Archive for November, 2011

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Prognostication Results: 2011

November 30th, 2011 by Mike H. | Comments Off on Prognostication Results: 2011 | Filed in Baseball, Phillies

Well, hopefully none of you loyal TSP readers placed any bets on who I picked in the spring. I did accurately predict 3 of the possible 8 playoff teams (Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Tampa Bay), so that is a little bit of a moral victory. Who honestly could have seen the worst to first that the Arizona Diamondbacks produced? Am I the only one who thought that St. Louis was done before the season started after losing ace Adam Wainwright?

Looking back on my predictions, the one that rang the truest was my prediction on the World Series. While the teams may not be right the description was dead on, in my opinion:

I don’t really know who will win the series because I think the teams match up that closely. I think this will be the best World Series in quite some time due to the fact that I do believe it will go seven games.

Hopefully my 2012 predictions will be a little closer and the Phillies season ends with a parade.

 

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Freefalling Birds

November 28th, 2011 by Scott Dargis | 1 Comment | Filed in Eagles, Football, General

The drubbing that the Eagles endured yesterday thanks to the New England Patriots has set the wheels in motion for certain armageddon within the franchise. The chants “fire Andy” were not overwhelming yesterday, but they could be heard loud and clear over the telecast for about 30 seconds. The message has become pretty clear, the fans are tired of the current course that the Eagles are stuck on.

Make no mistake about it the Eagles were simply outclassed against a Patriots team that needed to make a statement after the Baltimore Ravens took care of the 49ers on Sunday. The 10 point lead that the Eagles jumped out to was a quick after thought because once Tom Brady got rolling there was simply no stopping him.

At times it looked like Brady was going to be sacked, only to step up avoid the pressure and create plays out of nothing, the Deion Branch catch and run in the second quarter for example. The final stats for Brady looked like this:

24-for-34, 361 yards, 3 TDs.

Keep in mind that Brady wasn’t relevant in the fourth quarter because the game was already way in hand. There are many reasons why yesterday’s game got away from the Eagles, so let’s take a look at a couple of them, in order from most important:

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Is Rollins Being Recruited?

November 27th, 2011 by Mike H. | 1 Comment | Filed in Baseball, Phillies
Early Sunday morning, or late Saturday night depending on what coast you are on, Jimmy Rollins had a brief exchange on Twitter:
Vernon Wells @VernonWells10 Vernon Wells
@JimmyRollins11 whats up jroll?
Jimmy Rollins @JimmyRollins11 Jimmy Rollins
@VernonWells10 is this the real VW?
Vernon Wells @VernonWells10 Vernon Wells

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Happy Thanksgiving from TSP!

November 24th, 2011 by Leo | Comments Off on Happy Thanksgiving from TSP! | Filed in General, TalkSportsPhilly

May all the readers and Sports fans have a Happy Thanksgiving and Sports watching day!

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Week 11 Preview: Eagles-Giants

November 18th, 2011 by Scott Dargis | 2 Comments | Filed in Eagles, Football

It’s fun to play what ifs with this Eagles team. What if they didn’t blow a seven point lead to the Bears in the fourth quarter in week nine? What if they didn’t blow another seven point fourth quarter lead to the Cardinals last week?

Well then this game would have been for first place in the NFC East. The Eagles would have been only one game behind the Giants and due to the division record tie breaker going into Sunday night. Instead Philadelphia is floundering at 3-6, Michael Vick is most likely out leaving the starting duties to Vince Young. There is a chance Jeremy Maclin might not play and who knows what to expect from DeSean Jackson. This is a team that is in turmoil and this is the game where the apocalypse unfolds.

Eagles Offense vs. Giants Defense

The Giants practiced all week preparing for Michael Vick, but he will not see the field on Sunday due to his broken ribs. This means of course the man who accidentally dubbed this team the “dream team” now will take the reigns under center. We haven’t seen very much of Vince Young, he was in long enough against Washington to throw an awful interception and was in last week just long enough to hand the ball off to McCoy.

Between struggling to learn the offense in the pre-season and missing some time due to injury it is hard to endorse a start from Young and expect the Eagles to move the football through the air. Their only chance for success is going to come from a balanced attack with a btd (big time dose) of Shady McCoy. These are his stats from his last three games against the G men.

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Week 10: Eagles-Cardinals Preview

November 11th, 2011 by Scott Dargis | 2 Comments | Filed in Eagles, Football, General

This week was supposed to be the sudden homecoming for Kevin Kolb, instead of getting the main course Eagles fans will be treated to a side dish of John Skelton. It is just what the Eagles need after suffering what was the toughest loss of the season Monday night against the Bears. While there can be debate over this, Philadelphia had to win that game Monday night after the Giants took care of business against the Patriots. The playoff mountain may have dumped an avalanche on the Eagles last week, but they will hold onto their rope for at least one more week.

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Eagles Offense vs. Arizona Defense

Coming into the season it was well documented how bad the Cardinals secondary could be this season and so far they have lived up to that bill. They are currently 28th (389.8 yds) in total team defense with the breakdown of pass/run per game being this: 29th (272.0 yds)/16th (117.5 yds). Perhaps the worst stat of all when looking at the Cardinals defense is that they have allowed 11 rushing touchdowns, which puts them tied for dead last in the league. So what does this mean for the Eagles? Pound the football and make smart throws.

I believe that the Eagles will have a similar game plan to what we saw against the Cowboys, with possibly a tad more emphasis on the deep ball. DeSean Jackson desperately needs to catch a deep ball to get his confidence going. Right now it just looks like he is doubting his ability to catch the football, he just needs to relax and remember what brought him to the dance. Game breaking speed in the open field. Don’t forget about Jeremy Maclin, he will line up across from A.J Jefferson who has had problems defending the pass all year long. He was dominated by Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, and Hakeem Nicks.

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Eagles drop a tough one to Bears 30-24

November 8th, 2011 by Scott Dargis | Comments Off on Eagles drop a tough one to Bears 30-24 | Filed in Eagles, Football, General

Before last night if you told me that the Eagles were going to make Matt Forte fumble the ball twice and score 14 points off of those turnovers, I would have told you that there would have been no way the Eagles could have lost. Yet due to a combination of: Jay Cutler not being sacked once, ONCE!, the mediocre play of the secondary, a failed fake punt, and two turnovers of their own the Eagles now find themselves looking up at a very daunting mountain to climb if they want to make the playoffs.

After falling down 10-0, there was a prime opportunity to capitalize just before half time. After Brian Rolle scooped up a Matt Forte fumble and ran it to the house, the Eagles forced the Bears into a quick three and out. Desean Jackson who was in desperate need of making a breakout play stood back near his own 20 waiting for the ball. A big play would come, but not the one that Jackson wanted to make.

Jackson simply could not hold onto the ball while the Bears defenders ripped and clawed at the ball eventually forcing a fumble, which was questionably recovered by the Bears, (I’ll get to that later on). All of the momentum that the Eagles had to fight so hard vanished with that turnover. After two games of doing a fantastic job of holding onto the football, that turnover bug stung the Eagles at a crucial part. There was a minute a two timeouts to work with, plenty of time for Vick to get the ball down the field for a field goal. Can’t play a game of what ifs and should haves though.

Give the defense credit they forced the Bears into a 3rd and goal situation only to have a very questionable flag thrown on Jason Babin for roughing the passer. It sure looked like Bears RG Chris Spencer pushed Babin into Cutler. Then two plays later Marion Barber found the endzone, 17-10 to end the half, all of the momentum at least for the moment gone.

If the Eagles do not make the playoffs, the second half of this game could very well be where most people point the finger and ask the question of what happened here?

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