Sports bloggers and tweeting twits are reporting that the Eagles will hold a 3 p.m. press conference today to announce the release of long-time Eagle, Brian Westbrook. I’m sure this will cause civil unrest and potential rioting in many parts of Philadelphia. Westbrook is clearly on the decline but it seems this move by the Eagles (if true) may show a lesson not learned on their part from last year’s severing of ties with Brian Dawkins. In two days, two of the NFL’s most productive running backs from the previous decade have been cut by the only teams they’ve known. Westbrook joins LaDainian Tomlinson as overripe garbage set out by the curb by the teams they’ve helped to build. More on this later as facts take over from rumor.

This Sunday marks the return to Philly of former Eagles fan favorite, Brian Dawkins. When he decided to take the money and go to Denver, Eagles fans acted like their wives had just left them. Well for at least one day in December they’ll have their old lady back in town, except this time she’ll be playing for the other team. I guess Brian Dawkins’ return to face the Eagles is sort of like your wife leaving you for a richer guy and then offering to have sex with you a few months later. Except now she’s a man.

The bright side is that the thousands of commercialized zombies fans who felt slighted for having spent so much on their Dawkins #20 jerseys now have an occasion to wear them that seems almost appropriate. I suppose now that Dawkins will actually be on the field, the act of wearing a shirt that cost $100 with another man’s name on it won’t feel so gay weird.

The return that Eagles fans should be more interested in will be that of Brian Westbrook. After suffering what surely is irreparable brain damage, Westbrook is now fit to return to the act of exchanging his mental health and longevity for a fat ass paycheck. Nobody’s really missed Westbrook as the Eagles have won 5 in a row. The combination of LeSean McCoy and Leonard Weaver has proven more than adequate in handling the Eagles’ weekly rushing workload of 5-7 carries. With Dawkins’ aging body relegating him to run support and Westbrook back in the offensive backfield, the game-with-a-game melodrama could be worth watching. Go Brian.

As we know from the Brian Dawkins saga, the Philadelphia Eagles don’t have any problem letting employees go. According to espn.com the Eagles fired a stadiums operations employee, Dan Leone, of 6 years because he posted the following on his facebook page: “Dan is (expletive) devastated about Dawkins signing with Denver…Dam Eagles R Retarded.”

Apparently the Eagles fired Leone a few days later in the classiest of fashions–over the phone. Boy, this team really needs an HR department.

A lot is made of how crazy Eagles fans can be and I guess it would be hard to argue that point. But I’m not sure there aren’t fans of other teams that are just as passionate, irrational and myopic out there. With that said, the fingernails on the chalkboard that are Eagles fans need to get a sensical smackdown when it comes to the obsessive psychoanalysis of the team’s ownership. Since Brian Dawkins left, the angle from the fan base (for the most part) has been that Joe Banner et al hate them and that they’re eternally screwed because ownership and management refuse to do what’s required to win (i.e. spend money). Forget the fact that Brian Dawkins’ presence on next year’s team would certainly not be the lynchpin to the team’s winning it all; let’s just put the Eagles’ spending in comparison to other NFL teams and see what exactly it means to “want to win:”

Since the 2000 season, the Eagles have averaged 14th (14.7) on the list of most money spent on players’ salaries each season. During that stretch, the Super Bowl winners has averaged 14th (14.9) on the list as well. The Super Bowl runners-up during that time have averaged 10th on the list. In the 2004 season when they lost to New England, the Eagles were #2 on the list, the Patriots #24. Only once has the team that spent the most money on salaries won the Super Bowl during this time period (2006 Colts) and, interestingly enough, the Giants were dead last in 2007 when they won the Super Bowl. I’m not an actuary or statistician, but there doesn’t seem to be a strong correlation between spending on salaries and winning a Super Bowl (as you may notice, the Eagles have actually outspent the champions, on average, by a slight margin).

So if any of this is true, folks just need to pipe down. For one, the Eagles have been in the top half of the spending list since 2000. Granted, you can always hope your team “does more” or “wants” to win more badly but when it comes down to it, winning doesn’t seem to be expressed in terms of salaries paid. As Oscar Wilde said “the cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

Well, there you have it. Brian Dawkins’ heir apparent has inked a one-year deal with the Eagles. A former 2nd-round pick from Georgia, Jones has had a very solid career with the Browns. He’s had 14 interceptions in the past 3 years. Aside from sitting his entire rookie season with a knee injury, Jones has only missed 4 games in the past 4 years (2008). Seems like a pretty solid addition, I’m just not sure yet what to make of the one-year deal. More on that later when the details become available.

Each week, we’re gonna open it up to you guys to submit a column, and we’ll post the best one on Friday. Just send us an email with your name and a pic. This week our first submission is by Vaughn (left), who talks about how the Dawkins PR fiasco might have prevented the Eagles front office from signing Shawn Springs, who instead signed with the Patriots.

The Eagles brought free agent DB Shawn Springs to town Wednesday and he left without signing a contract. Nothing too unusual there, except for the fact that the Eagles pretty much never bring free agents to town unless a deal is already more or less in place.

Can anyone enlighten me by pointing out the last time a free agent made a publicized visit to the Novacare Complex that did not end with a smiling press conference?

Springs was a high-profile 1st round draft pick by the Seahawks back in the day, but his early success in the league did not last and he became somewhat of a journeyman. Healthy the last few years, he has been a very productive third corner who can start in a pinch and while he does not have the athletic explosiveness of his youth (who among us does?) he has good size to get physical with the league’s bigger receivers, and certainly has acquired some veteran know-how by age 32.

The Eagles acknowledged they planned to use him at safety more than at corner. Seems like good depth we could use, right?

So what happened?

Read the rest of this entry »

Just as FEMA and the National Guard were about to arrive and put out the Brian Dawkins fire, the Eagles go and pour some gasoline on it. According to philly.com, Greg Lewis has been traded to the Patriots for a 5th round pick in this year’s draft.

This is one of those kumbaya trades–the Eagles get rid of a bum, his salary and get a draft pick. The Patriots get more raw material for the DNA factory they have behind Gillette Stadium where they make Pro Bowl WRs out of old body parts and chin straps.

In other news about boobs, withleather.com has a good piece about Pat Burrell’s pornstar ex-girlfriend who (among other things) calls the King of Rittenhouse Square “immature.”

No, no they didn’t, of course. But I’m sitting here trying to think of something comparable in devestating intensity to the Eagles community if a Dallas Cowboy were to replace Moses in the Eagles secondary. But I can’t. The scope of the fallout would be too big, too deliciously ironic and too painful for me to wrap my mind around. So I’m just going to sit here in my rocking chair and smoke my corn cob pipe. And smile thinking about what the world would look like upside down.

I love being here in Philadelphia. Philly.com reports on Shawn Springs’ visit to Philadelphia today. Aware, clearly, that he is being considered for a position that no player will be adequately able to fill to fans’ satisfaction, Springs said all the right things: “He’s (Dawkins) a guy that will never, ever be replaced in Philly…He’s a great guy.” Aaron Rodgers probably had an easier time replacing Brett Favre  than Dawkins’ replacement will. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mitch Williams’ head was sitting in a basket outside the hotel room of the next safety to visit Philly.

I’ll link to the comments thread on gcobb.com so you can see the balanced opinions on this topic. They could bring in Ronnie Lott, Jack Tatum, Usain Bolt or Barack Obama–wouldn’t matter. If they’re smart, Joe Banner and Andy Reid will lobby the NFL to eliminate the free safety position and just roll with 10 defensive players. It’s kind of like trying to replace John Lennon.

Brian Dawkins spoke with 950 AM this morning, and here’s an excerpt of what he said:  “I would just say that they opened my eyes right away that this was a business deal that this wasn’t about me being here, who I am to the team to my teammates and what I’m continuing to do. It was about my age and a business decision and that really hurt…At the end of the day you’re a 36-year-old safety.”

Geez, guys, thanks for the company watch and the kick on the ass! I listened to Jeremiah Trotter on WIP this morning talk about how he wished the Eagles had just told him they were no longer interested in him (before he went to the Redskins) instead of running off a list of his weaknesses and then giving him a humiliating offer. Of course doing that would defy the “Gold Standard” the Eagles have set and the rest of the league so desperately wants to follow.