WhitewalkerInPhilly

I don't get it. Manny waa quietly good for us last year. It made sense to draft Shaq because Manny was in his last year, but with our injuries he was an ideal vet to hold down the fort. They must have really seen someone they liked in Lorenzo Alexander.

And we play them Week 5!!!

@OP: Heads up, you have the home/away reversed with the Pats. I still agree with your final scores.

I am honestly not impressed with their receivers and pass catching TEs. Their #1 WR is Steve Smith, and my Raven fan friend raves over him. But he is 37 and coming off a double Achilles and is currently questionable. Wallace is ok, but I trust Darby in single coverage. Perriman is a burner, but he's getting his first snaps this week. I trust all of our starters in single coverage on them.

And confirmation on Little? I thought he was going to stick.

Wow. Today I was hearing about how Minny was a secret powerhouse. That is devestating to them.

I've heard of him....wait. sorry. Instinct. Does anyone know anything about him? All I know is that he was backing up Vonn Miller, and word is he looked ok on limited snaps. Lawson insurance?

I have a good friend who is a Ravens fan and we've been trash talking. I do think that they are bouncing back a bit. They shouldn't be as bad as last year. But their best receiver, by far, is Steve Smith, who is questionable. Perriman may be ready to go Week 1, but we don't know if he will get any preseason snaps befire then. Their third best is an aging Mike Wallace. I will take Shady over Forsett when they are healthy, so if it's a grind out like our chances.

I'll put it this way: The Eagles receiving corps is in desperate shape. After cutting DeSean Jackson and letting Jeremy Maclin walk in free agency, they were banking on their draft picks stepping up. Jordan Matthews was the only one who has shown any promise, but he's at best a Robert Woods, and looks more like Josh Reed. Huff has been relegated to punt duty. Agholor, their first round pick from last year, can't crack the starting lineup.They just traded for Dorial Green-Beckham. So when they cut Rueben Randle, please understand the depth of that meaning.

What I said to a friend is this: "Well, it's not too surprising, he's been refusing to stand in the pocket his entire career."

Look, I was a homer for the defense last year. And I was sure that they would fix it by week 1, and I thought they would be fine after they shut down Luck. So the things I'm watching out for: able to stop those third and medium conversions. Too many times last year we would be in decent yardage on third down, only to get shredded over the middle.

Not to mention that they are one of the few states with legal sports gambling. There's immediate appeal there.

Honestly I am more heartened by Gase's insistence that they will be running the same hurry up, pass heavy offense as last year. With the same QB. And the same receivers. And mostly the same O-line and running backs.

Their starting #1 CB is Byron Maxwell. And they cut Grimes to fit him. 'Nuff said.

Great news. I was not looking forward to Mills starting.

Yeah. As someone who follows the Eagles as his secondary team, I was surprised to hear such good things about Dak. Obviously, let's remember how EJ looked/looks vs backups in preseason but they have a situation where they can wait to develop him. That division isn't looking like a runaway train right now.

Exactly. That's why I actually like the preseason format: one to get the rust off, game 2 to start rotating in the backups to see how they work in rotation. Game 3 is the dress rehearsal for week 1, game 4 for the final cut down.

Isn't that a punch in the back of the head. Too bad IK is out for the season.

I did have to laugh at one of the fan comments: " Black Tar Heroin is a wiser investment of my time and money." I've thought along similar lines too. But I keep coming back!

It seems strange that the NFL would dig this out now. I guess that they might be working through a backlog. But this is before they clamped down. It might be punishment within the rules in place at the time, but quite obviously no one cared at the time and it didn't make any waves. We likely never know about it or care unless Timmy G mentions he might get suspended for it.

To my knowledge, yes, which is why I'm surprised he sounds so snippy and is so sure.

Wow, it's hard to make the first tweet sound more douchey: "He ought to know what I'm talking about, I reported it and asked his agent for comment, didn't I?" (Paraphrased)

Out of curiosity, any thoughts on maybe having Washington rotating into NT and Bryant coming in on DE? I seem to recall Bryant and a space blocker and hearing that Washington can 1 gap, which might make him a better fit but maybe I'm misremembering.

Any news yet, other than Timmy G's "sources" about a "possible" suspension?

It's good to see Aaron Williams back on the field. We really can't afford any more losses on D.