Before I take my turn at the blame game, I’ve gotta give props to the first year starters on this team who took us as far as we did in a season that looked bleak before midway through. Mikell, and the final 3 starters at linebacker eventually did a solid job as as freshmen on the defense. I’m gonna call Celek a starter at this point, he and Desean were both amazing in the playoffs to put a nice exclamation point on a solid season. I’m still on the fence with Demps. I like his fire and edge, but Dawkins was a prophet in the preseason when he said Demps would be alright if he kept his eyes on what was in front of him and out of the backfield (Demps was out of position on a Peterson run in the Wildcard game and the Fitzgerald bomb in the Title game).

I don’t agree that McNabb was the biggest reason we lost this game. Was McNabb on the field when the defense let the Cards waltz down the field on their first possession, or for any of the time the Cards scored to reach 24 points by halftime? Was McNabb on the field when Akers missed a 47 yard field goal and an extra point? Was he on the field in the 4th quarter when the Cards converted a 4th and 1 on a sweep to ice the game? No, no, and no. No one seems to mention the 3 touchdowns he threw to take the lead; or the 5 out 6 third down conversions he completed in the second half. All accomplished with a feeble running game and an o-line showing its age.

If you want to get picky about the last 2:53 of the game, McNabb started with 4 perfectly thrown balls (one terrible drop by Westbrook, and three catches). One bad throw that was off Baskett’s hip (on 1st & 10), then a slightly high ball which went through DeSean’s fingers (should’ve been caught, I believe Baskett at 6’4 or Lewis at 6’0 would’ve caught this) and finally two consecutive plays where McNabb delivered the ball to the spot but both receivers slipped and FELL DOWN on their cuts. And, you’re blaming McNabb for what exactly? Other than sweating like Shaq on the foul line.

If I were to assign blame, my finger pointing begins with the defensive coaching staff (btw, best wishes go out to J.J. for a speedy recovery). From the first day we knew we had to play this team, EVERYONE in the organization said, “we need to stop Warner and Fitzgerald!” What defensive scheme did we come up with exactly which allowed Fitzgerald to have 3 touchdowns by halftime? Our linebackers looked confused and were playing catchup most of the half, our only serious pressure came later from blitzing safeties. And speaking of safeties, why did we have Demps, a rookie, covering the best receiver in football on one of TD’s we gave up?

The second person to blame is Brian Westbrook. YEAH I SAID IT. In big games, big backs who make big money, play big–whether hurt, or not. He didn’t show up. What limited opportunities he had, he didn’t make the most of. In one on one situations, he didn’t break down his guy and got tackled too easily for what we’re used to seeing of him. Meanwhile Buckhalter averaged his regular 5 yards a carry.

Third on my list of people at fault is Akers. His missed 47 yard field goal made a huge difference later in the game. With 10 minutes to go, we would have had a 4 point lead instead of a 1 point lead. The Cardinals would have had more pressure to score a touchdown to win instead of the luxury of burning the clock once they got in field goal range. This put our defense in a huge bind late in the game. By the way, the missed 47 yard field goal was immediately followed by a 62 yard Fitzgerald touchdown. Akers also missed a PAT which didn’t necessarily factor into things, but it’s his job to make those (laces out, or not).

Fourth on the blame list is the officials. Cole was held all day, and they missed a big interference call on Avant which killed a drive.

I’d blame McNabb fifth due to the cold start and the wackyness he exhibited once we gained the lead. I’m hearing a lot of Ben is better than McNabb talk and I don’t believe it. Anyone who says they’d rather have Ben Rothlesburger is nuts. Big Ben had just one touchdown against the same defense, sure it was a big one, but it was an amazing catch and his receiver didn’t fall down (yeah, I’m bitter about that). Ben didn’t have to dig his team out of a huge halftime hole, and his defense scored a 100 yard touchdown return for him. Let’s not forget McNabb led the team to a stellar 4 wins out of the last 5 games to even make the playoffs and spanked the Cowpies and the Vaginants in the process.

So, 2008 is in the books. We were either one catch, one kick, or one tackle away from making the Superbowl. We didn’t shock the world (we DID shock a lot of Eagles fans by losing to the Cardinals…THE CARDINALS!!?!?), but we made some noise.

Our division foes took a step backwards in my opinion, and we clearly improved. Our 2009 non-division opponent list looks cushy. Teams will fear us next year. I see us winning the Superbowl. I’ll save my post-season pickups/draft/wishlist for another novel.

E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!!!