Let's all take a step back and take a deep breath. Ahhh, how does that feel? Better? It should, because the Eagles are still going to make the playoffs. Yes, I know, they should have beaten the Cowboys last night, and that should have basically solidified their playoff berth. They choked. A lot of people are blaming the loss on Mark Sanchez, and he can definitely be blamed, but our main problem was our secondary defense.
On Thanksgiving the Eagles beat the Cowboys 33-10. We scored 27 points last night (and definitely could have/should have scored more), which means if we performed the same as Thanksgiving, all else remaining the same, we would have won 27-10, right? Even if we scored another touchdown (plus an extra point or likely two-point conversion if we were able to get one) we still would have lost by 3 or 4 scoring 1 to 2 more points than the previous time we played the Cowboys.
No one is ever going to figure out why the Eagles kept putting Fletcher on Dez Bryant. Moreover, no one will ever know why the Eagles didn't decide to double-team Dez Bryant, a super-star receiver who ended the game with 3 TDs and countless yards, and pick different poisons such as Beasley and Witten. As my dad said to me, especially after we roared all the way back from 21-0 to be winning at one point 24-21, a slow-bleed would have been easier to contain than allowing for big plays against the two stars on their team--namely WR Bryant and RB Murray, who, bee tee dubs, accounted for 5 of their 5 touchdowns.
Ok, so, to recap, we made a lot of mistakes. I think coaching played a role in the poor performance just as much as some poor play did. Especially since we practically gave the Cowboys their first 7 points by forgetting that a kick-off needs to be returned--I'm not saying that was a coaching issue specifically, but how could that happen professionally ever? I'm not sure, but again, it was a collaboratively crappy effort.
Now for the good news. The good news is that we play our two other crappy division rivals, the Washington Redskins this weekend (Saturday), and then we finish the season against the New York Giants in two weeks. I'm not saying these are definite wins. They're not. But they should be. Somehow either of those teams could wake up from their slumber and decide to play great ball. It could happen. If it happened at all, it's probably most likely to happen against the Giants because Eli Manning was good once. With all that being said, I think it's a lot easier to see the Eagles going 2-0 against this competition than anything else. Let's say that happens.
The Cowboys finish the season against the Colts this weekend (Sunday) and the Redskins next weekend. For the Cowboys, both of those games are lose-able. At this point in the season, the Colts are a considerably better contender than the Redskins, but the Redskins beat the Cowboys earlier in the season, so I think anything is possible on those fronts. At the very least, we need to root for the Colts this weekend. I don't think it'll be as close as most will suggest, but either way I see the Colts winning that game. If we go 2 and 0 while the Cowboys go 1 and 1, we win the division--even though we'd be tied in wins and losses--because we'll have more division wins, which counts as the tiebreaker.
So, yippy, we make the playoffs. What? That doesn't make you happy, yet? Good. That brings us back to the bad news.
The REAL bad news, and it should come as no surprise to Eagles fans and fans around the league, is that the Eagles are not ready to be Super Bowl Champions. It's a shame. It really is. But I don't think they have it yet. They're really close. They are. But it's clear that they need some loose chains switched with new, stronger ones. Seeing how Sanchez has been playing, everyone already wants Nick Foles back, as if his playing was all that much better before he got injured. Stop. Fooling. Yourselves. As always, I'd love to be wrong about this, but I don't tend to be when history is on my side--we've never won a Super Bowl.
2013 Nick Foles was way better than 2014 Nick Foles. If 2014 Nick Foles started playing like 2013 Nick Foles, then I'd want Nick Foles back under center weeks ago. That's not really true, though. Mark Sanchez is playing better than he did with the Jets. The system that Chip Kelly runs IS better for him. And Sanchez does something better than Nick Foles within the scheme: He steps up in the pocket. Sanchez did that the very first game he jumped in under center after Foles got injured and he hasn't stopped doing that unlike Nick Foles, who did that in 2013, but stopped doing that in 2014.
Of course we want to see our city's team have a chance. And although I like ice hockey considerably more than football, I think the city's general consensus, after shitty Sixers and Phillies seasons, and a potential shitty Flyers season in the making, is that we want to see one of our effing teams reach the playoffs so we can oggle at them with false hope.
That's fine. I understand. Here's hoping?
- PatInTheHat
Editor's note: I have a huge project that is due for my accounting masters this Friday, and then I graduate! (Woo!) Therefore, you won't be seeing much of me until this weekend or at the beginning of next week, which is also why I decided to make two posts for today =)
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