A Nightmare Avoided!

No, I'm not talking about the "near" loss. While the ending wasn't relaxing, it never felt like things were out of control for the Eagles (or that BAl ever posed a real threat offensively). However, when MLewis went to the ground appearing to have broken his leg, BDB just about flipped out. I mean, heck, how could I wear that jersey to two more games if he was gone for the season? Actually, that guy had a great game and is such a key to this defense. He may be this year's Carlos Emmons': quietly the top contributor on the D.

Anyway, here are my thoughts on the predictable and relatively uneventful game:

• Eagles used the TE's really well. It's a shame DMc had a rough start passing in the first half.
  
• The DMc/TO connection took a while to develop, being completely out of synch in the first half. DMc's fumble at the 1 was horrific, although Parry has to land on that ball and hold it. Overall Eagles offensive performance was weak, although half the credit should be given to the BAL D.
  
• Eagles and AR made nice use of the run in the first half with both Levens and Mahe. The absence of the run game (also it was unsuccessful when used) in the second half was concerning. As noted last week (and at the end of the MIN game in particular), that's gonna be important for close games like this (ie. the playoffs).
  
• I was dancing with TO after his TD. I'm still getting used to the yards after the reception by an Eagle.

Look out for Duce and the Steelers next week! Eagles franchise record season opening streak may end at exactly 7.

Fly, Eagles, Fly!
Big Daddy B

Philadelphia 76ers season preview

Longtime reader, nevertime commentor, JW provides the breakdown:

As the Sixers prepare for the upcoming NBA season, you can't help but notice all the changes that have been made with this team during the off-season. Among the biggies is Eric Snow out to Cleveland and Coleman dumped in Detroit for Corliss Williamson. But perhaps the biggest and most obvious change is the hiring of new head coach, Jim O'Brien. Labeled as a "players coach", O'Brien plans on being just that in Philly. He has said numerous times that he wants to let AI get out and run, and also wants the team to play the way 'they' want to play-not conform to his system.

Positional changes include Allen Iverson running point, as opposed to his normal shooting guard role. This will most likely lead to a more unselfish AI and a faster pace of play for the Sixers. I for one really like this change because it allows other players to get involved in the offense and for opposing defenses to fear AI passing skills as well as his scoring. It should make the team a lot more balanced and make AI a better overall player too.

Also, the Sixers new rookie Andre Iguodala will be starting over the aptly named "Big Dog". Iguodala couldn't help but be noticed during the preseason games. Taken with the Sixers first pick in the draft, the forward from Arizona is not only well built for a young player, but also seems to be very athletic as well. He will no doubt be a big help to Kenny Thomas on the boards as well as getting a solid 8-10 points a night. Speaking of Kenny Thomas, I feel that this could be his best year yet in the league. After a good year last year, the 5th year player out of New Mexico is poised to take the leap into consistent double-double territory. Hopefully he can stay healthy along the way.

The Sixers will try out this "new-look" for the first time at home on Friday November 5th when the Phoenix Suns come to town so it will be interesting to see if these changes bear any fruit. My prediction for the season is that the Sixers will play their normal "roller-coaster" basketball but finish strong with a 4-5 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Go Sixers!

Westbrook has a cracked rib

LJ Smith misses a block and we're doomed! Well, maybe not doomed but have a car with a 3 tires and a rim and I've seen on TV that you can still flee from cops with that setup to great comic effect. Last week Levens did gain around 50 yards and looked pretty good doing it and Mahe made a great 12 yard gain on a screen that looked like it was going nowhere right? Not all is lost. Right?

Only 7-8 points, and nothing more

10/31 1:00 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Bet365	Intertops	BoDog	WSEX
Baltimore @ Philadelphia	37.5 -7.5	38 -7.5	38 -7.5	OFF -7.5	OFF 8	38 -7.5

Matchup

I'll take boring!

Not a smooth performance, but championship teams win road games like that. And, the Eagles indeed did. Some random thoughts:

• Lito and Sheldon looked solid. Nice Lito INT and two nice defenses on Northcutt (one, which was key in 4th qtr).
  
• Referees were horrible. Lito's draw of an offensive PI call was weak. Bogus illegal contact call against Lito, where Bryant ran right into him and pushed off. There was a completely illegal pick on MLewis, that resulted in a Browns tight end TD to go ahead 24-21. And, geez, that roughing the passer call against Dawk was absoultely horrible even if the game wasn't on the line (which it was at 4th&5). The makeup call on the Eagles' next meaningless posession didn't cut it. First game I thought the refs were pulling against the Birds.
  
• Reid's situational play calling leaves much to be desired STILL. Going for it at the end of the first half when CLE is running all over you, stupid. Two late in the game third and shorts and he didn't run the ball. BW is no up the middle runner and in games like this you need one. This whole bullet still scares me for the playoffs.
  
• Eagles O-Line played excellent. I can't remember more than one rush on DMac. He had all day.
  
• Eagles special teams rock.
  
• Dawk is still inconsistent in my book, despite the recent props he got in an eagles.com article. He's gotta stop a gay qb from punching it into the end zone with the game on the line.
  
• Nate Wayne stinks. More than half of the CLE first half rushing yards were on cutbacks RIGHT at the weekside, where Wayne was way overpursued.
  
• Our TE's looked horrible today, despite the nice shovel pass to LJ. LJ dropped two balls, one of which resulted in an INT (Note: That latter point is incorrect, as noted in the comments).
  
• Pinky was having a pretty nice game until he dropped the hail mary at the end of regulation. Mediocre when all is said and done.
  
• OK, the run d was weak. Not sure what the stats were in the second half, but their over-aggressiveness in the first half seemed to settle down a little bit in the second half.
  
• Where was TO in the second half again?

Big Daddy B
Fly, Eagles Fly!

Save Us From The Pain, Andy!

Watching the Yankees on the verge of choking like no other team in the history of baseball. But, what struck me as most painful to a Philly fan, is that we are heading into some depressing territory, having witnessed the last year of sports Championships... No, I'm not referring to the Eagles losing it last year at home, as painful as that was. But, if the Red Sox win the World Series... we will have graduated Terry Francona and Larry Brown to championships as head coaches... as well as Bill Barber to a Stanley Cup with that Tampa Bay organization (not a head coach, but still depressing).

That is unreal.

Since Andy is with us for another what, 12 years or sumpin', hopefully he'll take care of business this year. We can't let the Seahawks (and Ray Rhodes) beat us to the Supebowl!!!

How's that for a depressing post? Sheesh.

Favored by only 7? What's going on?

10/24 1:00 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Bet365	Intertops	BoDog	WSEX
Philadelphia @ Cleveland	-7 41.5	-7 41.5	-7 41.5	-7 41.5	-7.5 41.5	-7 42.5

Matchup

Delhomme, go home

Another cakewalk to victory for the Eagles and another "boring" game. So boring OB read the Inquirer for most of the second half. Even though it was the Eagles largest margin of victory this year is was also the offense's lowest output -- 283 yards. The offense sputtered alot, McNabb threw numerous bad passes, the run game was horrible against the 31st ranked run defense, the tight ends vanished along with FredX and even TO in the second half, there were way too many 3 and outs and only 4 of 11 third down conversions.

But on the other side of the ball the defense stepped up, except on run defense between the 20s. Davis and Hoover (who is Hoover?) gained a total of 129 yards on a total of 26 carries. Is the defense ever going to address the run defense problem? In the post game interviews they mention it every week and every week its the same. Kearse had the play of the game in crushing Dehomme in a helmet to SHOULDER PAD hit which did significant damage to an already skittish QB. It was after that hit that Delhomme tossed up horrible throws for interceptions with Lito Sheppard doing the most with his pick with the most impressive interception return for a TD I've seen in a long time. Special teams also quietly did its job to round out the scoring. A solid team win with the Eagles not even playing their "A" game.

Tracking Andy Reid & TO After the Quarter

Okay, the Eagles are entering their second quarter of the season this weekend. And, heck, they've built on the most exciting preseason ever by starting with the most exciting season in at least a decade. Geez, this is at least two seasons in a row where we as Philly fans get to look forward to more than just beating the Cowboys. And, what's also better than last year's performance in the first quarter is that our team is pretty darned healthy right about now (someone knock on wood, please).

I thought this would be a good time to not forget about TO and our beloved, Andy, though. No, not just because AR wrote this recent wonderful piece on how special the media is (which was an apologetic on why he has been so boring in press conferences over the past five years). But, if you'll recall in the preseason's TO "tights" episode, AR did promise that if TO scored 15 TD's, AR would personally wear the forbidden tights to practice. So, what's he got, 5 so far? Project that over 3 more quaters and it looks like AR will be wearing tights in practice by the end of the season. What is even more pleasant is that TO has been a good boy so far (do you still have that wood nearby?). Combine that with the mutual love affair between him and the fans so far (one of the highlights of attending those first two games was watching that relationship click), and we've got Philly's all-time favorite athlete who will not be topped if the Birds can capture the Superbowl in January.

Fly, Eagles, Fly!
Big Daddy B

Eagles almost double digit favorite against NFC champs

10/17 1:00 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Bet365	Intertops	BoDog	WSEX
Carolina Philadelphia	41.5 -7.5	41.5 -8.5	42 -9	OFF -8.5	OFF -9.5	42 -9

Matchup

Trivia question

Since we can only watch the NFL's slop this weekend since the Eagles are off, here's something to ponder.

How many teams, not including Houston, have NOT made the playoffs in the last 4 years and what are their names?

Winners receive the accolades of your peers.

Birds Beat Bears

No, I'm not referring to The Blue Hens' dramatic victory over the Black Bears this weekend. The Philadelphia Eagles entered their bye week with a win on the road in Chicago. They're now 4-0 at the bye, clearly the best start ever under Reid (since '93, actually). Eagle fans have a lot to be excited about, despite the fact that this one wasn't as impressive as their previous three.

I'm not one to sympathize with the fans out there saying it was, "boring." I mean, good gosh, always something to complain about. However, this game was predictable. Although BDB weeks ago saw this one as the Eagles' loss, the absence of Grossman, Urlacher, and CHI's two starting CB's resulted in a modified prediction earlier this week that they would win but not cover the spread. Indeed, the Eagles did win, while covering the spread by a single point. Grossman's absence allowed the Birds to focus on the run and dare Quinn to beat them through the air.

• Penalties were excessive. However, I still see the referees giving the Birds all the dubious calls. This is the second season in a row that the NFL has backed the Eagles.
• I thought FB Parry did an ok job, although he is clearly not the power-blocker that Ritchie was. Unfortunately, he didn't catch a single ball. At the same time, he protected BW amidst 32 touches (I'll settle for that).
• The red zone offense was not as strong as it has been.
• Akers did ok managing the wind, despite his two misses. This guy would smoke the rest of the NFL indoors.
• It was fairly obvious that the Bears had an ex-Eagle coaching the D, as they blitzed frequently in the second half and clearly disrupted McNabb's timing.
• Once again, our starting corners were solid tacklers.

Fly, Eagles, Fly!
Big Daddy B

Bowa fired

And no one cares. Phillies website says "relieved of his duties". I bet there is more relief on Bowa's part to be rid of this underachieving, dog of a team. And just think, I even entertained the idea of going to a game this year.