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Did any Eagles perform against the odds this season?

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Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

We're back with another in our series of Gillette "No debate" posts today asking, "what player has performed against all odds this season?" You can vote over on their Facebook page.

As usual though, I like to relate this to the Eagles, so I'll ask the same question. Was there an Eagle that performed against the odds this year?

There are a few candidates.

Evan Mathis - As literally every other offensive lineman around him got injured and pretty much all of their backups played terribly, Mathis not only stayed healthy, but also kept playing at a high level. Pro Football Focus named Mathis to their All Pro team for 2012.

DeMeco Ryans - There's been a pretty clear pattern with the Eagles over the past couple years. They bring in a high priced guy from somewhere else and that guy doesn't perform or really even seem to care as much as we'd expect. I'm sure you could all run down the list. One guy that ran totally counter to that trend last year was DeMeco Ryans. He was billed as an ultra high character player coming in and he proved to be just that. Not only did he play at a high level, but as the weeks wore on and the losses mounted, he still played hard.

Fletcher Cox - First, it's impressive for a rookie to keep playing heard when veterans around him aren't and Cox did that. It's also impressive to see a rookie playing hurt and doing it well in games that are essentially meaningless. Fletcher did that. But also, a lot of people forget that just days before he was set to sign his contract, his cousin and best friend was killed in a car accident. So really, when you look at all the adversity such a young guy faced, it makes his strong season all the more impressive.

Related: Fletcher Cox makes Kiper's 2012 All Rookie squad

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