Asante samuel
Ξ January 5th, 2009 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Uncategorized |
“A fine kennel of fish…”
(Author’s note: As America lets the games continue, it is personally discouraging to witness by video reports the carnage that now ensues in Gaza. To put the NFL wars in perspective, I’d like to ask our fans to pause a second and reflect in gratitude on how fortunate we are to be able to confine our national battles to “games”, and to be able to define our fears of “losing” without having to worry about dodging a directional rocket.)
Joe Kuharich was the head coach for the Eagles from 1964 to 1968, an alumnus and former coach of Notre Dame who pretty much enshrined the run-run-pass-punt offensive model that dogged the franchise for years. Joe passed away in 1981 on the very day the Eagles lost to the Raiders in the Super Bowl in that January of long ago.
Joe was famous for his malapropisms and general mangling of the English language with such phrases as “a fine kennel of fish” or (my personal favorite) “now the shoe is on the other side of the table”. But Kuharich did utter one truism that sticks with this writer to this day:
“It takes a thousand things to go right in order to win a game in the NFL. It only takes ten things to go wrong to lose a game in the NFL.”
This Kuharich motto still rings in my head, so maybe you’ll understand why my predictions going into Minnesota on Sunday to face the Vikings have been cautious and less than gung-ho. In a way, I hope the Eagles players and coaches are also reminding themselves to take care of possession, hit their assignments with precision, and to hold on to the ball like it were made of gold or platinum.
“Ten things to go wrong…”: If CB Asante Samuel can’t play because of the hip strain he suffered in practice yesterday; if OT Jon Runyan can’t go because of his bum knee; if LB Stewart Bradley has to leave early because of his ribs and groin injuries; if RB Brian Westbrook is still so banged up he can’t run at top form after receiving the swing passes or screen passes that will be coming his way; if WR DeSean Jackson gets a case of the drops again; if Jackson returns punts instead of the superior returner DB Quintin Demps; if the Adrian Peterson cannonball express gets rolling downhill and can’t be stopped; if punter Sav Rocca, who has been brilliant at the Dome in his last outing in 2007, suddenly shanks one short or gets one blocked; if RB Correll Bukhalter can’t pick up the pace and get it going when Westbrook is out; or if Andy Reid brain-locks on the sideline in a crucial clock-management system and leaves Donovan McNabb stranded without a timely signal.
Yes, if these ten things (or worse) happen, then the favored Eagles will indeed be wallowing in a “fine kennel of fish”…
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