Are Philadelphia Eagles or Phillies a Bigger Disappointment for City in 2011?

This has been a very interesting year for Philadelphia fans.  In the same calendar year, after years of disappointment and a championship drought spanning three decades and 25 years, both Philadelphia teams were poised to be odds-on favorites to win titles this year. 

After reacquiring Cliff Lee, the top free agent pitcher of last winter, the Phillies were declared by most as the obvious favorite to come out of the National League.  They already had a stellar staff featuring last year’s top free agent Roy Halladay and fellow Cy Young caliber pitchers Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt. 

To anyone with any knowledge of the caliber of pitching the Phillies could run out to the mound four out of five days, this almost seemed unfair.  Combined with the talented offense that the Phillies had, it seemed like the only discussion to be had was whether or not the Yankees, Red Sox or some other team would come out of the AL.

Meanwhile, during the summer and following the Lockout, the Philadelphia Eagles were coming off a great season last year led by a resurgent Michael Vick Vick made a major splash in the free agent market. 

Within a matter of weeks, the Eagles signed Ronnie Brown, Vince Young, Cullen Jenkins and the top free agent on the market—Nnamdi Asomugha.  The Eagles were already a formidable team for much of last year. Adding that type of quality to their already highly-talented squad made them a force to be reckoned with in the NFC alongside the defending champion Packers. 

Most took note of the influx of talent that the Eagles had, but when Vince Young—one of the more high profile backup quarterbacks in recent memory—declared the Eagles a “dream team,” the hype machine started churning. 

Although this statement had some truth to it given the level of talent across the board, it was not a good decision on Vince’s part. 

For one, it drew extra unneeded attention to the Eagles, which generally is not a good thing to do in a sport like football.  Secondly, despite the fact that the Eagles were immensely talented, there were still several holes in their roster that would need to be balanced out.  The offensive line still needed upgrades and the linebackers were average at best. 

Things took a turn for the worst in Philadelphia in September and early October when the Phillies, who dominated the regular season and made a mockery of the competition for most of the year, ran into unexpected trouble in the first round of the playoffs against the St. Louis Cardinals. 

After winning 102 games, it seemed inevitable that they would at the very least, make it to the NLCS and more than likely another World Series. 

Instead, up against a Cardinal team that BARELY made it into the playoffs thanks to a colossal collapse by the Braves, the Phillies were ousted in five games. A phenomenal pitching performance by Cardinal ace Chris Carpenter out dueled Philly ace Roy Halladay and beat postseason stud Cliff Lee earlier in the series. 

It is fair to say that almost no one expected this outcome to happen outside of a few overly optimistic Cardinal fans in St. Louis.

While football season is not over yet, the Eagles got off to a very disappointing 1-4 start, after all of that hype early in the season.  The one win that the Eagles boasted was over the lowly St. Louis Rams.

It seemed that Philadelphia fans were set to be on “suicide watch” and left to wonder what happened after all of the hope and arrogance just a few weeks prior.

Both teams were disappointing this fall, but I think that the bigger disappointment was the Philadelphia Phillies.  The Phillies have not only had a championship caliber team for the last three to four years, but they also made additions that should have made them scary good.

When you are talented and you are able to add the top free agent pitcher two years in a row, you are really positioning yourself well for success. Halladay and Lee both have strong cases to be made as candidates for the league’s premier pitcher. 

Add that to former postseason hero Cole Hamels, who led them to their championship in 2008, and you have a formidable staff.  There is no secret that “pitching wins championships,” as the Yankees or even last year's Texas Rangers can attest. 

The Phillies seemed to put themselves in a position where it would be impossible to beat them four times, regardless of what their offense was doing. 

The Phillies boast clutch postseason hitters like Chase Utley and proven star power in Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and newcomer Hunter Pence.  When the Phillies made the move for Pence, it really seemed then that they had ensured their lineup and could hold their own against any contending team. 

Hunter Pence lived up to his billing and hit .324 with 11 HR and 35 RBI in 54 games with the Phillies. With all the expectations placed on him, you could not possibly ask for better production out of their huge midseason acquisition.

The Phillies did not have a disappointing season by any stretch of the imagination. What makes this so disappointing is that the Phillies were not “paper champs”. 

This season they won 102 games and were nothing short of dominant with their talented roster.  Roy Halladay did not disappoint one—he led the staff with a record of 19-6 with a 2.35 ERA.  Cliff Lee was 17-8 with a 2.40 ERA in his return to Philadelphia as a No. 2 starter.  Cole Hamels bounced back to go 14-9 with a 2.79 ERA as a THIRD Starter. 

Roy Oswalt was slightly below standard at 9-10 with a 3.69 ERA this year, but I’d like to think that most teams would love to have him as a fourth starter.  Then you throw in the outstanding breakout performance by rookie Vance Worley (11-3, 3.01) as a fifth starter and you have an extraordinarily deep starting pitching staff. 

Forget the talk about how good they are on paper, they PERFORMED at a high level!  The Phillies had the best team ERA by a significant margin over second place San Francisco, who have been known to throw a ball or two well themselves (3.02 to 3.20)!

Hitting wise, no one had an amazing year, outside of maybe Hunter Pence. But, Shane Victorino, Carlos Ruiz and Jimmy Rollins had solid years, and although the batting average was not high for Ryan Howard he still did manage to top 30 HR and 100 RBI. 

Looking back, the amount of sub par performances by Phillies hitters might have tipped their postseason collapse, but they still had the talent to get the job done and make a deep run.  In fact, their bats were awake in Game 1 as they scored 11 runs, but the bats were eerily quiet the rest of the way, and that proved to be the difference.

The Phillies won their division going away and made it into the playoffs easily.  They won the NL East, which boasted a very tough Atlanta team that happened to fall apart at the end as well, by 13 games. 

What makes this bad is that people honestly thought that the Phillies were guaranteed to make it to the World Series. 

Starting in the winter all the way up to the beginning of the playoffs, you could hear the obvious conviction in the voice of many fans and analysts when they just assumed that the Phillies would represent the NL. 

Of course, no one was talking about the Cardinals as true contenders to take it all anyways, but when put up against he Phillies, people gave them no chance.  That’s why baseball playoffs are the most unpredictable.

It’s not about the best team, it’s about the hottest team.  The Cardinals limped into the playoffs and were at one point 10.5 games out of the NL Central race. They needed a colossal collapse and ironically a Phillies win on the last game of the season to get into the playoffs as the wildcard at 90-72. 

This was certainly a playoff-caliber year, but considering where they were during the middle part of the season, there just was not much reason to think the Cardinals could beat the mighty Phillies, who cruised to a 100+ win season. 

It is just insane to think that the Phillies boasted the best pitching staff since the Braves staff of the early 90s, and they could not even win a short playoff series. The Phillies struggled with inconsistent offense all year, but you would think that the anemic number of earned runs that Phillies starters give up, combined with a strong bullpen anchored by Ryan Madsen, the Phillies would be hard pressed to find a way to lose. 

They did unfortunately, and that’s why this loss was so devastating for a Philadelphia fan. 

For the Eagles on the other hand, while they were over-hyped by the media, there were clear reasons to not buy into the “dream team," or even consider them easy favorites to win the NFC or Super Bowl. 

Unlike the Phillies who really did not have any major holes going into the season, the Eagles, in the eyes of any reasonable and unbiased fan, had more than their share of flaws beyond the glitz and glamour of their big named players. 

They had a below average line backing corps that would likely get run over by any decent running team.  Football is a team sport and if you are weak up the middle that can sometimes nullify any strengths you have. 

In this case, the Eagles threatened to waste some of that high-priced talent in the secondary covering up for inadequacies and being forced to make a lot of tackles. 

The biggest concern was probably the offensive line.  As special as Michael Vick was last year, many of his special plays were birthed from poor protection and forced him out of the pocket into big plays with his feet.  Even when he was able to deliver the ball down the field to his talented receivers DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin, he was often hit over the course of the season. 

The Eagles line struggled often last year to protect Vick and Kevin Kolb, and their inadequacies actually were the reason why Vick ended up starting after Week 1 for the Eagles.  There was no way Kolb could have succeeded even if he was healthy playing behind a poor line.

After very few changes were made to the line, it would be unfair to expect Vick to perform quite at the level he did last year. As he ages, the amount of hits he will take behind that line are bound to catch up with him. 

It also was quite bold for many to call a team that lost in the Wildcard round the year before, a “Dream Team” because of a few key acquisitions. 

Someone must have forgotten that there is a team that plays in Green Bay that has Aaron Rodgers leading it, and he's not planning on taking steps backward anytime soon.  It was quite bold to assume that the Eagles would all of a sudden be the odds-on favorite, when the Packers had just won the championship with several key players injured.

Another reason hype was immature was because the Eagles were set to be playing in a very strong NFC East.  Prior to the injuries the Giants suffered from in the preseason, they were supposed to be pretty tough this year. 

The Cowboys quietly seemed ready to make an honest run this year under the more disciplined and grounded regime of Jason Garrett, and even the Redskins could not be counted out under Mike Shanahan’s leadership, thanks to their aggressive and stingy defense complimented by his trademark ground attack. 

For the Eagles to match what the Phillies had done this year, they would probably have to go 13-3 or 14-2.  That is hard to imagine, considering how many good teams are in the league, especially in their division.

Lastly, were people in Philadelphia all of a sudden expecting Andy Reid to become a championship coach? How can you ignore how much trouble he has had taking teams over the hump in this league? 

There is no question he has been a very effective coach, and is a “winner.”  But as a person who has followed this team for his whole regime, I do see some correlations between some of his philosophies and game management issues, and the Eagles inability to cash in on some special years in Philadelphia over the last 12 years. 

Andy has always been insistent on passing the ball a ton more than he runs it, despite having very capable backs over the years.  He has always struggled with creating a mentality that allows them to get key third down and goal line conversions. 

If a team is always in finesse mode, how can you convert short downs when you need to? 

I could go down a long list of reasons as to why it’s hard for me to really put a lot of trust in Reid as a championship caliber coach, but that’s for another day.

With that said, the Eagles started off this year 1-4, with an array of losses in a variety ways. 

By time they played the Redskins on October 16, they were already in must-win situations!  All that “Dream Team” talk, and the Eagles only had one win against a previously winless Rams team. They essentially gave away games to the 49ers and Falcons. 

In the Giants game, credit must be given, because although the tides changed when Vick got hurt late, the Giants induced that injury with their relentless pressure. 

That was an ugly game for Vick and the Eagles. 

Once they lost to the Bills in a game that seemed like the perfect opportunity to get serious and get on track, doubt started to loom around the league, and in Philadelphia about this highly-touted team.          

This has been a tough beginning to the fall for Philadelphia fans. 

They had been riding high of late since cracking their championship slump in 2008 with success in baseball, football and hockey, and now there was as much anticipation about their beloved teams as ever. 

With that said, I think for sure that the Phillies were the bigger disappointment.  Baseball is funny, because the hottest team always seems to win, but on paper the Phillies were as good as any team has been going into the postseason in the last several years, and it was all for naught. 

The Eagles are starting to show some signs of hope and may very well make this season a special one.  The division is in reach, and sky is the limit as they start to rise. 

The Eagles expectations were a bit unrealistic and misdiagnosed, but they certainly are talented enough to make a run this year.  For Philly’s sake, let’s hope they make a run and surprise folks to make up for the disappointment they suffered from in October.