Week 3: Eagles

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 Young and Kafka. A 1970's soft rock duo? No. A law firm ? No (maybe). A failed Fox sitcom about two completely opposite personalities living in a New York apartment? No. (actually this might happen, look for it next fall.) Sadly, this is the current quarterback situation for my Philadelphia Eagles coming off a home loss to division rival the New York Giants by a score of 29-16. Why you ask? Because for the second straight game Eagles star QB Michael Vick could not finish the game due to an injury. First it was the concussion scare in week 2 against the Falcons that forced Vick out and on Sunday afternoon a (late) hit by Chris Canty left Vick on the ground with what was diagnosed on Sunday as a broken hand. This diagnosis was later changed to only a bruised hand, something that I still don't fully understand. If there was even a doubt in the diagnosis, why give out a false one? Especially one so severe. Good job by the Philadelphia medical staff (this is like your university professor telling you that you failed an exam on Sunday and then calling you up on Monday saying you actually got a 70).

Vick inexplicably raised some eyebrows after the game with what was in my opinion (again I'm an Eagles fan so i will defend almost everything Eagles related. For example, Andy Reid fat? No Wayyy. he's just big-boned) a warranted criticism of the referees. Basically what he brought up was the fact that he gets knocked down on basically every play (in the first 3 weeks of the season Vick has been hit and hit often while staying in the pocket and the hits haven't always been on time) and doesn't get the same type of calls that other quarterbacks in the league get (see Brady, Tom). These comments caused several analysts, most notably Trent Dilfer to lash out at Vick for criticizing the referees. To these analysts I say settle down. The guy had just lost a game and had what he thought at the time to be a broken hand. It's normal to be frustrated at times like that. Grantland writer Chris Ryan has a good take on this.

Week 2: Eagles

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Why am I posting this early Thursday morning? A full 3 days after the game itself? The same reason i ripped off my retro Reggie White jersey in frustration sometime Sunday night after the Philadelphia Eagles blew a practically won road game against the Atlanta Falcons 35-31 (might have something to do with the fact that my work ethic has been Eddy Curry-like this week). Having to remember aspects of this game was about as appealing as apologizing to Floyd Mayweather (It was a sucker punch. Definitely legal and arguably deserved but still a sucker punch). I haven't watched an Eagles game in a while where so many things go wrong at inopportune times giving the opponent a chance to stay in the game. A prime example of this was the fumble the Eagles had right before the half on the Atlanta four yard line that was returned for 64 yards and led to a Falcons touchdown. A 14-point swing on a play where the offensive line for the Eagles seemingly forgot to block one of the Falcons' defenders.

The second half did not start off better as Vick did his patented "I'm getting blitzed so instead of throwing the ball out of bounds I'll just throw it into an area with a 2% chance of a completion" that led to another Falcons TD on the next possession giving them a 21-10 lead. Even at this point my optimism was high as I felt that we had played a better game then them to that point. I ended up being right as Philly scored two touchdowns on their two next possessions taking a 24-21 lead. During this stretch Asante Samuel had a terrific interception and the defense looked great (every time a ball is thrown in the direction of Asomugha, I don't expect the other team to make a play. It's a great feeling). As we were marching down the field into Atlanta territory for our third straight drive, Vick got hit and somehow happened to collide into Todd Herremans' (his own lineman) shoulder with his head sidelining him for the rest of the game with a concussion. It was at this point that Mike Kafka got inserted into the game causing all Eagles fans including myself to think "who the fuck is Mike Kafka?"(here are some other thoughts that all Philly fans had during the game: Can someone tell Tony Gonzalez it's not fucking 2004 anymore?, Dunta Robinson is a fucking (insert any swear word you like), Is Reid trying to set the record for most end around/reverse plays that don't work in one game? Do we even have linebackers?).

Kafka ended up doing a great job as a replacement and the Eagles ended up scoring off a LaSean McCoy run. This is the point where I feared for the worst because it had not been a good sports day up to this point (Earlier in the day, Chelsea had lost to Man U 3-1 after outplaying them for 90 minutes, the game featured Fernando Torres missing a scoring chance that Professor X would have put away.) and I wasn't feeling lucky. The Falcons started running a no-huddle offense and scored two touchdowns on a defense that wasn't able to get its 3 fantastic cornerbacks on the field (Rodgers-Cromartie got practically no playing time this game) at the same time because of the formation Atlanta was calling plays from. They started using their tight ends more once they realized the Eagles' linebackers are average at best. Even with all of this Philadelphia was on the Atlanta 21 with 2 minutes left when Jeremy Maclin (who up to that point had played a very good game) dropped a pass on 4th and 3.

Tough defeat for Philadelphia and next week won't get any easier when they take on the Giants at home. With Michael Vick I think this would be an easy win over New York since their defense is banged up past recognition. With Kafka it will not be an easy game and a team that could have easily started 3-0 might end next Sunday at 1-2. Not the best week for Philadelphia Eagles fans but we still have 15 weeks to go.

Until next time,

Luka Milanovic
@Luka_M91 on twitter