Eagles Clinch First Round Bye With Win

The Eagles will clinch the #2 seed in the NFC and a first round bye if they beat the Cowboys on Sunday. You had to know that this Eagles-Cowboys matchup the final weekend of the season would be meaningful, and it is for both teams.

Because the Vikings lost last night, the Eagles and Vikings now have identical records. The Eagles hold the tiebreaker over the Vikings with the better conference record, and thus control their own destiny for that #2 seed. However, the Eagles can drop completely out of that spot, and drop to as low as the #6 seed if they lose to the Cowboys possibly. The Eagles have a lot to gain from a win this weekend, and unfortunately, they have a lot to lose. In fact, the Cowboys who sit at #6 in the NFC right now, could still end up with the #2 seed and a first round bye. If the Eagles, Vikings, and Cardinals lose, and Cowboys win, they take the #2 seed, and the Eagles will fall to the 5th or 6th seed.

If the Eagles lose to the Cowboys, and the Vikings and Cardinals both win, the Eagles would be the #5 seed, and would travel right back to Dallas for a first round playoff matchup. If the Eagles lose to the Cowboys, and the Vikings win, and the Cardinals lose, the Packers also jump the Eagles, and the Eagles drop to the #6 seed. In this scenario, the Eagles would also travel back to Dallas to play the Cowboys. There are also scenarios where the Eagles could lose, drop to the #5 or #6 seed and play the Vikings, if the Vikings lose their game, and Cardinals win.

So, a win would be huge for multiple reasons as you can see. You do not want to have to play in Dallas twice in a row, and in my opinion, you never want to play a divisional opponent for the 3rd time of the season in the playoffs. Should be a very interesting weekend.

Eagles Advance to Divisional Round

The Eagles beat the Vikings in the wild card round to advance to the divisional round of the playoffs to face their division rival New York Giants.

Back to the game at hand, the Eagles pulled away in the 4th quarter in a close game throughout. It felt like the game was 16-14 for most of the 2nd half, and the Vikings were just a field goal away from taking the lead, but the Eagles defense held strong. The Vikings were everything they were advertised to be, a very good defensive line that didn't give the Eagles much room to operate on the offensive end. Correll Buckhalter's 27 yard run was really the only long run the Eagles had all game. The Eagles ended up with only 67 yards total on 23 carries. The Vikings defense was also constantly pressuring Donovan McNabb on passing plays. The Eagles only offensive touchdown came in the 4th quarter, and essentially won the game, a 71 yard screen pass touchdown by Brian Westbrook.

Donovan McNabb played great in this game. He ended the game with exactly 300 yards passing and a touchdown and an INT. He was constantly pressured, and escaped the Vikings pressure well, and was able to hit his check downs a lot, and take what the Vikings gave him. Brent Celek and Jason Avant had some big catches, a lot on 3rd down.

The Eagles defense was also solid, and made sure the Eagles would not give this game up in the 2nd half. The Vikings had two long scoring drives, which both resulted in Adrian Peterson touchdowns runs, but that was all the Eagles would give the Vikings. Overall, the Vikings only ended up with 301 total yards, and Asante Samuel scored on an interception return for a touchdown. We knew coming into this game how good the Vikings rushing attack was, with Peterson, who was the league's leading rusher, and also Chester Taylor. The Eagles did a decent job on both of them, but more importantly, did not let Tarvaris Jackson beat them. Trent Cole, Brian Dawkins, and Quintin Mikell were beasts on the defensive side of the football.

Also, DeSean Jackson's punt returns were solid, and always seemed to give the Eagles good field position. Jackson had over 100 yards on punt returns including a 62 yarder. Also on special teams, David Akers was 4-4 on field goal tries, including a 51-yarder. For a guy who couldn't make a 40+ yard field goal halfway through the season, Akers has really stepped it up in this playoff run. Hopefully it will continue at New York.

It was definitely a nerve racking game, and the Vikings game it their all, but in the end, the Eagles prevailed, and advance to play the Giants next weekend.

Eagles-Vikings Breakdown

Breaking down the Eagles-Vikings game--

QB

The Eagles have a resurgent Donovan McNabb, who when the play calling allows for it, is one of the best quarterbacks in the league. The Vikings will start Tarvaris Jackson, who has only made 5 starts this season, but does have 9 touchdowns to 2 interceptions. McNabb has much more playoff experience and very good numbers against the Vikings.
EDGE: EAGLES

RB

The Vikings feature what might be the best running back in the game right now in Adrian Peterson, who led the league with 1760 rushing yards this season. The Vikings also have a good 2nd running back in Chester Taylor, who can come in and spell Peterson when need be. The Eagles also feature two solid running backs in Westbrook and Buckhalter. While the Vikings simply run Peterson over and over, the Eagles use Westbrook in a variety of ways, running the ball, and splitting Westbrook out wide to run receiving patterns. While Westbrook is one of the best in the game, it's hard to pick against the NFL's leading rusher.

EDGE: VIKINGS

WR/TE

Neither team is particularly solid at this position, as the Eagles feature a rookie as their leading receiver, and an underachieving tight end. The Vikings top two receivers were Bernard Berrian and Bobby Wade, and at tight end, Visanthe Shiancoe had a solid season. Neither team had a 1000 yard receiver, but Berrian and Shiancoe both had 7 touchdown catches this season. No Eagles receiver had more than 3 touchdown catches.

EDGE: VIKINGS

O-Line

Again, the Vikings have the NFL's leading rusher, which definitely counts for something, but the Eagles offensive line can also run block, and the Eagles offensive line allowed fewer sacks than the Vikings offensive line.

EDGE: PUSH

Defensive Front 7

The Vikings have the #1 rush defense in the league and also one of the best pass rushers in the league in Jared Allen. The Eagles have the #4 ranked rush defense, and also have some good pass rushers. The edge for the Vikings may come on the line, but the Eagles probably have a slight edge at linebacker, led by Stewart Bradley.

EDGE: PUSH

Secondary

The Eagles defense is #3 against the pass, while the Vikings defense is #18 against the pass. The Eagles secondary features two pro-bowlers in Asante Samuel and Brian Dawkins, and the Eagles are deep in their secondary. Because teams are not able to run on the Vikings, it may exploit their secondary a little bit, and the Vikings secondary did have a lot of interceptions this season.

EDGE: EAGLES

Intangibles

The last game the Vikings played in the playoffs, they lost to the Eagles. As stated before, McNabb has very good numbers against this Vikings team. However, the game is in Minnesota in the dome, which is a hard place for a visiting team to go in and win, even if the Vikings still can't sell this game out.

EDGE: VIKINGS

Overall

It looks like the weaknesses of the Vikings play right into the Eagles hand, and if the Eagles are smart, they should be able to exploit the Vikings. Donovan McNabb is playing very well lately, and if the play calling is good, the Eagles should win this game.

EDGE: EAGLES

PREDICTION: 27-17 EAGLES