By Pete Thompson
By the time you read this, we officially have “FALL-en” back, as Daylight Savings Time means things get dark a little sooner and the leaves have turned. When I was a kid, I loved the “fall back” part of the equation, and hated the “spring forward” part. Now, as an adult, I’m actually having trouble adjusting to the “extra” hour as my body still wants to wake up at the same time, but it’s actually an hour earlier!
Where do you stand on this? Do you like Daylight Savings Time? Or should we go the route of Arizona & Hawaii, the two states that don’t observe it…?
Since I last wrote, the Eagles have won two in a row, including maybe their most complete game of the season in Buffalo. The Sixers finally suffered their first loss, but they appear to be one of the more dominant teams in the East. The Flyers have been on another up & down kind of ride early in the season. The Phillies do officially have a new manager and I absolutely LOVE the hire. Lastly, the playoffs are here for area high school football.
From the entertainment world, ABC trotted out “The Little Mermaid Live!” and you’ll have to forgive me for my review. Hopefully the movie “Ford vs. Ferrari” is better as it features two of my favorites in Christian Bale & Matt Damon. As always though, we begin with sports, and my thoughts:
- Did the Eagles save their season in Buffalo? That was the question most Birds fans were asking when Doug Pederson & company went to upstate NY and beat the Bills 31-to-13 a few weeks back. The Eagles won that game largely by running the football, something that this older guy likes to see. I remember the good old days of the NFC East when every team had a featured running back. I understand the game has gone vertical, and running the football is not as exciting, but gosh darn I think it still wins you games in the NFL. The 218 yards the Birds finished with on the ground, led by Jordan Howard, was awesome to see. Miles Sanders ripped off a 65-yard touchdown run. The defense came up with four sacks. A complete effort just one week after there appeared to be division in the locker room.
- Next, came the 22-14 win over the Bears. The Eagles jumped out to a 19-zip lead before things got interesting (scary) in the 3rd & 4th quarter. This one will be remembered the most though for DeSean Jackson. D-Jax elected to return from the abdominal muscle problem he had that kept him out of the lineup since Week 2. He lasted four snaps. FOUR…!!! There are folks out there who want to rip the Eagles for how they handled this. And I think to a degree that’s fair. The Birds have not exactly been forthcoming with injury information in the past few seasons. Remember when Carson Wentz had some soreness in his back that turned into a broken bone? I feel ultimately though that the blame for this going wrong lies with one person, and that’s DeSean Jackson. He elected NOT to have surgery when he first felt discomfort. He missed almost seven full games. And when he tried to go against the Bears, he completely tore the muscle off the bone and that’s it. This one is big as the Eagles without #10 are a completely different style of offense than WITH him. The Birds have placed him on injured reserve after his surgery; he would be eligible to return to the team during the playoffs, if they make it that far.
- My last thought on the Birds is this. They are on a BYE week. The Patriots are on a BYE week. New England lost in Baltimore last Sunday night, and I’m not thrilled at the prospect of Bill Belichick having TWO weeks to prepare to shutdown an Eagles offense that hasn’t exactly been clicking on all cylinders. That said, Doug Pederson has TWO weeks as well to try & adjust things. The game is at home on Sunday November 17th, and you know CBS will send their top team of Jim Nantz & Tony Romo to announce that one! The following week, it’s Al Michaels & Cris Collinsworth with the NBC crew for “Sunday Night Football”. If the Eagles can win one out of those two games, they have a chance at the playoffs as the rest of the schedule sets up pretty well for them, in my opinion.
- Speaking of schedule, as I write this, the Sixers are on a four game road trip that has them in Portland, Phoenix, Utah & Denver. Furkan Korkmaz hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Sixers a 129-128 win over the Trailblazers. The win got the Sixers off to a 5-0 start for the first time since the memorable 2000-01 season where they ended up in the NBA Finals against the Lakers. Of course, they promptly went to Phoenix next, and lost to the Suns to fall to 5-1. But, the Sixers look to be one of the stronger teams in the East, and if they stay healthy, they’re going to be a lot of fun to watch.
- There was one trouble aspect of the Sixers loss in Phoenix, and that’s Ben Simmons. Without Joel Embiid, the Suns used Aron Baynes to sag down on Simmons and cut off his driving lanes. That mean Simmons’ only option was to take jumpers, something we all know he is reluctant to do. Simmons finished the game just 2-8 from the field, and never really took an outside shot. This is troubling because all we heard the entire offseason was that he was going to develop a jumper. I’m not ready to panic on this yet though, since it’s just one game, but clearly the “Ben Simmons Jumper Project” is a work in progress…!
- Incomplete is a perfect way to describe the Philadelphia Flyers these days, or also as a “work in progress”. The Fly Guys are only 14 games into the season, and some nights they look like they can beat anybody. Other nights though, like their embarrassing 7-1 loss in Pittsburgh, they look like a bottom-of-the-standings team, and I can’t stomach that. Travis Konecny seems to be worth all the money they paid him as he’s leading the team with 7 goals and 8 assists for a team high 15 points. Captain Claude Giroux is not far behind with 11 points (4g, 7a), but we all know the Flyers will only go as far as their goaltending takes them. Thankfully, 21-year-old Carter Hart appears to be coming out of an early season rough patch. Combine that with 19-year-old Joel Farabee scoring his first NHL goal and things could be looking up for the Orange & Black.
- Joe Girardi is the 55th manager in Phillies history. We learned that not long after my last column. I absolutely LOVE the choice. My two takeaways from his initial press conference are that he will bring the discipline that the Phillies sorely need and hopefully he will bring the winning attitude they need as well. I think the players will hustle for Girardi, or at least they will know what the expectations are! Can’t wait to see what Girardi does moving forward, but I also realize he needs some better pitching talent if the Phillies truly are going to be better next season.
- It’s playoff time for area high school football. In a perfect example of “only in New Jersey”, the unbeaten Mainland Mustangs beat Ocean City last week 21-6 and now have to face the Red Raiders again THIS week, in a Group IV South first-round playoff game…! This is the most exciting time of the year, but also a little strange too. Only in New Jersey do you have a situation where a team plays its first round playoff game, then plays a traditional Thanksgiving game, then resumes playoff action. Let me make this clear, I really LOVE Thanksgiving high school football, and I don’t want it to ever go away. However, I always think it’s a risk when an active playoff team plays a Thanksgiving game against a team who is basically playing for pride.
- I’ll close with two tidbits from the entertainment world, as ABC decided to capitalize on their parent company (Disney) owning “The Little Mermaid” rights. They did a “The Little Mermaid Live!” the other night, and other than die-hard fans of the movie, I’m not sure it was the “home run” that Disney/ABC was looking for. I love Ariel as much as the next guy, but I think TV viewers are now “tired” of seeing the live musical on TV thing.
- Last, but not least, I can’t wait to see “Ford vs. Ferrari” when it comes out on the big screen. The two big roles are filled by Christian Bale & Matt Damon. Now, I’ve been a fan of Bale ever since he was a kid actor in “Empire of the Sun”. At the young age of thirteen, he showed he had the chops to have a long career in Hollywood. Bale plays Ken Miles, a British World War II veteran and a professional race car driver. Damon plays Carroll Shelby, the man who would give Ford their fastest cars. If you like good acting and you like cars; this might be the film for you…!
Remember, you can listen to me on the radio each Saturday morning on 97.3 ESPN from 8-10 a.m. It’s the “Pete Thompson Show”, and I hope you’ll tune in & interact with me on the air.
Pete has been the local “sports guy” at the Jersey Shore since 2004. After a decade with TV 40, he joined 97.3 ESPN radio to talk Eagles, Phillies, Sixers & Flyers with Mike Gill on “The SportsBash” each day from 2-6 p.m.
Pete is proud to be a “voice” for the annual ShopRite LPGA Classic each June, and does emcee work for groups like the National Football Foundation, The Old Grad Awards, and The 200 Club of Atlantic County. You can hear Pete each Tuesday on 97.3 ESPN at 5:30p, and if you see him out & about in the community, he requests that you please say “Hi”. Send comments to PBrooksT@aol.com
