City of Pain

The buzz this morning in Philadelphia about yesterday’s pathetic loss to the Seahawks surrounds two separate issues: A.J. Feeley’s horrible performance at quarterback and the offensive play calling.

For anyone screaming about the direction the Eagles went at QB yesterday, what direction they should go next week, or how they should finish out the year, please just stop. You’re all idiots. Everyone who wanted Feeley to play had every right to believe he was going to give us the better chance to win. No one could predict he wasn’t going to see Seattle linebackers and end up throwing them meatballs all day (three of his four picks were to Lofa Tatupu, who I believe now has 71 career interceptions against the Eagles). It was a bad game, plain and simple, but wouldn’t you still rather have a QB who is 100%? Of course you would. Feeley is a backup so no one should expect him to turn into Tom Brady after one good game. He went in there, sucked it up, and will be the first one to admit it. Feeley said after the game “It’s going to eat at me for a while,” Feeley said afterward. “If I don’t play next week and Don comes back and I have to sit on this . . . It’s a tough one to sit on.”

Feeley has thrown 8 interception in 103 pass attempts this season. That is kinda not good. His overall numbers for yesterday’s game were also complete dog shit: 19 of 42 passes for 220 yards, 1 TD, 4 INTs. So now what happens? Well, you can pretty much guarantee McNabb will be under center next week at home against the Giants, and if anything were to happen to him in practice this week, don’t be shocked if you see your first Kevin Kolb sighting.

So what if McNabb had played, would the Eagles have won the game? That’s a question you’ll hear everywhere today and honestly, who cares? If you want to find the true culprit of who is to blame for yesterday’s embarrassing loss, take a look over to the sidelines at that big, fat, red-headed, whale of a coach who kept throwing the ball in the rain. How in the hell can you have your backup QB throw the ball 42 times in that weather? Does that make any sense whatsoever? How can your pass to run ration be 65 to 35 (which would be too high under ideal weather conditions) when you had two 30 yard touchdown runs by your team? Why run so infrequently? I need an explanation please.

How can you have a 1st and goal at the one yard line, right before halftime, and not run any of your running backs up the middle four straight times behind one of the best offensive lines in the NFL? Why even consider throwing the ball in that position? It makes no sense. Everything about that game yesterday was off. Early in the fourth quarter, having a 3rd and 1 and throwing the ball 20 yards down the field to LJ Smith made no sense, especially considering Westbrook had run for six and three yards the previous two plays. The Eagles also had a third and short from the Seahawks thirty and decided to throw the ball in the end zone. One of their strengths against the Patriots last week was maintaining drives down the field, so why did they decide to hit the home run on every third down? Last but not least, how do they keep Westbrook on the sidelines the final three pays of the game? Mind blowing.

Sitting in the stands yesterday, I was too cold and too wet to fully grasp what was unfolding in front of me. The weather was horrible. Hopefully, I’ll be able to regain the feeling in my toes by next week. I think I’m going to make some serious life decisions about attending these games after this season. I’m vowing to never attend another non-playoff Eagles game after November 1st. First of all, it’s not fun being soaking wet in 30 degree weather for five hours. Not at all. In fact, having shoes that are soaked, gloves that are soaked, and a heavy winter jacket that is soaked isn’t fun either. At some point during the game I started not caring what was going on in front of me, but I started thinking about getting warm, survival, even cannibalism. Snow is one thing, being out on a really cold day is another, but sitting in freezing rain, completely drenched is ten times worse. And it didn’t stop. It just kept raining, and raining and raining. I think it was when the fourth quarter started that I began wondering if I was alive or not. I think at some point I began hallucinating from the cold. I saw people killing each other, clouds in the sky began forming weird geometrical shapes, I laughed at other’s misfortunes, the rain burned me like volcanic ash, I wondered if Jesus would wear sandals upon his return to earth or some other footwear I didn’t know about, I dreamt of sandcastles and finger-painting and butterflies, and visions of a Baphomet-type creature became etched into my brain. I didn’t know if the constant water running down my face was from the rain, or from my own tears. I was trapped in my own personal hell. People say hell is supposed to be hot? Yesterday, hell was cold as shit.