Eagles end season in heart breaking fashion 26-24 in Wild Card

This one hurts. It hurts a lot. The season has come to an abrupt end in the wild card round of the playoffs as the Eagles have fallen to the New Orleans Saints in a close nail biter 26-24. With 3 minutes left Nick Foles through a touchdown pass to Zach Ertz to put the Eagles up by 1. I thought to myself as I am sure a lot of other Eagle fans did that there was too much time for a Saints offense that has Drew Brees as their quarterback. Yet #9 wasn't the one that put the dagger in the heart of a Eagles defense that forced 2 interceptions on Brees and completely shut down Jimmy Graham the entire game no, it was the power running game of Mark Ingram that sealed the Eagles fate and advanced the Saints to the divisional round where they will play the Seattle Seahawks (Lets  hope they get smoked no?). This actually reminds me a lot of the last time the Eagles were in the playoffs in 2010 when in a close wild card match up against the then to be super bowl champions Green Bay Packers, a rookie running back that nobody unless you are from Buffalo or Green Bay knew of gashed the Eagles to end their season and that was James Starks. Ingram really has been ineffective all year and most of the time he was hurt. It really bugs me that how terrible the Saints run game has been just happened to turn it up at the right time but hey I guess that is what you have to do to win right? Adjust. The Saints got the ball back with roughly 2 and a half minutes left to go and the Eagles held 2 timeouts to make sure they got the ball back, well that didn't happen. Three straight 3rd and shorts, Drew Brees sneaked up the middle behind his center to pick up the first down. Bennie Logan and the defensive line had no answer. As the clock ticked away with constant first downs there was nothing the Eagles could do but pray for a missed field goal by journeyman kicker Shayne Graham. Well that miracle did not come true. The Eagles fell in another wild card game and the fans went home with their heads down but that's not how the team approached it after the game. Nick Foles said in his press conference how proud he was of this team and that they are going to keep their heads up high and hey why shouldn't they feel proud of what they did this year? A brand new coaching staff took a 4-12 nightmare to a NFC East championship and a impressive 10-6 record after struggling in the beginning at 3-5. I am extremely proud of this team and can't say how much I am looking forward to the draft and training camp and getting back at it next year with a very young but promising squad. A young QB in Nick Foles can be the answer and a defense that is one big time safety away from potentially taking this team all the way, and hey isn't that the goal anyway? In the words of Herm Edwards "You play to win the game". Peace out Eagles Nation!

Eagles win NFC East! Take on Saints Saturday Night at LINC

Wow wow wow WOW! The Eagles are heading back to the playoffs! After two seasons of hype and turnovers and disappointment, the Eagles are once again NFC East champions and did it in the sweetest way possible. Defeating the Dallas Cowboys to send them home at yet again a 8-8 record. Hiring Chip Kelly was a promising move but nobody expected this type of performance in his first year. After blowing the roof off the Chicago Bears Sunday Night, the Eagles learned they would have to take on the Cowboys in a winner go on loser go home situation. Well a Christmas present arrived for the Eagles when Cowboys QB Tony Romo was ruled out for the rest of the season after a herniated disk was suffered in the big comeback win against Washington in week 16. Well yes Tony Romo didn't play but yet he was still there in spirit when backup QB Kyle Orton threw a last minute interception to Brandon Boykin to put the game on ice. The defense was the big story of the night. Three clutch plays by Connor Barwin, Carry Williams, and Brandon Boykin was needed to get a 24-22 victory. Monte Kiffin's defense was bad this year lets make that clear, but for some reason he knew how to make Nick Foles struggle again. Although Foles had another 200 yard passing performance and 2 touchdowns to 0 interceptions, he struggled at times with decision making. Can we all agree Lesean McCoy is a stud? A 130 yard rushing night with a touchdown claiming the rushing title was the best way to cap the best season of any Eagles running back in our history. Of course McCoy could not have done this without the offensive line which to me is the best in football. Jason Peters and Evan Mathis were flat out stellar on the left side and on the right side is a bit weaker but Todd Heremans and Lane Johnson improved week by week. But the sneaky MVP of the offense was center Jason Kelce. Watching game tape shows Kelce getting to the second and third level making blocks on corners and safeties is something not all centers can do. Foles proved to me that even in tough situations, he keeps his poise and adjusts during the game. If Michael Vick would have played in this game, he would have ran around and tried to make a play on that third and long rather than do what Nick Foles did and stay in bounds to kill the clock and only give the Cowboys 1:45 to work with down by 2. He will be the key in the playoffs if we are going to win a super bowl. Yes win the Lombardi is where I am looking, why shouldn't we? We are in the playoffs with one of the hottest teams in all of the NFL. The NFC East title is nice but this team is capable of beating the Saints and after that who knows. One thing that concerns me this Satruday is Jimmy Graham. Jason Witten had over 100 yards receiving and 12 receptions last Sunday.....Imagine what Graham will do if we allow him the same opportunities. Now what happened in Dallas was Mychal Kendricks covered Witten which was clearly not a good size match up for the Eagles. This week I would put and expect this to happen, Connor Barwin will need to cover Graham. He is athletic and fast enough to keep up but what he has that we need is length and size. With the 3 seed in the NFC the game will be at Lincoln Financial Field so expect a rowdy crowd. The Saints are a different team on the road everyone knows that, but Drew Brees is still the Quarterback so the defense needs to pressure him early and often throughout the game to make him uncomfortable.

Prediction: Eagles 28-24 Saints

Carolina here we come! (Maybe)