Eagles’ Dream Season Won’t Lead to Playoffs, Even With Momentum-Turning Win Over Patriots

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Nov 26, 2011

Eagles' Dream Season Won't Lead to Playoffs, Even With Momentum-Turning Win Over Patriots If the Eagles fall to the Patriots on Sunday, the so-called “Dream Team” can take a winter-long nap, because their season will be over.

Philly’s offseason collection of Pro Bowlers hasn’t panned out in the slightest way. The Eagles are 4-6 heading into Sunday’s game, and they’re in 10th place in the playoff standings. With a loss, they’d fall three games behind the NFC East-leading Cowboys (7-4) and the Lions, who have the last wild-card spot with their own 7-4 record.

Obviously, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the Cowboys and Lions collapse over the final five games of the regular season, but the Eagles would also need to leapfrog the Falcons (6-4) and Giants (6-4), and possibly the Seahawks (4-6) and Buccaneers (4-6). The Redskins (3-7) and Cardinals (3-7) could also pull even with the Eagles this weekend.

There are just too many teams for Philly to overcome, and it’s won back-to-back games just once this season. There’s just no reason to think the Eagles could run the table after so many inconsistencies through the first three months on the NFL calendar.

Of course, this is a negative way to look at it. The Patriots surely aren’t viewing the Eagles as a layup because of the massive amounts of talent on that roster, and there’s certainly no guarantee that New England rolls through Philly without breaking a sweat. However, the likelihood of the Eagles pulling off the upset decreased after quarterback Michael Vick missed the entire week of practice with broken ribs and reportedly won’t play for the second straight game.

The Eagles’ remaining schedule isn’t overly easy, either, and they also don’t have a great opportunity to make up a lot of ground in the standings. They’re at Seattle (cross-country trips are never to be taken lightly in the NFL), at Miami, home for the Jets, at Dallas and home for the Redskins.

Of those five games, the Cowboys are the only team ahead of the Eagles in the standings, but the positive thing is the Eagles have already beaten them and could win the tiebreaker with another victory. That’s truly their last real hope with the remaining schedule.

The Eagles have already lost to the Falcons, 49ers (9-2) and Bears (7-3), and they split with the Giants. So, right off the bat, they’ve already given away the tiebreaker to three teams ahead of them in the playoff pecking order.

Even a victory against the Patriots might not be enough for the Eagles, whose 10-win ceiling probably wouldn’t get them into the postseason due to their tiebreaker situation.

It’s just about time for the Eagles to turn out the lights and say goodnight.

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