Football fix

I don't know whether I'm the only one who had a tough time coming off my football high, but now that the season is over and done I've been looking for a way to scratch the itch. This led me to check out and read an excellent sports book "Bringing the Heat", by Mark Bowden. It's all about the Eagles (big surprise I know), the 1989-1992 teams that couldn't quite make it over the hump, but I think it's worth reading if you're a football fan. It describes the players, coaches, and team chemistry in an insightful and colorful way that I think would appeal to anybody. It's worth it for the casual reader just because of its profile of then Eagles DT Mike Golic, now star sportscaster. I'd highly recommend it.

I hate the Giants

Wow, that was quite a game. Let me start by saying that I'm not going to take anything away from the Giants; they played phenomenal defense, pressured Brady like nobody else had, and made the plays on offense that they had to.

But with that being said, what happened to the Pats? They were the highest scoring team in history this year because they had a shotgun-spread offense that couldn't be stopped. It just couldn't. No team has the personnel to cover Moss, Stallworth, Welker, and Watson all at the same time. And if they managed it for a little while then Jabar frickin Gaffney would run amok and the defensive coordinator cried.

Then towards the end of the regular season they get cute, and start running more, and setting up a more "conventional" looking offense. Ok, fine, show people you can run. That's fine. But hey, here comes the Superbowl and the Giants, whose defensive specialty is rushing the QB. They smack the crap out of big Tom in the first half and it's time for the legendary Belechick halftime adjustments; so of course they open up the second half throwing those pansy bunch WR screens that hadn't worked for the whole game and running plays for Kevin Faulk, a nice guy but maybe the fifth best receiver on the team. Finally, finally at the end they go shotgun and drive down and score, but they leave 2:45 on the clock! Is it just me or did they play this game backwards? Why not open in shotgun, let the Giants' pass rush guys run themselves down and get used to aiming at Brady, and then in the second half Maroney draw them to death? I don't get it.

And good golly do I hate the Giants.

Final note, Steve Spagnolo is going to be the most successful coach to fall off of the Andy Reid tree. I'm calling it now.

SUPER SUNDAY!

And the Super Bowl is tonight. The Giants and Patriots are ready to rumble and people are ready to eat inordinate amounts of food. Let us all pray for great commercials as well. Also, isn't it nice to have all this "new" Spygate information coming out each and every day as the Patriots prepare for the Super Bowl? Does the media really feel the need to give the Patriots MORE motivation to win this game? I'm expecting a blow-out, I just can't see a conceivable way that the Giants can win.

Keeping you posted,
Andrew.

I am a tool and have been gone too long

The Super Bowl is this Sunday.
The Super Bowl is this Sunday.
Really?
Seems like it has been a pretty quiet two weeks leading up to the big game.
No bother.

As for me, I'm ready to have an amazing Super Bowl Sunday and start talking NFL Draft 2008. If you don't already go there, nfldraftcountdown.com has fantastic stuff. Top to bottom one of the best sites out there. So go get some information and start getting ready for a few great months of football talk and NBA Playoffs.

And hockey. (Sorry Jeff)

NFL drafts are sad

There's a lot of talk here in Philadelphia about how Donovan McNabb hasn't ever had any help. I thought I'd take a look back and see which receivers the Eagles could've had to go with McNabb (drafted in 1999) instead of the bums that they keep ending up with. I'm only comparing guys who didn't last and guys who went after them:

2000: They drafted Todd Pinkston in the second round (36). They could've had: Jerry Porter (47) or Laveranues Coles (78).

2001: They drafted Freddie Mitchell in the first round (25) and Quintin Carver (LB, 55) in the second. They could've had: Reggie Wayne (30), Todd Heap (31), Chad Johnson (36), Chris Chambers (52) or Steve Smith (74).

So already after two drafts, instead of having Todd Pinkston, Freddie Mitchell and some LB who never made it, Donovan could have been throwing to Jerry Porter, Chad Johnson or Reggie Wayne, and Steve Smith.

2002: Best draft of the decade. Iggles' first four picks were Lito Sheppard, Sheldon Brown, Brian Westbrook, and Michael Lewis. No problems here, might have switched Lewis (58) for Deion Branch (65).

2003: Eagles take Jerome McDougle (15) in the first round. They could've had: Dallas Clark (24) or Anquan Boldin (54).

It's a little bit hard to tell what's what after this list, since guys take a little while to develop and some from these later drafts might still perk up. But just consider that in the Superbowl in 2004, just by drafting differently, they could have switched the Pinkston/Mitchell/broken TO/LJ Smith bunch with Porter/Johnson/Smith/Clark. That kind of knowledge is what curdles Philadelphia fans into the bitter, jaded, black-hearted, miserable jack-asses that we are. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go put on my Flyers jersey and ram into a light pole.

The Baltimore Ravens

As a New England Patriots fan, I'm happy about last nights outcome, but I can imagine how incredulous the Baltimore Ravens fans must feel this morning. Not because of the officiating or the time-out or Tom Brady's good looks or the final score, but because it is all too apparent that the Baltimore Ravens have given up on the season.

I kept hearing during the game that the Ravens were treating the Monday night game with the Patriots as "their Super Bowl," but my question is, "What have the Ravens been treating every other week as?" The coaches and players led us all to believe that they worked extra this past week, preparing and perfecting everything about the game plan to beat the Patriots. The coaches had the right mindset, the players had the right mindset, everyone was ready to win. So my question remains, why haven't the Ravens been doing that every week? Clearly they are a good football team and have played the Patriots closer than anyone else this season, save maybe the Colts. So how can they play so poorly in past weeks and yet show up for the Patriots game?

All I know, is that the Ravens are better than they have been playing and they showed this week that if they treat every week like it's the Super Bowl, they can compete with anyone. My problem is that by bragging that they worked so hard this week, they admitted to not working their hardest in past weeks. The reason the Patriots and the Colts are so good is because they treat EVERY week like it's the Super Bowl. Not just the big games under the big lights. So Ravens fans, call up the organization and ask for a refund of your tickets because clearly, you were not receiving what was promised, that is, the best from every player and coach on your team every week.

New England Sports Update

The Red Sox, Patriots, and Celtics have won 23 combines straight games, and none of them have lost for a month.