NOTES FROM THE NOSEBLEEDS: "Fire Coach Reid!"

EAGLES LOSE TO PATS, ANGRY FANS CALL FOR COACH REID'S JOB | FLYERS SPLIT THEIR NY MATCHUPS, BEAT MONTREAL | THE SIXERS ARE BACK ... PROBABLY!

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NOTES FROM THE NOSEBLEEDS: "Fire Coach Reid!"

POSTED: Tuesday, November 29, 2011, 1:00 PM

Sports nut Massimo Pulcini rounds up a week of everything Philly sports. Balls!

EAGLES LOSE TO PATS, ANGRY FANS CALL FOR COACH REID’S JOB

Turkeys weren’t the only bird getting roasted in Philly over Thanksgiving weekend, not after the New England Patriots came to town to play the Eagles on Sunday. The Pats, led by future Hall of Famer Tom Brady, burned, fried, and feasted on the Eagles defense en route to a 38-20 massacre.

Quarterback Vince Young filled in for the injured Mike Vick for the second consecutive game. Young looked very impressive during the first quarter, throwing beautifully arced bombs to receivers Riley Cooper and DeSean Jackson to gain a 10-0 lead to start the game.

But the fast start was short-lived. The New England offense dismantled the Eagles’ secondary that had no solution for Tom Terrific and his speedster receivers. Wes Welker and Deion Branch both had field days, catching short, underneath patterns and using their speed to break up field for large chunks of yardage, including a 63-yard catch and run by Branch that set up a Patriots’ rushing TD and a 41-yard score by Welker in the second quarter.

While Brady and company were putting up points with big catches and runs, the Eagles offense looked scared. Jackson (pictured) had two huge drops on potential touchdowns. On one attempt, the fourth-year pro dropped what could've been a 4-yard TD pass, allowing the Eagles to settle for a 22-yard field goal to get within 21-13. On that play, the diminutive receiver shied away from the oncoming hit and let up from the ball. Later in the game, he would also drop a deep throw in the end zone that would have been another score, drawing trademark Philadelphia boos from the hometown crowd. After that play, Jackson took a seat — a move that Coach Andy Reid said was done “to give other guys a chance in fourth quarter.”

With the Eagles trailing 31-13 and facing fourth-and-1 from the New England 2-yard line, Reid called a pass play that ended with an incompletion. This happened despite having arguably the best running back in the NFL, LeSean McCoy. As the pass attempt hit the turf, the stadium grew restless, and for the first time in Reid’s 13 years as head coach, he heard the crowd resonate with “Fire Andy” chants.

That wasn’t the only questionable coaching move on Sunday. On offense, despite injuries to Vick and receiver Jeremy Maclin, Reid refused to run the ball, handing off to McCoy only ten times the entire game. On defense, after a strong first quarter, the pass rush put no pressure on Brady and made no adjustments to fix things after halftime. Overall, it was a downright embarrassing performance by players and coaches alike.

FLYERS SPLIT THEIR NY MATCHUPS, BEAT MONTREAL

On Wednesday, the Flyers traveled to Uniondale, N.Y. to face off against the Islanders. Andrej Meszaros got the Bullies on the board quick, scoring at 18 seconds.

But the Islanders came back strong, peppering Philadelphia goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov with shots and scoring three times in the first quarter. The three goals prompted Coach Peter Laviolette to bench Bryzgalov in favor of Sergei Bobrovsky, who quickly halted two New York breakaways and continued to do his best brick-wall impression, stopping all 23 shots he saw.

Bobrovsky’s hot glove allowed the Flyers to take over. Scott Hartnell scored a power-play goal in the second to cut the lead to one. Then, Danny Briere (pictured) scored at 14:18 into the third to tie things up and send the game into overtime.

Briere, who is no stranger to being clutch when it counts, would then score his second goal with 2:26 remaining in overtime, lifting the Flyers to victory and halting a two-game skid.

After the strong performance against the Islanders, Coach Laviolette decided to go with Bobrovsky when they played the Montreal Canadiens on Friday. He had another strong performance, turning away 23 shots and allowing only one goal.

That lone goal came in the first period when Petteri Nokelainen scored at 18:14.

It then became the Claude Giroux show. Philadelphia’s young up-and-coming forward made his case for being one of the NHL’s best as he netted two second-period goals off rebounds. They won the game, 3-1.

Saturday’s match against the Rangers didn’t go as smoothly. Unlike their trip to the Empire State earlier in the week, the Flyers couldn’t get any offensive production as the Ranger’s defense blanketed Philly’s attack at Madison Square Garden.

Ranger’s goalie Henrik Lundqvist saved 29 shots, earning 37th his career shutout. The Rangers won 2-0.

IN OTHER PHILLY SPORTS

Sixers fans, you finally got what you wanted — and no I’m not brining up the organization doing away with Hip-Hop for a second week in a row. The NBA is back! After a long lockout and a month of missed games, the NBA and its Players Association agreed on a labor deal that will have pro basketball back in action by Christmas, assuming the agreement gets approved. The Sixers will open a short camp from Dec. 9-14 at Saint Joe’s University in preparation for the shortened season. Expect to see improvements by the young Sixers squad, especially by their two highly drafted guards, Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner.

(massimo.pulcini@citypaper.net) (@massimopulcini)

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Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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