Flipping the Bird: A Weekly Look at the "Oh Please God Don't Let us Lose to the Redskins" Philadelphia Eagles

Let's just go ahead and look at my favorite team's upcoming tilt with the loathed Washington Redskins:

Week 11: Eagles at Washington Redskins

Ah yes. For 7 whole days we get to hear about the comparisons of RG3 and Vick. Too bad that is about all the Redskin have to compare to the Eagles. I have no faith in the Redskins until they have a first round draft pick again in a couple years. Maybe RG3 will have some heroics in him, but who knows. I certainly could see him being something special for the Redskins, but not at the Eagles' expense. At least not this year. Way Shanahan coaches his team, John Beck may even be the quarterback by the time they meet in week 11. I hope that after a romp of the Cowboys the Eagles do not overlook the 'Skins. I don't think they do, though. Eagles 23, Redskins 13 (8-2)

Well, there is really just a rookie quarterback comparison, and it isn't even close. The Redskins found something for their team they can build around, and things looked extremely good for them in their first game - a win over the Saints AT New Orleans, with Pierre Garcon looking like he has earned his fat contract. Instead, they have seemingly lost Garcon for the year, and Fred Davis is out as well. Instead RG3 is throwing to Aldrick Robinson and Leonard Hankerson. Who?

The Eagles Rookie Quarterback, Nick Foles, finally gets the start after stupid fans have been clamoring for the majority of the season. He had a couple bright spots last weekend. I listen to a lot of football podcasts (CBS Sports Fantas Football Podcast, ESPN Fantasy Focus, ESPN Fantasy Underground, and the Football Guys) and I have heard everything from he looked great to he looked awful. I tried working through the NFL.com stats lab to try and see his performance, but it is an awful web page that I have no idea what I am doing. I know he did have one nice bomb of a touchdown to Maclin. People have praised it and called Foles short throw out on it. It did go 43 yards in the air and Maclin took it in for one yard thereafter. He was wide open, but I don't see how he DOESN'T get praised for that one. It was indeed a bomb, and he had plenty of time. The offensive line seemed to be doing their best for the rookie. This broke down though as the immobile quarterback later made an unforgivable throw that resulted in a pick 6 and later a fumble for a touchdown by Dallas in the closing moments of the game. Some say the pick 6 was Desean Jackson's fault with his alligator arms, but remember Foles was on the run and the pass was kind of away from Jackson, in the opposite direction he was running. THAT is not good from a team perspective. You have an immobile quarterback who supposedly can excel in the pocket who has none to throw from.

RG3 on the other hand has the cannon arm and the quick feet, and he is fearless. Trying to live up to his number 1B draft position. He is trying to play like the 2010 Michael Vick wishes he was. There also appears to be no confusion anymore about the Redskins running game as Alfred Morris clearly has that number 1 role on lockdown barring injury. Morris has seemingly slowed down a little bit, but after what Felix Jones just did, perhaps the Redskin can get going again against the Eagles.

Both teams sit at 3-6, sitting at the bottom of the NFC East. Things look bleak for both teams, but the Redskins probably have more to look forward to at this point. The Redskins are 1-3 at home, and the Eagles are 1-3 on the road. Something has to give. Each team ins only three games back from the Giants, and stranger things have happened before where one of these teams could turn it around and make it to the playoffs. I certainly hope the Eagles are that team.

That is what this season has become for an Eagles fan. Hopeful. Some are hopeful, like me, for miracles and everything to go the right way, from some good teams losing and the Eagles playing like a lot of people predicted they could. Others hope that Nick Foles shows them something this weekend, in his first full time start in an NFL game, against a suspect Redskins defense. A lot of times young players just need confidence. Some also hope that the Eagles get utterly embarrassed by the Redskins and Andy Reid is fired when he gets off the bus. Still others hope that a new regime will come in and make it all better.

My question to the latter half of those hopefuls is, "Why wouldn't you want your team to win?" I only get to see the Eagles play a guaranteed 16 times per year. 16 Weeks out of 52, or 30% of year-ful of weeks. That's only 16 days of the year as well, or 4.4% of the year. Fortunately I really do love football and can find enjoyment when my team is not doing well. Just please please no Giants-Patriots III in the Super Bowl this year. The bottom line is as a real fan, you should want to see your team do the best possible job to get themselves out there and ready to play a professional football game. 

Players certainly have to make that happen. There is a mixed bag of players on the Eagles. Some are veterans just coasting along apparently, or suddenly realizing they are in their respective career's twilight. Some are rookies who have everything to prove, and even some of them have either all or nothing to lose.

Now, with that out of the way, I really hate the Redskins. I never really like the division rivals and was always more focused on the Cowboys. However, one play, 4 years ago, changed everything:

This was a last second attempt to tie the Redskins in Week 15 of the 2008 season. The Eagles I think were just fresh off their tie with the Bengals and things looked BAD for the Eagles. Even another tie would have been better than Reggie Brown landing one foot short of the end zone. I thought at that moment the season was over. The Eagles went on to handle the Giants I believe the following week and then, a miracle happened. The horrible Raiders beat the resilient, Jeff Garcia led Buccanneers in the last seconds of their 1:00 game. Another team lost ahead of the Eagles in the playoff standings as the night before, I believe. Suddenly, the ensuing Cowboys at Eagles 4:30 game became a preliminary playoff game that the Eagles easily won. The Eagles went to the NFC championship game at 9-6-1 and should have WON that game outright. So yes, a miracle, glimmer of hope, can happen until the Eagles are numerically eliminated.

That said, the Eagles face yet another team coming off their bye and/or Thursday night game (5th time this season now). The Eagles are currently 1-3 in these games, the only win against the defending Super Bowl champs New York Giants who played on Thursday night, 10 days earlier. The worst part is, the Eagles had the Steelers and Lions at a loss until the last couple minutes. This resulted in Juan Castillo losing his defensive coordinator position during the Eagles' bye week, and later to a blowout loss to the Falcons (coming off a bye). 

Last week, the Eagles showed their weaknesses in every part of their game - The Offensive Line is porous, the majority of the defense cannot tackle, the special teams just can't return a ball or stop the ball from moving. Most of these players on today's team are either inexperienced rookies, veteran Eagles who once knew greatness, or veterans brought in from other teams who either had a stellar reputation or came off teams that performed very well. You put them in losing situations two years in a row now and none of them know how to handle it. The Redskins, on the other hand, are gunning for respect and to energize the fanbase in D.C.

Typically a lot of Eagles fans travel to D.C. to support their team. The Monday Night blowout in 2010 of the Redskins by the Eagles had a very loud vocal majority of Eagles fans. Last year's game in D.C. had the same, when the Eagles started their 4-0 season ending "fools gold" run. There is no reason that this year the Redskins fans will NOT not out-energize the stadium this time.

The only thing I think that will help in this game is that Andy Reid has Mike Shanahan's number. This game will be decided on a couple brash calls by the Lorax.

The key to the game is the Defense needs to hold up. Traditional Eagles teams (i.e. before 2009) had a defense that motivated the rest of the team. They need that back. RG3 needs to go 3 and out several times, and hopefully the defense realizes that. If they do that, and the Eagles get ahead with a good pocket presence and tosses from Foles, then the Eagles can bag this one up easily. I think the Eagles play like this in quarters 1, 2, and 4 to beat the Redskins 24-17.