SI.com: Pre Season Rankings - Eagles #5

[RezRob]

SI is so credible they're network cnnsi went under while Foxsports and ESPN/news/classic/2/8 the ocho are still on TV. SI is probably only still in business because of the swimsuit issue. Peter King should injest Merrill Hoge and then shoot himself in the face IMHO.

[henchmanUK]

Peter King should injest Merrill Hoge and then shoot himself in the face IMHO.

[JTrotter Fan]

Gayness!!  

Yeah, just like T.O.!

I'm sorry...how many wins has your pathetic team picked up since the year 2000?  What's that?  Huh?  Oh...not very many.  Oh, so the Cowboys get more wins than the Skins?  Who'd have thunk it.  Idiot.

[Dillen]

Instead of seeing Ricky Midget Jr. jersey-popping and shoving Thrash and Pinky to the ground...we're going to see TO shoving him to the ground and then scoring 3 TDs.

Or Reggie Brown, since Manning's now their nickle CB

[Phanatic]

Gayness!!  

Yeah, just like T.O.!

hk, quick question, do you like movies with gladiators?

Maybe he's been to a Turkish prison.

[Eagles 3x]

Ok, I'm a little more confused than normal. How in the hell does Doc Z look at that schedule and guesstimate that there are six games that the Eagles will lose?? Which six games can he possibly be trying to predict losses for?  The guy is farking nuts!

[PhillyGirl]

[MURP]

good.  no way in hell I want SI putting the Eagles on the cover

[SunMo]

did they pick the patriots last year?

[PhillyGirl]

Fox predictions last year

Peter Kingp

[SunMo]

i think these guys pick teams other than the Pats and Eagles because they want to distinguish themselves by making the "sleeper" pick.  It's easy to pick the Eagles or Pats but they want people to pay attention to them.

[phattymatty]

Dr. Z is so smart.  Check out the bold.

Tricks behind the picks
The somewhat-fuzzy logic behind my '05 predictions
Posted: Thursday September 1, 2005 11:52AM; Updated: Thursday September 1, 2005 12:42PM


Last year I provided capsule analyses of the teams I listed in my forecast in Sports Illustrated's preseason NFL Issue. This year I'm doing the same. See, some things never change. Except that I'm providing the projected record in parens (like this), which is an attempt to further illuminate the darkness. An asterisk denotes ... I'll bet you've already guessed it ... a wild-card team.

NFC EAST
1. EAGLES (10-6)

In 2004 I predicted Terrell Owens would cause big problems early in the season. I missed it by about 10 months. Now I'm not sure. He might even stay quiet for the better part of the campaign, after Andy Reid gave him his "here's the way it's gonna be" lecture. They wouldn't have made the Super Bowl without T.O. Now all the psych majors are saying there's no way they can make it with him. Every other department is fairly solid, especially that terrific secondary, with a great coordinator to get them in the best schemes. But should T.O. go in the tank, the Iggles will be left with one of the weaker secondaries in the league. Thus, I take the mid-ground and cop out at 10-6.

2. COWBOYS (10-6*)

In 2004 Vinny Testaverde was sacked 34 times. That's a good statistic, because the number is right around the league average and Vinny, as we know, was a lot slower than the average quarterback. Can the line set up a wall for Drew Bledsoe, who likes to hold the ball? I think so, and that, of course, is the issue, because the Cowboys' defense will be active and opportunistic and will force turnovers.

3. GIANTS (5-11)

I don't really think they're this bad, just as I don't think the taterskins are as bad as my 4-12 for them indicates. What happens, and I've already explained this a few times, is that I get the schedule out and play it out, game by game, and whatever comes up ... well, that's what I go with, unless it looks too ridiculous, then I adjust it by a game or so. I'm afraid I don't think Eli Manning is there yet. I just can't see New York beating a good team on the road under Eli, actually any team on the road, except for maybe the Niners. If the O-line were great, well then OK, maybe Eli would come around faster than we think. But it's just average.

4. taterskinS (4-12)

I know this is a vicious prediction, and since Washington has some of the most dedicated e-mailers in the land, I expect to hear from an army of them next week, just as I did last year when I picked the Skins ... what ... 5-11 or something like that? GreggWilliams' defense shouldn't let this happen, but it was good last year, too, and so what? I think the Patrick Ramsey-Mark Brunell-Jason Campbell merry-go-round is a bad situation and the sign of a deeper problem -- namely that this team doesn't quite know what it's doing.

[General_Failure]

TO was on defense last year?

[rjs246]

Urge to stab rising.

[SunMo]

phatty, it's quite obvious how losing TO makes the secondary weaker, what's so strange about that?