The Eagles Suck!
There’s something about the Eagles recent history with the Bengals where they just plain suck. In 2008 they played one of the worst games ever in Cincinnati against a Bengals team led by none other than Eagle-Killer Ryan Fitzpatrick. Everyone remembers this game because it ended in a tie and Donovan McNabb infamously said after the game that he didn’t know NFL games could end in a tie. The same McNabb who was in his 10th season at the time. In 2012 the Bengals were actually good and the Eagles were in their worst season of the 2000s and lost 34-13. Then in 2016 Carson Wentz displayed his lack of experience as a rookie and lost in Cincinnati. But this 2020 tie might be the worst of them all.
This game against a Bengals team coming off a 2-14 season and a rookie quarterback was supposed to be the bounce back game. After two bad losses to Washington and Los Angeles, this was going to be an easy win that would restore their confidence and give their fans some optimism going into the uncertain 2020 season. And also make us forget about the Phillies.
And instead they sucked. Even if they somehow won this game in overtime like they should have, we still need to walk away from this game acknowledging that they sucked today. Carson Wentz was supposed to look closer to his 2017 self after having an offseason where he didn’t have a major injury to recover from, but so far he’s been incredibly inconsistent. He’s thrown 7 interceptions in each of the past three seasons and he already has SIX in just three games. There is so much missing. The offensive line may not be great, but it’s hard to excuse when the skill position players aren’t stepping up like they should.
For the most part the defense did their job in giving the offense a chance to win the game, even though that everyone in the secondary outside of SLAYER!!! made Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins look like AJ Green and Chad Johnson in their prime. Darius Slay meanwhile made the real AJ Green a non factor in the game. The defensive front also had a monster day by sacking rookie Joe Burrow eight times.
But alas their effort was in vain because the offense refused to capitalized. Anytime the offense was in position to win the game with a simple field goal something stupid would happen like an off-sides or a holding that would push them out of range. In overtime all the Eagles had to do was get one more first down or even a few more yards and they would be set to win the game. Instead they faltered, the perfect moment being a false start just before Jake Elliot attempted a game winning 59 yard field goal. Even though his odds of making it were low, it’s still better to attempt and miss it than concede with a tie.
Speaking of conceding, that’s exactly what Pederson did. After the false start that pushed the field goal back to 64 yards the man legendary for his big balls could have decided to:
A. Kick a 64 yard attempt
B. Go for it on 4th and long to see what happens
or
C. Punt and concede to a Tie.
He chose C. and I think we can all agree that Ties suck. They may suck more than losing because in a loss it can at least motivate a team to come back and redeem themselves. A tie just feels like a total wasted effort. For a Bengals team coming off the worst record in the league, a tie is a positive to build off of for the future. For an Eagles team looking to make the playoffs for the 4th straight year and break the curse of the defending NFC East Champion, a tie is a total blow.
Here is the reality so far: The 2020 Eagles suck almost as much as the year 2020 sucks. They do not have the grit and resilience of the past three seasons and it doesn’t look that grit is returning anytime soon. Not to mention that meanwhile Nick Foles just turned back into B.D.N. again by coming in and overcoming a 26-10 deficit to beat the Atlanta Falcons. Foles Fever has hit Chicago, and that same vibe he still has the Eagles once has seems to have evaporated.
Either the Eagles get their you-know-what together right now, or 2020 will continue ti be the longest year ever.