Larry Fitzgerald for Lito and draft picks? Didn’t happen. Calvin Johnson for Lito and draft picks? Never was close. Chad Johnson? Doesn’t look like it.

The Eagles entered Saturday’s day 1 of the 2008 NFL Draft with the 19th pick overall, 11 picks in total, and a disgruntled cornerback to most likely dispose of in Lito Sheppard. But as the day progressed, and the Eagles made trade after trade, nothing monumental occurred and they suddenly had no 1st round pick for the 2nd year in a row.

The draft moved along in the first round without many surprises, except if you count the new rule of just 10 minutes allowed per pick; which sped the process along and made listening to Keyshawn Johnson a bit less awful. As the 18th pick was being made with the Eagles on deck, you could feel something big about to happen. No receivers had been drafted as of yet. Branden Albert of Virginia, one player the Eagles might have had their eye on, had gone a few picks before, but there seemed to be so many opportunities to draft an impact player and get rid of Sheppard. Then everything changed as these words flashed on the bottom of ESPN’s screen, “PHILADELPHIA TRADED TO CAROLINA”. For the 2nd year in a row, the Eagles would be without a first round pick.

Now granted there were still plenty of instant impact receivers on the board so it wasn’t completely frustrating that the Eagles traded the pick. The trade was as follows:

Philadelphia gets: 2nd round pick (43) /4th round pick (109) / Panthers 1st round pick in 2009

Carolina gets: 19th pick in 1st round

The board was still in their favor as mentioned, and the Eagles picked up a first round pick next year which certainly bodes well for the future, and yet another 2nd round pick this year. Perhaps the most overlooked move the Eagles made was trading that 4th round pick they had received to Miami for running back Lorenzo Booker. Booker, a 2nd year player, was eyed by Philadelphia last year and they were able to finally pull the trigger on him today.

So now with the Eagles first pick of the draft coming 43rd, fans were again filled with excitement: what are the Eagles going to address? Lineman? Wideout? And what about Lito? Well the fans would have to wait a bit longer, as the Eagles made yet another trade:

Philadelphia gets: 2nd round pick (47) / 4th round pick (117)

Minnesota gets: 2nd round pick (43) / 5th round pick (152)

But with the Eagles finally on the clock and getting a pick in, the 47th pick wasn’t exactly worth the wait. The Eagles drafted Trevor Laws - DT from Notre Dame. Laws is 6 feet tall and weighs in at about 304 pounds. Now, obviously the Irish didn’t have a great year. Also obvious is the Eagles need to have that 3rd defensive tackle behind Patterson and Bunkley to provide a little depth. But listen to the following numbers: 265, 164, 289, 219, 119, 89, 168, 227, 257, 285, 94, 175. Those are rushing yards allowed by the Fighting Irish in each of their games this past year. Read those numbers again. Take out the 89 (against UCLA, their one surprise win) and 94 (against Duke, give me a break), and the Irish defense was giving up well over 150 yards on the ground per game. I’m not saying they ran it right at Trevor Laws every down of every game, but, it makes you wonder…the Eagles must really see something in this kid.

Later in the 2nd round with their original pick at 49, the Eagles did indeed take a wideout in the form of Cal’s DeSean Jackson. Little known fact…my parents original choice of name for me was DeSean. Back to topic: This was a good move and a scratch your chin kind of move at the same time. A receiver is what the Eagles wanted and needed, and they got it. Jackson is also a return man, and for any Eagles fan that watched the painful misery that was the special teams last year knows we need someone back there that can bust a few plays. Those are the pluses for drafting Jackson: he’s a return man, he’s fast as a bullet, and he’s shown the ability to catch the ball consistently. But you have to take a look at the bad: he’s a small guy and his 2007 numbers were nothing in comparison to his 2006 numbers. Jackson is listed at 6 foot even, but he’s just 166 pounds. The Eagles have tried small/quick receivers, what they needed was a Plaxico Burress kind of build, and I saw that in James Hardy (who went to Buffalo in the 2nd round).

I mentioned Jackson’s return game, but what I didn’t mention was how it tailed off in 2007. He had a terrific career at Cal returning kicks, but after running one back 77 yards against Tennessee in Cal’s opening game this past year, he didn’t reach the end zone again. His receiving stats also plummeted a bit after a stellar 2006 campaign in which he grabbed 59 balls for 1060 yards and 9 touchdowns. 2007? Just 762 yards and 6 touchdowns. All in all though, a pretty good pick.

So after digesting all that, the Eagles come away with a defensive tackle that nobody seems to know a lot about and a speedy returner/receiver that contains big play ability. But for some reason I get a feeling the Eagles are in for a big day 2 at the draft; something big is going to happen. Even if this means trading Sheppard in a deal to move up in the 3rd round, that would be big: this Lito Sheppard fiasco needs to end. But with 9 picks still left for Philadelphia, they certainly still have many, many options to work with.

photos from NFL.com

The Flyers’ post-season slogan has been “Vengeance NOW”. Obviously in reference to last year’s atrocious season, the slogan held particularly true in game 2 against the Montreal Canadiens. In game 1 the Flyers had to battle not only the Habs, but the officials who granted Alex Kovalev a goal that he knocked in from what appeared to be above the crossbar, and were gracious in a questionable at best Mike Richards tripping call late in the 3rd to tie the game.

Saturday night however, the Flyers had that vengeance against Montreal. R.J. Umberger scored on a quick snap shot 5:53 into the first stanza to open up the scoring. Despite Montreal having a heavy lead in shots, the Flyers led where it counted. The rather partial Versus commentators (I didn’t even care as long as they weren’t the guys from NBC) also noted that the Habs were leading in hits, but that didn’t really tell the story either. The Flyers hammered the hardest hits of the game, including a doozie from captain Jason Smith. At 8:39 on the power play Jeff Carter absolutely sniped his shot over the left shoulder of rookie Carey Price. Commentators have been saying throughout both series in this year’s post-season that Jeff Carter has been the best Flyer and he proved why tonight. His shot is one of the hardest and fastest in the NHL.

After the Flyers went up 2-0, visions came to mind of the Flyers blowing that lead, something they did in game 1 of the conference semifinals, and on multiple occasions in the first round against Washington. Captain Saku Koivu scored for the Canadiens with just over 3 minutes remaining in the first period, causing fans everywhere to wince. The only reason, by the way, that the score was even that close was the incredible play of Marty Biron. The new father is playing in only his second playoff series and early in this game he decided he would haul the team on his shoulders and carry them, making flashy glove saves in the process. Apparently the constant chants of “Bbbbbb-roooooo” as it sounded in unison of 20,000 French Canadian accents motivated Marty to continue his stellar play this off-season.

The only goal of the second period came off the red-hot stick of Danny Briere. Briere, among boo’s from the crowd drew the puck close to him, skated around Andrei Markov who was draped all over him, dragged the puck across the crease in front of Carey Price and neatly slid the puck behind Price’s right foot, which was behind the goal line. That goal marked the seventh for Danny in the playoffs which tied him for the lead with Detroit’s Johan Franzen who posted a hat trick this afternoon against the Avalanche.

Andrei Markov scored 1:26 in to the 3rd period on a back door goal that Biron had no chance on, to make it a 1 goal game once again. The Flyers didn’t collapse this time and held onto the lead until 17:39 when R.J. Umberger netted his second of the night and fourth of the playoffs to really put the nail in the coffin for the Habs. The Flyers look like a different team this series, playing at a higher notch than they were against the Caps last week. There is a sense of confidence in this team that isn’t an ignorant  confidence this time around. These guys truly seem to believe they  can and will score the next goal at any point in the game. It also doesn’t hurt when your goalie decides he will stand on his head and make the entire opposing team his own personal bunch of lackeys.

The series is now tied at 1 game apiece, as both teams head down to Philly. The motivation is clearly in the Flyers favor. They have so many things working for them. Not only is Biron playing superhuman hockey, but the physical play is carried by the orange and black. And analysts thought this would be easy for Montreal? Think again.

Dave’s 3 Stars of the Game

1. Marty Biron - 34 saves
2. R.J. Umberger - 2 goals
3. Danny Briere - 1 goal

Photos flyers.nhl.com, Phillip MacCallum/Getty Image

The Draft can be an excruciatingly long day, but at least you aren’t a Jets fan. If you are a Jets fan….may God have mercy on your soul

(the 38 second mark is fantastic)