Rob Q. Ink - A Philly Sports Blog

          On Halloween’s eve, the Eagles masqueraded as the “Dream Team” Vince Young once promised Philadelphia as they demolished the Dallas Cowboys, 34-7.           And it wasn’t that close.           I’m not ready to start making plans to watch this team in the Super Bowl, but everybody knows that the fastest way for the Eagles to get the heat of a 2-4 start off of them is to beat Dallas.           Thumping them is even better.           The Eagles took the opening possession of the game down the field for an 8-play touchdown drive, capped off by a 12-yard pass to Jeremy Maclin. More impressively, after two penalties by the special teams unit on the ensuing kickoff put Dallas near midfield, the Eagles defense forced a punt.           After the following 7-play TD drive ended with a LeSean McCoy touchdown to put the Eagles up 14-0, the romp was on.           By halftime it was 24-0, and the only thing left for Eagles fans to worry about might have been another col

          I had my worst week yet in fantasy football, but the great thing about the league I’m doing is that it’s week-to-week . . . and free. If I finish in the top 7 just once, I’m up for the year. I definitely recommend checking out Draftstreet.com .           I’ve recruited some assistance this week, so here’s my team: QB Matt Hasselbeck (TEN-QB) $12,308 QB Andy Dalton (CIN-QB) $11,689 RB Pierre Thomas (NO-RB) $6,995 RB Ryan Mathews (SD-RB) $12,225 WR A.J. Green (CIN-WR) $11,975 WR Calvin Johnson (DET-WR) $17,707 TE Fred Davis (WAS-TE) $9,021 FLEX Jason Avant (PHI-WR) $5,500 FLEX Jackie Battle (KC-RB) $6,730 DST Giants (NYG-DST) $5,053 Cap = $100,000

          My longest streak of winning weeks on the “Ink” has now reached six. In that span, since Week 2 of the NFL season, I’ve gone 27-13 for +144.76 points. It’s not a huge total, and the last couple of weeks have been moderate successes, but I’ll take six straight winning weeks any time.           Of course, no one gets this far without some luck. I have to admit that I was extremely interested in the Monday night NFL game heading into last weekend with the Ravens -7.5 against Jacksonville. I had every intention of making a pretty large pick on Baltimore, and almost made it on Friday to take advantage of the “half juice” at the place where I check to get the spreads, odds, and what a pick of X points wins. But when the spread climbed to -10.5 points by Monday, I just couldn’t touch it. That same night I also left the World Series game alone. I kind of liked the Cardinals, but I have the Rangers in a series pick. Obviously, with the series tied at 2-2, Game 5 seemed pivotal –

          I still hate the Cowboys.           I will always hate the Cowboys.           Growing up in the ‘80s with a dad and two of three brothers being Cowboys fans and the third not really being that into the Eagles, I often felt like the only Birds fan in Dallas – and I’ve lived in Philadelphia my whole life. (So did my front running family members, by the way.)           When I hear about the Eagles-Cowboys rivalry fading with fans, I want to deny it.           I hear people talk about Michael Irvin being likeable as an analyst for the NFL Network, and I’ll admit that he’s improved since leaving ESPN. But as a player Irvin was part of the second generation of Cowboys who I couldn’t stand. He was completely overrated, carried by Emmitt Smith, and his stupid first down celebration made Eagles fans just want to punch him in the face.           Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson, and even Barry Switzer, were Dallas head coaches we loved to hate.           The national media

UPDATE 8/28/2012: Many thanks to Mike Missanelli for using this post on his show during last season. It’s one of my most popular posts, so as we enter the 2012 season I thought I’d give it an update. The Eagles went to 13-0 under Reid in games after the bye. See below for the updated opponents list.           This week fans will hear and read about one thing over and over again – Andy Reid’s record as the Eagles head coach after the bye week. It seems to be one of Reid’s most impressive statistics – he’s never lost after the bye. That’s 12-0 . . . in the regular season. We all know what happened in the Super Bowl when Reid had two weeks to prepare as did Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.           In fact, while 12-0 speaks volumes, only once did the Eagles face an opponent that was also coming off of a bye – Atlanta in 2008. (For the record, the Falcons finished 11-5 and lost in the Wild Card game of the playoffs.)           So, I decided to look a little deeper into

See the post on Philly Sports Daily . I just learned of the demise of PSD - sorry to see it go. Here is the post as it was published. It’s the BYE week for the Eagles, the Phillies have been playing golf for far too long already, the NBA is busy destroying itself, and the NHL just started. So, there’s time to offer up a deeper look at the Eagles’ failure this season. Something Andy Reid said when he hired Juan Castillo as his defensive coordinator keeps coming to mind as the Eagles “D” has embarrassed itself through most of this season so far. (If anyone is fooled by last week’s performance against the lowly Washington Redskins, I have little doubt that a game against a half-decent offense will bring them and the Eagles defense crashing back to Earth soon enough after the bye.) The interview was reportedly held in the middle of the night at the NovaCare Complex. While the Eagles organization loves to operate in secrecy, this seemed odd even for them. Possibly somewhere i

          I warned readers that I was just getting back into fantasy football, and last week’s results certainly showed it. I finished 222 nd out of 254 in the free league I started doing three weeks ago at Draftstreet.com . It was my worst finish since I started. I only put up 86.94 points compared to the winner who scored 160.64.           My basic thought for the week was to load up at quarterback and take shots at running back. I was counting on a shoot out in the Patriots-Dallas game, and I went with Tom Brady and Tony Romo. That just never happened. Then my backs were non-existent; I took a flyer on Ronnie Brown not knowing how far he was in the Eagles’ doghouse, and Tim Hightower never even played despite practicing Friday.           Here’s my roster for the week barring last-minute changes: < blockquote> QB Aaron Rodgers (GB-QB) $21,151 QB Philip Rivers (SD-QB) $13,979 RB Ray Rice (BAL-RB) $18,876 RB Marshawn Lynch (SEA-RB) $9,427 WR Darrius Heyward-Be

          It wasn’t the “big” week I was looking for with my picks, but it’s hard to complain about a fifth straight winning week. I lost my biggest pick of the week, actually losing in the NFL with points thanks to the “juice,” but hit my fourth straight 15-point pick in college football. Throwing in the MLB playoffs, I went 5-2 for +19.50 points on the week.           On Saturday, LSU -17.5 over Tennessee was a winner. As I mentioned, it’s the fourth straight week that I’ve had just one pick in college football, and each was for 15 points to win +14.29.           On Sunday, the Patriots -6.5 versus the Cowboys took down my NFL winning streak as New England didn’t cover for -20 points. I saw the game at -7 all week, and when it dropped under a touchdown I bit. It was just a bad call. I expected a shoot out, and Dallas’ defense was better than I thought. I finished 2-1 for -0.96 after winning with the Ravens -8 over the Texans and the Falcons -4 over the Panthers, each as a 10-

          While Phillies fans still might not be ready to watch baseball again – and I’m quite sure I’m not the only one still wondering how the hell the Phillies aren’t in this thing – the Fall Classic must go on.           At last check the Texas Rangers were favored by -155 against the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series, a price almost as uninspiring as the matchup. I like the Rangers to win the Series, but certainly not enough to make that price exciting. The Cardinals at +135 are almost worth a throwaway pick, but I’m not going down that road.           The most appealing thing I’ve seen is Texas +350 to win in 5 and 6 games. The problem, of course, is that it’s two separate props – a pick of 6 games is a loser if they win in 5, and vice versa. It’s almost worth it to do both if your “point” total offers a big cushion (and if you follow me, you know what I mean by points), but mine isn’t that cushy.           A complicating factor for me is that I like the Cardinal

          At long last the sale of the Sixers is official. I don’t make any real effort to break news on the Ink, and this was one of the more anti-climactic announcements of the sale of a franchise that may ever take place anyway. The news of the sale broke months ago, and no one knows how long it will be before the new ownership group lead by Joshua Harris will actually be able to do anything. The NBA lockout is threatening the entire 2011-2012 season.           The titillating news of the day was that Philadelphia native and mega-star Will Smith is part of the purchase as a minority owner of the team. It will likely be little more than a “fun fact” as far as the impact on the Sixers. Let’s face it, the Fresh Prince won’t be negotiating trades or patting guys on the back at practice. He didn’t even show up to the press conference. However, his presence might give the franchise some cache from the media if they ever become a contender.           None of this is to suggest that

          The Eagles headed into the bye week with a 20-13 victory over the Washington Redskins and a 2-4 record. Besides giving Andy Reid and Juan Castillo a little breathing room, the win will no doubt spark a two-week debate over whether it was a season saver or merely postponed the inevitability of a failed season.           I was honestly ready to believe in the former. Reality seems to scream that the latter is true.           But the Eagles won a game and there were some very good signs. They actually looked like they have an NFL caliber defense for the first time all season, and Nnamdi Asomugha even proved that he can tackle with a great hit early in the first half.           Eagles safety Kurt Coleman set the tone early with his first of three interceptions of Rex Grossman as Washington threatened to score in the first quarter. Despite a Jason Kelce snap over Mike Vick’s head, the Eagles put together an 87-yard, 5+ minute touchdown drive to get on the board first, 7

          My normal Friday post seems to attract the least attention and, ironically, takes the most effort. So, it’s time to try something new.           I played fantasy football for about 8 years beginning in the late ‘90s. I usually finished in the money – admittedly because my brother and I constantly met in the semifinals, and always agreed to split second place – and won the last league I ever played in. I was driven away from the game by the petty guys who get their jollies being the commissioner and cheating their rear-end off or enforcing rules only they knew about.           In the last couple of weeks I’ve been dipping my toe back into the fantasy football waters with a free weekly league at Draftstreet.com . I’ve also been getting my ass kicked. So, don’t consider this fantasy football advice. In fact, feel free to offer me some. I have until Sunday’s kickoff to tinker with the lineup.           It’s a salary cap league and you change your roster each week. In f

          I had my fourth straight winning week of picks with the highest point total of the stretch as I posted a 6-3 record for +33.14 points. I feel like I’m chipping away at a mountain with a sledge hammer, but I’m trying to get rid of the deficit left by the NBA playoffs.           I did well with the two picks I posted Friday night, winning with Oklahoma -10.5 over Texas on Saturday and the Packers -6.5 over the Falcons on Sunday night. Each was a 15-point pick good for +14.29. It was the third week in a row that I won my only college football pick of the week, and they’ve all been 15-pointers. I’m now 7-4 for +48.90 in college football.           I kind of liked the Packers a lot on Sunday and wanted to add to the pick, but I wasn’t confident enough to do it without trying to build up the point total on other games. That strategy didn’t work out as I split four 10-point picks: Chargers -3.5 over the Broncos for +9.09, Giants -10 over the Seahawks for -10, Saints -6.5 ove

          My effort to sort through the rubble of the Phillies’ collapse yesterday became so long that I decided to break it into two parts. Moving forward is really all they can do, and playing GM is about all sports fans in Philadelphia have left do until playoff hockey and opening day roll around. (Thanks Andy Reid, David Stern, and the NBA players.)           As I wrote at the end of Part I of this post, I like that Ruben Amaro Jr. has already come out and said that the Phillies need to change their approach at the plate. It wasn’t even a veiled criticism of Ryan Howard as he later said on 97.5 The Fanatic that he was “angry” that the slugger flied out on a 3-0 count late in Game 5 against St. Louis.           Before Amaro’s comments, rumor were already surfacing that the Phillies and Charlie Manuel are less than thrilled with Howard as a “student of the game,” and my guess was that his Achilles injury would keep him out for the 2012 season anyway. Although Ruben Amaro Jr.

          Unlike some of the Phillies who are tweeting about beautiful days (Shane Victorino) and people needing to get over their criticism of fans (Jimmy Rollins), I’m still annoyed that we’re forced to watch the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS instead of the Phils.           So, it’s time to sort through the rubble of what became a collapse after a 100+ win season. I’ve been surprised to hear a lot of criticism of Charlie Manuel since the season ended. He’s certainly not blameless in the collapse, but he’s pretty far down my list.           Early on when Manuel took over as manager of the Phillies he sort of had an image of the bumbling idiot because of his southern draw and some basic mistakes he made having managed in the American League with the double switch of the National League. Well, the man brought this team to a World Series Championship and has won the most games in franchise history in a season and in a career as a manager. I think people have the bumbling idio

          The Eagles capped off a week in Philadelphia sports that might be remembered as the official end of one of the best eras this town has seen since the early ‘80s. Sadly, it qualifies with just one championship – and we all know it wasn’t a Super Bowl.           The Phillies season ended late Friday night. The Eagles season may as well have ended yesterday afternoon, and essentially did.           There’s very little if anything new to say about the Eagles 31-24 loss in Buffalo. Two interceptions from Michael Vick in the first two possessions set the tone early. The defense actually stopped the Bills after the second pick, which I guess is noteworthy at this point. Of course, the first turnover was caused by a bad decision by Vick followed by another embarrassing display of tackling by the defense that lead to a touchdown for the Bills.           The Eagles responded to the defense actually showing up for a while with a touchdown drive that was kept alive by a roughi