September 01, 2015
The new mantra for many fans of the Philadelphia Eagles -- and those who watch them as a profession -- is to “pump the brakes.”
You are supposed to pump the brakes in terms of going over the top when you express your hopes for the season. You are supposed to pump those brakes when you look at the schedule and see a road map to the playoffs. And you are especially supposed to pump those disc brakes when you picture a Super Bowl parade next February.
Baloney.
In case you missed it, the Phillies have new ownership, and we’re not talking about John Middleton. Nope, the Phillies are now owned by the New York Mets.
If there was ever a reason to go into a season with high expectations, and even higher hopes this is the season. There is a time for reasoned hopes, and then there is Philadelphia in the final days of the summer of 2015.
Let’s review:
The Eagles did not make the playoffs last season; the Flyers didn’t make the playoffs; the Sixers not only didn’t make the playoffs, but they were hardly even part of the NBA.
The Sixers literally got their feet taken out from under them when it was learned that Joel Embiid required another foot surgery. The result is another year without their first-round pick, and maybe a future without him.
The Flyers missed the playoffs and fired a coach. There is much optimism that the future holds a platoon of talented young defensemen, none of whom are expected to be in an NHL sweater this season.
And across the street?
In case you missed it, the Phillies have new ownership, and we’re not talking about John Middleton. Nope, the Phillies are now owned by the New York Mets.
Bad as it has become for the Phillies, the low points are very recent as Mets fans have come down to Philly to invade Citizens Bank Park, and why not?
Going into Tuesday night’s game in New York, the Mets had beaten the Phils in 10 consecutive games. And going back to last season, the Mets have used the Phillies as their personal ladder to climb back into playoff contention and as a team to be watched as a possible World Champion in the near future.
The hurt has been especially bad because ageless Bartolo Colon has been a cog in the reversal of fortunes. It’s just downright painful to watch Colon take the mound and look more like a competitive eater than a Major League pitcher and easily handle the Phils twice in a matter of five days.
Supposedly it’s Colon’s perfect location that makes him so effective.
Maybe so, but it wasn’t so long ago the Phillies used the Mets as their stepping stone to greater things. It was Jimmy Rollins calling them out, Chase Utley banging the ball around their park, Pat Burrell and Ryan Howard lighting them up, and a Phillies pitching staff shutting them down.
Well, during the past year, Utley has joined Rollins in a pennant race for the Los Angeles Dodgers; Cole Hamels has been shipped off to Texas; Howard is a frequent deletion from the lineup in a platoon situation; and it’s at a point with the Mets where you hope Burrell comes back for a few swings up there in New York.
In other words, the sports landscape has been ugly and uglier.
All of which makes you wonder why anybody would want you to “pump the brakes” on optimism around the start of the Eagles season.
This is not pie-in-the-sky thinking. Take a look around, the Washington Redskins are a daily call to 911; the Dallas Cowboys' biggest weapon in now a running back for the Eagles; the New York Giants are still trying to convince themselves they can come back – and the Eagles are the team everybody is watching as they tear up the preseason flexing all sorts of muscle with all sorts of weapons.
The warning signs about the Eagles continue to be around a lack of depth on the offensive line, a still-to-be-proven defense and the long-term health of quarterback Sam Bradford.
News alert – every team is worried about injuries, especially to a starting quarterback. However, Bradford has been among the biggest stories in the NFL with his limited play in preseason and he was literally perfect in a hat trick performance with three TD tosses and a 10-for-10 night on Saturday at Green Bay.
There was no Aaron Rodgers on the field for Green Bay, but the Eagles sliced through that first-team defense. And don’t let anybody tell you the Packers didn’t care if they got lit up like that at home on a Saturday night – even in the preseason.
It has been a remarkable preseason for the Eagles and that appetizer ends on Thursday night against the Jets. After that game, it gets real, and you should be in a hyper-ready mode for the start of the regular season.
There is no need to pump those brakes.
Things have been stopped dead in their tracks around Philadelphia long enough. Like the Eagles, go into this season seeing nothing but green lights.
