DeSean Jackson is for the Eagles Everything TO Could Have Been and More

For as long as Donovan Mcnabb has been in Philadelphia, the prevailing complaint among fans has been the lack of quality receivers.

Prior to last season, the lone exception to that rule was the 2004 season, when Terrell Owens came to town and the Eagles rode the Mcnabb/TO connection all the way to the Super Bowl.

Of course, the very next season, amid injuries to Mcnabb and the familiar antics by Owens, things quickly fell apart

Soon, TO was in Dallas and Eagles' backers were once again bemoaning a lack of talent among Philly's pass catching corps. Even Mcnabb himself complained on his personal blog during the offseason in 2008 about the lack of playmakers on the Eagles' offense.

Perhaps as a result of that, Philadelphia drafted DeSean Jackson in the second round three months later. And to slightly paraphrase a saying, the rest is quickly becoming history.

After a solid rookie season in which he showed plenty of potential, Jackson has fully blossomed into arguably the top playmaker in the league.

In the process, he is not only providing a glimpse into what could have been, but even threatening to totally eclipse that one great season Mcnabb and TO shared.

Their styles are clearly different. DeSean Jackson is a skinny speedster who can leave defenders holding nothing but air, having tied the record (8) for TD's of 50+ yards with two games remaining.

Terrell Owens is 5 inches taller (6'3") and fifty pounds heavier (224) than Jackson. While he is by no means slow, his ability to break tackles can turn a routine catch into a long gain.

However, outside of the obvious physical differences, there are plenty of similarities between the two. Not the least of which is their ability to score anytime they get the ball in their hands.

Beyond that, the stats Jackson has accumulated thus far in his breakout sophomore year are actually pretty comparable to TO's one full season in Philadelphia.

In 13 games this season, Jackson has caught 56 passes for 1,087 yards. In 2004, Owens collected 77 passes for an even 1,200 yards in 14 games. That translates to 83.6 ypg for Jackson vs. 85.7 ypg for TO.

The one sizable advantage that TO has in that comparison is that he scored 14 receiving TD's, while Jackson has found the end zone 8 times on passing plays.

However, when you factor in Jackson's rushing and punt return plays, the additional 3 touchdowns and 549 all purpose yards more than even things out.

More importantly, Jackson has already exceeded Owens' 21 game tenure in green. And unlike TO's now famous second season blow-up, which precipitated that short stay, DeSean Jackson has been a consummate teammate thus far.

Provided that doesn't change anytime soon, Jackson is just scratching the surface of what should be a long and epic career as an Eagle.

Meanwhile, Terrell Owens is in the process of fading way up in Buffalo, having squandered what easily could have been a great opportunity in Philadelphia.

It's only a matter of time before "who?" is more than just a sarcastic response to references to TO among Philly faithful. Mcnabb and the Eagles finally have a top playmaker.

Why Another December Collapse is Almost Inevitable for the Dallas Cowboys

The New York Giants upset of the Dallas Cowboys has once again prompted speculation that "America's Team" will fade down the stretch.

Of course, even before last week's loss there was reason to believe that things might get a bit cold for the Cowboys this winter.

Not only have they been very inconsistent this season, but they have put together a pretty solid record of folding up their tents as soon as the calendar reaches the final page in recent years.

Over the past decade, their December win-loss record is 15-29. So, it really wasn't (or shouldn't have been) a big shock that they lost to the Giants and looked terrible while doing it.

However, the bigger problem for the Cowboys (and for Wade Philips' job security) is that, with their schedule, even if they do play as well as they have played all season, they could very easily end up with a losing record in December again.

To close out the season, Dallas plays at home against San Diego, on the road against New Orleans and Washington, and finally back home against Philadelphia. Of those teams, the Redskins are the only ones not likely to be a playoff team.

It's not at all inconceivable that the Cowboys could upset the Saints, but more likely than not, Dallas will be yet another victim of the juggernaut from New Orleans.

Provided they play up to their potential, the other three games are ones that they should have a good chance of winning. However, San Diego is one of the hottest teams in the league right now having won seven straight. Beating the Chargers will be a very tough task.

The dogfight doesn't end there, either. Washington has already proven that they can compete with Dallas during their one point loss two weeks ago and Philly has a three game win streak of their own. Plus, no game between NFC East rivals is ever a given, especially if the Eagles and Cowboys are playing for the division crown in their week 17 matchup.

With one December loss already on the books, Dallas will need to win a least three of their final four games to post a winning record for the month. That, combined with their one game lead over the Eagles, leaves the Cowboys without much room for error the remainder of the season.

Beyond that, even if the Cowboys survive December intact, they still have to face their lack of success in the playoffs since '96. Unless they post a couple wins in the playoffs, those same questions about their late season play will start anew.

The pressure is on for Dallas to finish strong this year and, unfortunately for the Cowboys, their remaining schedule has set them up to fail, yet again.

NFL Week Thirteen Picks

Now that the big Monday night clash between the New Orleans Saints and New England Patriots is behind us, I think we are about done with matchups of the year at least until the playoffs start. We do still have some potential big games coming up though, such as this weeks Titans-Colts battle.

The Cowboys and Giants game is another that could get a bit heated. Also, the Seahawks-Niners game could be one of those ones like the Titans-Cardinals game that kinda sneaks up on you and turns into a classic.

So in other news, it must be getting close to the end of the season because my pick percentage is getting higher as the weeks go by. As I mentioned in my season preview, I tend to get much better at picking games as the season progresses. Last week I ended up with a 10-6 record straight up (winners) and a 10-5-1 record against the spread. So after twelve weeks, my overall record stands at 110-64 straight up and 92-80-2 against the spread. I'm finally starting to make some headway against the casinos. (READ THE ENTIRE POST ON HUBPAGES)

My Picks for the 2009 Week Thirteen NFL Games

Sun, Dec. 6	10:00 AM (PST)	11:00 AM (MST)	12:00 PM (CST)	1:00 PM (EST)
Favorite	Underdog	Point Spread	Straight Up	Against The Spread
Philadelphia	@Atlanta	5.5	Philadelphia	Philadelphia
@Chicago	St. Louis	9.0	Chicago	St. Louis
@Cincinnati	Detroit	13.0	Cincinnati	Cincinnati
@Indianapolis	Tennessee	6.5	Indianapolis	Indianapolis
Denver	@Kansas City	4.5	Kansas City	Kansas City
New England	@Miami	5.5	New England	New England
@Pittsburgh	Oakland	14.5	Pittsburgh	Oakland
New Orleans	Washington	9.5	New Orleans	Washington
@Carolina	Tampa Bay	6.0	Carolina	Tampa Bay
@Jacksonville	Houston	0.0	Houston	Houston
Sun, Dec. 6	1:00 PM (PST)	2:00 PM (MST)	3:00 PM (CST)	4:00 PM (EST)
San Diego	@Cleveland	13.0	San Diego	San Diego
Dallas	@New York Giants	2.0	Dallas	Dallas
@Seattle	San Francisco	0.0	San Francisco	San Francisco
Sun, Dec 6	5:20 PM (PST)	6:20 PM (MST)	7:20 PM (CST)	8:20 PM (EST)
@Arizona	Minnesota	3.0	Minnesota	Minnesota
Mon, Dec 7	5:30 PM (PST)	6:30 PM (MST)	7:30 PM (CST)	8:30 PM (EST)
@Green Bay	Baltimore	3.0	Baltimore	Baltimore

Free Tickets to the UFL Championship

I went to the United Football League game last week between the Las Vegas Locos and the New York Sentinels at the Silver Bowl A.K.A. Sam Boyd Stadium) on November 20th. Mostly I went because I figured it would be a good opportunity to get some nice action photos and the tickets were really cheap ($6), plus I live down the street from the Silver Bowl. Basically, I figured that for that price it wouldn't hurt even if it wasn't a good game, but it would be much of a risk to see a live football game.

I found out that there are some advantages to smaller stadiums. My seats were so close that I had a great chance to take pictures and I ended up taking almost two hundred photos (including the ones on this page). Beyond that, I actually enjoyed the game a lot. It wasn't exactly the most competitive game ever played. The Locos were up 38-0 nothing at one point and won 41-7. At least the right team did win, though. It probably would have sucked if the Vegas team was the one that got blown out. And this week should be a lot better game since it is the UFL championship game. The Las Vegas Locos will be taking on the Florida Tuskers (I don't know what that is either). The Locos are 4-2 this season with both of their losses coming against the Tuskers, who are undefeated.

In the long term, it looks like the UFL will be sticking around for a while. They recently announced that the 2010 season will definitely be happening and they are even looking to expand to at least six teams and possibly two more. Plus the season will be expanded to ten games after just six this season. So even though it isn't quite the NFL, it's probably as close as Las Vegas will ever get to an NFL franchise. I'd like to see this actually succeed if for no other reason so there is a live football game being played on a regular basis within biking distance of my house.

So, the moral to the story is you can get up to four free tickets to the UFL Championship game between the LV Locos and the Florida Tuskers on Nov. 27th at noon.

All you have to do is go to UNLVtickets.com, click on the promo code button and enter "UFLCHAMPS" then you can order up to four tickets absolutely free. You can even print the tickets off yourself at home. I'm hoping that a bunch of people will come to this championship game and the UFL will catch on next season and beyond.