Picture perfect, not comfortable ahead, EO, Equaled, Minions
Thankfully after three relatively dry days Cindy and I were able to get the grass mowed and trimmed around the house on Saturday. That was only a couple items on the long to do list that I wrote out for the weekend. Cindy actually likes when I make lists like this as it helps keep her on point. The yard looked so much better by the time we were done.
I took the dogs back to Ali whom got back from France in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Of course the girls were thrilled that Ali was back. I spent a few minutes hearing about the trip. It sounded like Ali had an awesome time which I was happy to hear.
One of the other tasks we took on was some organization of different areas of the house. Cindy did most of that, my main contribution came in the hobby room where I got rid of a bunch of boxes that were wasting a shelf and I mounted a hook on the wall where my various door mounted pull up equipment now hangs.
On Saturday night we made our return to the movie theater, something we hadn’t done in well over a month. We went to see The Equalizer with Denzel Washington. Denzel has done a number of movies where he comes off as a BAMF and it’s a role he is good at. The movie could have also been called 50 ways to Die as it seemed like every scum that Denzel wiped clean was offed in a unique manner, some of them were quite disturbing for sure. The film totally scratched my revenge plot itch. I enjoyed it enough to just squeeze into an A- rating.
Cindy and I woke up Sunday morning after a very rare session of sleeping in until almost 8AM to absolutely beautiful weather. The temps were in the mid-60’s and the air was missing the oppressive humidity that has been present for most of the last 6 months. Cindy immediately started circling the house, opening every window she could to let the fresh air circulate. It was awesome.
Since we planned to do a run that morning it worked out even better as I always greatly prefer running in cooler temps. We headed to the track where I put in 4 miles at around an 8:45 pace, the farthest run I have done in a long time. This was the first time Cindy has run since her foot injury 3 months ago. She probably did more than she should have but reported she felt fine after logging 3.25 miles of her own.
We went right from running to a number of errands. One of those errands included refilling the gas cans that I use for the lawn equipment. I went an extra 10 miles round trip out of my way to the gas station with the ethanol free blend. To me, it’s just worth it. By the time we got home it was almost noon, meaning the Eagles game was coming up.
Wow that game was such an emotional roller coaster that despite being a win almost felt like a loss. Once again the special teams and defense came up big, scoring touchdowns, without those scores the Birds would have been screwed. Despite the offense not playing all that well, the Eagles had what you would think was an insurmountable lead of 34-7 in the 3rd quarter. Well obviously if you saw the final score, that was not the case.
The failure to hold the lead was a total team effort. Of course the defense was the most visible failure, letting the Ram’s march down the field matador style time and time again, allowing them to easily score three touchdowns in rapid fire succession. Sure I expect some degree of prevent when up by that much but this defense was softer than a 300 pound woman’s rear end.
The offense was equally inept when it came to playing with a lead. I understand that Chip Kelly’s offensive scheme is all about speed, running plays in less than half of the allotted time on the play clock all game long. However when you have a large lead, this play style no longer is benefiting you. The team needs prolonged, ball control drives to consume clock and grind the other team into the dirt. The Eagles are noticeably uncomfortable running the offense at a conventional pace and there is absolutely no reason for this. They can run the exact same plays the always do, just huddle up and snap the ball with 5 or less seconds on the play clock. It’s stupidly simple yet Kelly does not have the team do it.
The problem is compounded by the Eagles running game vanishing over the last 3 weeks. McCoy did slightly better this week but overall was ineffective. I was so tired of seeing him take the hand off and his first step is not forward, it’s a tap dance side to side which more often than not results in him being tackled for no gain or a loss. Yes I realize there is something going on with the O-line that isn’t making holes that McCoy feels comfortable with but the guy has to stop losing yardage. A small hole is better than a 2 second stutter step and being tackled, get your ass moving up field.
After I have proclaimed Nick Foles the QB I have been waiting for after the Redskins game he has really been underperforming and more troubling, just making bad decisions. To fumble the ball because you fall head first to the ground instead of safely sliding in inexcusable. I also could not believe how many times he was throwing while falling backwards or off balance. The team was very lucky Foles didn’t get picked off more yesterday. In addition to these mental blunders Foles has not been very accurate with his passing recently, missing open receivers down the field in almost a McNabb like manner. He obviously needs to play better.
So anyway, as good as I felt about the team after starting 3-0 is how unsure I am with the team at 4-1. If they don’t start doing the basics better we may have had the highlights of the year already transpire.
Over the weekend I also finished off the end raid boss in the latest WoW expansion. It took 3 deaths to get through it but that made the end result more satisfying. Virtual victory is still a victory.
After the game I worked on the potential award podiums that I bought for the club. I drilled four holes into the frame of each stand, breaking two drill bits in the process. After creating the holes I cut four pieces of poster board to size and attached them. My initial thought was I could print out the graphics for each podium, cut them out and use packing tape to attach them to the poster board. After testing that strategy out it looked too cheap to me. I think we will have our graphic design person have something professional crafted for them instead.
Last night Cindy and I watched Despicable Me 2. I never saw the original. It was silly and cute as most animated films these days are. It easily is worth a B+ rating.