Eagles Pic(s) Of The Week

Wow.

Wow, what a game. If ever there was a representation of how football (and really, professional sports in general) acts as a piece of theater, this game was it.

The setting helped... Zack had gotten wind of The Town Tavern, a bar in the West Village that houses an Eagles fan club. They gather to watch every game, and those sporting Eagles gear get Yuengling at Philly prices ($2 pints, $7 pitchers), and FREE cheesesteaks at halftime. Of course this does not come without the usual New York qualifiers - namely that the Yuengling tastes old and vinegary, and there is no such thing as a passable cheesesteak outside of Philadelphia and its outlying suburbs. But hey, this dude was absolutely not complaining. Avoid the wings though... Town Tavern uses a barbecue/wing sauce hybrid that tastes like musky ass.

But enough about the tavern and its sub-par menu... The game was outstanding. Granted it was not without the usual frustrations inherent to being an Eagles fan. In a seesaw battle fraught with sloppy offense, bad penalties (not to mention flag-happy officials... TWICE they threw the flag, consorted on the sidelines, and then announced "no foul on the play"... WTF, officials?!), and wacky plot twists, we managed to eke out a VERY necessary win.

Some fourth quarter highlights, courtesy of philadelphiaeagles.com:

On first down from the 21-yard line, Tomlinson ran left for a loss of one yard. On second down, Mark Simoneau blitzed up the middle and hit Brees as he threw knocking the ball in the air. Jeremiah Trotter picked off the pass at the 25-yard line and ran it back to the 23-yard line...

On fourth-and-2, Kaeding's 40-yard field goal was blocked by Mikell. Matt Ware picked up the ball and returned it 65 yards for a touchdown...

On third down, out of the shotgun, Brees found Caldwell on coverage by Brian Dawkins. Sheldon Brown came up and stripped the ball, which was recovered by Darwin Walker at the 19-yard line.

The officials reviewed the play, and the play stands.

The Eagles kneeled on the ball and finished out the game.

Wacky plot twists, indeed! How often do you see a) Trotter getting a pick-off (his first of the season), b) a BLOCKED FIELD GOAL (!?), and c) a CRUCIAL forced fumble, ALL within the span of about 10 minutes of football time? I'll tell you how often: NOT often.

So it was a hard-fought victory for the boys in midnight green. This is no time to get complacent... this game clearly highlighted some issues that we seriously need to address. Here's my laundry list for the week:

- Where the hell is our running game? Westbrook was an absolute non-factor, while McNabb wound up airing the ball 54 times. Yes, you read that right.

- On the topic of Westbrook... Why the hell have his hands turned to rubber? The guy has not consistently caught passes all year. Not to mention he can't cut the way he used to and has gained weight and lost some speed. None of that will get you a new contract, B.

- Why all the penalties? Flag-happy officials aside (Zack and I figured they just didn't make their quota last week and were making up for it today), how the hell do you get called for an illegal shift twice in the same half?

- Why the hell am I saying "the hell" so much? I've managed to fit it into every one of these laundry list items.

SO... now that I've turned the "Eagles Pic Of The Week" into the "Joe Pretends He Knows Enough About Football To Legitimately Rant About It Of The Week," here's our pics. Yes, plural... a game like this requires it...



Jeremiah Trotter, whose fourth-quarter interception sparked the madcap series of events that led to the win.




Chargers Kicker Nate Kaeding watches as his 40-yard field goal attempt is...




...BLOCKED by Quintin Mikell, recovered by Matt Ware and returned 65 yards for a game-winning Eagles touchdown! (smaller photo at top of post, Dawkins in the background)




Sheldon Brown strips Reche Caldwell of the ball, not only preventing a touchdown, but ensuring that the remaining 1:34 would be run out to cement the Eagles victory.


And this one is just for my own enjoyment... Chargers RB LaDainian Tomlinson was hoping to break the standing record for touchdowns in consecutive games (18). The Eagles defense held him 34 yards on the day, only 7 of them rushing.



I like to think LaDainian went into the locker room and cried.

I also like to think we'll be returning to The Town Tavern for future games. It's like a little Philadelphia Embassy here in New York, save for the bad food.


[Photo acknowledgements: philadelphiaeagles.com, nfl.com, and philly.com.]


*****N*T*G*****

Never hesitate to comment!