Green Man-Eating Monsters - The Eagles official site's splash page this week was right on point. Instead of focusing on Michael Vick like everyone else in the world, PhiladelphiaEagles.com managed to emphasize the defense's ability this year to generate turnovers. The Birds are now #1 in the league in turnover ratio at +20, having recovered 2 fumbles and intercepting Manning Eli 3 times Sunday night. Baby Peyton Manning was right: those big green monsters really are all about the flying brown pig.
What else did we learn? Eff the Terrorists, Jaaaaasoooooonnnnn..., Toughest Competition, Jason Peters and Todd Herremans Won the Game, Beating the Best, The Manningface Meter, Run Stoppers, and Da Bears are Turrible.
Eff the Terrorists - You wanna know how I spent my football Sunday?
U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
Jaaaaasoooooonnnnn... -There's a 350lb man with a stained kelly green Eagles sweatshirt who lays back in his recliner every Sunday with hoagie meat on his breath scratchily yelling "C'MON I COULD'VE MADE THAT CATCH!" This would be the only time that man was ever right. This game could have and should have been a blowout, but due to the Eagles' continued problems scoring in the red zone, we were sweating deep into the fourth quarter. Seriously though, Jason Avant, you've gotta make that catch.
Toughest Competition - Take a peek at the rest of the schedule. Chicago, Houston, Dallas, New York, and Minnesota. The Giants easily have the best defense of those teams and quite possibly showed the Birds their toughest test of the season. The Bears, while no slouch on D, are overrated and don't have the athletes the Giants possess. This was the best offense in the league against the best defense in the league, and we won.
Jason Peters and Todd Herremans Won the Game - Watch the 4th and 1 LeSean McCoy play again. ESPN was quick to give a bunch of credit to Mike Vick for not completely bobbling the ball and getting it to Shady in time, but the majority of the credit needs to be given to Jason Peters and Todd Herremans for the two tremendous blocks on the outside that allowed LeSean to break free. Sure, JP is a penalty machine and Herremans was chop-blocking the shit outta the G-men all game, but they came up when they needed to and won the game for the Birds.
Beating the Best - Did you know that the Eagles lead the league in wins over teams with winning records? I sure didn't until I saw this post from Bleeding Green Nation yesterday. The Eagles have 4 wins over winning teams, beating the Giants (6-4), Falcons (8-2), Colts (6-4), and Jaguars (6-4) this season. Probably should have beaten the Titans, too...but that's for another time. Next up -- the 7-3 Bears.
The Manningface Meter -
Run Stoppers - Against the Eagles:
Thank you, Antonio Dixon.
Da Bears are Turrible - They are not nearly as good as their 7-3 record and I fully expect the Eagles to win this game. If Jay Cutler plays like Jay Cutler, I expect plenty of turnovers and an easy win for the Good Guys. The Bears have had a defensive resurgence this year, but they're still susceptible to the big play and lack the offensive firepower to scare many teams. Hester is a wildcard on special teams (and at WR with his speed) and Peppers is a great weapon on D, but, really, are any of you looking at this game as a possible loss? I'm overconfident, sure, but after beating Colts, Skins, and Giants in successive weeks, the Bears look ripe for a Vick-style asswhooping.
Go Birds.
