SHAMEFUL
Ray Didinger had a lot of great points on WIP’s morning show today. As usual I agreed with every single one of them.
1. Can someone tell McSmiles to keep his mouth shut with his ridiculous post game comments? Stop saying we were the better team, we should have won, blah blah blah. First off Donny, you aren’t better, so let’s just clarify that now. Secondly, until you do things that the opponent who just beat you does (win at Dallas, make the playoffs last year, win 4 games in a row, which the Eagles haven’t done since the Super Bowl year), shut the fuck up.
2. The Eagles’ first 15-20 offensive plays are scripted each week and usually pretty effective. The problem is that after those plays are gone, Big Red shits the bed. 24 of the Eagles next 33 plays were passes. This problem is compounded when your receivers are dropping balls and ruining your quarterback’s rhythm and confidence. The Redskins players even admitted after the game that they knew they had to withstand the scripted plays and get to the Eagles afterwards. And of course, the Eagles scored three points after that. Mix in the run, Andy. Balance your offense out and keep the defense honest.
3. When Desean Jackson is your best receiver and the only guy who can stretch the field deep, go to him. The Eagles completely abandoned him in the second half as Greg Lewis, Brent Celek, and god knows who else dropped ball after ball. It’s inexcusable to not call his number when he’s been effective all year.
4. Whoever is telling Andy Reid he should have challenged that Antwan Randle-El forward pass call should be fired. I need answers. Why was that play challenged? After one look at the replay on TV it wasn’t even close. It’s a wasted timeout and a disgraceful display of game management.
5. Part of playing football, staying in games, and ultimately winning close games in the playoffs is making field goals. The fact of the matter here is that David Akers has missed nine straight field goals over 45 yards. I don’t believe there is a concrete answer as to when you pull the plug on this guy, but at the rate he is going it cannot be too far from here. There is a very good chance that if he makes at least one of those kicks in the Bears game the Eagles win, and if he makes the 50 yarder from yesterday that would have put the Eagles up 17-0 and the game could have very easily gone a different way. His performance has been garbage.
6. The division caught up to Andy Reid a while ago. He’s not coaching against Dave Campo, Norv Turner, Steve Spurrier, and god know who else anymore. Defensive lapses, dog shit third down defense, and the worst play clock management in the league was going to catch up to him against real teams eventually.
Other embarrassments include: non-existent fullbacks, Westbrook’s broken ribs, Greg Lewis in general, Chris Gocong’s ability to cover receivers, goal-line play calling
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October 6th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
1. Doesn’t EVERY team in the NFC East feel like it can win the super bowl every year? We send 3 teams to the playoffs each year, so our odds are pretty good.
2. I’m not saying the Redskins will win the Super Bowl, but I will volunteer my 1 year old’s diapers for the occasion should it happen. You may be in luck, he should be eating all kinds of interesting stuff come February, which would make for a nice flavor profile.
3. Of course it is possible to catch the Redskins (or Cowboys for that matter, it’s still early in the season and T.O. is showing signs of cracking already), but you need to remember that the Skins have gone 2-3 on the ROAD against NFC East opponents. Which means that they have the rest of the division games at home. FedEx gets loud too.
4. Not that it matters, but Jackson’s PR TD should have been called back. The officials picked the wrong player in the 50 vs. 50 block in the back in the Eagles’ favor. In fact, Tank Daniels’ rest of the game wasn’t that impressive either. Remember the face mask/tackle out of bounds play in the 3rd quarter that helped the Redskins’ drive? Yeah, that was him too. I will say though, that after witnessing him live on Sunday, DeSean is ridiculously fast. When they showed the slo-mo replay on the jumbo, he was running normal speed and everyone else was crawling.
5. As for clock management, don’t forget about the timeout at the end of the 1st half the Eagles called which stopped the clock for the Redskins, allowed for another couple of plays, and eventually led to another Suisham FG. That was a gift.
6. Akers’ time has passed. The plug should be pulled.
7. It’s going to be interesting to see how Jackson and Buckhalter step up with Westbrook’s seemingly precipitous road to recovery. The hits don’t get softer, so I don’t see him lasting many more games this season. Given the birds’ record without him, that road to catching anyone else in the East just got a lot tougher.
8. Would it be so hard to give credit to the Redskins when credit is due? Portis had a field day on the birds’ run defense, and Campbell looked halfway respectable.
October 7th, 2008 at 9:07 am
We don’t give credit here in the City of Pain, but your lengthy comment was appreciated.
Tank Daniels should be beheaded too.