I can’t truly complain, scream and yell right now about this disappointing Eagles season considering I already recognized the death of the 2011 Birds. So with that, I’d like to take a few paragraphs to recognize the few bright spots over the course of this season.
1. Jason Babin and the rest of the Defensive Line
Th The reason for Babin’s success is pretty clear: He loves hitting the quarterback and in his boy, Jim Washburn’s, system, Babin is able to put his head down and just viciously penetrate the pocket. That strategy led to 18 sacks for Babin and fans saying that he only cared about sacks. However, he forced a game-saving fumble against the Giants and his helmet broke Tony Romo’s finger and arguably cemented the Cowboys’ ultimate monumental end of season collapse and loss to the Giants yesterday. I’d say that’s a pretty well-rounded and successful player. Also, Trent Cole, Cullen Jenkins combined for 16.5 sacks. Washburn and his D-Line were the only consistent bright spot on Defensive this season.
2. 2. Shady McCoy
McCoy had probably the greatest season of any Eagles Running Back in franchise history. Some notable stats: 1,309 yds, 4.8 yards per carry, 17 touchdowns, 48 catches, 315 receiving yards and 3 receiving touchdowns. That’s straight-up ridiculous! After such a great breakout season, Shady now looks like a perennial pro-bowler and contender for the league-rushing crown for the next 5-10 seasons.
3. 3. Jeremy Maclin and Brent Celek
In the passing game, there wasn’t too much to be proud of with the injuries and constant struggles from Michael Vick and DeSean Jackson. In fact, Maclin and Celek were probably the only two consistent performers in the aerial attack all season. Maclin boasted 859 yards and 5 touchdowns off of 63 catches and most likely would have eclipsed the milestone 1,000-yard season if he didn’t miss 3 games late in the year. Celek reestablished himself as a top tight end in the league by notching 811 yards, 5 touchdowns on 62 catches for himself. If Vick can stay 90-100% healthy for 12 games next season, both receivers should improve on this season and possibly aim to get into the pro-bowl.
4. 4. Jason Peters
Before this season, my constant joke was, “Jason Peters is as attracted to False Starts and Holding penalties as he is to twinkies”. He’s still fat (and I have NO idea in the world how he played Tight End in College), but he had a terrific season this year. Last year, he made the pro-bowl but his selection was scrutinized because he sort of received the honor for shaky reasons. If you watched any of the Eagles SNF games on NBC, you would’ve heard Chris Collinsworth and his tebowner gawking at Peters’ footwork and blocking ability. Collinsworth, along with multiple ESPN, NFL Network and Rotoworld.com writers believe that Peters might be the best Left Tackle in all of the NFL.
5. 5. Eagles fans not murdering Juan Castillo
I listen to 97.5 The Fanatic with Mike Missanelli almost every weekday in the afternoon while driving. After listening to the astounding number of enraged fans who call up and vent about how awful Juan Castillo is as a Defensive Coordinator and how they “don’t know what they’re gonna do if he isn’t fired soon”, I’d like to congratulate all of the Eagles fans who were absolutely infuriated by Castillo but refrained from committing homicide.
6. 6. Steve Spagnuolo being fired by the Rams.
While we’re on the subject of Defensive Coordinators, the St. Louis Rams fired Spagnuolo as their Head Coach only a few hours ago. For those of you who forget of Spags is, he’s the man who helped sustain Jimmy Johnson’s defense for the better part of a decade and was the Defensive Coordinator of the 2008 New York Giants Super Bowl team. If you haven’t faced reality already: Andy Reid will be back as Eagles Head Coach next season. So, let’s just pray and hope the front office fires Castillo and hires Spagnuolo as Defensive Coordinator.
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