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.
I have been agonizing over the decision of whether to travel to J'ville for teh Super Bowl this entire week. Understand that in no circumstances will I be going to the game. The price of tix are prohibitively high. But is it worth it to go down to the city just to be exposed to the atmosphere? Or would it be better (and cheaper) to watch the game from some venue in Philly?
What to do, what to do?
WR Todd Pinkston has been skwered over the past year + since he was abused by CB Ricky Manning in the 2003 Championship game. That led to a wholesale review of the entire Eagles WR corps and the subsequent acquisition of Terrell Owens. But here's the funny thing. Up to that game vs. Carolina (and McNabb's later plea for more "offensive weapons"), Andy Reid was quite content with Thrash, Pinkston, and Mitchell.
Here's the funny thing. The highly praised Pats' WR bunch is so highly praised for their "team" approach, yet their stats as an entity and individually are remarkably similar to the Eagles, sans Owens. Among Patten, Givens, Branch and Brown, only Brown has cracked 1,000 yards receiving in a season. All the rest haven't caught a sniff of that milestone. And all but Brown haven't come close to 100 receptions in a season either. Funny how Pinkston and Thrash and Mitchell were, well, thrashed for such pedantic receving numbers while the Pats group puts up similar numbers but are "celebrated" for their efficiency and lack of egos.
I'm not suggesting that the Eagles shouldn't have upgraded at WR last year. Clearly, Pinkston's performance, or lack of performance, and Thrash's nonexistence in that Carolina game (exacerbated by the absence of B. Westbrook) necessitated some sort of move. But it is interesting how perceptions are shaped. The contrast between two different receiving groups and their abilities' has never been clearer than in this contest. ESPN's John Clayton was moved to write about those "differences" in a recent story
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs04/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=1982272
Interestingly enough, the ESPN stats page for players in teh super bowl lists Troy Brown's position as "cornerback." Which brings up a fascinating football philosophical question. Is it better to be known as the best receiver of a nondescript group of pass catchers, or the best WR cum nickle back in the NFL. Apparently, the answer is b.
