In what could only be described as an American League Baseball game, your Philadelphia Eagles took it to the Pittsburgh Steelers 15-6 this past Sunday.  It was one heck of a busy Sunday, mind you.  My thumb got a full workout and needs a bye week already.  Let me run you down what I tried to accomplish on TV this Sunday.  The Eagles were top priority, but right behind them were the Phillies beating up on the Marlins.  Then I realized the great US of A Ryder Cup team was taking it to the Europeans on NBC.  I think, and I may be wrong, but I think that Bloodsport was also playing on Versus. 

As for the Birds, well, any win versus a strong AFC team is a good win.  We could have won that game 1-0, not literally of course as 1 point is impossible to get in football, and I would have been happy.  We shut down one of the best running backs in the NFL in Willie Parker and made Ben Rothlisberger look like the Cheeseburglar.  They did this on a short week of rest and practice.  They did this after a very emotional and very draining loss to the Dallas Cowboys in front of a national audience.  Not to get all “footbally” on you, but they also did this against a 3-4 defense that they have been known to struggle against. 

So you didn’t come away impressed by the Eagles W this Sunday?  Did I mention that they played most of the game without Brian Westbrook who went down with an ankle injury early? 

My takeaways from the game include:

1) Jim Johnson finally brought the heat…had he brought pressure and blitz packages against the Cowgirls like he did against Big Ben, we would have won that game too and stand at 3-0.

2) Brian Dawkins is still old, but I still love him.  Literally.  My wife will allow me to leave her for Dawkins.  That is not made up.  Still old, but still a badass.  B-Dawk made several nice plays including causing a fumble and recovering a fumble on the same play.  He may be just a scoatch slower but he still amazes me.

3) LJ Smith is still very mediocre.  Go Rutgers!

4) Donovan, when healthy, is fun to watch.  As he has done for most of his career without stud wide receivers, McNasty had a very good day.  He is consistent, can provide the big play, and rarely hurts your team.  The notorious fumble against Dallas still baffles me…I have a theory on what happened on that play but there is a space limit in this blog…I think.

5) The NFC East is the best division in the NFL.  No ifs, ands, or buts about it.  Our weakest team in the division is the Redskins and they are better than at least a third of the teams in the NFL.  The Cowboys dominated the Packers, the Birds manhandled the Steelers, the Giants beat the Bengals, and the ‘Skins beat the Cardinals. 

As for this weekend, Andy, if you are reading this…which I am sure you are, please sit Brian Westbrook.  We can beat the Bears without him.  Let him heal and let Buckhalter carry the load.  What is the gameplan, what would I do?  See # 1 above- Jim Johnson, bring the heat.  Pressure Chicago’s terrible QB-of-the-week into making mistakes.  Let’s play that grind it out game and come out of Chicago 3-1. 

Go Birds (and Go Phils!)!!!