NFL Week 15 Live Blog

The Eagles 2011 Season is now in the hands of the Redskins and the Raiders.  This can't end well.

NFL Week 15 Schedule

Nothing left to do now but hope that by the time 4:15 rolls around on Sunday afternoon, the Eagles still have a chance.  Go Buccaneers!  Go Redskins!  In case one of the Sunday afternoon games is a blowout, hurray for me being home for the next month and hurray my brother being a Vikings fan and forcing my family to shell out way too much money for Sunday Ticket!

Thursday Night Football

Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Atlanta Falcons  8:20 (NFL Network - Brad Nessler and Mike Mayock, SR: Alex Flanagan)

A Special Saturday Night Edition Of Thursday Night Football

Dallas Cowboys vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers  8:20 (NFL Network - Brad Nessler and Mike Mayock, SR: Alex Flanagan)

Maps of who gets what Sunday afternoon games

Fox games

Washington Redskins vs. New York Giants  1:00 (Fox - Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, SR: Pam Oliver)

Green Bay Packers vs. Kansas City Chiefs  1:00 (Fox - Kenny Albert and Daryl Johnston, SA: Tony Siragusa)

New Orleans Saints vs. Minnesota Vikings  1:00 (Fox - Dick Stockton and John Lynch)

Seattle Seahawks vs. Chicago Bears  1:00 (Fox - Chris Myers and Tim Ryan)

Carolina Panthers vs. Houston Texans  1:00 (Fox - Ron Pitts and Charles Davis)

Detroit Lions vs. Oakland Raiders  4:05 (Fox - Thom Brennaman and Brian Billick, SR: Laura Okmin)

CBS early games

Cincinnati Bengals vs. St. Louis Rams  1:00 (CBS - Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf)

Tennessee Titans vs. Indianapolis Colts  1:00 (CBS - Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts)

Miami Dolphins vs. Buffalo Bills  1:00 (CBS - Kevin Harlan and Solomon Wilcots)

America's Game Of The Week and other CBS late games

New England Patriots vs. Denver Broncos  4:15 (CBS - Jim Nantz and Phil Simms)

New York Jets vs. Philadelphia Eagles  4:15 (CBS - Marv Albert and Rich Gannon)

Cleveland Browns vs. Arizona Cardinals  4:15 (CBS - Bill Macatee and Steve Tasker)

Sunday Night Football

Baltimore Ravens vs. San Diego Chargers  8:20 (NBC - Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth, SR: Michele Tafoya)

Monday Night Football

Pittsburgh Steelers vs. San Francisco 49ers  8:30 (ESPN - Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, and Jon Gruden, SR: John Sutcliffe)

Eagles Week 15 Recap: Miracle At The New Meadowlands

The perfect Christmas card for Giants fans.

On to the bullet points of one of the greatest comebacks I've ever seen in football.

• That just happened.
• Joe Pisarcik/Herm Edwards.  Jeff Feagles/Brian Westbrook.  Matt Dodge/DeSean Jackson.  The last of the three may be the most improbable of all.
• But for all the talk about the Jackson punt return, the Eagles were trailing 24-10 in the 4th quarter when DeSean Jackson caught a pass and took it to the 40 yard line.  After being touched by Goff, Jackson fell down, the ground caused a fumble, and the Giants recovered.  Clearly, Goff had touched Jackson and before he hit the ground and the ball came out after Jackson hit the ground, but for reasons of pure idiocy, Andy Reid did not challenge.  The Giants proceed to drive down the field for a touchdown.  8 minutes left, 31-10 Eagles.  Game over, right?
• Wrong.  Next drive, Vick to Celek.  One of the best onside kicks ever executed.  Vick making plays with his legs.  QB draw.  QB touchdown.  Just like that it's 31-24 with the Giants having never touched the ball.  Giants get the ball.  Eagles get a stop.  With the ball at their own 88 yard line, Vick makes plays with his legs and his feet again.  Eventually, inside the Giants 20 Vick finds Maclin who breaks a tackle and scores a TD to incredibly tie the game with less than 2 minutes left.  Giants get the ball back.  They go 3 and out.  The last play of the drive was a sack.  Clock ticking.  Giants call timeout with 12 seconds left, right before the play clock expired.  Then Matt Dodge punted the ball.  DeSean Jackson bobbled it, picked it up, and the rest is history.
• So, how did this happen?  How does a team that is completely dominated for 52 minutes, come back and win the game in 8 minutes?  And how does a team up 21 with 52 minutes left completely collapse in the last 8?  I'll give my take on the Jackson return in a second, but the comeback in general was started because of one man, Michael Vick.  All game long the Giants had been blitzing and getting to Vick, largely taken advantage of the astoundingly awful King Dunlap.  To counter said blitz, you need two things:  a).  a screen game.  Or b). an athletic QB who can run.  The Eagles opted for option b.  For the first 52 minutes, no QB draws were called and for the most part, Vick was not taking off and running with the ball.  In the final 8 minutes, that changed.  Vick eluded pressure and took off when he saw daylight in front of him.  Outside of make shift scrambles, QB draws were called as well.  Vick had 94 rushing yards in the 4th quarter!  There were other factors, but if you are searching for an anatomy of this comeback, it was Mike Vick running the ball.  That's what changed.  The Giants never adjusted.  And that's how the Eagles scored 21 points in 7 minutes.
•  To the 8th minute and the final 7 points.  I may have a screen-by-screen breakdown later, but for now, I'll just describe what happened and what I saw.  Tom Coughin reportedly told Matt Dodge to punt it out of bounds, the smart move.  It would not kill all 12 seconds, but it would force either a hail mary attempt or the Eagles would just take a knee, satisfied to take it into overtime.  Instead, the snap was high, Dodge believed that because of that, he did not have enough time to angle his punt out of bounds as needed.  His hurried punt forced a line drive that went right to DeSean Jackson.  What happened next was the key to everything.  DeSean Jackson bobbled the punt.  While an accident, this allowed for two things to happen.  The Giants defense collapsed around Jackson and the Eagles special teams unit were given 1 or 2 more seconds to set up their blocks, including Omar Gaither blocking a Giant into two other Giants causing a domino effect taking them all out.  This allowed Jackson to find a seam up the middle.  A block from Jason Avant at the 45 cemented the return from the speedy Jackson.
• Before Jackson crossed the goalline, he ran diagonal into the endzone, in what was a feeble effort to kill the clock.  I say feeble because the clock had already expired, but Jackson may not have been aware of it as he was reading the defense and running full speed on a game-winning punt return touchdown, the first ever in NFL history.  Because of the unnecessary nature of the extra running, many will see what DeSean Jackson did as show-boating.  But trust me, when DeSean Jackson showboats (a.k.a. last Sunday in Dallas), you know it.  That was intended as a heads-up football play that ultimately was not needed.
• Most media outlets have already named this the "Miracle At The New Meadowlands."  Seeing as it's the last Sunday before Christmas, I was hoping someone would name it after the street New Meadowlands Stadium is on, a la Miracle On 34th Street.   But good luck with "Miracle On New Jersey Route 120" ever catching on.
• Not to be a Debbie Downer now, but 52 other minutes were played in this game.  And during those minutes, the Eagles lost 2nd round draft pick Nate Allen to a petallar tendon injury, effectively ending his season.  And in the span of less than a week, the Eagles have lost their top 2 draft picks from the 2010 draft.  Your starting full safety will now be 7th round draft pick Kurt Coleman.
• BREAKING NEWS:  King Dunlap is terrible.
• Dimitri Patterson had a nightmare.  Eli Manning picked on him all game long.  The re-addition of Samuel was a boost, but it can only help so much if other QBs continually pick apart Patterson like Manning did today.
• Enough negative nancy shit, that was one of the greatest comebacks in Philadelphia Eagles history, and perhaps even one of the top 10 in NFL history.  Seriously, amazing.  The Miracle At The New Meadowlands.  And Giant fans thought Herm Edwards and Brian Westbrook were bad.  And this was less than a week after the Phillies came out of nowhere to sign Cliff Lee out from under the noses of the New York Yankees, and a day removed from the Flyers putting a solid 4-1 beatdown of the New York Rangers.  Now not every Yankee fan is a Giants and/or Rangers fan, but to steal and modify a joke Grant from McCovery Chronicles made on Twitter a month or so ago when FC Dallas lost the MLS Cup off the heals of the Rangers losing the World Series:  there must be some guy in the New York metropolitan area who is a Yankees, Giants, and Rangers fan.  And he's in a dark, dark place right now.
• At the end of the game, Tom Coughlin went haywire on his punter Matt Dodge.  While Dodge had no business ever kicking that to Jackson regardless of how high the snap was, Matt Dodge did not blow a 21-point lead with 8 minutes left.  That burden should belong to Perry Fewell and Tom Coughlin for not making adjustments, and for the Giants players for being out of position and/or whiffing while trying to tackle Vick.
• I am working all day tomorrow, so either tomorrow night or Tuesday, I will have more on this game and this comeback.  
• Lastly, the epic win probability graph. (advancednflstats.com)

2010 NFL Season Week 15 Live Blog

I'll be watching the Eagles game without my computer and with my family (yay winter break!), but that does not mean you shouldn't join the discussion!

NFL Week 15 Schedule

I'll be home for the holidays, nestled comfortable with my parents' DirecTV Sunday Ticket their version of the RedZone Channel. Sweet, sweet bliss. On the negative side, it means spending less time with you guys as I like to watch the Eagles with my parents when I am home and without a computer, but on the plus side, it means no more being stuck with boring Steelers games when there are better games to be played (all times ET; instead as I get all games for the rest of the season, there is no need to used the bold feature anymore this season.)

Thursday Night Football

San Francisco 49ers vs. San Diego Chargers 8:20 (NFL Network - Bob Papa, Matt Millen, and Joe Theismann)

Map of who gets what Fox game.

Philadelphia Eagles vs. New York Giants 1:00 (Fox - Joe Buck and Troy Aikman)
Washington Redskins vs. Dallas Cowboys 1:00 (Fox - Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, and Tony Siragusa)
New Orleans Saints vs. Baltimore Ravens 1:00 (Fox - Thom Brennaman and Brian Billick)
Detroit Lions vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1:00 (Fox - Dick Stockton, Charles Davis, and Jim Mora, Jr.)
Arizona Cardinals vs. Carolina Panthers 1:00 (Fox - Ron Pitts and John Lynch)

Atlanta Falcons vs. Seattle Seahawks 4:05 (Fox - Sam Rosen and Tim Ryan)

Map of who gets what CBS early game.

Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Indianapolis Colts 1:00 (CBS - Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf)
Kansas City Chiefs vs. St. Louis Rams 1:00 (CBS - Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts)
Houston Texans vs. Tennessee Titans 1:00 (CBS - Kevin Harlan and Solomon Wilcots)
Buffalo Bills vs. Miami Dolphins 1:00 (CBS - Bill Macatee and Rich Gannon)
Cleveland Browns vs. Cincinnati Bengals 1:00 (CBS - Don Criqui and Steve Beuerlein)

Map of who gets what CBS late game.

New York Jets vs. Pittsburgh Steelers 4:15 (CBS - Jim Nantz and Phil Simms)
Denver Broncos vs. Oakland Raiders 4:15 (CBS - Gus Johnson and Steve Tasker)

Sunday Night Football

Green Bay Packers vs. New England Patriots 8:20 (NBC - Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth)

Monday Night Football

Chicago Bears vs. Minnesota Vikings (game to be played at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, MN) 8:30 (ESPN - Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, and Jon Gruden)

Tommy Kelly Becomes The Latest Player To Show His Skin To An Unwilling Public

There was a bunch of controversy during the Raiders-Broncos game when one (presumably Raider) fan decided to literally scorch the retina of Brandon Marshall with a laser pointer. The game was halted as they tried to find the douche bag responsible but to no avail. But then, the play immediately following that bizarre incident, something even stranger happened. Immediately following a nice play by Tommy Kelly to force Knowshon Moreno into losing a yard, the world got a glimpse of Tommy Kelly that might be figuratively, if not literally, scorched into their retinas forever. What happened, you ask? Well, let's just say that Tommy is trying to challenge Visanthe Shiancoe to become the 2nd NFL football player this decade to be offered a spot in a porn flick.



GuJo: "Oh!"
Steve Tasker: "Whoops."
GuJo: "Whoa."

As disturbing as those images are, the reactions by GuJo and Tasker were beyond priceless. Then again, unlike Al and Cris who said nothing upon seeing the bottom of Devin Hester, there actually was a reaction here, so maybe that's what made it funny, but regardless, this is hilarious once you get past the fact that we just saw way too much skin of a huge man. Good times today up in Denver........goooooooooood times.

Week 15 Open Thread/Live Blog

If anyone here wants a live blog today, I will be more than happy to make one and put one up. They don't take a lot of time at all.

With my enhanced coverage of being home (i.e. Sunday Ticket/RedZone), that means that at 4:00, I'll willingly subject myself to tears and watch the start of Cincy-SD before switching to the Eagles game at 4:15. I'll work on putting up the start of that game as soon as the Eagles game is over, even if it's nothing special besides a standing ovation from the Chargers crowd to the Bengals.

Let me know what y'all want to do here and I will act accordingly.

It looks like we'll try a live blog. Let's hope it's not too disasterous.

Your Week 15 NFL Schedule (UPDATING THE DECEMBER BLIZZARD #1)

(Authors note: This is officially the craziest weekend of scheduling changes since the weekend immediately following 9/11. As more changes are announced, I will be sure to update them here)

I am just a few days away from my winter break, so the next time I will be at the live blogs in full will be conference championship Sunday. That being said, I do hope to find a slot or 2 of non-Eagles game where I can come on and chat with you guys about the games and what not.

And seeing as I have NFL-Network, Sunday Ticket and their accompanying RedZone Channel there is no need to bold any games, as frankly, I can watch them all if I want to. ;-)

So here ya go, here is your Week 15 NFL announcing schedule complete with another rousing rendition of Dick Stockton Tony Siragusa doing an Eagles game and a Fox doubleheader.

Thursday Night Football
Indianapolis Colts @ Jacksonville Jaguars 8:20 (NFL Network - Bob Papa and Matt Millen)

Saturday Night Primetime Special
Dallas Cowboys @ New Orleans Saints 8:20 (NFL Network - Bob Papa and Matt Millen)

Map of who gets what CBS games

New England Patriots @ Buffalo Bills 1:00 (CBS - Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf)
Miami Dolphins @ Tennessee Titans 1:00 (CBS - Dick Enberg and Dan Fouts)
Houston Texans @ St. Louis Rams 1:00 (CBS - Kevin Harlan and Solomon Wilcots)
Cleveland Browns @ Kansas City Chiefs 1:00 (CBS - Ian Eagle and Rich Gannon)

Cincinnati Bengals @ San Diego Chargers 4:05 (CBS - Jim Nantz and Phil Simms)
Oakland Raiders @ Denver Broncos 4:05 (CBS - Gus Johnson and Steve Tasker)

Map of who gets what Fox early game

Atlanta Falcons @ New York Jets 1:00 (Fox - Dick Stockton and Trent Green)
Arizona Cardinals @ Detroit Lions 1:00 (Fox - Sam Rosen and Tim Ryan)

Map of who gets what Fox late game

Green Bay Packers @ Pittsburgh Steelers 4:15 (Fox - Joe Buck and Troy Aikman)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Seattle Seahawks 4:15 (Fox - Ron Pitts and John Lynch)
Chicago Bears @ Baltimore Ravens 4:15 (Fox - Thom Brennaman and Brian Billick)
San Francisco 49ers @ Philadelphia Eagles 4:15 (Fox - Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, and Tony Siragusa)

Sunday Night Football
Minnesota Vikings @ Carolina Panthers 8:20 (NBC - Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth)

Monday Night Football
New York Giants @ Washington Redskins 8:30 (ESPN - Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, Jon Gruden, and Jon Gruden's Penis)

We only have 3 weeks left of the regular season and what are the odds that in Week 15, the NFL Network is televising 2 games featuring unbeatens? It should be a fun week of football and if I have a chance I will stop by and say hello and yap with y'all, if not, then I'll be sure to post my thoughts on the Eagles games here, because after all, you guys can't live unless you read my opinion on Eagles games, right?

Colts-Jags Live Blog

Eagles Week 15 Recap

Damn, between me working and me defending Lou Holtz's statement that Adolf Hitler is a great leader over at AA, I can't believe it's gotten this late. I know I promised you guys earlier and I apologize for the constant lateness for these. However, it seems whether I'm at college or on break, I'm always busy on Tuesdays.

Anyway, more to the stuff that you actually care about. The Philadelphia Eagles and The Utter Patheticness That Is The Cleveland Browns (sorry Browns fans, but any team that cannot score an offensive touchdown in a month is utterly pathetic). The Eagles came. They saw. They conquered. They struck early. They struck often. They never looked back. Face it, they flat-out dominated.

However, there were some discerning occurances in this game. For one thing, the Eagles were miserable in the red zone for the middle part of the game. 3 field goals and 2 interceptions (1 by McNabb and 1 thrown by DeSean Jackson on an obviously failed trick play). And yes, all of those were in the redzone. Which reminds me, FIRE ANDY REID! FIRE ANDY REID NOW! However, the first drive entered the redzone and resulted in a TD pass to Curtis and the last McNabb-led drive of the game (Kolb took over late cause of the blowout) resulted in a TD catch by Greg Lewis.

One other problem. Andy Reid is slowly slipping back into pass happy form. For the first time since the Eagles were thrashed by the Ravens, the Eagles passed the ball more than they threw it (38 pass to 33 run). Not good Andy, not good. Westbrook had only 16 carries for 53 yards. And while it did not matter much against a lackluster Browns team, it will matter much down the stretch against the Redskins and the Cowboys. And while the Redskins are in a terrible tail-spin and the Cowboys are riding high after accomplishing the not that impressive feat of beating the Giants at home when the Gmen were without Brandon Jacobs and Plaxico Burress, it will still be critical for the Eagles to play their best games of the year in these last 2 weeks because with everything on the line for the Eagles' opponents in the respective games, you know both of those games are gonna be dog fights to the end.

Aspeaking of the playoffs, the playoff scenario has changed for the Eagles. More on that tomorrow when I will once again delve into the playoffs and analyze and breakdown what each game featuring an NFC team in the playoff chase means to the Eagles and what they want to happen in those games.

What the Eagles Want To See Happen in Week 15

Really, it's simple. If the Eagles win out and the Falcons lose just one game, that's it. The Eagles are in the playoffs. By winning out, the Eagles would have beaten the Browns, the Redskins, and the Cowboys. The Falcons play Tampa Bay, Minnesota, and the Cowboys. While I'm sure no one would have thought at the beginning of the year that it would come down to the Eagles and the Falcons in the NFC wild card race, from an Eagles fan's prespective, that's what it has come down to. With that in mind, things hardly ever go as planned for Philadelphia, so let's see at what else would be good news for the Eagles this week.

New Orleans (7-6) vs. Chicago (7-6): This one is more on a personal level of who is more dangerous to get hot should the Eagles stumble. I personally think the Saints are more dangerous even thought da' Bears beat the Eagles. Had it not been for Andy Reid, we would have won the game and been in control of our own destiny. Period. Atlanta would be an after thought, like these two now are.

Tampa Bay (9-4) vs. Atlanta (8-5): Atlanta's the one team outside of the Eagles' opponents that they are worried about. When and if the Eagles leapfrog the Falcons, we'll talk about the Bucs.

Washington (7-6) vs. Cincinnati (AFC): Here's hoping the Bengals can challenge the Redskins just like they did everyone else in the NFC East. The Eagles are already ahead of the Redskins and the Eagles do play the 'Skins again, but having them knocked down another level (especially against an AFC team) would never hurt.

Green Bay (5-8) vs. Jacksonville (AFC): A loss to the Jags and the Pack are out of the playoffs. The sound of another team down is always a good sound to hear.

San Francisco (5-8) vs. Miami (AFC): Yes, the Niners are still in it. A loss to the Dolphins, though, and they'll start the offseason with 19 other teams.

Minnesota (8-5) vs. Arizona (8-5): If the Eagles make it to the playoffs, they'll most likely play one of these teams. I see the Vikes as a team barely hanging on whereas the Cards are hungry and on the rise.

Denver (AFC) vs. Carolina (10-3): Any time an NFC team (other than the Eagles) are playing an AFC team, it's good to root for the AFC team, in this case, the Broncos.

New York Giants (11-2) vs. Dallas (8-5): Now that the Eagles have beat the Gmen, the Eagles are now the biggest fans of the Giants. They can knock off Dallas, which would be a huge help, then take take on Carolina and Minnesota. If the Eagles get in, those could be big games to determine who we play. But let's not concern ourselves with that now.

Cleveland (AFC) vs. Philadelphia: E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES! More on this game on Friday.