Are Eagles on Super roll?
Here’s why 10-1 Philadelphia might be stronger than its last Super Bowl team.
The Saints’ dazzling new back, Page 8 Fantasy rankings, Page 9 Week 13 previews, Pages 10-25
PHILADELPHIA – It’s tempting to start comparing this Eagles team to the 2004 team that went to the Super Bowl.
After all, both teams were 10-1 at this point in the season, and both teams were dominating their opponents. But not even the 2004 team did what this Eagles team is doing.
The Eagles, fresh off a 31-3 win against the Chicago Bears in Week 12, have won their last three games by at least 28 points, accomplishing that for the first time in franchise history. They have scored at least 30 points in five consecutive games, the longest streak since the 1949 season.
Their point differential is 160, by far the best in the NFL.
And on defense, they have allowed one touchdown in three November games. They held the hapless Bears to 140 total yards, the fewest the Eagles have allowed in a single game since 1996. The Eagles also held Chicago to 6 rushing yards, the fewest the franchise has allowed in a game since 1950.
But the method to the Eagles’ success this season is quite different, and that can only bode well both for playoff success and possibly for that elusive first Super Bowl victory.
Just look at the offense. Tight end Zach Ertz became the first Eagle to have 100 yards receiving this season when he got 103 yards on 10 receptions against the Bears. That’s unheard of for the highest-scoring team in the NFL.
The Eagles have also topped 100 yards rushing just once this season, although LeGarrette Blount came close with 97 yards.
“It’s a testament to Carson spreading the ball around, not focusing on one guy, but focusing on the open guy,” Ertz said about quarterback Carson Wentz. “It’s tough for a defense when any guy can go for 100 each and every week.
“So I think it’s a testament to the guys we have, the unselfishness that we have, that we don’t care who has 100.”
In 2004, Terrell Owens was clearly the star. He was by far the best receiver, with 1,200 yards receiving, 14 TDs and a Super Bowl performance for the ages with nine catches for 122 yards six weeks after breaking his ankle.
Opposing defenses would focus on him and take their chances against the likes of Todd Pinkston and Freddie Mitchell.
Not that the strategy worked, of course. It just left the Eagles with a smaller margin for error, which was exposed in the Super Bowl loss to the New England Patriots.
Now, the Eagles can spread the ball around, led by Wentz, who has 28 touchdown passes against five interceptions. And he can pull the escape acts like Donovan McNabb used to do in his prime.
Take away Alshon Jeffery, and Ertz will get open, or Nelson Agholor, or the running backs will go wild behind Blount and Jay Ajayi.
“It just shows you how unselfish this team is,” coach Doug Pederson said. “It’s not all about one guy. It’s everybody contributing. ... The fact that we’re spreading the ball around and everybody’s involved and we’re still being efficient on offense is a tribute to the way these guys work and practice each week.”
It’s the same way on defense. It doesn’t matter who gets the interceptions or who stuffs the running backs or who torments a quarterback like the Eagles did constantly against the overmatched rookie Mitchell Trubisky.
The Eagles held the Bears without a single first down in the first half, the first time that has happened in an NFL game since the 2012 season.
The Eagles knew they were pitching a first-down shutout. They didn’t care.
“I wouldn’t say we acknowledged it,” linebacker Nigel Bradham said. “We were trying to get our offense the ball as fast as possible. That was our mind-set each week. We’re just trying to get off the field on third down.
“We got an offense that can put up as many points as we want, that has an opportunity to score anytime. We’re pretty much trying to get them the ball fast.”
But there is one major difference that could favor the 2004 Eagles: playoff experience.
That team had lost three consecutive NFC Championship Games. Then they loaded up in the offseason by getting Owens and defensive end Jevon Kearse.
It was clearly Super Bowl or bust for that team.
The success this season was completely unexpected. The Eagles were 7-9 last season. Wentz is in his second season after an uneven rookie year. The defense was unproven heading into this season, and it certainly didn’t have a dominating presence such as 2004 safety Brian Dawkins.
Sure, one could picture the Eagles winning nine or 10 games this season and perhaps making the playoffs.
But 10-1? With a chance to clinch the NFC East title as soon as Nov. 30 with a Dallas Cowboys loss to the Washington Redskins? And on pace to have home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs?
So don’t tell the Eagles they can’t win a Super Bowl.
“We kind of got our own little swagger thing going,” Bradham said. “We’re just having fun. And everyone is just feeding off each other.”