Archive for December, 2009

Welcome to December NFC East football. Does it get any better? Nope. My only real question heading into this one is about Big Blue. Are they a legit contender or not? I’m fairly confident the Eagles are in the mix, but the G-Men are a bit of an enigma. Kinda like the Birds were a month ago. I think this game will be decided on defense. Eli Manning has had recent fits trying to diagnose gang green coverages and blitzes. I would expect more of the same tonight. Eli has the receivers to move the ball, but I don’t think [...]

Time to take a leisurely stroll around the always entertaining blogosphere. What the hell is going on with the defending Super Bowl champs? (Nice Pick, Cowher) Kentucky freshman John Wall is pretty good at basketball. (FanSided Sports Blog, Suicide Drills) Gatorade really blew it when they dropped Tiger Woods. (Bootlegger Sports) Jack Nicklaus chimes in about Tiger. (Pro Golf Now) The Memphis Grizzlies sent out a Merry Christmas E-card. (That NBA Lottery Pick) Brian Kelly will be the next Notre Dame coach fired three years from now. (With Leather) Just is case you missed last night’s episode of Jersey Shore, [...]

It’s that time of week Eagles Nation. Let’s eavesdrop on Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb as they prepare for Sunday night’s NFC East smackdown with Big Blue. Reid and McNabb are seated in Reid’s office enjoying some Beluga caviar and chilled vodka. McNabb: This caviar is the bomb, Big Red. Reid: Yeah, not too shabby. I had Lurie throw in a case with my new contract. McNabb: That’s bullshit. I asked for some Cristal as part of my new deal and all I got was a month’s supply of Slim Jims. Reid: Hah, you suck.

He’s a highly touted rookie playing a highly scrutinized position in a city that isn’t easy to please. He was a first-round holdout who came from a spread offense that didn’t require him to run sophisticated routes. He was thrust into a starting role early in the season and asked to contribute sooner than expected. He’s dealing with a painful case of plantar fasciitis and a sore shoulder. Such is life for Jeremy Maclin. The 19th pick in the 2009 NFL Draft is learning fast how to handle the December grind on a contending team. It can’t be ice cream [...]

From the worst kept secret file, the Eagles have awarded Andy Reid a three-year extension that will keep him in Philly through 2013. If you didn’t see this coming, then you haven’t been paying close attention to our beloved Birds. Is this the right move? Yes, but it doesn’t really make much difference because Reid, Lurie and Banner are tied at the hip. Barring a couple back-to-back disastrous seasons, Big Red ain’t going anywhere. Love him or hate him, he wins games. Well, everything but the BIG GAME. Now he has three more years to accomplish that goal. Sigh. In [...]

Ever since Kevin Curtis went under the knife to clean out his ailing knee, and Brian Westbrook suffered his second concussion in less than a month, I’ve been waiting for this dynamic-when-healthy-duo to be placed on IR. Sadly, that has yet to happen. What, if anything, can either player offer when/if they return? I say not much. Curtis has been on a steady downhill slide since January. DeSean Jackson‘s emergence and the drafting of Jeremy Maclin put Curtis on notice. Get back on the field and start balling, or your days are numbered. Well, his days in midnight green are [...]

Finally, a convincing win. Nice. The Eagles seem to have found a little consistency the last three games. A balanced offense and an aggressively creative defense have been common themes. Both these things were on display in the crushing defeat of the Falcons. Once again, there were plenty of worthy candidates in line to take home the coveted cheesesteak. I could have easily jammed five guys on the bun, but I elected to narrow the field down to a pair of standout gents. And the winners are…

Jason Peters suffered some sort of head/shoulder/neck injury in yesterday’s convincing 34-7 win over the Falcons. In his weekly Monday presser this afternoon, coach Andy Reid classified it as a “dinger.” Apparently, a dinger is a combination of a stinger and a ding to the head. And I just thought it was another term for a home run. At any rate, Reid’s descriptions of injuries are always creative. Like Andy, I’m no doctor, but I would be willing to guess that Peters had one them gosh darn concussions. Uh oh! Methinks the dreaded “c” word has replaced sports hernia as [...]

I love blowouts, but they have a tendency to mask lingering problems, and the Eagles still have some of those. That being said, it feels great to crush a team 34-7. Here’s another look from the Eagle Eye. 4/11 on third downs? Terrible. 3/6 in the red zone? More terrible. And yet, they still racked 27 offensive points. I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop. 8 penalties for 62 yards. I think I counted four 15 yarders. Again, same old Birds. 26 rushes for 103 yards. I’ll take that every week. Poor outing for Shady. Nine touches for [...]

Guess what? The Eagles still know how to blow out opponents, and Michael Vick still knows how to score touchdowns. It was a nice change of pace from the last two weeks when the Birds had to narrowly escaped with victories. This one took a while to get ugly, but when the final gun fired it was 34-7. You know it’s bad when Kevin Kolb gets mop-up duty. Yeah, the red zone struggles, dumb penalties, inaccurate throws and dropped passes were still in full effect, but so was a stifling defense that had a significant advantage over an undermanned Falcons [...]

We all knew this was gonna happen, right? Michael Vick‘s long awaited return to Atlanta culminated with his first touchdown of the season, and his first rushing score since October of 2006. Vick took it in from five yards out to end a 12 play scoring drive for the Eagles. Wildcat, wilddog, call it what you want, it was a touchdown. I say good for Vick. At least now we can stop harping on when he was going to do something productive this season. In case you missed it, here’s a look at the touchdown: Subscribe to ITI

Games like this used to be automatic for the Eagles. On the road in December against a struggling opponent. Chalk it up in the win column. That was then. This is 2009. The Birds are wounded and still maddeningly inconsistent. It won’t help matters not having their most explosive offensive weapon. No, not Brian Westbrook. We’re more than used to him not being available. I’m talking about DeSean Jackson. Playing without Jackson could be problematic for a team that relies on big plays to win. The dude has almost single-handedly won three games this season. What will they do without [...]