Heading into a pivotal week 16 matchup with the Cowboys that will likely determine the winner of the NFC East, let's take a check in on how the national media ranks the Birds...
ESPN Rank #9 up from #13 - Pretty amazing turnaround by the Eagles, who actually can clinch a playoff berth with a win Monday over the Cowboys.
CBS Rank #8 up from #12 - Two victories in the final two weeks will give them the division title. Who could have imagined that?
Real Football 365 Rank #8 up from #11 - At what point do bigwigs in movie studios start developing something about Jeff Garcia and these Eagles? This team went from dead in the water to scary contender after Garcia came in for the hurt Donovan McNabb. If the 36-year-old Garcia and friends pull another one out of their hats in Dallas on Christmas Day, Hollywood may begin taking notice of this band of upstarts.
Fox Sports Rank #13 same as last week - How many Eagles fans thought their squad would be a win away from the top spot in the NFC East heading into Week 16 after Week 11's loss at home versus the Titans. With Donovan McNabb out for the year and their season on the line, the Jeff Garcia-led Eagles have now won three straight games, and three of their last four dating back to that dreadful loss to Tennessee. Sunday's win in Giants Stadium was a gutsy effort. But for the Eagles to really make this season a memorable one, they're going to have to knock off Dallas in Texas Stadium next weekend. It should probably be a pretty good game. You know, it's not like these two teams have any history or anything.
Fox has the Eagles ranked behind the Steelers?
Player Rankings This is something I just found that Fox Sports does. They rank players at each position. The rankings are a total player-rating system based on various offensive and defensive statistics. Players increase their scores with every contribution they make to the game.
Brian Westbrook is the 4th highest rated RB in football behind LT, Steven Jackson, and LJ.
Donte Stallworth is rated 17th among WRs and Reggie Brown is rated 25th.
LJ Smith is 11th among TEs.
Jeremiah Trotter is 18th among LBs.
Brian Dawkins is 12th among DBs.
Trent Cole is 3rd among all defensive lineman.
Surprisingly the Eagles are the 2nd highest rated team in the NFL.
You can learn about the system they use here.