Monday, January 10, 2011

OR MAYBE THIS IS STILL DENIAL:  Folks anticipating my annual Stages of Eagles Grief post will find themselves disappointed right now, because I'm not grieving.  This season started with meager hopes -- "let's see how Kevin Kolb develops, and maybe we'll go 7-9 or 8-8," more or less.  As the bye week hit we still didn't know what we had -- a team that owned Atlanta at home but looked puny at Washington and Tennessee, and with neither Kolb nor Michael Vick able to maintain the job consistently.

And then, wow.  You don't get much bigger in-season highs from your football team than what this one delivered -- beating Peyton Manning at home, then the ridiculous explosion at Washington and the 4th and 1 pitch to McCoy to beat the Giants, and then Miracle at the Meadowlands 2.0.  The next two weeks, though, let the air out of the tires some and reminded us that while the offense could be world-class, the defense was decidedly a work in progress.

But there were were, again, at the two minute warning last night with DeSean Jackson standing alone awaiting a punt, and ohmygodaretheykickingtohim?  And then ... I've never seen the air deflate from a balloon as quickly as what happened in the crowd upon the endzone interception.  It wasn't an angry reaction, just stunned, and then really a sense of oh, well, we weren't winning it all anyway.  Because we knew what we had, and what we didn't quite have here. It was a fun season, but not a great one.  A few more notes:

  1. This town is not going to turn on David Akers, despite his missing two field goals yesterday. He's the longest-tenured athlete in Philadelphia -- his first full season was 1999, McNabb's first -- and his long-term excellence (plus whatever personal issues were going on) have earned him a pass on this one.
  2. I'm still wishy-washy on Vick.  Do I cheer for him?  Yes.  But his brutality towards animals prevents me from embracing him as a fan the way I did for Donovan McNabb and still do for Chase Utley.
  3. But then there's Kevin Kolb, who's already playing the do you want him? or do you want me? because I want you! card.  Yes, he should be starting somewhere, and I guess it won't be here.
  4. Next year, the Patriots and Jets come here and the Bears and Falcons are on the schedule.  At least we get the full NFC West.

8 comments:

  1. Jay G.9:12 AM

    I have no idea if anything else was going on with Akers, but I did hear this morning that he recently turned down a 3 year contract extension offer.  History shows that once you turn down an extension from the Eagles, you are dead to them.

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  2. Benner9:18 AM

    i don't know who it was who made the shoestring tackle on DeSean, but he saved the game for the Pack.

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  3. Anonymous9:24 AM

    I loathe the Eagles because of Vick.

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  4. Carmichael Harold10:21 AM

    I completely agree with Adam that the season turned out better than expected and had more than it's share of highlights.  Disappointed that I won't be able to root for the Eagles again for nine months, but not disappointed in the season.  

    As for Vick, I'd rather he not be on the team, both because I have a hard time cheering for him and because I don't really believe that he will be a consistently successful quarterback for the next few years.

    Finally, the ending of yesterday's game reminded me a lot of the ending of the Eagles' seasons in the early McNabb years, when I'd think we were out of it, then we'd be in a position to come back only for the game to end on an interception:

    2001/02--Down by 5 with enough time left to win, decent field position, INT.
    2002/03--Down by 10 with enough time left to win, good field position, INT on the Bucs' 8 (returned for TD).
    2003/04--Down by 11 with enough time left to win, good field position, INT in the endzone.
    2004/05--Down by 3 with enough time left to win, INT.

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  5. Benner1:59 PM

    As far as Vick / Kolb goes, keep in mind they have Kolb under contract for next season.  Vick definetly ended the season not as impressively as he started it, but they should get some decent draft picks for either one of them.  The question facing other teams is, does Vick play as well for them without Urban/Morningwheg/Reid.  And will one or more of those three be coaching somewhere else next season?  I'm a fan of Vick, but I don't like forcing a throw with a minute remaining.  He could have checked it down or thrown it away.  Even if he did get a TD, the Pack could have won or tied with a FG, depending on the try, and would have had the ball with one minute remaining.  That, my friends, was a Brett Favre play.  Anyway, they won't trade Kolb unless they know Vick is back, and I think they might not trade him at all.  Let some other team overbid for him, especially if next year is uncapped.

    The Jets beat the Colts entirely because their D held Peyton to FG's not TD's.  Not saying the Jets are Championship caliber, but I think they'd win the NFC.

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  6. calliekl4:42 PM

    My brother-in-law (Eagles fan) gave up on football as a whole this season because of Vick.

    I think that if any team thinks that they will get the same effort out of him as the Eagles got this season, they are in for some major heartache.

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  7. The Pathetic Earthling5:41 PM

    I'm rooting for Green Bay from here on out, since Aaron Rodgers is a Cal guy.  DeSean Jackson was, too, but he often introduces himself on those 1st quarter player introduction graphics as being affiliated with Long Beach Poly, his high school.  So, screw him.

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  8. isaac_spaceman9:33 PM

    You don't self-identify as Far East Bay?

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