Falcons can lead way to an Atlanta sports grand slam

Merry Christmas to you as well!

• Link
• Report this comment

@Matt “CHOKE” Ryan

Eagles vs Steelers Superbowl, who ya got

• Link
• Report this comment

5150 P.O.A.D. : You and I get it. Golf is the ultimate sport.

Anyone, name another where you can penalize yourself?

Merry Christmas, P.O.A.D.

• Link
• Report this comment

NOLA fans, take heart. Your city comes in 2nd in nasty, just as your team will to the Falcons, to Paris, France.

• Link
• Report this comment

As a life long Falcons fan I can honestly say that seeing the Falcons win the Super Bowl for me would be great, like a child walking into a candy store and being able to eat it all. With Thomas Dimitroff as general manager and Mike Smith as head coach all the ingredients are in place for this team to compete for years to come. I’d like to see the Braves get back to the World Series in 2011 as well. It’s been 15 years since a team from Atlanta has won a World title, its due time for another and that could very well come on February 6th.

• Link
• Report this comment

@Really

Come on now – Vick and the Eagles are too explosive for “ANY” team.

Vick
Maclin
Jackson
Avant
McCoy
Celek

Way too many weapons. If they played the Falcons the Eagles would win by at least 30

• Link
• Report this comment

“TOO MANY WEAPONS”

LeSean ‘Shady’ McCoy Quietly Having Super Season

By David Elfin
NFL Writer

He doesn’t have the hype or the flash of teammates Michael Vick and DeSean Jackson, but the Philadelphia Eagles wouldn’t on the verge of clinching the NFC East without LeSean McCoy, who leads the NFC with 1,587 yards from scrimmage and is fifth in rushing with 1,036 yards.

Drafting the running back from Pitt in the second round in 2009 to groom behind long-time mainstay Brian Westbrook looks brilliant now. Westbrook’s pair of concussions last season allowed the rookie to show he could handle the starting job and prompted the Eagles to release the veteran this offseason. McCoy has more than fulfilled their faith.

Aside from his ground game stardom, McCoy leads Philadelphia’s top-ranked offense (and all NFL running backs) with 74 catches. His 551 receiving yards are five shy of Baltimore’s Ray Rice for the most by a running back. And among NFC backs, only Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson and Atlanta’s Michael Turner have more touchdowns than McCoy’s nine. None of McCoy’s fellow top eight rushers in the NFC come within half a yard of his 5.3 per carry.

• Link
• Report this comment

“U-N-S-T-O-P-P-A-B-L-E”!

Mornhinweg architect of unstoppable Eagles offense

The Eagles’ offense, under Marty Mornhinweg, has averaged 404 yards per game this season. (Getty Images)Just like the Niners

They both featured a veteran left-handed quarterback who was equally dangerous throwing or running. Both were led by an electrifying big-play wide receiver supplemented by a very good No. 2 wide out. Both had a tailback who could make big plays on the ground or through the air, and both had a tight end who was capable of making big plays down the field.

With two games left in this remarkable 2010 season, the Eagles are on pace to finish the regular season with 4,331 passing yards and 2,395 rushing yards.

Only one team in NFL history has had that many passing and rushing yards in the same season.

That was the 1998 San Francisco 49ers.

Their offensive coordinator? Marty Mornhinweg.

It’s impossible not to compare the Eagles with Mornhinweg’s 49ers. They’re mirror images of each other.

“I don’t really get into comparisons very much because that group did it for a long time, and this group is so young and just getting started,” Mornhinweg said. “But there’s no question we can do a lot of the same things that group did.”

Michael Vick is Steve Young. DeSean is Jerry. Maclin is T.O. Shady McCoy is Garrison Hearst, Brent Celek is Brent Jones and Jason Avant is J.J. Stokes.

Heck, while we’re at it, Kevin Kolb is Ty Detmer.

It all lines up.

“Very similar,” Mornhinweg said. “I’ve been fortunate to be with a few teams now that have had great talent, great players. And I think there’s a chance that when all is said and done, this group’s even better than that one. But that’s a long way off. Let’s see how far this offense goes and then we can take a little bit of time and step back and analyze it.”

There are certainly many parallels between Vick and Young. Both blossomed a decade into their careers – for very different reasons.

“Steve did it over a long period of time and got a Super Bowl win, so that’s Mike’s challenge now,” Mornhinweg said. “Mike’s playing as good as any quarterback has played but for a small stretch. His challenge now is to do it year after year. That’s the next step for him.”

Back to head coach?

Marty Mornhinweg’s last crack at head coaching didn’t go so well. He didn’t have any players, he didn’t have any front office support, and he didn’t have any luck.

It’s been eight years since the Lions fired Mornhinweg after his two teams went 5-27 in 2001 and 2002.

Mornhinweg joined Andy Reid’s staff a year soon after leaving Detroit, first as a senior assistant to Reid, then as assistant head coach for a couple years, and for the past five years as assistant head coach and offensive coordinator.

Now, with the Eagles rolling toward the playoffs again and piling up yards and scoring points in record-setting fashion, Mornhinweg finally is again a hot head coaching candidate.

Mornhinweg’s reinvention of Michael Vick’s game, from athlete to quarterback, is at the heart of the Eagles’ 10-4 season and has garnered Mornhinweg the kind of national attention that serious NFL head coaching candidates get.

“He knows the game so well,” Vick said. “He knows personnel, he knows talent, he knows defenses, and he knows how to exploit the opposition and take advantage of their weaknesses.

“Those qualities are why he would make a great head coach, and I see him being a head coach real soon. I hope he gets that opportunity, he definitely deserves it, and I know he’ll be a great asset for somebody’s team.”

Mornhinweg, 48, said he’ll be open to overtures once the season is over, although he said he feels like he has a tremendous job right now, so he won’t jump at just any head coaching offer. It has to be the right opportunity.

“I’ve got probably one of the better jobs in all the NFL,” he said. “Better than many head coaches. This is a great organization. We’ve got great young talent, so it’s got to be the right spot.

“I do see myself as a head coach, and hopefully that will happen, and I’ve got my thoughts on what it would have to be like. If an opportunity pops up and I’m interested … we’ll see. Sometimes it happens when you least expect it.”

– Reuben Frank
NFL Power Rankings Week 16: Focus On The Philadelphia Eagles
——————————————————————————–

Comparing the Philadelphia Eagles 3 Miracles at the Meadowlands
——————————————————————————–

We’ve Had It! Why The Philadelphia Eagles Must Win The Super Bowl This Year
——————————————————————————–

Philadelphia Eagles Fans: Who You Need To Root for This Weekend and Why
——————————————————————————–

Friday, December 24, 2010
Posted: 12:44 p.m.

By Reuben Frank
CSNPhilly.com

The morning after he signed with the Eagles, Michael Vick wandered upstairs at the NovaCare Complex into the office of offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg.

“I didn’t know anything about him,” Vick said. “But from the first time I met him, I knew he was something special. Just his demeanor. I went up there, and the funny thing is, I don’t remember anything about the conversation. I can’t tell you one thing he said to me. But I just remember saying to myself, ‘Man, I can work with this guy.’”

Twelve years after he guided the 49ers to one of the greatest offensive seasons in NFL history, Mornhinweg is at it again.

With Mornhinweg designing the schemes, preparing the game plan and calling the plays, the 2010 Eagles’ offense has emerged as one of the most explosive in NFL history and the heart of a team many believe has a realistic chance to make a Super Bowl run.

With two games left in the regular season, the Eagles are averaging 404 yards per game, on pace for 6,462 yards, which would be the 13th-most in NFL history. They’re on target to score 470 points, which would be 26th-most in NFL history. They’re gaining 5.5 yards per rushing attempt, fifth-highest in NFL history.

Don’t believe yet this is an offense for the ages?

The Eagles have scored 26 or more points 11 times, and only 12 teams in NFL history have ever done that more in a season. They’ve netted 390 or more yards nine times, and one more 390-yard game will match the fourth-most ever by one team in a single season.

This is Mornhinweg’s fifth year as Reid’s offensive coordinator, seventh year as assistant head coach and eighth year on Reid’s staff. The four highest-scoring Eagles teams in franchise history have come since Mornhinweg became offensive coordinator.

As proficient as the Eagles have been moving the ball and putting up points the last five seasons, this year, Mornhinweg has taken the Eagles’ offense into the stratosphere.

This is offensive football as an art form. And Mornhinweg is painting with an unstoppable paintbrush.

“He’s got a very creative mind,” said head coach Andy Reid, who goes back 23 years with Mornhinweg – they coached together at UTEP in 1987.

“Marty came up through some systems with coordinators that coached him and that he worked with that were very creative guys, and then he has a creative mind himself, so he’s taken what he’s learned from those guys and adds to it. He’s like an artist. And he’s passionate. He loves doing it.

“He’s able to see players’ talents, and as opposed to harping on their weaknesses, it’s, ‘Let’s get them better at their weaknesses, but let’s exploit like crazy their strengths and put them in a position where they can go show off a little bit.’ And he’s a unique feel for that.”

Mornhinweg’s offense is predicated on striking quickly with big plays, on being impossible to decipher regarding formations and personnel, on being utterly unpredictable based on down and distance, and on always being aggressive.

You might stop ’em for a quarter. You might stop ’em for a half. But as we saw Sunday at the Meadowlands when the Eagles scored 28 points in the final 7 1/2 minutes against the NFL’s No. 2 defense on its own turf, you’re just not going to stop them for 60 minutes.

In each of the nine games Michael Vick has started and finished, the Eagles have scored at least 26 points and gained at least 373 yards. When either Vick or Kevin Kolb plays the entire game, the Eagles are averaging 32 points and 415 yards.

In other words, if you’re going to beat the Eagles, you better be ready to score four touchdowns and a field goal just to be in the game.

“Defenses are constantly on their heels because he’s going to shoot it at you,” Vick said. “He’s going to throw it at you all day and keep the pressure on. He might throw it at you 10 straight times and then he might run it four times, you’ve just got to be ready.

“That’s the reason we’re doing so good, because of Marty. The way he calls plays, the way he puts a game plan together. He has such a good feel for what we all do well, what we don’t do well, and he can play to our strengths. When things aren’t going well, he does a great job adjusting. Once we get into a game and find out what the defense is going to do, he does a great job figuring out what we can do against it. Every time he tells me something’s going to happen, probably 90 percent of the time it happens.”

One of the primary tenets of Mornhinweg’s offense is that it’s not dependent on any one person or any one phase. Jackson is the superstar, but Jason Avant has more catches and Maclin has more touchdowns. McCoy has been quiet as a receiver the last couple weeks, and Brent Celek has finally re-emerged as a receiving threat.

Five different guys have led the team in receiving in 14 games. Three different guys have led the team in rushing.

You think the Eagles are only about chucking the ball up and down the field? If they run for 99 or more yards in their last two games, they’ll become the second team in NFL history and the first since the 1990 Bears to record 99 or more rushing yards in all 16 games.

Then factor in the most dangerous, unpredictable, multi-faceted quarterback in the game today, and defenses are inevitably going to be off-balance trying to figure what’s coming next, where it’s coming from and how it’s coming.

“If a defense can tell by your personnel or formation or splits or anything else that this or that is coming, they’re going to slap you in the face,” Mornhinweg said. “You’re done. If they have no idea, then offensively you’ve got a chance not only to have a successful play but possibly a big play if the right things happen.

Really, the Eagles live on the edge. That’s why occasionally you get stretches where the offense looks terrible, pass protection falls apart, timeouts get wasted, guys line up in the wrong spot.

Because the thing is so complex, so cutting edge, there are going to be breakdowns.

But when it’s on? Well, you’ve seen it.

Thirty-five points in the first 16 minutes in Washington. Twenty-eight points in the last eight minutes at the Meadowlands. An NFL-best 11 offensive touchdowns of 45 yards or more. No other team has more than six.

That’s what can happen when everything clicks.

With that first quarter against the Redskins and the fourth quarter Sunday against the Giants, the 2010 Eagles became only the sixth team in NFL history with two 28-point quarters. Since 1980, the only NFL teams with two 28-point quarters in a season have been the 2004 Eagles and the 2008 Eagles.

Marty.

“You try your very best to put your players in a position to have success and keep your opponent off-balance and be aggressive – even to the point of being over-aggressive,” Mornhinweg said. “Now, look, that can bite you in the short term on occasion, but in the long term over the course of a program, over the course of a year or many years, typically it pays off 10-fold if you’re very, very aggressive.

“We’ll have those plays – ‘What the heck was that? – but it was us trying to be very aggressive. … And precision. You’ve got to be precise in offensive football. The precision has to be there, especially in the way I teach, we teach. It’s got to be precise or it doesn’t work.”

It drives some fans crazy when the Eagles throw on third-and-one. Which they do a lot.

It doesn’t drive them crazy when they nail a huge play on third-and-one.

It’s all about giving a defense something they’re not prepared for.

“You have to do those things,” Mornhinweg said. “It’s about keeping a defense off-balance. Third-and-one, sure, the percentages are higher to get the first down when you run the ball. But the number of big plays is higher when you throw the ball. That might be one of the very few plays where you get DeSean Jackson or Jeremy Maclin singled up in coverage, so you have to be willing to do that.

“I’ve been fortunate because Andy Reid is an aggressive guy, and he once in a while will question me but very, very rarely, so he allows myself and the rest of the staff and the players to be aggressive.”

Since Mornhinweg took over as offensive coordinator in 2006, the Eagles have scored 1,991 points – fifth-most in the NFL. During that span, only four teams – all in the AFC (Patriots, Colts, Chargers, Steelers) – have won more games than the Eagles. They’re also third over the past five years in total yards.

The defense has been up and down. Special teams has been inconsistent.

Marty just keeps pouring it on.

“In order to do what he does, he’s got to have a pretty good feel for the canvas, and that’s your defense,” Reid said. “He’s got to be able to look at a defense, know what the defense is doing, get the matchup he wants against that defense, and completely understand the scheme and be able to call the play that goes with that defense when he thinks that guy is going to call that play, it’s a whole chess match, and he’s very good at that.”

The Eagles, 10-4, face the Vikings Sunday at the Linc with a chance to clinch the NFC East title. Two wins and a Bears loss will give the Eagles a first-round bye.

• Link
• Report this comment

Have I mentioned I loves me some Michael Vick!

• Link
• Report this comment

Matt “Choke” Ryan

December 24th, 2010
1:50 pm
Wow,, that was goot one,,, I am the Copy and paste KING OF THE WORLD!!!

__________________________________________________

• Link
• Report this comment

When pot calls the kettle black, it seems truly silly…
ATL: 288-392-6 That’s .424… 3 more wins, and 10 more losses…
calling out
New Orleans: 285-382-5 That’s .427 by the way…

• Link
• Report this comment

JSS
Nobody said the Falcons have a rich winning tradition… Aints fans on the other hand act like winning championships is what they do,,,, year in and year out,,,,

• Link
• Report this comment

robertussen
I have never seen Tiger drink from hole-to-hole. Well not hole-to-hole on a golf course. I guess baseball isn’t a sport either. We play Beer Baseball/Softball and drink the whole time so I guess that makes the pro version not a sport too.

• Link
• Report this comment

How come nobody is talking to me, I DEMAND ATTENTION,, Time for another copy and paste job,,,

• Link
• Report this comment

I’ve been in the Federal pen,,, does that count

• Link
• Report this comment

Even a name stealer can’t crash my holiday joy today…

• Link
• Report this comment

And on that note,, I’m outta here,, Merry Christmas everybody! I must go tend to my tenderloin,,,
GO FALCONS!

• Link
• Report this comment

Enter your comments here

• Link
• Report this comment

No way the Flacons can win the Superbowel with all the fist round busts they are stuck paying. Add cheep shot artist Donta Robinson and this team is full of over paid under acheving talent. It will come back 2 hunt them. Mark my words.

• Link
• Report this comment

Roddy, please just keep your mouth shut and let your on-field play do the talking!

• Link
• Report this comment

1eyedjack@11:02am……..”football was invented as an outdoor sport”,
Yeah, and the feet were invented to walk, but the automobile was invented to give the feet a ride. Cold weather, rain, and snow sux.
A game is so much better, in perfect conditions.

• Link
• Report this comment

lol is that black dude in black n’ red on the left samuel l. jackson?

• Link
• Report this comment

and that was “snarky” idot just to be clear…

• Link
• Report this comment

I throw quick slants, so I don’t hurt my rotator cup.

• Link
• Report this comment

idot

December 24th, 2010
5:13 pm
Matt “choke” ryan…….Scrolled right on past your 1:43…….Why don’t you go to an Eagles blog and post that windbag entry, someone over there might actually read it.

_________________________________________-

Sorry I don’t make requests

• Link
• Report this comment