I guess we shouldn’t really be that surprised and/ or even disappointed that Dunavin is officially out (as of this morning’s injury report) for tomorrow night’s game against the Patriots.

In the grand scheme of things (that is, the part where we cling to some silly aspiration that includes the Eagles making the playoffs), this is absolutely the smart play. Better to keep 5 on the shelf and have him fresh for December. The Eagles are going to lose big to the Pats, and it’s going to have very little to do with the quarterback position.

If we assume that the Patriots will score pretty much every time they touch the ball (Warning! Warning! Recently out-of-football J.R. Reed to start at strong safety for Birds!), and that the Eagles offense plays average-to-well, the Birds still lose 52-24. (24 points would count as average-to-well.) Also note that the Patriots scoring every time they touch the ball also means that the Eagles will be throwing a lot, the Pats will know that, and whoever is standing back there with the ball is going to take a fair amount of shots. Enjoy the bruising, A.J.!

(Read the rest of this story.)

For all the grief we might toss in the local blathermonkeys’ direction in re: their penchant for cheap demagoguery, we must admit that we do enjoy it when they use their powers for good rather than evil. That is, when they take a week off from hating on the embattled and/ or beleagured home team and instead turn their vitriol on the opponent.

You’d think that we’d do a better job of turning the negativity on the bad guys on a week-in-week-out basis, but unless you’re a divisional opponent, we’re not really all that interested. Certainly a typipcal AFC foe would rarely even register. But the Pats are special. Not only are they the jerkfaces that ruined the Super Bowl for us in 2005, but they’re also beating the paint out of everyone this season and will probably win again. (Read the rest of this story.)

This is me shaking my head, yet again, at the oft-Bountied efforts of ProFootballTalk.com:

POSTED 3:44 p.m. EST; UPDATED 3:50 p.m. EST, November 21, 2007

NO McNABB? NO PROBLEM

Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb didn’t practice on Wednesday, due to ankle and thumb injuries. But if he can’t play, on Sunday night or beyond, we’re told that the rest of the team isn’t troubled.

Maybe it’s a reflection of the subtle message that the team sent in April when quarterback Kevin Kolb was the team’s first draft pick in 2007.

Or maybe the players don’t care because they realize that they can be competitive without or without him.

Either way, the nonchalance in the locker room regarding McNabb’s potential absence for one or more weeks is real. And it kept the team from panicking a week ago when McNabb exited what looked to be a potential lost cause against the Dolphins.

A couple things here:
(Read the rest of this story.)

So I was browsing the comments on this week’s DVOA update on Football Outsiders when I saw a very intriguing proposal for how to play the Patriots:

To beat the Pats (or at least keep it competitive), why not go for the offensive version of the NHL trap? Assume NE is going to score a TD or at least a FG every drive. Play keep away as much as possible. No punting - play for all 4 downs. Keep the ball on the ground as much as possible. Run the clock down every snap. All you need is 2.5 yards a play to keep the drives alive. And if the run is working, some short passing routes will open up.

Whilst we’re sure this would never happen, given that the Birds are (GULP) 23-and-a-half-point underdogs on Sunday and it’s not clear that Dunavin is going to play anyway, I say we tip our caps to TMQ and just get after it.

The master plan: no punting.

Here’s why it’s not completely (that is, only partially) crazy:
(Read the rest of this story.)

Before any of us get too bent out of shape in re: this afternoon’s result — an ugly win over a craptastic team in horrible conditions — let us remember that the 2007 Eagles are a mediocre team that is .500 at best.

That is, we should be HAPPY that they won, and stop complaining that they didn’t do it in a beautiful or graceful manner. They aren’t going to win very many games in a beautiful or graceful manner: they’re just not that good. But if they get a couple bounces in the next month, and the other teams in the NFC play crappily, they just might make the playoffs.

If they don’t get lucky, they finish somewhere in the neighborhood of 8-8. They are who we thought they were.

My non-ankle-related stories from today (note: contains some ankle-related commentary):
(Read the rest of this story.)

For the record, I’m defying the universal rules of sports cliches and mos def looking past this week’s opponent to the Patriots.

There. I said it.

There’s no reason for the Eagles to lose to the Dolphins in the Ray Finkle bowl this afternoon. (We call it the Ray Finkle Bowl because the Dolphins were playing the Eagles in the Super Bowl at the end of Ace Ventura…work with me here.) The Dolphins are starting a rookie on the road and they haven’t won all season. The Eagles need to win to even pretend that they’re making a run at the NFC playoffs.

A win today plus a predictable loss next week at Foxboro the Sunday night of Thanksgiving (the night they lost to the Colts on the road last year) gets them to 5-6 — exactly where they were a year ago before the magic kicked in (and the rest of the NFC East decided to hook us up and self-destruct).

(Read the rest of this story.)

As with most things in life, it really depends on how you keep score.

A piece in yesterday’s Inquirer marvelled at how the Eagles’ defense has managed to remain in the “top half” of the league defensive standings despite its, um, rather uninspired play of late. It’s a nice piece, one that’s meant to find a silver lining in the lame efforts of recent weeks and to remind Eagles fans that maybe the defense isn’t so bad after all.

Unfortunately, that remark about the “top half” doesn’t really tell the whole story:
(Read the rest of this story.)

What’s that gigantic tall thing over there in the corner?

Oh, that’s right. It’s Jim Johnson’s oversized novelty mobile phone! The one he’s going to use on Sunday to DIAL UP SOME BLITZES against the Dolphins and their rookie quarterback who’ll be starting his very first NFL game:

“John Beck, the oversized novelty mobile phone is for you.”

“Cool — do you know who’s calling?”

“Someone named Quintin Mikell. He says he wants to break your jaw on a safety blitz from the blind side.”

“Oh cool, put him through.”

(Read the rest of this story.)

Attended a wholly unremarkable imitation NFL football game at Qwest Field last night. The hometown Nerdbirds prevailed, but all I noticed was just how absolutely terrible the 49ers were.

I suppose you can’t expect you’re going to play well just days after the coach’s Dad (and franchise icon) passes away, but the Niners just didn’t look like they had enough to compete. I suppose Nate Clements played okay, and Frank Gore had a couple nice runs, but past that, there just wasn’t much there. I kept an eye on Michael Lewis, but he was decent at best — certainly nothing extraordinary.

The biggest takeaway for me was just how hopeless Alex Smith looked at quarterback. You know things aren’t too rosy when your coach pulls you in favor of a wide receiver on third-and-four inside your own ten. They might call it an innovative strategy in a tight situation, but it sure looked like a desperation/ no-confidence-in-the-starter move to me.

(Read the rest of this story.)

Oh, the local blathermonkeys can’t be thrilled with this!

After weeks of baiting Andy Reid (and Donovan McNabb, but we’ll skip that for now) about his impending dismissal/ resignation from the Eagles (which, it might be noted, included an actual editorial in the Daily News demanding Reid’s departure), Big Red and Joe Banner decided to tell their side of the story — to the New York Freakin’ Times.

In a move eerily similar to the Reid bye-week exclusive with Fox Sports correspondent Jay Glazer, The Eagles PR/ marketing machine decided to go over the local blathermonkeys’ heads to tell a heartfelt tale of tragedy and perserverence from within the walls of the Novacare Center (sniff, double-sniff). This story did contain fresh, previously unheard material — all packaged up and fresh for the ole gray lady.

(Read the rest of this story.)