Forget the records. Forget that the Eagles might not catch the Minnesota Vikings or New Orleans Saints for home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. Forget that the Eagles lost to the Saints three months ago. Or that they’re a little shoddy in spots on defense. Forget all of that.
Right now, no team in the NFC may be playing better than the Eagles. That’s right now. Not last week, not next week. The Eagles won their fifth-straight game with a 27-13 victory over what was supposed to be the feisty San Francisco 49ers. They were lively all right, for the third quarter—that was it.
The victory clinched a playoff berth for the Eagles, making it the eighth time in 11 years under head coach Andy Reid the Birds will be headed to the postseason. The win also has to put the Eagles into the discussion of which team is the best right now in the NFC. If anything, the Eagles are in that mix with Minnesota and New Orleans by beating two desperate teams clawing for life in the Giants and the now the 49ers.
The Eagles could very well win out hosting Denver (another desperate team looking to rebound from a 20-19 loss to Oakland) next Sunday and then closing at Dallas on January 3. They’re forcing turnovers, Donovan McNabb has looked sharp (except for maybe Sunday against the Niners), they’re running the ball effectively, and everything points to a team that is peaking at the right time. On the other hand, the Saints’ defense has looked porous, and you can exactly count on the Vikings’ Brett Favre—regardless of what he’s done so far.
What’s stabilized the Eagles is the play of the offensive line. Behind tackles Jason Peters and Winston Justice, center Jamaal Jackson, and guards Todd Herremans and Nick Cole, the running game looks solvent. Fueled by LeSean McCoy and Leonard Weaver, the Eagles now have options, making it more difficult for anyone to defend against them and giving deep threat DeSean Jackson more room to rove.
It all couldn’t be coming together at a better time.
“We are a confident team right now,” Weaver said. “It’s definitely exciting; we’re rolling at the right time. One of the reasons I came here because I heard that this is a team of character, and it’s a team that plays its best in December.”
A large key has been Reid’s penchant to run the ball. It’s an area that sometimes Reid used to forget in the past.
“The idea now going into games is to run the ball,” Peters said. “We know we can pass and we know we have weapons. With everyone we have, it’s hard to cover everyone. It becomes too hard to cover the run and the pass. When [Reid] calls a run, we’re just trying to get a first down. But it’s good to see [where the running game] is. I like where [the running game] is right now. But it can better.”
BAKER TO THE RESCUE
It was predictable. But apparently the guy wearing a San Francisco No. 5 Jeff Garcia jersey in the lower level of Lincoln Financial Field behind the Eagles’ bench wasn’t warned beforehand or just didn’t know any better—with snow come snowballs. Especially when it comes to liquored-up Eagles’ fans. There was a heavy concentration of snowballs aimed at the guy early in the fourth quarter that was so thick, it made it look like it was snowing again.
It reached a point that the Eagles flashed an announcement on both video screens behind each end zone and Eagles’ announcer Dan Baker came to the guy’s rescue by telling fans to please refrain from throwing objects onto the field.
The flying snowballs quickly subsided after that and everyone decided to watch a football game.
ROOKIE MARK
LeSean McCoy, the future of the Eagles’ running game, established a new Eagles’ rookie rushing record by surpassing the 586 yards Correll Buckhalter ran for in 2001.
WISING UP
Good for Eagles’ defensive coordinator Sean McDermott for seeing that a linebacker wasn’t able to cover Niners’ talented tight end Vernon Davis. When McDermott switched the coverages and Davis was picked up by defensive backs, it appeared it’s a reason why Asante Samuel had his eighth interception this year.
The Eagles converted Samuel’s second-quarter pick into a 22-yard David Akers’ field goal—and a 17-3 Eagles edge with 4:25 left in the first half.
By the way, Samuel’s interception was his eighth this season, the most by an Eagle since Eric Allen had eight picks in 1989.
SAMUEL THE TACKLING MACHINE
There’s no questioning why the Eagles have Asante Samuel. It would be nice if he could make a tackle every once in a while. Sometimes he does. Samuel whiffed horribly on Niners’ wideout Josh Morgan on San Francisco’s first possession of the second half, only to come back in the same series to stop Morgan from getting a first down and forcing a field goal.
NOT A SMART MOVE
Let’s pose it to all of you Andy Reid watchers out there. Which move was, well, dumber? Was it Reid’s decision to on-side kick to open the game against the Washington Redskins on November 29, or Reid’s decision to go for it on fourth-and-one at his own 29 in the closing minutes of the first quarter against the 49ers on Sunday?
They both hold a special place in Reid’s Hall of Ineptitude. The ’Skins converted the on-side kick into one of the rare times they scored a touchdown this season, but this time, Reid owes a debt of gratitude to Sheldon Brown for stripping the Niners’ Delaine Walker and creating a fumble that Asante Samuel hopped on at the Eagles’ 6-yard line.
It might be the on-side kick, because at least the Eagles were able to escape further damage against the Niners. They tore down the field, a 43-yard completion from Donovan McNabb to Brent Celek the big play of the series, on a 9-play, 94-yard drive that resulted in a McNabb’s 8-yard TD scramble and a 14-3 Eagles lead with 9:49 left in the second quarter.
The other twist is that the 94-yard drive was the longest drive by the Eagles this season, eclipsing the 91-yard series in the second Giants’ game on December 13, and the 90-yard drives in the first Giants’ game on November 1 and against Washington on November 29.
NOT A SMART MOVE II
You would think Leonard Weaver had more sense than that. Actually, he does. But the Eagles’ fullback got pulled into a little grill-to-grill gab fest with Niners’ linebacker Ahmad Brooks (maybe they were discussing post-game dinner plans, or who has a better snowblower), but it almost prevented the Eagles from tacking on some more points near the end of the first half.
Reggie Brown had to finally intervene, yanking Weaver away, but not before five more precious seconds ticked off the clock and the Eagles got their field-goal team on the field. Akers booted his second field goal, a 26-yarder, but Reid let Weaver have it once he came off the field.
It just wasn’t very bright from a player who as exhibited nothing but smart play and veteran headiness throughout this season. Weaver acknowledged as much after the game.
“That’s not me, and anyone who knows me knows me that’s not in my character to do that, I’m not a guy who talks,” Weaver said. “But I had to stand my ground. I had to be a man.”
Then weaver laughed, “and no, we didn’t talk about snowblowers.”
Joseph Santoliquito is an Emmy Award-nominated writer based in the Philadelphia area who can be contacted at Jsantoliquito@yahoo.com.
