For the second weekend in a row, the Birds flew into Dallas and left nothing but a big old pile of poop. Only this time, it was with everything on the line (not just the division and the No. 2 playoff seed). But more on that later.
We have the New York football Jets soaring into the second round of the postseason for the first time in five years, and those red-hot Dallas Cowboys have finally won a playoff game for the first time in 13 seasons. Throw in a healthy dose of Arizona and an impressive upset win for the Baltimore Ravens over the New England Patriots and you have a complete weekend of NFL mayhem. The second-round matchups are all set, so I’ll try to recap quickly … which is like trying to find a current hip hop release without that shitty auto-tune crap that everyone seems to be doing nowadays.
Congrats to the Jets, who won their first playoff game in five years with an impressive 24-14 road win over the Bengals in Cincinnati. Rex Ryan has that defense whipped into shape, and rookie QB Mark Sanchez played an uncharacteristically solid game. Cincy was a nice story this year, but the Jets definitely looked like they wanted this one more. By virtue of Baltimore’s 33-14 thrashing of the New England Patriots, New York is rewarded with a trip to San Diego to take on the Norv Turner-led Chargers next weekend, who are apparently a force to be reckoned with despite their inept coach.
Speaking of Baltimore, the Ravens used a hot start to jump on the Pats 14-0 early and cruise to the win in a game that never really looked to be in doubt. First play from scrimmage resulted in a nice long TD run for Ray Rice, and on New England’s first possession Tom Brady was picked off, setting up the second B’more TD. Pats just looked totally out of sync in this one. The dynasty is over, at least for now. Brady/Belichick doesn’t strike fear into the hearts of men as that duo once did, and neither does much of anyone else on this team. The Ravens looked downright frightening though. Indianapolis will have its hands full next week with that defense. Can’t wait to see how that turns out.
In the NFC, Arizona bested Green Bay in overtime, 51-45, in the highest-scoring postseason NFL game of all time. There was more scoring in this game than in the VIP area of Studio 54 the late 1970s. In fact, if defense were a life raft and I were in the middle of the ocean, I’d decline both of these teams and go it alone. Oh hey, did I mention that I can barely swim? Hey … guess how much scoring there was in this game? They had to switch scoreboards at halftime due to exhaustion. Okay okay, you get the idea. But seriously, pretty exciting to watch, that’s for sure. Ironically, it was ‘Zona’s defense that won the game in OT when GB quarterback Aaron Rodgers was hit by a defender as he was raising the ball to pass, causing a fumble that Karlos Dansby scooped up and returned 17 yards for the winning touchdown. This means the Cards head to New Awlins to take on the Saints in the next round. Holy fireworks Batman – that game is going to be a DANDY. Don’t turn your head for a second, you might miss, like, a bunch of touchdowns or something.
And finally, saving the worst for last, the Eagles apparently learned nothing of value from the beating they took in Dallas in week 17, because Saturday night’s game was like a nightmare instant replay as the Cowboys rolled to a 34-14 win. Now the ‘Boys head to Minnesota to play the Brett Favre-led Vikings. And by the way, for everyone out there throwing out all the reminders about Dallas not having won a playoff game since the ’96 season, and how the Eagles embarrassed the Cowboys in last year’s regular-season finale en route to the NFC East title, and how Philly has had by far a greater amount of postseason success in this past decade … I am fully aware of all of it.
But the past is the past, and this year the Birds looked as primed as any other to make a legitimate Super Bowl run ... until the last two weeks that is. There are no easy answers, other than to say that Dallas is playing great football right now and the Eagles played like cow dung on a stick and therefore deserve what happened to them. No excuses, no major injuries to key players (or at least none so major that the Birds couldn’t rack up an 11-5 regular season). Philly just took a collective dump at the worst possible time, and there’s no real defending it. It’s a combination of that fact, plus Dallas just playing way better than they have in a long time. Bad timing. Didn’t get it done.
And I don’t want to sound like every other troglodyte Philly ‘fan’ who calls for Andy Reid to be fired and for McNabb to be traded after every single season, but I have to admit that I’m starting to reach the end of my rope with this current incarnation of the Philadelphia Eagles. There’s something about Reid/McNabb that just won’t ever produce a championship for the city of Philadelphia, and I believe that now more strongly than ever. I hope they make me eat those words, because it doesn’t look like either one of them is going anywhere anytime soon, but we all know that the head coach and quarterback are two of the most integral aspects of any NFL organization. And in Philly’s case, both of those positions are too suspect and too inconsistent. The division titles and playoff appearances are nice, sure it’s better than not having them at all.
But isn’t there something to be said from learning through mistakes? If you’re not getting better, than what the hell are you doing? It’s the same story every year. McNabb will make good plays here and there, but at the most crucial of times, he’ll over/under throw his open receivers, and Reid will stare blankly or simply look like he can’t find where he set down his cheesesteak instead of ever showing even an ounce of emotion.
I realize Eagles fans can be over emotional, but it seems like the team is perhaps the complete opposite of that, even in the most dire of situations, and that’s not a good thing.
Hey, if you’re satisfied with the current regime, more power to you. But I think we all know what to expect if the personnel stays the same … a winning season in terms of won-loss record, a few playoff appearances here and there, but no parades down Broad Street. This team needs an injection of passion. I’m just not sure anybody on the current Eagles roster has that type of needle right now.
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