will we ever win?

10-0

We are living in an alternate universe. A Philadelphia team is in position to win a championship, there could be a black president, and the Eagles were the beneficiaries of brutally bad refereeing that gave them the game. You knew the Falcon player didn't touch the ball because the guy that downed it didn't immediately start running for a TD like they all do even though you can't advance a muff.

So in the end the Eagles deserved to win this game and also didn't deserve to win. They controlled the majority of play but at the same time pathetically could not score a TD (yet again) from the 3 yard line on 3 plays and could not get 3 yards on 2 plays to get a first down when they were trying to run out the clock. Success on either series would have put the game away. But then came the undeserved muff call that handed them the victory which finally did.

This game started slow for the Eagles offense because of Andy Reid's usual stupidity. I'm sure he thought to himself during the bye, "Atlanta is expecting lots of Westbrook since he's had a bunch of time off and he's our best player so what I'll do instead, because I'm a football genius, is throw the ball 3x more than run it. They'll never expect that!" Of course Atlanta was expecting that, but did Reid adjust? No. He continued to throw, throw, throw despite the Falcons playing the pass and McNabb being erratic. Only late into the 2nd quarter when they started balancing the play calling out and getting Westbrook the ball did the offense finally start clicking. They even scored on 3 straight possessions and scored TDs both times inside the redzone.

The defense played ok throughout. They didn't allow a score on the opening drive of either half and stopped Atlanta from driving at the end of the first half for a 50 yard field goal. One breakdown on a big play gave Atlanta it's first touchdown and the predictable defensive letdown after the Eagles went up 20-7 gave them their second. The defense did keep points off the board with Lito's interception in the endzone which was a huge play.

Other notes:

• Westbrook should have scored or at least gotten a lot more yardage on that reverse. It's like he fell asleep or something midrun.
• Greg Lewis earned a couple dollars of his paycheck this week with his punt downing skillz.
• Holy crap. McNabb scrambled! And got a first down! Who knew that could work? So many times McNabb could have run in this game, especially on the Falcons blitzes where the receivers were being covered man to man. Instead he stayed in the pocket and overthrew his receivers instead.
• Holy crap! A QB draw! And it got a touchdown! Who knew that could work?
• Max Jean Gilles gets his helmet ripped off and he stops playing and casually bends down to pick it up all while the play is still going on. Nice job.
• How nice was it that it was the Eagles for a change driving down the field right before the half to kick a fieldgoal?
• How did they give LJ Smith a first down on that 1st and 20 play in the drive to start the 3rd quarter? That was his best play of the year by the way.
• Stupid DeSean Jackson and his stupid -13 yard punt return could have been a turning point in the game. Eagles offense went nowhere from their own 3 and Atlanta got great field position after the punt and first and goal after a Lito interference. Fortunately Lito then picked it off in the endzone.
• The refs did not have a good game.

Go Phils.