Eagles fire disabled game-day employee for Facebook comments

After longtime Philadelphia Eagles safety Brian Dawkins signed a multi-year contract with the Denver Broncos last week, one of the team's game-day employees, Dan Leone, posted a message on his Facebook page reading: “Dan is [expletive] devastated about Dawkins signing with Denver. . .Dam [sic] Eagles R [sic] Retarted [sic]!!” Presumably, Leone meant "retarded," a strange word choice considering that Leone has a neurological disorder called transverse myelitis that "causes muscle fatigue and limits the range of motion in his limbs."

Regardless, the Eagles probably overreacted in dismissing the six-year employee (this incident is destined to be a Failure of the Day entry in Failure magazine), who served as the west gate chief at Lincoln Financial Field. If Leone had been a full-time employee his termination would have been warranted - for sure - but being a seasonal worker it would have been prudent for the Eagles to "let it go." Now the local media in Philly is portraying the Eagles as "thin-skinned" and overly sensitive to criticism, and popular sentiment seems to be on Leone's side as well.

Nevermind that the Eagles probably did the right thing in letting Dawkins leave, as $17 million over five years seems like too much money for Dawkins at this stage of his career. (Incidentally, the Eagles are now in the market for game day staffers at the Linc, as the following help wanted ad indicates.)

Anyone care to speculate how the Steelers would have handled such a situation?

Bengals: What are the Chances...?

The Steelers are 10.5 point favorites in this game, but not everything points to a romp — or even a win. For one, Cincinnati is on a roll, with a win and a tie in its past two games. And Cincy has emerged victorious in two of its last three visits to Heinz Field, which ought to give Steelers’ fans pause.

On the other hand, without QB Carson Palmer, the Bengals’ offense probably isn’t capable of scoring many points against the Steelers’ number one ranked defense. And the Bengals’ front seven probably doesn’t have the talent to exploit the Steelers’ lone weakness on offense — the offensive line.

Cincinnati also played a full five quarters against a physical Philadelphia Eagles team this past Sunday, hardly ideal for a team playing on the road just four days later. The Steelers have an 80 percent chance of winning this game.

Help beat the Eagles (in the Click for Cans contest)

Chunky Soup's Click for Cans contest is back this season, albeit with a different format than years past. This season NFL teams "play" each other head-to-head each week, with the matchups corresponding to those on the NFL schedule. And the team that receives the most votes in the contest gets the win. Steelers' fans, this is your opportunity to get out the vote. Click here to vote for the Steelers over the Eagles.

Entering this week the Steelers are 2-0; the Eagles are 1-1.

"Last Team Standing"

For those Steelers (and Eagles) fans interested in early NFL history, the book "Last Team Standing" (Da Capo), by Matthew Algeo, is now available in paperback. At The Steelyard we're not much interested in World War II-era football, but some fans certainly are, so we thought we'd throw it out there. According to the cover jacket the theme of the book is "How the Pittsburgh Steelers & Philadelphia Eagles--'The Steagles'--saved pro football during World War II." How's that for wartime heroism?

Remembering Cowher's Preseason Debut

With Mike Tomlin's head coaching debut now just hours away it's worth looking back to see how Bill Cowher fared in his first preseason game. The final result wasn't positive, with the Steelers losing to the Philadelphia Eagles 35-33 at Three Rivers Stadium. If I remember correctly, the game came down to the final play (a missed field goal, perhaps) and ended in controversy. As the players left the field Rod Woodson began arguing with the referee; then Cowher intervened and continued what would become the first of many post-game "discussions" with the officials.

Interestingly, Cowher's second preseason game came against tonight's opponent, the New Orleans Saints—the result a 26-0 loss. But his club rebounded to win its last two preseason games—against the Chicago Bears and New York Giants—and finished the preseason 2-2.

Unhappy Returns?

Yesterday, the Steelers claimed KR Dan Sheldon off waivers, a day after having been cut by the Atlanta Falcons. Both the Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles put in a claim for the former Cologne Centurion (NFL Europe), but Sheldon went to Pittsburgh because the Eagles posted a better record than the Steelers in 2006.

The claim might indicate that Pittsburgh is concerned ith the state of its return game, or the team might simply be looking for a player who can raise the level of competition in training camp. Another possibility is that the coaches wanted an extra body to take reps in camp and return kicks during the club's five preseason games, thereby preserving the limited options the team has at kick returner. After all, Sheldon has never played in a regular-season NFL game (and may have injury concerns of his own), so he's probably a longshot to make the team.

Ideally, second-year WR Willie Reid will be the Steelers' primary kickoff and punt returner in 2007, but foot injuries threaten to derail Reid's career before it even gets started. Fellow wideout Santonio Holmes could excel as a returner, but as the #2 wide receiver the coaches would probably prefer not to expose him to injury on special teams. That leaves backup RB Najeh Davenport as the next best option on kickoff returns (21.5 yards per return in 2006), with veteran receiver Cedrick Wilson a possible stopgap option on either punts or kickoffs. But if Reid can't play the Steelers may be forced to make a trade to bring in a veteran return man.