6-5-and-1 More Week; Chest Bumps All Around - Russakoff Rules - Comcast.net Sports

Who was that team in midnight green Thursday night? It wasn’t the Philadelphia Eagles. Couldn’t have been.

The team I watched ran the ball 40 times and threw it 39. The Eagles wouldn’t do that. They just don’t do that.

But they did. And Hallelujah for that.

Some golden—and incredible—Ray Didinger stats from last night’s postgame show:

This year, when the Eagles run the ball more than their opponent, they are 5-0. Since 2000, when Andy dials up more runs than passes, his teams are 52-10. When he decides to run the ball more than 30 times in a game, the Eagles are 37-5.

Those numbers are staggering.

The staple of Andy’s regime over the past decade has been to run the ball as few times as possible. When fans, writers, or interviewers would challenge him on the unbalance of his playcalling, he’d say he “needs to do a better job,” but come out the next game and throw the ball even more.

It felt to most of us like stubbornness. He was going to throw the ball to set up the run. He knew that’s how it had to work…and all of us who suggested that a play-action pass is less effective when you run the ball just eight times a game were fooling ourselves.

Chris Collinsworth said something very interesting last night. He said he had a conversation with Andy about how little the team runs the ball, and Andy’s response was, “I’m going to fix that tonight.”

And Andy did…shockingly. The Cardinals came out in nickel and dime defenses, Andy/Marty Mornhinweg dialed up run after run, and the Eagles jammed the ball down a team’s throat.

It seemed so simple. So easy.

And perhaps that’s the rub. Andy said another interesting thing in his postgame press conference when he was asked why he ran the ball so much last night as opposed to the previous few games.

He said, “Well, the run game worked. We were gaining positive yards on it.”

That seems to miss the point. That seems to connote that if they began the game slow on the ground, Reid wouldn’t have run the ball as much. (By the way, why doesn’t he ever apply that same philosophy to the passing game.)

If you look at the statistics Didinger cited, there is no caveat for “successful” running plays. Didinger isn’t just counting positive rushing attempts.

The Eagles are 5-0 this year when they run the ball more than their opponent—whether or not they do it well. They are 52-10 since 2000, when they outrun their opponent—no matter how many ground yards they gain. They are 37-5 when they run the ball more than 30 times—regardless of success.

Before the game, Brian Westbrook said, "I honestly believe that if we were a little more patient with the running game, then we'd be more effective."

This isn’t that hard. Brian Westbrook gets it. You fans get it. Heck, even I get it.

The Eagles playoff chances are not good. They probably need to win out—their remaining schedule includes the Giants, Skins, Cowboys, and Browns—to make the postseason.

No matter how well the Birds play, that’s a tall order. But if Andy can keep his offense more in balance, and keep opposing defenses guessing, the task is achievable.

The NFL isn’t that good.


Bonus DVD Extras

Did anyone notice Donovan’s postgame suit?!? The cat looked like John Witherspoon out there. He just needs some mushroom suspenders and a mushroom belt—you got to coordinate!

Andy Reid on DeSean Jackson’s post-TD celebratory chest bump: “I thought a moth hit me.”

Andy really knows how to handle his players, doesn't he? He’ll take complete credit for turning McNabb around (by saying he takes no credit) but what about Lito Sheppard? He was a Pro Bowl corner. But now, Andy has wrecked his confidence to the point where he couldn’t cover me. And I’ve torn both Achilles’ tendons.

After watching that Detroit-Tennessee game, I’m convinced. The NFL needs to adopt relegation. It’s the only way to handle that level of decrepitness.

In Donovan’s postgame NFL network interview, the interviewer was reciting his stats: 27-of-39 for 260 yards, 4 TDs, and 0 INTs. Donovan’s response, “Guess I’m pretty good.”

Were you shocked by the Eagles performance on Thanksgiving? Can they still make the playoffs? Sound off here.




Message Edited by Lee_Russakoff on 11-28-2008 06:32 PM