Too little too late

For Thursday night football, the Philadelphia Eagles lost a somewhat competitive game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by the score of 28-22. There are two things that the Eagles team as a whole needs to improve. The first is how they approach the start of a game. They seem to sleepwalk for the first quarter of every game so far. I want to see them come on the field ready to play. The second thing is the offensive playcalling needs to get much more balanced. They are leaning way too much on Jalen Hurts to do everything and forgetting that he is a rookie quarterback. This game was only his 10th start in the NFL. I just don't get why they don't to run the ball a lot more with Miles Sanders considering that he is one of their best players. What a waste of talent so far.

The big news after the game was the trade of tight end Zach Ertz to the Arizona Cardinals. This wasn't unexpected because once Dallas Goedert gets off the Covid list, he will start. I'm happy for Zach. I think he will have a lot better chance for another Super Bowl win playing for the Cardinals.

I have just started to really pay attention to college football for this season because baseball hasn't come to a close yet. For once it actually seems like the road to the playoff is pretty wide-open. Georgia is ranked #1 which is not that unusual, but the other top three teams are completely different than in years past. Iowa is ranked #2 this week and Cincinnati is ranked #3. Perennial powerhouse Alabama is ranked #5 but they can still make the playoffs if they win all the games left, including the SEC championship game in the beginning of December. Clemson, who is usually in the top rankings, has no chance this year since they lost their star quarterback Trevor Lawrence.

The NBA season officially starts next week, and in a pleasant surprise, Ben Simmons has decided to come back and play for the 76ers at least to start out the season. I hope he has a much more positive attitude about himself and that he has regained his confidence. I still think he will eventually get traded at some point this season but hopefully gets the 76ers off to a great start.

Baseball playoffs are down to the final four teams. The Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox are in it for the American League and the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves will be matched up for the National League. The Red Sox are just proof that it doesn’t matter how you get in to the playoffs. Accomplishing this by beating the New York Yankees in the wild card game was unexpected. But they did it, and once you’re in, you get the chance to win the whole thing!

Of course, for the World Series I will be cheering for whoever wins the National League series. I just want them both to be six or seven games. Since the playoffs have offered some really exciting games, it would be great to have the World Series be an extension of that.

Since the Phillies are done for this year, I will close with the news that they are hiring a much needed new hitting coach, Kevin Long. He worked for the Washington Nationals when they won the World Series and he’s also worked with Bryce Harper before. Hopefully he will be a huge help to the team for next year.