Right now, on a Sunday night at 11:30 PM eastern standard time I sit here with mixed emotions. For the second week in a row two Philadelphia sports teams played on a Sunday, and for the second week in a row only one Philadelphia sport team came out with a W.
Last Sunday, the Philadelphia Phillies won their NLDS over the Milwaukee Brewers in a series that lasted four games. After this game I was very excited being that this was the first series the Fightin's won since 1993 (By the way whoever is reading this doesn't need to remind me of what happen that year). While the Fightin's brought my day up, it was only a matter of time until another Philadelphia sports team brought it down.
The Philadelphia Eagles lost a game where they got outplayed, outworked, and most of all out-coached by a Washington Redskins team led by new coach Jim Zorn. The one thing I noticed that I believe is a major factor in their 2 out of their 3 losses, including this one against the Redskins is the play calling in the red-zone. The one thing that gets me the most out of their two losses is the two opportunities they had from the GOALINE on 1st and Goal, but couldn’t push it in. This frustrates me because I don’t understand why when you have a QB that is 6’2 250 pounds, you don’t try one QB sneak right up the middle. I just think a QB sneak would be more successful down at the goaline because it doesn’t allow the defensive lineman to have enough time to get a good push and be in the backfield. These two opportunities at the goaline were two huge parts of why I believe Eagles lost those two games.
This Sunday, at 4:15 eastern standard time the Philadelphia Eagles were in a must win game against the San Francisco 49ers. Most of the first half of the game it looked like the usual, the Eagles with their NFL leading most points in the first half were up late in the 2nd Quarter 17-6, when the 49ers score 10 points in less then 3 minutes, including a blocked FG for a TD that ended the first half. This play clearly gave the 49ers the momentum leading into the second half as they came out and drove down the field for a Frank Gore TD on their first possession of the 2nd half and took the lead 23-17. They later added another FG that gave the 49ers 20 unanswered points and a lead 26-17 late in the 3rd quarter.
Around this time I was online and my buddy Joe Giglio (a huge Giant and Yankee fan) sent me a message say “Are you ready to give up on the Eagles yet?” I replied, “If they lose this one it would be trouble.” If they would lose this they would fall to 2-4, which would put them in the basement of the NFC East and be riding a three game losing streak into the bye week. After a Donovan Mcnabb interception, which looked like a miscommunication between Mcnabb and his tight end L.J. Smith it looked like the Eagles were on their way to a three game losing streak, but suddenly an unlikely defensive lineman stepped up in a big way and saved the game (perhaps the season for the Eagles). Juqua Parker stopped made a great play on a 49er reverse that caused a huge loss, and caused the momentum to switch to the Eagles. The next drive the Eagles drove down the field for a Mcnabb to Smith TD pass, which cut the lead to 26-24 in the 4th quarter. The eagles would then stop the 49ers on their next three possessions and take the lead with 3 more FG, which brought the score to 33-26 late in the 4th quarter. Then with the 49ers with one last chance and trying to drive down the field for a TD that would send the game to OT, Juqua Parker makes another great play intercepting J.T. O’ Sullivan and running for a TD, which put the game away and gave the Eagles a win and a .500 record going into the bye week in a wild NFC East where today the Cowboys lost in the desert, while the Redskins lose in the nation’s capital to a team that was arguably the worst team in the league in the St. Louis Rams.
Now after celebrating for about an hour, it’s 8:22 PM eastern standard time and time for the first pitch of Game 3 of the NLCS. The Phillies were looking to go 3-0 in the series, but after a rough first inning where Jamie Moyer gave up 5 runs. The Phillies would never come back from the deficit and lost the game 7-2.
It is now almost Midnight eastern standard time and I sit here with mixed emotions. For the second straight week as I said earlier one Philadelphia team brings you up while the other bring you right back down. But as I sit here and think the Philadelphia Phillies are still up 2-1 in a best of seven series along with home-field advantage with Game 4 being played Monday night, while the Philadelphia Eagles go into a bye week with a 3-3 record and very much still alive in a very WILD NFC. So as I end this I want to say two things:
1. Go Phillies, Beat L.A.!
2. While it might not be Alway Sunny being a Philadelphia fan, it definitely is Always Interesting being one.
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