Die Hard Sports Fan

I hate to use the cliché that Sunday is a must win game, but after losing last week at home to the Washington Redskins, falling 0-2 in our division, and 2-3 overall, it is.  The Philadelphia Eagles head into week 6 where they have a chance to even things up at 3-3 and head into their bye week to heal and to prepare for the final 10 games of the season.

On Sunday, The Eagles travel across the nation to San Francisco, to face the 49ers.  This could be a tricky game.  Is this a “trap game” for the Eagles?  Do the Eagles look past the 49ers towards their bye week?  The Eagles need to win this game for a ton of reasons and need to avoid falling into an abyss where they would enter the bye week at 2-4 and have 2 weeks to not be able to do anything about it.

The Eagles need to be 3-3 after this Sunday.  3-3 is the minimum this team needs to be.  The NFC East is loaded and every game means something.  When there are only 16 games, and 11 remaining, the Eagles can no longer afford losing games that they should win.  With the Giants, Redskins, and Cowboys all looking like they will make the playoffs, this game is most critical for the Eagles to attempt to tread water and keep themselves in a position to make the playoffs. 

This Sunday against the 49ers is one of those games.  The 49ers are improved, but they are not yet a team that can be taken seriously each week.  Looking ahead at the schedule, the Eagles have a chance to start making a name for them selves again before facing the Giants week 10.  After the bye week next week, the Eagles get a break and face the Falcons at home and then the Seahawks in Seattle.  This is a huge test for Head Coach Andy Reid.  It could be used as a good barometer to further measure Reid’s ability to coach this team.  Lose this game and the doubt grows.  Lose this game and the calls for Reid to be let go will ever increase as he will have squandered yet another season and opportunity to bring us a championship.  Win this game and our season lives on to see another week.  Win this game and instill hope back into the hearts of Die Hard Eagles Fans everywhere.

With that said, “E-A-G-L-E-S!!  EAGLES!!”

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For years, Eagles Insider Writer Dave Spadaro has been, let’s say, given a hard time for being more of an Eagles cheerleader and not pressing the Eagles on things.  He is an employee of the Eagles and sometimes his actions can be understood.  In the past, when there were times that the Eagles should be scrutinized or when their play and coaching should be questioned, often he looked the other way and fans have become used to such behavior but here is a surprising (and nicely articulated) article where “Spads” gets my thumb’s up for taking an active role in diving deep into the thought process where even he proposes some kind of paradigm shift with the Eagles before it is too late….check it out (click here).

With that said, “E-A-G-L-E-S!!  EAGLES!!”

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On Sunday, by 12 PM, I had my three televisions in the living room set up.  With the two extra co-axel cables running through my living room, down through the garage roof, and through the wall, and the bedroom DirecTV receivers out in the living room and successfully connected to everything, I was pumped and ready to go for the 1 PM games with of course the Redskins-Eagles game on the 40 inch High Definition TV with the sound blasting.  The other televisions would be muted but there for me to enjoy the rest of what the NFL had in store for the day.  Yes indeed, the NFL Ticket on DTV is better than sliced bread.

Then the door rang and it was my Dad.  After all these years, he and I still watch each and every Eagles game together.  Our weekly tradition was only temporarily interrupted when I was away to college (WE ARE!!  PENN STATE!!) and didn’t make it home on Eagles game day weekends.  He walked in, said hello to the dog, put his stuff down, and sat in his spot.  He looked up and said “good you have the Eagles game on the big screen, but can you put one of the other tv’s to the Phils game?”

Huh, what?!  It’s October.  The leaves are changing colors.  The weather is getting cooler.  Its week 5 of the NFL and he wants me to reduce my NFL intake by 33% for baseball?!  I am a Die Hard Eagles Fan.  It didn’t even occur to me that yes the Philadelphia Phillies are in the playoffs, but to watch the game while Eagles football was on?

I gave in.  This way, we didn’t have to flip back and forth between the two channels on the big screen and risk missing an Eagles play or two as the channels takes forever to flash back.  However, it turns out I am not the only one that feels this way.

The Eagles had a week 5 regular season game the same time the Phillies played for the winning game of their first playoff series.  It turns out that the Eagles blew the Phillies away television viewing ratings wise.  The Eagles drew a rating of 22.7 while the Phillies, again in a playoff game, drew a rating of 13.8.

My first thought was wow.  But that quickly dissipated and my true feelings are shining through.  I knew it.  This place is Eagles country and will always be.  Even if we are 2-3 and the Phillies are now in the NCLS.  Yes, it is definitely Eagles country!

With that said, “E-A-G-L-E-S!!  EAGLES!!”

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Speaking as a Die Hard Redskins Fan myself, I aspire to attend a Skins game in every one of our NFC East rival territories.  So far I’ve made it to Dallas, and I actually had the invite to Philly this weekend, however I declined for a couple of reasons.  Meanwhile, some good friends and fellow Die Hard fans were brave enough to travel 2 1/2 hours up 95, into the city of ‘Brotherly Love’ (give me a break) to watch the Redskins humiliate the Eagles in front of their home audience.

My dear friend, let’s call him Boog, accounts for the beginning of the Eagirls experience.

“Driving into the pay parking lot with ‘Hail To The Redskins’ blaring from our rented minivan, I was expecting to have beer bottles flung at us…We had no trouble with fans making it into the stadium after about an hour of tailgating.  Although once we made it into the stadium, fans attitudes changed.”

I guess the ‘presence’ of such loyal fans just angers Eagle fans.  Boog went on to say that they ran into about six or seven Redskins fans on the way in, however they were hiding undercover by not representing the burgundy and gold. I’ve been told time and time again that if you go to Philly, you DON’T wear a Skins jersey…because you will get beat up. Now, what the heck kind of rule is this and who has made it acceptable for Eagles fans to behave like complete Neanderthals? Oh WAIT, maybe that would be the Eagles franchise who decided to put an actual JAIL in the stadium! Let’s read more.

“When we filed into our seats just as the teams were taking the field, one not-so-friendly Eagles fan with a green and white mesh jersey (’practice jersey’) asked us hastily to find our seats.  When we replied that we had in fact found them, a bit of a shouting match endured. My friend, let’s call him Redskin Rick, got ‘Practice Jersey’ to take a seat rather quickly when he didn’t have much to say after his inital one liner.   ‘Practice jersey’ also was part of the ‘pack it up at the 2 minute warning’ club, as fans left the game before the game had come to an end. Some fans, huh?”

This makes me laugh, however it is in no way surprising. Personally, I feel that Eagles fans are bitter and HAVE been for numerous reasons.

1. Has your franchise EVER won a super bowl? EVER? I know… I’d be pretty mad too.
2. Your city is stuck and pretty much LOST between two of the greatest football-oriented metro areas in the country.
3. When your fans boo the local weatherman as well as the halftime entertainment…yeah, I’d say you guys are in need of a ‘fan-based face lift’.

Back to the Philly experience…

“Many of our cheers during the game led to comments like “Go back to DC” and “95 South Is over there.” There was also a dirty napkin that found the side of my face and my roommate claims to have been hit by a flying french fry… All in all, the Eagles fans did not turn out to be as bad as they are made out to be, with many of them being gracious in defeat and letting us know that the skins played a great game…That of course can’t be said about the drunk 20-something that decided to get in a pushing match with my buddy, let’s call him Scooter, in the parking lot. Scooter’s brother stepped in to handle the drunk with a punch in the face and the 20-something was then arrested. HAIL VICTORY!”

Now I have never been one to promote violence or fighting…that is actually one of the reasons I didn’t want to go to Philly this weekend- I hear their fans are pretty much relentless and if I was the only girl…TROUBLE!!  But when you are a home team fan and the home team LOSES… wouldn’t you think you should let it go? As if it isn’t embarrassing enough that the Redskins walked into your home field, let you score two touchdowns in under a minute to be up 14-0 but STILL come back to take the win back to DC… I think you need to either be wasted or a complete fool (or both?) to go around instigating like that. But this just goes to validate my bitter eagle fan theory.

To close on a more positive note, Boog went on to add this little tidbit at the end of his memoir for future reference for us all as Die Hard Redskins fans:

“Wanna shut up a philly fan? Just mention the fact that we all hate Dallas. Wanna make em’ talk again? Mention that we took care of the business they couldn’t in Dallas.”

Hail to the Redskins, the BEAST in the EAST!!!!!!!

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Over the years, I have learned that certain things just weren’t meant to be.  As a kid, I always wanted a brand new baseball glove.  I played every season for years and always used one my parents bought at a yard sale.  It had to be 40 years old at the minimum.  My little sister played softball one year with a brand new glove.  A new glove for me to be proud of just wasn’t meant to be.  In college, I spent a majority of my one class daydreaming about a believably good-looking girl that sat a row ahead of me, wondering what she looked like without all those annoying and frustrating clothes on but never found out.  It just wasn’t meant to be.  Life’s lessons never end because on Monday, I just realized another thing in my life that is not meant to be.

After suffering through a painful, horrific, and humiliating loss to the Washington Redskins Sunday, and trying to recoup from the loss, the hits just keep coming.  Philadelphia Eagles RB Brian Westbrook now has two fractured ribs.  I don’t know who is in more pain; Westbrook or us Die Hard Eagles Fans.

Brian Westbrook is the heart and soul of the Eagles offense.  No offense to QB Donovan McNabb but Westbrook is anything and everything to our offense.  He instills fear in the minds of opposing defenses.  Other teams have to account for him on every play.  They have to spend all week game planning for how to stop him as a multi-level threat. 

We know what the Eagles can do with and without “Westy”.  We saw that for the 2^nd half of the Steelers game and unfortunately the entire Bears game.  With a current record of 2-3 and a 0-2 NFC East division record, can there be any worse time for this injury?  My hopes and dreams of an Eagles Super bowl are fading by the second.  Maybe it is just one more thing in our lives that is not meant to be.

With that said, “E-A-G-L-E-S!!  EAGLES!!”

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This has been a decision I’ve been contemplating for about 24 hours now.  How do you decide who gets the game ball when the team as a whole pretty much won us the game?  Both sides of the ball were executed phenomenally, however my Die Hard Redskins Fan game ball goes to…Chris Cooley.

While I was quite impartial, debating between Cooley and Clinton Portis, I decided to go with Chris Cooley for a number of reasons. One, he had his first touchdown of the season yesterday, an 18 yard option toss from WR Antwaan Randle El that gave us the go-ahead in the third quarter.  Which, by the way, was the first visiting team touchdown scored at Lincoln Financial Field since last season. Two, he had a career-high 109 yards versus last weeks #9 power ranked Philadelphia Eagles.  Three, with the biggest concern for the Eagles defense being tight end coverage, Chris Cooley walked into the game ready to eat it up!

He credits “Tana Man” Santana Moss for his production in his official blog today.

“I finally put a touchdown on the stat sheet. I knew I was going to have a great opportunity to help the offense this week and really I felt it was a compliment to Santana Moss. Although he was catch-less, he opened up all kinds holes for the rest of us.”

Now, let’s move onto grading the team.  Beginning with the defense, I am handing out a B+.  Granted, Brian Westbrook isn’t healthy, but his presence did offer the Eagles their only touchdown in the game on Sunday.  Our defense was missing three key starters- Marcus Washington, Shawn Springs and Jason Taylor, however as a whole, they only allowed 58 yards on the ground.  DE Andre Carter recorded six tackles in the game, a team record so far this season.  And despite the mishap in the first quarter where WR Desean Jackson returned a kickoff for a touchdown, the most notable performance by the Redskins defense was when the Eagles pushed to the two yard line, followed by a no-gain second down and a 3 yard loss on third down, both on the account of Brian Westbrook. Ackers came in for the field goal where the Eagles were finally able to put up points after the Skins had posted 23 unanswered points.

Onto the offense. CLEARLY I am going to give the big O an A for their performance Sunday.  Between 204 yards on the ground against the #1 rushing defense in the league, along with a career-topping performance by Cooley, a brief taste of what may be to come with WR Devin Thomas, and the distraction methods used by Santana Moss, our boys worked together as a whole and executed beautifully in this win.

K Shaun Suisham racked up the points in field goals the first half yesterday, scoring us 9 points.  While at the time we were probably squirming a bit trying to catch up to the 14 points Philly scored early, those critical field goals won us the game in the end.  And they were all LONG balls too, and therefore I will be giving special teams an A as well.

CONGRATS TO COOOOOOOOOOOOLEYYYYY for having your best game yet in your career and scoring the Die Hard Redskins Fan game ball!

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Yesterdays loss was a bitter pill for the Eagles fans to swallow. As I perused the web to find their reaction, I found it interesting that, for the most part, many of the Eagle fans found common ground in criticizing their coach and QB.

I, for one, believe that Andy Reid was outcoached yesterday. Moreover, the Redskins just seemed to be more relaxed and able to focus on their assignments, even when they were down by 14 early in the game. But, Eagle fans say…

They need a change in leadership -

Posted by trizot 06:13 PM, 10/05/2008
I know I’m probably in the minority there, but I am starting to believe we need a new approach, and possibly a new coach. My patience is certainly wearing thin.
      
Posted by Wilford Brimley 06:15 PM, 10/05/2008
Why do we have the same issues with Reid and McNabb after ten years?…Time for Banner, Reid, and McNabb to all be gone.
      
Posted by gordy 06:44 PM, 10/05/2008
Andy has to go, there is noway around it…We do need to stop buying tickets, it is the only way the failed movie producer will listen.

Posted by snook65 07:09 PM, 10/05/2008
Fire Andy Reid, it’s that simple…Its his team and he is the sole reason for failure over the past two weeks. I’ve had it!

The Philly fans just don’t get it -

Posted by CSpangler 06:51 PM, 10/05/2008
Yea those inept division titles and that inept .600 winning % as a head coach. Where does this city get all the morons???

It’s the player’s fault. The coaches don’t play the game - 

Posted by almar169 07:03 PM, 10/05/2008
PLAYERS HAVE TO MAKE THE PLAYS!!!!! All the coaching in the world won’t teach Lewis and Brown how to hold on to a pass or a lineman how to hold a block or Akers how to make a dadburn field goal…..sorry, EVERYONE gets a piece of this loss.

Posted by MVKrum 08:51 AM, 10/06/2008
Reid can’t catch the ball, he can just call the play.

They lost their rhythm - 

Posted by Xi Jah 07:33 PM, 10/05/2008
I do not get this team…They come out firing and then lose all rythem…

It’s the playcalling -

Posted by GMiller 08:31 PM, 10/05/2008
Would it kill Andy to try a QB sneak? What is he afraid of? Why not a naked bootleg- he could always throw it away or throw to a tight end!

Andy Reid needs instructions -

Posted by eaglefaninva 09:28 PM, 10/05/2008
…how many game do we have to lost before reid understands that you need a run game to win in the nfl…if you want to throw that ball 40 times a game fine, then go out and get wr’s…move the ball down the field. If you want mcnabb to fight a war get him an army…We need to get physical up front. We have rb’s that can run, just need to start using them. Why do we not have a screen package for booker? What was the point of getting him if we had no idea how we wanted to use him.

Andy Reid can’t call the plays -

Posted by didderbops 10:25 PM, 10/05/2008
The year Garcia led them to the playoffs [Reid] let Mohrningweig call the plays; instead of learning from that he instead has taken over play calling again and has been terrible. He fails to learn from his mistakes and shows no flexibility when opposing defenses are able to counter his game plan. Between his faulty play calling and his defects in his drafts, it is becoming obvious that he has become captain of a ship of mediocrity.

However, perhaps the best quote of all comes from the Die Hard Eagles Fan.

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Well, unfortunately for The Philadelphia Eagles, The Washington Redskins were exactly who the Die Hard Redskins Fans bloggers thought they were; and that is a tough, physical team that plays as one, making smart decisions and not turning over the ball.

Yesterday’s loss to the Redskins was painful and frustrating.  It was frustrating because I know how The Redskins needed to be us.  I hinted at it during last week’s blog posts.  On Offense, the Redskins were more physical than we were.  They took the ball and kept it, ramming it down our throats with RBs Clinton Portis and Ladell Betts.  They moved the ball in the air with clean, careful, and short passes, mostly to TE Chris Cooley.  As I had warned last week and throughout the first 5 weeks of this season; one of the Eagles’ biggest weaknesses is covering the opponent’s Tight End.  Yesterday was a clear example of that as Cooley rumbled through the Eagles defense for 109 yards and 1 TD.  QB Jason Campbell continues his most impressive journey to mastering Head Coach Zorn’s offense.  Despite dropped balls by WR Randle El and a disappearing act by WR Santana Moss, Campbell was steady and careful with the ball and went yet another game in this season with no turnovers.  He pulled the ball down and ran or threw the ball away when something wasn’t there.  He didn’t force things and kept his offense on the field and worse, kept the Eagles defense there with him.  By being successful at that game plan, it kept #5 QB Donovan McNabb and his offense watching like me, from afar.

This game hurts.  It was at Lincoln Financial Field.  We let the Washington Redskins walk into our home, be down by 14 points, and then walk out with our hearts squashed in their hands.  At this point, everyone and everything has to be questioned.  Can this team execute well enough to win big games?  Can this coaching staff adapt and adjust during the games?  Many questions loom and by the time we have our answers, it may be too late.  The competive nature of the NFC East doesn’t allow for teams and coaches to perform this way.  It is only week 5 and the NFL season has a long way to go, but one cannot help feeling a sense of doubt.  Here’s hoping the ship can get turned around this week…

With that said, “E-A-G-L-E-S!!  EAGLES!!”

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While it is unclear if he intended to provide material for the Redskins locker room wall, Donovan McNabb provided enough motivation in one statement to fuel the remainder of this season, especially when the Eagles come to D.C.

I was embarrassed these last two weeks. I mean [to lose] to two teams we shouldn’t have lost to. There is no way that you can look at this game and say that, and not taking anything away from them, but there is no way that this team is better than us. - Donovan McNabb

How pathetic!

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As one might expect after beating both the Cowboys and the Eagles, and both on the road, people are starting to sit up and take notice that this Redskins team is more than originally met the eye. And, why shouldn’t they. The Eagles defense was rated as one of, if not the best against the run. They were only allowing less than 60 yards rushing per game.

Clinton Portis and company ran for over 200 yards today!!

Listen to how the ESPN crew spins it.

What will be interesting now is what I was hinting at earlier this week. Now that the Redskins have shown that they are a team that can not be taken lightly, and given the fact that the Giants have played a relatively soft schedule to date, who will be on top of the Power Rankings this week.

The Redskins should be the rated Top Beast in the NFC East!

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