Gotta give props to the Eagles, making it alot closer than I imagined, but the Patriots have fulfilled their destiny as the team of the 00's up there with the 20's Canton Bulldogs, 30's Green Bay Packers, 40's Chicago Bears, 50's Cleveland Browns, 60's Green Bay Packers, 70's Pittsburgh Steelers, 80's San Fransisco 49ers, and 90's Dallas Cowboys as teams of their decade.
Eagles played well, Patriots made mistakes in the first half... yet the Pats still won. It seems like when the Eagles scored their first TD, New England seemed to wake up. Did you get that vibe? I thought that five-minute drive the Eagles had in the 4th Q was terrible. They didn't go no-huddle, and it cost them a lot of time. That was just terrible coaching.
Why isnt anyone critisizing Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid for that? That is why the Eagles lost. If It would have been like 4 min. left and they were only down 3, no doubt in my mind that they could have sent it to overtime or even won it! Unbelievable. That ended the game, because now the Patriots could make Reid use his timeouts. I dont know why McNabb isnt being critisized, 3 picks, that decision, I dont understand it. Andy Reid was way too conservative in that situation too. Are these two immune from any critisism.
So it overall it was a pretty good Superbowl. The Patriots got their dynasty and the Eagles showed that they could play right along with them. It was anybody's game through 3 quarters. So why are the Patriots celebrating with champagne while the Eagles are drinking away their sorrows? Here's my personal thoughts on what the difference makers in the game were.
The thing that most people are talking about is the horrible clock management in the 4th quarter; it was absolutely terrible and there is no excuse for an NFL team to screw up so badly. The blame for this falls squarely on the shoulders of the Andy Reid and Brad Childress. Who would've thought that the missed field goal opportunity at the end of the first half in the Falcons game would forshadow this debacle?
Given the situation, there's no doubt that it destroyed pretty much any shot the Eagles had left for a comeback, but I don't think it was the deciding factor. Afterall, even if the clock had been managed better, there's still no guarantee that the Eagles would've been able to mount another scoring drive with TO fatiguing, Pinkston out, and Freddie "My Mouth is Bigger Than My Hands" Mitchell proving that his performance against the Vikings was a happy fluke. No, the Eagles would've never been in 4th quarter come-from-behind situation were it not for grievous offensive mistakes. You can't hand the Patriots 4 turnovers and expect to win any game, let alone the Superbowl. 2 of those 4 turnovers occurred in Patriots territory, and the first interception cost the Eagles at least 3 points.
McNabb looked bipolar, alternating between the quarterback whose accuracy was suspect in previous seasons, and the quarterback who seemingly had conquered that problem this season. While it's easy to blame McNabb (and certainly a fair amount of the blame is on his shoulders), it should be noted that he managed 357yds and 3 TDs against a Pats defense that held the offensive juggernaught of the Colts to 238 passing yards and 3 points.
Ultimately, I feel that the key to this game was the play of the Eagles offensive line. They really seemed to be dominated for much of the game by the Pats D. This subjected McNabb to a lot of pressure; he was often running for his life. This also prevented the Eagles from establishing any semblance of a running game, forcing the ball back into the hands of a quarterback who was being pressured from every direction. So whether it was poor play on the part of the Eagles o-line, exemplary play by the Pats D, or (most likely) a combination of the two, I feel that this is what really determined the outcome of the game.
Final note: TO deserves much more respect than he's probably going to get. 9 catches for 122 yards on an ankle that was broken 6 weeks before. Some media people had the gall to criticize him for trying to come back. If Brett Favre had done that, he'd have a block-long line of eager sportswriters awaiting the honor of fellating him.
Oh yeah, and Joey, please post 1 more comment. Your current post count is 666 and it's freaking me out a little.
You have your wish, Fricko I will change my post count.
I disagree with your statement that it was a good Super Bowl. I agree with Kevin Blackistone on the fact, that despite it was again decided by an Adam Vinatieri Field Goal, even though it wasnt at the end. But Even though it was close, I thought it was a really dull super bowl. FOX did an awful job of plugging it and getting the message out of the magnitude of the game that the Patriots would be a dynasty if they won. I thought I was just watching a regular season game. Plus, it never had the feeling that it was anybody's game. In the first part of the second quarter you thought the Eagles were going to pull off the upset easy, there on out after the Patriots touchdown you knew the Pats were going to win. I thought this super bowl sucked.
Again, you blamed Andy Reid, why isnt anyone blaming Donovan McNabb? Although Reid didnt tell him to hurry up which is why he should be given equal blame, McNabb is the one who didnt want to hurry up. The only thing I can think of is McNabb wanted to act like he was cool, and ready to win like Brady and Montana were, so he went in the huddle to look like he was calm and it backfired. Childress and Reid deserve blame, but McNabb deserves equal if not more blame.
TO was not fatigued, he hadnt gotten nearly the balls they should have thrown him. If TO would have been thrown to more often, Eagles would have won.
McNabb had 3 Touchdowns which would give him +21 points for the Eagles, but he had 3 turnovers. Which are -7 each bringing him to 0, plus one (maybe two) but I think one in the redzone which is another -7. So he subtracted 7 points from the Eagles score, if he wouldnt have done that, the Eagles would have won 28-24
I'm not really sure what you mean by those numbers (-7, +7 stuff), but I agree that FOX did a bad job. I'm always critical of FOX because I just don't like anything about their football broadcast. I never had a doubt that the Patriots would win, even when it was 7-0. When the Eagles scored that TD, you could see it in New England's eyes. They knew they had to wake up and stop committing silly false start penalties.
Reid and Childress deserve the blame for their 6-minute waltz, but the players do as well. Freddie Mitchell started dancing after his catch, Jermaine Mayberry was chatting it up with Willie McGinest, Donovan McNabb looked defeated.. they deserve the blame for that too. However, I agree with Fricko, I didn't sense a comeback, even if the Eagles hurried. McNabb probably would have thrown an interception.
McNabb was bipolar, but I dont blame him for the 3 INTs. The Pats make every QB look bad... Manning, Roethlisberger, etc. If you blame McNabb for what he did prior to the six-minute drill, you have to blame Manning and Roethlisberger.
How bout the play of the Pats' O-Line? They were great. Kearse and Burgess were nowhere to be seen for the most part. I think Matt Light should have gotten some MVP consideration.
I do, it is Peyton Manning's fault that he couldnt get his recievers the ball, and it is Ben Roethlinsberger's fault that the Steelers lost. They both are responsible and are to blame, but they didnt stand around down 10 points with the ball in the redzone! McNabb cost the Eagles the game in my mind.
I was talking about everything prior to the six-minute drill. I don't blame McNabb for his first two interceptions because the Patriots frustrate every single quarterback in the NFL, except A.J. Feeley. Go figure.
However, McNabb deserves a lot of the blame during that ridiculous, time-consuming drive in the fourth quarter. And, I think McNabb will admit to being at fault.
