The Groundhog Day of Football Teams

I just stole that phrase from someone on an Eagles board. Good lord is he/she right. My custom message on GoogleChat is "thank goodness for hockey season". Since basketball holds less and less allure for me, all that is left during this time of year is the Sharks. This post by aphillyphan sums up how I feel almost perfectly:

"...Then (Bob) Costas asked (Charles) Barkley who was in the audience and he put it perfectly; "Philly is a great place to play... when you're winning." That's what I see everytime I read the comments of bloggers. Our bigtime players aren't allowed to make ANY mistakes. It's easy to look at the final score and say D-Mac's fumble cost us the game, but I look at the larger picture: This organization has won with mediocre talent at the skill positions for 8 years (average WR's, one great TE in Chad Lewis, One great RB in West and a seldom used good one in Buck,) because of their defense and the lack of talent in the divison. Well now the division has wised up to Andy's game plan. You wanna know why Jeff Fisher is the longest tenured coach in the Not For Long right now? It ain't cause he's a genius (or maybe in his simplicity he is) it's cause he understands you need to punish the opposing offense with pressure and physical play and you need to punish the opposing defense with a running game and physical play. Andy has not gotten this, and will never get this because he thinks a short pass play is the equivalent of a run. NO andy it is not! A running play means your offensive line gets to play downhill, and push the D-line around. Which tires out their pass rush and makes pass blocking easier. All I want next year is a coach who understands that and a GM who will bring in the people to execute. Which means Andy HAS TO GO!!!"

All I would add to that is the Eagles' ongoing problem(s) with clock management is unfathomable (which is tied to a lack of consistent running game), don't shoot the rookie WR who had a bad day, and whoever is up in the booth and responsible for monitoring replays for challenge should be taken out back and shot. A telling stat: Eagles are 7-0 when they run the ball more often than they pass. Not more yards. More often. They are 1-6-1 when they don't.

One of the best things I heard yesterday in the sports bar was "I'm a drunk Mexican standing in a sports bar and I can tell you what the next 2 plays are going to be! If a drunk Mexican can tell you the next 2 plays, don't you think the other team's defense can?!?" Amen, O-Dizzle. Amen.