Stewart Bradley, Philadelphia Eagle

[Seabiscuit36]

ive been drinking since 1pm so i'm dead serious

[ice grillin you]

youre ahead of me by two hrs....so i will defer to the man from elkton

[Seabiscuit36]

Woof woof...

Hey i can dream that today was the beginning of a beautiful thing with Gocong excelling. 

[SunMo]

signed a 4 year deal today

[Wingspan]

He just signed an 8 year extension.

[SD_Eagle5]

Joy

[phattymatty]

eagles just exercised bradley's option for year 8.

[Seabiscuit36]

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/20080909_Les_Bowen__Further_Review__Eagles_linebacker_Bradley_manages_speedy_defense.html

posted on Tue, Sep. 9, 2008


Les Bowen: Further Review: Eagles linebacker Bradley manages speedy defense
By Les Bowen
Philadelphia Daily News

Daily News Sports Columnist

STEWART BRADLEY, the Eagles' new middle linebacker, played every snap Sunday. The coaches' film review credited him with nine solo tackles, four assists, a sack, a tackle for a loss, and two pass breakups.
Lots of stuff went well for the Eagles in a 38-3 thrashing of the Rams, but Bradley's play in the middle might have been the most reassuring thing defensive coordinator Jim Johnson saw.

"I thought he did a great job handling the defense," Johnson said the day after his first regular-season experience with the NFL's new defensive-signal helmet-transmitter system. Bradley was connected with Johnson the whole game, until the system stopped working on the Rams' final drive, when it hardly mattered. "He was very productive, you know? He had a good day ... He was very active."

As you've read here before, at 6-4, 255, Bradley offers Jeremiah Trotteresque size, along with quickness that Trot's aching knees didn't allow him to match his last few years here. Last year's third-round draft choice from Nebraska would seem to have almost everything but experience. Of course, we don't know yet if he has Trotter's extraordinary heart.

Johnson doesn't want to make any extravagant claims for his defense after one game, but the opener reinforced something he has been thinking since minicamps.

"It seems like to me we're a lot quicker than we have been," he said. "I just think I see more speed out there, in the secondary and in the linebackers. That's the biggest thing I see, a lot more speed."

Bradley called the game "a benchmark - you saw what we were capable of on defense."

He is a confident fellow, but he wanted to reassure Johnson that the defensive adjustments were in good hands.

"That's the No. 1 guy I've got to keep happy, with running the defense," Bradley said yesterday. With Bradley taking the middle, Omar Gaither has moved to the weakside. Chris Gocong remains the strongside starter.

"I think we [linebackers] played downhill, we played pretty fast," Bradley said. "[The Rams] shift a lot, so that puts stress on you to be in the right spot at the beginning of the play."

Bradley said playing every snap wasn't that big a deal - the Rams ran just 45 plays.


Developing story lines

* Andy Reid confirmed that he wants to use defensive tackle Dan Klecko (who managed one of the Birds' four sacks Sunday) at least a little as a goal-line fullback, as he did on the 1-yard TD run by Tony Hunt. When the Eagles tried Klecko as a fulltime fullback, last spring, they were disappointed with his open-field pass-receiving prowess, but he can knock somebody down just fine, in close quarters.
* Jim Johnson said it was too early to talk about how he plans to defend Terrell Owens. In last year's second meeting, Johnson put Lito Sheppard on Owens, with incredible results - T.O. caught two passes for 37 yards in a 10-6 Eagles victory. "They're moving T.O. around a little bit more than last year," was all Johnson would venture yesterday.

* The upcoming game will be the Eagles' final visit to Texas Stadium, unless they go there for a playoff game. Dallas moves into its new home next season.

* The breakdown on the corner rotation: Jim Johnson said Asante Samuel was on for 41 plays against the Rams, Sheldon Brown 34 and Lito Sheppard 31.

* Andy Reid made an interesting admission about the Birds' 2007 red-zone woes: It wasn't just that they didn't have a healthy L.J. Smith most of the year. Reid said when he and the coaching staff reviewed the tape of the season, they decided they could have done more with the tight ends than they had, particularly Brent Celek, who was then a rookie. "We didn't use that position enough," Reid said. If the opener is any indication, that won't be the case this year. Smith caught five passes for 39 yards and a touchdown against the Rams, despite a couple of drops. Celek caught two more passes, for 15 yards, in a very limited role.

* This DeSean Jackson kid is a godsend to the legions of people who have old Koy Detmer jerseys hanging in their closets. All you need is a new name strip across the back. You say you don't have an old Koy Detmer jersey? Oh, well. The thing is, Detmer and Jackson aren't built all that differently. Yet somehow, they don't resemble one another when running.


Obscure stat

The Rams possessed the ball 11 times Sunday. They punted 10 times and kicked one field goal, en route to compiling 166 net yards, 77 of them coming on passes to tight end Randy McMichael, who had five receptions.

Who knew?

That the Eagles could gain 414 passing yards, and get 413 of them from receivers not named Brian Westbrook?

Extra point

Usually, when Andy Reid responds to a question by saying he's "not going to get into all that," I find it frustrating. Yesterday, I was relieved.
The Eagles' next game is at Dallas, and the question was about whether Reid felt he could have done anything differently in the handling of the T.O. situation.

Reid reacted to being asked this better than I would have, which is to say he didn't yell "AIIIEEEE!!" and run out of the NovaCare auditorium waving his arms.

"He's doing great right now," Reid said of Terrell Owens, after declining to serve up one more helping of rehash. "He's happy and he's playing good football, and that's all right."

Here's what I was thinking:

It was 3 FREAKING YEARS AGO.

The Eagles have played the Cowboys TWICE A YEAR ever since. Do we have to do this every time they play? Forever?

Note to editors: Insert photo of long-dead horse being flogged here.

If we're going to talk about that this week, how about we chew over the draft-day booing of Donovan McNabb in depth one more time? Didn't people here once throw snowballs at Santa or something? I heard that somewhere. Let's discuss!

[General_Failure]

Farg him, I'm getting a Koy Detmer jersey and not changing the name on it.

[shorebird]

If Bradley keeps playing like he did Sunday, I won't get to see much of Joe Mays. Which, really, I don't mind all too much.

[reese125]

Stewart Singletary

[stalker]

Another homerun! Boy you sure are visionary. Dick.

words cant describe how bad this pick and this draft are

[rjs246]

Wow. Someone's got a hardon.

[DH]

Im starting to think stalker is an IGY clone...

dude, just go away.

[stalker]

I'm just sayin........