The Vegas line on this Thursday night matchup between the Eagles (5-9) and the Giants (10-4) has the G-Men 2-point favorites playing at Philly. The Over/Under is 42.5 total points. The Odds Shark mainframe computer simulator predicts a 24-18 win for the Giants.
This is a bittersweet game day for many Philly fans for more than one reason. First off, the Eagles have little to play for except pride (it’s the 170th time in the history of the league the Eagles and Giants have met) and of course the desire to perform well and execute competitively with an EYE toward better things to come in 2017.
Secondly, the main growth of this Eagles Eye site has been about the education and entertainment values brought to this location by the hundreds of loyal Birdbrains world-wide who contribute to the content by posting their learned opinions and analysis in the Comments section—something which was especially meaningful on game days like this one, but which also sustained this site through the entire NFL cycle of offseason activities and Draft preparation.
“Livefyre” was the auto-refresh engine for that unique commentary over the past 6 years—yesterday its new owner Adobe Corp. pulled the plug on Livefyre. Boom! Hundreds of regular posters comprising the Bored of Evergreen were cut off from their regular identities and alter-egos. Filling that vacuum back up to the previous level of smart commentary and endearing camaraderie seems like a mountain too high to climb.
The New England Sports Network which now hosts this site is not to blame over this. They were down with Livefyre when they purchased the site months ago—they like the rest of us did not see the Adobe buy-out of Livefyre ending like this.
As a stop-gap measure, the network has installed a Facebook plug-in to receive comments until it is able to find a better substitute. But who knows how long that might take? And if the new Comments system does not incorporate auto-refresh, it will seem like we are headed backwards.
I have long said my purpose in posting the main articles here on an almost-daily basis was to merely set the table for the Comments, which was where you would find the real action, and from which I personally learned more about football and life than from any other source available to me in the Philly sports universe. I think the reason for that is Livefyre, as flawed as it could be at times, gave a spontaneous voice to such a wide variety of knowledgeable panelists. Demographic barriers of age and geography were simply cast aside and didn’t matter—’twas the qualities of education and entertainment which jumped off the page instead.
Ye olde Eagles fans of stout heart can still get through during this transition period by using or creating your personal Facebook accounts to log in. You can manually refresh comments by toggling the “Oldest” and “Newest” buttons on the FB control panel. But believe me, I know it’s not the same—and I lament the permanent loss of many posters and their alter-egos who have every right to say “Bag it…too much trouble.”
But this site, much like the Eagles themselves facing a “drop-out” kind of season, will carry on with a resolve to get through the doldrums until we find something better in the way of a Commentary Machine which works for all of us.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot, we have a game to play:
Despite scoring over 20 points just once in their last four games, the Giants are one of the hottest teams in the NFL, winning eight of their last nine. Since their offense has been inconsistent, most of their meteoric rise can be attributed to their defense, which now fourth in the defensive DVOA ratings. The G-Men will go for the season sweep of the Eagles tonight at the Linc.
Offensively, the Eagles must eliminate the turnovers that plagued them early in the first outing, and they’ll also have to find a way to not settle for field goals in the red zone. Defensively, it’s all about disrupting Eli Manning and the Giants’ quick passing game. The Eagles intercepted Manning twice in Week 9, but he gashed them for four touchdown passes.
The good news for the Eagles is that it looks like they’ll have their true starters back at all five offensive line positions, starting Jason Peters, Allen Barbre, Jason Kelce, Brandon Brooks and Lane Johnson (from left to right) for the first time since Week Five.
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Since Livefyre was the “bread ‘n’ butter” of the Bored for so many years, I thought I should feature a Philly tailgate special today which featured plenty of good bread and lots of real butter.
Warm ham and cheese sandwiches (or as Brizer calls them, “Sangwiches”) are the perfect addition to any tailgate spread. [Recipe Submitted by Real Women of PHILADELPHIA contestant Caryn Ross.]
INGREDIENTS:
1 package Hawaiian bread rolls
1 lb. shaved Black Forest Ham
12 slice Gruyère cheese
1 tub PHILADELPHIA Chive & Onion Cream Cheese Spread
½ c. butter
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
½ tbsp. dried minced onion
¼ c. grated Parmesan cheese
DIRECTIONS:
Cut all rolls in half. Place roll bottoms in 9- by 13-inch pan.
Place equal amounts of ham on each roll bottom. Top with Gruyere.
On each of the roll tops, spread a generous amount of the cream cheese spread. Return the tops to the bottoms making sandwiches.
In a separate bowl, mix together the butter, Worcestershire sauce, onion, and Parmesan cheese. Pour over your sandwiches and let sit for at least 20 minutes. (You can make these ahead of time and allow to sit in fridge overnight.)
Place sandwiches, covered in foil, in a preheated 350 degree F oven. Bake for 20 minutes or until warmed through.
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