The pervasive feeling around the Eagles Nation is that Sunday's defeat of the Redskins was a "bad win." While I was happy with the "W", I'll admit that I was one of the people that was left wondering if this game hadn't proven that the Eagles don't have enough...
Then I had a thought. This is NFC East Football. This has been how teams have won in this division all year. The records get thrown out, stats get thrown out the window. The team with the better record and/or better stats don't always win in this division.
So did we see an Eagles team that deserved to lose yesterday and who by pulling out a win only masked the fact that they don't have the talent to beat NY or Dallas? Or did we see an Eagles team that gutted out a win against a division rival anyway they could and is now even more prepared to take on the rest of the NFC East? Look at how some games in the NFC East have gone this year...
9/17 Giants @ Eagles - Despite sacking Eli Manning 8 times and leading by 17 in the 4th quarter the Giants came back to beat the Eagles in OT.
10/8 Cowboys @ Eagles - When it seemed sure this game would go into OT after a Mike Lewis pass interference call, the Eagles seal a victory over the Cowboys with a dramatic INT return for a TD in the last minute.
10/23 Giants @ Cowboys - The Giants go into Dallas and beat up the Cowboys 36-22. At the half Bill Parcells benched Bledsoe in favor of Tony Romo. That night he threw 3 picks... but from that point on he goes 5-2 and puts the Cowboys atop the NFC East. That game was probably the turning point for their season
11/5 Cowboys @ Redskins - In a game where the Cowboys outgained the Redskins by nearly 100 yards, the Skins beat the Cowboys 22-19 in a crazy last second FG block turned return turned Dallas penalty that led to a 47 yard Washington FG with no time left. One of the craziest finishes in the NFL so far this year.
12/3 Cowboys @ Giants - The Giants outgained the Cowboys on the ground and through the air and won the turnover battle but lost to Dallas 23-20 on a last second 46 yard FG from Matrin Gramatica, who had kicked one FG since 2004 and had badly missed a 44 yarder earlier in the game.
The bottom line is that it's rarely pretty and it's rarely easy when any two NFC East teams, regardless of record and locations meet. So, did the Eagles look particularly good in their win over the Skins? No. Was it a bad win as some are saying? Not by a longshot. You win however you possibly can in this division. Whether it's a last second INT, a blocked FG, or a made FG... you take what you can get.