The Bandit, Pick up where we left off

I was sad to hear Burt Reynolds died yesterday.  He was so iconic to me growing up, I loved his character in Smokey and the Bandit and Cannonball Run.  He just seemed like the epitome of cool.  It was rough seeing him descend into old age and the frail representation of his former self.  No one ever looked better behind the wheel of a black Trans Am.

So the Eagles and Falcons kicked off the NFL season last night, albeit late.  They delayed the start of the game for 45 minutes because of, rain???  I guess the rain was accompanied by some lightning which was the real cause of the delay.  Luckily the storm passed and the team got to do the official commemoration and unveiling of the Eagles first ever Super Bowl Champion banner.   Having Brian Dawkins lead the ceremony was awesome.  As they dropped the cloth, revealing the banner for the first time, a small tear of joy dropped from my eye as the emotion surrounding the Birds Super Bowl win came rushing back in. It was such a special moment.

For whatever reason the energy from that celebration did not carry onto the field.  The Eagles, especially their offense looked inept for almost 2/3 of the game.  Everyone knew the way to beat the Falcons was to run but instead the game plan seemed to instead be awful short yard passing often for less than 5 yards per play.  It was so aggravating to watch.  At one point Nelson Agalor had eight catches for only 34 yards.   I don’t think Foles threw for much more than 100 yards on the night.

The team finally started to show some life in the second half and took a late lead.  It was uncanny how the end of the game seemed to almost exactly follow the script of the playoff game the Eagles had against the Falcons last season.  Cindy and I were besides ourselves with the apparent inability of the Eagles cornerbacks to cover Julio Jones who just made catch after catch with seemingly no resistance.  However at the very end the Eagles defense had to come up with huge game winning stops not once but twice when a failed 4th and goal pass with seconds remaining turned into a first down after a bullshit illegal contact call on the Eagles.

So with no timeouts and only time for one play, just like last year, Matt Ryan targeted Julio Jones in the corner of the end zone (opposite corner), and once again the last ditch effort fell short as Jones made the grab but landed safely out of bounds, securing a thrilling game one victory for the Eagles.  It was quite the turnaround, the offense seemed like it could not get out of it’s own way early.  They never executed well but at least they got points on the board when they needed it.  I think not having Ashlon Jeffery on the field makes a HUGE difference.  Without him drawing coverage downfield the Falcons backfield locked down the Eagles receivers pretty easily.

The defense did a lot of bending and not breaking.  I was so annoyed how open Julio Jones was repeatedly throughout the game.  During that last drive it was especially annoying, everyone knew he was the primary target yet he was allowed to pick apart the soft zone coverage at will.  The D did do a good job against the run and put decent pressure on Ryan when it mattered the most.

I certainly hope the amount of penalties in the game are not indicative of how this season will go.  It was just an obscene amount of flags on both sides.  Some of the new rules about QB contact are just insane.  You are allowed to tackle a QB but you can’t “drive him into the ground” ?  Isn’t that the definition of a good tackle?  I understand the desire to protect players but you are asking them to defy the laws of physics at times. It’s pretty dumb.  Nobody likes a game that has a penalty thrown on every other play.

After the thrilling finish it was late, very late.  Unfortunately the adrenaline from the exciting finish made it very tough for me to fall asleep, despite being exhausted.  I bet I rolled around for close to an additional hour before I fell asleep.  The lethargy today is worth it.  What a great way to start the season.

Unfortunately I can’t have my normal big cup of coffee this morning to combat the tiredness as I normally would.  That is because my abdominal CT goes down late this morning.  Instead of enjoying a cup of coffee I get to choke down two barium “shakes” 90 and 45 minutes before the appointment.  I really have no idea what to expect of the procedure, how long it will take, or how I will feel afterward.  My only focus is finding out what is going on and getting on the path to resolution.

This weekend has standard items on it with nothing as frustrating as the Prius work from last weekend clouding the outlook.