Okay, The D-train Daily was prepared, albeit prematurely, to discuss basketball. It was mainly to help escape the pain of football season's inevitable end. And sometimes you have to be prepared for something you love to walk out the door. Then faithful and frequent passenger Julie T. of Philadelphia made the excellent point that the 2009 Eagles did not beat a team with a winning record.
Sad to say, but this was news to The D-train Daily. Oftentimes this publication has spoke of Andy Reid and the Eagles as Fox News did (does) of George W. Bush and the Republican Party... they can do NO wrong. So we went back and pondered Julie T.'s excellent point and actually put an impartial microscope to the Eagles 2009 season. The findings were, in a "d" word, disconcerting.
Consider, that in the losses to Oakland, San Diego, and Dallas (both games), the Eagles averaged 12, actually 11.5, rushes per game. And with the exception of the second Dallas game they were within one score at halftime.
Delving further; consistently getting points was a problem as well. If the Birds offense was not set up by a turnover or big special teams play, they rarely moved the chains consistently to score touchdowns. Hmmm, there's that "c" word again; consistent. Against the New Orleans they only had 2 touchdowns, one on a big play, the other set up by a long kick return. Against the Raiders they scored zip, zero, zilch, nada touchdowns. Against Dallas (first game), the Birds managed one touchdown, but they needed a 45 yard play on that drive to get it. Are we curious about the loss to San Diego? They scored two TD's, both coming in the fourth quarter just for the Eagles to get back into the game. By the way one of those drives started just outside the 50 yard line due to a Charger penalty. The second Dallas game, they were blanked completely.
The point being, big plays were the crux of the Bird's offense. What about consistent, chain-moving plays? If the Eagles opponents didn't surrender the big play, the Bird's rarely got it done. As a wise man once said, "If you live by the sword, you will die by the sword."
This penchant for heaving the ball all over the place rather than say, tote it, left the defense vulnerable. Apparently Reid thought that the Eagles defense, circa 2001-2004 was suited up. Back then the Eagles surrendered around 17 points a game, which was enough to stay competitive against any team. This year, between injuries and a lack of beef and discipline (FAR too much gambling in the secondary among other issues), the 2009 edition of the Eagles defense rarely got teams off the field when it needed to.
That's not to say the defense wasn't good, but it was... limited. So in order to protect them why not run the ^%$^*, *^%%$,)(&%), @&($# ball. Really, we've only been saying this since say 2002! Unfortunately it looks as though renowned social commentator Sean Carter, a.k.a. Jay-Z, was talking about Big Red and his bombs away approach when he said, "You can't change a playa's game in da ninf innin'"
And again as Julie's question pointed out, the Eagles only beat teams with losing records, which makes every win essentially unimpressive by default. So as it stands now, we have a team that is fun to watch and will contend on the surface, but will ultimately fall victim to its systemic limitations. Thanks Julie. Reality bites.
Yesterday, in an effort to expand our horizons, the staff at the D-train Daily watched The College Experiment, which is an online skit program. Every Wednesday it runs at www.foxsports.com. This was our first, last, one and only viewing of this insulting series. In the intro it says, "The College Experiment is to sports, what The Daily Show is to Politics. Umm. No. The Daily Show has... wit. To call the humor "low-brow" would've been a high compliment. It was full of lewd, crass, vulgar, sophomoric, and offensive comments that made it unbearable. For instance, the shabby looking badly dressed host of the show said that Colt McCoy pulled himself out of the Rose Bowl game not because his shoulder was hurt, but because he wanted to "rub one out" over his girlfriend. These guys found themselves quite funny. They were alone in that respect. It seemed that these were the guys who snuck a keg into their dorm not as a matter of drinking convenience, but because they thought it was cool.
TOMORROW ON The D-train Daily, A PREVIEW OF THIS WEEKENDS PLAYOFF MATCHUPS.
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