Philadelphia Eagles Column

By: Angela Fuller

2/4/09

Despite the tumultuous banter about what “the benching” meant, and which players do, or don’t, know the rules of OT in the regular season, the Eagles season became one of the better sagas of the league… so proved the post season presence of the birds. Remember those six teams these Eagles needed help from to make it to the playoffs? Well, they got help from all six of them! The icing on the cake was what started out as a mere attempt to ruin the Cowboys’ playoff berth, just because they’re the Cowboys, turned out to be an all out 44 - 6 shellacking in favor of the “E-A-G-L-E-S Road to Victory”!

As the rest of the fight song goes, the Eagles “flew” past the Vikings and the Giants. Were they going to be the New York Football Giants of 2009? I mean, they HAD to be, right? All they had to do was get past the Arizona Cardinals, who hadn’t smelled the playoffs since… um… well… a long time. Would it be another Super Bowl appearance for the Eagles? Could it be another championship parade for the city of Philadelphia in less than 3 months time? Well… not so fast!

In summary, I think this year’s team showed a tremendous amount of heart and I believe they have some good pieces to the puzzle in place. However, even with this team being ranked as one of the top defenses in the league, there is something lacking. I think they need to get bigger across the defensive line and younger on the offensive line. I still think they need a number one receiver too. I think Andy Reid is slowly learning that he needs to run the ball more, but I was disappointed in how much they ran the ball against the Cardinals. It is obvious that Donovan has three to four more good years in him, although I did see some flaws in his accuracy in Arizona. That was a game the Eagles were “supposed to” win, but in typical Philly fashion, there were some major breakdowns which led to another year with a broken heart.

11/19/08

5-4-1...

Going to work, playing laser tag, going to the gym, or calling mothers-in-law. This is a list of activities I gathered from Eagles fans, when I asked what they got into by halftime of that Eagles v. Bengals game. Mind you, these are, otherwise, very loyal Philadelphia fans.

Carrying over from a 31-36 loss to the Giants, were so many serious concerns about all that's lacking with these Eagles. Does Andy Reid wear too many hats? (That's my lame and reluctant benefit of the doubt.) Does he even want to win? The Philly game plan and its passing formations, I know, those are one and the same, are OBVIOUSLY too predictable. There's no power in the backfield to make opponents even wonder if the birds might opt to run the ball and dare them to stop it. I mean, serously, as happy as fans are when that ever-familiar slant to Westbrook works, fans are equally as amazed that the play worked, AGAIN! As much as I personally hate to admit it, the Eagles are just not as talented as we all thought they were!

In Cincy... need I even bring up that debacle? It ends in a tie, that several viewers, and apparently players, didn't know was even possible. There was NO running game in Cincy, no surprise there. When asked about that, Andy Reid explained that the short passes were an "extension of the running game". In most offenses, the running game "should" decrease the risk of the ball being in the air, so this "extension" is not really part of the running game. But what it IS, is an over-used, expected part of the Eagles passing game.

As for the personnel who are actually paid to primarily catch balls, the rookie Jackson has actually been a bright spot. However, the Tight End play has been AWFUL, and it makes you wonder why the Franchise Tag was placed on Smith back in February, and more effort wasn't put in to making that deal for Tony Gonzalez...? Again, do the Eagles actually want to win? While I am sure the players do, I'm really questioning the organization at this point.

Trying to not TOTALLY end this on a negative, Trent Cole played VERY well in his homecoming in Cincy. The Eagles could actually get in to the playoffs with help from at least six teams. Wait... was that positive?