Jody Mac
10-31-2011, 03:07 PM
Domination. Annihilation. Call it what you want, it was an old fashioned beat down at the Linc as the Cowboys didn't know what hit them in their 34-7 destruction at the hands of the Eagles Sunday night. The only debate after the game was which unit was more impressive, the Eagles offense or their de. The Eagles moved the ball up and down the field at will and scored on their first six possessions. The defense did not allow the Cowboys to score till the 4th quarter and not until they had built up their insurmountable 34-0 lead. Let the plaudits begin.
As we have been saying here for weeks, LeShawn McCoy does not have to take a back seat to any other running back in the league right now. His 185 yards rushing was a career high and the sixth highest total in Eagles history. He is the only player in the league to have reached the end zone in all of his teams games this year and is the first back to score in his teams first seven games since a guy by the name of Emmett Smith in 1999. He just has a gear that other backs around the league don't have. To pass-happy Andy Reid's credit he is using his star back to set up his passing game. The fact that the Birds lead the league in rushing can be slightly misleading because they have a weapon in their QB's ability to take off and go that no one else in the league has but it doesn't take away from what Shady is accomplishing right now.
On the other side of the ball, the leaky much maligned wide-9 defens all of a sudden seems to have found its equilibrium. In shutting down the Redskin offense two weeks ago, you couldn't be sure if it was the newly aligned Eagle defense or if it was that the Redskins depleted offense just wasn't up to the task. When the Redskins were shut out by the Bills earlier in the day on Sunday, that question lingered. After the Cowboys were kept off the score board until an oh-by-the-way 4th quarter TD when they were down by 34, the drastic defensive improvement was confirmed. The receiving triumvirate of Miles Austin, Dez Bryant and Jason Witten did a complete no-show ! While they did catch 10 balls between them, they accounted for just 85 yards. No factor. Rookie running back Demarco Murray came up about 175 yards short of his record setting performance from the previous week against the Rams. The Cowboys possessed the ball just 17 minutes and change out of the 60 minutes played. In other words the Birds brought the Boys offense to a screeching halt !!
When something happens three straight times, it could be a coincidence. When something happens six times in a row, that goes beyond a trend. When something transpires with the same result 13 straight times there is no denying it. Andy Reid has won every game after the bye during his 13 year tenure in Philly. Debate his abilities to deliver a championship for the Birds all you want but you can not question his ability to win when he has two weeks to prepare for his opponent. Yes his blame-taking-act after Eagle losses often rings hallow, but you have to like the way he gives everyone else associated with the team credit for wins like the Cowboy clobbering. You know his players do !!
The Eagles jumped from last to second in the division yesterday with their win over Dallas and the sputtering Redskins loss to the Bills. They are home the next two weeks facing the Bears and the the Kevin Kolb lead 1-6 Cardinals the week after. Meanwhile the 5-2 division leading Giants have to face the Patriots and the 6-1 Niners both on the road the next two weeks. There is a good chance the Eagles could be heading up the Turnpike to get even with Big Blue, both for revenge for the Giants earlier win at the Linc and possibly in the NFC East standings. Things can turn quickly in the NFL !!
Congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals on their championship, winning the most exciting World Series we've had in the last decade or so. It is of little conciliation that the Phillies have lost in the playoffs to the eventual champion of baseball the last three post-seasons. Despite Ruben Amaro's admission that he hadn't watched much of the post-season I hope there is one thing that he picked up from the Cardinals come-from-behind championship. They did so getting contributions from their entire 25 man roster. The Phillies have payroll issues going into next season but they need to get more contributions from their bench and their entire pitching roster. Guys like Greg Dobbs and Matt Stairs were missed this year. As were guys like Chad Durbin, Clay Condrey and Scott Eyre. Remember that even though they may be small pieces, you need all of them to complete the puzzle !!
Three and a half weeks into the National Hockey league season we know one thing for sure about the Flyers, it's going to be a wild ride. When they have been good, they have looked dominant, when they have been bad they have looked awful !! Not much in between. When Chris Pronger took a stick to the face early in the week, visions of defensive break downs danced in Flyer fans heads and giving up eight goals to the Winnipeg Jets did nothing to stem that tide. But holding the Carolina Panthers in-check on Saturday and seeing Pronger up and around at the Wells Fargo Center buoyed the feelings about the Flyer's defense. November is a tricky month for the FlyGuys with 7 of their 12 games on the road but it looks like the visor wearing Pronger should be back relatively soon so fear not puck-heads !!
Meanwhile, we move into November and we now know there will be no NBA basketball played this month. When fans hear that they are being deprived of pro hoops because of a 2% difference in revenue split, it seems like a silly fight. But it is significant. The owners are proposing a 10 year deal and that 2% would add up to approximately 900 million dollars over the course of a decade long agreement assuming the usual financial growth of the league. So it's not chump change that they are fighting over. How to decide this disagreement? I would love to take credit for this, but it comes from colleague Alan Hahn, one of the best NBA writers in the country, from Newsday out of New York. Why doesn't players union head Billy Hunter put it to a vote for his entire player contingent. There are definitely dissenters among the rank and file but isn't it his job to represent the majority of the players. Now that the group knows that they will definitely be missing a percentage of their paychecks this year, I am guessing most would be willing to compromise their stance at this stage of the negotiations....I'm just saying !!
As we have been saying here for weeks, LeShawn McCoy does not have to take a back seat to any other running back in the league right now. His 185 yards rushing was a career high and the sixth highest total in Eagles history. He is the only player in the league to have reached the end zone in all of his teams games this year and is the first back to score in his teams first seven games since a guy by the name of Emmett Smith in 1999. He just has a gear that other backs around the league don't have. To pass-happy Andy Reid's credit he is using his star back to set up his passing game. The fact that the Birds lead the league in rushing can be slightly misleading because they have a weapon in their QB's ability to take off and go that no one else in the league has but it doesn't take away from what Shady is accomplishing right now.
On the other side of the ball, the leaky much maligned wide-9 defens all of a sudden seems to have found its equilibrium. In shutting down the Redskin offense two weeks ago, you couldn't be sure if it was the newly aligned Eagle defense or if it was that the Redskins depleted offense just wasn't up to the task. When the Redskins were shut out by the Bills earlier in the day on Sunday, that question lingered. After the Cowboys were kept off the score board until an oh-by-the-way 4th quarter TD when they were down by 34, the drastic defensive improvement was confirmed. The receiving triumvirate of Miles Austin, Dez Bryant and Jason Witten did a complete no-show ! While they did catch 10 balls between them, they accounted for just 85 yards. No factor. Rookie running back Demarco Murray came up about 175 yards short of his record setting performance from the previous week against the Rams. The Cowboys possessed the ball just 17 minutes and change out of the 60 minutes played. In other words the Birds brought the Boys offense to a screeching halt !!
When something happens three straight times, it could be a coincidence. When something happens six times in a row, that goes beyond a trend. When something transpires with the same result 13 straight times there is no denying it. Andy Reid has won every game after the bye during his 13 year tenure in Philly. Debate his abilities to deliver a championship for the Birds all you want but you can not question his ability to win when he has two weeks to prepare for his opponent. Yes his blame-taking-act after Eagle losses often rings hallow, but you have to like the way he gives everyone else associated with the team credit for wins like the Cowboy clobbering. You know his players do !!
The Eagles jumped from last to second in the division yesterday with their win over Dallas and the sputtering Redskins loss to the Bills. They are home the next two weeks facing the Bears and the the Kevin Kolb lead 1-6 Cardinals the week after. Meanwhile the 5-2 division leading Giants have to face the Patriots and the 6-1 Niners both on the road the next two weeks. There is a good chance the Eagles could be heading up the Turnpike to get even with Big Blue, both for revenge for the Giants earlier win at the Linc and possibly in the NFC East standings. Things can turn quickly in the NFL !!
Congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals on their championship, winning the most exciting World Series we've had in the last decade or so. It is of little conciliation that the Phillies have lost in the playoffs to the eventual champion of baseball the last three post-seasons. Despite Ruben Amaro's admission that he hadn't watched much of the post-season I hope there is one thing that he picked up from the Cardinals come-from-behind championship. They did so getting contributions from their entire 25 man roster. The Phillies have payroll issues going into next season but they need to get more contributions from their bench and their entire pitching roster. Guys like Greg Dobbs and Matt Stairs were missed this year. As were guys like Chad Durbin, Clay Condrey and Scott Eyre. Remember that even though they may be small pieces, you need all of them to complete the puzzle !!
Three and a half weeks into the National Hockey league season we know one thing for sure about the Flyers, it's going to be a wild ride. When they have been good, they have looked dominant, when they have been bad they have looked awful !! Not much in between. When Chris Pronger took a stick to the face early in the week, visions of defensive break downs danced in Flyer fans heads and giving up eight goals to the Winnipeg Jets did nothing to stem that tide. But holding the Carolina Panthers in-check on Saturday and seeing Pronger up and around at the Wells Fargo Center buoyed the feelings about the Flyer's defense. November is a tricky month for the FlyGuys with 7 of their 12 games on the road but it looks like the visor wearing Pronger should be back relatively soon so fear not puck-heads !!
Meanwhile, we move into November and we now know there will be no NBA basketball played this month. When fans hear that they are being deprived of pro hoops because of a 2% difference in revenue split, it seems like a silly fight. But it is significant. The owners are proposing a 10 year deal and that 2% would add up to approximately 900 million dollars over the course of a decade long agreement assuming the usual financial growth of the league. So it's not chump change that they are fighting over. How to decide this disagreement? I would love to take credit for this, but it comes from colleague Alan Hahn, one of the best NBA writers in the country, from Newsday out of New York. Why doesn't players union head Billy Hunter put it to a vote for his entire player contingent. There are definitely dissenters among the rank and file but isn't it his job to represent the majority of the players. Now that the group knows that they will definitely be missing a percentage of their paychecks this year, I am guessing most would be willing to compromise their stance at this stage of the negotiations....I'm just saying !!