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 ... Eagles, backed by two injury-prone, aging talents with yet another shot at fantasy greatness! Andy Reid and company have loaded up on new toys for Donovan McNabb. They are hoping to rekindle the memories of when a guy named T.O. was around. Finally, McNabb breathes deep and says, "Now I have enough playmakers." However, will he and his homeboy Brian Westbrook actually be able to stay healthy?
As we get ready for another huge NFC East matchup between the Giants and Eagles, Derek from the Iggles Blog was nice enough to offer some insights on the Eagles for this week's Behind Enemy Lines feature.
This is a huge game. A Giants win puts some separation between them and the rest of the division. An Eagles win put them, along with the Redskins, just a game back of New York.
Sportz Assassin: Do you think this is a must-win for Philly to stay in the NFC East title race? How about the playoffs in general?
Derek: Yes, to the first part. A loss Sunday would give the Eagles an 0-3 division record and put them 3.5 games back of the Giants. Even the Mets would have trouble blowing a lead like that to a Philly team.
On the second part, no. A loss would move the team to 5-4, only a game back of Washington and Tampa Bay. There's still plenty of fluidity at the bottom of the playoff ladder.
Sportz: Who has been the biggest surprise for Philly this season?
Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the most important position battles heading into the season, team by team. Many Eagles fans didn't think much of the draft day trade that sent an Eagles third round draft pick to Miami for Dolphins running back Lorenzo Booker. After just a few days in to training camp up in Lehigh, the versatile back is making a name for himself.
Obviously the Eagles have all world running back Brian Westbrook as the center piece of their offense but the decision as to which other backs will get to see the field is still up in the air. Correll Buckhalter has managed to stay healthy and contributed a solid effort in 2007. Booker appears to be giving him some stuff competition.
The Eagles tended to use Buckhalter when they wanted to pound the ball up the middle instead of using Westbrook's speed to the outside while Booker's game tends to resemble BWest. Last year's rookie back Tony Hunt may be the odd man out.
One of the more quiet deals during Day 1 of the NFL Draft was Miami trading Lorenzo Booker to the Eagles for a fourth round pick. Booker was selected in the third round of last year's draft, played in just four games but showed he can be a nice third down back.
"It was really more of a systematic decision," (GM) Ireland said. "I don't think he really fit our system that we're trying to put in place in here. We fielded a call pretty early in the process about him and he's a great kid, he's a playmaker, but at the end of the day he just didn't really the fit the system we're trying to put in place here. We're looking for guys that play a lot of plays, and if you're a third runner it's kind of hard to get that player on the field."
Does this mean that Ricky Williams is still very much in the plans for the Dolphins? Right now, the Phins have Ronnie Brown as the starter with Williams and Patrick Cobbs as the only backups.
In case you've been on some business trip this week, you've known all along that Jake Long was the #1 pick in the draft. It's a great pick ... albeit a safe one.
The Miami Dolphins celebrated their 40th anniversary last year by taking the team back to its expansion roots. Aside from a guy here or there, this team has a need everywhere on the roster. Drafting Long should ensure that the Phins will have whomever their quarterback is protected for the next decade.
In the short term, he'll be a huge addition to the running game. With question marks at QB and receiver, Miami will do a lot of running with Ronnie Brown, Lorenzo Booker and Ricky Williams. In the long term, he'll anchor the line for quite a while and be a key cog in the development of that offense and its players.
The last tackle to go #1 overall in the draft was Orlando Pace in 1997. Pace would go to the Pro Bowl in his first seven seasons with the Rams and winning Super Bowl XXXIV.
In 1968, the Vikings made OT Ron Yary the top overall pick. He, too, went to seven Pro Bowls and is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
2007 Records: Cincinnati Bengals: 6-9 (3rd in AFC North) Miami Dolphins: 1-14 (4th in AFC East)
Last Week: Bengals 19, Browns 14 Patriots 28, Dolphins 7
Why We Care: For the outsider, nothing really. For fan of the two teams, it will be the last time we will see alot of the familiar faces. Miami has Bill Parcells ready to gut this franchise, so who knows who will be back. As for the Bengals, this horrible season has to be dealt with in some manner ... so a franchise guy or two may not be there in 2008. Oh, and there is the face-to-face between Levi Jones and Joey Porter since their tussle in Vegas.
Guess what, people? It might be Ricky Time. Yep, Nick Saban's favorite player, Ricky Williams, the guy who spent a few months in India on the World Yoga Tour, the former Heisman Trophy winner and Miami Dolphins running back could be coming back to South Florida.
Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself. For starters, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell hasn't even reinstated Williams, who was suspended for violating the league's substance-abuse policy a record 47 times. Also, head coach Cam Cameron didn't offer a comment one way or the other on the issue.
But with Ronnie Browndown for the season and Dolphins in need of some depth at running back, it's not a completely insane idea. Nothing is a completely insane idea when you're 0-7.
Williams' agent, Leigh Steinberg, said Monday night he doesn't know how long it will take before the league makes a decision on Williams. It could be several weeks. But Steinberg also said, "It wouldn't surprised me if it happened this week, and it wouldn't surprise me if it happened next week.'' ...
''We've got three guys that we'll go with,'' Cameron said. 'You don't replace a Ronnie Brown, but you say, `OK, these are the guys we have. How do we maximize the guys that we have?' ''
Those three guys would be Jesse Chatman, Patrick Cobbs and Lorenzo Booker, and they have combined for 131 rushing yards on 23 carries, which makes for an impressive 5.7 yards per carry. Not too shabby. Maybe there's no hurry on Williams.
Head coach Cam Cameron made it clear last week that Ricky Williams wouldn't be given another opportunity to "let the fans down," and Lorenzo Booker's new role in Miami's offense is more proof. The 2007 third-round pick has Williams' locker, and now it looks like he'll take on his workload too.
"I'd be lying if I said that I didn't anticipate getting more carries because of that," Booker said Friday. "But at the same time, I was looking forward to learning from him also. Regardless of what the guy does on his own time, he's a great football player and no one can take that from him. ... But obviously, I'm excited about the opportunity to get more touches early."
Booker had more than 3,000 yards of total offense during his Florida State career (4.8 yards per carry, 8.1 yards per reception), but claims he was underutilized (he started 11 games as a senior, but split time with now-Jets running back Leon Washington his junior season).
Cameron calls Booker a "change-of-pace guy" and underutilization won't be an issue with the Dolphins: "A football player is a football player... And you find a way to use him. It could be a punt returner, it could be a kick returner, it could be a third-down back. ... He's quick and he's fast, but most guys in this league are as quick and as fast as he is. So it's going to be more a function of his mind than anything else."
Booker's listed at 5'10", 191 pounds -- smaller than both LaDainian Tomlinson and Michael Turner -- but Cameron has a solid track record with running backs, which is good news for Booker ... and not so good news for Williams, who's now superfluous in Miami.
More and more, NFL teams are eschewing the feature-back approach and going to a running-back-by-committee. It's worked in Indianapolis, New England and Denver, and now Brad Childress hopes to have success with it in Minnesota:
Chester Taylor is entrenched as the Vikings' No. 1 running back after rushing for 1,216 yards last season, but coach Brad Childress has said he would like to find a second back to lighten Taylor's load.
Last year, Taylor carried the ball 303 times, with Artose Pinner second on the list with 43. Ideally, the Vikings would be able spread around the carries, and this running back draft class is deep enough to find that player.
Unfortunately, Minnesota has plenty of other needs, and taking a running back on Day 1 probably isn't the best use of scarce resources. Knowing that, SportingNews.com has the club drafting Florida State's Lorenzo Booker in the fifth round. Although he's not a big bruising back like, say, Michael Turner or Corey Dillon, for the price, Booker could be a nice addition -- kind of like Jerious Norwood in Atlanta last season.
If the Vikings decide to take a running back early (and I don't see this happening ... but just for the sake of discussion), one option might be Rutgers' Brian Leonard, who should be available in the second round (though the 41st overall pick sounds a bit high; and some mock drafts have him lasting until Round 3). Leonard is listed at 6'1", 226 pounds, and ran a 4.55-forty. Some teams like him as a fullback, but he is a bulldozer who can also catch coming out of the backfield.
It was nice to see that offense is still possible for Florida State. Joe Surratt's TD run on the opening drive was the first time we have scored a touchdown in the first half all year. Even crazier is that this is the first time in the last 10 games that we have had a lead at halftime. No, that is not a typo. Things have been that bad lately.
The J-Train's 1 yard plunge was his 4th score in 4 games this year. What a weapon. The running game has piled up 150 yards. Booker looked good with 90 yards on 10 carries. He still had a couple runs that could have been nice gains had he not shown off what dance moves he'll be using in the club tonight.
Drew also had an effective first half. I believe they put points on the board on all of the drives he led. Xavier Lee got his first real playing time of the year. He did nothing to suggest he should be playing more than DW. I'm not saying he's not a productive player. He still has to play with what Baby Bowden deals him just like Drew, but I didn't see anything that should create a QB controversy.
We did our first non-conventional offensive pay of the year on a reverse to freshman WR Preston Parker.
The defense played well after a horrible start. Rice made it look easy on their first drive finishing it with a wide open TD pass. Marcus Ball looked great. Fellow true frosh Dekoda Watson looked pretty good as well.
The commentators are lousy. They definitely are not very familiar with FSU football. They were surprised after we passed the ball on 2 of our first 3 plays, stating "This is not very characteristic of Florida State, not trying to establish the run to start the game." Where have they been the last few years?
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. 
As we get ready for another huge NFC East matchup between the Giants and Eagles, Derek from the 
One of the more quiet deals during Day 1 of the NFL Draft was Miami trading 
In case you've been on some business trip this week, you've known all along that 
To get you ready for Week 17, 
Head coach Cam Cameron made it clear last week that Ricky Williams wouldn't be given another opportunity to "
More and more, NFL teams are eschewing the feature-back approach and going to a running-back-by-committee. It's worked in Indianapolis, New England and Denver, and now Brad Childress 
