Eagles - Chargers Notes

> In all of the ways in which your team can lose a game, the least satisfying has to be when your coaching staff goes Maximum Pussy. Repeatedly in this game, with no evidence that the defense was going to be able to win a low-scoring game, the Eagles went for field goals instead of touchdowns... and in an 8-point game, you can do the math.

> If you want to declare the Reid Era to be over from this game, or announce that you aren't going to watch this team anymore, feel free. But we know you're lying, if only because lifelong fan rooting interests don't work like that. Besides, you are still here after the Raiders game, and that was a lot worse than this.

> In re the comeback that didn't do enough... well, when your defense doesn't make stops to give you a chance to win for the second straight week, that's officially more disturbing than the small comfort that the men didn't quit. It's especially irritating given that the Cowboys were playing their worst game of the year in Green Bay, which means the division is still up for grabs.

> In today's game, the Eagles ran it 13 times, and threw it 55. I'm pretty sure you could see more "balance" in Arena football.

> As one of Donovan McNabb's biggest fans and supporters, I'm prone to looking the other way on a lot of things. In today's game, he threw for 450 yards and was as sharp as he's been all year; the fourth quarter first down conversion to Celek is a throw that very few people can make, and he went down swinging.

But he really needs to stop pallying around on camera with players from the opposing team. It looks horrible. If you have to be a guy before a player, do it in private.

> How much do opposing TEs look forward to playing the Eagles? I'm thinking that the schedule gets circled, in red, and the wives and significant others of these players know that they're going to be taken out to dinner and a show after the game. Antonio Gates didn't exactly light up the scoreboard today, but he made the back breaking third down conversion the Chargers needed.

> Were you holding out hope for a classic Norv Turner choke job in this game? The Chargers kicked off with 30 seconds left and up 8, and allowed the Eagles to move the ball 40 yards on the sidelines with absolute ease. There is a difference between a Hail Mary from 60 yards out and one from 35; it has to do with the trajectory of the ball going from arm punt to actual throw. And Norvalicious was happy to give that up. Charger Fan, you do realize this man is taking years off your life, right?

> How much does Sav Rocca suck? Enough that I think he's the worst long-term punter the Eagles have ever had. And I've been watching this laundry for, gulp, 30 years.

> On the first touchdown of the day, Mike Tolbert scored on a screen that I'm pretty sure I could have gotten in on, and I don't have the quicks I once had, really.

> Does anyone in Eagles Nation get excited to see Michael Vick on the field anymore? I'm fairly sure that you can buy his jersey for use as a car rag. (To be fair, his first half pass really should have been caught by DeSean Jackson.)

> I've had FTT commenters ask me to write about Fox's "Lunch With Benefits" line. I'd say something about this, but from a network that promotes teabagging, I'm not sure that Irony is a concern, really.

> For the second straight week, the announcing crew expressed amazement that the #1 WR (last week, Austin, this week, Jackson) against the Eagles hasn't done much. It's as if Asante Samuel isn't good, or that the opposing team doesn't know to Throw To The Tight End. Is it hard for an announcing team to notice this as a trend?

> Brian Westbrook, concussed for the second time in a month, and I suspect that might be the last time we see him on a football field. As sad an ending as you could imagine, really, and such an unfair way for the best RB in franchise history to be done.

In the long run, that's more meaningful than anything else that happened here today, and should prevent any fan of the laundry from having their anger outweigh their sadness. LeSean McCoy might be a better back right now. But there's no way he's going to be a better back for his career.

Be well, B Dub. (And football writers? Send this man to Canton. With speed.)