"There's a fine line between love and hate" -- Cecilia Ahern

Seriously. I didn't see what everyone else was seeing.

Were the Philadelphia Eagles embarrassed by the Seattle Seahawks in Thursday night's thriller? Not so much, I don't think. They didn't play particularly well, especially in their passing game, but that certainly isn't a reason to be running around, screaming, "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" It's just one they let get away.


First off: The Eagles played a late afternoon Sunday home game before crossing several time zones to play on the road in Seattle on Thursday evening. It would have been tough enough playing a road game in Cleveland, let alone on the West Coast—especially in noisy, inhospitable Seattle with so little time to prepare for that particularly hostile environment, home of the fabled "12th Man.".

Let's face it: If the Birds had been 7 – 4 instead of 4 – 7, this one was still no "gimmee."


Then: Marshawn Lynch ran through a bevy of arm tackles and racked up a gaggle of yardage, so the Eagles and their 'soft defense' were an embarrassment.

Say what? That's what Marshawn Lynch does! This was his fourth 100-yard effort in the last five games for the red-hot running back. It's not like he just dropped off the turnip truck. Didn't anyone see his spectacular touchdown against the defending Super Bowl champion Saints in last year's playoffs?


Also: The Eagles braintrust and head coach Andy Reid wasted time outs they might have needed later at critical junctures, yet failed to call a key time out to extend the first half.

Duh. Of course they did. Have you seen the Eagles play over the last decade? Clock Mismanagement: It's what they do.

The only difference between Thursday's time out squandering and the team's typical misuse of them is that, in that ill-fated prime time contest, no one was agonizing over it in the final seconds. The game was so out-of-hand at the end that it turned out there was no hand-wringing over the missing timeouts needed for last minute heroics.


In addition: The Eagles have a disgruntled player, li'l DeSean Jackson, who is a key to the team's success, who has hurt the team's chemistry and prognosis for success.

Yeah? The Eagles—and a bunch of teams— have pissed off players. The only difference is that the Eagles have a decades-long track record of throwing success under the bus over a few dollars, dating back to when A.J. Smith and Mike Brown were in short pants. Did you notice the great Reggie White went into the Hall of Fame as a Green Bay Packer? Have you heard of a fellow with the initials T.O., who almost single-handedly (with a little help from Donovan McNabb's nasty sports hernia) torched the 2005 season?

The landscape is littered with mounds of ivory dust generated by the continually gnashing of teeth of Eagles players who couldn't squeeze an extra buck—or ounce of respect—out of this team.

Make no mistake: The Eagles would just as soon see seasons go down in flames than be seen as giving in to a demanding player who'd like a raise, even if it's a critical star.


Finally: QB Vince Young basically stunk the joint up on TNF.

Yeah, but look at it this way: If Young had just chucked terribly-thrown incompletions instead of each of the two picks he tossed during potential Philadelphia scoring drives, and the Eagles had then been forced to try for field goals on each drive, and even if they then had dishearteningly MISSED BOTH FIELD GOALS, the score would have been just 17 – 14 in favor of Seattle in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.

Now, Seattle ain't exactly the Packers or the 49ers this season. But being down a field goal late in a Thursday night West Coast game wouldn't have been a bad situation for the Birds.

And if the Eagles actually had ended up kicking field goals on those two foiled possessions—one in the second quarter and one in the fourth—it's Seattle that's down by three, 20 – 14, in the waning moments of the game.


Face it, folks: We've all seen the Eagles play like this and come away with a win many times. Sometimes it's mind-boggling how often they have gone to the well, played poorly, and still come away with a metaphorical drink. Vince Young's gaffes prevented that from happening this time, but over the last couple of years I've seen the Birds post more than just a few wins in sloppy games like that.

This year, however, it isn't happening when they don't play well. They're thristy for wins that simply are no longer materializing as they once did.

The Eagles aren't wretched. But it's a thin line between love and hate, and an even thinner one between 4 – 8 and 8 – 4 in the NFL.