The NFL does not have the term “bad game” in their dictionary… thinking about it, they should!
Before this past game, there have been 4 tied games in the NFL the past 20 years, the last one was past Sunday November 16th; the previous was six years ago on November 10, 2002, when the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Atlanta Falcons finished 34-34; the other two took part in 1997, one of which also involved Eagles, but this time against Ravens (10-10).
Before getting into details about Sunday’s game, let’s point fingers at Donovan McNabb. There was no doubt at the end of the game that McNabb had no clue on how the NFL portrays a tie game or how the 15 minute rule works. We are talking about a 10 year NFL wise veteran, making a statement on how he had no idea games could finish on even scores or extra periods. Perhaps he knew time was running out, but pure pressure overtook his conscience, because that’s just part of the entire mess the game turned out to be.
If the playoffs were to be decided today, the Eagles will be out for sure, as they just can’t win. Again, Donovan McNabb played like a rookie, the game base on offense was out of order, the coaches took way to long to decide the final play within minutes for concluding; bottom line: it was a terrible game. The QB’s role is to avoid turnovers, so what were McNabb and the offense thinking giving away 4, which added 10 points; that’s 10 out of the total 13, the game could have ended 13-3. Now, they did tie the game, but got really close on losing it.
At some point in the last minutes, the Eagles coaching staff just run out of thoughts after the offense lay down and the coordination was lost between the QB and the running man. When you have more than 30 seconds for a play in the overtime, that’s like having 5 minutes in game time and no one, not a single player could open up for a pass, even when the touchdown zone was clear.
No one put much attention to the Cincinnati Bengals, not even after Shayne Graham, a few seconds away the end of overtime, completely blew an easy 47-yard FG. That play could have ended the nightmare or perhaps avoided McNabb’s comments; either way, the Bengals had won the match and history could have been written in the stat book as a regular match.
I’m thinking that if McNabb did not realized the game could finish in a tie, his tactical review inside the field were already lost and the fact is that his lack of knowledge might have cost the Eagles important points and a possible future classification to the playoffs.
Maybe it’s not even worth mentioning that more than a few of McNabb's teammates were also uncertain on the rules of a tie in overtime, and I believe some players in the Cincinnati Bengals team could have comment that them too were a little lost on the regulation.
Losing to the Cincinnati Bengals, an average team with bad reputation is one thing, but becoming a blooper for the rest of a life time is something else; MacNabb needs a miracle for this issue to be forgotten.
Chuck Berkley is a high-ranking sports writer, currently writing reviews on the NFL Season 2008-09 for the sports betting industry. Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety on your site, make sure to leave all links in place and do not modify any of the content.
