Posted on 12/06/2004 9:03:15 AM PST by Libertarian4Bush
That would require an NFC team capable of playing with the Eagles. So far, none exist.
Owl_Eagle
”Guns Before Butter.”
He won a Super Bowl in Baltimore with Trent Dilfer and no offense to speak of.
Football's a funny game like that.
The way Seattle and St Louis are going right now either one could win the NFC West at 7-9. How sickening is that, not just a sub-500 team in the playoffs, but a sub-500 team with a home game because they won the division. 5-7 is in the hunt for a wild card spot in the NFC, a 7-9 team is highly likely.
The flattening of the divisions made it more likely, all you need is 4 mediocre teams in the same division to send a 500 or below team to the playoffs. Before you needed 5. The amazing part is that so much of the NFC is so bad. Really the Eagles are the only legit team in the conference, the Pack and Falcons come the closest to being competitors but as we saw yesterday they're too streaky and when they're bad they're simply horrendous. Outside of those three the entire conference is crap. Which is bad for the envtual Superbowl representative, having gone through a season with little or no competition to then run into either the Pats or Steelers (or whoever upsets them, lots of solid contenders in the AFC, I learned last night to hope Jacks doesn't make it because I don't think my boys can beat them again) it's going to be hard to gear up.
That's what they said last year before the Carolina Panthers came into Philly and whupped them.
Yeah, the Brian Billick-led Mob Town Thugs (a.k.a. the Raisins) built up a big lead against Cincinnati last time I saw the score yesterday. I'm sure they held on to win...
The Falcons are 9-3 and yet have given up more points than they have scored this year.
Some sports fans take it too far and feel the need to act like a bunch of dolts. That goes for ones that post in an open forum such as FR or in the stands as spectators.
That D is still too young. It takes experience and smarts to make a good defense. Right now Indy is getting by on rep, Payton can be stopped, I can't believe all the trickery Fischer used yesterday, spending all week telling your players they can't compete with the other team (which is what you do when your game plan revolves around trickery) won't win you a game. In the end the Colts are a finesse team, and a couple years ago the Pats showed everybody how you beat a finesse team (for the Superbowl): punch em in the mouth, frequently and often.
BTW the Panthers have a decent shot of making the playoffs after a 1-7 start, they should be favored in all their remaining games. If they do make it in, and if they are healthy, watch out.
Best of luck to the Eagles, but I want term limits, a flat tax and school vouchers right now.
Losing big and winning squeakers is a sure sign of weakness.
it's funny you mention that - I was just kinda scratching down the numbers and trying to figure out probabilities.
a 4-team division plays 64 games, 24 of which will be in-division (12 actual GAMES, counting for 24 in the standings. those 24 will break even at 12-12, leaving an aggregate range of 12-52 (.1875) to 52-12.
in a 5-team division, you'd have 15-15, meaning you could have 15-65 (.231) to 65-15.
so yes, it seems that the possibilities are more extreme in the current arrangement, although there IS the variable now of there being half as many wild card slots PER division, making THAT tougher to get. I'm too tied up in other stuff to tackle that statistically, maybe some other enterprisign FReeper will.
as for "facing no competition", it's possible that the eagles' schedule looks easy because they MAKE it look easy. happened in 1985.
the same as the inentions of the 15 packer fans who would have posted it had they actually showed up to play. the same as the intentions of the idiot packer fan FReepers who had already buried the "overrated black quarterback" in philly before 4th-and-26 last year. pick your motive, you're going to anyway. just assign it to everyone fairly.
I'm an Eagles Fan, but I'm not counting on a Superbowl appearance just yet. There's still too many holes in that offensive line. McNabb is just one blindside hit away from watching the playoffs.
The Eagles were a 12-4 team... the Panthers were an 11-5 team. The Eagles were favored, but nobody thought Carolina was roadkill going into that game. Nobody.
This year's a little different. The Eagles are overwhelimingly superior to everybody in the NFC; they're 9-0 in the conference, with all 9 wins coming by double digits. Unless the Eagles lose their offensive and defensive MVP's in the last game of the season and McNabb in the NFCCG (like last year), nobody in the NFC can play with them.
Teams that wrap up home field relatively early don't have a particularly great record. In 1994, the Chiefs were the overwhelming favorite, only to lose to Indianapolis in the first round. The 95 Broncos lost to Jacksonville, the Vikings lost to the Falcons. All of those teams were as dominant as Philly is this year. Teams that have a relatively easy time of it in the regular season, sometimes can't handle the pressure when they finally get in a close game during the playoffs.
Has an 11-5 team ever failed to make the playoffs? Under the current format, I mean?
Yup, you're the standard Eagles fan--piggish, brutish and loutish.
for a drinking game, yes. but for quarterback, not any more. there was a time when he was the best in the league, but that time has long passed. his first INT of the day was the worst decision anyone made in the whole NFL on Sunday.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.