Fan commentary on the Philadelphia Eagles and other Philly sports happenings. "Our capacity for hurt is matched only by our capacity for loyalty." -- Bill Lyon.
Is it just me, or does anyone else wonder how if Condi Rice wasn't able to stand up to Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, or to referee the testosterone laden disputes b/w those two and Powell which is, after all, her job --- how the heck she is going to stand up to or go toe to toe with a real warrior like Ariel Sharon? Not that I'm complaining, as a pro-Israel anti-Palestinian terrorist hawk, but c'mon.
Why don't more NFL teams go no huddle when their is a questionable play that might be challenged so as to prevent the opposition from getting a good replay look at it before making their decision? Once the next play is run, you can't go back.
Along those same lines, if you are the defense and you haven't been able to see a replay of a disputed TD, let the offense line up for the extra point and then go offsides. It will only be 5 yards on the kickoff, but should give your team enough time to finally see a replay to determine if you should challenge.
Just think of how that would have benefitted Minnesota in their game with the Eagles on TO's touchdown "catch."
How is it that Redskins coach Joe Gibbs has a special coach, a former NFL ref, devoted exclusively to telling Gibbs whether to replay challenge a call, and they are now 0 for their last 5 challenges? (Along those same lines, how can Herm Edwards have a special "clock management" coach who so botched the last minute of the Jets-Ravens game?)
The season ending penalty NBA commissioner David Stern handed down on Ron Artest is not only a strong rebuke of the player’s actions, but also to the chucklehead ESPN announcers (John Saunders, Tim Legler, Greg Anthony, and Stephen A. Smith) who all but excused the Pacers’ players for going into the stands to pummel Piston fans.
How many other viewers were aghast as I was that the ESPN quartet blamed the fans for provoking Artest et. .al and thus getting the beatdown they they deserved while downplaying the possibility that innocent fans were being wrongly attacked. Anthony and Legler in particular took pains to explain that NBA players are so intense during regular season games that Artest’s reaction was only the natural response. Perhaps more than the actions of the Pacers themselves, the comments of these former jocks --- the “jockocracy” as Howard Cosell decried it --- perfectly illustrates the distance and divide that now separates professional athletes and the media that covers them from the regular sports fan.
Even the usually level headed John Saunders came down firmly on the side of the players with numerous comments about alcohol being the catalyst for the melee of players and fans in the stands. A comment to which my brother retorted, “is he suggesting that Ron Artest is drunk?”
What was lacking from the ESPN broadcast – aside from good judgment, which goes almost without saying – was a sense of proportion. Someone gets doused with beer and, while not excusing it, let’s be realistic it was a half empty cup of beer and not a “bottle” as most of the press called it, its ok to physically attack him. Under that type of thinking, would Saunders and Co. have excused the fan who Charles Barkley once spit on to rush the court to duke it out?
Saunders and Co. blamed the fans, they blamed arena security, everybody, it seems but the Pacers themselves who escalated the incident from a boorish fan throwing a drink on someone to a full blown national sports controversy. Thankfully, the person whose opinion counts most, Commissioner David Stern, had the perspective and judgment that was so sorely lacking on ESPN.
It appeared to me that the Cowboys tried to emulate the Steelers defensive scheme to disrupt McNabb and Co by pressuring him. The Cowboys consistenly rushed five players but unlike the Steelers were not able to collapse the pocket or get to McNabb. The Eagles line did an excellent job, McNabb bought himself time in other instances (the 60 yard pass to FredEx being exhibit A), and quick drops turned into big gains (TO's 12 yard catch and 50 yard run for the score). Funny, you would have thought with Roy Williams and Terence Newman that the Cowboys would have been secure in the defensive secondary to free up others to rush McNabb but the results were disastrous.
Sure, the TO-Nicolette Sheridan opening bit on MNF was crude, risque, and inappropriate, but...c'mon. It was only a bit promo before a regular season game. and it was after 9pm. I can't believe the firestorm of controversy this has caused. To equate it with Janet Jackson's boob flopping out during the most watched TV event of the year is absurd.
I can't help but think there is more than a sense of racial undertones to the umbrage. A studly black male (and not just any player, but the most flamboyant player in the league right now) and a comely white sex kitten. That kind of matchup doesn't play well down south or even in middle America.
Funny how preseason predictions turn out. I had the game vs. the Steelers as a win since they had Tommy Maddox at QB and appeared to be in rebuilding mode. Even still, had you told me rookie Ben Roethlisberger were to start vs. the Eagles I would have bet money Philly would win. In fact, I did lose a considerable amount on this game. That Roethlisberger kid was as cool as a cucumber. Jim Johnson has completely discombobulated other rookie QBs (notably Ryan Leaf), but not the 22 year old phenom out of Miami of Ohio. He looks like the real deal. Heck, he was converting about a 10x as many 3d downs as potential league MVP D. McNabb. Of course, being up by 3 TDs makes the job a little easier, but he got them those 3 touches to begin with.
7-1 at the midway mark is not too shabby, regardless of how disappointing the 8th game loss was.
Can we all stop the gnashing of teeth over the Eagles run defense. It is what it is. Besides, should it really be that much of a surprise that they surrender chunks of yardage on the ground (like last year) when they've still got undersized LBs (the QB outweighs the starters!) and a quick but not particularly big d-line.
The fact is that this defense is a front-running defense. It's specialty is rushing the passer. This year more than ever the defense needs the offense to score points so opponents have to throw. And it appears we finally have an offense that can score in bunches.
If anything, the most disturbing aspect of the loss to Pittsburgh was the ineptitude of the offense. The nearly unstoppable attack early in the season has practically ground to a halt. TDs in the red zone are down and 3rd down conversions are way down. Sure, Westbrook is hurt and Baltimore is a top defense, but c'mon. Also, the play calling has gotten much more conservative. Remember the 3rd and 5 sweep to Westbrook Reid called? And they were down by 3 TDs at the time!? Heck, in Cleveland Reid was passing on 3rd and 1. What happened?
Bill Parcells is no dummy. On Monday night we'll probably see a similar game plan like the one last December at the Linc. Ball control running game. Hopefully, like last December, the Eagles can score early and often to make him put it in the air. At which point, Kearse and company can get after that statue to QB immobility, Vinny Testaverde.
Man, that was a butt kicking at Heinz Field on Sunday (can I say "ass" kicking on this site?). It was just one of those games. Eagles fans are familiar with the type... the kind where McNabb basically throws up a mulligan. #5 never looked comfortable on the field (and he looked particularly pissed off (can I say pissed off on this site) with TO in his ear trying to pump him up.).
It happens. Remember the game when the Colts came to town? How about against the Jaguars...at the Vet? Although, I must say that even at half time I was reminiscing about the comeback McNabb orchestrated against the Steelers a couple of years ago at Three Rivers (Akers made a last second FG and won it in OT) and thinking that it could happen again. Uh, no.
Look, let's just move on. The Steelers are one of the best teams in the league and we played them on the road after two draining games by the Eagles. On the bright side, McNabb and TO's relationship came out of the baptism by fire ok.
Did you get a sense like I did that McNabb just decided to shut TO by throwing him the ball 18 consecutive times in the second half? Wonder how TO would have felt about Garcia had he done that back in their days with the Niners. Also, I think the yapping TO did was overblown. The reality is McNabb finally has an equal peer on the offense (Westbrook is still too young) to speak directly to McNabb. Who else was going to do it? Todd Pinkston? Please.
Let's give the always voluble TO the last word on the subject of justice obstructing in a double murder perp Ray Lewis.
"I'm obviously not one of those who are a face of the NFL that they're going to have on commercials...It's discouraging at times that I get labeled and put in that same mold and that I'm the worst guy that ever put on a uniform in the NFL," he said. "It's funny, it really is. I listen to all the comments and at times, it baffles me. "I've never had any off-field problems. I've wanted to say it for a long time, but since Joey put it out there, you have a guy like Ray Lewis, who I thought was pretty much my friend. This is a guy, double-murder case, and he could have been in jail, but it seems like the league embraces a guy like that. I'm going out scoring touchdowns and having fun, but I'm the bad guy. So I don't understand it, I really don't. "I listen to ESPN and all the guys that report on there, it's really funny...I just take it with a grain of salt and I keep ticking. I know they're looking for me to do something [off the field] or something to come up, but it's not going to happen."
A hearty amen, to Joey Porter's comments about Ray Lewis. Finally, someone in the league speaking out about Ray Lewis. Here's the critical part from Les Bowen's article today.
Porter, who also has feuded with Lewis, sounded a favorite T.O theme in Tuesday's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: other players celebrate flamboyantly, and some of them have even had off-the-field issues, which Owens hasn't, yet few are as widely reviled as T.O. In Lewis' case, those off-the-field issues include that agreement to plead guilty to misdemeanor obstruction of justice and testify against two of his friends after a double-murder at an Atlanta-area nightclub in January 2000. (The friends were acquitted.) "It's fine for this guy to celebrate, but it's not fine for this guy," Porter was quoted as saying. "It's good for this guy to be creative, but it's not good for this guy. Why isn't it funny when Terrell does the pom-poms? You guys can make who the good guys are. The media has total control over that. "...But this guy [Lewis] just comes off a murder case and he comes back dancing and goes to the Super Bowl and you love every minute about it. He gets a 4-minute introduction when he comes out. They absolutely go crazy for it. He makes a tackle, he dances every play and you guys love it. Terrell scores a touchdown and he does his celebration and, for some reason, you guys just choose, 'We don't like you. You aren't one of the guys we pick.' I never thought it was fair."
What to make of the election results, particularly the exit polls that showed a large portion of the country cited "moral values" as their top priority when selecting a president. Apparently, much of the country is less concerned with the war on terror, the situation in Iraq, jobs, healthcare and the economy than they are about whether two men (or two women) can get married.
Admittedly, I live in one of the coastal "blue" states, but if that doesn't encapsulate the ideological divide in this country - I don't know what does.
First, let me say that I think the hiring of Philllies manager Charlie Manuel is a positive step. But my anger and frustration stems from wondering why this move wasn't made 4 months ago!? If you were going to hire Manuel, why didn't you fire Bowa when the Phillies were playing listless ball in July and August in the hopes of lighting a fire under them (and yes, I am aware of the irony of firing the flame-throwing Bowa and promoting Manuel to "light a fire" under the 2004 team.)
Was Ed Wade afraid that Manuel might get the Phils to make a run at the wildcard, in which case he might be forced to bring him back next year, without the benefit of the casting call of interviews for again skippers?
Why would Wade feel the need to keep Manuel regardless (if he had made the move)? As my friend Ross noted, this is the big time. Why would you feel constrained in making another change after the year at the expense of your interim manager?
Why, indeed? Wade traded away prospects at the deadline to make a run at the playoffs. Why wouldn't he deal his manager for the same goal? Why wouldn't he just let Manuel know he would have to reinterview for the job?
Why, why why?
Oh, that's right. Cause they're the Phillies
How is it that in this country and in the 21st century that voters have to wait in line for 2 hours, and in some cases longer, to vote in presidential elections? Everyone decries the lack of civic participation in elections, but it seems the current system is specifically designed to only accommodate that dwindling minority that actually votes. If we are truly serious about increasing participation then a new commitment and new investments are needed to make sure that voting goes more smoothly and more quickly than it did yesterday. If not, then let’s just admit the fact that in 21st century
Said Anthony Weaver, Ravens Defensive End, about TO's TD celebration, "His dance made me sick... I do have one thing to say about the dance and that is that I would not want to mess with Ray."
Yup, just ask the families of two dead men in Atlanta. You don't mess with Ray Lewis. Certainly when he pleads guilty of obstruction of justice in a double homicide.
But hey, the Eagles won't play the Ravens again for a couple of years at least.
My friend PK sent me an email after the Ravens game which I've posted. He also sent a copy to my brother who then responded in kind:
We will not have a letdown. Too much experience on this team (again, whythe Trotter and Douglas signings were so big). Also, Reid won't let ithappen. Reid is the best coach in the NFL not named Belichek. He keeps theteam even keel. He gets wrecked for his lack of comments or apparentemotion, but that's why this team overcomes the adversity that happens intoday's NFL. His press conferences are the same after wins as they afterlosses. I imagine you couldn't tell the difference between yesterday'spress conference and the one after the Pats last year in September. I trustReid will not allow us to be too flat. How can you not trust him after thepast 3-4 years (regular season). Belichek is much the same way. Thatcalming force is part of the reasons we could actually run the table.
WhenI looked at schedule at beginning of season I saw 14-2. The reason was allthe hard games were at home (beginning of season Steelers weren't good).Panthers/ Vikings/Packers/Ravens - all home. I can't see worse than that atthis point. Remember it's now November. Andy doesn't lose often inNovember (it must be his excitement for turkey/potatoes and stuffing!).The Vikings were all the rage the past few weeks. Look what happened tothem - at home!!
Goal #1 - win division DONE
Goal #2 - get bye DONE
Goal #3 - HF throughout DONE
Goal #4 - SB trip TBD
Think about it. If we play bad the next 9 weeks we still go 12-4. At worstwe tie the Vikings. We own tie breaker. No chance the giants go 12-4.At this point the only thing to play for is history. Why not us??
My friend PK sent me the following email after the Eagles beat the Ravens.
"January can't come fast enough." That was how Jeff [my brother] summed up the Birds situation in a message last night. Very true.Let's face it, the Eagles have been around since, what, the 1920s.We've never been 7-0. Never. Not once. Never.Until now, we're 7-0 now. 7-0.
OK, we're going to lose somewhere along the schedule here, and I predicted two weeks ago that it would happen in Pittsburgh, a "trap door" game because we'd be looking ahead to the Cowboys the following week on MNF.
Well, having looked through the entire schedule the rest of the way, there is NO WAY the Eagles should get caught looking past the Steelers.This is The Game of the Year, a possible Super Bowl match-up, the toughest team on the schedule at this point. Throw in the fact that the Steelers played above themselves today in beating the Pats, they might be headed for the letdown game, not us.Christ, we were in complete control of that game today against the Ravens and yet somehow they came out statistically ahead of us in everything, total yards, rushing yards, time of possession. Not sure how that happened.
A couple things that concern me, beyond the obvious thing (Westbrook's health):* we seem to have come down with a case of the not-quite-able-to-punch-it-in-the-end-zone-itis. Drives that just don't get finished off and instead we get an Akers field goal. If TO doesn't make that incredible move for the lone td today, that would have been another Akers field goal.*
D-backs. Lito and Brown have played OK this season, but I still have concerns about them in a really big game, big situation, against someone like Favre. In previous years, with all-pro corners who could go man-to-man without any worries, Jim Johnson could load up B-Dawk and the other safeties and the l-backers to stamp out the running game. He's still doing that to some extent now -- Dawkins and Lewis were the leaders in tackles today -- but it scares me to leave Lito over-exposed, which is exactly what happened on that heave by boller that led to the ravens lone td.those two things aside, holy crap, why not us? If Westbrook can come back healthy and play the rest of the season, we're looking seriously great. With two games against the Cowboys and two against the Skins, as well as a season finale against Cincy, that's basically five wins in the bag right there. There are only four other games against teams that should have a chance at beating us.And we're basically three games ahead of hte NFC field, given that the Giants and Vikes have two losses each and we beat them so we hold a tie-breaker over them.Another huge concern could well be getting to something like 12-1 and having home field wrapped up in early December and then not playing meaningful football for another month or so.
The emerging MLB theory is that wild cards win the World Series so often because they scratch and claw all the way down to the last weekend of the season while division winners often have huge leads and coast down the stretch.I sure hope that we don't do something like 14-2 or 15-1 only to lose our zing down the stretch.
Curt Schilling has just concluded one of the gutsiest postseason performances in MLB history. And this blog's admiration for big #38 is well-documented. But I must say how disappointed I've been with Schilling's recent comments every time he opens up his mouth.
First it was all the God talk and him being a born again Christian. Then came some controversial stuff in an on-line Boston fan site interview. And then there was the Schillling as the Bush partisan. (I'm sure that played really well up in Boston and New England.).
For the love of Curt, would Schilling just shut up and let us bask in the glow of his post-season glory and his leading the Sox to their first championship in 86 years without hearing the stuff that is only detracting from his still forming legend.
Before the season (in my preseason prediction no less), I said a win against Baltimore and its punishing defense and nobody getting seriously hurt would be the best possible outcome from Sunday’s game.
Well, notwithstanding JR Reed’s hamstring and Pinkston’s pending knee injury, the 15-10 win was the best possible scenario. Sure the Ravens had 3 pro bowlers out on an offense that heretofore has been anemic to date (under the unsteady leadership of that noted field corporal, Kyle Boller), but a win is a win is a win. And is it the Eagles fault that Jamal Lewis’ suspension for drug charges happened to coincide with the Eagles matchup?
And what to make of TO’s TD celebration mocking Ray Lewis? It was instantly recognizable to any NFL fan. And it certainly didn’t sit well with the all-pro LB, nor many of his defensive teammates who were already stewing from TO’s slap at Ravens’ GM Ozzie Newsome’s comments to TO during the off-season trade/free agent debacle. (Oddly, two Ravens d-backs, Deion and Corey Fuller, took a different take by noting that the best way to shut up TO was to shut him down or shut him out of the endzone.)
My brother equated the dance to TO’s spiking on the Dallas star two years ago. Whatever the case, TO’s recent matchups with opponents in back-back-back weeks (Carolina’s Ricky Manning, Cleveland’s Jeff Garcia, and Baltimore’s Ray Lewis) has certainly brought a swagger to the Eagles this years. And like TO, the Eagles have backed up the talk, and walked the walk.
Heck, it ain’t bragging if you do it.
