4 hours ago, mattwill said:

Given the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the banning of 4for4, it may be worthwhile to make it policy that the above mentioned restricted Ranter forum be used as a pre-ban step.  In addition the report button could/should/would be turned off in that forum.  Think of it as Purgatory.

That is a good suggestion and something we are actually talking about.  I was going to set up the group and special forum tonight to test it for future situations. 

Mahomes is fine. He's not limited at all. He scrambled a few times two weeks ago with the same effectiveness as usual.

4 minutes ago, Mike030270 said:

Jets would be smart to go after Rodgers instead IMO

 

I don’t know. I don’t know how much longer Rodgers really wants to play. Additionally, I think there could be a cliff that’s coming. I get Lamar Jackson gets hurt a lot. But I at least can see him playing for five more years at an high level if you could manage to keep him upright, he has a better long-term Future with the team than Aaron Rodgers assuming you don’t get him destroyed. If Aaron Rodgers retires after next year you’re right back in the same position that you were in before. plus i actually think rodgers is a bigger pain in the ass than lamar 

7 hours ago, BigEFly said:

Back to football, the Eagles have a Super Bowl tomorrow.  The Eagles struggle at times with strong interior OL.  That is KC.  Gannon has had two weeks to scheme on that and I am curious to see what he does.  Does he spy Mahommes?  That can be defeated by Kelce and the fact Gannon plays quarters when he spies.  I think the D scheme for the first gnats game would play best.  Zone but a lot of MOD.  Play Maddox in MEG on Kelce.  

AR and Spags have had two weeks to scheme too.  Studying the Eagles tendencies and what has worked in attacking the D and in defending the O.  I expect a lot of screens early and some shovel screens. AR gets a lot of credit but a fair bit of it is Mahommes improvising and some Kelce improvisation. Gannon and Wilson need to be preaching discipline.  I imagine we are going to see a lot of AJ on slants. Pressing the Eagles WRs isn’t a good idea. But it does seem the officials let more physicality go in the playoffs.  May be a factor.  But Stout coaches technique so well, I am not sure KC can get a read on the Eagles OL play. The Eagles have such depth at IDL that it may wear down the interior of the KC OL.  I expect Nick and Shane will have tinkers in place for what they see early. Game may come down to Spags v Gannon.  

@FranklinFldEBUpper Curious on your thoughts re:Covey. Also want a change back in punters. Not a huge Sisposs fan but Kern is done.  

I (kinda) like Covey. He’s small and doesn’t really break tackles all that well but he’s quick and has good vision. He also doesn’t waste time with the ball like DeSean, circling back and trying to outrun people only to eventually wind up right back where he fielded the ball. He catches the punt, finds the open space, and dives for it, getting what he can. You can do a lot worse, which we did the past few years with Ward.

 since his rookie year 

 

9 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

I’m close to out of poverty and into a two story mansion cardboard box. 

Remember, if your polos don’t cost at least a grand you’re still poor!

Just now, TEW said:

Remember, if your polos don’t cost at least a grand you’re still poor!

Damn gonna need to step up my shopping habits… back to the one story box 

Great news that siposs is back, I couldn't stand another game of kern.

3 hours ago, Texas Eagle said:

Did Quinn ever register a sack here?

Tomorrow he will do his imitation of Kerrigan in the playoffs 

This KC team is very beatable 

28-24 eagles 

@hputenis

Got a date tonight with a divorcee. And you know what I love about divorcees? (Hall Pass reference) 

25 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

Final pack of questions before tomorrow.

1. What are you more confident in tomorrow: Hurts playing a great game or the defense playing a great game. FYI: when I say defense playing a great game, I don't mean completely shutting down the Chiefs. I think we'll all know what a great game looks in context to the offense we are playing.

2. Which coach is more likely to try an elaborate trick play tomorrow: Reid or Sirianni?

3. If right now you could lock the Eagles in at 30 points(but no higher) would you take it? Basically an elaborate way of asking if you are confident 30 points will be enough to win the game.

1. Hurts

2. Reid

3. No

Not sure why they did the artwork like this, weird to combine 2 different heads when there are plenty of pictures of AJ Brown to use.  Maybe this is a picture from when he was traded and they used a Titans pictrure to show him as an Eagle?

Either way, point is, silver facemasks would make a huge difference for the current helmet. 

 

10 minutes ago, FranklinFldEBUpper said:

I (kinda) like Covey. He’s small and doesn’t really break tackles all that well but he’s quick and has good vision. He also doesn’t waste time with the ball like DeSean, circling back and trying to outrun people only to eventually wind up right back where he fielded the ball. He catches the punt, finds the open space, and dives for it, getting what he can. You can do a lot worse, which we did the past few years with Ward.

Yup covey is a sure handed returner, he's not afraid to field it in traffic and won't let it bounce 20 yards behind him.

He might not get more than what's blocked but he's a guy who's can be counted in to secure a punt and not lose field possession or the ball 

Hoping he has a bryce harper type of moment like bryce did vs. padres in game 5

23 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

Final pack of questions before tomorrow.

1. What are you more confident in tomorrow: Hurts playing a great game or the defense playing a great game. FYI: when I say defense playing a great game, I don't mean completely shutting down the Chiefs. I think we'll all know what a great game looks in context to the offense we are playing.

2. Which coach is more likely to try an elaborate trick play tomorrow: Reid or Sirianni?

3. If right now you could lock the Eagles in at 30 points(but no higher) would you take it? Basically an elaborate way of asking if you are confident 30 points will be enough to win the game.

Neat questions.

1) 100% more confident in the Eagles D.  And that is not a knock on Hurts.  The D has been lights out in the playoffs.  Let's give credit where it is due.  

2) Neither will do one.  We won't need to and they won't have the time, lol.  Would YOU do a flea flicker with our D line coming down on you?  Not like they are going to STOP coming.  

3) Take the 30 as the D will hold them to 29 or less.  30 is enough to win this game.  34-22 is my prediction (already logged).

4 minutes ago, EaglePhan1986 said:

@hputenis

Got a date tonight with a divorcee. And you know what I love about divorcees? (Hall Pass reference) 

Happy days reference is they are hot to trot

@LeanMeanGM

Going to stick with what I've been feeling and what all research leads to

KC is 18th in rushing yards per carry allowed, led the league in TD passes allowed, and was 28th in passer rating allowed. They don't have the horses.

They limped through the playoffs against 2 unimpressive teams.  Cincy had a great year but then lost their O-line.

37-17 Eagles win

Bonus: 180+ team rushing yards and Hurts with 3 total TDs.

13 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

 since his rookie year 

 

It’s probably that really bad game he had as a rookie. I crack up every time I hear Johnson or someone else tell the Les Bowen story. 

Just now, LeanMeanGM said:

It’s probably that really bad game he had as a rookie. I crack up every time I hear Johnson or someone else tell the Les Bowen story. 

What’s the story? The mclane vs. Bowen fight? 

Really don't think Reid is gonna let Reddick torment Mahomes all game. Hopefully Sweat and Hargrave take over.

anyone have the article cause I’d love to read it 

TEMPE, Ariz. — Here, out here, 11 miles east of downtown Phoenix, past the strip malls and chain restaurants on Scottsdale Road, on a vast college campus where the best way to pass the time between classes is to sunbathe, near silvery office buildings that sparkle against the sky, in a stadium cut and built inside a valley of volcanic mountains and buttes … here. The Eagles would have played here.

Here is Sun Devil Stadium, home of the Arizona State football team and the Fiesta Bowl, rising over Tempe Town Lake. Here is where the Eagles’ home would have been had their former owner, Leonard Tose, followed through on his plan in December 1984 to sell the team to a real estate investor named James Monaghan. Having burdened himself with gambling debts, with the franchise having lost money during the 1982 NFL players strike, Tose was seeking a way back to solvency, and for $40 million, he was willing to relinquish 25% of the team to Monaghan and wound the souls of football fans throughout the Philadelphia area.

On the morning of Tuesday, Dec. 11, Arizona Republic columnist Bob Hurt broke the story of the Eagles’ impending relocation. On Saturday, Dec. 15, after hours of negotiations at Tose’s house in Villanova, Philadelphia Mayor W. Wilson Goode and Tose announced that the Eagles and the city had agreed on a deal, one that included upgrades to Veterans Stadium and financial assistance from the NFL, for the franchise to remain in Philadelphia.

The column that saved a franchise: The Arizona Republic's Bob Hurt broke the story of the Eagles' relocation to Phoenix.Courtesy of Newspapers.com

That five-day span more than 38 years ago stands as the past’s bleak counterbalance to the Eagles’ brilliant present: their matchup Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs at Glendale’s State Farm Stadium in Super Bowl LVII. It was among the darkest moments in the region’s sports history. It began with a mystery: How did Hurt find out?Who was his Deep Throat? It ended after the community turned its outrage and anger like a laser toward Tose and his family, even its youngest member.

The scoop and the source

Bob Hurt wore glasses and parted his hair severely to the left and was as plugged in as a columnist could be. He had spent 10 years at The Oklahoman before The Republic hired him, and he used his laid-back manner and dry sense of humor to connect with coaches, administrators, and power people throughout college and pro football and in Arizona. When Darryl Rogers, Arizona State’s head coach in the early 1980s, embedded his team at a campground 80 miles northeast of Phoenix for preseason practices, Hurt would drive up to the site, armed with two reporting weapons: a bottle of Scotch and several pies that he had bought at a roadside stand on the way. Then he’d go from cabin to cabin, buttering up Rogers and each of his assistants with a piece of pie and a belt of brown liquor.

So while it was shocking that the headline "Eagles appear ready to land in Phoenix” appeared across the top of The Republic’s sports section in its Dec. 11 editions, it was less surprising that Hurt had been the one to break the news. As rumors churned of his desire and need to sell the team, Tose had been denying for months that the Eagles were going anywhere. But Hurt cited five sources saying that Tose, who died in 2003, was poised to sell to Monaghan. More, the franchise would move to Phoenix "within days after the team’s 1984 season finale Sunday in Atlanta” and would use Sun Devil Stadium, which could accommodate more than 70,000 fans, as its interim home until a domed stadium could be built.

Former Eagles owner Leonard Tose (left) and his daughter, Susan Spencer.DAILY NEWS FILE PHOTO

"I bet I could go down a list of people who had to know about the thing,” Hurt told The Inquirer’s Frank Dolson. "I think I could find a hundred people who knew about it before I wrote it.”

What Hurt’s column didn’t reveal, though, was how he’d confirmed that Tose was following through on his plan.

Darrow "Duke” Tully, who was The Republic’s publisher, and Bill Shover, the paper’s public liaison and a mover-and-shaker within Phoenix’s sports and business communities, had been boosting the idea of having an NFL franchise in the city. They were so committed to the project, Shover said in a recent phone interview, that Tully worked directly with Tose in an attempt to bring the Eagles to Phoenix.

Did they think the move was going to happen?

"I did,” Shover said, "until one of our columnists blew the whole thing open.”

One day, Hurt and one of the paper’s editors asked to meet with Tully and Shover. Hurt told them that he had encountered Susan Spencer, Tose’s daughter and the Eagles’ general counsel, in a grocery store. Hurt had asked her what she was doing there, and Spencer had told him, We’re moving here, and so is the team.

"He came to us and said, ‘I’ve got the scoop on you,’ ” Shover said. "We looked at it and said, ‘It’s got to go. Our obligation first is to report the news.’ [Tully] knew full well that might kill the whole effort, but that’s what you have to do when you’re a publisher.”

Moments of darkness and light

A sophomore at Episcopal Academy in late 1984, Marnie Schneider headed to school on the morning of Wednesday, Dec. 12, unworried about what awaited her, even though her mother was Susan Spencer.

The Inquirer had followed up on Hurt’s scoop, splashing four stories and three related photos across its front page after Tose and the Eagles had confirmed the story. Anticipating that any faculty and students who were Eagles fans would take out their fury on her daughter, Spencer suggested that perhaps it would be best if Marnie stayed home. (It wasn’t the first precaution that Spencer had taken on her daughter’s behalf: She already had made preliminary arrangements to have Schneider attend Phoenix Country Day School if and when the franchise’s move took place.)

But this was the last day of school before holiday break, Schneider said, and that’s the easiest and most relaxing school day of the year. "All the Christmas parties and fun stuff,” she said.

Schneider’s first class of the day was math. Her teacher, Jim Auch, had a copy of the paper tucked under his arm. He opened it up in front of her.

"What do you know about this?” he said.

Schneider started to cry. Just then, James Crawford, Episcopal’s headmaster, peeked through a tiny window in the classroom’s door and motioned for her to come outside. Crawford told her that he was concerned for her safety. Someone might know she went to school at Episcopal, and he didn’t want to create a dangerous situation for her and her fellow students. I don’t think you should be here today, he said. One of her grandfather’s employees drove to Episcopal and picked her up.

The media in town held nothing back in their criticism of Tose and particularly of Spencer, whose iron-fisted control of the team included firing a longtime secretary in a scene that was, according to one witness, "like watching your mother get mugged.” What about loyalty? What about allegiance? What about pride?columnist Stan Hochman wrote in The Daily News. Don’t ask. Leonard Tose probably blew it at a blackjack table. "They would refer to my mom as the ‘Wicked Witch of the Vet,’ really terrible things about her and my grandfather,” Schneider said. "I don’t think they were that rotten.”

The death threats started soon thereafter.

"Oh, yeah, and kidnapping threats,” Schneider, who lives in North Carolina, said by phone. "My mom would get letters at the stadium, and they were very specific. People would call the office and say weird things. They were very vocal about their disappointment, even after the Eagles decided to stay in Philadelphia. It was a very scary time.”

Schneider doubts Shover’s account that her mother was Hurt’s source. Spencer and Tose didn’t want anyone to know that they were in Phoenix, she said, and they went so far as to keep a hotel room in Los Angeles that they never used — a red herring to throw any enterprising reporters off their trail. "I think they were really careful.”

Hurt died in 2009 at age 84. Spencer was diagnosed with dementia five years ago and lives with Schneider in North Carolina. The two of them will watch Super Bowl LVII at home together.

"I want to capture some of that moment,” Schneider said, a moment that would have been unimaginable all those years ago: The Eagles will play a big game in the desert, and everyone in Philadelphia will be thrilled.

3 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

What’s the story? The mclane vs. Bowen fight? 

No. I’ll try to find the clip later because I probably won’t do it justice and Lanes impersonation of Bowen is spot on. 

I forget the opponent but it was his rookie year and his worst game ever as a pro. He gave up like 3 sacks, and so after the game he’s at his locker and all the media come in and Les Bowen walks up to Lane and in Les deadpan voice says something like "So Lane, you played pretty poor today.” and just stared at him while not even asking a question. 

43 minutes ago, TEW said:

Terrible omen for Brooks, Wharton, GS, and the Eagles.  

Why?