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December 20, 2006

If The Playoffs Started Today

Outstanding implications abound for both the Eagles and the Sixers

Big week for the sports blathermonkeys in Philly. Not only do we have a suddenly resurgent Eagles team poised to make the playoffs in the NFC, but the biggest superstar playing in Philly (possibly ever) has just been traded to the Denver Nuggets. My oh my. Those two stories plus the release of the new Rocky movie and Invincible on DVD add up to a lot of sports-related media content flowing out of the Illadelph.

I will be the first to admit that I thought that the Birds were done when Donovan went down. And, in a larger sense, they're still sort of done, since I don't see them challenging for anything more than a second-round playoff exit, but hey, a month ago -- having lost their most expensive offensive and defensive players, respectively -- they looked like 7-9 would be a stretch. The team just looked so gutless and defeated in the losses to Tennessee and Indianapolis -- regardless of how the offense was playing (or who was starting at quarterback), they just didn't seem to have the heart to actually compete on defense. Worse, it looked like a team that wouldn't be any fun to support/ watch. You can get excited about scrappy-but-unsuccessful, but gutless-and-losing makes me change the channel (or at least show up late to the bar on Sunday morning).

What a difference a month and an inconsistent NFC makes!

Thanks to three equally/ exceedingly craptastic NFC opponents -- each of which seemed more determined to lose the game than the Eagles -- and a vast puddle of mediocrity/ parity in the NFC, the Eagles are now looking at a playoff berth. Playoffs! No kidding! Even better still -- said playoff game would be played here in C@L against the Nerdbirds! Are you kidding? Do you mean "Most Awesome C@L Weekend Ever"?

(We're going to keep relatively quiet on that; don't want to jinx it too much.)

The best thing the Eagles have going for them is their conference, where, it seems, all you have to do is commit fewer than two turnovers and you win. That's it! Spend the second half taking a knee and wait for your opponent to fling lame-duck interceptions into your deep secondary! I guess the Bears, the Saints, and the Cowboys look good? Sort of? Though each is certainly capable of playing horribly. Past that, what do you have? The Nerdbirds? The Giants? The Niners? The Vikings? Ew.

Beyond a generally weak and hapless NFC, I'm chalking up the Birds' run over the past three weeks to the following three things:

(1) The offensive line: these guys have just been blowing people off the ball lately. Part of that is that the lack of McNabb has convinced Andy Reid that he has to run more (I'm convinced that Andy was pretty excited about his three-run homer offense with McNabb back there and now realizes he needs to bunt and hit-and-run a bit more). I really hope this doesn't stop when 5 is back. The interior of the line has been especially impressive, which is all the cooler because they're sooooo young. Also, I'll note that I really like the thing where the skill guys handed the ball to the linemen for spiking last weekend. That didn't get enough press.

(2) The young defensive guys: it's amazing the difference playing with actual linebackers makes! We can safely say that Omar Gaither is a 3x improvement over Matt McCoy. We can also hope that the shot of the Trent Cole touchdown celebration from the Giants game -- Cole mobbed by Juqua Thomas and Gaither -- was emblematic of the future of this defense. Fingers crossed. Also, it looked like they were playing Michael Lewis and Considine together a fair amount (with Lewis essentially playing linebacker). I also will argue that Michael Lewis might be a better linebacker than Dhani Jones.

(3) The best player on the Eagles right now: it feels like this is the year that Brian Westbrook quiets the haters. The funny thing about Westbrook is that the only rap on him in Philly is that he's not big enough for third-and-one, while nationally people still seem to think he's this fragile little scatback. Dude. Brian Westbrook wins football games. This guy has made huge plays in the past, and I'm confident he'll make huge plays in the future. Giving him the extension last year feels like a really solid investment. Well done, Andy Reid.

So yeah, if the playoffs started today, I'd be deep in seattle.craigslist.org looking for tickets for me and whomever I can convince to come out to C@L for the game. Given only existing results, I would guess that the Nerdbirds would be favored by 5 in said game. And I would enthusiastically wager on the Eagles in that one.

Of course, if the NBA playoffs started today, the Sixers -- by virtue of their five (5) total wins and .217 winning percentage -- would have earned the most ping-pong balls in the 2006 NBA draft. And this is a great thing! We can even thank the Sonics for getting beat by the Grizz on Monday (the Sonics' sixth consecutive loss comma sigh) to push the Sixers into the number-one slot in the Greg Oden sweepstakes.

And, of course, we're gonna miss you, AI. Getting draft picks back in the trade at least means that we can't blame Billy King for at least three years on this one; it doesn't have the immediate sting of Tim Perry, Andrew Lang, and Jeff Hornacek.

Still, questions remain! Specifically, what number will AI wear for the Nuggets? DerMarr Johnson currently wears the number-three shirt; will AI have to wrestle him for it?

Also, I find it mildly ironic that in my two seasons of being an NBA season-ticket holder, my first glimpse of Allen Iverson will be in a Nuggets uniform. Sigh. In the meantime, I shall look forward to the absolute mission of vengeance on which AI is about to embark -- the biggest chip on the littlest shoulder just got a whole lot bigger.

And it wouldn't be an AI post if we didn't talk about practice -- AND the playoffs. If only we could edit in Denny Green ranting about people being who we thought they were. Sigh.

Posted by thatkid at December 20, 2006 3:42 PM under C@L , Philly , Sports , The Papers

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Posted by: micah at December 22, 2006 10:19 PM

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