Some Things Just Never Change

I just want to preface my halftime comments with the following:

• I am not normally a very negative person when it comes to Philly sports, honestly 
• I think Donovan McNabb is the best quarterback in team history
• I think Andy Reid is the best coach in team history
• I think Reggie Brown is a solid NFL receiver and Kevin Curtis is a nice #3
• I was in a tiny African village for the entirety of the 2004 Super Bowl season.  The only game I got to see was the Super Bowl, with French commentators
• Everything in my life is better when the Eagles beat the Cowboys, so I am loving the 7-3 halftime lead
• If there is anything in the following rant that you haven’t heard before, then you probably don’t know what a “punt” is either

None of these things, however, will curb frustrations that have been building over many years now.  I have heard that the definition of insanity is to keep doing something the same way, but expecting different results.  I never thought that the Eagles front office was certifiably insane, but maybe we shouldn’t be too quick to dismiss it.  It is just so incredibly frustrating to see things over and over and over and over and over and over and ov…………….

This team has, for almost a decade now, been one of the top Super Bowl contenders year in and year out.  However, every year (except the one year that never happened to me) we have been compaining about the exact same thing–GET SOME RECEIVERS THAT CAN GET OPEN!!!  It is really not that difficult of a concept.  I have never been someone who believes that fans know more than front offices–in any sport.  In fact, I get really annoyed when people even suggest that.  But, this is different.  The same complaint has been leveled for almost A DECADE now.  Why do they not get this?  Why will they not address the problem of receivers that simply cannot get open??? 

I had a note to myself to write about McNabb’s perpetual inaccuracy, but upon second thought, I think that this is (and has always been) a direct result of the point made in the previous paragraph, so I will resist in piling on McNabb right now.  However, I would like the record to show that the annual 56% completion rate is getting really old, regardless of the causes.

Why can Andy Reid, an intelligent man and a great football coach, simply NOT UNDERSTAND how to manage the clock???  Again, I know this has been rehased over and over again, in every capacity, especially since the Super Bowl, but COME ON–it has been almost ten years now that we have had to watch him bumble and stumble his way through timeouts in the first quarter, stupid challenges and, in today’s case, stupid NON-challenges.  What was he possibly thinking when he called a timeout to THINK ABOUT WHETHER HE WANTED TO CHALLENGE???  If you are willing to burn the timeout, why not just throw the challenge flag???  What is the worst that happens?  YOU LOSE A TIMEOUT!!!  So, instead, Reid calls the timeout, decides to challenge, loses the challenge, thus losing another timeout, and then, at the end of the half, it looked like they were going to run out of time inside the 5-yard line…stop me if you’ve heard this before. 

And, finally, another frustration that I have that has been overblown and just killed in the media.  I don’t care, I’m going to say it anyway.  RUN THE GODDAM BALL!!!  I don’t think there is anyone who knows anything about football that would say that Brian Westbrook is not the best offensive player on this football team right now.  First half–NINE CARRIES???  Thirty-eight plays, NINE carries.  That’s 23.6%.  Uh, what???

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Anyway, second half is starting…GO BIRDS!
(I wonder if they’ve burned a timeout yet)