4 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

Sometimes teams that have been there before act like theyve been there before. 

It would rub a lot of people the wrong way to see the eagles celebrate a wildcard win that much. 

Baseball has always been different.  While I agree with you, until they added the wild card games, only 8 teams in the entire MLB made the playoffs so it was an accomplishment.  But you know the kids these days....it all started when people were putting up "little Andrew just graduated from 3rd to 4th grade" congrats banners that covered the entire lawn during covid.  Everything went super soft starting then.

13 hours ago, EaglesIreland said:

So those of us in Ireland and the uk will have to suffer through three hours of Neil Reynolds and the sky sports NFL presentation. Christ. Anyway hopefully it’s another win this Sunday. 

That's me recording and watching on Monday morning.

Sadly, I met Reynolds in Philly a long time ago and he's a realy good guy IRL, but in the Sky presentation mould, yikes.  Doesn't help Schecter can be pretty grating at times.

Starting to get old, but I'd take Kevin Cadle not knowing what is going on over the current presentation

2 minutes ago, RLC said:

Terrible matchup for the Eagles defense vs. Rams offense. 

 

People keep saying this, but why?

Stafford is dinged up, we can pressure right up the middle.  I haven't seen a lot of the Rams but they seem to have bigger WRs and not quick twitch guys.  

They're one dimensional already. Stafford is their 2nd leading rusher.   We should be able to totally shut down their running game without loading the box

@mattwill Eagles 38  Rams 35

Bonus: Carter gets two sacks

7 minutes ago, Mike31mt said:

People keep saying this, but why?

We can't handle bunch sets, and we're still a primarily zone coverage team. The Rams WRs, especially Puka, is very good at finding holes in zones.

Honestly, if the Rams run the ball more than 20 times on Sunday we should be thankful.

19 minutes ago, Khani1 said:

Baseball has always been different.  While I agree with you, until they added the wild card games, only 8 teams in the entire MLB made the playoffs so it was an accomplishment.  But you know the kids these days....it all started when people were putting up "little Andrew just graduated from 3rd to 4th grade" congrats banners that covered the entire lawn during covid.  Everything went super soft starting then.

Performative for the cameras, huge mess for someone else to clean up, waste of beer.... verdict: lame.

3 minutes ago, Waiting4Someday said:

Performative for the cameras

Actually, not with this Phillies team.  They would act that way whether the cameras are on or not.  Agree with all the rest.

29 minutes ago, Khani1 said:

Baseball has always been different.  While I agree with you, until they added the wild card games, only 8 teams in the entire MLB made the playoffs so it was an accomplishment.  But you know the kids these days....it all started when people were putting up "little Andrew just graduated from 3rd to 4th grade" congrats banners that covered the entire lawn during covid.  Everything went super soft starting then.

Yeah now that I think about, I can clearly see how adult professional baseball players celebrating wins too much is directly attributable to something that parents of 4th graders did 3 years ago. The math definitely checks out on that.

1 minute ago, we_gotta_believe said:

Yeah now that I think about, I can clearly see how adult professional baseball players celebrating wins too much is directly attributable to something that parents of 4th graders did 3 years ago. The math definitely checks out on that.

2020 the entire world went soft.  Many people under 35 these days feel super entitled.  

1 minute ago, Khani1 said:

2020 the entire world went soft.  Many people under 35 these days feel super entitled.  

This is true. Adult MLB players went soft during covid because unrelated parents of 4th graders put signs on their lawns. We're clearly in agreement on this.

2 minutes ago, we_gotta_believe said:

This is true. Adult MLB players went soft during covid because unrelated parents of 4th graders put signs on their lawns. We're clearly in agreement on this.

Sounds like you are part of the problem.  Did you give your kid a 7th place participation trophy?

30 minutes ago, Mike31mt said:

People keep saying this, but why?

Stafford is dinged up, we can pressure right up the middle.  I haven't seen a lot of the Rams but they seem to have bigger WRs and not quick twitch guys.  

They're one dimensional already. Stafford is their 2nd leading rusher.   We should be able to totally shut down their running game without loading the box

Our pass defense gave up 300 yds to Mac Jones and Sam Howell, so are you really confused why people might think Stafford with the Rams WRs could match or exceed that?

1 minute ago, Khani1 said:

Sounds like you are part of the problem.  Did you give your kid a 7th place participation trophy?

I definitely did, and because of that, a team of adult professional athletes in a completely different city are going to cheer too much after they win. I blame myself and I apologize for what I've done, I should've known the butterfly effect worked in such subtle ways.

Just now, we_gotta_believe said:

I definitely did, and because of that, a team of adult professional athletes in a completely different city are going to cheer too much after they win. I blame myself and I apologize for what I've done, I should've known the butterfly effect worked in such subtle ways.

Your jokes are dumb.  You get 5th place.  Go celebrate!

1 minute ago, Khani1 said:

Your jokes are dumb.  You get 5th place.  Go celebrate!

Ya don't gotta tell me twice!

6:07 pm start times for game 1 and 2.

1 hour ago, HazletonEagle said:

Sometimes teams that have been there before act like theyve been there before. 

It would rub a lot of people the wrong way to see the eagles celebrate a wildcard win that much. 

Personally I think the song is lame and a bunch of dudes dancing around to it while wearing goggles and spraying themselves with beer is super lame.  BUT they are having fun and people enjoy watching it too so good for them. It's not for a bunch of curmudgeons to tell people when to have fun. 

52 minutes ago, Mike31mt said:

People keep saying this, but why?

Stafford is dinged up, we can pressure right up the middle.  I haven't seen a lot of the Rams but they seem to have bigger WRs and not quick twitch guys.  

They're one dimensional already. Stafford is their 2nd leading rusher.   We should be able to totally shut down their running game without loading the box

If they can get to Stafford early and often, they should be fine. If he’s limited, because of his hip, that would be a help.  Dline needs to get home because our coverage has not been solid.  

45 minutes ago, we_gotta_believe said:

Our pass defense gave up 300 yds to Mac Jones and Sam Howell, so are you really confused why people might think Stafford with the Rams WRs could match or exceed that?

The Pats game was the first of the year, we jumped out to a 16 point lead and he threw 54 passes.  They scored 20 points. No problem at all if Stafford repeats that performance.

Howell is infinitely more mobile than Stafford will be, and no one on the Rams currently (assuming Kupp isnt 100%) is as good as Terry Mclaurin.  Washington is divisional and always play us tough.  They also had some success running the ball with Robinson, and are a much better running team in general.

Stafford has 3 TDs and 5 picks this year.  And hes got a bad hip. 

58 minutes ago, we_gotta_believe said:

Our pass defense gave up 300 yds to Mac Jones and Sam Howell, so are you really confused why people might think Stafford with the Rams WRs could match or exceed that?

Once Rams LT went down vs the Bengals it was over, who still isn't practicing, their offensive line was just over matched. Combined that with a banged up Stafford, it is a big advantage for us

 

The Rams have a lot of offensive weapons, the QB is just one element of it.  Our DL has not been exactly dominating and putting a lot of pressure on QB.  This would be a good game for the DEs to show up and bring home the sacks.  

2 hours ago, Aerolithe_Lion said:

Magic is one of the worst defensive superstars of his era. The Lakers infamously put him on the weakest offensive player of every team they played. Lebron at his peak could absolutely dominate all 5 positions defensively; very few players in history were like that.

IMO defense in basketball is wildly underrated and that’s a difference I can’t ignore. Magic is in the bottom part of my top 5

The debate about greatest ever is a very difficult one, even for basketball.  How do you compare Wilt Chamberlain to John Stockton?  Just dramatically different in terms of what each brought to their team.  But, for me, one of the things that helps to determine 'greatness' is the impact on the game.  So, for the sake of argument, who do you put on the Mount Rushmore for basketball?   Not the 'highest scoring' or whatever, but impact on the game.

 

So, for me: 
Spot #1 - Wilt Chamberlain is the most obvious choice.  They literally changed the rules to try to stop him.  Change to foul shots, change to lane width, etc.
Spot #2 - Michael Jordan is on there, because he came along at just the time that the NBA was looking to expand internationally and he became the face of basketball worldwide.  And helped to spread the game across the globe.

Then it gets controversial. 

Spot #3 - Magic and Bird, to me, go on together in a single slot.  It was those two coming into the league at the same time, and their rivalry (coming from the rivalry even in college) that led to the explosion in popularity of the NBA.  But, it was the combination, not either one individually, so they go in together.  Is that a cop out?  Absolutely, but I don't care.

The last spot is where my argument is the weakest for some, I'm sure... but I give it to:
Spot #4 - Julius Erving.  He changed the game from a game played, pretty much exclusively below the rim, to a game played above the rim as well.  He changed the way that athletes approached the game and it became an aerial sport where athletes could exploit their athleticism.  Further, he was one of the first to popularize the 'trick' shot (shooting from crazy angles, for example, his under the backboard reverse layup) in the middle of the game.

 

Others could be argued, but that's my 'Four'.   And as such... they are my 'top 5 players' in NBA history.   And to me, this is no slight to Kareem, Kobe, Lebron, or anyone else.  These 4, IMO, paved the way for these other guys to be able to excel and so they go on Mount Rushmore.  The others can be the 'greatest scorer', 'greatest defender', 'greatest whatever'... but none of them changed the game the way these 4 did.

2 hours ago, HazletonEagle said:

are these guys a little too hyped for a best of 2 early round playoff win?

Nah.  It's just a reason to party together as a team, and with no game the next day... why not celebrate a little?   They celebrated every win with a little gatorade dump on the player being interviewed.  It's just who they are.

I think they are still going to be all business in Atlanta.    

2 hours ago, Khani1 said:

It's the soft era.  Every team does it.  Phillies in 4.

I want to believe they can sweep, but I think it will be Phillies in 4.   I don't see the Braves coming here and winning a game... so all it takes is the Phillies taking one of two in Atlanta.

 

Edit:  Freudian slip... I typed 3 when I meant to say 4.   (I really do think a sweep is possible.)

2 hours ago, HazletonEagle said:

Sometimes teams that have been there before act like theyve been there before. 

It would rub a lot of people the wrong way to see the eagles celebrate a wildcard win that much. 

Baseball is very different from football... always has been.   Much to do about nothing.