Super Bowl XLIII Prediction

Yes I'm very upset that for the 4th time in 5 trips to the NFC Championship game, the Eagles failed to win one more to at least get a Super Bowl bid. Joining the Rams, Buccaneers, and Panthers, the Cardinals became the next team to get in Philly's way. Now there is one team standing in Arizona's way, Pittsburgh. Yes the Pittsburgh Steelers from day one in my mind have been the best team in football. My preseason Super Bowl pick was Minnesota vs Pittsburgh. When the season ended, it was Carolina vs Pittsburgh. I was so sure last week it would be an all PA Super Bowl but that was obviously foiled. I am still confident that the Steelers will win the Super Bowl, and win it soundly. Unlike the Cardinals opponents in Atlanta, Carolina, and Philly, Pittsburgh's defense does not have bad days.

Arizona does have a very good quarterback. In my opinion, Kurt Warner is Hall of Fame bound. He has 3 great receivers ot throw to in Anquan Boldin, Steve Breaston, and the best WR in the game, Larry Fitzgerald. If Arizona wants ot have a prayer, the offensive line will have to hold up and allow Warner to get the ball in the hands of his weapons. Pittsburgh's pass defense is very nasty. Dick LeBeau is the best defensive coordinator in the game and he will throw so many blitz packages at Warner that it will look like the 3rd quarter of the NFC Championship game. You still have to look out for Troy Polamalu. He is fucking dangerous!

Pittsburgh's offense is very good as well. They may not be as talented on paper as Philly's and sure is not as dangerous as Arizona's, but Ben Rothlisberger knows how to lead a team. He still has Hines Ward, Heath Miller, and Willie Parker but no Jerome Bettis. He does, though, have Santonio Holmes, the Steelers deep threat. Ben also has Nate Washington. It will all come down to the running game. Willie Parker is healthy and he can run again. Rothlisberger's performance will depend on the run game.

It's gonna be a long day for Arizona. Pittsburgh will become the first team to win 6 Super Bowls as they roll over Arizona 31-17.

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It's Always Dim at Lincoln Financial

Another NFC title game, another loss, but did this one hurt a little less. Sure, the big-time believers felt they should have been here regardless, but the season didn't set up that way. At times, the defense stunk. At other times, the offense stunk. Inconsistency. The black plague of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Yesterday's game was a complete microcosm of the Eagles season and their franchise. The first half, everything just looked like a giant mess. Nothing was going right, except for the great hustle by DeSean Jackson to force a fumble after McNabb throw an interception.

Then, in the second half, the defense and offense awoke. Donovan McNabb, yes the QB everyone is putting the blame on for some reason, put together one of the best halves any QB ever had. Ever. McNabb finished 28-47 for 375 yards, 3 touchdowns, and that first half interception. He did also fumble. The lack of a running game, wide receiver drops, and also McNabb's inefficiency at times did hurt the offense, but when you score 25 points, you should win. Every time.

The defensive effort just was not there yesterday. It seemed like Arizona called the perfect play every single time and it was only to be combined with poor tackling by the Eagles. Wrap up boys. Don't go for the hit every single time. The defense who had been stout over the past month looked fatigued, too slow, and just flat out, out-matched. Everything Jim Johnson called, failed, save a few second half stops.

So where does the blame go? Is it even worth wasting the time on it? It's simple. The entire team lost. They win together, they lose together. The season was just a long list of inconsistency, frustration, but also happiness, and excitement. Lastly, the season was completely ironic.

It was thought that the Washington Redskins had virtually ended our season. It turned out that we were able to end the seasons of both the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants.

Our season was over, but for some reason, it just didn't hurt as much. Maybe it's because of what the Phillies did. Maybe it is because of how we snuck into the playoffs. I'm just not sure right now. Maybe I am starting to realize that this is just the norm.

Andy Reid will be back. Donovan McNabb will be back. Their second half adjustments all, but secured that. They finally adjusted in the second half. Maybe they've finally changed a little inside.


The Eagles will need to add a few more playmakers. Give McNabb a little more help. While I like what we have, there are better players out there that we can add. It seems like we have too many clones of the same players. We need variety and playmakers. We need...TJ Whosyourmomma. Make it happen Jeff.

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Warner 2; McNabb 0

I'm sure Justin will write a post on this game as well but I figured I will write one too. I saw some great positives, some bad negatives, some typical situations, and some aspects of the game that need to change. I'll do a quick summary and then go into my 4 points after the jump.

The Cardinals won 32-25. That's a given. Donovan McNabb completed 28/47 passes for 375 yards, most coming in the 3rd quarter. He had 3 TD's and a pick. Kurt Warner completed 21/28 passes for 279 yards and no picks. He also threw 4 TDs, 3 to Larry Fitzgerald. Fitz had 9 catches for 152 yards as well. Leading the Eagles in receiving was Brent Celek who had an amazing game with 10 catches for 83 yards and 2 TDs. Kevin Curtis had 4 for 122 and DeSean Jackson had 6 for 92 and a score. The running games were shut down all day on both sides even though the backs did get off some decent runs. Adrian Wilson for Arizona had an amazing game with 2 sacks and a forced fumble.

The Positives:
-McNabb started things off with a 21 yard run. He also ran for 10 yards down in the red zone that set up the Eagles go ahead TD in the 4th.
-After being down 24-6 at the half and fumbling on the opening drive of the 3rd, McNabb, the offense, and defense played the best it had all postseason. Too bad that died after the Eagles went ahead in the 4th.
-Celek proved that he is a much better offensive weapon than LJ Smith. He needs to learn to block better if he can be trusted as a full-fledged starter next year.
-The only positive in Andy Reid's play calling was he recognized he could beat Arizona deep.

The Negatives:
-The defense was terrible for 3 quarters.
-The play of Tra Thomas was God-awful! He had terrible penalties on him and he was poor at reading the blitz. On Wilson's sack and strip, instead of picking up Wilson, Thomas doubled down with Todd Herramins to block the end and let Wilson go in untouched to strip McNabb.
-McNabb was bad in the first half as well. His throws were all over the place and his completion to Hank Baskett was all due to Baskett's great catch. A good throw and that was a long TD run for him.
-The wide recievers continued ot drop key passes, like Kevin Curtis on 4th and 10 w/ 1:57 to go in the game. Yea I know the throw was suspect and the PI call was missed but he should have had that. Baskett and Jackson also dropped some passes but both also made some amazing ones. Consistency guys!
-Reid's play calling. 47/18 pass/run ratio and an absent screen game.
-Where did the defense go? I mean this defense was amazing versus New York and Minny and was just outplayed by a loaded Cards offense. I mean they could not get proper pressure on Kurt.

Typicals:
-Reid's play calling.
-Dropped passes.
-The new Greatest Show on Turf was just awesome. I mean this is gonna be a good Super Bowl seeing a high powered offense in Arizona play a stellar defense in Pittsburgh or Baltimore.
-Fitzgerald is the best WR in the game and Warner is a future HOFer.
-The Eagles get us on an emotional high to dash our hopes and dreams on the rocks. Hey, atleast we finally got our parade with the Phillies but one with the Birds would be just as sweet, if not sweeter.

Aspect of the game that needs changing/monitering:
-There is one thing that pisses me off the most. I know the refs blew some calls for Arizona early in the game but don't do make up calls. 2 wrongs that make a fucking right! Not once but twice did they blow PI calls that were key to the Eagles. The first forced a field goal in the 2nd quarter and the second ended the game. Kevin Curtis was clearly dragged down before he caught it and no flag was thrown.

Now that I got that shit out of the way. I'll do a wrap up and call it a night.

Eagles Best Play: Jackson's 62 yard TD pass that was tipped by Rogers-Cromartie. Jackson then bobbled it a few times and got control as he waltzed into the endzone.
Eagles Worst Play: the screen pass caught by JJ Arington that was the go ahead TD.
Eagles Best Number: 10 (number of catches by Brent Celek)
Eagles Worst Number: 3 (number of TDs by Fitzgerald)
Turning Point: on 3rd and 19, McNabb completed a 50 yard pass to Curtis to set up their first touchdown.

3 Stars (both teams):
-Brent Celek
-Donovan McNabb
-DeSean Jackson

-Adrian Wilson
-Kurt Warner
-Larry Fitzgerald

I'm not gonna be bitter. They fought hard after being ruled out a few times all year and this game. Plus they beat the Giants twice, once in the playoffs, and manhandled the Cowboys to get in.

Arizona will play Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XLIII.

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Conference Game Predictions

I’m here at the liquor store bored so I figured I’d contemplate my picks now for the AFC/NFC Championship games. In the AFC, it’s the Steelers versus the Ravens in Pittsburgh and in the NFC it’s our beloved Eagles versus the Cardinals in Arizona. Yes it’s a shock to the rest of the NFL world that the Cards are not only playing in the Championship game but they are the home team but to them it isn’t a surprise. Their offense is showing shades of Kurt Warner’s “Greatest Show on Turf” in St. Louis 7 years ago and I think they are actually better but we’ll get into more depth when I get to that game. The two games after the jump:

We’ll start with the night cap. One of the nastiest rivalries in the NFL is Baltimore and Pittsburgh. Baltimore’s defense is just nasty in the turnovers department while Pittsburgh won’t let you run for the life of them. You also can’t forget about Troy Polamalu running around. He has no problem putting his helmet in your chest if you aren’t looking. The problem with Baltimore’s defense is that they have allowed more first downs than earned, by a lot. In their 2 games, opponents have gotten 39 first downs, 27 through the air. If the Ravens can’t get a good rush on Ben Rothleisberger, he will light up the secondary. The Ravens have given up 533 passing yards to Chad Pennington and Kerry Collins combined and Big Ben is a much better quarterback then those 2. When Pittsburgh’s offense gets rolling, there is no stopping them like in the San Diego game. The Steelers defense only gave up 15 first downs against the Chargers, 1 on the ground. Baltimore will have to move the ball in the air with a rookie quarterback if they want to get down field. If LeRon McClain can establish himself as a running back that can control the game, now is the time. If he doesn’t, Baltimore’s defense will be on the field a lot and they will give up points. I say Pittsburgh wins it 27-10.

Now it’s on to the Eagles. This honestly should be no contest. It’s Arizona, who is playing the best football the franchise has ever seen since the merger but it’s still Arizona. They have a good offense but the defense doesn’t scare me. I think the score will be similar to Thanksgiving when Philly won 48-20. The Eagles offense hasn’t been clicking like it was in Dallas but that defense has been relentless on the ground, on the rush, and in the air. Warner isn’t mobile and his line will allow Jim Johnson’s blitz scheme to take full advantage of them. Asante Samuel is in a familiar position, making big plays in the post season and he will make another one Sunday afternoon. Brian Dawkins is playing every game like it’s his last and he is easily the hungriest player on the team for the Super Bowl, followed by Donovan McNabb. Edgerin James is a very good running back but he is no Brandon Jacobs or Adrian Peterson. He will get shut down. Anquan Boldin is a game time decision and it doesn’t look good for him. Larry Fitzgerald is amazing but he can’t do it all by himself. It was a good run for Arizona but it’s ending here. Eagles win it big, 41-21.

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Divisional Round Predictions

I'll give my today's picks now and tomorrow's night cap and then a detailed analysis of the Eagles game later tonight. I went 2-2 last week, winning on Sunday only.

The first game will be Baltimore at Tennessee. Both team's have excellent defenses but Tennessee's offense is slightly better. Both have good rookie RB's in the Ravens' LeRon McClain and the Titans' Chris Johnson but Tennessee has the experience at QB with Kerry Collins, who played in the Super Bowl in 2000 when Baltimore shellacked the Giants. Ravens rookie Joe Flacco was in high school watching that game. Collins might get the eye of the tiger or something. Titans are my pick.

The night cap should be a blow out but likely won't. Arizona travels to Carolina in the battle of offenses; Arizona's in the air and Carolina's on the ground. Kurt Warner is working on his Arizona version of the Greatest Show on Turf and Jake Delhomme has DeAngelo Williams and Jonathon Stewart to run all over the Cards weak run defense. The Cards held Michael Turner to less than 3 yards a carry last week but like strength in numbers, it's hard to contain 2 different backs. Also Carolina's defense is very good. Carolina by 9.

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From the News Room

Barry Bloom from MLB.com feels that Ryan Howard will indeed see another giant raise.

Flyers to pursue a Happy Valley Winter Classic next year. [Daily News]

Shawn Andrews may be available if the Eagles advance deep in the postseason. [CSN Philly]

How pathetic? The Vikings are still falling short of a sell out. Same goes for the Cardinals. Blackouts may apply. If either home team wins and no one is there to see it, does it count? [New York Times]

The Perfect Season DVD will appear on CSN tomorrow @ 7pm. [Phillies Zone]

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Eagles Feast on Cards

The Eagles completely dominated yesterday on Thanksgiving, whupping up on the Turkeys....errr Cardinals 48-20. For most of the game, they were able to keep Arizona's dominant offense in check but did give up 3 TD drives. After jumping out to a commanding 21-0 lead in the second, the Cardinals marched down field easily to score on an 11 play, 81 yard drive, making the defense look bad at times. They also allowed one bad drive in the third and fourth.

It seems that Andy Reid's decision to bench Donovan McNabb for the entire second half last week really got into the head of the star quarterback. He was phenomenal in his return to the drivers seat as he cruised all day.

More after the jump:

Offense: The offense clicked on all cylinders yesterday. McNabb was doing the things we loved to see: passing accurately, avoiding the sack, and making big plays in the air and on the ground. He was sacked only once all game and had 24 yards rushing on 4 runs, which 3 of them came on the last drive of the second quarter. He completed 27/39 passes for 260 yards and 4 TDs. His best stat of the night: 0 interceptions.

His favorite targets were DeSean Jackson, Kevin Curtis, and Hank Baskett. Jackson led the team with 6 catches for 76 yards and a TD. He also gave Big Red a chest bump after his score. During the post game press conference when asked about it, Reid said, "I thought a moth bounced off me."

Curtis had 5 catches for 59 yards, and Baskett had 5 catches for 42 yards, including a spectacular diving catch in the second quarter when McNabb pump faked the camera. Jasan Avant also had 4 catches for 25 yards and a TD. The frustrated Reggie Brown failed to make a catch and barely got any reps. His days may be numbered in Philly.

The star of the offense today was Brian Westbrook. He rushed 22 times for 110 yards and 2 TDs. He also had 3 catches for 20 yards and 2 TDs, giving him a total of 4. In the 4th, Kyle Eckel got some looks as he rushed 7 times for 24 yards. I don't completely hate Dan Klecko but I want to see the full back in Eckel get more reps as a blocker and see Klecko play on the D line because he as a couple sacks this year.
Grade: A

Defense: This unit played very good, minus the 3 scoring drives. They took the ball away from Arizona 4 times. They got an interception from Quinton Mikell, Brian Dawkins, and Jodelio Hansen. Akeem Jordan had the 4th turnover with a recovered fumble forced by a Dawkins hit. Dawkins let his presence known a couple times with big hits and big plays, showing shades of his youthful days but then looked bad on Arizona's scoring drives.

The defensive line was great against the run, but did not muster a sack, the first time all year the defense went sack-less. However, they forced Warner to hurry passes and it allowed the rest of the defense to intercept 3 passes.

If it wasn't for the interceptions, Warner had a good day completing 21/39 of his passes for 235 and 3 TDs with 3 interceptions. Most of his incompletions came on drops or last second plays by the secondary. Lito Sheppard was awful again as he got burnt so many times by Larry Fitzgerald that it was embarrassing. For a player who wants that big contract, he sure isn't playing like he deserves it. Editor's Note: Fitzgerald burns everyone and actually had one of his poorer games on the season. They've only been held under 23 points once since week 3...and that was last night.
Grade: B+

Special Teams: Another solid game by this unit, minus one play by DeSean Jackson. On a punt to him in the third quarter, he thought the ball had bounced off of one of his teammates and he quickly dove on top of it but failed to hang on as Arizona was able to recover. It happens rookie.

Sav Rocca had a good game as he only had to see action 3 times, pinning Arizona inside the 20 two times. He averaged 42.7 yards a punt and had a day long of 58 yards. The Australian's average is up in his 2nd year as he is getting used to punting in America. David Akers continued his dominance inside the 45 yard mark as he nailed both his field goals.

Quinton Demps averaged 24 yards a return on 4 kick offs. Jackson fielded 3 punts and only averaged 3 yards, getting 9 yard return, a muff, and being shut down on the 3rd.
Grade: B

Best Number: 4 (number of TDs by McNabb and Westbrook)
Worst Number: 0 (number of sacks)
Best Play: even though it wasn't a game changer, Brian Dawkins intercepted his 34th career pass, tying Eric Allen and Bill Bradley for most in Eagles history.
Worst Play: the many times Anquan Boldin got open and made big catches. Editor's Note: The worst play was when DeSean Jackson went diving after the ball. However, at game speed it looked like it may have touched a player, so it was not exactly the dumbest play.

3 Stars:
McNabb
Westbrook
Mikell

Next week. Philly plays the Giants in New York at 1pm.

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Thanksgiving Day Masacre

An eagle is pictured to me mighty and powerful. It soars through the sky and gives a mighty screech. A cardinal, on the other hand, is small and weak. It flutters from tree to tree, singing a sweet melody. Surely the little red bird can not be mightier than an eagle.

Well someone should tell that to the Philadelphia Eagles. After an embarrassing tie to a horrible Bengals team and getting whipped 36-7 by a Ravens team that wins with defense rather than offense, the birds' odds are not looking good against a high powered Cardinals offense led by Kurt Warner and receivers Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald.

I'm not gonna go into full detail on either team but I'll just give a little insight as to why we will be thankful the game is on the NFL Network. It will be showing locally but I doubt it will be on more than a half.

The Eagles offense vs Arizona defense: this game should be a shoot out. It should be a battle of two high powered offenses. The problem is that the Eagles should have put points up vs Cincinnati and failed and the offense didn't score vs Baltimore (Quinton Demps returned a kick for a TD). Will McNabb and the offense show up after his embarrassing benching to an even worse Kevin Kolb? I doubt it.
Edge: Arizona

The Eagles defense versus Arizona offense: This will be ugly. Asante Samuel is hurting and this is the best WR duo in the game in Boldin and Fitzgerald. Warner is still dangerous and Tim Hightower can break big runs.
Edge: Arizona

Special Teams: this is our only bright spot if Sav Roccs isn't kicking into the wind. David Akers has been solid and DeSean Jackson and Demps have broken punt and kicks for TDs respectively this year.
Edge: Philly

Final score: Arizona 35-13.

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Cancel Your Customized Fitzgerald Jerseys

From ESPN,

The Arizona Cardinals and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald reached agreement on a blockbuster four-year, $40 million contract that will free up much-needed salary cap room for the team. Fitzgerald announced the deal on his Web site, saying he will make $33 million over the first three years of the contract.

Over the final two years of his old deal, Fitzgerald was scheduled to make $14,592,500 in 2008 and $17,355,000 in 2009. That put the team in a tight cap bind -- with less than $400,000 of cap room remaining -- so signing players was tough until they struck a deal with Fitzgerald. They had only 48 players on their roster and only 16 players on defense.

Before any of you want to blame the Eagles for failing to acquire Fitzgerald, you have to understand that it takes two to trade and Larry never wanted to leave Arizona.

Now the Eagles will turn their eyes to Roy Williams or Chad Johnson, two other receivers playing for teams who have publicly said that they will not trade. Roy Williams is set to be a free-agent next season, so maybe something could happen close to the trade deadline, but I doubt it. If the Eagles plan to upgrade the wide receiver position, they better hope for a steal in the draft.

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