Pyrite Gal Posted March 28, 2007 Posted March 28, 2007 Many folks simply make an assessment of how good a player they think a particular athlete is and then call it a bad or good trade, when actually that is not the only (and perhaps not even the main) key determinant of whether a trade is good or not. For example someone sites an old adage that the team which got the best player is the "winner" of a particular trade. While one need only look at the number of games started the last two seasons to make a pretty fair assessment of the relative value of these players to their particular teams and look at their entire careers even if you want to make a could be/maybe argument in favor of TKO. such an assessment misses what I think is the key to this trade for the Iggles. The 2006 Eagles made the playoffs but lost their only playoff game by three when their D could not stop NO from getting the winning FG and then could not stop them from getting a first down that allowed them to run out the clock. The Saints scoring was not all to blame on a failure to stop the run or all to blame on a failure to stop the pass as the Saints were fairly balanced in getting firsts both ways and credibly one can look to a lack of depth at LB as one of their bac-ups Barber went down to injury and a Saints team which was not to be denied got some big plays on 3rd down, The Iggles may not even start TKO next year, but he may make the difference for this team making and winning playoff games as he is a vet who has been a playmaker. While the Bills likely would require TKO to be even more of a team leader with F-B gone. He is on an LB crew which only has one youngster and an 8 year and 10 year vet. Even if TKO does not heal a lot more and likely he will never be the player he once was even if he heals completely, he can make a differentce (if not the difference if situations fall the way they think) simplt by making a big play or two early in the season (as he did for the Bills on the very first play last year) but this time stay healthy as the Eagles will need to use TKO much less than the Bills used him last year (when they could use him as he pushed too hard IMHO to get back and start game 1). In order to make a contribution which can be critical to them, if he shows that he can be a playmaker even if only on occasion, it will force opponents to plan for him every single play in casr this might be the play where he goes while. Personally, I am virtually certain TKO will never ever be the player he was, but this may not matter at all to the Iggles in judging whether they made a good trade if TKO (who is not a starter on the current Eagles depth chart) can simply be the playmaker they want and need in an episodic way for the Pats. The Bills on the other hand need an athlete who not only can play SLB (not TKOs best position) but will be there every down.
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