First of all, Upon Official Review wants to wish a merry Christmas and happy holidays to all of our awesome fans!
Sorry DeSean, but we can't help it.
The Eagles, riding a 5 game winning streak, find themselves in the enviable position of being in line to win the NFC East and, with a little luck, actually clinch a first round bye and the #2 seed overall in the NFC. Not long ago, the Birds were staring at a 5-4 record, coming off of losses to San Diego and *gasp* the Oakland Raiders. Now, their prospects are so much brighter. They have clinched a playoff berth (at least a wild card), and have the big, bad Vikings set square in their sights. So, on Christmas day, I thought I’d run through a few playoff scenarios involving our beloved Eagles, specifically focusing on the action coming up this weekend. Before that though, the schedules of the 3 major teams involved (all times Eastern Standard Time).
12/28/09 – Minnesota Vikings @ Chicago Bears 8:30 pm
01/03/10 – New York Giants @ Minnesota Vikings 1:00 pm
12/27/09 – Dallas Cowboys @ Washington Redskins 8:20 pm
01/03/10 – Philadelphia Eagles @ Dallas Cowboys 1:00 pm
12/27/09 – Denver Broncos @ Philadelphia Eagles 4:15 pm
01/03/10 – Philadelphia Eagles @ Dallas Cowboys 1:00 pm
Scenario #1 (best case) – The Eagles win over the Broncos, and the Cowboys and Vikings both lose. This would be truly wonderful, because the Eagles would clinch the NFC East if the above happens. They would also pass the Vikings, at least for one week, for the #2 seed. The benefit of this would be that the Eagles could then lose their final game to the hated Cowboys, and still get the first round bye as long as the Giants also beat the Vikings on the final day of the regular season. Obviously, in this case the Eagles would also clinch a first round bye with a win over Dallas, no matter what happened between the Giants and Vikings.
Scenario #2 (all or nothing) – The Eagles and Cowboys both win this weekend, and the Vikings lose their final game against the Giants (who win both of their last 2 games). This sets up the biggest Eagles – Cowboys game in recent memory. If the Eagles won that game they would be the #2 seed, with the highly coveted first round bye. However, if they lost they would be slide all the way down to the #5 seed, and a road date with either the Cardinals or Cowboys in the wild card round. If the Cowboys won, they would clinch the East, and get either the #3 or the #4 seed and a home game in the wild card round. However, should Dallas lose that game, they would actually miss the playoffs. That would be an insanely tense game, otherwise known as the Alka-Seltzer Bowl.
Scenario #3 (worst case) – If the Vikings beat the Bears and the Broncos beat the Eagles, then the Vikings will clinch at least the #2 seed, and the Eagles-Cowboys game will simply mean the difference between a first round home game, or a first round road contest for the Birds. It would still most likely mean the difference between Dallas making or missing the playoffs, however. This, to me wouldn’t be nearly as big of a deal as getting the bye in that first round, and playing a team who has already survived what could be a hellacious battle against a very good, playoff team in the first round. The Eagles can win playoff games on the road, as they have proved throughout the Andy Reid – Donovan McNabb decade.
One other quick side note, on the final week of the regular season, there are no night games, so every game is played on Sunday at either 1 pm or 4 pm. I assume that this is to ensure that no team gets more rest than their opponents for the playoff game. That is definitely a smart rule, but how the hell does the Eagles-Cowboys game not have a 4:00 start time? I don’t get this for the life of me. That has to be the marquee matchup of the weekend, especially considering what will be at stake (most likely the division title, and at the very least, whether the Cowboys make the playoffs, and whether the Eagles get a first round bye).
Regardless of what happens these last two weeks, we know one thing for sure – it’s gonna be exciting. Have fun and be safe during this holiday season – and GO EAGLES!!!
- Murdock
