The move to release Garcia isn't all that shocking. The Eagles lost McNabb after Week 1. At the time, Michael Vick was still suspended and Kevin Kolb had never started an NFL game. Now, Vick is back and Kolb became the first player in NFL history to throw for over 300 yards in each of his first two career starts. Plus, with a bye this week, it's likely McNabb will be ready to start in Week 5. There was simply no need to carry four quarterbacks.
After watching the painful tape of Sunday's loss to the Saints, Eagles coach Andy Reid decided Kevin Kolb's performance in his first start as an NFL quarterback was even better than he first thought.
"I thought he did some good things," Reid said Monday. "Can he learn from the interception on the second series of the second half? Yeah, he'll learn on that. But I thought overall he did a pretty good job, after having an opportunity to evaluate it."
The move to add a quarterback isn't particularly surprising. The Eagles don't have a third quarterback available for Week Two thanks to Michael Vick's suspension and if McNabb is too hurt to start you'd understandably want to shield him from playing at all. On one hand, Garcia's not a surprising choice since he spent 2006 with the team and knows the offense.
On a couple of other hands, though, the move is awfully intriguing.
Russell, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 NFL draft has been maligned in the general public for a relatively slow start to his career. He held out to begin his career and had a pretty mediocre second season in 2008 -- completing 53.8 percent of his passes for 2,423 yards, 13 touchdowns, and eight interceptions, compiling a 77.1 quarterback rating.
It's July, the slowest month of the year for the NFL, and it's driving you nuts. You need a fix. A hit. Anything NFL to pull you through the dog days.
FanHouse is here to help with an in-depth look at each division that should have you plenty prepared for training camp. We're calling it Summer Scramble. This morning we look at some Burning Questions in the AFC West and offer a ridiculously early prediction of how the division will finish.
It's July, the slowest month of the year for the NFL, and it's driving you nuts. You need a fix. A hit. Anything NFL to pull you through the dog days.
FanHouse is here to help with an in-depth look at each division that should have you plenty prepared for training camp. We're calling it Summer Scramble, and this afternoon we look at some of the AFC West's looming position battles.
With Fantasy Football season ready to kick in high gear, FanHouse is here to preview each and every team -- one per day until we've done them all.
Meet the ... Running game that needs help from the passing game. One thing is for sure, the Oakland Raiders can run the football. They finished 10th in the NFL last season in rushing offense. The problem is that they only had nine rushing touchdowns (only three teams had less), which we can attribute to the fact that the Raiders had the worst passing offense in the NFL.
If the Raiders can find a way to stretch the field and move the ball through the air, expect the rushing game to get even better.
Some NFL teams have confidence. Some have big dreams. Some have hope that they'll be this year's surprise. And some teams are just looking for any sign at all that they might not be a complete embarrassment to their sport. The Oakland Raiders fall into the last category, and JaMarcus Russell is offering such a sign.
According to Steve Corkran of the Oakland Tribune, Russell is organizing a special minicamp for the Raiders' quarterbacks, receivers and tight ends at an undisclosed location sometime before training camp begins on July 30. The fact that Russell, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 draft, is taking this upon himself is seen as a sign that he is trying to show the kind of leadership expected of an NFL quarterback. This in turn is seen as good for the Raiders and good for Russell, who will enter training camp with veteran backup Jeff Garcia breathing down his substantial neck.
It would have been nice if, after the Raiders selected wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey with the seventh-overall pick in April's draft, the talented but raw Maryland product quietly went about proving his critics wrong.
Instead, he suffered a hamstring injury two weeks after the draft (speed kills, apparently), which made it easy for detractors to point out that Michael Crabtree or Jeremy Maclin -- two receivers everybody but Al Davis had rated higher than Heyward-Bey -- might have been better choices.
Then again, Davis loves the vertical passing game, and to pull it off you need a strong-armed quarterback and a receiver who can blow past defenders. JaMarcus Russell was an obvious choice for the former, and of all the available pass catchers in the 2009 draft, Heyward-Bey made too much sense (at least from Al's perspective) for the latter.
It's May, NFL practices are voluntary, and they mainly consist of 80 or so players running around in shorts and t-shirts trying not to get hurt. Despite barely resembling football, organized team activities (OTAs) are an opportunity for coaches to install new schemes, and new faces to get acclimated to their surroundings.
It's also a chance for veterans to become more comfortable. This assumes the scheme doesn't change every offseason. Which brings us to JaMarcus Russell, the first overall pick in 2007, and currently penciled in as the Raiders starting quarterback.
Coming off an easy victory in Kansas City, the Eagles have made a pair of roster moves involving big names. Jeff Garcia, who was brought in as quarterback depth after Donovan McNabb fell injured, has now been released. In a corresponding move, the Eagles have brought back linebacker Jeremiah Trotter for a third stint in Philadelphia. 
After watching the painful tape of Sunday's loss to the Saints, Eagles coach 
With 
When the Oakland Raiders brought in veteran quarterback 
It's July, the slowest month of the year for the NFL, and it's driving you nuts. You need a fix. A hit. Anything NFL to pull you through the dog days. 
It's July, the slowest month of the year for the NFL, and it's driving you nuts. You need a fix. A hit. Anything NFL to pull you through the dog days. 
With Fantasy Football season ready to kick in high gear, FanHouse is here to preview each and every team -- one per day until we've done them all. 
Some NFL teams have confidence. Some have big dreams. Some have hope that they'll be this year's surprise. And some teams are just looking for any sign at all that they might not be a complete embarrassment to their sport. The Oakland Raiders fall into the last category, and 
It would have been nice if, after the Raiders selected wide receiver 
It's May, NFL practices are voluntary, and they mainly consist of 80 or so players running around in shorts and t-shirts trying not to get hurt. Despite barely resembling football, organized team activities (OTAs) are an opportunity for coaches to install new schemes, and new faces to get acclimated to their surroundings. 
