Flyers vs. Rangers

“Some day my children will hate the Rangers too.”

-sign displayed at Lindros era Flyers-Rangers game

I, like any self respecting Philadelphia Flyers fan, loathe the New York Rangers.  I hated them since childhood where I clearly remember watching a snowy, sputtering channel 9 broadcast of the Rangers eliminating the Flyers in game 5 of payoff series.  My hate only grew when I lived amongst Rangers fans in Northern New Jersey during New York's 1994 Stanley Cup run.  The Rangers have always been one of the Flyers top rivals over Philadelphia’s entire existence.   Sometimes, like with Boston in the 1970s, the Devils in the 1990s, or today with Pittsburgh, other teams have managed to eclipse the Rangers as the top rival for a period of time.  But the Rangers are always there, deserving to be hated.   Apparently the hatred is no longer limited to the fans.

So it is that the Flyers will meet the Rangers in the opening round of the NHL playoffs, a meeting that has seemed inevitable for about a month.  The conventional wisdom is that the Flyers cannot beat Henrik Lundqvist, certainly not over a 7 game series.  This will lead to the Flyers firing shot after shot at the goaltender only to be turned away, and have the Rangers score on a counterattack and win the game 3-1:  Basically, a replay of every important Flyers-Devils game from the 1990s and several recent Flyers Rangers games.  The Flyers possess the additional psychological disadvantage of not winning at MSG in several years.

The Rangers do have superior defensemen and goaltending.  The Flyers defense is competent, but old.  In goal, the Flyers will be relying on Steve Mason who simply cannot let in any softies.  Mason is an unproven playoff commodity, so who knows what to expect from the Flyers goaltender. 

If the Flyers are to win the series they must crush the Rangers physically at every chance. The Rangers are SOFT like a marshmallow, and repeated body checks on their otherwise competent defenseman will hopefully lead to turnovers and Flyers goals.  The Rangers power play is frankly not that good, so even taking some penalties in the pursuit of wearing down the Rangers may not be a bad idea.  Of course the NHL has scheduled numerous days off between games in this series (except between games 6 and 7), which is to the Rangers advantage.

The Flyers could also benefit from a cold Rick Nash (a notoriously streaky player) and Martin St. Louis (uncharacteristically poor performance since being traded to NY).  But if Nash and St. Louis play to their ability the Flyers will be eliminated.  The Rangers are also a bit banged up (though healing) and the Flyers only have Grossman and maybe Downie playing at less than 100%.

I assume Downie and Rinaldo will dress.   It will be interesting to see on what line each plays.  The same with Rafl.

Prediction Rangers in 7

Coolsexguy420boner is the winner!

Coolsexguy420boner, aka Tim, is the winner of the willweeverwin bracket this year. Congratulations to Tim who wins the exact same thing as UCONN's players - a pat on the back and a hurrah. Meanwhile the NCAA walks away with a billion and UCONN can also exploit them all they want as well. Thanks for playing everyone!

Watch the NCAA makes a billion off a bunch of kids!

Yo, bracket registration closes at tip off (12:15pm EDT) of the first game of Round 1 on Thursday, March 20th.

I set up "team" willweeverwin over at Yahoo! again. First go to Yahoo's Tournament Pick'em page and click the "Find a Pool" button. On the next page click the "Join a Private Pool" and enter in the following info:

Pool ID #: 255004
Pass: check the comments of this post

If you have a Yahoo account, login. If not, follow the instructions and get one. My bracket name is "ronscrappypicks" as usual. Finish filling the required stuff out and make your picks by the first game on Thursday. The default Yahoo! scoring system is in place again because it's simple.

This year's winner gets the usual - nothing, but you will get to watch 2 76er first round draft picks play their last gratis basketball game.

Dallass sucks

The Eagles completed one of their most memorable seasons and their dramatic "worst to first" turnaround by defeating the eerily perfectly mediocre Dallass Cowboys Sunday night. The Cowboys are 136-136 since 1997 and finished 8-8 for 3rd straight season, losing the final game and the division to the Giants, the Washington team, and now the Eagles - a trifecta of sucking. It gives me joy.

As for the game, it was much closer than it should have been because the Eagles did not play their best game while Dallass did. The Eagles were dominated at times and lost the battle at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Foles was under pressure almost all game from a Dallass defensive line that often only rushed 4 while Orton went untouched despite numerous Eagles blitzes. The Dallass secondary that was shredded by everyone held up for the most part for the second time this year. And Dallass even stopped the Eagles on 4th and goal from a foot out.

But despite all of that the Eagles won, and the main reason was the defense. They bent, but for the most part did not break. In the first half the Kendricks' created turnovers led to 10 points. In the second half when the offense was sputtering they came up with huge stops. After Foles fumbled on the 20 they held Dallass to a field goal. After the offense failed on fourth down at the foot line and Dallass started to drive the length of the field, Connor Barwin batted down his 7th pass of the year to stop a Dallass 4th down conversion attempt - the offense then drove for a TD. When they gave up a potential backbreaking TD on a 4th and 8 and Dallass could tie with a successful 2 point conversion, they stayed focused and Williams batted down the pass. And at the end of the game where all the Cowboys needed was 30 or so yards to attempt a game winning field goal, the spirit of Tony Romo descended on Kyle Orton and Boykin made a game saving interception to seal the game.

Special teams also did its job. Henery nailed his field goal and put the kickoffs deep into the endzone thwarting the Cowboys dangerous return game. And Donnie Jones again came up huge by booming a punt at the end of the game and changing field position. And all coverage for the most part was good.

Much like the season, at certain times certain units (and that includes the coaches) would fail, but others would then pick up the slack. Many individuals contributed to the win with huge individual plays, but the team working as a whole unit won the game and the division and put the Eagles in the playoffs.

Other notes:

• The main reason the Eagles have completely turned everything around in a single season is turnovers. Last year they were a -24 in takeaways, this year they finished a +12. McCoy lost just 1 fumble all year and Foles set an NFL record for best TD to interception ratio in single season with 27 TDs to 2 interceptions.
• Congratulations to Foles for being the best rated passer in the NFL.
• Congratulation to McCoy for winning the rushing title and breaking Wilbert Montgomery's records. Woooooo!
• Defensive 3 stars: Cary Williams, Kendricks, Boykin.
• Offensive 3 stars: Avant, Celek, McCoy.
• Eagles almost lost to the guy that got benched for Tim Tebow.
• I will always complain about it forever - stop getting cute and calling stupid gimmick plays, especially with first a goal at the 6. It will always be stupid, even if it occasionally works. You wasted a down and cost a TD.
• I don't mind going for it so much, just don't QB sneak it when Dallass knows it is coming. The linebacker jumped over the line and landed on Foles back at the snap. It had no chance.
• Despite that drive failing, it exhausted the Cowboys defense and next drive the Eagles ran the ball "down their throats" all the way to the endzone.
• Cowboys were holding and grabbing receiver's jerseys all game and not one call. The worst and most obvious offense was the 3rd down before the 2 minute warning where replays showed Coopers jersey being tugged and extended 2 feet behind him.
• But Michaels and Collingsworth decided to get excited about the clock error and bogus delay of game penalty that Dallass got for their single penalty all game.
• I hate the Eagles stupid penalties.
• Happy New Year. Dallass still sucks.

Comments

Eagles bear down

Sorry for the writeup delays. I have guests visiting for the holidays...

After the horrible semi-professional football team from Washington couldn't hold a 9 point 4th quarter lead or stop the chokingest QB from converting a 4th and goal from the 12, the Eagles didn't have that much to play for vs. Chicago. The Bears though did since they could have clinched their division if they won this game. What happened though was a reversal of what you would have expected considering the stakes, since what happened was a complete beatdown of the Bears.

Eagles kicked off, Bears 3 and out followed by a terrible punt. Eagles TD by Cooper a few plays later. Eagles kickoff again and Hester is stripped. A few plays later, Eagles touchdown by McCoy. Eagles kick off again and Bears 3 and out again, Bears punt. A few plays later, an Eagles touchdown by Celek. And the first quarter wasn't even over. The second quarter wasn't as epic as the first, but at the half it was 24-3.

Unlike other games where the Eagles got up really big, they actually kept pouring it on this time. The next onslaught began with a safety courtesy of Cedric Thorton. After the free kick, which was a live ball and was recovered by Cooper, the Eagles scored another touchdown by McCoy via a spin-o-rama move at the line of scrimmage. The Bears managed their only touchdown of the game after a Brent Celek fumble (which was the only thing that went wrong for the Eagles besides a terrible spot by the refs that gifted the Bears 3 points at the end of the first half). The Eagles responded with a drive and a touchdown thanks to a 10 yard run by Polk. Then the next Bears possession ended with a terrible pass by Cutler that gave Boykin an easy pick 6. Cutler was done and the Eagles put in their backups as well to run out the clock. But you can't run out the clock on the Bears because their run defense is so terrible. So it was Bryce Brown's turn to run in a touchdown from 65 yards. Final score: 54-11.

Other notes:

• Everything went right for the Eagles and nothing went right for the Bears.
• Foles was 84% accurate with only 4 incomplete passes. I'm going by memory, but I think 3 of those were throwaways.
• The refs suck as always.
• Kelly challenged a play that was supposed to be automatically reviewed and lost a timeout, but it sure didn't appear the refs were going to bother reviewing it. After all, they didn't automatically review the awful spot at the end of the half.
• Bears hadn't given up many sacks all year and the Eagles got 5, 3 by Trent Cole.
• Bears run defense was as awful as advertised.
• Dallass sucks, Merry Xmas.

Blowmentum

Many people feared this was a "trap game" but then 99% of the "experts" and beat writers and talk show hosts tamped that fear down and predicted a blowout win for the Eagles. After all, no Adrian Peterson, no Toby Gerhart, Matt Cassel is the qb and half the Vikings secondary is hurt. What could go wrong? Well, this is the Philadelphia Eagles whose history is mostly of things going wrong and big failures vs. inferior opponents.

First, this is not what lost this game - the pooch kickoffs and not converting the 4th down on their own 23. What lost the game was the Eagles defense. The Vikings scored on every first half possession but their first when the kicker missed a 55 yard field goal. The Vikings finally punted for the first time on their second possession of the third quarter. And then they punted again once in the 4th quarter. All of the Vikings other drives ended with scores except one that ended with an interception and that's why they scored 48 points including TWENTY-ONE in the 4th quarter. Pathetic.

Meanwhile, the Eagles offense was either blazing down the field for a score or going three and out. There weren't any drives that got a couple first downs and then punt. There was one drive that ended in an interception, another that ended with a failed 4th down conversion (a 4 and out), and the last that ended the game. The offense was just very inconsistent and they got field goals instead of touchdowns too many times in the redzone. After getting to within 5 points late in the third, they couldn't keep up with the Vikings offense and only scored a touchdown in the fourth. Kelly called a pass-happy, Reidesque balance of plays and foolishly kept the ball out of McCoy's hands. However as wrong as things felt watching the offense, Foles did throw for 428 yards and 3 touchdowns and the offense did score 30 points in the loss.

Other notes:

• I like that the Ragnar the Viking is a fat slob like Hagar the Horrible instead of some Thor look-alike.
• Eagles committed way too many stupid penalties. The dumbest was Foles totally unnecessary comeback block that negated a touchdown.
• The refs were terrible as always, but this time not in the Eagles favor. The worst call was the pass interference on Fletcher in the endzone. Then later in the game he got another when the ball was 10 yards away. Another terrible one was the unnecessary roughness on Chung for tackling a guy.
• On the other hand, the refs one defensive holding and offensive holding calls were on a punt (and they offset). Somehow I think that's impossible there were no holds the entire game.
• One last note on NFL officiating in general: This is the modern NFL - throw ball up for grabs, have receiver flail and gesticulate, wait for the flag. Nevermind no play on the ball was actually possible.
• Eagles had too many drops early in the game. Foles also missed some wide open receivers.
• Immediately after the failed 4th down conversion, the Vikings only managed a field goal and the Eagles offense scored touchdowns on its next 2 possessions. So someone needs to explain to me why that was such a disaster.
• At least the Eagles didn't blow a 23 point lead.

Comments

Snowmentum

In a game played in conditions that I'm sure made Ed Rendell happy because it turns boys into men and men into ubermen and apparently the Eagles from playoff pretenders into Super Bowl contenders; judging by the calls to sportstalk radio. But it didn't look that way for 2/3rds of the game.

The Eagles were shut out again for the 3rd time this season in the first half and did nothing positive until their final drive of the half which then ended with a 4th down incompletion in the endzone. Foles QB rating for the half was 10.4 and the running game was doing next to nothing and looked hopeless. I did not think the Eagles would score over 10 points. The Lions meanwhile were moving the ball but coughed it up twice deep in Eagles territory thanks to the Eagles weather-assisted strips. And then midway through the third quarter the Lions returned a punt for the touchdown after another Eagles 3 and out to go up 14-0. And that lead looked like 40-0 because of the conditions and the Eagles inability to do anything. But then on the next series they woke up.

It looked like Kelly and Foles decided to stop being cautious and to just let the ball rip. First a nice non-floating pass to Jackson got a first down. Then the next play was a bomb to Cooper who made a great catch for a 44 yard gain. Then that was followed by a 19 yard TD to Jackson in the back of the endzone that might have been intended for Cooper.

When the Eagles got the ball back they got a big ref assist via a bogus roughing the passer call which was followed 2 plays later by a great 40 yard touchdown run by McCoy and a successful 2 point conversion which was also ref assisted. The momentum had turned, maybe.

The kickoff was returned for another touchdown and the Eagles were down again. But the Lions got the extra point, the only attempted kick of the game, blocked. So momentum was in the balance.

The Eagles just fed the ball to McCoy again on the next series and he ripped off another long run for another touchdown. This was followed by a successful 2 point conversion thanks to a great catch by Cooper. The Eagles were now ahead 22-20.

The defense continued to make stops and the Eagles continued to run the ball with McCoy, Brown and even Foles getting big gains. This drive was finished with a 4th down QB sneak from the 1 when the offensive line just snowplowed Detroit out of the way.

Detroit did respond but then bumbled their way into another turnover. The Eagles recovered and this time it was Polk running one right up the middle for a 38 yard touchdown.

The Eagles could have scored again but Celek downed himself at the 10 instead of walking into the endzone and the Eagles ran out the clock to the cheers of the non-wussy fans that still filled the stadium. Final score was 34-20.

Other notes:

• I predict McCoy is the NFC offensive player of the week. If not, he still has the most rushing yards by an Eagle record now with 217.
• Kelly's Reid call of the game was the stupid pitch to Jackson that lost 10 yards.
• The Eagles only had 1 penalty the entire game, a false start. The Lions killed themselves with 9 for 48 yards.
• The Lions also killed themselves with fumbles. The Lions are stupid.
• I guess Kelly made some good adjustments at the half as the Eagles outgained the Lions 388-88. But I still don't understand how they could go from not getting any push at the line and doing nothing to opening up big holes and sealing off the edges. Could it really be the shoes?
• All the fans cheering the blocked extra point return need to learn some basic rules. You are embarrassing.
• The defense only allowed 8 points and shut down Megabust entirely in the second half. The Lions run game was also nullified after some early success. More good adjustments.
• The refs helped the Eagles again and there were no make up calls later. The even up calls will eventually come though. It is inevitable.
• Go Bears. Dallass sucks.

Comments

A win, but it feels cheap

For the second game in a row the Eagles offense scored 17 points in the first half and took the kickoff after the half right down the field to get to 24 points and then did almost nothing the rest of the game while the defense held on for dear life. The Eagles had an assist from the refs who made several ticky-tack calls in the Eagles favor. Of course they weren't all in the Eagles favor as a DeSean Jackson punt return was nullified by a weak as weak can get holding call on Coleman. Also assisting the Eagles were some terrible Palmer throws that became easy interceptions. In the end Palmer turned it over enough, the Eagles scored just enough, the defense held on just enough, the refs made just enough bad calls and Donnie Jones punted the ball inside the 10 just enough to get the Eagles a 24-21 win.

Other notes

• Kelly once again could not call a complete game as the offense went into the second half tank and failed to score a single point in the fourth quarter for the 4th game in a row.
• His wildcat play call on first a goal from the 6 was Reidesque, i.e. moronic.
• The Eagles had way too many negative plays on offense.
• Foles was again efficient throwing 3 TDs and made some other really nice throws. He was quietly excellent. His streak of no interceptions though is holding on by a thread. The refs bailed him out this week more than the bounces did.
• McCoy again danced too much, but played a solid game against a really good run defense.
• Jackson went over a 1,000 yards for the season and gets some props for taking some crushing hits and getting back up for the next play. He also had a great punt return that the refs stole away.
• Cooper was a solid contributor.
• Still can't wait until Avant is gone.
• Both tightends, Ertz and Celek, collectively were big contributors, catching all 3 touchdowns. The Eagles effectively exploited this Cardinals' weakness.
• Not really satisfied with the offensive lines run or pass blocking.
• The defense was solid. They gave up some 3rd and longs but at the same time got 3 turnovers and a big 4th down stop at the end of the game. Also impressive was the pressure and sacks.
• Patrick Chung is terrible. For the second game in a row he moronically smashed into his own teammate while failing to make a tackle and allowed the opponent to waltz into the endzone because of it. This happens because he takes terrible angles and he sucks. Later in the game he smashed into Cary Williams and he yelled at him.
• Lots of credit goes to Bennie Logan for simply falling on the ball for his fumble recovery.
• Too bad Roc Carmichael can't do the same on that muffed punt.
• Could the player of the game be the punter? Donnie Jones was great with another 70+ yard punt flipping field position and several punts downed inside 20.

I have no idea why the link for the comments is now failing to show up. To get to the comments click the time below to view the post individually or this link I have to create manually - Comments.

A game in December that means something!

12/01 1:00 PM	Opening	BetOnline	5Dimes	SportsBetting	Bovada
Arizona @ Philadelphia	48.5 -3.5	48.5 -3	49 -3	48.5 -3	49 -3

Bonus Question: How will the Cardinals stick it to the Eagles this time?

RG3 and 7

The Eagles "finally" stopped their home field losing streak (which was made a bigger deal than it should have been), but of course they had to make what was a blowout a nailbiter in the process. After putting up 17 points in the first half and marching down the field to open the second for another TD to make it 24-0, the offense decided to call it a day. The following drives were mostly a parade of 3 and outs.

Meanwhile the defense was shutting down the Ethnic Degradations offense and RG0, holding him to just 4 yards passing in the first half and zero points. But as the offense stalled later in the game they were put on the field more and more and they eventually cracked. First they gave up a long touchdown pass and run to the fullback (of all people) as Chung crushed Trent Cole instead of the receiver. Then they converted the 2 point conversion.

On Washington's next series a few minutes later RG0 underthrew a deep ball into the endzone that his receiver adjusted to and made a great catch. Then they converted the 2 point conversion.

After the Eagles offense failed to put the game away again, Donnie Jones unleashed a 70 yard punt that was downed at the 4. That didn't faze Washington though as they methodically went down the field. I was certain the Eagles would lose after pathetically giving up a 3rd and 25 on the drive and I was going to blame Kelly for the loss as his offense went into the tank. But in the end the previously terrible then suddenly hot RG0 returned to terrible again with an awful decision and throw, floating up a prayer into the endzone that landed in Brandon Boykin's intercepting hands to seal the 24-16 win for the Eagles. After the game Boykin said, "I just saw the ball floating in the air, and I was like, "Is this real life?'" It was a pretty ridiculous pass.

Other notes:

• The defensive line played great with Cox and Logan standing out.
• There was even a Brandon Graham sighting!
• I thought Connor Barwin though was the defensive player of the game with some batted passes, great tackles and the sack and forced fumble of RG0 as they were position to score points.
• The offensive line was ok. They can be better. They also got called a lot for holding and hands to the face penalties.
• What's up with Celek's afterburners?
• Foles was solid again and though made a couple of iffy throws - Avant down the middle and Cooper on a slant - he still didn't get picked.
• Foles had a great run on his touchdown and outrushed RG0, 47 yards to 44.
• McCoy danced too much again and cost the team first downs. Glad he wasn't hurt though with the hamstring thing.
• Brown was useless again.
• Another week, another missed challenge.
• What was Washington doing with their offensive game plan?
• What was Chip Kelly doing with his offensive game plan after going up 24-0?
• This was the first game in a while I got emotionally involved. I guess that's a good thing.

The Ethnic Degradations back for another beating (I hope)

11/17 1:00 PM	Opening	BetOnline	5Dimes	SportsBetting	Bovada
Washington @ Philadelphia	48 -3	53 -4.5	53 -4.5	53 -4.5	53 -4.5

Bonus Question: Will the Linc's jinx fall?

On the road to Nictory

On the same field that Michael Vick's career reached its pinnacle 10 seasons ago in a playoff win vs. Brett Favre, Nick Foles cemented his hold on the Eagles starting QB job with another solid performance. Foles was shaky and held the ball too long in the first half, but he continued to do what he does best - make good decisions. He also was helped by a great bounce on the DeSean Jackson touchdown. The defense was also shaky at times and got some bounces, but they again stiffened in the red zone and got stronger as the game progressed. Kelly also came through again with nice play calling and half time adjustments, earning the Eagles a 27-13 win.

Other notes:

• Nick Foles is first player in NFL history to have a passer rating of 149 or higher in consecutive games and Foles' passer rating of 149.3 is highest ever by an opposing QB vs. Packers at Lambeau Field [or County Stadium]. Yet the Vick deadenders continue to call the radio shows to disparage Foles and downplay his games.
• Stats courtesy of Reuben Frank's Twitter.
• Another Foles myth was put to bed as McCoy ran for 155 yards vs. the 5th ranked running defense. I guess you can have a running game without Michael Vick after all.
• McCoy had a great game. He was decisive, broke tackles and made would-be-tacklers look ridiculous.
• The offensive line blocked great both for McCoy and Foles.
• Riley Cooper started with a bad drop, but was great the rest of the way with another 2 touchdown grabs, 1 of which was a 9 in difficulty.
• The Eagles set a team-record of eight games with 400-plus yards of offense. Yep, Coach College and his vanilla offense is overmatched.
• A negative in this game was the 0-3 red zone failure. This game could have been a blowout.
• The Eagles held the ball the last 9:32 of the game with a drive that just pounded the ball on every play but one - the nice tight end screen to Casey that he powered for a crucial first down. The last time the Eagles went on a long drive to ice the game was a couple years ago vs. the Giants.
• Unlike the San Diego game where they had to score and Kelly was criticized for rushing down the field, this end-of-game drive was to preserve a 2 TD victory.
• After the first half the Eagles impressively shut down Eddie Lacey.
• Eagles tackling was again really solid.
• DeMeco Ryans was probably the best player on defense. Lots of tackles, one really huge hit, and a nice interception.
• Nice pick by Boykin to save a TD, but Rodgers makes that throw. Good thing Tolzien, 6 days off the practice squad, was making it. I wonder if McCarthy is being called overmatched and a college coach for calling that play.
• Alex Henery sucks. Another miss and more weak kickoffs.
• Packers strategy as the game wore on was thrown the ball up for grabs and hope the refs call interference on the Eagles then cry about it when they don't.
• Pat Shurmur needs to be fired. He was asleep on 2 challengeable calls, especially the 36 yard pass on the sideline by Green Bay where the guy clearly landed out of bounds.
• I liked how the Green Bay fans didn't know the rules on the punt downing.
• I also enjoyed how they actually thought Nelson caught that ball in the endzone. But so did Nelson and McCarthy. IT WASN'T EVEN CLOSE unless Nelson has a 2' wide hand.
• You know who else didn't know the rules and was delusional? These refs. So many bad calls and missed calls it is hard to decide this week's Mama Deetz Wurst reffing of the the game, but it will go to the first of 2 missed blatant facemasks on McCoy.

Thank you big fat Bears lineman

11/10 1:00 PM	Opening	BetOnline	5Dimes	SportBetting	Bovada
Philadelphia @ Green Bay	52 -10	47 PK	47 PK	47 PK	47 -1

Bonus Question: Which Foles is going to show up?

Just get blown out, baby

Everything went right for the Eagles offense today on route to a 49-20 destruction of the Oakland Raiders. I only remember one drop (Avant) and just a few penalties, none of which were killers. There were no turnovers, no gutless efforts, and no freelancing. Kelly called a good game and the players executed the plays nearly flawlessly. Foles bounced back from his atrocious effort vs. Dallass to join the "Magnificent Seven," the 7 players in NFL history to throw 7 TDs in one game. Except Foles only needed 3 quarters to do it and along with only Peyton Manning, did it without throwing an interception. Foles had more TDs (7) than incomplete passes (6) and attained a perfect QBR of 158.3. In fact, Nick Foles had the BEST EVER statistical performance in the history of not just the Eagles, but the NFL. I hope you weren't out grocery shopping or something and missed it.

Meanwhile, the defense had another very solid performance despite somehow giving up a total of 560 yards. I continue to see the glimmers of promise they've shown at points in every game this season (but Denver) slowly being realized. I see more attacking and less hesitation. I see more discipline as well as guys are not freelancing or ignoring the scheme and getting caught out of position. And they continue to stiffen in the redzone. Today may have been the best all-around performance of the defensive line. They had good and fairly constant pressure all game and managed to keep forcing Pryor to his left, which is kryptonite to him. A few times they lost containment and he escaped for big runs, but by and large he was bottled up. One thing this defense needs to get better at though is creating turnovers. They had 2 in the second half off of deflected balls, but the game was well in hand by then.

The biggest part of special teams today was covering all the kickoff returns and they did a great job. I don't think one return got past the 30 and several didn't make it to the 20. Jackson was returning punts and his goal seemed to be to run to the sideline as fast as he could get there. His one good return consisted of a few moves and then gaining 5 extra yards as he ran from one side of the field to the other as he raced to get out of bounds. Then of course he grabbed his would be tackler's facemask and yanked on it getting a 15 yard penalty. The tackler was the punter.

Chip Kelly is back to "offensive genius" status. All the "experts" and their mindless, follow the shiny object, herd "analysis" can get back on his bandwagon now. This "overmatched" "college" coach with a "backup" QB dominated the Raiders, who had only given up 10 passing touchdowns all season before today. Note also that Kelly was again wearing the proper head attire - a baseball hat - while the Raiders coaches were wearing the visors. Another key to this victory.

Other notes:

• Let's see if Foles gets as much national tongue bathing as Manning did from earlier this season. Here's all the records he tied or broke.
• Until today, the Raiders had allowed only 1 TD on throws at least 15 yards all season.
• Nick Foles is pretty good against pirate-themed teams said Twitter.
• Eagles ran that Foles lateral option play once in preseason.
• Bryce Brown showed up today for a little while.
• The running back Jennings showed up for the Raiders.
• Warren Sapp predicted the Eagles would be shut out today.
• Tim Ryan's head is bigger than Joe Buck's.

No clever headline

11/03 4:05 PM	Opening	BetOnline	5Dimes	SportBetting	Bovada
Philadelphia @ Oakland	-2.5 43	44.5 -1	44.5 -1.5	44.5 -1.5	45 -3

Bonus Question: Will the offense score a touchdown?