Monday Eagles Hangover: come on, we were all looking past the Vikings

Maybe the best part of this edition of Monday Eagles hangover is that...I'm not actually hungover!  At all! Note that said hangovers typically have little to do with alcohol consumption and more to do with my sensitive little bruised sports feelings. Said sports feelings are doing just fine today, thank you very much.

My day-after thoughts and bulletpoints:

Stay angry, big fella.  Surely after a season-vindicating playoff win against the Vikings, quarterback Donovan McNabb would be in an ebullient mood, no?  Oh wait.  Someone tried to ask Dunavin how he felt about Jeff Lurie's comments regarding his future (which were all positive) at his post-game presser, and Dunavin essentially told them that he hopes that means they'll stop asking him about it (not with a smile) and then cut off a follow-up question with "Nice try."  He also bickered about the difference between wanting a meeting with the boss and wanting to stay in Philly.  I'd give you the quote but it wasn't included in the transcription on the Birds' site; this is the best I've got:

"Do you want to be back next year?" someone asked yesterday, reminding McNabb that he had asked for a sit-down with ownership when this season concludes.

"I'm here," he said with a smile. "Excited.

"Nice try."

The important thing is that the quarterback continue to think that everyone hates him and the only way he can really stick it to us is by winning many football games.  Keep it up!

Per lo usual, Sheldon Brown speaks the truth.  Nice work by BGN on picking this Sheldon Brown quote out of a post-game interview with Sal Pal:

I would never want to disrespect the Vikings by looking past them... but I kinda knew, we all did that it would come down to a rematch with the Giants.

Sheldon, I couldn't agree with you more.  That was the thinking that led me to opt out of a flight to Minnesota in the hopes that the Eagles would play the Giants in my backyard here in New York the following week.  And it all worked out.  Excellent.  Let us also note that said ticket for the G-Men game was purchased by 11 pm last (Sunday) night.

And who says Andy Reid doesn't pay attention to his critics?  From today's day-after press conference:

On whether he stuck with the run yesterday in order to slow their pass rush: "Yeah, we were trying to get it going. (Jokingly) I can't even believe that you asked that question, but I kind of feel good that you did. We tried to keep it as balanced as we could so I wouldn't have to answer that question, but that's all right."

Outstanding.  Really.  Outstanding.  For everyone: the reporters, Big Red himself, all of them.  Still, even Andy Reid will have to admit that answering the same question about running the ball is better than the lot of the quarterback ("Dunavin, for the twentieth time, how did you feel about being benched and will you be back next year?").

What made this not the Washington game.  You could argue that the offense struggled at times yesterday.  They did, especially running the ball.  But the difference for the team yesterday was that they caught the ball.  How many drops were there?  (Dawkins and Sheldon Brown don't count.  We might even argue that Matt Schoebel shouldn't count.)  And not all those catches were easy.  The wideouts were actually excellent catching the ball, and Brent Celek reminded us all why it's so important that L.J. Smith rest up for free agency.  That makes a difference -- sure makes Dunavin look good.

Speaking of, in re: tight ends.  L.J. Smith didn't show up in the injuries portion of Andy Reid's presser today, and no one asked about him.  Is he okay?  Or has he already been sent to gulag?

Guys who are growing up before our eyes.  Sure looked like Trevor Laws got more than a couple snaps on first down yesterday.  And was that Chris Gocong busting throw the line and blowing up running plays?  I thought that was what that Stewart Bradley fellow did?  And it definitely looks like Demps is going to be trusted a fair amount against the Giants as well, given that he was on the field in the three-safety alignment against the Vikings (you know, the one where the $57 million guy gets a break?).  Here's to hoping that Demps doesn't let any deep balls get behind him on the play fake (fingers crossed).

Go Birds.

Sorry for the lack of posts today.  We've had some connectivity issues, and the day job beckoned.  We'll make it up later in the week.