Will the Eagles decide to step up and take advantage?
The "muddled middle" that is the NFC just got even more muddled thanks to one of the biggest upset weekends in recent NFL memory.
The Eagles sitting at 4-4 and losers of their last 3, had their best weekend in a month without even playing. All but 2 of the playoff contenders in the NFC were defeated today, putting the Eagles in a 6 way tie for the 4th best record in the NFC. Call it "parity", call it "mediocrity" whatever you call it the rest of the NFC have kept the Eagles in this thing.
Let's start with the shocker in Dallas as the Cowboys do their best Eagles impression and lose on a last second FG to the Redskins. With 6 seconds left the Cowboys set up for an easy 35 yard FG to win the game. Then former Eagle(and our hero) Troy Vincent blocked the kick! The block was recovered by the Redskins and returned into Dallas territory with no time on the clock. The game seemed like it should have been over, but a 15 yard facemask penalty on the return by Dallas gave the Skins one free offensive play with no time left on clock. Washington seized the opportunity and kicked the winning FG. Dallas falls to 4-4 and has lost 3 NFC East games so far.
The Vikings' offense took the week off and they fell to the underdog 49ers 9-3. Minnesota falls to 4-4, but they do have 4 in conference wins.
Mike Vick looked more like himself with a terrible 2 interception, 163 yard passing performance. Warrick Dunn managed only 51 yards yards on the ground as the Falcons were blown out by the underdog Lions. Atl fell to 5-3 with all of thier losses in conference.
The Rams were blown out by the Chiefs for their 3rd straight loss. They only have 2 conference losses though.
The Giants looked unimpressive, yet still beat Houston 14-10. The Saints bounced back impressively from the beating they took at the hands of Baltimore last week to beat Tampa. Oddly enough in a blow out win for the Saints Reggie Bush had 11 carries for minus-5 yards and the Saints as a team averaged 1.4 yds a carry... The Chicago Bears look terrible for the 2nd time this season, but this time have a loss to show for it(unlike against Arizona). The lowly Dolphins spoiled the Bears' unbeaten season. Yeah, yeah the 72 Dolphins blah blah.
This is how the NFC stacks up. This is unofficial obviously, but I tried my best to put teams where they stand with tiebreakers.
Chicago 7-1
New Orleans 6-2
New York 6-2
Atlanta 5-3
Seattle 4-3
Minnesota 4-4
St. Louis 4-4
Philadelphia 4-4
Carolina 4-4
Dallas 4-4
The Skins, San Fran, & Green Bay all sit at 3-5.
Clearly, next Sunday's game with against the Redskins at the Linc is most important game of this season. A win could potentially vault the Eagles into the 3rd best record in the conference and potentially just a game behind the Giants. It would give them one more all important in conference and in division victory. With so many teams sitting at .500 or better, a loss would almost certainly eliminate them from postseason contention.