2005 Philadelphia Eagles

Looking Forward

2005-11-22T20:21:00.000-05:00

This will be my final posting on my blog so i would like to look forward to what lies ahead for the Eagles this season. I team has been riddled with injuries so now we must go forward Mike McMahon as our quaterback. He started off slow but had an impressive second half against the Giants. I think we still be competitive in all of our remaining games. Our offense as a whole has no legitmate receiving threats and a sub par running game. I predict will run the ball alot more than we we have in the past. There will be alot of low scoring close game coming up.

Our defense is still a solid unit. The injury to Lito Sheppard is devastating, This moves Roderick Hood into the #2 spot and Matt Ware as our nickelback. This will force the Eagles to blitz less to avoid one on one coverage. This may not be a bad thing condering they have been getting burnt on the blitz lately. Our defense is still good enough to keep us in games with star player such as Dawkins Kearse and Trotter. It is just a matter of if they will run out of steam late in games as they did against the Giants.

The Eagles schedule is not as tough down the stretch as it has been. Next up is Green Bay. We better win this game. They are two and seven and have more injuries than us. There defense is wal and they are down to there fourth running back, Gado. Nest is the SEahawks onMonday Night. They seem to be too strong for us to stop but the Seahawks are known for inconsistent play at the end of the season. Normally In would predict a win but considering how this year has gone it will probably be a loss. Next are the Giants, Rams, Cardinals, and Redskins. I think the Eagles will win 3 of those 4 game to finish with an 8-8 record this will not be good enough to make the playoff in the improved NFC. The loss will most likely come to the Giants again but we will end the season with win against the Redskins who will be out of playoff contentions by this time.

IT IS OVER

2005-11-21T13:15:00.000-05:00

On sunday, the Eagles lost their fourth straight game to fall to an extremely unimpressive 4-6 record and it seem as though the Eagles have no shot of returning to the playoffs for a sixth straight year. Following the loss it was announced that Donovan McNabb will have surgery on the sports hernia and will not return this year. This is basically the organization giving up on this year and preparing for next season. In the past few weeks the Eagles have fought hard but weren't able to overcome everything stacked up against them. You can blame Reid, TO, McNabb, or injuries but the bottom line is that they weren't able to get it done.

For the rest of season i expect the Eagles to be competitive in all their games and prolly finish up with an 8-8 record considering the strength of schedule remaining. As far as yesterdays game, it was a tale of two halves. In the first half our defense was dominant and offense was terrible. New starter Mike McMahon looked dreadful in the first but then improved in the second half throwing for 298 and a touchdown. As the offense picked it up the defense started to suck. The game was clinched on a 61 yard touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Plaxico Butrress to give the Giants a 10 point lead ith about 4 minutes to play. The play was exactly the same as the touchdown form Bledsoe to Glenn against the Cowboys. Eagles blitzed, it was picked up and are corner was burnt on a double move.

There were some promising thing about yesterday. Reggie Brown looked very well and seems like will be a solid player for the Eagles in the future. Mike McMahon showed that is viable backup and had some pretty nice runs in the game. It will be fairly entertaining watching him for the remainder of the year. Brian Westbrook was able to break some nice runs and the Eagles actually out gained the Giants by over 100 yards. On a down note Lito Sheppard had a severe ankle sprain and is lost for the season.

The Eagles couldn't catch a break this year and went the way of all Super Bowl loser that have a dowb year. But I fully expect for the Eagles to reload in the off-season and back to prme form next season.

IS IT OVER?

2005-11-17T12:53:00.000-05:00

Everything seem to be going great. The Eagles were controlling the line of scrimage on both sides of ball. We ran for a season high 181 yards . The defense also completely shut down a Cowboys offense that completely dominated them a week before. The Eagles seemed to be cruising to an easy win when they were leading by 13 points with 4 minutes left. Then everything that could go wrong did. The floundering Cowboys offense had done nothing all game marched down the field in 40 seconds to pull with 6 points of the leading Eagles. The Cowboys marched down the field as the Eagles sat back and played prevent defense which the Cowboys fully took advantage of. On the touchdown play the Eagles blitz and left Lito Sheppard one on one with Terry Glenn he beat Sheppard on a double move for the TD.

The Eagles got the ball with approximately 3 minutes remaining in the game with a 6 oint lead, still firmly in control of the game. All the Eagles had to do was run down the clock and go home with a win. After a 3 yard run on first down disaster struck as Donovan McNabb threw an interception to Roy Williams who return it for as touchdown. To make matters worse on the return Donovan McNabb was thrown to the ground while being blocked and injured his groin. There are alot of problems with this play. The first problem is why the hell are we passing the ball on second and seven with our only objective being to run out the clock. We controlled the line the entire game and were running the ball wonderfully. Also we have inexperienced receivers who are not ready to make plays with the game on the line. On the play, there was miscomunication on the play and Donovan and Brown each read different coverage. I place the blame on Donovan on that play he is the experience player and he can't throw that ball unless he knows it is there.

In a last dirch attempt to win the game Mike McMahon led a drive down the field. The most signifcant play was a dropped ball by Reggie Brown which would have put us on the 29 and allow Akers to hit a chip shot field goal for the win. It was a difficult catch but it is a catch that has to be made with the game on the line.

This loss was one of the most disapointing I can remember in last 6 years excluding the playoff losses. It seems as though that was the season right there. With a win, we would have been a game out of first place with a chance to move into to first with a win against the Giants next week. Instead we are 4-5 in last place and two games out of division leaad and we basically have to win 6 of the next 7 games for a shot at the playoffs.

It just seem as thought the Eagles can not catch a break the entire season. For example, in the last two game B-Dawk caused fumbles late in the fourth quarter that would have most likely won the game for use. But each time they took terrible bounces and were recovered by the opposing team. This just doesn't seem to be our season but it isn't over yet and I wouldn't quite count aus out yet. We have Mike McMahon starting this week and hopefully he will provide the spark we need for a much needed win.

Team Must Unite

2005-11-09T15:01:00.000-05:00

I am sure everyone knows the specifics of the TO situation but I have decided to put a little timeline together to get everone up to speed on the events that have transpired in the last week.

TO conducts an interview in which he trashes the organization about about not announcing his 100th TD receptions and says the Eagles would be undefeated if Brett Farve wasour quaterback
TO then issues a half hearted apology for his comments. He is instructed to apologize specifically to McNabb and doesn't.
Eagles' Bad Assador Hugh Douglas, goes into training room and accuses Owens of faking his injury. A locker room fight occurs, afterwards TO challenges the entire team to a fight including McNabb.
Eagles' hold players-only meeting and the conclusion is the do not want to play with TO.
Eagles suspend TO indefinately on Sat.
Eagles lose to Washington 17-10 (I will discuss the game later)
Monday Eagles announce TO will not be returning for the rest of the season.
TO offer full and seemingly sincere apology to everyone involved in the incident. The apology followed a Q&A session with TO's agent Drew Rosenhaus who acts like a complete ass.
Eagles release news that TO is still no wanted on the team.

I have never witnessed a person ruin so much good will in the city of Philadelphia so quickly. After the Super Bowl the city TO was the most loved person in the city. He showed alot of heart to defy the odds and comeback from a broken ankle to have a memorable Super Bowl performance. Could this possibly be the start of something great? NO. It is Philadelphia the most cursed city in the US. We currently have the longest champioship druaght of any city with all 4 major sports. The last came by the sixers in 1983 before I was even born. Barely with enough time to enjoy the Super Bowl the TO bullshit begins. I blame alot if this whole situation on Rosenhaus. I can just picture how it went down. "TO you are the best receiver in the game, and your deal is terrible. Sign with me and I'll get you a new deal. The Eagles need you they will definately pay." And a comment like that is all TO needs to get started. Eagles' can't have anything to good happen to them. It seems the Eagles TO era has come to an end without the promosed championship but rather one great season followed by an embarrassment.

Now that I have address the TO scenario I can talk about the actual football game that was played on Saturday against the Washington Foreskins. I really don't have much to say about the game accept a few comments. One thing the Eagles ran the ball more and more effectively. Offense and Defense got off to better starts. Rookie wideout Reggie Brown showed some promise. Newly signed RB Brian Wesbrook looked better than he has.

They were the positve aspects of the game; unfortunately there were more negatives. Although the offense didn't look terrible we only scored 10 points and squandered some opportunities. The offense just isn't as explosive without TO. If are to even get back in the playoffs McNabb will have to play great. Again we had the ball inside the twenty at the end of the half and failed to score. McNabb tries to catch the D off guard but ende up getting sack and time expired. This is unacceptable, the eagles time management has been horrific this year. After the loss the Eagles are in last place in the division at 4-4 and face their two most crucial games, Dallas and the Giants they both are must wins if we plan to compete in the division. I pray we find a way to pull it together.

Mile High Problems

2005-11-02T21:04:00.000-05:00

The Eagles went into Sunday's pivotal matchup with the AFC West leading Denver Broncos needing a win badly and what they did was barely showup to the game. The first half was an utter disgrace. Donovan McNabb went 0-12 with an interception to start off the game. By the time they got a first down they down 28-0. The defnese was a equally terrible surrendering 255 yards rushing and 309 yards passing in one the worst performances I have see out of the Eagles in years. The only bright spot of the game came in the 3rd quarter when the mounted a comeback to make a 28-21. TO played particularly well breaking a 91 yard touchdown pass on All-Pro cornerback Champ Bailey. The comeback was stopped when Donovan threw an interception in the endzone that would of tied up the game. Then the Broncos began to pull away with big plays in the running game. The final score was a pittiful 49 21.

This game raises serious question as the Eagles head into a the most critical part of the schedule. They face the Redskins next week away, followed by the Cowboys at home on Monday Night Football and thenthe Giants away. These are important division game that will go a long way to determine who will win the closely contested NFC East. The Eagles at the very least must go 2-1 down this stretch but 3-0 would be ideal. The question is what will they need to do to win these games.

RUN THE BALL McNabb is injured and has been playing inconsisent at best and awful at times. We need to take some of the pressure off of him especially if he continues with his slow starts. The only time the offense looked good last week is when we had a balance attack in the 3rd quater. I know we haven't been successful with running the ball of late but if you give the ball to Westbrook 20 times I gaurantee he will make some big plays.
RED ZONE DEFENSE The defense has always given up yards but it was always very hard to get points on us especially in the red zone. Now we are let teams score TDs with relative ease. Our defense has been very inconsistent, looking great one week and awful the next.
MCNABB MUST PLAY MUCH BETTER FOR THIS TEAM TO GO ANYWHERE

If things aren't bad enough it was just announce TO may not play this week. So everyone lets pray the Eagles can turn it around and pull it a big win in Washington.

A Win is a Win

2005-10-27T14:49:00.000-04:00

Coming of the bye week the Eagles had a tough challenge in front of them in the San Diego Cargers. They have a potent offensive attack led by the dynamic Ladanian Tomilson, All-Pro Tight End Antonio Gates and quaterback Drew Brees. The Eagles were coming off an embarrassing defeat to the Dallas Cowboys and were hungry for a victory.

The defensive had their best performance of the year. They held argueably the best player in the league, Ladanian Tomilson to just 7 yards rushing, his career low. They also ended his 18 game touchdown streak. The swarming Eagles defense was led by middle linebacker Jerimiah Trotter who had an interception, a sack, and 9 tackles which won him the defensive player of the week award. Also solid performances were given by the Eagles secondary especially Shelden Brown who forced the game clinching fumble by Chargers wideout Caldwell.

As good as the Eagles defense played, it was still a very close game due to subpar play of our offense. Donovan McNabb set an Eagles record for completions with 35 for 287 yards. Although there was alot of completion the Eagles offense only managed 13 points and squandered many opportunities. Most noteably when we had the ball deep in Chargers territory with 15 seconds left in the first half and no timeouts. McNabb threw a 5 yard pass to L.J. Smith which then allowed time to expire. It was a terrible decision by Donovan McNabb who cost the Eagles a sure three points.

The game was decided late by the Eagles much critizied special teams unit. The Eagles had wasted all their time outs and the Chargers were about to go up 7 points with a field goal late in the game. Then it happened. Siezing the opportunity, Queintin Mickael blocked the field goal which was picked up by Matt Ware and return for a touchdown to give the Eagles a 20-17 lead. The the Chargers began driving but it was stopped by a by future Pro-Bowler Sheldan Brown who stripped the ball which was recovered by Darwin Walker to end the game. Some say it was a lucky win, but I say championship caliber teams make big plays when the game is on the line.

The Eagles still have a lot of question to answer in the offense. The first is will they ever establish a running game. Westbrook only had ten carries compare to the 52 throws of McNabb. The Eagles must run the ball more and better for their offense to take off. McNabb also has had two bad games in a row, his injury must be hurting him and will have to improve for the Eagles to continue winning. The Eagles have a tough opponent nest week when they travel to Denver to face the 5-2 Broncos. This will be a true test for them, we will see if they can step it up.

Bye week

2005-10-18T11:03:00.000-04:00

After five games of the season the Eagles find themselves in a strange position, tied for last place in the division. This is strange beacause for the last few years the NFC East has been awful with the exception of the birds of course. We have gone from one the worst division in football to one the best. Every team in the division has a winning record. Last week the Cowboys showed us exactly what they are capable of. Drew Bledsoe has been play good football and there defense has been solid. They are coming off two big division wins against the Eagles and the Giants. While I don't think they are great team they are certainly a formible opponent and it should be an interesting game when the Eagles face them again on Monday Night Football. The Redskin also have shown improvement, there defense continues to be a top unit in the league and for some strange reason Mark brunell is playin good football. They are playing solid footballl but have yet to beat good opponent. This brings us to the New York Giants and the emergence of Eli Manning. He has a great second sesaon and the additon of Plaxico Burress has been great for them. Their defense is still suspect but they should win some games with their offense. In conclusion the Eagles are still the best team in he division and will ultimately win it but it certainly won't be as easy as in years past. The NFC East will definately be resposible for one wild card team and maybe both of them.

Now looking forward to the Eagles next game against the 3-3 San Diego Chargers. They are very good team who had a great win against the Patriots and a near win against the Steelers. They have a dynamic running back in Ladanian Tomilson and a great Tight End in Antonio Gates. The Eagles D wil have their work cut out for them this week but I think they will be up to the challenge. Historically Andy Reid teams are great after the bye week. I am hoping they will have solved their special teams problems and get off to a better start than in recent games. I am looking for to Sunday and a great 34-24 Eagles victory. Look for a big day out T.O. and Donovan.

Ugly

2005-10-17T22:59:00.000-04:00

The Ealges received and absolute beat down at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys in one the most pathetic performance I have ever seen out of the Eagles in many years. The Eagles have completely dominated the Cowboys for last 5 years winning 9 of their last 10 matchups. Unfortunatly that meant absolutely nothing in the 33-10 loss. I don't particularly want to go into details about the game because it was they are just too depressing. All I am going to say is that we were completely beaten in every aspect of the game.

I have decided that every team is allowed an awful game every once in a while and this was ours. Unfortunately this game has made apparrent some flaws in our team that I was trying to pretend weren't as bad as the actually are. The first thing was Donovan McNabb performance, he was consistently missing his targets. Donovan's injuries are going to be affecting his play throughout the league. Some days will be better than others but if he has any more games as bad as against the Cowboys we are in trouble. The second major flaw is the Eagles complete inability to show any semblence of a running game. Westbrook had 6 carries for 12 yards, that is just unacceptable. Last year we didn't run the ball often but at least we could do it successfukky when we needed to. Westbrook average over 5 yards a carry. I know Andy Reid is a throw first coach but he will need to run the ball sometimes at the end of games and to keep the defense off balance. The final glaring weakness is our special teams. A consistent strength over the years, we have suffered some of the worst special teams play I have ever seen. It seemed to me that every time the Cowboys got the ball they were starting near th 50 yard line. This I am not quite as worried about because John Harbaugh, Special Teams Coach has been successful before and sometimes it takes a few games for him to get it together. He better hurry up though. The Eagles have a bye this week and then face two tough AFC West opponets the Chargers and Broncos. These games we really be a litmus test to see how good the Eagles truly are this year.

Comeback in K.C.

2005-10-17T22:26:00.000-04:00

The Eagles showed alot of heart in Kansas City where they forged a huge comeback victory. There special teams problems continued as they fell to an early 17-0 deficit. There seemed to be no hope in the first quarter as the Eagles were throroughly dominated by the Chiefs effective running game. The first sgin of life came from cornerback Shelden Brown who intercepted a Trent Green pass and returned it all the way for a touchdown. Unfortunately on the ensuing kickoff Dante Hall answer right back with a touchdown of his own which made the score 24-6. But from here on in it was Eagles. The defense sured up there early came faults and looked amazing. They held the Chiefs scoreless for the rest of the half , the entire 3rd quarter and most of the 4th quarter.

The Eagles' offense began to take over. McNabb passed for 369 yards with an painful sports hernia. T.O. also had an impressive game; 11 receptions for 171 yards and a touchdown reception. The Eagles offense scored the next 31 points to take a 38-24 before the Chiefs score one final time to make the score 38-31.

This game helped show why the Eagles were in the Super Bowl last year and improved our record to 3-1. Athough we were impressive in our comeback, the Ealges show some weaknesses. Special teams are awful and must be taken care and the Eagles started off the game bad for the third time this year. This is becoming a growing concern for the team. Next week is Dallas and it should be a good game.

Eagles beat Oakland in a Sloppy Game

2005-09-29T12:24:00.000-04:00

The Eagles moved to 2-1 with a 23-20 win over the Oakland Raiders on Sunady in Philadelphia. It wasn't a pretty win but it was a win nonetheless. Thankfully the mark of true champion is when youn still win even though you didn't play your best game. The game started off very strangely, Akers got hurt on the opening kickoff and there was a penalty and g=had to kick again. Akers tried to kick but was injured again, This left the Eagles with out a placekicker for the rest of the game. In a game that was hyped as the battle of the two best receivers in the league; the show was stolen by Brian Westbrook who had over 200 yards if total offense and David Akers who kicked the winning field goal on one leg.

The Raiders hung aroun the Eagles and with two minutes left they tied it up 20-20. The Eagles then got the ball and marched down the field. Most people thought they would need to score a touchdown due to the injury to Akers. But he courageously came into to kick the game winning field goal with a torn hamstring. It is ironic that the two heros of the game are the same two people in contract trouble with the Eagles. I hope games like this prove to Eagles' management that they are worthy of receiving legitimate long term contracts

Next week, the Eagles have a tough matchup as they travel to one of the toughest stadiums in the league at Arrowhead as they play the 2-1 Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs are coming off an embarassing blowout defeat to the Denver Broncos and are expected to bounce back strong. The Eagles will have their handsful but i predict they will prevail in a 31-24 victory.

Disappointing Opener

2005-09-15T15:53:00.000-04:00

The Eagles opened up the season on Monday Night Football with a rematch of the NFC championship game against the Falcons. It didn't take long for these two teams to get at each other. A half hour before the game started a skermish between the Eagles Pro-Bowl linebacker Jeremiah Trotter and Falcons nickelback Henry Mathis resulted is both of them being kicked out of the game. This was a momentus blow to the Eagles because Trotter is their most talented run stopper and the Falcons were the number one rushing team in the NFL last year.

The game was a very closely contended match up by unquestionablely the two best team in NFC. The Falcons were able to hold the Eagles off for 14-10 victiory at home. In the first quater Donovan McNabb was the recipient of brutul hit on a sack that gave him a chest contusion. He was able to stay in the game but was definately in some pain and it seem to bother him threoughout. The Falcons blitzs were effective all night hurrying McNabb and keeping constant pressure on him. This may have been because the Eagles offensive line hadn't played together the entire preseason and seemed to have their timing off. Falcons linemen Patrick Kearney and Rod Coleman had great games. The Falcons jumped out to a 14-0 lead off a Michael Vick scramble and TJ Ducket run which was setup by a beautiful 58 yard strike from Michael Vick. The Eagles responded by marching down the field ending with a touchdown pass from McNabb to Westbrook. The half ended with the Falcons having a 14-0 lead.

The second half was mostly a defensive matchup. There were only three points scored in the entire half. The Eagles had an exceptional performance by All-Pro Free Safety Brian Dawkins who had a sack, a forced fumble, an interception, and several key pass defenses. Aside from their lineman the Falcons had a great performance by CB DeAngelo Hall who did a good job on TO. TO did get over hundred yards but was held out of the endzone and didn't have any real big plays. The Eagles certainly had their chances throughout the second half but most drives ended with careless mistakes like penalties or fumbles. They could not bring out one of their famous last second drives to pull the game out.

As an Eagles fan I was dissapointed by the loss by I wouldn't look too far into it. The Eagles were missing Trotter and the Falcons rush for ocer 200 yards which allowed the Falcons to controll the clock. Even with that the Eagles D plated good holding the Falcons to 14 points and coming with big plays when they needed to. The problem was in the offense I thought the play calling was little weak due to the lack of running the ball and Westbrook under use. The timing also was a little off which is why we real close to pulling off some big plays but just missed. This will not last and by next week I expected our offense to be back normal. The Falcons proved they can beat us but in no way do I think they are a better team and look forward to meeting them in the playoffs. In the meantime we must look forward to our next game against TO's former team the San Fransico 49ers.

Eagles to Kickoff Season On MNF

2005-09-09T12:52:00.000-04:00

The NFL season officialy kickoff last night with the New England Patriots knocking off Oakland Raiders by a score of 30-20. For Eagles fans, the season doesn't start until Monday night when they play a rematch of last conference championship against Michael Vick and the Atlanta Falcons in the Georgiadome of Atlanta. This should be a great game and tough test for the Eagles. The Falcons have one of the top defenses in the conference and Michael Vick always has the potential to break a game open with his big play running ability. Thus far in Vick's career the Eagles have had success containing him, they are 2-0 against and both games were playofff victories.
The Eagles roster is quite similar to the one that ended last years season. The only signifcant players the Eagles lost were, Corey Simon to the Colts, Freddie Mitchell to the Chiefs, Ike Reese to the Falcons, and the Eagle scut emotional leader Hugh Douglas. Simon and Motchell were replaced in the draft by 1st round pick Mike Patterson and second round pick Reggie Brown, each look to have bright future in the league. Since almost everyone is back expectations are high for this Eagles team. Once again we considered to be the favorite in the NFC and nothing less than a Super Bowl victory will be excepted this city that is starving for a championship. Philadelphia has the longest championship drought of any four sport city in the country, 22 years. That streak hopefully will end with the 2005 football season.

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