Handing out 10 awards from the Eagles-Cowboys game
The Worst Throw of the Season Award: Nick Foles
Foles' throw to Jason Avant in the end zone was horrific. Avant was WIDE OPEN, with no defenders behind him. That's a routine throw for a high school QB. And it really wasn't that close. All Foles had to do was get it in Avant's general vicinity, but it was wildly under-thrown. It wasn't much different from this:
The "No QB Controversy Involving Matt Barkley" Award: Matt Barkley
In fairness to Barkley, it's hard to come into a game down 2 scores when the defense knows you're going to throw on every down, but... Yeesh. I'll just be nice and assume you all hadn't turned off the TV yet when Barkley came in, and leave it at that.
The Award for Drive Chart Grossness: The Eagles' offense
Here were the results of the Eagles' 14 drives: Punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, missed FG, punt, punt, FG, INT, INT, INT.
And the one FG they did get was a 10 play, 17 yard drive. Ew.
The Ghost of Andy Reid Award: Chip Kelly's post-game press conference
An actual quote from Chip Kelly's press conference:
"We gotta do a better job."
OK, in all seriousness, the "We gotta do a better job" quote was buried within an actual answer (as opposed to being the entire answer), but I think for that quick moment in time, the spirit of good ol' Big Red entered the body of the Chippah and snuck that in.
The Dink and Dunk Award: Nick Foles
It might even be unfair to say 'dink and dunk,' because that would require a bunch of short complete passes, and there weren't even many of them. The Eagles had 42 plays of 20+ yards coming into this game. That was the most in the NFL. In the first 57 minutes of this game, they had none.
The Silver Lining Award: The Defense
17 points allowed, and they forced the Cowboys to punt 9 times. That's especially impressive considering the Eagles offense averaged just over 5 plays per possession.
The Eagles' offense award: DeMeco Ryans
Ryans WAS the Eagles offense today. Without his interception of Tony Romo, the Eagles might have been shut out. Ryans also had 9 tackles, a sack, a PBU, a TFL, and a hit on the QB. Great game for DeMeco.
The "Why not just take 'Delay of Game' Out of the Rulebook" Award: NFL officials
It happens every week. The play clock runs out, then the QB calls timeout, and the officials give it to them instead of enforcing the penalty. Not getting the snap off in time is just sort of frowned upon in the NFL... like marrying your cousin.
The "Where'd Riley Cooper Come From?" Award
Last two games: 10 receptions, 208 yards, 1 TD. Now, I'm not saying the Eagles have themselves a good #2 receiver, but Cooper has played well the last 2 games.
The "Almost As Bad as the Washington Team" Award
The team down in Washington won today, which puts them at 2-4, or 0.5 games behind the Eagles. Ugh.