She-gles: The Drama Continues

Ok, I've had it. Everyone needs to stop being surprised when the Eagles underachieve. I understand it from Philly fans, we all hate to admit that our team just isn't very good, but the national media has no excuse. The Eagles used to be much younger, and much deeper. Their defense wasn't just good it was formidable. McNabb could run like crazy and wasn't afraid to. And people had no idea what to make of Brian Westbrook. Now, however, they are an old, slow and predictable team that doesn't have the talent to overcome the shaky decision making of Andy Reid.

I'll start with Donovan "Chunky Soup" McNabb. He was a monster years ago. An absolute beast and a gamer. Even early in his career when his passing ability hadn't caught up with his big arm and his quick feet he would leave it all on the field. Now, however, I see a shell of that player, both physically and emotionally. The physical toll has been obvious. Since the knee injures Donovan has all but abandoned the run as part of his game, when in the past it was a big part of what made him truly dynamic. What is more disappointing, however, is that it seems ever since TO broke Chunky's heart that he hasn't recovered. He seems soft and unwilling to hear or deal with any criticism of him or his protector Andy Reid. Every press conference I see him in he seems like he doesn't want to be there and when people ask him about the struggles of the team he always seems to have an excuse. The QB is supposed to be fiery, and when times are bad he should be the one taking the blame for his teammates and rallying the troops to go right the ship the following week. I just don't see in McNabb the player that led Philly to the Super Bowl in 2004.

Now on to the real problem, Andy "I Look Like A Walrus" Reid. Now there is no denying that Reid is a good coach. He took a team to four straight NFC Championships and coached in a Super Bowl. Very few coaches achieve that type of success at any point and it can't be taken away from him. The problem that Reid has is that he seems to have forgotten how to coach in an actual game. Over the last three years I can think, off the to of my head, of at least three games in which Reid simply didn't realize or care how much time was on the clock and cost his team scores. One of these times was the dreadful drive in the Superbowl when they showed no sense of urgency and appeared to not have a two minute offense even in place (By the way, they lost that Super Bowl by three points). This year, time and time again, Andy has refused to give the ball to his best player, Brian Westbrook. The only time he seems to feel comfortable feeding him the ball is in 3rd and 4th and 1's when Westbrook is probably at his least effective. The fact of the matter appears to be that While Reid certainly knows football, now that his team has aged and lost some of their edge he has proven to be an inconsistent coach during the close games his less talented team now constantly finds itself in. Reid is smart coach and is not the sole reason the Eagles have struggled, but the idea that this guy is anywhere near Tony Dungy or Bill Belichick is absolutely insane.

The point of this rant is simply this. The Eagles team you have seen on the field the last few weeks...IS THE EAGLES. Its who they are, its fitting for their level of talent, their age and their QB and Coach. So yes, if Philadelphia wants to be a perennial Super Bowl contender they need to get rid of Reid and McNabb, but they also need to find two replacements who are better than these two and assemble a whole lot more talent. The Eagles have had their day in the sun and as hard as it may be for Eagles fans to hear, its time to blow it up and start building again around your good player, Brian Westbrook. Hey, at least the Phillies won.

How many games will he get if he kills someone?

I must say I was shocked to see that Pac-Man Jones has already been reinstated to play in the NFL. More than that I am completely dumbfounded by Roger Goodell. Of course when he came in with all the suspensions everyone said "ok, he is tough, he is gonna clean things up." Then the Patriots get off with what, even I, a Patriots fan, would call a slap on the wrist. This we all kinda chalked up to the Pats being the story of the NFL and him not wanting to turn a positive into a negative anymore than was necessary. Now, however, after giving Pac-Man yet another chance, and telling him he doesn't have any strikes left he lets him back in after having a fight to which the police were called.

Now don't get me wrong. I know mistakes get made, and I know Pac-Man Jones doesn't need to get that out of control to garner the attention of the police. This, however, was not a situation where some loser in a bar decided to pick a fight with the football player just to get noticed. Pac-Man got drunk and fought his own body guard (Let the amazing stupidity of what you just read really wash over you, it tok me awhile to really appreciate how amazing this screw up was.). Now, I would never do this... because I'm not a moron, but I will play along and say that everyone makes mistakes, but how many times can you make a mistake that requires someone else to call the police.

Goodell should have stayed consistent, stepped up and made an example of this player. Ban him for life, don't give him another chance. I am quite glad to see that Pac-Man got counseling for his alcohol problem, but it seems like maybe this is something he should have figured out before. It leaves me wondering if he got counseling because he needs it, or because he thought showing the initiative would get him back on the field sooner.

What other profession could Pac-Man be in where this wouldn't have ruined his career. Maybe loan shark? Professional wrestler (Although he didn't last long at that)? I know these players are young kids, who don't grow up or get the education they need in many cases, but there are limits to what can be forgiven. The fact of the matter is Pac-Man should be fired, but its not entirely Goodell's fault. No, he should not have let Pac-Man back this time, but the Cowboys shouldn't take him back either, and no other team should show interest. The problem is that all the teams care more about winning than integrity. Any team out there that thinks Pac-Man can make them better on the field will give this loser another shot no matter what he does off the field. A sad thought indeed for the biggest and most watched of all leagues.

Has Brady Been Bledsoed?

To answer the question in the title of this post...of course not, are you insane? There is no one, anywhere, that can beat out Tom Brady for a starting job, but even with that being true I'm sure we are just mere hours from the start of people going completely insane about the abilities of one Matt Cassel.

Now before you get the wrong idea, I really like this kid. He came into a near impossible situation. Everyone expected him to fail and he plays for a franchise that expects nothing less than perfection every time they step on the field. He hadn't started a game since high school as we were told by ESPN and their crack research team 1000 times, and yet through the pressure and the lack of experience he has become quite a serviceable quarterback. As a matter of fact, with back to back 400 yard games you can make the argument he has been more than serviceable. But not so fast my friend....

I will admit, i loved watching Cassel today as he amassed a ton of yards and threw 3 TDs to Randy Moss, who reminded me today why he is far and away the best WR in the game. I won't tell you the kid can't make the throws, he can, but lets face it, what reasonably talented quarterback couldn't throw to these guys. When your second option is Wes Welker you have a pretty good team. And when your other options behind Welker and Moss include Kevin Faulk, Ben Watson, Jabar Gaffney and Sammy Morris you've got one hell of an offense. And when you protect it all with a stout offensive line it gets all the better. What people are undoubtedly going to forget is that this team went 18-1 last year on the strength of the most prolific offensive attack EVER!

Cassel is going to finish the year out strong. He is proven he is accurate, has a strong arm and is surprisingly mobile. He has handled immense pressure and scrutiny and deserves the starting job he will undoubtedly get next year for whatever team ponies up the cash, but lest not go crazy and start calling this kid the heir apparent. When he is throwing to a double covered Calvin Johnson and NO ONE ELSE I doubt the 400 yard, 3TD, 0 INT games are going to be quite so frequent.

Even within the last two games, signs can be seen that Cassel has a lot of growing left to do. He missed Randy Moss on two sure fire TDs against the Jets. the first of which he threw about 20 yards past him. And this week, several of Cassel's biggest plays were screens to Welker and Faulk, and several big hook ups went to wide open receivers.

I don't want this to sound too critical. I like Matt Cassel. I think he is a very good young player and I'm hoping that he can take the Patriots on a run deep into the playoffs this year. I think he will get a starting job elsewhere and will have a good chance at succeeding if there is any talent around him. I just think its important to remember that its one thing to get great performance out of a Cadillac its quite another to get it out of a Ford Focus. (HAHA, isn't that perfect for Detroit?)

The Failing Irish

Really? Syracuse? After leading by 13 in the second half? In South Bend?

Up to this point as a Notre Dame fan and a Patriots fan I have defended Charlie Weis. He inherited a terrible program that was in decline. He was instituting a pro-style, complicated offense. He made the most of talent that Willingham couldn't do anything with, and I fully believed that as his recruits started to filter in and mature that he would bring Notre Dame back into the national spotlight. When things didn't go well I was prepared to give more time because South Bend isn't the easiest place to recruit to, and let's face it, a buyout of his contract seemed insane at a rumored 21 million dollars.

Now though, even I am having trouble convincing myself that Weis isn't in over his head. Weis had way more talent on the field today and despite playing incredibly inconsistently on the offensive side of the ball the Irish had a 13 point lead, at home in the second half against a 2-8 team who's coach had just been fired. But the Irish couldn't get out of their own way and managed to let the Orange score two 4th quarter TDs to claim a one point victory over a stunned Irish team.

This loss to teh Orange isn't just embarassing, its historic. This moves the Irish to 6-5. Combine that with their 3-9 record last year and they have lost 14 in the last two years, the most in any two consecutive Irish seasons. It also is the second straight week in which the Irish blew seemingly iron clad leads. Last week they managed to barely hold on against Navy, but the win was certainly less than satisfying.

Perhaps most troubling is that despite Weis having had time for his recruits to reach the playing field the team does not appear to be any faster or more talented than they were under Willingham. The defense is inconsistent and rarely appears to be talented enough to hang with upper echelon programs and Weis is far from a defensive genius. The offensive players, while certainly showing more promise, have yet to show that they can play consistently. Jimmy Clausen showed quite a bit of promise early in the season, but over the last few weeks has shown that he has a tendency to float balls and turn it over.

The bottom line is the last few weeks have made me realize that this team isn't a year or two away from really living up to their expectations, it's a team that seems to have fulfilled its less than exciting potential. With this as the case it may be time for ND to cut their losses and move on in a new direction. Of course, I don't think there is anyone else out there that can turn this train wreck around. I Think its time for the Notre Dame alumni and fans to accept what the rest of the country realized years ago, it's unlikely that Notre Dame will ever be the powerhouse it was. The sooner ND realizes this, the sooner they can make the moves they need to be a strong and consistent second tier team. A sad day indeed.

Most Valuable Pipsqueak

This week major league baseball finally finished the long and unnecessarily drawn out process of handing out their season awards. The seemingly unending process came to an close with the announcement of the American League's Most Valuable Player. The announcement came as no real surprise, front runner Dustin Pedroia won the award garnering 16 of the 28 first place votes. Coming into the season the idea of Dustin Pedroia winning this award would have been laughable. Listed at 5-9 (probably closer to 5-6) and 180 lbs., playing second base and hitting near the top of the order, Pedroia hardly fits the mold for AL MVP. This award is usually reserved for guys with power numbers. Overwhelming home run and RBI totals usually carry the day, and ultimately it was surprising that they didn't again this year.

Pedroia's numbers are great, there's no getting around it. He hit .326, with 17 HRs, 83 RBI, a .376 OBP, .493 slugging, tied for the league lead with 213 hits and 54 doubles. He won the gold glove at second base, was successful on 20 of 21 steal attempts and lets not forget he played in 157 games (a stat I think should carry weight for an MVP award). Perhaps most impressively he only struck out 52 times in 653 at bats.

These numbers are certainly impressive and from a second year, under sized second baseman they are incredible, but Pedroia didn't win the award because of his numbers, he won because of 18 key at bats in August.

The sole reason Pedroia won the MVP award instead of Morneau or Youkilis is because Pedroia had a signature stretch. A week of baseball where he played at such a high level that he caught the entire country's attention. With Manny Traded and Ortiz, Lowell and Youk all injured Pedroia was thrown into the clean up spot for a week with Boston battling to stay well positioned for the playoffs. Not only was Pedroia serviceable in the role, he was incredible. He went 12-18 with 2 HRs and 4 Doubles. He slugged 1.222 and seemed to carry the entire Boston Red Sox team on his back for a time. Every sports center seemed to focus on his rise and ESPN started asking every expert they could find if Pedroia had positioned himself to win the MVP.

It was this stretch that made voters for get about the power numbers, or the fact that Youkilis was arguably the most valuable Red Sox player this year. For that one week Pedroia wasn't just good, he was great and the whole sports nation took notice.

But regardless of why he won, its great that he did. Nice to see the little guy come out on top, and with Stephen Surry mere months from winning Player of the Year in college ball maybe the little guys is getting ready to assert themselves and big factors across all of sports.