Worse than Kissing Your Sister

Rich Hoffman has it right off the final whistlew www.philly.com/philly/sports/Eagles_tie_die.html. An Eagles tie today isn't like kissing your sister, it's death to the Eagles playoff chances.

As I illustrated mere hours ago, a 10-6 season (even 11-5) was contingent on beating the hapless Bengals on the road. Instead, we get a disastrous 13-13 tie.

At 5-4-1 it's hard to see where the Eagles get the 5 wins in the final 6 games to get to the important 10-6 marker, (now, 10-5-1). Especially considering the mediocre exhibition they put on in Queen City today.

And yet, for as bad as the Eagles played, it's important to remember that the Giants also played the Bengals into overtime, at the Meadowlands no less. Of course, the Giants ultimately beat the Ben-gals. And while the Eagles didn't lose to Cincinnati, they didn't win either.

Hindsight is 20-20. But given how erratic the offense was, if you're like me you really thought Reid maybe should have given lots more weight to go for it on 4th and inches from the Bengals 9 yard line with 5:22 to play in regulation. (In imitable Andy Reid fashion, he chose to call a timeout to think long and hard and come to the conclusion that he should kick the field goal for the tie. Either kick the field goal and save the time out, or go for it on 4th down after having time to consult with your QB and O-coordinator. It was the worst of all possible worlds - a lost time out in a close game late and opting for the safe choice upon further reflection).

Surely the Monday morning QBs would have screamed for Andy's head had he gone for it on 4th and failed to get it. But as equally pathetic as the Bengals offense was, leaving them at their own 10 with 5 minutes to go and a full complement of timeouts would likely have resulted in one more field goal chance for the Eagles before the end of the game. Indeed, the Eagles had THREE posessions in the final 5 minutes after kicking the tying field goal.