My Thoughts On A Game I'm Not Going To Watch

Hooray, the Pro Bowl! Excuse while I don't give a shit. Still, the selection is interesting. It's always nice to see Eagles going to the game. Westbrook obviously deserves to be there. I suppose Andrews does too, but I don't know much about offensive lines. All in all I don't have much of a problem with the rosters, but I do have a couple legit gripes.

First of all, where is Trent Cole? He is 3rd in the NFL in sacks with 12.5, 2nd in the NFC, and he has been by far the best and most consistent player on the Eagles' defense. I understand that they're 6-8, and that the players taken ahead of him are all on playoff teams, but Osi Umenyiora? Don't get me wrong, he's good, but had William (Tra) Thomas played in week 4, he doesn't come anywhere near this roster. Half (HALF!) of his 12 sacks came in one game against a clearly overmatched Winston Justice. Cole has 65 tackles to Umenyiora's 43, and they have both forced 4 fumbles. Also, Cole doesn't have the luxury of playing opposite Michael Strahan. Why no one else outside of Philadelphia is mentioning this, I don't know.

Second, Al Harris is starting in the Pro Bowl? Really? HE'S A FUCKING BUM. I don't care if he's big and fast, he can't cover anyone! It's like people in the NFL don't actually watch him play. Have fun with Randy Moss, Al. Just don't forget to celebrate the one interception off a deflected pass after Randy has already torched you for 3 TDs and 120 yards in the 1st half.

And last and maybe even least, no disrespect to Adrian "Purple Jesus" Peterson, but Westbrook should be the starter for the NFC. Peterson is a hell of a player. He absolutely deserves to be on the team, and I'm sure this won't be his last Pro Bowl. But if you needed to win a game tomorrow, and you had to take one NFC running back, it wouldn't be Peterson. (It might be Steven Jackson, but he's missed too many games to qualify for this argument.) I'm not saying Peterson won't be a better player than Westbrook, but right now, he isn't nearly as complete. No, Westbrook isn't going to run for 296 yards anytime soon, especially not with the way the Eagles play the game. But he would also never gain only 3 yards on 14 carries. That just wouldn't happen. Westbrook is also the best pass-catching RB in the game. He has 83 receptions to Peterson's 17, with 450 more yards to show for it. Peterson has 13 overall scores, Westbrook has 11. Peterson has lost 3 fumbles, Westbrook has lost 1, and it was his first in over 500 touches. Peterson has a very bright future ahead of him, but I don't think he's had a better year than Brian Westbrook. Call me a homer, but I think the stats back me up.

Al Harris Is A Bum

While watching the cowboys-Packers game Thusrday night, Bryant Gumbel - the man that Wayne Brady makes look like Malcom X - said that "there is no finer cornerback in football" than Al Harris. Um, do you watch football Mr. Gumbel? Al Harris stinks. Yeah, he's 6'2" and he's fast, but that doesn't mean he knows how to cover anyone. T.O. was ass-raping Harris all night long to the tune of 140+ yards and a TD - in the first half. And it would have been even worse if Owens hadn't decided to lateral what would have been another touchdown to Harris in the endzone.

Harris was the Eagles' nickelback for a couple years, and my friends and I used to joke about how he was pass interference penalty just waiting to happen. We would actually make bets as to when he would be flagged prior to every game. It was actually kind of fun. Once, as a senior in high school, I was sitting in homeroom discussing Harris and his lack of talent with a friend when a girl in my class, surnamed Harris, overheard us and this exchange took place:

Her: Hey, he's my uncle!
Me: Really? Oh. Well he's still a terrible cornerback.
Her: So, he's still my uncle!

(20 seconds of blank staring).

But you see, even she had no defense for the fact that he was a bum. Not much has changed since then. Al Harris sucks.