Posts
The Eagles are a disappointment this season. Sure, we knew they were banged up going into the year—at least their defense was anyway. Before the season even began, the Eagles lost their first and second-string middle linebackers. They also had let Brian Dawkins go in free agency. Not to mention, the death of defensive coordinator Jim Johnson had to have a surreal effect on the team.
Nevertheless, I don’t think the seasonal expectations of the Eagles changed after that. Maybe people were weary to pick them for the Super Bowl, but Donovan McNabb’s resurgence at the end of the season last year, the additions of Michael Vick and Jeremy Maclin, along with the development of DeSean Jackson and Brent Celek were supposed to make this team the favorite in the NFC East
Now they’re just hanging on for dear life.
The Eagles were fortunate though. They could be down 2 games in the division, with 3 road NFC East games to play before it’s all said and done. However, the Cowboys choked in Green Bay, nearly being shutout, leaving the Eagles just a game back despite being a game away from being a .500 football team.
But they can’t expect the division to stay with them for too long. Granted, the Cowboys usually get worse n December, but the Giants, who are tied with the Eagles at 5-4, usually get better at this time of year, thus they 2007-2008 NFL champions could be poised for a late-season run.
Which is why the Eagles cannot afford to fail in Week 11. The Chicago Bears aren’t good. They aren’t. Jay Cutler has thrown a Brett Favrian-like 17 interceptions in just 9 games. Their best wide receiver is their kick returner. And the Bears defense, which has been the best thing about this team over the past couple of weeks, remains an enigma and is playing without their best player.
Of course, the Eagles haven’t been much better as of late. Their defense got ripped early on in their trip to San Diego, a team that really has struggled to score points for the better part of the season. They also lost to Dallas at home, despite the defense holding the Cowboys to under 20-points, showing signs of an offense that just doesn’t have any rhythm. And then there was the loss to the Oakland Raiders, and inexplicable performance that left many questioning if the Eagles ever had any right to being considered one of the better teams in the NFL.
The Eagles will either earn or lose that right this Sunday. There are must-wins and there irrelevant outcome, and the magnitude of the game has no effect on the magnitude of the result. That Colts-Patriots game that everybody talked about days before and after the game? The magnitude of the game was big; the outcome was irrelevant. It didn’t matter which team won that game. Heck, the fact that it ended in controversy the way it did doesn’t matter. Both of those teams will be in the playoffs, and in all likelihood, they will play each other for the right to go to the Super Bowl.
But this Bears-Eagles game on Sunday has no hype. Most people don’t even know they are the two teams playing on SNF. The Bears suck, and the Eagles, in light of their record, are a rare story. But if the Eagles lose this game, they will become a story real quickly. Their fall from atop the NFC East to 3rd place in front of only the Washington Redskins would bring back questions about Donovan McNabb and highlight another disappointing season for a franchise that has lived the expanded version of the Bills troubles in the 90’s.
However, an impressive win on Sunday, over even a poor team like the Bears, would catapult the Eagles right back into the discussion. If the Cowboys were to lose and the Giants were to win, we could be talking about a 3-way tie in the NFC East with 6 games to go, with each of the 3 teams having to play one another before the season is over. That would be an exciting finish to the NFC East and to the Eagles season. But that can only happen with an Eagles win on Sunday night, something that has proven to be no guarantee this season, even against the least worthy of opponents.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment