Dear Mr. President,
Please include the Philadelphia Eagles in your financial bailout plan.
Officially off the bandwagon,
All Eagles fans.
There is a crisis in Philadelphia.
The Eagles (5-4-1) 13-13 tie with the Cincinnati Bengals (1-8-1) Sunday afternoon was quite possibly one of the most gut-wrenching, sickening and painfully-hard to watch NFL games ever played.
Coming into Sunday's game, one team was battling to save its season; the other was looking forward to next year. It was hard to tell which one was which.
Cincinnati's Shayne Graham missed the potential game winning field goal from 47-yards out with 7 seconds left in overtime to secure the tie.
Whether he made it or not, it was a sigh of relief to know the game was over.
It was the first overtime tie since Atlanta and Pittsburgh flopped a 34-34 dud in November of 2002. That being said, it appears as if the season is officially over for the Birds.
Donovan McNabb threw a career-high 58 receptions, completing just 28 of them, for 339 meaningless yards. His three interceptions also represented a career-high as the Eagles offensive woes continued to be their Achilles heel.
It was the first time the Bengals had given up over 300-yards passing in 24 games...and they couldn't have picked a better game to do it.
Despite a show stopping effort by the Eagles defense, including eight team sacks and four pass breakups by Asante Samuel, McNabb's four turnovers led to 10 Cincinnati points -- ultimately dooming Philadelphia, again.
Cincinnati came into the game as the NFL's worst team, only to take a 13-3 lead before a David Aker's field goal tied it to force overtime.
All signs heading into the Eagles first OT since September of 2006 were not in their favor. They lost that OT game to the Giants and they had a stellar 0-3 all-time record at Cincinnati.
With McNabb laughing all the way, the Eagles offense was non-existent when the team needed it the most.
The worst play, perhaps of the day, was on 2nd and 16 on the Eagles second drive in OT. McNabb launched a pass to...let's say DeSean Jackson, up the middle that was nearly picked off with 4:32 to go. Of the five players surrounding the ball, there was not an Eagles receiver within seven yards.
All McNabb could do was laugh.
The Eagles would commit three penalties on the drive, giving the Bengals a chance to win. For the Eagles, a game of inches never seemed so far.
After going 3-18 on third down conversions on the day and after last week's breakdown against the Giants on 1-yard pickup attempts, coach Andy Reid showed no confidence in the Birds short-game opting instead to punt on 4th and 1 with 1:30 left in the game. And that's after Sav Rocca shanked the three previous punts into the wind.
If this continues to be the forecast for the Eagles season, it's almost definite the winds will change in Philadelphia. Then we'll see who has the last laugh.
