Philadelphia Among the Elite?
 

For those of you who are placing the Eagles among the elite teams of the NFL, I'd like to offer a little perspective. A preseason glance at the schedule had nearly all analysts predicting a 6-2 start for the Birds, which they are on pace to reach. Many of those same analysts had the Eagles finishing 4th in the division, in part due to a second half of the schedule that looks like this:
[B]Nov 12 Washington 1:00pm
Nov 19 Tennessee 1:00pm
Nov 26 @Indianapolis 1:00pm
Dec 4 Carolina 8:30pm
Dec 10 @Washington 1:00pm
Dec 17 @N.Y. Giants 1:00pm
Dec 25 @Dallas 5:00pm
Dec 31 Atlanta 1:00pm [/B]

There is [U]one[/u] game where the Eagles are the clear favorite following their bye week - hosting the Titans. They have an unprecedented three consecutive away division games. They play the Colts in Indy. They play both Carolina and Atlanta, who will both be contending for playoff spots. Philadelphia is very good, and isn't due for a fall. They are, however, due for a correction.

Re: Philadelphia Among the Elite?
 

I think we find out how good the Beagles are today. If the can beat the Cowpukes then I will be a believer. I really think the Cowboy defense is 5 times better than anything they have faced so far this season.

Re: Philadelphia Among the Elite?
 

As much as I hate the Eagles they have a great quarterback and really really good O and D lines. That's all it takes to give yourself a good shot to win any game you play in the nfl.

Re: Philadelphia Among the Elite?
 

If you look at the eagles entire schedule, they have a total of 7 games (including the 4 they've already played) against teams with 0 or 1 wins up to this point.

Sure, the second half is tough, but they have an exceptionally soft schedule.

There is no reason for them to not make the playoffs with that kind of a schedule. Of course, they probably won't be able to do anything once they get there.

Re: Philadelphia Among the Elite?
 

Westbrook didn't practice all week, and Donte Stallworth is out with a hamstring injury.

I'm picking Dallas to win.

Re: Philadelphia Among the Elite?
 

I think a healthy McNabb, combined with their stable coaching staff, makes them a threat. Injuries hurt them (Westbrook, especially), but the soft schedule helps. I think they will be a big test for us, especially if our Pass D remains suspect.

Re: Philadelphia Among the Elite?
 

They are The Pretenders. Same team as last year but with a healthy D McNabb which is not enough in the long run. Dallas will throw on First Down to exploit J. Trotter who can't move well enough to re-direct receivers these days.

Re: Philadelphia Among the Elite?
 

You can't call a team a threat when they have 3 wins against the Texans, Packers and the 49ers. Their only big game they blew a big lead to the Giants. There is really no way to know how good the eagles really are until they win a meaningful game.

Re: Philadelphia Among the Elite?
 

they beat dallas and came a lot closer to beating the giants than we did :/.

having mcnabb on your team must really suck.

Re: Philadelphia Among the Elite?
 

mcnabb is the read deal, and the way their offense passes the ball, they might get 40 on the redskins

Re: Philadelphia Among the Elite?
 

Yes, the Eagles are the real deal because they have a great QB and very good defense. The way this season has started leads me to believe that if McNabb had played most of last year, the Redskins probably would not have made the playoffs because the Eagles would have.

Re: Philadelphia Among the Elite?
 

The Eagles are for real, but you know I'm not all that impressed with anyone in the NFC East right now. I don't think any of the 4 teams could stand up against Chicago right now. Philly still has no running game and with Westbrook constantly banged up they are walking on very thin ice.

Dallas still can't protect Bledsoe and in turn he keeps killing them with turnovers and sacks.

The Giants are still wildly inconsistent, and the Skins... well you know the story.

Re: Philadelphia Among the Elite?
 

The Eagles are an 11-5 team at worst and are going to win the NFC East.

I'm going to type in a ridiculous phrase that I'll remember so that I can dig up this post and say I told you so later on.

rubberbabybuggybumpers

If you come out on top of this slugfest of a division, you're going to be battle-tested come the playoffs. Yes, IMO, they are elite.

Re: Philadelphia Among the Elite?
 

I don't know. I mean the Eagles toughest opponent that they have beaten this year were yesterday against the Cowboys. I DO think the Eagles have a very good team, but I think until they play more playoff type teams than not, they shouldn't be placed on a pedestal.

Re: Philadelphia Among the Elite?
 

[QUOTE=skinsguy;226436]I don't know. I mean the Eagles toughest opponent that they have beaten this year were yesterday against the Cowboys. I DO think the Eagles have a very good team, but I think until they play more playoff type teams than not, they shouldn't be placed on a pedestal.[/QUOTE]

I agree.


So the favorite wins at home in a division match up and all of a sudden they are headed to champagne showers in Late January?

I really didn't think the Eagles would beat the Cowboys.

But hindsight says that, really, when the favorite wins at home in a division game, how shocked should we all be?

The Cowboys kept giving the game to them.
After all the miscues and Bledsoisms, the Cowboys still had the ball on the Eagle 6 with 30 seconds left.

I still think that the two best teams in the East are the Redskins and Cowboys.

It's a long season.