Sports

One-And-Done: Philadelphia Eagles 2009 Season Playoffs Post-Mortem

It’s not just my opinion anymore. In his post-game news conference after his Philadelphia Eagles team lost to the Dallas Cowboys in the 1st round of the playoffs 34-14, Philadelphia Eagles coach, Andy Reid, said, “We lost to a better football team.”

This loss hurts me more than any other one of the Andy Reid era, with the exception of the Superbowl loss. Losing to the Dallas Cowboys is every Philadelphia Eagles fan’s worst nightmare. Their bandwagon jumping loser fans will now be even more obnoxious. Now I need to figure out whom to blame.

Obviously, I’m going to start with Donovan McNabb, since this was his last game with the Philadelphia Eagles. Don’t believe me? You’ll see. Anyway, McNabb was putrid. Oh sure, his apologists will say that he threw for 230 yards in this game, but I will point out that 51 of those yards came on the Eagles last drive, where the Dallas Cowboys were playing a really soft prevent defense and McNabb couldn’t even get the “gimme” TD. He sucked. McNabb officially completed 19 of 37 passes for 230 yards, with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Donovan McNabb completed only 4 of 10 passes in the first half for 39 yards, when the Dallas Cowboys put the game away with a 27-point 2nd quarter. He also fumbled later in the game.

I knew he was going to have a bad game on his first pass. It was a McNabb Special; the worm-burner. His second pass should have been picked off. It was so bad that even though the Philadelphia Eagles tied the game in the 2nd quarter on a Michael Vick 76-yard TD pass to Jeremy Maclin (Dallas Cowboys cornerback Mike Jenkins fell), McNabb didn’t even have a completion at that point in the game. I’ve seen enough. Time to move on.

There was no running game to speak of again. I understand that the Philadelphia Eagles were way behind in the second half, but Reid only called 11 running plays all game. The problem was that those 11 plays only generated 43 yards. That’s not good. I also found it a bit surprising that Brian Westbrook didn’t get a single carry in the game. His only touch in the game was a 27 yard reception. I know I said he looked slow last week, but I really hope this isn’t the end for Westbrook.

The receivers didn’t help much either. Jeremy Maclin had 7 catches for 146 yards and a touchdown, helped by that 76-yard TD catch. Too bad he was the lone bright spot. After all his trash-talking before the game DeSean Jackson came up small, even for a man of his stature. 3 catches for 14 yards? Not good.

The offensive line was terrible once again. They didn’t open up holes for the running game and gave up four sacks. For those Jason Peters lovers out there who always say I’m wrong to criticize him, I would like to point out that he gave up one of those sacks and was flagged for not one but two false starts. He was not as good as I thought he would be this season.

Of course, there will be those who excuse McNabb and Reid and try to blame the loss on the defense. That would be short-sighted. It would also fail to admit the fact the Reid picked every single player on this current roster. Yes, the defense played poorly, but you need to keep in mind that the offense turned the ball over an astounding five times. The defense was also on the field for almost 40 minutes. You can’t leave your defense on the field that long, trying to protect a short field all game and expect them to pitch a shutout.

Again, we need to realize that the Dallas Cowboys are just a better team than the Eagles right now. Their offensive line was simply too big and strong for the Eagles smaller defensive line. The Eagles did a decent job of stopping the run early, but the Cowboys just wore them down. Felix Jones ended up with 148 yards, including a 73-yard TD.

The Philadelphia Eagles also couldn’t get enough pressure on Cowboys QB Tony Romo (23 for 35, 244 yards and 2 TDs). Even when they did manage to get some pressure on Romo with the blitz, he was able to find the open receiver. At least they didn’t sit back like they did the week before.

If you don’t think the Eagles were simply beat by a better team, then how about a few stats? In the three games against the Cowboys, the Eagles offense only managed to score 2 touchdowns and 3 field goals, but managed to turn the ball over six times. That’s not luck, that’s dominance.

That dominance shouldn’t surprise you though. I’ve been telling you all year that the Eagles were only beating up on the dregs of the NFL. After this loss they went 0-5 against the three playoff teams that they faced this year; New Orleans, San Diego and Dallas. In those five games they were outscored 157-75. Maybe I was right all along?

This loss is going to be remembered by every Philadelphia Eagles fan forever. Losing in the playoffs is bad enough, but letting the hated Dallas Cowboys win their first playoff game since 1996 is inexcusable.

The Andy Reid - Donovan McNabb Philadelphia Eagles have now gone 11 seasons without wining a Super Bowl. I have been saying for years that they never will and so far I’ve been right. Reid just got a contract extension, so that means that McNabb is finished in Philly. He’s a good QB, but he isn’t a Championship QB and that’s all that matters anymore.

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