It Wasn't As Bad As it Looked

There's few things that you can say in front of a group of 2nd graders after a game like that, but here's one of them: it wasn't actually that bad. Although my dad and I openly hoped that Lurie would postpone the Reggie White ceremony and instead bring in Agent K and give us a memory-flash, I'll go ahead and argue that it wasn't even the worst loss of the season. My vote for that one goes to either game vs. the pinche Cowboys. (I'd say the first was the worse beating and the second was the tougher loss). Sure, we got beat forty-two to nothing on national television by Matt "we'll take the ball and we're gonna score" Hasselbeck. Sure, we turned the ball over 6 times and never got past the Seahawks' 38, one of two times we held the ball in Seattle territory (we made it to their 47 on the other one). But here are six examples of why this beating wasn't as bad as it looked.

Wait for it.
Wait.

So here's what happened. I started this column, tried to come up with some reasons, put some stats down and you know what? There's no way around this one. They got flat out slapped in the mouth. They are a bad football team. I was going to wax on and on about how they didn't march all over the field, and didn't leave power through the middle but it's just not gonna happen. They had Maurice Morris and Seneca Wallace in the damn game. I love a bad football team. If you still love the Eagles too, then understand, you love a bad football team. So let's have some fun, watch the rest of the season without that anxious feeling in our stomachs, and just enjoy some professional football (they still get paid, so there's no way around calling them professionals).

Since you knew all this already and I had the luxury of sitting in the Linc for this one, I'll share a few things that didn't turn up on the TV.

1. On one of the plays after McMahon's second interception he scrambled a bit and threw the ball away, leading to someone in the stands shouting 'What are you doing! 54 was wide open!'

2. On Shaun Alexander's 2-yard touchdown run after Koy's first interception the Eagles replay crew ran a close-up of the left tackle holding maybe 15 times. That was what the all the laughter was about.

3. Randall Cunningham was in attendance during the halftime proceedings and was met with a chorus of 'Don't Leave!' and 'Grab a uniform!' on his way out.

4. Jeffrey Lurie getting savagely booed during his Reggie White speech.

Basically, Mike McMahon, I knew AJ Feeley. And you sir are no AJ Feeley.