JACKSONVILLE -- By now, don't you just know Freddie Mitchell would like to crawl to Atlanta and hide under Stone Mountain for a week or so? The creation of bulletin-board fodder is the oldest, most trite ritual in the ceremony that is football's pregame build-up.
But remarkably, it still works. It's human nature, folks. Players can actually draw motivation from the poorly chosen or intentionally inflammatory words of opposing players.In the same way that your neighbors can still get under your skin with that backhanded compliment about finally painting the house a muted color.
Thus did Mitchell, one of the Eagles receivers who isn't particularly known for having a functioning filter between his brain and mouth, offend and irritate members of New England's defense late last week. He claimed he couldn't even name the Patriots' no-name cornerbacks and made a vaguely threatening remark in the direction of safety Rodney Harrison -- who, frankly is the last guy on New England's roster that I'd want to incite.
"You're always going to find one jerk out of the bunch, just like Vander-jerk,'' said Harrison on Sunday, referencing the bulletin board material that Colts kicker Mike Vanderjagt provided the Patriots with a couple weeks back. "You're always going to find one guy like that, who wants the attention. Who wants to do something to stir up the emotions of the game.
"Sometimes that's someone's 15- or 30-seconds of fame. You really never heard of this guy before T.O. gets hurt. For him to continue to talk, it's just not smart.''
Smart? No. But then we're not nominating Mitchell to replace Alan Greenspan at the top of the Federal Reserve are we? We're just expecting him to catch a few Donovan McNabb passes Sunday, so it's all relative.
•Can't wait for Tuesday morning's media day at the stadium, which is easily the biggest circus act of Super Bowl week from a journalistic standpoint. Don't tell anyone this, but I'm hoping to be the only news-hound sharp enough to remember to mosey on over to Terrell Owens' interview podium, just in case he says anything worth writing down. I mean, you never know.
When I look behind me, there'll be three gazillion reporters with the exact same idea. Ever seen the running of the bulls? Neither have I, but it's a lot like that when they open those gates on media day and let us start stampeding toward the fresh meat.
•With so many more weighty issues unfolding in the world today, I refuse to jump on the bandwagon and bash Jacksonville as a first-time Super Bowl city. OK, it's a little short on the big-time hotel front. And it's a little far flung, meaning a good bit of the week will be spent riding a shuttle bus. As for the weather, so far it's been gray, cool and a bit soggy.
Oh, the horrors.
But the folks here want to nail their Super Bowl shot as much as anyone ever has, and they're bend-over-backwards nice. So let's all give the upper right hand corner of Florida a break, shall we? If every year was San Diego, we media types would probably find reason to complain about that. (That's not true. I for one would be doing handstands all the way to LaJolla).
Tuesday night is the media party at the Super Bowl, and this year scouting out the shrimp table won't even be the most challenging part of the evening. The soiree will held at the famed 17th hole of the TPC Sawgrass golf course, which features that picturesque island green. Some how they're going to light the sucker up and let us hacks take our hacks. First 500 to stay dry and hit the green wins a prize, and a hole in one (fat chance in this crowd) earns you a 2005 Cadillac. (Bringing new meaning to ''Who's your Caddy?'')
• Much is being made over how good Andy Reid has been when he has two weeks to prepare for a game. The Eagles head coach is 8-0 coming off a bye, which includes having the first round of the playoffs off in anticipation of a divisional round home game.
That's a nice record for sure, but there are two reasons why I don't think it holds a lot of water this week, Eagles fans:
1. This is the Super Bowl, and as you might have already realized, that's a horse of an entirely different color.
2. Bill Belichick. The Patriots head coach is the best in the business at using extra time to dissect an opponent's weakness and building a game plan to exploit it. But don't take our word for it. Just ask the Rams' Mike Martz.
• I find it interesting, in that perfect symmetry sort of way, that the Eagles and Patriots began the 2004 season facing each other, in both teams' preseason openers, and now they'll be finishing the circle Sunday in Jacksonville's Alltel Stadium -- albeit with a bit more on the line.
For the record, I see the Super Bowl going about the way things did that rainy night of Aug. 13 in Gillette Stadium, which was a 24-6 Patriots win, their only victory of the preseason. Tom Brady threw a touchdown pass to David Patten. Troy Brown played offense, defense and returned punts. Corey Dillon averaged 4.6 yards per carry. Donovan McNabb and the Eagles' offense struggled to get much of anything going against New England's defense. As for Terrell Owens in his first game in green, he too might have foreshadowed his Super Bowl showing, with two catches for 13 yards.
Not that it's terribly meaningful, but New England has beaten the Eagles six consecutive times in the preseason dating to 1996 -- by a combined 89 points -- and the Patriots won 31-10 in Philadelphia in Week 2 of 2003, in the teams' most recent regular-season meeting.
• At last year's Super Bowl, Dhani Jones got to play reporter for the NFL Network and even landed a one-on-one with Patriots quarterback Brady. This year, the Eagles linebacker will again be looking for a little one-on-one time with Brady, but he hopes it comes Sunday night in the New England backfield.
• Call me sentimental, but I always think this way: This year's Super Bowl will have to be hard for guys like Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor to watch. The pair of veteran cornerbacks were with the Eagles in the bad old days of 1999 at 3-13, and they were with them with those three excruciating losses in the NFC title game in 2001-2003.
Now, the Eagles have finally landed in the Super Bowl, and Vincent and Taylor are elsewhere, having missed out on the fun by one year. Vincent, a 13-year pro, spent eight years in Philadelphia, but signed as a free agent with Buffalo last offseason. He's never made the Super Bowl. Taylor, a 10-year NFL veteran, spent nine years with the Eagles, but is now a Seattle Seahawk, after leaving Philly via free agency last March. He too has yet to play in his first Super Bowl.
Here's to you, Troy and Bobby. If there was any justice, you'd at least get an invite to the ring ceremony.
Sorts Illustrated<!--startclickprintexclude-->
But remarkably, it still works. It's human nature, folks. Players can actually draw motivation from the poorly chosen or intentionally inflammatory words of opposing players.In the same way that your neighbors can still get under your skin with that backhanded compliment about finally painting the house a muted color.
Thus did Mitchell, one of the Eagles receivers who isn't particularly known for having a functioning filter between his brain and mouth, offend and irritate members of New England's defense late last week. He claimed he couldn't even name the Patriots' no-name cornerbacks and made a vaguely threatening remark in the direction of safety Rodney Harrison -- who, frankly is the last guy on New England's roster that I'd want to incite.
"You're always going to find one jerk out of the bunch, just like Vander-jerk,'' said Harrison on Sunday, referencing the bulletin board material that Colts kicker Mike Vanderjagt provided the Patriots with a couple weeks back. "You're always going to find one guy like that, who wants the attention. Who wants to do something to stir up the emotions of the game.
"Sometimes that's someone's 15- or 30-seconds of fame. You really never heard of this guy before T.O. gets hurt. For him to continue to talk, it's just not smart.''
Smart? No. But then we're not nominating Mitchell to replace Alan Greenspan at the top of the Federal Reserve are we? We're just expecting him to catch a few Donovan McNabb passes Sunday, so it's all relative.
•Can't wait for Tuesday morning's media day at the stadium, which is easily the biggest circus act of Super Bowl week from a journalistic standpoint. Don't tell anyone this, but I'm hoping to be the only news-hound sharp enough to remember to mosey on over to Terrell Owens' interview podium, just in case he says anything worth writing down. I mean, you never know.
When I look behind me, there'll be three gazillion reporters with the exact same idea. Ever seen the running of the bulls? Neither have I, but it's a lot like that when they open those gates on media day and let us start stampeding toward the fresh meat.
•With so many more weighty issues unfolding in the world today, I refuse to jump on the bandwagon and bash Jacksonville as a first-time Super Bowl city. OK, it's a little short on the big-time hotel front. And it's a little far flung, meaning a good bit of the week will be spent riding a shuttle bus. As for the weather, so far it's been gray, cool and a bit soggy.
Oh, the horrors.
But the folks here want to nail their Super Bowl shot as much as anyone ever has, and they're bend-over-backwards nice. So let's all give the upper right hand corner of Florida a break, shall we? If every year was San Diego, we media types would probably find reason to complain about that. (That's not true. I for one would be doing handstands all the way to LaJolla).
Tuesday night is the media party at the Super Bowl, and this year scouting out the shrimp table won't even be the most challenging part of the evening. The soiree will held at the famed 17th hole of the TPC Sawgrass golf course, which features that picturesque island green. Some how they're going to light the sucker up and let us hacks take our hacks. First 500 to stay dry and hit the green wins a prize, and a hole in one (fat chance in this crowd) earns you a 2005 Cadillac. (Bringing new meaning to ''Who's your Caddy?'')
• Much is being made over how good Andy Reid has been when he has two weeks to prepare for a game. The Eagles head coach is 8-0 coming off a bye, which includes having the first round of the playoffs off in anticipation of a divisional round home game.
That's a nice record for sure, but there are two reasons why I don't think it holds a lot of water this week, Eagles fans:
1. This is the Super Bowl, and as you might have already realized, that's a horse of an entirely different color.
2. Bill Belichick. The Patriots head coach is the best in the business at using extra time to dissect an opponent's weakness and building a game plan to exploit it. But don't take our word for it. Just ask the Rams' Mike Martz.
• I find it interesting, in that perfect symmetry sort of way, that the Eagles and Patriots began the 2004 season facing each other, in both teams' preseason openers, and now they'll be finishing the circle Sunday in Jacksonville's Alltel Stadium -- albeit with a bit more on the line.
For the record, I see the Super Bowl going about the way things did that rainy night of Aug. 13 in Gillette Stadium, which was a 24-6 Patriots win, their only victory of the preseason. Tom Brady threw a touchdown pass to David Patten. Troy Brown played offense, defense and returned punts. Corey Dillon averaged 4.6 yards per carry. Donovan McNabb and the Eagles' offense struggled to get much of anything going against New England's defense. As for Terrell Owens in his first game in green, he too might have foreshadowed his Super Bowl showing, with two catches for 13 yards.
Not that it's terribly meaningful, but New England has beaten the Eagles six consecutive times in the preseason dating to 1996 -- by a combined 89 points -- and the Patriots won 31-10 in Philadelphia in Week 2 of 2003, in the teams' most recent regular-season meeting.
• At last year's Super Bowl, Dhani Jones got to play reporter for the NFL Network and even landed a one-on-one with Patriots quarterback Brady. This year, the Eagles linebacker will again be looking for a little one-on-one time with Brady, but he hopes it comes Sunday night in the New England backfield.
• Call me sentimental, but I always think this way: This year's Super Bowl will have to be hard for guys like Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor to watch. The pair of veteran cornerbacks were with the Eagles in the bad old days of 1999 at 3-13, and they were with them with those three excruciating losses in the NFC title game in 2001-2003.
Now, the Eagles have finally landed in the Super Bowl, and Vincent and Taylor are elsewhere, having missed out on the fun by one year. Vincent, a 13-year pro, spent eight years in Philadelphia, but signed as a free agent with Buffalo last offseason. He's never made the Super Bowl. Taylor, a 10-year NFL veteran, spent nine years with the Eagles, but is now a Seattle Seahawk, after leaving Philly via free agency last March. He too has yet to play in his first Super Bowl.
Here's to you, Troy and Bobby. If there was any justice, you'd at least get an invite to the ring ceremony.
Sorts Illustrated<!--startclickprintexclude-->
