Merry Christmas, Eagles!

If this doesn’t get you ready for this idiots from Philly, what will?

Please scroll down and see the Cowboys offensive breakdown…otherwise, enjoy some links and videos.

Its Eagles Week! …

The heated rivalry between Dallas and Philadelphia returns to Texas Stadium in a
Monday night showcase game.

Both teams had easy opening-day wins with the Cowboys rolling by Cleveland 28-10 and the Eagles clobbering St. Louis 38-3.

Otherwise, this NFC East battle needs no introduction.

Spotlight on Philadelphia cornerback Asante Samuel

Strengths: Excellent man-to-man cover cornerback who also excels in zone coverage. Pesky defender with great ball awareness.

Weaknesses: His size (5-foot-10, 187 pounds) and risk-taking can lead to giving up big plays.

Season: Sixth

College: Central Florida

Who he has to stop: Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens, who has the size advantage and is always pumped up to perform well against his former team.

Last week: Broke up three passes against the Rams.

Notable: Samuel signed a six-year contract for $57 million in the off-season, leaving the New England Patriots after a Super Bowl appearance.

Action Jackson

The Cowboys didn’t think there was an impact receiver in this year’s draft and elected not to select one. Philadelphia thought differently and took California’s DeSean Jackson with the 49th pick in the second round. Starting because of injuries, Jackson, who was the first rookie receiver to start an Eagles season opener since Calvin Williams in 1990, had a playmaking-filled debut against St. Louis. Jackson had a team-high six catches for 106 yards and 97 punt-return yards (long of 60). Jackson had a 47-yard catch on the Eagles’ second play of the game.

Old McNabb?
After one game, Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb looked like Donovan McNabb circa 2004. He threw for 361 yards in the victory against the Rams on 21-of-33 passing with three touchdowns and no interceptions. He also did it without injured starting receivers Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown. The only question will be if McNabb can stay healthy all season. He has not played 16 games since 2003. McNabb’s first-week yardage total was tops in the league.

Cowboys killer
When the Cowboys and Eagles have matched up in recent years, cornerback Lito Sheppard has been a game-changing player. His role has now drastically changed. He is no longer a starter since Asante Samuel was signed. Sheppard now backs up Sheldon Brown. Sheppard is the third cornerback and, despite his role, gives this team one of the best corner trios in the league. Sheppard has eight career interceptions in 11 games against the Cowboys and returned two for 100-yard-plus touchdowns.

Mr. Versatility
The focus of the Cowboys defense will be trying to contain dual-threat running back Brian Westbrook. He had 19 carries for 91 yards in the opener and had only two catches, but one went for a 1-yard touchdown. Westbrook is a favorite safety valve for Donovan McNabb when he’s in trouble, especially against Dallas. Westbrook, a two-time Pro Bowler, had 30 offensive touches (14 receptions) last year in the first meeting against the Cowboys and 27 in the second game.

Run stoppers
St. Louis Pro Bowl running back Steven Jackson did little against the Eagles defense in the opener. He was held to 40 yards on 14 carries and did not get into the end zone. His longest run was 9 yards. The Eagles’ unheralded linebacker corps faces its second consecutive challenge with Marion Barber.

Offensive prowess
The Eagles had an impressive offensive opener like the Cowboys and showed they could be a threat for the NFC East title. Philadelphia had 522 yards of offense, 28 first downs, 38 points and was 8-for-14 on third-down situations. The Eagles had eight players catch a pass and three with 100 or more yards receiving (DeSean Jackson, Hank Baskett and Greg Lewis).

Monday night matchup
The results of the last five Cowboys-Eagles meetings on Monday Night Football:

Year Result
2006 Eagles 23, @Cowboys 7
2005 Cowboys 21, @Eagles 20
2004 Eagles 49, @Cowboys 21
1998 Cowboys 34, @Eagles 0
1997 @Cowboys 21, Eagles 20

The NFL off Day is examined ….

The future of Hank is being decided …

After a little more than two weeks on the job, it appears Hank Blalock has handled the defensive responsibilities of first base well.

That, however, isn't likely to win him the job for next season.

If the Rangers decide to pick up Blalock's $6 million option and keep the current alignment that has Chris Davis playing third for 2009, it will be because of his bat, not his glove. The other option would be to move Davis back to first and fill third base either with Travis Metcalf or via free agency.

"It's hard to imagine a 2009 lineup without Chris in it," general manager Jon Daniels said before Tuesday's game at Seattle.

While Blalock has not given up on returning to third base in the future, everybody associated with such a decision acknowledges it is no sure thing. Blalock said Tuesday that he hopes an off-season throwing program will allow him to strengthen his arm to the point he could play third again.

It is worth noting that it wasn't Blalock's arm, but rather his hamstring that sent him to the DL for the first time this season in April. The shoulder didn't start hurting him until July.

"I can't predict the future," said Blalock, who turns 28 in November. "I don't want to doubt myself. I feel like I'm still young, and I'm looking forward to a strong off-season program. If they want me back, they'll pick up my option. If not, I'll find somewhere else to play. Worrying about the future isn't really my style."

The Aggies sort through their QB spot on the off-week …

Jerrod Johnson touts the Aggie company line.

The Texas A&M sophomore will play receiver or quarterback, backup or starter. Wherever the coaches want him, it's cool.

Johnson filled in to quarterback the Aggies to a 28-22 victory at New Mexico on Saturday after starter Stephen McGee suffered a sprained throwing shoulder during the first series. As McGee rehabs, uncertain for next week's Miami game, it's Johnson running the first-team offense.


He refused this week – a bye week for the Aggies – to bite on the chance to run a Johnson-for-starter campaign.

"From the get-go, coach [Mike] Sherman asked if I was a team player," Johnson said. " I really can't control anything. Whatever the coaches decide is best for the team is what I'm going to do. ... I'm happy with that decision."

Sherman has shown no signs of going away from McGee, if healthy. McGee has started 29 straight games, including A&M's season-opening loss to Arkansas State, after recapturing his starting role during fall camp competition.

"I thought he was getting ready to have a heck of a ball game," Sherman said. "If he was going to play this week, he would be the starter this week. No reason not to."

Sherman lauded McGee's guts. Injured on a hit after a completion to convert a third down, McGee finished the drive. And McGee, unavailable for comment this week, probably would've kept playing if Sherman hadn't pulled him.

Johnson, 6-5, 229 pounds out of Humble, may represent the Aggies' future. Against New Mexico, he relied on his legs to scoot, but he also threw three touchdown passes, going 10-of-19 for 124 yards.

The offense as a whole struggled in the second half.

"I'm very comfortable with Jerrod," Sherman said. "You have to look at his performance and understand how difficult that was."

Not a very good hockey game ….

There's the "agony of defeat." And then there's this women's ice hockey score from the European Olympic pre-qualifying tournament: Slovakia 82, Bulgaria 0.

That's correct: 82 goals for Slovakia, none for Bulgaria.

The International Ice Hockey Federation said the result, from a game played Saturday at the tournament in Liepaja, Latvia, set a record score for a women's IIHF-sanctioned event. It was not the all-time record for futility, however; that is still held by Thailand, which lost 92-0 to South Korea in the 1998 Asia-Oceania U18 Championship.

Slovakia, which won all four of its games at the tournament, outshot Bulgaria 139-0, scoring on 58.9 percent of its shots on goal. Slovakia averaged one goal every 44 seconds.

"We took it as training," Slovakia coach Miroslav Karafiat said after Saturday's game.

Bulgaria trailed 7-0 after 5 minutes, 19-0 after 10 and 31-0 at the end of the first period.

The drubbing capped a woeful showing for the Bulgarian women, who also lost 30-1 to Croatia and 41-0 to Italy in earlier games.

And then, from yesterday’s show….

Will my computer cause health issues? …

Will a laptop give me cancer?

will a laptop give me testicular cancer or any other type of cancer in the lower abdomen or any of my organs? it like sits right on my lap so i am wondering you know.... especially because of the talk about cellphones giving you cancer.

no it wont give u any cancer but constant heat to your testicles may decrease the sperm count. its advisable to keep it off the lap

Not good for prospective Daddys …

Cell phones aren’t the only potential portable health hazard. I talked to Masood A. Khatamee, M.D., a professor at the NYU School of Medicine specializing in infertility prevention, about reports of laptops potentially lowering fertility levels in men.

Even though I’ve never been much impressed by children, I still had to know if my Powerbook was making me less of a man. Dr. Khatamee offered more details about the recent study by a State University of New York at Stonybrook research team that indicated laptops are hurting our more delicate replication engines. “A change in temperature even as slight as 1 degree can affect male fertility,” warned the professor.

He was quick to qualify that heat from any source can affect men’s fertility, but you might just want to keep that laptop on a table or portable desk if you’re in the breeding mood.

Dr. Khatamee said he’d be happy to do a specific study on the risks of cell phones on fertility, as well, if some benefactor would be willing to fund it. It’s interesting to note that there has been a 50 percent drop in male fertility in New York City over the last 40 years or so, according to Khatamee. Something we’re doing—most likely some technology we’ve added into our lives—has affected our bodies in a measurable way.

And then, after my rant on why the “spread offense” is ruining college football, here is some surprising agreement from the masses:

Bob,

The spread has been great for Mizzou helping them to rise to national prominence. They are kings of the spread (with Carroll's Chase Daniel running it). And I HATE it. They can't grind out the clock on the ground. They regularly snap the ball with almost 20 secs left on the play clock. When it is 3rd or 4th and goal from the one, they can't power into the endzone because they are handing off at the 4 yard line. It lets teams get back into the game because they don't run out the clock on the ground and when they run the ball it is usually to the outside and the RB ends up...out of bounds! Not a fan (but thankful for Mizzou's prominence).

Bill Victor
Columbia MO
===
Bob,

I am a season ticket holding UT alum and I just wanted you to know that most of the people I know here in Austin are asking the same question you are about Texas running the spread. This includes the alums that I know, talk radio hosts, message boards, and even some of the newspaper and television reporters. I, just like you, hate the spread for any team but especially for a team I watch and support every week. Texas can not run the football even against UTEP and Florida Atlantic and I completely blame the spread. I have a bad feeling the OU game will not be pretty. If you have a huge offensive line, as Texas does, I do not understand why you don't just line up and run over people. Or at the very least you could run out of the I or Pro sets a couple of times a game just to see if you can be successful with it. But Mack Brown and Greg Davis (the offensive coordinator) are committed to it and they publically insist that Colt McCoy can run it. The problem is UT is talented enough to run any offense and get 9 to 10 wins a year these days, so there is no incentive to change.

Anyway love the show

P1 Josh
===

Man, you have got to stop throwing out HSOs that I agree with dude. You are not making this fun anymore. But I agree with you 250%. I am sick and tired of everyone running the spread offense. It is totally ruining football. The problem is that everyone is switching to it and they don’t have the right type of players to run it. I was watching my nephew play football a couple of weeks ago. These are ten and eleven year olds. Both teams are attempting to run the spread offense! The team they were playing were getting plays from the sideline, the little quarterback would look at his wristband and then call the play, and lift his foot, and the ball was snapped!! Four and five wides and these were ten and eleven year olds! I’m telling you know we could take a high school team and run a traditional pro set I formation type offense with a decent quarterback and a solid running back and have a nice running game with running sweeps, counters, isos, traps, and mix in some play action passing and I’m telling you we would kill some teams. Why? Because I don’t think a lot of these teams have had to defense a traditional offense in so long they may not know what to do if they had to get into a basic defense and stop someone. To have everyone running the spread from pee-wee to college is just outrageous. To have Rich Rodriguez get hired by Michigan and then have half the team transfer because they don’t fit his spread offense is sad.

Jerry

And then, in honor of Eagles week, $1 cheesesteaks????

'Boys- - Eagles = $(P)1 Cheesesteaks....

Monday Night, Sept. 15th -- the big showdown, and it also marks 10 years in biz in Old Town for my Texadelphia.

As a David Letterman rip-off, here's 10 reasons why I'm doing $1.00 Cheesesteaks Monday, Sept. 15th from 5 p.m. - end of the game:

10. "One" represents the number of times I've been named, "Worst Restauranteur of the Year" (by D Magazine, 2001) Eat my shorts, Wick Allison ...
9. "One" represents the number of votes I would've probably received had I not been disqaulified in my quest for Mayor.
8. Jerry Jones needs help promoting his relatively unknown football team.
7. The economy is sooo great.
6. Maybe this is the "One" thing I was meant to do that Billy Crystal was talking about in, "City Slickers."
5. I want to prove to the world that the dollar is still strong.
4. "One" represents the number of people who believed 10 years ago that I'd make it in the restaurant biz. Thanks, ma!
3. "One" rhymes with purple.
2. Only "one" more reasonless reason and that's ...
# 1. "One" more cheesy-attempt for shameless publicity.

THANK YOU Dallas for helping me realize a dream I've had of owning my own restaurant! I sincerely appreciate it more than any Hallmark card could ever convey. I love my employees, and getting to know so many customers has helped Dallas seem more like a friendly ol' town than a materialistic mecca of stoopid chain restaurants:)

$1 Cheesesteaks -- 5 p.m. - End of Game
Monday, Sept. 15th
1 per order
Expect long lines
Good only at my two Texadelphia's (Other franchisees don't want to play my reindeer games)

Texadelphia
OLD TOWN
5500 Greenville Ave
Dallas, TX 75206
214-265-8044

Texadelphia
LAS COLINAS
7601 N. MacArthur Blvd
Irving, TX 75063
972-432-0725

XOXOXOXOXOXO,

Tom Landis
Texadelphia Owner

Reds vs. Devils – This Saturday