All week there's been tremendous hype with the Eagles playing Jacksonville in Britain this Sunday. Pictures of the team doing various "British" things, parties celebrating their Super Bowl championship with the natives, and just general "feel good" type of pre-game hoopla.
I'm having trouble buying it all, however, as I sit in my transplanted living room mentally preparing for Game Eight, contemplating the dismal 3-4 first half of the season record, and crossing my fingers at the looming trade deadline, hoping that Howie can pull another rabbit out of the hat as he did it last year, acquiring running back Jay Ajayi from the Miami Dolphins at the deadline. Ajayi would go on to sure up the Eagles backfield, and become an indispensable part of the championship roster.
I am worried about this team; truly, they seem to be going through the mythical "Super Bowl let-down" season, a thought that I had poo-pooed a mere eight months ago whilst still riding the euphoria of a fresh Lombardi trophy. And while the division is relatively weak this year, a 3-4 record is well under my expectation for our Champs this season, and celebrating the team in London is just about the farthest thing from my mind.
Legendary Birds coach Buddy Ryan used to philosophize that the teams that won in November were the teams that went to the playoffs. Once again, I think he will be proven right, as a dismal September-October morphs into a hopeful November-Deecmber.
Let's turn this around, Eagles, and let's start today. Tempest fugit.
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