PHILADELPHIA

Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said Tuesday Andy Reid would remain the team’s head coach in 2012.

The Eagles finished 8-8 on the season and missed the playoffs, but Reid had to lead Philadelphia on a four-game winning streak to avoid a losing record.

“It’s been a very, very unusual season,” Lurie said. “This season was without question the most disappointing season since I’ve owned the team.

“This is not only unacceptable, it is very disappointing.”

But Lurie said “the intangibles” Reid brings to the organization and his ability to bounce back following a poor season led him to stick with Reid for a 14th season.

“The team jelled and clearly came together,” Lurie said, referring to the team’s four-game win streak at season’s end.

Reid, who is currently the NFL’s longest tenured head coach, has amassed a 126-81-1 record since joining Philadelphia in 1999. The Eagles have won six NFC East titles during Reid’s time at the helm. The Eagles went to the Super Bowl once under Reid in 2004-2005, losing to the New England Patriots 24-21 in Super Bowl XXXIX.

He has two seasons left on his current contract at $4 million per season.

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The Philadelphia Eagles began the 2011 NFL season as the clear-cut favorite to win the NFC East. The season ended with the Eagles packing their bags and heading home after the regular season ended. What went wrong? Murphy’s Law was alive and well in Philadelphia but much of the carnage was avoidable.

Michael Vick needs to bring his “A’ Game the rest of the season.
Photo by: SRA Moses Ross Wikimedia Commons

Is it easier to fire the big man Andy Reid or is it easier to gut this team and rebuild from scratch? There will be serious carryover issues in 2012 and the problems must get addressed now to prepare for next year. Not all is bad with the Eagles and the team has positives to build on.

Bad Chemistry

The Eagles assembled one of the most talented teams in the NFL but they forgot about one important aspect of building a team: Chemistry. Adding Nnamdi Asomugha was a huge coup for Andy Reid and the Eagles front office but it also led to some serious chemistry issues in the secondary, starting with Assante Samuel questioning the move in training camp.

Eagles in Trouble at Quartback Position for Years?

One Eagles front office move that will handcuff the team for years was the signing of Michael Vick to a long-term contract. Vick is going to get injured every season and every time he goes down the Eagles and their fans will suffer. Until the Eagles rid themselves of Vick and get a legitimate quarterback they will never seriously contend in the NFC East.

Then the Eagles added a competent backup in Vince Young but they forgot this is the same guy who led to Jeff Fisher calling it quits after a long tenure with the Titans. Young’s antics in Tennessee led to more than a few gray hairs for Fisher, who took 2011 off to recuperate.

Vince Young compounded the Eagles front office woes by declaring the Philadelphia Eagles a “Dream Team.” The name became a derogatory term later in the season when the team went on a losing streak and eliminated themselves from serious contention to make the NFL Playoffs.

Jason Babin and LeSean McCoy Positives Going Forward

The Eagles did have some bright spots in 2011. LeSean McCoy showed the NFL he is worthy of consideration as a top five NFL back and when Andy Reid allowed him to take over games he did in a big way. McCoy’s running style and never quit attitude led to several key wins for the Eagles but he did break down at the end of the season.

Jason Babin gave the Eagles defense one positive through a dismal first half of the season. Babin gave the Eagles a legitimate pass rush and led to the improvements on defense in the second half. Babin finished the season strong, scoring eight sacks in his last four games and gave Eagles fans something to look forward to in 2012.

DeSean Jackson Must Go

McCoy’s impressive season became overshadowed by the baffling antics of DeSean Jackson. Jackson left the Eagles with no choice but to let him walk once the free agency period begins. The Eagles blew their chance to trade Jackson but there are options they can look into.

The Eagles can franchise tag Jackson and then trade him after he signs. This will be a tough move to pull off since Jackson’s brash attitude will clash with most quarterbacks and receivers in the NFL. The Eagles have already blown any chance to get value for Jackson and their best bet is to move up the NFL Draft board and snag Justin Blackmon of the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Blackmon is Terrell Owens and Randy Moss rolled into one without being a head case.

*Todd Jacobs lives in Las Vegas but has been a Philadelphia Eagles fan since the ’70s. Members of Todd’s family were devout Eagles fans and he had little choice but to follow the Eagles from an early age.

Sources:

ESPN Clubhouse: Philadelphia Eagles news and stats.

Reading Eagle: Jackson facing uncertain future in Philly

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As soon as Vince Young said the term, “dream team,” fans of the Philadelphia Eagles must have been scared. While the team was the most active during the offseason in bringing in stars, comments from the least talented of the new acquisitions were sure to cause problems. The Eagles struggled to an 8-8 record and while some players had monstrous fantasy seasons, others faltered. Who are the biggest surprise and disappointments, and which star can say they were the Eagles’ 2011 fantasy MVP?

MVP – LeSean McCoy

There is no doubt in my mind that McCoy is the best running back in the NFL, especially so in fantasy football. This season, his yardage figures don’t compare to those of Ray Rice, but the instability at the quarterback position in Philadelphia can be blamed for that. He rushed for 1,309 yards on 273 carries and made 48 catches for 315 yards with 20 total touchdowns.

Biggest Surprise – Jason Babin

The eight-year pro is one of the offseason acquisitions for the Eagles, but he was probably the least hyped. When the Eagles signed him, it was his sixth team in six seasons, including a previous stint with the team. As a member of the Tennessee Titans a year ago, he made 13 sacks and was a force on the defensive line. What he did this season was grow from that success to become one of the best sack-artists in the NFL. He made 18 sacks to go with 40 total tackles, rewarding those fantasy GMs that selected him in IDP leagues.

Biggest Disappointment – Michael Vick

The former Atlanta Falcons’ quarterback began his second season as the Philadelphia starter and suffered through the same problems he has suffered from his entire career. He missed three games due to injury, adding further proof that his body type isn’t one for taking hits. He did set a new career high in passing yards with 3,303, but struggled in all other facets. A year ago, he turned the ball over nine total times, while this season, he threw 14 interceptions and lost four fumbles. It is hard to keep your team in the game when you keep giving the ball away.

Another disappointing stat for Vick were his rushing scores. A year ago, he set a career-high with nine and followed that up this season with just one. Vick can still be a fantasy star, but he won’t be a first round selection in 2012 like he was this season.

For a closer look at All-Injury teams for all major fantasy positions and biggest stars and busts from each NFL team, click here.

More from this contributor:

LeSean McCoy is Top Fantasy Running Back in 2011

Backup Running Backs to make Splash in 2011

Don’t Give up on These Players too Early

Drafting Individual Defensive Players?

Top 2011 Fantasy Football Rookies

Hobson Lopes has been playing fantasy football for more than 10 years and can be followed on Twitter @HobsonLopes.

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The Philadelphia Eagles had to watch the very last game of the NFL regular season with a wistful eye. As Eagles fans like myself know, the unofficial NFC East title game pitting the Dallas Cowboys vs the New York Giants on Jan. 1 didn’t have to be possible. With one or two more Philadelphia wins, Dallas and New York would have been eliminated well before the finale, perhaps as they deserved to be.

Instead, these two 8-7 clubs fought for the NFC East crown while the hottest team in the division began their vacation hours earlier. But if any of these two teams could remotely come close to deserving the NFC East in the Eagles’ place, it was pretty clear that it was the Giants in their 31-14 win.

Dallas’s mental toughness and ability to win late has even been brought into question by the likes of Emmitt Smith. Meanwhile, New York always seems to find an extra spark of life whenever Tom Coughlin is in danger of getting fired. Therefore, it made more sense that the Giants were the only team to show a pulse in the first half as they jumped to a 21-0 lead.

New York was the squad leaping over the opposition, getting big passing plays and even using a power running game like in the old days, while Dallas was utterly limp and was wilting in the spotlight. However, this wouldn’t be an NFC East title game if both games didn’t look overwhelmed and ready to collapse at some point.

The Giants looked ready to fall apart again when the lead shrunk to 21-14 and the Cowboys looked poised to get a chance to tie it up. But on a third-down play in the middle of the fourth, Eli Manning all but sowed up the division title with a 44-yard bomb to his new favorite target, Victor Cruz. It didn’t go for a touchdown, yet it kept Dallas from getting the ball back, gave New York momentum for good, and led to a field goal that put the Cowboys right back against the wall.

The Giants’ victory was reflective of their season as a whole, just like the Eagles’ last victory over the Washington Redskins was reflective of theirs. The Eagles started pretty slow and then poured it on over the Redskins at the end, just as they started slow and poured it on at the end of 2011. Meanwhile, the Giants started hot with a 6-2 record and a 21-0 lead over the Cowboys, then almost blew the season and the game in the middle before rallying back at the very end.

Unlike the Cowboys, Eagles and Redskins, the Giants mastered the art of starting and finishing the year on a hot streak. The rest of the NFC East either got hot early and couldn’t keep up, or started terribly and got better when it was too late.

There were no really deserving champions in this division, yet considering the mess that Dallas, Philadelphia and Washington made of their seasons, New York proved to be the only one capable of cleaning up its messes. In any other year, that probably wouldn’t be enough for the Giants to survive – but thankfully for them, this wasn’t any other year.

Robert Dougherty is a life-long Philadelphia resident who has followed the Eagles since he was eight years old.

Other stories by this contributor

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NFL playoff picture a mixed bag of suspense in Week 17

Jets need a 2008 Eagles-style miracle

Coughlin only NFC East coach still playing for his job

Eagles, Redskins finale rare meaningless Week 17 game

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The Philadelphia Eagles brought the 2011 season to a merciful end on Jan. 1. In truth, there wasn’t much reason for Eagles fans like myself to pay attention, since the finale meant nothing to both Philadelphia and the Washington Redskins. But for those of us who did pay attention, the last game was quite reflective of the entire season – since the Birds looked better than they really were at the very end.

The final score reads that the Eagles throttled the Redskins by 34-10 in relatively easy fashion. But Philadelphia got 21 of those points in the fourth quarter and didn’t do enough to pull away in the first three – a formula that sounds sadly familiar.

The initial three quarters clearly had the Eagles as the better team, although they were only up by 13-7. Each team forfeited chances to do more, just like they did in the entire 2011 season as a whole. In fact, when the fourth quarter started the Redskins actually got within 13-10 – and it certainly would have been fitting if the Birds had one more blown lead left in them.

For a team that blew fourth quarter leads through the first three months of the season, it is bitterly ironic that Philadelphia learned to win more in the fourth quarter of the season. And it is bitterly ironic that the Eagles scored 21 points in their final 15 minutes of the year, when endings like that would have made much more of a difference months ago.

It also would have made a difference if Michael Vick and DeSean Jackson didn’t wait until now to connect on 62-yard touchdown passes, or if Brent Celek broke out before December. But none of that happened, leaving the Eagles to taunt us in December even worse than they did in September, October and November.

Of course, this finale did come against a Redskins team that went from 3-1 to 5-11, in a slide that began and ended with losses to the Eagles. The previous three wins for Philadelphia happened to come against a 6-10 Miami Dolphins club, and two 8-8 teams in the New York Jets and Dallas Cowboys that shot themselves out of the playoffs. In addition, Philadelphia didn’t even bother to let LeSean McCoy suit up against Washington.

All told, there are various factors that make it hard to really take a lot out of these last four victories. Going to 8-8 over a last place Redskins squad, and getting to 8-8 period over four non-playoff teams, doesn’t mean that these are the real Eagles and the 4-8 version was a fluke. They started slow and finished hot in their last game and in their season as a whole – and yet we still knew as little about them as we did four months ago.

Robert Dougherty is a life-long Philadelphia resident who has followed the Eagles since he was eight years old.

Other stories by this contributor

NFL playoff picture a mixed bag of suspense in Week 17

Jets need a 2008 Eagles-style miracle

Coughlin only NFC East coach still playing for his job

Eagles, Redskins finale rare meaningless Week 17 game

Shanahan, Reid likely to survive disappointing 2011

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

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The Philadelphia Eagles finished their season with a convincing win against the last place Washington Redskins, solidifying their 2011 dominance over the NFC East.

Michael Vick threw for 335 yards and three touchdown passes, to lead the Eagles over the Washington Redskins 34-10 Sunday for their fourth straight win. With the win, the Eagles finished their season 5-1 in the division on the year. They came one New York Jets win away from making the postseason.

Had they have made the postseason, they would have been the second hottest team in the NFC going into the playoffs (behind the New Orleans Saints who have 8 straight wins), but, trust me, no one was looking forward to seeing the Eagles—not by any means.

“That’s the unfortunate part,” Vick said. “Everybody’s gelling together, our team is getting closer as a unit, everybody’s understanding their coaches and what they’re trying to do and their philosophy. We know what needs to be done. We’ll fly under the radar and try to shock people next year. Next year will be totally different. I promise you.”

Fact is: there’s no flying under the radar for them—they’re seen vividly, and heard loudly.

Still, in moving forward, there are a lot of decisions to make within the organization—even if there aren’t many changes made in the end.

The team has decisions about the personnel on the sidelines to make, and some positions on the field to look after, as well. Of course, in almost as if deliberate fashion, Eagles’ head coach Andy Reid has nothing to tell us about his thoughts on the matter. His comments on this year’s impact on the franchise’s future were, “We’ve got to get better all the way around, starting with me,” Reid said. “This wasn’t good enough.”

Quite frankly, I don’t know why I continue to type that lazy sentence.

Either way, this post is not about the bad, it’s about the good.

The final four games in which the Eagles beat their opponents 125-46, will do good for their morale going forward,. It will also do well for the offseason excitement, while allowing the Eagles to come into next year just as confident as they were the beginning of this year; but more experienced and knowing better how they’re supposed to play. No “Dream Team” quotes, no thinking just because you’re talented you’ve booked a Super Bowl berth, and no barking at the fans because your on-field play is horrid. Just strap up the cleats, and get the ball rolling again.

Let’s just consider this year an extremely extended session of OTAs.

That’s the way I look at it. Because the team that showed up in those last few games, certainly were what everyone had expected from the beginning.

Just a bit too little, too late.

“You have to analyze everything that happened and figure out how not to let it happen again,” Vick said. “We’ve got a lot of soul-searching to do, a lot of thinking to do. I think our opportunities will arise.”

Even though the NFL will go on this season, there should be a lot of excitement in Eagles’ nation when the NFL season restarts again.

Vincent Heck is a life-long resident of the Philadelphia area, and a featured ‘Fan View’ blogger on Yahoo! Sports. Follow him on Twitter: @HeckPhilly

Follow Yahoo! Local’s Yahoo! Philly on Twitter: @YahooPhilly

View Vincent Heck’s article archive.

Source: NFL-Pro-Reference.com

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CBSSports.com wire reports
Jan. 1, 2012

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Eagles played their best football too late.

Michael Vick threw for 335 yards and three touchdown passes, including a 62-yarder to DeSean Jackson, and the Eagles beat the Washington Redskins 34-10 Sunday for their fourth straight win.

But the Eagles (8-8) are going home despite the strong finish after failing to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2007 and just the fourth time in coach Andy Reid’s 13 seasons. They can’t be satisfied after entering the year with Super Bowl aspirations

“That’s the unfortunate part,” Vick said. “Everybody’s jelling together, our team is getting closer as a unit, everybody’s understanding their coaches and what they’re trying to do and their philosophy. We know what needs to be done. We’ll fly under the radar and try to shock people next year. Next year will be totally different. I promise you.”

Reid refused to discuss anything about the future, including whether he wants to return or if defensive coordinator Juan Castillo will be back. Reid took plenty of criticism this season, and heard “Fire Andy!” chants during a loss to New England in November. Castillo was intensely scrutinized in his first season after serving as an offensive line coach for 13 years.

“We’ve got to get better all the way around, starting with me,” Reid said. “This wasn’t good enough.”

The Redskins (5-11) finished last in the NFC East for a franchise-worst fourth straight year. It was Mike Shanahan’s worst full season in 18 years as a coach.

“I think the last five, six games we’ve done some good things, run the football against some good teams, not as good as we need, though,” Shanahan said. “We talked about adding a few pieces on offense, we need a few pieces on defense, a good draft, but we made some strides. Our football team is a lot different than a year ago, and that’s a positive.”

One of four NFL games on the final day that had no playoff ramifications, this had the feel of a preseason game. There were thousands of empty seats at the always sold-out Linc, and there was far more interest in the Mummer’s Parade on Broad Street.

The Winter Classic alumni game between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers across the street at Citizens Bank Park on Saturday generated more excitement.

Playing without NFC leading rusher LeSean McCoy, the Eagles relied mainly on their passing attack. Vick delivered, becoming the second player to have consecutive seasons with 3,000 yards passing and 500 yards rushing.

Rex Grossman had 256 yards passing, one TD and one interception, and Evan Royster had 113 yards rushing for Washington.

“I really enjoy it here,” said Grossman, who will be a free agent. “I really enjoy this offensive system and what they’re building here. I’d love for this to be the place where I end up.”

The Redskins were 3-1 and leading the NFC East when the teams met on Oct. 16. A 20-13 loss to Philadelphia started their six-game losing streak and knocked them out of the playoff picture.

The Eagles weren’t eliminated from playoff contention until last week, and finished with the best record in the division at 5-1. But they’re starting an early vacation while the winner of the New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys game on Sunday night advances.

“You have to analyze everything that happened and figure out how not to let it happen again,” Vick said. “We’ve got a lot of soul-searching to do, a lot of thinking to do. I think our opportunities will arise.”

Vick’s 7-yard TD pass to Chad Hall in the second quarter gave Philadelphia a 10-0 lead after Derek Landri blocked Graham Gano’s 36-yard field-goal attempt.

Vick connected with Jackson to make it 20-10 in the fourth quarter. It could’ve been Jackson’s last game with the Eagles. The two-time Pro Bowl wide receiver played the final year of his rookie contract and never got the extension he wanted after holding out in training camp.

A 4-yard TD toss from Vick to Brent Celek made it 27-10.

Roy Helu turned a screen pass into a 47-yard TD to get Washington within 10-7 on the opening drive of the second half.

The Redskins turned the ball over on downs at the Eagles 35 in the final minute of the second quarter. They got the ball back when Brian Orakpo sacked Vick and forced a fumble. Perry Riley recovered at the 17, but the Redskins wasted the field position.

An unsportsmanlike penalty on Santana Moss for taking off his helmet and arguing a non-call for pass interference pushed the ball back, and the clock expired before Gano could attempt a field goal after Jabar Gaffney was tackled at the Eagles 7. Long snapper Nick Sundberg wasn’t on the field as players scurried to the line of scrimmage.

“A little mix-up there relative to communication, coupled with not getting the play,” Shanahan said, explaining that the headsets weren’t working at the time.

Notes

• The Eagles set a franchise record for total yards with 6,386.
• Eagles WR Jeremy Maclin had eight catches for 105 yards.
• Eagles rookie K Alex Henery finished the season 24 of 27 on field goals for the best percentage (88.9) in team history.
• Jackson became the fifth player in NFL history to have 900 yards receiving in each of his first four seasons.
• Grossman finished with 20 interceptions despite not starting three games.
• Shanahan’s previous worst season was 6-10 last year and with Denver in 1999.
• Vick threw a career-high 14 interceptions.
• Orakpo left with a left shoulder injury. He’ll have an MRI on Monday.

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PHILADELPHIA (AP)

WEEK 17 SCOREBOARD

• Patriots 49, Bills 21
• Bears 17, Vikings 13
• Titans 23, Texans 22
• Eagles 34, Redskins 10
• 49ers 34, Rams 27
• Packers 45, Lions 41
• Jaguars 19, Colts 13
• Dolphins 19, Jets 17
• Saints 45, Panthers 17
• Chargers 38, Raiders 26
• Chiefs 7, Broncos 3
• Steelers 13, Browns 9
• Ravens 24, Bengals 16
• Falcons 45, Buccaneers 24
• Cardinals 23, Seahawks 20 (OT)
• Giants 31, Cowboys 14

The Philadelphia Eagles played their best football too late.

Michael Vick threw for 335 yards and three touchdown passes, including a 62-yarder to DeSean Jackson, and the Eagles beat the Washington Redskins 34-10 Sunday for their fourth straight win.

But the Eagles (8-8) are going home despite the strong finish after failing to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2007 and just the fourth time in coach Andy Reid’s 13 seasons. They can’t be satisfied after entering the year with Super Bowl aspirations

”That’s the unfortunate part,” Vick said. ”Everybody’s jelling together, our team is getting closer as a unit, everybody’s understanding their coaches and what they’re trying to do and their philosophy. We know what needs to be done. We’ll fly under the radar and try to shock people next year. Next year will be totally different. I promise you.”

Reid refused to discuss anything about the future, including whether he wants to return or if defensive coordinator Juan Castillo will be back. Reid took plenty of criticism this season, and heard ”Fire Andy!” chants during a loss to New England in November. Castillo was intensely scrutinized in his first season after serving as an offensive line coach for 13 years.

”We’ve got to get better all the way around, starting with me,” Reid said. ”This wasn’t good enough.”

The Redskins (5-11) finished last in the NFC East for a franchise-worst fourth straight year. It was Mike Shanahan’s worst full season in 18 years as a coach.

”I think the last five, six games we’ve done some good things, run the football against some good teams, not as good as we need, though,” Shanahan said. ”We talked about adding a few pieces on offense, we need a few pieces on defense, a good draft, but we made some strides. Our football team is a lot different than a year ago, and that’s a positive.”

One of four NFL games on the final day that had no playoff ramifications, this had the feel of a preseason game. There were thousands of empty seats at the always sold-out Linc, and there was far more interest in the Mummer’s Parade on Broad Street.

The Winter Classic alumni game between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers across the street at Citizens Bank Park on Saturday generated more excitement.

Playing without NFC leading rusher LeSean McCoy, the Eagles relied mainly on their passing attack. Vick delivered, becoming the second player to have consecutive seasons with 3,000 yards passing and 500 yards rushing.

Rex Grossman had 256 yards passing, one TD and one interception, and Evan Royster had 113 yards rushing for Washington.

”I really enjoy it here,” said Grossman, who will be a free agent. ”I really enjoy this offensive system and what they’re building here. I’d love for this to be the place where I end up.”

The Redskins were 3-1 and leading the NFC East when the teams met on Oct. 16. A 20-13 loss to Philadelphia started their six-game losing streak and knocked them out of the playoff picture.

The Eagles weren’t eliminated from playoff contention until last week, and finished with the best record in the division at 5-1. But they’re starting an early vacation while the winner of the New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys game on Sunday night advances.

”You have to analyze everything that happened and figure out how not to let it happen again,” Vick said. ”We’ve got a lot of soul-searching to do, a lot of thinking to do. I think our opportunities will arise.”

Vick’s 7-yard TD pass to Chad Hall in the second quarter gave Philadelphia a 10-0 lead after Derek Landri blocked Graham Gano’s 36-yard field-goal attempt.

Vick connected with Jackson to make it 20-10 in the fourth quarter. It could’ve been Jackson’s last game with the Eagles. The two-time Pro Bowl wide receiver played the final year of his rookie contract and never got the extension he wanted after holding out in training camp.

A 4-yard TD toss from Vick to Brent Celek made it 27-10.

Roy Helu turned a screen pass into a 47-yard TD to get Washington within 10-7 on the opening drive of the second half.

The Redskins turned the ball over on downs at the Eagles 35 in the final minute of the second quarter. They got the ball back when Brian Orakpo sacked Vick and forced a fumble. Perry Riley recovered at the 17, but the Redskins wasted the field position.

An unsportsmanlike penalty on Santana Moss for taking off his helmet and arguing a non-call for pass interference pushed the ball back, and the clock expired before Gano could attempt a field goal after Jabar Gaffney was tackled at the Eagles 7. Long snapper Nick Sundberg wasn’t on the field as players scurried to the line of scrimmage.

”A little mix-up there relative to communication, coupled with not getting the play,” Shanahan said, explaining that the headsets weren’t working at the time.

Notes: The Eagles set a franchise record for total yards with 6,386. … Eagles WR Jeremy Maclin had eight catches for 105 yards. … Eagles rookie K Alex Henery finished the season 24 of 27 on field goals for the best percentage (88.9) in team history. … Jackson became the fifth player in NFL history to have 900 yards receiving in each of his first four seasons. … Grossman finished with 20 interceptions despite not starting three games. … Shanahan’s previous worst season was 6-10 last year and with Denver in 1999. … Vick threw a career-high 14 interceptions. … Orakpo left with a left shoulder injury. He’ll have an MRI on Monday.

If anybody needs tickets to games, remember to click the tickets link at the top.

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The Philadelphia Eagles have faced questions about the fate of Andy Reid for most of the last few months. For that matter, all of the NFC East coaches have had their future look uncertain at some point this year. But Eagles fans like myself are resigned to having Reid coming back for 2012, while Dallas Cowboys fans were assured by Jerry Jones that Jason Garrett isn’t going anywhere.

That may not sound good to Cowboys fans if the team loses their NFC East title game to the New York Giants on Jan. 1. Yet while Jones promised on Dec. 30 that Garrett is safe even if Dallas loses, Tom Coughlin has no such public assurances from the New York Giants so far.

This makes the Cowboys-Giants battle have even more at stake than the NFC East, as at least one coach is still playing for his job. Coughlin could still stay if the Giants lose and turn a 6-2 start into an 8-8 finish and a season-killing loss at home. However, it would be an uphill battle to get one last chance in New York.

Like Reid, Coughlin has gotten even closer to wearing out his welcome with a disappointing 2011. But while the Eagles put Reid in jeopardy by struggling from the start, it took until midseason for the Giants to put Coughlin on the hot seat. He has escaped getting fired for some time – most notably by winning the Super Bowl in 2008 – yet just making the playoffs will have to do to make his case now.

Reid, Coughlin, Garrett and Mike Shanahan were all just as likely to get fired as they were to make it to 2012 at various points. But it seems that Shanahan and Reid will at least get one more season while Garrett has escaped the wrath of Jones for now. This would make it even more notable if Coughlin was the only NFC East coach to get the ax after all, even though he is the only one to win a Super Bowl with an NFC East team. Yet that was years ago and the Giants haven’t even won a playoff game since then.

Since this is the ugliest NFC East season of all time, it would make sense if at least one coach got fired for it. However, if the disappointing seasons of the Giants, Cowboys, Eagles and Washington Redskins aren’t enough to get any of their head coaches fired, it shows how untouchable and lucky they really are – or it could just trigger a bloodbath for 2012.

Still, while Shanahan, Reid and Garrett expect to breathe easy when it comes to their jobs, Coughlin still needs one more victory to do the same. If the Giants’ win over the New York Jets on Dec. 24 is their last of the season, then Coughlin will have to sit on pins and needles awaiting his fate. But with a win and a divisional title, he can likely relax like the rest of his peers when it comes to 2012 – if he was capable of relaxing.

Robert Dougherty is a life-long Philadelphia resident who has followed the Eagles since he was eight years old.

Other stories by this contributor

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Shanahan, Reid likely to survive disappointing 2011

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Cowboys, Giants to reverse momentum yet again?

2011 Jets collapse nearly as bad as 2008

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The Philadelphia Eagles have nothing at stake against the Washington Redskins on Jan. 1. Eagles fans like myself can only root for a .500 record that is completely misleading to how 2011 really went – and a loss doesn’t seem likely to get Andy Reid fired anyway. The Redskins have nothing to play for either, since they are 5-10 and stuck in last place yet again.

This makes the Eagles-Redskins battle completely meaningless as a whole. What’s more, it is even more embarrassing since it is one of the few Week 17 games that have absolutely no stakes at all.

There are only two other games that will not make any impact on the playoff picture or on the top of the NFL draft order. The 7-8 Chicago Bears visit the 3-12 Minnesota Vikings, after the Bears got knocked out of the playoff race and the Vikings knocked themselves out of the race for Andrew Luck. Meanwhile, the 7-8 Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals do battle with only an 8-8 record on the line for the winner.

Every other game means something in some way for some team – and even the Indianapolis Colts-Jacksonville Jaguars battle is huge since it will settle the No. 1 draft pick one way or the other. The other finales will determine postseason berths and playoff seeding for one or both teams in action. But the Eagles and Redskins are completely free of such worries, however.

Washington is used to just playing out the last game of the season with nothing to shoot for, but it is a different story for Philadelphia. It is either resting for the postseason, trying to secure a better seed or seeking to clinch a spot in the playoffs by now. Instead, the Eagles are only attempting to reach .500 and not have any injuries that will impact the start of 2012.

Considering the rest of the high impact action in Week 17, there is no reason to tune into the Eagles-Redskins game over all the others, unless one is a fan of these teams. Unfortunately, myself and others are stuck with the Eagles and will have to yawn through the finale. In between, we will either be infuriated that Philadelphia couldn’t win four straight earlier in the season, or be mad at only the third losing season in the Reid era.

There is a slim chance that this finale could be historic as the last game in Philadelphia for Reid and DeSean Jackson, but we won’t know that for sure for weeks or months. For the moment, this is the most boring and meaningless Week 17 Eagles game in a long time, and perhaps the most boring Week 17 battle in the NFL as a whole.

Robert Dougherty is a life-long Philadelphia resident who has followed the Eagles since he was eight years old.

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