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yeah Buffalo had its moments, but that was all, the score really didn't reflect how much the Raiders manhandled the Bills... of course if they'd quite giving the ball to that walking paperweight Wheatly and get a decent runningback.....

You look as lost as a bastard child on Fathers day.

_________________
\"One of you is gonna fall and die, and I'm not cleaning it up\"

Why won't westbrook hold up four quarters? Based on what? Injury? Last year he held up perfectly fine until the last game of the regular season, and the year before he played all 16 games. This is his 3d season, and i predict it will be his breakout year. He's also not exactly small, at 5'9", 205lbs. That's a very similar size to Emmit, Barry, and all the other little great backs that have stamped their name into NFL lore. He also doesn't really take big shots because he is so shifty. If there's to be a hit, it's usually Westbrook that is doing the delivering...he can be a very physical runner when he sees the need.

PS....the Eagles signed Dorsey Levens as a back up last week.

Game should be a blast to watch tonight, enjoy all!

"Molon labe".
Leonidas, King of Sparta,
Thermopylae, 480 B.C.

Eagles record since 2000 in Prime time games:

13-1

Eagles record in MNF games since 2000:

8-1

McNabbs record as a starting QB in national games: 11-1

This is why i'm so confident.

"Molon labe".
Leonidas, King of Sparta,
Thermopylae, 480 B.C.

Well, we'll all see in a few hours what happens when the league's (arguably) two best offenses clash in the spotlight.

I'm goin' home to eat some kielbasa and sauerkraut and watch the game... see y'all tomorrow. GO VIKES!!

“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.” Benjamin Franklin, 1759

Well, let's take a halftime look.

Westbrook has been a monster, easily outperforming all other players on either team so far tonight. Like i said, he will explode on the NFL this year.(shame about the fumble)

L.J. Smith, the young TE i warned you of has a TD pass.


Nate Wayne, "Mr. Monday Night", the LB i told you makes huge plays on MNF forced a goal line fumble.(shame about that fumble too)

The Eagles in the first half had two goal line stands....just like last week.

And all that with Owens having only 2 catches for 15 yards.

6 pts in the first half, and the Eagles managed to stop Minnesota on several possessions. The only thing that's stopped ANY Eagles possession so far is a fumble after a 15yd gain and time expiring in the 2d quarter.

Douglas has made a couple big plays, and Kearse has applied good pressure as well.

The Refs have made bad calls both ways, but that's the NFL for ya.


"Molon labe".
Leonidas, King of Sparta,
Thermopylae, 480 B.C.

Bad calls all the way through... the Vikings didn't show up for this game, but Philly's defense surely did.

T.O.'s T.D. = B.S.

Even Snipe's gotta admit that was a bullshit touchdown, and I'm pissed off that Tice didn't challenge it. Take that 7 away and add the 2 TDs that Culpepper SHOULD'VE had, plus the FG that Morten Anderson missed, and the game would've ended up as a W in Minnesota's book.

So much for the way they looked last week; tonight's game did nothing but depress me with images of the last 3+ seasons...

“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.” Benjamin Franklin, 1759

Pffft, Moss was holding ALL night on those WR screens out on the right flank. They ran that play about 4 time for 50yds, and Moss held every time.

The officiating sucked both ways.

The bottom line is that the Eagles D contained the 'NFLs most high powered offense', and didn't surrender a TD until there was 3 and a half minutes left in the game...when the game was for all intents and purposes over anyway. Through 3 and 3/4 quarters of the game Minnesota was held without a TD. A remarkable feat for a defense.

Twice the Eagles D stopped the Vikings on 1st and Goal, and a couple other times with a 1st and 10 inside the 20. The Eagles Defense applied tremendous pressure all night, blitzing Culpepper mercilessly. Any QBs but McNabb or Culpepper would've been sacked 6-7 times against the Eagles pass rush(Last week Kurt Warner fell 6 times to sacks). The Eagles pass rush forced at least a half dozen Vikings penalties, including some big false start and holding calls. The Vikings O line was on it's heels all night. The Vikings probably won't face a pass rush like they saw tonight for the rest of the season. Any immobile QB that faces the Eagles D this year is going to be in for a very long day. Kearse was game MVP for good reason.

Kearse, Simon, Walker, and Douglas might be the best pass rushing defensive line in the NFL- it is certainly the fastest. Combined with Jim Johnson's insane all angle blitzing, they will be a terror for O lines to confront all season long.

The Vikings D forced only one punt in the whole game, with the Eagles offense scoring on every drive of the game but two. There may be a defense in the NFL that can shut down the Eagles O, but it doesn't play in Minnesota. You found out tonight that the Eagles O contains a lot more weapons than just T.O., and that he's not even the biggest weapon on the Eagles O. That would be Brian Westbrook, who gained more yards tonight than any other player on a field that held some of the NFLs top offensive stars.

Finally, the 'third teams', the Eagles special teams outplayed the Vikings special teams by a wide margin.
J.R. Reed is a rookie return man who was sensational in the preseason and last week against the giants. He was again tonight, with two huge kick returns- the second of which was the final nail in the coffin. It looks like he's going to be an unexpected weapon for the Eagles this year.
The Eagles had good kickoff coverage all night, and they did a lot of kicking off.

"Molon labe".
Leonidas, King of Sparta,
Thermopylae, 480 B.C.

KF, if that TO TD is called back, what makes you think the Vikings could've even stopped the Eagles anyway? The Eagles scored on every drive but three...one the half ran out, one was a fumble when the eagles were marching right down the field, and one was a punt. Even at the end, with the Eagles last field goal, there is very little chance that in a closer game the Vikings D would've stopped the Eagles. That to me really minimized the impact of the bogus TO TD. Even after the Vikings finally scored their TD the Eagles bust out a big return, nail Owens right down the middile, and pop through a field goal. Game, set, match.

The Eagles offense had huge mismatches against the Vikings D that they took immediate and continued advantadge of all night, which is why the Eagles didn't hold the ball long tonight, because they scored so fast whenever they had it, lol.

PS....my prediction of 31-17 wasn't too far off.

27-16 Eagles.

Oh, and how bout that Nate Wayne.... 8 tackles, 2 forced fumbles and a sack. "Mr. Monday night" indeed.

I did warn you about him....

"Molon labe".
Leonidas, King of Sparta,
Thermopylae, 480 B.C.

"Even Snipe's gotta admit that was a bullshit touchdown, and I'm pissed off that Tice didn't challenge it. Take that 7 away and add the 2 TDs that Culpepper SHOULD'VE had, plus the FG that Morten Anderson missed, and the game would've ended up as a W in Minnesota's book."

That sounds a lot like the old "But Al Gore won the popular vote" argument.

Pretty lame dude.

Gee, if you take away a westbrook fumble, and one McNabb overthrow to westbrook WIDE WIDE open in the flat with nothing but 50 yards of room in front of him, and if Eagles SS Micheal Lewis doesn't drop that INT with a clear road to the End zone, then it's 41-16 Eagles.

Shoulda, coulda, woulda...

At no point did the Vikings lead after their first FG, and at no point did they outplay the Eagles. Every drive they had was hard fought, and done under an intense Eagles pass rush. Conversely, McNabb had all day most times he dropped back to pass, Westbrook put up a 5+ yard average rushing, and had another 70 yards recieving. The Eagles offense moved quickly down the field and scored seemingly at will whenever it had the ball.

The better team won, though i will concede the Vikings have a better offense. The Eagles however have a far superior defense, and apparently also a big edge on special teams.

Here's a quote for Big Vette:

From ESPN.com...

"For this game, Johnson installed a new front that he dubbed "Oklahoma," with three ends on the field at the same time. Most times when Philadelphia went to the unusual look, the ends were Hugh Douglas and Derrick Burgess. And where was Kearse aligned in the off-beat front? Playing as a middle linebacker. Or sometimes as a standup outside 'backer. In some instances, had Kearse retreated a step or two, he could have been a safety.


"What they did," acknowledged Culpepper, "was to make us find him<Kearse> before we could block him. He was all over the place. It was like he had a [clone] or something."

Didn't you say something about Kearse being overrated? He wreaked havoc on your O line tonight, just like the rest of the Eagles D. I told you the Cowboys were nowhere near the same level of D as the Eagles. Know you know.

LOL, speedbump.

"Molon labe".
Leonidas, King of Sparta,
Thermopylae, 480 B.C.

Yes, I admit my 'if-if-if' scenario was lame... I was a bit pissed last night (hell, I still am... that game was horribly played on both sides of the ball for Minnesota).

And actually, your ORIGINAL prediction was 27-14... even closer to the actual 27-16. Nice job.

Unfortunately I'm sad to admit that my words from a week ago rang true last night:
<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>I guarantee this game's gonna come down to three things: <b>defense, special teams, and <u>penalties</u></b>.<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>
Defense...? What defense? Only 1 forced fumble, and only 2 sacks. No picks, no nothing. That was a disheartening indicator of how the rest of the season's going to play out against teams with versatile offenses in the run and passing game (Indianapolis, Green Bay, Seattle, etc.).

Special teams was a joke. Philly averaged 8 more yards per kickoff return, we had no blocking/stopping power on kicks or runbacks to speak of...

Penalties/turnovers - 10/70 yds. against 3/25 yds. Philly's crowd and defense had Minnesota jumping like Colombian coffee bean pickers all night. Three fumbles to one, plus that glorious interception to end the game... add to that the fact that Minnesota had nearly twice the time of possession, AND the fact that there seemed to be a brick wall sitting on the goal line, and you spell d-i-s-a-s-t-e-r for the Vikings.

That's alright, they'll meet again in the NFC Championship.

“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.” Benjamin Franklin, 1759

That's a whole lot of sour grapes Big Vette. Tsk Tsk.

I personally watched Moss hold at least 4 times and not be called, I DID see the blatant- yes BLATANT- hold by your center on Culpeppers 'TD run'. If the center doesn't hold it's just a 5 yard run. The reason Moss got away with those holds is the same reason T.O. got that TD pass....because superstars get the benefit of the doubt, and things are overlooked when they do them. And on Moss's TD with 3 minutes left he pushed off in the endzone.

Minnesota was penalized so heavily because they're sloppy and poorly coached, and were too slow to match up with the Eagle front 7 on O, or the eagles skill positions on D(I thought the vikings had a fast defense?).

The Minnesota O line was on it's heels the entire night, and only a brilliant performance by Culpepper(minus two Nate Wayne forced fumbles, and a flat out dropped INT for a TD by Eagles SS Lewis) even kept them in the game.

It was already 20-6 when the Phantom T.O. TD occured.....Minnesota was already cooked by the time that happened. The margin of victory was 11pts, so there is no way you can claim a 7pt bad call(and it was a bad call) was the difference. Even after Minnesota finally scored a TD, the Eagles IMMEDIATELY jammed it right back down their throats and iced the game with a field goal.

Minnesota was outplayed and overmatched- particularly their defense vs the Eagles offense, and looked confused and clueless along it's offensive and defensive lines all night, and the Vikes sucked on special teams.

THAT was the difference.

EVERY time Minnesota closed in on the Eagles goal line while the game was in doubt they got stuffed like a bunch of sissy marys, including a 1st and Goal from the 2, and a first and goal from the 8.

The Eagles also have some key injuries as well, missing 2 starters(N.D. Kalu and our 1st Rd rookie O lineman), so i don't want to hear any whining about Kliensauser being the difference either.

Minnesota's defense and special teams were overmatched all night long, which is why the Vikes held the ball so long. Every time the Eagles got the ball they marched right down the field and scored, unlike Minnesota, who had to fight tooth and nail for every point they got.

If these two teams see each other again this year it will be back in Philly in the playoffs, and the result will be the same.

The Eagles have not gone to three straight Conference Championship games by accident, and they're better now than they've ever been in my lifetime(I would go so far as to call them scary good). Good enough to win the superbowl? Maybe, maybe not....but more than a match for the defenseless Vikings.

Someone needs to explain to Tice that DEFENSE is what wins championships.

Next time you try to compare the Cowboys Defense to the Eagles, i want you to remember last night. I also want you to remember Kearse's performance, the young Eagles corners absolutely SHUTTING DOWN the Vikings deep passing game, and McNabbs disecting of your secondary. All the Eagles players you dissed last week jammed it down the vikings throats last night.

Now it's the 2-0 lions that are up next. On the road in a dome....will be a tough game. I predict a 30-21 Eagles Win.

"Molon labe".
Leonidas, King of Sparta,
Thermopylae, 480 B.C.

A few Eagles miscues removed, and you're looking at a 41-16 Eagles win.

Michael Lewis flat out DROPPED an interception with a clear lane to the endzone in the 1st quarter, and Westbrook fumbled on a drive when the Eagles were marching straight down the field as they did all night long. On the Eagles second drive when they scored a FG, Owens was WIDE OPEN in the endzone for a 30 yard touchdown. McNabb didn't see him.

Shit happens, and it happened to both teams last night.

Minnesota held the ball so long because they had to nibble their way downfield time after time for field goals, whereas the Eagles didn't. When the Eagles O had the ball they went right downfield and scored. Seemingly at will.

Simply, the Eagles Defense took away Culpeppers preferred modus operandi....the deep bomb. They took it away so effectively that the Vikings didn't even try to go deep once....there was nothing there all night long.
They were forced to nibble their way downfield, extending their drives to the point where the law of averages caught up with them. In the NFL, your chances of scoring a TD drop greatly after the 10th play of a drive because the law of averages dictates that you'll make a mistake or the D will make a big play. Last night's game was all about making Minnesota nibble themselves in the foot.

The Eagles D has surredered the fewest points in the NFL over the past four seasons, and they've faced all the top NFL offenses in that timespan. Including some offenses better than the Vikings(or at least as good). The Eagles also have the best record in the NFL over the past four seasons.

All those sloppy Minnesota errors were largely atrributable to a hellacious Eagles pass rush that sacked Culpepper 4 times, and almost sacked him another 10 times. Christ, the Eagles D was getting to Culpepper with a three man rush.

The Vikings O line sucks dude.

Nowhere near good enough to make it to a championship game, and the same is true of the Vikes Defense. Mediocre at best. Then there's the special teams...yikes.

The Eagles are a complete team, the Vikings are a team with a great WR(best in the league by my estimation) and QB, and little else.

The Eagles problem in the past has been offense, and so far two games in, no one has come close to stopping that offense. It looks like that problem is fixed. For the third straight year the road to the Super Bowl is going to go through Philly.

PS....the NFC is no weaker a conference than the AFC is, at least not to me.

"Molon labe".
Leonidas, King of Sparta,
Thermopylae, 480 B.C.

It doesn't matter how stupid a play it was for Tice to not challenge. He didn't. That's what happened, you're gonna have to deal with it. And once again.....the margin of victory was 11 points- not 7.

There is also no guarantee that even had the Vikes challenged and won that they'd have stopped the Eagles on that drive, they couldn't stop the Eagles all night. Odds are, even if that's ruled incomplete, the Eagles score anyway a few plays later. Your defense got wiped up and tossed away by the Eagles last night, that's just the way it is.

In only 22:00 minutes of possession time the Eagles lit the Vikings D up for 317 yards and 27 points. That's over a point a minute bro. You should probably be grateful your offense didn't score FGs more quickly than they did, or the Eagles might've dropped a 40 spot on your Vikes had they had the ball for more time.

In 38:00 of Possession time the Vikings could manage only 16 points, and that is also a fact. The Vikings vaunted bread and butter deep vertical attack was shut completely down, as in completely. The Vikes offense was forced completely out of what it does best, and had to nibble it's way down field all night, the whole way under intense pressure. Two separate goal line stands with a first and goal at the 2 is hardly a fluke, and i don't know where you get the Vikes should've been up 21-10 in the first half. They never even scored 21 in the whole game, lol.

Woulda,coulda,shoulda's don't count. If they did, the Eagles would've scored 41 points in the game instead of 27. Then you'd really be looking for excuses today.

All this whining, and you're totally ignoring the fact that your defense was almost utterly incapable of stopping the Eagles Offense from scoring at will on them. Regardless of what the Vikings O did or didn't do, the Vikes defense couldn't stop the Eagles offense. IOW, they were totally overmatched. Just the way it is dude.

I don't know what makes you think that the Vikings excuse for a defense could stop the Eagles in a dome....it would only be harder trying to stop McNabb, Westbrook, TO and co. on turf indoors.

PS.....1-16 on your last 17 games outdoors? Yikes. You guys need a new coaching staff. That's pathetic. Seems to me that with almost half of your games outdoors your Vikes will need to turn that around or the only place they'll be seeing the Eagles come playoff time is on TV.

Right now the Eagles are the clear favorite to win the NFC....again.

"Molon labe".
Leonidas, King of Sparta,
Thermopylae, 480 B.C.

"Let's just put it this way - the Vikes O-Line is not usually that bad -"

They don't usually play the Eagles...when they do, you saw what happens. They look really bad. Last night- the Vikes O linemen were no more than 5 turnstiles in uniforms. It was a hell of a game by Culpepper to just avoid being sacked on almost every play. The man dodged about a dozen would-be sacks last night. Quite an athelete, but his entire O line got schooled. It was a superhuman effort by him just to keep the Vikings in the game at all.

Someone should explain to him that fumbles are bad though. Two hands on the ball in traffic Daunte. Tsk, tsk. 70 fumbles in 60 games is to me at least- totally unacceptable. At this rate he'll shatter the all time fumble record during his career, and that is not a good thing.

And as far as a rematch showing a different result, the last time the Eagles played the Vikings with Moss and Culpepper, it was a 48-17 Eagles win. Moss and Culpepper are now 0-2 in games vs the Eagles, having been outscored 71-33 along the way.

Yeah, i'm fine with another rematch. Maybe you can come back here for a divisional playoff game, because you almost definitely won't have a bye. Green bay is most likely going to win that division...again. I would look forward to that rematch very much. Be a nice easy 1st round playoff win- to play the Vikings outdoors in Philly in late December. Dome teams have like a 1-4568543958 record outdoors in the playoffs, lol.

It's the CONFERENCE game that scares all Philly sports fans now, lol. Losing 3 straight NFC championship games will do that. I get a feeling that if there is a fourth the result will be different. The Eagles havn't had an offense this good since the heydays of Randall Cunningham, Chris Carter, Mike Quick, Kieth Byars and Kieth Jackson. McNabb is a much better technical QB than Cunningham ever was.

"Molon labe".
Leonidas, King of Sparta,
Thermopylae, 480 B.C.

I suppose I was right when I predicted "Eagles win by 10 (at least)" last week. Seriously, I don't know much about either team other than the fact that I can't stand Randy Moss or T.O., it just came down to the fact that I like Moss less. Did you guys see that piece where they interviewed them and asked each one who was better?? Obviously, both dudes laid claim to that title, not surprisingly. Why don't you get some class and let others answer that question besides your stupid selves? Makes me pine for the days of Lynn Swann, Dante Lavelli, Marion Motley, Ozzie Newsome, etc. Heck, these dudes even make Jerry Rice look modest.
But, I digress. Guess I'm just sore that the Browns not only looked as bad as they ever have but also lost 3 former first round draft choices in the process. Still love the Browns but wonder if they can even win 4 more games this year...

ATTACK!!!!!!!

I can feel your pain WH30. I can remember some really bad Eagles teams, lol.

BigVette, for the Vikes to win 12 games, they'll need to sweep at home, and win at least 3 games outdoors plus the game in Detroit. Considering that Minnesota is one for it's last 17 in outdoor games, that will be a very tall order.

But, i hope you do, i'd love to see a rematch of last night's game. If only all football games were so entertaining.

As far as the Eagles losing three straight NFC games, two of them were to the Rams and Tampa Bay bucs- the eventual super bowl champs. I can live with that. The loss last year to the Panthers was terrible, and i don't think that if the Eagles had Westbrook that it would've been the same result- but that's irrelevant.
The Patriots would've smoked the Eagles in the Super Bowl though anyway.

This year's Eagles D is the best i've seen since 1991, and it's probably the best Eagles offense since 1990. Overall, it's the best Eagles team i've seen since the 1980 Super Bowl team.







"Molon labe".
Leonidas, King of Sparta,
Thermopylae, 480 B.C.