No such thing as perfect

One thing I very much enjoy doing is educating myself on things that I cannot stand. In this case, I have watched several of the last New England Patriot’s games, with total disgust as they have steamrolled some of the better teams in the NFL.

One thing I have not enjoyed as of late, is watching the Eagles limp through their modest season, standing currently at 5-5.

With those things said, I thought I would have a very hard time watching, or at least enjoying, what I thought was going to be a true slaughtering of astronomical like numbers.

I tried to avoid the television at first, leaving my parents house to head back to school sometime after dinner and before kickoff, hoping I would hit traffic or get lost between the Commodore Barry Bridge and the Blue Route that I know so well and miss a good portion of the game.

I managed to make it, right on time for kickoff. Like a true Philly fan, I watched, in horror at first as Feeley threw an interception in the first set of downs that was run back for a touchdown. A minute in and the Birds found a way to dig a hole early.

“Oh, Feeley’s just shaking out the cobwebs,” I told myself, rather insecurely.

Turns out, I wasn’t so wrong after all. AJ than led the troops down the field and tied the game up on a very nice drive.

To the shock of the football world, the Eagles were on top from the second half, till the middle of the fourth quarter, when Brady finally put together a drive worthy of a game winning touchdown. They may have finally bowed down to the mighty Patriots, losing 31-28, but they stayed with them the entire game, stopping the otherwise stellar NE offense on more drives than anyone else so far and forcing Brady to make a season high 20 incomplete passes.

Though they may have lost the game, when all is said and done every other team in the NFL will be studying the game tapes for hours on end. Andy and company have just written the rough draft of a documentary entitled, The Patriots Ultimate Defeat.

The first thing Philly did right was exploit Randy Moss. The man is an obvious head case and if I’m not mistaken, we have seen the demise of one of those already in this city (ahem, TO?). Lito Sheppard, with a little help from J.R. Reed, handled Moss brilliantly, roughing him up as much as possible and allowing only 5 receptions, none of which came after the 2^nd quarter. Reed also played a safety position, ensuring no long passes would be attempted by Brady.

Also defensively, the Eagles blitzed, often. Defensive Coordinator Jim Johnson was at his best last night, doing a great job of bringing the total blitz package, something sorely missed by the Eagles defense so far this year. Brady was sacked a total of three times and was paranoid in the pocket all night, for good reason.

On the opposite end of the ball, Feeley played with great rhythm, something not seen by McNabb as of late. He felt pressure and yet welcomed it, waiting for the final seconds before threading needles with his passes. Andy Reed also did two things very right. For one, he noticed that the Patriots are weak in the middle of the field. Throwing simple slants and using routes that start outside and work their way in proved very successful. One more thing truly lacking in games this season that was finally corrected, was the return of the aggressive play calling. Reed really put it to the Pats, calling for several trick plays including one brilliantly executed onsides kick.

The Eagles really looked like the birds of old on both sides of the ball.

So as Philly marched off the field, maybe a little bitter about their loss and the 5-6 hole they fell back into, I turned the television off, proud of what I had seen.

But I’m still very unsettled about several things. Leave it to the Eagles to lose under their own steam. It was not an excellent Brady to Moss play that beat us. It was not an outstanding defensive stand by the Patriots that cut us short of driving to a game winning touchdown. For once, it wasn’t even the poor play calling by the men in green with headphones on the sidelines. It was two measly misplaced passes, good for two New England interceptions. Had Feeley thrown that first pass over the head of Asante Samuel and out of bounds, maybe the eagles would have won by 4, instead of losing by 3. And what about that final drive? What if instead of a 20 or so yard pass, they let Buckhalter pound a few yards here and there, taking precious time off of the game clock, before finally looking for the end zone, instead of looking for that big play and well, failing.

More importantly, if they can play that well against a “flawless” team, why are they not 11-0 themselves?!

When it comes down to it, the Eagles played well on the national stage. They humiliated Moss, stunned Brady and had Bellichick sweating on the sidelines. They gave the Patriots their best competition so far and the remaining 5 a glimmer of hope.

With that said, I can settle with the fact that, Bellichick, maybe your Patriots aren’t so perfect, afterall.