How I Feel Right Now

Look, I could go on and on about how tough tonight's loss was to take, but this clip describes it pretty well.

PSP's EAGLES PICK

All day, I've been on the edge of a nervous break down. I've intentionally avoided my buddy the Captain as I know he's feeling the same and I can't add any additional angst to my life right now.

Thankfully, the Flyers have taken my mind off it a bit as they've showed some life in the 2nd period against the Pens, but I'm fully expecting them to fall apart in the last period as I'm sure Commissioner Bettman called the Refs to ensure no one puts a hand on Cindy Crosby the rest of the game.

Ok, back to more important matters....I still haven't thought of a legitimate, rational reason for why the Birds win tonight, but I'm going to be a phan tonight. I'm going to hearken back to the 9th of November, 2006 to find inspiration for this evening. On that night, I gave my Scarlet Knights no chance against the then #3 ranked Cardinals of Louisville. I thought the Cards were too strong and my Knights were not up to the task of beating them. Well, I think we all remember how that game ended....

That game showed me that there are times to throw conventional wisdom out the window and just believe. I think tonight is also one of those nights.

Eagles 27....Saints 20.

Believe.

Go Birds!

No Love For Our Birds From The "Experts"

I was polling the "Experts" on their picks for today's game and not finding a lot of love out there.

• Four out of four writers picked the Saints on SI.com
• The ESPN.com experts are split 4-4 on this game
• Five out of Six CBS.Sportsline.com experts prefer the Saints
• My idol, Bill Simmons (aka ESPN.com's "The Sports Guy"), also picked the Saints to roll.
• Jeez, even 6 out of 9 writers for the Daily News picked the Saints
• I'd give you the Inquirer picks, but it looks like the layoffs have hurt them so much that they didn't even list their writers' picks
• I also found out that my man Coz picked the Saints in the Gloucester County Times today.

I kind of like it when the world is against us...what about you guys?

Philly Has Arrived In The Big Easy

I wish I was down there for this....




Go Birds!!!!

One More Thing....

Does Jeff Garcia need to paraded around like a Yeti captured in the wild? He made another friggin' appearance at a Forman Mills tonight. Call me crazy, but shouldn't Jeff be doing something else....like looking at game film? Seriously, how much money could he be making by hawking these stupid T Shirts? Jeff, please do us all a favor...go home, hang out with that piece of ass pseudo fiance, watch some game film and prepare for Saturday's game.

Plus, Sheldon Brown was a Modells signing autographs. Guys, there will be plenty of time for this B.S. after our playoff run is over.

To make matters worse, a large portion of the good people of South Philly South (aka Washington Township, NJ) camped out hours ahead of time to see Garcia like they were waiting to buy Van Halen concert tickets. I worry about the citizens of this town. I really do.

In case you haven't been able to tell, I'm really starting to worry if this team has jumped the shark between these ridiculous appearances and Joe Banner's ill will generating comments in the Inky. The Fear Factor for this week is coming close to reaching the red. In fact, right now, I'm a mushroom cloud-layin' motherf*&ker, motherf*&ker. Every time I see another Eagle showing up to a Modells or Forman Mills for a meet and greet, I'm like "SUPERFLY TNT." I'm "THE GUNS OF THE NAVARONE."

In short, be afraid of the Saints, people. Be very afraid.

Say It Ain't So, Joe

By now you've all heard about Joe Banner's comments in today's Inky. In case you missed it, here are the excerpts causing all the fuss:

The fans' reaction to Lurie bothers Banner, who also would not rank among the region's most popular people even though he has helped produce a consistent winner.
"I have to tell you, that's personally frustrating to me in a public-relations sense," Banner said. "I know this is controversial, but I don't think there's another owner who would have kept this team in Philadelphia for the economic deal we got on our stadium.

"I'm not trying to belittle the public contribution, but as it relates to what other cities did and other offers we had from other cities, I can't imagine many owners that would have come from someplace else and had the kind of loyalty that he demonstrated to these football fans and this city and the history of the franchise. I don't think anybody recognizes that. I don't think anybody thinks of that."

Seriously, were these comments necessary? We're on a roll, Joe. Shut your mouth and know your damn role. I think there are some beans in the office that need counting.

Plus, the whole tone of this article seems way too self congratulatory for a team that is only in the 2nd round of the playoffs. We haven't won a damn thing yet, Jeff and Joe. Can we please just wait until we get to the Super Bowl before we start genuflecting to each other?

Another In A Long Line Of Pick Ups Past Their Prime

Dale Murphy, Art Monk, Dale Hawerchuk, Dikembe Mutombo, Lance Parrish, Mark Bavaro, Paul Coffey, and Jeff Hornacek....The list goes on and on.

While Philadelphia may not win titles, we sure do lead the world in picking up star players about a year or two past their primes.

We can now add Chris Webber to the list of former All Stars that flamed out in Philly. For those of you have missed it, Chris Webber and his bad knees are on their way out of town as the Sixers bought out his contract.

Bye, bye C Webb. I'm sure we'll see you providing quality bench depth this Spring for someone in the playoffs.

Birds' Question of The Week

How in the world do we stop Drew Brees, his merry band of WR's, Reggie Bush and Deuce McAllister?

Seriously, with the limited talent available to him, how is Jim Johnson going to slow this offense down? The easy answer is to pressure Drew Brees into mistakes, but we haven't gotten a pass rush from the defensive line since the first Dallas game. As a result, if JJ wants to get any pressure on Brees, he's going to have to bring the blitz. However, if we do blitz, Brees will likely get rid of it before the pressure reaches him. Plus, Sean Payton seems pretty confident in having figured out how to beat JJ's defensive schemes. As SI reported after the Saints/Birds first matchup:

Before coming to New Orleans, Payton had been an offensive assistant for seven years in the NFC East (with the New York Giants from 1999 to '02 and the Dallas Cowboys for the past three years), and at a meeting last Wednesday he told the team he'd gone 9-6 against Philly during that span. Stressing the importance of avoiding turnovers and third-and-longs, Payton assured his Saints, "Follow my formula, and we'll win the game."

Well, if we aren't going to pressure the QB, then our DB's and LB's are going to have to play the game of their lives. Making this scenario less likely is the fact that Lito is out this week with Rod Hood taking his place and Will James (formerly Will Peterson) stepping in as the nickel corner. I'm sure Marques Colston, Devery Henderson and the hobbled Joe Horn are licking their chops over these matchups. Plus, B Dawk can only help so much with covering the wide receivers when he is likely our only hope to slow down Reggie Bush coming out of the backfield.

Also, let's not forget about our less than stout run defense. With our defense being overly concerned with stopping a potential aerial circus, will our front seven be able to stop Deuce between the tackles and Reggie Bush out on the flanks? Based on past history of this defense, the easy answer is obviously NO.

Ok, feeling confident now? Sorry guys, but the realist in me has me feeling less than overly confident about our chances of slowing these guys down. The only hope I see for our Birds against the Saints offense is to be opportunistic with all potential turnover opportunities. Additionally, we need our offense to have long clock consuming drives to keep Brees and Co. on the sidelines and not let them get into any rhythm. (Think the 1990 Giants/Bills Super Bowl.) If anyone else has any other views, let me hear them.

Of course the phan in me says we still win some way, some how. I just can't think of a tangible reason yet...Don't worry, I'll come up with something before Saturday.

Yep, It Has Become This Bad for the O&B

Now, only if I could find a similar picture of a guy in a Sixers' jersey....

Does Anyone Think This Is A Good Idea?

I love the Birds as much as the next guy, but frankly, I think tattooing the Eagles logo anywhere on your body (especially a visible portion of your body like this Gentleman) is batshit crazy. Anyone disagree?

Shawn Andrews' Interesting Take on Weight Gain

I got a chuckle out of the bolded comment in this excerpt from this intesting ESPN.com article on Shawn Andrews:

Philadelphia's first-round choice in 2004 and the 16th player selected overall, Andrews looked promising his rookie season. He earned the starting job at right guard with an impressive training camp on a Super Bowl-caliber team. But his first season ended after just one game when he suffered a fractured fibula in his right leg against the Giants.

"Someone fell on my leg from behind and I just heard a snap and had this warm feeling," Andrews recalled. "I just thought, 'Wow, there goes my year.' Part of me said 'uh-oh,' because I never had an injury of that caliber before."

He quickly dropped 12 pounds after the injury. The broken leg prevented Andrews from being able to get up and eat regularly. "Once I was back on my feet," he said, laughing, "I was able to get back to my cheesesteak places, and I put the weight back on again and then some."

Somehow, I don't think I'd have the initial weight loss success if I suffered a similar injury. However, I'm quite impressed with how quickly Andrews found a favorite cheesesteak place in his rookie year. Nicely done, Big Kid.

What If....

...Jim Mora had coached Ohio State last night? If he did, I think the press conference would have sounded like this:

View From The Linc

I love these camera phone videos that pop up after every great sporting moment or execution of a world leader. Here's the latest:

Random Thoughts After Birds/G Men

Of course, I couldn't let Sunday's win by the Birds over the G Men just fade away without a couple more comments.

1. I caught the following from Jerry Izenberg's outstanding column in the Sunday Newark Star Ledger:

Over the years, the Eagles fans have taken a hard rap up in the Great Megalopolis, starting with the December afternoon when they pelted Santa Claus with snowballs. But they are more like Giants fans than Giants fans would ever admit. Both groups set the bar extremely high. Both groups are passionate to a fault. Both groups are not at all averse to booing the hell out of the objects of their affection if they feel they are performing below expectations.
******
The Giants are coming into a town where the constituency feels the scorn with which New York arrogantly sees it.

That bolded statement pretty much sums up my feelings towards the Giants and their fans. It's shame it took a guy from North Jersey to verbalize it, but that's the state of sports writing in this town, I suppose.

2. According to Peter King in this week's MMQB column, the Birds play an NFL leading 9 playoff teams next year. Wow, more the reason to take advantage of our opportunity this year!

3. I'm so happy the NFL chose to protect the comfort of Bears fans instead of ensuring that the Birds have an equal opportunity to prepare for Saturday's game against the Saints. As for the NFL's scheduling of Saturday's Birds/Saints game, the Daily News reports:

A league source told the Daily News that worries about having Chicago fans sit outside for a second consecutive night game - the Bears finished the regular season on Sunday night, Dec. 31 against the Packers - are the reason the Bears-Seahawks game is on Sunday afternoon while the Eagles-Saints (to be played indoors) is on Saturday night.

That it is a real competitive disadvantage for the Eagles apparently did not compare to the comfort of Bears fans. Weather ruled over a level playing field - even though this is a league that has played night playoff games in cold weather cities repeatedly in recent seasons, including in Green Bay and New England.

4. As both John Smallwood and Screamin' A. Smith both point out today, I still don't think the Giants realize that they stink. Here are some great comments:

From Plaxico Burress: "We can still do special things, but when we go out there and do things the way we do, we're just an average ballclub. I do really believe that we are a better team."

From Jeremy Shockey: "Everybody said we just skated into the playoffs. I think we played hard today and left it on the field. We could have won this game and been on our way to Chicago . I'm proud of this team."

From Tom Coughlin: "We played our tails off. We fought. There was no quit in this team. Obviously, you can always find things you're disappointed in, that you could have done better, following a loss. But that doesn't take away from the fact I'm proud of these guys. Proud to coach them. Proud of the season we've had."

5. Picture Of The Game....maybe of the season:

6. Spadaro being Spadaro...I found this in his column today:

By the way, is anybody complaining about the field at Lincoln Financial Field now? I didn't see guys slipping. I didn't see any kickers lose their plant foot on field goals. The grass isn't August-green, but it played firm and held up extremely well. I love have a real-grass field. Play with the elements. The only thing that stinks about Saturday is playing in the Dome. Hate 'em.

This guy must be blind. That field is brutal. His homerism never disappoints.

FLYERS LOSE AGAIN...WHO CARES! BIRDS WIN!

Yeah, the Flyers blow...Of course, today is about the Birds. Just trying to fake you guys out. Read the next two posts for my Eagles coverage.

Long Strange Night For PSP

When it comes to my Birds, many of you know that I am incredibly superstitious. I've worn the same clothing during win streaks. (I will not touch my McNabb jersey, as I was wearing it the day #5 tore his ACL and put the season in jeopardy). I can just about remember where I've watched every big Eagles game in the last two decades in order to avoid watching games at places that didn't bring the best of luck.

Plus, I try to watch big games with just about the same crew of people. I understand their quirks as a Birds phan, and they understand mine. Sure, it's become harder to catch the games together as we're all married now and most have children, but when it's time to knuckle up for a big Birds game, we get the band back together. My crew includes:

1. The Captain: The Biggest Eagles Homer this side of Merrill Reese;


2. Johnny Gold: One half of Doom and Gloom with yours truly. Johnny quits on this team about 74 times a season...and that's when they are making a playoff run;


3. Mister Nascar: A huge Cowboys fan and Eagles hater....Why do we watch the games with him? I'm not sure. He tempers our enthusiasm most of the game and puts down the entire Eagles' franchise at every turn. It's kind of like watching the game with old time WWF heel announcer Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. However, he gets into incredibly heated, but enjoyable arguments with The Captain, really knows football and just generally makes things more fun despite his hatred for the Birds; and


4. Big Daddy Chad: Mister Nascar's brother is pretty quiet for most of the game, but Chad is the master of the dry, seriously funny one liner when no one is expecting it to loosen the tension of big games.

In addition to my Eagles' superstitions, I think most of you also know that I'm a huge fan of the show "My Name Is Earl" and believer of the whole karma thing that show promotes. Tonight, I really tempted fate, karma, juju, etc. and if the Birds had lost, you could have all blamed me.

Here's the story....Sunday was my father in law's birthday and my mother in law decided to have "The Wife" and I over for a little dinner for him during the game. Since he has a huge big screen, we were ensured that we wouldn't miss a second of the game. You're all probably saying "what's the big deal? You weren't going to miss the game!" Normally, that would be the case, but since yours truly, the Birds, and the Kelly house at 6 Hartford Circle are all involved, a history lesson is needed.

The first time I ever watched any moment of an Eagles' game at my in laws was back on October 7, 2001. The Birds promptly lost a heartbreaker that day to the Arizona Cardinals as Jake Plummer threw a desperation TD pass on one of the last plays of the game. I knew right then and there that this house was cursed and I should never watch another game in these premises as the karma just ain't there for me. Before today, I had only watched one other game there....the final game of the 2003 season, which the Birds did win 31-7, but the consequences of this game ultimately ended their season as Westbrook was lost for the year due a triceps injury.

Taking this prior history into account, I still decided - against my better judgment - to celebrate may father in laws birthday by heading over to their house for the second half of tonight's game. I had watched the first half with the usual crew and when I left, the Birds were up 17-10 and looking like they were ready to go on a run to put the game away. I got a ton of grief from the crew, but I wanted to see my father in law and enjoy my mother in law's veal saltimbuca.

Well, as soon as I got there, I could tell this wasn't a great decision. The Birds couldn't get out of their own way for most of the second half and the defense started to loosen, allowing the G Men to tie the game.

As soon as the G Men tied the game, I made my decision. I had seen enough. 6 Hartford Circle had beaten me. I hightailed it out of there and drove back to Mister Nascar's to salvage victory for our Birds, or I don't think I would have been able to look myself in the mirror for the entire offseason.

I think we can all agree. I made the right call. As soon as I left, the Birds drove right down the field, eventually winning the game on David Akers' 38 yard field goal as time expired.

Here's the catch. I did not see any of the last five minutes of the game. As I pulled up to Mister Nascar's, Akers field goal had just split the uprights. In any event, I still feel good about my decision. I sacrificed my own viewing pleasure of the game to sacrifice for the good of the Birds. I feel much better. I will sleep well tonight.

Of course, there may be some of you out there, including my wife and in laws who think I am absolutely crazy, but I disagree. I knew exactly what I was doing. You can all thank me later.

Win And Move On

It is the mantra of every team in the NCAA Hoops Tourney. Win and Move On. The Birds' last second 23-20 win over the G-Men embodies the very spirit of that slogan.

It was ugly and incredibly frustrating at times. The overall effort was a bit uneven. Jeff Garcia was inconsistent for most of the game. The defense reverted to some of its bad habits from earlier in the year by failing to stop the run and get off the field for some key third downs. In the end, all these things did not matter as they still won due to B West, the o-line, the early play of the defense, and clutch kicking on the part of Green Akers. (I guess Big Red knew what he was doing bringing back Koy Detmer, huh?)

It is one of the few truths of the NFL: a win, is a win, is a win in the NFL playoffs. Plus, as the Cowboys have proved over the past decade, playoff wins sure aren't easy to come by. So, let's not get too critical over this one even if this performance looked as good as Britney Spears after an all night drinking binge in Vegas.

As I predicted, this was a close one, but it was a little too close for comfort. Plus, I doubt there was anyone in the Delaware Valley who didn't have that "deja vu"/"here we go again" feeling when the G Men came back to tie the game with five minutes left in the fourth . In fact, in order to change things up, I totally left my in laws after the G Men tied it and went to my buddy Mister Nascar's house to catch the end. More on that later....

What more can you say about B West? Not only was his second quarter 49 yard TD run a work of beauty, which easily becomes the second most famous run in Eagles' postseason history, but he absolutely willed the team down the field to set up the winning field goal. It seemed as if he and the o-line knew that they had to rise to the occasion if they were going to win this game. As we all witnessed, they very simply would not be stopped by the G-Men's patch work defense on their way to securing this win.

Plus, along with B Dawk, B West is now the heart and soul of this team. I think Tiki said it best tonight in his post game press conference when he said that Westbrook "reminds me of myself" and "is so underrated". He also added that "when they needed a play, he made it for them." (I think you'll all agree that we can only be so lucky, if B West replicates Tiki's great career.)

In any event, if the Birds have any plans on reaching Miami, we're going to need two more of these performances out of Westbrook. Although, does it anyone else think it curious that B West is not utilized as much in the short passing game with Garcia at the helm? I'd like to see that change next week.

Now that the G Men have been vanquished back to Soprano-land, we're off to N'Awlins to get some revenge against America's "New" Team. This is going to be a tough one as everyone wants this team to win and they're pretty damn good on offense, but the Birds definitely have a shot if they can control the ball on offense and limit the big play on defense. Without a doubt, they have to play much better this week. The effort they gave today, will not cut it down in the Big Easy.

The Birds just need to remember the mantra: Win and move on, baby. Win and move on!

Fear And Loathing in Philadelphia

We are still 2+ days from Sunday and you know what that means before a big Eagles playoff game in this city....the fear is kicking in.

I can feel it listening to 610. I feel it talking to my friends (especially the Captain). We are starting to get a little edgy about this game. We think we can win, but we're not entirely sure.

We see the stupid bulletin board comments by Trent Cole and it unnerves us a bit. We hear that Shockey practiced today and we get a little more unsettled. Panic really sets in after read Les Bowen's Daily News article today about how the Giants are the first team to get a second shot at Version 2.0 of the 2006 Eagles and the adjustments they plan to make.

Sure, the media eggs it on, but we really can't help it. It's in our DNA. No matter how much it looks like we outclass an opponent, at some point during the week leading up to the game, our city will reach a point where a mass nervous breakdown could ensue.

I've read and watched various interviews with noted Philadelphia Sports Psychologist, Joel Fish, where he has opined that our insecurity towards our teams arises out of our inferiority complex as a city compared to N.Y.C. and D.C. I disagree. I think it arises out of our fear of being hurt again by our teams.

After 23 years without a title, we've become like love scorned chicks. We're afraid to give ourselves up totally to our teams and believe in them. We're always waiting for the next shoe to drop. That might lead us to be negative and impatient towards our teams, but I think that's natural. I doubt even Mother Theresa could stay positive through this title-less streak.

Surprisingly, I have felt pretty positive about this week's game. I had two Giant fan friends tell me today how they feel they have no shot on Sunday and even want to see the G Men lose if it hastens the firing of Tom Coughlin. This led me to email my buddy the Captain and tell him how confident I was feeling about Sunday. Judging by his response, I think my positivity freaked him out. He reminded me that I'm one half of "Doom and Gloom" with our buddy Johnny Gold and things wouldn't be right if I started getting positive about our chances. I took his statement to heart.

I have to admit that I'm back on the nervous side after listening to a little bit of NY's WFAN and reading Bowen's article on the way home tonight. So much for trying to be positive, huh?

Sunday can't get here fast enough.

You Make The Call

More Annoying Injury: Barbaro's Hind Leg or Peter Forsberg's Foot?

Of course, the coverage of the Barbaro broken leg was a bit over the top, but it was somewhat understandable as the poor horse's injury was life threatening.

I don't know about you guys, but I've had enough with the Forsberg Right Foot problem and the inability to find a skate and orthotics to fit his foot properly. I read today that 16 different specialists have looked at the foot/skate issue this season alone. This is absolutely ridiculous. I don't think this guy wants to play with this group of stiffs and and wants to get back to Sweden.

Why doesn't he just retire and speed up the process so we can be spared the same story over and over again for the next 4 months?

Tiki In A Rush To Start His New Career?

Of course this is a great photoshopped picture from Profootballtalk.com, but if I'm a Giants fan, I have to wonder if Tiki is mentally prepared for this game. I read the following in Peter King's MMQB column this week:

I think I'm not sure I buy Tiki Barber to Disney. Not yet, anyway. The New York Post reports today he'll take a four-year, $10-million deal to work for ABC news shows and ESPN football shows. Agent Mark Lepselter scoffed at the story this morning but wouldn't deny it. "I give it no credence,'' he said. "There's only two people in the world who know what Tiki's going to do in TV -- me and him. We haven't told anyone at the networks yet.'' Look for an announcement a day or two after the Giants' season ends.

Giants fans, do you really think this guy is focused for Sunday?? He's considering a $10 million offer and ready to make an announcement that soon after the season. Puhleeeeze. If the Birds start pounding this guy like they have done in their two previous matchups this season, he'll be ready to quit in the first half and it will be early ending for the G-Men.