Is Owens that good or the new Eagles CB's that bad?

[skinsfanthru&thru]

isn't garcia leaving san fran with some stats better than montana and young? i know he owns several of that franchises single season records. i'd take garcia as the starting qb over half of the other starting qbs in the league right now. and while i agree springs is not champ, you can't really compare two different players in two different defensive schemes and their performance against a common opponent. in the second game that year against seattle, i think TO had 5 catches for only 45 yards.

now back to the original thread question, i think its a combination of both to's talent and the phili cb's lack there of. they performed decently last year while taylor and vincent were out with injuries, which kinda worked in phili's favor for them to get their young cbs some starting expirience, but they didn't show me anything that warrented the eagles letting both of their starting cbs go. and the loss of emmons really hasn't gotten enough press but that is gonna hurt their already thin lb group.

[joethiesmanfan]

Okay, i watch football not stats. Garcia looks like a little kid getting the crap knocked out of him all the time.. interception prone everytime he gets hit i cringe he doesnot belong in the NFL. If you think springs is gonna stop T.O. then you will be disappointed we will beat the Eagles because of midseason and halftime adjustments. i don't see springs having a comeback year after 3 down years. Lito sheppard and Brown were steals in the draft. Taylor and vincent didnt play much last year. so who were the corner on the nfc east champs last year? the two they have right now. garcia is shaky and he ahd a good year or two like kurt warner but last year was obvious he sucked.

[skinsfanthru&thru]

Originally Posted by joethiesmanfan

Okay, i watch football not stats. Garcia looks like a little kid getting the crap knocked out of him all the time.. interception prone everytime he gets hit i cringe he doesnot belong in the NFL. If you think springs is gonna stop T.O. then you will be disappointed we will beat the Eagles because of midseason and halftime adjustments. i don't see springs having a comeback year after 3 down years. Lito sheppard and Brown were steals in the draft. Taylor and vincent didnt play much last year. so who were the corner on the nfc east champs last year? the two they have right now. garcia is shaky and he ahd a good year or two like kurt warner but last year was obvious he sucked.

i don't know what football u watch then cuz more often than not when i saw garcia played he did pretty darn well for only having one decent wr and a solid rb. he has more than a 2 to 1 ratio of tds to ints for his career and i'm sorry if a 49er qb other than montana or young has not just any, but most of the single season records, he was doing something right. and if completing 57.4% of your passes for 2704 yards, 18tds/13 ints and running for 325 yards and 7 tds on 54 carries in only 13 games, while playing with a freaking bulging disc in his back, is somehow bad, what the heck would he have to do to be good then? is it just because he's short or something?

and with their starting cbs out and the backup "steals" in, the eagles went from 7th in the league against the pass in 2002 to 15th last year and from 4th in overall defense in 2002 to 20th last year. i for one hope they keep up with this type of "improvement."

[joethiesmanfan]

P.S. if garcia played within his limitations he would be in the grey cup.

[SmootSmack]

We seem to really be straying away from the initial question on the thread.

As good as Owens is, I'm not sold at all on the Eagles CB's. That being said however, going up against Owens every day in practice can only make them better.

[joethiesmanfan]

winning percentage, superbowls, playoff victories, that's what i judge the venerable joe thiesman on and Garcia he dont compare to Young or Montana he does not have the ability. point blank Rattay is better than him and who is Rattay.

[skinsfanthru&thru]

Originally Posted by smootsmack

As good as Owens is, I'm not sold at all on the Eagles CB's. That being said however, going up against Owens every day in practice can only make them better.

or to want to quit, lol

[]<ing]

Personally, I think that the Eagles front office deserves a HELL of a lot of respect. I'm not convinced that losing ANYONE from that team on one particular year will hurt them much (this year Emmons). Isn't that what they said about losing Trotter, and then Hugh Douglas?


The big questions to me going into this year are:

1) Will TO be able to be the catalyst for their offense, (and can McNabb be the kind of QB everyone is already giving him credit for being)?

2) Can Kearse get be "the freak" again, after being plagued by injuries?

3) Has the REST of the NFC E done enough to improve?

[]<ing]

Originally Posted by ]<ing

3) Has the REST of the NFC E done enough to improve?

...and in regards to that question, I'd say:

Dallas -- no
New York -- no
Washington -- In Gibbs I Trust

[joecrisp]

Originally Posted by JoeRedskin

I think Springs matches up against TO pretty well. Even if TO gets the better of him in some of their battles, I don't see TO being a "playmaker" against Springs. (Side notes: For JoeCrisp - How did Springs look in our minicamp? For everyone - Do you think Springs can get back to being a "shutdown corner" in the league?)

To answer your question, JoeRedskin (sorry it took so long!), Springs looked a little rusty at minicamp, but I don't think it was anything that a little more time back in the saddle won't help. He admitted he needs to get his legs back to playing condition, after resting them through the first minicamp to rehabilitate from foot and knee injuries he sustained during the 2003 season. In last weekend's minicamp, he seemed just a tad slow to react and accelerate to the ball. But I think that is primarily a function of his inactivity-- once he gets into the groove, and gets his conditioning where it needs to be, he should be fine.

He certainly doesn't lack for confidence. He has big plans for this season, and wants to make people forget Champ Bailey. I don't know if he reclaim that kind of Pro Bowl form, and return to being a "shutdown corner"-- but he may not need to. The addition of Sean Taylor is going to help out that secondary tremendously, as well as the creative defensive schemes of Gregg Williams-- which will feature lots of nickel, dime and quarter packages to put more speed on the field and enhance the pass rush. I don't think Springs' skills or athleticism are the problem here-- he just needs to get healthy and stay healthy. Obviously, that's a pretty tall order, considering his track record over the past few years. But if he can maintain some semblance of health and stay on the field, the Skins secondary will be fine.

As far as how all of this relates to TO, let me first address the slam put on Springs by joetheismannfan. JTF, you rely a lot upon "The Sharpie game" as your primary evidence that "Springs is garbage", citing Owens' 84 yards and 2 TDs in that game. However, you also repeatedly point out what a stud Owens is as well. Wouldn't it logically follow that if Owens is such a stud receiver, he is inevitably going to have big games against the league's top cornerbacks? That would seem to be the case.

And before we go tossing Springs into the garbage pail, let's take a look at the situation in Seattle over the past two years. Seattle has had no pass rush to speak of-- in 2002, they had not a single defensive player among the top 41 sackers in the league that season. John Randle led the team that season with 7 sacks-- tied for 20th in the NFC. It didn't get much better in 2003, either. Chike Okeafor led the team with 8 sacks, which tied him for 21st in the league. So if you thought Champ Bailey had it bad with the Redskins' anemic pass rush the past couple of years, Springs had it just as bad-- if not worse. Couple that with Springs' injury problems, and it's no wonder he's been burned a few times. Plus, giving up 84 yards and 2 TDs isn't an indication that a cornerback's career is over. As others have pointed out, Champ Bailey gave up considerable yardage and TDs to Amani Toomer over the past few years. Every corner has his nemesis, and Springs' seems to be Owens.

I expect Springs will get some help this year with TO, thanks to Sean Taylor and the additional DBs Williams will employ. Size-wise, Springs should be able to handle TO better than Smoot could, and Springs has the advantage of having played against Owens multiple times.