January 19, 2009

Birds vs. Birds

The Eagles' season came to an end today with a loss to the Cardinals in Arizona.

The Cards, led by Larry Fitzgerald, dominated the first half, before the Eagles made it interesting in the third quarter, scoring three quick touchdowns and briefly taking the lead before the Cards went ahead to stay at the end. A few notes:

- No, McNabb didn't "choke." He could've played better, but this loss wasn't on him, and it isn't on Andy Reid either. The unstoppable-for-the-past-month defense collapsed, giving up 32 points.

- All week long, every radio caller who tried to guess the final score said something like "Eagles, 27-21," and the host always replied "come on, you think this defense is giving up 21 points?"

- Lots of questionable calls by the refs throughout, especially the lack of a pass interference call on the last play.

- So what can the Eagles do? No, they don't need a full-scale houseclearning, and yes, Reid and McNabb will both be back. They'll need to get two new offensive tackles, a power running back to take some of the load from Westbrook, and a heir apparent for Brian Dawkins.

- A new "big time receiver?" I'm thinking maybe DeSean Jackson is that, and they don't need another one. But I can already hear the revisionist history, that the Eagles "could've had Larry Fitzgerald" last offseason. Not true. He was never going to leave the Cardinals.

- And yes, now that Jon Gruden has been fired by the Bucs, every Eagles fan will be screaming for him to be the new coach. Sorry, not gonna happen.

- So Steelers-Cards in the Super Bowl. Who else is excited for two weeks of strories about how the Steelers passed over Ken Whisenhunt and hired Mike Tomlin instead? Can you feel the excitement?

Posted by Stephen Silver at January 19, 2009 12:21 AM
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