Monday, September 8, 2008

Tough Love

That title may cause some people to think of the show Oz, but that's not what I'm talking about. John Madden always said that the time to be hardest on his team was after a win. He knew the players would talk to their wives, girlfriends, families, neighbors, friends, and just people around town and hear nothing but good stuff.

On the other hand, after a tough loss Madden knew those same people would be really critical of his guys and that was when they needed him to be positive and supportive.

With that philosophy in mind and the Eagles coming off a 38-3 win...here is my lecture to the team.

"Unacceptable. The scoreboard looks great but you and I both know that playing like that isn't going to win us anything. You guys have to get your act together or we'll miss the playoffs again.

Donovan...any chance you're going to get those deep balls to the right spot and on time? You cost us 3 touchdowns with sloppy throws.

DeSean...are you scared of the punter or do you just think he's faster than you? Don't you ever let me see you run away from a punter again. The man gets paid to kick, not tackle. That is the guy to force to make the play. And you and Coach Segrest will work on which way is forward and which way is backward this week.

Jon Runyan...I can't have you missing blitzers and letting them come free at my quarterback. That just gives him an excuse to throw an off target deep ball.

Tony Hunt...I'm paying you to block, not shine shoes. Cut block means take out their legs, not dive at their feet. Keep it up and you will shine shoes for a living.

Trent Cole...nice game. I really enjoyed watching you play patty-cake with Orlando Pace. I'd prefer to watch you actually touch the opposing quarterback. I know you got doubled a lot, but pass rushers don't go to Hawaii because they occupy blockers. Get to the QB.

Chris Gocong...We drafted you to make plays. One tackle isn't making plays. Get to the ball and make something happen.

Lito Sheppard...what the hell was that sack attempt? You do realize we weren't playing freeze tag, right? Try wrapping up and taking the quarterback down next time.

Asante Samuel...We didn't pay you 1.2 billion dollars to drop interceptions. The guys from last year did that just fine and much cheaper. Catch the ball and make the play.

Men...we have a good, talented team, but the only way we're going to win a championship is if we cut out the mistakes and sloppy play, starting next week at Dallas. "
_________________

I posted a lengthy game review on the EMB.

http://boards.philadelphiaeagles.com/index.php?showtopic=508868

2 comments:

AaronStampler (a.k.a. Michael Erler) said...

Hey, I guess you don't know me, but I wrote a detailed game review for the 3rd preseason game that you liked, I think. Anyway, I'm a big eagles fan living in the bay area, but I work for the media now, covering Niners games, so I had to miss going to a sports bar like I have my whole life to watch the eagles. I found a bittorrent site that supposedly lets you download games, but nobody over there recorded the eagles for some reason.

Since you do detailed game reviews, I was wondering if there was any chance you've saved the game and if you'd send me a vcr tape or a dvd of the game, if you still have it. Obviously I'd compensate you for the trouble. Please let me know if you're interested.

Unknown said...

Writing under the identity of my wife I will continue...

Michael you can buy the games on DVD legally after the event where express permission has been granted by the NFL. See Pontel.com

If I have it right, I also thought your stuff was a Jolly Good Read and was looking forward to your comments this week.


Finally, Tommy do you bleed ink? Lately your content has risen dramatically (or I have found more of it). This is great as is the scoutsnotebook which is worth multiple weekly visits.