Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha (24) tackles Buffalo wide receiver Brad Smith during Sunday’s game in which the Bills captured a 31-24 victory. Considered by some to be the front runners in the NFC, the Eagles fell to 1-4. / US Presswire

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By Jay_King

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Oct 11, 2011 – After a fourth loss in five games, the Philadelphia Eagles have understandably plummeted in Week 6 NFL Power Rankings around the internet, and No. 21 seems to be Philadelphia’s consensus ranking.

Fox Sports was first to rank Philadelphia 21st, comparing the Eagles to a train wreck. 

The Eagles are like witnessing a train wreck; while it is hard to watch, you just can’t seem to pull your eyes from it. They are up and down the field, but keep turning over the ball in the scoring zones. Defensively, they played hard but still can’t seem to tie the front and back ends together, and have way too many missed tackles. Either one will get you beat.    

CBS Sports also gave the Eagles the 21st spot, wondering whether Andy Reid is on the hot seat.

Is Andy Reid in trouble? You have to ask the question. The offensive line is getting Mike Vick killed.

ESPN afforded Philadelphia the 21st spot, as well, discussing the discrepancy between Philadelphia’s talent and performance.

I mean, I’ve seen four of their five games in person. They have plenty of athletic talent, but they just don’t play the game of football especially well. And I really think that’s going to hold them back. John Clayton still has them up at 18, which inflates this ranking a bit. But right now they’re down there in the bottom third, and they’ve earned their way there. I’ll be interested to see their ranking next week. If they play well and by some miracle win in Washington, I wonder if the voters will bump them way up thinking “they’re back.” And if they lose and fall to 1-5, they’ll have to be down right there at the bottom with the other absolute worst teams in the league. No matter how much athletic talent they have.    

The Eagles resume play Sunday against Washington in a “must-win” game.

For more Eagles coverage, visit our team page, or our blog Bleeding Green Nation. Check out our full power rankings here.

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Nick Barnett and the Buffalo Bills face the Philadelphia Eagles today in Orchard Park. / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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By Jason Catania

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Game: Philadelphia Eagles (1-3) at Buffalo Bills (3-1)

Date: Sunday, October 9

Time: 1:00 PM EST

Game of the Week Status

It’s now or never for a Philadelphia Eagles team that has lost three straight despite being a preseason favorite with Super Bowl hopes, while a plucky Buffalo Bills team is licking its chops at the chance to exploit a vulnerable defense after an upset loss last time out.

Previous Week

At home. Ahead 23-3 midway through the third quarter. And facing a West Coast team that had to travel all the way across the country. Despite all that, the Eagles still found a way to choke last week against the San Francisco 49ers, who scored the game’s final 21 points to win 24-23.

While QB Michael Vick had a field day, throwing for a career-high 416 yards and 2 scores, the Eagles “defense” made Niners signal-caller Alex Smith, who completed 63.6% of his passes for 291 yards and a pair of TDs, look like Joe Montana.

Meanwhile, Philly’s run D was gashed for 127 yards on just 15 carries (8.5 yards per) by RB Frank Gore. No sugarcoating: It was a devastating – and revealing – loss for a team that needs to get its act together. Fast.

The Bills, though, had their own version of a disappointing defeat, albeit not quite as drastic. After jumping out to a 17-3 halftime lead, Buffalo allowed the – gasp – Cincinnati Bengals to tie the game at 20 with just over four minutes remaining.

On the ensuing drive, the Bills offense stalled in its own territory, and then the defense folded over as Bengals rookie QB Andy Dalton marched his squad 56 yards in under two minutes before Mike Nugent kicked a 43-yard field goal to win the game, 23-20, with no time left on the clock. Following three straight wins to kick off the season, including two consecutive crazy comebacks, the Bills fell into the “let-down game” trap in losing for the first time.

What To Expect

As Vick said earlier this week, “The dream team thing is over.”

If the Eagles, already alone in last place in the NFC East, are going to avoid falling further behind in the division, they’re going to need to come up with their best defensive showing so far this year.

Through four games, Philly is allowing 139.5 yards on the ground, third-worst in all of football. Problem is, with stud DE Trent Cole out with a calf injury and fellow ends Juqua Parker and Darryl Tapp less than 100 percent, the line is nowhere near full strength. Same goes for the O-line, too, with left tackle Jason Peters (hamstring) a likely no-go, meaning an already-banged up Vick could be in trouble.

On the plus side, though, Vick needs just 71 more rush yards to surpass former Eagle Randall Cunningham as the league’s career leader among quarterbacks, a mark he could reach, considering how much he may be running for his life. And it’s not like Buffalo’s defense, which is surrendering 407 yards per game, sixth-worst in the NFL, has done much to get in their opponent’s way so far.

There is, though, the matter of how much damage the surprising Bills offense, which ranks fourth-best at 33.3 points per game and fifth-best with 137 rush yards per, will do.

Given the Eagles’ defensive issues when it comes to stopping the run, expect Buffalo to fully exploit that weakness, by keeping RB Fred Jackson – averaging 5.8 yards per carry with four TDs – busy out of the backfield. On the passing side, after failing to hit the 200-yard mark or throw a TD for the first time in 2011, QB Ryan Fitzpatrick could again have some trouble because his top target, WR Stevie Johnson (team-bests of 24 catches and 314 yards), will be blanketed by Nnamdi Asomugha, one of the top cornerbacks in the NFL.

But if Fitzpatrick can make good use of his other options, like emerging WR David Nelson (22 receptions, 251 yards) and red zone threat TE Scott Chandler (team-best 4 TDs), the Bills could make as much hay through the air as they do on the ground. In that case, Buffalo might just prolong Philly’s nightmare.

LeSean McCoy (25) will have his work cut out for him today as the 49ers have not allowed an opposing running back to run for more than 100 yards in 25 straight games. / AP

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Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick says he’s ready to play against the New York Giants on Sunday, a week after sustaining a concussion while playing the Falcons last Sunday in Atlanta.

Vick missed practice on Wednesday but was checked out by a neurosurgeon and allowed to resume practice and playing.  

According to Eagles coach Andy Reid, Vick has shown no ill effects of the concussion in the ensuing practice sessions.

“I’ll tell you, he’s been sharp,” he said, according to Associated Press. “That’s the best way I can sum it up. He’s done a very nice job in managing everything. He’s done good.”

Seven days is probably a decent period of healing time. In fact, a 2003 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggested that college football players may need seven days to recover from the effects of a concussion

Nonetheless, Vick should probably remain cautious. Concussions may be a relatively common occurrence for athletes in high-impact sports like football, but they’re no joke. A 2000 study published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine found that football players with a concussion are three times more likely to suffer a second concussion — most likely because they returned to the game too soon.

Regardless of short-term healing, the long-term effects of repeated concussions are not well known. But as sports writer Lance Pugmire points out, researchers are looking to study what happens to the brain of boxers and mixed martial arts fighters — athletes who also suffer from cumulative concussions over time.

Follow me on Twitter @LAT_aminakhan.

Greg Schulze looked around at the bleachers, fences and tents that make up the Philadelphia Eagles’ training camp base on Lehigh University’s Goodman Campus.

“Usually it takes us 15, 16 days to get this all up,” said Schulze, Lehigh’s director of athletic facilities and events/assistant athletic director. “This year we did it in eight.”

The summer of 2011 will be remembered around Lehigh as the year of doing things differently with the Eagles. With all the uncertainty surrounding the NFL lockout and when or if the Eagles would be making their annual flight north as they have every year since 1996, Lehigh and Eagles officials had to scramble to pull it off.

“We had to keep juggling things,” Schulze said. “We’d develop plans and then we’d have to totally revamp them. But when the dominoes started to fall we were in the right position.”

How well did Lehigh do?

Well enough that Schulze confirmed that the Eagles, very satisfied customers, will return in 2012. Well enough that one fan, John Granahan III of Green Lane, Pa., attending with his sons and his father, said, “I wouldn’t know what they could fix up any better.”

“Sure feels like they did a good job to me,” said Granahan’s father, also named John, who made two trips to Lehigh this summer and especially praised the team for the programs for children that his grandchildren, John, 11, and Sean, 9, enjoyed.

Well enough that rookie punter Chas Henry, who knows all about top-shelf facilities after kicking for Florida, said, “Everything was great up here. The security, the food, the dorms, everything was set up beautifully for us. I had a great experience up here.”

And well enough that coach Andy Reid saluted Schulze and his crew.

“I’d like to thank the people at Lehigh for the great job that they did,” he said. “Every year I say this, and it seems that every year they take it up another notch. They do a phenomenal job with their hospitality and working with us. We’ve had rain the past few days and working with us with their sports teams using the indoor facility. Again, just thank you to all of them.”

Sounds like Schulze and the Lehigh crew did just fine — but while everyone else enjoyed the setup, Schulze’s people paid a price.

“A lot longer days,” said Shulze assistant, Allen Biddinger. “Our phones were never off. You’d get calls late Friday for something they needed Saturday morning, text messages. There was a lot of communication back and forth. We used a lot more people and a lot more overtime.”

The needs of Schulze’s staff included obvious categories — groundskeepers and security — plus some less likely employees.

“Locksmiths,” said Biddinger, pointing to the A. Haigh Cundey Varsity House. “That whole building gets re-keyed for the Eagles and after.”

Schulze and his staff caught a slight break when the Eagles broke camp a day early, but the process of cleaning up and shutting down the Eagles camp leads directly into getting the campus ready for the Mountain Hawks’ own fall teams, all of whom are practicing already.

“It will take two days to take this all down,” said Jason Gall, another of Schulze’s assistants. “But that’s 40-50 people working straight through.”

There’s cleaning and scrubbing to be done — “tougher this year with all the mud and rain,” Schulze said — and taking the tents down can take a week as they need to dry out and be treated with care.

So is it worth it?

“I think so,” Schulze said. “The Eagles help us with the fields, which helps all of our teams. But also it provides Lehigh an opportunity to demonstrate that the whole Lehigh Valley is part of the Philadelphia area, one big megapolis, so to speak, that we’re not far away, ‘over the mountain.’ The Eagles provide a showcase for the Lehigh Valley.”

Maybe the best way to tell that Lehigh’s efforts pay off is to see the joy and delight on the faces of children like the Granahans.

“I liked it best when I got to shake my favorite player’s hand, Michael Vick,” Sean said.

That’s worth any number of days assembling bleachers and tents.

By David Fucillo

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Aug 11, 2011 – Philadelphia Eagles vs. Baltimore Ravens

The Philadelphia Eagles host the Baltimore Ravens Thursday night in a preseason opener that marks the start of the season for a team some are calling a “Dream Team.” The Eagles were very active in free agency, with their biggest splash being the addition of all-world cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha. The Eagles also added Ronnie Brown and Vince Young to act as backups to Michael Vick and LeSean McCoy and seem to be emerging as one of the favorites in the NFC.

This first preseason game will allow the Eagles to figure out what some of their young guys can do. Starters generally do not play a whole lot in the first preseason game, often playing no more than a quarter. The Eagles preliminary depth chart has rookie Danny Watkins slotted in as the starter at right guard. Although Vick and the other starters likely won’t see a lot of playing time, Watkins is one starter who may stick in the game a bit longer. Eagles fans are excited about the young offensive lineman and will be keeping a close eye on him Thursday night.

As could be the case for many Eagles opponents this season, the Baltimore Ravens will be in the Philly shadow in this opener. The Ravens saw several long-time veterans leave this offseason including Todd Heap, Le’Ron McClain, and Dawan Landry, among others. The Ravens were not all that active in free agency, but they did make one splash in signing Vonta Leach as a legit replacement for McClain. Leach was one of the keys to Arian Foster’s breakout season in 2010 and should be a solid man in front of Ray Rice.

The Ravens are set with Joe Flacco at starting quarterback, but they will likely be paying close attention to the performances of Hunter Cantwell and Tyrod Taylor. Marc Bulger’s decision to retire leaves the Ravens without an experienced backup to Flacco. They might add a veteran that doesn’t survive roster cuts elsewhere, but in the meantime they need to see what Cantwell and Taylor bring to the table. Cantwell has a year in the NFL but no serious on-field experience while Taylor will have to overcome the stigma of being more of an athlete than a quarterback.

Game Date/Time: Thursday, August 11; 7:30pm ET

Location: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

TV Schedule
Eagles: WPVI 6abc
Ravens: WBAL-TV | CSN | WJLA-TV | WHTM-TV

TV Distribution Map: The506.com

Radio Schedule
Eagles: 94 WYSP | Sports Radio 610 WIP-AM
Ravens: 98 Rock | WBAL-1090 AM

For more on the Eagles head over to Bleeding Green Nation. For more on the Ravens, check out Baltimore Beatdown. Follow the rest of preseason week one at SB Nation NFL.

Read More: Michael Vick (QB – PHI), Nnamdi Asomugha (CB – PHI), Danny Watkins (G – PHI), Tyrod Taylor (QB – BAL), Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles

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By signing Nnamdi Asomugha and picking up Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie via trade, the Philadelphia Eagles rendered former Patriot Asante Samuel redundant as a starting cornerback.

It would make sense for the Eagles to trade Samuel, and reports are that teams have inquired about the Pro Bowl corner. He’ll cost them a $9.3 million salary cap hit, according to Sports City, which is a fortune for a third cornerback.

But if the Eagles can rework Samuel’s contract or find some other way to afford all three corners — without shortchanging themselves elsewhere — holding on to three first string-caliber corners isn’t such a bad idea.

As much as the knee-slapping former players on the pregame and halftime shows love to talk about the importance of running the football, the NFL is a passing league now, as is college and even high school football nowadays. Three yards and a cloud of dust doesn’t really exist anymore (partly because most of the turf is artificial and has tiny grains of recycled rubber rather than dust, but I digress).

NFL teams averaged 33.7 pass attempts per game compared to 27.2 rush attempts per game in 2010, the 27th straight year passes outnumbered rushes and the 18th straight year teams averaged more than 30 pass attempts per game. Teams haven’t averaged 30 rushes per game since 1988.

More passing means more three receiver sets, faster tight ends and quicker, more versatile running backs who can run pass routes and elude linebackers after the catch. In other words, offenses have already evolved to take advantage of the outdated concept that size and strength is the most important factor on defense. To counteract the effect, defenses have responded with faster linebackers, more 3-4 schemes and multiple defensive backs.

The Eagles, in other words, could exemplify the new era on steroids by deploying not only three cornerbacks, but three high-quality cornerbacks. It won’t overshadow their questions up front, but the next Chuck Bednarik isn’t going to magically arrive at Eagles camp at Lehigh University just because the Eagles create some extra cap space by trading Samuel.

Though it’s still very early, the projected starting quarterbacks in the NFC East in 2011 are Eli Manning, Tony Romo and John Beck. The Las Vegas over-under for Eagles interceptions if those three start and the Birds keep all three stud corners is roughly a bajillion. I’m taking the “over.”

The Philadelphia Eagles didn’t just land one of the best defensive backs in the NFL when they signed Nnamdi Asomugha to a five-year contract Friday.

They reeled in one of the best people in the NFL as well.

Asomugha alone could be the antidote for those with an overdose of athletic thugdom. Sick of the sports section reading like a crime blotter? Check out Asomugha’s curriculum vitae of philanthropy and community involvement, and even the most cynical and disillusioned fan can’t fail but come away heartened.

The rest of this column could just list the causes Asomugha supports, the programs he has established and the recognition he has won for giving back to the community. It’s so extensive one might wonder how he finds time for football.

A few highlights:

• Through his and his family’s foundation,  Asomugha operates programs to assist poor widows and orphans in Africa, especially Nigeria, and to educate them in useful vocational skills to escape poverty.

• He’s worked with the United Way in the San Francisco Bay Area (he is a graduate of California), funded athletic programs for students in his native Los Angeles and been honored for his efforts by President George W. Bush.

Anybody who Republicans and Democrats can agree on these days must be one special guy.

“I’m Nigerian-American; both parents are Nigerian,” Asomugha said. “There’s a lot of work that the Asomugha foundation does back in Nigeria and helping out with orphans, widows, and people in need back there. That’s always going to be a big connection for us and is always going to be something that we do. Working with President Clinton has been great because he’s a guy that’s always connected there as well. It’s something that I’ll continue to do, and he’s a big football fan, so everyone is excited right now.”

Eagles fans surely are — Asomugha drew ovations just walking on the field Sunday — but so should be Philadelphia-area charities who may have just added their own all-star.

Asomugha said in a news conference Sunday morning at Eagles’ training camp at Lehigh University that he was attracted to the Eagles not only to win — Asomugha, stuck in Oakland since he entered the league in 2003, has never played in an NFL playoff game — but because the Eagles win off the field as well.

“I always said that no matter where I was I would continue the work in the community, and everything outside of that,” Asomugha said. “You can’t play football forever, and I do believe that while you’re playing you have to use that platform in some sort of way. If it’s helping out in the community, then that’s fine. If it’s other things, that’s great. For me it was community and it has always been. I definitely plan on keeping that up here with the organization here in Philadelphia. To be quite honest, the Eagles have been one of the most active, community-driven organizations in all of football. I think it’s a great match in that area.”

There will be no shortage of worthy causes for Asomugha to pursue here. Philadelphia’s civic community can use a star like Asomugha right now almost as much as the Eagles can use an All-Pro quarterback.

And the Eagles sure can use him. Asomugha simply doesn’t get beaten. When he gets on a receiver the wideout disappears as if he’s been tossed into a black hole. Unlike some other All-Pro cornerbacks the Eagles have, Asomugha doesn’t shy away from physicality — being a safety at Cal helped with that – and his size allows him to bang with big receivers on equal terms.

Asomugha said Philadelphia was always his first choice with one goal in mind after years of toiling in Al Davis’ pigskin purgatory along the Bay.

“Obviously it’s frustrating to not win,” Asomugha said. “The number one goal when you come into this league is to win the championship. You hear every team say it every year, you know, ‘We want to win the Super Bowl, that’s our goal’. It’s the only reason you play. So when you’re not winning and not making it to the playoffs that can be frustrating. Obviously, I’ve seen what the Eagles have done in the past, the winning tradition that they have, and it excites me. It excites everyone here. Obviously now we’re looking into the future to see what we can do with this team, but they’re winners.”

And so is Nnamdi Asomugha – on and off the field. He’ll make the Philadelphia Eagles a lot better. He’ll make Philadelphia a lot better. In the long run, the latter may be more important — but in the short run, Asomugha has helped put the Eagles on track towards the Super Bowl.

And if that happens everybody wins.

Brad Wilson can be reached at 800-360-3601 or bwilson@express-times.com. Talk about sports at lehighvalleylive.com/forums.

The annual Brett Favre unretirement rumors have been swirling this weekend, with the Philadelphia Eagles reportedly having interest in signing the 41-year-old quarterback.

This move was endorsed by Eagles quarterback Michael Vick but met with an “emphatic no” from the Eagles organization, FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer reported via Twitter Sunday night.

Glazer tweeted: “Let’s end the uproar now. 2 Eagles sources tell me an emphatic No to Favre coming there to back up Michael Vick. Not the option they are on.”

Even if Favre doesn’t join the Eagles, though, we’ll likely hear unretirement rumors right up until opening kickoff if past years are any indication.

“I’ve had some great games in my day,” Vick told reporters after the game. “But I don’t think I’ve had one quite like this one.”

He never had a day quite like he did Tuesday.

Vick was on Capitol Hill to speak in favor of the Animal Fighting Spectator Prohibition Act of 2011, which would increase penalties for people who finance animal fighting, among other components of the act.

It was a remarkable contrast to a little more than a year ago, when the rehabilitation of Vick was on the verge of failing.

Last summer Vick was under fire for being part of a Virginia Beach birthday celebration that resulted in the shooting of one of his former cohorts in Vick’s dogfighting operation.

According to reports, at around 2 a.m. on June 25 near the Guadalajara club in Virginia Beach, Vick was attending a 30th birthday party thrown in his honor.

There were reports of arguments and the shooting of Quanis Phillips, who was part of the dogfighting operation that had resulted in Vick spending 18 months in federal prison back in 2007.

Vick was cleared by police of any role in the incident, but there were news reports that the Eagles were considering releasing Vick. After meeting with team officials and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Vick managed to get yet another chance.

The birthday controversy may have had more of an impact on Vick than his time in prison. Here’s what he told Sports Illustrated about a conversation he had with his mother after the birthday story threatened to end his comeback:

“She’s like, ‘You went to prison for 19 months, and you come out and you still ain’t listening.’

“Right then and there I told myself, I am changing my life. I’m going to do everything they ask me to do. I’m getting myself away from this madness.”

Vick established himself again on the field last year with an MVP-like season for the Eagles, throwing 21 touchdown passes and rushing for nine more in 12 games. But unless age had taken its toll while Vick was away from the game, we all knew what he was capable of on the field.

The biggest questions were off the field, and on Tuesday here in Washington, Vick gave his best answer yet to that question, appearing on Capitol Hill to be the spokesman for stronger dogfighting laws.

“I deeply regret my previous involvement in dogfighting. I’m sorry for what I did to the animals,” Vick said at a news conference. “During my time in prison, I told myself I wanted to be part of the solution, not the problem.”

That is a day like Michael Vick never had before.

Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN980 and espn980.com. Contact him at tloverro@washingtonexaminer.com.

By SportsDirect