Eagles Show Some Life

I mentioned in my "Coming Attractions" post that the Eagles were a combination of frustrating and boring. The frustrating part is obvious: inexplicable losses caused by the same problems over and over -- poor clock management, wasted timeouts, wasted replay challenges, a cavalcade of penalties, inconsistent quarterbacking, atrocious playcalling, mediocre special teams coverage, subpar punting, failure to make proper in-game adjustments, failure to overcome 4th-quarter deficits, failure to win close games, failure to score touchdowns in the red zone, failure to convert on third-and-short...what have I forgotten?

The boring part is that many of these problems have been occurring for just about the entire Andy Reid era, and have been discussed and discussed to the point where I can't stand listening to it. He is not going to radically alter what he does. Sure, for an occasional game the Birds will run the ball more often, but it will never be a long-term change. And he's not going anywhere soon (the Eagles are likely to give him a contract extension before much longer). I'm just tired of it. It's almost impossible to keep hearing and reading and seeing the same old things. Some people call for Reid and/or Donovan McNabb to go; others defend one or both, and so on. Round and round it goes, and where it stops...well, it never stops, does it? Thank God for the Phillies' success the last two years, because otherwise this ongoing Eagles discussion would be enough to make me jab my eardrums with an icepick.

Having said all that, the Eagles broke the mold a bit tonight in their 24-20 win over the Chicago Bears. They won a close game, coming from behind in the 4th quarter. They rushed the ball effectively, and almost as often as they passed. Of their three touchdowns, two of them were scored from the red zone. (The other, a TD catch by DeSean Jackson, is notable because at 48 yards, it's the shortest of his 7 TDs this year.) Despite a boatload of injuries to their linebackers and secondary, the defense forced the Bears to settle for field goal attempts five times and blocked one of the kicks, which kept Chicago's lead at 20-17 and set up the Eagles' drive for the go-ahead TD.

And despite it all -- the aforementioned defensive injuries, the fouled-up offensive line, the concussion issues sidelining Brian Westbrook, the poor losses to Dallas and San Diego the last two weeks, the incomprehensible loss to the pathetic Oakland Raiders -- the Eagles are 6-4, one game behind Dallas in the NFC East and (thanks to tiebreakers) one of the NFC Wild Card leaders. The playoffs are certainly not a done deal, but they're not a pipe dream, either. Of course, the Eagles usually do find themselves in the playoffs. It's what happens after that, the chase for a Super Bowl win, that is another of those issues that are discussed ad infinitum...