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Philadelphia Eagles Column
By:
Angela Fuller
11/19 /08
5-4-1...
Going to work, playing laser tag, going to the gym, or calling
mothers-in-law. This is a list of activities I gathered from Eagles
fans, when I asked what they got into by halftime of that Eagles v.
Bengals game. Mind you, these are, otherwise, very loyal
Philadelphia fans.
Carrying over from a 31-36 loss to the Giants, were so many serious
concerns about all that's lacking with these Eagles. Does Andy Reid
wear too many hats? (That's my lame and reluctant benefit of the
doubt.) Does he even want to win? The Philly game plan and its
passing formations, I know, those are one and the same, are
OBVIOUSLY too predictable. There's no power in the backfield to
make opponents even wonder if the birds might opt to run the ball
and dare them to stop it. I mean, serously, as happy as fans are
when that ever-familiar slant to Westbrook works, fans are equally
as amazed that the play worked, AGAIN! As much as I personally hate
to admit it, the Eagles are just not as talented as we all thought
they were!
In Cincy... need I even bring up that debacle? It ends in a tie,
that several viewers, and apparently players, didn't know was even
possible. There was NO running game in Cincy, no surprise there.
When asked about that, Andy Reid explained that the short passes
were an "extension of the running game". In most offenses, the
running game "should" decrease the risk of the ball being in the
air, so this "extension" is not really part of the running game.
But what it IS, is an over-used, expected part of the Eagles passing
game.
As for the personnel who are actually paid to primarily catch balls,
the rookie Jackson has actually been a bright spot. However, the
Tight End play has been AWFUL, and it makes you wonder why the
Franchise Tag was placed on Smith back in February, and more effort
wasn't put in to making that deal for Tony Gonzalez...? Again, do
the Eagles actually want to win? While I am sure the players do,
I'm really questioning the organization at this point.
Trying to not TOTALLY end this on a negative, Trent Cole played VERY
well in his homecoming in Cincy. The Eagles could actually get in
to the playoffs with help from at least six teams. Wait...
was that positive?
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