In attendance: Shoegal, Fellow Eagles Maniac and her fiance, and The Bronx Bomber. Chef Spouse was on a plane.
Menu: my "Thanksgiving leftovers" idea didn't quite go off as planned. Everyone's relatives ate up all their leftovers. I had a little stuffing and some cranberries, but I ended up making a fresh turkey breast, potatoes, and brussels sprouts. Fellow Eagles Maniac contributed a pie and Shoegal brought the wine.
Stud of the week: David Akers. He was the only one who seems to have showed up to play, doing everything that was asked of him, including placing an on-side kick where someone could've gotten it. Notice I wrote "could've." As in, had this not been the "sometimes you're the bug" part of the equation. Brent Celek also gets props for that amazing 4th quarter TD catch while triple covered. That was nice to see, since the LAST time I saw Celek, he was on the back of a milk carton. Also a little love for LeSean McCoy who prevented a return TD on the pick at the end of the half, and to Jason Avant, who, all things considered, had a decent game.
Let's see - what all went wrong? The defense made Jay Cutler look like Peyton Manning. (Hm, Peyton Manning didn't look like Peyton Manning Sunday. Coincidence?) Guess Asante is the difference after all. Hurry up and get well, homes. Special teams reverted to the short-bus kind of special. The offense went 1 for 5 in the red zone, including Mike Vick's first pick of the season. Soldier "Field" was basically a marsh. DeSean Jackson IS on the back of a milk carton now. But that's only because Andy Reid has him locked in the basement, after apparently going postal on the whole team. "Red-faced and shaking"? Not quite what we've come to expect from Big Red. But I'm not so sorry to hear it.
Here's the thing: the Eagles were not going to go 13-3. Even I'm not that much of a homer. And after two solid weeks of people kissing their asses, a little reality check was probably well-timed. Also, the guys didn't give up. Had that onside kick worked, you never know. But there are just days when your team can't seem to do anything right and the other team can't seem to do anything wrong. That's not to take anything away from the Bears - they game-planned well and executed their plan even better. It may be better to be lucky than good, but it's best to be both, and that was the Bears on Sunday.
Anyway, no time to waste crying over spilled milk - the Texans await in three days.
Around the rest of the NFL...
10 right so far this week, with the 49ers up on MNF possibly pushing me to 11.
Patriots over Lions: Why did I pick the Lions? Why is the sky blue? Why do cats always land on their feet? Why is Michael Irvin on national TV?
Saints over Cowboys: Roy Williams is taking all kinds of shit for getting stripped while fighting for unnecessary yards. Speaking of Asante Samuel...the thing is, he had a pretty decent game up to that point. But that was the game we ALL got to watch on Thanksgiving, and I couldn't have asked for more - close game, exciting, the Saints won, the Cowboys lost, clearly God is a Saints fan, amen.
Jets over Bengals: Wow. Could the Bengals look any worse? I didn't even bother to watch the end of the game. And could Rex Ryan be any more entertaining? I love footage of his press conferences.
Falcons over Packers: Hell of a game. The Falcons don't look quite so scary on the road, though. Then again, it looks like the NFC path to the Super Bowl might just go through Atlanta, so road wins might not matter for the dirty birds. And the Pack needs to find some kind of a ground game even without Ryan Grant, which is easier said than done.
Steelers over Bills: In OT. Because a rookie wideout dropped a perfect TD pass. On the bright side, the Bills might be able to score the first pick in the 2011 draft! But Steelers, really?
Browns over Panthers: Yawn. Actually, it was a very close game. But no one cares.
Texans over Titans: This was not a close game. The wheels seem to be coming off the bus in Tennessee. Jeff Fisher needs to get a handle on his team immediately. And the Andre Johnson/Courtland Finnegan altercation was just ridiculous.
Giants over Jags: In a come-back win. Don't worry - they'll still have a late-season crumble like usual. This win was just delaying the inevitable.
Vikings over Redskins: When the game is won by Brett "Methuselah" Favre successfully rushing for 8 yards to allow the Vikings to run out the clock, you know your defense is in trouble. Also, Redskins wideouts are dropping passes left and right. You know DMac's gotta be like, "Not this again!"
Dolphins over Raiders: Just when I give up on the Dolphins and start believing in the Raiders, they both screw me. Jeez.
Chiefs over Seahawks: The NFC West is going to be won by a 7-9 team this year. You heard it here first. I'm pretty sure the NFL needs to put in some sort of "law of maximum suckitude" such that if no team in a division finishes above .500, they give it to a more deserving team and go with 3 wildcards.
Ravens over Bucs: Big-time showdown next week as the Ravens face the Steelers for the lead in the AFC North. Another big game next week? Jets/Pats. Now THAT's a MNF matchup!
Rams over Broncos: In other news, Josh McDaniels learned more than how to give terse press conferences all those years under Belichick - he also learned how to cheat. Not cool. And you know he's got to be laughing about the $50,000 fine, since that's like lunch money to a pro football coach.
Chargers over Colts: The Chargers are clearly gearing up for their annual end of season awesomeness. And Peyton Manning played like, well, Jay Cutler. Again, coincidence? Speaking of teams that need a run game.
Final note: good to see Brian Westbrook getting some carries on MNF, particularly since I have to assume this will be his final year in the NFL. Until he starts coaching running backs, of course.
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