Archive: December, 2008
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
The news came as a shock: the Denver Broncos fired Mike Shanahan.
The initial reaction: if Shanahan could get it in the back, could Andy Reid?
Short answer: sure.
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
The NFL has published the preliminary order for the 2009 draft. The Eagles have two picks, their own (No. 22) and that of the Carolina Panthers (No. 28). What they had hoped might be a great bonanza when they made the deal with the Panthers has instead turned into a yawn -- and it could get worse.
The order can change based upon playoff performance. If the Eagles reach the Super Bowl, their pick would be either 31st or 32nd. My guess is that most people would make that trade. The same holds true for the Panthers, though. And for an Eagles team that is almost certainly going to be looking for an offensive tackle who can play right away, and maybe more, this will just complicate the process.
Looking back on it, you wonder if the Eagles would have traded out of the first round with the Panthers last year. Knowing what they know now, you wonder if they might just have gone ahead and made the selection as it stood, and what impact that might have had on 2009.
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
They need you!
Well, maybe not you, but they need warm bodies to fill the Metrodome. The team has announced that it has 20,000 tickets available for Sunday afternoon's playoff game against the Eagles. That's right -- 20,000.
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
You aren't really hearing it from this Eagles team, though -- except for quarterback Donovan McNabb. He is into a complete victimization-as-motivation mode. As he said after Sunday's beatdown of the Cowboys, "They've thrown me out, ran over me, spit on me, but you know what, I continue to prevail. I kept my chin high, staying positive and making sure that the guys in this locker room understand that if given the opportunity we would take full advantage of it; that last week just wasn't us, and if anything worked in our favor with all these scenarios, I would not let them down."
Spit? Well, OK.
Whatever it takes.
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
It happened.
This, though, was bigger.
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
Criticizing the play-calling is this city's guilty pleasure, like watching "Cheaters" or "Blind Date." But even on days like last Sunday, when it seems as if Roger Lodge is calling the plays in the second half, that isn't the Eagles' real problem.
That would be personnel.
That would be a lack of star players.
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
You may have heard that I generally don't think this play-calling business, this Andy Reid penchant for throwing the ball, is that big a deal. Truth is, I like a pass-first offense. I think it's more productive. When Reid talks about "situational running," I don't laugh like a lot of people. I get it. I agree with it.
All of that said, I still cannot figure out what the hell he and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg were thinking when they called 16 straight passing plays between the middle of the third quarter and the last drive of the Eagles' 10-3 loss.
I'm not like most people around here. I don't think that play calling was the main reason the Eagles lost. Up until the middle of the third quarter, they ran it a representative number of times -- 61 percent passes, 39 percent runs -- for a reasonable-but-unspectacular number of yards (12 carries, 44 yards). But then the play-calling went completely off the rails.
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
Disaster does not begin to describe this.
When have the Eagles ever come up so inept in a big spot?
And when has it ever been so agonizingly close? The Eagles' season effectively ended with Reggie Brown catching a pass that was less than a foot from the goal line as time expired. It would have tied the game. It didn't. Replay confirmed that it didn't. Eagles lose.
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
For the Eagles and their fans, it was not quite the reverse. It was a fine evening's entertainment, yes, but it doesn't change the reality: that the Eagles still need to win out to stay ahead of the Cowboys and keep their playoff hopes alive.
The Cowboys controlled their destiny until Saturday night -- no longer. They are like the Eagles now, reliant upon the kindness of strangers. But the Eagles-Cowboys imperative has not changed -- the winner has a chance if the strangers are kind and the losers do not.
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
Except that there is something that can be accomplished in Brand's absence.
Call it Operation Sammy.
