The Football Post

I'm watching 3rd Rock From The Sun (best sitcom ever!) where they're talking about football. The first line is, "Football? I thought that got canceled in January."

I'm not a big football fan. Never have been. I'm a sports fan, so I don't go out of my way to avoid it, but I'm not as engaged in it as most. However, I've been watching football since the 1960's (it's the sports that's on TV on Sunday) and have seen many many games including every Super Bowl, so I have a bit of perspective on the Eagles.

What the Eagles have done these past few years is unusual but hardly unprecedented. The Buffalo Bills went to the Super Bowl 4 times and never won. The Eagles are a very good team, but not a great team, and very good teams need a lot of breaks to win the Super Bowl. Andy Reid is a very good coach and evaluator of talent, but he's not great at either.

For all the overanalysis, McNabb is a very good quarterback, but not a great quarterback. He has never had quite the consistency needed to put together enough of a run to win it all. Yesterday's game was a microcosm. He made some amazing, perfect passes, and when the game was on the line he didn't throw badly, but he didn't throw great either. And he seems to be able to think only 90% clearly when the heat is on, so he makes mistakes sometimes. This doesn't make him bad. It just means he isn't great.

Have they lost more than their share of big games? Sure they have. They're not quite good enough to win even if they don't get the breaks. They suffered from some questionable officiating at key times yesterday, but great teams can overcome that, and this just isn't a great team.

So I'm sorry, but not surprised that they lost. That Fitzgerald guy is amazing and the Jackson catch is something I'll always remember. It was an entertaining game to watch. Only 25 days until pitchers and catchers report to spring training.