Zoning

THE EAGLES' red-zone results in New Orleans were stunning - 0-for-5 on 17 snaps, minus penalties, one play that gained yardage, two turnovers, two field goals, the only TD the pick-six Michael Vick threw. "Geez. I believe we were 4-for-6 in the two ballgames preceding this last one [actually it was 3-for-6], so I thought we were going, on that," Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said Thursday. "I think we ran the ball three times for minus-1 . . . and then the passing game was worse.

IN AUGUST, WHEN Philadelphia got a shiny, new zoning code, developer Nick Pizzola saw an opportunity. Believing that the city's building requirements would be more predictable under the code, he bought land in Port Richmond and made plans to build 10 apartments. "I have an opportunity to grow my business. For the community, it's an opportunity for them to have new housing that's affordable," he says. "It's a win-win. " But the project is in jeopardy, Pizzola says, because of a controversial bill introduced by Councilman Brian O'Neill on behalf of Council President Darrell Clarke.

NEW ORLEANS - The Eagles saw what LeSean McCoy can do if they feed him the ball. Now, they just need to realize what they can do if they give McCoy the ball near the goal line. McCoy carried 19 times for 119 yards in Monday's 28-13 loss to the New Orleans Saints, who have one of the worst rushing defenses in the NFL. It was the most carries McCoy has had since a Sept. 30 win over the New York Giants. Yet on eight goal-to-go plays, the Eagles handed the ball to McCoy just once. They passed the other seven times.

Here are some observations and notes after a review of the Eagles' 28-13 loss to the Saints on Monday: On second thought Why were the Eagles so bad in the red zone on Monday night? On five trips inside the Saints' 20-yard line, they came away with only two field goals. There are a number of reasons. Turnovers, penalties, and bad execution stand out. But how about the play-calling? The Eagles ran 20 plays in the red zone but called only three runs. Offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg may say, "Well, look at the end result of those runs.

Bear with me here while we break down the Eagles' red-zone snaps Monday night: LeSean McCoy run, minus-1. Interception run back for TD. Next time down there: Bryce Brown run, no gain. Shovel pass to McCoy, no gain. Incomplete to DeSean Jackson. Next time: Throwaway in end zone. Sack loses 11 yards. Incomplete to Jeremy Maclin at the back of the end zone. Next time: Incomplete to Jackson. McCoy run no gain. Six-yard completion to Brent Celek. Completion to Clay Harbor, no gain, play wiped out anyway because Demetress Bell was illegally downfield.

If you want to fully understand a country, you have to understand its sporting rituals. In the United Kingdom, that means deciphering soccer (or "football," as it's known to 62 million Brits). Refined, popularized, and given rules in leisure-conscious Victorian Britain, the so-called beautiful game enjoys quasi-sacred status in the country of its conception, a worshipful feeling best summed up by the late, great Liverpool coach Bill Shankly. A no-nonsense Scot, he once famously declared: "Football isn't a matter of life or death.

SAN FRANCISCO - Federal officials on Friday approved a plan that sets aside 285,000 acres of public land for the development of large-scale solar power plants, cementing a new government approach to renewable energy development in the West after years of delays and false starts. At a news conference in Las Vegas, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called the new plan a "road map . . . that will lead to faster, smarter utility-scale solar development on public lands. " The plan replaces the department's previous first-come, first-served system of approving solar projects, which let developers choose where they wanted to build utility-scale solar sites and allowed for land speculation.

YOU KNOW what the good teams in the NFL do? They win games while they're still figuring things out. It is what the Eagles are doing so far in 2012. We all know there are examples of teams that start slow and still make the playoffs. But the odds grow pretty long, pretty fast. In the last five seasons, the typical NFL playoff team was 3-1 or better after the first four games, and only one-third of playoff teams in that time period were 2-2 or worse. You cannot win a playoff berth in September, but you can turn yourself into a longshot almost overnight if you aren't careful.

Environmentalists see a fight looming in City Council over a bit of business left over from last year's zoning code reform - a bill that would determine how close something can be built to the city's rivers and streams. Legislation introduced in September would create a 50-foot buffer, or "setback," around those bodies of water - less than the 100 feet environmental advocates preferred, but a number they saw as a compromise with builders. Now environmentalists fear Council will try to reduce the setback on the city's streams - basically, everything except the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers - to 25 feet, a distance they say could harm already polluted waterways.

IF YOU DON'T learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it. That pretty much sums up why anyone in his right mind would watch film of last year's Eagles defense, especially in the weeks before the start of the season when the weeds of their horrific start were already in bloom. To a man, the veterans of that disjointed spectacle insist that they are, with a full camp and a fuller understanding of the requirements of Juan Castillo's defense, of right mind this summer. "We're much more confident than that defense," insists Nnamdi Asomugha, one of the touted veterans whose reputation was tarnished by last season's helter-skelter, 4-8 start.