Interview with an Eagles Fan regarding the Redskins MNF game

It's time for another exciting installment of Interview with a Fan. A great friend of mine, Jimmy Mac, has lived in Philly pretty much his whole life, with a brief stint in Baltimore commuting from his time as Monty and Manager at Rosecroft Race Track in MD. So, gambling comes into play here. He's must have heard the "How many Super Bowls you got?" comeback from me at least 13.5 gazillion times, but with the current state of the Redskins, I've shelved that one for an undetermined amount of time. I hit Jimmy with 5 questions:

1.)    Why does Andy Reid refuse to run the ball?
2.)    How much does Witherspoon add to a depleted LB core?
3.)    Six weeks in, any regrets letting Dawkins go?
4.)    Has McNabb lost a step?
5.)    Barbaro trash talk and Game Prediction.

Hogs Haven: Philadelphia had 60 offensive plays vs the Raiders (a whopping 46 of them passes and just 12 of them runs) - despite the fact that Brian Westbrook gained 50 yards on just six carries. 0 Wildcat plays with Vick. The Raiders have a 28th ranked defense against the run (145.3 ypg)....any explanations why Andy Reid refuses to run the ball? This has killed the Birds it seems at least 1 game a year.

Andy Reid's game-plan versus the Raiders (as most cases against bad teams) is to take them out early with the pass, get a huge lead, and then run later in the second half. Obviously, the plan did not work.  Here is Reid's biggest weakness as a head coach; it is making adjustments in-game when the original game plan did not work. Reid refused to run the ball and continued to throw the ball every down even though the Raiders can't stop the run and King Dunlap was getting literally run over by Seymour and McNabb was taking a beating. To most observers, this was unexplainable. Most every Eagle fan can explain it very simply: Arrogance. Reid refuses to make adjustments when things aren't working because he believes his way is the best way and he will go down with the ship throwing the ball. We have seen it for a decade and its sickening. The Eagles will either blow out teams or lose the game. Either Reid's initial game plan works and they win big or he will make no adjustments and the ship will sink. Simple as that.

Hogs Haven: It's now Week 7 and Macho Harris seems to be having a so-so year. What's your sentiment now on if the Eagles should have re-signed Dawkins?

The Trotter re-signing is basically the Eagles admitting they totally screwed up by not resigning Dawk. I don't think they brought back a 31yo LB who hasn't played in 2 years and couldn't run 3 years ago for his athletic ability. Harris will be a good player and isn't doing a bad job on the field as a rookie.

Hogs Haven: How much does the addition of Will Witherspoon help the Birds this week? I'm glad to see someone else suffer with Trotter besides the Redskins, but Witherspoon does have good skills covering TEs, which is basically the Redskins only offensive weapon.

Witherspoon will be an upgrade at MLB if he shows up Monday and doesn't get hurt in pre game warm-ups. Why Trotter was on the field in obvious passing downs is unbelievable. So is not knowing how many timeouts you have and getting a delay of game in the hurry-up 2 minute drill. But I digress, some things you just can't answer. It's a safe assumption the Redskins offensive game plan will be revolve around Cooley.

Hogs Haven: McNabb always gets away from the first pass rusher...the first Raider was getting him to the ground. Are you noticing anything about McNabb that makes you think he has lost a step?

McNabb hasn't lost a step. To me, I've seen this a few times throughout his career. When the O-line is getting beat and McNabb is getting knocked around and sacked, he seems to me that he starts to expect it every time he drops back and almost willfully takes a sack even though he may have been able to escape that first rusher with a little maneuvering. It's very annoying.

Hogs Haven: What do you think will happen first...the Eagles win a Super Bowl or the Barbaro comes back from the dead and wins the Triple Crown?

Not sure about Barbaro, but I would guess that if Vegas were to set a line on who would win a Super Bowl first, the Eagles or the Redskins, it would be somewhere around Eagles -100,000 and Redskins +750,000. What a cluster **** you got going on down there. I almost feel bad for you guys, almost.

[Switching to IM]

Hogs Haven: Prediction...

Jimmy: 34-14. I think it would be a very close game if we won last week, id even say the skins outright. Since we lost, you will get buried. Reid off a loss is really, really good.

Hogs Haven: 14 will be our 3rd down conversion % or sacks against. We can't score against D's that give up 400+ yards a game ON AVERAGE. I can't wait to see what a top 5 team Defense does...3 of our current 5 offensive lineman were either undrafted or out of the league last year.

Jimmy: 14 pts because cooley will have a big game. You will be down big and won't go for a FG and maybe a turnover, TD. If the Skins get blown out, they'll get a meaningless late TD.

Hogs Haven: I'll take the under at 11.