I am a proud graduate of the University of Texas, so if you want to label me a homer, go ahead. But I think my argument is strong enough to dismiss those claims.

It seems that most people outside of Lubbock agree that the Big 12 South logjam comes down to two teams: Oklahoma and Texas. Simple logic dictates that the head-to-head matchup between the teams settle the dispute: Texas 45, Oklahoma 35.

However, it seems a number of the human voters who factor into a good portion of the Bull Crap System (BCS) feel that Oklahoma is the superior team at the moment. As I recall, most of the country (me included) thought the same thing back in October when they met at the Cotton Bowl. How did that turn out again?

I could go on and on about how Texas’ only loss came on the last play of the game on the road, or how that loss was at the end of a stretch where Texas played four consecutive top 10 teams, including a No. 1 Oklahoma team, whom they beat 45-35, by the way.

How many consecutive top 10 teams did Oklahoma play?

Of course, if there were an eight-team national playoff, I wouldn’t even have to write this post. Texas and Oklahoma would both be in and they could settle it on the field.

Oh, wait… didn’t they already do that?

45-35.

Donovan McNabb reminded everyone of his true identity last night, guiding an offense with a suddenly resurgent running game to six touchdowns on route to a 48-20 drubbing of the Arizona Cardinals.

Too little, too late for sure; but it was nice to see the Eagles are still capable of looking like the team we saw at the start of the season.

McNabb threw four TD passes and did not turn the ball over, shaking off three horrible starts in a row and returning to form. Perhaps Andy Reid’s decision to bench him in last week’s game was the kick in the ass McNabb needed; but it sure didn’t hurt that his offensive line remembered how to run block, opening huge holes for Brian Westbrook all night long. With the running game successfully established early on, McNabb was able to slice and dice a mediocre Cardinal secondary for 260 yards.

Overlooked in the circus surrounding McNabb was the play of the defense, which forced four turnovers and kept the best receiving core in the NFL in check without their $57 million cornerback, Asante Samuel. It was an impressive game for an increasingly trustworthy defense, which showed it can dominate an opponent if the offense isn’t going three-and-out every series.

Now they have to find a way to plant themselves at the line of scrimmage against a brutal Giants running attack which tossed them around like rag dolls a few weeks ago. Ten days of rest will help before heading up the Jersey Turnpike, but if McNabb, Westbrook and the O-line vanish again, it’ll be a long afternoon.

This is all academic, of course. The Eagles are not going to win out, and nine wins aren’t going to cut it. But with a little show of pride, maybe, just maybe they can spoil the Cowboys playoff hopes on the way out.

I listened to yesterday’s massacre on Westwood One while driving home from a gluttonous weekend in New Orleans, and it certainly didn’t help my alcohol/sleep deprivation-induced hangover.

As I’ve been writing on this blog for some time now, Andy Reid’s “system” is broken—a fact he stubbornly refuses to admit. Benching Donovan McNabb at halftime trailing by three points had one of two purposes:

1) Reid is so spiteful of the cries to get rid of his slumping quarterback that he put Kevin Kolb in just to tell those calling for McNabb’s head, “be careful what you wish for.”

2) Reid cannot figure out why his offense no longer works, so before the blame shifts to him (from a front office perspective—many of us already blame him), he’s going to pin it on his quarterback—a desperate, cowardly act committed by all modern-day NFL coaches trying to keep their heads off the chopping block.

I’m going with the latter on this one. Even while spewing the same nonsense coach speak he has for the past 10 years, it’s clear Reid is fumbling toward oblivion. His sideburns graying more each week, he is at a loss for why his vaunted offensive system can’t get off the ground anymore. If sticking to the system is wrong, then he clearly doesn’t want to be right.

Reid irrevocably undermined McNabb’s leadership role at the most inopportune moment, throwing Kolb to a ravenous Ravens defense against which he stood little chance. Now with a short week coming up, Reid has already named McNabb the starter for their Thanksgiving night home game against the Cardinals, a move he almost had to make given the lack of preparation time. If McNabb gets back on track, Reid can stick with him the rest of the season and re-evaluate then. If McNabb has another clunker, Kolb will have 10 days to get all his affairs in order before facing the Giants in the Meadowlands.

The Eagles as an organization are between a serious rock and hard place. The defense (with the exception of needing to find a suitable replacement for Brian Dawkins) is set up to be relatively successful for some time to come. The offense, no matter what happens this off-season, could be years away from recovery.

Once again, allow me to use the list format to explain the four possible outcomes I see emerging at year’s end, along with their probability of occurrence:

1) Nothing changes. Jeffery Lurie sticks with Andy Reid, who decides to stick with Donovan McNabb. The system stays the same, offensive tackles William Thomas and Jon Runyan are another year older and/or retired (as is Brian Dawkins), Brian Westbrook has another year of mileage on him, and Reid performs the same tip-top job of personnel moves that brought us Mike Mamula and Lorenzo Booker. An already anemic running game starts to resemble a 1982 Bonneville being driven to market by a 96-year-old woman with glaucoma. Look for another 5- to 7-win season. This has about as much chance of happening as I do of sweeping Scarlett Johansson off her feet.

2) Reid stays, McNabb goes. Kolb’s chances of being as good as McNabb are slim to none; but even if he is, we’ll never know it because he’ll be trying to run the same stupid, obsolete, inept offense. See scenario number one regarding offensive personnel quandaries and a running game collapsing faster than the stock market. If he isn’t as good as McNabb, well, there’s always the 2010 draft. Either way, the Eagles won’t be getting anywhere near the playoffs for a while. This is actually the most likely scenario, unfortunately.

3) McNabb stays, Reid goes. I give this a fair-to-midland chance, but only if Reid gets fed up and decides to retire, because Lurie is unlikely to fire him. The new coach, whoever he is, would most likely see McNabb as the better option at QB and keep him (unless the coach wants to start with a clean slate—see option number four). In any event, it takes time for a new coach to implement a new system and for the existing players to adjust, sometimes a full season or two. By then McNabb is 34 or 35 years old (if he survives that long behind an O-line without the aforementioned Thomas and Runyan), Westbrook will be used up, and the only current player likely to be making any kind of impact will be DeSean Jackson (if he survives that long at his size). Basically, Philadelphia would have to endure a few more losing seasons and give the new coach enough latitude to rebuild the entire offense through the draft and free agency. Good luck with that.

4) Reid and McNabb both go. This is also possible, but not nearly as likely as scenarios two and three, because Reid probably isn’t going anywhere. But should he decide to depart, and should the new coach decide to give Kolb a shot and move McNabb for some draft picks, this has potential. Not potential for success, just potential to occur. Remember, we still have no idea if Kolb is any good at all (though this scenario at least gives him a fighter’s chance if he has something); but he’ll still struggle while the new coach rebuilds the rest of the aging offense. And if Kolb isn’t any good, or if the new coach decides he wants to draft and groom his own guy, once again the Eagles are in rebuilding mode and battling to stay out of the NFC East cellar.

Have I painted a gloomy enough picture for the future prospects of this once proud organization? In a little more than two months, I’ve gone from predicting a Super Bowl win this season to at least two more losing seasons after this one.

Imagine where Philadelphia’s collective psyche would be if the Phillies hadn’t just won the World Series with a legitimately decent chance at repeating.

We’d be Cleveland.

You didn’t have to watch today’s debacle against the toothless Cincinnati Bengals to know the Eagles officially stink and that their season is all but over. (I didn’t.) When you limp away with a weak 13-13 tie against a previously 1-8 team, and several of your players (including the starting quarterback) didn’t even know that result was possible, it may as well be the death knell of the most successful run in franchise history.

A week after getting pushed around like a nerd on the playground by the bully New York Giants, the Eagles let the dumb fat kid smack them around, too. Most of the blame will fall on Donovan McNabb’s shoulders even though, as usual, there is plenty to go around. His terrible numbers were assisted by several dropped balls and a completely impotent running game. Why can’t the largest offensive line in the NFL open one single lane for Brian Westbrook?

The sad truth is that the Andy Reid/Donovan McNabb era is coming to an end, whether they or owner Jeffrey Lurie know it or not. The opportunities to adjust to an ever changing league have been ample, and time-and-time again Reid has proven himself incapable of adapting. Week-after-week his opening 15-play script bombs worse than a Cameron Diaz comedy. Game-after-game, third- and fourth-down short yardage situations crash-and-burn like the Hindenburg (too soon?). And season-after-season, the Eagles two-minute drill resembles the football version of a Keystone Cops picture.

I guess Andy Reid will just have to do a better job of putting his players in a better position to do a better job of being in a better position to do a better job of being in a better position to do a better job of being in a better position to do a better job of…

Sorry, I lost my place. Where was I again?

Oh, right—over here with all the other Eagles fans—assuming the position.

I gave myself a little a sports blogging vacation after the Phillies won the World Series last Wednesday night; but there was another major Philadelphia sports franchise that took the field this weekend, and I suppose I should jot down my thoughts on what I saw Sunday afternoon.

I saw a seemingly jet-lagged team fall behind 7-0 before I had time to sip from my first beer. Then I saw the defense snap out of it after that embarrassing 90-yard touchdown pass. The Seahawks never so much as threatened again. With the exception of that first play, the Eagles defense stood up and pitched a shutout. Anything less against the Matt Hasselbeckless boys in teal and I would’ve had my doubts about this defense’s chances against the Giants this week. Now I feel pretty good that they can keep the scoreboard within reach.

It’s their ability to keep up on the other side of the ball which gives me pause.

It took Donovan McNabb and his nearly full complement of offensive weapons (assembled together for the first time all year) the better part of two quarters to shake off the fog of a bye week and three time zones and start clicking. McNabb’s arm looked like it was carrying a lead weight for a while and no one could get in sync.

Maybe it was just a matter of having Kevin Curtis, Reggie Brown and DeSean Jackson on the field together for the first time this year and finding a groove. McNabb seemed too determined to get Curtis in the game right away, forcing passes in his direction.

The Seahawks, meanwhile, seemed determined not to let Brian Westbrook run the ball, and the Eagles obliged by not trying very often. Then, for whatever reason, McNabb finally clicked with the one position at which a starter was missing: tight end. L.J. Smith may have Wally Pipped himself out of a job after Brent Celek’s huge day at a heretofore truant position. Once McNabb got on a roll, the Eagles rattled off 26 unanswered points and the rout was on.

It’s that “getting on a roll” part which presents the biggest concern going into Giants week. The G-Men are way better than the Seahawks, and the offense can’t afford to get off to a slow start, or have four consecutive drives end in field goals (as they did in the second half Sunday), or continue to struggle in short yardage situations. Hopefully it’s just a matter of picking up where they left off in that groove in Seattle.

In a division where every team is .500 or better, it’s difficult to call this week’s game a must-win. But the Eagles would fall to 0-3 in the NFC East with a loss, and that could be a killer in a tie-break situation at season’s end. Winning, on the other hand, would put them one game out of first place.

I guess we’ll have to come up with a new term. “Suggested-win?”