A true warrior

Terrell Owens put all his critics to rest and his performance in Super Bowl XXXIX was nothing short of miraculous and spectacular. The man, just seven weeks removed from breaking his leg and tearing his ankle dominated the Patriots secondary.

Owens had nine receptions for 122 yards, playing with a screw in his leg and going against all Dr.'s orders whom said he could not do it. Nothing negative can be said about this man and he can talk all he wants, because when it comes time to play Owens produces on the field.

He put his career and health on the line to try and win a championship, and he did all he could to help this team come out victorious. Owens was not 100 percent, but even at 81 percent he was the best receiver on the field.

After the dust settles with this team and the fans having time to reflect, Owens should be praised endlessly for his performance. He came back to play and gave the Eagles a realistic chance to win the football game.

And after watching that football game, you are kidding yourself if you think the Eagles had any chance whatsoever of winning the Super Bowl without Owens on the field.

The man is a phenomenal, finely tuned athlete who puts his body first above everything. He does not drink, eats right and conditions himself like none other throughout the season and a lesson or two should be learned from him by some of his teammates.

The Eagles did not win the Super Bowl, but T.O. should forever be immortalized in this city for what he was able to come back and do.

No comfort in second place

The Philadelphia Eagles concluded their season without an NFL Championship, again. This has been the end result of every Eagles season for the past 45 years and there is no other way to look at it.

The Eagles finally were able to get over the hump of winning the NFC Championship Game, but fell short in the Super Bowl and that is not good enough. Nobody remembers who came in second place and this time is no different. The Eagles did have a nice run and in a couple months will we look back and respect that, but right now yet another season has finished with another team lifting up the Vince Lombardi trophy in triumph.

This is getting old and it is getting old real quick. There are optimists out there who cry out "great year" and "we'll get them next year," but for crying out loud is next year ever going to come.

This season was another failure and those who call Philadelphia fans losers or nay Sayers for saying that, do not understand the game of football and really do not understand the sports history of this city.

The Eagles were there, the Patriot were ripe for the picking and the Eagles fell short. The overwhelming majority of the blames falls on the shoulders of quarterback Donovan McNabb and the head coach Andy Reid, and it should.

Both of these men came up real small in a game that could not have been any bigger. It is not the time to pat them on the back and say thanks for the nice run, take that junk up the street, because this is Philadelphia and we do not accept losers (although we should be accustomed to it by now).

I for one am tired of hearing on the news and listening to various callers to local radio stations say lay off their back and be happy we are always one of the best teams in the league every year. No, I am not happy we are supposedly always there and what is so great about being one of the best teams in the league if the Eagles can not close the deal year in and year out.

It would be gratifying to just once, one lousy time to be able to call the Philadelphia Eagles the best team in football for one year. Is that too much to ask?


Reid reverts to old self, clueless on sideline


A NFL head coach who is in the playoffs for the fifth consecutive year can not be that bad at clock management. Oh yes he can and oh yes he was. Andy Reid acted like he was a rookie head coach in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XXXIX and with a great deal of help from his beloved quarterback, lost his team the football game.

The Eagles were down by 10 points late in the fourth quarter, with about six minutes left in the Super Bowl and the Eagles are huddling up, with no sense of urgency to get the play off.

There were at least two or three plays where there was less than 10 seconds on the play clock when McNabb finally received the snap from center, Hank Fraley. This is football "101", you need two scores in the final six plus minutes and you are taking 30 to 35 seconds in-between plays!

After the game Reid stated to the media that they were trying to run the hurry up, but there were reasons he could not get into. What reasons? They needed to score in a hurry and they are taking their good old time. Reid has always had trouble with managing the clock, but it has always been over looked in the past because of the team's success, but this has to wake somebody up.

Obviously Reid is our head coach, but maybe somebody else like offensive coordinator, Brad Childress should be calling the plays and give Reid less responsibility to worry about.

Reid was not exactly calling a great game prior to that debacle at the end either. The Eagles were not running the ball effectively, true, but you can not win in the NFL throwing the ball 51 times and only calling 16 running plays. There has to be a better ratio, and maybe try running Westbrook outside (which he did have success at) and not pounding him up the middle. A few more screens and slants would have been nice to throw to Westbrook too.

It should have been a steady dose of Westbrook and T.O. the majority of the second half and the Eagles would be Super Bowl champions.

Oh by the way

I was just starting to come to grips (almost) with losing the Super Bowl and then I hear this. There was no hurry up offense because Donovan McNabb could not breath and ran out of gas. Are you kidding me. He is a professional athlete who makes over $100 million a y ear and he is too out of shape to call a play in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. No, all the facts are not in yet, but unless he was sick or had some sort of concussion, McNabb is the biggest disgrace in the history of Philadelphia sports.

Have and questions or comments?Agree/Disagree?Send all responses to blkovack@yahoo.com.