Wednesday 19 December 2012

Bengals 31 Eagles 13 AKA - Who I want to win the Superbowl

It wasn't meant to be like this.  This is the "business end" (as opposed to the pleasure end...ohhh pardon) of the NFL regular season, I was meant to be watching the Eagles secure their Play Off berth and planning their route to the SuperBowl.  Instead, they sit at a pathetic 4-10, are in disarray and the only thing left to play for is Draft position.  A situation that essentially means defeat is preferable to victory!  It all means that the final 2 games of the season aren't exactly going to be nerve janglers!
Don't get me wrong, I'm still delighted that I picked the Eagles as my team, it's just that I'll have to wait until the 2013 season at least, before I can experience some glory.  Luckily, there is still plenty going on in the NFL and the last 2 weeks of the regular season are full of key games that will decide the Play Off places.

Many moons ago, the first franchise I eliminated from my search for a team were the Pittsburgh Steelers.  My reason?  I don't like them.

I worked on the principle that we always want a certain outcome when we watch a sporting event.  It may not be a strong urge and it may not have us jumping out of our seats, but to some degree we will want a certain team to win.  So if I pick 2 random NFL teams....in this case, Carolina and Cleveland - I'd say that I'd rather the Browns won a match up between the two.  Why? No strong reasons, just that I quite like the way Cleveland are building a young team and I find Cam Newton a bit too arrogant.  Naturally, this inclination can change pretty quickly - a couple of years ago I wanted to see the Chargers do well, now I'm completely nonplussed by them

I could apply the same "logic" to any NFL match-up, and to take that principle to it's extreme, it dictates who I want to win the Superbowl this season.

Looking at the remaining contenders, there aren't many that I'd place near the top of my personal "want to win" table.  Indeed, teams like the Steelers, Cowboys, Patriots, Ravens and Giants are at the bottom of my table.  Nothing personal, just a subconscious and fairly inexplicable dislike of these teams.  I find Cowboys and Pats fans can often be arrogant, the Giants won last year so automatically lose a bit of appeal in my weird head, whilst the Ravens just don't float my boat.  Maybe it's the bang average QB, or maybe it's just the stupid purple uniforms!

Of course, there are inevitably teams who I am pretty apathetic towards - I like to see them beat the teams I don't like, but equally I want them to lost to the ones I do like.  Franchises such as the Colts, Broncos, Bears, Packers and Vikings leave me nonplussed.  Although it would be hilarious if Christian Ponder was a SuperBowl winner Quarterback, so I could be persuaded to route for the Vikings.

That leaves me with the franchises I like to see do well - the Texans, 49ers, Redskins, Seahawks, Falcons and Bengals.  I can't see myself cheering for the Falcons or Texans as they will probably be favourites for at least their first play off game.  The same can probably be said of the the Niners, I like watching them play, think their Defence are very exciting and I'm a fan of what Kaepernick is doing at QB.  However, I can see play off heartbreak for San Francisco in the form of a David Akers miss.  He's having a terrible season and it could see them come unstuck in a tight Post Season game.  I enjoy watching RGIII, Alfred Morris and co, but you can't escape the fact that Washington are Divisional rivals of the Eagles, so they have to be eliminated

Which means I'm left with a choice between the Bengals and Seahawks.  Realistically I just can't see the Bengals going all the way, they may not even reach the play offs for a start!  They can be fun to watch, the Dalton-Green link up is just about the best in the whole NFL. They just don't seem to beat the big teams, something they are clearly going to have to do pretty soon if they want to progress.

What about the Seahawks?  Again, I think it's a stretch to see them as SuperBowl winners, despite putting up over 100 pints in their last 2 games, there are questions makers over their offence up against elite teams.  The Defence is strong, but again are they elite?  Possibly, but I'm not convinced they're are SuperBowl winners.  However, I'm loving what Russell Wilson is doing, Marshawn Lynch is great to watch and they've got some great young players on both sides of the ball.

Hmm, it's a tough call, but I'm officially declaring that (following the Eagles elimination) the team I want to win the Superbowl are the.......Seattle Seahawks.


Beat that for logic!


Thursday 13 December 2012

Eagles 23 Bucs 21 Foles Gold

In one of my first blog articles I wrote about our desire to have heroes in sport, the need to have individuals to cheer for and inspire us.  I identified the Quarterback as being the most likely source of a hero in an NFL side, and whilst there are a few exceptions (Ray Lewis, Adrian Peterson) I stand by that assertion.  Based on that principle  I eliminated the Jaguars from my search for a team as based on his stats Blaine Gabbert was the QB least likely to fill the "hero" role.  Nothing that has occurred this season has made me think I made the wrong decision on that front!

However, I've been waiting all season for the Eagles to do something heroic.  Quarterback Michael Vick has been erratic at best, and eventually succumbed to an inevitable injury.  Sure there have been some good performers - DeMeco Ryans, Alex Henery, Fletcher Cox have all performed well, but there hadn't being any truly stand out moments or inspiring plays.  Step forward rookie QB Nick Foles...

Truth be told, I hadn't been entirely convinced by Foles during his first few starts.  He looked like a leader, but his throwing wasn't great and last week it appeared that Andy Reid had put a harness on him.  What's more, and call me judgemental here, he reminded me of Napoleon Dynamite.  He looks more like a Chess Club member then an NFL starter.  Luckily, looks can be deceptive (After all, I'm not actually a male model!).  My perception of Mr Foles changed dramatically on Sunday evening, and it may prove to be a defining moment in my Eagles supporting life.

Overall, Foles had a decent game, but it was his play in the 4th quarter that would be truly memorable.  With the Eagles trailing by 2 scores, Foles engineered 2 drive in the final 4 minutes that turned the game on it's head.  The most impressive aspect was the leadership qualities that Foles displayed. He improvised a terrific pass to Jason Avant, and then had the bravery to tell Andy Reid that he wanted the final play on his shoulders.  Reid let him loose, and Foles delivered a lovely touchdown pass to Jeremy Maclin as time expired. Ultimately  the victory won't mean a great deal in the context of the season, but it could a moment Eagles fans look back at for years to come.  It was a period of play that I'd been waiting for all season,  an Eagles player stepping up and delivering a memorable, game winning moment.  Foles has been named as starter for the rest of the season, it's a great chance for him to show the franchise that he can be the starting Quarterback.  Maybe he won't grasp the opportunity and the Eagles will have to look at acquiring a new QB in the off season.  But maybe, just maybe, Foles can nail down the starting spot and be the Eagles QB for the next few years.  If he does, then perhaps I've found my next sporting hero!

Thursday 6 December 2012

Eagles 33 Cowboys 38: How Did it Come to This?

Another Eagles defeat, but this time I've got something to celebrate!
Forgive the shameless self indulgence, but this week marks the first birthday of this blog.  More importantly, it's marks the first anniversary of my journey to becoming an Eagles fan.  It actually seems as like I've been supporting Philadelphia for an entirety - I guess that's what 8 defeats in a row does to you!

If you're late to this, then I've been following the NFL for around 6 years, but for the first 5 of those I was a complete neutral.  Last year I decided to change that and have some fun whilst doing so.  I became an Eagles fan by starting with all 32 NFL teams as my potential franchise, then eliminating 31 teams 1 at a time for a wide variety of football and non-football related reasons.  It lead to some very strange evenings at home - including a pretty dull couple of hours spent working out which NFL ground would take the longest to get to from my house and a soul destroying episode of coin tossing in order to eliminate a team through blind luck.  My initial plan was to eliminate one team every week, but as I started getting into the project I upped my work rate, and ended up finding my team in about 3 months.  It all ended with a scintillating game of Madden 07 between the Eagles and Lions.  If, you've not read about that game (Reuters didn't seem interested for some reason) then just watch a compilation of bad punts and you'd get the general idea.

It all left me as an Eagles fan, but it also gave me a thirst for discovering more about the NFL and writing more about it.  As such, I've been regularly contributing to the excellent 1amsports.com and have also written articles for the equally excellent Second City Fanatics and the British Eagles website.

Supporting a team with a fan base in the UK has been beneficial in building up my support, and the British Eagles has been great in this regard. Whilst I don't have the same depth of Eagles knowledge or experience as some of the members, I like to think I can support the team just as much.  I've certainly built up my knowledge of the team and the league as a whole over the last few months.

Having dabbled with a couple of over writing projects, I've now decided to write a History of the NFL in the UK and look at the various connections this country has had with the League and American Football in general.  I'm aiming for this to be a somewhat more substantial piece of work, so there's plenty of research going on at present.

As for my Eagles supporting life?  Hmm, well it all started well enough, I was pretty optimistic heading into the season, on paper we had one of the strongest squads in the NFL, with playmakers all over the pitch. A 3-1 start justified my optimism and the Eagles were set to crown my opening season in glorious fashion.

2 months on, the victory column still sits at 3 and the Eagles are one of the worst sides in the League.  They are definitely the most disappointing side in football.  This latest defeat in Dallas came as a surprise to absolutely nobody.  Injuries, poor form, worse coaching and numerous botches have led to a highly frustrating period for fans.  In truth, this display was an improvement and young players like Bryce Brown and Nick Foles are showing signs of maturity and being NFL calibre players.  This campaign is clearly over so I agree with giving the rookies a go for the last 4 games.  I also agree wit releasing Jason Babin, and hopefully a few more will be joining him in the departure lounge soon (Kurt Coleman!).

In a way, this season has been good for my development as an Eagles fan.  Let's face it, I'm not likely to encounter many worse years during my supporting life!  The only way is up, and a massive rebuild is surely going to take place in the off season.  The odds are that it won't bring positive results overnight - the NFL is cyclical and the Eagles are pretty much at the bottom of that cycle currently.  But I just want a team full of young, hungry players who are playing with passion and not just dialing it in so they can take home their paychecks.  There were signs of that on Sunday night, and after a miserable few months, there may be a bit of light at the end of the tunnel.  It just might take a long time to get out of said tunnel!

Overall, I've loved my first year of writing about the NFL.  My appreciation of the sport has grown immensely, I regularly bore friends by crowbarring it into conversations and I watch far too much of the sport on TV.  Supporting a team has been a big part of this, and if you don't already support an NFL team then I'd highly recommend you start doing so...just maybe not the Eagles!