Now I get to root for the Giants next week. How weird.
Talk about weird – I had to root for the Redskins yesterday, and had they won, I’d have needed to root for the fricking Eagles next week. That alone almost makes me glad the Giants are out.
Miserable season overall for the Giants. They played great at times and then seem to forget to show up. Good luck Eagles, please crush the Cowboys. I think I will be rooting for the Saints this year.
Well the dream scenario would be one Vikings loss (either tonight or next week vs. NYG) and an Eagles win at Dallas to close the season as the 2 seed and a first round bye. If the Vikings lose both and the Eagles lose at Dallas, the Birds would have to travel to Minnesota in the first round. That’s only slightly better than the likeliest scenario: The Eagles lose at Dallas in week 17 and the Vikings win one of two, forcing the Eagles to play two straight in Dallas. I don’t like how the Eagles match up against Dallas. That would be a nightmare.
My prediction is complete. w00t! 
My preseason prediction of a Dallas v. San Diego Super Bowl is coming to fruition.
The more I think about it, the more I realize how close we are to my worst nightmare coming true. To see the Lombardi hoisted in Philadelphia would have me nauseous for months. Hell, just to have them polluting the Super Bowl would be ugly in itself, but for them to desecrate the title? Eesh…
And yeah, I know they made it to the dance a few years back, but there was no way they were winning that game. This time, as much as it pains me to say it, the Eagles are scary-good.
Who is going to stop them in the NFC? The Cowboys have zero chance at avoiding a one-and-done. Cards wouldn’t make them break a sweat. Maybe, maybe one of the NFC North teams could get one over on them. The Saints are probably the nation’s best chance to avoid the horror of an Eagles Super Bowl berth.
<sigh>…Go New Orleans – let’s see if we can have that Colts/Saints Super Bowl we were deprived of two years ago.
Errr…three years ago. I’m fully satisfied with the results of the Super Bowl two years ago.
Man, you are really hanging on to the 70s. The Eagles are currently the Giants arch-rival, and have been for longer than the Cowboys were back when your Cowboy hate etched the deepest groove in your brain. heh.
You do realize that the Eagles have bounced the Giants out of the playoffs twice in the last three seasons, right? When was the last time Dallas did anything bad to the Giants?
As for me, go Cowboys. Bring home a Lombardi for the pride of the East. The Eagles can all die in a plane crash for all I care.
I know, I know, but I hate the Cowboys far more than the Eagles. I want them both to lose though.
You guys are just uncomfortable about the intensity of your lust for Andy Reid’s mustache.
Hell with that – either one of them make it to the dance, it’s Go AFC all the way.
About the only good thing about a Cowboys win would be the tiny bit of STFU that can be put on the whole idiotic “Sixburgh” thing.
If…
NYG over Min
and…
GB over AZ
and…
Dal over Phi
then…
Dal takes #2 seed and a bye
Even better is that old man Favre wouldn’t get to rest his aching bones.
I tuned into the game tonight somewhere in the 4th quarter, and had to choke back barf multiple times with all the Favre ball-licking in the booth. If they were trying to get me to root for the Bears with all my heart, mission accomplished. My #2 priority in the NFC playoffs this year is to see the Vikings bounced out in their first game, preferably in Wildcard weekend, and ideally with 6 bad picks by Favre.
The Eagles are the Chargers of the NFC right now. Apparently nobody wants to play them. They are playing well though.
You know you’re doing something right when yours is the only franchise in the division without a Super Bowl title and everyone hates you as if you were the Yankees. Good times.
For what it’s worth, Hal Briston, this Eagles team is a year away from seriously competing for a title. They’re explosive and dangerous (they have the classic “puncher’s chance”), but there have been too many key injuries (and oh, right, a death) for them to win a Super Bowl. Playing in Dallas will probably end their season, and they haven’t played the Saints well in three years. Next season, though, this team is going to really push some people around (assuming they can avoid doing something really stupid, like making Vick the starter).
What the hell kinda nonsense is that? An 11-4 team is “a year away”?
Bollocks. The Eagles have as good a chance as any NFC team of taking home the gold. The Vikings and Saints are imploding, remember?
Do you think record is the sole indication of a team’s capability? If you don’t watch the team, you won’t understand how this team has gotten their wins. Speaking of those wins, have you bothered to check who those wins were against? Want to play a game with me since you haven’t done any research before calling an educated opinion nonsense? Let’s play, “Spot the playoff teams amongst the Philly wins.” Ready, I’ll start!
Denver… maybe. Your turn!
…
(crickets)
…
I guess I win! If you feel cheated, that’s because the game was fixed. Let’s recap.
Philly’s wins
Carolina (7-8)
Kansas City (3-12)
Tampa Bay (3-12)
Washington x2 (4-11)
New York Giants x2 (8-7)
Chicago (6-9)
Atlanta (8-7) (without Ryan or Turner)
San Francisco (7-8)
Denver (8-7)
Overall record of Philly wins: 66-99 (.400)
Not a lot of winning teams in there. Atlanta was seriously short handed, New York can be discounted as an obviously average team at best. Only Denver remains as a victory of any consequence, and Philadelphia did everything they could to give that game away. Philly has taken advantage of an incredibly easy schedule. They’re not nearly as good as their record,
When you can’t tackle and you can’t really stop the run because you’re playing musical chairs with no name linebackers, you’re in trouble. They have as good a chance as anyone because every team is flawed, but certain teams pose serious problems. I think Philly could handle Minnesota and possibly Green Bay. Dallas is a toss up, but I’m not confident about how they match up. New Orleans and Arizona are potential nightmares.
This team relies entirely upon big plays. When they don’t come (and they likely won’t against the good teams in the playoffs), this offense flounders and dies. The defense isn’t stout enough. It’s a flawed team.
With a year under the DC’s belt and their soon-to-be-a-Pro-Bowler MLB coming back from injury, along with another year of experience of Maclin, McCoy, and Celek, and possibly a FA signing, this team could be seriously dominant. They should scare any team in the league next season. They’re secretly flawed this season.
I had McNabb in my fantasy money league and DeSean Jackson in the SDMB dynasty league, so I watched plenty of Eagles games.
The Eagles’ “incredibly easy schedule” was the 9th toughest in the league based on last year’s records; you play the games that are scheduled. The Cowboys’ schedule was hardly any tougher.
The run defense was admittedly not great in terms of total yardage - 25th overall - but you only gave up 3.9 yards per carry, which is sixth overall.
The pass defense gave up a lot of yards in absolute terms, but just 6.3 yards per play… and has the fourth-most interceptions.
Scoring defense was right in the middle of the pack - 20.9 points per game, tied for 16th.
So what does an extremely low yards/play number combined with a relatively high absolute yardage number tell us? Well, obviously, that opposing offenses ran a lot of plays. But why?
Simple. Time (of possession), time (of possession), time (of possession). The Eagles ranked 21st in TOP, not horrible on paper but worse than every other playoff team except the Colts. Your offense ranked 23rd in offensive plays from scrimmage, worse than every playoff team.
It’s not the defense - run or pass. It’s the offense not holding the ball for long enough. So, here’s your question: can your offense commit to running the ball in the playoffs? Well, Westbrook is back, and McCoy has already proven he can produce. The question is whether Andy Reid will actually do it.
Which is exactly why that stat is completely bogus and useless. The 2009 Eagles played teams in 2009, not in 2008. What matters is that the team got a majority of their wins on below average opponents, and played fairly poorly against the playoff teams they faced. They lost to New Orleans and Dallas already, they didn’t play a full game in Denver, and had no business winning against the Giants the second time. They could easily be 2-5 against teams with a winning record. That’s significant. Strength of schedule based on '08 results could not be less significant on week 16.
Keep in mind that the Eagles had a really good defense last year. By quoting those stats you’re only emphasizing my point that the defense has worsened. They’ve regressed this year a little due to injuries (Stewart Bradley hurt a lot, their DC dying was a significant loss too), and have been noticeably worse in tackling. Miles Austin could literally run over this defense in the playoffs, which is part of the reason I’m dreading a playoff game in Dallas. This is still a strong unit but they have sneaky problems that aren’t easy to recognize when you look at the surface stats. Tackling is a big problem. This is the 4th most penalized team in the league. Those problems often become glaring issues come playoff time.
T.O.P. is a stat with questionable significance. The Indianapolis/Miami game earlier this season was a perfect example of how that stat can cause problems. As for running the ball, that’s an antiquated philosophy. You don’t have to run the ball well to win. Sustaining drives is important, but that has less to do with running the ball in today’s NFL. Also, Leonard Weaver has been this team’s most effective runner, not McCoy.
But again, like I said, this is a flawed team. They can’t sustain drives despite being a lot better in short yardage situations than before. They rely nearly entirely on drives that are fewer than 5 plays (they have the most scoring drives of fewer than 5 plays in the league), and when those big plays don’t come, they stop moving. They don’t tackle well. They make stupid mistakes. Do you really think a team can go into the playoffs and win that way? Big plays, lots of mistakes, and a season-long history of not being able to eat the clock? That doesn’t make me confident. I think this team is a year away.
Sounds just like the 2008 Cardinals to me.