Despite the repulsive image of Big Red tonguing Donnie Mac’s ear this Sunday, the game between Philly and Washington had a curious resemblance of yesteryear’s resilient Eagle teams. The image of Shawn Andrews and Jon Runyan laying vicious blocks on the ‘Skins would-be tacklers brought back flashes of last year’s run to the postseason. For a minute, I thought I had gone back to last Christmas evening in Dallas.
Brian Westbrook and the Eagles are coming off a big divisional win in Washington. But with a disappointing 4-5 record, all that did was delay the inevitable.
Then that had me thinking of the Cowboys and last week’s raping, so I quickly came back down to Earth. Nevertheless, at the moment, the fan in me outweighs the realist, thus allowing me to at least attempt to enjoy some part of what has developed into a disappointing season. However, the cautious Eagles fan that I am is prohibiting me from getting too attached with those nostalgic sentiments.
Now before we all start drinking the Birds’ Kool-Aid, a little perspective should be presented on the Eagles’ current state of affairs. They’re sitting at an ugly record of 4-5. Their head coach and quarterback are being treated like witches in Salem in 1692 by fans and media alike. Their public relations department should be slapped and then incarcerated for allowing them to wear those vomit-inducing throwbacks from 1933. Not to mention their only star on the offensive side of the ball is annoyed that he doesn’t receive any game checks due to a banking error that occurred months ago. If this franchise were a ship, it’d be the Titanic, with the part of a dying Leonardo DiCaprio being played by one Donovan McNabb. Yet through all that, this team still has a pulse and is looking to reach the .500 mark for the first time all year. With a winless Miami team on deck, the likelihood of such a feat seems easily accomplishable, albeit only lasting a week due to the fact that New England in Foxboro the following week would be a sequel to Dallas running the train on them three weeks prior. So as The Wolf says in Pulp Fiction, “don’t go sucking each other’s @!&%$ quite yet.”
Yet watching the go-ahead touchdown by Brian Westbrook on the perfectly executed screen pass late in the forth quarter reminded me of all the good times. Like when you break up with your girlfriend for appropriate reasons, yet months later when you hear your “song” you melt on the inside and forget the fact that she is a cold, shallow, superficial individual who is a waste of a perfectly good rack. Well, maybe not quite like that, but you get the picture. We shouldn’t overlook the glaring shortcomings of this team due to the fact that at times they’ve displayed a bit of the flare of last season’s squad. But could this perhaps be a turning point? Are the winds of change hitting the Birds’ sails? As appealing as that scenario sounds, it’s as probable as Andy Reid becoming a popular male model for Abercrombie and Fitch. When you combine the notion that this team may not be as good as previously thought with the fact that the NFC East is as tough as it has been in recent years, it ain’t looking too pretty.
The more I think about it, the more somber this victory becomes. This team is incapable of winning a Super Bowl. The window of opportunity to win a championship has been closed for the Philadelphia Eagles for now. Isn’t that the goal set out every year? We constantly strive to win a Super Bowl, especially in this city. What good is it to keep up the façade that this is a team competent enough to vie for a victory in the Big Game? Names like Reno Mahe and Greg Lewis can still be found on the depth chart. The defense made the Skins’ Campbell-to-Thrash connection look like Montana to Rice. Yes, that same James Thrash that felt it necessary to give props to the Big Man upstairs after every six-yard grab during his years in Philly. All I’m saying is that it was certainly nice to not have to hide my face in disgust after this Eagles game, but all Sunday’s victory did was delay the inevitable decline of what was an exciting ride lasting several years. So I guess I was wrong because once again my undying allegiance to my team is being outweighed by my realistic approach to the game of football. As exciting as Brian Westbrook is to watch, his brilliance is more the exception than the rule in regards to the play of this team. Only time will tell if we can truly expect anything for the rest of this season. Although, this is one time I’d sure love to be proven wrong.
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