About the Steve O Zone


Sunday, November 16, 2008

The Morning After...

For the 2nd straight week, I unfortunately must begin the TMA with some sad news. Maureen Pilla, wife of Jules (the man behind InsideTheEagles.com) passed away last week at the all-too-young age of 55. I had the pleasure of meeting Maureen a few years back and a nicer person you will never meet. I know you will join me in extending deepest condolences to Jules and the entire Pilla family.

***

THE TIES THAT BIND...
Let's get one thing straight right here and now, kids. That was no tie. That was a loss, pure and simple. Hell I'm not sure if wouldn't have still been a loss even if the Eagles had won on a late FG or something.

To allow that ridiculously bad team to play that horrifically on offense yet still have a chance to actually win the game on multiple occasions is deplorable.

As I say on my Audio Rant, I'm not sure which was the 1-8 team; I'm not sure what team played like a 1-8 team cause from where I sat, they looked a helluva like one another.

THREE'S COMPANY...
After one quarter yesterday, the Eagles had amassed a grand total of 3 yards on 3 series. That's one yard per series on average. The last of these 3 series ended with a Donovan McNabb fumble and if not for some Andy Reid-esque playcalling near the goal line by the Bengals, it would have led to a TD and not the FG which they ultimately settled for.

SPEAKING OF DONNIE MAC...
I know I may get blasted for this but if we're not ready to ring in the Kevin Kolb era, we are damn close. Think about this: There were times during yesterday's game when Ryan Fitzpatrick, who you wouldn't know from Butch Patrick (Q: Who is Butch Patrick? Answer below), actually played better and with more poise than the so-called seasoned veteran.

Three INTS, which very well should have been four; countless number of throws into double and triple teamed coverage and so on...

Yes, the Eagles receivers continued their penchant for dropping the ball -- hey Andy, how bout you keep the receivers after practice a few days and have them catch a few extra thousand passes or so as a not-so-gentle reminder to hold on to the damn ball!

So that of course was not Donovan's fault BUT that is the ONLY thing that was not #5's fault on this day. His performance against this team should ring form here to Chicago that his days as the Eagles QB are numbered.

MR. SMITH GOES TO...
You can insert your city/team here, just know that LJ Smith damn well better be playing football in some city other than Philadelphia next season.

Forget that he scored a TD, I don't give a damn. The only play I needed to see happened in the 2Q. Needing a big play from one of their supposed big-play players, LJ Smith could not get separation from, of all people, Dhani Jones. If you watch the replay, his route (and I use that term extremely lightly) is so lame and so weak that it actually makes a stiff like a stiff like Dhani look good.

Hey Little John, Robin Hood called, you're wanted back in Sherwood Forest.

TJ'S WISH LIST...
Remember when you were a kid and you used to look through the big Sears Wish Book for what you wanted for Christmas?

Well this year, Bengals' WR TJ Houshmandzadeh won't be asking for Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em Robots or Battleship. No, TJ will turn right to the page in the big catalog and point to the picture of Eages CB Josellio Hanson because after the "gift coverage" Josellio granted him yesterday, no present could ever be better.

And did I miss a rule change or aren't you allowed to switch your CB around during the game? Why didn't Jim Johnson move Asante Samuel to cover TJ at any point during the game?

STUCK BETWEEN A ROCCA & A HARD PLACE...
Needless to say Eagles P Sav Rocca didn't have one for the scrapbook. And spare me the wind excuse. Wind schmind. When the Eagles needed him the most, he came up small. Period.

AT RANDOM...
  • The Eagles were 3/18 (16%) on 3rd Down Conversions
  • A simply horrific call on the Eagles' Sheldon Brown for Roughing the Passer in OT; the same call on Trent Cole earlier in the game was bad enough but the call on Brown was atrocious
  • Did anyone else notice this one? Right before the 2:00 Warning in the 2Q, the Eagles lined up for what was to be trick play, with Donovan himself line up wide as a receiver and DeSean Jackson waiting to take the snap in the shotgun. I'm all for trick plays under the right circumstances BUT the Eagles, in all their inept glory, failed to get the play off before the 2:00 Warning! So in essence, that play was completey wasted and could not be used again during the game. Nice job boys.
LOCK & LOAD…
On November 13th, an article penned by Jason Whitlock was posted to FoxSports.com. In his column, Jason named who he thinks is the Ten Best and Ten Worst coaches in the NFL.

Who does Jason think is the Best NFL Coach right now? Bill Bellichick? Good guess, but no. According to Jason, the Best NFL Coach right now resides in the NFC East. Andy Reid? Now that deserves a huge LOL! (that stands for Laugh Out Loud for those of you who still don’t speak in acronyms)

Tom Coughlin? No but he is among the Ten Best at #6.

According to Jason Whitlock, the Best NFL Coach right now is the Reskins’ Jim Zorn.

And as for the Worst NFL Coach right now… Rod Marinelli? Whoever’s coaching the Raiders at this hour? Wade Phillips? Norv Turner?

No.

You know where this is going, right?

Here’s what Jason Whitlock says about who he deems as the Worst NFL Coach right now:

Twice this season Reid has taken the game out of the hands of Donovan McNabb and tried to win at crunch time with his running game. Here's a coach who loves to throw on damn near every down except when the game is on the line. I also blame Reid for the Eagles failing to trade a second-round draft pick for Tony Gonzalez. Other than the one season with Terrell Owens, McNabb has made a living throwing the ball to the James Thrashes of the world. It's ridiculous. I'm convinced the Eagles don't want to win it all.

It’s that last line that really caught my attention. I do not think for one second the Eagles don’t want to win a Super Bowl. However, it is becoming more and more clear that Andy Reid is simply not good enough to win a Super Bowl.

THE BOTTOM LINE...
In years past, watching the game yesterday, I would have used words such as totally UNBELIEVABLE and absolutely INCREDIBLE.

Of couse now, having endured the Andy Reid regime lo these past nearly 10 years, after yesterday's game, the words get altered slightly to completely BELIEVABLE and undoubtedly CREDIBLE.

One last thing. Not sure if you got to hear the post game press conference... yes it took all of 5 seconds for the "need to put them in better position" line came out but, I also heard Big Red say he thought his team looked good heading into the game.

That to me is quite disconcerting for if he truly thought his team looked good and they came out and played like they did, one could argue that Big Red has lost touch with his team OR he's completely disullisioned when it comes to this team. Either way, it's not good.

As always, time's yours, food's mine.

Til next time.

PS Butch Patrick portrayed the prepubescent resident of 1313 Mockingbird Lane, Eddie Munster.

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