So clearly, the Eagles are the dogs of the NFCE. In watching the Eagles abysmal performance today, the thing that stands out to me is that the offense has no heart. They’ve pretty much tanked in the second half of every game except the one against the Rams. I’m not sure what the problem is, but I’m starting to think that they might not be as good as I thought they were. The Redskins, on the other hand, look good. Campbell, while not throwing any touchdowns, is looking better and better with each game. If they weren’t in the NFCE, I could actually dig the Redskins.
One of the big problems plaguing the Eagles today is the fact that their bum receivers keep on dropping passes. In several drives, their first play was a quick pass that hit the receivers directly in the hands that they didn’t bring in. I understand GM Andy Reid’s philosophy and his resistance to invest in a stud receiver, but at some point, you need to have the type of receiver who can haul the ball in when the play is on the line. It’s all good to spread the ball around when the other offensive schemes are working and Mr. No-Name Receiver can make a relatively easy play, but when the run game’s not working and the defense is playing tight, you need a playmaker. Eagles don’t have that.
Ummmm..they paid all that money for Asante Samuel to do what, exactly? I’d rather have them losing now than in December, but I’ll be dogged if they don’t look like they’re gonna be able to get it done when the weather’s cold. They can’t even do it when it’s nice outside.
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I guess, in the end, not much changed from last year. The Eagles were the fourth-best team in a beast of a division.And it appears the same is true today, even with all their improvement. It could be that we all read too much into them keeping it close at Dallas.
No shame in that. And, hell, the Redskins are much better than anyone could have thought.
Also, with B. Westbrook on a bad wheel, that hurts the offense a hell of a lot. He has sort of covered for the Eagles’ absence of a marquee receiver in recent years. But you can’t keep making him and D Mac try to make it work on their lonesome.
Why do football teams get “Macho” when they get on the 1-yard line? The Chargers had fourth and goal on the one, and had the choice of kicking a field goal with plenty of time left, but couldn’t score the TD. A little trickeration is sometimes called for.
Repeat after me: Flacco is a rookie and The Ravens were JOBBED by the refs!
one of them andy reids is gonna hafta go. either coach or gm needs to go to somebody else. the so-called west coast offense works, but everybody that’s had big success with it, including the eagles themselves, had major weapons. you can’t win in the NFL with marginal talent.
that said, the eagles and the chargers got some kinks to work out. if the stillers win this game tonight, they’re better than i thought. way better.
i swear the cowboys are about the luckiest team in the league. i remember troy quoting a stat about them last week, that they had something like 22 fumbles last year, but only 5 were recovered by the other team. same thing happened today with that last touchdown pass. good luck happens to good teams, but really good teams do well when the luck runs out. so far with the cowboys, it seems that their luck runs out in january. we’ll see what happens going forward.
i can’t believe the bengals are as bad as they are.
The Bengals are a city in flames. The Lions are a city in ruins. The Raiders are Atlantis.
There’s a part of me that could not wrap my head around the Eagles getting manhandled on both sides of the ball yesterday. Yes… their offense has never been what you’d call explosive, but their defenses over the years have been physical and energetic. Yesterday was the third Eagles game that I’ve seen at least a part of and, I swear, they haven’t played D yet. The Dallas game I could halfway rationalize. But now I see they’re o-l-d, s-l-o-w, and simply can’t get after people the way other Eagle defenses have. That fourth-and-two at the end of the game said it all; the Skins broke down their front door, kicked their dog, walked into their kitchen, ate their lunch, and then bedded their girlfriend upstairs.
I suspect, like every team, the Eagles’ performance is an extension of their braintrust. With the exception of McNabb, Westbrook, Dawkins, (maybe) Tre Thomas, and DeSean Jackson, they don’t draft well. They’ve done a poor job of developing a lot of those mid- to low-round picks that separate the great teams from the good teams, and the good from the mediocre. And they’re not that good at recruiting free agents either.
The Cowboys are overrated. They have an abundance of talent at the offensive skill positions. Their defense is also suspect, after you get past their defensive ends. The Skins broke out an old-fashioned can of Whup Ass on them too, exposing Terence Newman, Roy Williams, et al., as dilettantes. As likeable as Marion Barber is, he’s no game breaker; the Cowboys should be figuring out how to start Felix Jones ASAP. Then there’s Broadway Tony, who has a penchant for playing like Sideshow Bob in big games. And let’s not forget Poison 2K8 — T.O. — who’ll find a way, somehow, to undermine whatever unity and momentum the Cowboys can muster. But most of all…
The ‘Boys Achilles heel is the coach. It’s that obvious. It’s the same, only worse for the Chargers. Norvil the Awful is a disaster as a head coach. A human black cloud. I suffered him for 7 seasons in D.C. inventing highly creative ways for teams to underperform. He’s a fantastic QB mentor/instructor/guru. But he’s poor at motivating a team and delegating authority among his coaches.
Still, the ‘Boys are among the NFC elite, just not the world beaters every sports talk radio host and caller has made them out to be. The Skins are much better than advertised and the Giants aren’t getting their propers. Neither are the Panthers. The entire NFC West should be remanded into the custody of the Pac-10 before someone gets hurt.
The Ravens ought to switch their uniform colors to B&W. That’s how they play. It seems the Steelers are in a transitional period after losing players to retirement and free agency. Their O-line and backfield is seriously thin and if it weren’t for Cleveland’s unexplainable napping, and the Ravens and Bengals mediocrity, they’d be in real trouble. In the AFC, I’d keep my eye on Jacksonville, Denver, and maybe Buffalo. I think this year the AFC might belong to the Jags.
As for Marvin Lewis, Herman Edwards, and Rod Marinelli… it’s been fun.
It’s interesting that the R’s had a QB guru in Norv Turner, who eventually failed, a QB guru in Spurrier, who failed, and now a QB guru in Zorn, who’s 4-1. There’s still a long way to go, but something tells me it’s the presence of a good defense (and Srpings and J. Taylor didn’t even suit yesterday), and an O-line, that forms the basis of a winner- not the West Coast philosophy of the coach.
If Spurrier or Gibbs had drafted athletes who were capable of protecting their passers, they’d still be here.
I’ll still give Norv the benefit of the doubt. The way they played in the post season last year earned him some slack. I feel if Gates and Tomlinson had been healthy in the AFC Championship Game, the Bolts would have beaten the Cheaters, who were ripe for a loss by then.
Re: the Skins, Campbell is a damn good quarterback. I liked his style at Auburn.
Oh yeah, Marvin Lewis must have some dirt on the owners of the Bengals. Admittedly they were set back when Palmer’s need got blown up, but they have been a poor team since then.
HA HA HA. I was just about to express my frustration that Reggie Bush refuses to run north and south, always looking for a big play. I’ll just be quiet now, after his second punt runback (and his almost runback.)
That should be “Palmer’s Knee”
re: the cowboys coach…i swear that phillips is just on the sideline to look confused. cuz that’s all he ever does. ever. i’m sure he must really do something, but very rarely does he look like he has a detailed awareness of what’s going on in the game, let alone any influence.
reggie bush kr/pr >> reggie bush hb.
the way the stillers are playing, they look like one of the more dangerous teams in the league. even though we’re not really used to them beating teams through the air, they can do that when they need to. if they continue to get healthy and keep playing well, they could be trouble come december and january.
quiet is kept, i really like how the redskins are playing right now. that’s the way i wish the eagles played, win or lose.
i first noticed the decline of the eagles d a couple seasons ago, when they lost to no in no, before donovan’s knee got hurt. in a game similar to the one yesterday, only closer, the saints were able to keep the ball for the last 7 minutes and change because the defense couldn’t get off the field on 3rd down. donovan was as hot then as he is now, maybe a little hotter, and had they been able to get the ball back, i was pretty sure they would’ve won. not so sure about yesterday, but the defensive problem has grown.
phillips is just on the sideline to look confused. cuz that’s all he ever does. ever. i’m sure he must really do something, but very rarely does he look like he has a detailed awareness of what’s going on in the game, let alone any influence.
The Raiders need a titular head coach. Maybe he’s auditioning.
“…the way the stillers are playing, they look like one of the more dangerous teams in the league…”
Yeah- and that’s been w/o Willie Parker. The loss of Polamalu hampered them last year- he keeps going, and going…