Rob Q. Ink - A Philly Sports Blog

A pretty ugly game ended even uglier, as the Eagles couldn't punch it in from the 1-yard line. The defense, which dominated in the second half, couldn't keep the Bears to a three-and-out, and that was the game. Give us your player of the game. Buckhalter probably gets it for me. I got lots of notes to update this tomorrow (maybe). Update: In the morning light the Eagles’ loss to the Chicago Bears isn't any less ugly than when we went to bed with it last night. They never really are, and, yes, I’m skipping the obvious joke. Bottom line, the Bird’s offense came up small, especially the offensive line. Here’s my rundown: • Starting at the end, I don’t care whose in or out of the lineup, a championship team scores late in the fourth quarter with first-and-goal, especially with three shots from the one. I actually buy Andy Reid not calling a quarterback sneak because Donovan McNabb is banged up, and I get that Brian Westbrook was out. Reid shouldn’t have had to call a sneak. Tha

Back-to-Back Division Titles Ryan Howard Chase Utley Jimmy Rollins Phillies Apparel Forget the rain. Forget the Mets. Forget the Brewers. An amazing grab of a ground ball up the middle by Jimmy Rollins ignited a double-play with a toss to Chase Utley then Ryan Howard to give the Philadelphia Phillies the 2008 National League East title. Only a Brad Lidge slider for a strikeout might have been more appropriate. Some observations from the couch: • Jayson Werth may never know how close he came to being part of the lore of the segment of Philadelphia fans that reside in Negadelphia. Pulling up to avoid the right field fence allowing a run to score in the top of the fifth with his impression of Ricky Watters’ alligator arm performance, Werth knocked a home run in the bottom of the inning to stay out of a potentially ignominious spot in Philadelphia sports history. • Philadelphia held it’s collective breath when Shane Victorino collided with Rolli

The time has finally come to resolve the National League East and watch the two presidential candidates actually have a debate. Not necessarily in that order of importance, although the NL East will likely offer up more concrete answers than either John McCain or Barack Obama. Of course, none of this may happen if rain washes out baseball on the east coast, or McCain decides he’s too busy focusing on showing what a leader he is by getting involved in the bailout of the economy. He’s already admitted he doesn’t understand it much more than the average American (including me), so that doesn’t sound all that intelligent, but I guess it sounded good to someone. Listening to Michael Bradley this morning I was shocked to hear Phillies fans whining that Lou Piniella is resting some of his regulars this weekend as the Cubs play Milwaukee. Get real, folks. The Cubs wrapped up their playoff fate, and have every right to rest their players. If the Phillies had taken care of business against Atla

Player of the Week Brian Dawkins The Philly Store Player of the Week should really be the entire defense after they shut down the Pittsburgh Steelers for the whole game, giving up just two field goals. But since I can't find any graphics for the Eagles "Gang Green" defense, so I selected Dawkins as a representative for the defensive squad. I think it's justified by the play that sealed the deal -- Dawkins literally swooping in to knock the ball out of Ben Roethlisberger's hand and recovering the fumble. The play set up a field goal to put the Birds up 15-6 late in the fourth quarter, and let everyone breath a little easier. Got a better Player of the Week or thoughts on the game? Post it in the comments section!

Player of the Week DeSean Jackson Back-to-back 100-yard receiving games It's tough to give Jackson Philly Store Player of the Game to DeSean Jackson after his boneheaded play on a guaranteed touchdown in which he dropped the ball in celebration before crossing the goal line. But he already looks like the best receiver on the Birds in only his second game. That said, he only gets one free pass on being a dope, and that's only because the Eagles punched it in on the next play. Donovan McNabb probably deserved some consideration, but I figure his dumb play actually cost the Eagles something . . . like the game. Driving the Eagles late in the game deep in Dallas territory, he fumbling a hand-off to Westbrook. Sure, every quarterback makes mistakes, but this wasn't a physical error or misread. He simply froze. It looked they had a receiver running like it was an end-around, and it looked like he was going to fake the hand-off and go with the end-around and realized he was actua

Players of the Week The clicker got a workout as I tried to follow the Phillies and the Eagles game. But I think the inaugural Philly Store Players of the Week were fairly easy to pick: Donovan McNabb 21-33, 361 passing yds. 3 TDs Finally injury free, he's back to Pro Bowl form? I'm not ready to buy that yet, and I'll admit I was one of those fans that was ready to run him out of town. But he's definitely in any player of the week discussion after Week 1. DeSean Jackson 106 yds. receiving, 97 return yds. So maybe the offense isn't so complicated if you have some talent? I was ready to give it to him after his first catch. He's already the best receiver drafted by this regime. Brian Westbrook 91 yds. rushing This one may be a little iffy, but I still think he makes the offense go. Got a better Player of the Week or thoughts on the game? Post it in the comments section!