More Eagles Analysis

Take Your 24.5 Points and Shove Them
By Bill P

Sunday night games have proven to be a stumbling block for us this year. First we keep the Giants at bay, but cannot get anything out of our offense. Then we have the hated Cowboys on tap, we hang around in the first half, but the train comes off the track in the second half. So why would anyone think that anything would change this time against arguably the best team ever? In a word – Heart.

For some reason our team responds well when our Star QB, Donovan McNabb, is out of the lineup. Last year we proved what we could do with Jeff Garcia at the reigns of our offense, and last night provided reassurance that it is possible with AJ Feeley. I think the keys to this transformation are: A) We play as a team, everyone seems to step up their game and you get unforeseen heroes emerge (i.e. Greg Lewis). B) Balance. It wasn’t as evident last night, but we had a few long, time consuming drives and ate up a lot of clock and provided much needed rest for our Defense who also put up a great effort.

Obviously the main topic at hand is the budding “QB Controversy” between often injured starter Donovan McNabb and WCO phenom, AJ Feeley. Now let’s get it all out on the table, Donovan has been our starting QB since late 99 (When Healthy) AJ has run the offense efficiently (4-1 in 03) was traded for a 2nd round pick to Miami where he struggled. Since then AJ has had ups and downs, mainly downs as he was traded for by Philadelphia just prior to the beginning of last season to be the 3rd String or Emergency QB. He got a chance to play vs Atlanta in a meaningless game last NYE, and he didn’t disappoint any of his fans:-) He got his “big break” last night and was able to put up some great numbers while running HIS offense. In the end, the same thing we knock McNabb for was the nail in our proverbial coffin, Late game Turnovers. For me, I would like to see AJ get another chance to see how the offense responds, and to see if he can correct the problems he had last night. Should Donovan be benched? I wouldn’t say yes necessarily, but I question how healthy he is. I think it is more like he is panicking that he is about to be “Wally Pipp’d” from his starting role.

With 5 games remaining (4 of which are against NFC opponents, SEA, NYG, DAL, NO) we can almost determine our own destiny by winning out. I think 4 out of 5 could do it, but it depends on who the one loss is against for this scenario to play out positively for the Birds. All I can truly say at this point is, my night took a turn south at 3:52 of the 4th Quarter. Tough Loss, but showed some great signs, let’s keep it up and improve on the areas we need to improve upon and get in the playoffs. E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles!!!!!!