If the relates big plays music festival retells don’t happen, the offense could struggle a little.Still, the Eagles showed more commitment to the run last week than their typical m.o., giving LeSean McCoy 20 carries and he delivered with 99 yards and a TD. I’m not sure this is a sign of things to come, but it is a positive if they get more run-pass balance. They even seem to have figured out how to use Michael Vick better than earlier in the season.The Eagles should be able to control this game by shutting down the Redskins’ offense and putting their own offense into good field position to score. Furthermore, this game has to mean a lot more to the Eagles at this point than to the Redskins, who continue to walk around wondering who their new coach is going to be next year.The Eagles need to keep pace with the Cowboys, who won Thursday and currently hold a one-and-a-half game edge over Philly. If Philly loses and falls two full games back at this late stage of the season, they might have to kiss the division title goodbye.Count on a strong Philly performance and win on Sunday. Mike MacGregor created the Cheatsheet Compiler and Draft Buddy fantasy football and fantasy baseball draft tools, plus he developed various features and sports pools found at FFToday and MyOfficePool.ca Mike owns and operates MyOfficePool.ca ..

Ask the average 49ers fan on the Stairmaster why the team has a disappointing 4-6 record, and the answer you’re most likely to get besides “Who the hell are you?” and “You’re really bad at small talk,” is going to be…A) Jimmy Raye, that dastardly stubborn, old-fashioned offensive coordinator of ours, orB) Alex Smith, whom the team plainly refuses to accept is a bust, orC) Mike Singletary, the very personification of sound and fury signifying nothing, orD) The Offensive Line, who all surely dabble in bullfighting in the off-season, orE) All of the Above.Meanwhile the fellas on the other side of the ball, the defense, continue to tiptoe on by, in “don’t mind little ol’ us” fashion, smiling their Cheshire cat smiles, perfectly content to be as anonymous as they are subpar.It is assumed that the defense is the strength of the team because Mike Singletary, the coach, made his bones there as a player and more so because he says it is.The reality is that the defense is the strength of the team in that it’s less awful than the offense, but default praise and backhanded compliments are hardly the stuff on which championships are built.While the jury is certainly out on what—if anything—”Coach Sing” understands of the offensive game, no one questions his defensive pedigree, even though it appears from the outside that the extent of his tactical acumen boils down to “We got to hit ‘em in the mouth.”Unfortunately “Hits on Mouth” is not a recognized NFL statistic, so we really have no idea how successful the defense has been in that regard, but the crude numerical tools that we do have at our disposal tell us that, like Singletary himself, the defense has been more bark than bite.The run defense, despite the occasionalgashing they’ve suffered against the Chris Johnsons and Ryan Grants of the world, is pretty solid, allowing 94.7 yards per game, good for sixth in the league.With an interior trio of nosetackle Aubrayo Franklin and middle linebackers Patrick Willis and Takeo Spikes, this isn’t too much of a surprise.However the pass defense is ranked 30th, ahead of just the Titans and the Lions, and allowing 256.1 yards per, and given what they have to work with, that isn’t much of a surprise either.While it’s natural to blame the secondary for their poor coverage, the lion’s share of the blame must fall to the front seven for not putting enough heat on opposing quarterbacks.The 49ers have only 19 sacks on the season, which ranks them 22nd there, and consequently they’re allowing 42.7 percent of third downs against them to be converted, which is 28th worst in the league.Without a pass rush, a defense simply can’t get off the field.Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers came into last week’s game having been sacked 41 times in nine games, the highest total in the league . Yet against the 49ers he wasn’t touched, let alone sacked, the entire first half and threw for 274 yards the first two quarters as the Packers breezed to a 23-3 halftime lead.In a 3-4 defense, the two outside ‘backers are guys expected to generate a lot of heat, but Parys Haralson and Manny Lawson have combined for just 5.5 sacks, or about half of what Pittsburgh’s James Harrison has on his own.Defensive end Justin Smith meanwhile, the guy they count on to wreck havoc the most, has but one sack on the year.Smith is getting plenty of pressures to be sure, but he just doesn’t seem to have the burst to “get home” as they say in the biz.That’s not to say the secondary is totally blameless festival . Star corner Nate Clements got benched for his poor play before injuring his shoulder at Indianapolis music . His replacement, Tarell Brown, will ride the pine in favor of Dre’ Bly Sunday against Jacksonville.Shawntae Spencer, the other corner, also gets beat on a regular basis and misses way too many tackles to compound the damage.Of course we can’t forget safety Michael Lewis, who never met a tight end he could cover.It’s ironic that Singletary, who played on such a physical, in-your-face, blitzing 46 defense with the Bears, is coaching such a soft, bend-but-don’t-break outfit now.The 49ers rarely blitz, and have their corners play so far off receivers that you’d think they’re playing with four safeties blues festivals . Apparently “Physical with an ‘F’” doesn’t extend to the corners who don’t press.Add it all up and what you have is a team whose offense can only move the ball with a finesse shotgun passing attack and whose defense plays scared when it doesn’t play dead.One of these days us media folk will ignore the team’s plentiful offensive issues for a minute and get around to asking Singletary on a Rehash Monday why his guys can’t stop anybody.Then the coach will do what teams have been doing all too easily against the 49ers—dodge and duck and evade our questions, running toward open field..

While some writers might think decent relievers are worthy of MVP votes, I tend to disagree OK, to be fair, it was just one writer . Still, how anyone could think Jeremy Affeldt was the 10th most valuable player in the National League is something I find to be utterly ridiculous.OK, what does this have to do with anything? Well, every season there are some good to very good free agent relievers available music festivals . And what do you know, every season there are Yankee fans clamoring for Brian Cashman to get them signed.There are three relievers who have had their names thrown around in relation to the Yankees: Rafael Betancourt, Mike Gonzalez, and Rafael Soriano.Gonzalez and Soriano will probably be searching for closer roles, but that hasn’t stopped Yankee fans and writers from speculating that they are options.It seems like the Yankees have expressed interest in Gonzalez on an almost yearly basis, so it is no surprise to see him connected with them this offseason bonnaroo music festival . Now, don’t get me wrong, all three of these guys are upper-end relievers.That doesn’t mean the Yankees should be pursuing them For starters, they are Type-A free agents . If you’re signing a big fish, giving up a first round pick isn’t a big deal.The value of a first-round pick can be debated, but the average pick does provide the team with some surplus value (their play is worth more than how much they’re paid).Now, a team like the Yankees isn’t really built on surplus value. All of their big-name players are paid at around their market value. Basically, a team like the Rays is built on surplus value, the Yankees are one team that is more than willing to pay for their wins.So hey, maybe they should go ahead and buy every free agent with no discourse We’ve learned that hasn’t worked in the past.