Philadelphia Eagles Afflicted With Robinson-itis

It appears my beloved Philadelphia Eagles have come down with a severe case of Robinson-itis. The disease is easily identifiable, and usually fatal when present in high doses. It only affects North American football teams and the most common symptoms are losing football games and making irrational statements after the game that can not be supported by a little thing called "facts."

The last place Eagles suffered their second consecutive loss yesterday, falling to the Washington Redskins 23-17. After the game, defensive end Trent Cole channeled his inner Greg Robinson, busting out this beauty:

"It's embarrassing. We know we're a great team, and we have to go out there and show it. We didn't come out here today and show it."

Ummm, Trent, the facts beg to differ fine sir. Your record is 2-3 and you just gave up 203 rushing yards to the Redskins. In week two, your defense was torched for 41 points and over 300 passing yards against Dallas. You can't even be described as a great defense, much less a great team. Your defense is capable of playing great in spurts, but Kyle Freaking Orton hung 3 touchdowns in one half on you last week. I haven't even mentioned the fact that this team was 8-8 last year. Eagles fans haven't seen a great team since 1960.

Luckily, head coach Andy Reid, who always takes responsibility for every loss but lately seems incapable of learning from them, continues to ride on the denial train as well. Since the start of the 2005 season, Reid's record is 26-27, yet he continually refuses to run the ball, mangles 2 minute drills and botches play calling in the red zone. He is also defending kicker David "I can't make anything outside of 40 yards" Akers.

In talking about his struggling kicker, Reid busted off this gem:

"David's going to make a lot more of those than he's going to miss. Down the stretch here, he'll be fine."

That's all well and good, except for these pesky little facts - going back to last year he's missed his last 9 field goals from 45 yards and out, and since the beginning of 2007, he's 3-14 on field goals of 40 yards or longer. Call me crazy, but slump of over a year is something I'd call a pattern. Besides, the Eagles are in last place in the toughest division in football, if this keeps up he can be as fine as he wants, because 'down the stretch' won't matter, much like last year.

Reid needs to be commended for rebuilding the Eagles and Akers was once an excellent kicker - however, both men have seriously slipped over the past few years - and denial of obvious facts isn't going to help the matter. As an Eagle fan, I'm hoping they find a cure for Robinson-itis soon, because I can't take much more of this, I get too much of it on Saturday.