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10/23/2005 |
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Philly Sports Update | |
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The Flyers Except for stupid scheduling by the NHL which gave the Flyers the last week off, the Flyers season has been moving along nicely. Forsberg is a pleasure to watch and is a genius with the puck. Is there a goalie controversy? I'm not sure yet, but I am guessing there is bound to be one. Niittymaki and Esche can not bounce back and forth, a decisions has to be made as to whom the starter is going to be. The Eagles I had the opportunity to attend the Eagles game today against San Diego, and I took a number of things away. The Defense deserved that win, and if they offense could not give it to them, then the special teams and the likes of Quinten Mikell and Matt Ware did the job. In a play along the realms of the Miracle of the Meadowlands, Quintell Mikell and Matt Ware were able to break through the Charges line and block a field goal with over 2 minutes to go. The ball bounced into Ware's hands and he sprinted 65 yards for the game winning score. Thank God he did, because I doubt the offense could have done anything. That brings me to the stagnant offense. I am not sure what the issue is, but I know something to be sure. There were open receivers all over the field. The Chargers have the 26th ranked Pass defense and it showed, but McNabb either did not see his players or could not get them the ball to exploit them. The lack of a running game is catching up to them and Reid better get off his high horse and do something about it. He needs to stop trying to outsmart the other coaches and create a gameplan to use the strengths of the players he has, because what he is doing is not working right now. Case in point. 3 minutes and 23 seconds left in the game, the Eagles are down by 4. It is 4th down 1 yard to go. First the punt team comes on, then the Eagles burn a timeout. The offense stays on and Lamar Gordon is in the game. This is the guy we brought in to get the tough yards. Instead of running the damn ball, Reid calls a pass play and the only open guy is Josh Parry, the freakin' fullback! McNabb over throws him turn over on downs on their own 30. Ried, in his usual post game press conference took full responsibility for that one. Not good enough, 7 years coaching and the expectation of winning the superbowl dictates better coaching. They would have been done if not for the great defense and the unbelievable Special Teams play to score. To the defense. The Eagles of recent memory have been blessed with great defenses. From the Buddy Ryan era to now, there have been gems. The House of Pain game on Monday night in Houston, the Monday Night game in which the defense notched 9 sacks against Troy Aikman. Then, there is this game. LaDanian Tomlinson is arguably the most explosive player in the game today. He is definitely the best running back, and was riding a record tying 18 consecutive games with a touchdown. The Eagles would have none of that. The Eagles held him in negative yards up to the fourth quarter and he finished with 7 yards on 17 carries, 0.41 yards per carry! That is why this game deserved to go to the Eagles. It would have been a damn shame if they would have stopped Tomlinson and lost. The offense better get its act together, the defense can not win every game. |
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