Posted on 02/08/2005 11:49:37 AM PST by West Coast Conservative
"But, just like Martinez was left in the game for 1 hitter too long a year ago costing them the championship...because he's "the star" aka "the ace"...so did the coach leave McNabb in essentially hurting the team.
Goes to show just how much power the players have over the coaching staff."
Yes, but Boston Manager Grady Little was summarily fired for that, and the Red Sox went on to win the World Series the following year.
Are you saying Reid should be fired?
Obviously you've never experienced chronic debillitating back pain.
But the running game is a lot like a 401K, you invest in it early to get a payoff later. Offensive lines prefer the run to the pass, and the run game wears out a defensive line. At the end of the first half they had 37 yards of rushing on 11 runs, that's just shy of 3.4 yards per rush on average which isn't bad, it's not great but it's not low enough to justify abandoning the run, it's enough to have a reasonable chance of getting a first down on 3 runs which is what you're hoping for.
But how much of McNabb's bad decisions were the result of the Pats D knowing he was going to pass? How much of the bad decision was caused by doing play action, which is slower to setup than a regular pass, on almost every first down against a D that is not going to bite on the play fake? Notice they also blew the clock management at the end of the first half, that's something I blame on the coaches, there's no way a team should get to their 19th game of the season and not know how to run a 2 minute drill, even if they never were behind by little enough to run a 2 minute drill at the end of games before you should still run 2 minute drills once in a while in the first half to keep your team in practice and get that all important momentum score.
Yes if McNabb hadn't thrown 3 interceptions they probably would have won, I'm just pointing out that one of the reasons he threw 3 interceptions is that he threw 51 passes and that was as avoidable as it was predictable. Given that most of their drives started with the game tied there is no valid reason for them to have abandoned the run. Last week I said Reid should start off with 6 runs to get his offense in rhythm, scare away SB jitters, and possibly make Belichick reconsider his defensive plan. He started off with 6 passes, the offense didn't get in rhythm until the 2nd quarter (if you're willing to argue they were in rhythm at all during the game), given that McNabb was apparently puking on their last possession they obviously never got rid of SB hitters, and they played right into Belichick's defensive plan.
But they weren't downlinemen, they ones lining up on the line were actually UP linemen, they didn't get into a 3 or 4 point stance instead remaining verticle the way linebackers usually are before a play, and gave up a solid 75 pounds against the guy on the other side of the line along with the leverage which is why downlinemen start off down.
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighting Troops
I have a headache. My wife will be in shortly to take over my position. Rush is right! He just gets hammered for being correct and stating it.
And your proof for such an asinine conclusion comes from where? Rumor, "I heard", innuendos? Even if it's true, who gives a crap.
Jeez, you people will grasp on to anything to solidify your "dynasty" mantra and label you're trying to affix to the Pats.
Has anyone bothered to look up the definition of the word? Doubt it, everybody is on the raft going down the river with the sportscasters and their drivel.
The Pats didn't make the mistakes the Eagles made on the field and that was the difference. Pats won Eagles lost. As for whether or not McNabb is saying he was playing sick, read the damn article, it's his linemen and teammates making these statements.
Eagles fan and DAMN proud of it!
Exactly. But the RUSH haters around here and the media want to purposely spin this into RUSH being a racist along with anyone who also (rightly) thinks the media over-rates McBadd.
Ridiculous. I guess anyone who agrees with Rush that the media was overhyping McBadd (use Collingsworttless as a prime example) is a racist. I much prefer McNair, but I don't hear the media over-hypeing him....which is the point.
Agreed. I was one of many who stated before the game that if McNab won the game I'd be willing to change my mind. But what I saw simply reinforced my opnion that he has been overrated. He still has time. If he can get back to the big dance a few times and win one or two he'll EARN the "great quarterback" moniker. Until then, he's average to better than average.
And though it may be a little thing, I heard McNabb say in an interview shown Sunday that Williams did not start that game, he came in and won it. Wrong! Doug Williams started, was on the bench for two or three plays because of the knee thing, and then came back in.
This report reminds me of all the reasons McNabb is not a great QB and never will be - the excuses when he loses. It is never his fault, always some outside circumstance.
"At the end of the first half they had 37 yards of rushing on 11 runs, that's just shy of 3.4 yards per rush on average which isn't bad, it's not great..."
22 of those yards came on the last play of the 1st half when the Patriots were in prevent D. Before that play they had 9 rushes for a paltry 15 yards.
I agree though, abandoning the run was the Eagles downfall.
I'm just making an observation that these so-called superstars are human.
A backup QB at 100% is better than any ace at 50%.
Maybe he is not making the excuses but is he out there saying I have no excuses, do not listen to these people. Where was he last year when Manning absolutely sucked and said so during the post-game interview while McNabbed sucked and said nothing.
Admit it -- you not only detest Rush, but envy his success and loyalty.
Limbaugh's contribution to conservatism can be measured in Light Years -- yours, in inches.
OK, but in there you still see success when they ran when it wasn't expected. Given how often they play actioned on first down and it stank I bet a draw on first down (fake the pass then run) would have done really well.
One of the other amazing things to me in the game was the incredible lack of half time adjustments by the Eagles. The Pats best safety was injured and replaced by a guy with 2 career starts and yet they didn't alter their routes to attack the safeties instead sticking to their normal outs and hooks that go after cornerbacks. Notice their final scoring drive score on a 30 yard post pattern, a route that attacks the safeties; why they waited until the last 2 minutes of the game to go after the rookie we'll never know. And he was ripe for the picking too, Harrison spent most of the second half moving the guy around getting him in the right lineup position, and apparently nobody on the Eagles offense noticed this, or maybe they decided it would be mean to go after him. Then of course they abandoned the run even though even the most cursory review of pre-snap photos would show the Pats were totally selling out to stop the pass.
I guess Reid is just in that growing number of coaches that believe their gameplan is fine, all they need is for the team to execute.
The won 13 games this year yet only played 3 teams with a winning record. In those three games, they were 2-1 - barely beat the Ravens, blew out an aging and crippled GB team, and lost to the Steelers, big time. They played three teams with even records and went 1-2. Beat Minnesota and lost to the Rams and Bengals. Then they won 10 games against clubs with losing records. After the GB game, which they won big time, they went 2-2, barely beating the Skins and Cowboys. If the schedule system was fair, they would have the Eagles next year play all the division winners - NE, Pitt, Indy, SDGO, GB, Seatle, and Atlanta. How many of those games do you see them winning?
Well they will play GB, Seattle and Atlanta, and one of the AFC teams but I forgot which AFC division the NFC drew next year, I know if won't be Pitt (they had AFC North last year). I see them beating all the NFC division winners with no problem, Seattle stinks, GB can barely hold it together, and they demonstrated working knowledge of the anti-Vick defense which pretty much assure victory over Atlanta.
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