Big Red is Back and so am I

Coach Andy Reid returned to the Eagles facilities, a week later than originally suggested but looking none the worse for wear. His boys' legal troubles are far from over, and I am sure there will be a spotlight on the two whenever their court dates arrive, but for their sake and the team's I hope things don't get out of hand.

The two should be punished appropriately for their crimes. If that means some jail time, so be it. If they have good enough lawyers to plea bargain for half-way houses, rehab/treatment facilities, and the like, then I think a thousand hours of community service might shake the right tree (that's about six months of 40hr work weeks....) - and no, helping the team doesn't constitute community service.

Well anyway, the Eagles were mentioned as interested in trading for the Denver Broncos middle linebacker Al Wilson, which would be really cool, except of course, I don't see many needs on the Denver team that the Eagles have excess with. Perhaps some D-Line guys, but if reports are true, Denver may be floating this trade idea because they need to trim some salary after an expensive spending binge in free agency. That means cheaper guys, and that means draft picks, which the Eagles hoard this time of year.

Then Wilson was all but gone to the Giants, but I just read that he failed his physical with the vaGiants, so it looks like that won't happen. The Giants got bit again when the Texans matched their offer to restricted free agent FB Vonta Leach, so I guess Reuben Droughens won't have a new running mate. The Cowboys did bolster their secondary by signing Ken Hamlin, formerly of the Seahawks. Not earth-shattering, but its a solid move, playing a rookie opposite Roy Williams was a disaster for the Cowpokes last season as Pat Watkins got lit up time and again. Funny thing is, this year he'd probably be a lot better. He's tall, rangy, and he's not slow, just inexperienced. Still Hamlin only signed for one-year, so this gives the 2nd-yr guy some space to breathe.

Coughlin is Still Employed....Why?

So, the Giants not only didn't FIRE Coach Tom Coughlin, but they gave me another year extension??? HA HA HA HA HA HA HA Good, because the Giants do nothing will TC but fade every year anyway, so his presence in the NFC East is good news for Eagles fans...

I'm actually kind of stunned though....what did Coughlin do to earn the confidence of the Giants leadership...NOT get blown out on Sunday against the Birds? Wasn't two consecutive late-season fades followed by quick exits from the playoffs enough for NY....with a team with that much talent to play THAT undisciplined down the stretch?

Isn't this year the optimum time for a change...GM Ernie Acorsi is leaving, Tiki is leaving, and Coughlin has done NOTHING to help development the franchise QB that the Giants paid oh-so-dearly for three years ago? And don't be fooled by the extra-year the Mara-Tisch families gave him...he's still got one foot out the door now, as surely as he would if he was entering the final year of his contract....

Why extend him for one year?? Does anyone really think that nominal gesture will change the players perspective of the coach? I mean, look, I know general opinion of the jock I.Q. is pretty low, but come on, these guys have some common sense.

Finally, why not have a coach in a "contract year?" We have players in contract years all the time and never flinch...Heck, most times its referred to reverently as extra-motivation for the player to show his/her worth to prospective employers and not some sword of damacles hovering menacingly over the player....Could not the same mantra be applied to a coach...wouldn't it be worth it to see what Coughlin REALLY has "under the hood" as a coach. As it stands, why lessen your leverage over the coach if you're the owners...all having another year on the contract does is mean that you're going to have to buy him out of the final year next Dec/Jan when the Giants have squandered away yet another season....

Payback is SWEET

Wow, where to start with this one. For starters, I loved the way the team fought today. It seems like we had to beat two opponents today, the Giants and some flag-happy refs. But you know what? They did it, even when thing looked pretty dark. I mean Garcia gets flagged for a taunting foul deep in Giants territory, then gets PICKED and its returned deep into Eagles territory, PASS INT called on Sheldon and a quick Giants TD and about a minute after it looked pretty bright (with the Eagles up 21-16 and driving for insurance points), we are down 22-21. I know a lot of you (like me) we groaning a bit, and wondering why the Eagles ALWAYS have to make things so difficult and if we were they going to go into the tank emotionally with that huge momentum swing.

To my delight, the Eagles kept FIGHTING...they stuffed the Giants 2-pt conversion and right then and there I knew this team wasn't going to pull another 4th qtr swoon. Boom, boom, boom down the field and there were the Eagles knocking on the door again...then BLAM Garcia and Brown knock it down with a sweet rainbow strike on 2nd and 8 from the 19 yard line. A well executed 2pt conversion (which was, BTW, their only official attempt of the season) and its 29-22 and the Eagles have done what I doubt many in the Meadowlands thought they could, go into Giants' Stadium and drive the ball down the Giants throats late in the 4th quarter with the game/season on the line. I thought it fitting that the player who may have cost the first Giants game (Trent Cole with his goofball groin kick) came up with the play to seal the win, with a funky high-stepping jaunt into the endzone off lil Ewi's second INT of the day...

Last but not least: making those jackasses Shockey and Burress eat some crow was SWEET. I wondered during the week why the Giants players were running their mouths, and was quietly happy that the Eagles kept their focus where it needed to be: between the white lines from 4:15-7:15 Sunday evening....

What was the Giants' D thinking?

So the GYNts just drive to tie the game 20-20, but they left a minute on the clock (thanks to weird and unnecessary timeout, which prevented the GYNts from running at least another 25 seconds off the clock)....

What do you think the Cowboys might do? THROW THE BALL DOWN THE FIELD MAYBE???
Somehow they let Jason Witten run through double coverage for a 44-yd gain....and the writing was on the wall....that has got to be the defensive sour play of the week....

At Least I'm Not a Giants Fan

Talk about an implosion....

I pulled this from the MMQB, two GYNts make King's hall of shame...

Mathias Kiwanuka, DE, New York Giants. In one of the dumbest and most inexcusable plays in NFL history -- and one which will take its place alongside the Joe Pisarcik fumble in 1978 in dubious Giants' lore --...with 2:40 left in the Titans-Giants game. On fourth-and-10 from the Tennessee 24 and the Giants up 21-14, all New York had to do was stop the Titans from converting to clinch the game. From the shotgun, Young was looking for a receiving target when Kiwanuka, the rookie defensive end from Boston College, wrapped Young up by the mid-torso and began to drive him to the turf for a game-clinching sack. BUT THEN HE STOPPED DRIVING YOUNG BACK AND SIMPLY LET HIM GO, TO THE GASPING SHOCK OF EVERYONE IN THE STADIUM. (bolded by me) And Young ran for 19, and then led Tennessee to a tying touchdown with 49 seconds left.

Second there is ...Eli Manning, QB, New York Giants...We pick up from the tying Tennessee touchdown, with the entire Giants' sideline in stunned disbelief. Manning, playing the shakiest football of his three-year career, faded back with 32 seconds left and threw an interception right into the hands of Titans cornerback Pacman Jones. What's the one thing a quarterback can't do in this situation? Throw an interception in his own territory, of course. Jones picked it at the Giants' 49 and Vince Young completed two passes to get in Rob Bironas' field-goal range. Bironas' 49-yarder with 11 seconds left handed the Giants a ridiculous defeat.

I'm sorry but that is season crushing defeat....and we Eagles fans should know, we've already suffered through two of them....

Burress fires up the Bears

"Plexiglass" Burress, the GYNts wide receiver gave the Bears defense plenty of bulletin board motivation for Sunday Night's game. He called their secondary "very beatable" and generally disparaged the Bears DBs.

You know the best part, the pussy may not even play on Sunday since he's nursing back spasms...yeah, I think PB might just suffer from another bought of them on Sunday (whether its before the game or during when a Bear puts his helmet in the small of Burress' back....if you're gonna talk that kinda trash, you best be out on the field to back it up....

This is great for the Eagles, because it fires up a team that we need to play well (and beat our division rival). Coming off a weak loss to Miami, I am sure the Bears were a little wobbly, but when someone on the opposing team basically challenges your manhood....oh man, I hope the Bears stomp a mudhole in their asses....