Tuesday Update 2/10/09

A few things worth reporting in this. Again I appologize on behalf of Justin and myself for our lack of posts. I'll start off talking about Ryan howard and the Phillies avoiding arbitration with his 3 year, $54 million deal the Philly Inquirer reported on Monday. This is a great signing and personally I feel it's a steal. They aren't locking him up for too long and I personally feel he's worth more than just $18 million a year. Howard is 29 and if his production stays the same it has been in his tenure as a Phillie, you will definitely see his asking price increase. That's the only problem with the short term deal. Howard led the league last year with 48 home runs and 146 RBI's.

The Eagles free agaent right tackle Jon Runyan had surgery on his knee last week. He will be out 4-6 months but should be fine for next season said the Philly Inquirer. His only problem is that he is 35 years old. If the Eagles don't sign him back, he may have a hard time going somewhere else, especially because he'll be on crutches when the FA period starts.

The Flyers are heating up after they beat Boston on the road on Saturday in overtime on Rnady Jones lucky toss at the net. They then beat Atlanta on Sunday on the road for 14th straight time (hahaha). What also is laughable is that Antero Nittymaki is the better option than Marty Biron at this point. Biron has failed to catch fire this year and Nittymaki has. Make it happen coach. The Flyer will next play on Thursday at home versus Ottawa. They are now in 2nd place, only 6 points behind the Devils with 2 games in hand.

Continuing reading...

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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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 - Sunday

OK so I missed the Saturday games but I got 'em right in my money pools. So now I'm gonna post my picks for the Sunday games. I'll start with the Sunday nighter in Pittsburgh. The Charger's who snuck in with an 8-8 record, which was good enough to win them the pathetic AFC West. They rolled all over the hot Colts last week, being carried by Darrien Sproles. I honestly don't see him being able to carry the Chargers again versus the toughest run defense in the NFL. He will just get man-handled. Pittsburgh's offense has been the opposite of what the name calls it, especially with Ben Rothleisberger and Willie Parker not being 100% and a weak O-Line. I still see the Steelers winning this in another defensive struggle, 13-6.

In our day game at 1PM, the Eagles go to the Meadowlands to play the Giants. They are the only team to win in New York this and they honestly can do it again. It's easy; get pressure on Eli Manning and shut down Brandon Jacobs, who is obviously no Adrian Peterson. If the defense plays like they did versus Minnesota and the offense keeps the Giants defense on the field, this game is theirs. They have to play like they did in Week 14 when they won 20-14. Control the clock and pound the offense. Use Correll Buckhalter more, run the ball, and re-issue the screen game. Donovan McNabb needs to spread the field latterly so he can attack vertically. This should be either very pleasing or very disappointing. Eagles by 10.

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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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Wild Car Predictions.

Well I'm posting this too late but I had Atlanta beating Arizona and Indianapolis beating San Diego today. I already lost the Atlanta game and right now Indy is up 17-14 going into the 4th quarter. So hear are my picks for tomorrow's games. The first game will be at 1:00 and it's Baltimore in Miami. The second will be our beloved Eagles playing at 4:30 in Minnesota. Picks after the jump.

Baltimore (11-5) @ Miami (11-5) - This should almost be a low scoring game between 2 very strong defenses. Baltimore's D is just unstoppable, especially versus the run. Ray Lewis is still a nasty human being and can deliver a hit to knock the ball loose. He's the heart of that defense. Miami's D is led by Joey Porter, who racked up 20 sacks this year. He can put a ton of pressure on rookie quarter back Joe Flacco. Speaking of Flacco, he played very well in leading the Ravens to a playoff berth with 14 TD's and almost 3000 yards. He was supported heavily by rookie LeRon McClain who rushed for over 1000 yards. Miami found a leader in newly acquired Chad Pennington, who was dumped by the Jets when Brett Favre went there. They are supported by a solid run attack with Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams. Pennington found a target in Greg Camarillo who will line up against Samari Rolle of Baltimore. Baltimore's secondary can shut down Miami and their vicious run defense should be able to contain Brown and Williams. The Ravens are my pick.

Now to Philly and Minny, the big game for us fans.

The Offense: The Eagles are coming into the playoffs 4-1 and riding the emotions of a 44-6 pounding of Dallas last Sunday. If Donovan McNabb can find his recievers like in that game and Westbrook can run on the defensive line of Minny, it should be an easy game for Philly. The Vikings have a very underated secondary that's led by Antoine Winfield and Darren Sharper. The Eagles injured oline will have to keep the unrelated Kevin and Pat Williams in check. They will be giving Jamal Jackson, Todd Herramins, and Nick Cole a battle all day. Jared Allen will line up against Tra Thomas mainly and he will try to put McNabb on his back.

The Defense: This is gonna be very interesting. We all know Tavaris Jackson sucks but he can also move. They had a slightly tough time with Jason Cambell two weeks ago and Jackson is a better athlete. He can't throw but he can buy time with his legs. If Jimmy Johnson turns up the heat, mistakes will be made by the young and inexperienced QB. The real story though will be if the run defense can shut down Adrian Peterson. He is the best running back in the league and he can be dangerous on the ground and in the air. Shut him down and force Minny to throw and this will be an easy win. The secondary match up will be Asante Samuel versus Bernard Berrian, who is a deep threat. Brian Dawkins will help him a lot in covering Berrian.

In all honesty, this should be easy for Philly if they play like they did versus Dallas. My score: Eagles 31-9.

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My last post of 2008

I'm not gonna be doing any posting for the rest of the day so I figured I might as well make it worth while. First I want to wish you all a safe and happy New Year. Just because 08 is over doesn't mean the 80-08 saying is out-dated. We are still in the 2008 football season and hockey and basketball are ending the 2008 portion of their seasons. This is our year. Let's go Eagles!

The Flyers won yesterday, beating Vancouver 3-2 and ending the little 2 game skid. They are now 1-2 during their current 6-game road trip that will continue in 2009 and are 20-10-7 on the season, amassing 47 points. The Flyers are in 2nd place and only 2 points behind the Rangers with 2 games in hand.

The Flyers got the fire works going early with Mike Richards fighting with Vancouver's Kevin Bieksa only 15 seconds into the game. Jeff Carter then tallied his league leading 27th goal 3 minutes later for the early lead. Vancouver tied it back up w/ the Danny/Henrik Sedin connection but less than a minute later, Scott Hartnell fired a hard wrister past Curtis Sanford, who was pulled after the first period. Claude Giroux looked very good all game, especially in that first period. They had him up on the Richards line which is what I liked seeing. I have very high expectations of this kid.

Philly then took a 3-1 lead in the 2nd with Jon Kalinski's first career goal off a redirected pass. Vancouver then made it 3-2 and Marty Biron stayed strong as Philly held on to win. Biron made 29 saves.

For the NFL playoffs I will again be analyzing each week and making my predictions. Even if the Eagles disappoint us once again, I will continue to analyze the playoffs. My next post will be the Wild Card round. I have made my full playoff predictions already but for accuracy's sake, I'll go weekly for the site. Don't forget to cheer hard for your Eagles, who play Sunday at 4:30 in Minnesota.

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Pre-Wild Card Game

It's simple: win and you're in or lose and you're out. Both Tampa Bay (L 31-24) and Chicago (L 31-24) lost today which means the winner of the Dallas/Philly game that's on now will be the 6th seed in the Wild Card. Let's go Eagles!

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Merry Christmas and To All an Update

First I would like to wish all of you Philly fans, sports fans, and even Cowboys, Mets, Rangers, or other rival fans, a happy and healthy Merry Christmas and Happy New Year or any day during the holiday season.

Now to the fun part, a Flyers recap and an Eagles rant. In the world of hockey, the Flyers rebounded from an OT loss to New Jersey and another loss to Edmonton to beat the Ottawa Senators 6-4 last night in Philly. After being up 4-2 on Ottawa, they allowed the Sens to get back in it. With 5:30 left in the game, Simon Gagne put the Flyers up for good. Mike Richards then added an empty netter to put the Sens away. The Flyers are now 2 points behind the New York Rangers, who have played 3 more games than Philly. They start their 6 game holiday road trip this Friday in Chicago at 8:30 and then to Columbus on Saturday and Vancouver on Tuesday to close out the 2008 portion of the season.

The Eagles play Sunday to close out the regular season. They will face Dallas in Philly. A win along with a Tampa Bay and Chicago loss will get them into the playoffs. Tampa plays Oakland at home and Chicago will go to Houston, 2 teams with nothing to play for so we should basically kiss those chances goodbye. To make things worse, Philly plays at 4:15 while the other 2 play at 1 so if either team wins, the Birds will play deflated. The only thing to play for is beating Dallas and keeping them out of the playoffs. Hopefully they care enough to do that. They can certainly win but can also certainly look terrible. We shall see what team shows up.

Predictions:
w/ TB and CHI losses - Eagles winning 28-10
w/ nothing to play for - Cowboys winning 24-6

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Dear Santa,

Dear Santa,

I know we pelted you with ice balls back in 1968 but we were just kiddin'. I mean we were frustrated and we took it out on ya' big guy. But now we have another fat man who we want to take our frustration out on. No we don't want to throw ice balls at him and no we don't want coal in his stocking. We just want his fat ass off the sidelines. Can you please bring some Christmas cheer to Philly and have Andy Reid fired.

Sincerely, another frustrated Eagles fan

All kidding aside, Reid must go! After all the the wasted opportunities to sustain drives, I have officially become sick of Reid. I mean if anyone has not learned a single f***ing thing from the past 3 weeks it's Andy Reid. You ran the ball versus Arizona, New York, and Cleveland and blew them away. What do you do versus a Washington team that fears Brian Westbrook and barely blitzed all game? You passed the damn ball 46 freakin' times as opposed to 16 runs, 12 for Westbrook!

I couldn't curse enough to make me feel better after wasting my money, time, and gas to go to Washington to freeze my ass off to see Philly kick a field goal and come 1 inch short of tying the damn game. My awesome game analysis is coming after the jump.

Offense: I think I'm gonna have an aneurysm talking about them. First thing is first. The game was not Donovan McNabb's fault. He played well. He had receivers drop at least 6 balls, including 3 by LJ Smith and 2 deep balls by DeSean Jackson. I will tear DeSean apart later along with Reggie Brown.

Reid called short dumps to Smith all game and called the short dumps on 3rd and long all game! It was sickening to watch Smith drop them or come up short of the first down. They threw the ball long once during the first half, once in the third quarter, and a couple times on the last drive. Washington was playing a zone most of the game. You have to spread the field to get defenders out of position and Reid's play calling did the exact opposite. He called so many short passes that I wanted to go out their and kick him in the f***ing nuts.

I know Westbrook was playing hurt but he has been the past 3 weeks as well. And if you don't want to run with him, you have Correll Buckhalter. Didn't you say you should have run Buck more? Where did that epiphany go?

When McNabb decided to go deep, including twice to Jackson, the little midget dropped them. The first came in the third quarter where Jackson had the Skins backs burned so bad that when he stopped to catch the ball, he was still wide open. He could have caught it and fallen down and the play would have gone for over 30 yards. Instead he drops the damn ball. Then on the last drive, McNabb threw a ball about 30 yards into the end zone and Jackson dropped it wide open in the back of pay dirt.

And finally for R. Brown. Yes you made a helluva catch w/ 7 seconds left but this is what pissed me off. First you didn't run a route deep enough to get in the end zone. Second you were too busy fucking around after the catch that we lost the shot at a possible last play w/ no time left. Instead of quickly handing the ball to the ref. You got up and ran back into the end zone. YOU WERE KNOCKED DOWN! Get the hell up and book it to the LOS. You want more playing time? You want to be paid? Sit your ass on the bench next to Lito Sheppard and you can whine together and stay out of the way of players who will contribute.

Defense: I have nothing to really go into detail with them. They weren't the story of the game. They played great but unfortunately dropped 2 interceptions, one by Asante Samuel and another by Chris Gocong which set up Washington's field goal. They also had a stupid offsides penalty that gave the Skins a first down which led to their 3rd quarter TD.

Stewart Bradley was all over the place with 10 tackles and the line got solid pressure on Jason Campbell. The only other bad plays they had were their inability to contain him twice. Outside of that, they kept him under control and forced bad passes.

Special Teams: They scored. Sav Rocca sucks. There was nothing to do about Washington's three great punts trapping them inside the 10. Quinten Demps had a nice return when Shaun Suisham's kick was short in the first.

The only way Philly can make the playoffs is if they beat Dallas and Tampa Bay loses next week and Chicago loses either tonight or next week. They somehow are still in it thanks to the Chargers kicking Tampa's ass yesterday (which by the way killed me fantasy-wise)

Philly closes out the season at home versus Dallas. There's still hope for an early playoff exit!

On another note. Justin beat me 81.5-80.5. I was winning by 1 point but ESPN.com factored in a fumble that Bernard Berrian had that lost me 2 points, putting Justin on top. Also Tampa's poor defensive outing scored me -6 points hahaha. It was a great fantasy season for both of us.

Congrats to the site's founder, Justin Evans!

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Dawkins and Samuel Make Pro Bowl

Well at least we will be seeing two Eagles playing at in February if all else fails. Blockbuster signing Asante Samuel and life-time Eagle Brian Dawkins were elected to the Pro Bowl in Hawaii come Feb. 8 the Eagles website reported.

Both players made it last year, Samuel with the Patriots. It is Samuel's 2nd trip to Hawaii and Dawkins' 7th. Dawkins has another milestone he can add to his list this year. He first tied Eric Allen for career interceptions on the team, then he surpassed Harold Carmichael for all time games played with the Eagles, and now he tied Reggie White for second with Pro Bowl appearances. He is just one shy of tying Chuck Bednarick's total of 8.

Samuel was signed before the season to create turnovers and make big plays. He has done just that, intercepting 4 passes and knocking down 20. He also brought an interception back 50 yards for a TD versus Cleveland yesterday. Dawkins made his presence known in a different light, racking up 65 tackles so far, forcing 4 fumbles, and notching 2 sacks. He also has one interception, the record setter a few weeks ago.

Bot players were definitely worthy of the honor. Dawkins had a horrible start, being questioned whether or not his age was a factor. He shut up the critics after his poor game versus Dallas to help shut down Pittsburgh. His most memorable play was when he abused Ben Rothleisberger after leaping over a lineman to knock the ball out of Big Ben's hands.

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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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To Make Bad News Worse...

Well Birds fans, if you are still swallowing the pill of realizing the Eagles have dug a deep grave, this news will not help it any more. You already know that with a tie to a poor Bengals team has kept the Eagles in the basement of the NFC East and no where near a playoff seed, that your quarterback and coach are completely clueless, and that your playoff hopes won't get any better this Sunday in Baltimore.

Well it gets worse. Brian Westbrook is 50-50 for this Sunday's game, said ComcastSportsNet.com. Not only has he been struggling with injuries and health, but he has also struggled against good teams. And when he isn't playing to his full potential, neither is the rest of the team.

Comcast:

“He has a sore ankle and a little bit of swelling in his knee and inflammation in both,” coach Andy Reid said. “It is gradually coming down. We’ll see how he does here over the next couple days.”

We will thankfully get to see more of Correll Buckhalter, who has not been used at all the past 2 weeks. He had an unbelievable catch for over 40 yards versus Cincinnati and then got 2 carries. He is a good back up and there is no reason to not use him.

At least our bozo coach realized that:

“Correll will have an opportunity to play,” Reid said. “We probably could have played him more last week and probably should have. That’s my responsibility, and he’ll get a few more opportunities this week.”

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You What?!

OK it's Thursday and I still can't get over what I heard on Sunday. I'm still in denial. It can't be true. Our star quarterback had to have known the rules. He can't be this ignorant or stupid or whatever the excuse was. It has to be something else. And that is what I truly think.

It has become a reoccurring theme that our beloved (not so much recently) Donovan McNabb has been making excuses as to why he has been absolutely terrible. The last 2 years it has been his injuries, which yes were valid excuses for his poor play. But this year it has become something completely different. He has no fire in him anymore. The focus is gone! The care is gone! His ability to drive his team down the field and score has been lost forever.

Instead of making the smart throws and the right reads, he was too busy motioning for a flag whenever he threw the ball into coverage. I saw this at least 4 times during the game where he wanted a pass interference because the defenders were a little too close to his receivers. That's called coverage, Donovan. When a receiver is covered like that, you don't force bad throws to him. Good quarterbacks don't do that. Good quarterbacks don't throw 3 interceptions to the 1-8 (now 1-8-1) Cincinnati Bengals!

Here is what he said by the way:

“I’ve never been a part of a tie,” McNabb said. “I never even knew that was in the rule book. It’s part of the rules and we have to go with it. I was looking forward to getting the opportunity to get out there and try to drive to win the game. But, unfortunately, with the rules, we settled with a tie.”
…
“In college, there are multiple overtimes, and in high school and Pop Warner. I never knew in the professional ranks it would end that way. I hate to see what would happen in the Super Bowl and the playoffs.”

You aren't that good anymore and you don't have that will to win. He also claimed that if he would have known it would have ended in a tie, he would have played to win on that drive. Are you f***ing kidding me? Really? So for the first 4 quarters you didn't have the drive to win the game and beat the crappiest team in the AFC and arguably the worst in the league (I bet the winless Lions could beat the damn Bengals).

He played like crap all game. He went 28-58 with 339 yards and a TD and THREE INTERCEPTIONS! You couldn't complete 50% of your passes and reverse the TD/Interception numbers against the Bengals defense? You sucked. Just say that you lost track of the time like you did in the Super Bowl and versus Chicago, Washington, Dallas, and New York this year. Just admit that you don't care anymore or that you are washed up. Admit that it's time for Kevin Kolb to start his reign as the future of the franchise.

And I blame this also on Andy Reid. McNabb probably forgot about the rule because your fat ass decided to punt with 1:30 left in OT on a 4th and 1 situation. Also Sav Rocca kicked the ball like a little girl into the wind all 4th quarter and over time. Sure you had the ball on your own 29 but at this point in the game, you HAVE to win. A loss is as bad as a tie in this situation. You have to get all or nothing! Not some of it.

Mike Shannahan of the Broncos had balls in week 2 when going for the 2 point conversion with no time left against San Diego. He scored and won the game by a point. He didn't want to take it to overtime. He wanted to win. That's what a real coach does, Andy! A REAL coach.

The Eagles play the Ravens this Sunday in Baltimore at 1pm this Sunday. Maybe McNabb will remember that there is still some little hope in making the playoffs. Maybe his stupidity will fire him back up. I hope he is embarrassed with himself because we, the fans, sure are. Wake the hell up or pack your s*** up. That's what it has come down to McNabb. The ball is in your hands. Don't screw up.

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Reggie Brown unhappy

Comcastsportsnet.com reported that Reggie Brown is unhappy with his situation in Philadelphia. After being dubbed the team's #1 wide receiver, injuries have knocked him back to 4th on the depth chart behind Kevin Curtis, DeSean Jackson, and Jason Avant. He could be considered 5th as we've seen Hank Baskett in more than him at times. (Editor's Note: Avant is better suited to be the slot receiver. Curtis is starting because he makes more $$.)

The Eagles have encountered a problem that they haven't had in a while and that is having too many decent receivers and not enough snaps. Yes I said it. Curtis (in his 3 games back) and Jackson have been excellent this year. Avant and Baskett have been very supportive of those 2 starters. Brown has only 12 catches for 192 yards and a TD, numbers that don't belong to a starter. (Editor's Note: In the 2 games he started, he had 10 catches for 163 yards.)

“It’s real frustrating. What the hell you supposed to do about [injuries]?” Brown said with an accompanying hearty laugh. “Everybody gets hurt"..."There are always 31 other corporations in this business that are looking for people to work..."I’m 100 percent. I’ve been 100 percent now for a couple of weeks,” he said. “That has nothing to do with the reason I’m not playing.” (Comcast Sportsnet)

Brown has to realize that when he was down, other guys stepped up more than he has offered this season. Kevin Curtis became the weapon last year and Jackson is the weapon this year. Both, Avant and Baskett have improved his well. Brown's game has been moving laterally or downward for a few seasons now. Sure, he says he can run routes well, but I forgets to mention how many balls he drops. He forgets to mention that he's been often running routes on the sideline because he's a fragile wide receiver and is often banged up.

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Inside the Eagles: Week 9

This was a huge win for the Eagles as they beat the Seahawks in Seattle 26-7. With a Dallas loss to the Giants, the Eagles (now 5-3) moved into 3rd place in the division. Washington will play Pittsburgh tonight. If they lose, Philly will be a half a game behind them for 2nd.

Offense:
They looked pitiful in the first quarter. They called a plethora of pass plays and McNabb started the game 3-13, with a pick. However, Donovan McNabb was sharp from the second quarter on. He finished with 349 yards and 2 TD's. He also threw an interception in the first but that was soon forgotten with the day he had. Brian Westbrook didn't have a phenomenal day but he played well enough to keep Seattle's defense off balance. He had 61 yards on 20 carries but also had 6 catches for 35 yards.

Brent Celek stepped up huge to fill in for the injured LJ Smith, who had a concussion. Celek had 6 catches for 131 yards as he got the ball in the open and just rumbled his way down field. Kevin Curtis also had 6 catches fir 83 yards and Reggie Brown's only catch came on a 22 yard TD pass from McNabb in the 2nd.

Grade: B

Defense:
The unit here played amazing despite one terrible play in the first. Seneca Wallace hooked up with Koren Robinson for a 90 yard TD that made Brian Dawkins and Lito Sheppard look ridiculous. After that, the defense really tightened up to keep Seattle out of the end zone for the remainder of the game.

Omar Gaither led the team with 6 tackles and added a sack. Darren Howard picked up 2 sacks as well and Chris Clemons added 1 on the final play of the game.

The unit held Seattle to 233 yards total. The Seahawks running backs Maurice Morris and Julius Jones combined for 84 yards on 18 carries. Most of those came on a 28 yard run by Morris in the 4th. Wallace was dropped 4 times and pressured even more, forcing bad throws.

Grade: B+

Special Teams: DeSean Jackson had 5 punt returns, averaging a solid 10 yards. Quinton Demps had only 2 kick returns, breaking off a 44 yarder in the first. Most notably was David Akers who nailed 4/4 field goals. Sav Rocca was great again too as he averaged 41.1 yards a kick and dropped 2 punts inside the 20.

Grade: A-

Eagles best number: 131 (receiving yards by Celek)
Eagles worst number: 6-16 on third downs.
Eagles best play: McNabb hit guard Todd Herremans for a 1 yard touchdown and it put them ahead for good.
Eagles worst play: the 90 yard touchdown pass by Wallace to Robinson
Turning point: After giving up the touch down, McNabb was able to drive down the field to connect with Brown for the 22 yard score. Other than that, Seattle basically sucked all game.

3 stars:
Offense: McNabb
Defense: Gaither
Special Teams: Akers

The Eagles will play a HUGE game next Sunday as they host the 7-1 division rival Giants.

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Monday Morning Quarterback

The Eagles looked sharp coming out of the bye on Sunday, beating the Atlanta Falcons 27-14 in Philadelphia. On a weekend filled with Philadelphia dominance (the Flyers home and home sweep of NJ, the Phillies Saturday/Sunday WS wins, and Penn State kicking OSU's ass), the Eagles let the city know that, "Hey! We exist too!"

Offense:
Brian Westbrook was amazing in this game. He showed that he is completely healthy now and just as dangerous as he has ever been. He couldn't be touched most of the game. Westbrook finished the day with 167 yards rushing on only 22 carries with 2 TDs. He also added 6 catches for 42 yards.

Donovan McNabb was solid as well, completing 19/34 for 253 yards and no TDs. He also ran the ball 6 times for 25 yards, including a 12 yard scamper and a 3 yard QB draw for a TD.

Kevin Curtis made his season debut with 3 catches for 45 yards. He is slowly starting to get up to speed with play and soon will make this receiving corps very dangerous for McNabb. DeSean Jackson continued his good play as he 3 passes for 72 yards.

Grade: B+

Defense:
The unit was good again. They held Michael Turner to 58 yards on 17 carries. One of those runs was 22 yards, their only mistake. The held the Falcons to 77 total yards on the ground. They didn't allow Matt Ryan to get into a rhythm at all as they sacked him twice, hit him hard some more, and forced him to throw 2 bad interceptions to Asante Samuel and then Lido Sheppard late in the 4th.

Stewart Bradley played another amazing game as he stuffed Turner on a lot of his runs. Chris Gocong and Darren Howard got the sacks for Philly.

Grade: A

Special Teams:
They played excellent. The return game wasn't that great but Akers kicked 2 field goals and the unit forced Adam Jennings to make a key mistake in the 4th. Details of that will follow. The held the Atlanta returners to an average of 17 yards per KO. and help Jennings to 20 yards on 4 tries. Sav Rocca also pinned Atlanta deep on their 2 with a punt that bounced straight up in the air on the 1.

Grade: A

Eagles best number: 209 (number of yards by Westbrook from scrimmage)

Eagles worst number: 55 (yards of the TD pass from Ryan to Roddy White in the 1st)

Eagles best play: Matt Ryan threw a fade in the end zone to White and Sheppard got in front of White and out jumped him for the interception and touch back.

Eagles worst play: The 55 yard pass to White in the first.

Turning point: After coach Mike Smith called his last time out with 2:30 left to save time, the Eagles punted. Returner Jennings decided at he last second to not catch the ball and it looked like he muffed the punt. The refs ruled it a muff and the Eagles recovered. After replays showed that Jennings did not touch the ball, Smith could not challenge because he spent his last timeout to save 30 seconds. The play did not occur under the 2 minute warning and therefor a bad call gave the game to the Eagles.

3 stars:
Offense: Westbrook
Defense: Sheppard
Special Teams: the coverage unit and Rocca

Eagles play next week 4:15 @ Seattle

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Eagles Niners Preview

I am just gonna do a quick preview because my energy is all focused on the Phillies. And you can't blame me for that either.

It has become a theme as every week is a must win week for the Eagles who are behind their division rivals by over a game at least. Donvan McNabb called out his team, and himself. He said he was embarrassed on how he and the team played and they should not lose a game to a team he knows the Eagles are better than. I hope he fires up this offense because he didn't do that at all last week.

Preview after the jump:

Records: Eagles (2-3); Niners (2-3)
Last time met: Sept. 24, 2006. Eagles won 38-24. Mike Patterson returned a fumble 98 yards for the score.

Offense: They are without Brian Westbrook. Correll Buckhalter will get his second start of the season. McNabb wasn't good again either. I honestly can not say much about this offense because they didn't even utilize DeSean Jackson at all. The red zone offense hasn't been good but there is no way they can be terrible against San Fran. They still have good players and the ability to make big plays.

The Niners are just bad. They are led by JT O'Sullivan who at times shows he's not another QB that could die before his career starts in San Fran. But Tim Rattay showed promise too so you can't rely on that just yet. Frank Gore is solid but nothing like he was his rookie year.

Advantage: Eagles

Defense: They looked awful. In all three losses they got beat by a TE. Vernon Davis is good and he is gonna be tough to cover. They were finally exploited on the ground which isn't a worry to me. Clinton Portis knows how to run versus Philly. Frank Gore doesn't and he will be stuffed. The Niners will have to rely on Gore, especially after they Eagles can rattle Sullivan.

The Niners defense is just bad. The Eagles should be able to score on them. This game should not be close.

Advantage: Eagles

Injury Report:
Eagles: Probable: McNabb, LJ Smith; Questionable: Kevin Curtis; Out: Westbrook, Reggie Brown
Rams: Probable: Will Witherspoon; Out: Drew Bennett

Prediction: Eagles 24-6

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