Quinn’s Quickies: Gushing over the Phillies, Eagles gotta run, Reviewing NFL Replay, more ⚾🏈

I enjoy writing Quinn’s Quickies. I hope you’re enjoying reading my rapid fire look at sports in Philly and beyond. Let’s do it:

A Baseball town? As I write, the Phillies are up 2-0 in the NLCS going into Game 3 at Arizona just after 5 today. All I can do is gush over this team right now 🤩. Manager Rob Thomson drives me crazy with all his pitching changes, but all he does is get it right. Matt Strahm gets the save in the clinching game against the Braves because Jose Alvarado and Craig Kimbrel were already used in high pressure situations? Are ya kiddin’ me? Bryce Harper makes me feel like a little kid watching his favorite player. Kyle Schwarber’s first pitch leadoff homers keep coming. Trae Turner looks like he’s going to be the guy to put them over the top. Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola look like the best 1-2 punch on the mound in baseball. So, here’s my question: Is Philadelphia a baseball town? I’ve never heard national broadcasters heap praise on a Philly crowd like they do for the fans at Citizens Bank Park. The stadium is sold out night after night. Sports radio has told us for years that Philly’s a football town. Are we sure about that?

Run, Eagles, Run. Jalen Hurts had 45 passing attempts on Sunday, seven more than any other game this season, and the Eagles took their first L of the year on the road against the Jets. Hurts also threw three interceptions, a season high, and the Eagles scored a season low 14 points. New York was missing 2 of their top 4 cornerbacks. I’d like to say there were other factors in the Eagles loss, but besides a second straight road game, the fact that it was a non-conference game, and maybe the notion that they were due for a bad loss – all weak excuses – they’re hard to find. They also lost offensive lineman Lane Johnson during the game, which might be the most legitimate excuse. It can be argued that the game plan made sense given the Jets’ injuries on defense, but it didn’t make sense given the quarterback. He’s not that guy. In my Kick Off ’23 post, I said the Eagles would go back to the Super Bowl because of the way they use Hurts. He’s not the classic drop back quarterback. The Eagles beat up other teams with their running game, and Hurts is a huge part of that. He’s second on the team in rushing behind D’Andre Swift and led the team on Sunday. They practically use him as a battering ram, especially with the “Tush Push” quarterback sneak. Throwing 40+ times with Hurts is a losing recipe.

Clear and obvious. On a critical 3^rd down in the fourth quarter, Hurts hit AJ Brown on a deep pass route for a 36-yard gain. And at least three or four minutes later, Eagles fans could celebrate the catch. In the meantime, fans were treated to Fox rules expert Dean Blandino explaining what a catch is. Thank God 🙏, because I’ve been watching football for as long as I can remember, and I don’t know what an f’ing catch is. We’re coming up on 10 years since “the Dez Bryant Catch” that sent the NFL into a never-ending tizzy over what a catch is. I’m so sick of watching some guy in a suit parsing video of a catch in super-slow motion telling me, “Well, the ball did move a little bit in his hands, but it was called a catch on the field . . .” SHUT UP 🫢. I don’t watch football to listen to a lecture on the rules. I remember when the drama in football came from watching the action on the field, not from hoping the play that I just saw actually counts. It’s mind numbing. I certainly know I’m getting older. Is this really what the younger generations want to watch? The standard for overturning a call by replay is supposed to be “clear and obvious” video evidence that the call is wrong. Watching a replay over and over in super slo-mo is neither clear nor obvious. I’d rather have no replay than the way it is currently employed.

Not so Prime. I went to bed Friday night annoyed I hadn’t bet on Colorado, favored by 20+ against Stanford. They were already up 22-0. It was 29-0 at halftime. And Colorado lost. To paraphrase Allen Iverson, not the cover, not the cover, not the cover. We’re talking about the game. They lost the game! In the post-game press conference, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders talked about how they’re not built for the moment. C’mon, man. You give Stanford their largest comeback win ever and that’s what you’re saying? I like Prime Time. He was one of the most exciting players I saw as a kid watching the NFL. But if Sanders is going to be a great coach, he’s gotta do better than that. Coughing up a 29-point lead is not about the “moment.” It’s about 30 minutes of bad football and bad coaching. And way to make it obvious you're talking to your next recruiting class.

Just stop. The color commentator for the Miami-UNC game on Saturday, Greg McElroy (according to Yahoo Sports), offered a rapidly spreading broadcaster cliché at the beginning of the Hurricanes final drive down 41-31. “Some people in the desert might have interest in this drive.” (This may not be McElroy’s exact quote; I wasn’t taking notes.) It’s a cheeky reference to casinos in Las Vegas 🎰, which have always been considered the authority on setting the line for a game. The point spread was -3 favoring North Carolina. Could we stop? 🛑 Everyone knows people gamble on these games. It’s legal in a whole bunch of states. You can actually talk about the point spread. If you don’t want to, fine. Don’t. But I’m pretty sure every color analyst will be talking about it throughout games really soon. At the very least, stop being cutesy about it. We’re past it.