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The Eagles' opening day game against the Cleveland Browns Sunday was a victory in name only. The game was a debacle, and made it very clear that any optimism we were feeling heading into the season was misplaced, if not completely delusional.
It was the same old story as the past 15 years: A quarterback throwing too many interceptions, a coach calling way too many passes and too few runs, a sieve-like offensive line and terrible, terrible penalties. A game like that is the sort of thing that happens when a team leads the NFL in salary cap space.
You can't throw four interceptions in a game and win in the NFL. You just can't. That the other team threw four interceptions too is no excuse at all.
In all, the game was a reminder that, despite all the good news of the offseason, Andy Reid is still the coach, Juan Castillo is still the defensive coordinator, and Jeffrey Lurie is still the owner.
Honestly, a 1-15 season wouldn't surprise me, unless they commit to Nick Foles as their quarterback, right now. I've been calling for Foles to play for weeks, so glad to see the rest of Eagles Nation has come around to my point of view.
Unless they can get off to a good start Sunday, I vote for benching Vick at halftime, against Baltimore, in favor of Foles.
At least Vick actually rebounded from his awful afternoon by leading a game-winning drive, which is more than I can say for Donovan McNabb's entire Eagles career. As Angelo Cataldi, Al Morganti and Keith Jones wisely pointed out on the morning show the day after the game, Sunday's result was really all about Donovan McNabb.
(Speaking of Angelo, I'm glad his pledge to "fully embrace" Andy Reid this year lasted almost all the way through Week 1.)
As for our old friend #5, he recently joined Twitter. It's hard to tell how he's doing so far, since he's presumably failed to complete 55 percent of his tweets.
Philadelphia sports fans exalted this week when the Phillies finally reached .500. Nobody will be this jazzed after Sunday, when the Eagles are also .500.
Week 2 Preview:
The Eagles were able to beat one team that Art Modell used to own, but they've got no hope against the other- especially since the Ravens actually have some defensive players who I've heard of.
The pick: Ravens 42, Eagles 3.