Alright, I'm getting a little tired of hearing about the Riley Cooper story. I absolutely loathe the word he used, how he handled that situation at the Kenny Chesney concert, and think he definitely has some growing up to do. However, the kid is 25-years old, appears to have given a very sincere apology to his teammates, and the guy has been welcomed back to the team. The story may have been big news for a couple days, but believe me - the Philadelphia Eagles have far more important things on their minds than a 25-year old kid making a much publicized mistake during a heated moment at a concert. Now there's even a report of Tim Tebow getting into the discussion and saying that he's "praying" for Cooper.
The start of the NFL regular season is almost exactly a month away. Here are the questions the Eagles and those covering them should be thinking about:
- Will Chip Kelly's offense translate well to the NFL?
- Who will be the starting quarterback?
- With both Jeremy Maclin and Arrelious Benn out for the season, how will the depth chart look at receiver?
I'm not defending what Riley Cooper said and it'd take sincere actions to back up the words in his apology for me to accept him back as a friend. However, the team's main objective is to win football games, and especially now with Maclin and Benn out for the year, chances are I'd welcome Cooper back as a teammate due to the high probability of needing him on the field.
ESPN writers and commentators are making this story out to be one which could potentially ruin the Eagles' season. These are professional athletes - paid to give it their all on the field and do everything in their power to help the team win games. Sure, it may take a while for some teammates to warm up to Cooper again off-the-field (if that ever happens), but once they all put their gear on Sunday afternoons, past personal mistakes don't hold much weight. Everyone's goal is to defeat their opponent, and Cooper, just like everyone else on the team, will try to do that week in and week out. While I think it's fine for ESPN to run with a story such as this for a couple days, there comes a point when we need to place it in the rear-view, allow the team to handle the situation as they so choose, and focus once again on the game itself.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/trainingcamp13/story/_/id/9545192/tell-eagles-handling-riley-cooper-return-properly
http://espn.go.com/nfl/trainingcamp13/story/_/id/9545641/tim-tebow-says-praying-former-teammate-riley-cooper
The start of the NFL regular season is almost exactly a month away. Here are the questions the Eagles and those covering them should be thinking about:
- Will Chip Kelly's offense translate well to the NFL?
- Who will be the starting quarterback?
- With both Jeremy Maclin and Arrelious Benn out for the season, how will the depth chart look at receiver?
I'm not defending what Riley Cooper said and it'd take sincere actions to back up the words in his apology for me to accept him back as a friend. However, the team's main objective is to win football games, and especially now with Maclin and Benn out for the year, chances are I'd welcome Cooper back as a teammate due to the high probability of needing him on the field.
ESPN writers and commentators are making this story out to be one which could potentially ruin the Eagles' season. These are professional athletes - paid to give it their all on the field and do everything in their power to help the team win games. Sure, it may take a while for some teammates to warm up to Cooper again off-the-field (if that ever happens), but once they all put their gear on Sunday afternoons, past personal mistakes don't hold much weight. Everyone's goal is to defeat their opponent, and Cooper, just like everyone else on the team, will try to do that week in and week out. While I think it's fine for ESPN to run with a story such as this for a couple days, there comes a point when we need to place it in the rear-view, allow the team to handle the situation as they so choose, and focus once again on the game itself.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/trainingcamp13/story/_/id/9545192/tell-eagles-handling-riley-cooper-return-properly
http://espn.go.com/nfl/trainingcamp13/story/_/id/9545641/tim-tebow-says-praying-former-teammate-riley-cooper
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