Bleacher Report - Articles by Chris Olley

Defense Wins Championships: Why the Philadelphia Eagles Will Beat the Vikings

Chris Olley — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:31:24 -0500

When I first realized that the Eagles would be facing Minnesota in the NFC Wild Card round of the playoffs, I was immediately scared.

I had visions of watching the "Williams Wall" shutting down the running game completely on the Eagles' first drive of the game, leading to both a three-and-out and Andy Reid giving up on running the ball right from the beginning, which is exactly what killed them in Baltimore and in Washington.

However, the more I think about it, the more I realize something very important here: It doesn't matter what the offense does. The Vikings will not beat the Eagles because they will not be able to score against the Eagles' defense.

Now, in my own defense, I'm not saying this simply because I'm a homer. That's not to say I'm not a homer, but the stats support what I'm saying. So before you write that reply to discount what I'm saying as homerism, hear me out.

In the 2008 season, only two defenses in the NFL ranked in the top five in all of the major statistical categories: the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles ranked second in sacks, fourth in points allowed per game, third in total yards per game allowed, third in passing yards per game allowed, and fourth in rushing yards per game allowed (just for the record, the Vikings only ranked in the top five in two of these categories. They ranked fourth in sacks and first in rushing yards per game allowed).

But here's a more interesting stat to look at: The Eagles ranked first in the league in the month of December in points allowed per game. The number? Seven. The Eagles only allowed, on average, a touchdown per game in the final four weeks of the season.

The Vikings? 16.8, or roughly two touchdowns and a field goal.

Now, this still might leave open the question of the offense. The argument to be made here is that the Eagles' rushing game will be shut out, causing the Eagles to pass the ball on almost every down, which will surely result in a loss, as it did against the Redskins and the Ravens.

I'll agree with half of that. The Eagles most likely will not be able to run the ball against the Vikings. In fact, the Eagles will probably throw the ball over 40 times and rush less than 20 times.

Why am I making the argument that the Eagles will win, then, you might ask? Because the Ravens and the Redskins have arguably two of the best secondaries in the league. When the Eagles stopped running the ball, the Ravens and the Redskins both stopped blitzing for the most part and focused solely on shutting down the Eagles' passing game. Both teams did so to perfection (the Ravens were helped further by the ineptitude of Kevin Kolb in the second half).

Quite simply, the Vikings will not be able to stop the Eagles' passing game because their secondary just is not good enough. This is evidenced by the 215.6 passing yards allowed per game by the Vikings' secondary during the regular season—good for 18th in the league.

Jim Johnson, the Eagles' defensive coordinator who is widely regarded as one of, if not the best in the league, will have his unit ready. His gameplan against Adrian Peterson and the Vikings will most likely be very similar to the one used to beat the Giants: if you can stop the run, you can stop the entire offense.

In Week 14, the Eagles' defense held the Giants, who average over 150 yards per game on the ground, to only 88 yards rushing. He was able to blitz Eli Manning heavily and blitz him often because his secondary was able to effectively shut down the Giants' receivers, holding them to only 123 yards in the air.

The Vikings are not the Giants. Adrian Peterson runs the ball better than anyone on the Giants roster, but he also fumbled the ball nine times during the season, five of those coming in December. If he can't hold onto the ball better against the Eagles, he will get eaten alive by their defense, which forced five turnovers against Dallas in Week 17.

While much has been made of the Vikings' run defense, which allows just less than 80 yards on the ground per game, the Eagles' run defense is similarly stout, averaging just over 92 yards on the ground per game.

If the Eagles can stop Peterson the way they stopped Brandon Jacobs and force the Vikings to pass the ball, the Vikings are essentially done. In the game against the Giants, Eli Manning, who is a much more experienced quarterback than Tarvaris Jackson, was held to just 13 passes for 123 yards.

Although the Eagles didn't register a sack on him, they were in his face the entire game, causing him to throw erratically and make poor decisions. Despite the blitzes being sent at Eli, which often involved seven or eight men, the secondary was able to completely shut down the Giants' receivers, who are still very good despite the loss of Plaxico Burress.

The Vikings don't have the same caliber of receivers that the Giants have.

Bernard Berrian is a one-dimensional deep threat who will likely be doubled with a safety above him for the majority of the game to eliminate the deep pass.

Bobby Wade is a good receiver who has the potential to make plays against the Eagles, as is Visanthe Shiancoe, but they are a task the Eagles are up to if they play defense the way they did against the Giants and against the Cowboys, who both arguably have better receivers than Minnesota.

Tarvaris Jackson will see blitzes come his way that he's never seen before. Jim Johnson's scheme puts everyone in the position to make the play at any time depending on the call. He aims to overload the offensive line and send more defenders from more places than the line can handle.

He rotates two full defensive lines depending on the situation that are both equally effective at doing their jobs. There just isn't any way to prepare for what he brings, and judging by what he did to the defending Super Bowl champions and the team that was widely expected to be this year's champions, the Vikings won't know what hit them.

The Eagles' defense has the ability to totally dominate the Vikings' offense. If the Eagles can put up 20 points on the Vikings, they will win very easily.

Prediction: Eagles, 24-13.

How Comcast Could Build Philly Live! AND Keep The Wachovia Spectrum

Chris Olley — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:49:13 -0400

One year ago, Comcast-Spectacor announced plans to build Philly Live!, a retail/entertainment district designed by the Cordish Company to be constructed in the Philadelphia Sports Complex beside the Wachovia Center.

However, the plans did not include the Wachovia Spectrum, as it would be demolished to make way for Philly Live! to be completed. Nothing was definite, but the thought of losing the Spectrum was alarming.

This week, however, Comcast-Spectacor finally made it official: Ed Snider announced that after the 2008-2009 hockey and indoor soccer season, the Spectrum would close its doors.

Built in 1967 under Ed Snider to house a new Philadelphia NHL team, the Spectrum served as the home of the Philadelphia Flyers and Philadelphia Sixers from 1967 until 1996, when the Wachovia Center was built across the parking lot.

However, rather than being demolished upon completion of the new arena as arenas such as Boston Garden were, the Spectrum became the new home of two new teams: the Flyers' AHL affiliate Philadelphia Phantoms, and a new indoor soccer team named the Philadelphia KiXX.

Assumably, the Phantoms and KiXX will be relocated after the season, with the Wachovia Center assuming all of the Spectrum's other events.

However, upon looking over the plans for Philly Live!, I noticed something intriguing: the only section of Philly Live! that will be placed on the plot of land currently occupied by the Spectrum is a hotel—the hotel that might not even end up as part of the final plan. The rest of Philly Live! would be built on top parts of the current parking lot.

This begs the question, "With all the open space in Sports Complex, why does a hotel have to be placed where the Spectrum is?"

This picture illustrates where Philly Live! will be constructed. I (shoddily) outlined in red the areas where Philly Live! is slated to be built. In blue, I outlined another feasible location for the hotel that would allow it to be just as accessible to the rest of the Sports Complex and Philly Live! itself, without sacrificing the Spectrum.

Why couldn't Cordish and Comcast-Spectacor have planned the project in this way in the first place? This is not a situation where an abandoned building is being demolished to make way for something else, as was with the Vet, with Boston Garden, and as will be with Yankee Stadium. This is a situation where two teams are being evicted from a stadium that houses over 100 events a year to make way for something else, even though the plans could be very easily repositioned to disallow this.

So what is the point here? Is Comcast-Spectacor no longer interested in paying for the Spectrum's upkeep for two minor league teams and concerts and other events that could be assumed into the more modern Wachovia Center?

Comcast is a company that would seem to be loaded with money (judging by my cable/Internet/phone bill, at least). I would think that it would make more sense to move the hotel to the adjacent section of the parking lot and keep the Spectrum.

This prolongs the lifespan of the Wachovia Center by keeping events split into two stadiums, keeping the Wachovia Center from being overused like stadiums in other cities may be. This also keeps the Flyers and Sixers from having to take long road trips, such as the 17 game road trip the Flyers took in December of 2005 due to the Circus being held in the Wachovia Center.

Eventually, when the Wachovia Center becomes outdated, the Spectrum can then be demolished to make way for a new, even more modern stadium, while the Center can then assume the role of the minor league stadium, still holding concerts and the Monster Jam and the Ringling Brothers Circus as well as any minor league teams that may exist at that point while allowing the Flyers, Sixers, Wings and Soul to reside in the new stadium.

My biggest worry with Philly Live! is that it just turns out to be a fad that every city decides to build rather than the staple of South Philadelphia that it could be. It would be nothing short of a travesty if the Spectrum is demolished so that a hotel can be erected that is not necessarily needed.

This transcends sentimental value; this is an issue of unnecessarily evicting two teams and demolishing a functional arena. Don't mistake my intentions; I fully support building Philly Live! Judging by the plans and the descriptions given by Peter Luukko and Ed Snider, this could truly be great for the progress of Philadelphia as a whole. I just don't understand why the Spectrum needs to go for this to be achieved.

If Comcast is willing to demolish this Philadelphia landmark, hopefully they are replacing it with another true landmark. Hopefully they do this right, creating a place that will make me want to stay there and spend my money there rather than elsewhere before and after a game or a concert. Along with retail shops, this should have sports bars, restaurants, cheesesteak shops, maybe an ESPN Zone, a studio for Comcast SportsNet, and maybe even a small concert venue similar to the Electric Factory and the Trocadero.

In fact, this would be the perfect spot for one of Philadelphia's two casinos to be built. Rather than clogging traffic on Delaware Avenue along the waterfront, one could be placed in the Sports Complex where it could generate the most optimal amount of money.

Hopefully.

NHL Draft: With the 27th Pick in the Draft, the Philadelphia Flyers Select...

Chris Olley — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 09:22:31 -0400

Attempting to guess what a team might do on draft day in any sport is the textbook definition of "effort in futility."

In hockey, this becomes magnified even more so, as the playing field becomes more level after the first ten or so picks—much more level than in just about any other sport. It is hard to make a guess for who might go where, or at what number, or in which round even.

The latter stages of the first round are very hit-or-miss. There tends to be a sizable drop off in talent after the first half of the round and finding a quality player at this point can be a shot in the dark.

The Flyers, however, have had success finding quality talent in the late picks of the first round. Simon Gagne was picked at No. 22 overall back in 1998, and is now regarded as one of the top left wingers in the league.

Justin Williams was 28th overall in 2000. Mike Richards was 24th in 2003. In 2005, the Flyers traded down from 20 to 29 and took Steve Downie. In 2006, the Flyers found Claude Giroux sitting at No. 22.

All of these players are either stars already or have the potential to be solid players in the league.

Of course, there are also some busts. In 1999 and 2001, the Flyers chose Maxime Oullet and Jeff Woywitka respectively.

However, the Flyers have done a better job than most at separating the "musts" from the "busts", so to speak, over the last decade in mostly the bottom part of the first round.

With this year's draft class being widely viewed as deeper than usual, given the Flyers' (Paul Holmgren's) recent success drafting in the 20's, the odds that the Flyers repeat history again and find a good player at 27 appear to be very good.

With that said, the question now becomes: "who?" This is where things become difficult.

This draft looks fairly deep in both defensemen and goaltenders—two positions the Flyers sorely lack in quality within their system. However, the Flyers look to be committed to choosing the best player available and if that player isn't a defenseman or a goalie, Paul Holmgren will have no reservations about choosing him anyway.

By the time 27 rolls around, top-ranked defensemen Doughty, Pietrangelo, Schenn, and Myers should all be long gone. However, there is a good chance that guys like John Carlson, Tyler Cuma, and Jake Gardiner could still be around.

New Jersey's own John Carlson, in particular, would appear to be a good fit for the Flyers. At 6'2" 210 lbs, he has size, but he also has good speed and is smart with the puck. He has shown the ability to show up on the stat sheet, putting up 43 points in 59 games for the Indiana Ice of the USHL this past season. He also is a strong defensive presence, excelling at killing penalties. Carlson has the potential to be a powerplay QB as well.

Carlson is the real deal. He has the ability to be a solid all-around top four guy in the NHL and he would fit in perfectly with the Flyers.

Chet Pickard is viewed by most as the best goaltender in this year's class. There is a chance that he could be around at 27, but it is more likely that he will be gone by that time.

Goalies like Thomas McCollum and Jacob Markstrom could still be there, though.

McCollum, in particular, appears to be a solid prospect. His stock might have fallen a little bit over the past year, but he still put up a very respectable 2.50 GAA and a .914 Sv% for Guelph of the OHL while logging a 25-17-6 record.

In terms of potential, the top four or five goalies of this class really are not too far off from each other and if Homer chooses to go this route, the potential is there for the Flyers to get a very special player.

In my personal opinion, if Carlson is available, I would pick him at 27. With Biron and Niittymaki both here at the moment, the Flyers aren't exactly in need of a goalie prospect at the moment, but having strong defensive prospects in the system is always a necessity, especially with the holes created by the trade of Alexandre Picard to Tampa Bay (in the original Prospal trade), Ryan Parent's likely graduation to the Flyers as a full-time defenseman, and Jason Smith's departure in free agency.

Carlson would have a good chance at making this team in the next two years once Hatcher's contract expires. This pick would appear to be very safe and help solidify the Flyers' future at defense for years to come.

Kimmo Timonen Out for Season: Could This Be the End of the Cinderella Story?

Chris Olley — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:13:08 -0400

John Stevens brought with him to the Flyers a ritual he had with the Philadelphia Phantoms in which he would bake a cake before each playoff series and eat it with the team.

It symbolized how all the ingredients (the players of the team) can come together and create something much better than they are individually.

Well, John's cake has just lost one gigantic ingredient.

With one routine-looking shot block by Kimmo Timonen in game four of the Montreal series against a laser from Andrei Markov, life for the Philadelphia Flyers just got a whole lot more difficult.

The news came out today— Kimmo Timonen will be sidelined for most likely the remainder of the season with a blood clot in his left ankle.

Kimmo knew something wasn't right immediately after taking the shot but continued playing. After the game, he had his ankle iced up as if it were a bone bruise.

However, the swelling got progressively worse.

"In game five in Montreal," said Kimmo to the Philadelphia Inquirer, "I started feeling a little numbness in my toes and I was able to play through it that game and it was a little painful.

"Sunday we had a day off and Monday we practiced, same kind of feeling, a little numbness on my toes and Tuesday we had a day off and yesterday same kind of feeling and we decided to do a check up and see what is going on there and today we found out.”

Timonen experienced the same injury in the same exact spot while playing for Nashville.

The Flyers must now forge on against one of the NHL's most prolific offenses without their all-star defenseman.

He has been spectacular in these playoffs—shutting down the likes of Kovalev and Ovechkin.

And could this have come at any more of an inconvenient time? The Flyers must now face a team that has two of the league's best forwards, a hot goalie, and a ton of momentum.

Without their top defenseman.

Of all the adversity this team has faced this season, from suspensions, to slumps, and everything in between, this might be the most difficult to overcome.

And the most heartbreaking.

The city is fully behind the team and believes that they finally have the team that will take them where they haven't been in 33 years. Fate has come along and smacked them all across their collective faces.

It leaves us all wondering, "Maybe this just wasn't meant to be after all."

And yet, this team hasn't overcome all of this adversity, culminating in beating the first place and third place teams in 12 games after narrowly making the playoffs. They did not make it this far just to get beaten around by their cross-state rival, no matter what the circumstances are.

This is a team that truly embodies the "never say die" attitude that is so necessary for success in the NHL. This is a team that has accepted (but not necessarily embraced) the underdog role and, has thrived with its back against the wall.

Going into Friday night in Pittsburgh, the Flyers may be more pinned to the wall than they have been all season. They have just lost their "jack of all trades,” leaving a huge hole that the young Penguin superstars can take advantage of.

If the Flyers are to advance, they will have to find out who can fill Timonen's spot very early on.

This is where a Ryan Parent or a Randy Jones could truly make a name for himself. One is a heralded, smooth-skating, level headed defenseman, who arrived in Philly through the Forsberg trade.

The other is a virtual unknown who showed up ready to play in training camp, earned his spot on the team, and now, is a league leader in plus/minus in the playoffs.

Timonen's loss means a lot of open ice time that needs to be filled by someone. If the playoffs are where players can become stars (just ask R.J. Umberger), these two have the chance of a lifetime.

This is not to say that it will be easy to fill the shoes of Kimmo Timonen or possible at all.

However, this is still a very capable defense that contains a good mixture of veteran leadership (Jason Smith, Derian Hatcher, Jaroslav Modry) and skilled youth (Braydon Coburn, Randy Jones, Ryan Parent, even Lasse Kukkonen).

Don't count this team out just yet. The road has just gotten a little longer, a little bumpier, and a little harder to continue on. It is by no means insurmountable.

This is not a team that will roll over and play dead in a moment like this. They haven't all season when losing players such as Gagne, Richards, Timonen, or Hatcher.

In fact, in each instance, someone stepped up to fill the gaping hole left.

Expect nothing different this time.

This is a team with nothing to lose at this point. A team with nothing to lose and no expectations whatsoever is the most dangerous kind there is.

Philadelphia Flyers: Pair of Unlikely Heroes Carry City's Hopes on Their Back

Chris Olley — Mon, 05 May 2008 11:02:06 -0400

The story of the 2007-2008 Philadelphia Flyers may be the most improbable one.

After finishing the 2006-2007 season with a franchise-worst 56 points, well entrenched at the very bottom of the standings, many thought this team would be in for a period of rebuilding from the mistakes of Bob Clarke in the offseason prior.

Nobody expected this team to come near contending for the playoffs, regardless of how the 2007 offseason would be handled.

Nobody.

This team just had too many holes up and down the roster, even with the masterful additions of Braydon Coburn, Lasse Kukkonen, Martin Biron, and Scottie Upshall.

Then, Paul Holmgren worked his magic, trading the 1st round pick received from Nashville in the Peter Forsberg trade back to Nashville for sole negotiating rights with Scott Hartnell and Kimmo Timonen before the free agency period began. After this, Homer, as he is affectionately referred to by Flyers faithful, signed Danny Briere to an 8 year, 52 million dollar contract. Then, he traded the highly skilled but very boneheaded Joni Pitkanen, as well as the aging but useful Geoff Sanderson, over to Edmonton for Jason Smith, the new Flyers captain, and Joffrey Lupul, the young right winger who was lauded after a hot season in Anaheim, then was shocked into a year-long slump after being traded to Edmonton right after the season. Homer was criticized for what was seen by most as gross overpayments of all three of his signings, and many wrote off the Flyers for another season.

The Flyers during the 07-08 season overcame much adversity, much of it created on their own by way of the five suspensions incurred between the beginning of the season and December. The Flyers also faced a slew of injuries, most prominently being the concussion of Simon Gagne which resulted in him being in and out of the lineup sporadically between November and January and eventually ended in him being told to shut it down for the season.

After injuries to Richards, the team's 23 year old leader, and Derian Hatcher, the warrior on the blue line who provides much of the team's muscle, grit, as well as leadership (and penalty killing too), the team hit rock bottom in February, coasting through a 10 game losing streak highlighted by an enormous slump by Danny Briere, the team's ten-million-dollar-man.

However, the trade for Vinny Prospal breathed new life into the young team, specifically into Danny Briere, who found a partner in crime, so to speak, who according to Briere "thought hockey the same way" that he did. Their instant chemistry sparked a tear through the remainder of the season by the two, with the Flyers eventually ending the season with two consecutive shutouts.

The Flyers once again played the underdog role in the first round of the playoffs. Washington, arguably the hottest team in hockey at the end of the season, was expected by most to make easy work of the Flyers in no more than 6 games. The Flyers took a quick 3-1 lead over Washington, led by Briere, and despite blowing two games to the Caps to tie the series, managed to send the best left winger in the league back home with some late game heroics by Joffrey Lupul in the overtime of Game 7.

Then came the first-seeded Montreal Canadiens, who many anticipated would take out the Flyers handily in 5 games if they didn't sweep them. After a Game 1 where the Flyers were outshot by a very large margin and, despite having a 1 goal lead until the last 30 seconds, blew the tying goal on a rocket by Kovalev and then blew the game itself in overtime, this figured to be true.

Then the highest scoring player in a single playoff series since Brian Propp wore the Orange and Black decided it was time for his coming out party.

RJ Umberger became the unlikely hero of the series, scoring 8 goals over 5 games to spark an amazing run of four straight wins over the best team in the conference and move the Flyers on to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since Keith Primeau led them down the same path back in 2004.

In a bit of irony, guess who the player who took Primeau's place in the lineup when he went down with a career-ending concussion was.

You got it. RJ Umberger.

Umberger, along with Martin Biron who put on quite possibly the best goaltending show in a Flyers uniform since Ron Hextall in 1987, carried the team, as well as the city which has not seen a major championship of any kind in 25 years and a Stanley Cup in 33, on to the next round.

And who expected the heroes to be these two? With all of the expensive moves made by Holmgren in the offseason, the two players who took the team to the next round were the goalie who was figured to only be decent until Antero Niittymaki was able to take over, and the player who seemed more like a serviceable player who was a sort of journeyman in the roster, able to fill in on all four lines sufficiently but never expected to be the team's scoring punch at any point.

If Biron's brilliance in net continues, he could be in line for a Conn Smythe.

RJ Umberger picked a good time to go on a hot streak, considering he will be a restricted free agent next season. If his play continues, he could be in line for a considerable pay raise.

If these two continue to carry this team, this city, the Flyers could very possibly be in line for a raise too: they could be on the way to raise something this city hasn't seen in far too long.

Philadelphia Flyers: Peter Forsberg Snub a Blessing in Disguise

Chris Olley — Sun, 04 May 2008 04:55:41 -0400

I know we're all basking in the success of the Flyers right now, but let's think back to February for a minute.

We're a couple of days before the trade deadline, checking Hockeybuzz and TSN at a rate bordering on obsessive for any possible information we could find about trades or signings.

The Flyers were reportedly looking for a puck-moving defenseman and were waiting on the word of someone else as to whether he would resume his career or wait until next season. More on him later.

What happened?

We got neither. That "puck-moving defenseman" ended up being a trade for Jaroslav Modry, a smart, solid veteran defenseman who was the only plus on the Kings' bottom-of-the-barrel defensive corps that had Rob Blake, Lubomir Visnovsky, Tom Preissing, and Jack Johnson.

Modry has been a good addition to this team, but he is not quite what comes to mind when you think "puck-moving."

The other trade? Paul Holmgren flipped Alexandre Picard and a pick over to Tampa for Vinny Prospal. Many people didn't understand this move at first, because with Dan Boyle, a true puck-mover, and Brad Richards both reportedly on the way out of Tampa, we got the aging Vinny Prospal.

He's a good player, but he really took a back seat to St. Louis, Lecavalier, and Richards.

Meanwhile, that someone else, Peter Forsberg, decided it was a good career decision to sign with Colorado for the remainder of the season.

He felt Philadelphia was too injured and too young to be a contender, especially since they were in the midst of a 10-game losing streak.

Colorado, along with newly-added retread Adam Foote, was Forsberg's best prospect to win a Cup.

Let's take a look at what happened following the trade.

Vinny Prospal found a hockey soulmate in Danny Briere, who immediately snapped out of his slump upon being paired with Vinny.

Modry stepped in and provided a solid option on the injured defensive corps following the departure of Jim Vandermeer.

Carter stepped up literally right after the deadline passed and took all of the trade speculation with it, and filled the very large hole left by the injury of Mike Richards admirably.

And Forsberg?

He injured his groin two games after returning.

Since then, Forsberg became for the Avs what he was for the Flyers during the first half of last year: a distraction.

Forsberg, a great hockey player when healthy and a true class guy, continued to skip in and out of the lineup for the rest of his time with Colorado this year, right into the playoffs.

With the uncertainty surrounding Forsberg, Colorado got steamrolled by the Red Wings in four games, with the 8-2 loss in Game 4 as the exclamation point.

Back here on the home front, Holmgren essentially traded Alex Picard for the playoffs. True or false: If the Flyers did not acquire Prospal, the Flyers would not have made the playoffs. Chew on that for a minute.

So here we are, sitting pretty as the only team assured of a spot in the NHL's version of the Final Four besides the league-leading Detroit Red Wings.

Think about this: it took the sixth-seeded Flyers less time to finish off the top-seeded Habs than it is taking the second-seeded Penguins to finish off the fifth-seeded Rangers.

Would that have been possible if we had signed Forsberg, accepting the uncertainty around him that truly doomed our 06-07 season rather than trade Prospal?

Don't count on it.