gotta love the quality of sports journalism...or is the low quality merely confined to Philadelphia.
In the wake of a brutally disappointing loss to the mediocre Bears - including poor clock management, offensive execution,& playcalling - and the first three questions posed to AndyReid in his press coference are about his kicker David Akers & whether he's "lost" it after missing 2 45-plus figgies into a swirling wind.
Red zone continues to be a problem for Reid and Mohrninweg.
Also, look at that fourth down goal line run. Isn’t Alex Brown facemasking Bucky as he’s tackling him.
And how can you not challenge the spot on the Forte run?!
On the bright side, the Phils play on Wednesday.
Has a division’s standings been so upended in so little time.
The heretofore overrated 2-1 Redskins, who beat two lousy teams and looked completely discombobulated against the NY Giants in the season opener, go into Dallas and handle the Cowboys.
The Cowboys, until now viewed as the best team in the conference, have now lost one - and should have lost a second - home game to division rivals within the first four weeks of the season. That is not how the best team in the conference plays.
The Eagles blow 4 turnovers, 2 Akers’ misses, and four cracks at the endzone from inside the 2 yard line to lose to the mediocre Kyle Orton-led Bears to sink to .500.
Sunday morning, I would have ranked the NFC East thusly: Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, Redskins.
Sunday night, I have to rank them: Redskins, Giants, Cowboys, Eagles
A frustrated friend writes:
You should crush that weak ass Bears team. Kyle Orton orchestrates 3 first downs in the second half. 4 runs up the middle against the strength of the Bears team. Not on McNabb, but put this one on Andy Reid. Challenge two of those plays-first TD and the spot on the Forte play.
I can’t take it anymore.
Balester threw his second pitch to Howard knee high, just inside.
Howard unloaded -- one looping swing, one crack -- and the ball soared high toward center, into the swirling, spectral mist. Nobody even needed to see it land. Citizens Bank Park erupted. Center fielder Lastings Milledge chased Howard's 48th home run to the 398 sign in center, but it sailed into Philadelphia's bullpen. Several relievers already had their fists raised high. Philadelphia led 3-0, and by the middle of the next inning, it was 6-1 thanks to a Chase Utley bases-loaded, bases-clearing double."
Moving Art Rooney-Rocky Bleier-Joe Biden story. Further proof the Rooney’s are class acts.
A friend writes:
Well, Mets stole 1 tonight after blowing 1 last night. We gotta sweep the Nats. Game on.
From Major League Baseball:
If the Mets and Phillies finish tied with both teams assured of a playoff berth, the Mets win the NL East by virtue of their 11-7 record vs. the Phillies this season. Philadelphia's magic number to clinch at least the Wild Card is two. To clinch the division crown, the number is three.
Should the Phils, Mets, Brewers finish the regular season with identical records, the Phillies and Mets would play on Monday, Sept. 29, at Citizens Bank Park, with the winner being declared the NL East champions. The loser would host Milwaukee on Tuesday, Sept. 30, with the winner of that game advancing to the postseason as the NL Wild Card entry.
What did Jim Johnson see that prompted him to blitz, blitz, and blitz again the Steelers offense?
Was it Roethlisberger’s shoulder injury?
Was it some weakness on the offensive line?
Was it a confidence that his defensive backs could cover Ward, Holmes and Washington long enough for his safety and linebackers to get to the quarterback?
I’m guessing it was a combination of all three.
Does the weather help or hurt? Tonight's game could be canceled cause of the rain. Either they wait all night to play it or they move it to Monday. Mets would get a day of rest before their last series but last night's loss gnaws a little longer.
Doubt Cubs would play anyone of consequence if they had to play on Monday to decide mets playoff fate. Ends up with the same problem. Cubs will play nobody because of the weather. And certainly not their pitcher (Hardin).
They may postpone due to weather if it won't clear up. Will they have to wait ALL NIGHT, like they made the Phillies and Nats do on precisely this night 2 yrs ago, the Thurs night before the final weekend waiting till 11:30 pm to start that game.
The report I just heard was rain through Saturday. If it's raining steadily still at 12:00 with no let up anticipated they'll call it. They'll make up Monday if necessary. If that happened I'd be surprised if some of the Cubs just didn't stay in Chicago and not make trip (no reason to if Cubs) - this brings us back to the MLB doesn't want that to happen and trying to get game in.
Reportedly the Cubs are really unhappy already about the possibility of having to come back to NY on Monday for a make up game that doesn't affect them.
With rain forecast this afternoon through Saturday morning, the Mets are desperate not to have to play any double headers this weekend and further strain the bullpen. Phillies too, could be looking at a double header Saturday.
Interestingly, the Mets have already used up their allotment of day-night doubleheaders for the season so need a special exception to play another doubleheader (from the players union) otherwise a rained out game would have to be held on Monday or Tuesday (if they have to play cubs on Monday).
Finally, if the Mets have to play on Monday (vs. the Cubs) or on Monday or Tuesday vs. the Marlins that totally screws up the special farewell to Shea ceremonies they had for Sunday.
Fascinating
The most impressive part of the Eagles’ win yesterday?
· Roethlisberger getting sacked 9 times
· McNabb throwing 14 straight completions at one point
· Keeping the Steelers to 33 yards rushing.
· The entire Eagles starting backfield getting hurt and leaving the game (Westbrook, Hunt, McNabb) but still managing to win.
· Brian Dawkins flying through the air like Superman to strip Roethlisberger of the ball and recovering the fumble to basically seal the game.
Like I said, I’m having a hard time deciding which was the MOST impressive.
Honest to gosh true story.
I was watching the game with my kids and when they showed Dawkins diving to strip Roethlisberger of the ball and recovering the fumble in super slo-mo my daughter said, “daddy that man is flying.”
I replayed it on Tivo and my son says, “yeah, he looks like Superman.”
“That’s not Superman,” I said. “It’s Brian Dawkins.”
From Reid press conference.
MRI shows ankle “strain” but no ligament and/or tendon tears. He is day to day.
McNabb MRI shows “chest contusion.” Also day to day.
LJ Smith is injured and “being checked” but no detail on what/location of injury.
A sign of the economic times or crushing disappointment among a fan base for a team that was supposed to be a playoff contender but is 0-2 out of the gate? Seriously, the Vikings are in the biggest free fall of any team in the league (or at least among its fan base). You would think benching Jackson would have inspired the fans.
Before we move on to week 3, I wanted to raise an issue/ask a question that has not gotten any attention in the wake of the Eagles loss to the Cowboys (and is a personal crusade of mine).
To wit, why did the Eagles punt with 3:22 left to go in the game from their own 24 yard line facing 4th and 8 down by 4?
Andy Reid's classic conventional wisdom decision has gone unnoticed. And yet, the question remains.
The bottom line is that at that point in the game, the Eagles needed to do two things to win: they had to stop the Cowboys on their next possession and the Eagles had to score a touchdown (being down by 4).
What the Eagles did do was to punt to the Cowboys 21 yard line where they stuffed Marion Barber twice and forced an incomplete to Barber on third down, resulting in a Cowboys punt back to the Eagles where they started on their own 22 (after a Quinton Demps holding penalty) with 2:36 to go.
At that point,they had lost 2 yards in field postion, :46 seconds, and the rest of their timeouts. They still needed a touchdown to win.
But why did they punt initially? Had they gone for it on 4th and 8 and not converted they would have given the Cowboys the ball at, worst, on their own 24 yard line.
The Eagles would still have needed to force a 3 and out on the Cowboys. Though on 4th down from that field position, the Cowboys would have gone for the FG. Assuming the Cowboys got the figgie, they would have kicked off. And based on the 22.7 yards per kickoff return the Eagles had that game, they would have returned the ball to just about where they started with it on the last Cowboys punt.
Most importantly, the Eagles would still have needed to score a touchdown. Yes, the touchdown would not have won the game outright at that point - only tied it, but they would still have needed to score a touchdown to NOT LOSE.
All things considered, the Eagles probably should have gone for it on 4th and 8 from their own 24 yard line with 3:22 to play down by 4. If they convert, they keep the possession, build momentum, and preserve their timeouts. If they don't make the first, they are in the same boat as if they punted - they have to stop the Cowboys, burn their timeouts and still need the ball back and score a touchdown to stay alive. But they forfeited the chance to make a first down. Indeed, their 3rd down play (which was a short incomplete pass to Westbrook) should have reflected the "2 down territory" nature of the game situation/field position. (Perhaps a basic running play, draw, or a surprise long pass on that down).
The risk reward is very clear and once again Andy Reid's play calling and game managment are called into question even if he has escaped scrutiny from the mainstream/conventional wisdom media.
Here are the remaining games for the three teams:
Phillies: at Atlanta, at Florida, at Florida, at Florida, vs. Atlanta, vs. Atlanta, vs. Atlanta, OFF, vs. Washington, vs. Washington, vs. Washington.
Mets: at Washington, at Atlanta, at Atlanta, at Atlanta, vs. Cubs, vs. Cubs, vs. Cubs, vs. Cubs, vs. Florida, vs. Florida, vs. Florida
Brewers: at Cubs, at Cubs, at Cincinnati, at Cincinnati, OFF, vs. Pittsburgh, vs. Pittsburgh, vs. Pittsburgh, vs. Cubs, vs. Cubs, vs. Cubs
The Philly baseball beat writer thinks the Phillies have to go 7-3 over the last 10 games to definitely get in the playoffs. He even thinks 6-4 might do it since he doesn’t think BOTH the Mets and Brewers will go 6-4 since each has to play the Cubs (4 games for the Mets, 3 for the Brewers).
Interestingly, the Mets don’t have any more off days the rest of the way.
We played this game a couple of years ago with the Phils in the last week of the season. They crapped the bed against the lowly Nationals (remember the 2 am rain delayed game in Washington?), which really didn’t matter since the Dodgers essentially ran the table and went something like 9-1.
6-4 seems about right. That would make each teams’ magic 18, right? Any combination of Phillies wins and Mets/Brewers losses to get to 18 (and vice versa for Shuff).
Should be interesting. Too bad TBS stopped showing Braves-Phillies games.
A friend writes:
Tonight was painful on many levels, and ther will be plenty of folks who want to minimize this loss by saying, See, we stood toe to toe with them and showed that we're an elite team, we'll get them later this year at home.
Sure. True. But that's the attitude of a wild card team. By the end of the 1st half I saw a team on the field that was looking at trying to win a Super Bowl. That offense looked as good, if not better, than even in prime time TO/'04 year.
Ultimately, what that loss might have done is serve as a distinction between being a division winner (with possible home field throughout) and being a wild card team trying to win it all on the road. I'd have much preferred pulling out that win and then losing a winnable one to the Steelers at home.
Oh, ps, DeSeam Jackson needs to learn how to hold the football. He CAUGHT that pass at the 4 and fumbled it into the end zone for a TD recovered by us.
Is Andy Reid going to hold a press conference today?
The “upgrades” to the Eagles’ website stink. Less information and hard to navigate. Great.
Would B Dawk switch over to SS and move Mikell to free safety? Would Dawkins see that as a “demotion” or a move to best play to his current strengths?
And what of Sheldon Brown, who has been mentioned as likely candidate to switch to safety for about two years now? Would that be a way out of the Lito controversy? The Eagles nickel package could look like Brown and Mikell at the safeties and Lito, Samuel and Hanson as the corners.
Game last night. Among the casualties Shawn Andrews’ back, Roy Williams’ broken arm (when did he give up #31?) and Jason Witten’s separated shoulder.
No one really wants to discuss the declining performance of Brian Dawkins. Here’s hoping he bounces back, as he usually does, after a bad game or two. And as Rich Hoffman points out, TO and Jason Witten are two of the best in the league. (Let’s hope Stewart Bradley’s similarly bad pass defense can be blamed on the Cowboys talent.)
Still, it bears mentioning. If B. Dawk can only be a situational player this year, who would replace him? Rookie Quinton Demps? Sean Considine? (puh-leaze).
Would Quinin Mikell shift over to FS and Demps and/or Considine come into play strong safety?
Dawkins would really have to play even more poorly than last night before a Mikell-Considine tandem could realistically be considered an upgrade over Dawkins-Mikell.
Not only the highest rated Monday night game, but perhaps the highest rated cable telecast…ever?!
Steve young loves the 2008 eagles offense. Calls McNabb one of the top '2 or 3 quarterbacks' in the league.
Les Bowen touches on something that I was also thinking as I watched a replay of the game last night. To wit, on both of McNabb’s two long completions to DeSean Jackson, the speedy wideout was pretty well covered. =
Yet, McNabb just kind of heaved it up there and let Jackson make the play – which he did both times in making some very nice adjustments to make the catches with a defensive back right with him. They were both very un-McNabb-like throws…into coverage. There was even a third, I think, where he threw to Avant who was covered – or at least enough covered that McNabb traditionally hasn’t thrown it to such a receiver – but which Avant drew the interference call on.
A matter of trust with Jackson (a rookie?!). Or just the “new” McNabb letting it rip? In any case, it’s something we haven’t seen of McNabb since 2004 and you know who.
Will the trust continue? With Reggie Brown and Kevin Curtis? Stay tuned.
The Phillies have won all four coin flips, against the Mets, Brewers, Astros and Cardinals, to determine home field in possible tiebreakers.
The Fort Worth Star Telegram reports the glaringly obvious “news” that Brian Westbrook is one of the most valuable and versatile players in football. But the article still manages to surprise, by listing the running backs taken ahead of Westbrook back in 2004.
“He was drafted behind running backs such as William Green, T.J. Duckett, DeShaun Foster, Maurice Morris, Ladell Betts and Lamar Gordon.”
Westbrook is famous for being “only” a 3rd round pick, but when you put that into the context of the players he was passed over in favor of, I mean, wow.
Talent-wise and at this stage of their careers this might be considered a silly question. On the other hand, given the obvious size of Jamie Moyer’s heart and fight and desire it bears asking….
If the Phillies get into the playoffs, Moyer has to be considered the ace, the clutch pitcher, the warrior-who-will-pitch-till-the-Phillies-win-the-championship-or-his-arm-falls-off-whichever-comes-first over Brett Myers and Cole “4 days rest” Hamels, right?
Just a terribly, terribly disappointing loss to the Marlins yesterday afternoon that drops the Phillies 3 ½ back of the Mets and 4 ½ back of the wild card Brewers.
It’s looking very, very bleak. While it seems like there have been several “make or break” series but this four game set with the Brewers really is it.
Btw, have you looked at the Phillies and Mets schedules? We don’t play the anymore but both teams have essentially the same schedules/opponents from here on out.
We play 4 vs. the Brewers. They play 4 vs. the Cubs.
Otherwise, both the Phillies and the Mets each play Atlanta six times, the National three times, and the Marlins three times (great).
Some see shades of Randall Cunningham blowing out his knee and any hopes the Eagles had of going to the super bowl in 1991 in Tom Brady’s injury and the impact on the Patriots’ championship aspirations.
A disinterested opinion. The Eagles secondary is deep and talented and Lito should consider himself a starter (I’m pretty sure he already does, but more support for his opinion).
From the Newark Star-Ledger, “In a division like the NFC East -- with the Giants and Cowboys bringing premier passing games and the Redskins debuting a West Coast offense -- stocking up on cornerbacks might prove to be a good move. A third cornerback is more than a second-string position, especially after the Giants aired a model last season in which more than just two starting cornerbacks had critical roles.”
The Eagles’ season opener really couldn’t have gone any better. McNabb looked fantastic, the defense was tremendous, and DeSean Jackson had the best Eagles rookie debut since….well, I can’t even think of a comparable introduction.
Yes, the Rams are not a good team. But the Eagles are, and the Eagles did exactly what good teams do when playing bad teams. They beat them bad and they beat them early so the contest was never in doubt, the starters got some rest, and the backups got some valuable game experience in mop up work (that means, you, Kevin Kolb).
Other thoughts:
· What a gorgeous Sunday afternoon.
· Here’s what the Sports Guy had to say about DeSean Jackson before week 1: “DeSean Jackson has been hyped to the point that anything less than a punt return TD, seven catches, 120 receiving yards, one long TD catch and the greatest TD dance unveiled in 30 years since Billy "White Shoes" Johnson will have to be considered a major disappointment. DeSean, you better rock my world.”
Here are Jackson’s actual stats: 6 catches, 106 yards, a long of 47, 97 yards in punt returns (12.1 average) and a long of 60 that came thiiiis close to be a touchdown before being knocked out of bounds nine yards short of the goal line. Rock my world, indeed.
· Timmy Brown, Tommy McDonald, Pete Retzlaff were the last three Eagles to each have 100+ yards receiving in one game before Hank Baskett, Jackson, and Greg Lewis did it again yesterday. The first three, of course, are legendary Eagle names. The last three not so much. I wonder in forty years when the Eagle WR corps does it again if fans will be asking themselves, who the hell were Hank Baskett and Greg Lewis? (Based on yesterday, Eagle fans will be well familiar with hall of famer DeSean Jackson in 2048.
· Fantasy owners of Stephen Jackson, Tom Brady, and Randy Moss could not have been happy with the results of week 1.
· The parking lot tailgates were relatively calm and subdued yesterday, especially for a season/home opener.
Celebrating 50 Years of State Board Leadership
October 16-18, 2008
Washington, DC
Click Here for an Agenda or to Register
It’s official, Tom Brady is being placed on IR and is done for the season. We’ll see if the great Patriots juggernaut can continue to win without its franchise quarterback, like the Eagles have managed to do when McNabb has gone down. Ironic in some ways, given the criticism of Cassel’s play this preseason and concerns that he wasn’t a competent back up for Brady. Guess we’ll see who was right now.
In typical Belicheat fashion, the team only revealed that Brady needs surgery but not the exact details of his knee injury.
Both SI’s Paul Zimmerman and ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski have picked the Birds to reach the Super Bowl...Clearly, the national football press likes what it sees with this Eagles teamg. Here's hoping they're right.
I’m right there with them. Put me in the happy optimists camp.
The Eagles went 8-8 last year with quarterback who basically played on one leg for most of the year and lost two games they would likely would have won if AJ Feeley hadn't thrown game-killing INTs in or near the redzone on last minute drives. Heck, they should have beat the Pats in NE and should have beat the Seahawks. They inexplicably gave the Bears game away on back breaking 95 yard drive that 9 times out of 10 Jim Johnson puts a stop to. And Akers doinked a game tying 60 yard FG against the Giants off the upright after Reid butchered time management in the last five minutes of the game.
And let's not even mention opening day's debacle in which the Eagles would have won the game if they had had a punt returner. That was on the road against the Packers, the best team in the NFC last year it turns out.
They also beat the Cowboys on the road late in the season in a game that meant home field advantage throughout the playoffs to Dallas.
In short, the Eagles could have easily been a 10-6 team (adding wins to the Seattle and Green Bay games) and very well could have been 11-5 (either a win vs. the Giants or Pats). Honestly, if they had made the playoffs last year is it not too hard to imagine them making the same run the Giants did?
And for arguments sake, I will give you that they had no business winning the Skins game in DC. So that brings you back to 10-6 and really at worst, 9-7.
Since then, the Eagles have upgraded in the defensive secondary with three pro bowl corners and now a solid strong safety in Quinton Mikell.
They've upgraded at D-Line by jettisoning Kearse and bringing in Clemons, Klecko and drafting Laws.
And they've probably upgraded at LB. Gaither is playing his natural position again and they've gotten much bigger in the middle with Stewart Bradley. Gocong looks like a legitimate starter last year and hopefully progresses again this season.
On offense, McNabb should now be fully recovered from a knee injury that everyone knows takes two years to completely heal.
The tight ends will be better now that LJ Smith is back to 100% and Celek has a year under his belt and they've upgraded at RB with Lorenzo Booker to add to the second best RB in all of football, Brian Westbrook.
The offensive line is still solid and probably deeper now that Jean-Gilles has gotten a lot more practice and reps.
The only question mark is the WR. Yes, the Curtis injury hurts but the emergence of DeSean Jackson is huge. No one was expecting him to contribute on offense this year. So anything he brings to the WR is a bonus. If they get Curtis back reasonably soon I think you have to say they probably upgraded WR in the offseason based on Jackson's contributions.
Oh yes, special teams has gotten better too with Jackson returning punts and Demps returning kicks.
Seriously, is there a single area where the team has gotten demonstrably worse since last year?
As for the opposition...who scares you?
Romo's Cowboys have yet to win a big playoff game and are still coached by that boob Wade Phillips. Eli Manning was one dropped Asante Samuel INT from being the goat and not the hero of the super bowl. They were a wild card team last year and still look to be on this year.
The Skins will be lucky to win 6 games with a new coach and offense, a really aging defense and might get humiliated on national tv tonight.
The Vikings defense is great but Tarvaris Jackson is barely serviceable. The Pack shot their wad last year. The Bears are staring Kyle Orton at QB and have no RB.
In the South, the Panthers, Saints, and Bucs will all be competitive but hardly dominant.
Same thing with Seattle in the west. The Cardinals will likely be better but Warner can be very shaky once he gets hit in the head, Edgerrin James is on fumes and, well, they're the Cardinals.
The Eagles should make the playoffs and have at least one home playoff game. After that and as the Giants showed last year, the rest of the conference is very beatable - even on the road.
I like our chances this year. I really do.
Should Chase Utley sit out tonight’s game vs. the Nationals to avoid any kind of retribution for last night’s home plate collision that may have injured Nats’ catcher Jose Flores for the rest of the season?
On the record, the Nats players are saying that Utley’s hit was a clean play. But even still, surely he will get thrown at tonight. Should Manuel keep him out of the lineup to completely avoid that possibility?
Earlier this year, Utley was the catalyst for escalating bean balls between the Nats and Phillies which went so far that Manuel had to dial back the retaliation and point out that the Phillies were playing for bigger things and should break off the retribution lest one of the Phils get hurt.
Indeed, at Monday’s game which I attended Nationals pitcher Tim Redding managed to hit two Phillies in the first five innings while no hitting the Phillies. Kendrick responded in kind, prompting a warning from the umpire to both benches.
Given all of this, I would expect the Nats to drill Utley at some point during tonight’s game, probably precipitating a bench clearing brawl.
Just like what Manuel said earlier this year, the Phillies have bigger fish to fry at this point in the season, you know, like catching the Mets, and not getting back at the last place team in the division.
Play Bruntlett.
A sample of the big names that were released by their teams over the weekend in the final round of roster cuts. And it says how bad the quarterback situations are in Chicago and Minnesota that Chris Simms is mentioned as a possible solution in both cases.
From the Sporting News: “Running back Rudi Johnson and right tackle Willie Anderson both were cut by the Cincinnati Bengals; quarterback Joey Harrington and tight end Marcus Pollard were cut by the Atlanta Falcons; wide receiver Ashley Lelie was cut by the San Francisco 49ers; and defensive end Jerome McDougle was cut by the Philadelphia Eagles.”
Might the Eagles want to take a look at Lelie? For free?
