WhitewalkerInPhilly

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jun/22/mark-sanford-trumps-midterm-tweet-is-game-over-for/ When you control both houses of Congress, and the Executive branch and can't pass anything... All hail IMPOTUS!

Very nice topic! I'm a glass half full guy, so I'm going to say under. I don't think that we are going to go super aggressive on offense, and I think that the addition of Star on the D-line and Edmunds to the LB core, as well as a very solid looking backfield should clean up some of the problems we saw last year in run defense and getting pressure on the QB.

Yeah. I remember a LOOOOT of 4-12 predictions over the last 4 years, and no one was eating crow about that.

IDK, I personally think that a sitting politician using the weight of his office to pressure private industry to alter their policies is troubling. Especially when he seems to have vindictive, petty personal reasons for doing so.

I'm a lib and I'm all for it. I honestly don't give a hot ****. I honestly don't care if they play the anthem or not. I am just amazed at the massive clutching of pearls over the whole thing.

That was last year, when Trump was in office. But people have been skipping since the Clinton era, this happens all the time. It's just 45 who had a temper tantrum over it.

Really? This is the first I heard of it. I heard nothing when a bunch of the Patriots chose not to go last year.

As much as I don't want to give credit to DC Tom here, more precisely, it was individual players, not the team. As Malcolm Jenkins put it (to paraphrase) "If I was invited to a party by someone who was known to say sexist and racist things, and I declined to go, I don't think people would make a big deal about that. I don't know how being president changes that." This was SUPPOSED to be a celebration of them, for them. They were under no obligation to go. So when the team management attempted to alter the schedule to salve Trump's ego, that was the OPPOSITE of trying to embarrass him. I listed to Schefter this morning, and his take was "the Eagles tried to hand him an out, and he shoved it back in their faces" The embarrassment is in how our President reacted: childish, whiny fury. If you actually read the responses the players put out (especially Malcolm Jenkins) they come across as thoughtful, well spoken and moral. Which is more than I can say for this administration.

I find it hilarious that for people complaining about "culture wars", the Eagles are one of the few teams to be doing everything that they *say* players are supposed to do: They all stood for the anthem. They prayed on the sideline. They did their activism off the field. They donated their time and money to causes. It's almost like...you just don't like what they are saying and are looking for flimsy excuses to discredit it. You mean like the gladhanding Trump has gotten over taking on a strong economy and then running up a load of debt that his huckster ass won't have to pay?

I am skipping the circlejerk in the beginning, but I think it bears recording the chain of events that led to this "disinvitation" Throughout the 2017 season, the Eagles were one of 7 teams to have no one kneel during the anthem. I know the alt-right posters here like conservative websites, so let's throw them a bone on the evidence: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/feb/1/no-philadelphia-eagles-players-knelt-anthem-2017/ However, they had a number of players be very vocal to the cause on their own time. In fact, one player (Chris Long) donated a year's salary to charity. During the season, Trump goes on a rant about how bad the NFL is. He talks about how he should be able to fire players for not behaving exactly as he likes. He calls them "sons of bitches". So when the Eagles win the Superbowl, a number of players state that, if invited, they would not attend. It's not a mandatory event, and players have elected not to go since the Clinton administration. It is, after all, supposed to be congratulating them. The NFL rolls out an anthem policy that satisfies nobody, and it's revealed they were pressured by Trump to do something. After months of hemming and hawing, the invitation for the trip arrives...during OTAs. A number of players reiterate they have no interest in going to an optional event. It turns out, a single digit number of players were interested in going. So the Eagles decided to offer the chance for our sitting President to save some face by rescheduling. At this, the infant-in-chief blows up, and decided to cancel the event, saying they are "unable to come with their full team"...something that the Patriots didn't do last year. He claims that they are not attending because they disagree over his view the anthem policy...the policy for which they actually were doing what he wanted. He claims that they are letting down "1000 fans" and is going to make it up with his own ceremony honoring the military. Now, as an aside, I was there for the parade in Philadelphia. For an event that Eagles fans care about, a lowball number of 700,000 people was counted. So, the idea that a thousand of them attending something they want to go to...seems low. Like, not filling the tailgating section before the game low. And then, as local Philadelphia reporters attend, it turns out that there are few, if any, Eagles fans in attendance. From the pictures I saw, it looks like they gave staffers a lunch break and sent them out for a photo op. This entire thing is a big pouty exercise by a man child who can't stomach the thought of not being loved. It's like an 8 year old deciding to cancel his birthday party because most of the class decided not to attend. What a joke. You mean the part where the stock market rebounded and then hit record heights after the 2008 crash? Or the part where the Big 3 automotive manufactures were saved and rebounded? Oh wait, you didn't personally see an improvement? It's almost as if giving billionaires more money does nothing to help the vast majority of people.

I will confess that I was a skeptic. I wanted Rosen or Darnold. That said, this is not the first time I have heard the comparisons to Carson Wentz: still a little raw in his craft, but seems to be progressing and has the physical tools that are eye popping. I will wait for judgement until we actually see him on the field, but I have hope. Not that there's anything wrong with that!

Uggh, this is rough Marrone: Actually left with a winning season. If he had been willing to change offense, and let Schwartz have the defense I wouldn't have been shocked if we resembled what the Jags are now. Gailey: Got what he could get out of a sub-par QB. I wonder what he could have done with Shady and Tyrod. Mularky: Meh Greggo: Meh Jauron: Lower Meh Rex: It's hard, because I was thrilled when he got here. I still enjoy his personality. But man, the defense backslid hard and he bears a lot for that. Tie in that he had one of the most talented rosters in years, and still couldn't do it, I think he is deserving of the bottom of the pile.

You know, I was pessimistic about Allen. I wanted Rosen. I still want Daboll to move slowly, and don't rush Allen until he's ready. That said, I have growing optimism. Intermediate passes have been where our QBs have struggled to find consistency over the years. Hearing that Allen is hitting them nicely does give me hope. I would like to see how he handles it when pressure is in his face, but at least there seems something solid to build upon.

He is a pretty terrible writer so...bye Felicia

Look, I appreciate the logic. The thing is, I was here in Philly when they thought and tried the exact same thing. You might have heard the phrase "plays greater than his size" in regards to players like Antonio Brown. The response heard that best sums DGB is "plays six inches shorter than he actually is"

Ok, quick question, how many people who were killed by police were convicted of the crimes for which they were accused? And how many of those crimes would have been deserving of the death penalty? Yes, I know this is a farcical argument. And I will gladly debate the shades of gray in PPP. But let's not pretend that there are legitimate concerns that the athletes brought attention to, and that they did it in a non-violent fashion. Nice deflection. As it is nice that you realize that you're in the double digit IQ club, the core premise of the players argument has not been "all cops are murdering psychos" is has been "At any time, we can expect encounters with police to have possible, immediate, lethal ends without repercussion from the guy who does it" Your inability to process the argument does not make it less valid.

I cut out the rest, because the rest is a discussion best left to PPP, and I like to think that I know the best place to rebut the rest is over there. But this. This is the point. This was the whole point as to why protesting began. It's that there is a belief that is fairly pervasive: that if you do anything, ANYTHING to make police feel that you are not 100% in compliance, they have the right to kill you without due process. That can include a legal gun owner being ordered to hand over his license and registration, and then being shot while going for it because he informed the officer that he had a gun in the car. It means that selling loose cigarettes while never taking an offensive action is a suitable excuse for you to be choked to death while you beg for mercy. You can agree or disagree about the role of police, and how much authority and latitude they should be allowed, and how much of a benefit of a doubt they should be given, but if you look at those situations and go "yeah, those dead civilians, they're the real problem" you are screwed up in the head at a level that I consider terrifying.

Yeah. I have been watching less football (other than the Bills) but it has nothing to do with the anthem protests. First, I've cut the cord, and what little live TV I watch is through Sling. I would gladly pay money for additional streaming without the full DirecTV bundle, but they are stuck in that deal. Second, they've sent ads through the rough. Third, with all of the rule changes that keep benefiting offense and Madden-like scoring, combined with ridiculous salaries for QBs, the overall quality of play has been dropping. If I am paying for my content, you better have something more interesting than the stuff I can watch without more ads. The anthem protests have been the most interesting thing to happen to the league in years. This seems rife for loopholes and problems. I am ok with them just stopping the anthem, or doing it without any players on the field rather than this half assed compromise.

Dude, you know that the whole point of the protest is because the point of their argument was that black people incur violence from police disproportionately. You can dispute whether or not this is the case. But come on, how is giving the police more money going to have them kill fewer black people? Why should the onus be on teenagers to not scare the cops by existing to the extent that they don't get riddled with bullets? You can agree or disagree with their premise, but you are being stupid about what you seem to think the problem is.

I heard a rumor that Astro will not be doing his usual training camp reports this year. It was back a while ago during last training camp, so I am fuzzy on the details, but I hope I was wrong.

Really? I think it was a fight for them to get out of their division. I would think that a healthy Carr and a returning Chiefs group would be the favorites there.

That's pretty much it. He is considered a luxury player in Schwartz's defense. Schwartz has remained adamant about keeping 4 on the D-line and almost never blitzing. As a result, he runs the nickel A LOT and has a pair of very good linebackers in Bradham on the weakside and Hicks in the middle. They saved $6 million in cap space for cutting him, and have been trying to deal him for years. He's considered a very nice contributor, but for $7.6 M...that's pretty high if you aren't starting.

Simplest solution. I know I don't care about watching it. Of course, the number of butthurt people on both sides means that I doubt it will happen. "People are more upset at us being on our knees than Sandusky's favorites"

He throws to everyone. Whether they're on the team or not ?