Do It For Dawkins

I have to give my buddy Dan credit for finding this video. He sent me this link yesterday afternoon. If this video doesn't pump you up for the Eagles game this Sunday, nothing will. Enjoy.

All In the Meatballs

A lot of sports fans hold certain superstitions when they watch their teams. Some people sit in the same chair for every game. Others, and I include myself in this group, will not wash their game day jersey throughout the entire season if the season happens to be going well. Each fan has their own unique habits, but the motivation is the same. They do whatever is in their power to help their team win. Like I said, I can’t say I’m above these routines. In fact, in the last three weeks, I have developed a new one and it revolves around meatballs and homemade sauce.

In our year and a half of marriage, my wife has used Sundays as her day to experiment in the kitchen. During this time, she tries all sorts of recipes and 99% of the time they end up tasting pretty good. The week of the Dallas-Eagles “win and in” game, she took a stab at homemade spaghetti sauce and meatballs. The meatballs and sauce turned out pretty well and, more importantly, the Eagles won and somehow snuck into the playoffs.

I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but the sauce and meatballs may be the key to the Eagles pretty incredible run over the last three weeks. These delightful Italian staples continue to serve as game day food of choice in the Maiese household throughout the playoffs. Each time we’ve indulged, the Eagles find a way to win a must-win game. During Wildcard Weekend, we had meatball sandwiches; the Eagles beat Minnesota. This past Sunday, we ate leftover baked ziti drizzled with more homemade sauce and a few more meatball; the Eagles beat the Giants. You see the common denominator here?

Am I crazy? Absolutely. However, I can guarantee you that at about 3PM this Sunday, I’ll be gnawing at a meatball while I’m watching my Birds beat up on that fraud of a playoff team, the Arizona Cardinals.

Now that I’m finished with the meatball and sauce story, let me run through some thoughts on our revitalized Birds:

• I don’t mean to belabor the point, but who saw this turnaround coming after the Cincinnati and Baltimore game? Honestly, after the Ravens game, I started to count down the days until Spring Training. I never imagined I would write about the Birds in the NFC Championship game.
  
• This will mark the fifth time in eight years the Eagles will play in the NFC Championship game. When you think about it, that stat is really remarkable. During the rough patch in midseason when we were calling for Andy Reid’s head, I think we lost sight of just good of a track record this guy has. Sure, we Philly fans subscribe to the ‘what have you done for me lately?’ philosophy. However, you can’t argue with wins and, as evidenced by the above stat, Andy Reid wins.
  
• I love to watch this defense right now. They are all over the field on every play. Of course, you can’t talk about the defense without singling out the heart and soul of that squad, Brian Dawkins. He looks like he turned back his internal clock about six years. He’s all over the field on every play. Plus, that guy can hit.
  
• I really didn’t see the big deal with Donovan picking up the phone on the Giants’ sideline at the end of the fourth quarter on Sunday. The move showed Donovan is loose and I like that. Surely though, I wish the play didn’t result in a 15 yard penalty, but sometime’s a little fun is worth it.
  

I heard an interesting little tidbit on mid-day show on WIP. Before the Phillies won this year, the last time they won it all was ’80. Rotate that year 180° and you get ’08. Now, take the last time the Eagles won the NFL Championship, ’60 and rotate that number 180°. Amazing.


Sunday can’t come fast enough.

Pat…It’s been fun

We officially reached the end of an era in Phillies baseball today. Pat Burrell (and Elvis the dog) has left the building.

Burrell signed a two-year deal reportedly worth about $16 million today with the Tampa Bay Rays. I can’t blame Burrell for inking the deal. He needed to move to an American League city where he could find his niche as a full time DH. He fits the DH role perfectly – a marginal, at best, defensive player with bad wheels who processes the ability to provide a little pop in the middle of the order. I think he’ll do well down in Tampa. Good luck to him.

I have my reservations about how the Phillies handled the Burrell situation. I can’t help but feel the Phillies bowed out of the Burrell race much sooner than they should have. Obviously, Burrell’s initial asking price of 2 years $22 million (or something along those lines) was a little steeper than the Phillies were willing go. However, I think they made a huge mistake by passing on Burrell so quickly and jumping on aging outfield Raul Ibanez. The Phils could have put forth a little more effort in the negotiation process to see if they could secure Burrell at the much more economical price Tampa paid. On paper, Ibanez might be an upgrade. However, I think I'd much rather have a 32 year old Burrell on the books for two more years versus a 36 year old Ibanez for three years.

Either way, I’ll miss Burrell next season. Despite his knack for looking at third strikes, Burrell stood as the consistent force in the lineup for the Phils over the past nine seasons. I’ll find it extremely weird to look at the Phils starting lineup without Pat the Bat penciled into the No. 5 slot.

Still Not Sure How We Got Here

Ummm…I still don’t fully understand how they got to this point. Why am I writing about an Eagles playoff game? This time two weeks ago, we had pretty much written the post-mortem on the 2008 Philadelphia Eagles. I thought Reggie Brown’s catch one yard shy of the end zone sealed this season’s fate. Then, the inexplicable happened. Every piece fell into place ever so perfectly. The Texans found a way to beat the Bears and, more surprisingly, the lowly Raiders found a way to beat the Bucs on the road. From there, the Birds took care of business against the Cowboys and, somehow, in miraculous fashion, the Eagles found themselves in the playoffs.

“Playoffs?!?!?!?!”

Yes, Coach Mora. Playoffs.

Even more surprising, the Eagles found a way to win a game in said playoffs today in Minnesota. It surely wasn’t pretty, but I’ll take it. I’ll take everything I can get at this point, considering where this team was six weeks ago.

I haven’t watched any highlights, listened to any postgame or looked at any stats yet, so I’m writing this completely blind. However, here are the two main thoughts running through my head right now after the win.

First of all, the defense played pretty well today. Again, I haven’t looked at the stats yet so I don’t know if it translated statistically. Of course, Adrian Peterson was going to get his. He’ll light up just about any defense in the league. However, the Eagles were able to get at TAR-varis (as Barkann likes to call him) Jackson. Moreover, Asante Samuel had that key interception return for a touchdown, which stood as the Eagles only TD until the fourth quarter. With the inconsistent offense the Eagles throw out there every week, the defense continues to be the consistent driving force for Eagles’ success over the last few weeks.

Speaking of the inconsistent offense, the Eagles certainly struggled to put the ball in the end zone today. Clearly, one offensive touchdown won’t get it done against the Giants next week. Before the Westbrook touchdown, I had serious reservations about weather this team even deserved to move on to the divisional round, considering the putrid offensive output. The touchdown helped, but I’m still a little stressed about that heading into next week’s Giants game.

So, I guess it’s time for a third go-round with the Giants next Sunday. Winnable? Sure. Will a win require a just about perfect effort in all facets of the game? Most definitely. Let the countdown begin.