I'm sitting here like most of you: feeling pretty proud of my football team.
However, I won't lie to you. I'm feeling pretty hollow. Not only did the Birds not pull off the upset, but I'm really questioning where this team has been hiding this effort all season.
Is it as simple as the quarterback change? I'm sure that's not the entire story (as the Pats have showed over the years, NFL players really get pumped when they feel no one is giving them a chance), but it has to be a big part of it, right? I was texting my buddy the Captain the whole game and we were astonished at the throws AJ was making and how open our receivers suddenly looked. It kind of reminded me of how efficient the offense looked at the end of last season with Garcia at the helm.
Time and time again, AJ got rid of the ball on rhythm and put the ball in spots where only our receiver could catch it. Of course, the two interceptions by Samuel killed their chance at victory, but AJ showed himself to be a QB that can play in this league.
Plus, it was finally proven to me. Donovan is not the QB to lead this team any longer. We need to move on. Quite simply, Donovan no longer makes the kinds of throws AJ made tonight and in many instances doesn't even attempt them. While we all see the difference AJ made with the offense, it doesn't matter. There is no QB controversy in this town. Big Red just announced in his post game press conference that Donovan will start next week. We'll see how long that lasts.
The defense acquitted itself quite well. It just annoys me to see such an effort because it would have been nice to see them show up against Dallas. I really think JR Reed made a difference in the defensive backfield. He adds another physical element to the position. A group of safeties including B Dawk, JR, and Quentin Mikael ain't so bad. I hope the coaches see the same and don't kid themselves into thinking that Considine deserves another chance.
One last note...the Birds didn't lose this game on the field. They lost it in the offseason. The Pats added three stud WR's last offseason. The Birds pretty much contained two of them (Moss and Stallworth). They didn't contain the third (Welker) because our third corner (Joselio Hansen, a street free agent) couldn't match up with him. If the Birds' cheap front office kept Rod Hood (who left via free agency), we might have seen a different result this evening.
In any event, I'm going to bed. This game drained me. However, I do feel good about the last 5 games of the year. If this type of effort can be duplicated, we might have a shot at the postseason.
3 comments:
We had too many missed oppty's to beat the best team in football.
We dropped 2 INT's.
AJ missed too many open receivers
The play of the game for me was when we were up 4 and stopped them on 4th down. aJ went deep to Curtis who was open but underthrew him. Curtis couldn't come down w/ the ball as he didn't go up to meet it at its highest point. If they come down w/ that play and get 7 out of the drive we're up 11 w/ only 8 mins to go.
They gave a great effort, but its another L and when you combine the huge losses to Wash, Pack, and Bears the damage may already be done.
I will predict we crush the Seahawks next week no matter who is at the helm.
Seattle had to travel to St. Louis and get lucky against a 2-9 club and now will have to fly here. They're the softest 7-4 team in the NFL and would be 4-7 if they played in the NFC East.
Birds can get to 9-7 in my opinion but i'm not sure its enough.
You summed up my feelings about the team, pretty much, to a tee. Let's not kid ourselves though. If "Five" played the same exact game and threw that last interception to Samuels that ended the game the city would be roasting him.
However, since it was Feeley, he will get the normal "we love the backup QB" chants. Now, saying that, I agree it is his time to go. Not only for the team but for McNabb himself. He did what he could here and a change of scenery could do wonders for him and it can let the Eagles move in a different direction, not only personnel wise but philosophy wise.
Why is it the gameplan changes for the better when our QB goes down? Can't we learn from the Colts? They leaned on Manning for years and it got them nowhere. Then they take the burden off of him and let the defense and running game work, and "magically" they finally win the Super Bowl. So if Dungy, who has arguably the best QB in the league, can change the way the team plays why can't Reid do the same with his "franchise" quarterback?
I think that is why this miraculous effort showed up last night. Not to take anything away from the players, but the play calling was impressive and the aggressiveness was there for the first time all year. Why does it take McNabb getting hurt for this to finally strike a cord in Reid's head? It happens everytime Five has gone down as well. Most recent example is the last half of last year.
Anyway, I have ranted long enough. I am proud of the Birds, and hope it leads into something good for the rest of the year but as Capt. said, the damage may already be done.
I don't feel the best coach of our era Bill Belichik coached one of his better games. To only call 1 running play in an entire half of football and allow his QB to get hit repeatedly was not too bright. His 3 rings says he's forgotten more about football than we'll ever know, but I was unimpressed.
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