Lowly Eagles beat God walking the Earth

The Eagles once again turned in a turd of a first half blowing red zone chance after red zone chance, missing chip shot field goals, dropping passes, dropping touchdowns, missing throws, missing touchdowns, missing blocks, jumping offside 3 times for free first downs, and making scrub running back, Trent Richardson, look like a pro-bowler. And the play calls were Reidesque at times too. So at the half the Eagles trailed 20-6.

Yet despite this lead and the Eagles beating themselves, Andrew Luck, the greatest QB of all time, was not good enough to win the game. How can this be? Well, the Eagles started playing better on both sides of the ball and got some crucial breaks, some created some gifted.

An obvious pass interference penalty got them a first and goal and McCoy scored to make it 20-13. Then the very next offensive play by the Colts, Cox stripped Richardson and DeMeco Ryans recovered it putting the Eagles in excellent field position to tie the game. The offense almost blew it with a false start on Cooper and a bad Foles pass behind Ertz. But then a draw to McCoy went for 20. But that was followed up with a hands to the face penalty via Kelce. This is how it went all night. But then Sproles made one of the best runs I've seen in awhile to make it 20 all.



It was at this point I thought the Eagles might be able to pull this game out. But then predictably, the defense offered little resistance as the Colts went right down the field to go back up by 7. The Colts TD was followed by a 3 and out by the Eagles partially due to Foles sliding 1 yard short of the first down. Another example of the Eagles just not finishing plays or 1 little mistake by 1 person derailing everything.

The Colts started driving and were in field goal range and poised to go up 10 where the "turning point of the game" happened. On third and 9 Luck threw an interception to Jenkins. On the play Boykin made contact with Hilton, the intended receiver, and he fell down. Replays showed the contact occurred inside 5 yards, a slight grab of the jersey by Boykin that could have been called, and Hilton just stumbling and bumbling and falling down on his own. Good non-call by the refs, but a huge break for the Eagles because it could have been called by the letter of the law.

The Eagles took advantage of the break and a really bad horsecollar that wasn't penalty, and drove to tie the game with a TD to Maclin after a Sproles screen that went for 51 yards. Unfortunately they scored so fast that the Colts had plenty of time to drive for a game winning field goal.

But the greatest comeback QB in history went THREE AND OUT versus the much maligned Eagles defense. The play calls were terrible, but on 3rd and 5 Luck threw it into the ground. If the Colts want to whine about the bad calls mentioned above, what happened here? This is where the Colts blew it.

Eagles took advantage again. The first play after the punt Foles hit Ertz for 24 yards with maybe his best pass of the game. This was followed by another Sproles screen for 17 which was followed by Parkey hitting 2 game winning field goals of 36 yards. Eat it Colts and your stupid "icing the kicker" timeout. Eagles win, 30-27 and are now 2-0.

Other notes:

• I kinda thought this game was on the boring side until the 4th quarter.
• OMG, Casey Matthews is the worst!!!!!!!11! No, actually much worse is the mindless herd of the dumbest and most predictable fans in sports ripping him on the radio and in comment sections as if his missed tackle had any significant impact at all. Here are 8 far worse plays that had much more impact - Cooper's dropped TD, Parkey's missed chip shot, Fletcher's dropped interception, all 3 "neutral zone infractions" that gave the Colts first downs, Foles missing a wide open Ertz, and Maclin deciding he was going to bowl over a linebacker instead of outrunning him for the first.
• Despite not looking sharp and making a ton of mistakes, the Eagles offense is #1 in points and 2nd in yards. Imagine if they could score in the first half. Foles is the #2 QB in passing yards.
• I was pretty impressed by the defense essentially stifling Luck. He only had 170 yards passing and did not hit anything long and never really got into a rhythm. I guess they decided to let them run the ball and just concentrate on pass defense. That failed vs. the Saints, but worked this game.
• Sproles is pretty damn good.
• Receivers must play better.
• No sacks allowed by the patchwork offensive line. They did not do as well consistently in run blocking.
• Once the line gets their starters back, hopefully Celek won't have to stay in and block.
• Tirico is as good as Gruden is bad.

Good thing it was Jacksonville

I hosted a party during the game so my observations of this come from behind victory are very incomplete. But here is the gist:

• The final score of 34-17 was close to what many predicted, but no one predicted how this game would actually unfold.
• Foles had maybe his worst half of football then led the offense to 4 second half scoring drives.
• It's hilarious to me the impossibly high standard that Foles is held to by the usual morons on the radio. Anyone ever watch any other football games in their lives? Is any QB great every single minute of every single game?
• The defense and special teams kept the Eagles in the game while the offense was dicking around.
• Kendricks had a really good game. Brandon Graham too.
• The defense shut out Jacksonville in the second half, only allowed 2 Jaguar rushing first downs, and scored 7 points themselves.
• That being said, the defense also allowed Henne and some undrafted guy from Miami score 2 TDs on them.
• One game in and Sprouls has already made a big contribution to the Eagles.
• I was certain Parkey was going to miss that 51 yard FG. Apparently in warmups he shanks everything.
• Eagles are 2nd team in NFL history to trail by 17+ at halftime and win by at least 17 points.

Jet Jaguars

9/7 1:00 PM	Opening	BetOnline	5Dimes	SportsBetting	Bovada
Jacksonville @ Philadelphia	52.5 -10.5	52 -10.5	52.5 -11.5	52 -10.5	53 -10

Bonus Question: If you had to choose between watching the NFL season vs. all other sports, which would you choose?

2014 Eagles predictions

After surprising first season success with an NFC East title and a playoff appearance, everybody expects bigger things this year from Chip Kelly's team. A lot of that is based on an improved roster, players like Foles having more experience and being in the second year of the system, and the perceived weakness of the NFC East.

In the comments make your season long, game by game predictions for the Eagles and whatever reasons you might have to justify them. Also, what teams will be in the AFC and NFC championship games, the Super Bowl, who will win it all, and what teams will be this year's worst? As an added bonus, the various prop bets you can make on the Eagles return. So if you want, predict those outcomes as well.

1 Sep 7 Jacksonville 1:00 pm
2 Sep 15 @Indianapolis 8:30 pm *Monday Night Football*
3 Sep 21 Washington 1:00 pm
4 Sep 28 @San Francisco 4:25 pm
5 Oct 5 St. Louis 1:00 pm
6 Oct 12 N.Y. Giants 8:30 pm *Sunday Night Football*
7 Oct 19 BYE WEEK
8 Oct 26 @Arizona 4:05 pm
9 Nov 2 @Houston 1:00 pm
10 Nov 10 Carolina 8:30 pm *Monday Night Football*
11 Nov 16 @Green Bay 1:00 pm
12 Nov 23 Tennessee 1:00 pm
13 Nov 27 @Dallas 4:30 pm *Thanksgiving Day Game*
14 Dec 7 Seattle 4:25 pm
15 Dallas 8:30 pm *Sunday Night Football*
16 Dec 20 @Washington 4:30 PM, NFL Network
17 Dec 28 @N.Y. Giants 1:00 pm

Prop bets
Eagles total wins: 9
Foles total passing yards: 4200
Foles TD passes: 29.5
Foles total interceptions: 9.5
McCoy receiving yards: 400.5
McCoy rushing yards: 1250.5
McCoy total touchdowns: 11.5
Maclin receiving yards: 900.5
Maclin total receiving TDs: 6
Cooper total receiving TDs: 5.5
Cooper total receiving yards: 800.5
Cole: total sacks: 7
Boykin total interceptions: 2.5

Preseason Review

Here's a brief recap of all 4 fake Eagles games:

Bears
This was an awfully played game and even worse to watch. The things I took from the game was if you want to slow down and disrupt the Eagles offense have the refs call a penalty every other play on either team - it doesn't really matter who, and the defense is still at its weakest when the opposition has 3rd and long. What morons got from the game - Foles is a fraud because he threw 2 picks.

Patriots
Another terrible game to watch. The Patriots offense went up and down the field on the Eagles defense with ease as they continued to give up every 3rd and long they had either through a bad play or a penalty. The Eagles offense improved, but wasn't totally clicking like last year. The player of note was Jordan Matthews having a pretty good second half along with Mark Sanchize.

Steelers
As an Eagles fan this was a good game to watch. If you were a Steelers fan it was awful. The first and second team offenses drove with relative ease on the once vaunted first team Steelers defense. The Eagles defense had surprisingly good pressure and played much better overall though Roethlisberger and the Steelers looked terrible.

Jets
Despite few to no starters playing, this game was fairly watchable. The Eagles backups executed well, flags were at a relative minimum, and there were several standout plays. It helped that the Jets suck. The big story of the game was a kicker not named Henery made 2 field goals from beyond 50 so the Eagles are a lock to win the Super Bowl now.

Various evaluations from the fake games:
Foles - not as sharp as he was last year on touch passes, but he is throwing with more authority and velocity.
Sanchez - greatest backup in NFL history.
Barkley - if he didn't throw a ton of interceptions he could be a good backup someday.
McCoy - looks ready for a 5,000 yard season. Also appears he still gets easily winded despite claiming he's in the greatest shape ever.
Sprouls - looked decent. I guess he's under wraps until the games are real.
Polk - MIA
Maclin - caught almost everything thrown his way and when he didn't, his throw the flag gesture was so good you wouldn't even know he missed an entire season.
Cooper - in his one preseason appearance made 1 great catch but dropped 3 catchable ones.
Celek - will be a vegetable at 50.
Ertz - every beatwriter's favorite for a "break out year."
Casey - looked solid.
Allen Barbre - not good enough in pass protection. Will become a whipping boy as Lance Johnson serves his suspension.
Herremans - Solid as usual. Had good blocks downfield on some plays.
Mathis - had bad penalties in early games, solid now I guess.
Kelce - pretty damn good.
Peters - did the usual steamrolling guys.

As for the defense, all the starting secondary was getting burned or called for penalties. They will have to adjust or hope the NFL retreats on their renewed enforcing one of the most unfair, arbitrary, and frustrating penalties in the game. It no doubt will become a ploy of the receivers to run into a defensive back and fall down to draw an illegal contact call. I liked what I saw from free agent signing, Malcolm Jenkins. He played well and appeared to be a leader on the field and off. Others that played well included inside linebackers, Kendricks and Ryans. Vinny Curry stood out at times with good pass rushing as did Brandon Graham.

Rookie evaluations from the fake games:
Michael Smith II - mostly underwhelming so far, but you can see some of the touted athleticism and versatility. Sadly for a first rounder you're not supposed to be a project. Smith needs to learn how to play and figure out what he's doing to be effective in the NFL, and unfortunately for the team this will take time.
Jordan Matthews - While he looks decent, I don't really see what the hype, like "baby T.O.," is about. I don't see any blazing speed, tremendous strength, explosiveness or razzle dazzle. And when he awkwardly "shake-n-bakes" he doesn't fool anyone. To me, he looks like a college player. He was used effectively in bubble screens and short passes, but didn't seem to be able to get open downfield. He is a big improvement over Avant though since he does catch it and turn upfield for good yards instead of falling down. He also doesn't point to the sky after 4 yard gains.
Josh Huff - didn't do all that much as a receiver, but had a kickoff return for a TD. And then another return where he got rocked and wrecked his shoulder.
Jaylen Watkins - got burned badly vs. the Bears but also made some decent plays and had a pick. He'll get better as he figures things out. We hope.
Taylor Hart - probably destined for the practice squad.
Ed Reynolds - probably destined to be cut.
Beau Allen - stood out because he has long hair and is fat, but also because his play and effort was excellent. He most likely will rotate in at nose tackle.
Henry Josey - I liked this guys quickness and moves and hope he makes the team, but I think he will be cut. I prefer him over second year RB, Matthew Tucker. But he may lose out because apparently Tucker is better at pass protection. Tucker also has more size.
Cody Parkey - brought in via a trade to challenge Henery for the kicking job and hit on his only 2 chances, both which were over 50 yards. Sample size is extremely small.

Saturday the roster will be semi-finalized - here's a cut tracker via Birds 24/7. Sunday I will publish the super important "season prediction post."

World Cup Preview

Yo, so it is the time in America when some people will pretend to care about soccer, mostly as an excuse for getting drunk during the middle of a workday.  Yes, it is World Cup time, when the only sports organization more corrupt than the NCAA brings all the top international squads (plus the United States) together to determine exactly who is the best team in the world.   I am basically recycling some of the post I wrote four years ago (italics) on the top 10 players in the world.  Again I won’t pretend to know much more about soccer than what my prepubescent self learned while playing the “beautiful game” on South Jersey “pitches” during the early 1980s, I do know how to make knee jerk judgments based mostly on appearance and ethnocentricity. Hence here is a guide to some of the players who will be appearing the 2014 World Cup- based on a list compiled by noted soccer authority CBS sports.

Lionel Messi
I know this dude plays for Barcalona and basically jukes defenders out of their jocks. He also has the stereotypical swarmy, long hair, European crybaby footballer look, even though he is from Argentina. While he does indeed have the look, I am sure the guy must be tough because if I was the coach of some low level opponent I’d encourage hard tackles plus the occasional forearm to Messi’s head all match long. I also like to think that this dude has not produced in international competition like he does in club football, but that is probably wishful thinking.

While most of this holds true (he has shorter hair these days), Messi is the undisputed greatest player in the world with the greatest cleats ever constructed.

Cristiano Ronaldo
This guy plays for Portugal. Along with being a great soccer player he is famous for being handsome, diving, owning a fashion boutique and 2006 incident involving a Wayne Rooney red card in a Portugal-England game. Negative press form the incident might have been a reason for Ronaldo moving on from Manchester United to Real Madrid. That and 132 million dollars.

All of this still holds true, but Ronaldo is somehow now more handsome and more rich than he was 4 years ago.   He also came up huge in what amounted to a world cup play-in game versus Sweden and the The Zlatan, scoring three goals.


Neymar Jr.
This small, young dude plays for Brazil.  He is very fast and agile and gritty and any other adjective that applies to little guys who play sports.   Here is a highlight video which also reveals Neymar has been known to sport a haircut that would not look out of place at Hot Topic.  He recently moved from Santos to top team Barcalona, which undoubtedly sharpened his game.  Still I wonder why he is isn’t called Lil’ Neymar.

Luis Suarez
A great goal scorer who plays for Uruguay.  He is also one of the most hated players in the world, a dirty, diving crybaby who twice bit an opponent during play.

Andres Iniesta
... dudes play for Spain ... one is going bald.  Now going balder but still on the best team.

Clint Dempsey
Seriously CBS, dude plays for America.  “Duece” also starred in this interesting Nike advertisement.

Arjen Robben
Unoriginally nicknamed the Flying Dutchman, this dude scored a million goals for top club team Bayern Munich.  According to the PhDs in the youtube comments he doesn’t pass, thus he is like Kobe.

Mario Balotelli
This guy may best be compared to TO, in that he is a great player who may or may not be mentally ill.  The fact that he is a Black dude who plays for Italy may also influence some fans impressions of his play.  Balotelli was once involved in a car accident while carrying 5000 British pounds, because, as he told police, “he is rich”.  He also set his house ablaze shooting off fireworks, crashed a press conference of his old team, and was subject of a rap song.

Mesut Ozil
German Midfielder who is recovering from a hamstring injury.  He is the top playmaker on a strong German squad.  Boring and efficient, like the stereotype.  Highlights are here.

Wayne Rooney
Rooney looks more like a typical hooligan than player, which is probably one of the keys to his popularity. Rooney plays club football for Manchester United, who suck for all the same reasons the NY Yankees suck. In the 4 years since South Africa, Rooney got hair plugs and enjoyed a career renaissance, even as Manchester United went into the toilet.

The Eagles 2014 draft

Assessing the Eagles draft as a whole there are several noticeable patterns. The picks have versatility, "high football IQ," are graduates, team leaders and mature players from big schools. And in most cases the picks have the size and length Kelly desires. If you want reasons why DeSean Jackson is gone, it's because he was none of those things except being from a big school. The Eagles do not appear to want specialists. They want guys with multiple skills and intelligence and were very productive in their college careers.

With their first round pick the Eagles picked Marcus Smith and they received lots of criticism for not many good reasons. People that have never watched him play a snap were the most vocal of course. Anyway, Smith was chosen because he can line up anywhere to rush the passer - standing up or from either side of the line. He can also "set the edge" against the run and can drop back in coverage. In constrast, they passed on Dee Ford which many people thought was better. I think the Eagles passed on him because according to what I read, he is pretty much just an edge speed rusher and is undersized with shorter height and arms. Picking Dee Ford is picking Brandon Graham again so it is no shock Andy Reid drafted him. As for the belief that Smith could have been had later, the team in DC was going to pick him with their first pick in the second round. Marcus Smith game videos.

The second round pick of Jordan Matthews, a wide receiver from Vanderbilt, got people excited. And just to prove how stupid, fickle and shallow Eagles fans are (or at least the ones that call radio stations), people actually said they would be happier with the draft if the Eagles picked Matthews first and Smith second, as if that makes any sense at all. Matthews tore up the SEC and will supposedly play the slot and be a big target for Foles, but one that can get some yards after the catch unlike Jason Avant. Even though he is seen as "narrow-framed," Matthews is tough and durable as he played all 52 games at Vanderbilt. And watching some of the videos he still makes the catch despite getting drilled. He is apparently really smart with a high football IQ, and despite being a diva wide receiver, was a team captain. Also, if you watch the Jordan Matthews game videos, he never does anything demonstrative after he makes the play. He just flips the ball to the ref.

The third round pick of Josh Huff, wide receiver from Oregon, is another guy the "experts" think was picked too high, but just as many think will make a big impact. He may either be destined to be a special teams player and a depth guy and a guy they bring in to block as a wide receiver on screens and running plays or a big contributor and maybe someone that will effectively run those end arounds that Jackson took out of bounds after a 0 yard gain. If you look at his college stats he caught 12 TDs last season and can play the slot or outside. He is also physically tough and does not run out of bounds. They say he likes to punish defenders. Mike Mayock says, "He plays receiver like an old running back." Another upside is the guy already knows the offense and his skill set matches what Kelly is doing. A downside is this guy is the one pick they made that has character and maturity issues. Josh Huff game videos.

With the first pick in round four the Eagles picked Jaylen Watkins, a cornerback from Florida. This guy has that versatility trait the Eagles prize and can play both corner, safety and nickelback but probably needs to bulk up to play safety. The guy is also really fast, fluid, quick and said to have a high football IQ. His weaknesses are his size, shortish arms and Asante Samuelsesque tackling that I noticed from watching the Jaylen Watkins game videos.

With the first pick of round five the Eagles went to the Oregon well again and selected Taylor Hart, DL. The scouting reports say that this guy's strength is playing the run. But watching some of the videos he gets pushed off the line pretty easily. He does slide down the line nicely at times and makes some plays. He also recognized screens really well and even dropped back in coverage occasionally. He was a four-year starter, has that length and size the Eagles want and all the good team character traits as well. He can run decently and has "violent hands" and tackles well. He fits the Eagles 3-4 defensive scheme and already knows it. He supposedly needs to learn to play with power and get stronger. Cornerback Jaylen Watkins benched 1 more rep than he did and wide receiver pick, Matthews matched him. Taylor Hart game videos.

Later in the fifth round the Eagles finally went safety and chose Ed Reynolds from Stanford. This guy has good size and is a ball hawk and impressed the Eagles coaches with his ability to break down plays. (He is a smart dude from Standford after all.) And once he picks it he gets yards going the other way. He finished 1 yard short of setting the NCAA record for interception return yards and returned 3 picks for TDs. His weaknesses are he's slow, rigid, can't jump, takes bad angles and misses tackles. So athletically he'll fit in with the current group no problem. Ed Reynolds game videos. The Eagles last pick was in the seventh round and they chose Beau Allen, a nose tackle from Wisconsin. This dude is fat: 6'-2" and 333 pounds. He is also a super patriot and tweeted he was happy to be an Eagle because it is the most patriotic bird. Ok, he's really not fat, just big and can "squat a small house." He is tough and durable - played all 54 games - and plays with lots of energy. His weaknesses is he doesn't make good use of his size and his rushing technique is bad. Hopefully Jerry Azzinaro can coach him up and he can stuff the run and stop those quarterback sneaks. Watching some of the Beau Allen game videos I didn't see him make one play though.

Many people have said the Eagles should have drafted Louis Nix to be their big fat guy at nose tackle when they had a chance in the third round. "He fell into their lap! He would have been a steal!" Nix was projected to be a much higher pick. Are any of these pro-Nix people wondering why he fell into the third round? Obviously lots of teams became aware of some issue with this guy and his stock dropped like a rock and that's why the Eagles and a lot of other people passed.

Here's a listing of the free agents the Eagles also signed:

Josh Andrews, OL, Oregon State (6-2, 311)
Blake Annen, TE, Cincinnati (6-4, 247)
Karim Barton, OL, Morgan State (6-2, 313)
Kadron Boone, WR, LSU (6-0, 204)
Trey Burton, TE, Florida (6-2, 224)
David Fluellen, RB, Toledo (5-11, 224)
Josh Fulton, CB, Alabama (6-0, 195)
Kevin Graf, OL, USC (6-6, 309)
Donald Hawkins, OL, Texas (6-4, 301)
Henry Josey, RB, Missouri (5-8, 194)
Wade Keliikipi, DT, Oregon (6-2, 303)
Daytawion Lowe, S, Oklahoma State (5-11, 196)
Frank Mays, DE, Florida A&M (6-9, 291)
Quron Pratt, WR, Rutgers (5-11, 195)
Carey Spear, K, Vanderbilt (5-9, 194)

If you want to read the value of each of these guys check out Birds 24/7.

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.