Are you ready for some Football

It's been two preseason games, my Eagles are now 1-1 first was a win vs the Baltimore Ravens where the starters quickly marched down the field scored a quick touchdown and sat down, and the second was a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers where the starting offense posted a goose egg and the starting defense surrendered 21 points. Now to be honest in the first game it wasn't actually all of the starting offense because Desean Jackson was still holding out and Jeremy Maclin was still suffering from his then undisclosed but highly speculated disease. It turned out to be a virus and Maclin should be able to practice by next week and hopefully play on opening night. Jackson played versus Pittsburgh and in an example of what SHOULD happen for the rest of the year with no Maclin on the other side he was tripled covered on the opening play just in case the Eagles decided to go for their opening play quick strike(which they unsuccessfully did).

I know I'm overdue with the review but....

If you are living under a rock and do not understand what just happened in Philadelphia Eagle land yesterday afternoon, I feel sorry for you(Almost as sorry as I feel for my Giants fan friends who I already know not to talk to right now). As a football fan what happen yesterday is something that ONLY happens in video games. If you are down by 21 points with less than 10 minutes to go in the final quarter NO WAY IN HELL do you come back and win the game in regulation, especially if your OFFENSE has to score the points. If you get 3 defensive scores and one offensive okay that MIGHT be expected. But 3 offensive td's and then (nah we will get to that later).

Started and ended with 10

Man what a second half, we started the second half with a 10 point lead and we ended the game with a 10 point lead. I think all that smack Arian Foster was talking came back to haunt Houston, yes the Texans took momentary control in the 3rd quarter but don't talk trash if you haven't put us away yet, we'd been driving on you all day, and again MISSED TD PASSES were killing us. They gave a Texans player credit for a great play on the ball only on the replay to see "HIS CHEST DEFLECTED IT", as a team we are gonna have to do something about that, all those damn dropped TD passes cost us in the chicago game, damn near cost us in this game and when we go to the playoffs will definitely cost us then.

You can see it on the field, we take teams breath away when we go on some of these drives they do their best and they see the ball coming in, but instead of us catching those passes we keep dropping them, giving our opponents hope. "Whew they are too hyped up, they aren't even handling their fundamentals", and for a wide receiver it doesn't get more fundamental then follow the ball into your hands, then you chest and HOLD ON. Desean got 84 yards receiving, but no TD's(which of course for me hurts because I want him to do well being an all star wide reciever) Maclin Didn't get any TD's either so he is stuck at 7(but for a second year player to be damn near at 1000 yards, again since Desean did it last year, and 10 TD's thats just awesome) but this season has to be considered a success.

Of course while we won the game after such an amazingly bad third quarter where we game up 14 unanswered points, to the fourth where we took them right back, the closer we get to the end of the season the more 2 questions are starting to become REALLY LOUD, what are we gonna do about all of our young speedsters. Desean is about to be a free agent, Vick is about to be a free agent(why did we give Kolb all that damn money yeesh) and I can guarantee you if we let the season end, it will be a bidding war for those two players.  If Desean focuses and basically catches some of those mental mistakes drops he has whew NOBODY can cover him, it looked like all night Houston had a policy of "Focus on a leg and do not let that leg go" and the punter man please, um if it ain in the rafters this ball ain going near him, I like my cushy job and it's "DO NOT LET DESEAN JACKSON CATCH THIS FOOTBALL IN SPACE", I've noticed teams kick it out of bounds, they (if the punter has the leg for it) kick it high, they kick it away from him but nobody wants to just let him have a free touch, free touch are you crazy do you see how hard it is to stop him in coverage?

Then we have the issue of our defense I know from madden that over the next 2 years a lot of our defensive players contracts expire(a few O lineman too) and I'm talking staples too, guys who get after the ball, strip it and make life hell for opposing offenses. Speaking of the defense Nate Allen for a rookie is playing awesome, yes he makes a few mistakes here and there but he is our starting safety that sack and strip near the end to basically put the game out of reach I know our defense, it is extremely complicated so for him to be A) starting and B) damn near having a pro bowl year. I mean you hear his name damn near every week and not because he got torched either. And we won the turnover battle this week(something we didn't do in the Chicago game) save for the 3rd quarter hiccup every facet of the game was pretty much perfect, Houston NEVER had good field position I think their average start was about the 19 yard line so that means special teams was hitting too.

8-4 still at the top of the NFC east, and 4 games til the playoffs I wanted the Chicago game, 3 losses and we could be talking home field especially with the tie breaker over Atlanta , but we've made some mistakes and vick with 1 turnover for every 7 td's he is responsible for is awesome(he has 15 passing, 6 running, 1 fumble lost and 2 interceptions  so even if you broke out running and passing TD's 1 out of 6 for running and 1 out of 7.5 for passing it's still awesome). And the Eagles showed poise there were some phantom flags, some invisible flags and a few inopportune penalties and we still won. That's what winning teams do, that's how you prepare yourself to hoist a Lombardi, but you can't just do it one week you have to do it week after week.

Even though we lost in Chicago we showed the ability to do it, we just have to catch what is thrown our way

And after a back and forth battle in South Philly

The Eagles are now in sole possesion of first place in the NFC East and all I can say is WOW. If you would have told me over the summer that we would:

1. Trade Donovan Mcnabb 

2. Still have a winning season through week 10 and 

3. Be tops in the division

Could I tell you I would still be on the ground right now laughing at you, belly laughs with tears in my eyes because that would be asking too much. I mean yeah for the better part of the last decade, it was a given but that was with Donovan at quarter back and with all the flack he gets let's be real here Donovan Mcnabb knows how to win football games, now yes Mike Vick knows how to win football games too Donovan has just had more success for a longer stretch of time.

And this game had me on the edge of my seat, if you were to tell me that we would drop 4 pretty much guaranteed TD passes, give up 14 straight points and the lead as well as get a field goal blocked and we would still win. Man I wouldn't believe you, but they pulled it out. As I said in the post I made at half time those two missed touchdown catches hurt and then the third drop by Maclin this was wacky world tonight. Jackson, Avant, and Maclin all dropped or missed passes that they are usually money on, nobody could have foreseen that and we still get a win. I can tell you one thing I know whats gonna be the focus in practice this week lol.

And our DEFENSE was awesome yes they gave up two TDs late one of them was after a penalty and the other after a turnover deep on our side of the field but they got five take aways and only turned the ball over once. Huh what do you mean the defense only turned the ball over once? Our second give away was on a Fumble by Asante Samuel after he had intercepted a pass by Eli Manning, Ahmad Bradshaw got his helmet on the ball just before Asanted was touched down. We got the ball back a few plays later but man was that a wacky game.

So Philadelphia Eagles, Number 1 in the NFC East for now next week Chicago

Whew and I thought last week was awesome

59 points, let me let that sink in for a second 59 points through 3 quarters. So the fact that we just cruised through the 4th quarter wow.

333 yards passing, 80 yards rushing, 4 TD passes, 2 rushing TD's. For those who say Mike Vick isn't a QB put that in your pipe and smoke it. We did it with long passes, long runs, Defense all we would have needed was a special teams touchdown to have made it a complete all phases of the game victory.

Yes we gave up 28 points, but it was garbage time for a good 50 minutes. I mean when I say we jumped on them in 16 minutes Philadelphia had scored 35 points. I'm sorry 35 UNANSWERED points. It seems yes we can be susceptible to the long pass but first Peyton and now Donovan has seen how well our secondary can lock down. Whew, I mean full throttle 45 minutes football. I can't say 60 minutes because the 4th quarter we were just cruisin basically spending time off the clock.

Everytime you turned your head the football was crossing into the endzone I mean 8 touchdowns scored by Philadelphia WOW, my wife will love it she has David kers on her fantasy team 11 points for akAers tonight. Plus a touchdown for Lesean McCoy I think she got 18 points but needed 20+ though so it was bitter sweet for the wife.

I love an eagles win, I love when we avenge losses but man this one was just wow. I hope we can play within ourselves come sunday when we play the Giants.

I was only gonna watch the first half of the Memphis Miami game but its turned into a great game. So I think I will stay up and watch the rest of it. Hope everyone is having a great night

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Wow what a way to start a game

The eagles score 35 straight and now the redskins have score 14 straight. Washingtons defense has tighten up now let's see if philly's defense can do the same.

Wooo interception. Philly's defense showed up so now its second and goal for philly Vick in for the touchdown. So it's 42-14 now, this game is wild I swear I'm loving how we are playing this game we took our foot off the gas for a second but that 14 points have made us go ahead and start scoring again.

A potential 31 point lead going in at half wow, what a game sacked Mcnabb to end the half so yep 31 point lead. I mean yes it looks like they have now locked down Desean Jackson after his long TD pass, and after Jeremy Maclin's long TD catch he's been locked down. I hope we run more in the second half to eat up the clock but a 31 point lead gives you some breathing room.

Okay I'm gonna watch the second half here's hoping for an injury free half and an Eagles Win

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And as they should ALL good things must come to an end

18

18

18

18

18

Even in our best years that damn number has haunted us, Captain Cranium the Eagle killer. Peyton Manning, for the longest Donovan had more Playoff wins but didn't have any head to head wins(still doesn't) and if Donovan didn't have any head to heads, then neither did Andy Reid. I know everybody says against all odds when they watch their team win a tough game, but today I can say without a doubt it was against all odds. Every call that could go against us went against us, my favorite still has to be the one on Austin Collins injury. I am sorry the man got hurt, but he caught the ball, took 3 steps(both feet hitting the ground) got himself into a defensive position and then got sandwiched. Yes I will not deny he got crushed but the call on the field pretty much tells me either the refs just threw a flag and then made up a penalty afterwards or else they had money on the game.

What do I mean? The call on the field was "The ruling on the field is an incomplete pass(first mistake), with a personal foul for hitting a defenseless player, 15 yard penalty, 1st down colts" some might say well if we had a time out we could have challenged the play. No it was 3rd down, the incomplete pass part would not have bothered me, 4th down they kick it we get the ball. It was the penalty, you can not challenge a flag and it was about 3 or 4 flags in this game that damn near cost the eagles the game. I can be a little more lenient with the blow to the head call, they may not call them consistently but there was at least obvious grounds for that one, the hand did brush the helmet. I don't like that it gave them a first down but that flag could be explained and MILDLY justified. Now tomorrow I fully expect the NFL to come out and say that the refs in the Eagles vs Colts game made the right call. They have to, there will be anarchy in the streets this week if they don't who knows how many down this will be now with refs blowing calls. Because it will go back to week one with Detroit, how can you erase a touchdown because he loses the ball when getting UP after his butt hits the ground. Seeing that call kind of told me what kind of season it was going to be ref wise, because nobody has a choice if your Rule Upholders are shown to not know the rules exactly how can you play the game?

I actually feel sorry for Roger Goodell, he has tried to clean up football he is trying to clean it up while still leaving the physicality in the game problem is this year he has hired a bunch of bumbling idiots. Bad calls should not be a running narrative every week. Every few weeks sure a guy can miss a call or make a bad call, but EVERY week? And not just kind of bad calls but GAME CHANGING calls, wow there are teams who would have much different records if the refs would have made the right call.

But hey, we won Michael Vick bested Peyton Manning in the Hunter Green and Silver all is right with the world, the streak is over and another remains intact(Andy Reid is 12-0 after a bye week), and in case anybody wonder WHY Asante Samuel gets paid the big bucks ahem when the game is on the line and you not only intercept the ball but run 11 seconds off the clock YOU DA MAN. We didn't need another score we had the lead I don't care if I win by 2 points or 50 I just want to win. By the way anybody notice Desean Jackson basically tell dude I don't play that. I know Desean is a skinny guy and USUALLY skinny guys are thought to be kind of timid or mousy especially the brash and loud ones. Talk about the heart of an eagle, you gonna give me a head shot pimpin I will stand my ground and give as good as I get. And while he may not have gotten that BURNER pass on the next play from Vick when he did get it can I tell you Djax is pretty much unstoppable, as the announcer set he just outran the ball. 3 guys versus one man and he still gets the 20 yard pass, then with less than 2 minutes on the clock he gets you a first down and then another 8 yards for insurance, yeah we got a false start call but hey clock management was perfect(I'm not gonna kvetch about 6 seconds on the play clock just hike it and let it go) penalized for almost as many yards as we had rushing and we still won. Fly, EAGLES, Fly

This one hurt

Now I may not have had to physically watch the game unfold the way it did but following it as I did on the 3 websites: I started on my old faithful cbssports , then they started acting up so I went to foxsports , but for some odd strange reason they had this really tiny game tracker box for me to try to watch the game on so I decided after dumping them like waaaay back in 04 because well back in 04 NFL.com's game tracker sucked, the updates were slow, the stats were always off, and all those ads popping up but NFL was where I was finally able to watch the game deteriorate in peace. If you are wonder yes I know ESPN is SUPPOSEDLY the world leader in sports but usually their java is the crappiest, the guys they have doing the updates can't keep up and somehow someway the Game tracker always seems to go on the fritz. Out of the Major sports websites for the longest time CBS was the best, yes every once in a while they would have a hiccup or two but it wasn't for the whole game.

Back to the game, the entire reason we shipped Donovan Mcnabb off was because SUPPOSEDLY he couldn't hit the little 5 yard dinky passes, couldn't handle the game with the lead, and couldn't get the ball to our (at the time lousy, sub par, piece of crap) receivers. Now yes he kinda went back in time with washington those guys have potential but as Jason Campbell showed they don't really have the drive yet, in watching highlights of redskins games I see plenty of plays where the wide receiver just didn't make the decision that would have helped him catch the ball, diving from 5 yards out when the ball is still in the air and if you run another two steps you could probably catch it over your shoulder or at your knee. Dropped passes galore(I know that was damn Deja Vu didn't he just leave that in philly) but hey "We had the future" and the future was Kevin Kolb. There was a problem with the future though in preseason he couldn't find the end zone now I don't know about you but for a pass happy team that is a BIG CONCERN. And I made the preseason prediction that "Mike vick will be phillies starting QB by game 6" I figured we'd be around 500 and at 4-3 we are so that held up. We played okay and our talent showed up on offense we had a good running game the first few(which with andy reid is a blessing because he refuses to run the ball), our two all star caliber wide recievers were lighting up the scoreboard.

Thing is Kolb didn't hold up in game 1 by half time he was out with a concussion. Hey nobody wants a guy to get injured especially if the guy starts for your favorite team. I may have said he would get benched but I expected it to be due to lack of performance not injury, so in walks Mike Vick he plays well the second half, leads us to victory in the next two games and in the 3rd game of the "Mike Vick era" he goes down to injury. Aw man come on, okay so Kolb plays out the second half doesn't stink up the joint just also doesn't put a lot of points on the board. It's okay the next week he does fantastic we win all is right with the world, then the week after that he plays great again, now we lose another player to injury but the team pulls together and plays well.

Then we have today. Man I'm sorry but you cannot win the game by getting into your opponents red zone constantly and kicking field goals, I believe we were 1/4 in the red zone today and I'm sorry but that's on the coach and the QB not only that but Kolb throws 2 interceptions AND gives up a fumble. My problem to this point with Kolb had been he had more INT's than TD's on the books he appeared to be changing that, this 2 int day scraps that thought process. It seems to me if the SPECTER of Kevin Kolb being The Philadelphia Eagles starting QB is brought up it's like his mind fries and he forgets how to play football. He stares down his WR, he rushes throws, he takes sacks instead of throwing the ball away. Today he threw two picks(one that was taken back for a touchdown at the end of the game so while we needed the score it was kind of prayer time anyway with :22 seconds left), and dropped a fumble on the opponents 3 yard line.

Then to allow 27 straight points to be scored on your team by never taking more than 35 seconds off the game clock per possession because you keep going 3 and out. I'm sorry as the QB your job is game management and if we need a score you need to scan the field quickly and get CHUNKS in critical situations. I mean hell he ran for a 15 yard gain one time then seemed to forget with the game on the line that he had legs. Yes he was one weapon short, but he had weapons hell as he was getting the ball out and finding people you could see that. But the most telling stat is that before the titans started scoring heavily he had about 226 yards, he ended with like 230~ish. Where as the other QB had 91 yards through the air for most of the game and ended with 260~. And no that guy isn't some Super bowl winning Qb, his coach may love him but I suspect he and his coach will be out of a job next year. We should not have lost this game we had them beat, we had them under control we should have been cruising through the finish line.

But this Game should prove some rather pertinent points while Kolb has potential he is either NOT starter material or else he is not ready to start now. He is far from a franchise QB at this juncture, as for Mike Vick he did his time, if you can't forgive him than you know what thats your issue not his. People make mistakes all you can hope is that they really do learn their lessons, but you cannot ask them to repay them over and over until YOU are satisfied, because lets be real that satisfaction will never come. He was a franchise QB before he went to prison, he reminds me of Randal Cunningham Rocket arm quick legs run first if there ain nobody open. Though as of late he runs to buy time for someone to get open.  So it seems spending a year with Donovan helped.

I know some may come in here screaming about Dog Killer, and animal, how kolb is better, you are welcome to your opinion, you are welcome to leave your opinion here, you get rowdy and you will be shown the door