The AFC title game.
Yours truly had been telling anybody that would listen all week that Jacksonville getting first 9 1/2, then down to 7 1/2, was a pretty good bet. That's a lot of points and the Jags were really good this year.
Indeed, they gave the Pats all they could handle for the entire game, before Tom Brady led a comeback and pulled out yet another win (24-20). Foxborough's a mighty tough place to play, and the Jags have nothing to be ashamed of. If they can keep that team together, look out for these guys in the future.
The NFC title game.
Philly must be wondering what they have to do to get some respect.. As the #1 seed in the NFC, playing at home, they were first underdogs to the Atlanta Falcons, who they dispatched, and then the Vikings. The line on the Minn/Phil game was right around Minn minus two points. Most everybody expected a close game.
And then the Eagles blew out the Vikings 38-7. A rout, by any standard. Nobody saw that coming.
The Super Bowl.
Things are about to get a lot tougher for the Eagles. Though the official line hasn't come out yet, there's no doubt they'll be underdogs again going up against the Patriots. And this time, they won't have the advantage of playing before their home fans.
[An aside. Alas, the Vikings won't be the first team in NFL history to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium.]
But there's the thing for the Eagles. Whatever Minnesota season ticket holders and fans manage to score tickets to the Super Bowl, after the usual unsavory types (celebrities, politicians, etc.) siphon off so many tickets (for 15 minutes of photo-ops, then hop back in their limos to leave the seats vacant) there is also little doubt the Eagles will be facing a highly crowd.
Why? Because they won't have forgotten the beat down Philly put on their beloved Vikings two weeks before.
Instead of playing at a "neutral" site, in effect the Patriots will likely enjoy what amounts to a "home" crowd cheering them on. And vice versa for the Eagles.
As mentioned above, Philly was already going to be underdogs going in, but it just got worse, as if the Pats needed any help.
This is not to say the Eagles couldn't upset the Patriots anyway, but if they pull that off under the conditions that will surely await them, they should be hailed as warriors indeed.
Final note. It seems weird that even if Eagles quarterback Nick Foles leads his team to a Super Bowl victory, and he's been outstanding throughout the playoffs, he'll still go into training camp next year as a second-stringer, assuming starter Carson Wentz fully recovers from a blown ACL.
I mean, what's a guy got to do, right?
So this is likely his one and only big shot at glory.
Foles has been an underdog his whole life.
Hard to root against that.
Hard to root against that.
No comments:
Post a Comment