Forget Vegas Vic; just call me Vegas Phil.
Or, as one person said on Twitter after that thrilling Eagles game last night, Philly the Greek. One faithful reader was even channeling my father in suggesting maybe I entertain the notion of a trip to Pimlico. Yes, my dad was fond of the ponies. His son is no such seer, despite an amazing streak of picking Eagles games.
Why all this talk about gambling?
Because for the second time in three weeks, in my fun Saturday blog item, The Dreaded Saturday Eagles Pick, I managed to pick the exact score of the Eagles game.
19-17, Eagles.
That follows the 24-23 win over the Ravens a couple of weeks back. I have been doing this since I started the blog several years ago. I had never picked the exact score before. Now I've done it two times in three weeks.
More importantly, the Eagles are now 3-1 after a thrilling edition of Sunday Night Football.
It's pretty simple. This one was just another in the long series of classic games between the Eagles and Giants, typical NFC smash-mouth football. These two teams invariably come down to the last play of the game.
Or in this instance, make that the last two plays. That's because even though the Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes hooked his first try at a game-winning field goal, he would get a second chance to be the hero, courtesy of Eagles coach Andy Reid.
Not so fast. It turns Reid had employed the strategy every NFL coach uses in that situation, calling timeout to ice the kicker. Tynes got another shot. He promptly booted a ball that looked like it was going to be right on the money - but it was short.
Reid was off the hook; he would not be villified for giving the Giants a second chance to win.
And that would have been a shame. Because it was Reid's second-half strategy, in particular putting the ball in the hands of the best player on the field, LeSean McCoy, that led to the win. Which, I should point out, I also stressed in my blog.
I don't know how long I can keep up this pace, but I hope the Eagles can.
And I happen to think they will as long as they manage the game the way they did yesterday, with a healthy dose of short passes and runs from Vick, and a big contribution from McCoy.
I might also point out that the Eagles did not turn the ball over once last night, as opposed to the previous three weeks, when they gave it away more than the Salvation Army.
You might say the Birds' effort last night was the real McCoy.
So was that Saturday Dreaded Eagles Pick. I'm not smart enough to think this is going to continue on my part. I just hope Reid does the same.
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