenty of times recently that I thought he shouldn't even be on the court in the crunch time. That said, Reggie is arguably the purest shooter of his generation, a sure fire Hall of Famer, and will always be remembered for scoring 8 points in 8.9 seconds to steal that playoff game in New York.

- You can't write an NBA column without an All-Star snub section. The rules are: To add someone, someone else must be removed. So here goes. Tony Allen and Devin Harris should not be on the rookie team. Allen is not even the best rookie on the Celtics, and Harris is not a regular contributor for the Mavericks. I'd replace them with New Jersey C Nenad Krstic and New York swingman Trevor Ariza. My apologies to Boston PF Al Jefferson and Clippers' SG Quinton Ross, but both Krstic and Ariza contribute on a more consistent basis for their teams, and the rookie team only has 8 roster spots. As for the sophomore team I'd replace Carmelo Anthony with Clippers' C Chris Kaman. I know the game is in Denver, but Melo's numbers are worse in every, and I do mean every (except assists are exactly the same 2.8 apg), statistical category in the identical amount of minutes per game. The sophomore team does not have a "true" C either, and Kaman has played well since returning from injury.

I don't like having 2 players each from Phoenix and Seattle in the 3 point shootout, but I'm not going to quibble with that. My bigger problem is with Voshon Lenard being allowed to defend his title even though he's still recovering from a torn left achilles tendon. Vo is not a good enough player to be owed anything at all. Again, I don't care that the festivities are taking place in Denver, replace him Miami PG Damon Jones (3rd in made 3's), and let's be done with it. The skills challenge may seem cheesy to some, but this year's participants will make it very interesting in my opinion. Steve Nash, Gilbert Arenas, and Luke Ridnour are great selections, but Earl Boykins? I'm guessing that this in some type of Denver thing at work again. Replace Earl with Tony Parker and I think we'd have a very intriguing competition on our hands.
The shooting stars competition was created so people don't forget that the WNBA exists. The dunk contest has long since lost it's luster, and will take whoever will agree to compete in it these days. Now, to the main event. I have to wonder what games the fans are watching, if any, when I see them select Vince Carter and Grant Hill as starters. Neither of these guys deserves to even be on the team in my opinion. However, they can't be removed either since the fans voted them in. For that reason, everyone's #1 snub, Steve Francis, does not make it because his teammate, Grant Hill, did. Orlando's record is not good enough to warrant 2 All-Star's. I heard many people this week that had a beef with Zydrunas Ilgauskas making the team. I maybe would've liked to see Emeka Okafor make it instead, but he'll have plenty of chances in the future. When you consider that Cleveland has been leading the Central Division for most of the season, the Cavaliers having 2 All-Star's is not all that outrageous. The only change I'd make to the Eastern Conference team is replacing Ben Wallace with Richard Hamilton. I understand that the defending World Champs need to have a player make it, but unlike in year's past, Rip has been Detroit's best player, and not Big Ben.

I have no real complaints about who the fans voted in as starters in the West, because all of them deserved to be on the team anyway. My complaint with what the Western coaches did is that the Sacramento Kings and Memphis Grizzlies have no representative. The Kings have been on a bit of a slide lately, but for the majority of the year they have been among the league's elite. The Griz are the team no one talks about (besides me, of course) for some reason. The West is just too deep for a team to have 3 All-Star's, so Shawn Marion should be replaced by Mike Bibby. MB has been the glue that holds Sacto together all year, and Steve Nash is the only other PG on the West's roster. Being that Memphis' best player, Pau Gasol, is injured anyway, removing Rashard Lewis from the team becomes a moot point.

- What was going with the Toronto Raptors this past week? First it comes out that PG Rafer Alston won't be suspended (again) even though he did not return to the bench after halftime, and left the arena before the game was over, Tuesday night in Cleveland. Next, word leaks that coach Sam Mitchell challenged Rafer to a fight at halftime. Then Vince Carter's Mom, no I'm not making this up, let the press know that her son also had a physical confrontation with Mitchell before being traded. Only if it stopped there. Then Eric Williams, acquired in the VC trade, said he wants out because of his lack of playing time combined with all the turmoil. To cap it all off, GM Rob Babcock negotiated a buyout with Alonzo Mourning, also acquired in the VC deal, that will pay him roughly 10 million of the remaining 15 he was due on his contract. (Zo played a total of 30 games for 17 mil. Making his per game total of $566,666 the richest in NBA history) So, in summary, the Raptors' (21-31) rookie head coach challenges his players to fist-a-cuffs when they don't play like he wants them to. I thought last year's coach, Kevin O'Neill, was fired after one season for being too much of a disciplinarian? Anyway, Babcock, the rookie GM, trades away Toronto's best player (VC) AND 10 million dollars for E Williams (23 games, 19.4 mpg, 4.8 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.7 apg), Aaron Williams (10 games, 6.1 mpg, 1 ppg, 1.2 rpg, .3 bpg), and 2 first round picks. Huh? Come again? Never mind the fact that VC has been tearing up the league lately for New Jersey, or that Babcock's first two draft picks (Rafael Araujo and Pape Sow) have done nothing to date, but as I said in MMM edition #98 "2 first round draft picks (Philadelphia (top 8 protected) & Denver's this year) and some role players doesn't seem like enough in return to me." Free agents have never had Canada at the top of their list's of places to play, but now it's going to damn near impossible for Babcock and company to lure any decent player to that mess of a franchise. To borrow a line from baseball, "Put a tent on that circus."

- On Tuesday the Boston Celtics sent Walter McCarty and cash to the Phoenix Suns for a conditional 2005 second round pick (Golden State's). Waltah, as he was known in Beantown, was not in Boston GM Danny Ainge's future plans, other then to keep announcer Tom Heinsohn happy, so getting a second round pick for him is a good move. Walter will be real nice fit for the Suns' style of play. He is very long, hustles, runs the floor well, can defend multiple positions, and hit the spot up 3. I like that Phoenix GM Bryan Colangelo is being aggressive about trying to address his team's lack of depth, but in watching the Suns lose to Seattle 105-113 on Friday night, I'm still not sure he's done enough. If you saw that game, you know that the Sonics' bench was the difference in deciding the outcome. Vladimir Radmanovic or Jim Jackson? Antonio Daniels or Leandro Barbosa? Danny Fortson & Nick Collison or Walter McCarty & Steven Hunter? I think I take the first option on all of those choices.

*Note: All statistical data does not include Sunday's games.

NHL Week in Review By: Ed Wasser

- 22 years. That's how long it's been since Philadelphia has celebrated a title. 22 long years. That's if you don't include the Villanova national championship in 1985 and the Philadelphia Stars march to the USFL crown in 1984. (By the way, check out this website http://www.thisistheusfl.com/ it's great.) This whole thing is sadder then a one legged orphan but now...NOW the sadness and disappointment of the Eagles loss is starting to give way to anger. I mean I'm really starting to get pissed off.

Mainly I'm pissed because there is absolutely no end in sight for this drought. The Sixers will eventually get crushed by someone in the playoffs if they even make it, the Phillies are a complete and utter joke, and the Flyers? Who the hell are the Flyers? This drought will go on for at least another year and will only be broken if (IF!!) the Eagles don't suffer a let down next year, they make it to another Super Bowl and this time win it. The Eagles are Philadelphia's only hope. If they don't do it then this city is doomed to wallow in failure for years to come. But here's the thing that REALLY gets under my skin. Commentators, reporters, and fans saying 'well the Eagles had a nice run' or 'it was still a good season'. I swear you should have seen me just write that last sentence, I was pounding the keyboard.

I heard Daily News reporter Rich Hoffman say on Comcast that "the Eagles fans need to gain perspective. This really was a great ride" (He said with his usual holier then thou smugness) When I heard Hoffman say that I wanted to jump through the TV and pistol whip him like Henry Hill did to Karen's neighbor in 'Goodfellas'. Do you think after the Red Sox beat the Yankees last season that any Yankees fan on Earth said anything even resembling 'well they had a nice run'? HELL NO!!! Why? Because Yankees fans don't have a loser mentality like the people in Philadelphia. Don't get me wrong, I hate New York teams but the thing is every New York team does everything possible to win titles. Sometimes New York teams make the wrong moves but hey at least they try. The Phillies don't even do that. It's Feb. 14th and I already know the Phillies won't win the World Series. They won't even make it to the World Series.

The Sixers try to win but as long as they have that buffoon as general manager giving away millions of dollars to the Kenny Thomas' of the world they'll never do anything either. Here's another example of what I mean, I'm driving home from work Tuesday night and the local Philly guys on ESPN radio are discussing what Eagles free agents will take less money to stay in Philadelphia. That's the epitome of the Philadelphia loser mentality; the Eagles are one or two players away from winning the Super Bowl and lifting this city's spirits through the roof and we have guys on the radio talking about scrimping hometown discounts for free agents. But here's the kicker, at the exact same moment the Philadelphia radio guys were talking about going on the cheap to keep our free agents, WFAN in New York was talking about the Knicks making a run at LeBron James.....3 SEASONS FROM NOW!!!! So that's were we in Philadelphia stand right now. We're waiting for the Eagles to start up again and hoping and praying that they make it back to the Super Bowl and this time win it. God, this is depressing.

- From the mailbag....OK, well it's actually from the mailbag of the Philadelphia Daily News and I stole it.

Philadelphia has won many championships since 1983 - it's a shame no one wants to the acknowledge the minor teams. The Wings have won 6 National Lacrosse League titles, the Phantoms have an American Hockey League title, and the Kixx have one in the Major Indoor Soccer League and this past summer the Barrage won the championship in Major League Lacrosse. Instead of crying about the failure of the big 4, recognize those on the lower level. A title is a title.

Tom Hoffman
Voorhees, NJ

Dear Ignorant Jackass,
Here's what to do. Take off your 7-11 smock and go to the nearest hospital, find a defibulator, put a paddle on each ear, and try and electroshock your brain back into working order. Just make sure you yell CLEAR!! before you throw the switch. First of all I've been living in the Philadelphia area off and on for 25 years and I read the local sports section from cover to cover every day and I've never even HEARD of the Philadelphia Barrage. The Philadelphia Phantoms are a minor league team. A MINOR league team that plays for a MINOR championship. And as far as the Kixx and the Wings are concerned...well let me put it to you this way, you can find a boy that was raised by armadillos in Fria Cerveza, México and ask that kid 'Do you know what baseball, basketball, football, and hockey are?' and he'll say yes. Ask some random sports fans in the midwest, far south, or on the west coast if they've ever heard of indoor lacrosse or indoor soccer and those people will look at you like you're wearing a gorilla costume at a funeral. So the people of Philadelphia are supposed to get all weepy eyed over titles won by teams that are about 9 or 10 years old, that play sports that aren't even acknowledged by the X Games, and played by guys who, for all I know, could have delivered me the large pepperoni an sausage I ate last night? In closing Tom from Voorhees...the drought lives on.

Ed Wasser
Bitter, PA

- Oh...by the way, after I wrote about these stupid low rent teams winning meaningless championships I was watching Comcast Sports Net and they showed a clip of Philadelphia Wings goalie Dallas Eliuk appearing as a contestant on 'The Price is Right'. It wasn't a charity thing, he was regular "Dallas Eliuk..COME ON DOWN!!!" contestant. This guy that I'm supposed to get excited about for winning an indoor lacrosse championship was seen on TV freaking out over meeting Bob Barker and winning an elliptical machine and some kitchen crap.

- Now I'm on a roll. To all the women out there on this Valentine's Day I give you a quick message....for Valentine's Day if your significant other buys you either a Vermont Teddy Bear, a Pajama-gram, or names a star after you or gets you any other present from a company that advertises strictly on Howard Stern or sports talk radio then he either doesn't care about you and is this close to breaking up with you or he forgot today was Valentine's Day and needed a last second solution. And no....I don't have a job cheering up sick kids in the hospital.

- Fairway Miss is running today in the 9th race. It goes off around 3:45. She opened up on the morning line at 7/2 which is second to the favorite; the favorite is a horse named Lady Silverrod who Fairway already beat once. In fact Fairway crushed her. The logical next question is "then why isn't Fairway the favorite?" The answer...I dunno. Thankfully Fairway was born and bred in Florida so she's immune to the stink of Philadelphia Phailure. But she is running at Philadelphia Park so I hired a sports psychologist like the one in the movie 'The Natural' to speak to her. "Losing is a disease......ahhh......but curable. Now imagine you're on a boat floating out to sea. Floating...........floating". David Mello will be the jockey. Ryan Barber, Fairway's jockey the last two races, had bronchitis last week and spent a little time in the hospital. Even though he claims he's now healthy he still looks a little peeked. Barber was pissed and felt dissed but it was nothing personal, just business. Can't be having no weak ass brother riding our horse that's for shizzle. (Sorry, I'm watching 'Behind the Music: Snoop Dogg') Beside Mello rode Fairway during her two wins. I'll have a full recap of the race in next week's MMM.

- Oh....I almost forgot. The NHL died over the weekend. The league was wallowing away in agony for the past six months so the powers that be mercifully put it out of it's misery by shooting it in the back of it's head, like a deer that was hit by a car. More on this next week.

Comments:
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dsura@peachealth.org
ewwasser@hotmail.com