Wellness

[gardenman]

Well, that was a horrible first quarter for the Eagles, but a decent second quarter. We went from being down 21-0 to being down 21-10. Get a quick stop when the Cowboys get the ball to start the second half and get another score to cut it to a one score lead and things could get pretty interesting.

Something interesting to watch is the holding on Fletcher Cox. He's number 91 of the Eagles and he's beating the offensive linemen pretty much every play, but then they're grabbing him and holding on for dear life. It's good for the Cowboys that the officials aren't calling it holding, but if the officials start calling it then the Cowboys offense will stall in a big way. The offensive linemen are holding onto Cox for dear life on almost every play, but so far they've gotten away with it. We'll see what happens in the second half. This game's not over yet.

[gardenman]

A disappointing effort by the Eagles tonight. Turnovers will kill you every time. We had way, way too many of them tonight. Oh well, on to next week.

[teganslaw]

I can understand why some Cowboy fans tape the game first, and then watch it later if the Cowboys win. They almost gave up a 21 point lead; no wonder their fans are too nervous to watch the game.

The Colts are going to have to stop Dez Bryant next week. If they commit turnovers, Dallas might run away with the game. On the positive side, Dallas' defense has problems, so Luck could have a big game. Dallas concerns me; I anticipate a high scoring game when those teams meet.

[gardenman]

Well that was a bit of a mess. The good news is there's no quarterback controversy in Philly any longer. Pretty much everyone wants Nick Foles back as the starter. The Eagles are a "team first" team that seldom says anything negative, but several players asked about the possibility of Nick Foles coming back next week said they "really hope so," "can't wait to get him back," "need him back," etc. Those aren't exactly ringing endorsements of Mark Sanchez. Typically those guys would say: "It doesn't matter, we have to play better as a team." They didn't say that which says a lot.

Mark Sanchez isn't a horrible quarterback but I'd put him in the average to slightly below average range. The local press was anointing him the next Aaron Rodgers after his first game as starter, but in truth he wasn't all that good in that game and he hasn't been all that good since then either. He's a competent backup QB for short stretches, but he just can't carry a team and is prone to making the big mistake at the worst possible time. Since he's been the starter we've seen him ignore open receivers to throw into double coverage, overthrow wide open receivers, throw dumb interceptions, and just destroy offensive continuity. He'll shift properly lined up players into the wrong place. He just isn't all that good. Mark Sanchez is Mark Sanchez.

That was a game that was there to win. Both of the Eagles' lines did a good job. DeMarco Murray was throttled and the Cowboys were forced to throw the ball to win the game. Unfortunately the Eagles had no answer for Dez Bryant. Bradley Fletcher was just abused as he's been many times this year. Dez Bryant is hard for anyone to defend, but you've got to do more than Fletcher did. The Eagles have a couple of kid defensive backs and I expect to see them bring in a couple of more next year and chances are Bradley Fletcher will be playing elsewhere after this season.

The Colts should be able to move the ball on the Cowboys pretty much at will. The Cowboy defense isn't impressive. Avoid turning the ball over and the Colts should win that game. (Assuming they play to win. There's not a lot left for them to play for, so they may go with multiple backups and rest some starters.) When you turn the ball over four times (as the Eagles did) you're not going to win the game. Avoid the turnovers and the game will be there for the Colts.

The playoff picture is coming into more focus. The Cards are in. The Seahawks, Packers and Lions look pretty safe. The Cowboys are in if they win their last two games, lose one and they open the door for the Eagles to sneak in. If they lost to the Redskins in that last game JJ might just leave the team in Washington. The big challenge for the Cowboys will be the Colts. They're going to have to outscore the Colts and that's not going to be easy. The Eagles are currently out of the playoffs, but if they win their final two (Redskins and Giants) then there's a chance they could sneak in. These last two weeks will be pretty interesting.

[gardenman]

And the bad news keeps coming. Nick Foles is not cleared to play this week, his collarbone still needs longer to heal. Pity.

[luvmyteddy4]

I am so happy the Chiefs finally won again. Three TDs in 4 minutes, it was exciting. It's too late for us, I was hoping we had two great ball teams going for the big time.

[gardenman]

The poor Bears. What the heck do they do with Jay Cutler? Where do they find a replacement for him? Cutler's got some of the best weapons in football now and is playing horribly. Cutler's one of those guys who shows flashes of greatness then long periods of ineptness. You hope the greatness takes over, but he's been around long enough that I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen now. He is what he is.

And DeMarco Murray of the Cowboys has had hand surgery, yet the Cowboys think he may still play on Sunday. Okay. Sure. It's not like a running back needs to use his hand.

A one-handed running back is not a good idea. You limit his runs to one side of the field if you put him out there with one hand and that makes life pretty easy for the defense. His ability to hold the ball and stiff arm defenders pretty much disappears. His ability to cover up the ball in a pack totally disappears. His ability as a pass catcher disappears. There's no way he should play on Sunday, but the Cowboys do odd stuff from time to time. We'll have to see what happens. Offensive linemen, other than centers, can play with a broken hand on occasion and some defensive players can also, but a running back kind of needs two hands. That Cowboy offense without DeMarco Murray will be a lot weaker.

RGIII will be starting against the Eagles on Saturday. That should be interesting to watch. He can be good, he can be horrible. We'll have to see which RGIII shows up. I suspect his arm strength is why he's starting. I'm quite sure DeSean Jackson will be lobbying like mad for a bombs away offense so he can torch the Eagles. RGIII has the arm strength to get the ball deep to DeSean. Lots of Redskin fans were not happy with Jay Gruden giving up at the end of the last game. The play calling was a tad odd and it will be interesting to see how the team responds this week.

[Spurt]

On 12/15/2014 teganslaw said:

I can understand why some Cowboy fans tape the game first, and then watch it later if the Cowboys win. They almost gave up a 21 point lead; no wonder their fans are too nervous to watch the game.

The Colts are going to have to stop Dez Bryant next week. If they commit turnovers, Dallas might run away with the game. On the positive side, Dallas' defense has problems, so Luck could have a big game. Dallas concerns me; I anticipate a high scoring game when those teams meet.

Hi Tegan.....I think turnovers will be one of the key points....take care of the ball no matter what the sport be it football or basketball (even my Spurs have way too many turnovers sometimes)....and with the Cowboy's Murray just having surgery it will be interesting to see how well that will impact his ability to hang on to the ball......

I think the Colt's defensive coordinator will do a better job on covering Dez--a lesson learned from the Eagles....

GO COLTS!

[Spurt]

On 12/16/2014 gardenman said:

The poor Bears. What the heck do they do with Jay Cutler? Where do they find a replacement for him? Cutler's got some of the best weapons in football now and is playing horribly. Cutler's one of those guys who shows flashes of greatness then long periods of ineptness. You hope the greatness takes over, but he's been around long enough that I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen now. He is what he is.

And DeMarco Murray of the Cowboys has had hand surgery, yet the Cowboys think he may still play on Sunday. Okay. Sure. It's not like a running back needs to use his hand.

A one-handed running back is not a good idea. You limit his runs to one side of the field if you put him out there with one hand and that makes life pretty easy for the defense. His ability to hold the ball and stiff arm defenders pretty much disappears. His ability to cover up the ball in a pack totally disappears. His ability as a pass catcher disappears. There's no way he should play on Sunday, but the Cowboys do odd stuff from time to time. We'll have to see what happens. Offensive linemen, other than centers, can play with a broken hand on occasion and some defensive players can also, but a running back kind of needs two hands. That Cowboy offense without DeMarco Murray will be a lot weaker.

RGIII will be starting against the Eagles on Saturday. That should be interesting to watch. He can be good, he can be horrible. We'll have to see which RGIII shows up. I suspect his arm strength is why he's starting. I'm quite sure DeSean Jackson will be lobbying like mad for a bombs away offense so he can torch the Eagles. RGIII has the arm strength to get the ball deep to DeSean. Lots of Redskin fans were not happy with Jay Gruden giving up at the end of the last game. The play calling was a tad odd and it will be interesting to see how the team responds this week.

.

GARDENMAN---as a Washington fan what my biggest nightmare is that we make some sort of trade with the Bears for Cutler----PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE NO!!!! With all the criticism and question marks about Jay Cutler over the years it was rather curious why the Bears agreed to give him such a huge contract---I guess it was a case of---who else is out there for QB? Now they will have to find a trade partner and they will probably be cap strapped leaving them not having much lee way to improve their defense....

As far as the Eagles/Cowboys game....that turnover at the start of the game set the tone and appeared to give the Cowboys confidence....to the Eagles credit they came back from a deep hole and were right there to grab the victory if it weren't for Sanchez's interception and overthrows killed it and oooooooooohhhh so close to come back and win!

As far as the Eagles/Washington---Robert came in cold and seemed to play with more determination this game, perhaps because of the criticism???? I think DeSean will be more embarrassed being on the Redskins than be motivated to play against his old team.

Here's a sad commentary on my team---I think this is an accurate portrayal of my Washingtonteam:

The team has no proven QB or prospects and there's little to build upon in 2015.....The only decent players---On OFFENSE-WR Pierre Garcon, WR DeSean Jackson, RB Alfred Morris, TE Jordan Reed, LT Trent Williams. On DEFENSE-CB Breeland, LB Kerrigan, Punter-Tress Way, Kicker-Kai Forbath......9 Out of 53 players THAT'S IT!!!

Still it is an NFC East game and the Redskins can play loose (or is that to lose)....although they could be playing for their individual jobs for next season!!! For the Eagles, It's too bad that Foles won't be ready...you will have to go with Sanchez and his play is always an adventure....

Your right Gardenman, I also have questioned some of the odd play calling at crucial times particularly in the Red Zone....but hey what do I know....

[gardenman]

SPURT. Yeah, that Cowboy game was there for the taking, but the Eagles just blew it. Coming back from a 21-0 deficit to take the lead at 24-21 is tough, but they pulled it off, then imploded. The Eagles had open receivers pretty much all game, but more often than not Mark Sanchez missed them. I was hoping Foles would be back this week, but not yet.

Way back on post #5 of this thread I told Yellowrose that Dez Bryant and Tony Romo would be the keys to the game and sure enough they were. If the Cowboys keep throwing the ball up to Bryant, then the Cowboys could do very well. The Eagles corners did a pretty good job on Bryant the first time around, but this game he beat them. He's a mismatch for pretty much every defender. As long as Romo can put the ball up to Bryant, he's pretty much unstoppable.

Jay Cutler is one of those frustrating guys. He's got the tools and he can play at a high level and then for no apparent reason he can completely implode. There just comes a time when you have to give up on a guy no matter how talented he is and I think Jay Cutler is one of those guys. I wouldn't mind seeing him end up on the Redskins, but I've got a feeling he'll be, at best, a backup from now on.

The Eagles, even if we miss the playoffs this year, are nicely positioned for the foreseeable future. We could use a linebacker or two and some DB's, but with free agency and the draft coming we should be able to fill those holes and be even better next year. This is still a team on the rise with lots of young talent at pretty much every position. We had some bad luck this year with health (we're on our seventh inside linebacker I believe) and the offensive line was devastated with injuries earlier in the season, but assuming those issues don't recur, this team should be competitive for the foreseeable future. There are a lot of teams in worse shape.