If you read only one blog full of ranting and raving about sports (local and otherwise), movies, TV shows, miscellaneous pop culture, life and other assorted flotsam and jetsam, make it this one!
Just a few quick things, since I'm sitting here listening non-stop to a playlist comprised of 70 of Madonna's most famous songs...
Eagles: Now that the lockout is over, putting together the team has begun. Kevin Kolb has finally been traded -- to Arizona for cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a second-round draft pick in 2012. In other words, for more than they got from Washington for Donovan McNabb (who's now going to Minnesota). And rumor has it that Vince Young might come in to back up Michael Vick at quarterback. But of all the players who are leaving, the one I think they'll regret losing is kicker David Akers, who's signed with San Francisco. The kicker the Eagles drafted, Alex Henery, might be great someday, but if he starts off poorly he'll cost them some games. By the way, individual game tickets go on sale Tuesday at 10 am. (It's so weird to have that happen in August instead of June.)
Phillies: Just lost two in a row to the Giants in the teams' first meeting since the 2010 NL Championship Series. It's the first time the Phils have lost a series since mid-June and the first time they've lost two in a row since early June. Granted, neither Roy Halladay nor Cliff Lee started in this series, but the fact that the offense was nonexistent the last two nights again emphasizes this team's Achilles heel and portends what could happen in October. Memo to GM Ruben Amaro: Go get Hunter Pence from Houston. Now. Whatever it takes.
Softball: Time goes by so fast. We have just one game left in the season (we're 7-8, so a win would put us right at .500), so you have just one chance to surprise me by showing up. Sunday, 9 am at Dairy Fields #2 in Fairmount Park. Followed by the league's All-Star game. (I'm not in that one.)
Etc.: Still -- still -- need to post about July 4th, plus the long day in East Rutherford while my friend Kurt auditioned for "The Voice." Plus more comics stuff. And I went to see the final Harry Potter movie. Did I like it? You'll find out...hopefully sooner rather than later. Oh, and I really want to head down to Wildwood or somewhere else along the shore. Deep fried Oreos are calling me...
Before I started this blog, I used to write a lot of blog posts for the gay sports website Outsports.com's Jock Talk Blog. I'm not sure my posts were all that popular with the site's readers because they more often focused on actual sports (with a particular slant towards Philly teams) rather than any gay angle. (To a great extent that's because Outsports co-founders Jim Buzinski and Cyd Zeigler Jr. are on top of any such stories very quickly and a post from me would be redundant.) But now and then I found something more Outsports-centric to write about.
Not long after I first began to blog for Outsports, I wrote a post titled "Should some gays not talk sports?" To summarize: as part of a special NFL section in the Philadelphia Daily News, locally and/or nationally famous people with Philly ties were asked whom they thought was the best Eagles quarterback ever. While many named names -- Donovan McNabb, Ron Jaworski -- Mark Segal, publisher of the Philadelphia Gay News, replied that "My favorite QB will be the first QB to publicly come out…that person will become a hero/role model to many when it happens. Till then any QB that gets the Eagles to the Super Bowl is my favorite." I was mildly critical because I felt that not every question or topic needs a "gay" reply, and besides, there's a big difference between one's favorite quarterback and the best quarterback.
Now I have to be critical again (but this time it's not about Mark Segal).
Yesterday I talked about the local sports-talk radio stations. One thing I didn't mention in that post, but was reminded of today, is that the stations and their callers often seem to be stuck in a time warp, endlessly discussing/arguing/screaming the same tired points. An example of this was the constant whining about the Phillies not keeping Cliff Lee this season.
Now, I mentioned that I listen to WIP when my clock radio goes off and when I'm in the bathroom. When the radio clicked on today (well, after I turned it off and went back to sleep for a while and then turned it on again) there was a caller complaining about how "people talking about not wanting to sign Michael Vick to a long-term extension because he might get hurt" (like he did against Washington) are way off because Brett Favre gets hurt all the time. Favre hasn't missed a start since 1992. Vick, just this year, missed three full games and part of a fourth, and might have been out another game had it not been for the bye week. In other words, you dare not say anything negative about Vick, in this guy's mind. The next caller called Vick "sub-human," doesn't think he should be allowed to play football, etc. So the whole debate over Vick and his crimes and his punishment just goes on, and won't end until whenever he stops playing for the Eagles.
A few randomly random items to hold you over while I gear up to write about those three movies I saw recently. Starting with some sports stuff...
The World Series is over. Praise Jebus. So much for my prediction of Texas winning. The San Francisco Giants won in five games, in one of the least exciting Series I can remember. It got off to a decent start in Game 1 -- the Rangers scored single runs in the first two innings, and the Giants tied it with two in the third -- but after that it was virtually all Giants. They routed the Rangers in the first two games. The series shifted to Texas and the Rangers managed their only win, but the Giants then took the final two games. Except for that first game, there were no lead changes in the entire series. Once a team scored, they were ahead the rest of the way. The only interesting thing about tonight's game is that it was scoreless until the 7th. But at least George W. Bush's team lost.
The Eagles had the week off. Just as well since the NFL is just bizarre. From week to week, you can't say for sure who's going to win a game, and the off-field stuff is mind-boggling. Just today, adding to the continuing Brett Favre drama in Minnesota is the Randy Moss drama -- the Vikings announced they would release Moss less than a month after giving up a 3rd-round draft pick to get him from New England, to the apparent consternation of the team's owner, who wanted Moss back.
And remember all the drama over Donovan McNabb's being traded by the Eagles to Washington? Well, on Sunday, near the end of the game he was benched in favor of Rex Grossman with the Redskins trailing Detroit by 6. Rex freakin' Grossman! After the game Washington coach Mike Shanahan said that he benched McNabb because he felt Grossman was more comfortable running the two-minute offense. Today he said it was because...well, here's the quote: "The cardiovascular endurance that it takes to run a two-minute, going all the way down with no timeouts, calling plays, it's just not easy." So McNabb has gone from being a hero, the guy who would lead the Redskins back to glory, to a guy whose coach thinks he's not smart enough and/or out of shape! Wow.
My ears are still ringing some from last night's B-52's concert. Between their show and the opening act, a Philly band named Gang, the music was really loud. When I blogged about my trip to the box office to pick up the ticket, I had a comment saying the B-52's were now "a tired act." I can understand that a little, since the commenter had seen them perform here in 1979 and 1980. They do look a little older, a little heavier (well, not Keith Strickland -- he looks yummy), but I thought it was a great show and the crowd seemed to agree. I took some video but the sound quality is pretty bad because it was so loud and the camcorder in my cell phone isn't that special, so I don't think I'll bother posting it. (Plus a couple of them are sideways because I held the phone sideways. I have to remember to slide out the keyboard first if I want a wider view.)
On the final weekend of the baseball regular season, Fox is again showing the less meaningful Yankees-Red Sox game instead of the crucial Giants-Padres matchup. The Padres need to win to stay alive for both the NL West and NL Wild Card. The Giants are trying to clinch the NL West, and at the same time hurt San Diego's chances of catching the Braves for the Wild Card. (If current results -- Padres leading, Braves losing to the Phillies -- hold, tomorrow will be a heck of a day for clinchers and there could even be a one-game playoff on Monday.)
Oddly enough, though the Phillies are also playing at the same time, they're showing the Phils on Comcast Sportsnet. I think they're on Fox as well in parts of the country. Usually if the Phils are one of the Fox games, Fox shows the game locally. It's hard to believe that Fox isn't blacking out a local Phils telecast, and that they're showing us the stupid New York-Boston crap instead of the game that directly affects the Phillies -- the Giants-Padres will help determine the Phils' first playoff opponent. They'd get more people here switching back and forth between Fox and Comcast if Fox were showing the Giants-Padres here.
I've avoided all of the national sports outlets this week because, not unexpectedly, they're too busy taking potshots at Philadelphia and at Eagles fans. After all, Donovan McNabb returns to the Linc tomorrow for the first time as a Washington Redskin. Between McNabb, drama queen/martyr that he is, and his suck-ups in the national media, there's really no reason to watch ESPN or NFL Network or visit any of the national sports websites. There's no actual journalism there this week as it relates to the Eagles, only misinformation, outright bias and lazy (blah blah blah Santa Claus 40 years ago blah blah blah) writing. Of course, it's not exactly fun listening to WIP either, with the callers and hosts pushing their own agendas re: McNabb. So, many heartfelt thanks to the Phillies for giving me another playoff run to keep my mind off the Eagles/McNabb melodrama.
Editor's Note: I've failed in my mission to complete a blog post while inebriated after the Phillies clinch the NL East title. Like the New York Mets in 2007, I came close and then collapsed. Like Donovan McNabb in the Super Bowl, I came close and then threw up. (And unlike McNabb, I candidly admit it.) The following was written last night during the night, however:
Okayyyyyyyy...here we are again. But first, let's reminisce. First, let's go back to 2007, when the New York Mets had a 7-game lead in the National League East with just 17 games left in the season. After a few near-misses from 2001 through 2006, it looked bleak for the Phillies once again. Yet, they kept winning, and the Mets collapsed. The Phils and Mets were tied going into the final day of the regular season, and then the Mets fell behind the Florida Marlins 7-0 in the first inning before the Phils even took the field for their game. The Phillies finally broke through and won the NL East title. I had a bottle of "champagne" that was sitting since 2001, and on that day I opened it and drank. All of it. And then I wrote this post on the Outsports blog.
Let's move a bit forward. 2008. The Phils had been knocked out in the 2007 playoffs, but went back to work. On the next-to-last day of the 2008 regular season, circumstances allowed me to get a ticket to the Phillies-Nationals game at Citizens Bank Park, and I was rewarded. A spectacular stop by Jimmy Rollins resulted in a game-ending double play, clinching the second straight NL East title for the Phils. I went home and drank. And posted this.
(Okay, I'm kinda getting woozy now from the alcohol...gotta fight on and finish this!)
Even though the Phillies have lost two in a row (to the whiny New York Mets, no less) they still clinched a playoff berth today after the San Diego Padres lost. The explanation is here, if it's important to you. It's not important to me. I've decided to save my post-clinching drinking for when they reach their real goal for the regular season, the NL East title. They've clinched a tie for it thanks to Atlanta's loss today. Tomorrow the Phils are in Washington (weather permitting) and the Braves are home against Florida. A Phils win or a Braves loss and I start downing rum and diet cokes and writing up a blog post while under the influence. It's nowa yearlytradition, with a bonus drunk post after another event of some significance, so be sure to read it!
Meanwhile, a 28-3 pounding of the Jacksonville Jaguars has the Eagles at 2-1, and all by themselves in first place in the NFC East. While the Eagles played quite well, I don't think Jacksonville is very good, so I'm still not entirely sold. And even with Donovan McNabb, Washington is 1-2 after they lost today. McNabb brings his new team to town next week, and then the Eagles go to San Francisco, a team that would have been better off getting McNabb from the Eagles instead of sticking with Alex Smith at QB, and a team with a coach, Mike Singletary, that I've come to believe to be highly incompetent. I think the Eagles will be 4-1 going into their game against Atlanta (currently 2-1, having won at New Orleans today) and we still won't know how good they really are. They lost to the only good team they've faced.
I think the league is mostly wide open this year. There are five unbeaten teams -- 3-0 Pittsburgh and Kansas City, 2-0 Miami (playing the Jets as I write this), 2-0 Chicago and Green Bay (they play each other tomorrow). Of those five, only Green Bay and, to a lesser extent, Pittsburgh seem to be for real at this point. Some highly touted teams -- Minnesota, NY Giants, Dallas, Cincinnati, New England -- have some issues. I think that, and the disaster zone that is the offensive line, is why Andy Reid decided to stick with Michael Vick at quarterback even after Kevin Kolb's concussion symptoms went away. That will work now, against weak competition. We'll see how Vick does when he has to face a real defense again.
By the way, I've been eliminated from that WIP Suicide Pool. I went with Washington this week. Thanks, Donovan.
Here's an update on my previous post regarding the Eagles and the 610WIP Suicide Pool: before Week 1, there were 26,100 contestants in the suicide pool. After two weeks, only 11,989 remain. More than half the contestants have been wiped out. The losses by Dallas and Minnesota that had me so ecstatic were the main cause this week. I, on the other hand, am still alive in the competition thanks to my pick of the Eagles.
The circus atmosphere that surrounds the Eagles took another twist. Tonight they suddenly announced that Michael Vick was their new starting quarterback even though Kevin Kolb has been cleared to play after the concussion he suffered in the first half of the opening game. This, despite Andy Reid repeating over the last week, after Vick replaced Kolb in Week 1 and gave the offense a lift and after an even stronger performance this past Sunday in beating the Detroit Lions, that nothing had changed and Kolb was still the starter.
The Eagles traded their 2007 first-round draft pick to Dallas for some lower picks. With their first pick in the 2nd round they unexpectedly drafted Kolb, essentially anointing him Donovan McNabb's successor. They ended up spending three seasons grooming Kolb for the job. Although some fools said that McNabb's benching in a 2008 game marked the end of McNabb's Eagles career, it actually didn't occur until the 2009 season ended in infamy at Dallas (and Kolb, substituting for an injured McNabb, became the first QB to throw for 300-plus yards in his first two career starts). The Eagles finally sent McNabb to Washington in April, then signed Kolb to an extension through 2011.
I was going to be a bit snarky with the title of this post. Why? I entered the 610WIP Suicide Pool again this year. The concept of the suicide pool is that you pick one NFL team each week to win a game -- no point spreads, just to win. If they win, you get to keep playing. If they lose, you're out of the contest. Hence the "suicide" you commit by picking the wrong team. Once you pick a team, you can't pick them again the rest of the season. That makes it more difficult because you can't pick the same obvious winner every week.
Last week I went with Arizona to beat St. Louis, and they did, although it wasn't easy. However, over one-third of the 26,100 contestants who entered the contest are already gone. A lot of them went down in flames because they picked San Diego, who lost to Kansas City on Monday night.
So this week, I decided to go with the Eagles and get it out of the way. The snarkiness of a title such as "Will Eagles drive me to suicide?" would be based on the absurdity that once again surrounds this team, even though they've only played one game, and despite all the proclamations about how this was a fresh new era now that Donovan McNabb and his drama are down the road in Washington.
I came to an important realization recently, and I'd like to share it. You may want to write this down for future reference, because it may be the most profound thing I ever come up with:
One's final destiny only becomes known after the fact.
This is probably obvious, but we're always looking to tell ourselves something will happen because it's our destiny. If it were that easy, we'd have a society full of actors. "It's my destiny to win an Oscar!" How many misguided souls think it's their destiny to be the next American Idol? Now imagine if it were true. "American Idol winner William Hung/Sanjaya Malakar/anyone from Season 9." And, of course, it's my destiny to win a huge lotto jackpot and never have to worry about money again. (Still waiting on that last one, keepers of the karma...)
In sports, we tend to proclaim destiny at the drop of a hat, but especially when our team hasn't won in a long time and something amazing happens that we take as a sign, an indicator, a guarantee of future success.
It's been a long, tough winter. Budget crises at every level of government, not to mention in millions of households. The absurd path to something resembling health-care reform. The Pope and his church continuing to minimize the importance of doing something about the child molesters in their ranks. The earthquake in Haiti. The horror that is this season's American Idol. A slut named Tiger Woods. "From Paris With Love."
And in more "important" areas locally, a pro football team that ended the 2009 season in heinous fashion and looks to spend 2010 falling fast into mediocrity, a pro basketball team that fell fast from mediocrity into incompetence (but no one cares anyway) and a pro hockey team that was touted as a championship contender, only to fall into a desperate fight to barely make the playoffs so they can be first-round cannon fodder. Speaking of stuff falling, let's not forget Snowpocaplypse, Snowmageddon and Snowverkill.
Enough bad news. Winter, like Donovan McNabb, is gone. Spring has sprung. You can tell because the Phanatic (as you can tell by the photo above, taken on Wednesday) has gone red for a week. The Phillies are back! The 2010 season starts Monday at 1 pm in Washington, with Roy Halladay making his Phils debut. Halladay! Celebrate! Now we've got Roy Halladay...and it's time to celebrate...okay, no more channeling my inner Madonna.
The Eagles finally traded Donovan McNabb, and still managed to screw it up. After an offseason of speculation that came to a full boil in recent weeks, McNabb was traded to the Washington Redskins for the Redskins' 2nd-round pick in the 2010 NFL draft (37th overall) and a conditional (either 3rd- or 4th-round) 2011 pick.
As I've previously said, the combo of McNabb and Andy Reid was never going to win the Super Bowl. Reid has never put together an offense that completely maximized McNabb's abilities. Whether it was the lack of a running game, a meager receiver corps, lousy playcalling or absymal clock management, something was usually missing at critical times -- the Tampa Bay and Carolina NFC title games, the Super Bowl against the Patriots -- and that was never going to change with Reid still in charge and McNabb at quarterback.
And with the Eagles not only not making efforts to sign quality free agents but, in fact, releasing or trading players and stockpiling draft picks, leaving the team right now in even worse shape than it was after the season-ending double debacles at Dallas, it was clear that keeping McNabb with an Eagles team that is obviously rebuilding (though they refuse to say so) would be unfair to him.
Finally! I don't know why I haven't really blogged about the local teams much recently, but I promised I would do so this weekend. As I begin to write this, there's an hour before Daylight Saving Time takes effect. If you don't believe me, it says so at philly.com:
See? The Associated Press confirms it. I suppose that makes for something of a deadline, like professional writers have to deal with. So let's get to work, shall we? And hey, I've got a mention of a brand new team! In order of best to worst...
The Phillies are in the midst of spring training, and even so they're in the best shape of our local teams. They're a pretty solid favorite to win their third straight National League championship. I have some concerns (the bullpen, the bench) but if their key players are in good health, I don't see why they won't be in the World Series once again. Thus far in the spring, their starting pitchers have been excellent. Roy Halladay, of course, is the main focus, and in his first two starts he hasn't allowed a run in 5 innings while striking out 8 batters. With the offensive support he should get, with the switch to the NL meaning he'll face lineups that include opposing pitchers instead of designated hitters, with the fact that he's now in the same division as the Nationals and Marlins instead of the Yankees and Red Sox, he ought to rack up a lot of wins.
The Flyers need to rack up a lot of wins to secure a playoff spot, but they're still too inconsistent. The Olympic break, as I feared, dented their momentum. They've gone 4-2-1 over the last two weeks, but have been rather subpar defensively, capped off by an embarrassing 5-1 loss at home to Boston on Thursday night. But they followed that up with a 3-2 win over the tough Chicago Blackhawks today, coming from behind to tie the game with 2:04 left, and winning on a Chris Pronger goal with 2.1 seconds left. Besides the inconsistency, their goaltending has to be considered a question mark. Ray Emery is out for the season (and may never play again), and even though Michael Leighton has played very well, this is the first time he's had such a stretch of success. There's no guarantee it will last, or that he can step it up for a playoff run, and after Leighton there's Brian Boucher, who has been poor in very little playing time.
The Eagles need a great draft to shore up their weaknesses because they haven't done it through free agency. It's a weird situation because clauses in the collective bargaining agreement that's going to expire in a year or so have led to there being no salary cap, but also to most of the quality free agents being restricted instead of unrestricted (meaning if you want to sign one, the player's current team can either match the offer or receive draft picks as compensation). Still, all the Eagles have done is sign a guy coming off injuries (we saw how well that worked out with Stacy Andrews in 2009) and bring back Hank Baskett, who is now known for his fumble of the onside kick that jump-started the Saints' comeback to win the Super Bowl, but is still best known as Mr. Kendra Wilkinson. Also, they still haven't traded any of their quarterbacks, so the endless Donovan McNabb debate continue to pollute the airwaves.
And now for the new team: the Philadelphia Union, a new expansion franchise of Major League Soccer. There are three things wrong with this. One, it's soccer. Two, their stadium is in Chester. Three, the team may be shut down before it plays a game because the league's players are threatening a strike.
Still, they rank ahead of the pathetic 76ers. One of the worst teams in the NBA but probably not pitiful enough to really improve their draft lottery odds. A building that's half-empty almost every game. A coach who seems to be a moron, even to a non-basketball expert such as myself. And Allen Iverson's season was ended because of some combination of his daughter's illness, his wife's filing for divorce, his alleged gambling problem and his alleged alcoholism. Sorry, Sixers. Thanks for playing...
Presenting a pair of rants on topics that I no longer want to hear discussions about on our sports-talk radio station, WIP:
One: the endless Donovan McNabb debate, which goes a little something like this: The Eagles should get rid of him and give the starting QB job to Kevin Kolb. The Eagles should keep McNabb, Kolb sucks and/or isn't ready to be the starter. McNabb is a lousy quarterback. McNabb is a future Hall of Famer. McNabb isn't an accurate passer. McNabb throws interceptions much less often than almost every other QB. McNabb isn't a good team leader. McNabb's teammates love him. McNabb doesn't win the big games. McNabb's won plenty of big games. McNabb can't let go of the booing he got when he was drafted. McNabb always says how he loves being an Eagle and wants to remain an Eagle. McNabb threw up at the end of the Super Bowl...and on and on and on...enough! This is the one compelling reason I have for hoping the Eagles do part ways with McNabb: so this debate will end once and for all. Over a decade of this, thanks to Andy Reid (the one who really should be going, but isn't) -- I'm sick of it! Shut the hell up!
Two: the continuing occasional comments (and, with the recent signing of Joe Blanton to a 3-year deal, plus spring training being less than a month away, we'll hear this more and more) about how the Phillies should have kept Cliff Lee as well as acquiring Roy Halladay, especially because they're paying Joe Blanton almost as much as Lee is getting for 2010. If I could call the station and make this point without being interrupted or disconnected, I'd say the following: "Listen up, morons: in an ideal world, yes, it would've been great for the Phils to keep both Lee and Halladay. But this is NOT an ideal world. Time to face reality. Lee's ability to become a free agent after 2010 means he'll be likely to get upwards of $15-20 million per year after 2010. That's much more than the Phils will be paying Blanton, who is now signed through 2012. The Phillies are NOT the wealthy teams the Yankees and Red Sox are, and can't afford to pay top dollar to every single player. There was no way the Phils could afford to give up more minor league talent in exchange for Halladay, especially after giving up some players to get Lee last year. You have to keep some talent in the minor leagues to replace older players and to use for future trades when a need suddenly arises due to an injury. And with the salary Lee is expected to get in his next contract, the Phils would be almost guaranteed to lose him after 2010. That's why the Phils traded Lee after getting Halladay. It was the right decision. Now shut the hell up!"
You can't say I didn't warn you. The Eagles' stay in the playoffs was brief. Officially it lasted one game but for all intents and purposes they were done before halftime, losing at Dallas 34-14. The game wasn't even as close as that.
The only reason the first quarter ended scoreless was because the Cowboys kept committing penalties. They stopped themselves on two drives into Eagles territory and had to punt both times. But the Eagles' offense, so prolific most of the year, was completely useless -- they couldn't even string together more than four plays in any first-half possession and had the ball for only about 7 minutes.
Even when the Eagles tied the game at 7-7, the TD came on a 76-yard pass from Michael Vick out of the wildcat formation to Jeremy Maclin, and the scoring "drive" lasted two plays and 46 seconds. Their final two first-half possessions ended with turnovers. The defense, already shorthanded and struggling, wore down quickly and it was 27-7 by halftime. The entire second half was garbage time.
So Groundhog Day (the movie scenario, not the holiday) continues. The Eagles show signs of promise, make the playoffs, fall short of the championship. Change continues to be needed. Andy Reid isn't going anywhere, though, so the biggest question will be whether the Eagles will bring back Donovan McNabb. He's only under contract for one more season, but they may not want to risk 2010 with Kevin Kolb at quarterback. There are certainly pieces on offense. Do they want a less-experienced QB handling the offense? The defense needs help at every position, but particularly at linebacker (they can't just rely on Stewart Bradley's return from injury) and in the secondary.
A look at the 2010 opponents: besides the division opponents, the Eagles will have home games against Green Bay, Minnesota, Houston, Indianapolis and Atlanta, and road games against Chicago, Detroit, Jacksonville, Tennessee and San Francisco. Rumor has it that the San Francisco game may be the league's annual London game.
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...
The score (Saints 48, Eagles 22) was more lopsided than expected but today's game went sort of how I figured it would.
There was a lot of concern about how the Eagles would fare with Kevin Kolb at quarterback due to the cracked rib suffered by Donovan McNabb last week. I felt the bigger problem would be the New Orleans Saints' offense, led by Drew Brees. Let's face it, Carolina didn't offer much of a challenge last week. Today would be a much tougher test, and the Eagles weren't up to the challenge. Brees threw for 311 yards and 3 touchdowns, and the Saints' offense rolled up 421 yards against the Eagles' defense.
A telling moment came late in the second quarter with the score tied at 10. It took the Saints two plays to go 54 yards and take a 17-10 lead with 0:43 left in the half. Still, the Eagles got a field goal of their own to make it a 17-13 game, and received the second-half kickoff...briefly. Ellis Hobbs fumbled the ball, it was recovered by the Saints and Brees threw his third TD pass. On the next possession Kolb threw an interception that led to another TD, making it 31-13. After that the Eagles never got closer than 14.
Kolb wasn't that bad. In the first half the Eagles moved the ball decently. Kolb's first-half numbers: 14-for-22, 196 yards, 1 touchdown. On their first possession, already trailing 7-0, Kolb hit DeSean Jackson for a 71-yard score, Kolb's first TD pass of his career. The game plan wasn't dominated by pass plays -- if anything, it was dominated by the Wildcat formation as much as anything. (I guess we can expect more of that next week when Michael Vick is activated.)
Kolb's final numbers reflect the way the Saints opened up the lead early in the second half, making it necessary to abandon the run: 31 for 51, 391 yards, 2 TDs, 3 interceptions (the last two in the last minute of the game really didn't mean much at that point).
The loss today is on the hands of the defense, and especially the hideous special teams; between the Hobbs fumble, the poor punting and the penalties, the special teams need to be put on the short bus and driven far, far away.
The Eagles never cease to intrigue. So many question marks going into the season -- the effects on the defense of defensive coordinator Jim Johnson's death, Brian Dawkins taking his leadership to Denver, the season-ending injury to Stewart Bradley; the injuries to the rebuilt offensive line; the health of Brian Westbrook; the sudden, controversial addition of Michael Vick; the eternal analysis of Donovan McNabb's health/leadership qualities/state of mind -- led many local observers to believe that a slow start was in the offing. Some locals felt a subpar season was likely, even while many national observers were saying the Birds would be strong contenders for the NFC's Super Bowl berth.
Does the 38-10 rout of the host Carolina Panthers to start the year answer those questions? Not really. The defense played well except for the opening drive of the game -- the Panthers took more than half of the first quarter to march down and score a touchdown. It should be noted that a dumb facemask grab by the Eagles' Juqua Parker kept the drive going, and it nearly stalled a few times as Carolina used two timeouts and (on first-and-goal from the one) took two false-start penalties.
After that, the Carolina offense completely collapsed. Jake Delhomme lost a fumble that was recovered for an Eagles touchdown, giving the Birds a 10-7 lead. The Eagles' DeSean Jackson returned a punt 85 yards to make it 17-7, and the Panthers just melted down from there. Delhomme was intercepted four times before mercifully being benched, and the Eagles had a total of 7 turnovers. So it's hard to tell how much of this was due to good defense and how much was lousy offense. Game two will provide a better indicator as the New Orleans Saints will bring a much better quarterback (Drew Brees) and a more powerful offense to the Linc for the Eagles' home opener.
The Saints' defense isn't quite as daunting, so we'll also see what happens to the Eagles' offense. This week they only generated 267 net yards, and 185 of that, surprisingly, was on the ground. Westbrook averaged 4.9 yards per carry. The offensive line, missing two starters, held up well enough. Donovan McNabb had only 79 yards passing halfway through the 3rd quarter, when he scrambled 3 yards for the final TD of the game and suffered a fractured rib on a late hit in the end zone. Kevin Kolb -- the only other quarterback on the roster with Vick suspended for the first two games -- did little of note.
It's not known if McNabb will play this weekend but it seems improbable. Kolb, touted as the QB of the future since he was drafted, now has two challengers. Vick can't play until the third game, but the Eagles have brought back Jeff Garcia, of all people. Thus, a little more intrigue. The McNabb camp (particularly his mother Wilma) was rather miffed by the love affair between Garcia and the city in 2006. McNabb was hurt and done for the year. Garcia rallied the team to a surprise NFC East title and a playoff win. How will things turn out this time?
Before ending this, let's give a proper goodbye to A.J. Feeley, who was cut prior to the season because of the Vick addition. Rather than rejoin the Eagles, Feeley has apparently decided to sign with Carolina. Here's A.J. with his girlfriend, pro soccer player Heather Mitts:
When I got home a short while ago, turned on the TV and saw the news on the screen, my initial reaction was to yell "What?" about a dozen times. I'm completely flabbergasted. The Eagles have shocked everyone by signing dog-killer Michael Vick to a one-year contract with an option for a second year. He's been conditionally reinstated by the NFL -- he can play the last two preseason games; once the regular season starts he can participate in all team activities except the games, with a full reinstatement by commissioner Roger Goodell possible no later than Week 6.
I think the opinion of a majority of people is that Vick, having served his sentence for the crimes he committed, ought not be barred forever from playing football. And there were a few rumors about teams that might be interested in signing him because they were desperate for a quarterback and/or eager to use the Vick sideshow to sell tickets. But the Eagles? The EAGLES? With squeaky-clean disciplinarian head coach Andy Reid? A team that went through the craziness of Terrell Owens a few years ago? A team that recommitted itself to Donovan McNabb as their starting quarterback and still considers backup Kevin Kolb as the future QB? A team that sells out every game instantly once tickets go on sale?
I can't imagine what they're thinking. Is Vick going to replace Kolb or, more likely, A.J. Feeley as a backup QB? Is he going to play in the "wildcat" formation that's become so en vogue last year? Is he going to be a wide receiver? Are the Eagles ready for what could be a circus atmosphere at every road game, if not home game? Are they ready for what will undoubtedly be a huge publicity hit?
I just got home a few minutes ago, so I didn't get to see much of the Eagles' first preseason game. The NFL preseason is a monumental bore and a tremendous ripoff for those who are forced to buy tickets as part of a season package, so I wouldn't really have watched or paid close attention at any rate. But after the Vick news, no one is paying attention to that game.
Eagles: Now that the lockout is over, putting together the team has begun. Kevin Kolb has finally been traded -- to Arizona for cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a second-round draft pick in 2012. In other words, for more than they got from Washington for Donovan McNabb (who's now going to Minnesota). And rumor has it that Vince Young might come in to back up Michael Vick at quarterback. But of all the players who are leaving, the one I think they'll regret losing is kicker David Akers, who's signed with San Francisco. The kicker the Eagles drafted, Alex Henery, might be great someday, but if he starts off poorly he'll cost them some games. By the way, individual game tickets go on sale Tuesday at 10 am. (It's so weird to have that happen in August instead of June.)
Phillies: Just lost two in a row to the Giants in the teams' first meeting since the 2010 NL Championship Series. It's the first time the Phils have lost a series since mid-June and the first time they've lost two in a row since early June. Granted, neither Roy Halladay nor Cliff Lee started in this series, but the fact that the offense was nonexistent the last two nights again emphasizes this team's Achilles heel and portends what could happen in October. Memo to GM Ruben Amaro: Go get Hunter Pence from Houston. Now. Whatever it takes.
