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Eagles Throwback Uniforms aka Those Ugly Blue & Yellow Jerseys

The superstitious Eagles fan might chalk up the Eagles amazing rout of the Detroit Lions on Sunday to the fact that they were wearing different uniforms.  The tactical/superstitious Eagles fan might chalk the win up to confusion by the Lions, as they were blinded by the colors of the throwback uniforms, or perhaps, the Lions were confused because they thought they were playing a college team?  No matter what the Lions thought, honestly, they didn't loose because of the ugly uniforms that the Eagles wore on Sunday.

But what about those ugly throw back uniforms?  Where the heck did they come from and why on earth would any team wear them?  Well here's a little background into those really ugly yellow and blue uniforms the Eagles sported in the Sunday home game against the Detroit Lions.

1933-2007 - 75 Philadelphia Eagles Seasons - Anniversary Celebration
To help commemorate the 75th Season of Philadelphia Eagles Football, the team announced back in April that on September 23, 2007 in the home game against Detroit, the Eagles would wear replica uniforms of those worn by the first Eagles team in 1933.  With the help of Reebok, the Eagles reproduce these "beauties" for the entire team.

Now you are probably wondering, why the heck these Swedish colors?  Why those really ugly colors?  Well it has to do with a number of things.  Not just the fact that those colors use to be the official colors of Philadelphia, PA.

The blue and yellow colors were the first colors worn by the Eagles, after the Frankford Yellow Jackets went bankrupt.  So when the NFL awarded the Philadelphia franchise to a syndicate headed by former University of Pennsylvania teammates Lud Wray and Bert Bell, the new Eagles, inherited these ugly colors on their uniforms.

Whether it was coincidence or not when the Yellow Jackets first wore the colors, they are actually the official colors of the City of Brotherly Love.  Prior to William Penn arriving here, the Swedes had settled the area, so he felt compelled to incorporate the color of Sweden into the City of Philadelphia's flag.

It's not just Philly fans gawking at those ugly replicas, it's the entire nation.  On NBC's Sunday night football, Keith Olberman even named the "Most Hated Person in the NFL" this week, as whoever made the Eagles wear those really ugly throwback uniforms.  Sports commentors on CBS, Fox, ESPN and local news stations ALL had something to say about those uniforms.

The only player that looked like they got a "reprieve" from wearing those colors was Dawkins, as he wore normal Eagles colors (not a uniform) of Eagles gear on the sidelines.  He's probably thinking, "Thank Goodness!"  :)

Intelligent Philadelphia Eagles Fans Do Exist

Last Monday night, Charles Barkley and Ron Jaworski both commented about being a franchise player in Philadlephia.  Both of them spoke about how tough it can be and how fast the crowd can turn.  The moment a Philly fans smells defeat in the air, they are ready to sound the alarm bells, in the form of the notorious booing known across all sports.

As I sat in the bar last Monday night, there was this rather obnoxious guy commenting rather loudly about both Reid and McNabb.  The comments he was making were so far out of line, it really made me wonder if the guy even finished 6th grade.  You know the type, these are the type of fans that, as Enrico over at the 700 Level put it, "make us intelligent fans look bad."  Unfortunately after a few beers and cheese steaks, they are the loudest most obnoxious bunch of people, that manage to drown out the voices of reason.

Reid, has never crumbled, Reid has never deterred from his plan (he's made adjustments, but not deterred), Reid doesn't panic at a few losses.  Reid believes in his players, Reid's plans tend to work themselves out and above all Reid's got a winning record that most coaches in the NFL envy.  Yet you hear comments like "Fat A$$hole" come out of people's mouths, just because the Eagles lost.  Sure we question, sure we might not agree (as I disagreed with them cutting Bloom), but at the end of the day, our job isn't the Coach of the Eagles.

Donovan had a serious knee injury.  An injury that most of the time sidelines players for at least 1 year.  Not Donovan McNabb, in less than 10 months he came back.  Perhaps he did come back a little early, perhaps not - not really our decision to make.  But he did come back, because he loves playing in Philadelphia and wanted to lead his team.  Sure, he did look bad the first two games, last week it looked like he just couldn't get accuracy.  A lot of pressure is put on McNabb, when it should also go to the receiving ranks and the coaches.  Up until yesterday no one receiver really, truly stepped up and stood out.

Yesterday's performance, unfortunately, won't shut up the haters.  They'll just attribute the performance to  D-Mac afraid of loosing his job, or those gawd awful looking uniforms (which  Keith Olberman said last night , the person who dressed the Eagles in those uniforms is the most hated person in the NFL this week).  They won't ever look at things from an objective point of view, I'm guessing the beer and cheese steaks clouds the rationality and intelligence (really now, the Eagles don't have judge with his own chambers in their stadium for no reason).

The Eagles still have a bit of a way to go, and lord knows, next week's game is going to be  a tough one.  You know T.O. is just itchin' for a win against his old team (he's yet to get one), and the Plowboys, as much as I hate to admit this, look better than the Eagles, even after yesterday's performance.  I'm just going to hope that our Birds have finally figured it what it was they were lacking and that the first two games were just anomalies.

I'm not a hater, perhaps a doubter/questioner from time to time, but I'm definitely one that doesn't cry for a new coach or quarterback at every loss.  Unfortunately there's more haters out there right now, and for the rest of us, it's kind of sad.  To the national press - honestly, I swear, there are intelligent, un-inebriated  Eagles fans out here, you just gotta dig below all that noise to find us. :)

Donovan Answers His Critics with Record Breaking Game

For those of us who were wondering where the heck the real Donovan McNabb, quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles,  has been hiding, he came out of his hiding place to lead the Eagles to an amazing rout of the Detroit Lions.  I don't know what to attribute this amazing performance to.  Could it have been those really ugly uniforms, no knee brace, or the fact that Donovan just finally "clicked' with his offense?  I'm leaning towards the latter.

Looking at the NFL's Philadelphia vs. Detroit Gamebook of the game, McNabb came away with an impressive 158.3 rating.  He had an amazing 21/26 pass completion for 381 yards.  I think Donovan was trying to make a point, and wow, did he ever.  I sat there watching the first quarter just saying to my greyhound Reilly (as he was the only one listening), "D-Mac's back, where ever he was, I don't wanna know, and I don't want him to EVER go back there."

Accuracy, in the last game, was totally lacking.  It was no where to be found.  Searching under rocks, nooks and crannies and Donovan just couldn't make anything line up with receivers or running backs.  Today, was a totally different story.  It was like Kevin Curtis had magnets in his hands and every time that ball left McNabb's hands, it landed in his and wasn't leaving.

Both Curtis and Brian Westbrook had amazing stats on the day.  And Donovan didn't just leave "the love" to just these guys, running back Correll Buckhalter and rookie running back Tony Hunt helped the Eagles stack up an amazing 56 points (8 touchdowns), while David Akers was at 100% with his field goals.  Penn State fans had something to celebrate today at least, since this was Hunt's (Penn State Alumni) first professional NFL touchdown.

While the offense was impressive, the defense did leave me with some questions.  Can they handle the long ball?  Detroit did score 21 points, all of them were off of long ball situations.  The Eagles defensive did shut down the run with Takeo Spikes and Jevon Kearse, but I think we really missed Brian Dawkins today.  I'm going to hope that he's back for next Sunday night's came against the "Plowboys".

Closing thoughts, I really really wonder about our ancestors.  Really now, what were they thinking with those uniforms?  Please, Jeffrey Lurie, this is an impassioned plea, don't make our birds wear those uniforms anymore.  They hurt my eyes, and make me feel like I'm watching college football.  I like the dark green, black and white, please don't go the superstitious route think it's the uniforms that helped the Eagles to win, it wasn't.  Our Eagles finally woke up and realized the season started without them.

And for everyone that texted me, emailed me and called, yes, I know they looked like Sweden.  Apparently that was the point.  William Penn made the official colors of Philadelphia that nasty blue and yellow color, in honor of the early Swedish settlers of PA.  Obviously, they lacked the consultancy of an "EaglesChick" back in 1933, cuz no EaglesChick would have sanctioned those uniforms! No matter how happy Jevon Kearse and David Akers look in this picture, they really have to be thinking "Lord, please don't let this picture haunt me forever!".  :)

One final parting comment.  I still miss Comcast Sports Net's Post Game Live - this Viking Cable is crap.   I miss Michael Barkann, "The Gov", Ray, Vaughn and Derrick. I'd love to do commentary on those guys on here, but unfortunately, without seeing it, it's a little tough.  Lord, I can't wait to get DirectTV!

*pictures used are from philadlephiaeagles.com

If Buzz Truly Measured Power, Philly Fans Would Be Happy Right Now

In my day job, I am on the internet  - a lot -, so sometimes I come across some pretty interesting articles, webpages and widgets/gadgets.  Today Yahoo! Buzz has a piece on NFL Powerankings.  These rankings aren't based on completions and sacks, or yards accumulated or even touchdowns.  These rankings are based on the number of searches performed on certain words.

Now, based on those searches, it could be bad or good.  Right now it's likely bad for the Eagles, since most of the searches this week were about Donovan McNabb's comments about black quarterbacks having it tougher than white quarterback.  The Dallas Cowboys on the other hand, seem to have good buzz, seeing that because of their new stadium (thankfully not because of T.O.), they are considered the NFL's most. valuable franchise.

Here's how the list shook out, the Eagles are actually #6 on it, something that if it did count touchdowns and yards and we were that high, we would be rejoicing about right now.

             

Dallas Cowboys Pittsburgh Steelers Chicago Bears Green Bay Packers Washington Redskins Philadelphia Eagles Oakland Raiders New England Patriots San Francisco 49ers Cleveland Browns San Diego Chargers Houston Texans Denver Broncos Atlanta Falcons Detroit Lions Cincinnati Bengals

Kansas City Chiefs Buffalo Bills Miami Dolphins New York Giants New York Jets Tampa Bay Buccaneers Seattle Seahawks New Orleans Saints Indianapolis Colts Baltimore Ravens St. Louis Rams Tennessee Titans Carolina Panthers Minnesota Vikings Arizona Cardinals Jacksonville Jaguars

Eagles vs Lions: Dreading Another Sunday Letdown

Who would have thought at the beginning of the season going into Week 3, that the Lions would be 2 and 0 and the Eagles 0 and 2?  I can tell you, I certainly wasn't in that camp.  The Lions are flying high, and the Eagles seemed to have their feathers clipped at the moment.  Two key team players, Westbrook and Dawkins, watched from the sidelines at practice today.  Buckhalter practiced with the 1st team offensive as backup, as Westbrook looked on. 

The injury report for the Eagles that came out earlier this afternoon still has big questions marks on Brian Westbrook and Brian Dawkins.  These are two key players on both sides of the ball, without them, things really do look bleak. Sure we have Correll Buckhalter, and Tony Hunt back up Westbrook, but still, Westbrook is just so damn good, it's tough to imagine games without him busting tackles and gaining yards.

Then we look to the other side of the ball, at the lack of back up for "Weapon X" Brian Dawkins.  The Eagles top defensive guy, at free safety, there's not much in the way of back up for B-Dawg.  He is a force to be reckoned with, but unfortunately a neck stinger sidelined him for most of the 4th quarter against the Redskins.  Defensive coach Jim Johnson is optimistic that Dawkins will play.

"We anticipate he's going to be there Sunday," Johnson said of Dawkins. "We don't plan on Lito right now."

Lito of course being Lito Sheppard who's been sidelined with an MCL sprain since the opener with the Packers.

I just have a bad gut feeling that Sunday's going to be another let down for us Philly Eagles fans.  I guess though, it's a wait and see game, so to speak, whether to dread the upcoming game, or look forward to it.  Perhaps if Westbrook and Dawkins both play, there's a little bit more optimism in me that the Eagles will finally "get it right" and win one on Sunday against the Detroit Lions.  Hopefully too, it'll take some the focus on the nonsense of what Donovan said this past week, too.

McNabb Will Be Philly's Target in the Morning for Loss to Redskins

Tonight, the only good news was that .... at least the Phillies won.

I sat in the All-Star bar out in Gilberstville, off of Ridge Pike to watch the game tonight.  I thought this would be a pretty interesting game.  But after the first first, I was thinking to myself, "should I just go home now?"

Donovan McNabb's game was just off.  His accuracy wasn't there, more than a few times he over threw his wide receivers and it wasn't for their lack of trying either.  Granted, there were parts of drives that showed guts and brilliance - but you need 4 quarters of guts and brilliance to win a football game, not just 2 minutes here and 3 minutes there.

Donovan's going to be roasted for this performance.  The defense as well, will have to answer for their performance.  Overall, it was just a general "total let down" feeling and the fact that our Birds are 0 and 2, and two of our division rivals are 2 and 0 doesn't make swallowing this loss any easier.

Not many bright spots to write home about tonight - Westbrook when given the opportunity performed brilliantly, Takeo Spikes came off with some great plays too, but it just wasn't enough and the Eagles came up short on thie Monday night outing.

When listening to Charles Barkley talking with Jaws and the crew, you know I couldn't have agreed with him more.  He said that Donovan's performance over the years, should cut him some slack - however in Philly it doesn't work that way.  I just really think a lot of people take the last 5 or so years for granted.

Sure our Eagles are 0 and 2, but the guys are probably really beating themselves up right about now, and who better than them knows the pain of this 2nd loss?  There's really not one finger to point to and blame, it was a combination effort, The Eagles lost this game together as a team this time around.

Omar Gaither Helps American Cancer Society

What would you think if you stopped into your local Friendly's restaurant for one of those delectable sundaes they make and were greeted by a towering, 6' 1" Eagles linebacker who offered to show you to your seat?  Well Eagles fans in New Jersey had just that "treat" a few weeks ago when Eagles Linebacker Omar Gaither volunteered his time to the American Cancer Society.

From 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Friendly's donated a portion of each customers' bill towards the Cancer Society while Omar played host, cook, server and waiter to the customers that came into Friendly's.  Omar even got to test out his vocal "pipes" by singing the Friendly's Happy Birthday song to a customer.

Now, how did I know this?  Well if you didn't know, the Eagles have a few "shows" out on their site created by the Eagles Television Network.  The cool thing about these shows?  You can watch from your computer, even at 7:30 a.m. in your p.j.'s.  Both Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid have shows out on the Eagles Multimedia page.  The information I have came from the Andy Reid Show:  Week 2.  The piece about Omar is about 3/4 of the way through but I felt it was a great touch, and highlighted that for a lot of NFL football players, it truly is about giving back to society.

Are the Eagles Ready for the Redskins?

Tomorrow night's game is the first NFC East divisional match-up for the Eagles of the 2007 season.  There's a lot of questions swirling right now whether the Eagles really are truly the contenders the fans hope and pray they are every year.

If there were any bright spots in last week's game it was the defense.  Jim Johnson's defense didn't allow a touchdown to be scored.  They also held the Packer's to only 46 yards on the ground.  That number was the lowest surrender around the league in the first week.  So, yes, despite some our Birds' issues last week, there was definitely some great "sunny" spots to give us some hope going into this week's game.

The Redskins aren't the push overs they were the past 3-5 years.  If their overtime game last week with the Miami Dolphins was any indication, the Eagles (all of the Eagles, not just the defense) need to come out to the Linc and actually play.  All eyes are going to be on Special Teams too, especially with the return of Reno Mahe at Kick Returner.

Sav Rocca is also under a microscope, he didn't have a spectacular game either at Green Bay.  His performance had a lot of fans speculating why we got rid of our "sure" thing with Dirk Johnson, who just signed with the Chicago Bears (he'll be visiting the link in October folks!).   If he can really kick the ball the way he was in pre-season and just make sure he can hold that darn ball with the laces out for David Akers, he'll be o.k., otherwise, he might be run out of Philly pretty darn quick and we'll see Koy back soon enough.

One thing I think we'll all be seeing a heck of a lot more of - Sean McDermott calling his plays from under the towels those two guys were holding up last Sunday.  At the time I thought, "Man, isn't that a little extreme?"  Now in light of the cheating scandal out of the Patriots camp, it really makes a heck of a lot of sense why he was doing it - kinda makes me wonder if they knew what was going down?

I just hope the whole team has thought long and hard about last week's loss and learned from it.  No more stupid penalties like Jason Avant's 15 yard personal foul, or delay of games that are totally avoidable.  That kind of stuff just saps any and all momentum right out of the field.  Let's hope they all have Brian Dawkins' frame of mind.

"We're going to strive to be better than what we were last week," said Dawkins. "There were obviously some plays that we could have made, some tackles missed in third-down situations that kept drives going for them. But, we can fix those things."

Reno Mahe to Fix Eagles Punt Returner Problem?

Reno Mahe has just one job (o.k. technically two) - catch the ball, not only that but hold onto the darn thing.

After last Sunday's special teams debacle, the Eagles made a call to Ogden, Utah, to the man who handled punt returns for the Eagles from 2003 to 2006.  Mahe, had just moved his entire family to Utah, and was starting his new life in venture capital, real estated and other ventures including a drug program for troubled kids when he got the call on Monday.

Last year, the Eagles felt they didn't need Mahe, I guess they had a lot of faith in the future of Jeremy Bloom (personally I think letting Bloom go is still a mistake).  After Reid cut Bloom, they brought in J.R. Reed to sure up the lack of Punt Returner.  What sucks, is that J.R. Reed, generally a good player, hadn't ever played the position before and now has the flubbed returned to thank for costing him his job.

Mahe, is going to be under a lot of pressure.  He signed a one year contract with the Eagles on Tuesday and his only job is to return the punts.  He will have Correll Buckhalter backing him up, since the Eagles have seen fit to also remove Greg Lewis (again, another guy who was never meant to be a Punt Returner) from Punt Returner status.  But all eyes are going to be on Mahe, Monday night against the Redskins.

I'm glad to see Mahe back, a veteran in the position will hopefully stop the messed up punt returns and perhaps return the special teams coach back to "favored" status among the "boo birds".  However, the Eagles wouldn't be in this situation if Andy Reid wouldn't have cut Bloom.  Bloom could hold onto the ball and knew what to do, he just didn't have anyone really blocking for him during pre-season.

Welcome back Reno, please, just catch the ball and hold onto it.

BTW, Reno's also sporting #25 according to the Eagles' roster this year.

New England Patriots Cheating Scandal Leaves Questions About the Eagles Superbowl XXIX Game Loss

The Patriots under suspicion for cheating, say it ain't so! 

• The NFL has seized tapes
• Belichick has issued an apology
• Goodell has determined the Pats broke the rules
  • Is it for video taping and stealing signals?
  • Is it for deliberate "communication" issues at Foxboro?
• Anonymous members of the Goodell's investigation team have indicated the investigation has been under way for a while now
• Various players from around the league have been very vocal about the cheating (both signals and communication issues) that has going on for years under Belichick's tenure
• And discussing how it crosses ethical lines.

So now, all of us Eagles fans are sitting here wondering, could this have affected the outcome of Super Bowl XXIX?  Even though my gut says "no", there's still this nagging bit of wonder and a ton of "What Ifs".  I'm sure a lot of the teams that met up with the Patriots in their SuperBowl and Playoff match ups are wondering the same thing. 

Everyone, no doubt is questioning the "greatness" of their dynasty now and just how tainted Tom Brady is, as the receiver of a lot of this information.  There's no doubt that few will believe that Brady didn't know about how the method of how the signals were obtained.  Perhaps someone should interview Drew Bledsoe, too?

At this point in time, the Patriots could become the more hated team above the Dallas Cowboys in Philadelphia.  Eagles fans are rabid, and don't like to be cheated, and this scandal just wreaks of nothing but cheating to win.  There is no doubt a lot of fans will now believe "our birds" were robbed.  It makes you wonder what T.O. might even say about it - will he change his tune from blaming D-Mac to now blaming Belichick's cheating scheme?

Whatever the case, it really makes an Eagles fan wonder, did they have our defense calls too?  If they did, they surely used them.  If they used them, then weren't the Eagles robbed, just as the Steelers were?  We only lost by 3 points in the Super Bowl, isn't it realistically possible that cheating won the Patriots that Vince Lombardi trophy that year?

What's your take?  Got an opinion, I'd love to hear it!

Special Teams Loose Opener For Eagles

Reid cut Bloom for this?  Two muffed returns lost the game for the Eagles.  Reid cuts Bloom, and puts in J.R. Reed and Greg Lewis (who has stated he's not a return guy) as punt returners, and what does it do for the team?  That change manages to loose the game for the Birds.

Was it just me, or was this game just torture to watch?  Each team not doing much of anything, is nothing but torture.

Between the penalties and the inability to really get anything going, and the high number of 3 and outs - this game just seemed to drag out and torture us fans who watched.  Of course there were great moments of beautiful plays, but they were few and far between.

The first quarter was just abysmal, by 6 minutes into the game the Packers are up 10 to zip.  All I could do is just sit and curse about the Eagles special teams.  Finally close to the end of the 1st quarter there was some sign of hope and by the time the end of the first half came, Jason Avant finally gave me something to cheer about in stead of curse.

Only later would Avant make me curse, a 15 yard penalty on a personal foul, just added to a really bad day of penalties for the Eagles.  I did find myself cheering again, a few plays later, when Kearse recovered a Brett Farve fumble after Farve was blind sided from behind by Trent Cole. 

There were some brightspots though, Donovan McNabb looked great, as did Kearse (although when he limped off the field I nearly had a heart attack) and the new #81, Jason Avant was nothing like the old #81 the Eagles had 2 years ago.  The defense had some key turnovers, sacks and tackles including a nice interception by Sheldon Brown.  Brian Westbrook had a decent game, too, racking up 85 rushing yards and 46 receiving yards in the game, up against a defense that was touted as being on of the tops this season.

Lito Sheppard left the game and didn't return with a sprained knee, guess we'll be hearing about that status tomorrow.

Now on top of a lousy way to loose a close game (thank you, again, Eagles special teams), I've only now just discovered that this lousy cable system I'm on (Viking Cable Communications) doesn't have Comcast Sports Net and I can't watch Post Game Live.  I even tried accessing it via the internet, but again, this lousy cable system that I'm on, has a slow ass connection that makes molasses in January seem to move a lot faster than the live streaming video feed.  Guess that's what I get for moving after the football season is over and just getting the "Default" service this apartment community has.  DirectTV will be getting a new customer very shortly.

Think I'll just wait to see how the special teams is crucified on philly.com tomorrow.  What a disappointing opening game for the season.