Just A Bit Confused

Well, here we are less than 2 hours from free agency, and I have virtually no idea of what the Birds will do to improve the team. Key veterans B Dawk and Tra remained unsigned as we head into free agency. I also haven't heard any rumors of anyone the Birds are interested in signing.

I'm starting to wonder...is there anyone home? Are Banner and Reid asleep at the wheel? If they fail to re-sign Dawkins and Thomas, they will be losing the heart of their defense and D Mac's blindside protector. To make matters worse, it doesn't appear that a viable replacement for either is currently on the roster or available in free agency.

Personally, I'd love to see the Eagles resign both of their free agents, sign TJ Housh, add a RB and TE via the draft. It will never happen though. They would require too much of an upgrade to the skill positions and the Birds are never too keen on that. They seem like they get off on doing more with less.

The Birds are doing their best to take over the title formerly held by the Phils as the City's most frustrating front office.

Reminder: We Still Own You Guys

In an 82 game season, most games mean absolutely nothing, but tonight's Caps/Flyers game stood out just a bit more than your ordinary regular season game. Whenever the two teams get together, the Caps still try to exact some revenge for last year's first round playoff loss to the Orange and Black. Plus, the Caps, along with Pittsburgh, are the media's darlings, so the Flyers always seem to have a little extra incentive to knock them off. Finally, Mike Richards and Alex Ovechkin just don't like each other so these games always have a little extra intensity and lead to some pretty decent hockey games. Thankfully for the Orange and Black, these games (the important ones at least) always seem to end up in our favor.

Tonight's game got off to a slow start with the Flyers trailing by 2 until potentially season changing rookie Claude Giroux cut the lead in half heading into the final period. In the third period, the Flyers showed more jump than Nancy Pelosi at last night's State of the Union address. (Is this thing on?) (Seriously, was anyone else completely distracted by Nancy Pelosi jumping out of her seat to applaud the second Obama completed each and every phrase of his speech?) The Flyers scored three times in 3:19 to take complete control of the game and remind the Caps who's the hammer and who's the nail in this relationship.

Overall, you have to like how this team is starting to shape up. There is more forward depth than any Flyers team in my life. The defense is competent. It's not great, but definitely serviceable. As we are all painfully aware, this season is coming down to goaltending, like it has every season since Ron Hextall's rookie year. I'm still not sure exactly what to expect from Biron and Nitty, but you have to hope one of them gets hot.

Almost forgot, it would really help to totally avoid the Devils in the playoffs. We simply don't beat that team, but we can deal that topic another day.

About To End My Hibernation....

Yes folks, my long winter's nap is just about over and I am finally about to get back to updating my blog. Hopefully, I can get the word out to my former readers and see if they're ready to join me to discuss the wonderful world of Philly sports and anything else that piques my interest.

I'm just about settled in to my new place. I have a new desk top and my office is just about complete. At this point, there is really no reason for me to not start writing again unless I have to get a part time job to afford this joint. Plus, if I start writing again, it will help me recover the multitude of brain cells I've lost wasting time on that ridiculous Face Book web site that we're all spending so much time on lately.

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I also have to thank D Mac for spurring my come back with his ballsy "get me more weapons or trade me" stance. If this moron did the same thing when T.O. said he wanted more money after the '04 Super Bowl, I'm sure we would have celebrated at least one Super Bowl championship, but instead he waits until now to play the "I won't be pushed around" role. Once you couple these comments with how he threw the defense under the bus after the NFC Title game loss, you have to think Donovan will be looking long and hard for friends in the locker room next year.

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By the way, as I write this, I realize that if I had it to do all over again, I would love to have Todd McShay's job on ESPN. I really blame Rutgers. If I could have just majored in "NFL Draft Analysis and Reporting", I would have never wasted so much time getting my JD and MBA. I've just watched this nit wit (with great hair, by the way) drone on for five minutes about draft prospects and not offer anything I didn't hear Mike Mayock or Peter King say in the last week. I'm convinced I could have replaced this guy as Mel Kiper's apprentice.

At Least We Can Laugh At Ourselves

I got a laugh out of this one.

I swear I'll start writing again. Just don't when the mood will strike me.

On the bright side, I have 36 hours until I close on my new place and get some privacy back. Hopefully that will spur the creative juices and get me writing again.

In The Spirit of Today's Coronation...sorry, meant Inauguration

Since everyone has adopted Obama as the universal symbol of hope, I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and take a cue from him. With the loss to the Cardinals and pitchers & catchers still approximately a month away, the Flyers are all we have to get us through the winter.

Let's go boys. A city turns its lonely eyes to you.

The Ultimate Tease

Yesterday, I was too annoyed to discuss the game that would have gone down as the greatest in Eagles history, but quickly turned to another heart wrenching loss. Christ, we were one stop on defense away from getting to another Super Bowl, but instead we are left with another empty offseason of questioning what this team needs to do to take the next step. The more I think of it, I believe I have the answer.

The core of the team that has been to five NFC Championship Games, coaching staff included, is just not good enough. The lot of some people's lives is to just be a #2. Not a #1. Look at Charlie Weis. He is a phenomenal offensive coordinator, but he is not a head coach. He just doesn't have that it. Think about people you work with. Some people have the make up to be the leader of an organization and others, while fantastic as being a #2 in the company, just don't have what it takes to be the top guy. That's how I feel about Donovan and Andy. (By the way, I have totally borrowed this theory from Colin Cowherd.)

You cannot take anything away from D Mac and Andy. They are very good at what they do, but I just have the feeling that they max out at this level. They will always finish one step short of a title. No matter what happens, they do not have what it takes to come up big in the biggest of spots. All this being said, what can we do? There is no one out there guaranteed to be any better those two. Is there any available QB and coach you'd want to fire Reid and dump Donovan for to get you to this point every year? Absolutely not.

However, I will say this. I do strongly believe this team could win a title with Donovan. It would require Reid to be fired and to bring in a defensive minded head coach that would bring in an offensive coordinator that would focus on running the ball. Remember what happened with John Elway. He did not win the Super Bowl until the team revolved the running game of Terrell Davis. I could see the same thing happening here if a Mike Tomlin type coach was brought in and a big time running back drafted (I truly hope RB is one of our 1st round picks this year.)

In any event, Sunday's game was truly disappointing. I went from the highest of highs (the bomb TD to DeSean) to the lowest of lows (the final Cards TD and our failed final possession). Don't know how long it will take to get over this one, but in terms of comparing the NFC title game losses, this one is second to the loss to the Bucs. Nothing will ever top how bad I felt that day. Sunday's game was there for the taking, but the Birds fell painfully short.

It's easy to place blame on Reid/McNabb, but the real problem was that the defense just couldn't get it done when they had to. For the most part, it looked as though the Cards' offensive brain trust was one or two steps ahead of Jim Johnson's defensive play calling. Sure Quentin Demps was abused on the pitch, throw back, bomb to Fitzgerald, but at this point in his career Demps is no match for Fitzgerald and the Cards were looking for that match up and took advantage of it like any good play caller should.

Overall, that was the key to game. The Birds' defense looked helpless on too many crucial plays. Unfortunately, we now have another offseason to go through all the what ifs. Even more unfortunate is that this is a position we are all to familiar with.

How Much Did The Phils' Title Change Your Thoughts Towards The Birds?

I don't know if you guys are experiencing the same thing, but it sure seems that every Philly Sports Phan I talk to you has the same quiet confidence that the Birds are somehow going to find a way to win on Sunday.

Of course the 48 to 20 win on Thanksgiving Night has something to do with that, but you have to think that if we were still in the title drought, we all would be looking at this game as too good to be true and surely expect the other shoe to drop.

With the heroics of Cole, J Roll, the Big Man, Chase, and Mr. Perfect still fresh in my mind, I feel transformed as a phan. I finally feel confident about my Birds. (Christ, if they win this week, I might even forgive them for breaking my heart when they lost the last game at the Vet in 2003 - aka the NFC Championship Game against the Bucs). I now expect the best to happen. I suppose that's what a title does for you.

After all, we've seen the Birds win two straight road playoff games (the last one against the defending champion Giants) after miraculously making the playoffs. Why can't they continue this run? It's not like they are playing a fire breathing monster of a team like last year's Pats. All of the 4 remaining teams are beatable.

They have as good a chance as anyone else to win the Super Bowl. As I said a couple weeks ago, "Why Not Us?"

How Friggin Cool Is This?

Yo Capt, you have enough space in your yard. Why don't you do something like this?

The Improbable Becomes Probable

In the wonderful world of professional sports, the hungry and the hunted can change before your very eyes.

Just a year ago, the Giants were the team that overcame a rough midseason to rally late in the year and went on a ridiculous hot streak that they rode all the way to the title. This year, to our astonishment, the Birds could be very well following in their footsteps.

I had an inkling pretty early on Sunday that the Birds could be moving to the next round. After a non descript run play in the first quarter, Derek Ward went after B Dawk after a borderline hit. Stew Bradley quickly interceded and pushed Ward away from Dawk and a couple other Birds got into his face. Shockingly, none of the G Men came to the rescue of one of their guys. It sure looked like the Gints were not as hyped up to play as the Birds, which was absolutely stunning considering the stakes.

While that play was the key to demonstrating the emotions each team was playing with, the other key plays were made by D Mac on the drive that gave the Birds the lead for good. On the 3rd and 20 and 3rd and 10 first down conversions, it sure looked like Donovan turned the clock back about 5 or 6 years as he moved around in the pocket to let the open man uncover and then delivered a perfect strike that allowed Avant and Buck, respectively, run for the first down. Other than the bomb to D Jax late in the game, these two plays were the lonely highlights by the offense as today's game was won by the guys on the other side of the ball.

Seriously, what more can you say about the defense? This is the best group of Eagles defenders since the stellar '91 defense of Reggie White, Jerome Brown and Crew. They keep making play after play and the surprising thing is that everyone contributes. You see B Dawk make a play in the run game, then you see Stew Bradley stuff a running play, or you'll see Juqua Parker string out a run to the outside, and then you'll see Trent Cole pressure the QB into making a bad thrown. The two fourth down and short stops were brilliant examples of gang tackling and team defense.

Today, they set the tone with big play after big play, highlighted by another Asante Samuel pick and huge return. Plus, as my buddy the Captain said, "I'm not getting nervous until we give up a TD." The Giants never scored a TD, so I guess he never got nervous. Sure, the offense is sporadic as hell, but the way the defense is playing right now, can you honestly not see this team advancing to Tampa?

I'm just going to enjoy the ride because if this Eagles team is to continue to mirror the '07 Giants, then we have two phenomenal games left!

IT'S ON!

Game day has finally arrived! And not a minute too soon. Frankly, I'm completely bored by all the stories about the Giants late season slide, B West's various injuries and how the State of New Jersey is split between Giants and Eagles fans. Seriously, I've had enough. Let's get to the game and end all the talk.

Here are a couple things to watch for today:

1) Can the Birds get off the field on 3rd down? To me, that is the single biggest determining factor as to when this defense is playing well. If the Giants are consistently picking up third downs, we're in trouble.

2) Do Andy and Marty stay with the running game long enough to keep the Giants honest? If the Birds pass it at a 65% clip, we're in trouble. Plus, after last week, I'm not sure if our o-line will hold up pass blocking that many times.

3) Do the elements effect our kickers? Sure, Akers and Rocca have looked good the last couple weeks, but remember Rocca is flat out brutal in the cold and Giants Stadium is Akers' own personal grave yard. I see the G Men having a substantial edge in the kicking game.

4) Will Andy lose the coaching battle? This is the single biggest thing that scares me about this game. Andy never wins big games against coaches that have Super Bowl rings and unfortunately, we don't have Brad Childress on the other side of the field again today.

Despite the above factors, you have to admit that last night's games didn't really help out the Birds today. Sure, nothing that happened yesterday has a direct effect today. The players and coaches decide what happens today, but how many times do more than 2 road teams win in one divisional playoff round? How many times do both top seeds get knocked out in this round? I can't remember it ever happening. Therefore, the odds are against us today. Big time.

One other thing I have to add....is it me or is there some juice missing from this game? I really think the Phils really dismissed so much angst from this town. I was out last night and the band played "Fly Eagles Fly". Usually, if this happened the eve of a big playoff game, the crowd would go bonkers. Last night, the crowd greeted it with half hearted enthusiasm. I really think this city lost a little something...or maybe it's just me.

All this being said, I suppose I should make a pick. I think this city has some karma going on. Between the Phils' title and how the Birds got a ton of help to make the playoffs, combined with the good fortune of playing a team that had no shot to beat us last week and now playing a team missing it's biggest weapon against us due a self inflicted GSW, how can you not see that things are rolling in our direction? Yup, I really don't have much to hang my hat on, but I'm going with the karma factor and picking a 23 to 16 win by the Birds. I see B Dawk factoring in somewhere on the play of the game.

Oh F&*k

Did anyone else's heart sink when they saw the above picture on the cover of SI this week.

I know mine did.

The Stars Stepped It Up

Games like today's are when you need your stars to come up big and lead the way. Thankfully, D Mac, B West, B Dawk (Lord, NFL nicknames are boring), and Asante Samuel stepped up and showed why they are paid the big bucks.

For three and a half quarters, the Birds were locked in a life and death struggle against the Vikes and then like a bolt of lightning, the game was broke wide friggin' open as a result of one of the best executed plays I think I've seen the Eagles run in my life time. The 71 yard screen pass touchdown was a perfect call and also run to perfection by the entire offense. Sure, D Mac sucked the defense in and threw a great screen pass, and B West was the guy that caught the pass and took it to the house, but Buckhalter, Nick Cole, and Kevin Curtis, among others, all had great blocks to spring the play.

As I was driving home from watching the game tonight, I was able to figure out what the screen pass to B West reminded me of...it had the feel of Ryan Howard's game 4 three run homer which cracked open the game and titled the series in the Phils' favor.

The funny thing about that play was before it occurred, my buddies and I were all ripping Westbrook for looking old and slow and wondering when Buckhalter would be given the ball. After the game changing play, I joked that it seemed like B West looked as if he had been cryogenically frozen like Austin Powers during the first three quarters and had been reanimated right before the touchdown screen pass.

In addition to the big plays from Donovan and B West, Asante Samuel showed why the Birds lavished him with a 6 year, $57 million contract when he jumped a pattern, picked off the pass and took it in for a seemingly game changing TD. To me, Asante had been kind of a disappointment this year, despite his Pro Bowl nod. It was great to see him step up and make a huge play at such a crucial time of year.

D Mac was efficient all day completing several big passes to Jason Avant, Kevin Curtis and Brent Celek (who is quickly making us forget L.J. Smith). If he continues to play like this, we have a great shot at continuing our post season run. The defense was a little spotty in the first half and had trouble early in the game getting off the field on third down, but returned to their stingy ways in the second half.

Overall, it was a strong performance by the team and coaching staff. Now, the question becomes....can they keep it up against a very strong Giants team that is looking for revenge after the thrashing the Birds gave them last month? However, that is a question for another day. Let's enjoy this victory for at least a day. Just think, you could be a Cowboys' fan and have gone more than 12 years without a playoff victory.

PSP's EAGLES' PICK

After a night of watching the Wild Card round of the NFL's playoffs, I'm even more convinced that this year is wide friggin' open. An argument can be made for any of the remaining 10 teams to win the title. There are no juggernauts this year. Everyone has holes. That being the case, I have to ask the question....Why not us?

Sure, Andy Reid still scares me to death and god forbid if we have a situation where we need a 2 minute drill to win the game, but the remaining teams aren't all that different from us. I can see us winning against the Vikes, beating the G Men and then beating whoever is left standing in the NFC Championship Game.

All this being said, I've pretty much given away my pick, but I really have a hard time seeing a team that had such a hard time beating David Carr and the Giants' 2nd team giving us a hard time. Accordingly, I see the Birds in sort of a mini route.

I expect the Birds to win 28 to 13 over the Vikes to set off a bit of mass hysteria in this town, the likes of which we haven't seen in....well, three months. (Sorry, I'm still giddy over that World Series victory.)

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.