Belated Christmas Gift

Wow. To quote the late Jack Buck after watching the light hitting Ozzie Smith hit a walk off pennant clinching homer, "I can't believe what I just saw."

I'm sure many of you had the same type of approach to Sunday as I did...undoubtedly expecting the worst. Sure, the Birds had a decent shot to beat the 'Boys and the Texans had a better than even shot to beat the up and down Bears at home, but did anyone think the lowly Raiders would muster up the gumption (not to mention an offensive attack) to beat the Bucs in Tampa? I know I didn't and it really caused a lack of enthusiasm for Sunday's game. Then, things unbelievably started falling into place.

First, a couple local guys (Steve Slaton and Matt Schaub) and a former Eagle (Ryan Moats) combined to knock off the Bears. Then, the unthinkable happened. The Raiders came back to beat the Raiders thanks to the shocking efforts of Michael Bush who didn't play at all in 2007 and only had 4 carries for 4 yards in the prior 5 games. Frankly, I'm still shocked the Raiders won the game. It really seemed like the air went out of the stadium when Cadillac Williams blew out his knee again. (Is it me or is it amazing how many times in the past five years or so our sports' fortunes have been tied to Tampa?)

After the prerequisites had been cleared, the Birds were then faced with a de facto "play in" game with our favorite team from Texas and their cock roach, band wagon, self loathing fans. At this point, I'm still unsure what to expect. I've seen Donovan and Reid come up small in instances like this (last week being Exhibit A.) However, my buddy the Captain got me in the right mind set pretty quickly. He was basically a raving lunatic from the moment Michael Bush broke his 67 yard touchdown run in the 4th quarter of the Bucs game. He sounded like Ric Flair cutting a promo before a big match from about 3:30 pm to 7 pm when he finally calmed down. So, needless to say, I was pretty excited once the game started.

We all know what happened from there. The teams started out relatively slow in the first quarter, but for my money, the key play of game came right at the end of the first quarter. Right before the Cowboys tied the game, they had a 3rd and short at our 15, which looked like a gimme the way the 'Boys can run the ball, but instead of pounding the ball, they tried a gimmicky fake wide receiver screen, fade pass to the corner. Since the fade was covered, Romo came back to the screen to Roy Williams, which Joselio Hanson ate up for a 4 yard loss and led to a Cowboys field goal. As great as the tackle was by Hanson, I wish the game showed the DB that stayed with the fade route because he made the play of the game. Of course, the two phenomenal plays by B Dawk were huge (and he did play unbelievably), but the game was already out of reach at that point.

After the play by Hanson and the unknown DB, it was a comedy of errors by the 'Boys and sheer dominance by our Birds. Frankly, this was the second biggest win over the Cowboys in the history of the Eagles. This was basically a playoff win and we've only beaten them one other time in a playoff game...the 1980/81 NFC Championship Game. Sure, there's been several emotional wins and great moments, but the stakes were bigger for this game than any other victory over the Boys.

This game was sort of a comeuppance for Andy Reid. After the Bengals/Ravens debacles, we all wanted him gone. Somehow, someway he convinced this team to keep playing. I still think the guys is a very questionable game day coach, and his player personnel duties should absolutely be stripped, but he got this team back to the playoffs and he deserves a ton of credit. Hopefully, he keeps the same offensive philosophy this week against the Vikings.

Overall, does anyone get the feeling that things are changing in this city. We had the superb post season run by the Phils in the Fall and then things strangely fall into place for the Birds to have a "win and in" game with the Boys. Of course, the Birds roll in that game and now travel to play a team that looked pretty freakin' ordinary against the G Men's backups in a must win game. If we win that, we play a team that we dominated less than a month ago. Maybe things are finally falling our way. At this point, you have to have the feeling that anything can happen. Perhaps, this is what fans in Boston feel like?

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Other thoughts from Sunday:

-DeSean Jackson seems to be getting back to where he was earlier in the season. His stats weren't out of this world, but I think he's getting through the rookie wall.

-When you see Buck play the way he did on Sunday, does anyone else feel like punching Andy Reid in the face for not using him enough?

-The best email I received was from my buddy Tony G, who wrote "all yesterday did for me was prove that the Birds are lazy and poorly coached. This team should have finished 12-4." Amen, Tone. I agree.

-Chris Clemons....Thanks for joining us this season. Better late than never, I guess.

-We need more Brent Celek in our lives and less L.J. (which pains me to say as a Rutgers alum.)

-I read today that the Birds have only played the Vikes twice in the playoffs. They beat them both times and then preceded to play in the Super Bowl. (Maybe we are onto something here.)

The Birds Are Who We Thought They Were

Today's game reminded us who this group of Birds are. Sure, it was easy to get excited over the three game winning streak, but I know a lot of us had a sneaking suspicion that the Birds still had the same flaws that they showed in the Bengals and Ravens games: a poorly coached team that executes terribly on offense at crucial moments.

The problems with this squad begin and end with the head coach/general manager. I think we have all seen enough of Reid's terrible clock management and wasted time outs. The pass heavy play calling is simply obscene. Reid and Morningwheg clearly are not following today's trends. You need to run the ball to be successful. All you have to do is look at the successful teams. The G Men, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, and Carolina all can pound the ball down your throats. Reid totally over looks the importance of running the ball, as well as having the personnel to successfully run the ball and this philosophy always seems to come out at the absolute wrong time. Since I'm quite sure Reid is coming back, I think Lurie has to force Reid to re-think his offensive philosophy as we've seen that Big Red's West Coast offense has outlived its shelf life.

The missed opportunities in this game were staggering. The Reggie Brown play at the end was just the icing on the cake. Sure he ended up a yard short and leaves us all asking why he didn't run his pattern into the end zone, but that wasn't the only mistake. Asante Samuel failed to live up to his big contract when he dropped a sure INT late in the game. Everyone's early season hero, DeSean Jackson, also laid an egg dropping a bomb in the 4th quarter and then dropped a sure TD on the final drive.

Despite the poor coaching and mistake after mistake, this team lived up to who they were. A lot of us thought they were a flawed .500 team and that's pretty much what they'll end up next week (because we all know they are losing to the 'Boys now that they have a reprieve from the Governor.)

I'd say it is a shame and pretty depressing, but I never got back on the bandwagon after the Giants loss, Bengals tie and Ravens embarrassing loss. So I guess things aren't so bad after all. I suppose I'll watch a Phillies highlight video to cheer me up.

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By the way, did anyone catch the post season press conferences? Is it me or did McNabb looked like he was wearing the suit that Jack Nicholoson wore when he played the Joker in the old Batman movie? Plus, can someone tell me what article of clothing Andy Reid was wearing during his press conference? It looked like a wet suit.

Also, I have to give props to my man George for pointing out that R Diddy looked like he was wearing the same suit on Post Game Live that he likely wore when covering the 1976 Eagles/Skins' game. It's time for Ray to consult with Vaughn Hebron as his wardrobe needs some updating.

I'm watching Sports Final right now and I really think Eskin and Vai might kill each other. I am watching this praying it happens so I can say I saw an all time television moment live. Unfortunately, they are starting to calm down, so it doesn't look like there will be any moments to remember.

Almost A Complete 180

Is anyone else surprised with how quickly the local media seem to be jumping back on the Donovan McNabb bandwagon? About a month ago, it was a near certainty that he would be gone by the end of the season. Now, I'm reading article after article about how D Mac is coming back.

As for my take on the situation, I'm pretty happy to see the team playing better over the last 4 games, but I'm still not sure that what we're seeing isn't much more than a team playing teams in compromised situations. The Cards had about 2 1/2 days to prep for the Thanksgiving Day game and they are horrible coming East. Then they faced a completely distracted Giants team, which we saw last week is a complete shell of itself without Plax. Last week, they played a team that has completely quit on their coach and had a Triple A QB at the helm. If you can tell that I'm not exactly back on the bandwagon, then you are pretty perceptive.

The Birds have a decent shot to win this week if the Skins continue their funk. However, if they show up ready to play, I expect the Birds' sloppy play to catch up to them this week, making next week's expected showdown to be a non event.

Yep, the negative PSP is back, baby!

Absolutely Unlistenable

I think I might have found something to break me out of my rut/writers' block/general indifference towards sports, life, health and basic daily hygiene. (Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a tad. I did shower this morning, but all kidding aside, I really have been in a malaise since the World Series title.)

Tony Kornheiser must be stopped and he must be stopped now. He single handedly made tonight's broadcast intolerable. I like Mike Tirico. I really like Jaws. However, Tony Kornheiser monopolized the air time with his anti Philadelphia/pro McNabb drivel and made the ESPN broadcast made me want to slit my wrists and set myself on fire. He's beyond brutal and I found myself quickly tired of his unqualified pontificating. At times, he'd go off on a tangent and I'd wonder if he's using the Monday Night Football audience as a sounding board for material to use in his next column or if he really believed the b.s. he espoused. Christ, I just wish the guy would have shut up so I could watch the game and enjoy it.

This little experiment of adding a non-sports guy to the booth has to end. While Dennis Miller was semi-listenable because he knew his role, Kornheiser thinks he's Howard Cosell reincarnated. I now realize why I stopped watching most Monday Night games. The telecast (and most of the games) are just terrible.

I know....I could just turn down the sound on the TV and watch Merrill, but I don't feel like listening to a play two or three seconds before or after I see it. If the radio feed was synced up, maybe I'd listen to it, but it seems like too much of a hassle.

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Oh yeah, I almost forgot. A game was played this evening. The Birds looked pretty decent until they got to the red zone. Then they melted down. If they want to continue this run, they must improve over the next couple weeks in the red zone. Other than the red zone performance, D Mac looked pretty decent and spread the ball around like the old days, but still needs to be more effective in the red zone. It was also disappointing to see the de-emphasis from the run game. I thought Big Red noticed how team's fortunes had changed when he kept the ball on the ground, but tonight he reverted to his pass happy ways.

Before I forget, what the hell was that monstrosity at the end of the half? The time management was terrible and so was the play calling. At the half, I was so frustrated, I put the Phils' World Series highlight video in the lap top to help calm me down.

As for the defense, I thought they played pretty well against a Triple A level offense. The most impressive performance was by Trent Cole who seemed to have his way against a damn good Left Tackle in Joe Thomas.

Now, we move onto the Redskins. I really have no clue what to expect next week, but we have time to talk about that later.

His Mouth Is Writing Checks That His Ass Can Cash

Our main man Cole Hamels just added a bit of fuel to the Mets/ Phils rivalry by calling the Mets a bunch of choke artists during an interview on NYC's WFAN radio. In case you missed it, here are his exact words:

Last year and this year I think we did believe that," Hamels said on WFAN. "Three years ago we didn't because they smoked everybody, and I think we all thought they were going to win it all. Unfortunately that didn't happen. But, yeah, that's kind of what we believed and I think we're always going to believe that until they prove us wrong."

One of the show's hosts apparently gave Hamels a chance to back away from his comments.

He didn't.

"For the past two years they've been choke artists," Hamels said.

New GM Ruben Amaro also got into the act by adding the following regarding the Mets' moves to strengthen their bullpen:

"I don't think it affects us much. They had Billy Wagner for three years and we still beat them the last two years."

While I love Cole's comments, I really wish Ruben would shut up and find ways to add some talent for our 2009 title defense. He's done nothing so far that would merit him the ability to make these comments.

it's going to be quite interesting up in Shea this year. No one can deny that.

Deja Vu?

We're about a third of the way into the hockey season and I realized that I haven't really talked about the Orange & Black...wait, I haven't written much at all, so I guess I haven't overlooked them. I've just ignored them. So let's try to rectify that and talk a little Flyers hockey.

In case you've missed it, the Flyers have been carried by two of their young stars through the early part of the season. Jeff Carter has absolutely exploded this season and is tied for the NHL lead in goals scored. (Does anyone else remember a Flyer being at the top of the goal scoring chart this late in the season? I don't.) Mike Richards has picked up where he has left off last season, and continued to grow as a scorer, captain and complete player.

With the leaps and bounds these two have made the past two years, they are starting to remind me of Chase Utley and Ryan Howard a couple years ago. Carter and Richards are two young guys just starting to realize their potential and figuring out how to play at the highest level in the NHL. Carter has the best wrist shot I've seen on the Flyers since the Big E and Richards appears to be the closest thing to Clarkie this franchise has seen since the glory days. Richards shows up every day, plays hard, supports his teammates, and is unbelievably dangerous on the PK.

As much as I'm excited to watch Carter and Richards grow together, they are not going to reach the Utley/Howard level of team dominance unless they find their version of Brad Lidge (i.e., a kick ass, top notch goalie. Sorry, Mar-TAN BEE-ron, won't win you a Cup.)

In the meantime, they are becoming awfully fun to watch.

I Feel Like I Don't Know You Guys Anymore

Can someone please explain yesterday's game to me? I am still trying to figure out how the Birds flat out dominated the best team in football yesterday.

Not only did the Birds dominate the G Men's offense, holding them to 141 total yards before the Birds gave up a junker TD while in the prevent defense, but the Birds once again used a strong running game to control the clock and put the game away. Frankly, I'm shocked that the Birds put such an emphasis on the run the last two weeks. This team always seems to have more success when they run the ball more or at least shows some sort of balance. Despite evidence of success with such playcalling, Reid keeps trying to fit his square peg pass first offensive philosophy into a round hole of offensive players. I just don't understand him anymore, but this blog does a pretty decent job of summing up my frustration.

However, don't get too excited about this sudden change. It doesn't appear that this a long term movement. Big Red announced in his press conference today that he only ran the ball so much due to the windy weather in the Meadowlands yesterday, which led to this witty reparte between Reid and Les Bowen of the Daily News:

Bowen: “Do fans who want to see you run the ball more hope for really high winds the rest of the season?”

Reid: “I think the fans just want to win. They don’t care if we run it or pass it.”

Great...not only is Reid stubborn, but he's dense, somehow missing the joke in Bowen's question.

In any event, the question we are left with is "who are these guys?" Are they the group that dominated AFC and NFC contenders, the Steelers and Giants respectively, or are they the group that slept walked through the Bengals debacle or got tattooed by the Ravens? I suppose they have to be somewhere in the middle. Although, even I have to admit that the next two games are shaping up nicely for them and lead up to a Sunday night show down with Dallas to determine which team makes the playoffs.

While everyone seems ready to annoit this team to a playoff spot, I need to see more. I'm sure the city will be besides themselves after next Monday's likely destruction of the Browns, but I want to see the game against the Skins before committing back to this team. I still think they have a ton of wholes, but who knows...maybe I'm wrong.

PSP's EAGLES' PICK

While I have a pick for today's game, this post is more of a request to the Giants.

I ask you, our most despised neighbors from the North, to please finally remove all doubt about the Andy Reid/Donovan McNabb era and put the dagger in their hearts. I really want to see a 31 to 3 drubbing, with the Birds giving up 8 sacks and the Giants running for 225 yards. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think we all need to see the final nail put in the coffin so we can move on with our lives and begin a new era.

Don't let last week's game fool you. The Cardinals were set up for failure. The Eagles still stink.

The Giants will remind us of that today despite the distractions they are facing.

Giants 27, Eagles 10.