2011 Week 16 Recap

Eagles at Cowboys, Saturday, December 24, 2011

Happy holidays, y'all! Whatever you celebrate, and whoever you celebrate with, I hope you had a good time. I certainly did, watching the Eagles stomp the Cowboys for the second time this season.

Stud of the week: Alex Henery. On a day when David Akers set the single season field goal points record, Henery made his 14th straight and his first over 50 yards. I actually noted the Akers' record on Facebook and got "thank you" comments from a number of my 49ers-loving friends. I know, I know - who cares about a kicker? Well, I do. I was very fond of David Akers and very sorry to see him depart. I'm hoping that Henery can pick up where he left off. It seems unlikely that he'll be as good a final line of defense as our former Jiu-Jitsu trained kicker, although he did manage to slow down Dwayne Harris long enough for the cavalry to get there.

The Eagles blogging family has been fairly low-key about the win over the Cowboys. Sure, the Eagles were eliminated from the playoffs by shortly after kick off, and sure, maybe the Cowboys didn't really care to win the game, since it comes down to next week's matchup against the Giants regardless. But I'm proud of our guys for not giving up and going out strong.

OK, sure, the Dolphins and Jets will be watching the playoffs from their couches too - hell, I think the Cowboys will as well, because my money's on the Giants to win next week - but again, they haven't given up.

To quote BGN: "too little, too late." And they're right. The Eagles blew games they should've won back when it mattered, giving up an epic number of fourth quarter leads and not even managing to pull off a divisional title in a sadly diminished NFC East. And even though the D has played MUCH better of late, Juan Castillo's job may still be on the line, particularly if Spags gets fired in St. Louis (which seems pretty likely to me).

On the other hand, our boys beat Dallas in THEIR house on Christmas Eve, and almost pitched a shut out to boot. Would I have preferred a different ending to the season? Hell yeah, but the team will go 8-8 and hopefully have something to build on for next year after they get rid of the dead weight (like Vince "Dream Team" Young - may he be traded to Vikings, who do need a QB - and Steve Smith).

Around the rest of the NFL....

 Colts over Texans: Damn, y'all! Ask the Colts about how well it works to go into the playoffs cold.

Ravens over Browns: Um, duh.

Bills over Broncos: Apparently, the Tebow magic is wearing off. Next week comes down to who wants it more in the West, with the Chiefs taking on the Broncos and fighting to maybe remove the  "interim" from interim head coach Romeo Crennel's title, and the Chargers, who have nothing to play for as far as I can tell (Norv Turner's O-U-T), facing the Raiders. Love to see the Raiders take the division back.

Panther over Buccaneers: And Cam Newton broke the rookie single season yardage record! Go Cam! The Panthers definitely have something to build on for next year. That switch to Ron Rivera's working out pretty well, too.

Bengals over Cardinals: Surely you've seen The Play, right? Wow. Bengals could still get to the playoffs, by the way. Ginger Power!



Raiders over Chiefs: I shouldn't have given up on the Raiders. They're not dead yet!

Pats over Dolphins: But just barely and after having gotten down by 17 points to a 5-9 team. If defense truly does win championships, the Pats won't be going very far this year.

Giants over Jets: Back at the beginning of the season, I called the Jets to win the AFC East. To quote myself, I put my money on "a quarterback who can manage the game." Over at the HuffPo, one of the commentors gave me shit for calling Sanchez "a quarterback who can manage the game." And he's right. That was giving Sanchez WAY too much credit. He's a punk, and so is Rex Ryan who, as far as I'm concerned, should never say another word in public ever again. Ah well, the Giants will win the division next week, and even though, at least from my experience at the new Meadowlands, their fans are a bunch of violent assholes, it's still better than the Cowboys. Also, the officiating was terrible, and it was nearly all terrible in favor of the Giants. Sour grapes? Maybe.

Steelers over Rams: Speaking of shut outs and Spags losing his job...

Titans over Jags: The Titans could still squeak into the playoffs, but pretty much all the scenarios require a Jets win, so...they're dead.

Vikings over Redskins: OK, I did not watch the game, but could someone please tell me how this happened? For chrissakes, Adrian Peterson wrecked his knee in the second quarter, Christian Ponder went down, too, and the Vikes still managed to put up 33 points. Could someone tell me how that happened? Seriously? I thought the Skins' strong suit was their defense. Anyone?

Lions over Chargers: The Lions are going to the playoffs for the first time since pretty much the invention of the non-leather helmet! Talk about over-delivering on their "Team of Destiny" status! Go Lions! Hang on to that fifth seed, though - you do NOT want to play your first playoff game in a zillion years against the Saints in the Superdome, trust me. Also, which is the biggest disappointment this year: Chargers, Eagles, or Jets? Discuss.

49ers over Seahawks: And David Akers matched and broke Neil Rackers' single-season field goal record, and then topped himself. OK, there is a down side to this: that many field goals means the 49ers are having trouble getting in the end zone. Still, they're 12-3 and have clinched the division, so it's not hurting them that bad. At least not as long as they can count on David Akers' left leg. He'll probably get a Pro Bowl bid - at least he should - but maybe he'll be too busy prepping for the Super Bowl to go to Hawaii?

Packers over Bears: I'm the 9,456,732nd person to observe this, but Aaron Rodgers is having one hell of a season, and it's a good thing, because the Packers' D is no great shakes, either. Hm...if defense really DOES win championships, maybe that "49ers in the Super Bowl" thing isn't as crazy as it sounds...

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2011 Week 10 Recap

Eagles v. Cardinals, Sunday, November 13, 2011

Hear that? It's the Fat Lady singing. Steve Mariucci may not think so, but I say stick a fork in them - they're done.

Stud of the Week: LeSean McCoy, again, who might as well retire the category since he's been the only bright light in an otherwise dismal season. Sunday, he broke Steve van Buren's consecutive games with a TD at 9. Which also also pretty much the only bright spot in the game. Well, other than Asante's pick 6. And where has THAT been for the past nine weeks?

Thank goodness I had some stuff that absolutely, positively had to get done, so I was only half watching the game. If I'd devoted full attention, I probably would've been up on the roof threatening to throw myself off by the time it became apparent that the Eagles were going to blow another fourth quarter lead - you know, at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

I had no problem with Andy's benching of DeSean Jackson, who seems to have mentally checked out (along with most of the rest of the team). Apparently, this was far from a first offense. I'd even advise threatening to trade Jackson to Arizona as punishment if it weren't for the fact that, since they just punked the Eagles yesterday, that means a trade would probably be seen as a reward.

Nobody seems to care - one of the commenters on BGN pointed out that in previous years, when one part of the team was struggling, the rest were there to pick up the slack. This year, nobody seems to have anyone's back. Offense was sputtering, Vick was struggling, when receivers got the ball, they dropped it or went down one yard shy of the first down on 3rd and 20 (looking at you Steve Smith - and you really should be traded. To the Colts. Bring back Chad Hall!). The defense once again blew a fourth quarter lead. Yes, it's historic - the first time a team has blown four fourth quarter leads at home EVER. Also the first time a team has blown five fourth quarter leads in nine games EVER. Historically bad. Awesome! In the way that's totally not!

I have to quote Tommy Lawlor from IgglesBlitz: "This team has the talent to be an efficient, ball control offense, but turnovers kill that.  We have a Red Zone turnover in all but one game this year.  To me, that is the shocking stat of the season.  Settling for FGs isn’t ideal, but you can’t turn the ball over.  That’s a sure way to kill your chances to win.  Go back and add a FG to each of the Eagles games and think about how that might have changed things."

Oh and on Vick's struggles with accuracy? Broken ribs. Great. Let's all just picture, for a moment, Vince Young under center against the Giants. In prime time.

Ugh.

Let's not.

Remember the historic game when DMac broke his ankle and threw for 4 TDs, with the O line basically carrying him to and from the huddle? Yeah, with this bunch, he'd probably be on his own and lucky if none of his teammates accidentally-on-purpose kicked him in the bum ankle.

And why was a ROOKIE SAFETY (Jaiquawn Jarrett) assigned to cover LARRY FITZGERALD one on one? Who thought that was a good idea?

This is like 2005 all over again, only worse. The 2011 Eagles can't use "injury" as an excuse. Plus, at least those guys (in 2005) tried.

I guess we should've all seen this coming after all these years of watching the Skins blow it. These guys aren't a team, they're a bunch of rich, spoiled assholes who are just collecting paychecks.

Oh well, at least I got to watch my secret wide receiver boyfriend Larry Fitzgerald for 3 solid hours. Best butt in football.

In the rest of the matchups... assuming the Pack wins tonight (looking pretty likely here at the end of the first quarter), Chef Spouse will be 7-9 for the week. Which is good enough to win the division in the NFC West and to tie him for the lead at my office pool this week. Yep, that is EXACTLY how weird things have been this season. Our perennial winner office pool winner only got 4 this week.

Raiders over Chargers: I would say "I can't figure out the AFC West this year," except it seems like I can't figure out ANY of the divisions. I guess Carson Palmer's starting to figure things out.

Saints over Falcons: Solid divisional win on the road. Who dat! Mike Smith is taking shit for opting to go for it on fourth down in OT - unsuccessfully of course - but I think he figured the Falcons would NOT get the ball back, and had it worked, everyone would've been calling him a genius. I don't fault him.

Titans over Panthers: Yowza. Three points from the Panthers. Good defensive effort from the Titans.

Steelers over Bengals: Looks like Chef Spouse was right - the Steelers were pissed about dropping two games to the Ravens. The Steelers got a solid defensive performance, too, picking off rookie Andy Dalton twice in the fourth quarter. But mark my words - Dalton is the real deal.

Rams over Browns: Who misses a 22 yard field goal that would've won the game? Seriously?

Cowboys over Bills: Sigh.

Jaguars over Colts: If the Colts were going to win a game this year, this one would've been it. Guess they're winning the Suck for Luck sweepstakes.

Broncos over Chiefs: I know you've already heard this a million times if you've watched any football coverage in the last 24 hours, but how can a QB throw only 8 times and complete only 2 passes and still win the damn game? WTF?

Dolphins over Redskins: About a week ago, I advised Cool Web Dude (who, you may remember, is a Skins season ticket holder) to jump on the Packers' bandwagon as an alternative. Wonder if there's room for me?

Texans over Buccaneers: Go Texans! Former Team of Destiny is making good! Well, until Matt Schaub got hurt. The Matt Leinart era is about to begin in Houston. Which is probably not a good thing.

Seahawks over Ravens: In fairness, this truly is one where the Ravens lost more than the Seahawks won. The Ravens did everything they could to hand the game over other than pulling their D. Of course, I didn't actually watch the game. They didn't pull the D, did they? Can NO ONE play consistently this year? You know, other than the Packers?

Bears over Lions: Speaking of inability to play consistently...you're not gonna win games throwing four picks, son. Should I not feel as bad about the loss the Bears last week because of this? Nah...still sucks. Also, a Public Service Announcement: DO NOT KICK TO DEVIN HESTER.

49ers over Giants: Has anyone else noticed that David Akers is ON FIRE this year? I miss you, #2.

Pats over Jets: For, like, a minute, the Jets looked like they might be in this game. Then there was the other 59 minutes.

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