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Eagles-Cowboys Postgame: It's Tee Time

B-Dub Written by B-Dub, Monday December 26 2011
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Hey, if the Cowboys treated the game like a preseason game and the Eagles have given a heartless effort for most of the season, I wasn't going to take time away from my family during the holidays to analyze that worthless 20-7 win by the Eagles on Christmas Eve.

Hell, it was actually less than worthless since it only served to cost the Eagles draft position.  It helped to cement Andy Reid's job status for next year.  And worst of all, it probably saved defensive coordinator Juan Castillo's job for next year.  I hope all you people who told me I was wrong to root for 3-13 are happy now.  There will be no Championship parade in Philly this year and for the foreseeable future, thanks to another meaningless win.

Once the battle of New York officially became a victory for the Giants over the Jets, the Cowboys pulled their starters in the middle of the first quarter.  That's because with the Giants win, the Eagles were officially eliminated from the playoff race and the winner of the Cowboys-Giants game next week will decide the NFC East Division winner, regardless of what the Cowboys did in this game.

Unfortunately for the Cowboys, the Jets made it a 20-14 game as this game was starting, so Tony Romo stayed in this game long enough to smash his hand on Jason Babin's helmet.  The hand swelled up, but X-rays showed no breaks.  But that didn't stop owner Jerry Jones from going down to the sidelines during the game and talking to his head coach, Jason Garrett about getting his stars out of the game.  Like I said, this was a stinkin preseason game.  What a waste.

That left the Cowboys using their third-string quarterback for almost the entire game and a running back that they signed out of retirement a week earlier.  Stephen McGee looked like a third-stringer, completing 24 of 38 passes for a pedestrian 182 yards and 1 TD.  And Sammy Morris looked like a guy who should have stayed retired in gaining 29 yards on 13 carries.  

The Cowboys defense didn't seem to be giving a full effort either.  Michael Vick (18 of 31 for 293 yards and 2 TDs) had all day to throw in the pocket.  The fact that the Eagles offense only managed to score 20 points against a team that wasn't even trying should be a sobering reality for Eagles fans who were dumb enough to buy into all the preseason "Dream Team" hype.  Unfortunately, it won't be.

That's not a bad thing necessarily.  Fan is short for fanatic.  I spent years believing that my teams would always win, but doing this has taught me to try to look at the sports world objectively.  The vast majority of sports fans follow their hearts much more than their brains and that's a good thing.  It's why sports is so much fun and so successful.  Unfortunately, the teams take advantage of that loyalty.  But that's an article for another day.

This was just another meaningless win over a bad team.  The win over the Dolphins was also over a third-string quarterback and the Jets' Mark Sanchez probably would be demoted to third-string if he weren't such a high draft pick, because he stinks.

Andy Reid will get credit for turning his team around, as if a possible .500 record, if they beat the Washington Redskins next week, is something to be proud of.  The problem is that Reid is so worried about saving his job and his image that he is being short-sighted.

I don't like Vick and don't think he is a good quarterback, but he plays far too recklessly for extremely fragile player.  What was he still doing in that football game when there was nothing left to play for?  Didn't they just sign him to an extension to be the franchise quarterback?  I thought for sure that he got a concussion when DeMarcus Ware slammed him to the turf on a sack and Vick's head bounced off the turf.  And how about the best player on the Eagles, LeSean McCoy?  Why was he playing so long in this game?

McCoy left the field briefly, on a cart, to have X-rays on his ankle.  Luckily he only has a sprain, but it could have been much worse.  Just ask the Minnesota Vikings fans, who probably lost Adrian Peterson for all of next season with an ACL and MCL injury to his knee.

There was nothing good about this win for Eagles fans.  But hey, the players sure seemed happy about it.  They were all seen laughing in the locker room after the game and talking about how the rest of the NFL is lucky they won't be in the playoffs.  

"If we had gotten into the playoffs we would have definitely done some damage," Vick said after the game that raised the team's record to 7-8.  Now the only "damage" that these Eagles will be making is the divots they make on the golf course.

Fore!


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