Tweedledee and Tweedledum
Dec 22, 2008 in Eagles
So sayeth the Wikipedia and so it shall be true:
The third and perhaps most familiar source is Lewis Carroll‘s Through the Looking-Glass and what Alice Found There. Carroll, having introduced two fat little men named Tweedledum and Tweedledee, quotes the nursery rhyme, which the two brothers then go on to enact. They agree to have a battle, but never have one. When they see a monstrous black crow swooping down, they take to their heels. The Tweedle brothers never contradict each other, even when one of them, according to the rhyme, “agrees to have a battle”. Rather, they complement each other’s words. This fact has led Tenniel to assume that they are twins also physically, and Gardner goes so far as to claim that Carroll intended them to be enantiomorphs, i.e. three-dimensional mirror images.
I’d like to take this opportunity to pick a little bone with Howard Eskin and the rest of the fourth estate here in Philadelphia. It would be nice to see people call a spade, a spade. Don’t tell me that good teams run the ball more because they’re winning because they’ve already passed the ball to score a lot of points. I understand passing is an integral part of today’s NFL offense. I’m not part of the Dirty Thirty so I get that. It’s the simple fact that you can more effectively pass when teams believe that you might run. Offense is about unpredictability and execution. You can run similar plays over and over again if you have superior execution and/or they don’t know its coming. The Redskins ran the fucking counter trey and million times in the 80′s. And you couldn’t stop it because they have superior execution with the Hogs. I can’t expect Andy to teach execution, so that leaves unpredictability.
46 passes to 16 runs is not unpredictability.
Did Andy Reid feel that 4 yards a carry was not a good result in the first half?
Did Andy and Marty feel that because they were down 3-0, 10-0 and 10-3 that the run should be abandoned to save time? And then piss away every second in the final four minutes?
The Eagles’ offense has had a chance to win the game for the team several times this year (not Washington #1 because the defense was abused and not the Ravens because Donovan was apparently pregnant that day)
Dallas: 4:35 to score a TD, 2 drives, 11 plays, 21 yards
Chicago: 10:30 to score a TD, 1 drive, 11 plays, 75 yards (this is predictability and bad execution at its finest)
New York #1: 3:17 to score a TD, 1 drive, 6 plays, 31 yards
Cinci: 2:44 to score a FG, 2 drives, 6 plays, 9 yards (I’m not even going to look at OT, because it makes the pain to real…it’s like watching bud dwyer or something)
Washington #2: 15:00 to score a TD, 5 drives (4 3 and outs), 28 plays, 20 yards in 4 drives and 90 in the last
This is not a good sign. It hints at a bigger problem that I heard someone mention on Eskin tonight. Since the Super Bowl, the Eagles have been tied or behind in 32 games and have won only 5 of them. Either the defense isn’t doing enough to help the offense come back (quite possible) or it’s that the Eagles can’t play from behind because everyone knows they’ll just keep throwing the ball time and time again.
Fire Andy.
Thank you.
