rooting for Goliath

I just know that I for one, don't give two craps or expect a congratulations from the rest of the league. A Super Bowl win for the Skins is for me and for fans of the Skins only. Other team's fans will give you excuses all day, and it doesn't make me proud when being able to talk shit to opposing team's fans. It gives me pride to be able to recount the Super Bowl win with other Skins fans.

I just know that I for one, don't give two craps or expect a congratulations from the rest of the league. A Super Bowl win for the Skins is for me and for fans of the Skins only. Other team's fans will give you excuses all day, and it doesn't make me proud when being able to talk shit to opposing team's fans. It gives me pride to be able to recount the Super Bowl win with other Skins fans.

Malcom's dead-on. Skins' fans are going to get it either way this season. If we do win it all, it will become in the eyes of other fans "the year the Redskins bought the Super Bowl". If we fall short, we'll be ridiculed for "The Deion Experiment pt. 2". Therefore all these fans & so-called "expert analysts" opinions mean squat to me.

They resigned Runyan which helps, but they're still going to be starting Artis Hicks, Hank Fraley, and Shawn Andrews in the interior of the line. That's terrible, considering how much cap room they have.


So why did they draft Shawn Andrews? So they could burn a top 20 pick on a guy with a weight problem, and then play him out of position because they don't need to run the ball anyway? He's a great interior pass blocker, because he doesn't need the quickness to block ends, but he's next to useless in the finesse run game (the kind they use).

Although I believe that if a team has the ability to run the ball, the defense will respect it even if they choose not to run, the Eagles DON'T have the ability to run consistently. They have to throw a high percentage of the time, and defenses know that.

Donovan McNabb, meet Andre Carter, Michael Strahan, and Demarcus Ware. You'll be seeing a lot of them this year. It's gonna be interesting to see how the guy responds to consistent pressure, something he's never had to face in his career.

So why did they draft Shawn Andrews? So they could burn a top 20 pick on a guy with a weight problem, and then play him out of position because they don't need to run the ball anyway? He's a great interior pass blocker, because he doesn't need the quickness to block ends, but he's next to useless in the finesse run game (the kind they use).

Although I believe that if a team has the ability to run the ball, the defense will respect it even if they choose not to run, the Eagles DON'T have the ability to run consistently. They have to throw a high percentage of the time, and defenses know that.

Donovan McNabb, meet Andre Carter, Michael Strahan, and Demarcus Ware. You'll be seeing a lot of them this year. It's gonna be interesting to see how the guy responds to consistent pressure, something he's never had to face in his career.

Yeah I'd consider Andrews an average guard at this point in his career. Fraley is on the downside and Hicks just sucks. Overall it's a rough interior there. They could have used Hutchinson and Bentley.

Tra Thomas will be back healthy this year, and Runyan is back in the fold. Their tackles are definitely the strength of the line, so I think DEs aren't at the forefront of their concerns. Tra Thomas was hurt last year, that's why McNabb got pummelled so bad.

The Eagles can go pass happy when they have the protection and they have receivers who can get open and make plays (TO). But they don't have the receivers this year. The tackles are back, so pass protection should get better. But without good receivers, they're going to need to run the ball effectively at times. That interior line still isn't set up for it. They'll be better on offense this year than last, but I still see a pretty average offense, even with McNabb healthy.

Eagles fans are very frustrated because they know their team is not what it once was, and yet the team isn't willing to pay for upgrades despite ample cap room. I'd be very frustrated with that too. It shows arrogance on the part of Eagles' management, they seem to be convinced that what they have on hand is good enough, and that they don't have to spend the extra money to compete. It's like they think a guard (Hutchinson) isn't worth $49 million a year. My response to that is WHO CARES WHAT IT COSTS WHEN YOU HAVE $25 MILLION IN CAP ROOM. And a lot of Eagles fans feel the same way.

Your take on the Eagles sounds like its right on the money to me with the exception of your final point about Hutchinson.

Let's say that X represents the team's payroll limit determined by the salary cap. If you overpay your roster by ten per-cent overall, you end up with a roster with a value of .9X.

If instead, you bargain-hunt for personnel and underpay your roster by ten per-cent overall, you end up with a roster with a value of 1.1X.

I think bargain hunting is the key to building the best roster in this salary cap era. Hutchinson isn't a bargain.

On the other hand, a policy of being continually under the cap doesn't cut it either.

I honestly would rather have a superbowl than be the cheap loser in the NFL that everybody likes. I honestly would rather have an owner that spends all his money on the team rather than one that tries to horde it.

The Yankees spend lots of money and win they still have fans and the redskins spend lots of money and win some of the time but we still have fans.

While I do think there is a lot of anti-redskins sentiment out there I don't think it is as bad as we think. And even if it is so what, we are doing what we need to do to win and that is most important.

Your take on the Eagles sounds like its right on the money to me with the exception of your final point about Hutchinson.

Let's say that X represents the team's payroll limit determined by the salary cap. If you overpay your roster by ten per-cent overall, you end up with a roster with a value of .9X.

If instead, you bargain-hunt for personnel and underpay your roster by ten per-cent overall, you end up with a roster with a value of 1.1X.

I think bargain hunting is the key to building the best roster in this salary cap era. Hutchinson isn't a bargain.

But if you don't pay, like the eagles, you can have a very high roster value, and a not so talented roster. Which is what the eagles lack of talent thread was all about.

But if you don't pay, like the eagles, you can have a very high roster value, and a not so talented roster. Which is what the eagles lack of talent thread was all about.

I added a line to the post you quoted before I saw yours. Naturally, to maximize the team's roster value, the money has to be spent up to the limit.

Your take on the Eagles sounds like its right on the money to me with the exception of your final point about Hutchinson.

Let's say that X represents the team's payroll limit determined by the salary cap. If you overpay your roster by ten per-cent overall, you end up with a roster with a value of .9X.

If instead, you bargain-hunt for personnel and underpay your roster by ten per-cent overall, you end up with a roster with a value of 1.1X.

I think bargain hunting is the key to building the best roster in this salary cap era. Hutchinson isn't a bargain.

On the other hand, a policy of being continually under the cap doesn't cut it either.

It's this last sentence that is the key here. The 1.1x and 0.9x makes the assumption that x = the salary cap limit. You're applying a salary constraint to a team that always has capacity, the Eagles don't ever take it up to that limit.

When ample salary capacity exists in your structure, there is no reason why you shouldn't go get the best player possible. Cost should not be an issue for you, you're not up against the cap constraint. So for the Eagles, whether Hutchinson is a bargain or not should not be an issue.

If we're talking about a team up against the salary cap, then player value relative to price has to enter the equation. But money should not be an object in this situation, yet the Eagles refuse to spend it, and it's easy to see why that would be frustrating.

What success? The only thing Philly cares about is finally getting a championship again.

Still, they've had more to cheer about than the fans of 27 or 28 other teams in recent years. That's the success I was referring to.