1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Sixers!

I can’t truly describe the ridiculous inner-struggle I have been facing recently regarding when to finally post about the early-season NBA Atlantic Division leading 76ers. I didn’t know if it was fitting to write about the team’s “fight-to-the-death” passion and intensity during their loss to the Knicks in Madison Square Garden. I didn’t know if it was fitting to write about the team’s extremely impressive win over the Atlanta Hawks to Friday’s ago. And I didn’t know if it was fitting to write about the team after a pretty solid two and a quarters in Miami until my new mancrush’s, Nicola Vucevic, third quarter injury. But now, after a back-to-back wins of Detroit and Charlotte, the Sixers are impressively 14-6 through their first 20 games and almost first third of this short season.

Now, you can definitely make the argument that the 76ers haven’t beaten anyone all that impressive besides the Idiana Pacers and Atlanta Hawks during their first 20 games. But, with a 11.7 points per game differential ( 1^st in the league) the Sixers have shown that they are significantly better than the lesser teams in the League. The argument of “look who they’ve played” also counters the team’s astounding rankings in the Top 5 of the League in almost every defensive category. However, team defense rarely ever weakens throughout the course of a season and usually only gets better. Both they’re defense and winning margin are very good signs for the future as the team starts to play a very rough (to put it likely schedule).

Over the next two weeks, the Sixers play the Magic, Bulls, Heat, Lakers, Spurs and Clippers at home. Now, I’m the first person to make fun of people who go through a teams schedule over a time-span and predict “sure-fire” wins, but it never hurts to at least try to analyze up-coming games. With that being said, is it really THAT unlikely to think that the Sixers could beat the Magic, Lakers, Spurs and Clippers? All four of those teams have some form of major flaw that a young and pretty well-coached team can exploit. The Spurts and Lakers are SOOOOOOOOO slow. In fact, many people are joking calling this 2011-2012 roster as the “Slow-time” Lakers. Next, the Magic struggle when they can’t hit outside shots. Fortunately, the Sixers rank 1st in the League in Opponent’s 3-Point FG percentage. Finally, the Clippers being lead by a pretty poor coach into a road arena that will most likely be packed to see “lob-city” doesn’t really bode well for a team that’s still trying to find its true identity. Ladies and gentleman, if the 76ers win at least four out of their next six home games, it will be very safe to say that this club will be very well on their way to an Atlantic Division title (Their first since 2001) along with home-court-advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

I’m saying you need to be overly confident in the 76ers chances at making some noise in the playoffs this season, but I’m definitely saying you need to start getting excited about where this team is headed. Their only real weak-spots are interior defense and poor shot selection and coaching down the stretch. If they can overcome some of those difficulties, there’s going to be some exciting basketball being played in the Wells Fargo Center come March and April.

And remember….

Clap your hands…. Everybody! Stomp your feet…. Get up and Cheer! The Sixers… of Philadelphia… TEAM OF THE YEAR!

The Good Birds in 2011

I can’t truly complain, scream and yell right now about this disappointing Eagles season considering I already recognized the death of the 2011 Birds. So with that, I’d like to take a few paragraphs to recognize the few bright spots over the course of this season.

1. Jason Babin and the rest of the Defensive Line

Th The reason for Babin’s success is pretty clear: He loves hitting the quarterback and in his boy, Jim Washburn’s, system, Babin is able to put his head down and just viciously penetrate the pocket. That strategy led to 18 sacks for Babin and fans saying that he only cared about sacks. However, he forced a game-saving fumble against the Giants and his helmet broke Tony Romo’s finger and arguably cemented the Cowboys’ ultimate monumental end of season collapse and loss to the Giants yesterday. I’d say that’s a pretty well-rounded and successful player. Also, Trent Cole, Cullen Jenkins combined for 16.5 sacks. Washburn and his D-Line were the only consistent bright spot on Defensive this season.

2. 2. Shady McCoy

McCoy had probably the greatest season of any Eagles Running Back in franchise history. Some notable stats: 1,309 yds, 4.8 yards per carry, 17 touchdowns, 48 catches, 315 receiving yards and 3 receiving touchdowns. That’s straight-up ridiculous! After such a great breakout season, Shady now looks like a perennial pro-bowler and contender for the league-rushing crown for the next 5-10 seasons.

3. 3. Jeremy Maclin and Brent Celek

In the passing game, there wasn’t too much to be proud of with the injuries and constant struggles from Michael Vick and DeSean Jackson. In fact, Maclin and Celek were probably the only two consistent performers in the aerial attack all season. Maclin boasted 859 yards and 5 touchdowns off of 63 catches and most likely would have eclipsed the milestone 1,000-yard season if he didn’t miss 3 games late in the year. Celek reestablished himself as a top tight end in the league by notching 811 yards, 5 touchdowns on 62 catches for himself. If Vick can stay 90-100% healthy for 12 games next season, both receivers should improve on this season and possibly aim to get into the pro-bowl.

4. 4. Jason Peters

Before this season, my constant joke was, “Jason Peters is as attracted to False Starts and Holding penalties as he is to twinkies”. He’s still fat (and I have NO idea in the world how he played Tight End in College), but he had a terrific season this year. Last year, he made the pro-bowl but his selection was scrutinized because he sort of received the honor for shaky reasons. If you watched any of the Eagles SNF games on NBC, you would’ve heard Chris Collinsworth and his tebowner gawking at Peters’ footwork and blocking ability. Collinsworth, along with multiple ESPN, NFL Network and Rotoworld.com writers believe that Peters might be the best Left Tackle in all of the NFL.

5. 5. Eagles fans not murdering Juan Castillo

I listen to 97.5 The Fanatic with Mike Missanelli almost every weekday in the afternoon while driving. After listening to the astounding number of enraged fans who call up and vent about how awful Juan Castillo is as a Defensive Coordinator and how they “don’t know what they’re gonna do if he isn’t fired soon”, I’d like to congratulate all of the Eagles fans who were absolutely infuriated by Castillo but refrained from committing homicide.

6. 6. Steve Spagnuolo being fired by the Rams.

While we’re on the subject of Defensive Coordinators, the St. Louis Rams fired Spagnuolo as their Head Coach only a few hours ago. For those of you who forget of Spags is, he’s the man who helped sustain Jimmy Johnson’s defense for the better part of a decade and was the Defensive Coordinator of the 2008 New York Giants Super Bowl team. If you haven’t faced reality already: Andy Reid will be back as Eagles Head Coach next season. So, let’s just pray and hope the front office fires Castillo and hires Spagnuolo as Defensive Coordinator.