Just what the title says, the place to post predictions, celebration stories and any tales folks might have of driving down to Jacksonville. I imagine Wing Bowl XIII/Eagles rally stuff should also go here (I plan to attend for the 5th consecutive year).
Today on WIP they scrounged up a Super Bowl ticket for an 80 year old man who’s been a season ticket holder for 63 years! Great story.
T.O.'s coming back in some capacity, no one is respecting our D and the fever is gearing up! That’s where we stand on Tuesday night…
The eagles were 2-2 against the AFC this year, getting killed by Pittsburgh and Cincinatti (the CIN game was meaningless).
On top of that, the eagles squeaked one out against Cleveland, and beat the Ravens at home.
Meanwhile, the pats spanked the Seahawks at Foxboro and the Rams in Saint Louis. Not two great teams, but still both playoff teams. They also destroyed SF in a meaningless game and beat Arizona on the road.
In line with that, the Pats are 16-2 with the 7th toughest schedule in the league while the eagles are 15-3 with the 24th toughest schedule in the league. Link
Popular opinion had it that the Eagles would not have been favored in a Superbowl against either the Steelers or the Colts (both of whom the pats just crushed), and I agree with that.
Basically, Eagles picked the wrong year to pull out a win in the NFC championship, and are going to have to be flawless, and win the turnover battle to keep it close.
there’s really no chance the eagles will win. the patriots are on a HUGE roll. i hate those assholes, but they dismantled my colts and blew out the steelers. i just don’t see the eagles doing anything that those two teams couldn’t. i say 31-10 pats, and another superbowl mvp (shouldn’t they just call it the “superbowl champion’s quarterback award?”) for brady.
I wouldn’t say “there’s no chance the eagles will win”.
I’d just put it at about 20%. Each of the Pats 2 last Superbowls, they easily could have lost.
However, this year there really was a huge strength differential between the AFC and the NFC. It really has the feeling of what the NFC was doing to the AFC in the early-mid 90’s. Blowout after blowout.
I don’t know what it is, but the Patriots have something preternatural going on that’s making them essentially unbeatable. I’d consider it one of the greater upsets in Super Bowl history were the Eagles to win.
When did this thread turn into the Patriots Super Bowl Victory Thread? Oh, that’s right, it isn’t. Get yer own freakin’ thread ya Boston backers. Iggles all the way! 27-24.
And since this thread is supposed to be about The Eagles, I’d like to say that I am going to the game to cheer on the Birds. I bought a one-day package from a travel agency. Chartered plane, bus trip, plus the ticket. The only I have to worry about is being coherent enough to stumble to my designated drinking points. Er, I mean meeting points.
As the lone Patriot fan in NE PA, (other than my son), I want to wish the Eagles the best of luck. I must say when I am wearing my Patriot jacket and hat around town people always comment on it but are generally nice. Not sure I’d want to wear a Igles jacket in Boston.
The kick is up, its good! Vinatieri does it again!
If the Eagles win I won’t be too upset, Donavan seems like a very classy guy. I don’t want to see TO celebrations though.
The moment Crandolph said “Thoughts? Feelings? Predictions?”
Ya know, I’ve come to feel glad that the Eagles made it. I could take or leave the Pats, so if they had wound up taking on another team that I’m indifferent about, it would’ve made for a very boring Super Bowl at the Briston household. But now that my most hated team managed to ooze their way in, I now have an emotional stake in the game. Go Pats!!
Patriots 24, Eagles 6 (and the Eagles fans should be thankful that David Akers gives them that much)
I guess you don’t know that it’s been cold in Jacksonville all week, like 40 and below at times at night. Look at a map; they ain’t in Miami (I’d argue they should’ve been!)
Those of you who think that the Eagles have no chance are in for a rude awakening:
anyone see the lowly Dolphins beat the Pats this year? They have a quick defense, they blitz and rattled Brady. What makes you think we don’t and can’t?
Andy Reid has a perefect lifetime coaching record after a bye week.
Yes, the NFC was weaker, but we dominated it, winning about 10 games this year by double digits and winning 5 games by more than 20 points.
The Eagles generally just don’t turnover the ball and McNabb just set an NFL record for throwing over 30 TDs with less than 10 INT’s. Never happened before.
McNabb’s a much more mobile QB than the Foxboro Patriots have faced in a very long time and this may help keep their LBs out of coverage.
Have have 10 players going to the Pro Bowl, that usuallu indicates something.
Our entire secondary is Pro-Bowl quality (3 of 4 made it & the last one should’ve), something Brady hasn’t faced…um, probably ever.
T.O. is coming back and it sounds like he’s a lot closer to optimal than anyone could expect. (This is gravy; the team is talking up their chances with or without him).
Even teams who have made containing Westbrook their top priority haven’t figured out a way to do that yet.
The Eagles were weak against the run earlier in the year, the main reason they lost to the Steelers. Since that lesson, they moved Trotter to the middle (who made the Pro Bowl after starting that position after only 6 games) and they’ve taken the run away, including holding the entire Atlanta team (#1 run in the NFL) to 99 yds on the ground in the NFC Championship.
Jim Johnson is a brilliant defensive coordinator
The Pats aren’t the only team with an excellent special teams unit (2 Pro Bowlers on our side for that, one the kicker) and it looks like Westbrook may do punt or kick returns, which no one has film of…
Finally, the Birds just aren’t getting the respect from the nat’l media they have coming, and I think many of you really don’t know how good this team has become.
We’ll see Sunday, right?
By the way, not a single one of you picking the Pats to win easily have broken down any match-ups in this way. No need to justify anything? A tad overconfident perhaps?
I don’t think an Eagles team with McNabb, TO, Westbrook and Trotter that has been in 4 straight NFC Championship games is much of a “David” to anybody.
In 2001, the Pats came out of nowhere with a bunch of nobodies, a “back-up” quarterback, a defense with 1 probowler, 14 point underdogs. They were playing the “greatest show on turf” and were TRULY getting no respect.
This year the Eagles have 10 guys in the pro bowl.
You can get a pretty sizeable cross-section of people picking the Eagles for this game.
Sure, the Eagles are an underdog here, but it’s nowhere on the David-Goliath scale that it was in 2001.
I’m a Redskins fan, so naturally I hate the Eagles. But I positively loathe the Patriots and especially Bill Belichick. So I have to root for Philly, even though I think the Pats will win.
Start with a flawless passing game. Score early buy the air.
Add a generous amount of rushing. They will need to control the clock the way the Steelers did in the regular season win.
Play fantastic defense as they did against the Falcons.
Add a special teams and/or defensive score.
Also win the turn over battle.
Formula for a Pats Win
Play the way they usually play, mistake free, team football.
Pats win 27 Eagles 24
No money on the game, not a Pats fan, and don’t care who wins.
I just feel like the matchups don’t matter. I’ve seen several teams in pro sports get on a roll like the Patriots are on, and it’s rare to see such a team go down (the 2004 Yankees are and example of a team that somehow blew their roll).
It’s almost like the hand of God is touching the Patriots right now. Going into the Colts game two weeks ago, I really thought the Colts were quite a bit better than the Patriots (Wk 1 notwithstanding). Then the Patriots steamroll Indy, shutting down their passing game with a slew of defensive injuries to overcome?
That game made me think something more was afoot than what was going on between the lines. The AFC title game confirmed it – the Patriots shouldn’t have been able to go into Heinz and dominate.
I just don’t see what Philly is offering that the Colts and Steelers combined didn’t.
