SuperBowl XXXIX Eagles vs. Pats

[Damaramu 0]

Then came back in 2003

 

::cue 2-3 pages of 'You're not a real fan/Yes I am discussion::

::cue everyone to not be petty and not worry about it and just keep posting::

 

But wait strummer. What if those championships are part of a great team tradition? Then you should be able to brag about them when talking about your teams overall tradition.

Also if you're bragging about an NFL teams tradition to championships from before the Super Bowl era count in that tradition?

[2GOLD 0]

Well, he was a fan in 1992 so....he is a real fan if he quit watching the NFL entirely and came back to the same team.

 

If he said he just started watching the NFL in 2003 and picked the Eagles, he'd be one of the bandwagon fans.

 

If you just started watching in 2003, you have to be a fan of the Arizona Cardinals unless you live in the city of a good team.

[Guest MikeSC]

I think Carolina is still a team others need to watch out for. Steve Smith will be back and they won't have their RB's decimated by injuries.

-=Mike

 

True, I think they'll be the other challenger if they can avoid the injury bug. I just don't see Atlanta being as good as they were this year with a first-place schedule next year and with the cap problems they'll have next year(Vick and Price's gigantic contracts will bite them in the ass this offseason.)

Man, wasn't Price a terrible signing in the end?

-=Mike

...Shocked that Peerless didn't pan out...

[Damaramu 0]

Well, he was a fan in 1992 so....he is a real fan if he quit watching the NFL entirely and came back to the same team.

 

If he said he just started watching the NFL in 2003 and picked the Eagles, he'd be one of the bandwagon fans.

 

If you just started watching in 2003, you have to be a fan of the Arizona Cardinals unless you live in the city of a good team.

That's what I always wondered about when you just start watching a sport hardcore.

Most people who just pick up a sport are going to go for the good teams. Unless they're crazy.

"Hey I know nothing about this sport and don't know who to root for. Hey they're losing...they rock!"

 

But then again I guess not. I didn't start watching basketball hardcore until last year. Before that I was just like "Eh......basketball. Hey I'll watch this game. Yay that team won....."

but then last year I started getting hardcore into it and attached to the Celtics. But they don't win and I can't explain why I attached to them so I guess you don't always have to attach to a winning team. But for the most part most people will if they don't already have a major team in their market.

 

Which if I was following who everyone in my market liked I'd have to be a hardcore Cowboys fan....ugh......

[therealworldschampion 0]

Man, wasn't Price a terrible signing in the end?

-=Mike

...Shocked that Peerless didn't pan out...

 

That's what happens I guess when you play opposite Eric Moulds and can sucker a team into thinking that you're an elite WR...

[2GOLD 0]

Well then I'm crazy cause when I started watching the NFL in 1990, I picked the New England Patriots.

Who then went 1-15.

 

In the NBA, I picked the Dallas Mavericks. Who went on to have the worst season in franchise history.

 

Baseball, the Orioles when they were tanking and the f'n Cubs.

 

It's much more fun to start as a fan of a team that really sucks since you are basically like an expansion team. It's your first year watching the league, so officially you must suck.

 

Plus Florida State athletics, I mean if THAT doesn't suck.

[Guest Smell the ratings!!!]

NFC North is extremely competitive

yeah, just like the AL central.

Not sure what this meant...? (I don't follow baseball)

the AL Central is competitive ever year, because all the teams are bad. I suspect the same should hold true for the NFC North, especially if Farve is done.

[Damaramu 0]

Well 2GOLD I guess that's understandable.

 

I guess I latched onto the Celtics for tradition. Now it's kind of fun grinding it out every night going "Did they win? Will they find a groove?"

Hey if The Bulls can do it so can the Celtics......

[Fökai 0]

Another unanswered question:

 

Why did Westbrook catch that ball on 1st and 10 on their own 5, with 20 seconds to go? He was in the middle of the field with a one-yard gain, for christ sakes.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

The Eagles are the only one in any position.

That's the way it should be.

[4hartthreat 0]

Haven't the Sooners won the title in your lifetime? Seriously- stop acting like a drama queen. My favourite football team has won one playoff game in franchise history

Do I sense another Saints fan? If so, doesn't it annoy you to see all these people bitching about "oh my beloved OU hasn't won a title in a few years and keeps getting back to the championship game but can't win" and "oh my eagles keep getting to the big games and can't win" or "oh my god the packers lost again, that's like four years in a row they've lost IN THE PLAYOFFS"??? I just want the Saints to MAKE the playoffs! As far as I'm concerned once they get there they are just playing with house money, they can lose that's fine, as long as I can get ONE post season game out of them. I mean really, if the Saints made it to the Super Bowl and lost by 30 points (very likely unfortunately) I'd throw another party the next weekend just to celebrate the fact that they were in the Super Bowl to begin with (no doubt due to some type of plague killing off every other NFC team except for the Rams, the only team we can consistently beat for some reason).

[The Man in Blak 0]

Another unanswered question:

 

Why did Westbrook catch that ball on 1st and 10 on their own 5, with 20 seconds to go? He was in the middle of the field with a one-yard gain, for christ sakes.

Because the Eagles are dumb, dumb, dumb. Clock management and situational football (the onside kick was an embarrassment) ain't exactly their forte.

[iggymcfly 0]

Well then I'm crazy cause when I started watching the NFL in 1990, I picked the New England Patriots.

Who then went 1-15.

 

In the NBA, I picked the Dallas Mavericks. Who went on to have the worst season in franchise history.

 

Baseball, the Orioles when they were tanking and the f'n Cubs.

 

It's much more fun to start as a fan of a team that really sucks since you are basically like an expansion team. It's your first year watching the league, so officially you must suck.

 

Plus Florida State athletics, I mean if THAT doesn't suck.

That's pretty close to what I did too (most of the same teams and everything), although I picked the teams when they looked like they at least had some hope of being on the rise. I became a Mavs fan when they had Jason Kidd, Jamal Mashburn, and Jim Jackson, and then I stuck it out through all the hard times after they left.

 

I picked the Orioles back in '93 when they were just hanging out in the middle of the division, and then I was lucky enough to get playoffs two years in a row, but I haven't had jack shit since '96 and I'm still with the team.

 

In hockey, I did kind of latch onto the Senators when they were beating the Devils in the first round of the playoffs, although it was really a combination of them being an 8 seed, and being my best friend's favorite team. It worked out good though when we took a trip up to Calgary to watch them play the Flames.

 

Finally, in football I used to be a pretty strong Broncos fan, and I remember it was about the best thing ever when they beat the Packers to win the Super Bowl. I again took a trip out to Seattle to watch them play the following year, but I ended up getting kind of bored with them not wanting to cheer for the favorite all year, and fairly early in the season, I decided to make the Jets my favorite team, because I figured Bill Parcells would make them awesome in no time.

 

That kind of backfired, because when they played the Broncos in the AFC championship game that year, I was torn throughout, and I really couldn't enjoy the game at all. By now I'm Jets through and through though.

 

Oh, and in college, I just latched onto Georgia Tech because Stephon Marbury was the shit. Of course, I'm a WSU fan too because I go there, but if the Jackets came to town, I'd have a pretty hard time not cheering for them.

[C Dubya 04 0]

Sorry if this has been covered, but here comes a dissappointed rant.

 

The Eagles were right there with the Patriots and messed up every big point. I know the Patriots are really a great team, but this game was right there for the Eagles. Then Andy Reid got completely demolished by Belicheck. Clock management was awful, having Simoneau in the game was inexusable (especially when he got abused every screen play and Adams was playing well) and my least favorite was not sending someone back to field the punt at the end of the game. How can an NFL coach decide to do that. Westbrook in the open field is the Eagles best chance at that point and even if he just fair catches the punt, you have the ball around the 20 instead of at the 3. Unbelieveable how badly this team played and how many mental mistakes that they made.

[iggymcfly 0]

It's true that Andy Reid made some inexcusably bad coaching moves, but the Eagles weren't going to win anyway by the time he made them.

 

That game was lost by Donovan McNabb. I don't care how many yards he threw for. He threw at least ten or twelve passes that were SO bad that I couldn't believe that he made them. He had an absolutely awful game, and the fact that the Eagles even had a chance means their defense and supporting cast is loads better than I thought they were.

 

If Tom Brady was quarterbacking the Eagles and Donovan McNabb was quarterbacking the Patriots last night, the Eagles would have won something like 34-14.

[2GOLD 0]

If Brady had been quarterbacking the Eagles, the Eagles would have still lost.

 

The only game Brady didn't have even the HINT of a running game, he threw two touchdowns with two interceptions on 43 passes with just 273 yards. You can blame McNabb till the cows come home, but when ANY quarterback is forced to do everything they will start overthrowing and forcing balls to try and make things happen.

 

And to think Brady would have dismantled the Patriots defense is also insane.

 

Very few quarterbacks in the NFL survive without a running game. McNabb was getting blitzed all night and had no ground attack to offset it.

[Ripper 0]

And not to be smartassing but an int isn't just the QB making a bad play, its the defenses ability to capitalize on the QB's bad play.

 

The Pats d capitalized on some of Donavans Bad throws, and the Eagles D didn't. I mean, I can think of 4 cases in last nights game that Brady threw routine INT's(one he was praised for making a "perfect" pass when it was actually a awful pass and the defender just didn't make the play) and the Eagles D didn't get it. Donavan threw a good 8 INT balls last night but the D only got 2 of them(the tipped ball to end the game wasn't a bad throw). Thats football.

 

I just think that sometimes people take intercetion numbers as the QB's stupidty instead of the Defenses ability to make the play. If Brady had thrown those passes against the Pats D last night, same result as McNab.

 

All things considered I think that Donavan had a great game, especially when the whole D knew the ball was going to one of two guys.

[Art Sandusky 0]

I expected this thread to be heated, and fortunately it wasn't. Respect shown by both sides' fans.

 

However, if you have nothing to offer a discussion besides bitching and slagging off the subject when you aren't even a follower of it, please refrain from posting.

[Precious Roy 0]

Chris "Mad Dog" Russo's theory on this is that you can only brag about your team's championships that you were alive for and watched closely. For example, a Packer fan who started watching in 1990 has no right to brag about the championships they won in the 50s and 60s.

 

He also has the Yankee rule for baseball. If your team has one at least one championship during your time as a fan, you can't complain.

 

That's pretty much how I look at it. The Knicks championships in the 70's are cool and everything, but they don't mean shit compared to the Finals series' they lost in my lifetime. And by the same token, if they'd won in 93 or 99 it would probably be a lot easier to swallow their current ineptitude.

 

With the Yankees, I'll never complain in a meaningful way, other than nitpicking about personnel. They could be the worst team in baseball for the rest of my life and I'd still be grateful for their run in the late 90's.

[iggymcfly 0]

The thing about McNabb last night is that he didn't just make bad throws on the three passes that were intercepted. There were a ton of throws besides those where I thought "What the hell is he doing".

 

Lots of times last night he had plenty of time in the pocket, looked around and made either a terrible throw into double coverage, overthrew or underthrew the receiver by ten yards or threw it right at a defender.

 

Brady made maybe two or three bad, dangerous throws last night. McNabb made about 12 or 15.

[Damaramu 0]

Donovan McNabb has been getting better every year. Unfortunately he is the man the Eagles look to to make everything happen. He was able to do it against the mediocre Vikings and the good Falcons but against a world champion team you can't expect that man to do it all himself. He needs someone in the backfield to take the load off.

Now you can credit the Pats for taking away that run game b/c Westbrook isn't that bad of a runner and Dorsey can make some things happen up the middle. But they didn't have an awesome blow you away RB to make plays. Westbrook is better as a reciever than a pure RB.

So McNabb yeah he did screw up but not as bad as you're making it out to be b/c he was forced to carry that offense.

 

What RB's will be available when Philly goes to draft?

[iggymcfly 0]

Dorsey Levens had all of one carry, so I wouldn't really blame him. Really, if you ask me what happened is that the Eagles decided not to run the ball very much because their receivers were so open all night. If Donovan had just hit them without turning the ball over, the Eagles could have won easily.

[Damaramu 0]

Dorsey Levens had all of one carry, so I wouldn't really blame him. Really, if you ask me what happened is that the Eagles decided not to run the ball very much because their receivers were so open all night. If Donovan had just hit them without turning the ball over, the Eagles could have won easily.

Yeah but a lot of those throws were great plays by the Patriots D. I mean if Donovan had been facing a less competent defense he would've shredded them. But he was playing against the world champions. Not to mention he was pressured a lot and they basically rattled his cage and took his head out of the game.

That's more The Patriots than him though.

[iggymcfly 0]

I can see the argument that the Patriots pressured him and got in his head, but the idea that he was making good throws all night and the Patriots just made good plays on them is a myth. Over and over again, he'd make throws that were nowhere near his receivers that would have fallen incomplete if there wasn't a defender on the field.

 

And yes, the Pats did make plays to intercept three passes, but they also dropped about three or four more interceptions, not to mention the one that got called back. If McNabb had played like he did yesterday in the NFC Championship, the Falcons would have made the Super Bowl.

[Guest Smell the ratings!!!]

even some of McNabb's completions were awful passes. There was a reason the Eagles recievers made so many great catches. He looked like he jumped in a time machine to 2000.

[Guest Mosaicv2]

I didn't care who won... i'm just happy the Steelers weren't in it

[therealworldschampion 0]

And yes, the Pats did make plays to intercept three passes, but they also dropped about three or four more interceptions, not to mention the one that got called back. If McNabb had played like he did yesterday in the NFC Championship, the Falcons would have made the Super Bowl.

 

Atlanta would've never been as close to New England as the Eagles were if they had made it. The Pats would've done what the Eagles did, shut down the run and make Vick throw.

[Guest Failed Mascot]

Is Czech Republic trying to be stupid? Or is he just naturally a moron?

He's my friend and all but discussing the NFL isn't his strong suit.

[Guest Failed Mascot]

I'm just going to post on random things I read in the thread from where I left off last night.

 

Losing Romeo Crennel isn't going to be a major loss as some people are thinking, and the reason behind that is because of Eric Mangini(sp?). He started off being the ball boy for Belichik back for the Giants and has just stuck around since. He's the defensive backs coach right now but he's actually Belichik Jr. I seriously think he's being groomed to eventually become Bill's predecesor when Bill feels he's done all he wants to. The guy is insanely loyal to Bill too as he was offered the Raiders and Dolphins Def coordinator positions(Raiders last year, Dolphins this year) along with a significant raise and he said "No". I'm a tad worried more of how the offense will click, but Charlie isn't taking his playbook with him as the system will stay the same. I would still love to see them swoop in and grab Norm Chow who does great with QBs like Weis had.

 

The Patriots O-line isn't really as good as some of you think. The blitz pick-up is mainly due to Brady and they often kept Daniel Ghraem(I'll never know how to properly spell his last name) there to help with the blocking. They desperately need to upgrade at RT or grab a major LT and move Matt Light from LT to RT where he would be much better. Joe Andruzzi is probably going to be gone too so if Ashworth recovers from his back injury I expect him to move from RT to RG where he belongs.

 

Deion Branch said in a post game news conference he doesn't care about the money and is willing to do anything to be a Pat for the rest of his career. Hell, he'll get his money and who knows...maybe he'll get another free car down the road too. Sorry Raiders fan.

 

Random note here; Tedy Bruschi told one of the local TV sports guys last night that the Patriots play harder in the post-season because they don't like to lose games that net them all free hats and t-shirts. I just thought that was funny.

[Guest Vitamin X]

NFC North is extremely competitive

yeah, just like the AL central.

Not sure what this meant...? (I don't follow baseball)

the AL Central is competitive ever year, because all the teams are bad. I suspect the same should hold true for the NFC North, especially if Farve is done.

What the hell? Aside from the AFC South, the NFC North is probably the toughest division in football, since the Bears and Lions are only getting better and the gap between Minnesota/Green Bay and the other two are closing in. Think about it. The Eagles dominate the NFC East every year, and maybe Washington will challenge next year. Dallas can surprise, but I don't expect them to (hence the surprise). The NFC South is usually just one really good team and the rest trickle down from there. The NFC West is atrocious. Same thing goes for the AFC North that goes for the the NFC South, and the AFC East is turning into the old NFC Central/North battles, with New England and New York playing the roles of Green Bay and Minnesota. I don't mention the AFC West because that's a completely unpredictable division.

 

Do I sense another Saints fan? If so, doesn't it annoy you to see all these people bitching about "oh my beloved OU hasn't won a title in a few years and keeps getting back to the championship game but can't win" and "oh my eagles keep getting to the big games and can't win" or "oh my god the packers lost again, that's like four years in a row they've lost IN THE PLAYOFFS"??? I just want the Saints to MAKE the playoffs! As far as I'm concerned once they get there they are just playing with house money, they can lose that's fine, as long as I can get ONE post season game out of them. I mean really, if the Saints made it to the Super Bowl and lost by 30 points (very likely unfortunately) I'd throw another party the next weekend just to celebrate the fact that they were in the Super Bowl to begin with (no doubt due to some type of plague killing off every other NFC team except for the Rams, the only team we can consistently beat for some reason).

See, here's the thing: The Saints are usually not expected to do much every season. It must be tough to be a fan of them for that reason, but it's certainly not as heartbreaking as being a Steeler, Eagle, or Packer fan. Why? Because those other teams mentioned are contenders. The Saints are shockers, surprises, spoilers most of the time, and they have a good young team that I think will get better but as for right now it shouldn't rip out your heart at knowing you didn't make the playoffs. I'm sure New England fans in `02 felt much worse about their team's fate that year.

 

But then you have teams with a shitload of talent whose fans really feel, honestly, that their team has a good chance to win. The Packers' playoff misery began in `97 with the Elway win, then the following year with the second worst loss (aside from the year before) I'd seen as a fan in my lifetime with the T.O. catch, in a spectacular game that's really unfortunately become an oversight when talking about great playoff games. Coupled with the upstart Falcons beating Green Bay at Lambeau in `02, which was their best season under Sherman and looked to have a legit shot at the big game, then losing to an 8-8 division rival at home that they swept during the regular season, and 4th and 26 last year.. Every year we naively hope and believe we have a chance with Brett as QB.

 

Same principle with Eagles fans. They came to the big game so close so many times, and they finally got there and really choked yet again. No shame in it, since NE was probably the better team, but Philly squandered a ton of opportunities to win the game when they could have. It was essentially a brand new ballgame at the start of the 3rd, and McNabb had come out dejected/frustrated/worried, and had that look on his face of accepting a loss before the clock even hit zero. McNair wasn't like that when the Titans came up a yard short in `99. Favre wasn't like that when the Packers still had an outside shot at winning XXXII. And Brady certainly didn't accept defeat so readily when they needed a score last year and in `01.

 

I actually have to admit I got a lot of respect for Owens in this game. He played like every play was his last, which could have been true (I don't buy the 100% correctable b.s.), but he did everything he could to will that team to victory. Now I'm starting to wonder about McNabb's heralded leadership abilities. I can't believe I'm agreeing with MikeSC here, but it's true!

 

Oh, and Philly really REALLY needs to find a running back that can, you know, get yards on the ground...