CHIRPING BIRDS

Assessing the Eagles after the final pre-season game...

* The Eagles lost a meaningless contest to the new York Jets, 16-10. None of the starters played, although the idiot Jets played their first team a few series.

The only purpose last night was battles between players to make the roster before final cuts by Saturday at 4 p.m. There is competition at running back, defensive line and in the secondary.

The game was predictably boring and pointless. The league and players need to agreed to lessen the pre-season by two games and add a pair of games to the regular season. These games mean little yet teams charge fans for tickets, parking, concessions, etc. Season ticket holders usually give their tickets away to fans who otherwise can't attend regular season game. That's nice but unless fans stop going to these mundane games, and refuse to be blackmailed into paying for parking and concessions, things won't change.

* The situation with back-up quarterback Nick Foles is ridiculous. Apparently Foles worked out before last night's game, felt "great" and had an awesome work-out, per coach Pederson, yet did not play.

I'll trust the coach and front office when they sy that Foles will be ready to play, if needed, next Sunday at Washington. I still think it was stupid to sign a guy who just last year had similar issues with his throwing elbow. Not only has Foles not played a single down in the pre-season, he often could not practice and was seen standing on the side during work-outs.


Too late to find a replacement. And I don't want the Birds to keep terrible Mike McGloin. He's not the future, even as a back-up.

It's true- if Carson Wentz goes down for an extended length of time, it won't matter who is filling in. Still, even for a few plays a game,if Wentz gets his bell rung and needs a breather, or even one or two games if he gets nicked up- every team needs a capable back-up who can step in and win a game.

Hopefully this will all be a mute point once the season starts next week. Hopefully Wentz stays healthy and Foles is healthy and can fill in seamlessly.



* RB Darnell Pumphrey didn't show much last night, which makes his overall pre-season awful. Corey Clement needs to be kept instead. What we arr talking about is a back-up rusher, so I'm not that concerned.

I saw Pumphry play at San Diego State during his senior year with the Aztecs. He was the NCAA all-time leading rusher, with over 6,000 yards gained. The Eagles also planned to use him out of the slot, and as a punt returner, ala Darren Sproles.

But Pumphrey simply hasn't shown anything. I get it that he would be difficult to cut, being a 4th round pick last spring. In fact, the Eagles traded up in the draft to get Pumphrey ( when they probably should've traded up to snatch running back Delvin Cook, who was selected by Minnesota.

Unless Howie Rossman is honest enough to admit another draft mistake, I don't see the Birds cutting Pumphrey, perhaps stashing him away with some sort of mysterious injury and letting him develop for a year on the practice squad.

* The eagles are actually a road favorite next Sunday in Washington, a 1 1/2 point favorite over the  Redskins. Why, I'm not sure. Vegas is pretty smart. Washington has dominated Philly recently. And it's never easy to win a division game on the road. Plus being an underdog in your home and season opener may serve to motivate the 'Skins.

Hopefully the Eagles win the game, but if the line stays as is, betting on Washington with 1 1/2 points wouldn't be a bad play.

Next week we will look at the line for opening week in the NFL.We will predict our division, play-off and Super Bowl teams, check out the season over/under lines for each team, and focus on the Week 1 lines, as I make my Last fan Standing pick and football pool picks against the line, so keep on reading the blog!