Morning Links

Eagles Lose To The Vikes at Home, Hurt Their Playoff Position: No one gave the Vikings a chance to even be competitive in this game, much less beat the Eagles, yet they were by far the better team last night. The Vikings played the game like they were the team with double-digits wins and looking to lock up a 1st round bye. The Eagles on the other hand looked like the team that had been disappointing all season and wasn’t living up to expectations. Philly after their performance last night is now locked in to the number 3 spot in the playoff picture, which means they will only get one home playoff game (barring something unexpected happening). The Eagles only have themselves to blame as they never adjusted to the the Vikings defense and had no answer for Minnesota’s offense led by rookie quarterback Joe Webb. While the Eagles offense still at times looked like a unit capable of going to the Super Bowl, their defense looked pretty bad yesterday. If they don’t find a way to slow down opposing offenses, they won’t last long in the playoffs.

Pro Bowl Rosters Set: The Pro Bowl rosters were announced yesterday with few surprises. The Conference leading Falcons and Patriots had the most players on each roster, with 7 and 6 players respectively. Four teams were left out off the Pro Bowl rosters all together, the Bills, Bengals, Seahawks and Bucs all were without a representative. The Buccaneers are the most surprising considering how good of a season they had. Four rookies made the two combined rosters including three 1st round picks, DT Ndamukong Suh, CB Devin McCourty, and C Maurkice Pouncey. In all 21 players will be making their first Pro Bowl trip this season.

Blue Jays Add Dotel To Their Bullpen: The Blue Jays needed to add some arms to their bullpen with the losses of Scott Downs and Kevin Gregg (still a free agent but likely to sign somewhere else soon). Dotel will get a guaranteed $3.5 million for next season and the buyout for 2012. With the option the Blue Jays also control Dotel for 2012 if they so choose for an extra $3 million. I really like this deal for the the Jays, especially since they have that option year if Dotel has a good season this year. Considering what relievers are getting this season on the open market (usually $4+ million a year for multiple years guaranteed) Dotel is a good value. He is also the type of reliever who could get traded at the deadline if the Blue Jays are out of the playoff hunt. While he isn’t what anyone would call a ‘frontline’ closer he can give quality innings at a back of a bullpen and will hold most leads. Very smart and good signing for the Blue Jays that will continue to help them as they look to overtake the Rays and the Yankees in the A.L. East.