Dallas deja vu

For the second straight week, the Eagles once again laid an egg in Dallas.  Donavan McNabb was horrible in the first half by going 4-10, for 39 yards and no TDs for an awful 51.7 rating.  However his counterpart, Tony Romo was 17-27, for 203 yards and a 110.6 rating.  The Eagles were down 27-7 at the half and had the ball for only 7 minutes.  The Eagles also collected only 5 first downs to the Cowboys 21.  Their only TD came on a long Michael Vick 76 yard pass to Jeremy Maclin in the 2nd quarter which tied the game at 7.

If you remember the NFC Championship game from last year, the Eagles were down 24-6 at halftime and then scored 19 unanswered points to take a 25-24 lead.  I thought the Eagles would would make another miraculous comeback, but the Eagles did nothing offensively except score a meaningless TD.

The Eagles had the right chemistry in the regular season, but the wheels started falling apart at the second half the Broncos game when they allowed 17 unanswered points after an Eagles TD.  Since Celek’s TD in the Broncos game, the Eagles have been outscored 75-17!  So they were limping to the playoffs like the Giants last year as well as the Bengals this year.

It is so frustrating for the Eagles to have great success in the regular season year after year but to come up empty in the playoffs.  Interceptions cost them in 2002, 2003, and in the Super Bowl in 2004.  Drama and just injuries cost them in 2005.  2006 was a fun year, but they came up short in the playoffs.  When McNabb got injured in November that year, many thought the Eagles were finished, but Jeff Garcia led them to the playoffs.  In 2007, the Eagles won their last 3 games to finish 8-8 but red zone woes early that season cost them as well as the hot Giants and Cowboys.  I don’t think Donavan McNabb and Andy Reid are the problem for the Eagles not winning a Super Bowl since they make it to the playoffs almost every year.  Obviously, the Eagles need to run the ball more. Also for some odd reason, the NFC East was a “rock, paper, sissors” division: Cowgirls beat Eagles, Eagles beat Midgets, and Midgets beat Cowgirls (and everybody beat the Deadskins).  The Cowboys just had the Eagles number this year just like how Tim Redding somehow pitches like Cy Young against the Phillies all the time despite him being worse than Adam Eaton against everyone else (just had to throw that in there).  Hopefully they will make it next year (once again).

FB status: “R-A-T-S, RATS, RATS, RATS!!! (disclaimer, I’m not going to hop on the Jets bandwagon). At least “Battery Day” is 35 days away and opening day is 85 days away!”

Dissappointment in Jerryworld

On Sunday during the last regular season game, the Eagles were awestruck at the “Jerryvision”, the super huge video display which is suspended over Cowboys Stadium.  The Eagles were shutout 24-0.  This was their first time they were shutout since their Monday Night embarrasment on December 5, 2005 against the Seahawks when they got blown out 42-0.  This was their first time they got shutout on the road since September 26, 1999 against the Bills when they got shutout 26-0.  Now get ready for this nugget: this was the first time the Eagles played a game in a new stadium in its first year for the first time since the September 8, 2003 which was the first game at the Linc.  They got shutout 17-0 against the Bucs.  (If this trend continues, expect the Eagles to get shutout next year since the Giants will be playing in a new stadium).  The last 4 games in which the Eagles did not score an offensive TD all came on the road (January 3, 2010 at Dallas; October 18, 2009 at Oakland (13-9 L); December 21, 2009 at Washington (10-3 L); and November 23, 2009 at Baltimore (36-7 L– only TD was a kickoff return).  For good measure, the last time the Eagles did not score an offensive TD at home was on a Monday Night game on September 17, 2007 against the Redskins in a 20-12 loss.  (This was one of those Phillies-scoring-more-than-Eagles days– Phillies scored 13 runs and won, however they almost blew an 11-0 lead.  If you remember, the Eagle game against the Raiders was another one of those days as well.)

Nothing went right for the Eagles on Sunday.  McNabb had only a 74.2 rating compared to Tony Romo’s 106.4.  In addition, McNabb was 20-36 and threw for 223 yards  The Eagles only gained 37 yards on the ground on 10 rushes.  The Eagles had an opportunity to score in the 2nd quarter in the red zone, but McNabb fumbled the ball and it was recovered by the Cowboys who would get a field goal out of it.  In addition, the Eagles hardly had the ball in deep Dallas territory for the game.

Since the Eagles did laid an egg, the Cowboys are NFC East Champs and the Eagles missed out of getting a first round bye and playing at least 1 home game in the playoffs.  Now they are the #6 seed once again like last year but this time, they will have rematch in Dallas in the Wild Card round.

MS/FB status: see interesting stat

The “Super Bowl” which was not shown in New York City

After the Eagles exciting Sunday Night shootout victory over the Giants in week 14, the NFL decided to move the Broncos-Eagles game to the late CBS slot from the early window to give it a wider viewing audience.  In addition, the game was announced by the lead CBS announce team, Jim Nantz and Phil Simms.  My problem was since the Cowboys-Redskins snoozefest was still a Sunday Night game, New York City did not get the Eagle game because it aired at the same time as Jets-Colts.  Even if the Eagle game stayed in the early timeslot, it still would not have been shown in NYC because the Giants were home against the Panthers.  Obviously, the remedy that problem, I went to the bar again and it was more energetic than normal because the game had playoff implications.

Anyway, the Eagles were leading 27-10 midway through the 3rd quarter after Jason Avant had an excellent TD reception after the ball was tipped by a Broncos defender.  There was good news and bad news for the Eagles on the Broncos next possession.  The good news was the Eagles got the ball via an Assante Samuel interception.  The bad news was due to a cheap shot unnecessary roughness penalty on Macho Harris when he knocked a receiver down, gave the Eagles the possession at their 3.  To make things even worse, the Eagles had another delay of game penalty which cornered them at their 1.  The Eagles went 3 and out and Sav Rocca made an awful punt to only the Eagles 40 yard line.  The Broncos had the ball at the Eagles 25 yard line and took advantage of the excellent field position and scored a TD when Kyle Orton passed to Jabar Gaffney to make it 27-17.  On the Eagles kickoff return, Macho messed up the Eagles again as he fumbled the kickoff return which led to another Bronco touchdown to bring the game within 3 points.  The Eagles D stepped up and did not allow another Bronco score for their next 2 possesions and only allowed 5 yards.  After the aforementioned Bronco TD to draw them to 3 points, the Eagles punted 3 straight times and did not get a first down.  After their 3rd punt, the Broncos tied up the game at 27 with a FG. At this point of the game, the bar was getting anxious and worried and I had flashbacks of the Giants-Eagles game back on Week 2 2006 when the Eagles blew a 24-7 lead going into the 4th quarter, and the Giants scored 23 unanswered points to tie and win the game.

Macho Harris would once AGAIN fumble the kickoff return, but the Eagles luckilly got a big break as they recovered it.  On the first play of the Eagle drive, McNabb was sacked and lost 10 yards to make it 2nd-20.  Then a false start penalty pushed them back 5 more yards to make it 2nd-25 from their 15.  After an incomplete pass, McNabb had an amazing 27 yard run to bring them to the 42.  That was their first first down since their last scoring drive in the 3rd quarter.  Despite the Eagles not being able to convert for the first down not going for 4th-1 on the Broncos 49 with 3:07 left and the Broncos having 2 timeouts, the Eagles elected to punt.  The punt was one of the turning points as Rocca punted it to the Broncos 9 yard line (and it also resulted the whole bar to clap their hands which is rare after a punt).  The Eagles D forced a 3 and out and the Eagles had possession at the Broncos 42.  On 2nd-8, rookie Jeremy Maclin had an outstanding catch as he managed to get both feet inbounds which brought them to the 13.  It was originally called incomplete, but the call was reversed after the booth review (2 minute warning passed during the Broncos possesion).  After Denver used up their 2 last timeouts, the Eagles chewed up the clock and Akers kicked the game winning 28 yard FG to win the game 30-27!  IMO, this game was more exciting than the game against the Redskins 4 weeks ago.

The offense was more balanced as there were 28 running plays and 35 passing plays.  McNabb was 20-35-3 TDs- 1 INT for 322 yards and a 104.7 rating.  Brent Celek had 4 catches for 121 yards including a 47 yard TD catch.  The time of game was a long and exciting 3:34.

The Eagles could have clinched the NFC East with a win and a Cowboy loss, but the Boys won which makes next weeks matchup against the Cowboys for the NFC East championship.  In addition, since the Bears beat the Vikings on Monday Night, the Saints get HFA, and that puts the Eagles in the drivers seat for the first round bye.  (Thank god I am not writing about an AFC playoff scenario which does not involve the Jets or Ravens who are in the drivers seat).

MS/FB status: “The Eagle game was a real nail biter, especially since they allowed 17 unanswered points in the second half, but once again it came on a game winning last drive!! Shame the Cowboys beat the Deadskins which meant no NFC East title for the Birds yet. E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!!”

Eagles clinch playoff spot as they beat Niners

The Eagles scored on their first possession of the game thanks to a huge Quintin Demps kickoff return of 48 yards to give the Eagles excellent field position midfield.  5 plays later, the Eagles scored on a unusual 19 yard DeSean Jackson TD recption.  It was considered “unusual” because it was only for 19 yards and of course, all of DeSean’s TDs were more than 35 yards so far this season.  The Niners only settled for a long 51 yard FG on their next possession. 3 Eagle possessions later, the Eagles decided to go for it on 4th-1 on their 29, but came up empty.  Luckilly the Eagles made up for that miscuse by Sheldon Brown forcing a fumble and Assante Samuel recovering it at the 6.  The Eagles would turn that into points as McNabb would run it in 8 yards for a TD.  A key play was Brent Celek’s 43 yard reception to bring the Eagles to the Niners 33.

On the Niners next possession, Alex Smith threw an interception to Assante Samuel in Niners territory and the Eagles got a FG out of it to make it 17-3.  The Eagles did not score a TD from a 1st-goal from the 5.  After the Niners punted, the two teams traded interceptions near the end of the half and the Eagles kicked another short FG to make it 20-3.

Similar to the game against the Redskins, the Eagles offense took a nap in the 3rd quarter.  After the Niners scored a FG to start the half, Mcnabb threw his second pick of the game on the first play of the Eagles first possesion.  That pick led to a Niners TD to cut the Eagles lead to 7 points.  On the next Eagles possession, the Eagles made 2 costly penalties.  The first one brought a 25 yard run by McNabb back because of a Todd Herremans holding.  The second one was on a punt which gave the Niners poor field posistion at their 1.  Joselio Hansen went out of bounds and came back inbounds and touched the ball.  That penalty was offsetted by a Niners penalty so Sav Rocca repunted and it resulted in a touchback.  After the Niners punted, the Eagles went 89 yards and scored a TD on a LeSean McCoy 2 yard run to make it 27-13.  On that drive, DeSean Jackson had a 59 yard reception.  The Eagles would get the ball back with 10:42 but did not chew up the clock as they only had the ball for 3:07.  Luckilly, the Niners came up with a 60 yard drive but came up empty as they could not convert a 4th-7.

The game was moved from 1:00 to 4:15 due to weather.  New York was originally not scheduled to get the game because of the Falcons-Jets game.  When it was moved to 4:15, the Eagles game bumped the Packers-Steelers off the 4:15 slot in New York.  This is a shout out to J.P. Kirby who makes these excellent maps which shows which Sunday afternoon NFL game each US city gets (www.the506.com/nflmaps).  He did an outstanding job updating the maps for week 15 since Bears-Ravens got moved to 4:15 because of the snowstorm as well.  Keep it up J.P!

MS/FB status: “Another excellent win for the Eagles and congrats on clinching a playoff spot!”

A wild win at Giants Stadium!

There were so many memorable Eagles-Giants games played at Giants Stadium.  Between the Miracle at the Meadowlands back in 1978 when Herman Edwards recovered a fumble late in the game and returned it for a touchdown, Brian Westbrook’s 84 yard punt return late in the game to win the game 14-10, which made up for the Eagles offense laying an egg for most of the game.  In addition, the Eagles won 2 games at Giants Stadium last year, one of them was the NFC Divisional playoff game which the Eagles D stopped the Giants on 4th down twice on back to back drives.  The Eagles did not allow a touchdown in that game.  Besides those moments, there were several more.  The Eagles are the road team with the most victories at Giants Stadium with 24.  The second most team is the Patriots with 20.

Anyway, it was a crazy game if you looked at the boxscore and saw that the Giants outgained the Eagles by 138 yards and still lost (512 to 374).  In addition Eli Manning had a higher QB rating than Donavan McNabb and Michael Vick (130.5 to 110.3).  The huge difference in the game was the Eagles scored 2 non-offensive TDs and had a +3 turnover ratio.

The Eagles scored 2 quick TDs to begin the game.  The first one came on a Brent Celek reception.  On the Giants following possesion, Brandon Jacobs fumbled the ball and it was recovered by Sheldon Brown who brought it back to the house to make it 14-0.  After the Giants got a FG and the Eagles punted, Giants rookie Hakeem Nicks scored a 68 yard TD reception to make it 14-10 Eagles.  An Eagle FG later, the Giants went 3 and out and DeSean Jackson answered with an explosive 72 yard punt return for a TD to make it 24-10.  The two rivals traded touchdowns to end the half which made it 30-17 Eagles (Eagles PAT attempt was blocked).

After the Giants started the half by scoring a TD to close the lead to 4 points, McNabb threw an interception which was the only Eagles turnover.  However, Eli Manning fumbled on the first play of the drive and it was recovered by the Eagles in their territory.  After the Eagles went 3 and out, the Giants scored a TD to make it 31-30 on a long Domenik Hixon 61 yard TD reception.  The Eagles answered back by scoring another explosive TD on a DeSean Jackson 60 yard reception on the first play of the drive.  2 Giant punts later, the Eagles ate up 7:24 and put together a 12 play drive for 91 yards and would score a TD on Leonard Weaver’s 1 yard TD run.  All the Giants could do was score a TD to make it close, but the following onside kick went out of bounds.  The Giants would eventually get the ball back with less than a half minute but there was no miracle in the Meadowlands for the Giants as the Eli Manning was sacked and fumbled the ball to end the game.

DeSean Jackson had 6 receptions for 178 yards and scored 2 TDs: one receiving and one on a punt return.  LeSean McCoy and Leonard Weaver combined for 19 carries for 61 yards.  Donovan McNabb was 17-26 for 275 yards and 2 TDs.  His counterpart Eli Mannine was 27-38 for 391 yards and 3 TDs.

MS/FB status: “It was not an easy or crisp one but all that mattered was that the Eagles scored 45 points and swept the Giants!! Oh and the Boys lost too!”

Vick and the Big D came to the “A”

The last time the Eagles saw Matt Bryant was on Week 7 2006 (October 22).  If you remember from that game, he kicked a devisating 62 yard FG which ended the game.  That heartbreaking FG followed a thrilling Eagles comeback.  The next time the Eagles saw Bryant was on Sunday as he kicked the final point, except it was not anywhere as heartbreaking.

The Eagles defense dominated for the whole game as they recorded 3 takeaways which led to 21 points.  Also, they only allowed 61 rushing yards.  With the Falcons down 13-0 near the end of the 1st half and in Eagles territory, the Eagles D recorded a huge stop and forced the Falcons to lose the the ball on downs which was a key point in the game for the Eagles D.  Instead of kicking a FG to get on the board, they decided to go for the TD to make it a 1 score game going into the half but that failed.

After the Eagles scored a FG in their first possesion, Eric Weems fumbled the kickoff return and it was recovered by the Eagles at the Falcons 22.  Leonard Weaver would punch it in for a TD on a 4 yard reception.  That was set up by a Reggie Brown 21 yard catch.  The Eagles offense began to sputter as they only got 3 points in their next 4 drives to end the first half (missed FG, punt, FG, and punt).

However as I stated before, when the Eagles stopped the Falcons on 4th down was a huge momentum shift for them.  Coming out of halftime, the Eagles pieced together a 12 play, 80 yard, 6:50 drive to score a TD when Michael Vick ran for a TD.  That was the first time he ran for a TD since Week 5 2006 against the Giants.  On the Falcons next possesion, backup QB Chris Redman (Matt Ryan and Michael Turner did not start) threw an interception to Sheldon Brown who returned it for an 83 yard TD to put the Eagles up 27-0.  On the folloiwng drive, Redman threw another interception which gave the Eagles great field position at the Falcons 45.  That led to a TD reception to Brent Celek from Vick to put the Eagles up 34-0.  The last time Vick threw and ran for a TD was on Week 2 2006 against the Bucs.  Vick took 4 snaps on that drive as Andy Reid decided to rest McNabb for the rest of the game.  However, Vick hurt his hand and did not return for the game and Kevin Kolb took over.  The Falcons scored their lone points at the end of the game when they scored a TD.  The Eagles were so close to recording their first shutout since December 1, 1996 against the Giants.

Despite 2 of the major Eagle playmakers, DeSean Jackson and Brian Westbrook injured the Eagles did not have any problems.  Leonard Weaver had 5 carries for 37 yards and Eldra Buckley had 8 for 33 yards.  McNabb was 14-25, 238, and threw for 1 TD.  He had a 101.8 rating.  His counterpart, Chris Redman was 23-44, 235 and had a 56.5 rating.

MS/FB status: “Excellent game by the Eagles over the Falcons, but too bad it was not a shutout (lone TD scored as time ran out). Plus the Eagles are tied* with the Cowboys in the NFC East race!”

*as of now, the Cowboys own the tiebreaker.

An “exciting” comeback

What do the “Washington” Redskins and Washington Nationals have in common? (remember the Redskins don’t play in Washington D.C.)  1. they play in the Washington D.C. area, 2. they both suck, 3. they used to occupy RFK Stadium, and 4. they both play their Philly rivals tough.  Remember those several Nats-Phils games which were about 15 innings long and almost 5 hours in length?  Also the NL East clincher from 2008 and the game when the Nats hit 5 HRs and score 11 runs but the Phillies would beat them 13-11 and hit 2 grand slams earlier this season?  This Redskins-Eagles game was a bit crazy too.

The Eagles gave the Redskins a TD early in the game when the Skins recovered a trick onside kick to start the game and it was returned to the Eagles 19.  3 plays later, Jason Campbell would run in for a TD to make it 7-0 Skins.  On the Eagles first possession, they had big plays of 19, 15, and 18 yards to get to the Redskins 10, but would only gain 9 yards.  The Eagles went for it on 4th down and 1, and scored a TD to tie the game, but it was brought back because of an PI.  So the Eagles settled for a field goal instead.  On the Eagles following possesion, they got great field position on a DeSean Jackson 29 yard punt return to bring them at the Eagles 49.  The Eagles would gain 16 yards and would get a TD on a McNabb 35 yard pass to Jackson.

On the Skins next drive, they converted 3 third downs which led to a touchdown and the Redskins took a 14-10 lead.  Two Redskin possessions later, Jason Campbell was picked off by Assante Samuel on a 3rd and 2 play at the Redskins 21.  That pick would lead to a field goal as the Eagles could not get another TD in the red zone.  Luckilly, on the Skins next possesion, it was deja vu as Samuel intercepted another Campbell pass and returned it to the Redskins 28 which led to another Eagles FG to take a 16-14 lead.

The third quarter was ROUGH for the Eagles.  They had 3 3 and outs, and only got 13 yards of offense.  The Redskins in the meantime were 4-5 on third down and scored a TD to make it 21-16 Skins.  To make matters worse, DeSean Jackson left the game with a concussion!  Things did not get any better in the first possesion in the 4th quarter for the Eagles.  After they forced the Redskins to punt, McNabb’s pass was intercepted on a 3rd-7 play by Justin Tryon and was returned at the Eagles 23.  That would lead to a Redskins field goal.

After that FG, the switch turned on for the Eagles.  They started at their own 10 and Jason Avant made 2 back to back receptions of 46 and 20 yards which catapulted them to the Skins 24.  Later in the drive, they converted a crucial 3rd-2 play at the Redskins 16 when LeSean McCoy ran 3 yards.  On the very next play, Leonard Weaver ran 12 yards to get the first down which brought the Eagles to the 1.  On 3rd-1, Eldra Buckley ran it in for his first career TD to make it 24-22 Skins.  Of course the Eagles had to go for 2 to tie it up and McCoy made an exciting run since he was on the verge of going down and the conversion was good.

On the following Redskins possesion, they could not do anything offensively but punt.  The Eagles would drive down the field to the Skins 14 yard line and a key play was a Jeremy Maclin 35 yard reception which brought them to the Skins 28.  Despite the Eagles not converting on 3rd-6 inside the 2 minute warning, the Eagles kicked the go ahead FG to take the 27-24 lead.

McNabb was 21-35, 260 yards, and had a 80.7 rating.  Campbell was 22-37, 231, 73.1.  McCoy had 17 carries for 76 yards.  Jason Avant had 5 receptions for 94 yards.  The last time the Eagles won back to back games by coming from behind in the 4th quarter was Week 7 and 8 of 2003 at the Giants (Westbrook’s miraculous 84 yard punt return) and vs the Jets.

MS/FB status: “Slammin comeback Eagles! For some reason, the Skins are like the Nats– both are from the Washington area, and even though they both suck, they both play the respective Philly teams hard.”

It is about time!

Remember 2 recaps ago when the Eagles lost to the Cowboys on Sunday night and I wrote about how much the Eagles sucked on Sunday Night Football?  Going into this game, they were 0-7 on Sunday Night Football on NBC.  Note: that does not include the NBC Christmas special in 2006 against the Cowboys in which the Eagles won 23-7.

Last year on Week 4, the Eagles and Bears played on SNF in Chicago and the Eagles lost 24-20.  That game was mostly remembered for the Eagles not being able to convert on short yardage at the end of the game on the Bears 1 yard line.  In addition, DeSean Jackson muffed a punt earlier in the game which led to a Bears TD.

However this year, the Eagles won this time by the same score, 24-20.  The offense was more balanced in this game than in most other previous games– 33 pass attempts to 30 running plays.  LeSean McCoy ran 20 times for 99 yards.  DeSean Jackson had 8 receptions for 107 yards.  The Eagles were 7-15 on 3rd down vs. the Bears 3-16.  In addition the Eagles were 2-3 in the red zone which was a huge improvement from the previous week.

The Eagles started off slow by putting together a 9 play, 68 yard drive.  Half of those runs came on a Michael Vick run on a 3rd-1, Eagles 34 play which came on the shotgun.  The drive stalled at the Bears 7 and the Eagles settled for a field goal which was a ghost from the previous game in San Diego.  After the Bears punted, the Eagles would score a TD from the Bears 13 on a Jason Avant reception to take a 10-0 lead.  Jason Avant also had a 21 yard reception on the drive.

After the TD, the Bears chipped away at the lead by kicking 3 field goals in the rest of the 1st half as the Bears defense kept the Eagles off the board.  The Bears kicked a go ahead FG in the 3rd quarter to take a 12-10 lead.  2 Eagle possessions later, the Eagles quick strike offense came back as DeSean Jackson had a long 48 yard TD reception on a drive which only took 2 plays and the Eagles retook the lead, 17-12.  The Bears would get that TD back on the following possession and went for 2 to take a 20-17 lead.

In the Eagles first full possession in the 4th quarter, LeSean McCoy fumbled the ball and it was recovered by the Bears at the Eagles 37.  The Bears only picked up 7 yards but came up empty as the 48 yard field goal attempt by Robbie Gould was blocked.  The Eagles would pick up momentum from the blocked FG as they put together a 11 play, 62 yard, 5:30 drive.  LeSean McCoy would run for a 10 yard TD to take the 24-20 lead.  After both teams traded punts, the Bears did not have any more timeouts and it was after the 2 minute warning.  The Bears had one more chance to score a touchdown but Jay Cutler was picked off by Sean Jones which ended the game.

MS/FB status: “It is about time the Eagles win on SNF in a much needed game!”

“Charged” in the red zone

The Eagles problems from early 2007 plagued the Eagles in their game against the Chargers.  On Week 6 in 2007 against the Jets at Giants Stadium, the Eagles were 0-4 in the red zone.  On one of the possessions, they could not get the ball in from the Jets 4 yard line and had to settle for a field goal instead.  Luckily, since that was the Jets, the Eagles held the Jets to only 9 points in the field goal fest and won 16-9.  Not scoring TDs in the red zone is similar to not getting a run in with a runner in scoring position which was one of the Phillies main problems during the baseball season.

On Sunday against the Chargers, the Eagles had their share of red zone problems haunt them again.  After the first 3 Eagle possesions of coming up empty and the Chargers were up 14-0, the Eagles drove the ball deep in Charger territory.  McNabb threw an incomplete pass from the 11 yard line, but thanks to a PI penalty, they advanced to the 1 yard line.  They could not punch it in during the first 3 downs, so instead of going to the TD to cut the lead in half on 4th down, Andy Reid chickened out and decided to go for a chipshot FG instead.  When you are down by so many points it is more prudent to go for the TD instead of the FG unless it is near the end of the first half.  After the Eagles forced the Chargers to go 3 and out, they put together a 14 play, 87 yard drive which brought them to the Chargers 9.  The only yards they got from the 9 was only a lowly 2 yard gain.  Once again with 11 seconds in the half, they went for the FG to make it 14-6 Chargers.

After the Chargers scored another TD in the 3rd quarter to make it 21-6, Jason Avant had an excellent 58 yard reception to bring the Eagles inside the red zone once again.  However that came to waste as the Eagles could not convert a 3-1 from the Chargers 7 (and of course, they used a pass play a la game against the Bengals last year which did not work.)  So Akers would then nail a 25 yard chipshot FG.  Luckilly, the Eagles would finally decide to score 2 TDs in the red zone to close the Charger lead to 5 points after the Chargers scored another TD to make it 28-23.  However, after that least Eagle TD, the Eagles D could not force a 3 and out and the Chargers were able to get a FG to make it an 8 point lead.  The Eagles had one last shot at tying the game with no timeouts left on a 32 yard drive which started at their 34 yard line and ended at the Chargers 34, but  McNabb threw an interception to end the game.

FB status: “wonders when Andy Reid will start RUNNING the ball more. Also how could the Eagles make 3 trips to the red zone and only come up with FGs?! Feels like 2007 again!”

and the SNF woes continue

Remember in the last SNF game that the Eagles played against the Giants last year?  The Eagles lost that game due to 2 back to back lost challenges and not being able to convert short yardage.  In that game, the Giants were 7-15 on third down while the Eagles were only 3-11.  The Eagles could not convert a critical 4th-1 near midfield at the end of the game.  Also, the Giants had the ball for about 2/3 of the game.  In addition, the Eagles lost two critical back to back challenges about 5 minutes into the 4th quarter and the after the second lost challenge the Eagles only had 1 timeout left.  The second challenge was costly because it allowed a touchdown.  There was another thing to note about that game, one play in the third quarter, Eli Manning made a pass that was originally ruled illegal because he was past the line of scrimmage however, the Giants challenged and that got reversed.

Put together everything in the last paragraph, and you will get something similar to the Week 9 game against the Cowboys.  The Cowboys were 7-15 on 3rd down while the Eagles were only 4-12.  The Eagles once again lost two challenges on short yardage plays on 3rd and 4th downs on different drives.  To make matters worse, the second lost challenge costs the Eagles possession of the ball AND their LAST timeout.  After the first challenge which was not converting a 3rd-1 around their 40, they were going for it on 4th down, but a false start penalty forced them to punt instead.  In the 4th quarter, the Eagles were going for it on 4th-1 near midfield, but they could not convert (in fact, they could not get 1 yard on 2nd and 3rd downs neither).  Once again, the Eagles challenged and lost that challenge which meant they gave the ball back to the Cowboys and they were out of timeouts.  As for the illegal foward pass penalty as I mentioned in the last paragraph, the Cowboys challenged a McNabb forward pass early in the 3rd quarter which would score a touchdown for the Eagles.

With the Cowboys up 20-13 in the 4th quarter the Eagles had the ball on the Cowboys 34 on 4th-11 with 4:33 left to play and no timeouts.  Instead of them going for it, they decide to kick a long 52 yard FG which was good, but the needed a touchdown to tie the game.  I have no idea why Andy Reid decided to kick the FG with no timeouts and they were down by a touchdown.  It is one thing to do that with timeouts, but when there is no timeouts, it is not a wise thing to do.  Since they were out of timeouts, they needed to force a 3 & out on the Cowboys, but the Eagles were not able to do that as the Eagles defense could not stop them and the Cowboys were able to eat up the clock.

MS/FB status: “This was so funny and true, I have to repost this from one of my Eagle FB friends: ‘Eagles should tell the NFL that they refuse to play Sunday Night games.’” (the only good thing about SNF games is if I work on a Sunday, I can still catch the game after work).