Slow news day at the NovaCare Complex (Tuesday is the “off” day so there are no scheduled media interactions upon which I might feast), so we’re thinking we’ll lighten the mood with some extra Plaxico hating!

As noted in this morning’s Philly papers and confirmed at the source, it’s been, ahem, a tough month for sales of Plaxico Burress merchandise. Sure, there’s a global economic meltdown and all, but I imagine that sales on Plaxico Burress merch this holiday season may have suffered even in more robust/ expansionary times.  From the NY Daily News:

Sales of Plaxico Burress‘ No. 17 jersey fell from near the top of New York’s best sellers to practically nothing - even at 75% off.

Stores like Modell’s and Sports Authority shot holes in the price of official NFL Burress jerseys, marking them down from $80 to just $19.47 after the fallen star was benched for shooting himself in the leg last month.

“We marked them down because he’s not playing anymore. I don’t think I’ve sold one since the shooting,” one Sports Authority worker said.

“All of a sudden they just stopped selling,” she said. “They used to be really hot.”

Yes yes, all of a sudden.  Still, I guess they’re still more popular in Jersey than the City, as the Target where I snapped the photo above was only offering a 30-percent markdown — nowhere near the 75 percent quoted in the article.

Maybe it’s just a little bit different when you’re offering the kid-sized version.

(Note that I was seriously tempted to buy this for my Giants-fan buddy who just became a father, but actually resisted.  I think that actually would have been uncool.  Ask me if I still think so if the Eagles lose Sunday.)

From MMQB:

c. Marty Mornhinweg … Marty, Marty, Marty. You’ve had a good play-calling December, and now, in the playoffs, and you’re my Coach of the Week this week, but … Third-and-one, 80 seconds left in the first half, you’re moving the ball on the Vikes, Minnesota has just scored to move within 16-14, and you throw deep downfield instead of just getting the first down and a David Akers field goal or maybe even a touchdown right before the half. Just get the first down and a fresh set of downs.

So Peter, you’re sure that Marty Morhinweg decided to go deep on that play?  You’re totally sure it wasn’t the quarterback calling his own plays and having delusions of grandeur?  And even if a deep route was called, are we sure that Mornhinweg wouldn’t have preferred if the ball went somewhere else?

An alternate theory from Igglesblog.

(I really really really need to stop with the Peter King stuff.)

Maybe the best part of this edition of Monday Eagles hangover is that…I’m not actually hungover!  At all! Note that said hangovers typically have little to do with alcohol consumption and more to do with my sensitive little bruised sports feelings. Said sports feelings are doing just fine today, thank you very much.

My day-after thoughts and bulletpoints:

Stay angry, big fella.  Surely after a season-vindicating playoff win against the Vikings, quarterback Donovan McNabb would be in an ebullient mood, no?  Oh wait.  Someone tried to ask Dunavin how he felt about Jeff Lurie’s comments regarding his future (which were all positive) at his post-game presser, and Dunavin essentially told them that he hopes that means they’ll stop asking him about it (not with a smile) and then cut off a follow-up question with “Nice try.”  He also bickered about the difference between wanting a meeting with the boss and wanting to stay in Philly.  I’d give you the quote but it wasn’t included in the transcription on the Birds’ site; this is the best I’ve got:

“Do you want to be back next year?” someone asked yesterday, reminding McNabb that he had asked for a sit-down with ownership when this season concludes.

“I’m here,” he said with a smile. “Excited.

“Nice try.”

The important thing is that the quarterback continue to think that everyone hates him and the only way he can really stick it to us is by winning many football games.  Keep it up!

Per lo usual, Sheldon Brown speaks the truth.  Nice work by BGN on picking this Sheldon Brown quote out of a post-game interview with Sal Pal:

I would never want to disrespect the Vikings by looking past them… but I kinda knew, we all did that it would come down to a rematch with the Giants.

Sheldon, I couldn’t agree with you more.  That was the thinking that led me to opt out of a flight to Minnesota in the hopes that the Eagles would play the Giants in my backyard here in New York the following week.  And it all worked out.  Excellent.  Let us also note that said ticket for the G-Men game was purchased by 11 pm last (Sunday) night.

And who says Andy Reid doesn’t pay attention to his critics?  From today’s day-after press conference:

On whether he stuck with the run yesterday in order to slow their pass rush: “Yeah, we were trying to get it going. (Jokingly) I can’t even believe that you asked that question, but I kind of feel good that you did. We tried to keep it as balanced as we could so I wouldn’t have to answer that question, but that’s all right.”

Outstanding.  Really.  Outstanding.  For everyone: the reporters, Big Red himself, all of them.  Still, even Andy Reid will have to admit that answering the same question about running the ball is better than the lot of the quarterback (”Dunavin, for the twentieth time, how did you feel about being benched and will you be back next year?”).

What made this not the Washington game.  You could argue that the offense struggled at times yesterday.  They did, especially running the ball.  But the difference for the team yesterday was that they caught the ball.  How many drops were there?  (Dawkins and Sheldon Brown don’t count.  We might even argue that Matt Schoebel shouldn’t count.)  And not all those catches were easy.  The wideouts were actually excellent catching the ball, and Brent Celek reminded us all why it’s so important that L.J. Smith rest up for free agency.  That makes a difference — sure makes Dunavin look good.

Speaking of, in re: tight ends.  L.J. Smith didn’t show up in the injuries portion of Andy Reid’s presser today, and no one asked about him.  Is he okay?  Or has he already been sent to gulag?

Guys who are growing up before our eyes.  Sure looked like Trevor Laws got more than a couple snaps on first down yesterday.  And was that Chris Gocong busting throw the line and blowing up running plays?  I thought that was what that Stewart Bradley fellow did?  And it definitely looks like Demps is going to be trusted a fair amount against the Giants as well, given that he was on the field in the three-safety alignment against the Vikings (you know, the one where the $57 million guy gets a break?).  Here’s to hoping that Demps doesn’t let any deep balls get behind him on the play fake (fingers crossed).

Go Birds.

Sorry for the lack of posts today.  We’ve had some connectivity issues, and the day job beckoned.  We’ll make it up later in the week.

Suh-weet.

Absent a complete meltdown next week against the Giants (something along the lines of what happened to Dallas last week), the 2008 Eagles season has brought me considerable happiness and I shall remember it fondly.  Sure, they snuck into the playoffs, but they won a post-season game.  Remember how hard it was to do that 20 years ago?  Now we’ve done it 7 of the last 9 years.  Can’t complain too much about that.  If making the playoffs was all gravy, then we all just got a second helping.  Yum.

In the short term, I’m just psyched to get another week of thick Eagles media coverage.  Lay it on thick, national media — there’s no end to the amount of Eagles content I can consume.

My quickie post-game thoughts (minimally ordered):

What a difference a year makes — Birds’ special teams play well.  Take a bow, Rory Segrest, because the Eagles were great on special teams.  David Akers was very sharp, the kickoff coverage was solid, and DeSean Jackson had a big day returning punts.  If I had any complaint about the special teams, it was a that a hyped-up Quintin Demps abandoned his typical just-go-straight return style on the opening kickoff and tried to run around the corner of the coverage.  Come on Quintin, only the other guy gets to do that.

Speaking of young Master DeSean.  Really nice game from the rookie in his playoff debut — he even blocked on the Westbrook TD.  Still, I wonder if he gets a special talking-to from Andy Reid about yapping in Brad Childress’ face after his second long punt return?  Maybe he was telling Childress to quit hassling Big Red about his figure?  Or to go easy on the vodka tonight?

The Vikings DEs came to play.  We’ll avoid the angle that notes that the Eagles’ aging tackles had a long day out there and instead focus on the excellent play of the Vikings’ two defensive ends, who consistently got pressure on McNabb and played the run well.  Those guys were impressive.

The jokes about Brad Childress being as clumsy with the clock management as Andy Reid.  Yeah, I guess that stuff is all true.  Huh.  Very comforting to see someone else screw up.

Our favorite camera angle.  Due to some tough field position for the Birds, we were treated to the back-of-the-end-zone punter cam for a couple Donovan McNabb throws.  Very very cool.  Also, unlike the Washington game, McNabb was great inside his ten.

Speaking of Donovan.  He was sharp today.  The turnovers were tough, especially the misguided/ I-think-I’m-tricky-like-Peyton-Manning pick, but he made some extremely tough throws on third down.

A new candidate for the single-best play of the season (which looks a lot like the single-best play of the 2007 season).  That screen pass was glorious.  Ten guys blocking, Westbrook making a huge play (after a pretty tough day to date), random offensive linemen being heroes (how about that Nick Cole with two big blocks AND a little hop over a defender), and even the wideouts helping him home.  Looked a lot like that play against Washington last year.

All Chris Clemons does is make internet video highlights.  Clemons was very good again this week, and managed to make the Youtube highlight reel by body-slamming Tavaris Jackson.  Already been posted.

Things that went as well as we could have hoped and with which we cannot argue.  Dawk dropping a signature welcome-to-the-playoffs hit on Peterson; Asante Samuel pulling the quick six; and the Eagles holding the Vikings under 17 points; the Eagles advancing to a game at the Meadowlands (which means I get to go).

Things that worry us.  The red-zone offense.  The inability to solve the Vikings defense in the first half.  The continued struggles running the ball (but at least they tried!).

Man, that was cool.

(Early line is Giants favored by 4.)

It’s unanimous — no one knows anything:

It might be a motivational ploy.  Regardless, it’s an accurate observaton.

A member of the Eagles front office has told ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio, “We don’t know which team will show up [on Sunday at Minnesota].  We have no idea.”

The statement is a reference to the fact that, while generally playing well since Thanksgiving, the Eagles still have the potential to lay an egg, like they did in Cincinnati and Baltimore in successive weeks prior to the Turkey Night thrashing of the Cardinals, or like Eagles did two weeks ago, scoring only three points at Washington.

Yup.

I mean, it’s not like we’re allowed to be surprised that Ed Rendell has complicated, multi-paragraph opinions about the Birds, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be mildly amused when he drops a few bon mots to the press.

Definitely check out the Rendell interview in the paper this morning; some excerpts:

You sound a little worried that the Eagles might still disappoint everyone.

Absolutely. This is a hugely important game, but so was Washington. It’s been such a strange season. They were really the only team to dominate the Steelers this year. And they beat the Giants on the road. And they crushed the Cowboys. But they also tied the Bengals. It’s hard to fathom that the same team did all that. Right now, I’m excited. The fans are excited. We have all the momentum. But I have that little nagging thing in the back of my mind because you’re never sure which team will show up for the playoffs. If it’s the team that beat the Steelers, Giants and Cowboys, I think the Eagles will play the Steelers in the Super Bowl.

Well, that would be nice for Pennsylvania.

It wouldn’t be so good for the city of Tampa. They’d end up leveling it. It would be like Sherman marching through Atlanta - there wouldn’t be anything left.

Some comments:

(1) Way to suck up to both fanbases there, Ed.  We all love hearing just how wild and/ or crazy we are.  Take that, grown adults who happen to enjoy watching pro football!  We’re WAY more hardcore than you.

(2) Rendell’s comments on the team are hilariously on-message from a media/ fan perspective.  You can’t say that he’s faking.

(3) While I’m sure that said fanbases would do their best to “level” Tampa, let’s not forget the burning down of South Philadelphia — that’s something the feel-good Phils were never going to occasion.

Well none of us are going to pretend we expected this.  Sure, we could envision this, but to expect this would have been a bit strong after the Washington game.  The Eagles are actually in the playoffs.

So, are they any damn good?

That’s the thing about the Eagles game today.  We don’t actually know what the narrative of this season is yet.  Is is the “Eagles go on a run like 2006 (Washington game is ‘just a blip’)” or is it “Eagles stumble into playoffs, but are who we thought they were”?  If they win today, many many sins will be forgiven — even if they lose the following week.  Then they’re good but not good enough, and that’s a lot better than we thought we’d get in mid-November.  If they lose today, especially if they do so in one of the ways to which we’ve become accustomed, well, then they were essentially last year’s team with a better punt returner: good on paper, but bad when it matters.

I wouldn’t be completely shocked if the Eagles didn’t show up at all today, but I don’t think it’ll happen.  Rather, I think that there’s a compelling reason why it might not happen: the Eagles defense.  But more about that in a bit.

What I’ll be shouting about in re: today’s big Wild Card Game:

Your storylines.  It’s a little overwhelming (and by overwhelming, I mean that it makes writing a preview really challenging) when your team makes the playoffs in re: the clear national storylines.  As in, (1) Jim Johnson versus Tavaris Jackson (must include reference to total available quantity of blitzes), (2) Can the suddenly elite Eagles’ defense contain Adrian Peterson, (3) Teacher-versus-Pupil.  What’s sweet is that I feel good about each of those.  And the thing that worries me most is just that they go out and throw it 48 times.  Andy Reid, you haunt me!

Storylines we refuse to consider.  You’re not allowed to say, “This is an extremely close game in simulations with the Eagles winning just under 51 percent of the simulations. The key to the game is turnovers,” in an article entitled “Intel Report” on ESPN.  Generally speaking, I think blathermonkeys should be fired on the spot for uttering the phrase, “The key to the game is turnovers.”  The key to scoring is touchdowns and field goals.  The key to defense is tackling.  Yes.  It’s all true!

Fan storyline that’s a bit odd.  I assume most of you are like me in that you feel good about defense and special teams, and have no idea what we’re getting from the offense.  It’s worth noting that said offense set the franchise record for points scored…and I still don’t think we’re remotely irrational for not trusting them.

The last time these guys played in January.  The future Mrs. BountyBowl got us tickets for the game as a Christmas gift, circa December 2004.  This was a very clever strategy of hers for currying my affections.  Seemed to have worked out for everyone.  F***ing cold that day, though!

Hip, whatever.  The Birds paid a lot of money for Asante Samuel.  Mr. Samuel has traditionally been very successful in elimination games (save for an awkward moment along the sideline last February).  It’d be lovely if he felt compelled to demonstrate his penchant for the big moment against the Vikings.  Also, I’m pretending that the injury thing is an illusion.

Speaking of, he doesn’t need to play.  L.J. Smith has his impending free agency to worry about.  Let’s cut the guy some slack and let him get healthy.  It’s for the best.

The CamelCased One.  What a wonderful opportunity for young Master DeSean to go out and demonstrate he has a feel for the big moment (and redeem himself for the Washington game) than to make a play against the absolute worst punt coverage team in the league?  Very tempting, no?  We’d hate to think the kid had issues with the spotlight.

Speaking of wideouts.  Both Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown made circus catches against the Vikings when the Eagles played there last year.  A similar effort this afternoon would augur well for the Birds’ chances.

Jared Allen is scary, though not as scary as Demarcus Ware.  I think Allen will be slightly more dangerous than Ware was last week if only because Ware’s team completely quit.  But if the Birds can handle Ware, why not Allen?  (That said, I think Allen is excellent.)

Adrian Peterson is scary, though not as scary as Brian Westbrook.  Sure, AP (”Purple Jesus”) is a megastar guy who has a chance to be the best back of his generation.  But in a game that matters I feel extremely good about a Brian Westbrook, and not just because he might be the single smartest guy on the field.  He’s also good at not getting tackled!

Eagles thoughts from during the Cards - Falcons game.  While I know it’s not for everyone, it sure looks like you can run your offense through a couple dominant wideouts.  Those guys are good.

Eagles thoughts from during the Bolts - Colts game.  This was actually painful to watch for me, if only because there were so many little plays that almost but didn’t quite go the Chargers’ way (at least until the coin toss!).  Lots of dropped picks, bad bounces, that sort of thing.  It’s rare that I can feel like an Eagles fan watching another team.  Thanks, Chargers!

Things I’m glad I haven’t thought about in weeks.  How about that David Akers!  Doesn’t seem to be struggling any more.  And he’s got to feel good about a dome.

No one believes in you, Donovan.  I hope Mr. McNabb is on his laptop this morning reading the InterWebs just so he knows that NO ONE BELIEVES IN HIM.  Nope.  Not a one.  And the ONLY WAY HE CAN STICK IT TO THE FICKLE DOUBTERS is to play the game of his life.  That’s the only way you can really get us, Donovan.  Seriously.  It’ll totally piss us all off, because we don’t really like you and don’t want you to succeed.

Cardboard Box.  One of the things that makes me feel confident about the game today is that I think the Eagles actually will get the speed of the playoff game.  That is, there are a few guys on the field for the Eagles who won’t be intimidated by the moment and will come out playing fast.  Mostly I’m thinking that Brian Dawkins and/ or Sheldon Brown isn’t going to be afraid to endanger themselves in order to announce their presence with authority in the first few minutes of the game.  And now, because I can’t help it, is the link.  Treat yourself.

Game prediction. I think that the defense is going to show up this week for the Eagles, and that if the Birds can get it to 20 points they should be chill.  The problem is that I can’t really speak for the offense.  I think they could be awful.  I think it’s important that the Eagles wide receivers play well.  That means getting open and it means catching the ball.  Eagles 20, Vikings 13.

Ashley Fox offered a rather alarmist (at least from Tammy Reid’s perspective) walk down memory lane in the Philly papers this morning regarding Andy Reid and Brad Childress’s relationship and history.  Whilst these two guys might be buddies, Childress doesn’t seem to have mastered the art of saying absolutely nothing/ revealing no details in interviews.  In fact, Childress was more than happy to discuss Big Red’s health openly:

“There are two stand-alone factors in heart disease: smoking and obesity,” Childress said the other day, sitting in his office at the Minnesota Vikings’ practice facility in suburban Minneapolis. “Forget everything else. Your ticker can be good, blood pressure good, but those are separate drags on the spectrum.

“It’s amazing the discipline [Reid has] in every other area, but you’ve got to bend somehow, I guess, and that’s it. I hear him breathing through it. I hear the same thing, and it’s scary.”

Oh, so you’re saying Andy Reid is overweight and is a bit of a mouth breather?  Well well well.  You’re kind of bald and fugly looking!  So you’re not perfect either!

Childress also gave Fox a nice compare-and-contrast on the two men’s respective vices:

Childress used to smoke. Who knows why he started? Maybe it was stress or a mid-life crisis. Some men buy sports cars when they turn 40. Childress bought a pack of Marlboros.

So he gets it. Even though he sucked down his last cigarette outside of the Rose Bowl in early 1999, Childress understands that even the toughest or most resilient man needs an outlet.

“I could have gone to Philadelphia and gotten a cigarette anywhere I wanted,” Childress said. “I thought 100 times inside the Vet, I could have walked out to any employee at any time day or night and said, ‘Hey, can I bum a smoke?’ and it would’ve been, ‘Yeah, Coach, here.’ ”

These days, Childress will have an occasional vodka. He understands that Reid isn’t a “closet put-a-dip-in-his-lip guy,” but that he “loves to cook, loves to eat,” Childress said. Everyone has something.

So, the big Mormon guy — whose religion rules out the drinking and smoking — is prone to the occasional beatdown at the buffet table?  REALLY?  We hadn’t noticed!  I thought he had some sort of glandular problem.  I’d like to note that I think that it’s a little odd that the Mormon thing didn’t get mentioned in the article — is it uncool to connect the “not drinking or smoking but overeating” to the guy’s religion?  Maybe?  I dunno.

Also, if I was Childress I would ease up with the vodka chitchat; that’s the second one I’ve seen this week.

Bonus trivia question: what’s Andy Reid’s favorite food (according to a presser from two years ago that I’ll claim to remember)?  Answer tomorrow morning.

In case you missed it, PE.com just posted this extremely cool NFL Films feature on Brian Dawkins.  Certainly it’s been a pretty good week for Dawkins, who forced two fumbles in the Dallas beatdown and was then named NFC Defensive Player of the Month.  And it’d be tough to find anyone who’s even remotely fond of the Eagles who doesn’t appreciate Dawkins’ role in the Eagles’ late-season renaissance; I can’t imagine there’s another Eagles player who’s ever been as universally adored by the fanbase.

So yeah, we all think Dawkins is great, and we’ve thought that for a long time.

Of course, that doesn’t mean we can’t still learn interesting things about Dawkins, and NFL Football in general.  They do the Weapon-X stuff, but we’d seen all of that before.  And while the video looked about a year old, it didn’t look familiar, and I certainly learned the following:

1. Brian Dawkins does not swear on the field.  No curse words.  Something to do with his definition of a “righteous man.”  He still “speaks aggressively” to the other players, sure, but he does it the old-fashioned way.  Turns out you can threaten people without dropping F-bombs.

2.  Brian Dawkins prefers a special silver-and-green Breathe Right strip across his nose (love that Dawk still believes in the silver).  Also, he’s not above oiling his biceps.

3.  The Texans game from 2002 where Dawkins intercepted a pass, recovered a fumble, got a sack, and caught at TD pass is apparently called the “quadrafecta.”  I did not know that (despite having been at said game).

4.  Brian Dawkins speaks in tongues at times when he’s on the field.  Umm, we’re leaving that alone.

5.  They had Dawk miked up for the first Redskins game last year (2007) when he suffered a neck injury.  Things I wish I could unhear include the sound of Brian Dawkins whimpering in pain on the ground, unable to move.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.  Made it a little too real.

Otherwise, this is great stuff.  Definitely give it a look.

Tickets are still available?  11,000?  And now you’re petitioning the League for an extension on the blackout deadline?

It’s an NFL Playoff game.  This is high-end entertainment.  There are eleven (11) of these each year.  I went to two in Seattle even though I didn’t care about the Nerdbirds.  And it’s not even like it’s expensive: $35 gets you a seat in the upper level, and $110 gets you a lower bowl ticket.

For shame.  For shame.