The '08-'09 Eagles...They *Might* Be Giants

Yup.

It's absolutely looking like our boys are taking a page out of the Giants storybook from last year and coming on strong at the end to take the league by surprise.

No one thought the Giants could win three road games in the playoffs and then go on to beat the invincible-looking 18-0 Patriots.

Well don't look now Eagles fans, but it looks like history might repeat itself - minus Tom Coughlin...who keeps looking more and more like that angry old guy who's always in McDonalds drinking senior discount coffee and reading the newspaper upside down.

Either that, or about to plot some evil plan to trap Dick Tracy.

Coughlin hard at work: "Myahh, see? We gotta stop that Westbrook, see?"

Some things to note about the Eagles as of late:

- The Eagles defense has allowed exactly four offensive touchdowns in the last six weeks, along with 12 takeaways. Defense wins championships, right?

- Minus the the somewhat questionable safety call on Sunday, McNabb and the offense has played great when backed up in their own territory, including converting a 3rd and 20 completion.

- Akers has been shaky for the past three regular seasons, but in the post-season he's now hit a record 18 straight. Thanks for that touchdown-saving push out of bounds too, David.

- While Westbrook is clearly not 100% right now, Andy Reid has shown impressive dedication to the run during the playoffs...23 attempts two weeks in a row, including early in the Giants game they had a ratio of 12/7. Showing teams they will keep running keeps the defense on its' heels.

- The play of the interior defensive line doesn't get a lot of respect, but you have to give it to them now after watching them break the Giants hearts in short yardage situations.
- Asante Samuel is showing to be worth all that money the Eagles gave him in the offseason, the interceptions and the returns he is getting from them are backbreakers in the postseason.

'80 and '08 for the Phillies...

'60 and '09 for the Eagles?

Let's hope.

Finally, let's play a little game of "caption that photo":

"Kurt? Yeah, the Giants say they miss you."
"Hello? Tampa Marriot? I'd like to make reservations for the first week in February."
"T.O!? No you can't come back!"
"Yeah, that's a size 13 ring. Those come in platinum, right?"
"Hey Leinart! What? Bring some Yuengling to Arizona with me?"
"Hey Delhomme, see you next week! ...wait, what? You LOST?"

See you this Sunday at three!

- Magnum

All Roads Lead to Tampa

In the early part of this decade, the word Tampa was akin to the dirtiest of words if you are a Philly sports fan. As we remember all too well, the Tampa Bay Bucs beat the Eagles in the final game at the Vet (the NFC Championship following the 2002 season). That was the game we thought we had in the bag. We had beaten Tampa 2 straight years in the playoffs and a couple of times in the regular season as well. Unlike the year before (against The Greatest Show on Turf), we had homefield advantage, and we weren't to be denied the ultimate prize. Then, Rhonde Barber happened.

In 2004, the Flyers made a deep run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. In the conference finals, they faced off against the Tampa Bay Lightning. That Lightning team was very good, clearly more talented than the gritty, battle-tested Flyers. But the Flyers had a one-man wrecking crew going by the name Keith Primeau. He hit everything that moved, got into fights with the other team's best players, and scored ridiculously clutch goal after ridiculously clutch goal.

In game 6 (with the Flyers trailing in the series 3-2), Primeau scored the tying goal with 1:51 left in regulation, and set up the winning goal less than 2 minutes into overtime to stave off elimination. In game 7 though, the Flyers ran out of magic and just didn't have anything left in the tank.

For the second time, the city of Tampa had ruined our dreams of a title, and had prolonged our championship drought. Fast forward to October 2008, and the Phillies were making a long playoff run, which lead them all the way to the World Series against, you guessed it, the Tampa Bay Rays. Was this the time we could finally exorcise the demons of the last 25, title-less years? Was this where we would finally get our revenge for the 2 championships they won at our expense? In a word, hell yeah!

That wonderful team formed my 3 favorite words: World Champions!!! The drought was over, and maybe now, we could be positive instead of negative about our teams. Maybe we could expect the best instead of the worst from now on. Maybe, just maybe, everything would be different now.

All of which brings us to the unlikely playoff run the Eagles are in the midst of. While the Eagles won't play the Bucs in the upcoming weeks, the Bucs played a huge role in our even being in the postseason. If the Bucs didn't miraculously lose to the Oakland on the final day of the regular season, the Birds would've been home for the holidays.

The Eagles - Tampa parallels don't end there, either. If the Eagles win 2 more games, guess where they will be heading to play in the Super Bowl. That's right, the city of Tampa. The Phillies did it, why not the Eagles? It's finally our turn my friends, and maybe it's the optimism still bleeding over from the World Series victory still fresh in the mind, but I think the Eagles will run the table and bring the city its first ever Super Bowl victory. All roads lead to Tampa, all roads lead to victory.

- Murdock

America's Creamed

Awww.

As a Philadelphia Eagles fan, there are two major things you revel in.

1. An Eagles win.
2. A Cowboys loss.

When you get an Eagles blowout over the Cowboys to propel them into the playoffs and knock them out of it?

Absolutely euphoric.

One week after the offense looked completely impotent against the Redskins better than average defense, they came out this week and completely lit up one of the most dominant defenses of the 2nd half of the football season.

Coming into the game, I considered it Andy Reid's last straw - if we couldn't win this after losing a must win game against the Redskins, it would absolutely give me no confidence that he was the coach to take the Eagles into 2009 and beyond.

Rather than fold like a deuce-seven off-suit, the Eagles came out as if their season was actually on the line and proceeded to beat the Dallas-area Junior Varsity Cowgirls flag football team by thirty-eight points.

Now after the most improbable of scenarios, the Eagles are playoff-bound...and based on the play we witnessed last week as well as the Giants in week 14, you've got to say we've got a chance against anyone.

GO EAGLES POSTSEASON 2009

...lastly, I leave you with this wonderful video of the Cowboys fans reactions.
Enjoy.

- Magnum