The Field

Posted: January 11th, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 1 Comment »

The Eagles are the top seed, but it is fair to ask if they are the favorites to win the Super Bowl. The Bucs and Packers both went 13-4 last year, but the 12-5 Rams won the Super Bowl. History shows that wasn’t an anomaly.

The regular season is a long haul assessment. The playoffs are one-game seasons. Win and advance. Lose and you’re done. If you get the wrong matchup or have a key injury or just have an off-day…too bad. Think back to the 2017 Eagles. Atlanta had a chance to beat them on the final play of the game. If they make that play, there is no glory for the guys in green. The Eagles stopped the Falcons and went on to win it all. One single play turned out to be huge.

So let’s talk about the Eagles and their chances.

Dan Hanzus did power rankings for NFL.com and put the Eagles as the 5th best team. He has the Niners as the best team, and then BUF, CIN, and KC. That’s fair. I don’t agree, but I don’t think he’s completely unreasonable.

SF has won 10 games in a row. The argument against them is that they’ve got a rookie QB. Brock Purdy has played lights out, but rookies don’t do well in the postseason. SF is a really good team so that takes some of the pressure off Purdy. Still, there will come a time when he’s got to make a play. Can he do that against a good team in a critical situation? History says no.

The Vikings are the #3 seed and finished 13-4. That looks like a great season.

You have to get Minnesota credit for winning all those close games. They made a couple of amazing comebacks along the way. Their fans think that makes them a team of destiny.

The analytics crowd sees them more as a flawed team that got lucky a lot.

The Eagles, Cowboys and Packers all dominated the Vikings. They won’t be scared of a close game and that is a good quality to have in the postseason, but they have to show they can play well for an entire game against a good opponent. Minnesota was 3-2 against playoff teams. They beat Miami when Tua was hurt. They kicked a last second FG to beat the Giants. They needed a miracle comeback to beat the Bills.

It is impossible to truly believe in the Vikings. They might win a game or even two, but I cannot see them winning it all. They’re just too flawed. It is mind-blowing to think a 13-4 team finished with a point differential of -4. Insane.

Tampa is the #4 seed. They have the greatest postseason QB of all time (other than Nick Foles, I mean) so some people thinks that makes them dangerous. They are also the only team in the playoffs with a losing record (8-9). They scored the fewest points of any playoff team. The defense is good, but not the dominant unit of years past. The Bucs don’t seem like a team that can make a run.

As for the wild card teams, Dallas is the 5th seed. They went 12-5 this year and looked dominant at times. Dallas beat the Vikings 40-3. Two weeks later they beat the Colts 54-19. Those games got the national media fired up and jumping on the Dallas bandwagon as fast as possible.

But the Cowboys went 3-2 after that. Injuries started to hurt the defense, which allowed 27 points per game over the last five weeks. The only team they shut down was the Titans, with QB Josh Dobbs making his first NFL start. More concerning, Dak Prescott turned into an INT machine. He threw at least one pick in each of the final seven games (11 total). He threw 15 for the season, the same amount Jalen Hurts has in the last two seasons combined.

When the Cowboys are on, they can beat anyone. They can also play down to the competition. Dallas needed some luck to beat the Texans. They needed some luck to beat Gardner Minshew. They got dominated by Washington in the season finale. I’d be shocked to see this team win it all. They are just too sloppy and I don’t see that going away.

Your crazy stat of the day…Dallas was 1-3 when playing on a grass field this year. That’s not good with Tampa, SF and Philly above them in the seedings.

The Giants are the 6th seed. They are both a great story and a flawed team. No one expected them to be good this year, but we all saw the value a coaching change can have. Brian Daboll changed the culture and got those players to believe in themselves. He was aggressive and his attitude carried over to the players. As much as it was to see the team play well and defy the odds, the playoffs can be cruel. Ask TCU how Cinderella does this time of the year.

I could see the Giants beating the Vikings this weekend, but I cannot see Daniel Jones leading them to the promised land. The Giants need more talent, but this team has a lot of heart and they will battle whoever they play.

Seattle is the 7th seed in the NFC. Most expected them to be one of the worst teams in the league. Pete Carroll did a great job with a young team and Geno Smith came out of nowhere to have the best season of his career. I would have bet a ton of money against him throwing 30 TD passes and finishing with a rating of 100.9. I’d have lost big bucks. Smith played lights out and helped the Seahawks overachieve.

They were 3-5 in the second half of the season and needed to win the last two games just to get into the postseason. Smith threw 7 picks in that stretch and the run defense struggled mightily, giving up more than 145 yards in six of those games.

This team is a year or two away. I would say Smith and Kenneth Walker give them the chance to score points and make life tough, but Seattle only scored 20 total points in two games vs SF this year. If this was a home game, that would help, but they’ll be on the road.

People who have doubts about the Eagles focus on the recent stretch. That’s fair to do, but I prefer to focus on this stat. The Eagles are 14-1 with Hurts as their starting QB. They weren’t great in his last two starts (CHI, NYG), but did have double-digit leads in both games. They just failed to put them away in impressive fashion.

The Eagles have issues just like all the other teams. I just happen to see the Eagles as the most complete team in the NFC. They can run and throw well. They have a good QB. They have good skill players. Even with Lane Johnson out, they have one of the best OLs in the league. The defense has playmakers at each level and is getting healthier. Special teams were an issue early on, but got much better as the season went along.

The biggest question for many is how the Eagles will handle the moment. The pressure is on them to win. The Niners have plenty of playoff experience, even if their QB doesn’t. Dak and Kirk Cousins have playoff experience, even if they are each just 1-3 in those starts. Brady and the Bucs are playoff vets.

The Eagles do have players from the 2017 Super Bowl run. The team got experience last season when they played the Bucs. That was a loss, but I’m guessing they learned a lot from it. Do the Eagles have what it takes to win this time around?

The Eagles were 5-1 against playoff teams.

This team has a ton of potential. They absolutely can win it all. That doesn’t mean they will, of course. The have things to work on to get back to playing at a high level. Because of the bye they’ll be able to work on some of those issues this week. Nick Sirianni said they would have practices that focused more on fundamentals than running plays. That kind of back-to-basics mentality is just what this team needs, along with some time to rest and heal.

I’m excited to see what this team can do. They have enough talent to win it all. They don’t need lucky breaks. They do need to limit turnovers. Play clean football and this team could have postseason success.

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I’m not going to write a lot about the AFC.

The Bills are the best team in the league when they play their A-game. That just hasn’t happened a lot recently.

The Bengals have won eight games in a row. Joe Burrow is a stud QB. They’ve been hot and cold in those games, needing some strong second half performances to keep winning.

KC is a river that just keeps rolling along. You never want to bet against Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid. The Chiefs finished the season on a 10-1 run. They are probably the team to beat from the AFC. They have lost three straight games to Cincy so that is something to watch.

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One Comment on “The Field”

  1. 1 Eagles News: NFL Executive of the Year hype for Howie Roseman – Futbal News Hubb said at 1:00 PM on January 12th, 2023:

    […] The Field – Iggles BlitzAs for the wild card teams, Dallas is the 5th seed. They went 12-5 this year and looked dominant at times. Dallas beat the Vikings 40-3. Two weeks later they beat the Colts 54-19. Those games got the national media fired up and jumping on the Dallas bandwagon as fast as possible. But the Cowboys went 3-2 after that. Injuries started to hurt the defense, which allowed 27 points per game over the last five weeks. The only team they shut down was the Titans, with QB Josh Dobbs making his first NFL start. More concerning, Dak Prescott turned into an INT machine. He threw at least one pick in each of the final seven games (11 total). He threw 15 for the season, the same amount Jalen Hurts has in the last two seasons combined. When the Cowboys are on, they can beat anyone. They can also play down to the competition. Dallas needed some luck to beat the Texans. They needed some luck to beat Gardner Minshew. They got dominated by Washington in the season finale. I’d be shocked to see this team win it all. They are just too sloppy and I don’t see that going away. Your crazy stat of the day…Dallas was 1-3 when playing on a grass field this year. That’s not good with Tampa, SF and Philly above them in the seedings. […]