Archive for January, 2009

As we all know, Andy Reid and the Eagles are no strangers to NFC Championship games. Sunday will mark the fifth time in ten seasons that Reid’s Eagles will vie for a shot to play for the coveted Lombardi Trophy. As impressive as that accomplishment is, Reid’s 1-3 record in NFC title tilts sullies an otherwise successful coaching career. Losers of three straight from 2001-2003, the Birds finally broke through in 2004 with a win over the Atlanta Falcons to advance to their first Super Bowl since January 1981. A day to remember for certain. It was the high point [...]

The Eagles did it again. As they did in Week 14, they smacked the Giants around on Sunday and came away with another inspired win. Boy, was this one fun to watch. The Birds overcame another sluggish start on offense and rode their dominant defense to victory. Here’s yet another look from the Eagle Eye: For the second consecutive week Asante Samuel comes up with a big-time interception. Does anyone think he isn’t worth every penny the Eagles are paying him? The offensive line allowed zero sacks in three meetings with the Giants this season. Impressive. There were two timely [...]

What a fantastic win versus the Giants! Plenty of game-balls to dish out.

There must be something to this whole #6 seed thing. For the second year in a row the #1 seed in the NFC falls in the Divisional playoffs. Last year it was the Giants. Today, Big Blue got the script flipped by the Eagles who marched into the Meadowlands to down the Giants for the second time in five weeks. We knew it would be physical. We knew it would be low scoring. We knew it would be close. When the smoke cleared, it was a 23-11 win for the Birds. As expected, it was all about defense. The Eagles [...]

Enough of the chit-chat and hype. Time to breakdown this highly anticipated Eagles-Giants NFC East playoff brawl. I’m going position by position to see which team will come out on top. Let’s get to it, shall we. Head Coach – Tom Coughlin has an 8-6 playoff record. Andy Reid is 9-6. Coughlin has a ring. Reid doesn’t. Advantage: Giants Quarterback – Eli Manning is 4-2 in the post-season, having won his last four. He has historically struggled against the Eagles. Donovan McNabb has a 8-5 playoff record. He’s tossed four touchdown passes in two meetings this season. Advantage: Eagles Running [...]

I was sent a brand new Eagles fight song the other day. The artist’s name is C.Nidice and the song is called Eagles Game Face ’08. He’s a big-time fan from South Jersey. So send the guy a little love and give it a listen. I’m far from an expert, but it’s pretty good. Here’s the link.

One of the loyal readers of this site – Freak – turned me on to this. Eagles fans should love it. Yesterday I posted Stewart Bradley‘s selection to Peter King’s All-Pro Team, but in the same issue of Sports Illustrated is Don Banks’ All-Disappointment Team. The great thing is no Eagles made the squad. Whew!! However, even better is all three of our NFC East brothers were represented. The likes of Plaxico Burress, Jason Taylor and everyone’s favorite egomaniacal owner, Jerry Jones, all get hammered. It’s a fun read, so if you’re lookin’ for some much needed humor leading up [...]

Second-year linebacker Stewart Bradley has earned a spot on Peter King’s All-Pro Team. King calls Bradley, “the ideal sideline-to-sideline rover for defensive coordinator Jim Johnson‘s unpredictable scheme.” On the season Bradley registered 108 tackles, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble and 1 interception. It’s nice to see Bradley getting some praise. I think he and Quintin Mikell are both future stars in the league. He leads a young, fast, aggressive trio of linebackers that also includes Chris Gocong and Akeem Jordan. All three are a big reason why the Birds have improved to the #3 overall defense. Here’s the SI article.

The Giants have what all NFL defenses fear. Not one, but two 1000 yard rushers. Not since the 1985 Cleveland Browns accomplished this feat with Kevin Mack and Earnest Byner has a team featured a pair of 1000 yard runners. Brandon Jacobs and Derek Ward combined for 2114 yards and 17 touchdowns in 2008. Each back averaged over five yards per carry and helped the G-Men become the top rushing team in the league. How do you stop this punishing duo? Well, the easy answer is you don’t, unless you commit ten guys to the box and essentially play a [...]

The Giants miss Plaxico Burress. Not his gun-toting nightclub antics, but his ability to stretch defenses. The Giants’ brass and many fans don’t seem to agree. They are saying what they should say and claiming his absence is not affecting their play on the field. But when Plax was playing the Giants were unstoppable, even if he wasn’t putting up his customary huge numbers. His presence alone keeps opposing defenses on their toes, fearful of the big-play threat. This is not to say Big Blue cannot win without their petulant wideout, buy they did lose three of their last four [...]

With repeated success comes outside attention. Such is the case for Eagles’ GM Tom Heckert. According to NFL insider Adam Schefter, the Cleveland Browns will interview Heckert for their vacant GM position sometime in the next few days. Heckert has been with the Birds since 2001 but wasn’t awarded the title of GM until 2006. This past May he signed a contract extension through 2011. This isn’t all that surprising since the Browns are interviewing everyone under the sun to fill their coaching and front office openings. The situation in Cleveland is a mess, but Heckert would probably assume more [...]

Eagles-Giants, part trois. It seems only fitting that for the Eagles to continue their unlikely late-season surge they must dispatch Big Blue for a second time in a month. For all the hype Eagles-Cowboys gets every year, in reality it’s the G-Men who have given the Eagles their most trouble during the Reid/McNabb era. Reid is 26-14 versus the Redskins and Cowboys in his career, but only 10-12 (including playoffs) against the Giants. The majority of the games have been close and more than a few have had memorable finishes. Like in 2006, when Eli Manning hit Plaxico Burress in [...]