Monday Morning Mehta 10/3/05

Edition # 134
October 3, 2005

www.mondaymorningmehta.blogspot.com

Ed Wasser will return next week, he's in Chicago covering the Blackhawks/Mighty Ducks game for MMM. He'll have complete analysis next week.

EAGLES

In what I consider one of the best regular season victories of the Andy Reid era, the Eagles come roaring back from a 17-0 and 24-6 deficit to beat the KC Chiefs 37-31 in a hostile Arrowhead Stadium.

Game Positives:

- Donovan McNabb & Terrell Owens. I couldn't really tell which guy was better here but both played awesome after falling behind early. They both had some mistakes, but Owens was open on just about every play. McNabb also made some great throws while sitting in the pocket and taking some shots.

- Jeremiah Trotter. I may have gone out of control yesterday but I'll stand by my comment...Trotter is the best MLB in the NFL. I've given him heat in this section for his pass protection, but nobody controls the line of scrimmage against the run better than this guy right now. Ray Lewis is a shell of his former self, James Farrior is playing great, but right now I want this guy. Trotter was all over the field after the score was 17-0 and held a powerful Chiefs running attack to almost nothing.

- LJ Smith. One could say that Smith is only getting open because coverages are concentrating on Owens, but the Chiefs didn't bother to cover Owens yesterday. Smith is leading NFL in receptions and 2nd in yards (for TE's only).

- Sheldon Brown. This is an easy one. I've contested all along that Brown is the better CB over Sheppard, but at this point who can tell the difference. Both CB's are playing phenomenal.

Game Negatives:

- Artis Hicks. I realize he was in and out of the game with an injury, but it seems that Hicks is the weak man on the line these days. Still, the line is playing very well (I'll put a caveat on that saying they haven't been facing good defensive lines....the one they did they got beat up good (Atl)).

- Special Teams. Don't know about you, but a missed extra point, a missed 40 yarder, a fumble on a kickoff is not a good day on Special Teams. Todd France recovered nicely, as did the rest of the team forcing a Dante Hall fumble that pretty much iced the game.

Overall the Eagles put themselves in great shape heading into a big game in Dallas. Dallas is going to be a hungry team as they don't want to fall to 2-3, so expect the best out of the Cowboys.

Javon Kearse played his best game of the year.

Mike Patterson has been an absolute force so far in the middle of the line. The ends have to play much more consistent for the Eagles. They need to find this years Derrick Burgess.

I'm going to try and get through one Eagles recap without complaining about not running the ball.

I thought the timeout by the Eagles with 1+ minute left in the first half would come back to bite them. It didn't. Still, they need to manage the 2 minute drill clock a little better.

Is there a better home environment in sports than a Chiefs game at Arrowhead?

One has to wonder what impact not having Freddie Mitchell had on the Chiefs.

Where was Tony Gonzalez? Troy Aikman kept bringing it up and he was right. If Michael Lewis is covering Gonzo that leaves a lot of the field open. Coming into the game I thought Gonzo was going to hurt the Eagles badly, as I'm worried about Jason Whitten next week.

Around the NFL

The San Diego Chargers thump the New England Patriots 41-17 in Foxboro. While most Pats fans probably don't care because they're too busy worrying about the Red Sox this weekend, this was an ugly loss. I don't think this is one where the Pats can blow off as a fluke. The defense is hurting badly right now. The Pats are in trouble right now and it won't get any easier as they travel to Atlanta next week.

The New York Giants move to 3-1 with a blowout victory over the Rams. Eli Manning to Plaxico Burress is looking like a great combination. Giants haven't faced a test yet and have a pretty easy schedule in the first half, so I expect them to stay in the playoff hunt all year.

Denver gets an impressive victory in Jacksonville, which certainly will help them down the road in tiebreakers. After getting thumped by Miami on Opening Day the Broncos were the laughing stock of the league. Now they're 3-1 laughing atop the division. The NFL is insane.

The Redskins move to 3-0 with a victory over the Seahawks. The Seahawks had a chance here but doinked a FG off the post with time running out in regulation. Redskins at 3-0 just seems like it's a mistake. Joe Gibbs isn't dead yet.

Dallas had a chance to improve to 3-1 as they drove down the field late in the game. Bledsoe couldn't get it done though. Yesterday was a game where if the Cowboys had a legit QB, they win.

Phillies Post-Mortem

The Phillies season comes to a crushing end as they fall one game short of the Astros. As in prior years, as the playoffs start we do a Phillies post mortem.

1. Starting Pitching. I think there's one lasting memory I'll have of the Phillies this year, and that's the 5-2 lead over the Mets that was blown by Ugy Urbina in the final week. What does that have to do with starting pitching? The Phillies have a bunch of starters who go 6 or 7 innings and give up 2 or 3 runs. While that is a quality start, over 162 games you're going to kill your set up men. Ryan Madson and Ugy Urbina were on fumes late in the season. I'm not in dream world, I know there isn't such a thing as a 9 inning pitcher any more, but just look at every playoff team. They have one or two stud pitchers who can and have gone 8 innings many times throughout the season. An 8 inning performance rests your bullpen during a victory. The Phillies do not have an 8 inning pitcher and just about every victory required using a setup man like Madson or Urbina. In the end, that costs them too many W's.

2. Consistency on offense. This sounds general, but that's because I think the whole Phillies offense has this problem. Pat Burrell runs too hot and cold. Chase Utley has was streaky this year. Bobby Abreu is consistently on base, but he's in the middle of the lineup and can't have a home run in 8 straight games in May, and only have 24 the whole year. Player of the month in May, nowhere to be found in July. I am not picking on Jimmy Rollins, but having a 36 game hitting streak on the heels of hitting .188 in August is unacceptable. What I'm saying is, the sum of all this is the Phils offensive core. Our best hitters were all very inconsistent this year. That's a recipe for 12-2 victory one night, and 3-1 loss the next, something the Phillies have done way too much of the last few years.

3. David Bell. Rarely do I think one guy is responsible for the demise of a team, but over 162 games Bell has botched so many games, it's mind boggling. Just think to yourself, that if Bell doesn't make an error in the final game of the Astros series, the Phillies are in the playoffs right now. I can almost live with a pathetic bat, but when you make key errors and baserunning blunders (need I remind the first to third on Beltran this week?), that's when you got to go. Bell's contract is high, but $5 million is tradable. Ship him back to Seattle and pay most of his salary.

4. Ed Wade disease. Fans are disgusted just looking at this guy. There isn't any scenario I can see Ed Wade being a GM on a World Series winner, so why have him? The fan feedback has been so negative towards this guy it may force Dave Montgomery to make a change, let's hope so.

5. The Cholly factor. How many games did Charlie Manuel cost us? I don't think this team played very differently this year, as opposed to the last few. 88 wins is more then Larry Bowa ever got as a Phils manager. Manuel is a terrible in game manager and would be exposed pretty badly in a playoff setting. If this team gets serious next year and hires a new GM, they should get Lou Pinella, but he probably wants the Yankees job and may wait out Joe Torre.

Offseason Moves

I'll go into further detail in the coming weeks for next year, as of right now I don't think this team needs a major overhaul, but they do need a little more then a tweak. I'm not going crazy and saying they need to trade Pat Burrell or anything like that, here's some quick thoughts for next year:

- Need to find an ace. Not Jon Lieber. I said an ace. Somebody who has 9 inning possibility every time. Smoltz, Beckett, Pettitte, Oswalt, Peavy, Carpenter, Willis, Hudson, Schmidt, Sheets are the type of names I'm referring to and that's just in the NL. There's aces out there.

- Need to resign Billy Wagner. They can't go into the season with Urbina as the closer. They just can't.

- The Ryan Howard/Jim Thome controversy will be the defining moment of the off season. I'm worried that this turns into a Polanco/Utley situation from earlier this year. Expect the Phillies to explore Abreu in center with Howard in left, even though they've unsuccessfully tried Howard in the OF before.

Pre-season picks - In the NL I got 2 out of the 4 playoff teams. I also precisely picked the Phillies win total (88) as well as the win total for the wildcard (89, by the Astros). Over in the AL I got 3 out of the 4 right there. 5 out of 8 isn't bad, but I need to do better then that to make up for the Mets pick from 2003...

MLB Playoff Preview

Yankees vs. Anaheim. The Yankees celebrated winning the AL East on Saturday. Only to find out the Indians kept choking, which meant that they'd be playing the Angels in the division series. This is an absolutely disastrous matchup for the Yankees. The Angels have handled them very well since 2002. I don't expect this to be any different, Angels in 5.

Red Sox vs. White Sox. Which White Sox team shows up is obviously what is important here. Both bullpens are hurting, White Sox have the pitching edge, and the Red Sox have the offensive edge. The x-factor will be Jose Contreras, who has gotten beat up badly vs. the Red Sox his whole career. Red Sox in 4.

Astros vs. Braves. Haven't we seen this before at nausea? Astros broke through vs. the Braves finally last year. I guess you got to like the Astros pitching, Astros in 5.

Padres vs. Cards. Is anyone watching this? Cards in 4.

Right now my pick for the World Series would have to be Houston vs. Anaheim.