Monday Eagles Hangover: Much Easier Than Hoping That A 13.5-Point Favorite Loses At Home

Even with South Philly primed for exploration by Ernest Shackleton, Lincoln Financial Field hosted a lovely afternoon/ early evening of football yesterday, with most attendees in good spirits and the home team cruising to a comfortable victory.  While it wasn't a fully packed house (there were scattered patches of empty seats in our sections), the crowd was relatively feisty, and seemed to be sharing a certain self-satisfied "Aren't we all just great fans for showing up in the snow" vibe throughout.

If nothing else, the lines for the bathrooms and concessions were pretty manageable, though I was bummed that all the stands in my section had run out of coffee by the fourth quarter (though they were well stocked with hot chocolate?).  The traffic getting in and out of the parking lots wasn't even that big a deal.  All things considered, it was a lovely day for football, and an even lovelier day to have the Birds clinch a spot in the playoffs. 

My morning-after talking points:

Cheers to the ground crew for the condition of the field and the stadium.  It was one thing to make sure that the snow was cleared on the concourses and in the seats.  Sure.  Cost of doing business.  But the condition of the field was really stunning -- it sure seemed like guys were having a much tougher time on the turf at the Meadowlands a week ago.  Well done, Eagles ground crew! 

Andy, how would you say DeSean Jackson feels about playing the game?  So Big Red needs some new talking points about DeSean Jackson.  This whole "loves to play the game" thing sounds suspiciously Favre-ian.  Sheeesh!

Speaking of, turns out that you can overthrow DeSean Jackson after all.  It's worth noting that there were plays where the Niners safeties were playing Hail Mary deep against the Birds.  They'd apparently seen enough film of the Eagles running DeSean Jackson's favorite play (the one where he just runs past the deep safety and scores a 55-yard touchdown -- you all know the one I'm talking about, right?) to know that they were going to need to give him space.  And yet he still got behind them (by about five steps), only to have Donovan McNabb finally prove it was possible to overthrow the kid.  Oh well.  Good to know. 

And one more DeSean Jackson item.  Let us all take a moment to remember that the Eagles picked oft-inactive Trevor Laws ahead of DeSean.  Uh huh.  We can't say that Laws is a complete bust at this point (he gets another year), but, um, yeah.  You win some, you lose some.  

The other guy who's kind of a star (remember him?).  Yeah, he threw two picks trying to force balls to the CamelCased One, but that touchdown run was absolutely sublime.  It had just been so long since we've seen Dunavin pull a stunt like that.  It's still making me smile.  Also, I'm psyched that this touchdown run didn't end with some jackass hitting him late and breaking his ribs.  That was nice too.  

I know that this is too easy, I know.  Oh Peter King, this was quite the MMQB this week, huh.  Gotta love the Tony Romo slurpfest followed by a few paragraphs explaining how the Vikings' loss wasn't really Brett Favre's fault (he's only responsible for the wins, apparently), and that Favre's post-game whinging about his coach suggesting that maybe the team needed to make a change at QB last night wasn't actually peevish.  No no!  It was just a sign of Favre's competitiveness and love for the game!  I can't tell you how happy I am that Peter King doesn't seem to have Donovan McNabb or DeSean Jackson's mobile phone numbers.  Derek Boyko, for the love of all that is holy, do not give Peter King those digits.

Things we'll just pretend didn't happen.  Apparently Andy Reid was worried that Bill Belichick was outsmarting himself more effectively than Reid and hogging all the outsmarting himself attention.  Take that, Bill Belichick!  You're not the only one who goes for it inside his own 30! 

I'm at a loss at the linebacker position.  While the game book says he got in the game, Chris Gocong didn't manage to get his name on the stat sheet?  At all?  I really couldn't find Gocong very often from our seats, and thought that maybe it was something to do with the snow (really don't know what that something would be, though).  I guess it just might mean that the Chris Gocong experiment is winding down?   

I left my Michael Lewis jersey at home.  That's right, I'm the owner of a Michael Lewis jersey.  Sigh.  Definitely a blemish on the gear-purchase resume.  Still, both former Eagles on the San Francisco defense turned in decent statistical days (Lewis and Takeo Spikes tied for the 49ers team lead in tackles with 8), even if they occasionally were left chasing the underside of DeSean Jackson's shoes. 

And sometimes, the entire League gets it wrong.  So what's the upside at this point on Alex Smith?  Competent journeyman?  Effective game manager?  He gifted the Birds a couple turnovers yesterday, and when you look at the rest of the Niners skill position guys, you realize that Mr. Number One Draft Pick is probably the weakest link.  Gore, Davis and Crabtree (who was much bigger than I thought he would be) are a pretty solid nucleus; you wonder what this team could do with a more talented QB.

The magical beer-opening device.  Forgive me if I'm a little late to this party, but the beer guy in our section had this magical little can-opener-like contraption that peeled the top of his Miller Lite cans clean off -- it just scalped the whole can and allowed him to quickly pour out the full beer.  I was so impressed that I took a photo:

The only thing that's comparably as magical was this special Japanese beer-pouring machine that they had at the Northwest Lounge at Narita airport (it tilts the glass to help the pour!). 

Visions of playoff games at the Linc.  I'm not planning to attend next week's Weapon X homecoming dance next week, and that leaves me unsure about whether I'll attend another game at Lincoln Financial Field this year.  At the very least, we'll hope that the Eagles can win the division and host a game on Wild Card Weekend.  But I'll admit that I'm felling greedy this morning, and would like nothing more than to secure a week off and host the Divisional round (especially if some sort of complicated Brett Favre meltdown is prominently involved).   

A guy can dream, can't he?