Goodell, Favre and the Pink Panther

Another Inspector Closeu-like "investigation" by Goodell. Nothing to see here, move along....hey, look it's the NFL playoffs over there!

A new NBC graphic

My brother suggests a new NBC graphic for David Akers:

"Akers says his range is 58 yards in this direction, but his actual range is 49 yards."

Last Night

Lost amid all of the recriminations for the poor defensive play was the two most salient points to a successful Eagles' playoff run.

1) Vick looked hurt and horrendous - he could have easily thrown 3 more INTs which would have given him 7 turnovers for the game!
2) The offensive line can't pick up pressure.

Instant Replay

That critical last 3rd down spot last night was one of the worst of the season, compounded by when the linesman moved the ball forward another two feet after the already generous spot. And while I give credit to Torico for explaining why there wasn't going to be any booth review, that play typified some of the absurdities of instant replay. To wit, that play can only be booth reviewed if the Saints actually got the first. Ironically, the Falcons got screwed by the linesman not moving the ball 4 inches more.

If the Eagles do wind up with the #3 seed, do you think the NFL really screws them by scheduling their wildcard game on Saturday and giving them another short week - and their 3rd game in 10 days?

Roll the Dice

My friend views last night's game as a "win-win."

He writes:

Tonight was a win-win. If Saints lose, there's a chance they fall to 6 seed, beat StL/Seattle, then take down Atl. Giving us possible NFC title home field.
Now, screw it, roll the dice. Beat Minne, beat Dallas. Then let's see how Bears handle Lambeau and how Smith/Ryan/Falcons handle pressure of knowing they've gotta win against Carolina.

Shit, we could leap frog up to No 1.

Future Precedent?

Is the NFL is setting itself up for future trouble with its pious explanation that the postponement was out of concern for the traveling safety of the fans. Cris Collinsworth seems to think so.

How much (or how little) snow does there have to be for the NFL to concern itself with fan traffic in future games?

4 inches?

6 inches?

 8 inches?

10 inches?

 a foot?

Postponement

My brother's take on the Vikings-Eagles postponement.

I believe the invention of thursday night football helped change this game. 20 years ago u played on sunday and 2 teams played monday night in the marquee game of the week.  Now there are 2 games the first monday night, many thursday night games, etc.  20 years ago they would never give that short of rest to players.  It would be considered too short.  Now since thursdays are common (yes I know thanksgiving was around 20 years ago, but that was the ONLY exception) they can play whenever.  Sucks.

Rendell

Have you guys seen how over the top Ed Rendell is in criticizing the postponement?

my favorite quote

"My biggest beef is that this is part of what's happened in this country," Rendell said. "I think we've become wussies."

"We've become a nation of wusses. The Chinese are kicking our butt in everything," Rendell added. "If this was in China do you think the Chinese would have called off the game? People would have been marching down to the stadium, they would have walked and they would have been doing calculus on the way down."

Rendell

Penna. Governor Ed Rendell is letting it all hang out in his last days of elective office. My favorite part of his quote about the postponement of the Vikings-Eagles game is the part about calculus.

"My biggest beef is that this is part of what's happened in this country," Rendell said. "I think we've become wussies."

"We've become a nation of wusses. The Chinese are kicking our butt in everything," Rendell added. "If this was in China do you think the Chinese would have called off the game? People would have been marching down to the stadium, they would have walked and they would have been doing calculus on the way down."

Postponement Awful

The postponement of the Vikings-Eagles game wouldn't have even been an issue except for the NFL and NBC "flex" scheduling the game to 8pm. Now, because of the impending foot of snow Philadelphia is forecast to receive tonight, the game has been pushed back to...Tuesday!?

What the?!

Why not move the game FORWARD to 4 pm (1pm wasn't realistic because of each team's preparation needs, but a 4pm start would have given both teams plenty of advance notice to get ready if the call had been made earlier this morning).

And why Tuesday? i presumed it was because of concerns about the inability to clear the snow from the Linc's stands (hello snow bowl II) and the parking lot, but preliminary explanations are that the league didn't want the game to conflict with the ESPN Monday night game.

What a mess. Clearly NBC and their need/desire to broadcast the "national" game of the week is driving all of these decisions - from the initial scheduling change to the postponement, the Tuesday night game).

Great, now the Eagles get to face the Cowboys on really short rest. Thankfully it's a home game, but there's a nagging fear that all of this will negatively impact the Eagles' playoff chances and the possibility of the #2 seed.

Lee

My friend PK's reaction to the stunning Cliff Lee re-acquisition:

Righty-lefty-right-lefty -- Doc, Lee, Roy, Cole.

Here's my back-of-the-napkin calculations on those 4 guys combined for 2010:

882 innings pitched

807 Ks

164 BBs

I'm too mathematically disinclined to figure out the combined ERA. 

But think of it this way: The guy we just gave $100 million had the WORST of the quartet.

Lee's ERA was 3.18 for the whole season, worse than Cole's 3.06, Oswalt had 2.76 and Doc had 2.44.

Wise Men of Brotherly Love

A Phillies friend forward this picture to me with the following message:

Somebody posted this on their Facebook page asking for comments

The first person wrote the following: I'm afraid to be honest but sorry I feel this way but think its horrible to mix commercialized sports into a Jesus nativity scene......Christmas is loosing its value within peoples hearts ....

And then this is what I wrote: And I think it's Sacrilegious because the picture does not contain the archangels Harry Kalas and Whitey Ashburn looking down on the scene from heaven! (LOL)

Cliff Lee Yahoo, Nuff Said

From my Mom who is obviously excited about the Cliff Lee acquisition. This is her second email, the first was "YAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!  YAHOO!!!!!!!!!  YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!  YAHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday the Phillies sold 900 tickets for the 2011 season.

Today they sold 28,000 - 'nuff said!!!!!

Thoughts on the Cowboys game

What was more impressive - that the eagles called a bunch of running plays to run clock at the end of the game or that they actually gained significant yardage?

The Eagles won the coin toss. Why didn't they choose to defer to the second half? For teams on the road, it makes a lot of sense to avoid putting your offense on the field on the opening drive while the home team fans are still whipped into a frenzy at the start of the game. Better to kickoff and play defense, let the stadium settle down and get the ball on the punt. And when you get the ball on the second half kickoff, the fans are not as active as they are at the very beginning of the game. I don't know why the Eagles - and more teams - take advantage of deferring the kick when they win the toss.

I'm glad Cris Collinsworth said something about the unsportsmanlike penalty assessed to DeSean Jackson for his goal line antics. The  official call was for the player going to the ground after the play. But of course replays showed that Jackson's antics started while still in the field of play while the play was still "live." The referee's call made no sense and certainly didn't comport with a replay of the actual sequence of events. It may be the first taunting penalty assessed in the middle of a play.

Collinsworth

Cris Collinsworth calls him like he sees them, and he and I are in full agreement about the threat of head trauma to the ultimate fate of the NFL. This is THE ISSUE for professional football moving forward.

Says Collinsworth in this NYTimes profile:

 "The very fundamental question for the long road is, Do you want your kids playing football? That's the scary question, especially for the N.F.L. I think we're talking about the survival of the game to some extent."

Won't You Tell Me Your Name

I was surprised to see the NY Times describe Ray Davies as just a "songwriter" and author of a forthcoming book, and not as the founder and lead singer of the legendary Kinks, in his paean to John Lennon today.

Class War

Wow, didn't see that coming.

Reading Lori Montgomery's WaPo story about how TARP will "only" cost taxpayers $25 billion, she equates that figure with something completely unexpected in the very first paragraph.

The Troubled Assets Relief Program, which was widely reviled as a $700 billion bailout for Wall Street titans, is now expected to cost the federal government a mere $25 billion - the equivalent of less than six months of emergency jobless benefits.

Whoa! Oh I get it. We paeans shouldn't complain about the cost of TARP because it is only worth six months of unemployment assistance.

Nice to see Montgomery and Post compare the pittance of bailing out Wall Street fat cats with the jobless plight of middle class Americans...the very workers who lost their jobs in large part because the federally rewarded Masters of the Universe wrecked the economy and nearly brought the world to a global financial meltdown. The Post has been adhering ever more closely to the management party line in any debate (just read any of their anti-union (both local and national) editorial screeds), but this takes things to a whole new level.

Revolting

Ok, in his post-game on the field interview, did anyone else find it both strange and disgusting that LeSean McCoy placed his mouthpiece behind his ear?!

Schaub

It was a loss, but still a triumphant return to his hometown for WC East grad, Matt Schaub! Not to be confused with Eagleseye classmate and starting offensive tackle Rich Schaub.

Texans-Eagles

Up by 10 with 1:45 to go...so why is Reid/Mohrninweg calling running plays for LeSean McCoy now?

indeed, why is McCoy even in the game at this point? Why bother giving him the touches in a meaningless part of the game and allowing him to get hit?