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Great hit by JR Reed on Lee Evans. Evans quit after that.

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Nice pass to Reggie Brown. Nice fumble recovery Curtis. Another nice bounce when it doesn't mean anything.

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Fall on the damn ball McNabb.

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Another good stuff on 4th down by the defense.

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Why are they throwing the ball trying to run out the clock? But then again, nice play call and pass by McNabb to Greg Lewis.

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Other Notes:

• Kudos to Westbrook who set a franchise record for catches and yards for scrimmage.
• Here is a stat Eagles apologists will be using for the next eternity: McNabb went over 3,000 passing in a season for the first time since 2004. What they will leave out though is the offense, led by McNabb, is the #1 reason they are 8-8 and not going to the playoffs.
• By winning today and going 8-8 the Eagles probably dropped 6-7 draft positions, not that it matters when it comes to these dudes.
• Case in point: Winston Justice, who sucks.

Why can't I watch Kolb play?

12/30 1:00 PM ET	Opening	BetED	Sportsbook	5Dimes	SPORTSBETTING
Buffalo @ Philadelphia	36.5 -7.5	36.5 -7.5	38 -7.5	38 -9	38 -7.5

Matchup

BONUS QUESTION: Which is more unwatchable, this game or the Mummers Parade?

Sorry "48 Hours: Mysteries" fans

If you're one of the many who either can't or won't subscribe to NFL Network, you will be able to watch the Patriots try and become the second team to finish the regular season undefeated Saturday night against the Giants. The game,

"available in fewer than 40 percent of the nation's homes with TVs, will be simulcast on CBS and NBC."

Senate ruffians Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and our own Arlen Specter wrote a stern letter mentioning that silly old antitrust exemption. Is anyone surprised the NFL actually flinched? I am.

What's this mean locally? Penn State fans have a choice to make, even if that choice is what curse word to team with "Morelli."

In related news, the NFL had no comment on local requests to have no Philadelphia station air the Eagles-Bills game.

.500, here we come!

Where was this when the games counted? Where were the bounces when the games counted? In a game that meant nothing, in a game with no pressure, McNabb and the offense with him at QB had their best, most consistent game of the year. (I see the Detroit game as a fluke.) They moved the ball up and down the field almost at will, scored TDs in the redzone, had only 1, 3 and out, went on a 98 yard TD drive and even put the game away at the end with another TD.

The defense was also very impressive once again, with lots of young players stepping up. The highlight was the goal line stand in the third quarter which gave the Eagles the momentum for remainder of the game. But during the entire game they shut down the Saints on 3rd down. Going into the game the Saints had a league best 49% conversion rate. They were 3 of 12 today.

And special teams even had some notable returns and hits on coverage. Too bad it's all too late to do any good.

Other notes:

• The Saints are corny because the play in a place called the "Superdome" and their coach wears a visor indoors.
• McNabb's fumble and the Curtis recovery for a TD would never have happened if this game mattered. The Eagles didn't get any of those breaks all year until today.
• Lito got burnt again today, but only once.
• Fox coverage was weak once again, lacking in replays.
• Buckhalter with another sweet TD run right up the middle from distance, then gets the ball maybe 3x the rest of the day.
• Visor coach was stupid on that challenge but then looked smart because his team sucks.
• Brees receivers let him down a bunch with bad drops.
• Eagles also benefited from key Saints injuries.
• Standout players for the Eagles were Stewart Bradley and McNabb. Westbrook seemed to have an off day but still got 100 yards. Curtis was solid once again breaking 1000 yards for the season and JR Reid, Mikell, and Hanson had some notable plays.

It was mildly satisfying to eliminate the Saints from the playoffs and the game was entertaining, but ultimately it's frustrating because you wonder where all this was when it mattered. And with this meaningless success you wonder if it will cause the Eagles braintrust to avoid making the hard decisions and assessments of the team that need to be made so they can finally win the damn Super Bowl.

A pattern developing?

Cowgirls lose again to Birds in presence of Romo's girlfriend. Dallass sucks, ladies. Act like you know.


December 2006: Eagles 23, Cowboys 7


December 2007: Eagles 10, Cowboys 6


2008?

Finishing the season

12/23 1:00 PM ET	Opening	betED	Sportsbook	5Dimes	SPORTSBETTING
Philadelphia @ New Orleans	46 -3	46.5 -3	47 -3	47 -3	47 -3

Matchup

Bonus Question: Trent Cole is 3rd in sacks, shouldn't he be in the Pro Bowl?

Dallass sucks

The defense gets all the credit for this great victory except for Quentin Mikell. (I hate stupid players more than bad players.) But in "crunch-time" everytime I thought, "Here's where the defense is going to blow it." someone stepped up and made a play or Dallass screwed up, most of all Mr. 22.2 QB rating. His final terrible interception that Dawkins picked would have been picked by Lito if it was accurate instead of high and behind TO. AJ Feeley-esque. The defense also stuffed the run all day. Imagine if the offense wasn't so awful, this game would have been a laugher and the Eagles would be half decent this season and going to the playoffs.

As it was, McNabb and the offense did do just enough to win and 1 of McNabb's 2 great plays was the 3rd and 6 throw to Celik down the seam that was right on the money with everything on the line. If you were wondering, his other play of note was his 20+ yard scramble that led to the Eagles TD. I recorded a list of terrible McNabb plays but as a Christmas present to him I won't post them since McNabb and the Eagles won.

I will post how much the refs sucked however.
No call on blatant, obvious, everyone could see it using the helmet as a weapon hit.
No 5 yard facemask call on Ware tackling Westbrook.
Bogus holding call on Jamal Jackson.
Jones spikes ball, no delay of game.
Running into the kicker, no call.
Flozell Adams spikes the ball, no delay of game.

Dallass sucks more than and refs though.

Other notes:

• When will the league figure out that Roy Williams does that horse collar tackle on purpose? When is the NFL going to start suspending him?
• Along with McNabb, Akers is done, but Eagles should have gone for it instead of the kick KNOWING how bad Akers has been from that distance all year. Another example of Andy Reid being a clueless moron.
• And how about Reid calling timeout to look at Quentin Mikell's moronic fumble, then after that still throwing out the challenge flag wasting a challenge and another timeout?
• Aikman called a great game but he missed "He's fallen and he Canti get up."
• Pass rush was weak until the end when it mattered. Where did that come from?
• What's it going to take for a fumble to bounce to the Eagles?
• I hope someone lost their fantasy game because Westbrook downed himself at the one.
• Fox robot now has a name - Cleatus. My entry of "I hate the Fox Robot" didn't win.

Dallass sucks.

Dallass sucks

12/16 4:15 PM ET	Opening	betED	Sportsbook	WSEX	5Dimes	SPORTSBETTING
Philadelphia @ Dallass	49 -11	48.5 -10.5	48.5 -10	49 -10	48.5 -11.5	48.5 -10

Matchup

Bonus essay question: How much does Dallass suck?

Make the pain stop

The only thing surprising about this game was the Eagles actually found a new way to lose. I figured the game would end with a McNabb interception or a McNabb sack and time running out. But somehow they got to the Giants 39 yard line with a chance to tie the game. But since I'm Negadelphia, I figured Akers' kick would flutter harmlessly to the ground in the endzone without even coming close. Instead he drove it into the goalpost. Unbelievable. The Eagles have lost 5 games this year by 4 points or less, often in the last minute.

And yeah, on the next to last offensive series that was blatant pass interference on the 4th down pass to Avant (the Patriots would have gotten that call of course) but because the Eagles offense sucked all game except for the first drive, which at the time I knew was a fluke, they put themselves in a position to rely on a call from the sucky refs to bail them out. But even more typical than the refs blowing a call that goes against the Eagles, was if Avant caught the ball he was 2 yards short. Why? Because the Eagles offense is bad and with McNabb at QB it's pathetic. The only reason this game was close was because of some great individual efforts on defense and the fact that the Giants are pretty pathetic on offense themselves.

Before more ripping of the Eagles, let's review the first drive of the game, the lone shining moment for the offense:

To start the game, a running play. Amazing!
Second play, a McNabb completion!
Third play, a run and a successful one for a first on short yardage!
Another pass, but then right back to the run. Wow.
And for the TD, McNabb hits Westbrook in stride while rolling out, something he's rarely been able to do. Shocking.

And that was that. Nothing at all the rest of the game but the usual sputtering, sporadic, spastic garbage we've all come to know and hate. Ok, there were those efforts in the 4th where they started moving the ball well with a heavy dose of the run, but when it became necessary to pass the ball, the drive predictably came to an end.

McNabb still sucks as much as ever. Who cares if McNabb is more mobile in the pocket and is showing greater escapability, he still can't pass, he's still painfully inconsistent and hesitant, and he still keeps adding to the loss column. And the thing that drives me most insane is McNabb never ever ever throws the ball away. The idiot scrambles to the sideline then lays down and takes a 5-7 yard loss. THROW IT OUT OF BOUNDS! Rookies understand this, the moron McNabb does not.

One thing that was entertaining about the game was the defense played with some hatred. They were tackling and pounding people like the good ol' days, well at least for the first half. They also didn't give up on plays and were rewarded for it. Dawkins chasing down Droughns and Juqua Thomas getting after Jacobs and making him fumble and then recovering it were the 2 plays that best exemplify the defense's effort.

OTHER NOTES:

• Did anyone know that Patterson led all DTs in tackles?
• McNabb's first December game since 2004. Big whoop.
• Eagles still can't convert a 3rd and 1.
• Where was the QB sneak last week?
• Lito sucked again this week, but he was challenged by Sheldon Brown for worst defensive player on the field.
• Sav Rocca sucks.
• I can't decide which ad I hate more, the spoiled brat teens with the pony for Verizon, or the singing animals Jeep Liberty one.

So another bad loss to a poor team (even though they are 9-4) and another crap season is winding down. The only thing that can partially redeem it at this point is if they beat Dallass, who sucks.

Eagles favored

12/09 1:00 PM ET	Opening	BetED	Sportsbook	WSEX	5Dimes	SPORTSBETTING
NY Giants @ Philadelphia	42 -3	42.5 -3	42.5 -2.5	42.5 -3	42.5 -3	42.5 -2.5

Matchup

BONUS ESSAY QUESTION: Explain how the Eagles are favored.

More Eagles stupidity

I don't know how or why, but for some reason I seem to stumble upon the "Donovan McNabb Eagles Propaganda Show" without even trying. Oh OK, I admit it. I have a man crush on Dave Spadaro. Anyway, other than the cognitive dissonance, my favorite part of the show is the segment pictured below. Notice anything really stupid?



Contrary to the spelling, the segment is not about Eagles star players that are now dead, because I saw one on Bill Bergey. So it's now been 13 weeks (probably more) and none of the myriad of people that work on the show or anyone that works for the Eagles or Channel 6 has noticed and bothered to correct the title.



On a related note, look who won the poll to start at QB vs. the Giants.

Today's theme is "stupid"

The Eagles lost this game several times today. First on the blame list is AJ Feeley's 1,000 stupid interceptions. The first 2 led to 14 Seattle points, the last one to the team's ultimate demise after Westbrook had once again resurrected a dead team. But then again you have Spikes dropping an easy pick right after Feeley's first one that would have saved 7 points. After he booted that it was a stone cold mortal lock that Seattle was going to get a touchdown. Then you also have the pathetic effort at the end of the half when the Eagles had 1st and goal at the 1 and didn't get a point. Anyone ever hear of the QB sneak? It was like that 49ers game from 2001 all over again. Then in the second half the Eagles braintrust went with another brilliant play call and decided to throw it to LJ Smith 20 yards downfield after 2 successive runs had made it 3rd and 1. Lots of stupid calls today. Stupid game plan too.

One thing that did amuse me watching this game was Seattle is just as stupid as Philadelphia. Reid and Holmgren are clones made from the same dumb parent stock. The run is successful so let's start throwing the ball and end this stupid drive! Weather conditions are awful, let's throw it a whole bunch! Stupid.

Other notes:

• When Westbrook was forced out of bounds on his punt return I'm sure I wasn't alone in knowing the Eagles were not going to win.
• Tuatasopa was Feeley's favorite receiver.
• Lito sucked all game.
• Sheldon Brown is either hurt or totally forgot how to tackle.
• Still nobody on the damn Eagles can recover a fumble except the one that nobody even realized was fumble.
• Wow, a week where the Eagles special teams returns and coverage was way better than the opponent.
• Something else also amazing, I don't think the Eagles had 1 penalty all game.
• Curtis probably had the best game of any Eagle (or maybe Westbrook) but he blew the biggest play of the game up to that point when he was unable to come down with the high 4th down pass with 2 minutes to go. It went right through his hands.
• Dude, what man drinks Bud Light?
• Warm up Kolb.

Addendum: Remember last year when the Panthers vs. Eagles were in an identical situation as the Eagles were today vs. the Seahawks in I think the same week in the season? DelHomme threw a pick to Lito in the endzone to lose the game and from that winning play on the Eagles started to roll, made the playoffs, and won a round. The Panthers on the other hand packed it in. I wonder if the Eagles will further mirror the Panthers.