AHHH PLAYOFFS!

Sorry for this post to shammgod (the 11-5 pats should be good enough for playoffs, and matt cassel’s 57 yard punt in the wind was epic) and capitalsports (maybe next year? naaah…probably not for the redskins), but the eagles and the chargers somehow made the playoffs!

IIGGGLEEEES!!!

The eagles needed tampa bay to lose to the awful oakland raiders. Oakland was also traveling  to raymond james stadium, and tampa bay was 13 pt (i think) favorites in this game. TB eveneven pulled ahead of the raiders 24-14. Somehow jamarcus russel (well..it was really michael bush) led the raiders back and they stunned the bucanners.

The eagles then needed either the vikings or the bears to lose. The giants’ backups held things down for a while (although i think tavaris jackson did a pretty good job of that for them) but the vikings eked out a 20-19  win). I think that had some of the worst clock management I’ve ever seen…and naturally, it came from brad childress, a disciple of andy reid. The vikings converted a third down with over a minute. Even though the vikings had 1 timeout remaining, they failed to advance the ball any further, and let their division title, and playoff hopes rest on a 50 yard field goal attempt. Granted, ryan longwell is pretty good, and the vikings play in a dome, but settling for a 50 yard field goal attempt? Weeeeaaaaak.

The bears came through though with a loss to the houston texans. Andre Johnson absolutely beasted with 10 receptions, 148 yards, and 2 touchdowns. Too bad he did nothing for me last week in my fantasy championship game. Garbage.

Capital talked a little bit about the absolute beatdown the eagles laid on the cowboys. Everything was clicking for the eagles, and the crowd was in a frenzy after fans learned that this game was suddenly a playoff play-in game. The eagles d forced 5 turnovers, harrasing tony romo all day. Brian Dawkins, all 35 years of him, had a beastly game, forcing 2 fumbles that were both returned for touchdowns. Mad props for weapon x, who came out ready to play and really iced the game for philly.Thanks to that beatdown, the eagles are somehow in the nfl playoffs, despite sitting at 5-5-1 following a loss to baltimore and mcnabb’s halftime benching. That tie ended up being great for the eagles – a loss to the bengals would have instead given the last playoff spot to tampa bay.

The chargers managed to be in an even worse spot when they were sitting at 4-8. Denver pretty much had the divison locked up. Yet, a timely run by the chargers and some disappointing losses for the broncos resulted in a play-in game on sunday night. The chargers came through with their own blowout win, demolishing the broncos. Phillip Rivers outplayed his new rival Jay Cutler. LT looked like the LT of old and Sproles and Hester chipped in with their own touchdowns. A trendy preseason pick to represent the afc in the superbowl, the chargers sneaked in to the  last spot, and will now host the colts next weekend.

And I gotta close with this video, in case you didn’t see any of the highlights of the eagles’ huge win.

Miracle at the Meadowlands!

So I was getting ready to do a post on the Miracle at the Meadowlands, definitely a unique play in NFL history. But..looks like ESPN totally beat me to it and was able to do research/interview people and stuff. All I had was a youtube clip. Meh.

In honor of the eagles-giants game (and because people are hating on our sportssceneit team’s lack of sports history knowledge), here’s the story behind the miracle at the meadowlands. The Giants are leading the Eagles 17-12 and it looks like they have just wrapped up a win at home following a late Ron Jaworski pick. All the Giants had to do was take a couple of QB knees. Instead, the Giants decided to run a play with a few seconds left (which is standard Madden XBOX protocol, but not so hot for real games). The play is so controversial that some of the players/coaches involved from the giants side still refuse to talk about, more than 20 years after the game. The Eagles (naturally) sent an all-out blitz on the play.

The ball was snapped and the Giants QB, Pisarcik had some trouble handling the ball. He turned to hand the ball off to his running back, but fumbled the exchange. An Eagles DB, none other than the Chiefs’ Herm Edwards, timed his jump perfectly and broke free through the line. The ball hit the turf and Edwards pulled off one of the most clutch scoop and scores in the history of the NFL. Ballin.

I didn’t even know the rules maaaan

Apparently “McNabb, Westbrook, and several Eagles” didn’t know ties exist. If one of those people turns out to be Andy Reid, he won’t make it to the next Eagles game alive. Punting with just over 1 minute left in OT sure was a strange call…

Shelden Brown Hates Running Backs

So apparently this blog hasn’t died yet. And apparently “dived” isn’t a word. Meh. I wasn’t always a noob at grammar.

Monday night’s game features another great NFC east clash, between the eagles and cowboys. It seems like announcers/analysts/random dudes are always talking about the great rivalries of the NFL. I dunno. I don’t really buy that stuff in terms of professional football – so many guys change teams and move around to the point where it becomes hard to form true rivalries. I can definitely see it in college football, but not so much in the NFL. I kind of wish this Eagles/Cowboys game was a bit later in the season. I feel pretty good about the Eagles right now – Donovan’s looking healthy, Desean “badly needs a nickname because fraction and action aren’t gonna cut it” Jackson had an explosive debut, and the Eagles D was solid in the 1st game. Then again…this was against the Rams. A Rams fan I know summed up their season very nicely: “we’re really bad.” Tony Romo and the cowboys looked great in their debut, although Cleaveland’s probably overrated too. What’s with his goofy smile at the end of this commercial? Why is he throwing around eagles player? It’s alrite though..Dawkins is there to get that sh@# out (btw..what’s convention for using symbols in swear words?).

But here are the main youtube videos for this post: Shelden Brown absolutely destroys Steven Jackson in last week’s game. Brown plays his zone defense perfectly, and I have no idea how Jackson held onto the ball.

So I’ve gotta link Brown’s huge hit against Reggie Bush in the playoffs from a couple of years ago. This was one of the first plays in the game (I think). Idk how the announcer kept his cool there…I would have exploded.

Moral of the story – good luck to Marion Barber and Felix Jones on Monday night.

Dear Donovan

D-MAC. McBabbulous. (i’m out of nicknames already. Donovan’s a pretty bada** name as it is though..so you probably don’t need one). What’s going on man? Busy training, working hard for the season? Rehabbing that shoulder that made you miss the eagles’ training camp? No big deal, it’s not like the eagles are counting on you or anything. Oh wait. We have at best, a 2-year window for legitimately competing for a super bowl. Our offense consists of: 1) the offensive line allowing every single pass-rusher/blitzer/fan through the line, 2) you attempting to scramble and 3) finally shoveling a pass to the best receiving running back in the league.

Thankfully, Brian Westbrook has been an absolute stud these past couple of years. People don’t really appreciate his awesomness, which is pretty cool considering I picked him up in the 2nd round of one of my fantasy football leagues last year. Despite some huge injury problems with the rest of my lineup, Westbrook basically carried my team last year. He also helped the real eagles out, finishing as an all-pro and making the pro-bowl. And who can forget this play? (btw..I love the offensive lineman’s celebration in the corner of the screen on that play) I think that deserves merit for inclusion as some sort of top ten plays list. Seriously, how many running backs would give up an extra touchdown (and possibly millions of dollars in contract incentives) for their team? Anyways…back to you McNabb. I don’t know if I can realistically expect a super bowl this season. You asked for play makers in the offseason (hint: wide receivers), and the Eagles promptly went out and got Asante Samuel. Idk…I hope he turns out to be a good investment, but he thrived in the Pats’ system, while the Eagles are much more blitz-friendly under Jim Johnson. Meh. I’d have to say our biggest offensive acquisition was DeSean Jackson, the Cal receiver, who appears to have had some mini-T.O. moments…except without the NFL promise. At least he’ll be good for our punt return game.

(I guess this is gonna sound similar to my Andy Roddick letter. Meh. Whatever. E-mail us.) As big of an Eagles fan as I am, I think I might be a bigger Donovan McNabb fan. A lotta people talk about players overcoming adversity. You definitely did that. Your draft day – Eagles fans booed the heck out of you, hoping for Ricky “I’m too busy getting high” Williams (lol…I love the closeup of those fans). Rush Limbaugh provided his hmm…”different” perspective on your success in the league (looks like ESPN has smartly pulled the video of that clip). The Eagles failing to advance past 3 straight NFC conference championship games.  T.O. was T.O., and decided to absolutely destroy (split infinitive. meh.) any team chemistry the eagles had, splitting the team in two. There was more drama on that team than season 3 of the O.C. ( OHHH YEAH…pop culture reference. bit dated..but still.) He called you out through the media, trashed your leadership, and trashed your play. I think this is sufficient excuse to link the following two clips: OD, OD, OD OD, OD following T.O.’s drug overdose in his return to Philly, and T.O. crying about a “quarterback”. Things haven’t been good for you these past couple of years. Kelvin Kolb was drafted (over some wide receivers. again) and he appears to be doing a great job in the training camps. You’ve missed a lot of time the past couple of seasons, due to groin injuries and ACL tears. To make matters worse, Jeff Garcia led an inspired playoff run with the eagles while you were gone, and freakin AJ FEELY almost led the eagles to a huge upset over the pats. (Don’t worry..AJ Feely realized he was AJ Feely and then chucked up an awful interception towards the end of the game).

Despite these bad memories…we gotta mention the Mcnabbulous ones. One of the sickest plays I’ve ever seen, against Dallas. WTTF!?!?!? NO!?!?! I’ve had that favorited for months, in preparation for this column, and now it’s removed from youtube. You scrambled for 14.1 seconds, eluding several Dallas defenders, before finally chucking it to Freddie Mitchell. Speaking of Freddie Mitchell, who can forget 4th and 26!?!? (also removed from youtube). You were also the 1st player to throw for more than 30 touchdowns and fewer than 10 interceptions in a season (until Brady). In 2004, the only year that you have had any quality receivers, the Eagles went to the super bowl. You put up a 104.1 qb rating that year. The Eagles actually had a chance in that super bowl too – but your sickness and the 3 interceptions (including 2 boneheaded red zone hurls) ruined chances of possibly completely turning your career and legacy around.

It’s really kind of sad to think about what your career could have been D-Mac. You were probably the most athletic and skilled quarterback in the league (except for perhaps Michael Vick). You never had the wide receiver help you needed to dominate. You’ve dealt with some of the harshest fans and sports critics. You’ve been back stabbed by your teammates. You still have the lowest interceptions thrown per pass ratio in the history of the NFL. (2.1%). There’s not much time, but you’ve still got a few more great years.

This sums up everything your career’s been.

(The Eagles scored 9 points in the game following that video’s premier. Meh.)

Good luck McNabb. And I am expecting a super bowl run this year.
Btw..you should check out his website – it’s pretty fly.