Valhöll awaits

1/04 4:30 PM ET	Opening	betED	Logans	5Dimes	SPORTSBETTING
Philadelphia @ Minnesota	42.5 2	42 3.5	42 3	41.5 3	41.5 3

Matchup

BONUS ANALYSIS: As we've seen this season it's not so much which team will show up (although they screw up a bunch too), but which Andy Reid will show up -- the idiot one or the sensible one. What worries me is Reid has the perfect excuse to repeat his insane Bengals and Redskins play calling performances against the Vikings because they have the top rated run defense in the league. But I watched a bunch of the Giants and Vikings game last week and the Giants were able to run the ball for 135 yards without Jacobs, with their backups playing the second half, and with nothing to play for. So the Eagles should also be able to run the ball so I don't want to hear any excuses later.

From the defense we should expect the same effort we've gotten the last couple weeks. The Vikings need big plays to score points and probably won't be able to sustain any long drives. All Minnesota really has is Adrian Peterson. Don't worry about him getting 5 yards here and 7 yards there, worry about him getting 50 yards here and 70 yards there. If you remember back to the regular season game last year, the Eagles limited him to 70 yards on 20 carries and no touchdowns. So Johnson will probably try and do what he did then along with confusing the hell out of Tavaris Jackson, who is hopefully this year's Shawn King.

BONUS QUESTION: Will any home team win on wildcard weekend?

Dallass really sucks

So the rollercoaster ride continues with a great, decisive, crushing 44-6 win over hated Dallass, who sucks. But to be honest, the Eagles really don't deserve to be in the playoffs and should consider themselves the luckiest team in the world. How Tampa Bay lost at home to the Raiders despite being up by 10 points in the 4th quarter is unbelievable, but it happened. The Bears also blew a 10 point lead against Houston. Everything out of the Eagles hands this season went their way. And even when they did their best to blow it, the football gods were there, willing the Eagles into the playoffs. That never happens, but it did. It was even 65 degrees on December 28th so it was an odd, unbelievable day all around.

And then in the actual game, everything also bounced right for the Eagles. Everything. They even got some calls from the refs. Sheldon Brown actually picked one off, Pacman's stupid unnecessary roughing on Brown, the interference call on Newman that probably should have been let go, Pacman Jones strip and Akers turns that into a 50 yarder before half, Romo's fumble bounced on one hop perfectly to Clemons for a TD return, Dawkins strip of Barber stayed in bounds perfectly instead of rolling out, and probably some other stuff I'm forgetting.

It's a Christmas miracle!

Other notes:

• Congratulations to Andy Reid for running TWO STRAIGHT QB sneaks from the 1 yard line and scoring a TD. Who could have ever predicted that would work?
• But I knew this game was really in the bag when Akers actually hit the 50 yarder before half instead of getting it blocked and returned for a TD.
• I thought Aikman jinxed Akers with his cliche comment, "Akers was hitting them from 60 in pregame."
• Big Play Buckhalter got more touches than 2 and look what happens. Who could have predicted?
• How about the free agent signing of Clemons by Reid? It finally paid dividends in game 16.
• I think the Cowboys probably wish Pacman was still in jail or suspended instead of on the field getting burnt, picking up personal fouls, fumbling kick-offs and booting trick plays on kick-offs.
• Stand out Eagles - Buckhalter, Dawkins, Clemons, Celek, Hanson.
• Great game direction by Fox for a change - shots of Romo staggering to his feet like an old man getting out of a chair, shot of the ref throwing the intentional grounding flag in Romo's face, shots of Wade Phillips in shocked disbelief, and lots of shots of Jerry Jones. The only thing missing was shots of a Romo frowny face girlfriend that has become a holiday tradition. Why wasn't Jessica at the game?
• For color commentary there's Aikman and then theres the rest, whatever their names are.
• So does this game finally make the national media shut up about the "greatness" of Tony Romo?
• Why is Westbrook still in the game when it's 44-3?
• Eagles still looked poor running the ball in short yardage at times this game.
• Jeff Laurie should stay in the press box and not immitate Jerry Jones' sideline routine, unless he was doing it to shove it in his face.
• Hi gu-UYS! I didn't actually make this peet-ZAH. It's from Pizza Hut!
• Ha ha Dallass and all your fraud, front running fans. All of you suck.

Watching Minnesota today in an ugly looking, dull, indoor game I think the Eagles can beat them and Tavaris Jackson, but expect the usual 70%-30% pass to run ratio from Reid.

Dallass sucks

12/28 4:15 PM ET	Opening	betED	Logans	5Dimes	SPORTSBETTING
Dallass @ Philadelphia	43 0	42.5 -2	42.5 -1.5	42.5 0	43 -1.5

Matchup

BONUS QUESTION #1: Who will drop more passes this game, franchise player LJ Smith or best free agent available, Asante Samuels?

BONUS QUESTION #2: Who is playing their last game as an Eagle?

Same ol' crap

I really don't have to write anything for this pathetic game, I've already written it all before. Terrible effort, idiotic game plan, horrible offensive balance, lots of drops, bad throws, defense blowing opportunities, etc. etc. etc. And the last play of the game was completely symbolic of the entire season. Reggie Brown catches it at the 1/2 yard line, time expires, Eagles lose. How many times have the Eagles needed 1 lousy yard to win a game this year? Also a bonus, if they had the timeout they blew earlier in the half, they could have had 1 more play. And the best part about this travesty? They still have a chance to make the playoffs so we can suffer 1 more week.

Other notes:

• Here is my list of people that lost this game in order of responsibility:
  1. Andy Reid - 2 starting receivers are out, wind is blowing furiously, it's December, so lets pass 50+ times to 15 runs.
  2. DeSean Jackson - killer drop in the endzone of McNabb's best pass of the season.
  3. Asante Samuels - killer drop on an easy interception because he was probably thinking of his TD celebration instead of catching it first.
  4. McNabb for fumbling the ball because as usual he held it too long and was oblivious to backside pressure.
  5. LJ Smith - bad drops and a killer missed block that could have gotten Westbrook into the endzone or at least the first down.
  6. Idiot Andy Reid, because he passes every play in the 4th quarter but then brilliantly decides to run the shotgun draw at the time in the game where the clock is completely against them. How did that work out?
• Although the defense held Washington to only 10 points, they didn't make any plays and constantly gave up third and longs and surrendered field position.
• Washington's punter, whoever he is, was the player of the game.
• Can you believe the Eagles had their destiny in their hands and then blew it?
• Eagles don't deserve to be in the playoffs.

At least Dallass still sucks.

Should win this must win

12/21 4:15 PM ET	Opening	betED	Logans	5Dimes	SPORTSBETTING
Philadelphia @ Washington	39.5 5.5	38.5 5.5	38.5 5	38.5 4.5	38.5 5

Matchup

BONUS QUESTION: How come it's seemingly not a big deal or a media circus when Clinton Portis rips his coach?

The Cleveland Clowns

The Eagles won 30-10 and beat the spread. Yea! But the Eagles offense from last year and earlier this season returned -- up and down the field until the red zone and then it died, pathetically. When the Browns were still trying (if you could call it that), the Eagles first 6 possessions resulted in 6 trips to the red zone, but only 16 points. Fortunately they were playing the Browns, who really suck and haven't scored an offensive TD since McCain was running for president. So the Eagles were able to cruise to an easy victory, especially after the Browns totally gave up.

Other notes:

• This game was boring.
• Today is the 40th anniversary of throwing snowballs at Santa Claus. Wear it as a badge of honor. Strangely, ESPN, who has a network rule to bring it up whenever the chance presents itself, even during pro bowling broadcasts, overlooked it.
• McNabb was actually great this game but he still can't make the little toss to the flat so a running back can run under it. Oh well.
• DeSean Jackson had a decent game but most impressive was his catch down the seam to the 8 yard line when he got popped good. Not so impressive was his pass interception that followed 3 plays later.
• Why is Reid calling trick plays against the Browns?
• Asante Samuels is an idiot for doing the DeSean Jackson move at the 1 yard line but at least he realized it and grabbed the ball in the endzone. It took ESPN about 10 replays before they noticed it.
• Sure, only 9 seconds were left, but why are you throwing it from the half yard line?
• Good hustle by Westbrook to save the pick six. He made a better effort this time than he did vs. the Ravens where he imitated a kicker trying to tackle. But it still took the better hustle by Baskett and Celek to force McDonald out of bounds.
• Either McDonald or Edwards were the best Browns.
• Bradley seems to have gotten better as the season has progressed and probably had his best game of the year. His hits stood out and he even got an interception.
• Dawkins set the record for most games played by and Eagle (181) and had a good game to go with his achievement.
• Kolb looked totally wasted in that sideline shot or he was falling asleep standing up. Probably explains his performance when he got in the game during garbage time.
• The shotgun draw play to Westbrook is the new quick pass to the wide receiver in the flat of season's past. You'll see it about 3 times a game, the defense knows the play, and it'll lose a yard most times.
• Avant had his best game of the year.
• Took until 2:30 left in the game for a shot of a dude with no shirt in the stands. Although it wasn't really cold so the guy is a poseur.
• I still feel sorry for the Browns.

Will Minnesota beat Atlanta?

Good times

Awesome:

A couple talk show hosts on WFAN in New York asked Cole Hamels today if he thought the Mets were choke artists.

He said they were because, well, they were choke artists the last two years.
(...)
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.

Awesome squared:

Dallas Cowboys star receiver Terrell Owens is unhappy with quarterback Tony Romo and tight end Jason Witten, believing the two conspire to create plays that leave him out, ESPN reported Thursday, citing several unnamed Cowboys sources.

Dallass and the Mets suck.

A two touchdown favorite?

12/15 8:30 PM ET	Opening	betED	Logans	5Dimes	SPORTSBETTING
Cleveland @ Philadelphia	38 -15	39 -14	39 -14	38.5 -15	38.5 -14

Matchup

BONUS QUESTION: Does anyone else ever feel sorry for Cleveland Browns fans like I do?

The season still lives

(Sorry this is late. Had no power from 2:15 till almost 1am yesterday. How did people survive before electricity? It was so boring.)

This game was pretty much an exact reversal of the Eagles vs. Giants game that was played in Philadelphia just a couple weeks ago. This time the Eagles dominated both lines of scrimmage and controlled the game, the Eagles ran the ball down the Giants throats, the Eagles were dominant in time of possession, the Eagles had a tight end that made big plays, and the Eagles had the shut down defense that made the opponent's offense look pathetic on 4th and short..

Of course this all occurred because Andy Reid, who is probably still an idiot, decided to stick with the run the ENTIRE game, despite it being a "failure" early - but keep running those end arounds! The last two convincing wins happened because Reid did what every pundit and knowlegeable fan has called for over and over and over and over again till infinity - run the ball more and balance the offensive play calling. And by successfully doing exactly that, not just against the weak Arizona Cardinals, but against the Giants, the current champions and probably the best team in football, just shows that Reid's pathetic reasoning of "we saw on film the Bengals were weak on pass coverage so we thought we'd throw it 80 times" is complete idiocy. If you can do it against the Giants you should be able to do it against everyone and should have been doing it the ENTIRE season, not just when it's 30 degrees out with wind gusts of 40 mph. There's a reason the Eagles are the most frustrating team in the world. They can even piss you off when they win.

Other notes:

• Please, no more end arounds and reverses.
• Did anyone else notice after Hixon's horrible drop, on the Eagles sidelines in the background was healthy scratch Reggie Brown clapping and laughing it up?
• These refs were terrible all game but it didn't end up costing the Eagles. Except...
• On the blocked field goal that was returned for a touchdown Akers was clearly blocked in the back.
• Have you ever seen an NFL game that had 3 blocked field goals?
• To me one of the biggest moments of the game was the first 3rd down conversion on the Eagles opening 2nd half drive. Blow that and Rocca comes in and boots a 20 yarder into the wind and the Giants are sitting pretty and building on their momentum.
• I don't think Rocca had a punt after the first quarter.
• LJ finally had a good game catching and even running after the catch but he still holds the ball like an idiot and blew a ton of blocks.
• Wouldn't it be nice if we could have had a replay showing what happened to Kevin Curtis?
• Eagles blew a fumble recovery they totally should have made, but worse was the botched Samuels/Dawkins interception.
• Loved that Giants (#1 rushing team in the league) 4th and 1 call. Looks like Coughlin needs to go back and study the greats like Bill Parcells and Bill Walsh like Reid did to figure out you should run the ball there.
• Did Reid outcoach Coughlin or was it Coughlin just really, really dumb?
• The Fox announcers, especially "Goose," were worse than usual.
• 2 games in a row McNabb scrambled at just the right time for first downs. So in his 10th year he's not only learned to throw the ball away, but in the 12th and 13th game of his 10th year he's also learned to take the 5-6 yards that the defense is giving him to move the chains and maintain possession of the ball instead of going for a 15-20 yard pass downfield.
• In the 2 games vs. the Giants this year McNabb didn't get sacked. Last year it was 15 or so.
• Westbrook was outgaining the Giants offense by himself until that last garbage time drive.

Is there a real reason to get excited?

NYG-Eagles Mid-Game Rants

Post 'em here!

A shot in the dark

12/07 1:00 PM ET	Opening	betED	Logans	5Dimes	SPORTSBETTING
Philadelphia @ NY Giants	44.5 -9	44.5 -7.5	43.5 -7	43.5 -7.5	44 -7.5

Matchup

BONUS QUESTION: How many Giants need to shoot themselves to give the Eagles a chance to win?