by AJ Gonzalez
When Monday morning rolls around, AJ Feeley will be found in the doctor’s office. No, he won’t be nursing any physical injuries from Sunday’s game against Seattle (mentally he’s been scarred for life). Instead, he’ll be having a vision test examining just how color blind he truly is. Evidently, AJ can’t tell the difference between green and white. Now I know the Eagles sometimes wear white, AJ. However on this day, your team wore green. You know, the color everyone’s face turned after your fourth interception.
AJ Feeley's four interceptions on Sunday have Eagles fans back on the Donovan McNabb bandwagon. Or Kevin Kolb. Or Koy Detmer.
Let’s just say no one is confusing Feeley with Mark Wahlberg’s character in “Shooter” at this point. Yet other than Feeley’s poor performance, the lack of play-making abilities on defense and the abandonment of the running game in the second half were also chief components in the Eagles’ 28-24 loss to the Seahawks on Sunday.
In two and a half games, Feeley has thrown eight interceptions to five touchdowns. Have you ever yearned for Koy Detmer this much? His inspired play against New England proved to be more the exception than the rule. On Sunday, he made Lofa Tatupu look like the reincarnation of Lawrence Taylor. Ray Charles could have seen Tatupu in plain sight on all three picks thrown at him. Yeah, that dead blind guy. A 45 percent completion percentage coupled with four picks helps equal a 30.0 quarterback rating. The next coming of Jeff Garcia, he is not.
Consistently having a bad turnover ratio is indicative to losing in the NFL. So say, hypothetically of course, your quarterback throws four interceptions. Your team needs to come up with some big defensive plays of its own. Both Takeo Spikes and Omar Gaither dropped sure interceptions that hit them right between the numbers after Hasselbeck put on his best Feeley impersonation. I hate to say it, but is Takeo Spikes just a more expensive Dhani Jones? Coming into today’s game, Spikes had no forced fumbles, no sacks, and no interceptions (though he also has no air guitar dances either which is almost worth the extra millions). As is the case all too often, only Sheldon Brown came to play, as he was responsible for both Eagles’ takeaways. And someone please do me a favor and dispose of William James. The corner formerly known as Will Peterson had his hands on a pick, but let it slip away. I understand he was probably going to land out of bounds thus negating the interception, but I just can’t resist the urge to want to take a hot iron to his face every time he talks about how he deserves to start.
Another problem faced by the men in green was their hideous play-calling in the second half. They managed an anemic 129 yards in the second half, averaging just over 14 yards per possession as opposed to 249 yards in the first half, averaging 35.6 yards a possession. If you take away Westbrook’s 29-yard score early in the third quarter, he and Buckhalter combined for only nine carries totaling 30 yards for the whole second half. The reason I bore you with these numbers is this: there’s some sort of wintry mix of precipitation that’s been falling all day, it’s cold, your offensive line is much bigger than their whole front seven, and you have the best running back in the NFC, if not the entire NFL. RUN THE BALL! If I got a nickel after every disgruntled Eagles fan has screamed those words out loud at some point in the last two years, I’d be set for life. I’ve shouted that so often, people on the phone confuse me with a 93-year-old smoker with emphysema.
Ultimately, football games are won and lost by the team. As much as AJ is going to get killed this week, and rightfully so, he is not fully to blame after another heart-wrenching loss. Poor bastard apparently doesn’t even have Heather Mitts to go home to anymore. Boo hoo. The next four weeks will be very telling in regards to what direction this team is going in. But something tells me I’m about to get a lot of nickels next week too.
Game Notes
-Whether he gets to the quarterback or not, Trent Cole seems to make big plays every week. This week he had a half sack with a fumble recovery and a couple stops behind the line of scrimmage, including one on Maurice Morris on a huge third and one in the fourth quarter. He’s a complete player.
-Didn’t it seem as though Feeley waited for his target to get double- and triple-teamed before he made every throw?
-How wide open was Nate Burleson on his 43-yard touchdown? It’s almost as if the Seattle sideline hit the entire Eagles secondary with tranquillizer darts.
-The Seahawks’ return defense must be the worst in the NFL because even the Eagles’ sad return game looked almost respectable. Almost.
-Though Sheldon Brown had a good game, I think he’s still nursing his ankles after Maurice Morris broke them on his 45-yard touchdown run.
-Can David Akers kick anything beyond 40 yards anymore?
-There were only two penalties the entire game. Both were on Seattle. I guess that’s something to be proud of.
-On Westbrook’s 64-yard punt return, Hank Baskett came thisclose to blocking the kick. If only he were about two inches taller.
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