What's Your Fantasy? thegreatjimduba Fantasy Football Team Playoff Update

Well folks, since nobody else around the world (minus the U.S. and Spain) wanted to participate in the first ever "The Great Jim Duba Intercontinental Fantasy Football Championship" I took it upon myself to put the namesake of your favorite blog into a randomly selected fantasy football league on NFL.com. For those who read my blog before September and liked my non-football topics, be patient. This will all be over soon. Hopefully not TOO soon.

As it stands, the league, known simply as "NFL Managed-983785" has completed its regular season. The league consisted of 10 teams, and the top four made the playoffs. I was cruising for a while in this league and at one point had the best record at 7-1 heading into Week 9. Then I lost, by 20 points, and it was more of a "meh, can't win 'em all" type of feeling. Then I lost again, by 40 points. Keep in mind my opponent scored 145 points. THEN the number 1 overall player beat me, by 2 points. After that, I went back on my tear, gaining back a win from one of the teams that beat me and finishing 10-4. I finished number two in the standings and won the second seed. I also was awarded a trophy for most points scored at 1,494.30. The next highest was the fourth place finisher at 1,454.34 points. I guess I was at an advantage as I had only the 4th highest points scored against (which factors into difficulty of schedule).

So, there are no byes in this playoff. My next opponent, the three seed, I have split a win and a loss with. This is the rubber match. Below is my opponent's lineup:

QB - Stafford

RB - Marshawn Lynch, Doug Martin

WR - Miles Austin, Vincent Jackson

TE - Owen Daniels

FLEX - Stevan Ridley

K - Matt Bryant

DST - 49ers

Reserves: Steve Smith, Black Unicorn Martellus Bennett, Sidney Rice, Ryan Mathews, Lance More, and Andrew Luck

There is some trickery here on how I root for this matchup to go. I have Matt Bryant and Marshawn Lynch in the only other league (out of 3) that I am still in the playoffs for. Lynch is the man, and he went off last week. He has another chance to go off in the great city of Toronto. His (I assume it's a "he" as I can't see a girl having a team this good) projected score is 119.72 points.

On the other side, thegreatjimduba has the following starting roster:

QB - Peyton Manning

RB - Chris Johnson, Arian Foster

WR - Demaryus Thomas, Donario Alexander

TE - Tony Scheffler

FLEX - Knoshown Moreno

K - Matt Prater

DST - Bengals

Reserves: Jermaine Gresham, Dez Bryant, Jordy Nelson, Pierre Garcon, Trent Richardson, and Da Bears

I like my team. It is one of the more automatic teams I have. Except for having to decide on Chris Johnson. He was a waiver wire pickup along with the following: Pierre Garcon, Dez Bryant, Knoshown, Alexander, Gresham, Scheffler. At one point I had Bryce Brown and Greg Jennings, but I only had them when they went kablooey. I am really trying to find the first thing I can on the internet that will tell me not start Chris Johnson over Trent Richardson. As it stands, my total projected points are at 123.26. It used to be hire but I switched the Bears out for the Bengals. I had to make that choice tonight, and despite what I want to happen, I need the Bengals to do some good things tonight to the Eagles. I get to root for both teams tonight, which should make it better. Go Clay Harbor. Go Bengals.

I will update you all on Monday. Wish me luck. Your input helps. Go Duba, GO!

Flipping the Bird: A Post-Mortem Look at the "What the Hell is a win" Philadelphia Eagles

Seventy Days is a long time. That is almost 20 percent of a year. That's 59 percent of the regular NFL season (17 weeks). More than 62 percent of the 16 weeks a team plays in the regular season. That is how long it has been since I was legitimately happy watching a football game. 

When the season started, I tolerated close wins - after all the Eagles had 3 wins by a combined 4 points. Make that four wins by a combined 6 points. 

And thus I cannot predict football as I have accepted that over the years. Previous incarnations of my blog have failed to capture any knowledge of what teams may actually do, as I have been wrong on in years past. I always predicted game outcomes based on what I now realize is my "homer" mentality. I honestly thought when I was writing my Bold Eagles Predictions back in April that this team stood a legitimate shot at greatness. I had them going 12-4 and 10-3 by Week 14. I thought maybe my playoff predictions were a little absurd, with the Eagles running the table to the Superbowl to face the Broncos. I may only be half right on my prediction as the Broncos are already division winners and look good. As it stands, my prediction record is as follows: Predicted the Eagles to go 12-4 for the season and 10-3 by this point, however they are now 4-9, and I predicted last week that they would lose and now be 3-10. What the Hell. I started the year out great with having the Eagles correctly at 3-1 in Week 4, albeit swapping a win over the Cardinals for a loss and vice versa against the Giants. I was correct on only 5 games - Wins against Cleveland, Baltimore, Tampa; and losses against Detroit and Dallas. My prediction percentage is 38 percent. Take away my change of heart last week and with 4 wins that would make me 30.7 percent correct. What this means is you cannot really project a season 5 months before it starts.

So, now that the actual game is in the books and reviews have been reviewed, I must say yesterday's win was a mixed bag. The Eagles started out pretty well against the Buccaneers surging offense. The defense was all over the field making key stops when needed. Vincent Jackson was a nothing. Doug Martin was relegated to just "Hamster." The announcers touched on the new hire of "first name escapes me" Brasher who seemingly abandoned the wide 9 defensive front and had a decent pressure on the quarterback. The announcers also stated that Andy Reid went to Nnamdi Asomugha and DRC saying their jobs were on the line. They played like it. For the most part. We as Eagles fans have seen far too many times Nnamdi jogging after a receiver who is heading toward the red zone because he was not his man to cover. They even showed DRC and Nnamdi dogging it together from last week. What I saw out of Nnamdi this week was something I never thought I would see him do. In the second quarter I believe Nnamdi went up to break up a pass, practically jumping over the intended receiver. He landed hard from maybe 10 feet in the air after flipping over landing hard on the ground and not moving. It didn't look so bad compared to how players go up and fall on a weekly basis, but the fact he didn't move was crazy. The announcers even had a dark tone when they came back from commercial as he was still lying on the ground motionless. Eventually I heard the Tampa crowd applaud and Nnamdi was up, x-rayed, and back in the game later. Maybe if Reid had not told Nnamdi his job was on the line he would not have come back in. I get that he has been more liability than lifeblood of the defense, but he could have stayed out. The fact that both these cornerbacks and the safeties did their damndest against the Bucs when their coach, a perceived lame duck in the eyes of the fans, responded with an honest effort was pretty good. I know that there is a lot of money invested in #24 and he may not even be back next year, and that many would argue that he should play that way every game, the WHOLE game, but he is what he is and we learned that last year. I appreciate effort, even if it should have been there the whole time. Another high priced 2011 free agent signing, Cullen Jenkins, had a sack and a beautiful follow up dance.

In Special Teams, the Eagles think they have something special with Demarus (sp?) Johnson. He returned a punt 98 yards for a near record return for the NFL, and set an Eagles record. However he badly muffed a punt and helped put the Eagles down even further heading into the fourth quarter. The offense, with mostly the youngest unit the Eagles have put out there in years, had highs and lows.

As the season started, the Eagles never carried a lead into half time. In at least the past two weeks, they carried a lead into halftime. This week, they had a 10-0 lead. Tampa was worse for wear and the boo birds were actually out. The Eagles had Clay Harbor, Nick Foles, Bryce Brown, Riley Cooper, Demarus Johnson, and a line consisting mostly of unheard of rookies and one King. They punted several times in a row and hit pay dirt in the second quarter, but all they needed to do was maintain. Tampa scored 21 unanswered points through the next two quarters, and the 21-10 lead, for these birds, seemed like the nail of death. There were 7 minutes, 21 seconds left, and the Eagles got the ball. Three minutes 26 seconds later the Eagles had moved down the field and gotten into the end zone via Clay Harbor, filling in for the now concussed Brent Celek. I was pretty stunned. There were now under 4 minutes left in the game and the Eagles, for what seemed like the first time in years, managed the clock pretty well to get the ball back in their possession with 2 minutes 44 seconds remaining. I was impressed at Andy Reid's patience in this and thankful the defense stepped it up. This has been uncommon lately in the past two-three seasons. However, the prospect of the Eagles getting down the field with rookies and other inexperienced players in 2:44 seconds after a failed 2 point conversion worried me. I knew they had nothing left to play for for the season, but I still wanted to see what they were capable of. I felt kind of cheated last Sunday night after the Eagles tickled my balls with a feather by scoring the return TD just to fail on the onside kick with 34 seconds left. The drive that Nick Foles put together was spectacular. One thing the Eagles have not done well in the Michael Vick and early years of Desean Jackson era is have sustained long drives. They certainly were not trying to eat up the clock, but essentially had only one timeout with the two minute warning remaining.

The Eagles slowly moved the ball and seemed to be stalling around the 23 yard line of Tampa. An incomplete pass with 22 seconds left on third down made it a do or die fourth down play. It was 4th and 5 to go and Nick Foles, on the run, facing pressure, hit Jason Avant down at the 1 yard line. He went down at 16 seconds and the Eagles and Tampa scrambled to lineup in a formation to spike the ball, stopping the clock at 2 seconds. At this point Kim and I were ready to leave the house to pick up our son from his grandparents, and she was cool with me seeing the end of the game (as it was 21-10 when she was ready to go). Even she was excited. I hadn't sat down in almost 20 minutes. I was on my feet getting dressed to step out when the Eagles started driving for that first 4th quarter touchdown. It was like that Bud Light commercial about superstitions. I did not want to change anything about what I was doing that had been going on when the Eagles were driving. Two seconds left. Last play of the game regardless (or second to last if they scored). My palms were sweating. I knew they couldn't convert the two point conversion earlier, so this was almost too story book of a play for both teams. Tampa stops them on a last second play, and they are heralded for fighting off a fighting opponent. Eagles score and their team rallied around the rookie and gave their all for him and each other. Foles, much like the play before, called the play to get Maclin where he was in the end zone. Maclin did what he could to make sure he was in bounds. An  incomplete/out of bounds catch would have me very upset. I cheered the moment the ball left Foles' hands because I had a positive feeling. The dude looked crisp most of the 4th quarter and like he was in the zone. He seemed determined to not aim at a wide receiver if he didn't know he would catch it. For the first time in 70 days, I cheered, jumped, and was finally happy.

As an Eagles fan, even though they have never won the Superbowl, wins are almost always expected over the past decade. Yesterday's game meant absolutely nothing in the long run of the season but perhaps more so in the long run of the team. One thing I need to temper my expectations and excitement for is that this was Tampa, one of the easiest teams to pass against. They bottled up Bryce Brown for 6 rushing yards on 12 rushes, with his longest being for 11 yards. Therefore, minus his biggest play he was 11 rushes for -5 yards. Foles is not a highly touted rookie though and nobody expected this type of clutch play on the team's last two drives of the game. Great win. I legitimately feel happy today as a football high is always a very good and very close second to any other form of happiness I can draw from my family or friends. Maybe they lose out, and the misery continues, but fight for it, Eagles. You still have me as a fan. And I will see you Thursday night.

Yes, I am going back for another round of potential punishment to Lincoln Financial Field. I was going to buy some tickets and luckily came across a couple of free ones. My record watching the Eagles in person now is 3-4. Every year, I have seen the same amount of wins as I have losses. The Javon Kearse jersey must reach it's 0.500 status once again.

Week 15: Cincinnati Bengals at Eagles (TNF)

This is way, way better than last year's TNF game for the Eagles. Last year, after getting gauged by the Patriots, the Eagles flew to Seattle for another thrashing, 4 days later. Yes, they went on a run to try to salvage the season, but too little, too late. The Bengals are slowly becoming a team I am more interested in because I like their style of play. I like Andy Dalton's play last year. They have some good talent on both sides of the ball, but as McNabb would say, they show their youth. This will be a tough game as I am sure the Bengals will be in the hunt all year in the AFC North. The last time they played, it was a tie. As I heard Merrill Riece say on the radio, "If a tie is like kissing your sister, than the Eagles have a very ugly sister." This is a different type of Eagles team that I think is running on all cylinders (like we hoped for last year) - the same team that demolished the Jets, Giants, Dolphins, Redskins, and Cowboys at the end of the year (and YES Giants fans, I consider Vince Young beating your team by a touchdown in their own stadium to be worthy of the term "demolish"). It will probably be a tough game at start, but the Eagles will just prove to be too powerful on both sides of the ball. As if I was not bold enough in having the Eagles going 10-3 to this point and soon 11-3, I will also predict that Brent Celek has the game winning touchdown in a late rally. Eagles 24, Bengals 20 (11-3)

Geez. Wrong. Brent Celek is most likely out with a concussion. The Eagles are not running on all cylinders, but rather all the cylinders run at different times, different frequencies. Just like the Milankovitch Cycles,  these moving parts moving at different frequencies cause some catastrophic things until the apex and valley of the frequencies meet up in perfect synchronization and form a couple points of constructive interference with each other. The Bengals are hurting after a last second loss to the Eagles, and the Eagles are on a high. Typical Thursday Night Football games have featured the home team winning all but 4 times. The teams that lost include the Jets, Raiders, Vikings, and Panthers - certainly not the most intimidating lineup. These games feature mostly running plays and tight ends and are usually defensive dream matches. Perhaps the win on Sunday gives the Eagles some momentum and a positive vibe for the Eagles fans to feed on in the first home game in 3 weeks. The crowd was pretty electric for a dead season on Monday Night Football when I was there, and with these young Eagles playing for each other and as a team, perhaps they can pull it off. I will go on a limb...perhaps I am jinxing myself here, perhaps I am loyally blind to the Eagles, but the Eagles will win 20-13, and be 5-9 before the clock strikes midnight Thursday night.

Flipping the Bird - A Post-Mortem Recap of the Sinking Ship Philadelphia Eagles

Well, the Eagles free fall continued last night. Swept by the Dallas Cowboys for the first time in a long time that I can remember and on their worst losing streak since I think the 1960's. Obviously the players of today have nothing to do with the those players of yesteryear, but the fact remains the Eagles stink. It is a very painful admission for me. However, I was able to garner some joy out of last night's game as it was exciting and nice for Sunday Night Football to finally get a game that came down to the wire practically.

Let's first look at the attrition of the Eagles:

Vick - Concussed, still can't do basic math.

McCoy - Concussed, can do math but reading comprehension is down

Jason Babin - Cut. He had more success running with the bulls in the summer

Desean Jackson - Broke every single rib in his body

Jason Peters - Achilles ruptured. Was using a walker that he slipped in and ruptured it again. He may not be a senior citizen, but he needs Life Alert

Todd Herremans - Tore something crucial for him to finish the season

Danny Watkins - His pride hurts. Thinks being a football player is equal to being a fireman.

Jason Kelce - His giant beard should be even gianter next year when he returns

King Dunlap - He has been better, but he needs his body to be 100% healthy just to be okay at his size.

Asante Samuel - Traded in the off-season. Just helped his defense pick off Drew Brees 5 times

Juan Castillo - Had the 11th ranked defense and was fired. Ever since, opposing quarterbacks have had their best games of the season and posting near perfect QB rankings

Jim Washburn - Defensive line coach was fired this morning.

Howard Mudd - Offensive line coach who already committed to retiring at the end of the year, two years after he was coaxed out of retirement by the Eagles.

Andy Reid - Already has 9 losses, and the Eagles owner already stated that up to 8 losses is not acceptable. Oh and his son died.

This list is just compiled off the top of my head. I have seen that Colt Anderson on special teams has been in and out, and he is pretty much all I ever notice on that unit anyways. The team has had several second or third stringers step in and play like garbage but seem to be kind of jelling now. I think Demarcus Ware and some of the other obscenely large defensive linemen of the Cowboys should have had their way with Nick Foles and the run game of the Eagles, but they held up. King Dunlap let Ware around him in one crucial play where Foles fumbled the ball and came up holding his arm. The announcers noted that Dunlap (or Dunlop as the horrible Chris Collinsworth called him) had a bad knee. This is why Dunlap needs to be 100%. A weak King makes Foles at risk to get hit. And when he did get his arm whacked, the fumble was recovered, but Foles clearly had a disturbing pain in his arm. This is one of the bigger concerns to me.

Foles is much taller than Vick and I think that helps his downfield throwing capability as well as his patience in not running away as the pocket begins to collapse. I realize now that Vick HAD to run just to continue to see his plays. And defenses knew that. However, Foles is nowhere near as mobile as a 32 year old Vick but is gaining valuable experience. His play calling and decisions kept the team in that game all night. However, when his arm got hit and he came up holding it, I suddenly realized something about him - The dude is skin and bones. He has taken some massive hits in his time as the lead quarterback, but when one whole body is hit the pressure and pain is spread across his longer frame. The second his arm got whacked I feared he was hurt. I am sure many of you would wince whenever anybody got a hit on Vick, whether it be his whole body or one part. Perhaps that will help Foles prepare to get some muscle on to help absorb these kinds of blows.

And what to do with the running back situation? Andy Reid loves to pass, but the Eagles ran Bryce Brown down the throats of the Cowboys and Panthers. I know he fumbled, but Adrien Peterson used to that, too. Last night's fumble was certainly more painful to the game outcome, but he looked great. I felt like McCoy this year has had trouble getting up to the line of scrimmage, but when he could get there, he was good. Brown is finding every way to get past the line and get, as Andy Reid said, "every stinking yard." It almost felt like once Peters went down (insert erectile dysfunction joke here) McCoy's season expectations were tempered. There were many Lesean highlights last year that had Peters with him at the end of the play. Meanwhile, Bryce Brown gets in, and he almost can see 3 seconds into the future and knows how certain portions of his offensive line (all backups now) will react. It is only two games of production, but the skills he has showed have far outnumbered what McCoy has shown all year.

So, back to the game. My overall thoughts was that it was actually a fun game to watch. The fumble return for a touchdown made me feel like perhaps the game was still within reach. However, the Cowboys got another Dez Bryant touchdown (propelling YOUR FAVORITE blog's fantasy football team to a win) and the game seemed lost. I hung on, though, as I wanted to see what the reaction from this team would be. Rookies and imported free agent/trade personnel were in, and perhaps this newer lifeblood would react differently than the list of veterans who were now out. Foles had a lot of time to throw, and he made some great plays along with Brown. The Cowboys were playing foot to the throat, and I think they maintained themselves pretty well for what the offensive unit is right now and this season. The defense made some great stands. I never thought I would see the era when the Eagles secondary was weak though. However, all three parts of the defense held their own in the last half of the fourth quarter. Especially when the Cowboys were trying to run out the clock on their second to last possession. It was 3rd and something, and the clock had maybe hit the one minute mark. Murray up the middle, into a crowd of Eagles and Cowboys. The crowd opens up to reveal #95 Mychal Kendricks picking up Murray by the legs and delivering a Double A spinebuster that was felt throughout all of Arlington. Then, on the ensuing punt, Demarus Johnson returned the third longest punt in NFL history 98 yards to get the Eagles within a touchdown with 31 seconds left. A two point conversion failed, but at least there is enough tape on file from that play to help Foles see why he missed it. No matter, as the following on-side kick attempt was recovered by the Cowboys and the Eagles were done.

Coming up next week is the "no longer considered 'upstart'" Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I wrote back in April the following about this game:

Week 14: Eagles at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Ah the Bucs. A team that thinks it is better than what they truly are. Last relevant when Jeff Garcia was their QB, in my opinion. Josh Freeman showed some potential 2 years ago, and the coaching philosophy changed to a more pass-happy offense thinking he could carry the burden. Hard for a second year guy to do that when he has garbage to throw to. Now the Bucs have gone on a spending spree and have a new coach. New coaches on any level combined with free-agent spending out the wazoo nets you an 8-8 record (see 2011, Eagles). I think the Bucs will spend the week discussing how they are tired of being disrespected by the media and will be looking to take down the charging Eagles. The Bucs will want to play spoiler by this point. I will probably have traded for Vincent Jackson well before this game, get mad at his (lack of) production, and sit him against the Eagles, where he will have his best game of the year. Still, I do not see this year's version of the Eagles losing two games in a row, ever. The Eagles bounce back and completely knock the snot out of Tampa Bay. Eagles 42, Buccaneers 13 (10-3)

Wow. How much of a loyally blind fan am I? The Eagles are 3-9, lost 8 in a row, and are looking at being 3-10. The Bucs meanhwile appear to be one of the potential playoff teams. They just got shut down by the Broncos, and will host the Eagles. The Eagles are now unfortunately one of those "just what the doctor ordered" kind of teams. The Eagles stand no chance, unless the passing game can be more productive. The secondary is supposed to be weak while their run defense is tops. This is where we will find out what Bryce Brown is really made of and what Nick Foles could really do. I just don't see the Eagles having enough experience as a whole with the younger players to overcome a probably more hostile environment in Tampa than they encountered in Dallas (i.e., Arlington). Let's say the Bucs struggle defending the Eagles passing game, good days from Riley Cooper and Maclin, but most likely better games from Vincent Jackson and Mike Williams. Buccaneers 34, Eagles 24. (3-10).

Randuba Stuff

Not much news to report. I have been on vacation, "staycation," if you will, and I have the following random observations:

1. The movie "The Chernobyl Diarries" was pretty decent. It ends with a newer Marilyn Manson song as well and is pretty good at building suspense and creepyness. My girlfriend was completely scored and loved being scared with me. Good date or date rape movie
2. I saw black headed vultures in the wild.. They are a ridiculously long wingspanned bird and are monstrously huge. I saw about 6 of them. Another 2 hours later we were on another pseudo hike when we saw all 6 vultures circling overhead, perhaps waiting for something to die
3. My son slept on the top bunk of a set of bunk beds during our camping trip for the first time. It was a glorious moment for hiim
4. Kim, Rocco, and I have had a game of monopoly going on for the past 5 nights. Rocco owns all four railroads, little properties, and about 7 $500 bills. I am gaining money, but Kim spends her three turns in jail while Rocco and I build houses on our property. We were going soft playing him and let him get the railroad. My next strategy when playing monopoly with friends will be to BUY ALL THE RAILROADS.
5. I hate the woman in the commercial who shows up to her friend's recital practice teasing her about the lunch she has. She proceeds to sing "Mozerala-la-la-la-la-la" and I make a face that can best be described as me saying, without words, "Shut up, asshole!"
6. No matter how nice you try to make the Chuck E. Cheese in my neighborhood, the locals can still bring down the value of a newly renovated one.
7. The Kansas City Chiefs murder-suicide debacle is a horrendous story. What always impresses me about football is how a tragedy makes players just go out of their mind. The deceased player killed himself in front of his coach and general manager after murdering his girlfriend. How anyone can move on the next day after that and work their ass off is beyond my comprehension. Even if you only kind of knew the guy, to pull together as a team and pull that off, when your shit players played at least on a normally professionally acceptable level is a real amazing feat. It does nothing to replace the loss that poor three-month old child must grow up with, but what the 53 players and dozens of coaches could do under duress is great. Tragedy befalling an NFL player, like Torrey Smith's brother dying to Brett Favre's dad passing away, is like an automatic death sentence for the sufferer's opponent.
8. Tony Romo has the most passing touchdowns in Dallas Cowboys history with the least hardware to support it. None actually. The Eagles have none, either, but they have at least been to the dance since he has been eligible in the league. And, if NBC shows me his wife one more time, I may just drown myself in hot candle wax.
9. I have not been to work since November 21. I used to be begging for going back to work during my vacations years ago. While I am not necessarily dreading back to work, I certainly will miss all this time off with my family.
10. My (step)son said to me the other day, "Jim, I can't wait to be a dad." When I asked him why, he replied, "Because then I will be just like you. And I want to be like you."

Not much left to discuss, except that tomorrow I have another post-mortem "Flipping the Bird" recapping the back and forth, fantasy football fate determining battle between the Eagles and the Cowboys. One thing that I will touch on right now briefly is that when I think about this season and the previous season, once the Eagles have been all but eliminated from the playoffs, and the pressure to win now is off, they play pretty good. This game has been a treat, much like most of last Monday's game was. Another thing that has been great is that the young players seem to be playing like more of a team with some of the veterans now out of the lineup. I think in time this team can be good again, no matter who the coach is.

Flipping The Bird: A Post-Mortem Look at the Now Lame Duck Philadelphia Eagles

Last night, I purchased tickets for the Eagles' Monday Night Football tilt on Stub Hub for 60 bucks. I took an old friend out to get him out of the house. I listened to the radio all last week to hear the reaction to the Eagles putting up a solid 6 spot in a blowout loss to the Redskins. There was an amazing range of emotions. They were discussing why you would go to the game, how you should cheer or boo or chant. I personally am a fan of the team, and even though they were 3-7, I still thought perhaps I should take advantage of this opportunity to see my team playing in Monday Night Football, thus completing the full slate of game times I have now seen (although the Sunday Night Football Game I saw was in New York, not Philadelphia).

So, I got the standing room only tickets. It is absolutely awesome in my opinion, if you don't mind standing for 3 hours. There are standing areas in the 100 level, but you practically have to be there like 30 to 50 minutes early to stand their first as, especially me, it is very hard to see over the shoulder of a 6 feet tall man when I am only 5 feet 7. I always preferred to stand in the concourse as you can see most of the field from an angle and usually the cast of characters that pass through can provide some sort of entertainment.

I was expecting a crowd of angst. There was that aura of uncomfortableness that the fans were ready to diss the team on a national stage. The National Anthem is sung and the game starts. Even the opening fireworks were week. The typical Rocky opening starts, and the crowd actually seems to kind of come alive. The Eagles get the ball first. They are making some major headway on the opening drive, an unfamiliar site. When the public address (PA) announcer says "First dowwwwn EAGLES!" and I heard somebody shout from the level above me, "What's that?!" I mean the Eagles were making catches that they have typically shied away from. Celek caught a deeper pass as the hit was coming. Maclin and Jackson were doing what they could seemingly playing with what I initially thought was courage. Turns out they were playing professionally. That's what they were supposed to do. That thought is kind of lost on us after this dismal season. Cheering our asses of at something as simple as a catch was ridiculous. Sure enough, when the run and some tricky wildcat plays got the Eagles close, they went for the passing touchdowns that wouldn't come. They had to settle for the field goal. At least they had the lead.

What happened next was inexplicale. Two drives for the Panthers, two touchdowns. It was an annihilation already. The Eagles could only muster up another field goal. 14-6, for this team, has been insurmountable. However, something happened, and Bryce Brown broke off a ridiculous 65 yard touchdown run. The crowd exploded. It still wasn't as loud or energetic as games I have been to in the past, but for the season, it sounded like the crowd woke up. What happened next was just a total folly that could sum up the season. It seems like every game lately has one of them. A missed extra point against the Cowboys, a ridiculously deep touchdown reception for the Redskins, and the Eagles going for two just to tie the game rather than being 1 point down with the extra point. There was no chance in Hell that the Eagles would convert. And they didn't. They did manage to hold the Panthers actually and soon enough scored a field goal to go ahead before the end of the half. That was pretty awesome, to see them carry a lead into halftime. When this happens, they tend to blow it.

 

The third quarter saw a lead swap and eventually had the Eagles up 22-20. Sometime in the third quarter, the defense came alive again. Mike Paterson, who had BRAIN SURGERY in the off-season, made an amazing sack. The Panthers punted, and the Eagles looked prime to make a good run to the end zone. Adrenaline was flowing and the fans could...wait Bryce Brown fumbled. That was his second of the day, I think, by that point. It was essentially a pause in the game for the Panthers offense that gave them like 40 yards of progression. The Panthers either did a field goal or a touchdown at that point. I think it was the field goal. Eventually Cam Newton jumped and extended the ball into the endzone, and the game score was set. 30-22. I forget if it was a punt or kickoff, but Boykin was making a very good return (another rarity for the Eagles) and the crowd is starting to get frothy at the mouth that they may see something finally that is posi...oh Boykin fumbled at like the 40 yard line. 

 

My friend asked me if I wanted to leave. There was just over 4 minutes left. I didn't want to. I said, "Sorry brotha, I'm a fan. I still believe there may be some kind of chance. I need to see how this ends." Yeah, I may be a delusional fan, but hey, the defense was 50-50 all night, maybe they could be 51-49 for the night. Alas, the Panthers ran out the clock to the two minute warning. Cam started taking knees and we rolled.

If this was like 2 years ago maybe the crowd would have thought they had a chance to see something magical. I don't know why I expected two teams with a previously combined 5 and 15 record would put on a classic game. Shame on me. Now those teams combined records are 6 and 16. At least it was one of the closer Monday Night Football games as they have recently been real clunkers. I don't know how the game came across on TV. But the Eagles actually showed that they may be able to pull something off when they work together. I hope it was respectably entertaining. 

So, moving forward, I realize I start a lot of my paragraphs with "so." Next week, the Eagles are featured in prime time again. We are talking Sunday Night Football!!! More like Sunday Night Foolsball. The 3-8 Philadelphia Eagles are coming Dallas to get obliterated by the contending Cowboys. I honestly have no faith in this game. If the rookie is our quarterback, he will get eaten up. He mustered a touchdown against the Cowboys in his first pro playing time. However, that would be his last and he was eventually owned by the Cowboys defense.

What are the Eagles now? They are the Kansas City Chiefs. I like the Chiefs, too. But they are now the team you start your fantasy team against. Don't trust the Cowboys defense for the rest of the year? Start them against the Eagles. Remember when Kevin Ogletree was the shit in week 1? Bring 'em back.

What do I want with the Eagles at this point? I want them to finish 0.500. If they fail next week, I want them to finish 7-9. And so on. Even if they finish 3-13, I want to see my team. No matter who is the coach, the quarterback, the line, the secondary - I just want to see a team that wants to play for my city. But I don't see that. You are all grown men. Just play like you are proud of yourself for making it to the NFL, not just being complacent with it. What about some pride in your work. I guess what I am looking forward to, and what I HAVE to look forward to, is people playing for their jobs, and possibly knocking some teams out of playoff contention. Rebuilding will be more painful than this. So I want to enjoy what there is left to enjoy of this season.