A lot has happened in Philadelphia sports since my personal laptop died in its sleep before game six of the World Series. The Phillies fizzled out and lost to the Yankees team in a poorly played series by both teams.

And speaking of fizzling out, the Eagles’ rash of injuries finally caught up to them as they finished the 2009 season in the most embarrassing fashion possible—getting blown out by the hated Dallas Cowboys in two consecutive weeks (the first of which, 24-0, I witnessed in person), the second of which eliminated them from the playoffs.

The Phillies

Let’s take this look back chronologically and start with the Phillies’ inevitable failure in the World Series. I say inevitable because they just didn’t play good baseball that week. Neither did the Yankees, frankly; but in all of the little strategic decisions and details that are part of a game, the Yankees were simply better. Their brain cramps in game four, both on the field and in the dugout, are perfect examples of why the Phillies just weren’t up to snuff in that series.

Hardly resting on their laurels, a few short months later the Phillies made what is probably the largest blockbuster trade in franchise history. Remember how great it felt to have Steve Carlton take the mound every fourth day? Well, get ready to feel that sensation again, only every fifth day, when Roy Halladay takes the field for the Phillies in 2010. Ruben Amaro wound up trading away almost everyone the Blue Jays were demanding when the Phillies tried to get Halladay back in July, but this time they restocked the cupboard with prospects from the Mariners when they dealt Cliff Lee to Seattle in a separate trade.

It’s almost hard to fathom how good the Phillies would be this season with Halladay and Lee in the rotation together. Throw in a rejuvenated Cole Hamels and the rest of the National League would have been in serious trouble. That didn’t happen for three reasons: 1) Cliff Lee was owed $9 million in 2010, as is the untradable Jamie Moyer, and the Phillies were already at their budget limit; 2) Getting Halladay seriously depleted the farm system, so they had to get something in return to make sure they could compete for many years in the future, not just 2010; 3) Amaro is counting on Hamels finding his old form and essentially filling the role of Lee in the No. 2 spot in the rotation.

While having Halladay and Lee together was a wonderful, brief fantasy for both fans and the Phillies brass no doubt, it just wasn’t practical, and it’s hard to argue with their decision to think about the future. They made the current team better for the next four years (if you think Lee was good, wait until Halladay marches through the NL like Sherman marched to the sea), and they made sure they still have talent left in the system to keep them competitive when Halladay and the rest of the core players start approaching the twilight of their careers.

Don’t forget their other significant move: bringing Placido Polanco back to town to play third base, a signing not without irony since it was Polanco’s distaste for playing third which led to his trade to Detroit when Chase Utley took over as the Phillies’ everyday second baseman back in 2005. He is a significant downgrade from Pedro Feliz defensively, but an equally significant upgrade at the plate. Forget all those bad at-bats from Feliz and pencil Polanco into the 2-spot.

I’ll post a more thorough preview of the 2010 club in a few days.

The Eagles

Oh, where to begin?

As I pointed out to my many Cowboy-fan friends, the Cowboys were the healthiest team in the NFL and finished the regular season 11-5, while the Eagles were the most-injured team in the league and also finished 11-5 against basically the same schedule as the Cowboys. What does that tell you? Maybe it’s just a way for me to rationalize the beatdown they took from Dallas in those final two games, but I actually believe there is something to this.

The Eagles lost so many key starters to injury, starting in training camp with middle linebacker Stewart Bradley for the whole season and half the offensive line for various stretches, and on into the season with a secondary riddled by so many injuries Sean McDermott fielded a squad of third-stringers and guys they picked up off the street. Don’t forget Brian Westbrook’s concussions (he’s kind of an important player). When Jamal Jackson blew out his knee in game 15, that was just the straw that broke the camel’s back.

My theory was somewhat justified when the Cowboys had their asses kicked by the Vikings the following week, proving that Dallas really wasn’t that good either.

The point is, the Eagles getting to 11-5 and a wild card berth was probably a minor miracle in football terms. In a lot of ways,  2009 may have been Andy Reid’s best job as head coach. There’s a lot of speculation about the future of certain players, most of which I feel is overblown (McNabb isn’t going anywhere, though Westbrook may have played his last game with the team). If the Eagles stay healthy next season, and Reid’s offensive line plan actually works out the way he originally planned in 2009, look out in 2010. This team has the potential to be very very good.

Look for more thoughts from me on the 2010 Eagles around NFL draft time in April. For now, with spring training underway to fill the horrible sports void between football and baseball season, expect a full slate of Phillies coverage now that I’m up and running again.

After the Panthers opening drive today, which left most of the Eagles defense on its back, it was fair to wonder if DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart were going to steamroll the Birds all day. Then Jake Delhomme dropped back to pass on the Panthers second drive and everything changed.

Sean McDermott picked up right where his mentor left off, throwing everything and everyone at Delhomme, who looked like a World War I veteran out there. Four interceptions and a fumble (returned for a TD) later, Delhomme was yanked. Clearly he hasn’t gotten over the five picks he threw in the divisional playoff game last year, and what happened today isn’t going to assuage the football version of shellshock he’s going through.

His replacements fared no better, battered by a sea of green jerserys that continued to rack up sacks and turnovers. Even more promising, Carolina never gave up on the running game, rushing 30 times, and the Eagles shut that down, too. There was even a nifty moment near the end of the blowout when Carolina faced fouth-and-goal on the 1-yard line and called timeout with forty-odd seconds left, which peeved McDermott enough to send in the first team defense to stop the TD.

The final line: five sacks, five interceptions, 2 fumbles recovered (one for a TD), and 10 points and 169 net yards allowed.

That was the good news (along with DeSean Jackson’s TD punt return).

The bad news isn’t as bad as it looked when it happened, but it’s still bad. After scoring on a three-yard run, a Panthers lineman plowed into McNabb on an unflagged late hit and cracked one of his ribs. He probably won’t play next week, and it wouldn’t surprise me if we didn’t see him again until week five after the bye week. Then again, his pain tolerance is pretty high, so it could be sooner.
While McNabb was out there, the passing game had fits and starts, including some dropped passes early. The running game had its moments, especially heading left behind Jason Peters, but it too was hit or miss. It was nice to see the potential behind the duo of Brian Westbrook and LeSean McCoy, with the added wrinkle of Jackson in the wildcat.

Yet for all its unevenness, McNabb and the offense did do one thing today we all gave them hell for in the past: three trips to the red zone ending in three touchdowns. The total stats might not look great for anyone, but they found a way to score points.

What can we take from all this? Either the Panthers really suck or the Eagles defense isn’t as weak as some of us feared. That’s good. We also saw for most of the second half that Kevin Kolb officially stinks. That’s bad, especially if we’re stuck with him at QB for the next two weeks. They might have lost to New Orleans next week even with McNabb, but their 50-50 chance of winning that game has plummeted. Kansas City in week three, however, was supposed to be a sure win, and now that is in jeopardy as well.

A 38-10 win is a great way to start a season under almost any circumstances, but losing great players to injury is about the only way to mar it. Let’s hope McNabb won’t be out too long because of it.

About a month before the draft, when the Eagles off-season plan looked as well thought out as the Bay of Pigs invasion, I had a half-written column excoriating Andy Reid & Co. for their desultory personnel decisions on a team that was one TD from the Super Bowl.

The humble pie I never baked has been soured considerably by injuries, but that’s not Big Red’s fault, so I’ll still eat it.

But before I do that, let’s review the ingredients in that unbaked pie:

• Donovan McNabb, seeking a new contract (an extension that guarantees his future with the team), finally used some leverage to make another plea for more offensive weapons and make it clear that his remaining time in Philadelphia is getting short. He ended up getting a raise instead of an extension, but that effectively accomplished the same goal: Donovan McNabb is the quarterback for the next two seasons. Thank goodness.
• The Eagles low-balled Brian Dawkins so badly in negotiations, their longtime defensive captain reportedly didn’t even bother to come back and hear the Eagles counteroffer to the contract he signed with Denver. Of course, the team would have been nuts to match that deal; but maybe if they had started with something reasonable it never would have come to this, and Weapon X might still be wearing green. We’ll all miss Dawkins on the field, the team might miss his leadership off it even more.
• Both William Thomas and Jon Runyan, the men who have protected McNabb’s front and blind sides for his entire career, were told to talk a walk, leaving both offense tackle positions open without an apparent plan to fill them.

At this point, any Eagles fan worth his salt pretty much threw up his hands in frustration and disbelief at what seemed like complete disorganization. It certainly didn’t seem like Reid was trying to make the necessary moves for a team that came just short of the Promised Land.

But it turned out Reid did have a plan after all—a hell of a plan really. It just didn’t play out exactly like it was supposed to.

The Eagles boldly addressed the offensive tackle vacancies, signing Shawn Andrews’ brother Stacy to play the right side, and trading their extra first round pick to Buffalo for left tackle Jason Peters, who also happened to be Shawn’s college roommate. So not only did they plug the holes on the O-line with two pretty good players, those guys could presumably keep the notoriously flighty Shawn on the straight-and-narrow, focused on football.

Well, one out of two ain’t bad. Shawn has effectively lost his job to Winston Justice, who will start at right tackle in tomorrow’s season opener. Add in Todd Herremans’ foot injury, and two of the five projected starters in Andy Reid reconstructed offensive line aren’t going to be on the field for at least the first few weeks of the season, if not longer.

On the defensive side of the ball, things were a bit more undetermined. The loss of Dawkins was huge, more in terms of his leadership than his playing skills; and Sean McDermott replacing his mentor, the late Jim Johnson, was also a mystery in terms of impact. What was no mystery was the huge blow Stewart Bradley’s ACL tear dealt the defense. Suddenly the Eagles look like a team that won’t be able to stop the run or cover tight ends in a division full of great ones. If the offense doesn’t score early and often, the defense is going to have a hard time keeping the Eagles in games.

Scoring isn’t going to be a problem for this team for the most part, thanks to some slick drafting by Reid, picking up Jeremy Maclin and Brian Westbrook’s heir apparent in LeSean McCoy.

And then came the night of August 13, which was so shocking, I had to do a double-take at the news scroll on ESPN.

Donovan McNabb wanted weapons: He has an arsenal now.

Michael Vick might spend most of the season on the sideline holding a clipboard, but the thought of him coming in and out of games has the potential to terrify opposing defensive coordinators. Including Westbrook and DeSean Jackson, both of whom have some high school quarterback experience, the Eagles could run formations with four guys on the field who could potentially throw the ball. Try game planning for that.

So what does all this mean for the Eagles in 2009? Can they win their division? Maybe. Can they get to the Super Bowl? Probably not.

McNabb has the best group of skill players that he has ever had at his disposal. They’re going to score a lot of points in a lot of games. However, what happens in those games when the offense isn’t clicking, probably because of the amorphous offensive line? Unlike last year, the defense won’t be able to keep it close and give the offense a chance to get in sync. That could spell trouble in a division as tough as the NFC East.

My prediction: A 9-7 season and a wild card berth. The Cowboys and Redskins might make decent teams in other divisions, but they’re a joke compared to the Eagles and Giants. It’s possible the Giants could struggle enough on offense to bring a division win for the Eagles into the picture, but their defense is much better than the Birds, and that gives them a huge advantage. When you have a team with great offense and mediocre defense versus one with a mediocre offense and great defense, I’ll take the great defense.

Of course, the NFL is an almost completely unpredictable entity these days, so I could be wrong. Let’s hope I am, and the Eagles are better than I think they are.