BY MIKE WOLVERTON The Eagles outscored the Giants Sunday night, but there was some cause for concern. Giants receivers hit on numerous big plays, and missed several more. Mario Manningham was barely out of bounds for what could have been two separate touchdowns. Fellow receiver Hakeem Nicks dropped a sure long TD. And the Giants still put up 38. Factor in that the Eagles got a fluky fumble return touchdown and a punt return TD by DeSean Jackson, things you can’t count on happening every week. My point is that the Eagles had a lot of things go their way and it was still a tight game. It was a season-defining victory. It virtually assured the Igs of a playoff berth, as they are two games ahead of the Giants with three to play (and the Eagles hold the tiebreaker). San Francisco is the only other NFC team that can keep the Birds from at least a wildcard spot, and that seems unlikely. After Dallas lost to San Diego Sunday, the Cowboys are now hanging on to the second wildcard spot, one game ahead of the Giants who have the tiebreaker edge, and facing a trip to undefeated New Orleans next week. I wonder where Tony Romo and Miles Austin partied after Sunday’s game — probably not Vegas.
Unless the Eagles pick up another game on Dallas in the next two weeks, they’ll still have to beat the Cowboys in the final week to win the division. If the Eagles do win the division, they’re likely to meet the Cowboys or Giants in the first round of the playoffs anyway. As unappealing as that may be, I think it would be better than drawing the Packers.The AFC playoff picture is
significantly more interesting than the NFC. I like Miami. Don’t forget they started 0-3. Among their losses, they almost beat both the 13-0 teams. They dominated time of possession against the Colts in a very close loss, and they led the Saints 24-3 before they got Drew Breezed. Until a couple weeks ago, I’d sorta forgotten that Miami was a Bill Parcells team, and they’ve been getting lots of credit lately for being very physical.They were a wildcat team that lost their wildcat QB and top running back in Ronnie Brown, and then transitioned into a basic pro-style offense and kept winning. I don’t think they’re ready to challenge the Colts or the Chargers, but look for Miami to get to the playoffs somehow.
Maybe they’ll overtake the Patriots. I only caught a couple plays from the Panthers-Patriots game, but I saw a 3rd-and-1 very late in the game that was an obvious running situation. Wide to the right, Randy Moss took a couple steps forward and then put an arm out for a token block on the defender, cornerback Chris Gamble. Gamble responded by grabbing Moss and not even making a token attempt to get in on the play. A pretty clear-cut example of, “I’ll take this play off if you will.” Turns out after the game that Gamble and safety Chris Harris claimed that Moss wasn’t going all-out on every play. Can’t argue with that…I saw it on the first play I watched!
I’ll close with a song (to the tune of “White Christmas”)
I’m dreaming of a Cowgirl meltdown
Just like the ones we’ve seen before
Where passes get dropped
And coaches get chopped
The offense never seems to score
.
I’m dreaming of a Cowgirl meltdown
With every Dallas game I see
May their days be sorry, no glee
Home for the playoffs they will be