Although I might have gained ground in the pick-em standings, Sunday was a sad day of football for me, and everywhere in the keystone state. The Eagles lost their third in a row, whilst the Steelers lost to the Raiders despite holding them to less than 100 yards of offense. At this point, I'd love to say that there's good news and that both of these teams have historically been better in the latter half of the season.
Well......
While that's true, I don't think there's much good news this year. Check out the remaining schedule for the Eagles:
Washington
Tennessee
AT Indianapolis
Carolina
AT Washington
AT Giants
AT Dallas
Atlanta
Ouch. I knew before the season started that the Eagle had to do good in their much easier first half to get anywhere, because that last stretch is brutal. After the next two games, which BY GOD THEY BETTER WIN, they have six games in a row against palyoff quality teams to end the year. Sure, they beat the Cowboys already (and were dominating the Giants for most of the game), and the Redskins suck, but to have three divisional games on the road in a row????? That's tough no matter who they are. And the Giants and Cowobys might be even better now. Carolina and Atlanta are tough. Indianapolis might be the best team in the league. By screwing up 3 or 4 games already, the Eagles have a near-impossible road to get back to the playoffs. They'll have to get five wins from this tough, tough sked just to get in playoff contention.
Meanwhile, let's see about the Steelers, who already have to worry about Ben's true condition:
Denver
New Orleans
AT Cleveland
AT Baltimore
Tampa Bay
Cleveland
AT Carolina
Baltimore
AT Cinncinatti
They have an even tougher road than the Eagles, because they're only 2-5 and they have to get to at least 10 wins, probably, to have a chance. So they'll have to basically run the table against a group of teams that includes pesky Carolina and new Orleans, tough division rivals Baltimore and Cinncinatti on the road, and Denver next week. And you know Denver's gonna be pissed about losing to Indy.
Sorry, but the grim reality is that unless major changes happen, we're looking at a blackout here. For the first time since '99, Pennsylvania will be out of the postseason.
2 comments:
The good thing is that, yes, Washington and Tennessee will be cake. ALSO, Carolina is proving to be very hit or miss over the weeks. You'll never know which team will show up week to week. Plus, Atlanta aren't as strong as they used to be and Indianapolis always seems to wear down towards the end of the season.
So if the Eagles SUBSTANTIALLY make changes, there is hope yet.
(Someone buy Andy Reid a fucking clock.)
I am blindly flailing for a silver lining here and I'm having some trouble.
I don't know what I'd do with Ben. I damn sure would have sat him this past game, that's for damn sure. An unconcussed Chaz would have been more than enough for the Raiders.
But now, though he botched the shit out of that game, Ben will have gone two weeks without a face plant, so some experts say that means the concussion will no longer affect his play and his susceptibility to further concussions is considerably lessened.
He has GOT to be second-guessing himself, now, though.
And Chaz, while a smart decision-maker and a capable starter against poor-to-upper-mediocre teams, isn't going to be able to rack up wins against many of the remaining teams on the schedule.
No, the absolute best chance I see of the Steelers saving the season is going to be Big Ben starting next week, he puts up 200 yards passing in the first half and a 10-point lead, Plummer gets pwned (Plwned) and the game ends in a concussion-free thrashing that gets Rothy his mojo back.
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