It's time to move on...

I hear a lot of complaints about the negativity of Philadelphia fans. I hear it from the media, sports talk radio and even my from my closest friends. For the most part it is true, Philly fans are known to be negative and I definitely fall into that category. As silly as it might seem that has recently changed for me with the Phillies winning the World Series. I find myself rooting more for my teams rather then constantly ripping them apart. The Flyers are not off to a good start but I still enjoy watching the games. The last Eagles game started off horribly but instead of immediately turning negative I watched and hoped for them to turn it around which they did. But not last night, last night I reverted back to the same old negative fan, but can you blame me?

It is time for the Eagles to move on from the Andy Reid era. It has never been more evident then it was last night. Andy Reid, flat out, was outcoached and therein lies the difference between a Superbowl championship team and a team still trying to figure out how to pick up one yard. It is not a lack of talent that is holding this team back from being a contender, it is the coaching. The Eagles have lost 4 games this season and three of them can be attributed to bad coaching decisions (the cowboys just outscored them). First there was the Chicago game where they had first and goal from the one yard line and proceeded to run the same play 4 times with no success. The next loss was to the Redskins where they held a 14 point lead and allowed it to vanish into thin air. And then there was last night.

Lets start with the game plan in the beginning. McNabb has not been able to get off to a good start in a game in quite some time so I would think you would try and get him off to an easy start with some short passes, perhaps even screen passes. Nope. Not Reid. McNabb doesn't complete his first pass until half way through the second quarter. The Eagles only had the ball for 90 seconds up until that point. That is inexcusable. You have an under sized defense going against an offense that is known to pound the ball with the run. They can't spend the entire quarter on the field and be expected to be fresh for 60 minutes. Even with how awful the offense looked in the first half they were only down 20 to 17. The Eagles then come out of the locker room with some life and score to take the lead. Of course, that doesn't last long when your defense can't handle the rushing offense of your opponent and your offense can't do anything other than go 3 and out.

Here is where we get to the part where Andy Reid loses the game. Brandon Jacobs runs the ball from the 3 and after he is down the ball pops out. There is no question that Jacobs was down before the ball came loose, no question at all. Reid disagrees and challenges the call. After looking at the play for about 3 seconds the referee concludes what everyone already knew, Jacobs was down and play is upheld. One timeout burned. The very next play Jacobs fumbles again as he is crossing the goalline and Reid challenges. This was a close play and should have been challenged but it too was upheld so now the Eagles are down 12 points with 1 timeout left. Somehow the offense shows life and drives the ball down the field and scores on a fourth down PASS play from the two yard line. Eagles still have a chance.

After the kickoff, somehow the Eagles defense, although playing more in this game than almost the last two combined, force the Giants to a three and out. Eagles have the ball with 3 minutes and 14 seconds to play and a touchdown wins the game. The Eagles had just driven down the field two minutes prior and scored a touchdown in 13 plays, two of which were runs for a grand total of 2 yards. The Eagles move the ball to almost mid field and on a third and 3 run the ball for two yards to set up a fourth and 1. This year on third or fourth and 1 situations the Eagles have run 14 times and have only been successfuly 5 times. They have passed 3 times and have never failed. What does Reid decide to do? Run the exact same play again!!!! Are you kidding me? Was this a replay of the Chicago game? How can you run the same play again? You haven't ran the ball well all game and you have little to no success running in these situations. The season is on the line and the best you can come up with is to run the same play?

Andy Reid stated in his press conference, as he does in all his press conferences, that he needs to do a better job. He does need to do a better job, but he needs to do that job for a different team.

It's time to move on...

Just my humble opinion...

World Phucking Champions!

Its Monday afternoon and I am still trying to recover from the Phillies parade on Friday. What a spectacle. Have you ever seen that many people lining the streets of a city? It was overwhelming. Fans shut down the public transportation, when is the last time that has happened in Philadelphia? Has it ever happened before? I have been asked how many people I thought attended the parade and you know what I tell them? I have no idea. I can't imagine how you could fit any more people along a parade route then the fans of Philly did on Friday. The historians say that the Flyers in '75 had the largest parade and 2 million people attended. If that is true I would say this parade must have dwarfed the one from '75.

The one thing that became clear to me as the day went on is how Philly fans are unfairly criticized in the national media. For every reference there is of fans throwing snow balls at Santa Claus and booing injured players on the field there wasn't one incident that occured during that parade that could be considered unruly behavior. Everyone was there for one reason, to celebrate our city's first world championship in 25 years. I have never seen so many joyous faces in one place in all my life. It was a day I will never forget. I saw every age of fan, from infants to 90 year old women, and they were all there to show their support. The city was, for at least one day, unified for one mission, to enjoy being champions.

The biggest moment of the day when Chase Utley summed up what the Phillies had accomplished in three perfect words, World Phucking Champions. No one could have said it better and no one did. It came from a soft spoken, throw back baseball professional and it wasn't tasteless or inappropriate. It basically summed up everything Philadelphia fans have endured over the past 25 years and his emphatic statement was the perfect period at the end of the celebration. Before this season began, Chase was my favorite Philly for the way he played the game, the way he presented himself at all times. Now he is my favorite Philly because he understands the people of this city, he understands what we endured for the past 25 years, he heard the collective sigh we took days after the last out was recorded and we finally realized what this team had accomplished.

We are finally....World Phucking Champions!

Just my humble opinion...