- Suddenly Carson Wentz has a back injury that will keep him out of Sunday night's game with the Rams in Los Angeles. Nick Foles will start. Wentz may be sidelined for the rest of the year. I'm sure the outcome of Sunday's crucial game will help to determine if Wentz could or should return for two meaningless football games.
Head coach Doug Pederson says the injury was not game-related. So how and when did it happen? Which leads to more questions: is Wentz injury-prone? Will he get a new contract when the time comes? Will the Eagles re-sign Nick Foles as insurance? Are the Eagles tanking/ Was Wentz benched, giving Foles a chance to work similar magic to last years' championship season? If Foles wins the last three regular season games and takes the Birds to the playoffs will there be a quarterback controversy?
I think Wentz does have a bad back- he was on the injury list in October with back issues-and now the Eagles don't want to risk their franchise QB for further injury since the season is just about done anyway. Let Wemtz rest his back and knee and come back next year, while hoping Foles can work his magic again.
The Rams game is probably out of reach. Coming off such an emotional loss in Dallas, then having to fly across the country and face an angry Rams team in L.A. ( the Rams lost on Sunday night in Chicago), is not good for Philly. The opening line was Rams favored by 9 points. That went up to 11 points once Wentz went down and Foles became the starter.
Foles will handle the offense well, especially the read-option. He now has Golden Tate as another short-yardage weapon who can be utilized in the slot. But can Foles put up enough points to stay with L.A.? Can the weary defense, on the field way too long against the Cowboys, slow down the vaunted Rams attack?
The Eagles need to run the ball and control the ball in order to keep the Ram offense off the field. Los Angeles hasn't played well in about a month. Is that because they ran away with the NFC West and are coasting towards the playoffs, maybe not as motivated? Or are the Rams in a funk? Certainly they need to keep playing hard to secure home field advantage over New Orleans in the post-season.
Plus L.A. has revenge on their minds, as Minnesota extracted revenge earlier in the season, for last season's loss out west. Whereas the Eagles are more to lose here. A loss knocks them out of whatever slim hopes they have to sneak into the playoffs. Win and the Birds come back to Philadelphia next week against Houston with hope alive.
I think the rams stomp on the Eagles similar to what the Saints did back in November. Rams 38 Eagles 17
- Bob Brookover, local writer has a column in the paper this morning, saying the Phillies may get shut-out altogether in the Harper/Machado sweepstakes, with Harper going to the glitzy Dodgers ( Magic Johnson screws us again) and Machado signing with his favorite boyhood team, the Yankees. The Phils may have a ton of "stupid" money to toss around, but if guys really don't want to play in Philly...
So far the Phillies off-season activity has been wonderful. Getting Jean Segura to play shortstop and now signing Andrew McCutchen for the outfield has upgraded the team, both on offense and defense. But losing out on Haprer and Machado, when the Phillies have the money and promised to be aggressive in getting at least one of them, would be hugely disappointing.
The Phils can still do a lot. Getting both lefties, Andrew Miller and Zach Britton for the bullpen would be big. Getting another starter, since it looks like Jay Happ will join the Yankees, would be a plus as well. Adding by subtracting a Herrera, Franco or Williams would help. Curious that in the Phillies 2019 calendar, neither Herrera, Franco, Williams or Hernandez are featured ( although Phillies' management have indicated they are keeping Cesar, thinking he will rebound off a broken foot in a free agent year).
But..in all honesty..if Harper and/or Machado go elsewhere, I will think that GM Matt Klentak once again failed to get the really big prize, and he had to settled for sloppy seconds, like usual.
- Loserville. Again last night. The Flyers blew a two-goal lead with a little over a minute to go in regulation time, as they lost to Calgary on overtime, 6-5. I'm glad the new general manger is on this road trip. Maybe he will finally get rid of the coach and start to rebuild this inconsistent, frustrating hockey team.
Same with the Sixers. They lose only their second home game of the year to lowly New Jersey ( their other home loss came to awful Cleveland). Even with Jimmy Butler out the 76'ers need to take care of business at home against an inferior club.
It does help me, however, as I bet on the Sixers not winning 54 games or more this season.
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