Wednesday, November 16, 2005

What hell am I in? Eagles vs. Cowboys hell

Very rarely do I give in to my urge to post about sports. I did not post about the Terrell Owens situation. I didn't post about my beloved but enigmatic Phillies missing the playoffs yet again. I haven't even posted about the Sixers and their five game winning streak. Monday night's football was just too much for me to ignore.

I've been in a deep state of denial for 2 days now. The Eagles couldn't have lost that way. Two touchdowns in a 21 second span to lose the game. Here are my thoughts post the game:

  • Anyone who knows me knows that I have gone out of my way to support Donovan McNabb. He's been treated shabbily by the fans in Philadelphia from the day he was drafted. That said, if he were to retire today his legacy would be one of throwing interceptions at the worst possible time. I can't continue to ignore this. He has gone from being the next incarnation of Brett Favre to being the next Vinny Testaverde. Here are examples of his bad timing
    • Throwing an interception to end our last gasp versus St. Louis in the 2001 NFC Championship Game
    • Throwing an interception to end another last gasp versus Tampa Bay in the 2002 NFC Championship Game
    • Sunday Night football this year versus Washington throwing an interception to end the game while driving to win it
    • And finally Monday night's interception versus the Cowboys where just holding on to the ball means you win the game
  • Andy Reid made a gutless call to kick a field goal from the 3 to make the score 20-7. He should have run the ball 4 straight times and if they didn't get the TD, Dallas would have gotten the ball at no better than the 3 yard line. In a season where Tampa coach John Gruden and Kansas City Coach Dick Vermeil made decisions to go for winning touchdowns with no time left on the clock, Reid's decision here shows no confidence in either the defense or offense. Weak.
  • Too many people are ignoring the Eagle's defense in assigning blame. Allowing the Cowboys to score in under 40 seconds by going into the "prevent" defense is the same thing that got former Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator fired when his defense allowed the Eagles to convert a 4 and 26 and lose a playoff game as a result.
  • Andy Reid needed to play coach and remove Donovan McNabb after the interception. If he hadn't gone back in, and Mike McMahon was given the ball with more time, they could have gone ahead. As it was, he gave Mcnabb one more drive when he was obviously hurt. Mcnabb is never going to pull himself from a game.
I could go on forever on this. The game on Monday is about the most devastated a regular season game has ever left me. It put a nail in the coffin on the Eagles' season which means another team season without a championship for Philadelphia. This makes 88 team seasons without a championship.

What in the world did we do to deserve this hell?

No comments: