Win against Baltimore
Probably win at Arizona (50-50 to 60-40)
Possibly win at DC (50-50 to 40-60)
Win at home again against Philadelphia
Possibly win at Dallas who could be on a slide at that point and desperate
Lose to Carolina
Win at Minnesota
I think they end up 12-4, +/- 1
Yes, and was depressed the whole time. Even if the Eagles had pulled out the win at the end, NY would still cearly have been the dominant team.
I hate to be one of those “fire the coach” guys, but after last night’s game, I think I’m officially ready to join those who are tired of Andy Reid. It’s nice being a contender nearly every year, but it’s fustrating as hell to see a team that continues to have the same weaknesses year in, year out. Still no power running game. Still weak on power running defense. Still overly reliant on Westbrook. Still living with crossed fingers hoping McNabb stays healthy, still not leaving enough blockers in to protect him. Still living with his “streakiness” (which is a nice way of saying inconsitiency) when he is healthy – though I suspect that’s largely a function of the intracately-designed offense.
People like to say that if Philly could just get a dominant WR again, they’d be back to 2004. Problem is that 1) dominant WRs don’t grow on trees, and 2) everybody in the league has miles of tape on Reid’s offense, and he’s failed to adjust to their adjustments. Add Randy Moss and the fundamental problems remain; we just go from a 9-7 team to an 11-5 team, and maybe win one more playoff game.
I’m tired of it. I cannot envision winning a championship under Reid. I’d rather have a bad team that is working towards a title than a perpetual wild-card time. Fire Reid, trade Mac for picks, start a new chapter.
Hot damn, that game was a thing of beauty.
For the first time since The Littlest Briston joined the family three years ago, we got a baby sitter (grandma) and the wife and I went out to a bar for the game. Nothing like walking into a bar in the heart of Eagles country wearing a Toomer jersey to get the juices flowing. A little disappointed at the lack of sacks, but I’ll trade that for a win any day.
I’m a bit surprised at everyone’s list for the rest of the season. Next week’s Ravens game is the one that’s scaring me the most on that list. I think they’ll give the Giants the biggest fight so far this year. Once they get past that game, I don’t see much to sweat. Some good records and quality teams, to be sure, but nothing the Giants can’t handle. Maybe I’m being a bit overconfident, but I see 13-3 as the bottom end, with 14-2 being perfectly feasible.
You’re nuts. Look a Bengals fan in the eye and say that.
Anyway, Anquan Boldin will almost certainly be a free agent or available for a 1st and change next season. Are you saying you wouldn’t love to see McNabb throwing to him and DeSean Jackson + 1 year, with Reggie Brown and Kevin Curtis as your #3 and 4 receivers?
And Westbrook in the backfield?
Eagles fan here. I don’t generally participate in the SDMB football threads because I’m much more of a casual fan than those who post and can really talk football. I enjoy lurking, though. And in the spirit of wanting to reciprocate for the enjoyment I’ve gotten from your posts, I felt obliged to come in tell you how bad that game hurt. (RNATB, your point notwithstanding.)
The NFC East thread skews heavy with Giants fans. I know I would enjoy Giants lamentations if the situation was reversed.
To me, this game felt like the true passing of the torch. Surely the Giants’ Super Bowl win should have been a clue that maybe, just maybe, the torch had been passed previously. Still, if you wear midnight green-colored glasses, the Giants’ Championship was just an aberration. After all, the Eagles were the class of the division for so many years. Injuries are never an excuse, but they seemed to be a legitimate rationale for explaining the Eagles’ 8-8 season last year and their 2-3 start this year.
They went 0-2 in the East when they were pretty banged up. But, they were on a 3-game winning streak going into last night’s game. After a year and a half of utter frustration (which, in turn, followed two years in which they won exactly one wildcard playoff game), they seemed poised to get a big win at home, take some of the ugly off the division record, and pull within one game of the lead with all the momentum and the head-to-head tiebreaker.
And then… that.
Now Eagles fans seemed destined to be like any other mediocre team’s fans, looking for silver linings after defeats. One more score and we would’ve won that one! Look, McNabb had an off-game, and we still only lost by five… we’ll get 'em in the rematch at the Meadowlands! We’re in last place, but, hey, it’s the best division in the NFL, so it’s really more like we’re third or second! If we just win out, we can probably get a wild card slot!
We are… what’s the word? Losers.
So cheers, Giants fans. I guess that Super Bowl wasn’t a fluke after all. Enjoy the ride as long as you can.
At least you’re not the Cowboys.
I would wager that furt would like to see that, compared to seeing Kolb throwing just to Jackson and Curtis, which is what he almost certainly will see.
I’ll wager further that what he wouldn’t like to see would be Reid screwing up just about every aspect of game-day management, sudden reversals of philosophy in crucial situations that look for all the world like clear indications that Reid thinks he’s the James Joyce of football, McNabb looking from one play to the next like a completely different player and then smiling after losing winnable games, non-fullbacks playing fullback, bizarre playcalling, infuriating press conferences, inexplicable player fetishes, and personnel move after move that makes it clear that the organization thinks it’s doing everything fine despite the frustrations.
The fact that the Eagles have had an excellent track record compared to the Bengals does not justify the repeated, predictable, preventable, and embarrassing shortcomings the team has had for years. At least Bengals fans can say, well, we suck. Who the fuck knows what the Eagles are? Who the fuck knows what McNabb’s career would have been under a different coach? Who knows the real source of the incomprehensible shared mental illness Reid and McNabb seem to revel in? It’s not the number of wins in the regular season that does you in, I promise you. It’s the constant presence of the knowledge that “If they just did this differently…” with the realization that they aren’t going to change a damn thing.
I wonder why. I know there are a lot more **Giants **fans than Eagles fans or Skin fans, but where are all the Cowboy fans. They have the largest national following, I would think they would be better represented on the Dope.
I agree with your last statement completely but most of my fellow **Giants ** fans here on the Dope take the Eagles as the primary rivals. To me it is the Cowboys that I really want to see lose in nearly any week and game.
We’re in the 4th stage of grief – depression – hoping the return of some starters will restore hope with a division win at Washington.
Actually, we Cowboy fans are starting to feel pretty good again as they looked better yesterday than they have in quite some time.
Goddamn I hate [del]Satan[/del] Jerry Jones.
I understand that but it seemed like Cowboy fans were underrepresented last year too when you were favored all year.
Is it at all like Yankee fans? It seemed like most Yankee fans kept a lower profile until I started posting and never minded taking lumps for being a die-hard Yankee Fan. The Cowboys are generally the most hated in football as the Yanks are to baseball. I don’t notice a lack of Yankee fans anymore even with the team struggling this year past. No statistics on any of this, just a sense from reading the NFL & MLB related threads.
They had a bye yesterd… Oh. I see.
Not sure. My WAG is people from Texas, Oklahoma, etc. are underrepresented on the SDMB generally (fewer Dopers per capita).
Rabid Bengals fan here:
Hey, we don’t suck! We’re an underachieving team on the cusp of mediocrity!
Actually, not having Carson Palmer is killing us. Fitzpatrick is a terrible passer. But hey, at least we’re giving Cedric Benson a new lease on life, and suddenly he’s our best RB! Our oline is improving slowly (once considered to be one of the best units in the NFL not long ago) and our defense is starting to show why Mike Zimmer was a good hire for us.
I hope we stomp the crap out of the Eagles. I want to finish 8-8 just for pride’s sake…I would never root for my team to lose for the sake of high draft picks.
We played the Giants and Cowboys down to the wire (admittedly, with Palmer in there), and we can do the same to the Eagles, now that Fitzpatrick has had some PT in there.
/NFC East hijack
We lost a lot of Cowboys fans during the subscription renewal period in April 2007. They had a much higher presence in the eariler threads.
A lot of guys are forgetting just how badly the Vikings have owned the Giants under Eli. Unfortunately, the Vikings get another shot at him the last week of the season, meaning they could throw some seriously harsh anti-momentum the Giants’ way just before the playoffs start.
I seem to feel that the Vikings-Giants owning each other is another one of those away-team deals like with the Falcons. I haven’t gone back to look, but I clearly remember the last two stompings at East Rutherford, and I also clearly remember big games from Strahan in the Dome during the injury years of 2003 & 2004.
I can’t believe that the last 9 games of the season are all against teams with a winning record at the halfway mark. That’s just insane.
I think they’re very likely to finish 12-4 or better, but going 4-3 against that schedule is hardly a given, even for (probably) the best team in football. I’m just saying, if the Giants do end up with a 12-4 record, it isn’t necessarily because they faded at the end.
Already used up all of our gimmes. Weeks 2-7:
@StL (2-7)
Cin (1-8)
BYE
Sea (2-7)
@Cle (3-6)
SF (2-7)
Overall it’s probably close to an average schedule (somewhat above average, I guess), it’s just organized in a weird way: the hardest schedule in the league prefaced by the easiest schedule.
Oh, and just for kicks I’ll take a shot at predicting each game:
Bal (6-3) – W (close)
@Ari (5-3) – W (big)
@Was (6-3) – L (there’s always a rough patch. . .)
Phi (5-4) – L (Giants will not look good losing these two, and will suffer at least one serious injury in the process)
@Dal (5-4) – W (close)
Car (7-2) – W (big)
@Min (5-4) – W, unless we already have a bye locked up, in which case L
Jimmy is exactly right, with the exception that I don’t think Reid is arrogant, just very stubborn and conservative (in the fear-of-the-new sense).
I know all about having sucky teams; I’m a Phillies fan. Christ help me, I even like Temple in college FB. But I would rather have a sucky team with hope for improvement (or continued suckitude, which leads to another firing, and maybe improvement then) than an endless purgatory of “pretty good.” Screw Pretty Good. I’ll trade away 20 years of pretty good for one championship, even if it means 19 years of Steve Jeltz levels of shitty.
If they get Boldin (very possible), they will be a better team. Instead of finishing 9-7 and losing in the wildcard round, they will go 11-5 and lose in the second round of the playoffs. Hampered by injury, Westbrook will get 32 yards on 11 carries in that game, which will be be over when LJ Smith drops a pass on 4th and 8 with 6:21 left in the game. The Vikings will take over on downs, and Adrian Peterson will pad his stats on a clock-killing drive, winding up with 159 rushing yards. After the game Reid will say “we just didn’t execute,” and brush off questions about Donovan McNabb’s future.
Yes, dammit, I want to see Kevin Kolb.
I question the timing of your statement. 
Reid ran the Wildcat on that first touchdown in the Giants game, so I don’t think a “fear of the new” is really fair or applicable. He’s shown that he’s willing to try new things and buck tradition. This team was throwing the ball at a near 3 to 1 pace in years past, which was essentially unheard of then. At one point, the Eagles had the second highest pass to run ratio over a three year span, ever. (I don’t have a cite though, sorry). When McNabb went down, he balanced the offense under Garcia. He tries things and makes adjustments.
No, Jimmy is right here; the problem is that Reid is convinced he’s a lot smarter than he is. He out-thinks himself and over-thinks stuff. I remember specifically a play last season in the first Giants game in which the Eagles faced a third and short in a crucial spot. The Giants had something like eight sacks at this point in the game (on the way to a total of 12). This is obviously a pressure down, and you haven’t been able to protect the QB at ALL. Don’t get cute. What does Reid do? He calls possibly the longest developing play in the playbook (a reverse) and the second runner gets dragged down like eight yards behind the line of scrimmage. “But, they’ll never expect it!” Right, but, it’s probably still not a good idea.
And everyone knows by now that Reid is one of the worst with clock management. Nothing more needs to be said.
As for Kolb, it’s foolish to want to see him. McNabb isn’t the problem, and yes, a top WR would absolutely help this team to instantly contend. People forget that the 2004 Eagles weren’t great on defense, especially against the run (9th worst in the league). This team is excellent against the run, and pretty good against the pass too. They are one weapon away from being a contender. The Giants shut the Eagles down because they took Westbrook out of the game. The Eagles need someone else on the team that can punish others for focusing too much on Westbrook. They need someone who WILL get open and make a play in the 4th quarter.
That said, with Runyan and Tra Thomas on the way out soon, and with McNabb on the wrong side of 30, it’s probably time to trade him and get some picks. With the two first rounders in '09, the Eagles should start drafting the next generation of offensive line for Kolb (or whomever.) Get a head start on the next generation now while you still have valuable pieces to trade. Move McNabb and Sheppard, get an OT and a LB. Get going.
I don’t think being the 12th team in the league to trot out the latest fad is so spectacularly groundbreaking.
When I say conservative, I don’t mean in the “unwilling to pass” sense, I mean in the “unwilling to change from what he normally does” sense. The overreliance on the pass was part of that – yea, he eventually dialled it back – after about three years of press conferences where he’d agree with everyone in creation that “we need to find a way to run the ball more” and then never do it on game day.
See, that’s a perfect example of what I’m calling stubbornnness. They put that play into the gameplan for third and short that week, based on something they saw on film; and by god he’s going to run it regardless of what the defense has been doing in the actual game.
More emphatically, that was the game where Reid left Winston Justice to twist in the wind, one on one with Umenyoria, giving up sack after sack. Did Reid start leaving backs in to help? No. Did he start rolling away from that side? No. Did he bench Justice and try someone else (Cole to G, Herremans to LT)? No. he decided during gameplanning that they would handle the DE one-on-one, and kept at it even when it was obvious Justice couldn’t handle it. In fairness, though, Reid pretty much never cares about pass protection, so it’s not like that night was different…
WTF? You wanna reconcile the first part with the last? You don’t wanna see Kolb, but you *do *wanna trade Mac? And do what, sign a free agent to replace him?
I don’t “blame” McNabb, and I despise the nimrods with their “he can’t win the big one” crap. When healthy, he’s a top-ten QB, maybe top 5. But the harsh reality is that he’s injured too often (partly a consequence of Reid’s schemes), and that will likely only get worse as he ages. “Contending” is not the goal – winning a championship is, and I think it’s very unlikely with a team this stagnant. Getting another weapon will not remake them; it will merely keep them in contention for another year or two, during which time McNabb and the rest will lose even more of their trade value.
The team needs surgery, not a band-aid.